What the future needs!

From Congress.org: But the trio of Senators are backing sector-by-sector controls on greenhouse gas emissions that target the nation’s biggest polluters and may bring moderate lawmakers from coal and oil states on board. Their idea   is to cap emissions solely on the electric utility industry, tax the transportation sector for using fossil fuels, and eventually phase in regulation of manufacturers.

From Congress.org: Senate Democrats know they need cross-party support to get a climate bill past a filibuster. Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has been working with John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) to hatch a plan both parties could support.

From the Washington Post: On Thursday, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) introduced a bill that would put a two-year freeze on the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants. His was the latest of various congressional proposals -- from both chambers and both parties -- designed to delay or overturn the EPA's regulations . . . Rockefeller's legislation would not affect the EPA's plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. But it would prevent the agency from implementing -- or even doing much work on -- caps on emissions from such "stationary sources" as power plants and factories. Experts say the bill could postpone regulations for as much as four years.  He's protecting the West Virginia coal industry, of course. But other bills are also being offered . . . Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) are co-sponsoring a "resolution of disapproval" introduced by Sen. Lis...

Via The Guardian: Rick Piltz, a former official in the US government climate science programme who now runs the Climate Science Watch website, said Inhofe and others were getting in the way of scientific work. "Scientists who are working in federal labs are being subjected to inquisitions coming from Congress," he said. "There is no question that this is an orchestrated campaign to intimidate scientists." And this . . . "Some of the emails make thinly veiled threats of violence against me and even my family, and law enforcement authorities have been made aware of the matter," he told the Guardian. He said the attacks appeared to be a co-ordinated effort. "Some of them look cut-and-paste." I find it hard to believe that threatening emails would come from an organized central source, such that they would seem "cut and paste," but I have no doubt that people are angry.  When you pay for your research with money taken from people at the...

Via Carpe Diem: New suppliers are screened for environmental practices by Wal-Mart. Many China experts say Wal-Mart's guidelines could be more important than the government's.

The cartels are taking over national parks and forests. Most troubling quote: " They often use animal poisons that can pollute mountain streams and groundwater meant for legitimate farmers and ranchers."

Via Mark Perry at Carpe Diem: MP: In 2007, Al Gore's mansion in Nashville burned through an average of 17,720 kWh of electricity per month (see Al Gore's energy bills from 2005 to mid-2008 here , via the Tennessee Center for Policy Research , which first reported on Al Gore's energy usage in 2007 ), which is almost 19 times as much as the monthly electricity consumed by the average U.S. household (936 kWh), and almost 3 times as much electricity as the average U.S. commercial customer (6,408 kWh), see chart above (Dept. of Energy data here ). So it's just a little hard to take Al Gore's preaching about climate change too seriously when his own household's contribution to the "climate crisis" is almost 20 times greater of the average American household, and almost three times greater than even the average commercial user of electricity.

Obama pledges $8.23 billion for 2 new plants. I love nuclear power, but wish the government protections and funding would be removed. Remove all subsidies from other forms of energy too. All means of generating energy should have to face the test of being able to find financing and insurance coverage in the free market.