Climate change is a serious global threat. Ok, you already knew that. But a new report from the American Association for the Advancement of Science hopes to convey that not only does climate change pose a dire threat to life as we know it, it’s a threat we have to address right now. It contains language that is “sharper, clearer and more accessible than perhaps anything the scientific community has put out to date.” The report is only one component of a campaign to dispel climate myths and spread the truth far and wide. “The report warns that the effects of human emissions of heat-trapping gases are already being felt, that the ultimate consequences could be dire, and that the window to do something about it is closing.”
On the international stage, President Obama is joining EU leaders in Brussels in an effort to tackle climate change. The US and EU will pledge to cut emissions in the first quarter of 2015 in an effort to set an example ahead of the 2015 UN summit in Paris. That summit’s “aim must be to limit any global average temperature increase to less than 2 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels ‘and should therefore include ambitious mitigation contributions, notably from the world’s major economies and other significant emitters.” The EU has talked about increasing their emissions reductions targets to a 40% reduction from 1990 levels by 2030, up from a 20% reduction by 2020 which they have very nearly achieved. “The United States by contrast has said it will reduce carbon by 17 percent by 2020 compared with 2005, which equates to a fall of 3.5 percent below 1990 levels.”
This week, the White House launched its climate change data website, aimed at making climate data available to researchers, businesses, and governments working to adapt to climate change. You can check out the early phase of the website here. “The project includes the introduction of a climate-focused section of the federal government’s open data platform at climate.data.gov; an innovation challenge to solicit ideas from the private sector to demonstrate coastal flooding; and collaboration with companies like Google and Ersi to provide technological support.”
Speaking of the White House, 16 environmental groups wrote a letter to President Obama on Tuesday calling on the administration “to reverse course on this plan [to expand natural gas extraction] and commit instead to keeping most of our nation’s fossil fuel reserves in the ground, in line with the recommendations of most of the world’s leading climate scientists.” The letter called on the President to demand an Environmental Impact Statement for Cove Point as a good faith first step. You can read the full letter here. The letter was announced in a tele-press conference with CCAN director Mike Tidwell, 350.org director and world renowned climate activists Bill McKibben, and Sierra Club Director Michael Brune. It generated press coverage across the country. Read articles from the Wall Street Journal, Wisconsin Gazette, Chicago Tribune, and local Baynet. The arguments against exporting American natural gas aren’t just environmental; the costs to our wallets and ur daily lives of exporting our energy sources are often very high.
National Geographic has entered the gas exports conversation, pointing out that gax exports would mean that “Not only would Americans pay more for heating fuel, but manufacturers, who use natural gas not only for power but as a feedstock for a wide array of plastic products, would see higher costs as well.” The article also points out that there is strong opposition to natural gas exports from industry leaders, including Dow Chemical, who oppose the price increases that would accompany exporting American natural gas.
Cove Point isn’t the only big environmental issue in Maryland. As the General Assembly session is wrapping up, we bring you news from Annapolis. CCAN’s DC and Maryland Policy Director, Tommy Landers, is quoted in this piece about the House committee’s failure to pass a bill to exclude dirty “black liquor” from maryland’s clean energy standards. “As a result, Maryland ratepayers will again send over $20 million in 2014 to out-of-state paper mills that have been burning this carbon-intense industrial waste called black liquor for decades and, for the last seven years, selling the power back to us as ‘clean’ energy,” Landers said. Bill supporters will return to Annapolis next year to build on existing momentum and ensure that the black liquor bill passes in 2015.
Environmental groups are still fighting in Annapolis against a bill that would kill wind turbine projects in Maryland. The bill would put height restrictions on wind turbines and would “essentially kill a wind turbine project in Somerset County.” While supporters of the Cove Point project claim it would create jobs that negate the serious environmental risks involved, this anti-clean energy bill doesn’t toe that party line on job creation; Adam Cohen, vice president and founder of Pioneer Green Energy points out that this bill would “deprive the poorest county in Maryland of a $200 million investment doesn’t seem to be a solution.”
Now that Virginia’s legislative session is over, the Commonwealth’s primary energy and climate news relates to its biggest polluter, Dominion Virginia Power.
Every two years, Dominion is required to submit a 15-year plan called an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to the State Corporation Commission. This year’s IRP significantly increases Dominion’s fossil fuel dependence and carbon emissions, and it ignores our state’s potential for clean energy and energy efficiency. The State Corporation Commission is tasked with making sure our state’s energy plans are reasonable and within the public interest, so we’re telling them to demand clean energy from Dominion. Submit your public comment now, and tell the SCC that Dominion needs to develop a plan that serves the public interest and invests in clean energy.
For more information on how Dominion is standing in the way of energy progress in Virginia, listen to the first installment of Sandy Hausman’s Going Green series.
