It’s Getting Hot In Here

Just saw this (on Think Progress)
Obama Nominates Superfund Polluter Lawyer To Run DOJ Environment Division

GM cleanup of the Bedford Superfund site.

President Barack Obama has nominated a lawyer for the nation’s largest toxic polluters to run the enforcement of the nation’s environmental laws. On Tuesday, Obama “announced his intent to nominate” Ignacia S. Moreno to be Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division in the Department of Justice. Moreno, general counsel for that department during the Clinton administration, is now the corporate environmental counsel for General Electric, “America’s #1 Superfund Polluter.”

What a week for Obama, with his reversals on opposition to military tribunals and on the release of photos of torture of prisoners…

Didn’t I hear somewhere we were done with “fox guarding the hen house” style environmental regulation and “you can’t handle the truth” non-transparency of the Bush administration? Seems it’s high time to get off the “hope” train and get on the action train.

anyhow, more of this story follows… Continue reading ‘Change you can believ—wha???’

Tonight I talked to my Dad on the phone like I do on most nights. He asked me to recap my day as he always does, but something was noticeably different tonight. Truthfully something has been noticeably different for the nights over the course of past many months as he as slowly faced the reality that his business, the business his father built was growing ever closer to extinction. Tonight my Dad watched as Chrysler dealers across the country read in letters delivered today that their doors would shut, their franchises terminated, their hundreds of employees left jobless. Tonight he waits to get that it letter tomorrow as one of more that 1100 General Motors Dealers that will close their doors. On the surface this is just another casualty of the economic devastation hitting so many American families tonight. Lost jobs have become the norm, business closing their doors all too familiar to us all. Every job, every business having it’s own unique story of the American Dream realized and then taken away? Our story is no different. My grandpa working his way from sweeping floors in a service department to eventually opening his own dealership, a dealership that not only still bares his name but many of the same employees that were there with him in those earliest days. Employees who watched my dad grow up, who watched me grow up, and who will tomorrow learn that the place they’ve come to know as home a place they’ve worked for more than 4 decades is shutting its doors forever. Sadly though this story could be told in nearly every city across this country tonight, a daughter painfully listening to her parents lose their spark, their confidence, their sense of pride as all they’ve built vanishes before their eyes.

I’m left tonight thinking about how this story could have been and should have been different. I’m left searching for the lesson in this tragedy, the thing we take to ensure we don’t end up here again, losing yet another base of American jobs. I believe it’s more than coincidence that it is within my own career and its current focus where I find this lesson most applicable. While my family confronts the reality that the Tolkan family will no longer be in the car business in Milwaukee, I’m spending my days in Washington, DC battling the US congress in the fight for a clean energy future. As I sort through the players on the Energy & Commerce committee that currently hold the fate of legislative action on Climate Change, I hope that some of these members can learn from the monumental failure of their former chairman and now colleague on the committee, Representative John Dingle. Through Representative Dingle’s 5-decade career he positioned himself to act in the chief interest of the US auto industry. Representing Michigan’s 15th Congressional district he fought tooth and nail to prevent higher fuel efficiency standards, tailpipe provisions, anything he deemed as a threat to the status quo of the US Auto Industry. He stood strong and positioned himself to delay aggressive action to deal with climate change concerned it would hamper the industry that has been his greatest supporter. His efforts, I would argue helped in part to drive that industry to the place it is today, facing bankruptcy, uncompetitive with foreign automakers, and on the brink of extinction. As my Dad has to stand before his 100 employees today, many of whom helped to open the business with his own father 43 years ago, I wonder what Chairman Dingle thinks of his strategy?

On Monday morning the Energy and Commerce Committee will begin its markup of Chairmen Waxman and Markey’s American Climate and Energy Security Act. The past 6 weeks have consisted of endless work to compromise with members represent coal and oil industries. They are weakening the legislation at every turned, doing what they feel is necessary to protect the industries that keep them in office. I urge them to study the mistake of their colleague Mr. Dingle; I beg them to consider the reality setting in for the thousands of the people losing their jobs across the country today. Are you really doing right by the utilities, oil, and coal companies by allowing them to remain in dying industries? Could you not be helping them to transition into renewable energy companies, and thereby sustaining those jobs for the foreseeable future.

I began writing this email last night, and just 5 minutes ago a FedEx envelope arrived at Bob Tolkan Buick, and the awful news we had all expected became certain. I’m heart-broken for my Dad who poured his life into this business, deeply saddened for the extended family of employees that will learn in just a few minutes that their jobs are no longer, but most of all angry at an industry and political system that failed us. It’s possible in the face of all this anger that I’m looking for too deep for meaning, but I can’t help but feel that there is an opening here to bring a message to the leaders like Rick Boucher and others to not make the same mistakes for the people in the oil fields and coal mines that were made for those in the US Auto Industry.

We stand at the crossroads of some of the most difficult times our country has ever seen. I stand forever proud to be a part of this coalition and movement working hard to turn us in the right direction.

Not feeling the online photo petitions? Is lobbying for not so bold legislation dragging you down? Don’t fret my friend, for action is the antidote to despair! Check out this admittedly incomplete list of  direct action campaigns and events happening this summer.

Climate Ground Zero, West Virginia, All Summer

Come to West Virginia to take direct action against mountaintop removal coal mining. CGZ will be coordinating action training camps and organizing actions against coal companies destroying the mountains and communities of WV. We will have non-violence and other trainings, a kitchen and people who can explain the corrupt practice of MTR. We are hoping to shut down the sites on an ongoing basis all summer long. But we need your help.

www.climategroundzeron.org

Contact Guin at 304-854-7372, guinstigator@yahoo.com

Cascadia Summer 2009

The Pacific Northwest is looking hot for direct action this summer with plans for massive public lands logging on the table. Thanks to a scheme called the Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) passed by Bush at the last minute around 25,000 acres of public lands will be cut. That’s a 436% percent increase in logging. Aside from the horrific impacts on the local ecosystem the logging would result in releasing 180 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere. The equivalent of putting one million cars on the road for 132 years.

Fortunately Oregonians are gearing up for a summer of resistance with several action camps and direct actions planned throughout the summer:

May 23-25 Cascadia Summer Campaign Action Camp

June 20-26 Trans and Womyns Action Camp

June 29-July 6 Earth First! Round River Rendezvous

July 8-July 15 EF! Climbers Guild Intensive Climb Camp

For more information contact forestdefensenow@gmail.com

www.forestdefensenow.org
Continue reading ‘Get some action this summer!’

By Teryn Norris & Jesse Jenkins

The landmark Waxman-Markey 2009 American Clean Energy and Security Act was introduced in the House this afternoon (May 15, download PDF here), and the Breakthrough Institute has performed a preliminary analysis of how it would invest over $1 trillion in cap and trade revenue between 2012-2025.  Our key findings for this period include (all numbers are approximate — download spreadsheet here):

(click image to magnify)

• Polluting industries: 57.3% of allowances would be freely distributed to polluting industries, including 36.7% for the electricity sector, 12.3% for energy-intensive industries, 6.5% for local natural gas distribution companies, and 1.8% for oil refiners
• Direct consumer protection: 16.5% of allowances would be used for direct consumer protection, including 15% for low and moderate-income families and 1.5% to benefit users of home heating oil and propane
• Energy efficiency and clean energy technology: 12.2% of allowances would be used to fund energy efficiency and clean energy technology development and deployment
• Adaptation and technology transfer: 4.7% of allowances would be used for domestic and global climate adaptation and technology transfer
• Workforce development: 0.6% of allowances would be used to fund worker assistance and job training
• Deficit reduction and other: 8.6% of allowances would be used to fund deficit reduction and other public purposes

How much money would these allocations translate into? That depends on the average price for each pollution allowance — the EPA’s initial price estimate was approximately $13-17 per allowance, so we will assume an average price of $15 per allowance. The allocation would look like this (click images to magnify):

Continue reading ‘Waxman-Markey Gives Nearly 5 Times More to Polluters than Clean Energy’

Bill McKibben has an oped in today’s Los Angeles Times about the importance of the work y’all are doing: building a global movement to take on the climate crisis. As Billy wrote in his recent post, it’s going to take a new type of thinking and a new kind of tactics to get strong climate action. Bill writes,

In fact, the problem is pretty simple: The environmental movement isn’t big enough. It’s one of the most selfless of advocacy efforts. But the movement has been sized to save whales and build national parks and force carmakers to stick catalytic converters on exhaust systems. It’s nowhere near big enough to take on the fossil fuel industry, the biggest player in our global economy. It’s like sending the Food and Drug Administration to fight the war in Afghanistan.

Exxon Mobil Corp. made more money last year than any U.S. company in the history of money. That gives it more clout than all the green groups combined. Which is why, if the Copenhagen conference is going to be anything but a disaster, we need to build a stronger movement. All around the world. Very fast.

Read the whole article here.

In last week’s New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a fascinating article, “How David Beats Goliath: When Underdogs Break The Rules.” In his patented style Gladwell weaves together story after story of underdogs who defied convention to defeat much stronger opponents. From the Biblical story of David defeating Goliath, to a junior league basketball team of twelve year-old girls, to the armies of George Washington, Gladwell offers us examples of how an underdog is only an underdog when he plays by his opponent’s rules. He also offers the research of Ivan Arreguín-Toft, a political scientist who analyzed every war fought over the last two hundred years between strong and weak combatants.

The Goliaths, he found, won in 71.5 percent of the cases. That is a remarkable fact. Arreguín-Toft was analyzing conflicts in which one side was at least ten times as powerful—in terms of armed might and population—as its opponent, and even in those lopsided contests the underdog won almost a third of the time…What happened, Arreguín-Toft wondered, when the underdogs likewise acknowledged their weakness and chose an unconventional strategy? He went back and re-analyzed his data. In those cases, David’s winning percentage went from 28.5 to 63.6. When underdogs choose not to play by Goliath’s rules, they win…”

What an intriguing piece of data. Gladwell’s article got me thinking about the movement to build a clean energy economy and what we can do to turn the tables and put the odds in our favor.  By most measures, we face an indomitable opponent.  We seek to transition the economy off of fossil fuels, which represent the core business of the largest industry in the history of human civilization.  In just the first three months of 2009, these companies spent $79 million lobbying Congress versus $4.6 million by our side–a 16:1 ratio–and a Common Cause study released yesterday shows that members of the critical Energy and Commerce Committee (where the climate and energy bill is currently being watered down) received an average of $107,230 from the energy sector in the last election.  16 to 1.  16 to 1.  Those are tough numbers.

I wonder what would happen if we acknowledged our weaknesses and adopted an unconventional strategy. After reading The New Yorker article, I see four principles of a winning underdog strategy that we can apply to the climate movement:

1. Make it a battle of wills, not a battle of skills
2. Empower people to think and act in real time
3. Attack your opponent where they are weak
4. Defy social convention (and be ready to do what is socially horrifying)

Below the fold, I give my take on what some of the implications of these principles are for our movement’s strategy.
Continue reading ‘Rethinking the Rules of Engagement’

As sweeping climate and clean energy legislation is readied for debate in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, details are emerging on the deals and compromises struck between the bill’s architects, Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA) and the group of reluctant swing members of the committee who hail largely from states reliant on coal and heavy industry.

The “breakthrough deal” struck between Waxman, Markey and the swing E&C Committee Dems will enable a full subcommittee markup of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) beginning Thursday and likely proceeding through next week (markup = votes on a series of amendments on the proposed bill followed vote to pass the bill out of (sub)committee). The deal apparently involves a series of concessions that either incrementally weaken the objectives of the bill or give free greenhouse gas pollution permits to utilities and heavy industry in order to blunt the impact of the proposed cap and trade program on these sectors of the economy.
Continue reading ‘Climate Bill Heading for Markup – Will it Invest in a Clean, Prosperous Energy Economy?’

Cross-posted from Focus the Nation

Democrats in the House Energy and Commerce Committee have been very busy lately. They’ve been busy, that is, making ACES into what may become a completely worthless bill, in an effort to buy the votes of industrial state moderates in Congress.

A particularly painful example of this is the “cash for clunkers” arrangement that will spend as much as $4.5 billion in taxpayer money to subsidize the purchase of marginally more efficient new vehicles for up to one million drivers. This program creates perverse incentives, does not create cost effective emissions reductions, and is in effect a multi-billion dollar redistribution of taxpayer money to car manufacturers and new car buyers. The new cars don’t even have to be fuel efficient by any reasonable standards.

In the most glaringly awful example of this arrangement’s ridiculousness, someone trading in a large light duty truck for one that gets one mile per gallon better fuel economy (YES, ONLY ONE MPG!), is eligible for a $3,500 voucher toward their new vehicle purchase (YES, THAT’S THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!).

This is ludicrous. Continue reading ‘“Cash for Clunkers” No Good in Present Form’

Written by OSU student Kaitlyn Maywhoor:
Yesterday morning, the Ohio Student Environmental Coalition held a protest outside of the American Municipal Power headquarters in Columbus.

The plan was to wash AMP’s windows to help them “See the Light” while holding murals depicting Ohio’s future with AMP’s proposed coal-fired power plant versus Ohio’s future with renewable energy. However, when the group arrived there were two police cars and a paddy wagon parked outside the headquarters.

After talking with the police officers, OSEC Steering Committee co-chairs Kristen Arnold (Freshman, OSU) and Leah Winnike (Sophomore, University of Dayton) were allowed a meeting with AMP spokespeople Jolene Thompson and Kent Carson.
Continue reading ‘Students Send Window-Washing Wakeup Call to Ohio Utility’

Universities are on the cutting edge of solar energy research, but they’re surprisingly laggard when it comes to adopting it.

Only nine campuses have installed systems producing more than 1 megawatt of electricity, and even those system are making only a tiny dent in their campus power supplies. The 1.2 MW system at the University of California San Diego, for one, generates less than 4% of campus energy use. Dozens of other campuses have smaller solar projects, but among them, only 27 top 100 kilowatts.

Compare our nation’s universities with Wal-Mart, and the numbers are pitiful. Wal-Mart has 18 large arrays in California alone, and it just announced it will double that number in the next 18 months.

So why are universities so slow to jump on solar? Continue reading ‘Start-Ups Rise to Push Solar on College Campuses’