Posts by Kate Sheppard

As the Senate awaits the cap-and-trade bill expected to be released sometime before the end of September, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is looking for ways to get more incentives for manufacturing and clean-energy technology in the bill that might help sweeten the deal for Midwest Democrats.
Brown has already introduced the Investments for Manufacturing Progress and [...]

It appears that cap-and-trade legislation is turning out to be popular in the states of some conservative Democrats, according to a new poll that Democratic firm Garin Hart Yang conducted on behalf of the Environmental Defense Fund.
In Blue Dog Dem Heath Shuler’s North Carolina district, cap and trade is supported by 55% of voters, versus [...]

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) wants to put the brakes on the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to curb climate change by barring the agency from spending any funds on regulating carbon dioxide pollution from power plants, manufacturers, and other major emissions sources. She’s asking for a one-year “timeout” so Congress can pass new legislation, despite the [...]

Several farm-state senators are looking to include a provision in a major appropriations bill that would significantly increase the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline, despite concerns about the impacts.
Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) are reportedly considering (sub. req’d) offering amendments to force the Environmental Protection Agency to raise the blend level [...]

Despite stated claims from politicians of every stripe about the desire to free the United States from the grip of foreign energy sources, the federal government has offered $15.3 billion in subsidies for imported oil since 2002, according to a new analysis from the Environmental Law Institute.
The report totals government expenditures on different energy sources, [...]

With Congress not expected to pass a climate change bill this year, industry groups see EPA as their new target.

The Family Research Council is taking aim at the guy they hope will be “the next Van Jones” in their latest action alert. It’s apparently Kevin Jennings, who was appointed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan to head the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (and who has been included among the list of “czars”). His [...]

The anticipated climate legislation from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) will include an upper and lower limit on the price of carbon, a significant change from the measure that passed the House that is designed to gather more support for the measure in the Senate.
The measure, often called a “price collar,” is designed to stabilize the [...]

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is digging in on the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s claims that the administration is hiding the true cost of a climate bill, despite the fact that documents they cite do not reflect any actual legislation.
“The current administration claims to be the most transparent in American history, yet it’s been hiding a report [...]

Earlier this week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute posted a set of documents (PDF) it obtained via the Freedom of Information Act that it’s touting as evidence that the Obama administration secretly believes that climate change legislation will cost the average American $1,761. Problem is, these hot documents don’t actually reflect any real policy being considered.
The [...]