June, 2010:

Re: Energy Legislation: Cantwell, Bingaman Strategize Ahead Of Meeting At White House, by Lucia Graves, HuffPost Reporting

The search for a legislative way forward on energy will continue Tuesday when Democrats reconvene to strategize ahead of a Wednesday energy meeting at the White House. Presenters from last Thursday’s Democratic caucus meeting, including Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) who laid out her CLEAR Act in a well-conceived video, will field questions from colleagues. Cantwell’s video, presented at a caucus meeting to decide what direction to take on energy legislation, describes the energy bill she is sponsoring with Susan Collins (R-Me.).

The CLEAR Act would spur green energy investment while avoiding regional disparities, according to a new study by the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law. The legislation would cap national greenhouse gas emissions, auctioning off all allowances for emissions and then refunding 75 percent of federal revenues to taxpayers, using the other 25 percent to invest in green technologies.

I had high hopes for the Kerry-Lieberman-Graham climate change bill, but Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the coward, decided that it was just way too liberal and took his ball and went home crying all the way about faulty climate science when everyone knows that big oil hired scientists to diss the real science and muddy the once clear waters of global warming truth. My heart sunk when the effort collapsed without GOP support. But the guys on the hill have to realize that any progressive measure will collapse if it depends on any GOP support at all to pass.

Now that my favorite Senator, Maria Cantwell (D-WA) has introduced legislation that would get the job done without cap-and-trade which was a faulty idea to begin with, my hopes are soaring again that we will begin to take real steps toward a clean energy future, instead of just giving it lip service like we have done for the past four decades. Cantwell’s plan limits carbon emissions. Cap-and-trade did not, and allowed big polluters to pay to keep on polluting.

Kudos to Senator Cantwell and Senator Bingaman!

Here’s the full video explaining how it works:

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