Hiking with Dad

The latest science on what we can expect if we don’t get serious about cutting carbon pollution that is driving climate change is daunting. Whether its wholesale transformations of ecosystems, species extinctions or more variable extreme weather events putting communities, people, and wildlife at risk, the realities of what we have done to our natural world is finally hitting home for people across the country.

Fortunately, we know what’s causing these changes and we know what needs to be done to chart a better course for the future.

Safeguard Natural Systems from the Impacts of Climate Change

A grizzly bear mom and her cub. Grizzlies are struggling to survive as climate change affects whitebark pine forests, an important food source. Photo by Jenny Grimm.

As we find ourselves in a new era of extreme weather, driven in large part by climate change, it is critical to prepare people, property, and communities for future climate extremes. Increasing resiliency to such extremes can benefit both people and nature if we make smarter development and infrastructure investments, rethink how and where we build, and utilize nature-based solutions to safeguard communities while benefiting wildlife.

If 2012 was a wake-up call for the American people — with devastating drought, intense wildfires, and destructive storms — then 2013 must be a wake-up call for policymakers to finally take swift, bold action to reduce the carbon pollution heating the planet and properly deal with the unavoidable impacts of an already changing climate.

Protect Wildlife from the Worst-case Climate Change Scenarios

It is time to adopt policies here at home that reduce the threat of catastrophic climate change while realizing economic opportunities in clean energy. We can do this by taking swift, significant action to reduce carbon pollution, invest in smart energy choices and restore our natural systems that absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

The choices we make today about how we approach energy development will have profound impacts on the future of our wildlife and our climate. Any serious effort to reduce carbon pollution will require smart energy choices that reduce dependence on fossil fuels and move America quickly towards a future powered by clean energy.

Only by taking the threat seriously — by rejecting dirty energy and embracing responsible, clean energy solutions — will we begin to alter the path we are on to catastrophic climate change.

Steps to Limit Carbon Pollution Using Clean Air Act Authority

President Obama’s Administration has already taken considerable strides to reduce carbon pollution from the country’s largest sources. In his first term, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — in conjunction with the Department of Transportation — implemented the Clean Air Act to reduce carbon pollution from cars and trucks, the second largest source of carbon pollution in the United States. More must be done to reduce the threat of climate change. 

“We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.”

-President Obama in his 2nd Inaugural Address

The Obama Administration can take a number of significant, near-term actions to live up to his commitment to respond to the threat of climate change.  He must use the authority of the Clean Air Act to limit carbon pollution from new and existing power plants, reject the dirty Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and ensure the budget fights ahead do not slash critical investments in clean energy.

NWF is ready to take on the dirty energy interests here in Washington and across the country to confront this challenge.

Speak up for wildlife by urging President Obama to limit carbon pollution from coal-burning power plants.

The doors of the federal government will stay open, but important issues have yet to be resolved and the leadership in the House seems to be content in leaving important business on the table, including:

X Farm Bill: The failure of the House of Representative to pass a Farm bill threatens important wildlife conservation programs;

X Extension of wind energy tax credits: Uncertainty around the continuation of important clean energy incentives has has already lead to plant closings and job losses across the country;

X “Fiscal Cliff”:  At the end of 2012, automatic budget cuts (aka sequestration) and expiration of many tax breaks are set to go into effect.  This deficit showdown, in particular the automatic across-the-board cuts, will have a severe impact on many conservation and clean energy programs.

flickr/universalpops

Any reasonable person would expect that if Congress canceled the previously scheduled October work period, the remaining days would be spent working to make progress on these important issues.

The House of Representatives doesn’t seem to be too concerned with dealing with the real business of the country. Instead, they are working to amplify a political message on behalf of big polluters by taking up a bill that has no chance of becoming law. The bill, dubbed the “Stop the War on Coal Act,” is a simple “re-do” of bills the House has already voted on and been rebuffed by the Senate.

Representing a broad attack important health and environmental safeguards, every piece of this bill only serves to further the interests of oil and coal companies while putting the health and safety of the American people at risk by:

• Dismantling fundamental clean air protections that protect public health and the environment by reducing carbon, mercury and other toxic air pollution from the nation’s largest polluters.
• Repealing EPA’s science-based endangerment determination and simply declaring that carbon pollution is not a risk to human health and welfare, despite the overwhelming consensus that climate change is a threat to people and wildlife across the country.
• Blocking the recently-finalized national fuel efficiency standards that will deliver dramatic savings at the pump, significantly cut U.S. oil consumption, and reduce harmful pollution.
• Threatening our nation’s fishable, swimmable and drinkable waters, and would roll back key provisions of the Clean Water Act that are the underpinning of 40 years of progress. Because of the Clean Water Act, remarkable advances have been made in cleaning up our waters, restoring fish habitats, protecting drinking water, slowing wetland loss, and growing water-based recreation.
• Repealing EPA’s authority to ensure that coal ash—the byproduct of burning coal, which is laden with arsenic, lead and mercury and other toxic chemicals—is disposed of safely and kept out of our air and drinking water.
• Stopping the Department of the Interior from developing stronger standards to protect  rivers and ecosystems from the most egregious mountaintop removal mining operations, thereby putting the communities and wildlife that depend upon healthy ecosystems at risk.

Rather than resolving the important business and working to solve the problems facing the country, the House leadership continues to push a polluter-backed agenda that threatens the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the climate we depend on.

It is time national leaders take climate change and conservation values seriously. Pledge to speak up for wildlife in this election season and vote for lawmakers who will address the challenges we face.

Source: DBL Investors, 2011 Report (pdf)

But, there is also a story about the continued imbalance in our system that favors the old, polluting technology of the past over the clean energy choices of today and the future.

This imbalance is more than a graph with numbers.

This imbalance has real-world consequences that have already led to economic opportunity loss to other countries.

The most tangible example is the recent news that Gamesa, a giant in the wind industry, announced they would be installing an offshore wind prototype in the Spanish Canary Islands, rather than off the shores of Virginia.

From the Richmond-Times Dispatch:  Wind giant snubs Va. for offshore prototype

Global wind giant Gamesa said today it will build a wind turbine prototype in the Spanish Canary Islands instead of Virginia, citing the sluggish pace of U.S. development of offshore winds.

The Spanish company won Virginia regulatory approval in March to construct the 479-foot, 5-megawatt wind turbine prototype off the Eastern Shore. It was viewed as a significant step by the wind technology company to help develop the nascent U.S. wind industry, especially in waters off Virginia.

….

[A] Gamesa spokeswoman said the slow pace of regulatory actions, uncertainty over the future of tax credits for offshore development and the lack of a federal energy policy all conspired against investment in the prototype. (link added)

How Congress can act to fund the solution, not the problem

The signs of climate change, fueled by our continued reliance on carbon-polluting energy, are increasing in urgency. The economic, ecological and even psychological damages are being felt across the country.

While there is little sign that Congress will take significant action this year to significantly change the tide on energy policy, there is opportunity for policymakers in Washington to take important steps to keep current clean energy incentives going while looking at options to cut wasteful, environmentally harmful spending.

Clean Energy Tax Credits that Require Action in 2012

Unlike fossil fuel subsidies that are embedded in the tax code, these clean energy incentives need to be re-authorized from time-to-time and many have recently expired or are set to expire by the end of the year if Congress doesn’t take action.

• Section 48 Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for Offshore Wind Energy. Offshore wind energy represents a huge untapped resource that stands to generate clean electricity and increase manufacturing jobs for the future of the nation. There are still, however, no operating offshore wind facilities in U.S. waters. Section 48 should be extended for offshore wind facilities and bi-partisan legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate to do so.
• Section 45 Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) . This provision has been a critical tool to support investments in renewable energy. The credit expires at the end of 2012, but uncertainty on whether Congress will act has already resulted in a sharp drop in investments in wind energy production, threatening the livelihoods of the more than 78,000 people in nearly every state in the nation who are now in wind-supported jobs. When Congress allowed the PTC to expire in the past, wind installations dropped between 73 and 93 percent.
• Tax Credits for Energy Efficient Homes & Appliances.  The Section 45L Efficient New Homes Tax Credit & Section 45M Efficient Appliances Manufacturer Tax Credit expired at the end of 2011.  These tax credits not only save consumers and homeowners money by promoting energy efficient appliances and home energy products, but also create jobs. These credits encourage domestic manufacturing of high-efficiency appliances and jobs installing home efficiency projects that cannot be exported.
• Section 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit. This program leveraged vital private investments in new, expanded, or re-equipped clean energy manufacturing projects throughout the country. With applicants far exceeding the program’s original allocation, the program was able to leverage $5.4 billion in private investment, boosting growth and creating thousands of new U.S. manufacturing jobs for the burgeoning global renewable energy industry. Congress must pass an additional allocation for 48C, so that we can continue to grow our domestic renewable energy industry from the beginning to the end of the supply chain.
• Section 1603 Treasury Grant Program for Renewable Energy Projects.  Section 1603 has played a vital role in renewable energy deployment and expired at the end of last year. The program has leveraged over $22.8 billion in private sector investment to support over 2,000 projects representing over a dozen clean energy industries in all 50 states. According to a study by the U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance (a non-partisan educational program for policymakers), the Section 1603 program has generated over 115,000 jobs since it was enacted.
• Section 30B(d)(2)(B) Credits for Hybrid Medium- and Heavy-Duty Trucks.  Medium and heavy duty vehicles are second only to automobiles in oil consumption and they are responsible for 20 percent of U.S. transportation-based greenhouse gas emissions.  Hybrid and electric drives can increase fuel efficiency in trucks from 20 to more than 50 percent, yet the incentives for producing and deploying them expired in 2009. These incentives will help accelerate the development and deployment of more efficient and cleaner vehicles and help create domestic jobs.

Learn more about NWF’s efforts to promote clean energy that protects wildlife for our children’s future and what you can do to help.

Read the play-by-play on yesterday’s hearing from NWF’s Tony Iallonardo.

As we continue to pump taxpayer dollars back into the pockets of some of the richest corporations in America, the Senate is expected to vote next week on a plan to end the Big Oil Boondoggle.

Source: Office of Sen. Debbie Stabenow

The bill, sponsored by Senator Menendez (D-NJ) and cosponsored by 28 of his colleagues, will eliminate nearly $21 billion in subsidies to the largest oil companies over the next 10 years and put that money to deficit reduction.   This bill is a step in the right direction, but it leaves billions of wasteful dirty energy tax breaks on books: going after all $4 billion in oil and gas tax breaks, coal subsidies, and incentives to produce environmentally-destructive corn ethanol.  Money that could not only help ease budget pressures, but could be put to use on research, development and deployment technology to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and protect wildlife and the natural ecosystems upon which communities depend.

Budget Deal on the Horizon?

Prospects for passage in the Senate are slim and even less optimistic in the House, where proposals to end tax breaks have been rejected.  While the current legislation may not make it to the President’s desk, the issue is not going away.  Government spending and deficit reduction continues to remain at the top of the agenda in Washington, D.C. and both Democrats and Republicans have indicated support for ending tax breaks to oil companies in the name of getting our fiscal house in order, opening a door to a deal on ending the subsidies.

Take Action! Tell Congress to end handouts to Big Oil.

www.fueleconomy.gov

The nation narrowly escaped a budget collision and government shutdown a few weeks ago, but that was just the opening round in the epic battle to rein in out of control deficits in Washington.  While conservation and public health protection bear the brunt of the attack, the oil and gas industry has escaped the guillotine ensuring that pollution and profit at the expense of American households will continue unabated.

Enshrined for too long in our tax code, oil and gas tax loopholes and high profits add “salt to the wounds” for families who are paying almost $4.00 a gallon for gasoline to fuel their cars, up over $1.00 from last year.  Even the former CEO of Shell Oil, John Hoffmeister, recently admitted that Big Oil doesn’t need subsidies.

Voters agree; a February ABC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 74 percent of voters support eliminating tax breaks to oil companies.

Unbalanced Priorities

While fossil fuels continue to enjoy legacy subsidies, renewable energy struggles to compete in an unbalanced system. In a comprehensive study of government support for energy, fossil fuels enjoyed a 5 to 1 advantage in government backing over renewable energy.

If Congress was serious about solutions to increasing gas prices, it would end wasteful spending on false solutions and instead direct investment to real, clean solutions such as an efficient transportation system, electric vehicles, and next-generation bioenergy.

Will Congress Get it Right?

Prior to the current price-hike and profit reports, both the House and Senate voted-down proposals to end the wasteful spending earlier this year.  In February, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) sponsored an amendment to end tax breaks for Big Oil.  The proposal failed 44-54, with 7 Democrats joining all Republicans in opposing the measure.  In the House, while debating a stop-gap government funding measure, 249 Members stood with Big Oil and voted against eliminating oil & gas subsidies.

Congress may have another chance to rectify the situation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has pledged to hold a vote soon after the Congressional recess to cut-off the nearly $4 billion taxpayer boondoggle benefiting Big Oil and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) has announced a plan to repeal oil and gas tax breaks while investing  in clean energy solutions.  According to details released by the Chairman, the “Clean, Affordable Energy Production Plan” would:

• Repeal tax breaks for the largest oil and gas companies – end tax incentives for the five largest oil and gas companies that announced tens of billions of dollars in first quarter profits this week.  This includes the elimination of the section 199 manufacturing deduction, reduction in the foreign tax credit for royalty payments to foreign governments and the imposition of an excise tax on certain Gulf leases.
• Promote demand for clean, domestic fuel – encourage increased production of cleaner and more affordable domestically-produced fuel by making it easier for manufacturers to produce and for consumers to purchase.
• Incentivize fuel efficient vehicles – increase demand for the most fuel efficient vehicles by providing incentives for the purchase of these vehicles and encouraging manufacturers to increase production.
• Build a clean energy infrastructure – incentivize the infrastructure needed to support clean energy vehicles, such as alternative energy fueling stations, that will make the clean energy transportation of the future possible.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Early Blumenauer, and other House Democrats have also asked for a vote on ending Big Oil tax breaks.  Although indicating he may be in favor of such a move, Speaker Boehner has since recanted and continues his backing of Big Oil profits.  Meanwhile, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) has recently expressed support for ending Big Oil subsidies, a potential opening for such reform in the upcoming budget negotiations.

President Obama is putting the weight of the White House behind this effort, calling on Congress to invest in clean energy “instead of continuing to subsidize yesterday’s energy sources”.

Now is the time to invest in real energy solutions that truly reduce our dependence on foreign oil while creating homegrown American jobs.

Take Action! Send a message to your members of Congress, urging them to end the Big Oil Boondoggle.

National Bison Range (photo: US Fish & Wildlife Service)

Anyone who knows me or works with me at NWF’s National Advocacy Center in Washington, DC knows that I am a proud Montanan.  I was born and raised in the Big Sky State and when I am lucky enough to flee the city and visit home, I am constantly reminded of the natural beauty we are at risk of losing because of a rapidly warming planet.

The mountainsides that were once a sea of green are turned brown from bark beetle infestation; communities and forests are at even greater risk from more frequent and intense fire seasons; and the glaciers in Glacier National Park that I enjoyed as a child will soon become a thing of the past.

It is with all of this that I am dumbfounded by the idea that anyone from Montana would actually promote global warming.  But this is, in fact, the case.  State Rep. Joe Read (R-HD 15) has introduced a bill in the Montana State Legislature to deny global warming and, if that were not enough, declare that global warming is a good thing!

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
NEW SECTION. Section 1.  Public policy concerning global warming.

(1) The legislature finds that to ensure economic development in Montana and the appropriate management of Montana’s natural resources it is necessary to adopt a public policy regarding global warming.

(2) The legislature finds:

(a) global warming is beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana;

(b) reasonable amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere have no verifiable impacts on the environment; and

(c) global warming is a natural occurrence and human activity has not accelerated it.

(3) (a) For the purposes of this section, “global warming” relates to an increase in the average
temperature of the earth’s surface.

(b) It does not include a one-time, catastrophic release of carbon dioxide.

Leaving aside the mountain of evidence supporting that global warming is happening and it is due to human activity, to purport that global warming is “beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana” goes against all reason and evidence.  Montana is on the forefront of the impacts from a changing climate and has a great deal to lose if we turn a blind eye to the problem.

According to the US Travel Association, tourists spent $3.1 billion in the state in 2008 alone and supported the creation of 29,400 jobs – representing 6.6 percent of the state’s total non-farm employment.  In 2009, approximately 4.2 million people visited the National Parks in Montana, and 2 million visited Glacier National Park alone.

Meanwhile, we are losing the glaciers in Glacier National Park at an astounding rate, with the likelihood of them disappearing altogether in the next decade swiftly becoming a reality.  This does not benefit the welfare and business of Montana.

What’s even more astounding is Rep. Read’s own district (see the blue ’15′ on this map) covers communities on the front lines of these impacts.  His district surrounds Glacier National Park and I can’t imagine they would be too happy if tourist revenues dropped-off because there were no longer glaciers to be seen, or the park was on fire more than usual.  His district is in the heart of the Flathead National Forest, which is currently a prime area of concern for infestation of Mountain Pine (bark) Beetle.  I’d like to see him explain to his constituents how these impacts are beneficial to their businesses.

It is my hope that others in the state legislature see this bill for what it really is; a front for oil and coal interests in the state to push policies that only benefit their bottom-line.  Global Warming is a serious problem that will take a great deal of resolve, energy, and investment to address.  But, I choose to believe that Montanans are willing to do what is right and necessary to protect our state and ensure future generations are left to enjoy the wonders and beauty that define Big Sky Country.

For more on what you can do locally to protect wildlife for our children’s future, visit the National Wildlife Federation’s Northern Rockies Regional Center based in Missoula, MT or on the web.

I was able to capture a video clip of one of those amazing animals – the Clouded Leopard, a highly threatened Asian cat. They are beautiful but notoriously shy (not to mention nocturnal) creatures. We were lucky that the male adult decided to come out for the crowd when the keeper brought a potted plant (an intriguing “toy” for the cat) into the cage.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In their native habitat in Southeast Asia these cats are highly threatened. Their coats are in high demand and the illegal fur trade is a rampant problem. Poaching along with habitat destruction and degradation remain major threats to the future of the Clouded Leopard.  In an effort to maintain the diversity and ensure survival of the species, SCBI has successfully reared cubs at the facility since the breeding program began in 1978 and currently holds the largest population of clouded leopards in North America.  The Institute has also partnered with the Thai government to focus on preserving this treasured species and its native habitat.

The facility serves as a “last stop” for many species on the brink of extinction. They are a research and breeding center for endangered birds and mammals where many are being bred at the facility to maintain genetic diversity and provide reserves for highly threatened species. The work done at this facility provides invaluable information to researchers working to manage and restore wild populations across the globe.

Normally a closed facility, they open once a year for an “open house” organized through Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ). I highly recommend keeping an eye out for this next year. They have a plethora of great activities for families and kids to learn about the importance of conservation and biodiversity….not to mention they have really cool animals!

For more on the Clouded Leopard and the work of the Institute, visit the SCBI Clouded Leopard Conservation website.