The vote was 219-212, capping months of negotiations and days of intense bargaining among Democrats. Republicans were overwhelmingly against the measure, arguing it would destroy jobs in the midst of a recession while burdening consumers with a new tax in the form of higher energy costs. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the bill will cost households an additional $175 in energy costs in 2020.

The House’s action sent the measure to a highly uncertain fate in the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid said he was “hopeful that the Senate will be able to debate and pass bipartisan and comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation this fall.”

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Representative Braley responding by mentioning that the current allocations of revenue in the ACES bill are not what he would have decided, nor would they be what a Representative from West Virginia would choose. The current allocation scheme in the ACES bill is a compromise between diverse interests. That was good to hear. Then he said that he wished the renewable energy standards were stronger and the efficiency standards were better. He was adamant that this bill and this year were the best shot the nation would have for truly comprehensive energy and climate legislation.

He went on to say he doesn’t want to sell-out his children’s future by passing a bill that won’t effectively transition us off of fossil fuels and avert dangerous climate change. He finished his answer by telling the story of how committed young people in green hard hats were present in the committee room while ACES was being debated. Those young people were the tangible reminder that this bill was about their future and their quality of life. Most memorable line: “The clean energy revolution has begun and we need your help to make it a reality.”

I look forward to seeing more strong leadership from Representative Braley as the legislation moves through committees and goes to the House floor. We need each Representative from Iowa, those being Braley, Loebsack, Latham, Boswell, and King to be fighting for a stronger renewable energy standard in the final ACES bill. Voice your support for strong comprehensive energy and climate legislation by contacting your representative: http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/Iowa_ACES

Drew

Braley says groups that claim the energy bill will raise the cost to consumers are “flat wrong.” He says the bill is “gonna create millions of clean energy jobs, it’s gonna reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and it’s going to lower energy bills for the middle class. And despite what MidAmerican is saying, the bill won’t increase prices for consumers, nor will they pay higher taxes for the bill.”

Braley says there’s evidence in the eastern Iowa district he represents that prove MidAmerican wrong. Braley says two of MidAmerican’s customers and consumers who will be paying the most, John Deere and Alcoa are in his district and both support the bill. “And so I guess the question I would have for MidAmerican is, if two of their largest customers are supporting the bill, what is the question they’re having?,” Braley asks.

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In a Times Editorial Board meeting Friday, Braley described how he scribbled four key points on White House stationery…

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Before I go too far into detail; For those of you out there who don’t know what “Powershift” is, there’s plenty of information available on the website, with all the details including schedule of events and speakers. As they describe the event themselves, “Power Shift 09 will bring 10,000 young people to Washington to hold our elected officials accountable for rebuilding our economy and reclaiming our future through bold climate and clean energy policy.” Speakers this year included Lisa Jackson (Head of the EPA), Van Jones (Green Jobs Now), Ken Salazar (Secretary of the Interior), Congressman Ed Markey and Congresswoman Donna Edwards, as well as musical performances by The Roots and Santigold.

For those of us traveling from Des Moines, the weekend involved some long-haul driving. I was joined by three freshman students from Drake University and another from Iowa State, and the 17-hour drive flew by in a haze of political and environmental discussion. By the time we reached D.C., I think we had finally figured everything out, but promptly fell asleep on the floor of the convention center and tragically forgot our solutions to the world’s problems before being able to enlighten everyone.

Saturday and Sunday were set aside for workshops and panel discussions during the day, and musical performances and speeches at night. There were over twenty different meetings to choose from for each two-hour block, and though they focused on fascinating things like “Ecopedagogy” and “Bird-Dogging for Change” and “The Road to Copenhagen,” a quick walk around the Washington Convention Center Saturday morning revealed that a good number of the 12,000 students there had also chosen to spend the first few sessions catching up on lost sleep. (Powernap ‘09, you might say) After a restful hour curled up in one of the thousands of corners at the DC Convention Center, I attended a great panel discussion on creative media activism, featuring the likes of Leilani Munter (Celebrity NASCAR driver, the fourth woman to ever race on the circuit and an outspoken environmental activist) and Daryl Hannah, who surprised me by being not only extremely eloquent, but also one of the most well-versed activists at the conference.

Saturday night’s Roots performance was inspirational as well, though in a slightly different vein, and by Sunday afternoon I was feeling far more informed and equipped for the challenges ahead. The students from Iowa had a “Break Out” meeting to discuss Iowa specific issues Sunday night, where we went over the QC Rail project, the Marshalltown coal plant, and the possibility of securing a National Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (and how Iowa would benefit from that.) I met a lot of other committed, interested students from around the state and did some important networking before taking in a short documentary and getting some well-needed sleep. In the morning; it was time to lobby congress.

Monday started off with an extended discussion with a member of Boswell’s staff, who engaged our group of 25 interested students in a lively discussion about things like a carbon cap and renewable energy. He played Devil’s Advocate for much of it, reminding us that Boswell agreed with almost all of our demands, but threw out figures about how weaning our state off of coal would increase electricity bills by 3 fold, a point that we heatedly refused. Later, at a meeting with Harkin’s representative, we were told Harkin would likely continue to spearhead projects in line with our demands. Though I wasn’t able to attend the meetings with Loebsack, Braley, or Latham in full, I heard they had similar outcomes, and in the meeting with King, who has traditionally been opposed to environmental measures in the past, some common ground was found when discussion turned to the potential for the wind industry to help create new jobs.

The most noteworthy meeting of the weekend was with Senator Grassley himself, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, which was held on Monday afternoon. More than forty students crammed into his meeting room and used our alloted fifteen minutes to the best of our ability. We made our pitch and asked if we could count on him to support a cap-and-trade system in the upcoming year, and received an unclear answer that suggested he wouldn’t. When I asked him if we could count on him to support a renewable energy portfolio standard in the future, he turned to one of his aides and said, “Doesn’t he know I’ve supported the last four RES bills?” A humorous skirting of the question; we never got clear answers from either him or his staff, though they treated us very respectfully.

Overall, it was one of the best weekends I’ve had since coming here. The chance to interact again with other interested and committed students my age was revitalizing, and I’m excited to try and put some of the things I learned to work. If you’re interested in visiting the conference next year or learning more about it, visit their website here

“We have ignored this problem for far too long,” said Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat who was recently awarded a seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “It’s time to start working.”

Business groups warn that imposing limits on emissions will drive up energy costs at a time when manufacturers already are shedding jobs by the thousands because of the global economic downturn. Manufacturers in Iowa and nationwide also worry that they’ll be put at a disadvantage to competitors in China and other countries that are building new coal-fired power plants.

“We need to have a grown-up conversation about what we can do and in the time frame that we need to do it without an undue disruption of the economy,” said Hank Cox, a spokesman for the National Association of Manufacturers. Its members include firms that are based in Iowa or have major operations there, including Vermeer Corp., Terra Industries Inc., Whirlpool Corp., and Bunge North America.

However, two growing sectors of Iowa’s economy, ethanol and wind energy, would benefit from increasing the cost of gasoline andcoal-generated electricity.

President-elect Barack Obama has made clear through a series of key appointments that the issue is going to be a top priority for his administration. Democratic congressional leaders have delivered the same message as well.

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced that Braley was one of eight members approved for membership on the Energy and Commerce Committee. The committee has broad jurisdiction over alternative fuels as corn-based ethanol, health care and the environment.

Braley, of Waterloo, was elected to his second term from Iowa’s 1st District in November. He was a leader in the effort in November to oust long-term committee chairman John Dingell of Michigan in favor of Rep. Henry Waxman, a Pelosi ally also from California.

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