Wednesday, 22 Jun 2005

Stickin' It to the Mandatory

Senate passes weak climate amendment

Greens were struck with a severe case of mixed feelings yesterday, as the Senate passed an energy-bill amendment to address global warming (yay!) but passed over a different, tougher amendment (boo!). The latter, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), would have imposed mandatory controls on industrial greenhouse-gas emissions (though it was less ambitious than the McCain-Lieberman plan). Despite the oh-so-scary term "mandatory," Bingaman at one point thought he had the 60 votes to get it through, particularly after powerful Energy Committee Chair Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) expressed support. But a last-minute flurry of lobbying from the White House and the oil and gas industries changed Domenici's mind, Bingaman withdrew the amendment, and lawmakers threw their support instead behind one sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). Hagel's, which passed 66-29, is a cute, cuddly amendment, free of sharp mandatory corners, focusing instead on tax credits and loan guarantees for clean technologies. Fred Krupp of Environmental Defense put his happy face on, hailing the "shift from debating whether we should do something to what we intend to do" about the coming global catastrophe.


Last week, advice maven Umbra Fisk devoted a column to men's shaving issues. Sure enough, out of the woodwork came the radical feminists, claiming that they too deserve a shaving column. What is it with you people and your demands for special rights? And really, do you even shave your legs? Ah, we kid, of course. But send your angry letters anyway.

Hey, Drillers, Leave Our State Alone

Oil and gas inventory may come soon to a coastline near you

The Senate effectively approved an inventory of oil and gas reserves in U.S. coastal waters yesterday, a move that could help open the door for offshore drilling to begin after a decades-long moratorium expires in 2012. The 52-44 vote defeated an amendment sponsored by Florida Sens. Mel Martinez (R) and Bill Nelson (D) to delete the inventory from the federal energy bill. The vote didn't fall along party lines: Democratic lawmakers from some oil and gas states, like Louisiana's Mary Landrieu, backed the inventory and asserted that more domestic drilling is vital to national security and lower oil prices; Republican legislators from some coastal states countered that the inventory would damage sensitive marine environments crucial to healthy tourism and waste up to $1 billion in taxpayer funds. The vote is a huge defeat for the Florida senators, who thought as late as last week that their amendment had the necessary support. Said Martinez, "Leave our state alone."


USA Today recently reported that global warming is real. Can Fox News be far behind? (Wait, don't answer that.) As this global phenomenon sees increasing coverage in the mainstream press, climate lingo is whipping around like detritus in an extreme hurricane. Anticipating an escalated semantic showdown, David Hyde offers his own take on the words' worth.

A View to a Killing

Silicon Valley investors putting big bucks into clean-tech start-ups

Silicon Valley's venture capitalists are seeing green in clean energy -- and we're talking gobs of profit, not the whole planet-saving thing. Investor interest in clean-energy tech firms has jumped in the past year, fueled in part by escalating global demand for electricity and the rising price of oil. This month, a consortium of moneybags put $20 million into Nanosolar, a solar energy company based in Palo Alto (gajillionaire Googlemeisters Sergey Brin and Larry Page were early investors). Other California energy innovators are raking in millions in investment funds as well. Total venture capital going into clean tech is still relatively small -- the $520 million invested in 2004 was only 2.6 percent of the total pool of funds -- but trailblazers who have focused on the sector for several years feel validated. "The reason we're allocating dollars to this sector is we think we can deliver attractive returns," says one happy venture capitalist; that it helps the earth is a "great byproduct."