Category Archives: Laws

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U.S. Representative: Keystone XL “poses major threats at every turn”

United States Representative Steve Cohen (D - TN) spoke against the Keystone XL pipeline, on the House floor yesterday.

“When you brush aside the studies by TransCanada and other oil companies and you analyze the pure scientific studies,” said Rep. Cohen, “every analysis clearly demonstrates the Keystone XL pipeline poses major threats at every turn – in its extraction, its transportation, its refining, and its consumption – threats to our earth.”

Here’s the video of Cohen’s brief remarks.

And here’s the text:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share my grave concerns about the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, the decision and existence of which is awaiting a decision by the Administration.

Last week, 84 of my colleagues (82 Republicans and 2 Democrats) introduced H.R. 3, a bill that would approve the construction and maintenance of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The world’s foremost climatologist, Dr. James Hansen—and one of the first scientists to warn of the dangers of burning carbon fuel and a partial recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize—has likened the building and use of the Keystone pipeline to the “lighting of a carbon bomb.” Game over.

DC rally against the Keystone XL pipeline.

DC rally against the Keystone XL pipeline.

When you brush aside the studies by TransCanada and other oil companies and you analyze the pure scientific studies, every analysis clearly demonstrates the Keystone XL pipeline poses major threats at every turn – in its extraction, its transportation, its refining, and its consumption – threats to our earth.

The truth of the matter is, the U.S. isn’t even going to be using those fossil fuels transported by the pipeline—they’re going straight to China.

In fact, the only proposed feasible method of getting those Canadian tar sands to China or any other country is by building the Keystone XL pipeline, to feed into the port in Houston, Texas.

I urge my colleagues to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline, avoid lighting that carbon bomb in our country. Oppose H.R. 3 and return our focus to initiatives that center on true energy independence through renewable resources and greener production.”

Cohen is one of 24 Representatives who comprise the Safe Climate Caucus — a group organized last month and headed by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

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Renewable Energy Under Attack in Two Dozen States

Recent attacks on state support for renewable energy in solar-rich Arizona are part of a nationwide trend.

Solar panels cover the roof of a parking garage at Arizona State University in Tempe. (Photo by Osha Gray Davidson)

At InsideClimate News today, Maria Gallucci writes:

Over the past few years, a rising tide of legislation has sought to repeal or weaken renewable portfolio standards RPS, which require a certain share of a state’s electricity supply to come from sources like solar and wind. Lesser known are the few lawsuits filed to challenge the constitutionality of these laws.

Many of these attempts have fizzled, but some are being revived this year. In total, 42 efforts are wending their way through legislatures and courts in more than two dozen states, according to the North Carolina Solar Center, a clearinghouse for state renewable energy policies.

“The danger of some of these [RPS laws] being repealed is a little bit greater this year than it was last year,” said Justin Barnes, a senior policy analyst at the center.”

While Republicans are behind most of these anti-renewable attacks (unsurprisingly), Gallucci points to a more specific source.

The biggest push is coming from the American Legislative Exchange Council ALEC, a 40-year-old industry group with free-market views that drafts and pushes legislation and that sees renewable energy mandates as an overreach of government authority.

via Renewable Energy Standards Target of Multi-Pronged Attack | InsideClimate News.

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How to Balance the books on carbon: Polluter pays

A group of Democratic Congressmen and Senators released draft legislation today aimed at putting a price on carbon. They call it a discussion draft, so be sure to let them know what you like and don’t like about the proposal.

For background, check out our 2009 eBook, The Climate Bill: A Field Guide. The eVolume includes just about everything on the official record (transcripts of committee hearings and floor debate, the recorded vote, and the full text of the humongous bill) from the American Clean Energy Act of 2009, which passed the House but was never taken up in the Senate.

March 11 ~ House Committee on Energy & Commerce

Today, Representative Henry A. Waxman, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Representative Earl Blumenauer, and Senator Brian Schatz released draft carbon-pricing legislation and solicited feedback on it from stakeholders and the public. The legislation would establish the polluter pays principle for dangerous carbon pollution, requiring large emitters to pay for the pollution they emit.

The “discussion draft” released today contains a new and straightforward approach to putting a price on carbon pollution. The nation’s largest polluters would have to pay a fee for each ton of pollution they release. The legislation assigns responsibility for the assessment and collection of the carbon fees based upon the expertise that has already been developed by EPA and the Treasury Department. Under the discussion draft, EPA’s database of reported emissions would determine the amount of pollution subject to the fee. The Treasury Department would be responsible for the collection and handling of the fees.

“Putting a price on carbon could help solve two of the nation’s biggest challenges at once: preventing climate change and reducing the budget deficit,” said Rep. Waxman of California. “There have been carbon tax proposals made by others. What’s unique about this one is its novel design. We are seeking to craft a system in which each agency does what they are good at and that minimizes compliance burdens and administrative costs. Utilities, oil companies, and other major sources are already reporting their emissions to EPA. We build off of this existing program.”

“Putting a price on carbon is the best way to reduce carbon pollution and slow the effects of climate change,” said Sen. Whitehouse of Rhode Island. “For far too long, carbon polluters have pushed the true cost of their pollution onto the American people in the form of dirty air, acidified water, and a changing climate. This framework is the beginning of a collaborative process to craft legislation that will reduce carbon pollution while also upholding an important principle: that all of the revenue generated through this carbon fee will be returned to the American people.”

via Waxman, Whitehouse, Blumenauer, and Schatz Release Carbon Price Discussion Draft | Committee on Energy and Commerce Democrats.