Subject: Viridian Note 00074: Browning the US Govt.

Key concepts:  US Government energy consumption,
Senate Republicans, Kyoto Accords

Attention Conservation Notice:  It's about sordid partisan 
infighting in American  domestic politics.

Links: Alliance to Save Energy
http://www.ase.org/
Senator Thad Cochran, Republican from Mississippi
http://www.senate.gov/~cochran/

Entries in the Viridian Couture Contest:
None.  Everyone on Viridian List wears giveaway T-shirts 
from computer product companies.
This contest expires July 21, 01999.

(((In "Viridian Note 00071: Greening the US Govt" we 
devoted 1,600 words to President Clinton's laudable (if 
unilateral) effort to get the US Government to burn less 
CO2.  Predictably, this act did not pass unchallenged by 
Clinton's domestic opponents.)))

(((First, some spin from the indignant "Alliance to Save 
Energy," who were really looking forward to that solar 
pork.)))

"Senate Interior Appropriations Amendment Threatens 
Federal Energy Efficiency Initiative; Surprise Move Could 
Cost Taxpayers $1 Billion"

"WASHINGTON, June 25, 1999.  In a move described today as 
'unbelievable' by President Bill Clinton, Sen. Thad 
Cochran (R-MS) inserted language into the Senate Interior 
Appropriations bill designed to block the implementation 
of President Clinton's sweeping executive order issued 
earlier this month requiring federal agencies to cut their 
energy use by 30 percent over the next decade.

   "'Senator Cochran's amendment would put the fat back 
into government,' said David Nemtzow, president of the 
Alliance to Save Energy, a bipartisan coalition of 
business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders. 
President Clinton's recent Executive Order 13123, entitled 
'Greening the Government Through Efficient Energy 
Management,' incorporated many of the recommendations 
contained in an Alliance to Save Energy report on how to 
cut energy waste in the federal government. The report 
outlines $1 billion worth of potential annual savings 
achievable through aggressive steps to improve energy 
efficiency in federal government facilities.

    "The language on the Interior Appropriations bill was 
adopted on a voice vote by members of the Senate 
Appropriations Committee, which funds the Department of 
Energy (DOE). It would forbid the use of funds 'to study, 
develop, or implement procedures or policies to establish 
energy efficiency, energy use or energy acquisition rules 
or guidelines other than those based upon the provisions 
of the Energy Conservation Policy Act (EPCA) of 1975.'

    "Sen. Cochran indicated in his remarks accompanying 
its introduction that it was meant to block the 
implementation of Clinton's executive order, which he 
described as a 'thinly disguised effort to implement the 
Kyoto Agreement.'

    "'This kind of thing almost defies comprehension,' 
declared Nemtzow. 'Senator Cochran is attempting to turn 
back the clock 25 years on federal energy efficiency 
efforts with a surprise amendment to an Appropriations 
bill.'

     "'Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and the entire 
Alliance to Save Energy will be mounting a full-court 
press to fix this bill on the Senate floor,' said Nemtzow. 
'The executive order, if fully implemented, would make the 
federal government a model energy consumer == reducing air 
pollution and shrinking the federal government's utility 
bills by $1 billion a year. This misguided amendment would 
kill this effort == and do so at great expense to 
taxpayers. I am confident that Senate leadership will not 
allow it to stand.'"  (...)


(((And now a few words on Viridian List from the Chief 
Executive of the United States.  Say what one likes about 
his personality or policies, Bill Clinton is a master of 
spin.  It's small wonder that Clinton's many political 
enemies fear and hate him so much.)))


"Clinton Comments on Cochran Amendment

"Excerpt of the remarks made by President Clinton to 
Presidential Scholars at Georgetown University, 
Washington. D.C., on June 25.

    "Partisanship has even paralyzed the basic work of 
writing our spending bills, something we have to do here 
every year. Let me give you an example.  Not very long 
ago, I issued an order saying that the United States 
government would cut our greenhouse gas emissions coming 
out of our buildings by 30 percent over the next few 
years, to meet our responsibility to deal with the 
challenge of global warming. 

     "Now, you have to understand, this doesn't cost you 
anything. This saves you money. We're going to reduce our 
energy use so that we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions 
coming out of our facilities by 30 percent. It's a no-
brainer. It's no money, nothing. The only people that lose 
are the people that won't be pumping electricity to us.

    "Unbelievably enough, just yesterday, a Senate 
committee voted to largely block my executive action
to cut the government's emissions by 30 percent == an
action that would save you $750 million a year.

     "Now, I think I can stop that. But it's an example of 
what happened when adults with responsibility fall into 
small-time wrangling and even want to stop things that are 
100 percent good and not controversial."

(((In our next Viridian Note, we will examine why Senator 
Thad Cochran is so bitterly opposed to Kyoto that he will 
snap and gnash at things that even *look* like Kyoto.)))

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O
I BURN FILTH TO STAY ALIVE
O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O