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Link only - The Chicago Climate Club Gets Capped

The political resiliency of the climate eight has convinced some observers that the next Congress might even offer a kinder landscape for passing climate legislation. If Castle and Kirk ascend to the Senate, the chamber might have more moderate Republicans willing to join Democrats on cap and trade, says Rob Sisson, president of Republicans for Environmental Protection.

Legislation could include a carbon cap on utility companies. With the gulf oil spill creating political opportunity, Senate Democrats will begin crafting a sweeping energy bill this week that could include a first-ever, though more modest, cap on global-warming pollution. Republicans dismiss such a cap-and-trade system as a new tax on households and business — "cap-and-tax," they call it.

Fannie Mae Chief Executive Officer Franklin Raines, two of his top underlings and select individuals in the "green" movement were inventing a patented system to trade residential carbon credits. Patent No. 6904336 was approved by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office on Nov. 7, 2006 -- the day after Democrats took control of Congress. Former Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., criticized the award at the time, pointing out that it had "nothing to do with Fannie Mae's charter, nothing to do with making mortgages more affordable." "It wasn't about mortgages. It was about greenbacks. The patent, which Fannie Mae confirmed it...

Regulations: Call it cap-and-trade or bait-and-switch, but John Kerry and Joe Lieberman continue to tilt at windmills with a bill to restrain energy growth in the name of saving the planet.IBD Exclusive Series: American Freedom And Prosperity Under AttackThe bill introduced Wednesday and sponsored by the two senators is called the American Power Act, an Orwellian phrase if ever there was one. Like President Obama's offshore drilling program, for every "incentive" there is a restriction. It's as if Hamlet were to be appointed Secretary of Energy. The legislation has little to do with developing America's vast domestic energy supply. It's...

Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., have managed to write a cap-and-trade energy bill that should be greeted with guffaws from both believers and skeptics of man-made global warming. At a cost of billions of dollars and millions of jobs across America, the proposal would produce virtually no reduction in global temperatures even after being in force for decades. Using the MAGICC/SCENGEN climate model originally developed for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and assuming no other nation adopts the same measure, climate researcher Paul Knappenberger found that Kerry-Lieberman would reduce the average global temperature 0.077 degrees Fahrenheit by...

NASHUA, N.H., Feb 2 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama acknowledged on Tuesday that a controversial "cap-and-trade" mechanism to fight climate change could be separated from other aspects of an energy bill before the U.S. Senate. A cap-and-trade system would set limits on greenhouse gas emissions and allow companies to trade permits to pollute. The system, a version of which was approved by the House of Representatives, is controversial, especially among lawmakers that represent states with big coal reserves. "The most controversial aspects of the energy debate that we've been having: the House passed an energy bill and people complained that,...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is scheduled to meet privately Wednesday evening with top administration climate aide Carol Browner. Graham is working with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to craft a bipartisan cap and trade bill. He plans to discuss the ways Senate leaders can deal with manufacturing and coal state worries that the bill will spike electricity bills in the midst of a deep recession. “We’ve got to address people’s concerns about compliance costs and rate payer increases,” he told POLITICO. He’ll also use the meaning to address nuclear power, off-shore drilling and new coal technologies —...

Gov. Charlie Crist said he wasn't sure if he would host another climate-change summit and is backing away from his cap-and-trade energy policy. BY MARC CAPUTO TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist is cooling to global warming. Under mounting criticism from fellow Republicans, Crist looks ready to cancel his climate-change summit and is backing away from advocating a "cap-and-trade" energy policy. At his well-publicized climate summit last summer, Crist pushed a number of energy plans to encourage renewable energy development and establish a cap-and-trade market that would penalize fossil-fuel use. But Crist's plans were shredded by the Republican Legislature and his...

Washington -- President Barack Obama's landmark bill on energy and global warming squeaked through the House this week only after the White House made dozens of concessions to coal, manufacturing and other interests. As the battle moves to the Senate, Obama faces demands for more concessions, including to open the coastline to offshore oil and gas drilling. The Senate will take up issues that were glossed over or omitted from the House bill. Among them is giving the government sweeping new powers to overcome local objections and approve thousands of miles of new transmission lines to carry electricity to coastal...

TEMECULA: Protesters line intersection Obama, government were the subjects of much of the criticism By CRAIG SHULTZ - Saturday, July 4, 2009 8:28 PM PDT TEMECULA ---- Some of the people lining the corners of the Rancho California and Ynez roads intersection during a tax protest Saturday afternoon said their beef isn't only with President Barack Obama. "I don't think anyone here will tell you it's a Republican versus Democrat thing. It's an American thing," said Mike Horan of Poway. "It isn't so much politically motivated. People want to make sure they're being heard." A crowd estimated by organizers to...

Waxman-Markey. Higher energy prices. Lost jobs. Strained household income. Minimal environmental benefits. Lose-lose. Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) recently introduced well-intended legislation meant to curb greenhouse gases, but the legislation will carry a high price tag, including slowed economic growth and reduced U.S. employment and gross domestic product. The payoff for a steep economic cost: very little, in environmental terms. While it is understandable that elected leaders wish to address climate, there is little doubt the bill’s cap-and-trade scheme would end up costing consumers and employers. A joint analysis from the American Council for Capital Formation and...

George Stephanopolous reported yesterday that Senate Democrats forced Barack Obama to choose between two break-the-bank policies for this year.  The White House apparently surrendered on cap-and-trade in order to get started on a massive overhaul of the nation’s health-care delivery system.  Stephanopolous refers to the dilemma as a classic “scorpion in the bottle” problem: When the White House released its budget, I said the president’s effort to reform health care and cap carbon emissions were “scorpions in a bottle” — only one could make it through Congress this year. This week, the White House and House Democrats made their choice:...

Gore Calls On Lawmakers To Curb Carbon Emissions, Support Fiscal Stimulus 1/28/2009 1:03 PM ET Gore Calls On Lawmakers To Curb Carbon Emissions, Support Fiscal Stimulus (RTTNews) - Always willing to speak up on the issue of global warming, Nobel Prize winner Al Gore testified before former Senate colleagues Wednesday, urging action on carbon emissions. The former Vice President told lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that actions must be taken "this year" to cut down on carbon emissions. Gore expressed his concern that efforts to fight global warming could take a backseat in light of the severe recession...

Brown lambasted for opposing global-warming vote Friday, June 6, 2008 11:24 PM By Jack Torry THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH WASHINGTON — Sens. Sherrod Brown and George V. Voinovich today helped block a sweeping bill aimed at curbing global warming, ending congressional efforts on climate change until next year. By a 48-36 vote, supporters of the bill failed to muster the necessary 60 votes to end a Republican filibuster and clear the way for final passage. Brown was one of four Democrats and Voinovich was one of 32 Republicans to support the filibuster. While Voinovich's decision to oppose the bill had been...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has boosted his environmental profile by signing global warming agreements with states and foreign governments, most recently one this month with the Australian state of Victoria. Schwarzenegger officials say the agreements are intended to force the federal government to take a more stringent approach to tackling global warming. But some critics note the signings have given Schwarzenegger opportunities for photo-ops with foreign leaders, and Democrats have raised concerns that the Republican governor is using the deals to predispose California to a market-based system in which companies can buy their way out of emissions reductions. Each of the...

News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, March 14, 2007 CONTACT: Eric Young 202.887.8833 Statement by Angela Anderson, Vice President for Climate Programs, on the release of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report, "The Future of Coal in a Carbon Constrained World." WASHINGTON, D.C. ? Today, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a report entitled "The Future of Coal in a Carbon Constrained World" which found coal can play a role in a carbon constrained world if we develop the technologies to capture greenhouse gas emissions. "The MIT study provides valuable information for Congress as it considers how to construct...

Supermarkets, hotels, councils and universities could be given a "cap" on the amount of carbon dioxide they are allowed to emit within five years under Government plans announced yesterday to set legally binding carbon reduction targets. Any business or public body wanting to use more power than its allocation would have to buy low-carbon technology or purchase carbon credits on the open market under the powers contained in a draft Climate Change Bill. The new legislation, binding the UK to an ambitious 60 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050, was published as ministers stepped up their attack on...

The idea of a cap-and-trade system for limiting carbon-dioxide emissions in the U.S. has become all the rage. Earlier this year, 10 big American companies formed the Climate Action Partnership to lobby for government action on climate change. And this week the private-equity consortium that is bidding to take over Texas utility TXU announced that, as part of the buyout, it would join the forces lobbying for a cap on carbon emissions. But this is not, as Lenin once said, a case of capitalists selling the rope to hang themselves with. In most cases, it is good old-fashioned rent-seeking with...