Toles: GOP Mascot Should Go Back to the Future

With Republican Party leadership rejecting the realities of modern science, Washington Post editorial cartoonist Tom Toles suggests it's time to update the GOP mascot:

Nuclear Power Operator Complains Wind Energy is Too Inexpensive

The American Wind Energy Association made a bold move late last week, dropping the electric utility Exelon over its opposition to extending key federal incentives for wind energy. Within The Hill reporter Zack Colman's article is this odd complaint:

[Exelon Senior Vice President David] Brown said the PTC is helping wind cut into its nuclear power business. Though the utility has 900 megawatts of installed wind electricity generation capacity, he said wind is “distorting competitive markets that we operate in" by lowering the wholesale price of electricity.

Wait, what? Wind energy is lowering electricity costs ... and that's a PROBLEM to big electric utilities like Exelon?

Federal incentives for wind energy are a drop in the bucket compared to the billions in long-term taxpayer support on which the nuclear power industry has depended. When President Obama and members of Congress talk about expanding nuclear power, they're really talking about shoveling more tax dollars at nuclear and raising your electricity rates.

I understand the reasons why the nuclear industry is afraid of extending wind energy incentives, but they're the exact same reasons average Americans should be asking their members of Congress to extend them.

Dominion Puts Brayton Point Up For Sale: The Long, Slow Death Of Coal, Ctd.

In a surprise move, Dominion has put its controversial & ginormous Brayton Point coal-fired power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts up for sale. No immediate word on any potential buyer or what it means for the plant's future.

The most comical part of the Fall River Herald News article on the sale is Dominion CEO Tom Farrell dropping every Craigslist cliche to try to fluff up the plant. Low mileage! Barely used!

But the most telling part for America's energy future comes later:

Despite Dominion spending more than $1 billion in new equipment to comply with federal environmental guidelines, Brayton Point was declared the worst emitter of greenhouse gases in New England and New York by the Environmental Protection Agency last January.

Even a billion dollars can't buy you "clean coal", a lesson many communities are learning the hard way.

Will GOP Leadership Let Petty Politics Kill Clean Energy Jobs?

The New Bedford Standard Times today calls on Congress to extend incentives for wind energy:

The tax credit works by giving wind farm owners 2.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour of power they produce. It is expected to cost the federal government about $1.3 billion this fiscal year, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a fraction of the credits that will be taken advantage of by the oil industry this year.

President Barack Obama wants the tax credit extended; GOP nominee Mitt Romney wants it to expire. Romney argues the tax credit for wind gives an unfair advantage, and that the industry should have to compete on a "level playing field" with other energy industries. This, of course, is nonsense.

Even the two Bush presidents, with their longstanding support of oil industries, were solidly behind promotion of credits for emerging energy technologies. The playing field has belonged to the industries that trade in carbon-based energy for so long that the impact of infrastructure on production costs and bottom lines is of a vastly different order than that for emerging technologies. Maybe when the lobbyists for the renewable sources have the access to legislators and influence currently enjoyed by the carbon-focused industries it will be an indication that the playing field is starting to level out.

The cost of these incentives is a drop in the bucket compared to the public health benefits, increased energy security, and cuts in carbon pollution. Massachusetts' SouthCoast region gets - in the last three months alone (a slow time for wind energy) Fairhaven banked $45,000 from its two wind turbines and is now moving forward on solar power.

From Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley to Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, many Republican members of Congress representing states with booming clean energy sectors want wind incentives extended. The Senate Finance Committee passed an extension of the credit on a bipartisan vote, but Senate Republican leadership is likely to mount a filibuster and House Republican leadership may not allow a vote at all.

Will bipartisan support for clean energy be able to overcome Congressional Republican leadership's opposition to giving President Obama victories on any of his priorities? Tell your members of Congress that we can't let petty politics kill American clean energy jobs.

Impact Of Polluter Spending On Energy Policy Can't Be Ignored

It's always interesting when reporters try to make sense of politicians' energy positions while ignoring the influence of money in politics.

At the Washington Post's WonkBlog today, Brad Plumer says the Democratic platform is getting more oil- & coal-friendly because ... maybe locking in $4 a gallon gasoline with expensive "unconventional oil" isn't so bad? And jobs or something?

But energy policy isn't created in a vacuum - it's caught in the current of a river of oil money. Oil barons continue pouring ungodly amounts of money into bullying politicians:

The Koch brothers-backed nonprofit Americans for Prosperity and pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future combined to spend about $23.4 million against President Barack Obama during the second half of August.

That’s nearly 10 times the $2.44 million that Priorities USA Action, the main super PAC supporting Obama, spent against Romney, federal records show.

Now, one might think such spending would make Democrats fight for clean energy that much harder. But many Democrats still think appeasement works, and in some ways, that's reflected in the party platform. (Note that climate change is mentioned 18 times in the Democratic platform, so Democrats aren't exactly running away from tackling the climate crisis.)

Since 1990, energy & natural resources industries (mostly Big Oil, electric utilities & mining companies) have combined to give $640 million directly to candidates, a greater majority going to Republicans with each passing year. And in the last 15 years, electric utilities and oil & gas companies have combined to pour $3 billion dollars into lobbying.

All that money doesn't just influence politicians. How many polluter-funded commercials - from Koch-sponsored political ads to BP's image-scrubbing spots - does the average American see in a given week? Dozens?

CATTLE RUSTLERS & the Warren-Brown Senate Race

States like Virginia are rightly viewed as a collection of diverse interests. Why isn't Massachusetts?

Having lived inside the Beltway for 10 years, I can tell you the view of Massachusetts from down there looks like this:

This is partly why you see so many stories out of DC about Elizabeth Warren "struggling" in the U.S. Senate race. She's Harvard faculty, isn't that like 25% of the Massachusetts electorate?

But much of the state has managed to escape the clutches of Boston & its sprawl. Even the headlines of the Standard Times of New Bedford (population 100,000) can be dominated by cattle being rustled and rescued. Cows can still wander onto interstate highways and disrupt the morning commute.

From Gloucester to Sheffield, it's not hard to find towns whose economies still depend heavily on fishing and farming. Voters there want to actually listen to what the candidates have to say, not just vote blue because that's their predetermined political destiny. 

(It's also why Scott Brown is desperately trying to be all things to all people in every corner of the state. "He's for us" is the most generic political slogan since Clint Webb's "Hey ... me?")

Mitt Romney's Climate Science Denial Flops with Convention Viewers

Mitt Romney's Republican presidential nomination acceptance speech that mocked global warming-fueled sea level rise got the lowest voter approval since Gallup start tracking reactions in 1996.

When You Have to Deny You'd Decapitate Birds to Make Your Point ...

Opponents of two wind turbines in Fairhaven, MA have long since proven that they're, as the Car Talk guys would say, non impediti ratione cogitationis. But somehow they've managed to step up their game to a new level.

The Standard-Times reports today that members of the group Windwise have spent months scouring the area under the turbines for wildlife impacts. The fruits of their efforts? Two dead bats and one dead bird. Now, those of you who ARE encumbered by the thought process may say, only a few dead critters with no direct evidence of impacts over several months, all while saving thousands of pounds of air pollution? Sign me up!

But that is not deterring Windwise from going all-in:

[Windwise member Louise] Barteau said she called the Massachusetts Department for Environmental Protection on Monday but officials there seemed skeptical of her reports because "they were coming from Windwise."

"He thought we were planting evidence or something," she said. "But we found a decapitated bird the other day; it was the turbine. None of us are out there with cleavers hacking off bird heads to make a point."

Let's set aside the implausibility of a 130-foot-long dull-edged turbine arm somehow managing to perfectly guillotine 3-inch-long bird. When you have to deny that you'd cut off bird heads to further your quixotic cause ... well, maybe it's time to find a healthier hobby.

Virginia Consumers Fleeced by Peabody's Expensive, Dirty Coal Power

Some Virginia communities like Danville bought into Peabody Energy's promise of cheap coal-fired power - and now as the project's pricetag balloons to $5 billion they're paying for it big time:

Coal giant Peabody Energy promoted the controversial Prairie State Energy Campus to public officials in Virginia and seven other states as a cheap, long-term source of “clean coal” power.

But a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) charges that the troubled coal-fired power plant and coal mine operation will end up costing cities and towns in Virginia up to 100 percent more for that power than what was promised.

The Prairie State Energy Campus is a 1,600-megawatt, coal-fired electrical power station and coal mine under construction near Marissa, Illinois, less than 50 miles from St. Louis. About 95 percent of the project is being financed by more than 200 local government units in eight states: Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and West Virginia.

"Clean coal" was always a lie and its death sealed the coal industry's fate. But just as it was with tobacco, Virginia remains filled with apologists who know it's easier to say what people want to hear and cash industry checks than to speak the truth. And Democrats like Tim Kaine and Mark Warner are just as much a part of the problem as Republicans - they may vote the right way sometimes, but their pro-industry rhetoric supports the bipartisan smokescreen that hides the truth that cigarettes cause cancer coal-fired power plants are deadly, expensive, and outdated.

Four Ways Climate Reality Looms Over the 2012 Republican Convention

With reality denial dominating the Republican Party platform, how will Republican National Convention delegates reconcile that the start of their 2012 gathering in Tampa was delayed by climate-fueled extreme weather?

First, let's be clear: It's Big Oil-funded GOP leadership that's the problem, not rank-and-file Republicans. While virtually every Republican member of Congress and national party leader rejects climate science, 43% of rank-and-file Republicans see “solid evidence of global warming” according to the Pew Research Center.

Dig a little deeper and those numbers should be even more eye-catching for GOP leadership. Among moderate Republicans, 63% see evidence our climate is changing. And what about Republicans who say they still haven’t made up their minds in the presidential race? Cooperative Campaign Analysis Project polling shows they’re only half as likely to deny the scientific reality of global warming as Republicans on the whole. Polls show Republican voters support solutions, from a revenue-neutral carbon tax to giving Americans more low-carbon transit options.

But Mitt Romney’s website doesn’t even mention climate change. While Romney himself once advocated for clean energy & carbon pollution cuts, he now rejects climate science. Romney’s energy plan unveiled last week contains mostly giveaways to the oil industry and polls show it hasn’t helped him with voters - no surprise considering Big Oil remains the most hated industry in America by a wide margin.

At a time when global warming & extreme weather are dominating the headlines, Republican Party leadership is increasingly step with the American mainstream:

1. Isaac bears down on the Gulf Coast. The Republican Party was forced to cancel the convention’s first day in Tampa as Isaac sent tropical storm warnings up along the Gulf Coast. Isaac is now forecast to make landfall as a hurricane near New Orleans late Tuesday. Global warming is making storms more intense by adding the fuel of warmer air & water to their fire, while rising sea levels raise the launching pad for storm surges. 
2. Bracing for a storm surge at the pump. The threat of Isaac is already shutting down oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to raise gas prices. It’s one of many ways that global warming threatens America’s energy infrastructure, and a problem that won’t be solved by relying more on offshore oil drilling.
3. Arctic Sea ice melt scorches previous record. This summer’s Arctic Sea ice has already receded past the previous record - and there are still weeks of melting time to go. That’s bad news for the polar bears and other wildlife who depend on sea ice for survival. There’s also increasing evidence that a warming Arctic means more weird weather here in America.
4. America’s sweltering summer. This year has been the hottest on record in the United States, with July 2012 going into the record books as America’s hottest month ever. Globally, 2012 has been the 10th-hottest on record, nearly 1 degree F above the 20th-century average. That it’s only 10th speaks to how much & how quickly our climate is changing – up until 1998, 2012 would’ve been the hottest year on record.

From a strictly political perspective, here's the real problem for Republicans: Advocating inaction isn't just stupid, it makes Republicans look weak. Reasonable people can disagree on the best way to respond to climate change, but who gets excited about a candidate who denies we have a problem and bad mouths America's ability to solve it? Mitt Romney's clean energy opposition is already costing him votes in farm states that have seen the economic windfall that harvesting clean energy can bring. 

Rush Limbaugh: Hurricane Isaac a Liberal Plot to Disrupt GOP Convention

Rush Limbaugh long ago untethered himself from reality (the oxycontin may have something to do with it), but this is a new level of crazy even for him:

Rush Limbaugh is even blaming Obama for the weather. On his radio show, Limbaugh claimed that Hurricane Issac is an Obama conspiracy to shut down the Republican convention: "The National Hurricane Center, which is a government agency, is very hopeful that the hurricane gets near Tampa. The National Hurricane Center is Obama." [...]

If the Republican Party wanted to avoid any potential weather problems, they could have made the decision not to hold their convention in South Florida at the peak of hurricane season. Seriously, who in the Republican Party thought it would be a great idea to hold their convention in South Florida in late August?

My favorite part of Limbaugh's rant:

We don’t need the National Hurricane Center, and we don’t need all these weather dolts analyzing this for us. Well, we need the center, we can look at their charts and graphs, we know what to do, we can read the stuff. 

We don't need Big Government telling us when a hurricane is coming! OK, yes, we completely do.

Audio courtesy Media Matters:

Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan Pledge to Put Oil Above All

An analysis of the Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan "energy" plan from the League of Conservation Voters:

• Number of Pages: 21 
• Number of Words: 10,272
• Mentions of Oil: 154
• Mentions of Wind: 10 (5 of them Negatively) 
• Mentions of Solar: 14 (4 of them Negatively) 
• Mentions of Wind Energy Production Tax Credit: 0
• Mentions of Climate Change: 0 
• Mentions of Romney’s Plan to Continue Oil Subsidies: 0 
• Mentions of Oil & Gas Interests Donating More Than $2,600,000 to His Campaigns: 0
• Mentions of Koch Brothers Pledging to Spend $200,000,000+ to Elect Him: 0

Check out a more detailed analysis of the Romney-Ryan oil-above-all plan from the Center for American Progress.

Must-Have Holiday Gift for Lovers of Wildlife and Wrestling

A World Wildlife Fund/World Wrestling Federation shirt with a steel chair-wielding panda - and yes, I already bought one:

Though it would be nice if Diehard Threads gave some of the proceeds to wildlife protection, no?

Why Do Reporters Repeat Deceptive RomneySpeak?

Mitt Romney is beholden to Big Oil but knows oil drilling is much less popular than clean energy, so he uses the deceptive "energy development" and "energy production" when he really just means drilling for oil & gas and digging up coal.

Romney knows voters want a level playing field for energy sources, but he also knows his energy plan plays favorites with his oil, hydrocarbon gas & coal donors while dismissing clean energy as a "failure." That's why Romney uses the deceptive terms "comprehensive energy plan" and "all of the above" when he really just means favors for his oil, gas & coal benefactors.

I understand why Romney uses those deceptive terms - they're politically advantageous, while describing his actual energy plan would cost him support. What I don't understand is why reporters then parrot his deceptive terms. Why don't reporters translate RomneySpeak into actual reality?

As journalism professor & media analyst Jay Rosen writes, many of the political journalists covering Romney aren't interested in what's true - they're only interested in what "works" politically.

Virginia to Communities on Climate-Fueled Sea Level Rise: You're on Your Own

Whether you're anti-science crusader Ken Cuccinelli, solution-rejecting Bob McDonnell, or any of Virginia's "centrist" Democrats who know global warming means we're screwed but remain too cowardly to advocate aggressive action, aside from a couple of dozen lonely progressive voices, Richmond is united in telling climate change that it should not be impacting Virginia. Lo and behold, climate change has stubbornly refused to stop accelerating, and now communities like Norfolk are struggling to deal with climate impacts with no help from the state:

City and county leaders, already burdened with typical tasks of local governance – zoning, construction permits, liquor licenses, school board appointments – are also weighing multi-million-dollar flood control projects to keep the ocean at a livable distance.

While they struggle to pull together know-how and funding, those with the broader view and resources – state agencies – are absent from the discussions: In a study released earlier this year, the Natural Resources Defense Council ranked Virginia as one of 29 states that were "largely unprepared and lagging behind" on planning for climate change at the state level.

In many ways the problem is already upon Norfolk. The Atlantic Ocean off Virginia's coast is rising a quarter of an inch annually, equivalent to two feet in 100 years – faster than anywhere else in the United States except for coastal Louisiana. The ocean at Sewells Point, site of the Norfolk Naval Station, rose 14.5 inches between 1930 and 2010. And that's likely to accelerate. Last month the U.S. Geological Survey reported that sea levels are rising more quickly along the Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Massachusetts than globally, possibly as a result of slowing Atlantic Ocean circulation patterns.

The inaction of Virginia's elected officials is actually hurting the state twice - not just paying the price of climate inaction through extreme weather and sea level rise, but hurting Virginia's economy by losing out on clean energy jobs.

But hey, who has time to pay attention to looming disaster when there's women's bodies that need regulating, amirite?

Arctic Ice Cap Collapse: Where Polar Bears See Crisis, Big Oil Sees Opportuniy

Global warming is pushing Arctic Sea ice cover towards new record lows:

The area of ocean covered by ice shrank to 4.93 million square kilometers (1.9 million square miles) on average for the five days through Aug. 15, according to the latest data from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. With as many as five weeks of the annual melt season left, it’s already the fourth-lowest annual minimum ever measured.

“Unless the melting really, really slows down, there’s a very real chance of a record,” Walt Meier, a research scientist at the NSIDC, said in a telephone interview. “In the last week or so it’s dropped precipitously. There’s definitely a chance it’ll dip below 4 million square kilometers.”

The shrinkage is the most visible sign of global warming according to Meier, and raises the prospect that the Arctic Ocean may become largely ice free in the summer. That opens up new shipping routes and is sparking a race for resources that’s led to Cairn Energy Plc (CNE) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) exploring waters off Greenland for oil and gas.

Needless to say, the combination of melting ice and new drilling would be double trouble for America's polar bears.

So to recap, global warming driven by carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels is melting the Arctic ice cap, and how do we react? By letting the oil companies that have made huge profits from their ability to release unlimited carbon pollution (and used those profits to fight climate science) move into the melted areas to drill for more fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, Congress is reacting to drought conditions approaching Dust Bowl levels by moving to gut post-Dust Bowl soil conservation programs. If Jared Diamond wants to write a sequel to Collapse we're giving him plenty of material.

As CREDO Action says, "The Arctic has never been drilled for oil, not even under President George W. Bush." Will President Barack Obama be the one to sign the order? Tell President Obama to say no to Arctic drilling.

Fishermen, Faith Leaders Ask MA Governor to Push to Close Coal-Fired Power Plant

Dominion's Brayton Point coal-fired power plant in Somerset, MA is back in the news, this time with protesters calling for its closure:

The group of more than 20 people gathered in Fall River's Kennedy Park, within full view of the plant's three smoke stacks, and carried homemade signs advocating for the closure of the Somerset plant.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in 2010 a total of 147 pounds of mercury and mercury compounds were released in Massachusetts, 64 by Brayton Point. Also according to the EPA, in 2008 the power plant emitted more than 37,000 tons of toxic chemicals into the air.

"This pollution doesn't only affect Somerset; the majority spreads and settles in cities and towns across a 30-mile radius from the power plant," Sylvia Broude, executive director of the Toxics Action Center, said. "We are calling on Gov. Patrick to use his power to transition Massachusetts away from coal."

Among those asking Gov. Patrick to create a transition plan were fishermen & faith leaders. Here's a video I did last year explaining the issue:

New Ad Highlights George Allen's Work for Big Oil

Hey, Virginians! Do you want a senator who's signed a pledge to protect special interest tax giveaways for multinational corporations that are already massively profitable? Well then let the Majority PAC & League of Conservation Voters tell you about George Allen:

 

Crazy Train Wreck? Solyndra-Obsessed Stearns Losing Primary

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) is one of Congress' craziest members, a birther who's led the GOP's witch hunt on clean energy investments and called for women who have abortions to be thrown in prison. But after last night's primary, it looks like he'll be going from crazy Congressman to crazy private citizen - he's narrowly losing his Republican primary to a local veterinarian named Ted Yoho.

This is usually where I'd copy & paste some trenchant news analysis, but ... no one seems to know quite why Stearns is down by about 800 votes. Even the local Gainesville Sun seems to have no idea what happened, other than to speculate Yoho's attacks on Stearns as a corrupt career politician may have worked. But while politicos like to espouse Unified Theories that prove they're Savvy Insiders, it could simply be that in a multiple-candidate, low-turnout primary in the dog days of August, anything can happen.

Yoho is being called a Tea Party candidate, but it's hard to imagine he could get much further right than Stearns, rated more conservative than GOP VP nominee Paul Ryan by the National Journal & called one of Congress' conservative leaders by the American Conservative Union. If you're a sitting Republican member of Congress, you could look at Stearns' likely loss one of two ways: How crazy do you have to be for Tea Party if Stearns may not have been crazy enough? Or, if even Stearns' craziness didn't satisfy the Tea Party, maybe Republicans are better off just doing what they think is right & playing to the middle?

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) had stood by Stearns through all of his nuttiness. Heckuva job, Eric.

MA Wind Energy Opponents Pre-Reject Results of Test They Demanded

Just as sound tests prepare to begin on two wind turbines in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, opponents have announced - before the test has even happened - that they won't be appeased no matter what the test results show. If the sound results come back normal, they'll invoke wild conspiracy theories about how the test was rigged:

Ken Pottel, a member of Windwise, said the group fears Shah could tilt the blades to slow the turbines and thus lessen the noise they make during testing. He said the group is particularly concerned about [turbine builder Sumul] Shah's ability to control the turbines remotely from his cellphone and laptop.

"It's obviously in his best interest to make sure these turbines pass the test," he said. "How do we know he isn't controlling the pitch from his phone?"

Shah said he not only "would not do that" but that "it is impossible for me to adjust the speed of the rotor while the turbines are spinning." Shah said he can only change the pitch of the blades when the turbine is turned off. If the turbine is on for testing, he said, its speed cannot be controlled.

"I have no intention of doing that and, not only that, I can't do that; it's technologically impossible," he said.

Before the turbines were built, wind opponents pushed theories with no basis in reality about health impacts. Since the turbines were built, wind opponents have been busily filing noise complaints about the near-silent turbines. Now, we have new conspiracy theories about secretly rigged sound tests.

It's important that these test be completed. If the sound levels are too high, that should be addressed. But no one should be under any illusions that these tests, no matter the results, will do anything to satisfy opponents, who deny any reality that doesn't fit their pre-existing points of view.

And let's be honest, views are what this is all about - "we don't think we should cut the pollution that causes global warming and asthma and puts mercury in our waterways and fish and pregnant women because we think the turbines muck up the view" is a terrible argument that doesn't sway anyone, so wind opponents try to come up with something more reasonable-sounding, hence health impacts and double-secret phone-based turbine-tampering.

What we really need to test is why anyone would think opponents of wind energy can be appeased.

GOP VP Nominee Paul Ryan: Science Denier, Fiscal Fraud

Mitt Romney has selected Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his vice presidential running mate, and considering Mitt has chosen to run an anti-science, anti-environment, anti-clean energy, anti-middle class campaign, the choice couldn't be more perfect.

Like Romney, Rep. Ryan was born on third base but thinks he hit a triple. He's become rich and powerful thanks to his family's connections, but instead of being grateful, he looks down his nose at working Americans, calling them lazy and morally bankrupt. Again, that has him in lockstep with Mitt, who thinks non-wealthy Americans hate hard work.

Romney opposes environmental protections for wildlife & public lands and opposes investment in clean energy & public transportation. That makes him a big fan of The Ryan Budget, which would gut environmental laws protecting America's clean air & water and slash investments in national parks, clean energy research, and trains & buses.

But on no issue are Romney & Ryan in closer lockstep than on protecting polluters' privileges. Koch Industries is Ryan's #6 donor and Ryan has spoken at the Kochs' secretive ultra-conservative retreat. He's paid the Kochs back by being a warrior for the 1%.

While Romney has flip-flopped on climate science, Ryan has been a consistent denier of the scientific consensus that Earth is warming, man-made carbon pollution is to blame, and that we have a small window to cut emissions before the climate crisis spins out of control. Rep. Paul Ryan got just a 13% on the League of Conservation Voters scorecard for the 111th Congress. Lifetime, Rep. Ryan gets just a 20%.

That brings us to the issue that sums up the Ryan fraud: Ryan loves taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil. Ryan wants to end Medicare to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, but doesn't think wildly-profitable private oil companies should have to give up the billions in outdated subsidies they still get from taxpayers.

And the League of Conservation Voters points out that in public Ryan cowardly retreats from his support for oil subsidies, while in private his family profits from them:

 

Why Settle for the Same Cookie-Cutter Living Space as Everyone Else?

Much of this TEDx Talk displays some of the worst habits of TED Talks - I'm a jetsetter and I'm here to tell you mainstream environmental solutions are like so 5 minutes ago because NIMBLE and other buzzwords.

But the concept at the heart of it is interesting - how many rooms in a typical house go unused for days at a time? Here's a test - if you visit a home with a dedicated dining room, check how much dust is on the dining table.

And it's not just rooms. How much does the average bachelor use the oven he's paying to rent? Wouldn't a toaster oven and/or a hot plate save 10 square feet of floor space for a better use, save money, and be more convenient (faster heating)?

A Drinking Festival Without Transit Means Pretending Drunk Driving Doesn't Exist

The Green Miles went to the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament in New Bedford last weekend, billed as the world's largest Portuguese feast with over 100,000 visitors expected. It's also one of Massachusetts' largest drinking events, with two full days and two additional nights of beer, liquor, and strong madeira wine imported exclusively for the Feast.

There is no transit to this event after 6pm when local bus service ends. While some people walk to the event, most drive. (And many attendees pay $5-10 for parking. Not just bad for the environment and potentially dangerous, but also inconvenient and expensive. What's not to like?)

Much like last year's Beer, Bourbon & BBQ festival at National Harbor south of DC, if you're hosting a drinking event with limited or no transit, you're turning a blind eye to drunk driving. In New Bedford's case, how much would it cost to run a bus for the weekend between the site and nearby downtowns? Isn't that cost worth preventing even one drunk driving incident?

But hey, at least the Portuguese Feast stopped selling giant 20 ounce cups of 38-proof madeira, so, problem solved, amirite?

Wild West

And now a poem from my dad:

Wild West 

Oh, give me a place
where there used to be space
and the water was there to wash cars
but now there are droughts
and the forest fires sprout
and the pipeline will leave quite a scar. 

Corporations Aren't Automatically Bad

Do you assume big corporations are bad? If you do, you'll miss corporations doing some good things - especially when it comes to expanding markets in ways that only huge buyers can do.

The largest non-utility owner of solar panels in the United States? Wal-Mart. And a former McDonald's executive is launching a new green restaurant chain that could dramatically ramp up demand for locally-sourced, sustainably-produced food nationwide.

Yes, Wal-Mart still does plenty of bad things especially when it comes to trampling on the rights of workers. But it has a unique power to show every corner of America that clean energy and energy efficient technologies make good business sense.

Secret Environmental Scourge: Old People?

 Call this an unfair generalization if you must, but are old people killing the planet? Follow me as I meander on a barely-substantiated round of wild speculation.

I stopped by Market Basket in Massachusetts last weekend and got some flowers for my girlfriend. I couldn't find any plastic bags to keep the flowers from dripping, but when I got to the register, the cashier offered to get me one. "Why don't you just keep them next to the flowers?" I asked.

"People take them, especially older people," she replied. Why? She shrugged, "Why do they ask for extra paper and plastic grocery bags? They like free stuff, even if it's worthless."

The next day I was at Dunkin Donuts and noticed a sign next to the register: "We will no longer be giving out extra cups out of concern for the environment." I've never seen even a whisper of green out of Dunkin Donuts before, so I have to assume this is really 4an economic concern that could go one of two ways - people are ordering a larger coffee size and splitting them, or people are asking for free cups because they want free crap.

I first noticed this phenomenon while working the Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment booth at the Arlington County Fair. The older the attendee, the more they want to stuff their goodie bag with anything you had to offer. I mean, once you're over 10 years old, why would you want a free pencil? Sure, they could've been taking it for a grandchild, but there was no apparent method to the bag-packing madness - they just took one of everything & moved on to the next table.

I understand that many seniors grew up needing to save and now are getting by on limited incomes, but businesses don't give stuff away unless individual items are of very low value anyway (i.e. if you're going to take coffee cups, why not just spend $2 on a ceramic mug that will last almost forever and save you hundreds of trips to DD?)

What do you think? And if Glenn Beck were drawing up a Secret Soros-Funded UN-Backed Liberal Scheme on the ol' chalkboard to correct this problem, what would it look like? Has to be some sort of forcible geriatric green re-education camps, am I right?

"All Hail the King" Trumps Virginia Sportsmen's Rights?

After an encounter on the Jackson River in western Virginia where he's fished his whole life, Marc Smith is ready to revolt:

A couple of years ago I went back down to this area while fishing for browns on a section of the Jackson River (just below the dam at Lake Moomaw) with my buddy Dan Wrinn. We did okay – couple nice 10 inch browns. But what really caught our attention was us literally wading up to a sign posted on an oak tree on the bank that puzzled us. It read: “Kings Grant Land. No fishing. No Trespassing.”

Huh? is right. After all my years spending time in this area, and on the Jackson, I have never seen this sign. After some digging, now I know. This land along the Jackson was granted by King George III of England way back in the day. I am talking 17th century before there was even a thought of Virginia, much less the United States. Guess this even trumps state law. [...]

The Virginia Supreme Court have upheld this and many other Kings Grant claims in Virginia and in other eastern states. Crazy I know. Read the latest on a lawsuit involving Kings Grant land & anglers. This is huge. All anglers are watching this. This could set tremendous precedent.

"This isn't merry ol England where the peasants and commoners have no say or right to hunt or fish on the Kings Land. This is America – and 2012 America," Marc concludes. "No, we have waters and wildlife held in trust for all to enjoy." Learn more from the Virginia Rivers Defense Fund.

Bill McKibben: If You're Not Terrified by Global Warming, You're Not Paying Attention

A must-read in Rolling Stone from climate activist Bill McKibben - Global Warming's Terrifying New Math:

If the pictures of those towering wildfires in Colorado haven't convinced you, or the size of your AC bill this summer, here are some hard numbers about climate change: June broke or tied 3,215 high-temperature records across the United States. That followed the warmest May on record for the Northern Hemisphere – the 327th consecutive month in which the temperature of the entire globe exceeded the 20th-century average, the odds of which occurring by simple chance were 3.7 x 10-99, a number considerably larger than the number of stars in the universe.

Meteorologists reported that this spring was the warmest ever recorded for our nation – in fact, it crushed the old record by so much that it represented the "largest temperature departure from average of any season on record." The same week, Saudi authorities reported that it had rained in Mecca despite a temperature of 109 degrees, the hottest downpour in the planet's history.

Not that our leaders seemed to notice.

Read it online or if you want to support strong progressive journalism, go buy it at the newsstand.

Rep. Issa's Latest Fishing Expedition Targets Cape Wind

Can a Congressman who's been unable to break open a big Obama administration scandal turn his luck around by investigating Cape Wind? Fortunately for people who enjoy things like breathing clean air and going to work building wind turbines, it doesn't look good for Rep. Darrell Issa.

Rep. Issa has spent much of the last two years using his position as chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in a desperate search for something - anything - to embarrass the Obama administration. Issa came into the chairmanship brashly predicting he'd take down climate scientists, but that's gone absolutely nowhere. In fact, Issa has had so little luck, the Obama administration's lack of scandals has become a story in itself.

But fortunately for Rep. Issa, when you're a member of Congress, past investigative failures don't preclude future fishing expeditions! And it's no coincidence Issa is fronting this fight - the big polluting Koch family is leading the charge against Cape Wind and some Issa's staffers have Koch links:

Several have ties to billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, who have made much of their fortune in oil and chemical businesses and have established a reputation as staunch small-government conservatives. Their influence through campaign contributions, lobbying and nonprofit groups--such as Americans for Prosperity, an activist organization with connections to the Tea Party movement--has become more pronounced since the shift in power in the House last November.

Rep. Issa has long been a champion of polluting interests. Issa has taken more than $376,000 from electric utilities and the oil & gas industry. 

And if there's any question about whether Issa's latest pole in the water is political, just check out where the news broke - with a long exclusive story in the far-right Boston Herald.

Cape Wind has now been going through the federal regulatory review process for an astonishing 11 years. With multiple points for public input along the way, it's been vetted by, among others:

• The Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board
• The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
• The Massachusetts Secretary of Energy & Environmental Affairs
• The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation & Enforcement
• The Federal Aviation Administration

As The Daily Show pointed out, it should've been approved long ago, but its opponents are really, really rich. And now here comes Rep. Issa, by far the richest member of Congress according to OpenSecrets.org with an average estimated net worth of $448 million.

It needs to be asked by someone not named the Boston Herald: Who's Rep. Issa really looking out for here? The American public? Or Issa's wealthy, politically connected friends?

New GOP Climate Change Strategy: Ignore It Altogether

In the past, the climate strategy of Congressional Republicans has been to crow about "sound science" and bitch & moan when hearings don't include spokesmen for polluter front groups. But now they've got a new scheme: Refuse to talk about climate science at all. 

For the 15th time this Congress, House Energy & Commerce Committee Republicans have rejected Democratic efforts to hold a hearing on global warming. That's despite the wildfires raging in the West, drought killing crops in the Midwest, and intense storms knocking out power to millions in the Mid-Atlantic.

Instead of trying to win debates on what to do about things like global warming-fueled extreme weather and sea level rise, Republican leaders are now just pretending the problems don't exist. I'm sure the grandkids will be proud.

Global Warming-Fueled Maine Lobster Boom: A BAD Thing?

I've covered how global warming will be bad for lobsters from Massachusetts to Virginia, stressing them out with higher temperatures. But further north, warmer water has been great news for Maine lobsters, who've been booming in population. You'd think that would be good news for lobstermen, but instead the global warming-fueled Maine lobster glut has sent prices tumbling:

Harbors up and down the coast of Maine are filled with idle fishing boats, as lobster haulers decide that pulling in their lobster pots has become a fruitless pursuit.

Prices at the dock have fallen to as low as $1.25 a pound in some areas—roughly 70% below normal and a nearly 30-year-low for this time of year, according to fishermen, researchers and officials. The reason: an unseasonably warm winter created a supply glut throughout the Atlantic lobster fishery.

What about consumers, aren't they enjoying lower prices? Not unless you live in Maine:

Retail lobster prices in Maine have started to fall along with the glut, and Mr. Bayer said that some fishermen have begun selling lobsters out of their trucks for as low as $4 a pound. But consumers elsewhere in the U.S. aren't likely to see bargains. The Maine lobsters that currently are in season can't be shipped long distances due to their soft shells, and retailers have other fixed costs that limit big price drops.

While warmer ocean temperatures are clearly tied to man-made global warming and June was the 4th-hottest on record globally, the article in the Wall Street Journal (motto: "Fox, Print Edition") doesn't even mention climate change.

The Green Miles Migrates North

You may have noticed more and more Massachusetts-related posts here, and it's true: After 10 years in Northern Virginia, The Green Miles is taking his talents to South Coast.

I'm moving to New Bedford, MA to live with my girlfriend, who's already been mentioned here. I'll also be closer to my family and in a more forgiving climate than DC's global warming-fueled record heat and storms. And fortunately, the National Wildlife Federation* will continue to let me work for them from MA, so I'll still be menacing science deniers nationwide.

While I'll continue to watch & weigh in on Virginia politics, I'll be getting more connected in Massachusetts. Step one: Saying goodbye to my Tom Perriello bumper sticker & replacing it with an Elizabeth Warren:

Coincidentally, this is my 1,500th post here at TheGreenMiles.com. Thanks for reading over the last six years, and I hope you'll stay with me through more milestones in Massachusetts!

* - The Green Miles is my personal blog. The opinions here are mine alone and do not reflect the positions of the National Wildlife Federation.

Heating of Pot No Reason for Alarm, Reports Frog Media

It's not true that if you slowly turn up the heat, a frog won't notice that his surroundings are getting hotter - the frog will jump out of the pot if he can. That's an allegory - but whether humans will recognize & respond to their warming climate is a very real & open question.

Mainstream media coverage of Friday night's extreme storms in the Mid-Atlantic region shows no sign of hoppiness:

• The Washington Post has no mention of climate impacts in its main story on the storm. Even its sidebar story detailing the record-shattering temperatures that fueled the derecho waits until its final sentence to say the rare storm "raises the question about the possible role of man-made climate warming" - but says any judgement must be left to after the frog has already boiled future case studies. Next to the storm coverage is an in-depth look at tar sands, one of the most carbon pollution-intensive fuels on the planet, but true to modern American journalism's View From Nowhere, the Post makes no connection between the two stories, not even on the editorial page.
• The New York Times, NPR and CNN make no mention of climate change in their stories on the storms. Last night, CBS Radio News blamed the storms on "Mother Nature," skipping past ignorance to outright denial.
• Meanwhile out West, the Associated Press reports nationwide droughts are canceling fireworks displays for many states. Climate scientists have been warning for years that global warming will result in deeper droughts and more intense wildfires, yet the AP makes no mention of climate impacts.

Reading these stories, I can't help but think of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. Past dominant societies have proved quite capable of blissfully ignoring all evidence of impending doom. So far, America's media is proving no different. Will 2012's record temperatures and extreme weather change that? Or be just another milepost on the road to disaster?

Climate Crisis Announces Its Presence With Authority

UPDATE 6/30: Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) reports 2.5 million customers are without power, the largest non-hurricane outage in Virginia history. Meanwhile in neighboring Tennessee, Nashville broke its all-time high - not its high for the day but its highest temperature ever recorded - by two full degrees.

After a record-melting day, we've had a night of extreme storms that have killed several people and left millions of people without power across the Mid-Atlantic region.

What's next? Forecast highs for Saturday & Sunday here in the DC area: 101 & 101. With yet another chance of strong storms each night.

And it's not even July yet.

To borrow a phrase from Nuke LaLoosh in Bull Durham, this is global warming announcing its presence with authority. We've spent the last 100+ years digging fossil fuels out of the ground and burning them as quickly as we can. We've added unfathomable amounts of energy to Earth's atmosphere in the blink of a geological eye.

Yet instead of acting at the first serious warnings of crisis back in 1988, we've spent another generation burning carbon-based fuels faster than ever. We've sat & listened to the CEO of Exxon Mobil ask if global warming will really be so bad - but now that it's here in full force, can we really comprehend how bad it might really be?

NBC4 Meteorologist Doug Kammerer explains how global warming is adding fuel to the atmospheric fire we've witnessed today:



Learn more about how global warming is causing extreme weather.

DC Breaks All-Time June High Temperature Record

The temperature at National Airport hit 104 this afternoon according to the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang.

"We are now experiencing D.C.’s hottest June temperatures in 142 years of record-keeping," says CWG's Jason Samenow. With the dew point at 70 degrees, it feels like 111 degrees.

How fast is global warming rewriting our temperature records? The old June record was just tied last year, a 102 degree day on June 9, 2011. Globally, 2012 has been nearly a full degree above the 20th century average.

Today's Evidence the "War on Coal" is as Fake as "Clean Coal"

The Obama administration is giving away access to a huge tract of Wyoming coal to Peabody Energy at the bargain price of $1.10 a ton. Peabody will then sell it on the global market to the highest bidder and keep the profits, while the rest of us will pay the price for the global warming pollution that burning coal emits.

If this is a "war on coal," what would an ongoing love affair with coal look like? Would we have to pay Big Coal to take America's irreplaceable natural resources & sell them to China?

Sign Credo Action's petition to tell the Bureau of Land Management to end dirty coal giveaways and stop subsidizing climate change.

Exxon Mobil CEO: Learn to Stop Worrying About Climate Bomb & Love My Oil

Rex Tillerson made $35 million last year selling you oil. Now he's urging you to invest not in clean energy but in helping poor people buy more of Exxon Mobil's oil.

Do you think his motivation is more about the poor people, or more about the $35 million?

Talking Global Warming-Fueled Sea Level Rise with Thom Hartmann

I joined The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann last night to talk about how climate change is fueling an acceleration in the rise of global sea levels, a phenomenon that's hitting especially hard on America's East Coast.

A lighter moment at the end when Thom asked me about "clean coal." Remember when people believed in that mythical creature? So ironic that the same people who screech the loudest about a similarly made-up "war on coal" now (Sen. Jim Inhofe, Sen. Jim Webb, etc.) were the same people who sealed coal's death warrant by blocking national clean energy & climate action legislation, which would've been loaded with carbon capture & storage subsidies.

New Poll: Only 1 in 7 Americans Support Inhofe Polluter Bill; Majorities Want EPA Mercury & Carbon Action

UPDATE 11:58am: Warner & Webb voted with Sen. Inhofe. Disgraceful. Fortunately, 53 other senators stood up for public health & killed the bill.

Not only is Sen. Jim Inhofe's bill to block new Environmental Protection Agency mercury standards horrible public policy that would kill a lot of people, a new United Technologies/National Journal poll finds it's wildly unpopular with voters:

A new United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll finds that 57 percent of the public supports a recently-finalized Environmental Protection Agency rule controlling mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal-fired power plants as long as companies are given more time to comply.

The poll found that a similar majority—55 percent—thinks EPA should be able to control greenhouse-gas emissions that most scientists agree cause climate change. Just slightly more than one-third of the public—36 percent—said Congress should stop EPA from such regulation. A federal court is expected to rule soon on whether the agency is within its right to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions.

The poll’s findings put a majority of Americans out of step with Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member James Inhofe, R-Okla., who is sponsoring a measure coming up for a vote on Wednesday that would nullify EPA’s mercury rule entirely. Just under 20 percent of survey respondents said the Senate should vote to uphold the rule as it stands now, while only 14 percent said the Senate should vote to get rid of it. 

Again, I'd ask Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb: This is a hard call? Really? Which part is a tough call, the part where it lets corporate polluters profit by treating America's air and water like an open sewer? The part where people with asthma die? Or the part where it's incredibly bad politics?

Photo courtesy Flickr's Symbiosis

Warner & Webb Undecided on Whether to Let Polluters Keep Killing People

Today, the Senate is expected to vote on a bill by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) to block the Environmental Protection Agency from setting science-based standards for mercury and other toxic pollutants. That Sen. Mark Warner & Sen. Jim Webb are considered "swing votes" by the coal mining industry is a sad statement about how the Democratic Party of Virginia remains pathetically in the back pocket of the coal industry.

Pollution from coal-fired power plants is a major cause of asthma attacks. Historically in America, rather than address those causes, we enjoy "cheap" electricity, then let people get sick - 20 million Americans a year have asthma attacks, with 2 million of those being treated in the emergency room, and 5,000 people a year dying. Economists call those people externalities - costs that don't show up on your power bill.

Thirteen years after public health and conservation groups started pushing the Clinton administration to strengthen clean air standards, the Obama administration finally delivered last December, unveiling new rules. But electric utilities and their allies, led by Sen. Inhofe, are trying to block the rule, giving $9,313,822 to Congress so far this cycle alone (61% to Republicans).

Virginia parents, despite their inability to write the large checks demanded in this post-Citizens United world, are fighting back:

Kim Meltzer, a Charlottesville mother who has rushed her two-year-old son to the ER because of asthma attacks, hopes politicians will do the right thing for those who don't have a voice in Washington. "I'd like the environment to be one in which my children and all people can live in and not worry about breathing toxic fumes."

What's most pathetic about Sen. Inhofe's effort is that coal's enemy isn't clean air regulations - it's the rising cost of digging the last bits of coal out of the ground compared to natural gas that's cheap now and renewables that are falling in price every day. "Even without the EPA rules, coal is not really competitive," says one energy industry analyst.

And for all the squawking in Congress about creating jobs, cutting mercury and other toxic pollution does create jobs:

The EPA has estimated that as many as 15,000 construction jobs lasting several years will result.

[NRDC Clean Air Director John] Walke says this is a win-win for the American economy and the health of the American people. "It's finally time to clean up these dirty power plants, they are being given plenty of time to clean up, and it's a tremendous health gain for Americans that we finally clean up these dirty plants."

And what about coal? Virginia just invested billions in a new coal-fired power plant in Wise County ... which a Virginia State Corporation Commission analyst has testified (PDF) that, because the higher rates needed to pay for it, will actually result in a net loss to Virginia of 1,474 jobs.

And yet Senators Warner & Webb have to be talked into standing with public health and against giving coal plants a free pass to foul our air with mercury, sulfur oxides, nitrous oxides, and other toxic pollutants. Shameful.

Saudi Arabia Aims to be the Saudi Arabia of Solar Power

When an opponent of renewable energy claims North Dakota is the Saudi Arabia of oil shale, or Canada is the Saudi Arabia of tar sands, it's a dead giveaway they don't know what they're talking about.

You know who's the Saudi Arabia of oil? Saudi Arabia. And considering the United States has just 2% of the world's oil reserves while consuming 20% of the world's produced oil, we're stuck buying lots of oil from whoever will sell it to us at whatever price they demand.

Now here's the kicker: Saudi Arabia knows it won't be the Saudi Arabia of oil forever. That's why it's taking our oil money and spending it on becoming the Saudi Arabia of solar power.

Meanwhile, Republicans like Mitt Romney, George Allen and Scott Brown are trying to cut renewable energy subsidies and count on that 2% to meet our energy needs. It's a plan to drill to nowhere.

David Roberts: Progressives Shouldn't be Afraid to Talk Climate

Some progressives say they're afraid to talk about climate science and the urgent need for climate action because it's too complicated.

In this TED Talk, Grist's David Roberts says climate science easy to understand, it's simple to communicate the danger of climate inaction, and he'll convince you if you give him 17 minutes of your day:


You can follow David on Twitter and subscribe to his Grist feed on Google Reader.

Dept. of Irony: Team USA, Sponsored by BP

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Teams receive no federal funding. I understand they need to raise money and can't be too choosy about the sources.

But ... the 2012 and 2016 U.S. teams are sponsored by BP? Really?

BP is already deploying team members to the Gulf Coast on public relations trips.

As Karen Dalton Beninato tweeted, "Hence this year's 50 Yard Oil Slide."

And Robert Loerzel tweeted, "New event: The Junk Shot."

What Does Peak Coal in America Mean for Appalachia?

America is forecast to get less than 40% of its electricity from coal this year, mostly replaced by cheaper, less polluting natural gas and to a lesser extent by emerging renewables like solar & wind. That would be coal's lowest level in more than 60 years:

Just five years ago, coal was flourishing in the U.S. With electricity demand and the price of natural gas both rising, coal was viewed as essential to keeping power costs under control. Utilities drew up plans to build dozens of coal-fired plants.

But around the same time, a revolution was under way in the natural gas industry. Drillers figured how to tap enormous deposits of previously inaccessible reserves. As supplies grew and the price of natural gas plummeted, the ground shifted under the electric-power industry. [...]

Power plants that burn coal produce more than 90 times as much sulfur dioxide, five times as much nitrogen oxide and twice as much carbon dioxide as those that run on natural gas, according to the Government Accountability Office, the regulatory arm of Congress. Sulfur dioxide causes acid rain; nitrogen oxides cause smog; and carbon dioxide is a so-called greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.

For coal apologists, here's the real kick in the pants: "Even without the EPA rules, coal is not really competitive," says Jone-Lin Wang, head of Global Power for the energy research firm IHS CERA. So much for coal executives' fever dreams of a "war on coal."

So if America really has put coal in its rear view mirror, what does it mean for Appalachia? Countries like Saudi Arabia are taking their oil profits and pouring them into renewable energy to prepare for the inevitable decline of their oil reserves. Is there a similar plan to prepare Appalachia for a world where its coal is too expensive and too dirty? Or any plan at all?