Note: this post is contributed in honor of the Sierra Club’s national day of action for a strong EPA ozone ruling.  However the words are mine alone, as are any mistakes.

Coal and oil make for cheap energy - but only because polluters aren’t currently required to pay the true cost of polluting.  Inadequate emissions-control laws that let polluters off the hook have up to now been a major reason coal and oil can burn so cheaply.  And nowhere are the true costs brought home more clearly than in the Bush-era EPA’s loose standards for that soup of toxic compounds which form ground-level ozone, or “smog.”  The Obama administration and environmental activists across the country now have a key opportunity to strengthen regulation of ground-level ozone, and protect the health of our communities. 

At the behest of EPA scientists, the National Lung Association, and various other health advocates, Lisa Jackson’s EPA is proposing stricter standards to regulate ozone from coal plants, vehicle tailpipe emissions, and other major sources.  The final ruling on ozone is scheduled to be adopted by August 31st of this year, with the public comment period ending on March 22nd.  The new rules could limit permissable ozone levels to between 60 and 70 parts per billion (ppb).  It’s the health of our communities and human lives at stake: limiting ozone to 70 ppb is predicted to help prevent 2,200 heart attacks, while a limit of 60 ppb would help prevent 5,300.  Ground-level ozone also contributes to asthma attacks, permanent lung damage, and other forms of respiratory illness that plague thousands of US citizens each year. 

By announcing its intent to re-examine ozone standards, the EPA has already taken a firm step in the right direction.  Yet it’s far from certain just how stringent new standards will be, and there can be no doubt the coal and oil industries will do all in their power to see the weakest possible rule take effect.  Pleas send a personalized letter to the EPA before the March 22nd deadline, letting them know you want the strongest possible ruling.  Remember, the difference between a standard of 70 and 60 ppb may translate to 3,100 heart attacks!

A strong new standard for ozone will have tangible effects on communities exposed to pollution.  Ground-level ozone in the US is regulated by county, and many counties across the nation are expected to fail the stronger of the new standards being proposed.  One such is Multnomah County, Oregon – a place I know well and visit multiple times each week.  Stronger ozone rules would likely result in stricter controls in this region on vehicle emissions, and pollution from Oregon’s Boardman Coal Plant.  The result will be safer Oregon communities, lower healthcare costs for many families, and a healthier workforce in our urban areas. 

However the importance of the ozone ruling will extend even further.  Ozone smog doesn’t just impact human health, but also forests and other natural ecosystems.  Here in Oregon, ozone from sources like the Boardman Coal Plant is a major contributor to haze in the Columbia River Gorge.  Ozone’s impact on natural areas will be addressed by the “secondary limits” part of the EPA’s ozone rules.  A strict secondary limit of 7 parts per million-hours for ozone could have a dramatic impact on haze pollution in scenic areas, and damage to forest ecosystems across the country.

Will stricter standards for ground-level ozone solve the problem of the coal and oil industry’s on human health?  Of course not.  But the EPA adopting the strictest viable standards for ozone pollution would be a step toward requiring that polluters pay the actual costs of pollution.  It would mean many coal plant operators would have to look at implementing expensive pollution controls, making a switch to clean energy more cost-effective.  It would mean yet another hurdle for new coal plant proposals, which would have to show they wouldn’t push a county above the safe ozone threshold. 

The Obama EPA, led by Administrator Lisa Jackson, has a chance to get tough on ozone and show the administration’s willingness to hold polluters accountable.  Please contact the EPA today, and let the agency know why limiting ozone is important to you.

At first the student questioner probably thought my answer sounded like a mother answering her seven year old on why she couldn’t eat the cookie for breakfast, “Because I said so.” But really, it’s true that we have to make this decade one of the most transformative in American history. Period. Anything short of that is morally inexcusable. Over the next 10 years our generation will unleash the full power of the clean and just energy revolution and secure our climate from the duel threats of the economic and climate crisis. Why? Because we have to. This is not just a campaign slogan but the reality that we have inherited an insane global emergency and failure to rise to the challenge will result in the suffering of millions of our fellow human beings. We cannot continue to live under the corporate polluter domination that is poisoning our communities and disproportionally affecting communities of color the world over. I for one can’t live with it. And I keep going because I know that everyday there is a movement of people out there that feel the same way. Let us now let us speak with a unified vision for Our Decade.

Let’s face it Americans tend to think in terms of decades. What defined the decades in the last century, 50’s, 60, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s. etc? What images does this bring to mind? Poodle skirts, Woodstock, disco, big hair bands and Reaganomics. These are forever burned in our collective consciousness. (Plus, we are constantly reminded with cheesy VH1 flashback specials.) But seriously, what image will our grandchildren see when they look back on this decade? The image of healthy, sustainable communities powered by wind turbines? It’s ours for the making! Let them see that this was the turning point in American history when a generation said; “we can’t live like this” and summoned the moral courage to restore our nation to the promise of our most hallowed values. We have 10 years to turn this thing around and it’s up to us.

Starting today and over the next two weeks young people across the country are hosting gatherings and events to vote on our collective vision and commitment for Our Decade. There is incredible stuff planned all over the country (Find an event near you or host your own) check out some of the highlights:

• Today, voting booths are set-up at tables at Florida International University, University of South Caroline-Aiken, George Mason University, Central Michigan University and more!
• College and HS students from across Missouri are gathering at the “Show Me Sustainability” conference at Mizzou and will all take part in the Define Our Decade vote together!
• The Beyond Coal Campaign at Pennsylvania State University is constructing a big art installation of the “Foundations of Our Future” to emphasize the need for Penn State University to move beyond coal!
• Michigan State University students are following up on a coal plant hearing that they held, to have a community forum on how to move the campus to 100% clean electricity by 2020.

As part of these events, organizers will be asking their peers, and their communities how they want to define their decade, and will be asking them to take part in a national youth vote where we gauge how ambitious young people are for this decade.  Take a minute right now to add your vote and vision for reclaiming our future. And tell a friend!

Let’s make the next 10 years some of the most active and promising in American history. Our collective survival depends on it.

This week, the youth energy and climate movement achieved a victory when Johns Hopkins University — one of the largest research universities in the world — announced a major new climate and energy plan, resulting in large part from student activism and leadership.

Announced by JHU President Ron Daniels, the plan includes (1) a $73 million energy investment to cut university carbon pollution over 50% below projected levels by 2025, (2) a new Environment, Sustainability, and Health Institute to promote new research and education in climate, energy, and sustainability, (3) a new Master’s Degree in Energy Policy and Climate, and more.

“Global climate change is one of humanity’s greatest challenges,” declared President Daniels in his statement. “Facing this challenge head-on is our shared responsibility, especially as residents of the developed world. But universities have a special role in our society and a special responsibility. We are institutions that discover, that educate and that, often, set an example. When it comes to global climate change, Johns Hopkins will be a leader in all three.”

The plan results from recommendations by the JHU President’s Task Force on Climate Change, formed by former President Brody largely in response to student activism by the Hopkins Energy Action Team (HEAT) in 2007.  HEAT began as a handful of energy activists, and over the course of a year, it grew to represent over 20 student groups, 2500 students, and dozens of faculty, constituting one of the largest concerted student movements in Hopkins history. As a former JHU student and class president, I had the honor of co-founding and directing HEAT with my colleague Blake Hough, and I served on the Task Force to help develop its recommendations, which included the former JHU Provost and current U.S. Under Secretary of Energy at the Department of Energy, Dr. Kristina Johnson.

After the completion of the Task Force recommendations in March 2009, students responded with a large sign-on letter to express their support to President Daniels. “We are writing to urge you to drastically accelerate Johns Hopkins’ movement toward sustainability and expand our efforts to mitigate global climate change and build a clean energy economy,” they wrote. “Leading society to live sustainably and reverse global climate change is a task that fits squarely into the university’s educational, research, and public service missions. Hopkins cannot remain a leading world university in the 21st century without addressing this defining global challenge—and we stand only to gain by acting now.”

These efforts, and the overall Johns Hopkins climate and energy plan, can serve as a model for other universities and colleges around the country. Higher education has critical role to play in accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy. Universities perform 56 percent of the nation’s basic research, a fundamental building block of the technological innovation necessary to make clean energy cheap.   They are the training ground for the next generation of scientists, engineers, teachers, and leaders in government and industry. And universities and colleges are the launching ground for numerous entrepreneurial ventures to bring those innovations to the marketplace.

Today, faced with the defining challenges of climate change and the global clean energy race, students must work with their college administrators to secure greater educational resources related to clean energy technology and policy, including better curriculum, professors, classroom and laboratory resources, career development opportunities, support for student entrepreneurship, and research. Every significant institution of higher education in the country should have an energy-related institute that incubates cutting-edge education, research, and innovation. Students are flocking to schools with the best clean-tech programs, and university administrations are increasingly paying attention.

The federal government must also implement a higher education strategy for clean energy innovation and education, including an effort on par with the National Defense Education Act of 1958, which invested billions in education to help regain U.S. leadership in science and technology after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.  That is why an alliance of student and youth-led groups has launched the ReEnergyse Campaign to mobilize and empower young people to advance the Obama administration’s RE-ENERGYSE education proposal through Congress in 2010. RE-ENERGYSE needs a strong base of support to pass Congress, and as the primary stakeholders in the program, young people can be particularly influential in organizing a coalition of supporters and directly voicing their concerns to members of Congress.

As American students, we can change the course of our institutions and communities.  We can change the course of our nation.  And at this moment of challenge, we can achieve the energy revolution our world needs.

Maria Gunnoe, organizer with Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, shows coal dust she wiped off Frankie Mooney's home in Twilight, WV

congressional newspaper in Washington DC, published a set of opposing op-eds yesterday just as the 5th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington wrapped up.  See Blankenship’s here and RFK Jr.’s here.

This follows the televised debate of Blankenship and Kennedy in Charleston, WV in late January, which helped focus national attention on MTR after Science magazine published an article on its destructive effects earlier in the month.   Climate Ground Zero also launched a treesit the same day as the debate, which halted blasting on Massey’s Bee Tree site in Pettus, WV for nine days.

Blankenship is feeling the pressure (and surely realizes Congress is too!) as he alludes to in his op-ed, and he makes clear he believes everyone, including the media, is against “energy producers.”

Here’s a sample of how he paints government and activists:

Yet the Environmental Protection Agency has slowed the approval process and recently pulled 23 surface mining permits in West Virginia for more scrutiny. . . Regulatory shenanigans are just part of the problem. Nuisance lawsuits by environmental organizations like the Sierra Club, which filed 983 lawsuits against the federal government from 2000 to 2009, tie up the legal system and bombard private industry with legal complaints.

So, according to Blankenship, the EPA should just rubber-stamp permits instead of actually evaluating how communities will be affected.   Oh and those “nuisance lawsuits” relate to the violations Massey Energy routinely commits that impact coalfield residents’ health.  As Kennedy writes,

Mr. Blankenship acknowledged, in a recent debate with me, that mountaintop removal cannot be accomplished without violating the law.  His company paid a record $20 million penalty for 60,534 Clean Water Act violations it admitted committing between 2000 and 2006, including spills of deadly chemicals like arsenic and selenium illegally dumped into Appalachia’s waterways . . . But the fines are merely a business expense, which explains why Massey has since admitted to 12,500 more Clean Water Act violations.

Now that sounds like some real shenanigans.  But it doesn’t end there.

I saw firsthand the effects of MTR on West Virginia communities while at Climate Ground Zero in January.  We visited Frankie Mooney, a disabled former coal miner, who lives in Twilight, one of the many small towns that coal is slowly decimating.  Nearby blasting causes coal dust to settle on his house, which is so thick it can be wiped off with your hand.  It’s not surprising then that after years of working in the mines and this continued assault on his health, Frankie is ready to move.  And it just so happens that Patriot Coal, which Massey is rumored to be buying, is ready to buy him out – Frankie’s property is the lynchpin that would allow the company to begin buying out the entire town in order to mine more coal.  Twilight would become another Lindytown, a ghost town the coal companies have demolished in their pursuit of profits.

Massey Energy bought out residents and then demolished their homes in Lindytown, WV

But Frankie is standing up and working with Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition towards a friendly buy-out to protect Twilight.  His work and others’ is why the fight against mountaintop removal is intensifying and putting Don Blankenship on the defensive.

However, we have to keep the pressure up.  Global warming denier Sen. James Inhofe (R-OKla.) trumpeted Blankenship’s op-ed message by issuing a report on behalf of the minority staff of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works committee today.  Only through the continued, collective efforts of residents in Appalacia and allies across the country will we be able to deliver a knockout to mountaintop removal.

I’m here at the 5th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington, joining residents from the coalfields of Appalachia in meetings with our Congressmen, gathering support for the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) and the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696).  This may be the 5th year, but the momentum is tangible.  We have 166 co-sponsors for the CWPA, bi-partisan support in both Houses and committee chairmen who are receptive to moving this forward. To build even more momentum, today is a National Call-In Day to urge your Congresspeople to support these bills.  Their offices are hearing from us in person and need to hear from even more constituents.

Please, take the two minutes to call your Rep.  Below are some of the most powerful points I’ve heard from local residents to communicate with members of Congress.

• Coal jobs are declining.  Mountaintop removal displaces deep mining jobs by replacing people with giant machines.
• Mountaintop Removal drives away jobs.  What business wants to start up in a place with undrinkable water, coal dust and blasting debris falling from the air and buildings that develop cracks in their foundations from the blasting?  As you can see above, mountaintop removal and poverty are highly correlated.  Coal is not the answer for economic revitalization.

• People cannot live without clean water.  When your water is brown, or black or red, don’t drink it. Don’t shower in it (the mist gets into your lungs).  Appalachia once has some of the cleanest, sweetest water in the country, because the mountains and their forests act as giant water filters.  When coal companies shove mountaintops into streams, not only does this pollute the streams, but it destroys the natural filtration.
• Support is needed from outside the region.  The almost non-existent enforcement of environmental protections, intimidation from coal companies and elected officials who were bought and paid for by coal money have worked to silence this issue.  Appalachia deserves to enjoy its rich natural resources, not destroy them forever.  Mountaintop removal has already destroyed an area the size of Delaware.  How many more states are we willing to sacrifice?

Please call your Rep.  We can change this.

Hi, my name is Junior Walk, and my family has lived in the coal fields of southern West Virginia for generations.  It pains me to see my heritage destroyed and defamed, and to see my friends and family poisoned by unclean water.   So, I decided to take a little trip to Washington D.C. to put a stop to it.

Today, I’m in our nations capitol to stop the heinous practice of mountaintop removal coal mining.  I’m here with the Alliance for Appalachia, as an employee of Coal River Mountain Watch; I’m here as an environmental activist; I’m here as an affected coal field resident; but I’m mostly here as someone whom cares about people, and all other living things.

My meetings today were cordial, I met with the offices of three different congressmen.  The first one was on the fence about the Clean Water Protection Act, the second one will probably co-sign, and the third was already a co-signer.  I think we’re making serious progress here, we already have more than 160 co-signers, and we only need 40-50 more co-signers.

When this bill becomes a law, it will effectively end mountaintop removal by making valley fills illegal (which they were in the first place).  This would greatly benefit the people of Appalachia, save lives, and open up mountains like Coal River Mountain for use as wind farms.

So, here I am, I’ve never been into any city, never really had any experience outside of my neck of the woods, and I’m walking up the stairs to the legislature to talk to our representatives about what’s going on in out back yards.

I care about mountaintop removal, and by extension this bill  because it affects me directly as someone who lives in the coal fields, and someone who has seen and worked in the devastation.  There are plenty of people here  with me though that don’t live in the thick of it, or aren’t from Appalachia, and I am very grateful to them.  You can help too; call and urge your congressman to co-sign the Clean Water Protection Act – HB 1310.  Then call and urge your senator to act on the Appalachian Restoration Act – SB 696.  Also, to learn more about mountaintop removal and get involved, click here.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is speaking at Stanford University today about clean energy innovation and education. The live webstream will begin around 11:50-11:55 AM PST, or 2:50-2:55 PM EST:

Live video stream of Secretary Chu available here

Secretary Chu will meet with students beforehand for a special student roundtable discussion on energy. The event will be followed in the evening by a panel called “Educating the Energy Generation,” focused on how the U.S. can build a competitive clean energy workforce as quickly as possible. See here for an article about Secretary Chu’s visit to Stanford, “The Biggest Speaker of the Year,” and why his perspective is important.

All of this comes at a time when the U.S. Senate continues to try to figure out how to proceed with climate and energy legislation. In a Sunday op-ed penned by Thomas Friedman titled “How the G.O.P. Goes Green,” one of the leading figures in crafting legislation, Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina acknowledged that he is inspired to take up climate and energy legislation because of young people on college campuses. Graham correctly points out that young voters are driven by deeply-held environmental values, and more lawmakers would be wise to wake up to this, but Graham’s solutions of nuclear and offshore oil-drilling are both counter to our values and economic interests. Every dollar spent on the dirty energy economy, is a dollar that could have created more jobs in the clean energy economy we must create. That’s why in the coming month it’s essential that we, as the Millennial Generation, further define what our vision for a clean energy economy really is.

Already dozens of events are being hosted around the country that will help us do just that. Check out the event registration page for the full listing and see a couple of highlights below:

• At Pennsylvania State University they’ll be constructing the “Foundation of Our Future,” a big art installation that students can write about there demands for clean energy on.
• An open-mic at Murray State Univ (KY) for people to share poetry and vision for the decade!
• Define Our Decade Vermont Kick-off!  On the heels of the Vermont Yankee Nuke Plant decision, and two-years before it’s close date, students at Middlebury College are going to launch their initiative to get a statewide commitment for 100% clean energy!
• Events across the Buckeye State to support Power Vote Ohio in Making Green a Primary Color – they want clean energy candidates to define their future!

There’s a ton of great stuff on the event registration page, I really encourage you to check it out, and host an event of your own! This idea has come about through extensive discussions with leaders around the country about the solutions we have to share, so we are really excited to come to fruition. Register your event to become part of what is turning out to be an incredible movement-wide discussion on our future, and to take action to make our vision a reality! We’ll be having another discussion on a National Leaders Call this Wednesday, March 3 at 9 PM ET – I really hope you’ll join us and register an event of your own!

Naturally, one of the hot topics of conversation was Senator Murkowski’s bill to block the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide as a criteria air pollutant.  Senator Murkowski has drawn fire for these views, since this is seen to be the last hope for achieving meaningful GHG reductions if no bill passes this year.  The chances of a bill passing this year are looking smaller and smaller – the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill has failed to materialize, despite their op-ed pledging a bipartisan bill.  According to Campbell, while Kerry this morning seemed optimistic about the state of the legislation, Senate Majority Leader Reid today stated that if a climate bill is not brought before the Senate within the two weeks, climate change is not going to be addressed this year.  This puts huge pressure on Kerry – it is increasingly clear that another year without action will have huge economic and environmental consequences.

Mr. Campbell defended Senator Murkowski’s anti-regulatory actions.  Her action against EPA regulation of carbon dioxide is not because she feels it is not contributing to global warming–rather, that the language of the Clean Air Act is not sufficient to regulate GHGs as it is now written.  However, Mr. Campbell revealed, Senator Murkowski is not sitting pretty with no opposing solution.  Her office, together with about 25 other Republicans and 25 Democrats, as well as industry and environmental groups, is working to draft a bill that would impose a net zero carbon tax.  GHGs would be taxed at the narrowest possible source (perhaps entry into the system, perhaps somewhere else) – and one hundred percent of the revenue would be redistributed to the American citizen through a refund of their FICA tax or a direct credit for those who do not pay a FICA tax.  It seems that this bill is still pretty far off though.

The conversation then turned to more Alaska-specific issues – ones that I, as a non-Alaskan, had no idea were even on the agenda or of concern.  What an eye-opening moment for me! I’m in the midst of studying environmental policy at the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, and these were issues that had never come up in classes.

Alaska’s dependence on oil is one source of concern – those famous dividend checks are a powerful incentive to want to keep the oil industry booming in Alaska, but Mr. Campbell pointed out that Alaska’s legislature is looking actively at ways to diversify the energy portfolio in Alaska, with lots of debate happening in Juneau.  Possible options include geothermal, wind, and tidal – depending on the region and the resources.

The next issue – the opening of the Northwest Passage.  One student asked, “What are the cultural and environmental challenges as the Northwest Passage becomes navigable? Are we prepared and is the federal government prepared to defend against environmental destruction?”  Mr. Campbell’s answer was heated – this is one of Senator Murkowski’s biggest complaints about the federal government at the moment.  She thinks that the Arctic is not being talked about enough and it’s something we have to consider.  As a representative of the Arctic Parliamentarians Group, she is fighting for the government to consider everything from how we handle vessel response to emergenices to how to secure funding for defense and climate change adaptation.  Currently, said Mr Campbell, the nearest Coast Guard station is located in Kodiak.  That’s like dealing with problems in Florida with Coast Guard vessels sent from New Jersey – hardly an effective defense strategy.

What are the defense and foreign policy implications of an ice-free Arctic?  Fisheries, mining, and passage fees are some of those mentioned by Mr. Campbell.  Fisheries along the Western United States are already endangered – how should we treat these newly opening fisheries?  The prudent thing to do is to restrict expansion of fishery rights into these areas until more information is known about the fish populations in the areas – but will we do the prudent thing?

The natural resources possibilities in the Arctic Circle are unknown – but the USGS has reported the possible existence of large amounts of oil and natural gas.  Russia has been assertive about planting the flag and claiming rights – the United States less so.  Overall, said Mr. Campbell, the US needs to be far more aggressive and active in this area than it is being.  All the countries surrounding the Arctic Circle bump into each other up there – and therefore we need to assert ourselves as well.

This telephone conversation with McKie Campbell was the second in a series of conference calls being arranged by the Bard Center for Environmental Policy between Senators and their constituents about climate change policy.  For more information, contact the Bard Center for Environmental Policy at climate@bard.edu, or visit our website.  Calls are scheduled for New Mexico, Colorado, North Carolina, and Florida.

Imagine it. After touring the nation and meeting with young people in urban communities all along the way, the Hip Hop Caucus’ Clean Energy Now! Bus Tour brought its message of clean energy solutions to the steps of the Capitol Building for a closing rally.  The event began with music from DJ Biz Markie. His classic beats were heard around the Capitol while hip hop echoed off of our nation’s government buildings. As Biz began, a bus full of Howard University students marched up to the rally with Clean Energy Now! signs and took their place on the stage as one of the nation’s leading universities.

The program began with youth activists, Kari Fulton from EJCC, Liz Starke, student activist from Michigan State University, and William Kellibrew who represented the Black Youth Vote.  Together, these students amplified the diversity of today’s youth movement and the importance of a clean energy economy for their future prosperity.

Reverend Yearwood moderated the rally and introduced Administrator Lisa Jackson, who jumped right into the importance of a clean energy economy to protect our air and provide clean water to all communities across the country, especially for young people and future generations. “The tour has been across the country listening to young voices calling for good jobs, lower energy costs and cleaner communities,” said Jackson. “This is the time to seize global leadership in clean energy innovation and answer the young people and urban communities who are asking for clean energy now.” Signs were raised, young people were cheering, and Washington was listening.

Following Administrator Jackson, movement leaders like Gary Flowers, Congressman Andre Carson, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green For All, and actress Gloria Reuben took the stage to explain how protecting the climate can help us to take back our streets by creating new businesses and regenerating the urban economy. Maggie Fox, CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection, amplified the importance of showing the diversity of this movement to Washington. “It is clear that our young people and communities of color will benefit greatly from the economic opportunities that come from investing in clean energy,” said Fox.

Today, the message was clear in Washington.  WE MUST ACT NOW! The clean energy movement is about taking control of our future and bringing opportunity to our communities.  Millions of our friends and neighbors are out of work. Washington has the opportunity to create 1.9 million new jobs and rebuild our economy from the ground up by making a commitment to clean energy here in America.   The Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Now! Bus Tour was a light that illuminated monumental economic opportunity across the country.  So, hats off to our civil rights predecessors, it is now our turn to carry the torch towards a victory in Washington.