congress

Senator Jeff Bingaman delivers a speech on the Senate floor pointing out the flaws in the Senate Republican energy proposal and calling instead for bipartisan support of a plan to put more oil on the market.The Senate is to vote on a Republican plan that would, among other things, open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling. In his speech, however, Bingaman says that there are millions of acres yet to be leased in areas poised for drilling. And, he says, millions of other acres have been leased, but no drilling has yet occurred.

Politicians are failing to comprehend the breadth of the US infrastructure crisis. Only disasters move our representatives to act — and in an election year, even those actions seem spotty at best and disingenuous at worst. The United States has much more than failing bridges to find, fund and fix. A comprehensive report by Dr. Denny Wilkins.

Senator Nelson argues that drilling in environmentally sensitive areas is not a remedy for rising fuel prices.

Senator Grassley rebuts the argument that ethanol and corn farmers are to blame for rising food prices. He says increased oil prices play a role.

Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) renews his effort to take a new look at combating global climate change. In his speech to the Senate, Barrassostresses the importance of developing technology to remove existing excess green houses gases from the atmosphere andpermanently sequester them. The "Greenhouse Gas Emission Atmospheric Removal Act," or GEAR Act, will establish an award system for scientists andresearchers.

Chairman Markey's closing statement at "Pumping up Prices: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve and Record Gas Prices" hearing in which he calls onPresident Bush to use oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to offset rising fuel prices.

Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the House Select Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, discusses the solutions Democrats haveoffered for rising gasoline prices, and denounces Republican efforts to block them.

Fred Maas, President and CEO of Black Mountain Ranch LLC and Developer of Del Sur, an 1,800-acre "green" residential community in San Diego, Calif.,praised Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), John Ensign (R-NV) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for introducing the "Clean Energy Stimulus Act." The Act extends expiring tax credits for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

If you've ever wanted to ask your lawmakers in Congress how they feel about the environment, renewable energy, or any number of topics -- this site is for you. AskYourLawmaker.org invites visitors to submit questions and vote on questions that reporters from Capitol News Connection ask members of Congress. The site is always collecting questions concerning the environment. In addition to that, they are currently collection Earth Day questions to ask Congress on April 22. All answers are posted as audio files and transcripts.

The renewable energy tax credits were slipped into a housing bill that that did not end up looking the way its lead author, Sen. Chris Dodd really intended it to, remarking earlier in the week that it was “a housing bill, not a Christmas tree.”

However, will the production tax credit and investment tax credit ever make it to the President’s desk to sign?

The House of Representatives has voted to pass H.R. 2016, the National Landscape Conservation Act, by a tally of 278-140. The bill will give legal recognition to the National Landscape Conservation System, a Clinton-era program that oversees some 27 million acres of federal land mainly in 11 Western states and Alaska.

Senator John Ensign (R-NV) speaks at a press conference supporting tax credits aimed at incentivizing investment in renewable energy projects, touting the growing number of bipartisan cosponsors.

The House is scheduled today to vote on H.R. 2016, the National Landscape Conservation Act. And a broad bipartisan coalition ranging from such groups as the Wilderness Society to Republicans for Environmental Protection, is asking you to call your Representative and demand that they support the landmark wilderness conservation legislation.

Teetering on the brink of passage

Renewable Energy tax packages always face trouble in the Senate, and this dates back to our first energy crises in the 1970s.