Posts with the tag energy

Obama to announce environment, energy team [12-15-08 5 pm]

Mike W, Tulsa+ — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:18:19 EST

Obama to announce environment, energy team
By Deborah Charles Deborah Charles
45 mins ago [Dec 14th, 2008 at 5:35 pm EST]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081214/pl_nm/us_usa_obama

CHICAGO (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama, who has vowed to adopt an aggressive approach to global warming and the environment, will hold a news conference on Monday to announce his picks to lead the effort.

Obama will hold a news conference at 5 p.m. EST on Monday to talk about "the nation's energy and environmental future," his transition office said on Sunday.

At the news conference Obama is expected to name Nobel physics laureate Steven Chu as his energy secretary and former Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner as the head of a new council that will coordinate White House policy on energy, climate and environment, Democratic sources have said.

Obama is also expected to announce he has chosen Lisa Jackson, the chief of staff for New Jersey's governor, to run the EPA and Nancy Sutley, a deputy mayor of Los Angeles, as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. ...

Obama has said energy and environmental matters would be important to his administration, and he wants to spend billions of dollars to promote alternative energy sources and create millions of green energy jobs.

News of who would make up Obama's energy and environment team began trickling out last week and the choices were applauded by environment groups.

The team will be charged with developing policies to reduce carbon emissions blamed for global warming. They will also work on developing new sources of energy and creating new jobs. ...

Economic Recovery Act of 2009

Democrat in Buda, TX — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:31:21 EST

This was initially my recommendations starting back in April 2008.

1.The American Manufacturing Credit
2.Global Warming Reduction Act.
3.Home Purchase Credit
4.Savings and Investment Provision
5.Capital Gains and Losses Equity Provision
6.Alternative Energy Development Provision
7.Global Warming Reduction Act.
8.Oil and Gas Exploration provision
9.$5.00 barrel tariff on imported OPEC oil
10.Iraq War Debt Reduction Act

PA-05: McCracken for Congress -- Working the Final Week to Take Back Our Future

Victor M. Ordonez — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:52:23 EDT

The campaign schedule has been pretty intense over the last week and will continue to be so until the BIG day on Tuesday, November 4th. I want to congratulate everyone for putting so much effort into this year's election, not just for an individual campaign, but for the entire Democratic ticket. I've seen people in every community throughout the 5th district working to make sure the message is getting out.

I want to remind everyone it is important that we finish strong. Don't take anything for granted, ignore the polls and work like the polls show our candidates 5 points down. Remember, while all indications show Barack Obama will be our next president, if we believe the polls, Al Gore would be concluding his second term or we would be working to re-elect President John Kerry right now.

Fiscal Stimulus- lets Build the National Grid

JMesserly — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:33:44 EDT

There is a chicken egg problem with energy independence. There are vast energy sources from wind, solar, and wave located in states that are distant from energy consumers. No one wants to invest in building generation if there is no way to transmit the electricity in bulk to customers in distant locations. No one wants to build the transmission without the generation capacity that could utilize it.

With the Fed having expended nearly all its bullets in the form of rate cuts, all eyes are on Congress to for a massive fiscal stimulus that would inject $300 billion into the economy so that we will not slip into a deep depression that will cost the country trillions in lost GDP. Lots of ideas on how to blow that much money. Lets take a moment and think about actually getting something back for our money. Rather than pay the money out as tax rebates (why send the money back via Wallmart to China?), we could pay for a national electricity transmission grid capable of moving electricity in bulk from coast to coast. The project would be massive, along the lines of Eisenhower's construction of the national system of freeways. Large number of construction, steelworkers, and linemen will be required.

The benefits are multiple. This is not a make work project- we clearly all understand by now that relying on our own energy means we will stop hemorrhaging money to pay for energy from outside the US.

More importantly, the project will pay for itself. By surcharging electricity transmitted on this national grid, the system will be made to pay for itself within a decade. That means 300 billion need not be added to the national debt.

The requirements for building the massive number of towers- the steel and aluminum cabling required will require a Herculean effort from our industry. It will generate a million jobs short term.

After the November election, let's put Congress back to work and ramrod through a bill to build the National Electrical Transmission Grid.

Included must not just be authorization for the money, but authorize the federal project to override the authority of state and regional agencies to hamstring or otherwise delay the project. This is an interstate commerce issue with economic recovery and national security implications. Nothing must be allowed to stand in its way.

Department of Energy (CERTS) report "Our National Transmission System Today and Tomorrow"

Cleveland.com article "Transmission grid limits wind power's potential"

Energy intelligence by association? I don't think so

Liz — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:46:59 EDT

Both the Republican candidates claim that the VP nominee has energy experience because Alaska produces nearly 20% of the U.S. domestic supply of energy. They both have made this claim several times on the campaign trail. First of all, even if this were true, which it is not, this fact does not qualify the Republican VP as an energy expert any more than the fact that she can see Russia from her front door qualifies her as a foreign policy expert.

Alaksa's share of domestic energy production was 3.5% according to the official figures kept by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And as far as all the energy CONSUMED in the U.S. and not just produced here, then Alaska's production accounted for only 2.4%

AGAIN WE THE PEOPLE, WITH OUR ECONOMY IN THE HOLE THAT IS, SHOULD NOT CONSIDER ELECTING TWO PEOPLE WHO CAN'T DO ANY BETTER THAN THIS WITH NUMBERS AND/OR BASIC TRUTH TELLING. THE LAST THING WE NEED IN OFFICE ARE DUMB AND DUMBER--MORE OF THE SAME.

source:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/energetically_wrong.html

Nuclear Engineering Creates Jobs That Stay In America

Democrat in Pleasant Hill, CA — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:30:48 EDT

The promise of new jobs is one of the main points for transitioning the US economy toward self-sufficiency. "Green Jobs" as they are called, are going to power the new economy. This all depends on how and what information you might be looking at of course.

Manufacturing jobs are highly subject to energy costs and labor costs. Where labor and energy can be had for less, the likelihood those jobs can move elsewhere is highly probably as we've seen in the past few decades. Service and engineering jobs that are location dependent are more likely to endure.

It is without debate that the nuclear energy industry will continue to expand and advance, if not in the United States, then elsewhere in the world. An adversarial business atmosphere toward nuclear energy will prompt the industry to do what all global businesses do -- go where the money is.

It would be a great tragedy indeed if the recent tide of change in the nuclear industry was reversed and America's intellectual base for nuclear energy was lost to China and France.

The recent article in USA News and World Report (http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/2008/08/14/the-new-hot-job-nuclear-engineering.html) covers the resurgence of nuclear engineering students in universities. This is encouraging news as it shows that young people now see the potential of nuclear energy to contribute toward a thriving economy and career opportunity.

The article makes this point in closing:

Even if the American nuclear renaissance isn't fully realized, universities have a role to play in the burgeoning global market for nuclear energyâ€"a force even the U.S. political machine can't stop. The United States still has some of the best training in nuclear safety standards of any country in the world, and foreign students comprise almost 50 percent of the enrollment in some U.S. engineering departments. These international students are expected to return home with some of world's top training.

In my opinion that is the whole point of the article. We must recognize that peaceful civilian nuclear energy is here to stay. The less we understand, accept, and embrace that reality, the more economic uncertainty and loss of scientific credibility we will risk.

Sarah Shoots Wolves

4u2love — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:35:33 EDT

Sarah Palin requisitioned quite a bit of money for Alaska's aerial shooting of wolves program. According to the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, she is an enemy to animals there.

CA-46: Better Leadership for Our People & Our Planet

Andrew Davey — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:40:41 EDT

(Proudly cross-posted at Clintonistas for Obama)

I live in Orange County, CA. I'm used to seeing scary Republicans that care nothing about environmental justice. But of all the crazy Republicans here, none can be crazier than "Crazy Dana" Rohrabacher. He's consistently voted against the best interests of our people and our planet, and it's time we do something about this. That's why I'm so glad to see some good friends of ours take real action for real change.

Follow me after the flip for the details...

Loosing Grip on Reality

JoeBill — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:33:35 EDT

The Pendleton Round-Up is quickly approaching as I watch more and more public service groups prepare their booths and prep their teams for the areas biggest bite of the economic apple. And all the while the election is trudging along tit for tat Democrat-Republican ads with this weeks urgent topic being off shore drilling for oil. Now Obama is jumping on the band wagon about possible off shore drilling, which is againt the democratic leadership of the party. Are we losing our focus, and are we losing who we are as democrats? How are we going to loosen the grip of oil dependence by drilling to find more oil?

Green Alert: Control of Energy Sources and Related Politics

Liz — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:51:52 EDT

Here is the truth about renewable energy: It can be established locally on site at your home. You do not have to pay large monthly heating, cooling and electrical bills. You can create that own energy with solar panels and in some cases (depending upon where you live) with wind turbines. You can live off the grid. Over 200,000 Americans currently live off the grid and that number has increased exponentially by 1/3 since 2005. With renewable energy such as the sun, you don’t need your local electric company to provide you with electricity—in fact you can even have a situation where you sell some of your surplus electricity back to them.

It is most likely this fact of life that has finally gotten the big boys like GE off their butts and into promoting renewable energy more than any altruistic feelings for the planet. They want to tap into and control that market before it gets completely away from them.

Why I STILL Have No Thrill for the Drill

Andrew Davey — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:58:40 EDT

(Cross-posted at MyDD and Clintonistas for Obama)

You know, I love Jerome Armstrong. I really do. When so many of us Hillary Clinton Democrats were being bashed around everywhere else, he provided us with a warm & welcoming home over at MyDD. I'll always appreicate him for that. Oh yeah, and he's wicked smart as well!

But you know what, Barack Obama is our Democratic nominee. I've made peace with that. Oh yes, and I really like his energy & environment plan. And while I agree with Jerome on many other matters, I just have to disagree with him on this.

Fed Shapes Up and Gets Tough

Armen — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:20:27 EDT

It seems that today is a good day for the Fed, as they have decided to pass sweeping reform to get rid of predatory lending practices by implementing a whole slew of new lending laws that protect consumers. The AP has the full story. To me though this is great, but really it is too late. I think that the Hill should be holding the Fed accountable for allowing these practices to go on in the first place. Bernanke and the other insanely smart economists should have seen this coming. I mean the rest of the economy

PA-05: McCracken for Congress -- Weekly Update -- July 6th, 2008

Victor M. Ordonez — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:42:11 EDT

"Use It or Lose It" legislation fails to reach two-thirds majority.

On June 26th in response to ongoing calls to allow oil drilling off the coast of the United States and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Democratic members of Congress offered "Use It or Lose It" legislation to mandate that oil companies either drill on federal land they have leased or relinquish the right to do so. Currently, oil companies have dormant leases to over 68 million acres in the western United States and Alaska that are available for immediate drilling and exploration that, according to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) "contains over 100 billion barrels of oil".

While the vote was 223 for and 195 against, it failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed for passage under shortcut parliamentary rules. For the record, all Democratic members of the Pennsylvania delegation voted for "Use It or Lose It" while all Pennsylvania Republicans voted against with the exception of Rep. John Peterson who did not vote.

PA-05: McCracken for Congress -- A Call for Energy Independence

Victor M. Ordonez — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:50:17 EDT

As We Celebrate Our Independence, It Is Time for Energy Independence.

On Friday July 4th we will celebrate Independence Day marking 232 years since our founding fathers declared that the United States of America would be an independent nation. Back in 1776, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and others showed courage, leadership and vision by drafting the Declaration of Independence creating a democratic government based on freedom and rights for the common people.

Now, 232 years later, we need to see the same courage, leadership and vision from our elected leaders to declare independence again. In 2008, the independence we need to declare is not from tyrannical leaders and an oppressive government but energy independence from foreign sources that have too much control over a product that is so vital to our nation.

Encouraging Public Transportation - Walberg Votes No

Fitzy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:02:59 EDT

Tim Walberg says we need to drill for more oil. That's the central theme of his energy plan. But he says he wants more than just drilliing for oil. For instance, there's this press release from June 5th:

Congressman Walberg has co-sponsored legislation to provide incentives for solar, wind, cellulosic ethanol, bio-diesel and energy conservation. He also supports an increase in domestic energy production through carbon-free nuclear power and clean-coal technology. He has co-sponsored legislation that would encourage conservation with tax credits for green buildings and legislation that would spark a revolution in clean hydrogen technology.

Did you catch that? He didn't put too much emphasis on it, but it was there. Tim Walberg says he supports energy conservation, too.

Energy Tax Credits Stall Housing Bill

4u2love — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:56:10 EDT

According to a Washington Post article, John Ensign, a Nevada Republican Senator, has stalled the housing bill because he believes it to be unsustainable without tax credits for renewable energy development. The Senate Banking Chairman, Chris Dodd, says this tactic places the whole bipartison housing package at risk.

Compare Obama on Energy to McCain--the choice is clear

Liz — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:50:31 EDT

The Choice Is Clear

CHALLENGE: Providing Immediate Financial Relief for Families This Summer

OBAMA
Supports a second round of rebate checks to help families offset the cost of $4.00 gas this summer.
Worth: $300 per family
(Obama Second Stimulus Plan)

MCCAIN
Proposed a gas tax gimmick that would take out $10 billion from our under-funded national highway trust fund and give it to the oil companies, while likely driving up the price of gas at the pump. Worth: $28
(Tax Policy Center)

______________________________________________

CHALLENGE: Green Collar Jobs

OBAMA: Comprehensive plan for renewables, fuel economy and energy efficiency will help create as many as 5 million new green jobs.

MCCAIN: No green jobs plan.

__________________________________________________

CHALLENGE: Making America’s Economy Vibrant and Competitive in the Long Haul

OBAMA: Supports an Apollo-scale investment of $150 billion over 10 years to jumpstart renewable energy technology development and deployment.

MCCAIN: Has repeatedly opposed new investments and incentives in for renewable energy. Until this week.

_______________________________________________________
CHALLENGE: The Next 10 Years of Oil

OBAMA: 3 million barrels of oil savings. The plan will reduce U.S. oil consumption by about 3 million barrels of oil per day by 2018.
(Obama Energy Plan)

MCCAIN: Not a drop more. McCain's plan to open up our coastlines to drilling would not bring meaningful new production on-line for ten years.
(McClatchy News Service)

Oil spills in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Barb — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:44:38 EDT

Senator Burr (R) of NC told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell at the top of this hour that "not a drop" of oil was spilled during those hurricanes--an outright LIE!

St. Petersburg Times
Craig Pittman
pub. June 20, 2008

"Hurricane Katrina ripped into Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, destroying 115 oil platforms, significantly damaging 52 more and setting adrift 19. More than 7-million gallons of petroleum products spilled, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. By comparison, in 1989 the Exxon Valdez spilled 11-million gallons in Alaska's Prince William Sound."

Sharing HOPE with my DNC Friends

Liz — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:45:21 EDT

Once in a while I stumble across a site that is so wonderful and encouraging in terms of what people are doing on the behalf of Democracy, our nation and the world that I want to grab everyone I meet by the lapels and say GO HERE. Wait until you see all the great things that the people of the USA are doing.

There are signs of poliitical life all over our nation. People are really standing up and saying no and voting in their state legislatures in support of their no.

The New Rules Project, Designing Rules as if Communiity Matters, is one of these sites. New Rules is a project of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

I am not a libertarian, but I am a Democrat who agrees with about 50% of what Libertarians advocate while being strongly opposed to the other 50%. To me most of the information on this site stresses local self-reliance within the context of a government that protects the people and provides oversight.

http://www.newrules.org/index.htm

New Rules is a project of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Look at all the Good News about energy here TODAY

Liz — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:23:16 EDT

Honda rolls out a new zero-emission car

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25190604/

Toyota develops a new fuel cell hybrid that can travel more than twice the distance of predecessor

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25004758/

59 Continental is re-engineered to work on an electric battery

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24932643/

Sanyo, VW to develop batteries for hybrids

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24860606/

DOES IT SINK IN THAT MOST OF THIS TECHNOLOGY IS NOT AMERICAN?
This is because of the oil drenched climate of Washington DC and the oil/war profiteers who run this administration who discourage technology that moves away in a big hurry from technology that feeds the oil monster. Don't believe the Republican lies that such technology is "years" away. It is HERE NOW TODAY and there are over 200,000 Americans living off the grid to prove it.

SAVE AMERICA AND VOTE NO REPUBLICAN IN NOVEMBER 2008