ACELA to Nowhere: Unclean Energy-Only Bill Jumps the Tracks

by RLMiller

Rumors have the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) abandoning the Kerry-Yournamehere-Lieberman climate bill in favor of a clean energy-only bill.  Moderate Democrats, led by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), believe the best foundation is the American Clean Energy and Leadership Act, S. 1462, a bill that passed the Energy & Natural Resources Committee last summer on a bipartisan vote.

By now, it's become gospel truth that environmentalists cringe at ACELA.  But why?  Is the bill that bad?

Actually, yes.  Short summary (2 pg pdf) of bill here; analysis below the fold.

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$20,000,000,000 Megavictory for POTUS & Planet Earth UPDATED x3

by ericlewis0

UPDATE 3: Please rec this diary up - we're being buffeted by a massive category nine troll storm. Arrr. :)

My hat is off to another elegantly executed epic win for the Obama Administration. 20. Billion. Dollars.

From Wikipedia:

The rope-a-dope is performed by a boxer assuming a protected stance, in Ali's classic pose, lying against the ropes, and allowing his opponent to hit him, in the hope that the opponent will become tired and make mistakes which the boxer can exploit in a counterattack.

In competitive situations other than boxing, rope-a-dope is used to describe strategies in which one party purposely puts itself in what appears to be a losing position, attempting thereby to become the eventual victor.

A brief anatomy of a brilliant plan after the jump...

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eKos Earthship Wednesday: In case you missed it, check out the Library!

by eKos

Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.

With an EcoAdvocates and the final addition of TWiCC already posted, tonight's eKos will not contain eco-news. Instead, we'll have an announcement, a repost of my diary about the new eKos library (in case anyone missed it), and of course, the eco-diary lineup.

Oh, and don't forget to rec the BP Disaster Liveblog Mothership!

Tonight's editor: patrickz

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Air Pollution 104 - Oxides of Nitrogen

by ashowboat

This is the fourth in a series of diaries about air pollution.

First in the series was about general air pollution facts and how the Clean Air Act works.  It can be found here

Second in the series was all about ozone and photochemical smog and can be found here

And third in the series was all about reactive organic compounds and can be found here

Today's diary is all about oxides of nitrogen.

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ecoadvocates: Join hands in fighting BP & Offshore

by boatsie

Tonight's EcoAdvocates edition includes a guest post by by Dave Rauschkolb, founder  of Hands Across the Sand , the June 26 day of solidarity on beaches around the world in response to the Deepwater Horizon Disaster; Kevin Grandia reporting from tcktcktck's FreshAir Center on "What's next after the UNFCCC Bonn talks?" and tonight's editor, boatsie, who provides background information and advocates for a few eco-actions in "Act Now!"

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This week in climate change: Series Finale

by LaughingPlanet

Welcome to This week in climate change, the tenth and final edition.

Or at least a TTFN edition.

The idea was spawned way back when before the neverending Gulf Gusher began. BGG, if you will. Now, 8 weeks AGG, we have seen a gush of eco diaries unleashed like never before. We have gone from caring too little about eco issues to caring (or at least writing) too much.

We also have seen a major influx of new eco series launch in that time, including eKos, EcoAdvocates, and the BP Catastrophe Liveblog, all of which have become far more popular than this idea. In addition, the series whose absence spurred me to fill their void have returned.

I'll still write about stuff, often about climate issues. Others here will too.
However, the use for yet another series seems tenuous, at best, superfluous at worst.

Long story short, it's been real.

• • • • • •

Climate news, Climate Diary Rescue, Climate Blog Roundup, Action Items and more below the fold.

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Waxman details How Oil Companies deal with Real Risks

by jamess


Most Companies face the common dilemma of how to best minimize their Risks, while somehow, managing to make a Profit. It's what makes 'Starting a Business' a Risky proposition for most folks -- there are few "sure fire" deals in the Business World.
This little "constraint" is apparently not much of a factor, in the High Tech world of deepwater drilling, however.  They have simply managed to 'paper-over' any Real Risks they incur for decades now.  Oil CEO's are accustom to seeing it, as an Easy Money Gig.

Their little "risk management" charade has been coming out lately, in the Congressional Inquiries been held by Henry Waxman.
"Rubber Stamp" may take on a whole new meaning, given the way these Exec's seem to like to 'copy each others Homework' ...


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Republicans vs. Making BP pay

by Jed Lewison

Even as President Obama and his administration were working out the final details of a $20 billion escrow fund for compensating victims of BP's oil spill, Republicans were crying foul, saying that the escrow fund was unfair and and overly harsh.

Leading off the crazy was Michele Bachmann, who called the escrow fund a "redistribution of wealth fund." She told Dave Weigel that she worried that BP was being "fleeced" by the Obama administration.

Not to be outdone, Missisippi Governor Haley Barbour -- a potential 2012 contender -- said the escrow fund was overly harsh, and could cause BP so much economic pain that it wouldn't be able to offer victims any compensation whatsoever.

Barbour says BP should pay for the damage they've caused, but his logic seems to be: "If we make BP pay, then BP might not be able to afford to pay. So we shouldn't make them pay, so that way they can pay."

If you're confused by Barbour's comments, maybe this will help clear things up: before running for public office, he was a lobbyist. For big oil.

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Louisiana: 109 health complaints related to oil spill

by Jed Lewison

ProPublica notes the latest numbers from Louisiana state officials on health complaints related to exposure to materials connected with BP's oil spill, including the cleanup. In total, Louisiana reports 109 complaints, 74 of which came from workers and 35 of which came from residents.

According to the report, headache, nauseau, and throat irritation were the most common complaints. While about half of residents merely called poison control center, most of the workers visited the emergency room (55 of 74), a health clinic or doctor's office (10), or were hospitalized (9). Also according to the report, most of the hospital stays were short.

The large majority of workers said they were exposed to either emulsified oil mixed with dispersant or odor and fumes from the spill. BP has denied any connection between the spill and the illnesses, saying that the workers were simply falling ill due to "food poisoning."

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BP Turns Away Expert Oil Spill Volunteers!

by slinkerwink

This is, once again, an addition to a long litany of the colossal fuck-ups that BP has done in managing their response to the oil spill. Apparently, they've not really been manning their volunteer centers, and have refused to take in volunteers with actual background experience in responding to oil spills. Here's more from Brad Johnson at Think Progress on this issue:

BP has rejected the help of thousands of volunteers, many with expert training and experience in handling offshore oil disasters and oil spill cleanup. Yesterday, MSNBC’s Chuck Todd interviewed Don Abrams of OilSpillVolunteers.com, who collected the names of nearly 8,000 volunteers in the first weeks after BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion, and tried repeatedly to contribute their expertise to mitigating this national disaster. Many of the volunteers Abrams had organized have certification in the federal government’s official Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Standard (HAZWOPER), and were ready and able to train others.

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"All costs, no benefits ..."

by A Siegel

The EPA has issued its analysis of the financial and economic impacts of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act.  The bumper sticker summary of their (fundamentally flawed) analysis: action to mitigate climate change is affordable.  Sadly, however, the EPA has continued the strong economic tradition of robust analysis of costs of action with dramatic understating of the benefits of action in the domain of climate mitigation.  As Michael Livermore put it, "all costs, no benefits ..."

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BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: #22

by Liveblog

The current ROV DIARY: BP Oilpocalypse ROV #103

Rules of the Road

• Let's keep this a meta diary. To volunteer to host a liveblog submersible (ROV), leave a comment here.
• Please rec this mothership diary, not the ROVs.
• Please be kind to fellow kossacks who may have limited bandwidth and refrain from posting images or videos.

PLEASE visit Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier's diaries to find out how you can help the Gulf now and in the future. We don't have to be idle! And thanks to Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier for working on this!

To repeat: please refrain from commenting in this mothership diary, unless you're volunteering for a submersible shift.

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