February 3, 2010

Obama and Graham Call for a Full-Assed Senate Climate Bill

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Over on Blue Marble, you can find the latest on environmental politics. The highlights:

Obama, Graham Warn Dems Not to Settle For “Half-Assed” Climate Bill

After seeming to make room for Democrats who want to drop cap-and-trade in remarks at a town hall in New Hampshire, Barack Obama on Wednesday called on his party not to take “the easy way out” on legislation. Republican Lindsey Graham seconded the call to not settle for a “half-assed” climate bill.

Nuclear’s Slice of the Climate Pie

A leaked draft of the Senate bill’s nuclear title includes basically everything the nuclear industry has asked for: additional federal loan guarantees to spur the construction of new plants, tax breaks and a streamlined approval process for new plants.

House Trio Moves to Block EPA

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Missouri Reps. Ike Skelton (D) and Jo Ann Emerson (R) announced yesterday that they are sponsoring a bill to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases, arguing that regulations should be left up to Congress. Peterson did vote for the House climate and energy bill last year, but only after holding the bill hostage until he could wring as much out of it for Big Ag. And after getting what he wanted, he now says he would vote against the bill if it came back to the House, which casts doubt about his seriousness about regulating greenhouse-gases.

Big Oil’s Big Year

The oil industry spent $154 million on lobbying last year. That’s more than any previous year, and more than any other energy interest looking to shape the debate on Capitol Hill.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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