Turning Off the Lights Shines Bright, Climate Action Hotline 3.28.11

Peter Bahouth, Executive Director March 28, 2011 Turning Off the Lights Shines Bright Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced an enormous expansion in coal mining on Tuesday. The Bureau of Land Management will hold four competitive lease sales in coming months, offering Powder River Basin tracts in Wyoming that contain an estimated 758 million [...]

Clean Air Act Digest, 3.24.11

UPDATES 1. Legislation: House As we reported last week, the full House Energy and Commerce Committee passed Upton’s Dirty Air Act on a largely party line vote of 34-19.  In early March, Rep. Upton (R-MI), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced this legislation to permanently block the EPA’s ability to limit carbon [...]

Necessity for Safe and Clean Energy

USCAN MEMBER REPORTS Nuclear Plants and Safety: A March 17th report by the nuclear engineer David Lochbaum at the Union of Concerned Scientists reviews the performance of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is responsible for safe performance of U.S. nuclear power plants.  “The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2010: A Brighter Spotlight Needed” [...]

Climate Action Hotline, 3.21.11

Peter Bahouth, Executive Director March 21, 2011 Climate Action Hotline Under the guise of protecting small businesses, higher gas prices and continued high unemployment numbers, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pushed to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from moving forward on new pollution regulations, but failed to get to a vote Thursday, after days [...]

Clean Air Act Digest, 3.17.11

UPDATES 1. Legislation: House On Tuesday, House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Upton-Inhofe bill (H.R. 910) on a largely party line vote of 34 to 19 (all Republicans and 3 Democrats, Barrow (GA-12), Matheson (UT-2), and Ross (AR-4)).  This legislation will allow big corporations to dump unlimited amounts of carbon pollution from power plants [...]

All Eyes Are on Japan, Climate Action Hotline 3.14.11

Peter Bahouth, Executive Director March 14, 2011 All Eyes Are on Japan Image: Fukushima power plant, Japan If there is one thing we have learned over the last few days it’s that legislation often falls short in trying to anticipate and deal with the forces of nature. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a heartbreaking and horrifying [...]

Clean Air Act Digest, 3.11.11

UPDATES 1. Legislation: House – Yesterday the House Energy and Power Subcommittee held a mark-up of H.R. 910, Representative Upton’s (R-MI) Dirty Air Act. The bill passed by a voice vote. This legislation would permanently block the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon pollution and it already has the support of a few moderate democrats- Reps. [...]

Imagine a World Where Politicians Get it About Climate, Climate Action Hotline 3.7.11

Peter Bahouth, Executive Director March 7, 2011 Imagine a World Where Politicians Get it About Climate Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster, has a new book out that offers 11 of the most powerful words and phrases for the political mood of 2011.  Just for fun, let’s look at the current events on climate with a [...]

Uncovering True Costs

USCAN MEMBER REPORTS Clean Air Act Works: “Study after study has found that a shift to a clean-energy economy creates new jobs, that upfront costs of environmental compliance are not responsible for decisions to relocate operations outside the United States, and that the estimated costs of compliance with new environmental protections are routinely overstated.”  Meanwhile, [...]

Clean Air Act Digest, 3.3.11

UPDATES 1. Legislation: House – Representative Upton (R-MI), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is expected to introduce legislation today that would permanently block the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon pollution. This version of the bill has been modified from the draft version released a month ago and is expected to attract the [...]