Grist | Topics | 659 Results

RESULTS		Results 301 – 325 of 659
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
'It never would have been this milquetoast without my efforts!' Does Bush deserve credit for the energy bill?	David Roberts	19 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Let's review what happened with the energy bill: The House and Senate each voted through energy bills. The Senate's had a CAFE boost and a Renewable Fuel Standard; the House's had a Renewable Energy Standard and a tax package to take subsidies from oil companies and give them to renewable energy. Nancy Pelosi battled for months with John Dingell, finally securing his support for a CAFE increase. The House then passed a bill that had all the provisions in it ...
Topics: energy, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Have we lost more ground than we gained? If we put narrative above policy, how might the energy bill have played out?	Ken Ward	18 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Passing an energy bill at any cost made us look weak, reduced climate change urgency, handed a significant victory to President Bush, and accomplished little of significance. If we had chosen an alternative path -- to take a stand with the fledgling U.S. renewables industry and challenge the obscenely rich oil and coal behemoths -- we would have lost, to be sure, but would have built political power, introduced a novel story, and strengthened ties with an important ally. ...
Topics: politics, legislation, energy (all these topics)

Not the bill to take home to mother Nuclear subsidies likely to stay in omnibus spending package	Brian Beutler	18 Dec 2007	Gristmill
The Senate is debating the wide-ranging $500-plus billion omnibus spending package right now. Most of the points of contention are extremely important -- FOIA, defense spending -- but for the purposes of this site, a bit off-topic. It failed its most recent cloture vote on the question of war-funding (Republicans, of course, want more), and minority leader Mitch McConnell has basically promised it won't pass unless the Democrats cave. So if when that happens, I'll let ...
Topics: climate, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, legislation, nuclear power, politics (all these topics)

Notable quotable	David Roberts	18 Dec 2007	Gristmill
'I really would like to vote for this bill because we desperately need an energy bill. The world and particularly the United States faces a real challenge on energy in the future. But I cannot vote for this bill primarily because of the corn ethanol mandate. A recent article in The Economist noted that our use of corn for ethanol doubled the price of corn about a year ago. Farmers then moved lands from soybeans and what would have been in soybeans and wheat to corn. We ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, energy, ethanol, legislation, politics, quotables (all these topics)

Energy and Matter U.S. House approves toned-down energy bill, Bush to sign it tomorrow		18 Dec 2007	News
Posted at 12:13 PM on 18 Dec 2007 The U.S. House of Representatives today passed a toned-down version of an energy bill that will boost fuel-economy requirements for cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 -- the first such increase since 1975. The bill, which was approved by the Senate last week, also mandates using 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 and will increase efficiency requirements ...
Topics: legislation, news, politics, United States (all these topics)

Pete and Repeat Sen. Domenici tries again to boost loan guarantees for nuclear power plants		18 Dec 2007	News
Posted at 9:56 AM on 18 Dec 2007 The multifaceted appropriations bill making its way through the Senate contains language that would raise the limits on loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants. The language was added thanks to tireless nuclear booster Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), who has tried (and so far failed) to raise loan guarantees for nuclear plants by inserting provisions into the energy bil ...
Topics: energy, legislation, news, nuclear power, politics, US Senate (all these topics)

The U.S. Congress, always willing to be shilling The terrible omnibus bill	Brian Beutler	17 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Rumors began circulating late last Friday -- as the Senate was passing the much-weakened energy bill -- that some terrible provisions had made their way into the omnibus spending package, which will likely face votes in both bodies by the end of the week. Now comes word from Friends of the Earth that 'the omnibus spending bill expected to come before the House of Representatives tonight and the Senate tomorrow directs $20.5 billion in loan guarantees to nuclear pow ...
Topics: coal, nuclear power, energy, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Why did Dems bargain down the energy bill?	David Roberts	17 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Lots of people wonder why Reid and Senate Democrats were so willing, almost eager, to bargain the energy bill down to the point where it was a mere nubbin of its former robust self. Why not draw a line in the sand and force Republicans to take a stand against clean energy? This story from Roll Call (sub rqd) sheds quite a bit of light on the matter: Looking to pivot away from futile yearlong attempts to end the war in Iraq and increase domestic spending in the fir ...
Topics: politics, legislation, climate, energy (all these topics)

Omnibus spending package Another terrible bill?	Brian Beutler	17 Dec 2007	Gristmill
I'll cover the debate over the omnibus spending bill here tomorrow. It's being held until at least then, as the Senate deals with FISA shenanigans, which you can view for the next several hours on C-SPAN 2.
Topics: legislation, politics (all these topics)

Senate farm bill post-mortem The Sustainable Ag Coalition delivers its assessment	Tom Philpott	17 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Ferd Hoefner of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has been involved in farm bills since the mid-1970s, working behind the scenes to try to snatch farm legislation from the paws of agribusiness. So when he delivers his assessment on how things went, he does so from the perspective of long memory. His insights are particularly important now, as sustainable-ag and food-justice advocates figure out what's in the Senate version that's worth fighting for. And there ...
Topics: industrial ag, sustainable ag, agriculture, legislation, ag policy, politics (all these topics)

Two takes on the farm bill My opinion, and an industrial soybean farmer's	Tom Philpott	16 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Speaking of the farm bill -- and who isn't -- y'all should check out an interview I recently did with something called the Lambert Report. Check out the big ol' Monsanto ad in the upper right corner. And look what they juxtaposed my answers with: those of a dude who used to be president of the American Soybean Association.
Topics: agriculture, industrial ag, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Question of the day What about the RPS in Texas?	John McGrath	16 Dec 2007	Gristmill
So Senate Republicans managed to kill the Renewable Portfolio Standard in the energy bill. One question: who was the big-government, nanny-state liberal who forced one of the nation's largest and most successful RPSs on the poor, unwitting state of Texas? Hint: As Governor of Texas in 1999, he signed the RPS into law and later moved to the District of Columbia to pursue other opportunities, like threatening to veto a bill that would have treated all Americans like ...
Topics: energy, renewable energy, legislation, politics, Texas (all these topics)

Annals of irritants, part four Press peddles Republican talking points on energy bill	David Roberts	16 Dec 2007	Gristmill
I'm seeing this kind of thing all over the place: Faced with stiff Republican opposition that is backed by Bush's veto threat, Democrats made misstep after misstep in trying to pass this energy bill. It was too ambitious. It tried to force utilities to increase production of renewable energy in the face of fierce opposition by the utility industry group, and it included a tax package that the White House has long indicated it would not support. Second, Re ...
Topics: energy, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Time for some rehab Agriculture is drunk on corn-based ethanol	Thomas Dobbs	14 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Thomas Dobbs is Professor Emeritus of Economics at South Dakota State University, and a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow. ----- American agriculture is becoming addicted to corn-based ethanol, and the economic and environmental effects of this addiction call for some intervention! The explosive growth in U.S. ethanol production from corn is having worldwide ramifications. December 6 articles in The Economist ('Cheap no more' ...
Topics: legislation, ag subsidies, ag policy, politics, food, economy, ethanol, biofuels, agriculture (all these topics)

Farm bill update Payment limits topple, but the livestock title looks good -- for now	Tom Philpott	14 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Update [2007-12-14 13:5:54 by Tom Philpott]:The Senate just passed the farm bill, 79-14. Presumably the livestock title is intact. Now it's time to mount an epochal battle to defend that important title as Congress reconciles the House and Senate versions, which will take place in early 2008. The Senate is set to vote on the farm bill this afternoon. I'll be trying to pull a Brian Beutler and follow the debate via CSpan. An amendment that would have limited subsi ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Annals of irritants, part three Louisiana's Sen. Landrieu votes against party, for Big Oil	David Roberts	14 Dec 2007	Gristmill
When the energy bill went before the Senate yesterday morning, it had been stripped of the Renewable Energy Standard, but it still retained the tax package, which would have reversed $13.5 billion in tax breaks to oil and gas companies to help pay for $21 billion worth of investment in renewable energy. Republicans, as always, threatened a filibuster, so majority leader Harry Reid went for a cloture vote, for which he needed 60 votes. He got 59. The final roll call s ...
Topics: Big Oil, energy, legislation, politics, renewable energy (all these topics)

Drown my sorrows in rivers and celluloid	Adam Browning	14 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Ugh. That was rough. I need a pick-me-up, and the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival can't come soon enough. I've never been, but Nevada City is special and the South Yuba River Citizen's League does great work.
Topics: energy, legislation, politics (all these topics)

To those who are blas� about expanding the RFS Once in place, the RFS will be nigh impossible to eliminate	Ron Steenblik	13 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Several posts during the past week, and countless ones elsewhere, have asked people to support the Energy Bill making its way through Congress. Some people have no problem with one of its major provisions, which calls for substantially expanding the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) -- the regulation that requires minimum amounts of ethanol, biodiesel, or other biofuels to be incorporated into the volume of transport fuels used each year. Indeed, some would even welcome t ...
Topics: biofuels, agriculture, energy, legislation, politics, ethanol (all these topics)

'Right now, the president's got the upper hand' Sen. John Kerry defends Dem decision not to force a filibuster on the energy bill	David Roberts	13 Dec 2007	Gristmill
I took part this evening in a short conference call with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and a few other bloggers. It got a bit heated. He passionately defended the Senate's accomplishments and urged critics to acknowledge the difficult position Congress is in at the moment, with the omnibus budget bill approaching. First, I asked him the question on everyone's mind: Why not actually make the Republicans filibuster? Bill after bill keeps failing because it can't get to 6 ...
Topics: energy, legislation, politics (all these topics)

How a bill becomes a law President says he will sign energy bill	David Roberts	13 Dec 2007	Gristmill
The White House just released a statement saying that the president will sign the just-passed energy bill into law: Last January, President Bush called on Congress to reduce our nation's consumption of gasoline by 20 percent in 10 years by modernizing CAFE standards and greatly expanding the use of alternative fuels. We congratulate the United States Senate for their effort to address the challenge of the President's bold '20 in 10' initiative. The Senate energy pla ...
Topics: politics, legislation, energy (all these topics)

Glass Half Full? Senate OKs fuel-economy increase, but drops more ambitious parts of energy bill		13 Dec 2007	News
Posted at 4:41 PM on 13 Dec 2007 The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed an energy bill that would raise auto fuel-economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 -- but only after a more ambitious version of the bill ran into a roadblock. The more ambitious version, which the House passed last week, got a thumbs-up from 59 senators -- a handful of Republicans as well as all of the Democrats ...
Topics: legislation, news, politics, US Senate (all these topics)

Energy woes Final roll call of votes on the weakened energy bill	Brian Beutler	13 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Here's the official roll call (the names won't be up for a few minutes yet). A bittersweet day, to say the least.
Topics: energy, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Energy woes Weakened energy bill passes	Brian Beutler	13 Dec 2007	Gristmill
The bill passes 86 to 8. Again, I will post the full Roll Call when it's posted on the Senate website shortly.
Topics: politics, legislation, energy (all these topics)

Energy woes Roll Call on the energy bill	Brian Beutler	13 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Roll call is still going on, and the thing has gone way over the top. For whatever reason, when Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) was called, and voted no, it rang in my ear. So I went and checked, and sure enough, she's switched her vote. Not sure what animated her. The Michigan thing? Not being able to say she supported a CAFE bill because of its renewable energy requirements? Others may have switched. I'll post the full roll call when it's up.
Topics: politics, legislation, energy (all these topics)

Energy woes Domenici supports watered down energy bill	Brian Beutler	13 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Ranking Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources committee Pete Domenici (R-NM) just stated strong support for the bill, after voting to kill the much better version. Domenici is as responsible as any single person for blocking the renewable energy provisions in the version of the bill sent up from the House. He deserves maximum raspberries today.
Topics: politics, legislation, energy (all these topics)

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