March 11, 2010 This week, China and India alerted the United Nations that they would associate with the Copenhagen Accord, joining 108 other nations that already have done so and making up over 80% of global emissions. There are now 79 countries that have yet to comment on the accord. President Obama this week pressed senators of both parties to enact comprehensive climate and energy legislation that puts a price on carbon emissions. On Tuesday the president, joined by three cabinet members and the EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, met at the White House with 14 senators and urged them to introduce a bill before the spring recess starts on March 26. The offices of the three senators at the center of the legislative negotiations – John Kerry of Massachusetts, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut – said a proposal is close to completion and could be introduced by the end of the month. The general framework of the bill has come into clearer focus in part because the president has insisted that the Senate find a way to limit greenhouse gas emissions. In return he pledged to promote measures to expand oil and gas production and nuclear power. In an era when issues urgent to the nation’s well-being have been met by political stasis in Washington, the president’s meeting signals climate action and clean energy remain high priorities in the White House. What’s not as clear yet is whether the agreement the president hopes to broker – fossil fuel and nuclear development in exchange for a price on carbon and clean energy investments – is a winning formula in and outside the Senate. Economists and Scientists Send Letter This week Senator Tom Udall, a Democrat of New Mexico, moved to help break the legislative stalemate when he joined three prominent scientists at a news conference to deliver a letter to the U.S. Senate. It called “on our nation’s leaders to swiftly establish and implement policies to bring about deep reductions in heat-trapping emissions.” The letter, signed by 2,000 scientists and economists, including eight Nobel laureates, added: “The strength of the science on climate change compels us to warn the nation about the growing risk of irreversible consequences as global average temperatures continue to increase over pre-industrial levels (i.e., prior to 1860). As temperatures rise further, the scope and severity of global warming impacts will continue to accelerate.“ Earth Day Plans Environmental organizations this week also made public their plans for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day next month. The Earth Day Network plans a day of action on April 22 and a big rally three days later on the National Mall in Washington. Leaders of another coalition signed an Earth Day Declaration on the west lawn of the Capitol that demanded action on clean energy and climate in the Senate, an event that launched 40 days of action leading up to Earth Day. Until next week take care, Keith Schneider China and India Join Climate Accord China and India formally agreed Tuesday to join the international climate change agreement reached last December in Copenhagen, the last two major economies to sign up. The two countries submitted letters to the United Nations agreeing to be included on a list of countries covered by the Copenhagen Accord, a three-page nonbinding statement which calls for limiting the rise in global temperatures to no more than 2 degrees Celsius. Kerry Says ‘Great Deal’ of Consensus Reached on Climate Policy Fourteen senators agreed action was needed to promote U.S. energy independence, create jobs in clean energy and cut pollution, said lawmakers who attended the meeting with President Barack Obama and administration officials on Tuesday. Senator John Kerry said the bipartisan group achieved a “great deal of consensus” on energy policy, and he’s moving “rapidly” to introduce legislation that addresses these issues. Murkowski presses EPA for details of emission regs Sen. Lisa Murkowski is pressing U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to offer more details about how and when the agency plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources. Murkowski is leading an effort to overturn EPA’s “endangerment” finding, a determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare that allows the agency to move forward with climate regulations. The first set of those rules is expected out later this month. China to build industrial system of low-carbon emissions China Premier Wen Jiabao has announced plans to build an “industrial system” and “consumption pattern” with low carbon emissions, part of an initiative to actively respond to climate change. The system is to include increasing forest carbon sinks, forest expansion, development of low-carbon technologies, and intensifying the development of smart power grids. He promised that China would participate in international cooperation to address climate change and work for further progress in the global cause. U.S. and Europe ‘Outsource’ Greenhouse Gas Emissions The United States and other developed countries are effectively “outsourcing” their greenhouse gas pollution to developing countries, a new study finds. One-third of carbon dioxide emissions associated with the goods and services consumed in First World countries are actually being emitted outside the borders of those nations, mostly in the developing world. Get Em When They’re Hot: New Climate Reports by ENE, TWS, NASA and WRI In recently released reports, Environment Northeast gave the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative passing grades, The Wilderness Society discovered that all of North America’s best carbon-capturing forests are in the Pacific Northwest, Harvard’s Belfer Center suggests gas prices higher than $8 may be the best way to cut fuel consumption and reduce emissions while NASA determined automobiles to be the largest net contributor to climate change pollution. Also, World Resource Institute makes it easy to track trends and conditions of forests in the Southern U.S. thanks to a new report and interactive Web site. Climate Action Hotline is the new weekly update by the US Climate Action Network. Let us know what you think. “What we are talking about is a jobs bill. It is not a climate bill. It is a jobs bill, and it is a clean air bill. It is a national security, [an] energy independence bill.” -John Kerry EPA: U.S. saw record decline in greenhouse gas emissions in 2008 U.S. Chamber of Commerce grows into a political force Lieberman: Arctic drilling a ‘deal breaker’ Met Office analysis reveals ‘clear fingerprints’ of man-made climate change Exxon Must Pay $1.2 Million for Workers’ Radiation Exposure Gore-backed climate groups form single organization The Newest Hybrid Model: World’s Second-Largest Solar Plant Colorado Shoots for 30% Renewable Energy by 2020, a Stark Contrast to Its Neighbors Interior Department chooses Alaska for climate center Arctic melt to cost up to $24 trillion by 2050: report Greenpeace activists arrested in Senate building

Related posts:

1. Forward Progress in Copenhagen: Climate Action Hotline, Nov. 19
2. Obama Recommits: Climate Action Hotline, Jan. 28
3. Deadline Approaches: Climate Action Hotline, Jan. 15

Cap and Trade Receives Passing Grades

All ten of the country’s greatest carbon-storing national forests are located in the Pacific Northwest.  The ten national forests covering 19 million acres in western Oregon, western Washington, and southeastern Alaska capture approximately 9.8 billion tons of CO2-equivalent – an amount greater than all the CO2 emitted from the burning of fossil fuels throughout the U.S. in one year.  The Wilderness Society presented these findings in a paper using data from the U.S. Forest Service.

Gas taxes raising fuel prices to above $8 per gallon may be the best method for achieving meaningful decreases in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.  This is the conclusion of a paper recently published by Harvard’s Belfer Center called “Analysis of Policies to Reduce Oil Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the U.S. Transportation Sector.“  The report analyzes five policy scenarios for effectiveness in curbing emissions, including fuel taxes, hybrid vehicle tax credits, and cap-and-trade.

NASA has recently determined automobiles to be the largest net contributor to climate change pollution.  A paper from scientists at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies examines climate impacts of various economic sectors, accounting for both positive and negative climate forcing due to emission of different gases.  NASA argues that climate profiles by economic sector foster better climate policy and easier identification of mitigation opportunities.

The conditions and trends of forests in the Southern U.S. can now easily be tracked thanks to a recent report from the World Resources Institute and a corresponding website: SeeSouthernForests.org.  The report predicts that 19 million acres of forest will be converted due to residential and commercial development between 2020 and 2040.  Satellite pictures on the website can be used to visualize the changes that have already taken place over the past 30 years.

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March 4, 2010 Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who is the climate action community’s stalwart champion in Washington, argues that how carbon is priced is the single most significant obstacle to passing a climate and energy bill this year in the Senate. With the help of two other lawmakers – Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut – Kerry this week floated a proposal to price carbon – the fourth pricing scheme in a year — by assessing a “carbon fee” at the pump to break through Republican and Democratic resistance to the bill. Critics will immediately recognize the fee as a new fuels tax aimed specifically at encouraging less driving and the purchase of higher mileage vehicles. Good idea. ConocoPhillips, BP America and Exxon Mobil Corp. think so, too. They are said to be supportive, mostly because the fee could be more easily passed on to consumers than a cap-and-trade system that would be applied much further upstream. Among the principles at the core of climate and energy legislation is to assign an actual economic value to carbon emissions, a way to leverage in dollars and cents the costs of greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit pollution and simultaneously finance the transition to a clean energy economy. The climate and energy bill approved by the House last June includes a cap-and-trade system, which divided up emission credits among constituents representing more than three-quarters of the U.S. economy. Other ideas that have made their way through the councils of influence on Capitol Hill are: A cap-and-dividend system that auctions off pollution permits with the revenue sent back to the public to compensate for higher costs on energy bills and consumer goods. Phasing in emission limits for different industrial sectors, beginning with power plants and large stationary sources. According to an article this week in the New York Times, Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil’s chief executive officer, told the Economic Club of Washington last October that a new carbon tax could generate surprising political support. “They say a carbon tax is too politically sensitive,” Tillerson said. “I disagree with this assessment. I believe the American people want climate policy to be transparent, honest and effective.” Also this week the climate community’s work to bolster the Clean Air Act gained important allies. The NAACP, 80 low income and communities of color, the National Tribal Environmental Council, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors sent letters to the Senate opposing Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to bar the E.P.A. from regulating carbon dioxide. “The Clean Air Act has cost-effectively protected our citizens and the environment for decades,” wrote Tom Cochran, executive director of the national mayors’ conference. “In a 2007 landmark decision the Supreme Court ruled the Clean Air Act covers greenhouse gases and now is the time to put this law to work to fight climate change.” Senator Murkowski was up to more mischief midweek. She indicated that gaining her vote for a climate and energy bill would come with a big environmental price — opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas production. Talk to you next week, Keith Schneider Join the National Call In Days March 2-4 The legislative process in the Senate is getting ready to heat up or melt down very soon. We need to generate an intense volume of noise at this important moment calling for action on climate change.  We know there is a mood of anger and frustration within progressive circles about the lack of action, the right wing hay making over a snowstorm and the ceding of science and political destiny to special interests and a teabagging frenzy.  The time for action and some push back is now. Please join the national grassroots call in days, from March 2nd to March 4th, to swamp Senate and district offices with urgent requests from Americans to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation.  For more information, contact Liz Schilling via email at easchilling@gmail.com or by phone at 314-604-0398. Kerry-Graham-Lieberman Senate Climate Draft Coming in ‘Weeks’ While there had been signs that the details on a new Senate climate draft might be out by Friday, Graham recently told reporters it will be “weeks” before a bill comes together, and Kerry says it could happen sometime this month. The draft’s overall goal is reportedly to reduce U.S. greenhouse gases by 2020 in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels, an objective shared by a bill that passed the House last year. Murkowski Plays Waiting Game with EPA Vote Sen. Lisa Murkowski has the green light to call for a vote on her resolution to block U.S. EPA’s greenhouse gas rules, leaving political analysts and fellow senators wondering when she will pull the trigger. Murkowski’s office has said that the Alaska Republican is planning to call for a vote in mid-March, but signaled yesterday the vote may be delayed. US Senate’s Top Climate Skeptic Accused of Waging ‘McCarthyite Witch-Hunt’ The Senate’s most ardent global warming skeptic, James Inhofe, is being accused of turning the row over climate science into a McCarthyite witch-hunt by calling for a criminal investigation of scientists. Japan’s Draft Climate Bill Omits Mandatory Limit on Emissions Draft legislation for a new Japanese climate bill omits mention of a limit on emissions by industry, a sign Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s government may retreat from an earlier promise to start a cap-and-trade system. Obama tries to sell Congress on $6B ‘Cash for Caulkers’ initiative President Obama is urging Congress to approve a $6 billion program to weatherize homes and stimulate the sluggish economy. Obama’s “Home Star” program would provide consumers cash rebates when they buy insulated windows, energy-efficient water heaters and other items for their homes. Ag Chairwoman Lincoln Rates Near Top for Utility Campaign Contributions Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), one of three Democratic senators who supports blocking U.S. EPA’s ability to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, draws one of the highest amounts of campaign contributions from electric utilities. She received $162,202 from utilities since 2005, placing her fifth overall for power plant money among senators seeking re-election this year. Interior Department Chooses Alaska for Climate Center Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has picked Alaska for the department’s first climate center, one of eight planned around the country. The centers will be tasked with analyzing the impacts of climate change on the area, such as Alaska’s rapidly melting sea ice and permafrost. Indonesia May Join Basic Group on Climate Talks Indonesia said there have been informal offers from countries, such as India, to join the group of emerging powers, known as the Basic bloc, to help move international climate talks forward. Warming Panel, Under Attack, Seeks Outside Review The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is seeking independent outside review for how it makes major reports. Researchers acknowledge that they have been too slow to respond to criticism in the past three months, but because the IPCC is a voluntary panel of most of the world’s top climate scientists, an independent review may prove challenging to create. Climate Action Hotline is the new weekly update by the US Climate Action Network. Let us know what you think.

“It looks like a McCarthyite tactic: pull in anyone who had anything to do with anyone because they happened to converse with some by email, and threaten them with criminal activity.” -Michael Oppenheimer Al Gore – We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change China: Green Energy Program Drafted Spain eyes doubling renewables output by 2020 West Texas breezes push wind power to set a record on the grid Global Warming Kicks Up Allergy Storm Indonesia to apply for UN climate change top position Google develops prototype mirror for solar energy

Related posts:

1. Clean Energy Jobs: Climate Action Hotline, Jan. 22
2. Energy Is Not Enough: Climate Action Hotline, Feb. 5
3. White House Powwow: Climate Action Hotline: March 11, 2010

February 26, 2010 This week there was a ton of action on Republican Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski’s proposal to derail the EPA’s December decision to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a letter to Democratic California Senator Dianne Feinstein that said the Murkowski resolution would complicate efforts to impose stricter fuel economy standards on cars and light trucks and damage the auto industry. California state officials publicly supported the EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases. And even as the EPA announced deadlines on its greenhouse gas regulations Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada urged Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry to quickly write comprehensive climate and energy legislation to give the measure a chance of reaching the floor this year. This week climate action and clean energy advocates also gathered in meetings big and small to understand anew the powerful and well-financed fossil fuel political infrastructure that in recent months has tilted action on climate legislation the wrong way. By and large most of the meetings produced a consensus conclusion and an action step. The conclusion: A powerful case has been built about the consequences of burning fossil fuels that is emphatically supported by science. The world is warming and failing to act is producing an economic calamity in the U.S. and an environmental calamity worldwide. The action step: Focus on the urgency of climate change and the job, environmental, and security opportunities that legislative action produces. Relentlessly communicate our case to citizens, lawmakers, the media, and the opposition. In essence, we need to step up our game. As the 40th Earth Day approaches it’s useful to recall that the environmental community, largely through its own research, content, and storytelling pushed the nation to respond to the threat of toxic chemicals, habitat loss, air and water pollution, ocean degradation, and species extinctions. We did the same thing in describing the myriad consequences of a steadily warming planet. Our capacity to produce new data, break new stories, and tell the world about the danger of climate change is strong. Moreover, we have at our disposal in the online space digital tools to connect and inspire millions of people to act. The challenge right now for the climate action community is to use our formidable communications capacity more effectively. USCAN is collaborating with colleagues to do just that. USCAN’s Online Manager, Rhys Gerholdt, is at the center of a multi-organization partnership to deploy social networks and micro-blogging platforms to activate more climate action supporters. These millennial multi-tasking networks will only become more useful and prevalent as smart phones and other mobile devices become the primary technology people use to keep in touch and reach the world. The result of Rhys’ work is impressive. This week he and his colleagues from 1Sky, NRDC, NWF, Sierra Club and a number of other USCAN members launched the Clean Air Act fan page on Facebook that attracted almost 2,000 fans the first three days and generated significant media attention. Pass the word about the page and promote your organization’s actions on the Wall. Last month USCAN began connecting with climate action activists on Twitter to coordinate and keep track of domestic grassroots activism, UN negotiations, Copenhagen Accord commitments, and the best of what USCAN members have to offer. Start following USCAN’s Twitter feed today. We’ve also launched a LinkedIn Group that is populated with the current climate job postings with WRI, ICLEI, Greenpeace and others.  We encourage you to take advantage of this resource to connect with climate professionals in your community and around the country. Talk to you next week, Keith Schneider Join the National Call In Days March 2-4 The legislative process in the Senate is getting ready to heat up or melt down very soon. We need to generate an intense volume of noise at this important moment calling for action on climate change.  We know there is a mood of anger and frustration within progressive circles about the lack of action, the right wing hay making over a snowstorm and the ceding of science and political destiny to special interests and a teabagging frenzy.  The time for action and some push back is now. Please join the national grassroots call in days, from March 2nd to March 4th, to swamp Senate and district offices with urgent requests from Americans to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation.  For more information, contact Liz Schilling via email at easchilling@gmail.com or by phone at 314-604-0398. E.P.A. Plans to Phase in Regulation of Emissions Amid numerous petitions to the EPA’s proposed GHG regulation rules, administrator Lisa  Jackson wrote in a letter to eight coal-state Democrats who have sought a moratorium on regulation that only the biggest sources of greenhouse gases would be subjected to limits before 2013. Smaller ones would not be regulated before 2016, she said. Compromise Climate Bill Coming, Says Kerry Democratic Senator John Kerry said on Tuesday he was hopeful a comprehensive U.S. climate bill will soon emerge from his work with the Obama administration and a bipartisan group of senators. Environmental Group Sues Wisconsin State Agency Last week, the Wisconsin Sierra Club sued the state’s Department of Natural Resources, saying that agency has failed to provide requested records on several state-owned coal plants. The Sierra Club is trying to ensure that the plants are in compliance with the federal Clean Air Act. U.S. Aims for Legally Binding Climate Change Agreement in 2010 The U.S. reaffirmed that it wants to reach a legally binding climate change agreement in December of this year at COP 16 in Mexico. This affirmation indicating that President Barack Obama plans to remain engaged in the international climate agreement process. U.N. official sees climate aid scheme within months Copenhagen may have failed to create a legally binding global agreement, but developing nations could be able to apply within three months for some of the $30 billion in climate funding that was promised by developed nations at last year’s COP15 talks, a top United Nations official said on Monday. The issue is now whether a mechanism for collecting and distributing those funds can be created successfully. Climate Action Hotline is the new weekly update by the US Climate Action Network. Let us know what you think. “The science behind climate change is settled, and human activity is responsible for global warming. That conclusion is not a partisan one.” -Lisa P. Jackson Solar power project in Mojave Desert gets $1.4 billion boost from stimulus funds Cummins, Justice Department settle pollution case Study: Warming to bring stronger hurricanes Facebook page provides an opportunity to ‘like’ the Clean Air Act Chevron to build solar plant at NM tailings site President Obama explains the science behind climate change and extreme weather

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1. Clean Energy Jobs: Climate Action Hotline, Jan. 22
2. COP 15 Kickoff: Climate Action Hotline, Dec. 11
3. Obama Recommits: Climate Action Hotline, Jan. 28

The group requested the records in October.

The plants in question are at UW La Crosse, UW Eau Claire, UW Stevens Point and UW Stout. They have all undergone modifications which may require them to install additional pollution controls.

Wisconsin Governor Doyle decided to take one plant, at UW Madison, completely off coal – shifting to biomass and natural gas – after a federal judge decided that the plant was violating the Clean Air Act. “The governor gets credit for making the right decision, but it’s been a long haul,” says Jennifer Feyerherm, director of Sierra Club’s Wisconsin Clean Energy Campaign. “The governor talks a lot about how moving to biomass will help create jobs. He should make his legacy getting all the state-owned plants off of coal.”

The state currently contracts with two companies for its coal, one of which is Massey Energy, the largest practitioner of mountaintop removal coal mining in the country.

– Suzanne Bopp

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1. Troubles for New Wisconsin Coal-Fired Plant
2. Protesters Tell Penn State to Stop Using Coal
3. Wisconsin Residents Urge Passage of Clean Energy Jobs Act

Clean Energy Means Jobs. The RES Alliance for Jobs published a report that finds federal policy has the potential to create 274,000 new jobs, equivalent to 2.36 million additional job-years.  Such are the economic benefits if the government were to mandate a 25% renewable electricity standard by the year 2025.  See how each state could benefit from job growth in the report: Job Impacts of a National Renewable Electricity Standard.

Smart Grids Smart Move. A new report from Greenpeace casts doubt to the claims that coal and nuclear power plants are needed for base-load and back-up power for renewable energy sources.  The report shows that investments in smart and super grids could operate with over 90% renewable sources and guarantee power supply 24/7.  Check out the report, Renewables 24/7, to learn what infrastructure is needed to save the climate.

Biofuels Drive Hunger in Africa. A recent report from ActionAid sheds light on the unintended consequences of the increase in production of industrial biofuels.  An estimated 1.1 million hectares (an area the size of Belgium) have been converted to biofuel production in Africa, contributing to a spike in food prices and driving tens of millions into poverty and hunger.  The ActionAid report, Meals Per Gallon, calls for an end to biofuel targets like the EU commitment to obtain 10% of transport fuel from renewable sources by 2020.

Refrigerated Aisles Contribute to Warming. The Environmental Investigation Agency released a report titled Chilling Facts II: The Supermarket Refrigeration Scandal Continues on February 1, 2010 on the global warming impact of supermarket refrigeration systems, coupled with a survey of supermarkets throughout the United Kingdom.  Finds that the number of stores in the UK that already have, or plan to switch to HFC-free refrigeration is increasing.  However, these technologies are in place in less than 2% of UK supermarkets, and HFC leakage accounts for the equivalent of 1.13 million tons of CO2 – equal to over one billion car journeys to the store.

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Dead and deformed fish in surrounding streams are a consequence of selenium pollution from mountaintop coal mining, which is causing permanent damage to the environment and poses serious health risks, says Dennis Lemly, a professor of biology.

Selenium pollution affects fish first, so they are the best barometer for understanding the threat to ecosystems downstream from mountaintop removal mining operations, says Lemly, who advocates a ban on the process. His research found toxic levels of selenium in 73 of 78 stream samples.

Lemly was part of a team of 12 ecologists and engineers who provided the first comprehensive analysis of damage done by mountaintop removal mining. In Washington, he and his colleagues will also share their research with representatives of the EPA and the President’s Council on Environmental Quality.

High levels of selenium threaten fish survival; contaminated fish that do survive and reproduce have offspring with serious birth defects, such as crooked spines and deformed heads. They cannot survive and reproduction will fail, Lemly says. He warns the fish population could be wiped out – and that’s not all.

“I specialize in fish, but that is only one part of the overall picture,” Lemly says, “Public health is also an issue with mountaintop removal mining.”

The threat is expanding as this destructive process expands, Lemly says – and mountaintop removal mining has doubled in the past eight years. Once an ecosystem is polluted, the environmental damage is permanent.

– Suzanne Bopp

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2. Hundreds Protest Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
3. Mountaintop Removal Protests at EPA Offices in D.C. and Several States

Rev. Yearwood talked about how that future will fight poverty and pollution at the same time, saying, “This is our lunch counter moment…In the 20th Century they had to fight for equality, and in the 21st century we gotta fight for existence.”

Later that day, at Tulane University, close to 100 people attended a roundtable discussion on engaging youth, communities of color and low-income communities in the clean energy movement. Tulane Professor Charles Allen talked about the importance of rebuilding the Lower 9th Ward by focusing on sustainable building practices and a discussion about how the environmental community can get from talk to action: moving past the message to practices that people can incorporate into their daily lives.

Next stop: Little Rock, Arkansas

The rest of the bus tour dates:

Columbia, MO: Saturday, February 20

Indianapolis, IN: Sunday & Monday, February 21-22

Bloomington, IN: Monday, February 22

Columbus, OH: Tuesday, February 23

Washington, DC: Tuesday-Wednesday, February 23-24

Related posts:

1. On the Bus for Clean Energy Now
2. Hip-Boot Tour Warns Residents of Rising Sea Levels
3. Wisconsin Residents Urge Passage of Clean Energy Jobs Act

February 18, 2010 During his successful election campaign President Barack Obama communicated his environmental goals through a clean energy, good jobs frame. Wind, solar, energy efficiency, and clean fuels, he asserted, was the next big thought for jobs, security, and prosperity. Still, standing at the edge of the Obama campaign’s clean energy agenda was the politically radioactive idea of using the federal government to revive the American nuclear power industry. This week President Obama struck hard at that goal, offering an $8.3 federal billion loan guarantee to the Southern Company to build two new reactors in Georgia. Westinghouse and other nuclear industry contractors applauded. So did the New York Times. But the response in much of the environmental community was unenthusiastic, a fact anticipated by President Obama on Tuesday when he made the announcement. “I know it has long been assumed that those who champion the environment are opposed to nuclear power,” said the president. “To meet our growing energy needs and prevent the worst consequences of climate change, we’ll need to increase our supply of nuclear power. It’s that simple.” Well, not quite. Nothing is simple about any aspect of the nation’s transition to a low-carbon economy. In Washington, progress on the Senate version of the climate and energy bill has been blocked by an avalanche of opposition. Coal and oil state lawmakers worry about its effect on mines, drilling patches, and refineries. Business associations falsely claim it will weaken an already damaged economy.  Freemarket think tanks and their allies in the media are probing the underbelly of climate science in order to ruin the scientific justification for action. It’s no easier pursuing climate action and clean energy outside Washington. Though public opinion polls consistently show Americans support clean energy investment, in practice the transition to a low carbon economy is turning out to be a big heave at the grassroots. Americans are resisting new clean energy projects in almost every region of the nation. Proposals for offshore wind farms are being blocked in Michigan by citizens concerned about how the technology will affect shoreline views, fisheries, and shipping. In Virginia, a wind farm proposed for an Appalachian ridge top was abandoned last month after public protest. Efforts by utilities to switch from fossil fuels to wood biomass in the Midwest are met with public concerns about the effects of the biomass plants on forests in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. In California, landowners question whether a number of large solar thermal generating stations proposed for the Mojave Desert will sharply increase competition for scarce water and produce damaging consequences for dry land plants and wildlife. Pursuing nuclear power, in Georgia or any other state, invites even more ferocious resistance. Perhaps that is the political strategy behind the President’s nuclear proposal. The White Houses knows its nuclear idea divides the environmental community, something the president obviously feels he can live with. But the nuclear idea also appears to have a more significant political payoff.  Free market think tanks hate the big nuclear subsidies. By splitting the ideological right, a coalition that until now has confounded him politically, the president and his aides have opened a risky new path to build the low carbon economy. Until next week, Keith Schneider Support the Clean Air Act The Clean Air Act has protected human health and the environment for nearly 40 years. Now, the Environmental Protection Agency is able to use it as a tool to reduce global warming pollution. As a result, we’re on the way to building cars and trucks that get better gas mileage and ensuring that the largest power plants and factories use modern technology to reduce global warming pollution and use cleaner energy. Unfortunately, Sen. Murkowski (R-AK) and Reps. (R-KS), Blackburn (R- TN) and Pomeroy (D-NC) have introduced proposals in the House and Senate that would rescind the EPA ruling that greenhouse gases present a danger to public health and welfare. If these efforts are successful it could severely cripple efforts to move to a clean energy economy while letting America’s biggest polluters off the hook. Please call your Senators and Representatives and ask them to support the Clean Air Act and oppose these “Dirty Air Act” proposals, which could be voted on as early as the first week of March. Talking points and other information is available on the USCAN Web site. To learn more, contact jkurz@climatenetwork.org. Conoco, BP, Caterpillar Leave USCAP ConocoPhillips, Caterpillar Inc. and BP America have left the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of more than two-dozen companies and environmental groups lobbying Congress to pass greenhouse gas emissions reduction legislation. ConocoPhillips and BP both said the group had served its purpose, but they prefer to pursue their interests independently. Obama Urges New Round of Nuclear Power Plants President Obama announced on Tuesday that his administration will provide more than $8 billion in loan guarantees to help build a nuclear power plant in Georgia. The plant could be the first nuclear generating facility to win U.S government approval in three decades. UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer to Step Down in July The UN climate chief Yvo de Boer has resigned to join a consultancy group as an adviser, the UN climate secretariat announced today, two months after the conclusion of the Copenhagen summit. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Asks Court to Block EPA from Regulating Emissions The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is asking a federal court of appeals to review the Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling that greenhouse gases pose a health risk that the agency could regulate under the Clean Air Act. European carbon scheme is a success, research says A cooperative, multi-national research effort has found that the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme trial period was successful. While the program has been criticized for structural flaws, the researchers determined that the program did realize its basic goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The main accomplishment of the trial period was the successful creation of a regulatory mechanism, which will serve to deliver more ambitious emissions cuts and will be the cornerstone of a potential global carbon market. IEA Says International Emissions Plans Fall Short The pledges that countries have made to reduce their CO2 emissions won’t limit global warming to below two degrees Celsius, which is a key target set at the Copenhagen climate summit last year, according to a study by the International Energy Agency. Former Albuquerque Mayor Appointed Executive Director of ICLEI USA Martin J. Chavez, three-term former mayor of Albuquerque, has been named Executive Director of ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA, a membership organization for local governments committed to climate protection and clean energy. Hailed as one of the nation’s “greenest” majors, Chavez joins ICLEI during a period of increasing interest by local governments in lowering their greenhouse gas emissions. Texas Governor Gets a “Citizen Citation” Texas Governor Rick Perry is one of several politicians and business interests (including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a group of senators) trying to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, but after he filed his lawsuit against the EPA this week, Texas environmental groups made a filing of their own. Bill Gates: We need global ‘energy miracles’ Microsoft Corp. founder and philanthropist Bill Gates on Friday urged on the world’s tech community to find a way to turn spent nuclear fuel into cheap, clean energy. Gates called climate change the world’s most vexing problem, and added that finding a cheap and clean energy source is more important than creating new vaccines and improving farming techniques, causes into which he has invested billions of dollars. Climate Action Hotline is the new weekly update by the US Climate Action Network. Let us know what you think.

“We’re working hard, and we’re encouraged by the conversations that are going on. Obviously this is very important legislation and we’re going to do everything we can to make it happen.” -Carol Browner India: Himachal to set up centre to study climate change Fog over San Francisco Thins by a Third Due to Climate Change “Synchronized Swimming”: The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Spanish company to build wind turbine factory in Milwaukee Fog over San Francisco thins by a third due to climate change Greenland’s glaciers disappearing from the bottom up Oceans’ acidity rate is soaring, claims study Series of missteps by climate scientists threatens climate-change agenda Obama Making Plans to Use Executive Power

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The We Energies Oak Creek plant, a $2.3-billion facility, was approved years go, when the state’s electricity demand was much higher. Now its power is no longer needed, even according to state regulators.

The plant was originally expected to cost $2.19 billion, but weather delays and other factors resulted in a cost overrun of at least $122 million, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. (The final figures won’t be certain until next year.) Now the state’s Public Service Commission, a three-member, governor-appointed group, will consider with how much of that should be repaid by customers, who already have seen their average monthly bill rise 41% since 2005, when construction on the Oak Creek plant began.

And that’s not the end of Oak Creek’s troubles; We Energies has already settled a case having to do with its water system’s damaging impacts on surrounding lakes. “If that plant were built today, it wouldn’t be able to use the water cooling system it has,” says Jennifer Feyerherm, director of the Sierra Club’s Wisconsin Clean Energy Campaign. After filing a complaint, they have now settled with We Energies; the company will pay $5 million a year for 20 years to a non-profit organization set up to help mitigate the damage from the water cooling system, and to install 15 MGW of solar power and 15 MGW of biomass capability in the state.

“When they proposed the plant, we said it would be a bad investment, and that’s what they’re finding out,” Feyerherm says.

We Energies expects to bring the second of Oak Creek’s two boilers online later this year.

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