Political Climate Articles
Corporate front group funded by coal industry scorns widow of mine disaster: "Everyone wants free money"
Later apologizes for distasteful and baseless comment, locks Twitter account
Yesterday, the AP reported that Marlene Griffith, a widow of William Griffith, one of the 29 men killed in last week's explosion at a coal mine in West Virginia, is suing Massey Energy, the owner of the mine. Griffith filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Raleigh County Circuit Court, arguing that Massey's handling of work conditions at the mine plus its history of safety violations amounted to aggravated conduct that rises above the level of ordinary negligence. Marlene and here husband were to celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversary weeks after the deadly blast on April 5.
Read More...
Coal disaster company Massey Energy denied time off for miners to attend their friends' funerals.
Coal baron Don Blankenship's Massey Energy has prevented miners from attending funerals of the 29 victims of the killer explosion at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, WV. Massey has taken steps to keep up the mining in the grief-stricken community. The "threat of job loss" from Massey's non-union mines, "be it spoken or simply understood - has created a culture of fear in some corners of Southern West Virginia, where coal is the only real industry, and Massey is king of the hill":
Massey Energy, the Virginia-based coal giant that runs the Upper Big Branch Mine, has denied time off for miners to attend their friends' funerals; has rejected makeshift memorials outside the mine site; and, in at least one case, required a worker to go on shift even though the fate of a relative - one of the victims of the April 5 disaster - remained unknown at the time, according to some family members and other sources familiar with those episodes. In short, the company might be taking heat for putting profits and efficiency above its workers, but it doesn't appear to have changed its tune in the wake of the worst mining tragedy in 40 years.
Read More...
Interior Moving to Curb Coal Mining Pollution, Require Mountaintop Restoration
The Interior Department is writing new regulations for mountaintop-removal coal mining that would expand protection for waterways and require the restoration of dynamited areas.
Christopher Holmes, spokesman for Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, said the agency is rewriting its "stream protection rule" to boost environmental safeguards.
The proposal being drafted, Holmes said, would:
* Establish a clear standard for restoring dynamited mountaintops. The 1977 Surface Mining Reclamation and Control Act requires that mountaintops be restored to their "approximate original contour," but defining the term has been left to individual states.
* Yank the right of state regulators to grant exceptions to the contour-restoration requirement. Federal authorities currently allow states to set their own standards for granting exemptions, and state standards vary widely.
Read More...
Offshore Oil Safety Awards Luncheon Postponed
In light of the massive oil spill in the Gulf, an awards ceremony to celebrate the safety of offshore oil drilling has been postponed.
A new posting on the U.S. Department of Interior's website says the annual awards luncheon held in Houston, Texas would be delayed noting, "The ongoing situation with the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling accident has caused the MMS to dedicate considerable resources to the successful resolution of this event, which will conflict with holding this ceremony next week."
Last year BP won for "promoting improved medical care and evacuation capabilities for offshore facilities."
Read More...
Looks like BP stands for Burning Petroleum; worst spill since ExxonValdez heads for LA coast
Offshore Oil Safety Awards Luncheon Postponed
And it gets more ironic: CBS reports that last year BP won an award for "promoting improved medical care and evacuation capabilities for offshore facilities."
The photo "provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows fire boat response crews battling the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, April 21, 2010."
I wish I had more time to write a longer post, but I'm doing a couple of interviews on this tonight, including Countdown.
By the way, Halliburton appears to have been involved in the spill. They have been named in two lawsuits by Louisiana fishermen and shrimpers, Climate Wire (subs. req'd) reports:
The oil spill is floating miles from Louisiana's coastline, home to a huge commercial and recreational fishing industry. It comes as a particularly fragile time for fisheries, since Gulf shrimp are in their spawning season.
Louisiana claims a $2.6-billion-a-year commercial fishing industry, which provides a quarter of the U.S. seafood supply, exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii.
The two lawsuits target BP, which holds the lease to the offshore well; Swiss-based Transocean Ltd., owner of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform that exploded last week; and Halliburton Energy Services Inc., which the lawsuit says was responsible for capping the well.
I know you are shocked that Halliburton is involved.
Now what is really rich is that FoxNews and the GOP are working to spin this as Obama's Katrina, somehow suggesting that the administration's response was delayed.
Read More...
Held up without a gun - Big oil rakes in the cash
Held up without a gun
- Bruce Springsteen
Springsteen's song could not be more true today. Big Oil is once again riding high oil prices to large profits (see below) while American consumers get stuck with a $2.7 billion gasoline bill in the first quarter of 2010 due to higher oil prices. But the problems with oil go beyond these companies' profits. Rising oil prices also add more filthy lucre to the coffers of hostile regimes, including Iran. CAP's Daniel J. Weiss and Susan Lyon have the story in this repost.
Meanwhile, the Gulf of Mexico is suffering a huge oil spill while taxpayers spend billions of dollars paying for tax loopholes for Big Oil. And Big Oil spends record amounts of money to pressure Congress to cement these loopholes in place and defeat clean energy legislation. Adding injury to insult, big oil opposes energy and global warming legislation that would reduce our reliance on oil.
Enough is enough. We need Congress to stand up to Big Oil and pass legislation that addresses the problems with oil profits and oil use. Sens. John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) are working on legislation that would reduce oil dependence and put a declining limit and rising price on carbon. These measures would reduce our dependence on oil, increase national security, create jobs, and cut pollution.
Read More...
Lugar and Voinovich float "half-assed" alternative to comprehensive climate and clean energy jobs bill
Senators Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham are working with the White House, environmentalists, and industry to craft comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation, which they plan to unveil on Monday. But Senators Lugar (R-IN) and Voinovich (R-OH), both of whom have admitted the threat of global warming, announced yesterday "a narrower competing bill" that resembles the weak legislation passed out of the Senate energy committee last year. Brad Johnson has the story in this Wonk Room repost:
George V. Voinovich of Ohio and Richard G. Lugar of Indiana are developing an energy-only bill that would mandate new renewable and nuclear power production without imposing cuts on carbon emissions.
Read More...
"Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise
Let's play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called "Imagine." The way it's played is simple: we'll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we'll conjure - the ones who are driving the action - we'll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.
So let's begin.
Read More...
Honeywell Green Jet Fuel(TM) Powers U.S. Navy Green Hornet for Biofuels Certification Flight.
UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced today that Honeywell Green Jet Fuel(TM) produced using Honeywell UOP's renewable jet fuel process technology powered a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet flight as part of the Navy's efforts to certify the use of alternative fuels in military aircraft.
The F/A-18 Super Hornet, dubbed the Green Hornet by the Navy, was fueled with a 50/50 mixture of Green Jet Fuel made from camelina oil and petroleum-derived military jet fuel. The flight was held at the Naval Air Warfare Center in Patuxent River, Maryland, and was attended by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. This is one of a series of biofuel test flights that will be conducted by the Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet test program and marks the first flight of a supersonic jet with afterburners flying on a biofuels blend.
The fuel was produced by Honeywell's UOP business unit using its Green Jet Fuel process technology under a project for U.S. Defense Energy Support Center (DESC). Honeywell's UOP is producing up to 190,000 gallons of fuel for the Navy and 400,000 gallons for the U.S. Air Force from sustainable, non-food feedstocks, including animal fats, algae and camelina.
Read More...
Energy-intensive Pentagon making effort to go green
WASHINGTON - The Navy plans to test-fly its main attack aircraft, the F/A-18 Super Hornet, on a biofuel blend this Earth Day, part of an ambitious push by the Pentagon to increase U.S. security by using less fossil fuel.
While deliberations grind on in Congress about how to shift the nation's energy away from fossil fuels, the Defense Department is putting plans into action with such things as electric-drive ships that save fuel costs, solar-based water purification in Afghanistan that reduces the need for dangerous convoys, and solar and geothermal power at U.S. bases.
The changes eventually could spread to civilian life. The size of the military's investment will create economies of scale that help bring down the costs of renewable energy, and military innovations in energy technologies could spread to civilian uses, just as the Internet did. In addition, military innovations could help reduce the nation's overall emissions of heat-trapping gases from fossil fuel use.
Read More...
Military leads march to shrink US carbon 'boot print': study
WASHINGTON - From solar-powered water purification systems in Afghanistan to a Navy jet fueled in part by biofuel, the US military is taking a lead role in shrinking the US carbon "boot print," an independent report said Tuesday.
The US Department of Defense accounts for 80 percent of the US government's total energy consumption energy needs, and most of the energy it uses currently comes from fossil fuels, the report by the Pew Research think tank's Project on National Security, Energy and Climate says.
But moves are afoot in all branches of the military to change that.
The army and air force have several bases that are partially powered by solar energy, one of which -- Fort Irwin in California -- is expected to be able to stop taking energy from the public electricity grid within a decade.
The navy has set itself a key goal of getting 50 percent of fuel used ashore and afloat from non-fossil sources by 2020, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a telephone news conference after the report was issued.
The navy will also test-fly this week its "Green Hornet" F-18 fighter jet, which runs on a mix of biofuel made from camelina, a plant in the mustard family, and aviation fuel, he said.
Read More...
Taxpayer protection and the nuclear loan guarantee program
The huge cost of nuclear power means that taxpayers will have to provide nuclear loan guarantees to finance new projects if the president and Congress are serious about building new reactors. The terms of these guarantees must include adequate protections for taxpayers.
That's from the testimony of CAP Action's Richard Caperton before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Below is a summary, and the full testimony is here.
Nuclear power currently generates about one-fifth of American electricity. At the Center for American Progress Action Fund, we strongly believe that nuclear power will continue as a low-carbon baseload power source that will play an important role in America's clean energy future. It's vitally important that we explore all potential energy sources and encourage the development of sources that reduce our carbon emissions. At the same time, we must keep in mind that every dollar that supports one fuel source is a dollar that can't be used somewhere else. In an era of tight budgets and limited government resources, it's important that every dollar be spent in a way that cost-effectively transitions America toward a clean energy economy.
Read More...
Tokyo's goal: Be the greenest
It's been reducing solid waste, requiring factories and offices to cut carbon emissions, giving cash incentives to install solar panels, toughening building standards and planning more greenery.
On a man-made island in Tokyo Bay, garbage is getting a makeover.
Tons of waste are trucked here daily to a large industrial building. What can't be recycled is burned and filtered for toxins. The ash is turned into building material, and the heat is converted into electricity - enough to power 55,000 homes.
The process saves landfill space. Air pollution is minimal. The 4-year-old firm, Tokyo Waterfront Recycle Power Co., will turn its first profit this year, said President Ikuo Onaka. But, he contends, the rewards aren't purely financial.
"We're making a social contribution," said Onaka, whose business is one of nine firms operating on Tokyo's waterfront to reuse the city's garbage instead of burying it.
These private-sector companies are part of a very public push by Tokyo's metropolitan government to turn this dense urban area, home to 13 million people, into the world's most eco-friendly mega-city.
Read More...
Coal, nuclear, big oil defy the odds
Insurance companies were frozen out of the health care negotiations. Wall Street is taking a beating in financial regulation.
In contrast, the Democrats' favorite boogeymen on green issues - coal companies, the nuclear industry and Big Oil - have not only elbowed their way into seats at the table; they are poised to reap windfalls from climate proposals working their way through the Senate.
Call it the year's Lobbying Lollapalooza, an impressive display of clout, connections, cash and consistent pressure used to turn a potential legislative slaughter into a golden opportunity.
The coal industry assiduously worked its industrial-state, Democratic allies and sympathizers - including President Barack Obama - to remind them of the jobs at stake and coal's ranking as the nation's biggest source of energy.
The nuclear industry courted new environmentalist allies by hyping its status as one of the cleanest sources of fuel and supplemented its policy arguments with increased donations to Democrats.
And Big Oil landed a big ally in Sen. Lindsey Graham, the lone Republican working on the climate legislation, who made clear that the price for his participation was expanded domestic drilling.
Read More...
A New Approach in the Senate To Putting a Price on Carbon
As climate and energy legislation continues to founder in Washington, Senator Maria Cantwell says it's time for a new strategy. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Cantwell explains why her bill can avoid the pitfalls of cap-and-trade and win the support of the public.
Is carbon cap-and-trade legislation alive or dead in the U.S. Congress? Does the energy bill being proposed by senators John Kerry, Joseph Lieberman, and Lindsey Graham - or for that matter any climate and energy legislation - stand a chance of passing the U.S. Senate before this November's midterm elections?
Read More...
There's Actually A Strategy Behind Republican Obstructionism, In Fact, Several Strategies, All Contemptible
Another pointlessly obstructed nomination came to absolutely nothing yesterday-- because it was nothing from day one. The Senate confirmed Chris Schroeder of North Carolina 72-24, only the very worst of the "We Want America to Fail" obstructionists voting against it. Even radical right Republicans like Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted yes, as did ultraconservative GOP Judiciary Committee members Orrin Hatch (UT), Chuck Grassley (IA), Lindsey Graham (SC) and Jon Kyl (AZ).
President Obama had nominated Schroeder, a universally respected law professor at Duke University (since 1979), 11 months ago. Not even an obstructionist kook like DeMint could find a bad word to say about Schroeder but, as expected, he voted "no." And, so did home state hate-monger, Richard Burr. Although no one wanted to be identified, other senators were astounded that Burr voted against such a distinguished nominee from his own state who had already been thoroughly vetted by the Judiciary Committee. "I can't say it's unprecedented," one moderate Democrat told us, "but it caught everyone off guard. Burr seems very confused lately and I think he's concerned about bad polling numbers back in North Carolina. He may not win his re-election bid and every vote he makes just tears him apart. I feel badly for the guy; it's kind of sad. He's in over his head. I don't think his vote did him any good today."
Read More...
Secretary Chu Announces more than $200 Million for Solar and Water Power Technologies
On the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that the department will invest more than $200 million over five years to expand and accelerate the development, commercialization, and use of solar and water power technologies throughout the United States. This funding underscores the administration's commitment to foster a robust clean-energy sector in the United States-that will create American manufacturing jobs and a workforce with the required technical training to speed the implementation of cutting-edge technologies. Today's announcement represents a down payment that will help the solar and water power industries overcome technical barriers, demonstrate new technologies, and provide support for clean energy jobs for years to come.
Read More...
Polluting Nations Downplay Goals for Cancun Climate Conference
(Bloomberg) -- The biggest polluting nations are downplaying goals for climate-change talks in December after failing last year to agree on a global treaty, the top U.S. climate negotiator said.
Representatives from countries emitting the most greenhouse gases agree it's important not to let "expectations far outstrip what can be done" at UN-led talks in Cancun, Mexico, Todd Stern, President Barack Obama's climate negotiator, said yesterday.
Negotiators completed two days of meetings in Washington at which they discussed short-term financing to help developing nations cope with climate change, one of the issues that thwarted agreement on a treaty. Countries failed to reach a binding agreement at a meeting last year in Copenhagen.
Read More...
The Department of Defense Should Assess the Security Risks of Climate Change Policies
The Pentagon is perhaps the most influential lobby on Capitol Hill and has the respect of many on the center-right who hold the likes of Greenpeace, Al Gore, and the United Nations in low regard. What's more, if "even the generals are worried" and climate change is officially deemed a national security threat, then proponents of cap-and-trade get to wave the flag and depict their opponents as venal, partisan, or unpatriotic. So it's not surprising that global warming activists for years have sought to institutionalize climate change concerns in Department of Defense (DOD) intelligence assessments, program planning, and budgeting.
They have made some headway, though the Department is still far from a hotbed of climate alarm. DOD's Quadrennial Defense Review Report (QDR) calls climate change a "key issue" that will play a "significant role in shaping the future security environment." On the other hand, at a recent briefing on the QDR at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a top-ranking DOD official pointedly declined to define climate change as a "national security threat," calling it instead an "instability accelerant"-a factor that could exacerbate conditions conducive to conflict within and among nations. Angst, hyperbole, and cheerleading for cap-and-trade were conspicuously absent. Nonetheless, the Wilson Center briefing lacked balance. Panelists discussed the security risks associated with climate change while seeming completely oblivious to the potential of various climate change policies to damage U.S. security interests. Similarly, the QDR says nothing about the security risks of climate policies.
Read More...
Joe Conason: "There is nothing subtle about the Republican approach to frustrating reform, whether in healthcare, banking regulation or climate change."
The underlying agenda on the Republican side, from the top down, is to frustrate and humiliate the president and the Democratic majority - and to ensure that no legislation passes. They typically begin with a memo from Frank Luntz, outlining rhetorical tricks that will be used to mislead and anger voters, while obscuring the true content of any proposal that Democrats might consider.
Next week, Graham, Kerry, and Lieberman will launch the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill. Every other Senate Republican but Graham will attempt to kill the bill because their entire strategy is predicated on convincing the public that Obama isn't a different kind of politician, isn't a pragmatist who can reach across the aisle.
McConnell told the NY Times last month, "It was absolutely critical that everybody be together because if the proponents of the bill were able to say it was bipartisan, it tended to convey to the public that this is O.K., they must have figured it out."
Read More...
Democrats, Republicans-and the Sunscreen Party
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration isn't known for its political forecasts, but last spring, the agency quietly released a 40-page study that should give a jolt to any campaign strategist who hopes to work in the next dozen election cycles. Simply called "Scenarios for 2035," the report never once mentions voting trends or red-blue divides, but it does explain how changes in climate could quickly and radically reshape American politics–upending the power balance in Congress, scuttling traditional paths to the White House, and igniting new fights over natural and financial resources.
Read More...
Climate change should be prompting rethink of how we defend our borders: author
MONTREAL - It is a military truism that an army ought to stand its ground.
But what if the ground it's standing on is melting, becoming prone to floods, or is outright disappearing?
Climate change is turning conventional military wisdom on its head, something Canada has been at pains to grasp, according to Cleo Paskal, author of "Global Warring: How Environmental, Economic, and Political Crises Will Redraw the World Map."
The book, which came out earlier this year, has created a storm, no pun intended, in policy circles. It has found its way onto reading lists at the U.S. Army War College, and the Montreal-based author is now being tapped as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Energy.
By transposing traditional security concerns onto environmental realities, Paskal has produced a compellingly simple thesis: countries need to rethink their approach to geo-politics because their borders are physically changing.
Canada, however, has failed to respond to the call, says Paskal. Given the face of the Artic could be altered dramatically in the coming years, the debate is hardly abstract.
Read More...
Obama's green agenda under attack from group linked to chemical industry
Connection to Solvay chemicals suggests opposition to action on global warming is spreading from 'big oil' to 'big chemical'
A secretive group linked to a leading European chemical company has joined the campaign to defeat Barack Obama's green agenda, taking the fight beyond the traditional players – the big oil and coal firms – the Guardian has learned.
The previously unknown Coalition for Responsible Regulation Inc (CRR) is at the forefront of a strategy to strip the Obama administration of its powers to regulate greenhouse gas emissions should Congress fail to act on climate change.
The group, which refuses to disclose its complete membership and which does not have a website, has joined more than a dozen states and a host of industry groups in 17 legal challenges to the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Read More...
DOE Issues Guidance for Reducing Petroleum Use in Federal Fleets
DOE released on April 14 its Federal Fleet Management Guidance, the first comprehensive guidance document to address the environmental impact of the federal vehicles. It will help agencies develop strategies to reduce their petroleum use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, meeting a requirement of President Obama's Executive Order on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance. The fleet guidance highlights a number of ways federal agencies can reduce petroleum consumption by reducing vehicle miles traveled, increasing fleet fuel efficiency, and switching to alternative fuels with lower GHG emissions. The document calls for federal agencies to optimize the size of both their fleets and the vehicles that make up those fleets, encourage transit options such as bicycling, and purchase alternative fuel vehicles, including electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The guidance also provides federal agencies with methods to track petroleum reductions and alternative fuel use.
Read More...
Greenest in government: DOE, NASA buildings to use 'net zero' energy
Two new federal office buildings are months away from becoming the first in government to operate off the commercial power grid, a landmark distinction that will set the course for all future federal construction.
The net-zero energy buildings - so named because they generate as much energy as they consume - belong to two agencies on the vanguard of scientific research and discovery: the Energy Department and NASA. Yet the new buildings rely mostly on low-tech and low-cost solutions that can be replicated across government and beyond.
"I really see this as a prototype of a 21st-century building. This is the way we're going to have to think about building in the future," said Steve Zornetzer, associate director of NASA's Ames Research Center outside San Jose, Calif.
Read More...
Is the NRA Encouraging Anti-Government Extremism?
Apparently the actions of National Rifle Association member Timothy McVeigh didn't teach the organization that its violent anti-government rhetoric can have dangerous consequences. On a day when thousands of Tea Party activists are taking to the streets to protest Tax Day, the Violence Policy Center has released a report today chronicling the increasing ties between the gun lobby and the Tea Party movement, and the NRA's adoption of much of the "Patriot movement's" anti-government language. The center sees direct parallels between the NRA's current activities and those in the years leading up to McVeigh's fateful decision to blow up the Oklahoma federal building:
"The gun lobby is once again embracing-and, equally important, validating-the anti-government rhetoric being offered by activists that range from Tea Party members, through pro-gun advocates, to members of the militia movement. And as was the case with Timothy McVeigh, the risk lies not so much with the organized members of these groups, but with the "lone wolves" who not only embrace their rhetoric, but are willing to act on it with violence."
Read More...
Senate Republicans Move to Bar NEPA Analysis of Climate Change Impacts
Republican senators introduced legislation today that would block White House efforts to require federal agencies to consider climate change in environmental analyses of proposed projects.
The bill says the National Environmental Policy Act should not be used to document, predict or mitigate the climate effects of specific federal actions. Under the measure, NEPA reviews could not consider the greenhouse gas emissions of a proposed federal project nor climate change effects as related to the proposal's design, environmental impacts, or mitigation or adaptation measures.
The measure comes after the White House in February issued draft guidance (pdf) that will require federal agencies to consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate change when carrying out NEPA reviews. The White House Council on Environmental Quality, or CEQ, is accepting public comment on the proposal through May 24.
Read More...
DOE Launches National Collaboration on LED Street Lights
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today that Seattle City Light, Seattle's publicly owned power utility, has been selected to lead a national effort to guide municipalities in evaluating light emitting diode (LED) street lights. The Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium will collect, analyze, and share information and lessons learned about LED street-lighting demonstrations to facilitate the adoption of this energy efficiency technology. Starting today, cities, power providers and others who invest in street and area lighting are invited to join the consortium and share their experiences through national and regional meetings, Webcasts, Web-based discussion forums, and other means. The goal is to build a repository of valuable field experience and data that will significantly accelerate the learning curve for buying and implementing high-quality, energy efficient LED street lights. This DOE effort is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
To learn more about the Consortium and membership, visit the DOE Municipal Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium page.
Read More...