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climateadaptation:

Report shows Republicans voted in favor of stripping environmental laws to help the oil and gas industry.

“Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Ed Markey released a new report that provides an updated analysis of the anti-environment record of the House of Representatives in the 112th Congress. In 2011 and in the first half of 2012, the Republican-controlled House voted 247 times to dismantle environmental and public health protections.

The report, prepared by the Democratic staff of the Energy and Commerce Committee, found that the House averaged one anti-environmental vote for every day the House was in session in 2011 and in the first half of 2012.  Nearly one in five of the 1,100 legislative roll call votes thus far this Congress – 19% – were votes to undermine environmental protection.

The report also found that the oil and gas industry has been the largest beneficiary of this anti-environment record in the House.  The House has voted 109 times on legislation that would enrich the oil and gas industry.  This includes 45 votes to weaken environmental, public health, and safety requirements applicable to the oil industry, 38 votes to prevent deployment of clean energy alternatives, and 12 votes to expedite review of the Keystone XL pipeline.

• The full report is available here.

• A comprehensive list of all anti-environment votes in the 112th Congress is available here. 

• A list of all votes related to the oil and gas industry is available online here.

(via sarahlee310)

tartantambourine:

Last week, the Republican-controlled House Armed Services Committee voted to prohibit the Defense Department from buying any alternative fuels that cost more than fossil fuels (all of them) and to repeal part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that has been the catalyst for efforts to wean the country off petroleum. If successful, experts say the amendment could be a fatal blow to the already struggling biofuels industry, which owes its survival thus far to large military purchases.

The Republican war on the environment continues. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that “Conservatives” would want to “conserve” the Earth? 

They aren’t even trying to pretend that they aren’t in big oil’s pocket.

(via sarahlee310)

climateadaptation:

From Krugman’s killer piece today:

“Employment in oil and gas extraction has risen more than 50 percent since the middle of the last decade, but that amounts to only 70,000 jobs, around one-twentieth of 1 percent of total U.S. employment. So the idea that drill, baby, drill can cure our jobs deficit is basically a joke.

Why, then, are Republicans pretending otherwise? Part of the answer is that the party is rewarding its benefactors: the oil and gas industry doesn’t create many jobs, but it does spend a lot of money on lobbying and campaign contributions. The rest of the answer is simply the fact that conservatives have no other job-creation ideas to offer.

And intellectual bankruptcy, I’m sorry to say, is a problem that no amount of drilling and fracking can solve.”

Read it, here.

(via questionall)

letterstomycountry:

Forgive my candor, but sometimes, the truth of one’s convictions cannot be conveyed accurately with any but vulgar argot.

Via DCDecoder, I ran into this gem from Gingrich’s victory speech in Georgia, addressing energy policy:

But the president had an alternative to drilling - and this is…

The Sierra Club, The Justice Resource Center, Occupy Louisville, Rubbertown Emergency Action (REACT) and The Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression invite you to a rally calling for LG&E to provide a sustainable energy future with Green Jobs!No rate hikes for dirty coal. Rally for investments in clean energy and jobs. 

- LG&E and KU are requesting the Public Service Commission to approve a $2.5 billion rate increase by way of an “environmental surcharge” to pay to upgrade their coal plants. Rather then investing in keeping dirty technologies going, they could be making a down payment on our future.

- LG&E has recently filed an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) which includes no clean energy proposals. No solar, no wind, no hydro-electricity. Their plan is to saddle Louisville residents with dirty coal for many years to come. Sierra Club has intervened in this case.

- Residents in Cane Run, Mill Creek, and Trimble County are currently opposing existing LG&E coal ash impoundments that are leaking and producing fugitive dust that endangers the health of their communities. 

- Residents at Cane Run and Trimble County are opposing proposed massive coal ash expansions that would plague their communities for years to come.
- Louisville citizens should not have to pay for LG&E to profit from their poisoning. 

- Upgraded coal burning power plants produce more toxic coal ash. There is a better way. 

- Studies show that $1 million in spending can create 16.6 renewable energy and energy efficiency jobs compared to only 5.5 fossil fuel jobs.

- Investing in a clean energy future would protect the health of our communities and bolster the economy. 

(via glittertitties-deactivated20130)