9 Democrats Environmentalists Have To Worry About

Grist:

Let's call them the Carbon Nine: Jason Altmire (Pennsylvania), Rick Boucher (Virginia), Artur Davis (Alabama), Baron Hill (Indiana), Charlie Melancon (Louisiana), Earl Pomeroy (North Dakota), Mike Ross (Arkansas), John Tanner (Tennessee), and Gene Taylor (Mississippi).

They're all Democrats and all men. The nine mostly rural districts they represent are among the country's most economically reliant on fossil fuels; their districts' per-capita carbon emissions are, on average, more than three times higher than the national median.

Read the whole story: Grist

Comments

[NWBrunette]

Politically its impossible for them to do the right thing. Given that they're Dems (okay, name only perhaps) leadership is not one of their best skills. So buy them off - do whatever it takes. Get the job done one way or another and the transition to a greener economy will be well under way. And at that point, these nine will no longer matter.

[Chic Bowdrie]

"So buy them off - do whatever it takes" -- spoken like a true marxist. Never mind that there will be relatively more serious economic troubles for people in the districts these Dems represent, if the cap and trade legislation passes. And there won't be any more bailout money left by then.

"The problem with socialism is pretty soon you run out of somebody else's money."

[mioffe]

Al Gore: “CO2 represents only about .03 percent of the molecules that make up the air, or 355 per million. Even so, it has always played a critical role in the greenhouse gas that triggers enough warming to increase amount of water vapor that evaporates from the oceans into the atmosphere. This extra water vapor, in turn, traps nearly 90 percent of the infrared rays radiated from the surface of the earth back toward space, retaining them long enough to maintain the earth’s temperature in rough equilibrium.”

If it is true how to explain: "Why in Hawaii, which close to equator temperature is 70-85� F, while in Texas 85- 110� F?
Around Hawaii we have a lot of water evaporation and according Al Gore need to be hotter.
"Since the Northern Hemisphere contains the greatest proportion of landmass and land heats more than oceans the Northern Hemisphere summer season causes significant increase in the global mean temperature."
If it true according Al Gore on landmass we have less water vapor and need to be cooler.

Water vapor is lighter than almost all gases and always going up to clouds and above where heat escape to space.
It takes 339 kcal of energy to evaporate 1 kg of water.
Water vapor actually cools the air by evaporation of water on ground level, water droplets in atmosphere and by cloud formation.
Droplet of rain will solve GHG and clean the air better than any conservation attempt to reduce emission.

[NWBrunette]

Don't you have anything better to do than cut and paste drivel from limberger-land?

[mioffe]

Dear NWBrunete I am cutting and pasting from my own articles. Please found mistakes and we will speak about them (exclude English- it is not my native language. I am writing to improve it).
If carbon dioxide is main player in Nature, we need follow Al Gore solutions.
What if he is wrong? Why you believe him?
Please Google Richard Lindzen, look on computer models, remember that Pac ki-moon, Tony Blair, Robert Redford, Tomas Fridman do not have their own ideas. They repeat the same mistakes as scientists, who advised Al Gore.
You as billions of others people became believer, instead to try understand.
If water vapor actually cool the air our Government is going in wrong directions.
Please explain why in Hawaii cooler than in Texas and after that I will tell you from what land you are.

[Mosby007]

There are many other factors that go into determining the surface temperature of any one particular area. Hawaii has more vegetation that absorbs sunlight (i.e. heat or energy) and the currents of the ocean also help keep a more moderate temperature. I'm not disagreeing with your statements so much as saying that the surface temperature difference between Hawaii and Texas has little to do with your overall argument.

[mioffe]

Dear, Mosby007, I can take in account your suggestion about Hawaii, but close to lake, river it is always cooler.
"Hawaii has more vegetation that absorbs sunlight" is very close to what I am talking about in respond to others articles.
It is not only carbon dioxide or other GHG influent climate:
It is winds and their direction, which send hot air to cloud level.
It is reflection, which send short wave back to space.
It is huge convection forces.
It is evaporation.
It is cloud formation.
It is ocean streams.
It is properties of water and ice.
Human activities (tilling, producing food, road construction etc) changed not only GHG, but also many others things, which influent climate.

[mioffe]

California current going to North of Hawaii, have enough time to be heated in area south of Tropic of Cancer (most northerly vertical sun rays, June 23).
North equatorial current also need to be hotter than land in Texas.
As you can read in Tim Flannery book “The Weather Makers,” 2006:
1. “ Forests contain much more carbon than does grass, and they also absorb more sunlight (having different albedo) and produce more water vapor, which affects cloud formation”.
2. “Mature forests don’t take in much CO2 they are in balance, releasing CO2 as old vegetation rots, then absorbing it as new grows. For these reasons the world largest forests-the coniferous forests of Siberia and Canada, and the tropical rainforests are not good carbon sinks, but new vigorously forests are.”
Common sense is prompting that Tim Flannery is right and not only about trees but about all vegetation’s on the earth.
Process of rots release energy, which absorbed by fotosynthesis.
The most important reason to reduce temperature is evaporation, including from vegetation.

[mioffe]

If carbon dioxide is main player in Nature we must follow Al Gore recommendation. “Save energy at home, choose energy efficient lighting, appliances when making new purchases, properly operate and maintain your appliances, heat and cool your house efficiently, insulate your house, conserve hot water, improve the efficiency of your home office, switch to green power’ telecommute from home, reduce air travel, consume less, buy things that last, recycle, don’t waste paper, bag your groceries and other purchases in reusable tote, compost, carry your own refillable bottle for water and other beverages, modify your diet to reduce less meat, buy local, purchase offset to neutralize your remaining emission.”
It is always good to save as much energy as we can, but simple calculations could show that demand for better living in the world many times bigger than our abilities to increase efficiency of our appliances, equipment etc.
Common sense of every person needs to command him travel expenses, use of paper or reusable tote, refillable bottle, his diet.
It is laughable to ask 6 billions people in the world to follow religious dogmas, which in reality can’t change something.
Fortunately we have others possibilities and unlimited energy sources.

[JnrNorman]

What we need is a coal tax!
Coal is full of Mercury, Lead,NOX, Ozone double the CO2


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[alvdh1]

Not only don't they get it, they don't care either. They understood the rural electrification program, but don't understand that wind brings jobs and land lease payments from the wind farms to rural America. If Obama got the fact that leveling the playing field by providing retail pricing to residential and business producers of wind and solar for their excess capacity into the grid, solar and wind growth would explode as would the associated job growth.

The era of utility structures that guarantee a set return on investment needs to end yesterday. 48 sates operate under this structure which encourages consumption over energy efficiency and conservation.
Establishing regional Independent Service Operators (ISO's) who buy power from all producers at the going rate, based on supply and demand, will encourage competition. Utilities with old, inefficient coal powered power plants will close them or convert them to natural gas. People who want to install solar and wind will do so without government subsidies when they know the will get a return on their investment via a check every month.

Of the 7 existing regional ISO's, only the California ISO is set up to operate this way even though they are not currently paying small business and residential producers a check for their excess capapcity put into the grid. This formula will hasten alternative power development, reduce the strain of our electric grid, level peak demand periods and make power production more reliable.

[research]

ISO's lead to the Enron syndrome. Right?

The grid is a natural monopoly, led the governmnet run it, like the highways.

Let the Gov establish grid connect standards.

[alvdh1]

You are absolutely right about Enron, but when the ISO was established under then Republican Governor Wlson, there were virtually no restraints or regulations to control the gaming of the market. Those protections have since been added and we have heard a peep out of Californian's with regard to problems with the California ISO.

Grid interconnect standards also need to come from the national level since every state has their own interconnect standard written in every case by the utility industry and submitted to the respective state Public Utility Commissions. There is not a single state that receives an A for their interconnect rules and only a handful receive a B grade according to the 2008 "Freeing the Grid Report".

[joebaggadonuts]

These guys it seems are the best these areas can come up with. Educate the people in these districts and you will get more enlightened representation.

[Chic Bowdrie]

Who elected you the enlightenment czar?

[jaundicedview]

You can add Barack Obama to the list with his green-lighting of 42 of 48 mountain top removal coal mining permits.

http://wvgazette.com/News/200905150759

[JohnFromCensornati]

Baron Hill's district is not rural. He represents a district in Indiana that is right across the river from Louisville. Every election is the same. Baron Hill (D) vs Mike Sodrel (R). Say what you will, but I believe that Sodrel is worse.