Saturday, April 28, 2007

Energy Legislation

Carl Pope writes The Empire Strikes Back in The Huffington Post. In this case the Empire is the big carbon industry and the striking is how they are successfully lobbying Congress to keep their head in the sand. "the House of Representatives voted, 264-154, to make the two worst available energy options (coal-to-liquids and nuclear reprocessing) the top priorities for federal research. Seventy-five Democrats joined the Republicans to override their own leadership and cave in to the energy special-interests that have always run energy policy in DC."

"In a similar move, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) is reported to have made it clear that he will filibuster any legislation that improves auto fuel-efficiency standards, and West Virginia Congressman Rick Boucher announced that he would not move climate change legislation through his subcommittee until the Fall, defying Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has asked for a bill by the 4th of July."

Actually I'd like to see the Levin filibuster. I can't fathom what arguments there are against improving efficiency when I last paid $3.50 for gas. Let's keep our dependence on oil and lets continue to make the Earth inhabitable.

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