TOP STORIES

House Begins Mark Up of Waxman-Markey

"The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to pass legislation this week that would overhaul U.S. energy and global warming policy, assuming Democrats can stay united in the face of hundreds of GOP amendments...Democrats plan to make their case for the bill by arguing it would help tackle global warming, create jobs and strengthen national security. Those points will be juxtaposed during the markup against a nearly united Republican front focused on a vast expansion of domestic energy production. Besides offering their own alternative measure, Republicans also are preparing as many as 450 amendments designed to target individual Democratic members who they hope will be uncomfortable supporting such stringent new environmental requirements."  [ClimateWire - New York Times]

Auto Emissions and Mileage Standards Tightened

"President Obama will announce tough new nationwide rules for automobile emissions and mileage standards on Tuesday, embracing standards that California has sought to enact for years over the objections of the auto industry and the Bush administration...The effect will be a single new national standard that will create a car and light truck fleet in the United States that is almost 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016 than it is today, with an average of 35.5 miles per gallon." [New York Times]

OPINION

Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman on why the Waxman-Markey bill needs to pass.  [New York Times]

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G.E. Begins Dredging for Pollutants in Hudson

"Twenty-five years after the federal government declared a long stretch of the Hudson River to be a contaminated Superfund site, the cleanup of its chief remaining source of pollution began here Friday with a single scoop of mud extracted by a computer-guided dredge."  [New York Times]

Peru Army Takes on Tribes in Rainforest Fight

"Peru's army is poised to deploy in the Amazon rainforest to lift blockades across rivers and roads by indigenous people opposed to oil, gas, logging and mining projects...President Alan Garcia said the state had the right and responsibility to develop mineral and hydrocarbon wealth to benefit all Peruvians. 'We have to understand that when there are resources like oil, gas and timber, they don't belong only to the people who had the fortune to be born there because that would mean more than half of Peru's territory belongs to a few thousand people.'" [The Guardian]