Protesters Arrested Outside Rep. Boucher's Office

Any minute now, the House Energy & Commerce Committee is expected to pass the American American Clean Energy & Security Act (HR 2454), also known as Waxman-Markey.

Earlier today, 15 protesters were arrested outside the office of Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), who's been working to weaken the bill. Grist has more on the protest:

“It’s really a statement about Boucher and the leadership he has assumed in gutting the bill and giving billions of dollars to polluters,” CCAN communications director Anne Havemann told Grist after the protest.

Boucher has been very open throughout the process about his talks with coal companies about the bill. “In the course of conducting other negotiations, I have had continued conversations with coal companies, both locally and nationally, including the chief executive officers of CONSOL ... which operates the largest mine in Southwest Virginia, and Michael Quillen, the chief executive officer of Alpha, which is our region’s largest coal producer,” Boucher said recently. “I have been in discussions with Mike Morris, the chief executive officer of AEP, and Tom Ferrell, who is chief executive officer of Dominion, which is Virginia’s largest electricity supplier.”

But Boucher hasn’t made himself quite so accessible to foes of coal, prompting the sit-in today. “He doesn’t meet with groups like us,” said Havemann. “We’ve tried for months.”

Wouldn't it be nice if Rep. Boucher could join the fight for a clean energy future and green jobs instead of protecting the dirty coal industry and its rapidly dwindling number of mining jobs?

Rep. Boucher Working to Weaken Clean Energy Legislation

From The New Republic on Rep. Henry Waxman's American Clean Energy and Security Act:

In particular, watch the coal-state Democrats, led by Virginia's Rick Boucher, who are pressuring Waxman to weaken the short-term emissions targets, so that coal-heavy utilities will have more time to develop carbon-capture technology and be able to compete with renewable power. It's not that they're necessarily worried the targets for emission cuts by 2020 are unrealistic on some macro level. Rather, they're worried that the coal industry will play only a tiny role in a low-carbon future if it's not given ample time to adjust. The flipside, of course, is that most climate scientists don't think we have time to dally around.

As a ratepayer, I don't think we have time to dally around, either. Dominion Virginia Power raised our rates 18 percent in September, 1.5 percent in January and now wants to raise them another 7 percent, all in large part due to higher coal prices and the huge cost of building new coal-fired power plants.

Who's Rep. Boucher really looking out for -- coal states? Or corporate coal polluters?

Gore Calls for Clean Energy "Moon Shot"

Congress has so far refused to set a mandatory national renewable electricity goal. Al Gore would like to make a suggestion - 100 percent:

To meet his 10-year goal, Gore said nuclear energy output would continue at current levels while the nation dramatically increases its use of solar, wind, geothermal and so-called clean coal energy. Huge investments must also be made in technologies that reduce energy waste and link existing grids, he said.

If the nation fails to act, the cost of oil will continue to rise as fast-growing China and India increase demand, Gore said. Sustained addiction to oil also will place the nation at the mercy of oil-producing regimes, he said, and the globe would suffer irreparable harm.

One weird part of the article - the AP's Ron Fournier oddly references "ozone-killing" coal plants and never mentions carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas pollutant. Does Fournier think ozone depletion is what causes global warming? Strange. Fournier was recently in the news when his sycophantic, pro-war, overtly-religious emails with Karl Rove were revealed.

As The Hill reports, Republican leaders are already responding to Gore's call for bold leadership by ... pandering on gas prices. Way to step up, guys. But who comes to Gore's defense? Virginia's own Rep. Rick Boucher, who says, “Those who oppose a climate control measure will make the argument that it should not be considered at a time of high energy prices, but that is a bogus argument.” Nice job, Rick!

Cross-posted from RK