Congressional Climate Change Games
| Fri Jun. 5, 2009 6:37 AM PDT
A couple weeks back, the Center for Public Integrity reported on the massive lobbying effort targeting the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, which literally hundreds of businesses and interest groups are vying to influence. And—surprise, surprise—some congressional have responded by quietly tweaking the bill in industry friendly ways. Today, the Washington Post singles out a handful of interesting provisions slipped into the bill by Democrats on the House energy and commerce committee. Take this sly maneuver by Rep. Gene Green, the Texas Democrat:
During the final days of the drafting of a 946-page climate bill, Rep. Gene Green (D-Tex.) won support for an amendment that deleted a single word and inserted two others. The words could be worth millions of dollars to U.S. oil refiners.
The Green amendment deleted the word "sources" and inserted "emission points." In the arcane world of climate legislation, that tiny bit of editing might one day give petroleum refiners valuable rights to emit carbon dioxide when it otherwise might not have been allowed. Refiners could get the extra allowances in return for cutting carbon emissions by 50 percent at a single point of a vast refinery complex instead of slashing emissions by 50 percent for the entire facility.
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Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), who was ousted from the energy committee chairmanship in favor of Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and whose wife, Debbie, is a onetime GM lobbyist, contributed an amendment as well. Predictably, it's favorable to automakers, providing "$1.4 billion worth of extra allowances starting in 2012 when the cap-and-trade system takes effect, according to an estimate by the Union of Concerned Scientists."
Meanwhile, Rep. Rick Boucher, a Democrat who represents coal-rich southwest Virginia, has done his part to soften the bill's blow to coal-fired utility companies and mining interests.
He persuaded Waxman and Markey to accept a more modest reduction in emissions overall and to set aside 35 percent of allowances to help residential and industrial consumers of coal-fired power. He also won agreement for extra allowances and money—about $1 billion a year—to develop carbon capture-and-storage projects that will eventually be needed to cut carbon emissions of coal plants.
And these are just the amendments that made it into the version of the bill passed the energy committee, folks. The legislation still has a long way to go and the climate change games have only just begun.
Comments
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The new GE environmentally friendly lightbulbs are filled with mercury, did anyone notice??
That means we're not allowed to have mercury thermometers in our children's mouths, but we MAY have breakable mercury filled lightbulbs which might break or blow apart at any moment spreading incredibly dangerous MERCURY throughout our child-filled homes. Anyone catch that report that now there are 1 in 100 children that are reported to have autism/mercury poisoning??
Why do you address the government at all when they are obviously not listening?? Don't ya kinda think its a slap in the face for a company to create environmentally friendly toys filled with the worst poison ever known to people?? The effects of mercury on humans have been documented for hundreds of years. Isn't it time we stopped playing their game and made them listen????
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Crash Course!!!
Submitted by Michael L. Wagner on Sun Jun. 7, 2009 11:56 AM PDT.
Go Figure, between putting a stopper on idiotic Cap-and-Trade and the ratification of essential Universal Health (as implemented in ALL other developed countries) the money at issue is staggering!!!
The magician flourishes his wand, and all eyes follow that hand (al-Qaeda & Sotomayor)—in fact, the other hand is the one to watch!!!
How is it that under Cap-and-Trade the Energy Industry simply passes-on Higher Costs directly to the consumer—with no decrease in emissions!!!
Here Read:
+ The Case Against Carbon Trading / Transnational Institute:
–”…Citigroup’s Peter Atherton confessed that the European Union’s Emission Trading Scheme had ‘done nothing to curb emissions.’ He admitted, ‘Prices up, emissions up, profits up …’ Who wins and loses? Coal and nuclear-based generators–biggest winners. Hedge funds and energy traders–even bigger winners. Losers … Consumers!”
+ Canadian Health Insurance: Lessons for the United States / Government Accountability Office (GAO):
--“If the universal coverage and single-payer features of the Canadian system were applied in the United States, the savings in administrative cost alone would be more than enough to finance insurance coverage for the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured.”
+ Single-Payer Protests Challenge Democrats / Washington Post, 06/06/09:
--“The White House and Democratic leaders have made clear there is no chance that Congress will adopt a single-payer approach -- named for the idea that a single government-backed insurance plan would pay for all Americans' medical costs -- because it is too radical a change.”
+ The Truth About Drug Companies / Mother Jones:
“… Angell attacks major pharmaceutical industry -- whose top ten companies make more in profits than the rest of the Fortune 500 combined -- for using “free market” rhetoric while opposing competition at all costs.”
So…, just divert our attention to the radicals Al-Qaeda and Sotomayor!!!
+ Clinton Let Bin Laden Slip Away and Metastasize / LA Times:
--“President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who wanted terrorism sanctions against Sudan lifted, offered the arrest and extradition of Bin Laden and detailed intelligence data about the global networks constructed by Egypt's Islamic Jihad, Iran's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas. The silence of the Clinton administration in responding to these offers was deafening.”
+ In College Thesis, Sotomayor Appeared to Support Puerto Rican Independence / Wall Street Journal:
--“Ms. Sotomayor was born in the Bronx of Puerto Rican parents … she dedicates her paper ‘to the people of my island … there has been … a growing Americanization of the island.’”
Yet, Anti-American or not, Sotomayor isn’t even a real issue here…
Consider how The Civil Rights Act of 1871 was enacted to provide protection against the misuse of power (the KKK), yet in O’shea v. Littleton (a federal class action by African-Americans against racially-motivated illegal acts by two state judges) the Supreme Court held:
“The Complaint fails … to allege an actual case or controversy”
Though the Dissent Opinion stated:
“These allegations of wrongdoing clearly state a case or controversy.”
That Court held:
“None of the named plaintiffs is identified as himself having suffered any injury in the manner specified.”
Yet the Dissent stated:
“The charges concerning the named plaintiffs are as follows …”
Then that Court’s Train Completely Jumped theTracks:
“Past exposure to alleged illegal conduct does not in itself, show a present case or controversy … if unaccompanied by any continuing, present adverse effects.”
Nope, I’m not a lawyer either (you don’t have to be to “understand” such drivel) another Supreme Court case reads:
“The Forest Service does not deny that the checkpoint was impermissibly operated … The mere fact that the checkpoint was used at the 1996 gathering was unconstitutional cannot alone give Ms. Parks standing. We do not think that the use of checkpoints in 1997, 1998, and 1999 is relevant …”
Here consider how the Endangered Species Act of 1973 requires each federal agency to consult with the Secretary of the Interior to ensure that any action funded by the agency is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence or habitat of any endangered or threatened species. A subsequent rule limited the scope; environmental groups sued…
Bottom line, the Majority held that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue—but the Dissent related:
“Congress has found that a wide variety of endangered species of fish, wildlife and plants are of ‘aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value to the Nation and its people.’ Given that finding, we have no license to demean the importance of the interest that particular individuals may have in observing any species in its habitat …”
The magician flourishes his
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Jun. 11, 2009 6:00 AM PDT.
The magician flourishes his wand, and all eyes follow that hand (al-Qaeda & Sotomayor)—in fact, the other hand is the one to watch!!!
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