Compass

California Gets Its Waiver

This is a guest post from Jesse Prentice-Dunn of the Sierra Club Green Transportation Campaign.

Great news! After four years of waiting and a misguided rejection by the Bush Administration, the EPA has finally granted California the waiver necessary to implement its clean car standards. This is a real victory for California and the fourteen other states that have adopted the greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles.

California's standards, which require automakers to sell cleaner, more efficient vehicles, are more stringent than the current national fuel economy regulations and will cut oil consumption and global warming pollution. While new national greenhouse gas standards for vehicles will apply to vehicles in 2012-2016, this decision will allow California and other states to implement tailpipe standards in the years leading up to 2012. In 2010, automakers will have to meet California's greenhouse gas standards (PDF) in California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.  In 2011, Maryland and New Mexico will join the program.

It's important to note that California retains the Clean Air Act authority to set global warming standards in the future. In adopting clean car standards, California has proven that it can lead the nation in developing policies that will curb global warming and drive innovation.

Also, check out California's Environmental Performance label for vehicles (the image above), which allows consumers to see how a new vehicle stacks up against others in terms of greenhouse gas and smog forming emissions. Eight states have adopted California's Environmental Performance label. While automakers must make cleaner vehicles, providing consumers with this information will allow them to factor global warming and pollution into their purchasing decisions.

So happy Waiver Day, everyone! Granting the California waiver is yet another concrete step by the Obama Administration to reduce emissions – let's keep this snowball rolling downhill!

EPA Posts List of 44 High Risk Coal Ash Sites

This is great news for the public's right to know. On the heels of the Sierra Club filing a Freedom of Information Act request two weeks ago requesting that the government release the list of 44 coal ash storage sites deemed "high risk" - today the Environmental Protection Agency did release that list.

UPDATE: We've mapped all 44 sites onto Google Maps so you can see just where all these high-risk coal ash storage sites are. Take a look.

You can find the list right here on the EPA website. The list breaks down like this:

• Six sites in Ohio
• Three in West Virginia
• Seven in Kentucky
• One in Indiana
• Nine in Arizona
• 12 in North Carolina
• Two in Illinois
• One in Pennsylvania
• One in Georgia
• One in Montana

So Arizona, North Carolina, Kentucky and Ohio have the brunt of these high-risk coal ash storage sites. When thinking back to the Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash tragedy in Harriman, TN, this past December, this certainly makes one nervous.

Looks like the EPA is feeling similarly:

“The presence of liquid coal ash impoundments near our homes, schools and business could pose a serious risk to life and property in the event of an impoundment rupture” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “By compiling a list of these facilities, EPA will be better able to identify and reduce potential risks by working with states and local emergency responders.”

EPA needs to regulate coal ash because it is a hazardous substance. You can tell your Senators to stand up to the coal industry and support strong coal ash regulations.

You can also read our statement about the coal ash site posting. To learn more about coal ash and its risks, please take a look at the coal ash fact sheet we produced with EarthJustice (PDF).

The Golden State en Route to Being a Green State

Hi this is Malia, one of the new media interns for the summer...enjoy!

Yesterday, the California Air Resources Control Board voted in favor of several green regulations.  

Among the most effective of these regulations requires all new cars sold in the state of California to have energy efficient windshields by 2012.  These windshields will prevent 45% of the sun’s total heat producing rays from entering the car meaning a reduction in the use of the air conditioner, an increase in fuel efficiency and an overall reduction of greenhouse emissions.  Moreover, by 2016, car manufacturers will be mandated to install windows in new cars that prevent over 60% of heat producing rays from entering the car.

Experts calculate that these two new measures will be the equivalent to taking nearly 140,000 cars off the road.  Of course, we could just ask people to stop using their air conditioning to eliminate even more greenhouse gasses, but this is just one small step in making California comfortable and even more ahead of the curve.

On top of the new car regulations, the board also voted to require methane controls in 14 city landfills by 2012 and is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 million metric tons!  This is great news, but why not require methane controls on all landfills? 14 sounds like a pretty slim number.

Although more can always be done, all of these new regulations are small steps to making California the fleeting example of how green the USA can be. One last question, why wasn’t this done earlier?

Public Transportation is Getting More Expensive, but Biking is Still Free

This week's post from Sierra Club Media Intern Natalie Gaber

In case you hadn’t noticed, life is more expensive these days, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any cheaper.

As a Berkeley resident commuting to San Francisco three days a week, I’ve especially noticed this cost-of-living increase in public transportation Three of the Bay Area’s largest public transportation agencies, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), AC Transit, and MUNI, are all sticking customers with fare increases starting July 1.

BART, the local subway system, is faced with a $249 million budget deficit over the next four years and is implementing a 6.1% cost-of-living based fare increase, which amounts to an average fare increase of 20 cents.

AC Transit, the East Bay bus system, and MUNI, San Francisco’s public transit agency, are engaging in similar fare increases. Fares will soon rise for both agencies by 25 to 50 cents. 

To add insult to injury, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that AC Transit is considering service cuts of up to 15%, which translates to 905 hours of weekday operation and 458 hours of weekend operations disappearing. Clarence Johnson, spokesman for AC Transit, says he hopes the cuts won’t be “too draconian,” but who is he kidding? If AC Transit revenue is down, then they should be providing incentives for people to ride the bus, not reasons to avoid the bus (i.e. increasing fares and cutting service). 

House Vote on American Clean Energy & Security Act

We're all closely watching C-Span this morning as the U.S. House of Representatives debates the American Clean Energy & Security Act (ACES). We've been hearing that a vote will come around 2pm. If you can't watch C-Span to hear all the debate, then you can follow along on Twitter. Many reporters and other folks are tweeting the debate and using the #aces hashtag, including excellent Grist reporter Kate Sheppard.

Want to learn more about ACES? Check out our information page - and take action by calling or emailing your member of Congress right now to tell them to support ACES. Reach your member at 202-224-3121, or use this webpage.

Stay tuned - it's a big day for clean energy and the fight against global warming.

MTR Hearings LiveBlog - Stop Mountaintop Removal Now!

Sierra Club will be microblogging on Twitter from the MTR hearing in DC today starting at 3:30pm ET. Want to follow along? We've embedded a widget right here on Compass for you to follow along with.

You can watch the hearings live .

Want to participate? Go on Twitter and use the hashtag #stopmtr to voice your opinion!

From the Senate to the WV Coalfields, a Pivotal Week for Mountaintop Removal

This post was co-written by Bruce Nilles and Mary Anne Hitt, director and deputy director, respectively, of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign.
 
This has been a historic and game-changing week in the fight to end mountaintop removal. We will undoubtedly look back on the events of the past few days as a major turning point in the struggle to end this incredibly destructive form of coal mining. There has never been a more important time to make your voice heard, and we hope you will join us.

The most timely news is today's historic hearing on Capitol Hill: "The Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining on Water Quality in Appalachia." The hearing is being conducted by the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Work Committee’s Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife.

It starts at 3:30ET, and don't worry if you can't be in D.C. to catch it. We'll have people in the hearing live-blogging and twittering the happenings from this important hearing. You can watch it here on our Compass blog, or simply follow the #stopmtr and #mtr hashtags on Twitter.

Making the Best of Cash for Clunkers

This is a guest post from Ann Mesnikoff, head of the Sierra Club's Green Transportation Campaign.

Yesterday President Obama signed the bill that includes the "Cash for Clunkers" program into law. So, what are we getting? For one thing, this is a smaller program – one billion taxpayer dollars toward the purchase of new vehicles in exchange for retiring “clunkers” – instead of the original four billion dollar proposal. But the fact remains that the overall structure of the program is overly weak when it comes to ensuring taxpayer dollars go toward the purchase of gas "sippers." 

The Environmental Protection Agency will have just a few weeks to issue the rules that will govern this program. Cash for Clunkers will be coming to a dealer near you soon!

The one thing we can do is urge those who turn in gas guzzling clunkers – vehicles that travel 18 miles to the gallon or less – is to use their vouchers toward the purchase of the most fuel efficient of vehicles on dealer lots.  There are plenty of cars to chose from – the Chevy Malibu (conventional and hybrid), the Ford Focus, the Chevy Cobalt, and more. Let’s not forget that GM advertises that it has more models that get over 30 miles to the gallon (on the highway) – but still, the point is that a $4,500 voucher should help consumers buy the best fuel economy. 

Gas prices are going to go up.  We need to end our addiction to oil and curb global warming pollution.  This Cash for Clunkers program could subsidize the sale of 250,000 new cars – let’s make sure those are 250,000 efficient ones!

Reporting Back from the ACES Press Conference

 
I'm back from a fantastic press conference on the American Clean Energy & Security Act (ACES) over at the Capitol here in Washington, DC. We had a phenomenal list of speakers all urging members of the U.S. House of Representatives to pass ACES when it comes to the floor this Friday:

• Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA)
• Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA)
• Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
• Representative Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM)
• Larry Schweiger, President, National Wildlife Federation
• Jon Soltz, Chairman, VoteVets
• Dave Foster, President, Blue-Green Alliance 
• Linda Delgado, Legislative Director, Oxfam America
• Jerome Ringo, President, Apollo Alliance
• Sister Sharon Dillon, Catholics United

At the last minute Rep. Mike Doyle from Pennsylvania and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan from New Mexico also joined the rally. All the speakers emphasized that investing in clean energy will create more jobs, secure our energy independence and fight global warming. Some led the big crowd in cheers about clean energy, and others just got them riled up for clean energy in general.

UPDATE: And here's the video! Enjoy

More photos and details after the jump! (click on any of the photos to see a larger version)

Dirty Energy Wednesday

We're talking coal and tar sands today, friends.

First up, the good news: a planned coal plant in Nevada is now officially off the books. Yesterday NV Energy shelved its plans for the 1,500 megawatt Ely Energy Center.

Second, time for you to take some action. This information comes from my excellent fellow Compass blog poster Nithin Coca:

We're at a critical juncture on the fight against one of the dirtiest fuels on Earth: tar sands from Alberta, Canada. While America is finally beginning to move down the path towards a Clean Energy Economy, forces are trying to slip in more dirty fuel into our mix, pipeline by pipeline, refinery by refinery, permit by permit. Yet it is a single, massive project planned and executed by Big Oil and their allies in Canada’s government.

A major piece of the project—the Alberta Clipper pipeline — is up for approval by the U.S. State Department in just two weeks. Now only one person has the power to stop the dirtiest oil project on earth: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

We want to make sure Secretary Clinton knows about this pipeline - just one part of a dirty oil mega-project, which includes dozens of oil refineries and pipelines that are crossing the border and being retooled to make us over-dependent on their dirty, dangerous oil. If this gets approved, it's a slippery, tarred slope to a dirty-fuels future.

Tell Secretary Clinton to say no to tar sands!

Tar sands photos by David Dodge, Pembina Institute. Click on each to see the full size versions.