Pirate's Cove

Is this a serious bill or something to tell their unhinged base “look, we passed something”?

House passes sweeping clean energy bill

The House on Thursday passed a broad bill that aims to boost energy efficiency and renewable energy sources as part of an attempt to combat climate change.

The chamber approved the 900-page Clean Energy and Jobs Innovation Act in a 220-185 vote.

The legislation would create research and development programs for solar, wind, advanced geothermal energy and hydroelectric power as well as lessening pollution from fossil fuel production.

It would also establish more rigorous building codes and bolster energy efficiency requirements and weatherization programs.

The bill moved rapidly through the House. It was first introduced last week and did not go through any legislative hearings.

Meanwhile, AOC’s Green New Deal is languishing in committee.

A similar energy innovation package that was introduced in the Senate earlier this year has recently been reenergized after legislators came to an agreement on an amendment seeking to phase down the use of a type of greenhouse gas.

A senior House Democratic aide told The Hill that if the Senate passes its own bill, the chambers can go to conference to resolve their disagreements. The aide said that House Democrats urge Republicans to take some action on clean energy, either moving by their own bill or taking up the House bill.

But, that bill is mostly crafted by Democrats, who do not run the Senate.

The top Republicans on the Natural Resources, Energy and Commerce and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees released a joint statement criticizing the legislation this week.

“Here we are in the middle of a global pandemic and Speaker Pelosi wants to spend more than $135 billion on a piece of legislation that will never become law,” said Reps. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), Greg Walden (R-Ore.), and Frank Lucas (R-Okla.). “This bill is chock-full of government mandates that would raise what Americans pay for everything from the vehicles they drive to what they pay to heat, cool, and power their homes.”

What are some of those mandates? And what of the real purpose of this bill?

(NRDC) This bill reforms and builds up grant programs in energy efficiency, clean transportation, grid modernization, and workforce development which will kick start efforts in communities to start moving faster into the clean economy. For example, this bill would update energy efficiency standards for buildings, which on its own could save consumers and businesses $51 billion on their electricity bills by 2050 while also avoiding 1.3 billion tons of carbon pollution. Proven programs like the Weatherization Assistance Program and Energy Efficiency Community Block Grant are given needed boosts in funding which get them closer to meeting strong demand, and new programs are created where needed. The bill would authorize almost $40 billion in transportation electrification grants and other clean transportation deployment and manufacturing programs to cut pollution from cars, trucks, and buses; $27 billion in programs to accelerate deployment of energy efficiency; and more than $6 billion to modernize the electricity grid. It also stands up new workforce training programs to get our workers ready for the new jobs that will be created in the clean economy.

Seems reasonable, eh? Though, it has the potential to raise housing costs.

Making Environmental Justice a Priority
While this bill focuses a lot on technology, it importantly includes a lengthy title on improving outcomes for communities that for too long have suffered from disproportionate levels of pollution, including low-income communities, communities of color, and others who have been marginalized. Under this bill, every agency of the federal government will be required to add environmental justice to its mission, and the 1994 environmental justice executive order will be incorporated into law. Additionally, environmental justice communities would be given more access to federal grant programs to support clean energy projects, but more importantly they will also receive more power to fight for their own healthy future.

And that is the main purpose, to incorporate the Cult of Climastrology in every federal agency decision, along with Dems notions of raaaaacism, giving the government more power over the lives of citizens, especially black and brown people.