As you know, the next battle on the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade bill will be fought in the Senate. Maybe then they’ll read those 300+ pages added at 3:09AM the day before the house vote.
PaulM writes in “Tips and Notes to WUWT”:
At 10 am, JULY 7 there will be a Full SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL and PUBLIC WORKS Committee hearing entitled, “Moving America toward a Clean Energy Economy and Reducing Global Warming Pollution: Legislative Tools.”
Please contact your/the Senators on the Committee with your opinions. This is another important opportunity to contribute to the GW debate that we must take to the AGW’s through our politicians – as they hold our futures in their votes. If you have a Senator on the Committee at least contact him//her as well as the leaders.
Senate Majority Committee Members:
Barbara Boxer (Chairman)
Max Baucus
Thomas R. Carper
Frank R. Lautenberg
Benjamin L. Cardin
Bernard Sanders
Amy Klobuchar
Sheldon Whitehouse
Tom Udall
Jeff Merkley
Kirsten Gillibrand
Arlen Specter
Senate Minority Committee Members:
James M. Inhofe
George V. Voinovich
David Vitter
John Barrasso
Mike Crapo
Christopher S. Bond
Lamar Alexander
I suggest giving them an ear-full, quickly and often, supporting Dr. ALAN CARLIN and his suppressed “Comments on Draft Technical Support Document for Endangerment Analysis for Greenhouse Gas Emissions under the Clean Air Act”
You will also like to contact The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee members.
John Galt (10:27:24) :
“Somebody save us from the people trying to save us!”
well…..
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
— C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans,2002), p. 292.
Get ready for the new Inquisition!!!
Well the Hearing Title is appropriately named after reading the committee members and Witness lists, they really are Legislative Tools.
Yet there is hope because the media is starting to get the real picture, the Whitehouse Press Briefings are starting to show reporters realizing they are being used to push the President’s adgenda and the little lightbulbs are starting to click on. Watch for some harder questions being asked…FINALLY.
Keep up the pressure on the senate there are fewer Senators and they are a little more in tune with the public. The unemployment numbers may sweep aside this legislation when the recess is over, I suspect a Son of Stimulus will hit the Senate in the new session to be passed before the end of the year.
Side note anyone remember the chart for the Stimulus Package that said Unemployment would only reach 8.5% if the stimulus was passed, it is 9.5% today. see My Economic Blog for a copy of the chart.
It seems morbid to think the economy tanking will save us from the Cap and Trade Bill, but there is a bigger picture to consider and not even Obama can spin any increase in energy costs and Green Jobs in this environment.
AL Ward (10:58:43) :
“Contacting my Senator got me this response…….”
I got the same response:
Dear Mr. S,
Thank you for contacting me about global warming and related legislation. I appreciate hearing your views on this important issue.
In order to best protect America’s citizens and environment, I believe that we need to develop a comprehensive energy policy that both reduces our emissions and utilizes alternative sources of energy. Doing so would not only help to preserve the environment, but would also create green jobs and ultimately lower domestic energy costs. Any discussion of our national energy policy must also consider the international scope of this challenge as individual nations confront problems such as the finite supply of fossil fuels, overhauling outdated energy infrastructures, and many other important environmental challenges.
Members of the relevant Congressional committees are currently working on legislation that would address climate change on a national level, and I look forward to participating in this debate during the 111th Congress. Though the science surrounding this issue supports the need for dramatic changes in policy, any comprehensive legislation to address climate change must balance this interest with the need to keep our economy viable during this challenging time.
Thank you again for your input on global warming. Please be assured that I will continue to monitor related legislation and will consider your views as the Senate debates and votes on relevant legislation. I very much look forward to serving the Commonwealth during the 111th Congress.
Sincerely,
MARK R. WARNER
United States Senator
I don’t know the last time one did listen, or respond without a blanket reply. I guess a phone call a day is what is in order.
Many states have already started and Opt out of Aces project. Please find out if yours is one of them. The way to take back our run away government is at your local level.
So while CNN was telling you what happened to Michael Jackson’s chimp – Bubbles – Ohio’s representative, Marcy Kaptur, was getting a last minute bribe of a 3.5 billion dollar energy bureaucracy if she would turn her back on her coal producing state. 3.5 billion. That’s 3 times the amount Obama cut from missile defense.
Language was being written into the bill to regulate how you light pretty much anything, how trees can be planted, what has to be done to your home before you can sell it, how you can burn wood, or heat your home in general. They want to know how many times you flush your toilet. And the list goes on. Massive bureaucracies will be set up to watch you do all this stuff. That’s what they mean by “green jobs”.
More language was written into the bill quietly creating the possibility of carbon tariffs. This means you’re looking at a possible coming trade war.
The average guy doesn’t know any of this. The MSM is not telling them. Maybe the first thing to do is to back these grassroot campaigns popping up to let people know something is happening in Washington they should know about. Chris Horner was talking about black ribbon campaigns where you tie a black ribbon onto anything which will be affected directly by cap and trade. The tea party people are talking protests. There could be more. Perhaps they should be supported.
Pamela-Smerkley is a peach,ain’t he.John Egan-you are right about it possibly
croaking in comittee-by Ried who is in a tight race against-from what I hear- a Republican named “Generic”.No, this isn’t a done deal.They aren’t ready to pull the trigger,DeFazio-D Bule Southern Island,Oregon, is my old congresscritter-he will say it like it is.So will Greg Walden-R Red Sea ,Oregon. all the others here have drunk the warmist Kool-Aid…
On the assumption that the Senate is more of a club than the House, here are link to all senators:
http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html
I don’t know about other committee members, but some of these guys, like Tom Udall, from New Mexico, are serious environmentalists. His cousin Mark, the senator from Colorado, was head of Colorado Outward Bound for a decade, and the Udall family is a dynasty that goes back several generations in the area. Mo and Stewart Udall may be names familiar to Westerners.
It might be worth remembering that “environmentalism” is one facet of a back-to-nature movement in the West, and I respectfully submit that most readers here embrace some values in common with these leaders, notwithstanding the perversions of the AGW agenda(s).
During the House vote, I tossed off a choleric letter to my district rep the day before he stood up and endorsed the bill. Despite an automated e-mail that said I would hear from his office, I haven’t heard back and I’m not holding my breath.
I’ve heard that there’s a pay-off in writing an “angry letter” to one’s senator, but I’d be curious to know: how many from WUWT who wrote that kind of e-mail to their representative got back a reply.
It’s hard to know whether senate aides will be any different. If, as time grows short, they are merely ticking off “for” and “against” opinions, not printing out the e-mails, and not responding, the theat to “vote them out” may be as effective as a reasoned essay against AGW. Still, I’m going to try more reasonable tone this time, and let them know that I expect a reply.
Elections have consequences … such as SECTION RESERVED
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/07/01/here-is-the-cap-and-tax-placeholder-wheres-the-fine-print/
PART H—DISPOSITION OF ALLOWANCES
Sec. 781. Allocation of allowances for supplemental reductions.
Sec. 782. Allocation of emission allowances.
Sec. 783. Electricity consumers.
Sec. 784. Natural gas consumers.
Sec. 785. Home heating oil and propane consumers.
Sec. 787. Allocations to refineries.
Sec. 788. SECTION RESERVED.
Sec. 789. Climate change rebates.
Can’t someone put together a brief and professional 5 page summary of the science as you see it, plus some examples demonstrating this is not ‘unprecedented’and get these to the Senators?
No ranting. No raving. No extreme politics which will alienate one side or the other. Just a calm and measured appraisal. It could usefully have an appendix of the qualifications of the people on ‘our’ side together with selected further reading of pertinent articles here and at Climate Audit.
Tonyb
Why do I feel like I’m pissin’ into the wind in my efforts to stop this monstrosity? I guess it’s because my trousers are getting wet. Maybe Ambrose Bierce can provide some solace:
Freedom
FREEDOM, as every schoolboy knows,
Once shrieked as Kosciusko fell;
On every wind, indeed, that blows
I hear her yell.
She screams whenever monarchs meet,
And parliaments as well,
To bind the chains about her feet
And toll her knell.
And when the sovereign people cast
The votes they cannot spell,
Upon the lung-impested blast
Her clamors swell.
For all to whom the power’s given
To sway or to compel,
Among themselves apportion heaven
And give her hell.
Ambrose Bierce
John Egan (09:49:04) :
What Chance Does ACES Have in the Senate?
Simply put – – very little.
Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are sellouts. Simply put, they cave under pressure every time.
I suspect we’re going to get a watered-down version of a climate bill (with the usual heavy pork on the side), and that will be good enough to bury this economy for the forseeable future.
We’re fast approaching a tipping point, and I’m not talking about global warming.
I have written to conservative members of congress (not in my own district, since I live here in the great green northwest) suggesting that this website be mandatory daily reading for all conservatives. AGW presents the best opportunity for conservatives to regain the respect of the public. I personally think the proper approach in debating this issue is not to politely debate the cost, or even to present opposing informed scientific opinion…because closed minds aren’t listening….but instead, confident, blunt, unapologetic, common sense logic that even the weak minded can understand: If the IPCC said in their most recent study that oceans will rise 2~3mm/yr, someone needs to point out that this is equivalent to HALF the length of a grain of rice… and to follow that with the observation that the Tide in (AK for example) can easily exceed 20 feet. The argument should emphatically state that AGW is a SCAM. The purveyors of doom and their propaganda should not be given the respect of a polite point/counterpoint scientific discussion. (It’s my opinion) ….Because this (blunt) approach could peel the veneer of respectability from the AGW hypothesis. This is about winning, and doing so needn’t be pretty.
This thing might pass, but in doing so, it will assure via the ensuing energy price calamity, that the Democratic Control of Congress will voted out come mid-term. It could conceivably be so bad that the President might resign.
Like rolling a 50 ton boulder down a hill, it will make it’s own gravy, and no regulations will stop it, given the slowness to react by regulators (if it will even have any).
This is CDO level high-risk for the Dems and the Left.
Posters who have tried understand the stonewall.
The last time I got a real response out of Barbara Boxer was the Energy Bill prior to the primaries. It was the DST extension. Her response was “there were no other plans on the table”. The end result was the outsourcing of GE, Sylvania and Westinghouse to China, where all your CFL’s not come from. The sweeteners were very expensive.
The sweeteners in this bill are bound to be exorbitant and deadly to our economy.
If you live in a State where you have a Republican Senator, give them your support. That’s the 1 and only way you have to get through.
Understand how deplorable this is to the GOP, and understand the pressure the Dem is under to pass this in support of their Left agenda.
The GOP wants to fight this.
The DEM is closed.
Ay least Iowahawk has read the whole bill and understands the consequences.
Laugh for today.
Just found this comment on a science blog:
Global warming. Climate change. These are incomplete expressions.
I propose CACA (Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Alteration). This covers everything.
Some proper uses of the acronym:
– “Some are into antiques. Some are into sports. Albert
Gore is into CACA.”
– “NASA’s James Hansen is a CACA expert.”
– Exchange between 2 climatologists:
“How’s that CACA study going?”
“Please wait until I get out of the latrine.”
Reply: That post just barely squeezed through. ~ ctm
I’m told that emails are not effective and get discarded easily. Your senator may differ, but snail mail and phone calls seem more effective.
Your senator has at least one in-state local office plus the office in D.C. Call both.
Beggin’ yer pardon sir….
“300+ pages added at 3:09AM the day before the house vote.”
Here on the Great Plains it was 2:09 A. M. OF the day the House vote.
Which my HP35 suggests was 3:09 A. M. OF the House vote.
Although one is never sure what time zone the District of Chicago is in on any given day.
Quote:
John Egan (09:49:04) :
What Chance Does ACES Have in the Senate?
“But Republicans are ideologically opposed to the American Clean Energy and Security Act, so such crossovers are unlikely. Only Gregg faces a reelection this fall in a state that is trending blue.”
Update: Gregg has decided not to run for reelection and he has been speaking out against the current administration after he declined to take the cabinet post offered by Obama.
@John Egan
Wow quite the comprehensive analysis of the politics behind this. One thing that I disagree with though is that Mark Begich despite being from Alaska will more than likely vote for it. He isn’t up for re-election for a long time, and has never been a pro oil guy.
Much as we like to discuss this topic as it reflects the state of being presently – we are convinced it is pointless. The preponderance of facts have clearly falsified the global warming arguments but with the infantile chokehold the media and pundits exercise – it has become clear they are incapable of honesty. It is frankly an utterly corrupt agency bent on anything but coming clean.
The alarmists have been reduced to claiming any opposition arises from brain-damaged scientists and critics – accepting no responsibility for their actions. The political exercise is virtually dead, a joke reflecting even the failure of the educational process. In these type sims where there is no personal responsibility or common sense required – it is little more than playing Parchesee with loaded dice.
To quote the Supreme Court: “… no socially redeeming value.”
As a former Virginian , I’m not surprised by Warner’s response . I also have grave doubts about at least one of my current senators : Isaakson . Chambliss is ok , I hope . I’m considering contacting Mike Crapo , my former senator , I have no idea how he stands on this , but he is up for reelection next year . A few days ago , I heard Bayh state flatly that climate change is “real” . However , he is up for reelection as well – he might listen if enough pressure is put upon him .
The final version of W-M with the amendments is available:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h2454eh.txt.pdf
A couple of talking points:
1. The bill is full of Davis-Bacon prevailing wage restrictions. This is great for construction trade unions, but not so hot for people building clean energy projects. This increase the costs from anywhere 5% to 34%. Search “wages” in the PDF. Sometimes they call out Davis-Bacon by name and other places they use the USC. If the Senator is pro-nuke, then point out they applied Davis-Bacon to the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program for Nuclear plant construction created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
2. If the Senator is from a farm state, point out that even though carbon offsets for agriculture are administered by the Secretary of Agriculture and not the EPA, the President can replace the Secretary of Agriculture anytime he wants and they will be in the same condition as if the EPA was administering it directly. Do they really want to wake up one day and find out that Joe Romm is Secretary of Agriculture?
Re David Hagen 10:31:21,
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is scheduled to testify before the committee on Tuesday 7/7. Let’s hope someone takes the opportunity to ask her about Alan Carlin’s suppressed EPA report!
A few months ago , I stumbled across a paper written by two researchers from the U of Illinois (I think) . Essentially , it came to conclusions similar to that from Juan Carlos U in Spain . Does anyone know how to find this ? Coming from the US , this might carry more weight than the vaunted – but largely ignored Spanish one . Thanks .
I’ve emailed Alabama’s senators Shelby and Sessions several times this year on this issue alone. I don’t really think either will support this, but I will call their offices on Monday to stress the point.