Election Fall-Out for Clean Technology
Page 1 by Rona Fried
Lie, Smear, Obstruct, Win. That's the new motto for American politics.
Add to that pompous ignorance and you know what we're up against in the 2011 Congress. After eight long years of the Bush Administration, we had a very brief period of support for cleantech and renewable energy with the Obama Administration. Now, that "hope for change" is gone.
It's bad news for science and the reality of climate change with climate deniers back in town. Bill Mayer joked on Real Time that Tea Partiers don't "believe" in gravity. But it's no joke.
We're about to have the most pro-dirty energy Congress we've seen. Thanks to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, Big Oil and Dirty Coal spent a fortune to swing this election, and they got what they paid for.
Renewable energy, clean technology, and the vital investments in education and research that underpin its spread are in jeopardy in the US. In fact, the new Republican majority will do their best to unwind all our environmental laws that protect our air and water and natural resources. Those laws put "undue burdens" on polluters - if we want jobs, we'll have to get rid of them.
NRDC says: Powerful members of the new majority have signaled their intent to unshackle polluters from the Clean Air Act ... strip wolves of their endangered species protection ... industrialize the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge . . . slash budgets for clean energy programs ... and hold hearings questioning the science behind global warming.
Remember Joe Barton (R-TX)? He's the one that apologized to BP because the Obama Administration was charging them the full price for the Gulf oil spill. Well, he'll probably chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
These people don't compromise. Their only goal is to hoist President Obama from office and regain power in the Senate. They have no policy solutions to the multitude of problems our nation faces.
Their idea of an energy policy is oil drilling (watch out ANWR), clean coal, nuclear and natural gas, even as polling shows that 90% of Americans want more clean energy and 80% want higher gas mileage for cars (yes, they want to gut that too), as well as comprehensive efforts to protect our air and water. Most representatives who supported the House clean energy bill won their races.
Is there any Good News?
Nearly every Republican candidate for Senate rejects the sound, settled science that man-made carbon pollution is causing the Earth's climate to change. Fortunately, voters rejected ‘flat earthers' like Carly Fiorina, Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle and Ken Buck, choosing instead to return to Washington clean energy champions like Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid and Michael Bennet. Although we lost key environmental leaders like Senator Russ Feingold, voters elected new clean energy leaders to the Senate, such as Richard Blumenthal and Chris Coons.
Lie, Smear, Obstruct, Win. That's the new motto for American politics.
Add to that pompous ignorance and you know what we're up against in the 2011 Congress. After eight long years of the Bush Administration, we had a very brief period of support for cleantech and renewable energy with the Obama Administration. Now, that "hope for change" is gone.
It's bad news for science and the reality of climate change with climate deniers back in town. Bill Mayer joked on Real Time that Tea Partiers don't "believe" in gravity. But it's no joke.
We're about to have the most pro-dirty energy Congress we've seen. Thanks to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, Big Oil and Dirty Coal spent a fortune to swing this election, and they got what they paid for.
Renewable energy, clean technology, and the vital investments in education and research that underpin its spread are in jeopardy in the US. In fact, the new Republican majority will do their best to unwind all our environmental laws that protect our air and water and natural resources. Those laws put "undue burdens" on polluters - if we want jobs, we'll have to get rid of them.
NRDC says: Powerful members of the new majority have signaled their intent to unshackle polluters from the Clean Air Act ... strip wolves of their endangered species protection ... industrialize the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge . . . slash budgets for clean energy programs ... and hold hearings questioning the science behind global warming.
Remember Joe Barton (R-TX)? He's the one that apologized to BP because the Obama Administration was charging them the full price for the Gulf oil spill. Well, he'll probably chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
These people don't compromise. Their only goal is to hoist President Obama from office and regain power in the Senate. They have no policy solutions to the multitude of problems our nation faces.
Their idea of an energy policy is oil drilling (watch out ANWR), clean coal, nuclear and natural gas, even as polling shows that 90% of Americans want more clean energy and 80% want higher gas mileage for cars (yes, they want to gut that too), as well as comprehensive efforts to protect our air and water. Most representatives who supported the House clean energy bill won their races.
Is there any Good News?
Nearly every Republican candidate for Senate rejects the sound, settled science that man-made carbon pollution is causing the Earth's climate to change. Fortunately, voters rejected ‘flat earthers' like Carly Fiorina, Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle and Ken Buck, choosing instead to return to Washington clean energy champions like Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid and Michael Bennet. Although we lost key environmental leaders like Senator Russ Feingold, voters elected new clean energy leaders to the Senate, such as Richard Blumenthal and Chris Coons.
next »
Reader Comments (3)
| Author: Jim Gleeson, AIA Date Posted: 11/10/10 01:16 PM | Rona and Sustainable Business, I have been in the "Sustainable Design" Business for many years. I have seen the industry go from an almost unknown movement of architects, engineers and others trying to start the USGBC, to steady growth, as people became aware of the benefits of 'green' strategies to the triple bottom line. Somewhere in the early 2000's something started to take over the movement. It started to grow exponentially. This was very rewarding at first to those of us that had worked hard from early on to promote it and it's benefits. But something had changed. It had become POLITICAL. It had been taken over by people with a different agenda, one not so much about the environment. I am very much interested in, and supportive of environmental issues. The waste that our building and manufacturing, even living processes produce is appalling. But how did we get from there to government control, carbon taxation and wealth redistribution and UN Frameworks on Global Government? When you say things like "Lie, Smear, Obstruct, Win. That's the new motto for American politics." referring to Republicans, you only add to the polarization. It is not just black and white. The US is a prime example of how free enterprise cleans up is own messes as it and technology develop. For example, automobiles give off a small fraction of the GHG they did only a few years ago. MPG has tripled since the seventies. When government takes too much control it only slows things down and produces the kind of national debt we are currently experiencing. For a website named "Sustainable Business" the anti-business rhetoric is extremely counter productive. |
| Author: Rona Fried Date Posted: 11/10/10 08:09 PM | Jim, this isn't anti-business rhetoric. The Lie, Smear, Obstruct, Win line refers to things like "cap and tax", which effectively ended our ability to install a cap-and-trade program, "death panels", which turned the American public away from health care reform, etc. Unfortunately, the EIA has produced reports over the past years saying that there must be a price on carbon, that government policy is crucial in leveling the playing field for renewable energy. And until this year, when Obama finally put new fuel economy standards in force, the US hadn't increased those standards since the 1970s or 1980s. Many of the biggest corporations such as GE, Google etc. are very much in favor of proactive gov't policy. |
| Author: Jim Gleeson, AIA Date Posted: 10/09/11 02:46 AM | Rona, I'm not saying we don't need a plan to get to renewable energy and away from reliance on foreign oil. I'm saying we have to have a long range plan designed by all the major players that is consistent with how our economy works. If we have to switch to a government induced forced- march which ignores economics, to get there, we will never get there. If the government in the 1890's had put huge taxes on the horse and buggy industry to promote the automobile they would have put thousands of people out of work and crippled and industry well before the automobile was ready for mass consumption. I am very much a proponent for Green Energy, but government can't force green energy to be feasible especially when we are already 14 Trillion in debt. You use "Lie Smear Obstruct, win" to describe calling "Cap and Trade", "Cap and Tax". Those of us in the "Green Industry" must be very careful we are not promoting something based on unresearched assumptions. You are assuming that the "science" on which Cap and Trade is based is actually true and verifiable. I assumed it was also, until I did my own research. Have you actually read the UN IPCC reports and the reports by Richard Lindzen of MIT and many others? The real unfortunate thing to me is that now the original, authentic Green movement is caught between both world views- we have been hijacked by the left and now the right assumes we (green architects, journalists etc.)are all part of the push for government control. Please describe for us how the government can actually "level the playing field" and make solar or wind energy affordable and practical on an national scale. When you give them millions of taxpayer dollars that doesn't make them successful, it produces things like Solyndra. It's a nice idea if it were actually doable. Too many people and organizations are abdicating their responsibility to understand fully what they are promoting and instead are just accepting the talking points of those pushing an agenda and passing it on as unquestionable. www.thegwpf.org |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feedback and debate are welcome!