A Q&A with Sen. Joe Lieberman
Despite the ever-shrinking legislative window for the 110th Congress, lawmakers will debate a landmark environmental bill later this spring and also are set to back renewable energy tax breaks that expire at the end of the year.
Maybe it was the Academy Award, or the Nobel Peace Prize or the multimillion-dollar awareness campaign — but it appears that the world is beginning to wake up to the reality of climate change.
Simply put, coal is an abundant, affordable, reliable and secure energy source. America now needs to make the investment in research and technology to make sure that coal never becomes a stranded asset.
Scientific opinion regarding the primary cause of global climate change is now deeply solidified — temperatures are rising, and human activity is the major contributor to the temperature increases. Congress must now act to address the challenge that climate change poses.
Just a year ago, “cap-and-trade” was about to save the planet from being cooked by global warming, if only we in Congress could recognize the threat and embrace the elegant solution.
Though the first modern solar cell was invented in the United States during the 1950s, Germany now boasts 55 percent of the world’s installed solar capacity.
As we strive to meet our national energy needs, we must continue to recognize that rural America has much to offer. Rural states can be at the center of the solution as our national energy policy shifts and adjusts in ways that enhance our national and economic security, that promote both innovation and conservation, and that ultimately will ease the strain on families’ and business owners’ budgets.
Yes, it’s been a busy time on Capitol Hill — whittling away our time in Congress naming various post offices and recognizing just about every group under the sun from bowl-game winners to Little League champions to you name it.
Revolutionary changes in U.S. energy policy are required if we are to avoid multiple hazards that could threaten our living standards, undermine U.S. foreign policy goals and leave us extraordinarily vulnerable to economic and political disasters.
