But as action began to seem more likely, the political debate intensified, with fossil-fuel industries mobilizing to fight emission-curbing measures.
The subsidies the nuclear and fossil-fuel industry receive - and have received for many years - make their product "affordable."
He stated, "Around the world, the fossil-fuel industry is carrying out its last desperate attempt to avoid the arrival of renewable energy and to ensure the existence of its dirty fuels.
Always the financial bottom-feeder, the canny Kemp Kingseed had snapped up the wrecked facility after the abject collapse of the fossil-fuel industry.
Congress favors traditional fossil-fuel industries.
Speaker of the House John Boehner, who insisted that the Keystone approval decision be speeded up, has gotten $1,111,080 in campaign contributions from the fossil-fuel industry during his tenure.
Environmentalists and European delegates say that target is too low, while representatives of the fossil-fuel industry say it is too aggressive.
But I don't see why the question was dismissed so readily, with the implication that only a tool of the fossil-fuel industry would raise it.
It was filled with giveaways to the fossil-fuel industry, but lacked serious measures to develop more energy-efficient technologies or ease our addiction to oil.
Political action from the community, however, is often challenged by interests within the fossil-fuel industry.