Earth Equity News

Climate Lobbying Group Shuts Down After Senate Bill Stalls. By Darren Samuelsohn, Politico, September 8, 2010. "Climate advocates stung by defeat in the Senate are folding one of their big umbrella lobbying groups. Clean Energy Works, a coalition of 80 environmental, religious, veteran and labor groups, will phase out its operations this fall as Democratic congressional leaders abandon plans for a sweeping bill to cap greenhouse gas emissions. At its peak, the coalition had 200 field organizers in key states and more than 45 staffers based out of a 'war room' in downtown Washington. It is led by Paul Tewes, who ran President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign operations in Iowa and other battleground states." Editor's Note: The "cap-and-trade" approach, backed by Clean Energy Works and by many mainstream environmental organizations and major corporations, was, in our opinion, one of the principal reasons that the Senate bill was so hard to "sell." We have maintained that the legislation was too complicated, relied on complex and corruptible financial instruments, and was too generous to polluting companies.