ACES | Grist

Jumpstarting Clean Energy

Report Pushes for More Research Investment and New National Institutes of Energy 0
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
CBS’s Declan McCullagh promotes another false CEI attack on clean energy reform 1
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
According to Declan McCullagh, a libertarian blogger who works for CBS Interactive, secret Obama administration documents reveal that the cost of clean energy cap-and-trade legislation would be $1,761 per household -- despite official estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Energy Information Administration of about a postage stamp a day.
What can we get for less than the cost of a postage stamp per day?

A Clean Energy Bargain 0
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
What can we get for less than the cost of a postage stamp per day?

A Clean Energy Bargain 0
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
Not your daddy’s offsets 6
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
A new report, "Forging the Climate Consensus: Domestic and International Offsets" makes clear exactly how important a role high-quality offsets play in maintaining the integrity of climate legislation -- and how they could allow an international climate agreement to achieve far stronger emissions reductions targets than would otherwise be possible.
Cherry Picking Season Is Over

Conservatives ditch CBO data when convenient to attack climate bill 1
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
Conservatives who loved citing the Congressional Budget Office when it was being hard on health care legislation keep on ignoring it when it comes to climate legislation.
Killing it cleanly

Climate SOS campaign aims to defeat ACES for the right reason 1
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s comment makes clear, there will be no climate bill this year.
A big breakthrough on green jobs 8
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
The New York State Senate and Assembly, too often a model of corruption and dysfunctionality, rose above petty politics last week to pass forward-thinking legislation on climate and energy, setting a precedent for bipartisanship and a sensible cap and trade system.
Will the Senate do the math?

The 2 billion ton test 8
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Senators returned from their August recess with lots of ideas about how they would like to change the comprehensive clean energy and climate protection bill the House passed in June.
Hi, cotton

Arkansas’ Blanche Lincoln grabs Senate ag committee chair [UPDATED] 1
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
It's a dark moment for sustainable-ag advocates--and those still hoping for robust climate legislation: Blanche Lincoln (D.-Cotton) looks set to become chair of the Senate ag committee.
Boucher: "Industry needs and wants a bill to pass"

Could Waxman and Markey have used the EPA threat more effectively? 28
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Should Waxman and Markey have kicked off House climate bill negotiations with a stronger ask?

The bill they introduced was effectively the USCAP proposal, which already reflected years of negotiation and compromise. The idea was that the difficult work of negotiations had already been done -- enviros and business both on board! -- and it would be easy for conservative Dems (and a few Republicans) to sign off on it.

Of course that's not what has happened. Republicans are balking en masse. Conservative Dems have compromised the bill down further, and by all indications will further weaken it in the Senate. Could the bill have ended up in a stronger place if it had started in a stronger place?
350 or bust

Push is on to strengthen climate bill 3
Posted 2 months, 4 weeks ago
A coalition of more than 300 organizations will deliver letters to the local offices of U.S. senators this week calling on them to strengthen climate legislation narrowly passed by the House of Representatives in June.
Sierra Club calls for functional global climate solution... sort of

Carl Pope says 350 ppm not strong enough, endorses carbon pricing and global tax & dividend! 0
Posted 3 months ago
Blowing smoke out his Grassley

Chuck Grassley does not believe in the threat of anthropogenic climate change 11
Posted 3 months ago
In a Tuesday conference call with Iowa agricultural reporters, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) offered some state-of-the-art Republican doubletalk on climate change. This is worth reading in full, in part to admire the blithely inconsistent muddle of it all, but also in part to marvel at just how second-nature this line of dissembling has become. These talking points are echoed almost verbatim up and down the conservative food chain, all the way from bottom-feeders like Marc Morano to U.S. Senators. No conservative has to think on his feet about it, or craft his own careful line on it.
the ties that bind

GOP team at American Energy Alliance runs ‘Energy Town Hall’ oil bus tour 0
Posted 3 months ago
Laughably, AEA claims it has "no ties to any political party." In fact, all of its employees are former House Republican staffers.
I Got Yer Jobs Right Here

Neutralizing Big Oil’s climate-bill attack, with investment in manufacturing 2
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
Creating a green jobs economy is our best chance to revitalize America's manufacturing base, and we'll likely lose political support to address the climate crisis if we don't also seize this economic opportunity.
Collin Peterson apes Sensenbrenner, fears ‘catalytic converter’ for cows 0
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
Yesterday, Peterson appeared at a town hall meeting in Colorado with Rep. Betsy Markey (D-CO), and explained that his actions on climate are also shaped by anti-science ideology.
The bank job

If progressives want a Clean Energy Bank, they need better economics 5
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
One of the most unquestionably excellent pieces of the climate bill now awaiting defenestration at the hands Senate Blue Dogs is its creation of a Clean Energy Bank that would help finance nascent clean energy projects. Naturally, conservatives are now coming out in opposition to it.
Or perhaps just wank about it inconclusively

Should greens ally with natural gas against coal? 16
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
The politics of natural gas are extremely interesting. In a nutshell, the interests of coal utilities and natural gas executives are at odds. To the extent carbon is penalized and coal is phased out, natural gas wins. The question for enviros: Is it worthwhile to ally with the natgas industry to reduce the influence of coal and strengthen the climate bill?
Having an IMPACT on Senate Climate and Energy Legislation

Ohio’s Sen. Brown calls for investments in clean energy manufacturing 1
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Seeking to have an IMPACT on climate policy, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) formally introduced legislation this week to strengthen America's efforts to cut emissions and build a prosperous clean energy economy.