Climate & Energy

How will senators vote on a climate bill?

Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) 1
Posted 20 hours, 27 minutes ago Sen. Roger Wicker plans to oppose the Kerry-Boxer climate bill. In a letter to a constituent, he writes, "I am opposed to any sort of system to cap carbon emissions permits because it would have no effect on climate change and is an unwarranted tax increase on the American people."
Memo to North Dakota

To unlock wind power, put a price on carbon 4
Posted 2 days, 17 hours ago By Charles Komanoff Why does wind power account for just 2% of North Dakota's electricity generation - barely matching wind's national share? One obvious reason is lack of transmission capability to reach load centers. But another is the extraordinary cheapness of coal.
how will key senators vote on a climate bill?

Carl Levin (D-Mich.) [UPDATED] 1
Posted 21 hours, 30 minutes ago
Sen. Carl Levin is a Midwest, industrial-state Democrat who has concerns about the economic impacts of climate legislation, but thinks something needs to be done about global warming.
Intermittency and you

Do we need nuclear and coal plants for baseload power? 37
Posted 1 day, 6 hours ago By David Roberts On Friday, Matt Yglesias had a post making the point that only socialist state control seems capable of creating a robust nuclear power industry. It's a valid point -- the only countries building nuke plants these days are the ones where governments are making the decisions. David Frum replied with a post containing a series of wildly overbroad assertions ranging from false to highly misleading, with no evidence or links to support them. (Nuclear power does impressive things to conservatives' error-to-word ratios.) Matt replied, and in the course of doing so let this drop: "That said, obviously you need a certain amount electricity that can be relied upon irrespective of how windy it is or whether the sun is shining. So I’d happily see the nuclear share of the pie grow at the expense of coal and oil as the provider of that baseload electricity." This notion has really grabbed the public imagination and been embraced as conventional wisdom: that the grid can only incorporate a limited amount of renewable energy, thus we need coal and nuclear power plants for baseload electricity. Clean energy skeptics chant the word "baseload" like a talisman. There's far less to the claim than meets the eye, though.
How will key senators vote on a climate bill?

Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) [UPDATED] 2
Posted 3 days, 14 hours ago Sen. Arlen Specter had been considered a fence sitter on climate legislation, but on Nov. 5 he sided with all but one of the Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee in voting to move forward with the Kerry-Boxer climate bill.
EPA demands attorneys remove video critical of cap-and-trade 19
Posted 3 days, 15 hours ago By David Roberts Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel are EPA attorneys who have taken up advocating against cap-and-trade on behalf of rebated carbon taxes, most recently in a Washington Post op-ed. They also posted a video to YouTube making many of the same arguments at somewhat greater length. Now the EPA has instructed them to take the video down by the close of business today, at pain of disciplinary action from EPA ethics officials, and to submit any future drafts to EPA officials before posting.
How will senators vote on a climate bill?

Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) 0
Posted 3 days, 16 hours ago Sen. Dianne Feinstein is expected to vote in favor of the Kerry-Boxer climate bill. In a letter to a Grist reader, she doesn't explicitly endorse the bill, but she does say it "represents an important step."
Can I get your number?

Cautious optimism for Copenhagen deal as Barcelona climate talks end 2
Posted 3 days, 19 hours ago By Brendan DeMelle The mood was markedly improved on the final day of the Barcelona climate talks, as delegates, observers, and non-governmental organizations all brushed off the pessimism that dominated much of the week and announced that there is still hope for a global deal at the Copenhagen COP15 summit.
Barcelona outcome: White House strategy is plea for more time 6
Posted 3 days, 20 hours ago By Keith Schneider The Barcelona climate talks wrapped up on Friday with the U.S. making a bid for additional time to get a climate plan in place.
Senators opposed to Clean Energy Jobs Act are ignoring bill’s benefits to Americans—Part 2 0
Posted 3 days, 18 hours ago By Daniel J. Weiss The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (CEJAPA), by an 11-1 vote. Earlier this week, we outlined six benefits of the bill and explained why the bill should be passed by the committee. Here are nine more benefits as the legislation moves forward.