Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senators Jeff Bingaman, Max Baucus, Charles Schumer, Byron Dorgan, Maria Cantwell and Bernie Sanders held a press conference today to unveil the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008, a bill that addresses the root causes of high gas prices. Seven years of the Bush Administration’s disastrous energy policies have enriched Big Oil and market speculators at the expense of American consumers. Democrats are committed to providing relief to consumers and strengthening our economic, energy and national security.
Anything jump out at you?
No.
Let’s highlight a few words:
A bill that addresses the root causes of high gas prices
At least from the material that I’ve seen, here are a few things that not addressed by this bill:
Rising demand from China, India, Saudi Arabia, etc
America’s McSUV and oil addiction habit
Peak Oil
Hmmm … these would seem to be some pretty serious root causes.
May 7th, 2008 · Comments Off on “Consumer-First Energy Act”: How about some truth?
A short while ago, “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senators Jeff Bingaman, Max Baucus, Charles Schumer, Byron Dorgan, Maria Cantwell and Bernie Sanders held a press conference today to unveil the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008.” Done with some fanfare, the language around the act and its substance suggests that this author is unlikely to be a fan.
This discussion will take a series of several posts. And, full disclosure: these comments are based on the summary material (fully quoted, commented on below) without having read the entire bill and all its analysis. With one exception, this post will focus solely on the six points and not address the language used to introduce it and surrounding it.
The exception. One commentator, quoted from the Senate leadership said: “This bill is a lifeline to families struggling with high fuel prices.” Think about these measures with that perspective in mind.
May 7th, 2008 · Comments Off on Catastrophe to Celebration …
Not everything is the Bush White House’s fault. Not everything. In this case, not fully their fault, but the contrast is too striking to go without comment.
The White House sent Laura Bush to speak on the disastrous cyclone in Myanmar. She gave a prepared statement. And, then she took questions. And, the press had their chance to ask questions. Some were quite serious, quite on target. But, toward the end the questions strayed to issues closer to Laura’s heart. MSNBC, however, took a little time to pick up the shift of subject as you can see over at Huffington Post. Sigh …
Oscillating between pessimistic optimism (or optimistic pessimism), there are so many reasons to be hopeful for change. Amazing technologies. Increasing awareness. McSUV sales plummeting. Political leaders taking forthright stands. Optimism.
Reality can strike hard, ambusing surging optimism with reasons for dire concern. Today’s Chicago Tribune had a story of bubbling catastrophe …
Sergei Zimov waded through knee-deep snow to reach a frozen lake where so much methane belches out of the melting permafrost that it spews from the ice like small geysers.
Remember, methane is 23 times as potent as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas (GHG). And, billions of tons of Siberian peat/such melting and we’ve crossed any sort of tipping point of humanity having a say about the direction of global warming in the next few years. [Read more →]
May 5th, 2008 · Comments Off on Gas prices drive four-legged alternatives …
In the face of rising oil prices, people are searching for alternatives around the globe. Most of the news go to tomorrow’s technologies (like the Chevy Volt or PHESBs), but there is something of a back to the future aspect in some cases. As the Financial Times reports, camel sales are booming in Rajasthan, India.
Clinton’s and McSame McCain’s energy dumb and dumbersong-and-dance act about a ‘gas tax holiday’ is not getting any support from independent people who actually understand energy issues and/or economics. As per GasTaxScam DOT com, the merit of this idea is about the merit of setting out on a long voyage with an empty tank.
A secret and confidential letter from energy dumb and dumber provides some details:
We are top officials of the United States Senate Government who are interested in importation of oil into our country with funds that are presently trapped in the FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION TRUST FUND dedicated to improving transportation. We wish to send this money to overseas accounts in the MIDDLE EAST but cannot due to restrictions in Congress Transportation Equity Act requiring that this money must be spent to build roads, bridges and high speed trains.
If you accept we will deliver to your a sum of 30 DOLLARS in the summer 2008 in form of a “GAS TAX HOLIDAY”. You will then deliver this money to accounts of our friends in Middle East by taking it to your nearby gasoline station where they have information to forward the money.
Sure, this is a parody but parodies often hit the mark. After all, does the ‘gas tax holiday’ concept have any more merit than that latest Nigerian oil scam or Dutch lottery winner e-mail that hit your inbox. And, just as with those fraud emails, Hillary’s and McSame McCain’s energy dumb and energy dumber proposal merits filing in the spam folder.
Hopefully, the American public is developing the filters to filter such political spam into the ‘junk’ folder without wasting time and energy on them.
May 5th, 2008 · Comments Off on Gas pollution confusing bees …
Reason 1347 to get off fossil fuels: Fossil fuel pollution is obscuring the flowers’ scent and inhibiting bees (and other insects) ability to find flowers and pollinate. As Science Daily opened their story,
Air pollution from power plants and automobiles is destroying the fragrance of flowers and thereby inhibiting the ability of pollinating insects to follow scent trails to their source …. This could partially explain why wild populations of some pollinators, particularly bees — which need nectar for food — are declining in several areas of the world, including California and the Netherlands.
As per Juliet Eilperin reporting in today’s The Washington Post, University of Virginia researchers have been working to determine how much impact hydrocarbon molecule pollution has on the movement of flowers’ scents.
In the prevailing conditions before the 1800s, the researchers calculated that a flower’s scent could travel between 3,280 feet and 4,000 feet, Fuentes said in an interview, but today, that scent might travel 650 feet to 1,000 feet in highly polluted areas such as the District of Columbia, Los Angeles or Houston.
This has a cascading impact. Not only does it make it less likely that bees will find a particular flower, but the additional efforts to find flowers weakens the bees, which then might lead to less pollination, which means fewer (and more disperse, potentially) flowers, which …
Until quite recently, those who focused primarily on energy and global warming issues could see reasons to be supporting Hillary Clinton and/or Barack Obama. In this arena, both have plans and records with strengths … and weaknesses. Both could learn from each other and strengthen their own programs. Thus, with real legitimacy, an “environmentalist”, those concerned about Peak Oil or Global Warming or related issues, could easily defend their position supporting either (or neither) of the candidates. And, again, their platforms/records are certainly light years ahead of this Administration’s and of McSame McCain’s, but have weaknesses and are ‘reasonably good’ but not the best that they could be. Thus, many of us were ‘sitting on the sidelines’ when it came to the Presidential campaign.
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton directly challenged Congressional members to go on the record either for her idiocy of a gas tax moratorium or against it (supposedly, therefore, for oil companies). Coloradan Senate candidate Mark Udall responded forcefully.
Senator Clinton claimed yesterday that I either stand with her on this proposal or stand with the oil companies. To that I say: I stand with the families of Colorado, who aren’t looking for bumper sticker fixes that don’t fix anything, but for meaningful change that brings real relief and a new direction for our energy policy. We can’t afford more Washington-style pandering while families keep getting squeezed.
Senators Jeff Bingaman, Max Baucus, Charles Schumer, Byron Dorgan, Maria Cantwell and Bernie Sanders held a press conference today to unveil the 
Not everything is the Bush White House’s fault. Not everything. In this case, not fully their fault, but the contrast is too striking to go without comment.
there are so many reasons to be hopeful for change. Amazing technologies. Increasing awareness. McSUV sales plummeting. Political leaders taking forthright stands. Optimism.
alternatives around the globe. Most of the news go to tomorrow’s technologies (like the 
song-and-dance act about a ‘gas tax holiday’ is not getting any support from independent people who actually understand energy issues and/or economics. As per 
the flowers’ scent and inhibiting bees (and other insects) ability to find flowers and pollinate. As