Last Thursday, the Senate voted 53 to 47 to defeat the Murkowski resolution that would have undermined the EPA's ability to reduce global warming pollution. The vote provides a useful guide to how senators might act on a climate vote.
Of course, it is not a clear-cut comparison because some people voted against the flawed resolution to make a point about process or simply to support the science. It is significant to note that we have 10 more votes in favor of reducing carbon emissions than we did the last time climate change was discussed on the Senate floor two years ago.
But here is what I find most interesting about last week's vote: the number of Senators who have all publicly exclaimed that global warming is a pressing problem but who voted to block the EPA from dealing with it. Are they sitting on an "election year fence" or are the deep pockets of Big Oil & Coal companies propping up their campaign contribution fences? The question must be asked - Why do these senators benefit from burning caveman fuels?
This is a pivotal week in the clean energy debate. The Senate will vote on Murkowski's short-sighted resolution to take away the EPA's authority to regulate pollution. As we head into this critical time, it's not the Inhofe-cloned climate deniers who trouble me - it's the knowing bystanders who are keeping me up at night.
Before I start this rant, let me just state for the record that I still think deniers are about as accurate as my three year old is when she is trying to describe quantum physics at her make-believe tea parties (although they are wholly less adorable). The vast majority of these deniers resist climate legislation because they really don't believe global warming is a problem - yes their heads are in the sand. But for the purposes of the Murkowski resolution, their vote is already lost.
The National Resources Defense Council is urging members and supporters of tighter regulations on coal ash to contact the EPA.
From an NRDC Action Alert that hit my inbox yesterday:
Under current rules, this industrial waste is managed less carefully than household garbage. The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to issue the first federal regulations for coal ash disposal, but as the agency attempts to end decades of regulatory delay, the coal-fired power industry is mounting a major lobbying effort targeting the White House to weaken this much-needed rule even before it is released for public comment. Communities near coal plants deserve strong, federally enforceable regulation of coal ash to ensure that this waste is disposed only in landfills equipped with proper pollution control and monitoring systems. And the public has the right to make its voice heard before industry gets the chance to weaken the EPA's rule.
Send a message telling Peter Orszag, Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, that the EPA must be allowed to regulate coal ash disposal without further delay or industry interference.
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has proposed an amendment that would strip the EPA of the ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from "non-mobile" sources. This drastic move would leave over 70% of the CO2 emissions produced in the United States completely unregulated, including every single industry polluter and coal plant.
Michael Kieschnick, President of CREDO
Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) complied with a Supreme Court ruling requiring it to assess the threat of global warming by determining that heat-trapping emissions are pollutants that endanger public health. This move would allow the agency to regulate global warming pollution from power plants and automobiles under the Clean Air Act. But now the Senate is poised to undo this critical progress.
In the next few days, the Senate is expected to vote on a bill that includes amendments that would block the EPA’s ability to fight global warming.
Union of Concerned Scientists
So what's this about? Copenhagen, Snails, Blue Dogs, Industrial Lobbies, and another red-blooded Republican female from Alaska. What the heck do they feed those women up there? Bear testicles?
Snails first: While the House finished their bill in June, we can't get one out of the Senate. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who heads up the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, has pushed her original Aug. 9 completion date to the end of September. Sen. Baucus and the Finance Committee will then have to approve it, as it affects the Budget. A lot of Senators key in that process are currently up to their eyeballs in Health Care. The Usual Suspects: Landrieu, Bayh, and Brown, are doing their part to stall the bill, as they hail from energy-producing states. No one is optimistic about getting a bill finished before Jan. 2010.
Why is the date important? Because President Obama is scheduled to attend the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit from Dec. 7-18, 2009.
The world, meanwhile, is waiting. "Is the U.S. Senate really expecting all the other countries to make a serious effort on climate change at the Copenhagen Conference in the absence of a clear commitment from the United States?" said the European Union's U.S. ambassador Sunday.
Enter the EPA: If Congress cannot pass comprehensive legislation because of opposition from conservative lawmakers, the EPA has the authority to go ahead with carbon dioxide reduction efforts, in a more narrow way, possibly as early as next March.
Enter Murkowski: Her campaign contributors look like a who's who of Oil, Industrial, and Corporate interests. VECO, her largest contributor, is an Alaskan oil pipeline and construction service. They were recently bought by CH2M Hill.
Now for some reason, despite the fact that the Senate is All Tied Up, they expect Ms. Murky to have legislation gutting the EPA ready in a coupla days. Even funnier, the US Senate is also the place where Clinton's Climate Legislation died of old age. Clinton said 'they didn't have the votes'. I hasta wonder - is the Senate being obstructive or just playing ball? Are they the Designated Staller or something?
Exeunt POTUS with egg on face, barely in time for the rotten tomatoes which will be hurled in Copenhagen. America proceedeth apace.
Last week, the EPA approved a plan for the TVA to move coal ash from a spill in Kingston, Tenn to a landfill in Perry County, Alabama. Despite a number of concerns from residents, environmentalists and public officials a public hearing was never scheduled on this matter. Every two days for approximately a year 85 rail cars, containing coal ash containing heavy metals and other hazardous compounds, will trek from Eastern Tennessee through Birmingham all the way to Perry County, Alabama. This is at a minimum a 350 mile distance. While local officials contend that this will produce jobs and economic development in this poor community, others are not so sure of the long term impacts to the health and safety and even economic stability of this decision. Local residents have begun to weigh in with their concerns about the long term effects. Despite these vast objections the EPA issued this statement
Prior to approving the Arrowhead Landfill as the disposal site for the coal ash, EPA visited the landfill and met with local leaders and members of the surrounding community to review the disposal plan and answer questions.
So despite this plan being approved, it appears that this controversy is far from being over and rightfully so based on some legitimate questions about the process. Here's an interesting video clip of residents asking EPA administrator Lisa Jackson to protect them from the coal ash. Notice the diversity in the residents being interviewed.
The media we have is providing wall to wall swine flu coverage. Thanks to them, the only thing we know for sure is there have been about 100 deaths in Mexico and hundreds of kids sick in New York City. Schools and businesses in Mexico are closed and the country is practically on lock down, and if the media has anything to do with it America will be next.
Radio, TV and newspaper personalities have jumped on the illness as a platform to attack "illegal aliens" for being responsible for carrying the disease across the Mexican border and infecting innocent Americans.
Despite the fact that there is no evidence to support such claims, talk radio hosts Michael Savage and Neal Boortz, radio and Fox TV personality Glenn Beck, and columnist Michelle Malkin are spreading them faster than the contagion.
Is Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork packer and hog producer, linked to the outbreak? Smithfield operates massive hog-raising operations Perote, Mexico, in the state of Vera Cruz, where the outbreak originated. The operations, grouped under a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carroll, raise 950,000 hogs per year, according to the company Web site.
She said she has met with Smithfield employees in Tar Heel. But the union says that was a sham gathering because the workers were handpicked by management.
"I'm a mother, a grandmother and a cook," Deen said. "I cook for my family, my fans and my customers. That's what I'm an expert at.
"I wouldn't want a union organizer waiting on tables in my restaurant, no more than they would want me messin' around at their bargaining table."
Chairman Waxman Issues a Subpoena for EPA DocumentsThe Gavel, March 13, 2008 WASHINGTON, DC — Chairman Henry A. Waxman issued a subpoena to compel EPA to provide unredacted copies of documents that have been improperly withheld from the Committee regarding EPA’s decision to reject California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. Chairman Waxman released the following statement:
“Despite several requests for these documents, EPA has refused to provide them to the Committee. These documents must be provided to the Committee because they are relevant to the examination of the Administration’s decision to reject California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. The desire to conceal embarrassing facts is not a valid legal basis for withholding these documents from the Committee.
America needs a clean and sharp break from Bush Administration energy policies that are straining families’ budgets and threatening our planet’s future. The New Direction Congress is providing forward-looking leadership that will fuel America’s energy future, save Americans’ money, create good jobs, improve our national security, and preserve our planet for our children.
Someone remind me again why we went to war in Iraq? The WMD story is for the younger-than-six crowd. Most thinking people knew it was about the oil, and nothing BUT the oil, so help us, God. Ah yes, a nice, cheap supply of oil to take America through the 21st century, wasn't it?
Apparently, Senator Barbara Boxer was as curious as the rest of us about why the EPA would stop states from trying to exceed the standards and enforce stricter policies on greenhouse gas emissions. It seems only natural that heavily populated and polluted areas, think LA, would need stricter policies. The EPA says that states can't go willy-nilly making better policy than the federal government. After all, the major polluting corporations have already told Little George how much they are willing to pay and that is that.
Sen. Boxer along with Rep. Henry Waxman asked for the EPA documentation. And unbelievably, the EPA invoked executive privilege. Yes, you read that right, somehow in this insane Bush administration it is acceptable for any agency to defy Congressional oversight. How in the hell can greenhouse gas emission control be covered under executive privilege?
"EPA is concerned about the chilling effect that would occur if agency employees believed their frank and honest opinions and analysis expressed as part of assessing California's waiver request were to be disclosed in a broad setting," EPA's associate administrator Christopher P. Bliley wrote.
Huh? If the EPA decision making process would have a "chilling effect" then we need to know all about it right now. These people are so full of themselves and shit it is beyond belief. Please Sen. Boxer, bring these people in and threaten them with everything in your power. Somebody has got to take a hard stand and do something about these little Bushites or we will never get our America back.
Looking to get rid of your old cell phone? EPA has teamed up with several cell phone makers, service providers, and retailers as part of its Plug-In to eCycling program to boost recycling efforts of unwanted cell phones. You can now drop off or mail in your old cell phone, PDA, cell phone batteries, chargers, or other accessories at any one of the partner retailers or service providers.
According to EPA, less than 20 percent of unwanted cell phones are recycled each year. Recycling a cell phone helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, and conserve natural resources. An estimated 100 million to 130 million cell phones are no longer being used, many languishing in storage.
If Americans recycled 100 million phones, enough upstream energy would be saved to power more than 194,000 U.S. households for a year. If consumers were able to reuse those 100 million cell phones, the environmental savings would be even greater, saving enough energy to power more than 370,000 U.S. homes each year.
I spent some time this morning looking up info on drop offs, memory erasure, history, impact, etc., so if you're interested, keep on reading. And we all should be interested, because according to the EPA:
Lead, mercury, cadmium and brominated flame retardants are among the substances of concern in electronics. These substances are included in the products for important performance characteristics, but can cause problems if the products are not properly managed at end of life.
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