Stories tagged with "congress"

Energize America - two years on

Posted by Jerome a Paris on August 13, 2007 - 9:00am
Topic: Policy/Politics
Tags: congress, energize america, netroots [list all tags]

... an energy plan that I find far more comprehensive and thoughtful than anything the think tanks have produced. It's been read and reshaped by thousands of readers; it will serve as a useful model should the Democrats retake Congress and have the ability to move legislation.
Bill McKibben, the New York Review of Books

It's been almost two years since the Energize America experiment got underway and today, just coming back from the YearlyKos panel that described the new perspectives ahead of us, I wanted to retrace the history of this unprecedented attempt at netroots-run policy-making.

Bill McKibben, who participated to another YearlyKos panel on global warming, was kind enough to write the words above more than a year ago. He is himself involved in another amazing netroots-born effort, Step It Up, to call for concrete policy measures to fight global warming. Coordinating our efforts, linking our communities and building on one another's collective energies will be a big part of what we hope to do in the coming months. Adam Siegel, who chaired the Energize America in Chicago last week, has put up some diaries summarising the presentation we made, outlining our achievements up to date (up to and including advanced discussions with Congresspersons from both sides on proposed legislation) and highlighting the opportunities and challenges we have ahead of us. These diaries can be read on the Energize America website (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) and I can only encourage you to go read them. But it's worth looking back on how we got there.

Note as well that I posted an earlier diary on Energize America here on the Oil Drum a few months back to introduce the plan to TOD readers.

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Prepared Statement of Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-6-MD) for the US-China Economic and Security Commission Hearing on Energy

Posted by Prof. Goose on June 16, 2007 - 10:37am
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: china, congress, peak oil, roscoe bartlett, united states [list all tags]

Prepared Statement of Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-6-MD)
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
Hearing on Energy
June 15, 2007

I appreciate the opportunity to testify today before the Members of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission concerning energy.

The Commission has been charged to examine and report to Congress about energy considering: “The effect of the large and growing economy of the People’s Republic of China on world energy supplies and the role the United States can play (including joint research and development efforts and technological assistance), in influencing the energy policy of the People’s Republic of China.”

Energy is a topic of intense interest and concern to me. I have been studying energy, and in particular oil, for the past 40 years. I believe that energy will be the dominant issue affecting our nation and our world in the 21st Century. In 8,000 years of recorded history, we are 150 years into the Age of Oil. This period of 150 years has lulled Americans, but not our counterparts in China, into a false sense of complacency. (Much more under the fold)

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Subsidy or Despotism?

Posted by Glenn on March 27, 2006 - 9:08am in The Oil Drum: Local
Topic: Policy/Politics
Tags: congress, despotism, offshore drilling, oil, peak oil [list all tags]

A first step toward appropriately pricing a barrel of oil is to remove all subsidies for its production and consumption. The NY Times has an indepth article today about the Federal law that has allowed offshore drilling without royalty payment.

..the Bush administration confirmed that it expected the government to waive about $7 billion in royalties (for oil drilling) over the next five years, even though the industry incentive was expressly conceived of for times when energy prices were low. And that number could quadruple to more than $28 billion if a lawsuit filed last week challenging one of the program's remaining restrictions proves successful.

If prices are low, that would seem like a good incentive to keep it in the ground, but oh no we must drill that stuff no matter how hard it is to recover.

Many Libertarians say "The government does not have any money it does not first take" implying a form of despotism is in play. Well I say that the government cannot receive any money that its citizens or its representatives do not allow it to legally - anything else is despotism.

However, it seems that some elected governments will actively refuse to receive money in exchange for selling the public's assets on publicly owned land or off the coast. Some might say that the government taking any money encourages despotism. I would say that giving it away to corporations for free is the real despotism.

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A gesture is sometimes important...

Posted by Prof. Goose on November 21, 2005 - 9:21pm
Topic: Policy/Politics
Tags: congress, house of representatives, oil, peak oil, roscoe bartlett [list all tags]

In Brief: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States, in collaboration with other international allies, should establish an energy project with the magnitude, creativity, and sense of urgency that was incorporated in the `Man on the Moon' project to address the inevitable challenges of `Peak Oil.'

http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/articles/572

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Oil execs speak to the Senate today

Posted by Yankee on November 8, 2005 - 11:39am
Topic: Policy/Politics
Tags: congress, oil companies, oil prices, senate [list all tags]

More senatorial shenanigans, this time bipartisan! (Remember, in the past the Democrats have been most vocal on this issue.) Probably as I write, oil company execs are testifying in front of the Senate.

Oil industry executives summoned to Capitol Hill are expected to receive a grilling Wednesday -- perhaps unlike any they have faced before -- over their record profits at a time of high oil prices.

But the questions won't just be coming from the usual critics. Some of the industry's traditional Republican allies are eager to demonstrate that they too share their constituents' anger.

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