Xposted from Daily Kos.
Friends of the Earth and Moveon.org oppose the Lieberman-Warner bill that was passed earlier today by a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works. This bill gives hundred of billions of dollars away to corporate polluters.
John Edwards today joined them in opposition to the Lieberman-Warner Polluter Giveaway bill now in the Senate.
Edwards opposes Lieberman-Warner because the bill “gives away pollution permits to industry for free – a massive corporate windfall – instead of doing what is right and selling them so that we can use these resources to invest in clean energy research and help regular families go green.”
I also have two comments from the comments in this diary at Daily Kos by Brent Blackwelder, President of Friends of the Earth and FoE Action added as Updates here:
More after the fold.
On October 30, 2007, Friends of the Earth announced the results of their new analysis of the bill. They found that:
Corporate polluters will hit the jackpot if global warming legislation proposed by Sens. Joe Lieberman and John Warner becomes law. The Lieberman-Warner bill will reward corporate polluters by handing them pollution permits worth almost half a trillion dollars, and that’s just one part of this bill. The levels of pollution-rewarding giveaways in this bill are truly obscene.
Friends of the Earth quantifies the giveaways here.
“The Lieberman-Warner bill will reward corporate polluters by handing them pollution permits worth almost half a trillion dollars,” said Friends of the Earth’s Erich Pica, one of the authors of the analysis. “And that’s just one part of this bill. The bill also includes hundreds of billions of dollars of other mind-boggling giveaways. The levels of pollution-rewarding giveaways in this bill are truly obscene.”
In particular, Friends of the Earth’s analysis found that the bill:
- Provides the coal industry and other fossil fuel industries pollution permits worth $436 billion over the life of the legislation; 58 percent of this amount goes to coal
- Returns revenue raised through auctions directly to polluters — for example, an additional $324 billion would subsidize the coal industry’s efforts to develop carbon capture and storage mechanisms
- Directs another $522 billion of auction revenue to low or zero-emissions technologies, which could result in handouts to the nuclear power, big hydro and coal industries, which are not clean (these funds could also be directed toward important clean technologies, such as wind and solar — the legislation is not specific)
snip
“The polluter giveaways are one of several major flaws in this bill,” Pica said.
Friends of the Earth releases new analysis
Moveon.org also opposes this bill:
No free ride for polluters
A new bill in the Senate could be the first climate change legislation that has a chance of passing. The only problem is that it won’t solve climate change, but it will give polluting companies billions in corporate windfall profits.
Companies could buy the credits from the government, and we can use the money to transition to a clean-energy economy. By carefully limiting the number of credits available, we can reduce pollution. But the bill being considered would give most of the credits away for free to the biggest polluters.
We need to speak out before this becomes law.
A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to your Senators.
Full petition text:
“Any climate legislation that gives ‘pollution credits’ away for free means windfall profits for big polluters. Congress should ensure that corporations pay taxpayers for these credits. The money raised should help develop clean energy sources and support the workers and consumers affected by the shift to clean energy.”
John Edwards opposes this bad bill:
EDWARDS STATEMENT ON GLOBAL WARMING LEGISLATION IN THE SENATE
Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Senator John Edwards released the following statement on the Lieberman-Warner bill that was passed earlier today by a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works:
“Global warming is a crisis. Every month, the evidence mounts that decisive action is urgently needed. At long last, global warming legislation is moving in the Senate.
“But we cannot be limited in our approach by the armies of lobbyists from big oil companies and other special interests. The critical question is simple: are we going to do everything climate science says is needed to save our planet? The Lieberman-Warner bill says no. Worst of all, it gives away pollution permits to industry for free – a massive corporate windfall – instead of doing what is right and selling them so that we can use these resources to invest in clean energy research and help regular families go green.
“Ending global warming won’t be easy, but it is time to ask Americans to be patriotic about something other than war. If we take the necessary steps, we can emerge from the crisis of global warming with an economy built on clean, renewable energy and more than 1 million new jobs.”
John Edwards stands with Friends of the Earth and Moveon.org in opposing this corporate giveway. We need real action on global warming. With stands like this for the Earth, John Edwards is showing that he really will be our First Green President.
UPDATE I: From the comments in this diary (at Daily Kos), Brent Blackwelder, President of Friends of the Earth and FoE Action:
John Edwards is showing real leadership on the environment here. The Lieberman-Warner bill simply does not reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the rates that scientists say are needed, and it includes massive giveaways to corporate polluters.
Friends of the Earth Action will be urging other presidential candidates to follow Senator Edwards’ lead and call for much stronger legislation.
Dr. Brent Blackwelder,
President, Friends of the Earth Action (www.foeaction.org)
P.S. Friends of the Earth has information about the bill online. A one-page factsheet is available here, and a longer analysis of the corporate giveaways can be found here.
by Brent Blackwelder on Thu Nov 01, 2007 at 11:15:16 AM PDT
[ Parent | Reply to This |Recommend Troll ]
Update II In the comments (at Daily Kos), a request for action from Dr. Brent Blackwelder, President, Friends of the Earth Action:
Thanks Ellinorianne (2+ / 0-)
and everyone else for your comments and support. We’re doing what we can. But we won’t get anywhere if senators don’t hear from their constituents that this bill needs to get better.
I would encourage all members DailyKos community to call your senators with two key requests:
* This legislation should ratchet down emissions to get us to a minimum cut of 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. The current bill falls far short of this goal — which is what scientists tell us is needed.
* 100 percent of pollution permits should be auctioned and giveaways to corporate polluters should be eliminated.
The Lieberman-Warner bill is not good enough. The laws of nature don’t compromise and we must have legislation that does the minimum that scientists tell us is necessary to avoid catastrophe. Emissions are rising more quickly than almost anyone has predicted and we may not have a second chance to get this right.
by Brent Blackwelder on Thu Nov 01, 2007 at 12:42:52 PM PDT
[ Parent | Reply to This |Recommend Troll ]
