via Gage Skidmore/Flickr

“I think it’s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and global warming that you’re seeing.”

- Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Back to top

Economic Story of the Week

Cleantech Taking Off

According to Climate Progress, despite a spate of rumors in the media to the contrary, clean energy is creating large numbers of high quality American jobs in emerging industries. ‘Cleantech’ has seen “torrid growth” from 2003 to 2010, 8.3% per year which is almost double the growth rate of the overall economy during that period.

The government’s investment in clean energy jobs through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and programs like the Better Buildings Initiative have helped stimulate the hardest hit sectors of the economy, increase U.S. competitive advantage in new clean energy industries, and increased both the quality and quantity of clean energy jobs even in the recession. For a more detailed analysis, click here.

Back to top

Editorial of the Week

Irene Strikes a Nation Seemingly Content to Worry Less About Climate Change

(New York Times)

The last time a hurricane landed on the shores of the United States, Americans’ belief in climate change was at its peak and House Democrats would soon begin their march toward passage of climate legislation. When Irene boils onto the East Coast this weekend, she will find a nation with degraded belief in global warming, a defeated climate bill, and the absence of a federal plan to address an ominously rising number of natural catastrophes.

It’s time to use current weather events, like Irene, as an analogy for future climate effects, says Frank Nutter, president of the Reinsurance Association of America… “You have to start looking at these things as indicative of the very scenarios that the scientific community say are likely to play out — increased precipitation, more severe storms, probably greater storm surge with rising sea level,” Nutter said. (More…)

Back to top

CA Green Lights Cap & Trade

State air regulators in California have affirmed cap and trade as their policy of choice to reduce greenhouse emissions from industrial sectors under California’s global warming law, A.B. 32.

All of the board members who approved the original plan in 2008 upheld their previous votes, but four members voiced preference yesterday for tax on carbon pollution instead of the cap-and-trade regulations.

The regulations are due to be released in final form in the next week or so, followed by a final commenting period before their approval in October. Agency staff stated they are also considering adding three new ways to reduce emissions outside the cap in order to increase the supply of offsets, including reducing the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers, reducing rice straw decomposition and methane generation from flooded rice fields, and replacing valves on oil and gas pipelines with ones that release less methane, said Edie Chang, head of ARB’s climate planning and management department.

More on this story: LA Times

Back to top

Come on Irene

Though here inside the Beltway we got off comparatively easy, Hurricane Irene’s wrath could cause more damage along the Eastern Seaboard than any other storm in decades, begging the question of whether climate change may be increasing the strength of hurricanes (not to mention other extreme weather events.) Coincidentally, Irene’s landing coincided with the 6 year anniversary of Katrina’s touchdown in the Gulf and came just a few days after the 5.9 earthquake that shook the east coast.

While scientists are still wary of attributing any single extreme weather event to climate change, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology expert Kerry Emanuel, “the evidence for a connection between Atlantic hurricanes and global climate change is fairly compelling.” Given the apparent increase in both frequency and strength of these events and their impacts on people and wildlife, we should at least start taking this evidence seriously.

More on this story: NY Times, Huffington Post, Wildlife Promise

Back to top

Happening this Week

Tuesday, August 30

Business and policy leaders gather in Las Vegas, NV to discuss the future of renewable energy, efficiency, transportation, and the intelligent grid. Speakers include: Vice-President Joe Biden; Energy Secretary Steven Chu; Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus; the Governors of California, Nevada and Washington; Federal Energy Regulatory Chairman John Wellinghoff; Nevada Senator Harry Reid; Center for American Progress President John Podesta, and more. Check out the live stream here.

Back to top

For more global warming news on Wildlife Promise click here.

Jeremy Symons

“The first thing to know about this dangerous and unnecessary tar sludge pipeline is that it’s more than just a disaster for wildlife or a disaster for clean water…It’s about climate change… It’s also a disaster for consumers who are already paying high gas prices at the pump. At a time where our gas prices are already high, you have oil companies cooking up a new scheme that will raise gas prices in the Midwest.”

-Jeremy Symons, NWF Senior VP, Conservation & Education on E&E TV regarding the proposal for the Keystone XL pipeline.

Back to top

Economic Story of the Week

Regional cap-and-trade systems to thrive

Carbon market experts and emissions trading proponents are confidently predicting that regional cap-and-trade systems will continue to grow in the U.S. and Canada. In spite of the recent announcement of New Jersey’s departure from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the nine other member states still remain strongly committed to the program’s success.

Additional trends in the western United States and Canada suggest that RGGI is encouraging a move toward mandatory cap-and-trade programs in several states and provinces, experts say. The emissions trading program in California, for example, is set to become the next government-regulated carbon market in North America. Once in place, it will ease the transition for other states and provinces.

Observers recognize RGGI for demonstrating a model other systems can follow, through the efficient allocation of emissions allowances by auction, with transparent system oversight and minimal disruption to the power markets. Regionally based approaches may continue to emerge throughout North America and maybe eventually unify as a comprehensive framework.

“I am increasingly a believer that what will happen in the U.S. is that we will have a bottom-up development of a series of regional programs which will eventually form a significant and nationwide” cap-and-trade program, says David Hunter, U.S. director of the International Emissions Trading Association.

Back to top

Editorial of the Week

A.E.P. Protests Too Much

(NY Times)

American Electric Power, one of the nation’s largest utilities, warned last week that new air quality rules could force it to “prematurely” shut down about two dozen big coal-fired units and fire hundreds of workers. This is a deceptive and particularly cynical claim. The utility is making a business decision that has little to do with the rules…Blaming the rules is a transparent scare tactic designed to weaken the administration’s resolve while playing to industry supporters on Capitol Hill.

Fortunately, Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, which proposed the rules, refuses to be bullied. Ms. Jackson called the A.E.P. charges “misleading at best” and made clear she would not retreat from her statutory duty to protect public health. (More…)

Back to top

Business Solutions for Climate Resilience

According to a new report, Adapting for a Green Economy: Companies, Communities and Climate Change, jointly released by the UN Global Compact, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Oxfam and the World Resources Institute businesses worldwide can achieve competitive advantages through climate adaptation strategies.

According to the report, more than 4 out of 5 companies believe climate change poses a risk to their business. The global survey reported that 86 percent of businesses described responding the climate risks as a business opportunity.

“Businesses are facing increasing challenges from the rise in extreme weather events — such as droughts, heat waves and floods,” said Manish Bapna, managing director, WRI. “In this changing environment, companies that move first to address the risks and develop innovative strategies to adapt to climate change are likely to be the winners and gain a competitive advantage moving forward.”

Back to top

ALA Poll shows support for EPA and Stronger Smog Standards

New data released from a bipartisan survey conducted by the American Lung Association indicates that Americans are greatly supportive of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and their efforts to update and strengthen rules on life-threatening air pollutants such as smog.

The poll reports that 75 percent of voters support the EPA setting stricter limits on smog, rather than Congress. A significant majority of voters reject the idea that stronger standards will hinder economic recovery, while most agree that updated standards will spur innovation and investment in new technologies that will also lead to job creation.

Back to top

Senate says No to Ethanol Subsidies

In a landmark 73-23 vote, the Senate passed an amendment to end the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and remove the protectionist tariff for corn ethanol. Because oil companies are already mandated under the Renewable Fuels Standard to blend ethanol, this funding is duplicative and no longer needed to support ethanol production.

The decision indicates that farm-state support for corn ethanol has conflicted with efforts to balance the budget. At an estimated annual cost to taxpayers of $4-6 billion a year, disposing of this tax credit will help control deficit spending without hindering the development of advanced biofuels as a renewable energy source. The House also voted to prohibit federal funding of expensive blender pumps and storage tanks for ethanol.

Back to top

Happening this Week

Tuesday, June 21

Briefing: Transatlantic Perspectives on Shale Gas Development, 2PM – 3:30 PM, 334 Cannon House Office Building

Wednesday, June 22

Hearing: Examining NOAA’s Climate Service Proposal, House Science, Space, and Technology, 10 AM, 2318 Rayburn

Thursday, June 23

Hearing on hydropower and electricity bills H.R.461, H.R.795, H.R.2060, House Natural Resources Committee, 10 AM, 1324 Longworth

Hearing on renewable energy bills H.R.2170, H.R.2171, H.R.2172, and H.R.2173, House Natural Resources Committee , 10 AM, 1334 Longworth

Hearings on regional energy and water bills, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 2:30 PM, 366 Dirksen

Saturday, June 25

Hands Across the Sand, a demonstration against offshore drilling and for clean energy. 11:30AM, The White House, Washington, DC (Pennsylvania Ave side)

Great American Backyard Campout, Anytime on June 25th or another convenient day, your backyard or favorite campsite.

Back to topFor more global warming news on Wildlife Promise click here.