Archive - May 8, 2009

As you would expect, climate news and the blogosphere this week have been dominated by discussion of the Waxman-Markey clean energy and climate bill. In the face of growing attempts to weaken the bill, the New York Times weighs in with a timely and generally positive editorial about the bill. A couple of choice quotes:

Mr. Obama told Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to work out a consensus, which they must do. Though flawed, the bill is an honorable start on a problem too long neglected. Fix it, but get on with it, in the certain knowledge that failure to act would almost certainly doom comprehensive climate change legislation for this year and, probably, for this Congress.

. . . . .

The bill deliberately left big questions open for discussion, and as negotiations proceed, Mr. Waxman and Mr. Markey must resist crippling concessions. One debate is whether companies should get the allowances the government will assign to polluters for free or whether they should pay for them at an auction.

The following is a guest post by veteran climat activist Ted Glick, cross-posted from the CCAN Blog. -- Luis

“This is 2009. We’ve got 41 years in this deal, and we shouldn’t be so worried about the first 10 years.”

–Congressman Mike Doyle, Environment and Energy Daily, May 7, 2009

I had no plans yesterday morning as I woke up and turned on my computer to spend the afternoon in the D.C. office of Congressman Mike Doyle. But then I read this line in an article on the status of efforts to cobble together a piece of climate legislation in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

I remember my physical reaction as I read these words, my head shaking back and forth, some trembling and an upwelling of deep, livid anger. “This is the last straw,” I remember thinking.