ENERGIZING AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE: Congress plans to repeal certain tax breaks for oil and gas companies and to fix drilling leases that have allowed big oil to not pay royalties. Under the Bush administration, oil companies have been able to largely go without paying billions of dollars in certain royalties for offshore drilling. According to estimates by the Democratic leadership, the "repeal of the 2004 tax cuts for the oil and gas industry would generate nearly $5 billion" and "royalty payments would yield between $9 billion and $11 billion." The progressive leadership of the new Congress plans to use this additional revenue "to pay for a new fund for conservation and development of renewable energy sources." This move would be a welcome step against climate change, which the Bush administration has largely ignored. He has refused to admit that global warming is manmade and has broken his 2000 campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide. In the absence of federal action, states and cities have moved ahead. A group of 12 states has sued the Bush administration for failing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. In a ""clear break with the Bush administration," California -- the world's 12th largest carbon emitter -- passed legislation to reduce "its emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by an estimated 25 percent by 2020." Ten other states are set to follow California's lead with reducing vehicle emissions and "more than 20 states have required utilities to eventually generate some power from renewable sources."

 

 

CLIMAGE CHANGE -- NEW REPORT FINDS EXXON SPENT $16 MILLION TO 'MANUFACTURE UNCERTAINTY ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING: Exxon "gave $16 million to 43 ideological groups between 1998 and 2005 in an effort to mislead the public by discrediting the science behind global warming," a new Union of Concerned Scientists report finds. The company, according to the report, "has adopted the tobacco industry's disinformation tactics, as well as some of the same organizations and personnel, to cloud the scientific understanding of climate change and delay action on the issue." Harvard professor Dr. James McCarthy said Exxon has tried to "create the illusion of a vigorous debate" about global warming. A few of the other tactics the oil giant used are listed in the report: "funded an array of front organizations to create the appearance of a broad platform for a tight-knit group of vocal climate change contrarians who misrepresent peer-reviewed scientific findings; attempted to portray its opposition to action as a positive quest for 'sound science' rather than business self-interest; used its access to the Bush administration to block federal policies and shape government communications on global warming." "A modest but effective investment has allowed the oil giant to fuel doubt about global warming to delay government action just as Big Tobacco did for over 40 years," said Alden Meyer, the Union of Concerned Scientists' Director of Strategy and Policy.

 

 

2007 is "set to be the hottest on record worldwide due to global warming and the El Nino weather phenomenon," beating the last record set in 1998, the Britain Meteorological Office says today. "This new information represents another warning that climate change is happening around the world," the office said.