Click on the headline (link) for the full text.
Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
The House Energy Bill — What You Can Do to Help Change Federal Energy Policy for the Better
Prof. Goose, The Oil Drum
I have some homework for the readers of TOD, if you all are up for it. We need many pairs of eyes and excellent minds to contribute to a project that could be important for our democratic Republic.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has more influence over what will make it into the House Energy Bill than any other Member. Under House procedure, the Rules Committee has the job of taking all of the energy-related bills approved by the various committees that have some jurisdiction over energy and combining them into one bill — hundreds, if not thousands of pages with no time to consider the interaction of the pieces and parts.
A draft Energy bill will be released at a news conference perhaps on a coming Friday afternoon–we’re not exactly sure when. By close of business the following Monday or Tuesday, proposed amendments to the bill have to be drafted into legislative language by Legislative Counsel and submitted by Members to the Rules Committee.
The next day or so after that, the Rules Committee will meet to consider which amendments are “in order” and will be allowed to have a 10 minute debate and a vote on the Floor. Any proposed amendments have to be “germane” — the non-partisan Parliamentarian’s office has to declare the amendment is related to narrowing or changing a specific provision already in the bill. If it’s not related to something already in the bill, it’s not germane. The Rules Committee is stacked with Members in a 9 to 5 ratio of Democratic Majority to Republican Minority. The Democrats are loyal to the Speaker, Republicans to Boehner, as it usually goes. So amendments that are politically undesirable to the Speaker and the Majority can also be denied a Floor vote.
Bottom Line — There’s a lot to do, lots of rules to follow and little time to do it. What The Oil Drum folks can do to help can be found under the fold.
There’s a lot of detective work involved in this little experiment.
The plan is right now for TOD to blast the House of Representatives with a link to this thread and the comments as the time becomes right. It’s time to make some hay. Keep it civil. Staffers will be reading this thread. Be conscious of that, please.
(25 June 2007)
Energy bill reflects shift in political power
Zachary Coile, SF Chronicle
Victory in November allowed Democrats to move focus from drilling to conservation
—-
The Senate’s passage of an energy bill this week shows that elections matter — even a slight Democratic majority, with the help of some Republicans, has begun shifting the nation’s energy policy from a focus on drilling to conservation and using renewable fuels.
For six years while Republicans controlled Congress, the majority followed the motto of Vice President Dick Cheney, who led the administration’s energy task force and famously said: “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.”
Now the pendulum is swinging the other way.
Senate Democrats focused their new energy bill on trying to reduce America’s thirst for oil by approving the first major hike in fuel-economy standards for cars and trucks. The bill also includes a host of efficiency measures — including new standards for appliances and lightbulbs — and requires all federal buildings to use 30 percent less energy by 2015 and stop using all fossil-fuel-based energy by 2030.
“It’s the beginning of a revolution in American energy policy,” Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said Friday.
(23 June 2007)
New study finds Americans skeptical about cap-and-trade policies (Video & transcript)
E&E TV
A new study conducted by New Scientist magazine, Stanford University, and Resources for the Future takes a look at which climate policies Americans will likely support when costs are taken into account.
During today’s E&ETV Event Coverage, Jeremy Webb, editor of New Scientist, Peter Aldhous, San Francisco bureau chief of New Scientist, Jon Krosnick of Stanford University, and Ray Kopp, senior fellow at Resources for the Future discuss these new findings.
The panelists analyze why Americans favor action to reduce emissions in the electricity sector over a cap-and-trade approach.
(25 June 2007)
