Hill Heat

Putting the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill “on a fast-track” for passage, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “issued an ultimatum to her committee chairmen: move climate change legislation by June 19 or risk losing jurisdiction over the bill.”

“Stephen Ward, chief of staff for Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M, said Wednesday that lawmakers fear a ratepayer backlash” if carbon pollution is capped, telling “a room full of alternative-energy financiers at the Lazard Capital Markets Alternative Energy Investor Summit” that he foresees “a more modest bill” than Waxman-Markey coming from the Senate.

Researchers have discovered that the Phragmites “super weed” emits toxic chemicals to kill competitors, and “the poison becomes even more toxic” because of global warming’s effect on ultraviolet radiation.

Hill Heat has learned that NRDC legislative director Karen Wayland will return to Congress as a climate and energy policy adviser for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Dr. Wayland holds a dual Ph.D. in geology and resource development from Michigan State University.

From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Wayland served as the American Geophysical Union Congressional Science Fellow for Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), working on nuclear waste, water, energy and Native American issues, immediately upon completion of her doctoral dissertation.