Blogs: New Energy

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards today is putting forth what he is calling an “aggressive but achievable” energy plan, elements of which mirror the kind o more »

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Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards today is putting forth what he is calling an “aggressive but achievable” energy plan, elements of which mirror the kind of bold energy initiative that the Apollo Alliance has been urging presidential candidates to adopt.

Edwards introduced the broad outlines of his plan on CNN this morning and was scheduled to unveil the details  in an afternoon address at the Biomass Energy Conversion Center in Nevada, Iowa. His proposal combines clean energy production and conservation, with a goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Specifically, Edwards proposes:

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While the political lowlight of the week looks to be the ongoing fallout of the Prosecutor Purge, the political highlight is sure to come tomorrow with Al Gore's historic testimony to the House and Senate on climate change.

Leading up to the hearing, Gore has been collecting signatures for a petition simply calling for Congress to "take real action now to stop global warming."

Last Thursday, Gore blogged that he had received nearly 300,000 signatures and was pushing for 350,000.

But yesterday, Gore announced they broke 400,000 and now he's hoping for 500,000 before the hearing.

You can make it happen. Click here to sign the petition.

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Today's CQ Weekly has a big piece on how coal-state lawmakers are "well-positioned" in Congress to shape global warming legislation.

And they risk falling into the trap of thinking strong legislation will be bad for jobs in their districts.

The article focuses on western Virginia's Rep. Rick Boucher, a key subcommittee chairman. It reports that the "National Mining Association and several of the biggest corporate coal producers have organized a $1,000-a-plate breakfast fundraiser for Rep. Rick Boucher this week," but also notes that Boucher recently said "Understandably, to date I have been a skeptic about the need for a mandatory U.S. program for greenhouse gas control. But my view is changing, as is the view of much of the energy industry."

And it lays out some of the ideas Boucher and other coal-staters are considering:

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The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire blog reports that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is lowering expectations regarding planned global warming legislation:

Speaker Pelosi prompted concerns this week when an aide said a climate-change and energy-independence bill might not be ready by Pelosi’s June 1 deadline.

Pelosi later explained: “We have two years in this Congress; we do not expect to achieve complete solutions … by June 1.”

To push for a "complete" solution would mean enacting a long-overdue, urgently needed cap on greenhouse gas emissions. But that's sure to be vetoed by President Bush or filibustered by Senate conservatives.

So it would appear Pelosi is angling for a baby step with not cap, which won't do much to reverse global warming, but has a shot of being signed into law.

The strategic question is, what would build more momentum for necessary reforms?

A law that takes us a baby step forward? Or a veto of widely-supported legislation, jolting the public and sparking the removal of political obstacles occupying Congress and the White House in 2008?

As Pelosi indicates, it's not quite an either-or. She can push tougher legislation after an baby step bill is passed.

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The conservative global warming denial community may still be kicking, but it is getting smaller.

Last year, conservative evangelical Pat Robertson dropped out.

This week, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith joins him:

Global warming. We know the cause. It's all the cars and power plants spewing dangerous greenhouse gases in the air. The scientists are just as sure as they can be ... Those who would doubt global warming need to read up.

The Gristmill has the video, including an interview with Joseph Romm on becoming carbon-neutral.

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The "liberal" New York Times (with the help of the Drudge Report) carried conservative water today, paradoxically attacking Al Gore for global warming "hype." In fact, it's NYT reporter William Broad that's trafficking in hype.

Real Climate, the preeminent climate scientist blog, has the definitive takedown:

We criticized William Broad previously [in November 2006] for a [NYT] piece that misrepresented the scientific understanding of the factors that drive climate change over millions of years...

...In this piece, Broad attempts to discredit Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" by exaggerating the legitimate, but minor, criticisms of his treatment of the science by experts on climate science, and presenting specious or unsubstantiated criticisms by a small number of the usual, well-known contrarians who wouldn't agree even if Gore read aloud from the latest [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report.

Sierra Club's Carl Pope weighs in on his blog:

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Yesterday, the House formally approved the new select committee on global warming discussed here several weeks ago as an important step towards quick passage of a strong plan.

The panel was created with bipartisan support, including 44 Republican votes.

But conservative leaders in the House didn't want people to get the wrong idea, and think that Republicans are able to recognize reality and are serious about solving pressing problems.

So when naming members to the panel, as The Gristmill reports, they only picked one of the 50 people who actually voted for the panel. And they named their biggest climate change denier, James Sensenbrenner, to be the lead minority member. (Think Progress cataloged his greatest hits.)

They don't have to numbers to block any formal recommendation (the committee won't directly move legislation, but will make a high-profile recommendation to put pressure on existing committees.)

But count on the deniers to try to make mischief, sow division and impede progress.

However, with the right mix of mockery and dismissiveness, they will continue to be marginalized.

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Last night, Campaign for America's Future co-director Robert Borosage appeared on Air America's EcoTalk, to discuss his recent column in The Nation, "When's The Idea Primary?", challenging the presidential candidates to offer "bold ideas" and lamenting that so far "caution is the order of the day."

During the interview, Borosage laid down a marker regarding global warming:

The real question for these candidates is ... do you treat [climate change] as "business as usual" within the constraints of the current budget process? Which, given its deficits, are very constraining.

Or do you treat it like you treat the Iraq War, where it's above the budget line? And you're prepared to spend what it takes to create a process that moves us rapidly towards renewable energy and towards dealing with this challenge that we face.

If you do that, you can create jobs and growth and real opportunity, and meet this fundamental challenge to our existence.

As discussed here yesterday, we're unfortunately seeing that tension play out right now as Congress grapples with tax credits for renewable energy.

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At last week's Apollo Summit, there was a clear consensus: businesses interested in renewable energy can't risk long-term commitments unless our government makes long-term commitments.

In turn, many supported long-term tax credits to spur investment.

Right now, there are tax credits for the production of renewable energy. But they almost expired in December, when at the last minute, Congress extended them for another year.

That year-to-year uncertainty stunts long-term investment. Advocates are pushing for a five-year or ten-year extension, and leaders in Congress are supportive.

But in today's Environment & Energy Daily, we learn that, "some observers say long-term extensions may be difficult due to fiscal constraints, especially as Democrats want to ensure that new spending is offset under pay-as-you-go budgeting."

Because of that, key leaders are not yet committing to pass anything long-term.

The go-to tax people are Senator Max Baucus and Rep. Charles Rangel. Both stalled for time:

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