legislation
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Do your part
It's game time for renewable energy in the House. First up is the federal renewable portfolio standard. HR 969, known as the Udall-Platts Amendment, would require utilities nationwide to increase the amount of renewables in their portfolio to 20 percent by 2020. It will be voted on in the House on Friday. Take action here.
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Pelosi’s plan to save the polar bears — and poor kids, too …
There has been a lot of discussion about the energy package that is set to pass the U.S. House this week. But the media so far has missed one of the most interesting and innovative proposals that will be voted on: the Green Jobs Act of 2007. This ground-breaking legislation will make $120 million a year available across the country to begin training workers (and would-be workers) for jobs in the clean-energy sector. When the bill becomes law, 35,000 people a year will benefit from cutting-edge, vocational education in fields that could literally save the Earth.
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Harkin wants to boost land conservation
Here’s some reasonably heartening news from CQ.com: The Senate is prepared to write a dramatically different farm bill than the version the House passed last week. The Senate debate will not happen until September or later. For now, Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has promised to increase funding for land-conservation programs far above House […]
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Will you take it?
So, Reuters took a look at the EPA’s economic analysis of the Lieberman-McCain Climate Stewardship Act (so I didn’t have to!). In case your memory is hazy, the CSA is a cap-and-trade bill that would cut emissions 65% by 2050. Here’s the nut: The EPA found that the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 […]
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Grist gets results
When I interviewed Richard Louv — author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder — back in 2006, he jokingly said, "If we were really interested in education reform we’d have a ‘No Child Left Inside’ movement." Well lookee here: John Sarbanes (D-Md.) has just introduced the No Child Left […]
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Moderate senators are ready to get on board
As Joe mentioned yesterday, four moderate-to-conservative senators — John Warner (R-Va.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) — just proposed a measure to achieve "Cost-Containment for the Carbon Market." I wanted to spend a bit of time on what’s in it and what it means. You might think, given the business-friendly […]
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Borrowing and banking carbon — the new black
So you want to have greenhouse gas standards with teeth, but you want to minimize the risk they take too big a bite from the economy. And, of course, like me, you don't like the safety valve idea. What do you do? Banking and borrowing, of course.
With "banking," the right to emit carbon can be saved for future use. With "borrowing," current emissions are extended against future abatement.
What is fascinating is that today a detailed banking and borrowing proposal, "Cost-Containment for the Carbon Market," was put forward by four moderate senators -- Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and John Warner (R-Va.) -- with the help of Duke University's environmental program.
A Greenwire piece (sub. req) notes "a top environmental group also didn't shy away from the latest idea":
"This is an interesting proposal to help address cost concerns while maintaining the integrity of the emissions cap," said David Doniger, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Borrowing and repayment is far preferable to the safety valve, which breaks the cap by allowing firms to increase emissions with no payback requirement.
I agree. Kudos to the Senators for moving the debate forward. Here are more excerpts from the piece:
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Oh, the excitement!
Speaking of the Lieberman-Warner hearing on carbon legislation: it’s going on right now, and Brad over at HillHeat is liveblogging it.
