Hilary here, blogging live from the Rayburn House Office building, room 2322, where 18 young people have been waiting in line for the Hearing on Allocations since 5:45am. Dedicated young voters are rallying to attend today’s hearing on ACESA, demanding 100% auction of pollution credits, not free permits for polluters. We are making t-shirts, so that our message of “Free Allocations Hurt Future Generations” and “100% AUCTION” is clear. Some students are having a Bake Sale to raise money to buy off a politician- since apparently that is the only way to get language in federal legislation. Peebles wil be updating the blog as the morning progresses- and you can follow #powershift09 on twitter for hearing updates!
9:00 A.M. – We’re pushing 20 kids, and the police are worried that the room isn’t large enough. Talk about a turnout! -Peebles
10:10 A.M. – The hearing has been postponed until 10:30. We should be filing in soon. Proceedings are set to begin around 10:40. -Peebles
10:30 A.M. – Members of the press have arrived, including one network from France and Germany. They want to know why we’re here (very intrigued). We told them that we want clean energy now! Things should be starting up shortly. -Peebles
10:34 A.M. – Boucher’s here, the great disarchitect of ACES. -Peebles
10:45 A.M. -”This bill achieves those goals, but does so in a way that will help, not hurt, consumers.” Consumers, according to Markey, are the top priority. “Saving families money” “55% of allocative value will go to consumers.” He’s running this consumer thing into the ground. Maintaining international competitiveness also a priority, and promoting clean and efficient energy (to save money for consumers!). According to OMB, the Waxman-Markey bill will help to drastically reduce the budget deficit by 2020. It would probably go faster if carbon permits were 100% auctioned. “Make the right choices, and unleash innovation now” to “provide a safe and healthy future for our economy.” -Peebles
10:50 Congressman Upton (R-MI) – “Cap and Trade is a great big tax.” Speaking on the projected costs and hikes on gasoline prices. 1.5 Trilion expected to be raised by 2020 through cap & trade. -Peebles
10 June 2009, 9:29 A.M. In case you had not noticed, this event seemed to disappear at 10:50. Some technical problems, along with the failure of my computer battery, put everything on hold. So, to summarize…
The day was not what one would consider a victory for the climate movement. Nearly every panelist tried to make the case for further weakening of the bill, and Congressman Boucher found the atmosphere in the room to be quite to his coal-friendly liking. In spite of this, the bill has already been through markup in Energy & Commerce, so the hearing turned out to be, more or less, a time for those opposed to the existent markup to offer their criticisms.
Although E&C won’t be further weakening the bill, there are still opportunities before it hits the floor to continue to disassemble this legislation. Keeping the pressure on until we get a vote will help to ensure that ACES goes through as together as possible, and — God willing — maybe even stronger. -Peebles
Hey guys, the liveblogging has stalled, so I’m switching to twitter because it’s running faster. If you’re following, go to http://www.twitter.com/peebles OR search #powershift09 or #aces! Sorry folks!
-Peebles
Sorry guys, the blog has stalled a bit. We are twitting about on #powershift09 and will have more info up after the hearing.
I’m extremely disappointed to see so many people continuing to miss the bigger point: carbon trading is a bogus solution to make it look like governments and corporations are doing something to cut emissions, while business as usual continues and they make enormous money while doing it.
It’s no wonder that European activists are outright dismissing market mechanisms as a solution to climate change after seeing it in practice for nearly a decade: it is a system that is marked by fraud and market manipulation. It continues to put our future in the hands of parties who are only interested in never ending growth of profits. Failing to grapple with fundamental issues such as these only doom us to a more bleak and frightening future.
June 10, 10:30am
Well, I finally have internet again, and I’d like to give my summary of the hearing yesterday.
While the hearing on allocations was largely a time for opponents of ACESA who sit on the E&C subcommittee on Energy and the Environment to air their grievances with a cap-and-trade system, there were a number of positive outcomes along the way yesterday!
First of all, as Peebles noted, we had around 30 young people standing in line on Capitol Hill at 6am for a subcommittee hearing- if that doesn’t scream “passion,” I don’t know what does. The excitement young people are demonstrating for this piece of legislation is enormous, and speaks volumes to the urgency of the issues of global climate change, alternative energy, and renewing the economy.
All of the young people who patiently waited in line were able to get in the hearing room! Our presence was felt in our age and our diversity, and our message was clear: we wore green hard hats and t shirts that read “Free Allocations Hurt Future Generations” and “100% Auction”
During the hearing members of congress spoke to each other and those industry representatives and economists testifying on the panel about the economic disaster a cap-and-trade would bring to American families, about the jobs that would be lost if we were to cut carbon dioxide emmissions, etc. However, they also spoke pearls of truth- Rep. Barton (TX) stated that any solution to global warming needed to be fair- with 100% auction of pollution credits and conrols of CO2 directed at point source polluters. Rep. Dingell (MI) and others used the phrase “a moral imperative” to describe the scope of the issue at hand. There are pieces of this problem the committee understands- and they need the voices of “irate and tireless” (as John Adams once said) youth to ensure the solutions are bold and fair!
The bottom line- no congressional representative stood up in the hearing room and declared the Powershift platform law yesterday. BUT, the 15 or so congressional representatives present in the hearing room absolutely saw the 30 or so young people crowded in the hearing with passion and dedication, and took note. Our presence was noticed, and that matters.
As ACESA moves towards a floor vote in the House of Representatives in the coming weeks, we should remember that- showing up, even without our pockets lined with funds like the energy lobbyists- is imperative. As George Bernard Shaw famously declared, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu!” So, moving forward- let’s be at the table, in the halls, the gallery of The House, the Capitol Steps…pushing ever harder for a clean energy future!
Dang. Good action.
What’s it gonna take to win?