Nearly 20 people arrested for protesting Virginia Congressman Boucher’s efforts to block strong climate legislation
WASHINGTON, May 21, 2009
Breaking News: 39 mpg standard by 2016!
Cross-posted from: here
The first blog post I made on here(minus the intro) was about how the Bush Administration was using the lowest standard possible under the 2007 bill called the Energy Independence and Security Act that raised CAFE standards to a minimum of 35 mpg by 2020. I testified before the National Highway Traffic and Safety Admin(NHTSA), about how they were making a big mistake. For a time it looked like this was what the government was going to pursue, but news recently just broke that the CAFE standard is going to be 39 mpg by 2016, which is a sizable shift. I’m very pleased with this. A few notable excerpts are below.
“The Obama administration will issue new national emissions and mileage requirements for cars and light trucks to resolve a long-running conflict among the states, the federal government and auto manufacturers, industry officials said Monday.”
“But Mr. Obama is planning to go further, putting in place new fuel economy rules that will combine the standards of California’s emissions law with the corporate average fuel economy program administered by the Department of Transportation. The effect will be a single national mileage rule that matches California’s strictest-in-the-nation standard. Under the new standard, the national fleet mileage rule for cars would be roughly 39 miles a gallon in 2016. Light trucks would have to meet a fleet average of slightly more than 26.2 miles a gallon by 2016.”
“This is a very big deal,” said Daniel Becker of the Safe Climate Campaign, a group that has pushed for tougher mileage and emissions standards with the goal of curbing the heat-trapping gases that have been linked to global warming. “This is the single biggest step the American government has ever taken to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.”
Our Chinese Envoy
Cross-posted from: here
Our relationship with China moving forward is going to be extremely crucial when it comes to forging a new global climate treaty. The Chinese and the US are by far the worlds two largest polluters, together responsible for somewheres around 50% of global warming emissions. Any global treaty that doesn’t involve both the US and China is an empty treaty. This stalemate has been the tale of global efforts to tackle climate change. The US won’t act unless China will act. China won’t act since the US won’t act, and it’s still a developing country using coal to industrialize. China says the US needs to act as well, and that there needs to be compensation for adaptation and technology transfer needed. It’s a situation where these two carbon behemoths need to sit down and hammer out an agreement between themselves. I’m aware there are a number of summits between the two countries going on this year, leading up to the final forging of a new treaty in Copenhagen in December.
The personnel that President Obama is appointing to negotiate with China on the climate issue are some of the most important appointments of his administration. We now are about to have our ambassador to China. It’s the Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who also happens to be a Republican. I’ve written before about how not all Republicans are bad on environmental and energy issues, just most of them. Jon Huntsman appears to be one of the Republicans who gets it. Huntsman added his state to an ambitious regional greenhouse gas initiative effort in the West to reduce emissions 15% below 2005 levels by 2020. If you want to get an even better idea of Huntsman’s entire body of work when it comes to energy, check out his priorities on energy security. The additional thing that impressively stands out to me is a renewable electricity standard that will get Utah 20% of it’s power from renewables by 2025.
I find it fittingly ironic that with all the partisanship in DC, all the bickering on tv with conservative talk show hosts, and a climate debate that has consistently seen Democrats on one side, and Republicans on the other….our best chance of achieving a global climate treaty this year may come down to a Republican Governor from Utah. I don’t know if that offends the environmentalists or the Republicans more, but I think it’s a good thing. This shouldn’t be a bipartisan issue, and Jon Huntsman’s record is testament to that.
Here’s the article: here
Don't Worry, "We've Got 41 Years"
“This is 2009. We’ve got 41 years in this deal, and we shouldn’t be so worried about the first 10 years.”
—Congressman Mike Doyle, Environment and Energy Daily, May 7, 2009
I had no plans yesterday morning as I woke up and turned on my computer to spend the afternoon in the D.C. office of Congressman Mike Doyle. But then I read this line in an article on the status of efforts to cobble together a piece of climate legislation in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
I remember my physical reaction as I read these words, my head shaking back and forth, some trembling and an upwelling of deep, livid anger. “This is the last straw,” I remember thinking.
And involuntarily in my head, I began singing the words to the Bob Dylan song, Masters of War.
I discovered Bob Dylan and Masters of War in the summer of 1968. I was 18 years old, home from college after my freshman year at Grinnell College. I was working on the Presidential campaign of Bobby Kennedy. I had begun doing so after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4th. Then on June 6th, Kennedy was assassinated. All summer, as I worked on the maintenance staff of a local college, the words to Masters of War kept going through my head over and over as I despaired over the state of the world, the state of my country.
“You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins.”
And that’s why I went to Mike Doyle’s office at 2 pm yesterday and told Pat Cavanaugh, his energy staff person, that I was a long-time climate activist on the 18th day of a hunger strike (www.fastingforourfuture.org) for strong climate legislation and that I wasn’t leaving until I met with Doyle.
I’ve done sit-ins before. I and two other people did one in 2002 in New Jersey when I was a Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate. We sat in the offices of one of my opponents, Frank Lautenberg, to protest his refusal to allow myself and other “third party” candidates to be part of any debates. After nine hours, we won, and about a week later a nationally-televised C-Span debate was held that included all six candidates who had qualified for this particular race.
And in December of 2007, at the tail end of the long climate emergency fast I did that fall, 20 of us occupied the Capitol Hill office of Senator Mitch McConnell after he led the Senate Republicans in their stripping out of anything and everything having to do with renewable energy from a House-passed energy bill. Two of us, my wife Jane Califf and I, were arrested after spending the day in McConnell’s office because we refused to willingly leave at 6 pm when the office was closed.
But as I sat in Doyle’s office, no one with me, none of the press people who I called showing up to find out what was happening, thinking about what was going to happen at 6 pm, wondering if I had been too impulsive, wondering what would happen if I was arrested–because I was very clear that it was either talk with Doyle or that–wondering, wondering. . . after two hours of sitting, into the office comes Mike Doyle.
I’d never met the guy, so at first I didn’t know it had happened when he arrived. But when he sat down across from me and said something like, “I’m Mike Doyle, what’s up,” I knew it was game time. And for the next half hour I had the most intense, in-your-face, no-holds-barred discussion with an elected official I have ever had.
Doyle’s no dummy, and I have to acknowledge that he’s a strong debater. I didn’t get him to change his mind about the efforts that he and Rick Boucher have been leading to weaken the “discussion draft” of climate legislation Henry Waxman introduced on March 31st. The way Doyle described it, he was doing the bidding of Waxman, carrying water for him by going to the blue dog Democrats to find out what was necessary in order to get a bill out of committee. He also said his main thing was the 15% free emissions permits for steel, cement, aluminum and other energy-intensive industries during a 10-15 year transition period. But when I asked him why he was then supporting the idea that 40% of the permits would be given free to coal companies/utilities (local distribution companies), the best answer he could give was something like this, a very revealing answer:
“If you return money directly to the American people for them to use to pay for higher energy costs in the transition period, they’ll spend it on things like flat screen TV’s. By giving free emissions permits to utilities they can then pass on the savings directly to consumers.”
I wasn’t and am not convinced. Giving money to profit-making coal companies like Duke Power and Peabody is going to end up helping consumers? Please. All it will do is delay the urgently-needed shift from fossil fuels to renewables and efficiency.
By the end of our half-hour discussion, the decibel level had been dialed down several notches, we were agreeing that we wished President Obama was giving much stronger leadership on this issue, and he was telling me that there was some interest among Energy and Commerce committee members in what was being discussed within Ways and Means (carbon tax and/or cap and dividend approaches). As we shook hands and parted company, I thanked him for being willing to talk and he commended me for being a gentleman.
Sometimes you just have to act upon what you feel is right. And it is right to feel outrage over the power that corporate polluters in both parties have over our political process. It’s time to blow the whistle and shine the spotlight on those liars and deceivers.
Column: Need for Climate Bill
Here is my column today on why now is the perfect time to pass a climate change bill to help the economy. Enjoy!
Cross-Posted from: here
Clean energy: Make the case before it’s too late
MATT DERNOGA
Issue date: 5/5/09 Section: Opinion
I’ve found over the years that timing is not the strong suit of environmentalists. There’s a joke that whenever there’s a global warming rally, it’s probably going to snow. Just a couple of weeks ago, Earth Day became rain day. The earth has been playing coy, saying, “If you want to save me, you’re going to have to work for it.”
When it comes to clean energy, the economy has been dragging its feet as well. Right when we get a Congress and president capable of passing a strong climate change bill, the economy is jumping off a cliff with a bungee cord made of defaulted bank notes. You can always depend on detractors of regulating carbon emissions, such as the oil, coal, gas and utility companies, to insist this just isn’t the right time. We can’t be burdened by job losses and higher energy prices during a severe recession. By sheer coincidence, I’m sure, opponents use the same argument when the economy is thriving.
This is interesting, considering our policy of not putting a price on pollution in the name of saving manufacturing. From 2000-2008, the U.S. workforce saw a loss of over 4 million manufacturing jobs. Auto companies kicked and screamed at fuel-economy standards for decades, only to witness Japanese carmakers with more fuel-efficient cars come in and take their jobs. Electricity prices rose sharply in many parts of the country without carbon regulation. Oil companies benefited from billions of dollars in tax breaks while claiming regulation would hurt American families at the pump – kind of like what happened last summer with obscene gas prices and no viable substitutes.
We would do well to observe these trends and recognize there needs to be a different way of producing energy in this country. Our economy needs to be transformed and retooled for the global markets of the 21st century. Energy needs to be affordable, abundant and clean. The green provisions of the stimulus bill were a nice spark. We need a lightning bolt. We need a strong climate bill to rescue the economy, and now is the perfect time.
Manufacturing has caught on to this opportunity. Turns out wind turbines are made of steel. Labor groups, such as the United Steelworkers and the Communications Workers of America have teamed up with environmental groups to form the Blue Green Alliance. By investing $100 billion generated from a climate bill into retrofitting buildings, mass transit, a smart eletric grid, wind and solar power and advanced biofuels, 2 million jobs can be created in the next two years.
The reality is the only burden special interest groups are concerned about is their own balance sheets. The question isn’t whether we can afford to pass a climate bill. It’s whether we can afford not to. The truth is, regulating carbon will put our fast-emerging industries at an advantage over foreign competitors.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is coming to the campus May 11 at 6:30 p.m. in the Baltimore Room in Stamp Student Union for a Clean Energy Town Hall Meeting. There’s a climate bill with a serious chance of passing, which will start getting marked up in the Energy and Commerce Committee the same day. How’s that for timing? This is your chance to weigh in. Don’t miss it for the world.
Matt Dernoga is a junior government and politics major and the political liason for UMD for Clean Energy, one of the groups hosting Rep. Hoyer. He can be reached at mdernoga@umd.edu.
Is a Coal Plant in Surry County a Bad Idea? CCAN Asks Terry McAuliffe
This morning the Chesapeake Climate Action Network successfully caught the attention of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe at a rally he hosted at the 17th Street Farmer’s Market in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond Town Councilman Marty Jewel kicked off the morning, and former President Bill Clinton introduced Mr. McAuliffe. The theme of the rally was “New Energy for New Jobs,” and the candidate’s speech centered repowering the commonwealth and creating new jobs for Virginians. CCAN wanted to ask Mr. McAuliffe about his position on a recently proposed coal fired power plant for Surry County, a Hampton Roads community. Well, we got his attention!
Obama Should Play Hardball
Cross-Posted from HERE
I’ve been blogging consistently about the climate bill written by Congressmen Markey and Waxman which is being considered by the Energy and Commerce Committee. Right now, the bill is in sub-committee and about to be marked up and negotiated on. Although the short term target of 20% by 2025 is not strong enough, moderate and conservative Democrats on the committee are looking to weaken the bill. Right now the main compromise looks as though it’s going to be on emissions targets and permit allocations. Excerpt below..
“The talks suggest that utilities that distribute electricity from coal-fired plants are making progress in their efforts to get free access to 40 percent of the emissions permits, underscoring the challenge lawmakers face in seeking strict limits on carbon dioxide and other contributors to warming.”
Of course, allocating permits to polluters for free really defeats the purpose, which is to make the polluters pay for polluting. The risk of selling permits for free is that utilities raise prices anyways on consumers, but the government has not sold enough permits to offset this increased cost by spending the revenue on energy relief. In otherwards, people are not going to fare any better under 40% permits sold for free than 100% sold for a price. In fact, they may fare worse. It also means it will be harder to hit reductions targets.
However, Congressman John Dingel has predicted a bill will pass in some form because of the fact that the EPA has deemed greenhouse emissions a health hazard, and can exercise the authority to regulate them if Congress does not. In otherwards, if the EPA wanted to right now, they could set their own rules for polluters with their own targets without needing the Congress. Here is what was said regarding this in the article I posted last week…
“EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson cautioned that regulations are not imminent and made clear that the Obama administration would prefer that Congress address the climate issue through a broader “cap-and-trade” program that would limit heat-trapping pollution. But she said it was clear from the EPA analysis “that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations” and steps are needed to curtail the impact. Even if actual regulations are not imminent, the EPA action was seen as likely to encourage action on Capitol Hill. It’s “a wake-up call for Congress”
Catholics and Climate
Cross-Posted from: here
Ordinarily, we don’t think of religion and global warming solutions mixing all that well. However, I’ve noticed in recent years more and more of a voice from the religious community regarding the moral imperative to stopping catastrophic warming. I personally just had a meeting with some members of the Saint Andrews Episcopalian Church in College Park last Monday, where we discussed the issue, and them attending the town hall meeting with Congressman and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer which I’m helping to organize. I’ve also seen in the news recently about how evangelicals, especially younger ones, consider climate change to be an important issue.
Today, I’m focusing on Catholics. There is a website called the Catholic Climate Covenant, which is run by the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change. The CCCC “was launched with the support of both the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change supports and complements USCCB’s Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development (formerly, the Department of Social Development and World Peace) and the bishops’ Environmental Justice Program. The Coalition is a membership organization consisting of twelve national Catholic organizations that offers advice and assistance in implementing its programs.”
The Coalition sends regular updates to its growing database of interested Catholics and others of goodwill to keep them informed of its activities and current events. Find the recent and previous updates from CCCC atwww.catholicsandclimatechange.org.
They had an Ad in the New York Times a couple days ago about the need for climage change solutions. On top of this, the pope mentioned in his Easter message the danger of runaway cliamte change. On top of all this, they made the video below on their website about the need for adaptation and mitigation funding for the poor who will be disproportionately affected. This is the explanation on the youtube video’s page…
“After decades of steady progress in reclaiming and advancing the Catholic Churchs efforts to embrace an ethic of environmental stewardship, the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change is ready to launch an unprecedented and historical campaign to take responsibility for our contribution to climate change and do what we do best: be advocates for those who will be left out of the public policy debate on climate change.”
Amen
Action Alert: Over 2,000 in DC tmo and Friday
Cross-Posted from: here
Lobbyists trying to stop the climate bill that is.
$450 million: Amount spent on lobbying and political contributions by
opponents of global warming action in 2008.
52: public spokespersons engaged by polluters and the ideological
right to spread disinformation about global warming online and in the
media.
2,340: Number of paid lobbyists working in Washington on climate
change in 2008.
7 in 8: Proportion of climate lobbyists advocating against climate
action.
$45 million: Amount spent on global warming denial advertising by the
coal industry in 2008.
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As I’ve said before, there is a climate bill being considered in Congress right now, which you can read more about here. I think the people should have a say too. Google your Congressman’s name, and give their office a call saying you want them to support the Waxman-Markey climate bill. Write a letter to the editor supporting Congress to cap carbon and help spark the shift to a clean energy economy. The best thing though, is to just show up. Below is an opportunity for people to have their voice heard inside the halls of Congress. These kinds of activities are also going on Friday in the same place, although the big push is Thursday. If the above numbers indicate anything, it’s that we all need to find a way to have our voice heard on this one. 2 million votes beats 2,000 lobbyists.
RSVP to theteam@energyaction.net or the Facebook event
What: This Thursday’s Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill
Who: The representatives debating the specifics to include in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, Lobbyists for the utility companies and some of the biggest polluters, testifying before the committee and asking that the permits to pollute be given away to them for free, and hundreds of young people like us reminding the representatives that this is not an option and it is not what we voted them into office to do.
When: Thursday, April 23rd @ 8AM – The hearings are happening all week, but we want to focus our energy when the oil/coal lobbies are presenting. I know 8am is early but if we want to get into the actual hearing room we need to arrive early because the corporate lobbyists paid “supporters” will be sure to get there early to receive the cash.
Where: Rayburn House Office building, Room 2123 (Click here for a map)
Why: At Power Shift, we flooded the halls of congress for the biggest clean energy lobby day in history to demand bold climate legislation for a more sustainable future. We told our representatives what we wanted and they heard us, but will they follow through? This is a chance to show congress that we mean business – our mere presence on the Hill will speak volumes. Come get in the hearing, call constituents in the home districts of those members on committee, pay a visit to their offices, and be outside the office building to rally.
RSVP to theteam@energyaction.net or the Facebook event
Questions? Contact Ethan: Ethan@chesapeakeclimate.org, 202-631-1992
Green Stimulus for your Local Govt
cross posted from HERE
A couple weeks ago, I had an idea for how to alleviate poverty, crime, and bring green jobs to College Park/Prince Georges County. A figured it would be good to highlight an opportunity in this column to actually acquire the funding for some of my suggestions. Additionally, I actually had to do some investigating to figure out who was doing what. My sources are posted below my article.
Green jobs and government grants: Get what’s yours
Matt Dernoga
Issue date: 4/21/09
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a column suggesting a few measures by which Prince George’s County and local cities could invest in job-creating green initiatives. This would help alleviate poverty and reduce crime. Local governments everywhere have faced gigantic budget deficits and big spending cuts. Good ideas are nothing without a bag of cash, and I’ve got the treasure map for you.
The economic stimulus package appropriated $3.2 billion for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. This money is being allocated to states, counties, cities, Native American tribes and U.S. territories based on population size and energy usage for state and local governments. The rule for the money is it must assist in the implementation of strategies to reduce fossil fuel emissions and total energy use and improve energy efficiency. Prince George’s County is eligible for $6.6 million. College Park can grab $133,700.
The catch is the money isn’t just handed out to local governments. They have a certain amount earmarked and available to them, but they need to apply for grants detailing how they’ll use the money. Only then are they awarded the funds. In other words, someone in the government needs to know the money is there and go after it. If they don’t submit a formula grant proposal by June 25, good-bye free cash.
Fortunately, both Prince George’s County and College Park are aware of the opportunities the EECBG Program provides. The county has applied for seven grants and is considering three more. The assistant city manager is going to present a recommendation for a grant to the College Park City Council on May 5. I encourage students and residents to submit their ideas to their county and city representatives. It would be more productive than throwing a Tax Day tea party.
There’s going to be even more money available than the figures I listed above. The state has received $9.6 million from the EECBG Program. Up to 40 percent of that money could soon be made available to all counties and cities in the state to apply for with competitive grants. The other 60 percent is available to small towns with low populations, like Edmonston and Hyattsville, which didn’t get any money earmarked specifically for them. County and city governments should coordinate to get as much money as possible.
The county is working on a plan to build a solar farm at the county landfill with Pepco. This would create jobs and make the county a leader in renewable energy, but it needs money. Or consider energy-efficient overhauls of buildings, free residential and commercial energy audits, energy efficient traffic signals and street lighting and low-interest revolving door loan funds to low-income energy users for efficiency improvements.
The wish list goes on, and the money is sitting there alongside a more prosperous and sustainable future. Regardless of how you feel about the federal government’s spending, here is a case where money is available to benefit ordinary people on Main Street, not Wall Street. Go after it! X marks the spot.
Matt Dernoga is a junior government and politics major whose father serves on the Prince George’s County Council. He can be reached at mdernoga@umd.edu
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http://www.eecbg.energy.gov/
http://www.eecbg.energy.gov/grantalloc.html