thollandpe’s Recent Comments

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  I think you're selectively revealing facts to be deliberately misleading. The top 3 trade-ins were Ford Explorer, Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee, and Ford Windstar. Oink. The top 3 new cars were Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, and Honda Civic. Tada! The edumunds.com story tries to say the "real" cost was $24,000 per car because many of those purchases would have happened anyway. But it does not account for the stimulus effect that cash then had elsewhere, so it's a shoddy analysis. The program was not perfect, but it worked. I'd rather my tax dollars do this than pay bonuses in the bloat-and-gloat financial sector.On Cash for Clunkers brought us ... more clunkers! posted 2 days, 18 hours ago 13 Responses

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  His hair is in a league w/ Lou Dobbs, Bill Frist, and Tom DeLay (but without the dye). There's a litmus test for you.On Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) [UPDATED] posted 1 week ago 2 Responses

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  Dear Rep. Hutchinson, how much has our inaction on climate change & energy security cost us already? That inaction has not only adversely affected the economy, it helped tank it. Don't feed us the party line about farmers, ranchers, workers and small businesses . . . we've already been squeezed and it's time for you to act. Sorry I don't have the Texas numbers but you can find them. Between 2000 and 2008, the average Massachusetts family paid $4000 a year more for energy. Electricity went from 10.5¢ to 16.1¢ per kWh, $600 a year more. Heating oil went from $1.31 to $3.21 a gallon, $1520 a year more. Gasoline went from $1.22 to $2.89 a gallon, $1850 a year more. That's about $4000 a year, THE COST OF DOING NOTHING. We need a framework that puts a price on the environmental, political, and national security penalties inherent in fossil fuels like oil and coal. Cap & trade may not be perfect but it's way better than business as usual. Enough of using us farmers and workers as pawns, the only ones with something to lose are the big energy companies, please stop listening to them and listen to us.On Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago 5 Responses

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  What's all this about carbon neutral and why the climate fundamentalism? The question was whether the green tags offered by NC utilities were legit, and the answer was yes (I think). No, you may not be able to go legitimately carbon neutral by only buying offsets. But how many of us can take a serious bite out of our carbon footprints without using offsets or RECs as part of the strategy? Part of, not the only strategy. One of many weapons in the anti-climate-change arsenal. My worry is that by tarring some sketchy offsets is that you contribute to the de-legitimization of all offsets, and by extension legitimate products like Green-e certified RECs. From an institutional perspective that enables the "all offsets are crap" dodge away from supporting any green energy product. I've seen it used, often. Yes, there is diligence due but there are plenty of valid products out there. Sheesh, it’s like saying that because one charity has a Lear jet and palatial offices, that no thanks I won’t support the Jimmy Fund this year.On Ask Umbra on buying carbon offsets posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago 11 Responses

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  Thanks Umbra for clarifying. I was alarmed at how quickly the commentary on your last post devolved into "offset your guilt, not your emissions". They seemed to roll right by your discussion of additionality. The fact is that there are legitimate offsets and they can have a legitimate function. And of course their function, effect will gel when a mandatory national framework is in place (and choosing among them will be simplified too). It's high time we had that framework and we should support making it. But in the meantime there are valid offsets and we should support them too, like the REC's offered by North Carolina utilities.On Ask Umbra on climate weapons posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago 4 Responses