Part II Begins: First Climate Bill Hearing in Senate

That's right, folks: after just passing in the House by a slim margin on Friday, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) will be discussed in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works this Tuesday, July 7. While I won't be able to attend myself, I encourage everyone who can to go to this hearing. It's at 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate building, room 406.

The witness list for the hearing is pretty typical, although there are two interesting additions: John Fetterman, the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, and Haley Barbour, the Republican governor of Mississippi. Fetterman's career as mayor began four years before his election, when he moved to Braddock while working for AmeriCorps. He has been a significant force for development in the area, providing low-rent housing, youth educational opportunities, and community art exhibitions, helping revitalize the town in the face of a declining population and a global recession. He is also a proponent of developing green energy as a means to revitalize the region's economy.

Haley Barbour, the newly appointed chair of the Republican Governors Association in the wake of the Sanford scandal, is certainly not one you would expect to support climate legislation. But despite his dubious record, there are indications that he will bring a reasoned perspective to the debate, unlike that of many extreme conservative pundits. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Governor Barbour promoted New Urbanist principles to the communities faced with the task of reconstruction, saying "the goal is to build the coast back like it can be, rather than simply like it was".

The other witnesses include Steven Chu, secretary of the Department of Energy; Lisa Jackson, administrator of the EPA; Tom Vilsack, secretary of the Department of Agriculture; and representatives from Dow Chemical Company and the Natural Resources Defense Council. For more information, go here.

Week In Review

For the week of June 20-26, 2009:

Monday/Tuesday: Invisible Children's How It Ends Lobby Days for northern Uganda. We heard from a lot of great people, including Luis Morena-Ocampo, several high-ranking officials from the Ugandan government, including their Minister of Defense, and Tom Shadyac. Of course, I also got the chance to catch up with my IC friends, including Justin and Dyanna.

But the best part came Tuesday. By far the best lobbying experience I've had (when a discussion of peak performances came up on Sunday, this was definitely it for me). I got to listen to Senator Mark Warner's head of homeland security and foreign affairs talk about what he knew, then tell him why I cared about Invisible Children, why he should support the bill and what it would do (the bill is the "LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act").

But even more interesting then that is what he said the senator was up to. Apparently, on Tuesday Senator Warner was convening with other Democratic senators to discuss the merits of the various climate change bills that had been introduced in Congress. It could be a sign that he'll be an ally for strengthening the Waxman-Markey bill in the Senate, but more likely my guess is that he doesn't want to see businesses impacted too harshly.

Wednesday: Basshound @ the 8x10 in Baltimore. Great show; much love to these guys, as always.

Thursday: (my day off) Historic Senate hearing on mountaintop removal. More about that here.

Friday: Big day. First off, went down to the EPA building to protest mountaintop removal.

But the big part came after that. I headed over to the Capitol building for a rally to support strengthening for the ACES Act, from which we split up into three groups to hit the steps of all three House office buildings with banners and big green hard hats. Once we were moved from there, we proceeded to flood the hallways of all three House buildings, talking to every representative we could about strengthening ACES. Finally we took a break and regrouped in the cafeteria of the Longsworth building around 4, then moved out back to the Capitol building to make our way to the House floor in time for Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-OH) hour-long rant. As he finally yielded and the vote began, we were shepherded out of our seats and downstairs only for us to come right back up, just in time to catch the end of the vote. 219 for versus 212 against and ACES passes! Barely. Now onto the Senate battle.

Saturday/Sunday: 1Sky leadership training. And just in time; passing ACES through the Senate will be tough. I have to credit this blog, and my new Twitter account, to this training. And so it begins.