According to Mother Jones, there are some evil forces at work in Congress spoiling our chances at making progress on the environmental front. At this point, most of the global warming deniers who occupy seats of power have been relegated to the outskirts of sanity. There's enough supporting scientific evidence proving the case that few still buy into their naysaying. Still, there are a number of folks doing all they can to hinder positive change.
* Sen. Pete Domenici (R – NM) opposed and filibustered to death a proposal for a "renewable portfolio standard" (RPS) that would require power companies to get 15% of the electricity they sell from renewable sources like solar or wind by 2020. All six senators representing Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi voted with Domenici and all got donations from The Southern Company, an Atlanta-based power company that spent $14.5 million lobbying the cause in 2007 alone.
* Rep. John Dingell (D – MI) runs brazenly counter to "damned environmentalists" as well as House leadership. As chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, he's been fighting for huge fossil fuel subsidies, and against the RPS and raising fuel-efficiency standards.
* Sen. Lamar Alexander (R – TN) claims wind energy only give "puny amounts of high-cost, unreliable power." He also opposes the RPS and has even tried to cut tax credits for wind energy.
* Sen. Ted Kennedy (D – MA) claims to support wind energy yet he opposes the Cape Wind project because the location of the turbine farm would be off the coast of Hyannis Port near his home.
* Sen. Mary Landrieu (D – LA) was the sole Democrat to vote with Republicans to uphold a filibuster that prevented a roll-back of Big Oil tax cuts in favor of renewable energy incentives in the 2007 energy bill. That one vote was the difference-maker. It should be noted that Landrieu has taken $139,500 from oil and gas interests so far in 2008.
* Sen. John McCain (R – AZ) used to have a decently eco-friendly reputation thanks to working on greenhouse gas legislation. However, in 2007 the League of Conservation Voters gave him a big fat zero on his environmental voting record. Why? Well, he just so happened to skip every single environmentally relevant vote, including that all-important filibuster-busting vote over the RPS inclusion. In 2008, Teflon John was the only senator not to vote on the clean energy tax incentives in an economic-stimulus bill. As it happens, the bill was lost to a filibuster that also could've been avoided by one little vote.
* Rep. Joe Barton (R – TX) sent harassing letters to climatologists when he was head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Nice. He also wanted to allow companies to count so-called clean coal and nuclear power as part of their renewable energy usage. Huh? Smoky Joe has pocketed some $100,000 in contributions from oil, gas and electric utilities.
* Sen. Jim Bunning (R – KY) and the “Coal-State Dems” tried unsuccessfully to add liquid coal as an amendment to the 2007 energy bill. Barack Obama used to be a part of the gang, but bolted last year. However, the group still wields a mighty sword. Sen. Robert Byrd (D – WV) chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee and Rep. Nick Rahall (D – WV) heads the House Natural Resources Committee. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is also from Kentucky and majority leader Harry Reid is from Nevada – coal states, one and all. Bunning plans to keep pushing the idea this year and has his governor as a co-conspirator. It's no surprise, then, that Peabody Energy, the world's largest coal company, got $250 million in state tax breaks and other incentives to build a coal-gasification plant in Bunning's home state of Kentucky. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D – ND) also backed legislation that would support a liquid coal plant in his state.
* Sen. John Thune (R – SD) is a huge proponent of corn-based ethanol, recently leading initiatives to dramatically increase production. He claims that the research showing how lousy the product is for the environment and food costs is mere "propaganda... engineered by the oil companies that hate ethanol." In addition, he also introduced legislation that weaken biofuel regulations included in the 2007 energy bill.