Domenici Amendment Fails :D, but my senator is crazy

I just heard from a colleague that the Domenici Amendment to the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard, which would have defined coal and nuclear energy as “renewable,” has just been killed! The Senate is continuing to debate energy legislation and you can check it out now on C-Span. Pretty exciting! My senator, Lamar Alexander, from Tennessee, spoke yesterday in favor of this awful bill saying in reference to windmills: “It is a different point, but this makes strip mining look like a decorative art.” What?? Strip mining destroys mountains, water tables and forests, which can never be rebuilt, and, windmills can be taken off mountains and are a zero emissions energy source!

The Bingaman Bill, aka the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard, is still on the floor, call your senators NOW and tell them to support it and to NOT support any coal-to-liquids legislation which would double carbon emissions from oil and increase demand for strip mined coal.

8 Responses to “Domenici Amendment Fails :D, but my senator is crazy”

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1 Christine Jun 14th, 2007 at 7:41 pm

Thanks for the post! I just called Senators Burr and Dole!
2 Julia Bonds Jun 14th, 2007 at 7:55 pm

Senator Lamar Alexander must be blind as well as crazy. I think he has coal comapny $$$$$$ in his eye.
s. It is amazing how cheap our elected officials can be bought for.
That is the biggest lie I have ever heard…..My Congressman Nick Rahall isn’t even stupid enough to make that statement. He knows pictures will prove him wrong.

I wonder if he would rather live beside a strip mine or a wind turbine?
3 lizveazey Jun 14th, 2007 at 8:12 pm

Hey Judy, I had a feeling that Lamar’s comment would especially anger you! He’s been on a vendetta against wind turbines for years. He’s also said that they sound like “freight trains” although I live near a train track and I’ve visited multiple wind farms and wind turbines are much, much quieter than trains.
Danny, a WV resident, suggested that we sent Lamar some “decorative” photos of MTR to hang on the wall in his home and his office. not a bad idea.
Let’s keep the calls coming in!
4 Tom Gray Jun 15th, 2007 at 12:30 am

Thanks for your help. Unfortunately, it looks like a long fight. Senate Republicans have threatened to filibuster against the Bingaman Renewable Energy Standard amendment (more info here. With the polls showing very strong, indeed overwhelming, support for clean alternative energy sources and for action against global warming, it’s hard to understand this position. Nearly half of all states (24) have similar renewable energy standards already, and some have even passed new laws increasing the percentages of renewable energy required.

If you support this first meaningful step to fight global warming, contact your Senator’s office through the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and let him/her know you support the Bingaman Renewable Energy Standard.

Regards,
Thomas O. Gray
American Wind Energy Association
http://www.awea.org
risingwind.blogspot.com
5 jessejenkins Jun 15th, 2007 at 12:30 am

I love the idea about photos! Someone should organize a mass of people to send in a bunch of mountain top removal (MTR) and strip mine pictures along with a little note about how you heard he’s a big fan of the aesthetics of strip mining! Great little campaign opportunity and a great way to chastise Lamar for this ridiculous statement.
6 jessejenkins Jun 15th, 2007 at 12:32 am

Aparently, Republicans (led by Senator Domenici) are shamefully going to require cloture (i.e. threatening filibuster) on the the Bingaman amendment and we currently do not have the 60 votes to break the potential filibuster. Negotiations are ongoing and it is particularly important to hammer your Senators with calls today to support the amendment and breaking the filibuster. These Republican Senators in particular as swing votes, so if one of them ‘belongs to you’ give ‘em hell!

Brownback (R-KS), Coleman (R-MN), Collins (R-ME), Grassley (R-IA), Gregg (R-NH), Hatch (R-UT), Lugar (R-IN), Smith (R-OR), Snowe (R-ME), Specter (R-PA), Sununu (R-NH), Thune (R-SD)

You can find your senators’ contact info here.

Let’s keep the pressure on!
7 jessejenkins Jun 15th, 2007 at 7:29 pm

Green Car Congress has diligently posted an update summarizing the literally more than 100 amendments proposed to the CLEAN Energy Act, HR 6. Clearly, not all of these will receive a vote, but check out the table to see what has been voted on so far, and get an idea of what’s to come in the debate, which will continue on Tuesday.
8 jonathanwsmith Jun 15th, 2007 at 9:41 pm

Well, I think your Senator’s observation gets to the heart of the matter.

The thinking: it’s not what it does, it’s how it looks.

For example, 85 E85 capable SUVs parked in front of the Javits Center, idling ready to take key people on a test drive in vehicles running on regular fuel. It is presenting the Chevrolet Volt while standing in front of a prop that could not be driven. It is saying that the issue of global climate change will be given serious study while cutting back funding of projects that provided evidence of how serious the issue is.

You may want to temper any hope that you have of sensible Congressional action with a dose of reality about campaign funding and remarkably shrewd business investments. Nothing illegal, mind you, they have their token crook, just business as usual and above all else.

About Liz

While at the University of North Carolina, Liz led one of the first successful campus renewable energy campaigns in the southeast and won the Morris K. Udall scholarship in both 2002 & 2003. She organized the first Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference April 2-4, 2004, to engage other Southern schools beyond UNC in energy and climate work. In the summer of 2004 she became a co-founding member of Energy Action Coalition, which she has been actively involved with since then. She co-chaired the Energy Action Coalition Steering Committee for 2 years and is Executive Director of the Southern Energy Network, which works with students in the Southeast on clean energy and climate initiatives as part of Energy Action Coalition's Campus Climate Challenge. In late fall 2005, she attended the UN Climate Negotiations in Montreal and helped start www.itsgettinghotinhere.org . In 2008, she joined the board of the Highlander Research and Education Center (www.highlandercenter.org).