EPA took a giant leap in the direction of greenhouse gas regulation yesterday. The agency issued a
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
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.
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.
Video:"We simply ask that you let us live"
On Monday I had the privilege of meeting one of the global climate movement’s greatest new leaders, President Nasheed of the Maldives. The Maldives is a nation of tiny tropical islands located in the Indian Ocean off the tip of the Indian Sub-continent. (Don’t worry I had to look it up too. Map here). This archipelago is the home to 350,000 people who will have their lives destroyed by the climate threat if we fail to act.
I met President Nasheed on Monday night in New York City at a Climate Justice event in which we both spoke at as part of Climate Week NYC. A man of short physical stature President Nasheed has a commanding presence with his illuminating humor and tremendous bravery.
When Mary Robinson, the event moderator and former UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, questioned him about what policy platform he was proposing to the UN he paused and said with a beaming smile: “We simply ask that you let us live.” The audience, myself included, joined him in laughing at his whimsical tone. However, mid-chortle I was suddenly overcome by a deep sadness. I will not soon forget the gravity of his simple plea for human decency and survival. For the 350,000 people of his nation clean energy is not about a lifestyle choice. It is the choice between life and death.
In President Nasheed own words: “Sea level rise of even half a meter would make much of it [the Maldives] uninhabitable; meanwhile, ocean temperature spikes could destroy the coral reefs that protect these islands from the waves.” In his passionate speech to the UN General Assembly (video here) he said that failure to reach a deal in Copenhagen will mean that “our country will not exist.” Wow. Almost unimaginable.
"What do we want? Clean Energy! When do we want it? Now!"
This is a guest post from University of Mary Washington student and UMW Ecology Club activist, Tori Wong.
Green hardhats, American flags, congressional petitions and an endless supply of energetic optimism filled the lawn of Hurkamp park in downtown Fredericksburg Thursday night as University of Mary Washington students and community organizers joined together to show support for clean energy and to take action to make it happen.
The event, which featured speakers from the Spotsylvania County government, local clean energy businesses, the Rapahanock branch of the Sierra Club, and the UMW Ecology Club, was one of six “Clean Energy, Bright Future” rallies planned in Virginia for the evening of September 17th. The goal of the rallies was to create public support and demand for a national climate policy as Congress considers legislation to cap global warming pollution and invest in education for a clean-energy economy. The Fredericksburg rally was coordinated in part by the Sierra Club and the University of Mary Washington’s student-run environmental group, the Ecology Club.
At the rally, UMW students set up “action tables” where they encouraged all attendees to fill out postcards to Virginia Senators Warner and Webb. These postcards will be sent by the thousands to the senators’ offices to show Virginia’s, and especially Virginia college student’s support for strong clean-energy legislation. They were also writing letters to the editors of all local newspapers, showing their enthusiasm for taking action towards clean energy.
University of Mary Washington senior, Nate Delano opened the rally with the well-known Mark Twain quote, “There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist,” and was followed by Doris Whitfield, Chair of the Rappahannock Group of the Sierra Club, Bob Bennett, Founder of Energy and Environment, Inc. an international renewable energy company based in Spotsylvania County and Henry “Hap” Connors, Chancellor Supervisor for the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors. All speakers emphasized the importance of action and optimism, and applauded the wonderful turnout especially of young people and college students.
Drink up! It could be your last!
I personally prefer my brew with fewer hops, but apparently I may not have a choice! Clearly polar bears drowning and glaciers melting have not been enough to motivate the world into unified action to stop climate change But apparently our precious brew is being threatened. Can we get behind saving our precious hops. This article below comes from New Scientist.
In all seriousness climate change legislation is drifting away. That’s why this week we are generating hundreds of phone calls to our Senators so they realize that life as we know it could change forever if they don’t take action now. We are asking folks to call on Wed. Click here for details>>>
Read on for me details on the newest victim of Climate change:: Precious HOPS!
IF THE sinking Maldives aren’t enough to galvanise action on climate change, could losing a classic beer do it? Climatologist Martin Mozny of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute and colleagues say that the quality of Saaz hops – the delicate variety used to make pilsner lager – has been decreasing in recent years. They say the culprit is climate change in the form of increased air temperature.
Mozny’s team used a high-resolution dataset of weather patterns, crop yield and hop quality to estimate the impact of climate change on Saaz hops in the Czech Republic between 1954 and 2006. Best-quality Saaz hops contain about 5 per cent alpha acid, the compound that produces the delicate, bitter taste of pilsners.
The study found that the concentration of alpha acids in Saaz hops has fallen by 0.06 per cent a year since 1954, and models of hop yields and quality under future global warming scenarios predict bigger decreases (Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2009.02.006).
It’s not just Czech hops that are at stake here, says Francesco Tubiello, a crop specialist at the European Commission and a lead author of the agriculture chapter of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. “The famous hop-growing regions of eastern Germany and central Slovakia are facing the same situation,” he says.
Is beer the final straw?? Are you ready to tell our Senators to support STRONG CLIMATE legislation? It’s more than just our frosty beverages at stake. Across the country this week we are generating thousands of phone calls to our Senators so they don’t forget to make climate a top priority.
We’ve made it easy… Click here to give a call.
