The Climate Bill Revisited

[Towntalk]

There is a report that Ohioan, veteran Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledogot a new federal power authority, similar to Washington state's Bonneville Power Administration, stocked with up to $3.5 billion in taxpayer money available for lending to renewable energy and economic development projects in Ohio and other Midwestern states.

What did Tim Ryan get for his vote?

June 25, 2009: Rep. Ryan Announces New Training Grants Aimed at Preparing Workforce for Green JobsCalls on local government, business to work together to procure grants
 
(Washington, DC) -- Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-17) announced five new grants solicitations from the Department of Labor aimed at training workers to work in the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries. The grants are a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and total around $500 million in direct aid.   "I am urging our local governments and local businesses to team up in order to attract these grants to our community," said Congressman Ryan. "Our time is now, these are the jobs and industries that can lead towards our economic revival and we must act immediately."   

The State Labor Market Information Improvement grant would make funds available to collect, analyze and disseminate labor market information. The purpose of this grant would be to create local green energy job banks that job seekers could access to learn what jobs are available to them. The State of Ohio would have to apply for this grant. The application deadline is August 14, 2009.   

The Energy Training Partnership grant would provide funds for direct training and placement services for workers entering the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries. Private nonprofit organizations that are either national labor-management organizations with local networks or statewide or local nonprofit partnerships are able to apply for this grant. The application deadline is September 4, 2009.   

The Pathways out of Poverty grant is an effort to integrate training and supportive services for communities seeking a way out of poverty and into economic self-sufficiency through employment in renewable energy industries. The application deadline is September 29, 2009.   

The State Energy Sector Partnerships and Training grant will help communities implement "sector strategies" which brings together a range of institutions and groups to work collaboratively to create a comprehensive plan to build, attract and grow energy sector jobs. Local workforce investment boards, regional consortia of boards and One Stop Career Centers are all eligible for this grant. The application deadline is October 20, 2009.   

The Green Capacity Building grant would give funding to organizations to provide training for entry-level positions that would lead to careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy industries. The application deadline is August 5, 2009.

[Towntalk]

The Costs of the Cap-and-Trade Bill

http://www.rollcall.com/news/36393-1.html?page=1

Cap and trade will have "unexpected" costs

http://www.examiner.com/x-2988-San-Diego-Economy-Examiner~y2009m6d30-Cap-and-trade-will-have-unexpected-costs

[sfc_oliver]

Funny thing is every time I try to find a report telling how bad the Global warming is I see many charts that show global cooling these past 10 years. And one that said this past year has been the biggest drop in recorded history. Others that show a warming trend.

What do we believe?. Seems you can just believe whatever you want and find some site that will fit what you believe.

[Towntalk]

As the most ambitious energy and climate-change legislation ever introduced in Congress made its way to a floor vote last Friday, it grew fat with compromises, carve-outs, concessions and out-and-out gifts intended to win the votes of wavering lawmakers and the support of powerful industries.

The deal making leading up to the passage continued right up until the final minutes, with the bill's co-author Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, doling out billions of dollars in promises on the House floor to secure the final votes needed for passage.

The bill was weighed down with hundreds of pages of special-interest favors, even as environmentalists lamented that its greenhouse-gas reduction targets had been whittled down.

Others were huge and threatened to undermine the environmental goals of the bill, like a series of compromises reached with rural and farm-state members that would funnel billions of dollars in payments to agriculture and forestry interests.

The biggest concessions went to utilities, which wanted assurances that they could continue to operate and build coal-burning power plants without shouldering new costs. The utilities received not only tens of billions of dollars worth of free pollution permits, but also billions for work on technology to capture carbon-dioxide emissions from coal combustion to help meet future pollution targets.

CAP IN TRADE

The bill's centerpiece is a cap-and-trade program that sets a ceiling on emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide and allows polluting industries to trade emission permits or allowances to meet it. Mr. Obama said during the presidential campaign that all of those permits should be sold at auction, but the bill's authors ended up giving away 85 percent free at the outset of the program, which won votes but that some environmental advocates said undercut the bill's integrity.