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Aquarian
B.V. Info-a-holic
Joined: Oct 25, 2003
Posts: 9844
Location: Miami, Florida 305!
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 Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:19 am Post subject: Energy Bill Not Good Enough! |
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Energy Bill Not Nearly Good Enough
December 19, 2007 By Matthew Rothschild
I don’t understand what all the cheering is about.
On December 18, the House overwhelmingly passed the energy bill, and Nancy Pelosi hailed it as “a moment of real change.” On December 19, President Bush signed the bill, claiming it "represents a major step forward."
Some environmental groups in the United States also praised it because it finally lifts the miles per gallon requirement on cars and trucks to 35.
This is the first increase since—if you can believe it—1985. Today, the standard is 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and 22.2 mpg for light trucks and SUVs.
No wonder global warming is galloping along.
We’ve done jack for more than two decades, even as the evidence of global warming has become irrefutable and the dangers so imminent.
And now I’m supposed to applaud this bill, which does nothing to require the utilities to use more renewable sources of energy, and does nothing to subsidize wind, solar, or geothermal?
And I’m supposed to applaud this bill for raising the fuel efficiency standards, even though the bill won’t require that change to be fully implemented until—get this!—the year 2020.
Come on! We don’t have the time—or the CO2—to burn.
Leading experts on global warming tell us that we may already be at, or past, the tipping point, and we’re going to keep fiddling for another dozen years?
“We have failed to meet nature’s deadline,” Ross Gelbspan writes in a crucially important online article for Grist.
“In the next few years, this world will experience progressively more ominous and destabilizing changes. These will happen either incrementally—or in sudden, abrupt jumps. Under either scenario, it seems inevitable that we will soon be confronted by water shortages, crop failures, increasing damages from extreme weather events, collapsing infrastructures, and potentially, breakdowns in the democratic process itself.”
The pathetic character of the energy bill comes into sharp relief when you consider that Europe and Japan already are getting more than 40 miles per gallon with their fleet, today. And Volkswagen has a car on the European market that’s getting 78 miles per gallon, right now.
Why should we have to wait till 2020 to get only 35 mpg?
To call this a victory is to wave the white flag.
http://www.progressive.org/node/5754 |
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_________________
I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend? ~Robert Redford, Yosemite National Park dedication, 1985 |
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CrunchyUncle
B.V. Lurker
Joined: Jan 14, 2008
Posts: 28
Location: wilmington nc
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| Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:40 am Post subject: |
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not trying to offend you..just voicing my opinion..
its a fact that global warming is upon us..its a fact that we need to be energy self sufficient..the question remains whether or not humans are causing the global warming, and what means we are going to chase to replace the over indulgence of the american consumers love of oil.
Weve(humans) been involved in heavy industry for how long 100-150 years?
and how much of that time have we monitored our effects weve had on the environment..i mean monitoring that yields useful information..i think its pretty arrogant to think were killing something that we can only guesstimate the age of(earth). We have no fricken clue the natural cycles of this planet..so what we can dig in the soil and tell what has happened before..gimme a break..global warming caused by us..you nor the best meteorologist in the world can tell me when its going to rain next week let alone what the temperature will be in 10-20 yrs..i just think its another scam to heighten oil prices/consumer prices in general.
allow me to retor to myself...? yea..
i agree we should conserve to the best of our abilities..but at the same time we need to keep a watchful eye on people trying to capitalize on these issues that they are pressing..dont for one second think that politicians actually care about the environment..its one of many ways to skim off the bank account..
basically i couldve just revamped this whole comment to i agree but at the same time i dont agree kinda thing..
take care
crunchy
EDIT: i lived in NE iowa (cresco) for 6-7 years recently returning to NC, in iowa there is a decent amount of geothermal companies in the area, also in mitchell county, to the north of mason city iowa into minn. there is a large windmill farm thats growing by the day, i hauled a few thousand tons of rock for the maintenance roads to them. Not to mention theres a pretty good market for bio-diesel and ethanol is at almost every pump in the north midwest corn states. its huge industry around there, with alchohol plants sprouting up near co-ops/rail lines. one thing occured to me tho, the cattle's main food is grain..and for some reason corn stalks and husks werent being used to produce alchohol, instead it was thrown on the ground for fertilizer/waste along with lime screenings. so im sure that while alchohol for fuel is clean and renewable, its still expensive to make, and our steaks will get a little more pricy, but hey im all for it, gets us away from saudi arabia and creates american jobs!
I worked at a factory in cresco building government, nascar, horse, and leisure trailors at featherlite, there was an electrical engineer that i was training under, journeymans card etc. anyways he worked at ford motor co. in the late 70s to early 90s and he said they had a sedan prototype that he helped design that got 70 some mpg in the mid 80s, but never released it. He said he didnt know why but he had a few theories..oil company payoffs and so on.
I agree this new bill is an attempt to pacify people who actually pay at the pump live paycheck to paycheck, and i guess a few green folk.
sad part is..noones bitching loud enough...
take care
crunch |
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Fahrenheit 451-The temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns. |
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Nesaie
B.V. Info-a-holic
Joined: Aug 04, 2005
Posts: 10412
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 8:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Don't worry if he doesn't respond. He made an announcement that he'd be gone for 6 months. |
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Soma: All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects.
Have you had your Soma today? |
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