Rally for the New Kerry-Boxer Bill

Today was a big rally at the Capitol Building for the release of the brand new "Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act" bill from Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer.

Lots of folks turned out, including plenty of veterans and clean energy activists - not to mention Senators Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Frank Lautenberg, Mark Udall, Ben Cardin, Tom Udall, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeanne Shaheen, and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Also speaking on the topic of how global warming is a huge national security threat were Vice Admiral Lee F. Gunn of the U.S. Navy (Retired) and Afghanistan U.S. Army Veteran Aaron Bailey. Both spoke of how our dependence on foreign oil makes us vulnerable, as well as how global warming causing resource-scarcity will be a security threat to many nations.

All the speakers received huge cheers and applause when talking about the importance of switching the US to a clean energy economy - about how it will boost our economy, create millions of jobs, secure our energy independence and make us more secure overall.

I took quite a few photos, so to see the rest, check out our Flickr set. And get involved now!

A National Day of Action Against Coal

This post was co-written by Kathleen Ridihalgh, Senior Representative for the Sierra Club’s Northwest Region

The first three days of this week are seeing a slew of activities taking on coal. We have events in 25 states to counter the coal industry and cheer on clean energy investments. It’s all part of our National Day of Action, and there are events happening across the nation, including rallies, public hearings, coal deliveries to polluters, press conferences, brown bag lunches, coal tours, and town hall meetings. Our Campuses Beyond Coal campaign is holding photo petition events on a dozen campuses nationwide, calling on campus administrators to shut down old, dirty coal plants polluting those universities and the neighboring towns.

These events are all sending one message from coast to coast – coal is dirty business, and we need clean energy. You should check the website to learn more about these creative events and see if there are any taking place near you.

As we watch activists in these states work together for clean energy, we want to highlight a few states taking steps in the right direction that we hope other states will emulate. The Governors of Washington (Chris Gregoire), Oregon (Ted Kulongoski) and Montana (Brian Schweitzer) have all committed their states to meeting climate goals and investing in a clean energy future.

United Nations/G-20: High on Rhetoric, Low on Substance

This post was written by Global Warming and Energy Apprentice, Justin Guay

Let’s start by framing the situation. We now have 15 days of actual negotiations left before Copenhagen and we have made little to no progress on a host of divisive issues. Substantially, hell- overwhelmingly, adding to this sense of panic is the United Nations Environment Program’s frightening culmination of the past three years of climate science  as well as a British Met Office Hadley report showing that in our lifetimes we will experience warming of 4 degrees Celsius. In addition, a report released in Nature outlines three planetary tipping points we have already crossed, of a potential nine that can not be crossed without disastrous consequences. The icing on the cake is the news that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting 50% faster since 2003. Apparently the only people to truly understand the dangerous territory we are headed for are the voting block the Alliance of Small Island Developing States (AOSIS), whose new motto is “1.5 to stay alive”.

So how did world leaders respond at two critical summits that could have literally produced life saving momentum for Copenhagen and therefore the planet? To put it mildly, they flailed. The Chinese President Hu Jintao, preferred to play his political advantage by refusing to set a specific carbon intensity target instead saying it would be “a notable margin”. He did however, in a seemingly small but nevertheless significant change, alter the country’s intensity targets from energy-based to carbon-based.

For his part, President Obama has, according to Carl Pope, shown that the United States is emerging as the key obstacle to an agreement in Copenhagen. While the Senate deserves the lion’s share of the blame, it was the President’s unwillingness to demand action on stalled climate and energy legislation that may very well seal our planetary fate.

As for the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, it was an utter disappointment. The draft communiqué put no financing package on the table and dropped all mention of climate financing from the final draft. In fact there was an eerie sense of déjà vu as President Obama reiterated the request he made at L’aquila in July for concrete ideas on climate financing at future meetings.

The political merry-go-round did produce at least one positive outcome on the issue of fossil fuel subsidies. Leaders committed to “phase out over the medium term inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption” while recognizing the use of “targeted cash transfers and other appropriate mechanisms” for the poor. Of course this will meet fierce resistance and any form of concrete timeline or plan for achieving this bold goal was left out of the final communiqué.

So now we are in between a rock and a hard place. The President can’t commit to anything internationally without a bill in hand. The body tasked with providing him this vital tool, the Senate, is chalk full of climate change denying hysterics spouted by imbeciles masquerading as Congressmen. If we had twenty more years to wrangle this all out maybe, just maybe, we could avert the coming tipping points. But with these harbingers of doom rapidly approaching - or perhaps passed - we need unequivocal concerted global action. For Copenhagen it may be too late, but let’s make sure that sentence doesn’t soon apply to the planet.

Coal’s Ash is On the Line

This post was co-written by Lyndsay Moseley, Washington Representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign.

For those who remember the tragic TVA coal ash spill of December 2008 and wonder if such a disaster could happen in your town, there have been lots of important recent developments. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has started inspecting hazardous coal ash impoundments around the U.S., rating them based on how likely are they to fail and cause massive disasters like the spill at TVA’s Kingston, TN, plant last December.

In keeping with President Obama’s goal of promoting transparency, EPA has also begun posting their findings online  – more than 43 inspections at 22 facilities have already been posted.  And how many of those 43 impoundments ranked “satisfactory”?  Just over half of them – the rest were rated “fair” or “poor”, which means they have some work to do. This is scary news, considering that these dams are holding back billions of gallons of toxic waste left over from burning coal to generate electricity.

As EPA continues to inspect more coal ash impoundments, we are anxiously awaiting EPA’s draft rules, which have been in the works for over a decade and – amazingly enough – would be the first federal regulations ever put in place to ensure utilities are disposing of this hazardous waste safely. We expect that EPA will not only address the safety of the dams, but also how to treat the highly toxic waste material that is held back behind the dams. Coal ash contains arsenic, selenium, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, boron, thallium, and aluminum – toxic heavy metals that have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and neurological disorders, and which clearly threaten nearby communities and ecosystems. 

Pittsburgh's Clean Energy Rally

We'd been telling you about the big clean energy rally last night in Pittsburgh, and some news stories are now in. The rally was a big success, with thousands gathering to hear some great speakers and bands - and all happening right before today's opening of the G-20 summit. This story includes a great slide show of photos from the rally.

Check out some excerpts from the speeches in this news release from Repower America, including a speech from our own Carl Pope.

As for more photos, there are some good photo sets on Flickr of the rally. Here's one, here are some more, and we'll add more as we get them. If you have any photos or notes to share on the rally, please do so in the comments! 

(All rally photos in this blog post are courtesy of jaojao1's Flickr photostream. The first photo is Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. Second photo is the Pittsburgh Gospel Choir. Third photo is Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO and member of the Blue-Green Allliance.)

Global Warming News of the Day

Today the Senate debates amendments that could strip Environmental Protection Agency authority to regulate global warming pollution from power plants and that could "defund" the White House Council on Environmental Quality head Carol Browner. Phew - it's an all out assault on protecting the environment, that's for sure.

And that's not the only global warming news hanging around. Did you see President Obama's remarks to the United Nations this morning? Here's an excerpt:

As we head towards Copenhagen, there should be no illusions that the hardest part of our journey is in front of us. We seek sweeping but necessary change in the midst of a global recession, where every nation's most immediate priority is reviving their economy and putting their people back to work. And so all of us will face doubts and difficulties in our own capitals as we try to reach a lasting solution to the climate challenge.

But difficulty is no excuse for complacency. Unease is no excuse for inaction. And we must not allow the perfect to become the enemy of progress. Each of us must do what we can when we can to grow our economies without endangering our planet - and we must all do it together. We must seize the opportunity to make Copenhagen a significant step forward in the global fight against climate change.

You can read the rest here.

And then the NY Times has two interesting articles. One is on the UN meeting about climate change, and another is on an experimental carbon capture and sequestration project at a coal-fired power plant in West Virginia. The WV article contains this doozy of a quote:

“I really believe, in my heart of hearts, that coal is going to be burned around the world for years to come,” said Michael Morris, chairman and president of American Electric Power, which owns the plant here.

It's sad when someone is so passionate about such a dirty and harmful source of energy.

Next up on the global warming story front, the EPA announced today that starting on January 1, 2010, it "will, for the first time, require large emitters of heat-trapping emissions to begin collecting greenhouse gas (GHG) data under a new reporting system." Read more in the EPA press release.

And finally, we've got a ton of clean energy activists out in Pittsburgh this week taking on the International Coal Conference and the G-20 (check out our rally!). Yesterday the Sierra Student Coalition and the PA Alliance for a Coal Free Generation took on the coal conference with a fun demonstration.

Clean Energy Activities in Pennsylvania

Next week the hub-bub begins with the big G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh. Many groups are planning rallies and/or protests, including our own huge clean energy rally and concert on Sept. 23rd (learn more here).

But I wanted to take a moment to highlight a new campaign launching next week, the Pennsylvania Alliance for a Coal-Free Generation. This campaign starts off aimed at those attending the International Pittsburgh Coal Conference from Sept. 20-23, and includes various events telling the truth about coal - including a screening of the new film "Coal Country" and a tour of a longwall mine.

Learn more: http://www.coalfreegeneration.com

Shining beacons of energy in New York and New Jersey

Advocates for economic growth through clean energy - including environmentalists, innovative small businesses and labor unions - were eager to greet a report released by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) last Wednesday. The report called for improvements to the legislation under consideration by the Senate and highlighted the promise of efficiency as an important energy - and job - source.

New Jersey plans to use federal stimulus dollars approved earlier this year to train and employ several hundred workers who can address energy leakage in low-income homes and keep energy bills under control this winter. That creates jobs and saves consumers money. Consumers and workers would be glad to see this work continue - ACEEE projects a potential 19,400 jobs in New Jersey over the next ten years if Congress passes a strong clean energy bill.

While the Laborers Local 55 and the New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club stood shoulder to shoulder to greet the news in New Jersey, a robust coalition of interests, including state and local representatives of these two groups, achieved a significant legislative victory in New York State.

According to ACEEE, New York stands to gain 48,100 jobs if federal legislation passes with strong energy efficiency incentives - and potential household savings are estimated at $244/year in 2020. But New York isn't waiting to capture these jobs and savings: Last week, the state Senate passed an ambitious plan to drive energy efficiency upgrades in one million of its homes and businesses. The Green Jobs/Green NY Act, sponsored by Senator Darrel J. Aubertine, passed with strong bipartisan support last week - 52-8 - after rancorous debate.

Like New Jersey's plan, there have been robust efforts to provide comprehensive job training and to define career pipelines for individuals from underserved communities and for the chronically unemployed.

The program created by the bill will use seed money collected from the auction of carbon emission credits through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to set up a loan fund for home retrofits. If the homeowner sells their house, the payment plan and the extra savings are passed on to the new owner.

Dan Cantor of the Working Families Party explains at Huffington Post:

"Here's how it would work: State certified contractors would perform free or low-cost energy audits for homeowners, looking for repairs and upgrades (like air sealing, insulation, new boilers) that can pay for themselves through the energy savings they create. The work would be paid for by the fund - homeowners pay it back out of a portion of their energy savings (they pocket the rest, in addition to getting their homes repaired)."

David Sasson gets into more detail on the national implications of state action on the Solve Climate blog. Billy Parish echoes his thoughts at It's Getting Hot in Here. And the New York Times offers its two cents: A Cheap Fix for Climate: Retrofitting.

The ACEEE report, and plans underway in New York and New Jersey, shine a bright light on our energy future.

Senate Global Warming Hearing Gets Tense

by Justin Guay Global Warming and Energy Apprentice

The opponents of climate change legislation in the Senate smell blood and are now circling their victim – clean energy legislation. The bait – Yesterday’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee hearing “to explore potential costs and price volatility in the energy sector as a result of a greenhouse gas trading program.”

The hearing began with each panelist weighing the pro’s and con’s of potential cost containment mechanisms including price floors, price collars and offsets. Before long the panelists were struggling to keep the hearing focused on cost containment as the sharks on the committee attacked “cap and trade” as a system, leaving the panelists with the unenviable task of defending the legislation with little help from any members on the committee except perhaps Senator Shaheen (D-NH).

First came Senator Murkowski (R-AK) who quickly turned from cost containment to the potential for market manipulation which she was confident was imminent. To which panelist Dr. Joseph Mason, a professor at Louisiana State University, provided ample ammunition by saying that a bailout for the carbon market similar to what recently occurred for Wall Street was indeed “imminent.”

Then came Senator Corker’s (R-TN) southern “charm” who called cap and trade a “Rube Goldberg” that could only work “in Wonderland”. This must be the same wonderland where Corker, a staunch Republican, would support a “simple” carbon tax. This was quickly followed by the gem from Senator Barrasso (R-WY), “Cap and trade is a recipe for green collar crime.” Senator Barrasso your profound understanding of international crime rings is astounding!

The dirty blows also came from Democrats like Senator Cantwell (D-WA) who claimed that the apprehension about cap and trade systems was “music to my ears”. And then there was Senator Stabenow D-MI) who seemed to not care about anything other than he r love of offsets and USDA authority.

Of course this committee’s three ring circus would be hysterical if it weren’t for the serious threat it poses to strong clean energy and climate legislation. While the clowns attempt to distract, the sharks continue to aim for our jugular. We are facing a climate crisis of epic proportions and our efforts to tackle it are under constant attack.

Cleaner Cars On the Way

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

Today at the White House, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson and Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood took the first step towards making President Obama’s vision for cleaner, more efficient cars a reality, releasing proposed regulations that fill in the details of how we will meet the President’s goal of a fleet that averages 35.5 mpg and  250 grams of global warming pollution per mile.

The rules proposed today are a historic first step on the path to highly efficient vehicles. They are the single biggest step we can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, preventing 950 million metric tons of CO2 from being pumped into the atmosphere. Not only will new standards reduce our oil consumption, they’ll save consumers an average of $3,000 at the pump over the life of the vehicle.

Secretary LaHood and Administrator Jackson laid out a National Program, combining existing DOT fuel economy standards with first time EPA greenhouse gas standards, all reaching the goals that California’s Pavley standards would have achieved. Although California has agreed not to implement its Pavley standards (bowing to the national standard), it retains the authority to set more stringent standards, driving emissions reductions and efficiency in the future. This National Program will not only significantly reduce emissions and oil consumption, it will give automakers the certainty and direction they need to invest in new technologies and create more efficient cars and trucks.

The new standards will help automakers put technologies already on the shelf onto new vehicles. Conventional technologies such as turbocharged engines, lightweight materials, continuously variable transmissions and reduced rolling resistance tires are available today to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase fuel economy. New standards will also help drive innovation and advanced technology vehicles, such as the soon to be released plug-in electric Nissan Leaf and the plug-in hybrid electric Chevrolet Volt.

The high-level announcement today is great, but the devil is always in the details. Over the next two months, we’ll be looking over the hundreds of pages of proposed rules to make sure that excessive credits and overly generous flexibility measures don’t undercut the program.

The Obama Administration should be applauded for creating a program that is a win for the environment, automakers, and consumer’s wallets. Find out more about the new standards and use our handy new online tool to send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper!