congress

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Shaheen and Portman took the past bill, made some adjustments and went through the due process of negotiating with over 200 groups and organizations this time around to gain a wide swath of approval within industry.[read more]

If Congress fails to reach an agreement, automatic, across-the-board spending cuts would kick in, making it much harder for the government to deliver the health and environmental protections people value. We would feel these punishing cuts in our daily lives.[read more]

Happy New Year! And good riddance to 2011, a year during which we made little or no progress on some of the issues that I care most about: climate change, the long-term federal debt, social mobility (aka the American dream), and our dysfunctional Congress. Yet I remain an optimist. Texas drought 2011 I could write many words about our...[read more]

As the US Congressional representatives head home to their respective districts, some of which defy all logic in terms of that contortionist geography called gerrymandering, it’s a perfect opportunity to attend their town hall meetings to offer advice in support of Smart Grid initiatives.   Support a national energy policy...[read more]

Everyone loves renewable energy – even Grover Norquist, who writes in an otherwise completely inaccurate opinion piece that:  Opposition to renewable energy mandates should not be misinterpreted as an aversion to renewable energy. In fact, renewable sources could play a significant role in the future. I totally agree Grover!  ...[read more]

In an end of year meeting with reporters the Chairman explains what the agency plans to do next year(Note to readers - this blog post has been updated to indicate the budget being discussed is the FY 2012 federal budget which began 10/01/11)NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko sat down with reporters from the mainstream media and the major wire...[read more]

While Republicans hold the national debt increase hostage, Congress is deciding what to cut and what to gut (expansion or creation of new programs is largely off the table). Energy subsidies are already falling under the knife. Mark Muro at Brookings figures that if we're going to they're going after energy subsidies anyway, now is the...[read more]

Why would a reauthorization bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have anything to say about the steps that Europe is taking to reduce carbon pollution from aviation?  The answer should be nothing.  But unfortunately the US Senate is considering language passed by the House of Representatives that would signal...[read more]

In an earlier blog post I noted that June was likely to be a critical month for possible federal energy legislation. It now looks like June will be consumed with work on the long-term federal budget and raising the federal debt ceiling, crowding out other issues. Earlier hopes that the debt ceiling issue would be resolved in May when we...[read more]

Last Tuesday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan released his fiscal year 2012 budget proposal, a plan that would strip federal funding for energy innovation. If enacted, the budget would seriously threaten the country's clean energy competitiveness and damage innovation, the engine of economic growth. The following is excerpted...[read more]

The confrontation over climate policy that was teed up by the results of last November's mid-term election culminated with the House of Representatives voting overwhelmingly yesterday to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. However, the more crucial votes took place...[read more]

A vocal group in Congress is attacking the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through the Clean Air Act. These lawmakers say leaving the EPA in charge of large polluters is bad for business.If they were truly interested in helping to turn our economy and getting Americans back to work, they...[read more]

This month marked the official end of the National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. After months of investigation, we delivered our recommendations in January on how to prevent another oil spill tragedy in the future, and now we are closing up shop. Ten months after the commission started and nearly...[read more]

BINGAMAN:  The starting point for the [Senate briefing by oil experts] was one fundamental truth: the primary driver of the price for gasoline at the pump is the price of crude oil.  This chart [above] was one of the key ones used by EIA Administrator Newell.  It shows the price trends since 2005 for gasoline (in...[read more]

My thoughts and prayers have been and will continue to be with the people of Japan. Their suffering is both a tragedy and testimony to the fragility of even the most developed infrastructure. It is also a reminder of the sometimes alarming ubiquity of our energy supply system. Almost a year after the Deepwater oil spill began in the...[read more]