Congress is back. If, upon reading those words, your hand shoots reflexively to your wallet or purse to make sure it’s still there, then you know what comes next: A Gang of 16 in the Senate is pushing an energy bill that would spend billions of dollars, raise taxes, and do nothing to lower the price of gasoline. And they’ve only been back for three days!
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has a great twofer pitch: "green jobs." It sounds like a winner. In one fell swoop he can promise to end unemployment and fix and save the planet from climate change.
E&E Daily (subscription required), today ran a story on how energy policy is influencing the contest in New Mexico for the Senate seat that will become available when current Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) retires this November.
Rep. Tom Udall (D) long has been ahead in the race, but Rep. Steve Pearce (R) has been making inroads into Udall’s lead with advertisements that attacked his opponent’s record of voting against opening up federal land and waters to drilling for mineral resources.
Udall has since launched a “do it all” energy ad campaign to demonstrate his commitment to drilling and government support for alternative energy sources.
Naturally, Pearce supports drilling. Yet he also champions the use of tax payer money to grow the alternative energy sector. That’s too bad, because government has a dismal record choosing which incipient energy technologies will work (cf synfuels, solar power, FuturGen, the hydrogen car, ethanol).
So both candidates support massive, wasteful government spending on energy.
New Mexico voters don’t have a choice.
Suddenly, oil and gas exploration is all the rage on Capitol Hill.
Celebrating the end of the House Republicans' five-week energy protest, Florida congressman Adam Putnam beamed from the Capitol steps, "The House Republicans would like to welcome the Democrats back to Washington, D.C.!"
People should have one meat-free day a week if they want to make a personal and effective sacrifice that would help tackle climate change, the world's leading authority on global warming has told The Observer
John McCain says nation must drill new oil wells now, while supporting innovative transportation technologies and "the use of wind, tide, solar and natural gas."
The International Energy Agency on Thursday warned EU nations to overcome divisions to secure their future energy supply — now heavily reliant on Russia — and reduce costs for customers.
How much will it cost the European Union to fight global climate change? Clearly, the answer depends on what your target is, how you propose to get there, and the size of the EU’s contribution compared with those of the US, China and so on. But a new report from the Centre for European Policy Studies thinktank offers some useful estimates.
The California Assembly passed S 375, a major land use bill designed to fight global warming by regulating how California communities grow. The Senate already has approved the bill, which is likely to be signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sometime next week. S 375 would curb urban sprawl by linking $15 billion in state spending on infrastructure to so-called “smart growth” planning. The idea is to compel Californians to live closer to one another, so that people drive less and thereby emit fewer greenhouse gases.
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