ACES Update – Polluters want a free pass

I’m sure this doesn’t come as a shock, but the biggest climate bill out there, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, is under attack in a major way. Surprise! Polluters – utilities, coal companies, heavy industry, oil companies… – all want to get permits to continue to spew global warming pollution into the air for FREE! This is all in the name of “cost containment,” which is not at all the same thing as pocketbook protection.

Now, I know that this is a bad idea. If you read the CCAN blog, you probably know that this is a bad idea.

The Cap Challenge

Who knew that running a photo petition could be so much fun? Over the past few weeks, CCAN staff and volunteers (and organizational allies, like GWIPL! You rock, GWIPL!) have been hitting the streets and the Earth Day festivals to spread the love for a science-based cap on carbon.

The results have been amazing. I’ve done my share of street canvassing, and the response to this action has blown me away. Perhaps because the mood is ready to do something real about global warming. Perhaps because wearing caps to cap carbon is just fun. Several hundred photos have already been taken – but in order to ensure that Congress hears our message loud and clear, we need to get thousands of pictures taken, as well as thousands of comments in to Congress to keep climate legislation strong!

So here’s your Cap Challenge:

First of all, if you haven’t submitted a picture yet, take a picture of you wearing a hat RIGHT NOW, and email it to capcarbon2009@gmail.com.

Step 2: Tell your friends to do the same.

The real cap challenge, though, is to hit the street and take some pictures. Set yourself a goal, like to take 30 pictures of people with hats. Or, try for the big fish, and get a picture of your Member of Congress, like Allison of GWIPL got of Congressman John Sarbanes, of MD’s 3rd. Can you top that?

Start taking pictures and see what you get! Here’s a handy dandy how-to guide to download to get you started.

Live Updates – Climate Hearings on Capitol Hill

This week, the Energy and Commerce Committee are holding hearings about the American Clean Energy and Security Act (aka ACES, aka Waxman’s Bill). Of course, us climateers will have a presence there as well – stay in the loop this week (and contribute your two cents!) on Twitter


Follow CCAN on Twitter!

Watch Energy Committee Hearing Live!

Want to see what Congress is saying about global warming pollution?

Watch it live here. Cheer for the champs, and boo the obstructionists, all from the comfort of your own home.

Then join us Thursday morning to pack the hearing room as utilities testify about the bill! RSVP today!

Earth Poem

In honor of Earth Day, coming up this Wednesday, I want to share with you all a poem sent to me by amazing CCAN activist from Baltimore, Frances Aubrey.

My Earth

This is my Earth

Spam's contribution to global warming

No, not the “meat” in a can. Those emails telling you about viagra and people in Nigeria with millions of dollars that they’d love to send to you. McAfee, which (coincidentally?) sells anti-spam protection software, recently commissioned a study on the envirnmental impacts of spam.

The conclusion? After taking into account all the energy that goes into creating, storing, deleting and filtering spam, it was found that the average spam message creates about .3 grams of CO2 emissions. Because 62 trillion junk email messages were sent in 2008, that equals the amount of CO2 that would be produced by driving around the world 1.6 million times.

Richi Jennings, spam expert, breaks it down this way: “Globally, the annual spam energy use is 33 billion kilowatt-hours, or 33 TWh – that’s as much electricity as 2.4 million U.S. homes use, with the same greenhouse gas emissions as 3.1 million passenger cars using 2 billion U.S. gallons of gasoline.”

Now here’s the BIG grain of salt. The solution to the problem of spam and global warming? Invest in a state of the art spam filter – like one created by McAfee! Because really, the most energy used on spam is people manually sorting through their email, trying to find real messages from real people. I personally would prefer a more proactive route, though I may start missing the emails telling me how to make my breasts grow bigger, faster.

Miles to Go Before We Sleep….

va state house

First I want to offer my sincere CONGRATULATIONS to my colleagues and neighbors working in Maryland. Maryland is clearly leading the way and setting the example for what other states can be doing in the absence of federal climate legislation.

I’d like however to focus on Virginia, which by stark contrast is anything but a leader on this issue. As many may be aware, the Virginia General Assembly reconvened for it’s one day veto session last week. The only real way to sum up the results of that one day session is with one word… disappointing.

We had a real opportunity to move Virginia towards the a clean energy future that is already available and affordable, it just needed a little legislative help. Some of you may have followed me on twitter last week giving the play by play of what went down and I decided to sit and think on it over the weekend before voicing my complete disappointment in our elected officials.

There are some champions to be highlighted and thanked before I go on:

Senator Donald McEachin- introduced a comprehensive piece of legislation on energy efficiency that would have saved consumers money on the electricity bills in the long run and created 10,000 plus jobs for the commonwealth and contained a strong mandatory target. (SB 1447)

Senator Mark Herring- introduced key components of the above bill (a mandatory 19% Efficiency goal for utilities) (SB 1440)

Delegate Albert Pollard- introduced a bill that would give utilities the same rate of return for investments in efficiency that they currently see for investments in coal. This bill passed and is an important step towards a clean energy economy but it is just the first step.

Senator Chap Petersen- introduced bills with strong targets on efficiency. Senator Petersen was also a vocal champion for moving Virginia forward and embracing a clean energy future.

Governor Tim Kaine- yeah that’s right, Governor Kaine endorsed legislation that contained mandatory efficiency targets at the beginning of the session and amended the weakened bills that came out of the session to include a 19% efficiency target.

These are the five BIG thank yous I feel I have to give before moving on to lastweek’s veto session.

Unfortunately, none of the legislation was able to make it out of the General Assembly with a mandatory efficiency standard. Utilities, like Dominion were able to make that a scary idea, because according to them it’s impossible to control the behavior of rate payers, despite the fact that mandatory efficiency measures have been successful in other states like California and Vermont (note that Vermont is a mostly rural state with mountains). But Governor Kaine stepped in and amended the legislation that passed to include a 19% target. This is far from where we started at the beginning of the session but still would have been a step forward, and would have put us a better place to start next legislative session. In my eyes this was the least we could do this session and claim victory.

Well, we couldn’t do that.

We were unable to pass a voluntary efficiency standard! It passed in the Senate with a close vote but I will briefly thank the senators that voted for the amendment. Barker, Colgan, Deeds, Edwards, Herring, Houck, Howell, Locke, Lucas, Marsh, McEachin, Miller, J.C., Miller, Y.B., Northam, Petersen, Puckett, Puller, Reynolds, Saslaw, Ticer, Vogel, and Whipple all voted in support of the goal so thank you!

Then we went to the House. Delegate Pollard stood up and endorsed the Governor’s amendments to SB 1248 and was immediately countered by Delegate Hogan. Delegate Hogan that made false accusations in regards to the target, the most egregious being that Virginia already has a voluntary efficiency standard of 12% that we are not meeting so why set the bar higher. This is utterly absurd but stood uncontested. Virginia does not have a voluntary energy efficiency standard of any kind! We do however have a voluntary Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) of 12% but this is COMPLETELY different! I was shocked that no one contested this. He also threatened that efficiency is going to raise rates for consumers period. No mention of the fact that our current course will also raise rates and in fact will raise rates far more than efficiency. Delegate Pollard brought that issue up, but Hogan’s damage was done. The votes fluctuated a bit but ultimately the Gov’s amendments were defeated by 3 votes. 47-50 with 3 people abstaining. I’ve heard a lot of discussion that the ultimate demise was the result of a partisan battle in the House that was beyond our control. I find that hard to accept when I examined the vote count. There were Republicans voting for the amendments as well as Democrats voting against. Maybe it was a case of partisan politics I’ll list the vote count below and you can decide. The one thing I ask is if your Delegate voted against this simple amendment please give them a call and voice your disappointment that we were enable to push our cheapest fuel source here in Virignia…. Energy Efficiency.

It’s great that we got close, but we’ve certainly got our work cut out for us in Virginia next session.

The House Vote Count:

YEAS–Alexander, Amundson, Armstrong, Athey, BaCote, Barlow, Bouchard, Brink, Bulova, Caputo, Dance, Ebbin, Eisenberg, Englin, Frederick, Hall, Herring, Howell, A.T., Hull, Lewis, Lingamfelter, Marsden, Marshall, R.G., Mathieson, McClellan, McQuinn, Melvin, Miller, P.J., Morrissey, Nichols, Plum, Poisson, Pollard, Rust, Scott, E.T., Scott, J.M., Shannon, Shuler, Sickles, Spruill, Toscano, Tyler, Valentine, Vanderhye, Ward, Ware, O., Watts–47.

NAYS–Abbitt, Albo, Bell, Bowling, Byron, Carrico, Cline, Cole, Cosgrove, Cox, Crockett-Stark, Fralin, Gilbert, Griffith, Hamilton, Hargrove, Hogan, Hugo, Iaquinto, Ingram, Janis, Joannou, Johnson, Jones, Kilgore, Knight, Landes, Lohr, Loupassi, Massie, May, Merricks, Miller, J.H., Morgan, Nixon, Nutter, O’Bannon, Oder, Orrock, Peace, Phillips, Pogge, Poindexter, Purkey, Putney, Saxman, Sherwood, Ware, R.L., Wright, Mr. Speaker–50.

ABSTENTIONS–0.

NOT VOTING–Gear, Marshall, D.W., Tata–3.

Md. Passes Strongest Carbon Cap in Country

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network today praised the Maryland General Assembly for approving strong legislation to address global warming in Maryland. The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act, SB 278 and HB 315, will protect Maryland’s environment and economy while also spurring strong action at the federal level to address global warming nationwide. Continue reading