EPA took a giant leap in the direction of greenhouse gas regulation yesterday. The agency issued a
Misleading "Energy Sprawl" Study Pollutes Climate Debate
Misleading “Energy Sprawl” Study Pollutes Climate Debate
This is cross posted from The Huffington Post and iLoveMountains.org
As Congress was returning from the August recess, there wasn’t much news about the climate bill. The only energy-related news breaking through the coverage of the rancorous health care debates and town-hall tea parties was a study on “energy sprawl” published by five staff members of the Nature Conservancy.
“Renewable Energy Needs Land, Lots Of Land” was the headline of an August 28th story on NPR about the study.
“Renewable technologies increase energy sprawl,” was the headline summary on the journal Nature’s website.
Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, in an Op/Ed published in the Wall Street Journal, summed up the message that was heard by legislators and the public from the news coverage of the study:
“we’re about to destroy the environment in the name of saving it.”
The interesting thing about the news coverage is that none of it addressed the actual analysis. The study didn’t actually measure the impacts of different energy technologies, but rather compiled estimates from a smattering of reports, fact sheets and brochures from government and industry sources in order to arrive at an acre-per-unit of energy figure for each energy technology. Those figures were then applied to the Energy Information Administration’s modeling of four climate policy scenarios under consideration by Congress.
So the coverage was generated not by the study’s results, but entirely by the assumptions that went into it about the relative impacts of renewable versus conventional energy technologies. Looking at the counter-intuitive findings (wind is 8 times as destructive as coal), it’s no wonder that the media took such an interest.
To put those assumptions in perspective, the habitat impact of the Mount Storm Wind Farm in the first image is assumed to be 25% greater than the impact of the 12,000 acre Hobet mountaintop removal mine in the second image (images are taken from the same altitude and perspective; the bright connect-the-dots feature in the windfarm image is the actual area disturbed):
Virginia Coal Industry Moving to Get Vanity Plates
This is cross posted from the Wise Energy for Virginia Blog
This is the vanity plate that the Va Mining Association is pushing for. Virginia law requires the sponsoring organization (in this case the Virginia Mining Association) to collect a minimum of 350 prepaid licenses plate applications. Here is more on this from them.
I’m not even sure what to say about this, its just gross. Maybe we could get “Friends of Sanity” plates? More likely we could get “Friends of the Mountains” or “Stop Mountaintop Removal” plates.
If your interested, email me, seriously: mike@appvoices.org
Want a stronger climate bill? Then pay up!
This past week, on the heels of “Climate Week” and attendant Copenhagen preliminaries in New York, Elizabeth Kolbert wrote a nice article in the New Yorker in which she mused over what it would actually take for the US to show real leadership on climate change.
None of the suggestions Kolbert offered at all resembled the Senate climate bill Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry unveiled Wednesday. While an improvement over the Waxman Markey bill, overall the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act falls far short of the high bar of climate leadership the US needs to clear and reminds us that the question we should be asking right now is not what US leadership should really look like. I think we already know the answer to that. No, the question we really have to address is, what is holding US leadership back, and how do we overcome it.
In a word, I think the answer is capital. Oil and coal have deep pockets and they use them well to finance the crippling of federal climate efforts. They’ve been outspending us in the climate fight. And the truth is the only way we’re going to win is by beating them at their own game. Simply put, if we want a stronger climate bill, we’ve got to “buy” it. Continue reading
Virginia coal plant prompts front porch protests
Helen and Mike Eggleston, who have lived in Dendron nearly all their lives, were featured in this MSNBC Nightly News piece on the proposed coal-burning monstrosity in Hampton Roads. The proposed plant would be in their backyard. Watch and spread the word!
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Nike Leaves Chamber of Commerce Board!
Cross-posted from: here
The Chamber of Commerce has been fighting the regulation of carbon dioxide for a long time, and has been very intense in its opposition this year because of pending Federal legislation. Wonkroom has a great history lesson of all the shenanigans of the Chamber, most recent of which was calling for a “Scopes Monkey Trial” on global warming.
Climate Ride: CCAN director bikes from Baltimore to DC
One hundred and forty brave climate activists left New York City’s Central Park on Saturday September 26th with the idea of wheeling down to Congress with a message: Fix the climate now! By the time I caught up with the group on Tuesday night just north of Baltimore, the cyclists had already ridden through rain, hail, headwinds and punishing crosswinds. “I was literally riding at a severe angle, my bike tilted toward the ground,” said one participant from Northern Virginia, describing his trek across Pennsylvania.
Welcome to the 2nd annual Brita Climate Ride, 300 miles of leg-testing, spirit-challenging work (and fun) to beat global warming. Hearing the stories of bad weather, I realized this was the perfect metaphor for the climate movement as a whole. It has NOT been a smooth and sunny ride trying to get strong climate legislation passed by the U.S. Congress this year. We have experienced lots of rain and hail and crosswinds in the House of Representatives. And now more storms are likely in the Senate as we push toward the international Copenhagen conference in December.
But we have to keep on riding until we reach our destination: Clean energy now. No new coal plants. Green jobs for a green economy! Continue reading
Big day for our side; big blow to King Coal!
Not only was the Senate climate bill announced today, but Secretary Chu issued a dire warning to proponents of new coal-fired power plants and the EPA made two exciting announcements, further protecting our precious mountains and our planet from devastating practices.
Today, Senators Boxer and Kerry announced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. The President weighed in for the first time on the climate debate stating that his administration is “deeply committed” to passing a climate bill. We are excited to hear him make this long awaited statement. While this bill is an improvement over the house-passed American Clean Energy and Security Act, by strengthening the 2020 emissions by 3%, it still doesn’t go far enough to stop climate change. We look forward to working towards a strengthened bill that will provide for real change to the climate crisis.
It seems that addressing climate change is truly a top priority for the Obama Administration. Just yesterday, while touring the Jefferson Laboratory in Newport News, VA, Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu was specifically asked by reporters about the same proposed coal-fired power plant in the Hampton Roads region that CCAN is currently fighting. Secretary Chu commented that he favors delaying new coal plants until existing power plants have the capabilities of reducing harmful emissions.
Continuing the momentum, the EPA announced this morning that all 79 mountaintop removal permits currently being reviewed by the Army Corps of Engineers must undergo additional scrutiny. These permits were halted earlier this month until further investigation by the EPA which has determined that each and every permit would likely result in significant harm to water quality and the environment and are therefore not consistent with the requirements of the Clean Water Act. The next step is for the Corps and the EPA to work in “enhanced coordination” within a 60-day period. While the Corps can issue a permit without the EPA’s approval, the EPA can take action under section 404c of the CWA, allowing the agency to block Corps permits.
Later in the day, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, announced steps the agency will take in regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The proposal will require large industrial facilities- including power plants- that emit at least 25,000 tons of GHGs annually, to obtain construction and operating permits to cover these emissions. The EPA estimates 14,000 facilities will be effected by the proposed emissions threshold.
So what does this all mean for Virginia? Well first, passing a climate bill has the potential for creating 46,000 clean energy jobs. These jobs can boost the clean energy economy of our Commonwealth while making us a leader in this sector. Regulating greenhouse gas emissions of power plants will make the already $6 billion coal-fired power plant proposed for Surry County even more costly for consumers. There are better solutions for our energy needs through energy efficiency programs and renewable energy projects. The EPA scrutiny over the 79 mountaintop removal permits shows that King Coal can no longer get its way by destroying communities and impacting our climate. This is a great day for the environmental movement- especially for those of us working in Virginia. We haven’t won the war but the battle victory is ours.
Continue reading
Obama to Denmark for Olympics Pitch
Cross-posted from: here
I came across an article that President Obama is going to Denmark. For crucial international negotiations in Copenhagen this December about the next global climate treaty? Not quite.
“President Barack Obama will travel to Denmark this week to support Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.”
“Obama would be the first U.S. president to take on such a direct role in lobbying for an Olympics event.”
Well, lets hope he returns this December as the first U.S. president to take on a direct role in lobbying for the most important global treaty in the history of mankind. If he doesn’t, I sense the activists will really have a field day with this one.
The Chamber of Commerce has no friends
This has been one exciting week for the climate.
Leaders came together in New York for a United Nations Climate Change Summit, climate activists geared up for the G-20 talks in Pittsburgh, and the whole world geared up for the big talks in Copenhagen.
CCAN’s Ted Glick, Andy Revkin at the New York Times and Anna Pinto, an indigenous rights activist from India, all appeared on Democracy Now! yesterday to talk about the all-important talks in Copenhagen.
“We’ve had a fossil fuel party for a century,” said Revkin during the interview. Watch it here>>
Earlier this week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown committed to going to Copenhagen himself if it means securing a successful outcome. That phone call was part of thousands being placed across the globe as part of Avaaz.org’s “Global Wake-Up Call.” If their inspiring video is any indication (and I think it is), the coordinated “flash mob” actions went really well.
President Obama gave a heartening, although too tame, speech to the United Nations.
Our generation’s response to this challenge will be judged by history, for if we fail to meet it — boldly, swiftly, and together — we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe.
At the same meeting, the President of Malidives gave an incredibly powerful, moving speech.
If things go business-as-usual, we will not live, we will die. Our country will not exist. We cannot come out from Copenhagen as failures. We cannot make Copenhagen a pact for suicide. We have to succeed and we have to make a deal in Copenhagen.
And to top it off, PNM Resources just abandoned its seat on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, citing a fundamental disagreement over its approach to global warming.
According to NRDC’s Pete Altman:
The statement comes within hours of news of electric utility PG&E’s complete withdrawal from the US Chamber and a public statement from Nike expressing its disgust over the Chamber’s views on climate.
PG&E, Nike and PNM cited frustration with the Chamber’s call to put climate science on trial, which Chamber vice-President Bill Kovacs compared to the Scopes Monkey Trial. Kovacs later apologized for the remark. Earlier this spring, Johnson and Johnson made public its frustration with the Chamber’s position on climate.
Outlook for the Chamber of Commerce: not so good.
Outlook for the climate: Long way to go, but progress is being made.
Speaking of progress, don’t miss Lester Brown’s encouraging Op-Ed in the Washington Post’s Outlook section over the weekend.
