Hill Heat

Contributors to the liberal community blog DailyKos have launched an environment-themed offshoot, DK GreenRoots. The site is led by Timothy Lange, who uses the handle Meteor Blades, Doug Snodgrass (dsnodgrass), and the Daily Kos contributor known as “Patriot Daily.”

Another Daily Kos project, led by contributor RL Miller, is the Adopt-A-Senator campaign on climate change legislation, with community members contributing profiles on the senators and where they stand on climate and energy policy, in particular the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) and the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S. 1733).

Hill Heat is tracking the published Adopt-a-Senator diaries at hillheat.com/pages/aas.

Hill Heat has acquired the global warming chapter from the new book SuperFreakonomics, the sequel to the best-selling Freakonomics, by economists Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. The authors write that “Any religion, meanwhile, has its heretics, and global warming is no exception,” and that “it’s illogical to believe in a carbon-induced warming apocalypse.” At Climate Progress, Joseph Romm has a harsh critique of basic errors in science. Romm also quotes climate scientist Ken Caldeira, who tells Romm:

Every carbon dioxide emission adds to climate damage and increasing risk of catastrophic consequences.

In SuperFreakonomics, however, Levitt and Dubner claim that Caldeira believes “carbon dioxide is not the right villain in this fight.”

E&E News reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham believes man-made global warming and oil dependence represent a sufficient threat to work on climate legislation, even if it is seen as a policy victory for President Obama.

Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)

“I think it’s fair to say the vast majority of senators are very pro-nuclear and so the way I vote on the amendment is not the deciding factor, because in this case you have a sea change of support beyond where I am.”

Tom Carper (D-Del.)

“One of the things we need to devote some resources to is beginning to figure out what to do with the spent nuclear fuel rods. Do we recycle them? Do we reprocess them? I think there’s problems with current technology on both of those. We need to figure out what to do with them. We can safely store the stuff on site. And we’ll do for several decades.”

“The legislation as drawn provides enormous incentives for the generation of electricity from sources that don’t create carbon. Nuclear is right there. So there’ll be a lot of incentives, just from the way the allowance system will be set up.”

Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

“A guy like Senator Kerry is looking for coalitions. If you had a bill that would allow for responsible offshore drilling, a robust nuclear power title, I think you could get some Republican votes for a cap-and-trade system.”

“I think the planet is heating up. I think CO2 emissions are damaging the environment and this dependence on foreign oil is a natural disaster in the making. Let’s do something about it. I’d like to solve a problem, and if it’s on President Obama’s watch, it doesn’t bother me one bit if it makes the country better off.”

John Kerry (D-Mass.)

“Every idea is on the table. We’re going to work in a bona fide way with everybody to see how to bridge a gap here. We’ve got to get a 60-vote margin. That means you’ve got to legislate, which means you have to compromise.”

“There’s a nuclear title and it invites discussion on that. I’m willing to sit down with anybody and talk seriously about how we proceed in a serious way.”

Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)

“There’s more common ground than there has been with health care. It just depends on what it is, but again, I think people are willing and open to talk about any energy that helps our country to put us back in the driver’s seat again.”

“I think there’ll be some beginnings of it in the committee process, but I think the whole bill, given so many different committees are working on it, the bill will ultimately come together on the floor. I think we’d be naive to think that that’s not true.”

On September 18, Sen. Bingaman (D-N.M.) told a local activist that media magnate Ted Turner visited his office to ask what he can do to convince more senators to support climate legislation. Turner owns several vast ranches in New Mexico, established as wildlife preserves. “If we know something about the problem and don’t do it,” Turner has previously commented, “then we don’t deserve to live.”

BINGAMAN: He came in this week to lobby me on – or not lobby me really, but just basically talk about what needs to be done to get some type of climate change legislation enacted. He’s very committed on that issue, and part of what he’s taken on – I mean he’s done an awful lot, as you know, with support for the United Nations – but on climate change he’s committed as well. And he was in here with some of his key people to talk about what he could do to persuade more people in the Senate to assist with climate change legislation.

Although Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) was a sharp critic of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act, he has adopted a mildly supportive tone in his initial response to the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs Act.

Robert Byrd (D-W.V.)

West Virginia Gazette I am glad to see that Senators Kerry and Boxer included some of the provisions I and other senators recommended related to carbon capture and storage. I am pleased that Senators Boxer and Kerry are placing a greater focus on clean coal technology. While it is an encouraging sign, we have a long way to go on this legislation. Many issues have yet to be addressed. There is still a tough road ahead.

However, fellow West Virginia senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) lashed out at the legislation for its strengthened carbon cap, calling the bill “a disappointing step in the wrong direction.”

Senate Republicans, even those who have supported climate legislation in the past or who claim to recognize the threat of climate change, have nearly universally condemned the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs Act. Only George Voinovich (R-Ohio) sounded a moderately conciliatory note:

George Voinovich (R-Ohio)

Columbus Dispatch Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio, who is on the environment committee, said he will review the bill introduced by the two Democrats but sounded a skeptical note as he said that “the devil is in the details. Climate change must be addressed in a bipartisan way—it must incentivize the clean-energy technologies we need now and in the future without driving jobs overseas and further damaging our economy.”

Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)

E&E News The American people are becoming very wary – and some are even frightened – by the persistence of these comprehensive plans to try to change the whole country. The Boxer-Kerry bill is a combination of fancy, complicated words that means high energy costs that will drive American jobs overseas.

Alexander These are fancy, complicated words for high-cost energy that sends jobs overseas looking for cheap energy. Instead, we should take practical steps to produce low-cost, clean, carbon-free energy and create jobs. Specifically, we should build 100 new nuclear plants, electrify half our cars and trucks, expand exploration offshore for American natural gas and oil, and double funding for energy research and development.

John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)

Mother Jones Barrasso, meanwhile, was all over the map. He tried to change the subject in response to a question about whether he believed climate change is real, then rambled on about how he’s talked to some people who are skeptical of anthropogenic warming before citing an experimental carbon-capture project in Wyoming to “lower and to capture and sequester carbon dioxide.” Nevertheless, he eventually concluded: “I don’t believe it is a problem at this point.”

Kit Bond (R-Mo.)

E&E News It’s hard to believe that Kerry-Boxer is worse than the other California-Massachusetts bill.

Mother Jones None of the farmers I have talked to in Missouri have expressed concerns about human-caused global climate change. We have seen in Missouri the benefits of the cooling that started in ‘98. We’ve had ample rain. We are right now worrying about making sure the growing season is long enough.”

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas)

The Age This is not the time to be adding costs.

E&E News We have a positive plan, and that is more nuclear. It is time for us to look at the real answers to green energy and have something positive that is not going to be a further burden on American families.

Following the release of the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act yesterday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) called the bill “a disappointing step in the wrong direction.”

Hill Heat has learned that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) shares this view.

Nelson’s energy and environmental director Erick Lutt told Hill Heat in a telephone interview that while the Senator had not finished going over the entire bill, or made an official statement, Nelson “cannot support” Kerry-Boxer.

When asked if Nelson would join Republicans in a filibuster against climate legislation, Lutt said “it depends on what ends up in the bill.” Upon further questioning, Lutt admitted that Nelson standing with the GOP in a filibuster wasn’t “beyond possibility.”

Senators Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), though uncommitted on Kerry-Boxer, have pledged to fight a Republican filibuster.

“I am not committed to cap-and-trade under any circumstance,” Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) told Roll Call, however.

“It’s a difficult issue,” added Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.).

Download the full text here.

A SUMMARY OF THE CLEAN ENERGY JOBS AND AMERICAN POWER ACT

AS INTRODUCED September 30, 2009

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. This Act may be cited as the “Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act”.

Sections 2. Findings. Describes the impacts of climate change and the benefits of transitioning to a clean energy economy.

Section 3. Economywide Emission Reduction Goals. Establishes targets for reducing global warming pollution.

Section 4. Definitions.

DIVISION A—AUTHORIZATIONS FOR POLLUTION REDUCTION, TRANSITION, AND ADAPTATION

Section 101. Structure of Act. Describes the authorizations included in the bill, including those that receive an allocation of allowances under Division B.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.), who has not previously taken a strong position on climate legislation, issued a statement strongly opposing the Kerry-Boxer Clean Jobs Act introduced today:

“The climate legislation proposed today by Senators Boxer and Kerry is a disappointing step in the wrong direction and I am against it. Requiring 20 percent emission reductions by 2020 is unrealistic and harmful – it is simply not enough time to deploy the carbon capture and storage (CCS) and energy efficiency technologies we need. Period. Our nation cannot survive without energy from coal and any viable climate policy must solidify our future by focusing on technology to make coal cleaner faster. I will continue studying the bill and all of its implications for our state and the coal industry. This is by no means the defining word on climate legislation in the Senate. I remain adamant in my conviction not to support any bill that might threaten the economy, workers or families across West Virginia. We should take the time to approach these issues with absolute care and diligence – they require nothing less.”

Breaking from most national environmental organizations, Friends of the Earth has issued a detailed critique of the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, which limits global warming pollution and invests in clean energy:

We commend Senators Boxer and Kerry for their dedication to combating the important problem of climate change but we cannot support a bill that fails to solve the problem. Overall the draft is riddled with loopholes and does not go far enough to protect the planet.

Friends of the Earth’s “areas of concern” include:

Emissions Cap: Science demands at least a 40% reduction in emissions, compared to 1990, by 2020. The draft bill has emissions reductions targets of about 20 percent below 2005 levels – nowhere near what a fair U.S. contribution to a global emissions reductions should be to avert climate catastrophe

Clean Air Act: The draft bill prohibits the Administration from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants and other stationary sources until 2020.

Offset Loopholes: The extensive use of unreliable offsets in this draft bill, up to 2 billion tons a year, seriously undermines the integrity of the already weak emissions cap and delays the health, environmental, and economic benefits of shifting to a low-carbon economy.

Methane Regulations: The House-passed bill would require emissions from landfills, coal mines and natural gas pipelines to be regulated, but under the Kerry-Boxer draft, these sources can voluntarily capture methane in exchange for offset payments.

Markets Regulations: The bill would create from scratch a new commodities market for carbon that could quickly be the largest market in the world and has no specifics on how that market would be regulated.

Subsidizes Dirty Energy: The bill gives special subsidies to expensive, unsafe and environmentally damaging technologies such as nuclear reactors and carbon capture and sequestration and capture for coal plants, not to mention ambiguous incentives for biofuels.

Friends of the Earth’s policy team will be taking a deeper look at the bill in further days and release a more detailed analysis at a later date so that we can work with the Senate to pass legislation that will fairly and effectively address the problem of climate change.