Senate: Clean Energy Jobs Bill

Question during the Great Depression: Brother, can you spare a dime? Question during the current recession: Senator, do you have a spine?

A popular song from the era of the Great Depression is entitled "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?". It's a sad song about the people who helped build our nation's railroads and skyscrapers. These people also fought for our country in World War I to provide national security for their families. Suddenly, they found themselves out of work, bankrupt and abandoned - waiting in bread lines and at soup kitchens for food.

We are not in such dire straits, at least not yet. The people of our country certainly do not want to plunge from a recession into a depression. Government officials would agree in words, but are falling short in deeds. It will take much more than bailouts and recovery money.

In addition to an economic crisis, we are confronted at the same time with an energy crisis, an environmental crisis, and a national security crisis. The U.S. Senate can tackle these crises by enacting a clean energy bill that will spark innovation, create new jobs and provide energy security as well as help clean up our air and sustain our environment. This will require courage and the will to act. So we ask the question, Senator, do you have a spine?

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican representing South Carolina, has a spine! He said, “We are more dependent on foreign oil today than after 9/11. That is political malpractice, and every member of Congress is responsible.” He proposes putting a price on carbon, starting with a carbon tax, in order to move industries to invest in new clean energy products and consumers to buy them. “Cap-and-trade as we know it is dead, but the issue of cleaning up the air and energy independence should not die — and you will never have energy independence without pricing carbon”, he stated in an Op-Ed by Thomas Friedman in today's NY Times. Graham is now working on a new clean energy bill along with Democrat John Kerry and Independent Joseph Lieberman.

Write to your Senators and ask -- when it comes to enacting legislation in support of clean energy, a sustainable environment, new jobs, energy independence and national security -- Senator, do you have a spine?

If our government does not act, what does our future hold... another depression? Most people alive today did not live through the Great Depression, and so have little idea what it was really like. Yip Harburg did. To get a feeling what it was like, listen to some of Harburg's thoughts about the Great Depression, as well as his 1932 song "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", via NPR online.

Clean Energy WORKS!

Clean Energy Works is a diverse coalition of more than 60 grassroots organizations representing more than 12 million Americans. They are calling for urgent Congressional action on a comprehensive clean energy and climate plan that delivers clean energy jobs, less pollution, and a more secure America. 

Passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation will:

• Create and protect millions of good American jobs by spurring investment in the nation's growing clean energy economy

• Improve our national security by enhancing America's energy independence reducing our dependence on foreign oil and getting America running on clean energy

• Reduce the carbon pollution that's harming our air and water, and endangering the health of the planet

Clean Energy Works  is a grassroots coalition that includes faith, labor, veterans, environmental, sportsmen, farm, business, youth, and community organizations.

Watch a TV ad from Clean Energy Works promoting strong, clean energy legislation:


The Clean Energy Works Web site is here.

Forget Gasoline: Plug-In to Clean Energy

Gasoline makes us dependent on foreign oil suppliers, and it gets our country involved in sticky military situations. Using gasoline to fuel transportation is also a major source of global warming pollution and is not sustainable. Our reliance on foreign oil is draining our economy and is a threat to national security. To reduce our dependence on oil and gasoline, we need more efficient vehicles. Improvements in efficiency could occur at the level of fuel usage, or in other areas such as the engine and the weight of materials used.

A real breakthrough in fuel-efficiency came with hybrid cars, like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, getting 45-50 MPG. The soaring cost of gasoline has fueled the hybrid market over the past year, with Toyota Prius sales way up (+54%). In contrast, sales of gas-guzzling pickup trucks, like the Dodge Ram, are way down (-29%).

Hybrid cars introduced electricity as an alternative fuel. This innovation has opened the possibility to fuel-up by plugging your car into an electrical outlet. Just think of it, a future with plug-in electric vehicles fueled by clean, renewable energy from wind, solar or hydro power!

Toyota may be the first to market a plug-in hybrid electric car. The next generation Prius, due around 2009, will likely use a plug-in system. Toyota is now using their proven nickel-metal hydride battery in prototype Prius plug-ins, but will likely switch to a lighter, more compact lithium ion battery later, once the technology is ready.

The future is now in California, where renewable energy is more plentiful and where American ingenuity has converted a Prius Hybrid to a Plug-in Hybrid that gets 100+ MPG. If you 'fill up' from a regular electrical outlet at home, the equivalent cost is under $1/gallon. If your driving is mostly local, you'd almost never need gasoline! What are we waiting for?

Tiny Alaskan Village lookin' to kick Big Oil's Gas

An Alaskan village eroding into the Arctic Ocean sued two dozen oil, power and coal companies, claiming that the large amounts of greenhouse gases they emit contribute to global warming that threatens the community's existence. The Inupiat Eskimo village of Kivalina sued Exxon Mobil Corp. and eight other oil companies, fourteen power companies and one coal company. Sea ice that forms later and melts sooner because of higher temperatures has left the community unprotected from fall and winter storm surges and pounding waves that lash the coastal community. Relocation costs have been estimated at more than $400 million. Damage to Kivalina from global warming has been documented in official government reports by the Army Corps of Engineers and the General Accounting Office.

A spokesman for Exxon Mobil said the company takes the issue of climate change seriously. "Exxon Mobil is taking action by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our operations, supporting research into technology breakthroughs and participating in constructive dialogues on policy options with NGOs, industry and policy makers," he said.

A real opportunity could arise for Exxon Mobil to take the issue of climate change seriously and act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by giving back a minuscule portion of their enormous profits. The House of Representatives voted in favor of a tax package to use funds from Big Oil's tax breaks to boost incentives for wind and solar energy and energy efficiency. Extending tax breaks for wind and solar energy would prevent the loss of jobs in those fast-growing industries, whose tax breaks are set to expire at the end of the year placing 116,000 jobs at risk. The bill was sent to the Senate. However, the Bush administration, Republican lawmakers and Big Oil condemned the bill.

“Since President Bush took office, the price of oil has gone from $30 per barrel to a record high price of $101 yesterday,” said Congressman Edward Markey, Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. “This administration’s oil-centric energy policy has proven itself to be completely bankrupt for everyone except for Big Oil. President Bush should support this bill, which helps consumers and our economy, not continue to oppose this bill for the sole benefit of the most profitable companies in the world.”

How about it Exxon Mobil...ready to really show that you take climate change seriously? Give back some small change ($) from your huge profits to help consumers, the economy and the planet. Alaskans won't be holding their breath while waiting. It's been about 19 years since the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil in Alaskan waters and on the coastline, and still no money has been paid in punishment for that offense.