Link Roundup: June 17, 2009
Link Roundups are summaries of the many articles and blogs that cross my screen throughout the day. No one should have to read this many articles, so just read the excerpts and commentary and only read the full article if you think it would be worthwhile.
Bill Status
Rep. Waxman Gives Himself Another Day to Finish Climate Talks With Farm State Democrats (via NYT)
Looks like neither the Agriculture committee and the Ways & Means committee will have a chance to do a formal markup on the bill. They will be making deals with Waxman to get their agendas dealt with.
Pelosi has given eight committees reviewing the Waxman bill until Friday to wrap up their work, and most are expected to defer to the Energy and Commerce package along with a number of modifications as part of a manager’s amendment.
Bill Analysis
Myth: Waxman-Markey gives away 85 percent of allowances to polluters (via Grist)
Point is, roughly half the allowance value goes to consumers. Roughly a quarter goes to Clean Stuff like clean energy, prevention of international deforestation, adaptation, state efficiency programs, and the like. And roughly a quarter goes to Dirty Stuff like merchant coal generators, oil refineries, and trade-exposed, carbon-intensive industries like steel. Not how I’d do it, but not “giving away 85% of allowances to polluters.” The bulk of the value is going toward protecting consumers and transitioning to a clean energy economy.
ACES Toolbox Analysis (via NWF)
Great breakdown of the good, the bad and the ugly in the bill.
Politics
White House hopes new climate report is a ‘game-changer’ (via Grist)
Review of the report released at GlobalChange.gov. An hour-long video of the press conference can be found here. You can also find the slideshow here. Find out how your region will be impacted.
The administration also hired Resource Media, a San Francisco-based public relations firm, to help with messaging on the document. Zach Warnow, a program coordinator at Resource Media, said the firm has been working on PR related to the report for about three-and-a-half months. The group has worked on a number of environment-relate projects in the past, including work on behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
At the same time, administration officials said they aren’t using the document as a policy prescription, but more as an impetus to action in general. “It’s science that will inform policy,” said Lubchenco. “It doesn’t dictate any particular solution, but it says this is important, we need to act sooner rather than later, this affects you.”
Obama targets US public with call for climate action (via Gaurdian)
Same as above with an audio clip from the Gaurdian.
Senate Energy Bill Falls Short on Clean Energy, Jobs
Statement from the Sierra Club regarding the Senate energy bill.
Washington, D.C.–Today the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee reported the “American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009.” Sierra Club announced its opposition to the bill in its current form and offered the following comments.
Public Opinion
Climate change polls may be misleading (via Cult of Green)
Maybe, just maybe, the increasingly dire warnings of scientists and all the headlines about the Waxman-Markey bill, which is working it’s way through Congress, will finally firm up support for taking decisive action on global warming. At the same time, the fact that taking action will require sacrifices seems likely to make that consensus more difficult.
