Pelosi and Reid are just about to do the stupidest thing imaginable: pull the rug out from underneath the blossoming renewable energy economy at the time when we need it most.
(Start reaching for your phone...)
Just as every single magazine in the country is giving the energy crisis more press than Paris Hilton, and just as renewable energy is becoming the entrepreneurial equivalent of the internet revolution and just as the news about climate change is getting weirder and scarier every time we open the freakin' paper, our crazy-assed Democratic leaders are completely dropping the ball, and you gotta call Capitol Hill right now and tell them to get their head's straight fast.
As Adam Browning of Vote Solar put it "Thursday morning, Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi decided to drop the renewable energy standard out of the energy bill and drop the tax title. No tax title means no extension of the investment tax credit for solar, and no extention of the production tax credit for wind. Let's see...nothing for solar, plus nothing for wind, hmmm, add no renewable energy standard, carry the zero...yep, that adds up to precisely nothing for renewable energy.
Got that? Congressional leadership is moving an energy bill with nothing in it for renewable energy. Dropping the biggest pro-solar provision this country has ever seen, just when the industry is gaining momentum and making an impact."
According to Adam, we've got maybe 24 hours to turn this around. 24 hours. That's not a lot of time.
Now he suggested a script to use when you call the Hill, but mine is better, it goes like this:
'Hi Senator Pelosi? Um, 90% of America, would like more renewable energy and you are ignoring them? So you're either crazy or you are possessed by the devil. Which one is it? I hope you're possessed by the devil because insanity takes years of therapy to cure and we are running out of time but all you need to get rid of Satan is a flask of holy water and a sober village priest. So, get your exorcism on sister and get the 8-year extension for the solar investment tax credits in the energy bill. Do it, do it now. Thank you very much.'
You can use the same script for Reid, only don't call him "sister."
Pelosi's offices number is 202- 225-4965
Reid's office's number is 202-224-3542
Then you should call your Congressman or woman and get all fired up on this too. You can find your congressional leader here. Tell 'em stuff like this:
* Clean energy means jobs and energy independence.
* America needs carbon-free renewable energy immediately. Tons of it.
* Renewable energy is a key component in the war against climate change.
* The energy bill must extend investment tax credits for solar.
* Yes, you know you are shouting, it's just that you are really very pissed off about this and you really want them do something about it.
Come on, Act Now!
This is really serious stuff. This is a call to arms. We're fighting a two front war against climate change and woefully short sighted politicians. Call your friends, aunts, uncles, the whole lot of them. Get everyone dialing. Today.
Because time is running out in more ways than one.