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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Dingell opens the door Rep. John Dingell introduces his hybrid carbon tax	Charles Komanoff	26 Sep 2007	Gristmill
With a mighty creak of long-rusted hinges, a door is finally opening in Washington. The present Congress will apparently be asked to consider a carbon tax. The measure -- actually, a hybrid carbon and petroleum tax -- will be introduced by the powerful chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.). Today Dingell posted on his website a summary of the bill, which he began drafting in June. The current version would phase in ...
Topics: carbon tax, climate, energy, John Dingell, legislation, politics (all these topics)

No Child Left Inside A chat about Congress' effort to restore environmental education funds	Amy Linn	26 Sep 2007	Grist Feature
"Go outside and play!" It's a simple enough command, but as a nation of teeth-gnashing parents and teachers will tell you, not enough kids want to unplug or log off long enough to heed it. Enter Congress. That's right, Congress. The oyster is your classroom. Amid growing evidence that learning about nature and actually experiencing it can help children become healthier ...
Topics: Congress, education, health, legislation, parenting, special series (all these topics)

You too can be John Dingell's legislative adviser Dingell wants feedback on his carbon tax bill	David Roberts	26 Sep 2007	Gristmill
Rep. John Dingell is going to put a draft of his carbon tax bill on his website this Thursday, to solicit feedback. (Did I say "tax"? I meant "emissions fee.") Reportedly, this marks the first time Dingell's done something like this. I dunno. If he's just introducing the tax to sabotage the rest of the climate legislation in the House, why do this? Why allow for public comment before introducing a bill if you mean the bill to fail? Inscrutabl ...
Topics: carbon tax, climate, energy, John Dingell, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Paying the Water Bill Senate approves water bill, Bush may veto, Senate may override		25 Sep 2007	News
Posted at 1:49 PM on 25 Sep 2007 The Senate has approved a $23 billion water bill, which includes $3.6 billion for wetland and coastal restoration in Louisiana and $2 billion for restoration work in the Everglades. It would also create a new national levee safety program and calls for much-needed outside review of water construction projects undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers. Critics of the legislation ...
Topics: legislation, news, politics, US Senate, water conflicts (all these topics)

Capping carbon: Is nothing better than something? On whether to advocate weaker climate change bills	Joseph Romm	22 Sep 2007	Gristmill
This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, Executive Director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. How fearsome must the headlines be about tomorrow before people change their ways today? -- Nancy Gibbs, TIME In Greenland today, the ice is thawing at a pace that is alarming climate scientists. Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., Congress remains frozen on the issue of carbon pricing. And that may be a good thing. Carbon pricing, as most r ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, energy, grassroots activism, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Sanders-Boxer TKO New WRI report compares climate bills	David Roberts	21 Sep 2007	Gristmill
The World Resources Institute has a new report out comparing the various climate bills floating around Congress. Here's what you need to know (click for larger version): This confirms what we already knew, that Sanders-Boxer is the best bill and the only one that has a chance of stabilizing CO2 at levels we can live with. Call your legislator!
Topics: climate, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Whither the energy bill? Rep. Ed Markey looks down the road on climate and energy	Brian Beutler	21 Sep 2007	Gristmill
The Center for American Progress hosted Rep. Ed Markey at a roundtable for reporters to give a sort of primer for what to expect in the run-up to and during the marathon of international climate-change events in the coming week. He was, to my ear, a little bit sanguine about the energy bill, which he expects will be completed and sent to the White House this fall, in time for the Congress to then turn its attention to a climate-change bill. Markey said, 'The NR ...
Topics: climate, Ed Markey, energy, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Greens actually change someone's mind Greens helped convince Lieberman that auctioning permits is the way to go	David Roberts	20 Sep 2007	Gristmill
As I noted earlier today, Sen. Lieberman indicated that he'd be open to moving toward 100 percent auction of pollution permits under his and Sen. Warner's cap-and-trade proposal. I called David McIntosh, Lieberman's counsel and legislative assistant for energy and the environment, to find out why this potentially tectonic shift has suddenly become a live option. He said: The environmental community and Senators whose views are going to be important have effectivel ...
Topics: carbon trading, climate, energy, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Non-sucky cap-and-trade now a possibility? Lieberman expresses openness to auction all carbon permits	David Roberts	20 Sep 2007	Gristmill
A cap-and-trade system begins by placing a cap on carbon emissions and distributing permits (permission to emit a certain amount of CO2) equal to the capped amount. The notion is that permits will be bought and sold, allowing market forces to determine where emission reductions can be made fastest and easiest. The question is how to distribute those initial permits. When the EU carbon trading system was established, permits were given away based on emissions, meani ...
Topics: carbon trading, climate, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Water You Thinking? Schwarzenegger unveils $9 billion water bond package		19 Sep 2007	News
Posted at 1:30 PM on 19 Sep 2007 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has unveiled a $9 billion water bond plan, including an unprecedented level of taxpayer payout for water projects and funding to build or expand three dams. Lawmakers hope to place some form of water bond on a Feb. 5 ballot, and Democratic legislators will likely spend the next few weeks lobbying for more of an emphasis on cleaning up polluted groun ...
Topics: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, legislation, news, politics, state politics, water conflicts (all these topics)

Sigh Hopes for energy bill this session fading	David Roberts	13 Sep 2007	Gristmill
According to John Broder, things are not looking good for comprehensive energy legislation this session: The prospect of a comprehensive energy package's emerging from Congress this fall is rapidly receding, held up by technical hurdles and policy disputes between the House and the Senate and within the parties. FWIW
Topics: energy, legislation, politics (all these topics)

House vs. Senate smackdown How the congressional energy bills stack up	Joseph Romm	05 Sep 2007	Gristmill
We've got three big hurdles before we see a new Energy Bill enacted: substantive, procedural, and presidential. First, the substantive hurdle: the House and Senate bills differ on key points, such as fuel economy standards, a national renewable electricity standard, and energy taxes (I have reprinted a side-by-side comparison below). Merging the bills won't be easy. Second, the procedural hurdle: both chambers must 'formally be considering the same legislation,' ...
Topics: climate, energy, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Hintin' Clinton Sen. Clinton will introduce eco-justice legislation		04 Sep 2007	News
Posted at 10:06 AM on 04 Sep 2007 Senator Hillary Clinton -- perhaps you've heard of her? -- plans to introduce an Environmental Justice Renewal Act, providing federal funding to low-income communities that tend to house many of the nation's polluting facilities. While it may be resisted in Congress, the idea behind the legislation has been growing in the grassroots for decades. Says eco-justice advocate Majora Carter, "We ...
Topics: environmental justice, Hillary Clinton, legislation, news, politics (all these topics)

Ignoring science: Not just for Republicans anymore! Michigan gov. follows Gingrich's example, kills science advisory board	JMG	26 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Newt Gingrich, claiming a mandate to make government smaller, actually managed to abolish only two offices: the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). The OTA was a widely praised, nonpartisan board that helped Congress understand and deal with technical issues -- exactly the kind of office you don't need if you get your understanding of biology from Genesis, your thoughts on telecommunications from K Street, and your opin ...
Topics: legislation, Michigan, Newt Gingrich, politics, state politics (all these topics)

You call this wonkery? New article fails to shed light on state renewable portfolio standards	David Roberts	24 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Jordan Schrader of USA Today manages to pen a long piece about the profusion of state renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) without discussing, except in the most glancing, cursory fashion, any of the important issues around them. For instance, he notes that some people say RPSs will raise electricity rates, while others say they will ultimately save ratepayers money. Who's right? Which RPSs have raised rates and which haven't? How do different RPSs address costs? Or ...
Topics: energy, legislation, politics, renewable energy (all these topics)

Hastert aging, mellowing, retiring ... going green?	David Roberts	16 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Also via Brian Beutler (TOWTM) comes the exceedingly strange news that Denny Hastert (R-Ill.), former Speaker of the House and heretofore undistinguished party apparatchik, wants to leave Congress with a bang by ... passing climate change legislation with Nancy Pelosi. Wonders never cease.
Topics: climate, legislation, politics (all these topics)

A carbon tax even Dingell haters can love From Rep. John Larson	David Roberts	15 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Love the carbon tax but can't stand Dingell? Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) is your man. He just introduced a kick-ass carbon tax bill (PDF) to the House. From Greenwire ($ub req'd): Larson's legislation would set a $15 tax in its first year for every ton of carbon dioxide emissions from the oil, gas and coal industries, with the tax rising 10 percent annually while also keeping pace with inflation. Larson's office also released a memo (PDF) saying the tax would be 'e ...
Topics: carbon tax, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Two, Four, Six, Eight, Why Do We Procrastinate? Big Auto to host fuel-economy rallies in Midwestern cities		15 Aug 2007	Daily Grist
Two, Four, Six, Eight, Why Do We Procrastinate? Big Auto to host fuel-economy rallies in Midwestern cities Revved up over fuel-economy rules, Detroit's Big Three automakers and the United Auto Workers will hold rallies in Chicago and St. Louis this week and next. The demonstrations are a reaction against the U.S. Senate energy bill, passed in June, which would raise fuel economy for both cars and trucks to 35 ...
Topics: Big Auto, business, cars, legislation, news (all these topics)

Farm Bill: The 'delicate balance' the House left intact But key Senators are making noise about rocking the boat	Timothy Male	14 Aug 2007	Gristmill
When Mark Udall (D-Colo.) proposed shaving two-thirds of a cent from just one of the subsidies that go to cotton farmers, Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.) said, 'it is absolutely unfair, once we have reached this very delicate balance within the bill, to reach in and single out one commodity.' That amendment -- to cut less than a penny from cotton subsidies and use the savings to protect more than 200,000 acres from sprawl and development -- failed by a vote of 175-251. So w ...
Topics: agriculture, food, legislation, politics (all these topics)

What should Congress do on climate? Go big or play it safe	David Roberts	14 Aug 2007	Gristmill
I've had the Lieberman-Warner climate bill proposal (PDF) printed out for a couple weeks now, but still haven't gotten around to reading it. Bad blogger! The general assessment from other quarters seems to be: eh. Medium. The big flaw is that it gives around 25% 75% of its permits away. Bad, bad, bad, but maybe necessary to get coal-state legislators on board. On the positive side, it's got a cost-containment mechanism that, unlike Bingaman's escape hatch, would hold ...
Topics: carbon trading, climate, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Dingell is dispensable Even though conventional wisdom says you need him to pass major environmental legislation	Glenn Hurowitz	13 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Whether House Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell is a potential friend or an implacable foe is not only the subject of intense debate here at Gristmill, but a key strategic question for the environmental movement and the Democratic Party. I recently wrote an article for The American Prospect about how Dingell's fellow congressional Democrats are abandoning him as he tries to obstruct meaningful energy and climate legislation -- and implied that his diminished p ...
Topics: climate, energy, John Dingell, legislation, Nancy Pelosi, politics (all these topics)

Protect our sharks, protect our oceans Sharks vs. humans	Andrew Sharpless	13 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Humans kill something like 100 million sharks annually. More humans are killed annually by dogs and by falling coconuts than are killed by sharks. At such levels, humanity will certainly survive its encounter with dogs and coconuts. The same cannot be confidently said of sharks and people. The U.S. Shark Finning Prohibition Act is, unfortunately, another law whose name is misleading. The law carries a loophole that makes enforcement difficult. Sharks are al ...
Topics: legislation, oceans, politics, wildlife (all these topics)

Dingell's dimwitted detractors Activists pester him about the most trivial stuff	David Roberts	09 Aug 2007	Gristmill
OK, I'm back to defending Dingell (sorry Brian!), mainly because the activists attacking him are acting like idiots. At a town hall in Ann Arbor, Mich., Dingell unveiled the various climate-change proposals he's going to introduce to Congress on Sep. 1. Press coverage of the event is fairly sketchy, and I can't find a transcript anywhere, so there's not a lot of detail, but the measures include: A carbon tax of up to $100 per ton. A gas tax of $0.50 a gall ...
Topics: climate, energy, John Dingell, legislation, politics (all these topics)

More Dingell Is he losing his influence?	David Roberts	09 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Glenn Hurowitz writes that Dingell may finally be losing his influence: Part of the reason for Dingell's decreasing power is that he's become rather unpopular within a Democratic caucus that's willing to tolerate internal policy differences, but increasingly unwilling to accept his barely veiled attacks on Pelosi and his open war with the environmental movement, which is providing more and more ground troops to Democratic field operations on Election Day. The guy i ...
Topics: energy, John Dingell, legislation, politics (all these topics)

Saturday night's energy bill It contains some transformative measures	Sean Casten	06 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Contentious round of voting Saturday night, and the heavy threat of the president's veto pen, but if we can get through the political fog, the House may well have accomplished something truly monumental. Two big pieces in the energy bill worth noting, and following closely in any subsequent compromise. Both are transformative for our electricity markets -- an area where past energy bills (at least since 1993) have favored the status quo over true reform. In addition, wi ...
Topics: energy, legislation, politics (all these topics)

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