Jonathon Hiskes has a must read piece at Grist:

Imagine the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives standing in a single line, from the most likely to support climate change legislation to the least likely. At the far “green” end, i.e. most inclined to vote for greenhouse gas restrictions, you’d find Seattle Democrat Jim McDermott. At the far “brown” end, Texas Republican/libertarian Ron Paul.

Predictably, most Republicans would stand nearer to Paul’s end. Most Democrats would stand closer to McDermott. In the exact center, according to recent work by two economists, are nine lawmakers. And if the Waxman-Markey climate bill receives a full House vote, any one of them could provide the 218th “yes”—the decisive vote that passes the bill.

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).

From Campus Progress on Youtube:

Congress is failing us in delivering a science based climate bill and people from throughout the nation. Some of us in the Nation’s Capital went to Rick Boucher (D-VA), one of the second largest recipient of coal money in congress, to express our disappointment in person. Check out these inspiring voices standing for reason in the midst of corruption and slander.

Media advisory via email:

WHAT: Dozens of concerned citizens will peacefully block the entrance to Virginia Congressman Boucher’s office at noon on Thursday May 21st to protest his efforts to block strong climate legislation. Congressman Boucher has personally driven efforts in Congress to give away billions of dollars worth of free permits directly to coal, oil and other dirty fossil fuel companies under a cap and trade bill. Instead of free handouts, protesters support President Obama’s campaign pledge to auction 100 percent of the carbon permits and rebate most of the money to consumers.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, giving free allocations under a cap and trade program will raise the total cost of the program and hurt poor Americans the most. On Thursday, activists will be risking arrest in order to shine a spotlight on how Boucher’s handouts to the coal industry will hurt working families and diminish efforts to fight global warming.

WHERE: Congressman Rick Boucher’s office – Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2187

WHEN: Thursday, May 21st at 12 PM

WHO: Organized by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, an advocacy group that works to fight global warming in Virginia, Maryland, and DC

VISUALS: Activists, many of whom will be risking arrest, will carry banners and a giant check made out to the “Coal Industry”

Roll Call is reporting that Representatives Waxman (D-CA) and Boucher (D-VA) have reached an agreement on several critical provisions of the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The article also confirms roughly what was expected in terms of timeline:

“We have resolved a good number of the issues,” Waxman said after a meeting with committee Democrats, adding that the bill remains on track to clear his panel next week. Opening statements are planned for Thursday with a marathon markup beginning on Monday.

“I am optimistic. I believe we will have the votes to pass the bill [next week],” Waxman said.

Sadly, in order to secure the votes he needed from his own party, Representative Waxman was forced to compromise on some key provisions of the legislation.

Bottom line: As the American Clean Energy and Security Act clears its first procedural hurdle next week (the House Energy and Commerce Committee), it will have already been significantly weakened. It is simply not as strong as a) Obama’s campaign promises, b) what Europe is doing or c) what scientists say is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change.

Incredibly, even with massive majorities in both branches of Congress, Democratic Leadership is unable to pass a bill that does what is necessary. As I’ve mentioned previously, polluting industries continue to dominate the legislative process by bankrolling candidates who vote against environmental regulations. This problem will not go away until we fundamentally change Congress.

I’ll reserve judgment on whether I think the package moving through Energy and Commerce is worth supporting until the full details of the agreement are released on Thursday. For the time being I’ll just note that I’m extremely disappointed with the details that have emerged so far. President Obama needs to take steps to ensure that America’s climate policy is taken seriously at the international negotiations this December in Copenhagen. If he intends to expend any political capital to make that a reality he needs to do so now, before so-called moderate Democrats from coal country succeed in making the bill ineffective.