Battle won...

Tea Party Attempt to Block Incandescent Ban Fails to Get Enough Votes

As I mentioned a couple days ago, Republicans were trying to block a law setting minimum efficiency for lightbulbs, which would have made U.S. citizens waste $12.5 billion in wasted electricity over the next 9 years, or the equivalent of what 33 power stations produce. But it didn't quite turn out the way Michele Bachmann and the Tea Party wanted...


he 2007 law that mandates a minimum level of efficiency about 25% higher for all light bulbs, which would effectively ban the very inefficient 100-watt incandescent bulb, has survived... for now.


But Tuesday night's vote in the House of Representatives failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed under special rules invoked by Republicans to fasttrack the repeal.
The bill did get a 233-193 majority in the House, however, and Joe Barton the Texan Republican behind the measure told US politics website Politico he would try again to get the legislation through - by any means.


"We can put it on an appropriations bill", he said. "We can back it under a rule. I can try and go to some of the Democrats who didn't vote for it and figure out a way to get them to consider voting for it in a different format." (source)

Battle won ....the war continues.

Drill, don't drill, drill, don't....

Obama Calls for More Offshore Drilling. Again.

Despite the massive economic and ecological damage wrought by the BP spill, and despite the numerous studies by nonpartisan agencies that show increased drilling won't lower prices at the pump, President Obama has taken the bait and is now joining the GOP in calling for expanded offshore drilling.


As you'll recall, the last time the president made such a "compromise" (it was really a concession, as yielding increased drilling to the GOP won Democrats precisely nothing in return), the largest offshore oil disaster in American history erupted a few days later. Of course, most vocal conservative and oil-state 'moderate' pols ignored that little mess and went right on calling for more drilling throughout the spill -- meanwhile, not a single meaningful piece of legislation was ever passed to address the reckless safety culture inherent in the oil industry's drilling practices.


So, once again, we're given an example of the president's hugely unambitious energy strategy -- wherein it's more important to cater to GOP falsehoods than to put the nation on an actual path to cleaner energy. In the process, he's apparently willing to endanger numerous more pristine offshore habitats and the economies that rely on them.

Is it just politics?  I really feel that all politicians are swayed by the mighty dollar of the lobbyists.  When that greenback talks, politcians listen.  

Finally. Too late? Just Words?

Obama’s finally connecting the Gulf spill and clean energy.

"The reason that folks are now having to go down a mile deep into the ocean, and then another mile drilling into the ground below, that is because the easy oil fields and oil wells are gone, or they're starting to diminish.

That tells us that we've got to have a long-term energy strategy in this country. And we've got to start cultivating solar and wind and biodiesel. And we've got to increase energy efficiency across our economy in our buildings and our automobiles."

Today at the Solyndra solar panel plant in Fremont, Calif:

"Climate change poses a threat to our way of life -- in fact, we're already beginning to see its profound and costly impact. And the spill in the Gulf, which is just heartbreaking, only underscores the necessity of seeking alternative fuel sources ...

Fifteen years ago, the United States produced 40 percent of the world's solar panels -- 40 percent. That was just 15 years ago. By 2008, our share had fallen to just over 5 percent. I don't know about you, but I'm not prepared to cede American leadership in this industry, because I'm not prepared to cede America's leadership in the global economy.

So that's why we've placed a big emphasis on clean energy ... But we've still got more work to do, and that's why I'm going to keep fighting to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation in Washington. We're going to try to get it done this year, because what we want to do is create incentives that will fully unleash the potential for jobs and growth in this sector."

"We're going to try to get it done this year" doesn't presage a full-court press. But it's a step in the right direction.

Nuke Loans? WTF!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Next in Line for a Bailout: The Nuclear Industry?

The Obama Administration has been pretty upfront about its support for an energy policy that promotes both clean energy technologies and renewed investment in old technologies such as nuclear, coal and offshore drilling. "I think that on energy there should be a bipartisan agreement that we have to take a both/and approach rather than an either/or approach," the President said just last week.


Friends of the Earth released a statement this weekend criticizing the Obama Administration's reported decision to provide loan guarantees for the construction of two nuclear reactors in Georgia. The reactors would be part of the first new nuclear power plant to be built in the US in almost 30 years.


President Obama has presented his support for nuclear power, so-called "clean coal" projects and offshore drilling as both a gesture to Republicans and a pragmatic approach to supplying America's future energy needs, arguing that "we can't overnight convert to an all-solar or an all-wind economy."

How abour bailout loans for those suffering from cancer clustered near nuke plants? How about bailouts for those whose lives are ruined by mining "clean coal?"