Compass

Forging Letters to Beat Clean Energy?

UPDATE: Big surprise, coal is linked to this. We have copies of these forged letters and they say "Virginia gets 56% of its energy from coal."

More to come!

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Oh for shame, lobbyists. An investigation has found that a lobbying firm forged letters from the NAACP and a Hispanic community organization in Charlottesville, Virginia, saying that the organizations opposed the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The forged letters went to Congressman Tom Perriello (D-VA 5th) and as expected, the community groups are incensed (as are the rest of us).

Neither of the groups oppose the bill.

The guilty lobbying firm is Bonner & Associates, who is calling it a "mistake." Um, yeah. To say the least. We're all waiting to find out who paid the firm to do this.

If it's getting to the point where our opposition is forging letters opposing clean energy - what's next?

Californians Backtrack on Climate Change Opinions

By Natalie Gaber, Media Intern

The Public Policy Institute of California released its annual Statewide Survey: Californians and the Environment this week, and, according to the results, Californians are becoming complacent about climate change.

The survey, which focused on climate change, air pollution, and energy policy, is timely because implementation of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 is getting underway at the same time as national climate legislation is taking cues from California’s landmark law.

Although most California residents still support policies and regulations designed to reduce the state’s contribution to global warming, the majority are also in favor of opening up California’s coast to increased oil drilling. Furthermore, less Californians’ see addressing climate change as an urgent priority, and the partisan gap between supporters and resisters has widened.

The most likely explanation for this drop in support for climate change legislation is the dismal economic situation in California and the nation as a whole.

Amazingly, 1/3 of California Republicans reportedly believe that global warming will never happen, when just a year ago only ¼ felt this way. The record number of wildfires in California over the past 30 years, plus the state’s chronic water woes and loss of species, such as salmon, apparently do not qualify as side effects of global warming to many Californians.

Michigan to Granholm: We Want Clean Energy

This is the weekly post from Bruce Nilles, director of Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign.

Yesterday, under a beautiful summer day in Lansing, Michigan, more than 500 activists from all corners of the state lent their voices to a call for a massive investment in clean energy and moving the state beyond coal.

Clean Energy Now, a coalition made up of over 40 environmentalist groups including Sierra Club, organized this Rally for Clean Energy Jobs to support Michigan’s clean energy future – and as a grassroots response to the proposal of new coal plants in Michigan.

The rally speakers and activists in particular took aim at plans in Michigan to build at least six more massive coal plants.

These plants would eliminate any market for clean energy and derail Governor Jennifer Granholm's bold vision to put Michiganders to works producing a clean energy manufacturing boom, not only to meet the state's energy needs as the state retires its old fleet of coal plants, but also to export around the world to help other states and other countries do their part to cut pollution, including dangerous emissions of carbon dioxide.

At the rally, citizens spoke out for a clean energy economy in Michigan, which will create jobs and bring money into the state, rather than the construction of new coal plants, which will continue to weaken our economy.

Michigan residents want Gov. Granholm to get that message loud and clear: No more coal – We want clean energy!

We also had a lot of fun – as people listened to great musicians, browsed informational tables from various clean energy industries, used our communications tent to send in comments and letters to Governor Granholm, signed our clean energy petition, and even threw a few baseballs at dunk tank where we had folks dressed up as various dirty energy villains.

But clearly the fight for clean energy won’t be over any time soon. For now, all eyes are on Michigan. Can it harness its legions of highly skilled workers and legendary manufacturing base into a clean energy power house, or will it go the route of 19th-century coal technology and export its dollars to line the coal barons' pockets in Appalachia?

Governor Granholm can help make this happen by choosing clean energy now instead of coal.

Reaching Across the Aisle, Getting Kicked in the Back

Guest post by Shannon Goggin, Global Warming and Energy Intern

As we know all too well, the polarization between the Republican and Democratic parties ranges from predictable to counterproductive. As the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) worked its way through the House of Representatives, it was clear that winning any Republican votes would be difficult, if not impossible. When the bill finally passed with a tight margin of  219-212, just 8 Republicans had voted “aye.” 

That was an extremely bold vote. These 8 Congressmen and women are especially brave given the overwhelmingly negative messaging coming from Republican opponents of this bill. Calling it a tax bill, opponents uniformly dismissed its significant investment in America’s clean energy future. That investment will help get us off of foreign oil and develop a growing sector of the American economy which will provide us with sustainable jobs that cannot be shipped overseas. 

For their willingness to stand up for what is right, these Republicans have been assaulted and slandered by their own party, called traitors and given an arbitrary deadline by which to reverse their votes. They stuck to their guns, however, and now they could use a kind word. 

Here they are:

• Mary Bono Mack

• Mike Castle

• Mark Kirk

• John McHugh

• Frank LoBiondo

• Leonard Lance

• Dave Reichert

• Chris Smith

Especially if you live in their district, show them that they need not fear voting for a clean energy future. Thank them for their vote! Write to them now.  

The Road to Copenhagen: Think Globally, Act Locally

By Justin Guay, Sierra Club Global Warming and Energy Team Apprentice

In 2007, the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) laid out the Bali Road Map which hoped to resolve tension over several key issues stalling a post-Kyoto international agreement on climate change. The most contentious included:

•    emission reduction targets for developed countries
•    nationally appropriate mitigation actions for developing countries
•    adaptation funding
•    REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation)—20% of world emissions come from deforestation as dead or dying trees release the CO2 that was stored inside them.

The most sincere hope of the international community and environmental advocates everywhere, is that this road will end in agreement in December of this year (2009) in Copenhagen, Denmark. These hopes however, hinge on the United States seizing global leadership by acting domestically to ensure the passage of the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) act. If Copenhagen were a game of Texas hold-em poker, the United States can now go “all-in."

LiveBlog: Michigan Clean Energy and Jobs Rally

More information about the Rally here - and also see yesterday's blog post. You can participate via Twitter with the Hashtag #nocoal

The Losing Edge: America not so super when it comes to being green

By, Malia Tice

It seems that East and West super powers are all competing to win the clean energy race.  With China, Japan and South Korea all shelling out billions more than the US, if things don’t change, the East may well triumph over the West.

China alone is reportedly investing between $440 and $660 billion in its clean energy industries over the next 10 years.  Japan is currently doubling their incentives for solar energy, aiming for a 20-fold expansion in installed solar energy by the year 2020.  South Korea is investing a full 2% of their GDP earnings in a Green New Deal.  The United States on the other hand is falling quite short investing only about $1.2 billion annually un energy research and development and only about $10 billion in the clean energy sector as a whole (under the Waxman Markey Bill) which is less than 0.1% of the US GDP.  Come on America!

Although the US is investing some money in clean energy technologies as well as clean energy research and development, the reported figures fall extremely short of what was previously promised by President Obama in his RE-ENERGYSE (Regaining our Energy Science and Engineering Edge) program.  This program was “designed to fund new undergraduate and graduate energy curriculum and research opportunities to prepare up to 8,500 highly educated young scientists and engineers to enter clean energy fields by 2015 alone” (Norris and Jenkins, 2009).  Unfortunately, this program is no where near coming to fruition.  In fact, the senate recently rejected the proposal while the house appropriated only $7 million to the program from the proposed $115 million.  Again, come on America!

In order to put the United States back where it belongs (on top), the US must respond to the Asian energy challenge.  We must fight back as we did when the Russians launched Sputnik into the atmosphere.  If the US ever wants to be considered and industry leader and super power again, we must support and implement clean energy programs NOW!

Read the Article Here: Will America Lose the Clean Energy Race?

Tomorrow: Clean Energy Rally in Michigan and Compass LiveBlog

Michigan - one of the main battlegrounds between Clean Energy and Dirty Coal, is the place to be tomorrow. Clean Energy advocates from all across the state are gathering to call for a new, Clean Energy Future for Michigan at a huge rally.

There's tons going on for the entire family - just take a peak at this schedule. Music, speakers (including our own Bruce Nilles), and activities for everyone.

Now I know, you might be like me, and not live anywhere near Michigan. Don't despair - you can follow along right from your computer. Tomorrow, right here, we'll be hosting a LiveBlog straight from the center of the rally in Michigan. For those of you on Twitter, you can participate using the hashtag #nocoal.

LiveBlog starts tomorrow at 9AM EST and continues until the end of the rally at 5PM!

Report: TVA Could Have Prevented Coal Ash Spill

There's big news out of Tennessee today - the Inspector General of the Tennessee Valley Authority released a report saying the TVA could have prevented last December's devastating coal ash spill near Harriman.

From the report:

"Furthermore, had corrective measures been taken in a timely fashion, it is possible that TVA could have potentially prevented the occurrence of the failure."

Pretty damning news. If you remember, December's coal ash spill happened at the Kingston Fossil Fuel Plant (a coal-fired power plant) when a dam failed and released more than 540 million gallons of coal ash across 400 acres, destroying 26 homes, and contaminating nearby waterways - including a river that provides drinking water for communities downstream and popular fishing holes for many anglers.

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UPDATE: Sorry I didn't include this before, but if you want to read the TVA Inspector General's testimony to the House Subcommittee on Water Resources to the Environment (which is where he outlines the TVA faults), click here for the PDF. The full 111-page report from the IG is available here (PDF).

Anyway, the real damning news here is that the IG points out a problem we've been trying to raise awareness around for some time now: Treating coal ash as toxic waste and not as simple "garbage." From the IG's testimony:

The TVA culture at fossil plants relegated ash to the status of garbage at a landfill rather than treating it as a potential hazard to the public and the environment. We believe this culture resulted in management failures which contributed to the Kingston Spill.

Coal ash contains some nasty toxic substances, including arsenic, mercury, lead, selenium and more. Want that in your drinking water? Or in your nearby fishing holes? I don't think so.

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Back to the original post....

The report from the Inspector General adds that if TVA doesn't take care, this same tragedy could happen at its other coal ash waste ponds in the state.

This is all yet another reminder of not only why we need regulation of coal combustion waste (PDF fact sheet)  (which is what coal ash is), but why we also need to transition away from coal and toward clean energy. Coal is dirty from the beginning to the end of its life cycle. We can do better.

Labor Unions and the Clean Energy Workforce

This is a guest post by Allison Forbes of the Sierra Club's Labor and Worker Rights Program.

Where in the U.S. are workers preparing for the new clean energy industries? I'm talking with our union partners about just that -- and how we build new models for delivering economic and environmental benefits to communities through job creation, training and career pathways.

Last week in Indianapolis, I met individuals from across the country working in weatherization -- or energy efficiency retrofit. I met two young women working as energy auditors for a non-profit agency in Mobile, Alabama, a young man from Yakima, Washington, and other young weatherizers from Chicago and Minneapolis.

Their organizations provide direct support for families in the lowest income bracket -- including weatherization upgrades for low-income homes. They upgrade home heating and cooling systems, appliances, and insulation to improve community health and safety, reduce energy costs, and slash global warming pollution. They shared lessons learned and best practices at a weatherization training conference.

These organizations are funded through Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and an extra $5b that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act added to the WAP's annual budget of $250m this year.

Vernon Rodriguez is a plumber in Harlem working for Community Environmental Center, a non-profit energy conservation organization.

After working on a house, Rodriguez says: "seeing the smiles on the people's faces is most important. This is the way the U.S. is going to save energy. We have a great team at the Community Environmental Center."

Just a week or two ago, the Community Environmental Center agreed to work with the Laborers International Union of North American (LiUNA!) to provide first rate weatherization training to new members of the workforce. In addition to training for the immediate job, the Laborers union will also provide training for its members' career tracks, helping them reach higher-paying work.

On Tuesday, Van Jones, green jobs czar for the White House Council on Enviromental Quality and founder of Green For All, addressed an audience of weatherization installers. He said, "You are on the ground floor of the President's clean energy agenda. We believe the energy efficiency sector is going to be a multi-billion dollar sector."

In order for the green economy to succeed, we need a robust workforce that can capitalize on new opportunities. Labor unions do this by ensuring workers have access to comprehensive skills training, protections and training to blow the whistle on health and safety risks in the workplace.