These last couple weeks I haven't been updating my blog, mostly because I have been very busy. Busy with what? Well, other than busy not being paid, I have been rushing around the Hill from hearing to hearing over the new energy bill. That is: Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, Boxer-Kerry, CEJAP or S.1733. This is the Senate version of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, Waxman-Markey, ACES or H.R.2454. Here are a couple highlights from the last two weeks:
-I went to the Environment and Natural Resources Hearing on Cap-and-trade economics. The emphasis was on trying to find a way to give money back to the consumer, who would inevitably bear the brunt of cap and trade. The panel questioned witnesses from Academia and non-profits, including my favorite Resources for the Future (sounds cool, huh?) Senator Bingaman, Cantwell and Dorgan asked how rates of electricity would vary across regions and how money could be funneled back to low income communities for transitional support into new low energy appliances. Sen Murkowski harped on regional differences between her home state of AK and those "coastal regions." Bunning, Bennett and Barrasso made their usual diatribes about an energy tax and how carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, etc. Polemics aside, they had the same question about how the average consumer was going to be helped to transition to a green economy. Some good ideas from the witnesses were cap and dividend which gives money back in the form of a stimulus-like check, and a 15% rebate for low income communities.
-The big enchiladas were the Environment and Public Works hearings on the new bill, featuring various experts on national security, adaptation, trade and economics and a panel of Obama Administration secretary members (DOE, EPA, DOT, DOI, etc). Senator Boxer took control of the hearing quickly, and acted as a moderator for the witnesses and Sen Inhofe. Inhofe was surprisingly less crazy about his global warming denial and stuck to the tax complaint. Sen Alexander made his point about building 100 new nuclear power plants, electrifying 50% of the vehicle fleet and creating mini "Manhattan Projects." There were some questions about agriculture from Sen Klobuchar, but mostly the democrats asked about the need for regulation of GHG emissions and the availability of technology. The most interesting segments involved Boxer and Inhofe's exchanges and questioning of retired Vice Admiral McGill, of the Center for Naval Analysis. His reiteration that climate change was a threat to national security, and my experience reading over his work, has given me great respect for him.
-Lastly, I attended the Fraudulent Letters hearing by the House Selection Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. This was held by chairman Ed Markey, who I have great respect for from his authorship in H.R.2454. He questioned representatives from the NAACP, the American Association of University Women, Bonner and Associates and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE). Fraudulent letters supposedly sent by a temp worker at Bonner and Associates, who was contracted by ACCCE, were sent to congressmen on behalf of senior, veterans and ethnic groups opposing the Waxman-Markey bill. These letters were fake, and the transgression was found out 2 days before the bill was sent to the floor. ACCCE and Bonner took slow action to remedy this, as the parties involved, representatives and groups who were victims of the fraud were not notified until almost 1 month after the vote. Markey and Rep Jay Inslee shamed Bonner and ACCCE and called what they did an affront to democracy. Markey and Inslee went a step further to say that the memos that ACCCE was putting out about higher energy bills were as fraudulent as the letters. Steve Miller of ACCCE gave contraditing statements about whether or not he intended on supporting the bill, which Markey did not believe. Markey concluded the hearing by telling Miller to go to global warming naysayers like Sen Inhoff and tell them that ACCCE supports a cap on emissions and thinks global warming is an important threat to deal with. Most importantly, Markey said that this kind of rhetoric about energy bills gets to the floor debate and hinders good discussion.
That's all folks.
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