Environment and Energy
Kerry, Lieberman Try To Salvage The Climate Bill
As Jon Chait noted over the weekend, the fate of the Senate climate bill has suddenly been thrown in doubt. Lindsey Graham is pissed off that Harry Reid wants to do immigration next instead of energy, and he's threatened to pull out of negotiations. Without Graham's support, the climate bill isn't going anywhere. READ MORE >>
Your Energy Mind Tricks Won't Work On Me...
For some time now, a few electric utilities have been experimenting with a clever ploy to get their customers to save energy. The idea is simple: The power company just sends people reports showing how much electricity they're using compared with their neighbors. After Sacramento's municipal utility tried this last year, energy use dropped 2.8 percent. READ MORE >>
No Reconciliation For The Climate Bill
A few days ago, Jon Chait noted that Senate Democrats were preparing yet another budget reconciliation bill this year. That, in turn, raised the possibility that energy legislation could pass the Senate with only 50 votes (rather than the 60 that's now the de facto standard to overcome the inevitable GOP filibuster). Well, so much for that: Kent Conrad's Senate budget committee closed off that option yesterday: READ MORE >>
What Happened To All That Stimulus Efficiency Money?
Last year's stimulus bill had about $20 billion for energy-efficiency measures, something that, in theory, was a grand idea. Groups like McKinsey have done a whole bunch of studies on how efficiency upgrades are pretty much magical in every way: saving a boatload of money, cutting carbon emissions, the works. But that's just the theory. Where did all the stimulus money actually go? READ MORE >>
Vegetarian Interns Causing Havoc
Former TNR intern Eric Zimmerman has an amusing post over at The Hill about an EPA intern who inadvertently caused a stir after writing a post promoting vegetarianism: READ MORE >>
