Baby steps were taken yesterday to overcome the stall of the climate bill. It really comes down to the order in which two controversial bills (one on immigration and this one on climate change) are handled.
Below, from AP, is the top of that story, and below that, you’ll find some links for more detail. At least here at EarthPM, you can count on us to have things in order…but what else would you expect from a project management blog – sequencing tasks in the proper order for efficient execution…
By Matthew Daly
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday he is willing to bring up climate change legislation ahead of an immigration bill, the first step toward resolving a dispute with Senate Republicans that threatened to derail a bipartisan effort months in the making.
Reid said the long-delayed climate bill “is much further down the road in terms of a product” than the immigration measure, which remains unwritten.
“The energy bill is ready. We will move to that more quickly than a bill we don’t have,” the Democratic leader told reporters. “I don’t have an immigration bill.”
Reid’s comments were intended to help resolve a dispute that emerged during the weekend when Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham threatened to withhold support for the climate bill if Reid pushed ahead first with an immigration legislation.
Energy Bill, v2.0: why project managers should care
We’ve blogged a lot about the Climate Bill, and why it was delayed, and how it could possibly be revived. And today, US Senators Kerry and Lieberman did revive the bill…
From Newsweek magazine, 12-May:
There’s a lot in there, packed in tight. Nuclear proponents get the green light for new plants and research with $54 billion in federal loan guarantees. Renewable energy folks also get a boost with extended subsidies. There’s a directive to increase research on carbon capture and sequestration (a.k.a. clean coal), an intricate system to reduce greenhouse gases, and a full plan to integrate job creation at every step. Plus, about 15 pages in the 987-page bill address the hot-potato topic du jour: oil drilling, which will increase. But the difference is that states will be allowed to veto drilling projects within 75 miles of their coastline. And if that’s not enough, a revenue-sharing process will compensate coastal states for stomaching the risks.
But instead of repeating what’s in the bill, we’d like to answer some critics’ valid question about the bill:
Why should project managers care about this? Let’s forget the element of project managers being residents of Earth and that whole altruistic aspect. Throw that away*. Now. With that disposed of, say the critics, why would project managers care at all about this bill?
We have a very simple mathematical formula for you.
The bill has 987 pages. The word “project” shows up 573 times.
Yes. Go back and read that again.
There are 573 occurrences of the word project, in a document that is 987 pages long. Averaged out, that means that almost 60% of the pages have a reference to projects. That’s why you should care, if for no other reason. This is a bill that will increase the demand for your very discipline. Oh, wait. You’re a program manager? Well, the word program occurs 563 times.
Think we’re kidding?
We provide you below with links to the full Newsweek article and also the summary and full text of the American Power Act.
Short summary
Full American Power Act text (PDF)
Newsweek article
So we humbly suggest that you may want to care about the bill…
* “we design products to be thrown ‘away’ when, in fact, there is no ‘away’”
-William McDonough and Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle