GHG bill moves to full Senate

House approves reworked energy bill

By Elizabeth McGowan

WASHINGTON — A presidential veto threat didn’t prevent the House from approving a revamped energy bill Dec. 6 that raises fuel economy standards for the first time since 1975, boosts biofuels, and requires utilities to go greener.

See At Deadline, Page 48

WASHINGTON — After the Senate environment committee voted last week to advance major cap-and-trade climate change legislation to the full Senate, Democrat Barbara Boxer received two congratulatory calls.

One, not surprisingly, came from the Republican governor and global warming guru of her home state of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The other was from Senate Majority Leader

Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The latter, she said, gives her confidence that the bipartisan America’s Climate Security Act will be a priority on the Senate agenda early in 2008.

“This is a historic moment for this committee and this country,” Boxer, her voice breaking, said minutes after her Environment and Public Works Committee’s 11-8 vote. “What’s happened here today won’t go unnoticed.

See Bill, Page 47

FACE TO FACE: Sens. Barbara Boxer and Joseph Lieberman confer last month during a hearing on America’s Climate Security Act of 2007.

NE WSCOM / WENN PHOTOS

IN THIS ISSUE

Feeling lucky

Divine

AIR

Google to spend tens of millions on green energy
alliance

TPI Composites and Opus Northwest want to build wind energy facilities in the heartland. Page 7

WATER

The Chesapeake Bay’s shores and reefs are being rebuilt by volunteers using old oyster shells. Page 50

SOLID WASTE

At the Blue Cross Blue Shield building in downtown Detroit, drivers will now have the option of parking in the grass lot. Page 9

HAZARDOUS WASTE

N. Y. Attorney Gen-
eral Andrew Cuomo
filed a lawsuit on be-
half of a dozen states
against the U.S. EPA
over changes to the
TRI program. Page 3

By Joe Truini

Google Inc. has mapped the Earth, and now it wants to power it.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company wants to dethrone King Coal as the cheapest form of energy and has launched a program to develop cheap renewable energy.

Google initially will look at existing technologies, such as solar thermal power, wind power and geothermal systems, through the initiative, called Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal. But the firm is hiring engineers and energy experts to research and develop advanced renewable energy systems

Christians move
to embrace green
way of living

By Jim Johnson

There was a time when being green was more or less associated with the granola-eating left, far from those on the conservative right side of the aisle.

But a funny thing is happening on the way to global warming.

Many evangelical Christians are embracing the importance of being and building green.

“I can tell you something that is very significant that is happening around the country as we speak,” the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president of public affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, a group representing 45,000 churches covering about 60 denominations.

“This has all the evidence of an evangelical wakening. The tinder is dry, the conditions are right. All it takes is a spark here and an ash there. And what is occurring is that this great evangelical giant is waking up. And what is it waking up to? It is waking up to green,” he said.

The evangelical block can be a powerful force in this country, as

and breakthrough projects, with a focus on solar thermal energy.

“We’ve seen technologies that we think can really mature into very capable industries that can really generate energy cheaper

See Google, Page 48

HERE COMES THE SUN: Solar panels cover a rooftop at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Above left: Google founders Larry Page, left, and Sergey Brin.