"Belief In This Matter Depends On Political Party Affiliation.”

Someone today talking about deniers of climate science? Nope.

Check out Joss Garman's post on relativity deniers.

Hey, Tony Hayward: Wanna Make a Bet?

BP CEO Tony Hayward predicts today's "top kill" effort to stop the oil spill has a 60% to 70% chance of success.

Look, no one wants to see the gusher stopped more than me. Having seen the spill's devastating effects firsthand, I have trouble even talking about the spill's impacts on communities, people's lives & wildlife without getting choked up.

But this is the same Tony Hayward who predicted the spill's environmental effects would be "very, very modest." That "60% to 70%" prediction translates to 2-to-1 odds. If Tony Hayward offered you a bet that another one of his predictions wouldn't come true at 2-to-1 odds, how much would you bet against him? I'd cash in my 401(k).

I hope I'm proven wrong & this post looks silly in hindsight. If the oil gusher really is stopped, I wouldn't be embarrassed, I'd be psyched. But an endorsement from Tony Hayward doesn't fill me with confidence.

Side note -- for some oil spill comic relief, follow Fake Tony Hayward & BP Global PR on Twitter.

Photo via Flickr's Truthout

June 7: Screening of "The Greening of Southie"

The Green Miles grew up in Boston, so I was excited to hear about this documentary about the first green building in Southie. A screening will be held on Monday, June 7th at 7pm on George Washington University's campus in DC, you can RSVP on Facebook. Should be wicked pissah:

Trailer - The Greening of Southie from Wicked Delicate Films on Vimeo.

What Do BP Oil Spill & Offshore Drilling Jobs Have In Common?

Nobody can provide an accurate estimate for either one.

On the same day BP finally admitted its figure of 5,000 barrels per day lowballs the actual size of the spill, the Newport News Daily Press reported Gov. Bob McDonnell may be playing games with offshore drilling job creation estimates:

Even before the Defense Department made known its objections to offshore drilling in Virginia, Bob McDonnell raised eyebrows with a letter he sent to the Interior Department in December.

The letter cites a 5-year-old study that predicts offshore natural gas production alone would generate 2,578 jobs in 10 years. That the then governor-elect would quote the study surprised its author, former Old Dominion University President James Koch, who called the document a "flyover from 30,000 feet."

"I've told them they shouldn't make too much of something done over the weekend," Koch said. "I don't even put that on my [curriculum] vitae."

So how many jobs would offshore drilling create in Virginia? Let's ask Big Oil:

A 2009 [American Petroleum Institute] study found that Virginia would gain 130 drilling jobs, plus another 291 related to drilling, by 2020. The figures jump to 216 and 415, respectively, by 2030.

Only 415 jobs 20 years from now? At the cost of risking this off Virginia's coast?

Former Virginia governor & current Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine says the spill should prompt a fresh look at our energy priorities:

"You have to weigh environmental safety. You have to weigh the significant naval operations and NASA operations off Virginia's coast," he added. "I think a third thing you'd have to weigh in Virginia's case is opportunity cost -- would it be better to do offshore wind?

"The same place where you might want to do oil rigs off the coast of Virginia, there's actually pretty favorable wind conditions," Kaine said.

"So you would look at all the options and you would put them all on the table, including the environmental conditions. And certainly the need to be diligent about that has certainly been escalated dramatically by what we've seen in the gulf." 

Tell Senators Mark Warner & Jim Webb it's time to stop letting Big Oil write our energy policies.

Pay No Attention To That $85,111 In My Pocket

"I have no connection to BP or any other oil company at all."

-- Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN) at today's House Transportation & Infrastructure committee hearing

According to OpenSecrets.org, Rep. Duncan has received $85,111 from the oil & gas industry since 1998.

The Green Miles at Huffington Post Green

As part of my work with the National Wildlife Federation, I'm now contributing entries to Huffington Post Green. Check out my posts here!

Redford to Obama: Put Clean Energy Ahead of Big Oil

Arlington Free Clinic Sets the (LEED) Gold Standard

Arlington's free clinic has become the first in the nation to become a LEED Gold certified green building:

The facility was designed by Perkins+Will in collaboration with the engineering firm Integral and builder Bognet Construction Associates.

“We wanted a space that would be welcoming and reflect our core values of excellence and respect,” said Free Clinic executive director Nancy Pallesen.

Building green “was the right thing to do,” said Mark Silverwood, a member of the Free Clinic’s board and an adviser during the design and construction process. “Earning LEED Gold shows that even a small non-profit can set the bar high and build a space that benefits the entire community.”

Congrats to the Arlington Free Clinic!

Watch The Green Miles Talk BP Oil Spill on PlanetForward.org

I joined PlanetForward.org this week to talk about my trip to the Gulf of Mexico with the National Wildlife Federation:

New NRDC Ad: Change Shouldn't Be This Hard

100,000 Thanks (and Counting)

Sometime last week while I was in Louisiana covering the BP oil spill for the National Wildlife Federation, The Green Miles passed 100,000 visits.

When I started this blog nearly four years ago, the environment was what I did to forget about work. I wasn't happy as a local TV news producer covering murder, fires & car accidents, so I began volunteering with Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment, getting involved in Arlington Young Democrats & reading blogs like Raising Kaine (now Blue Virginia).

I never imagined it would lead to anyone would pay me to write their blog posts for them. Or that if they did, they'd allow me to keep writing The Green Miles in my spare time with full editorial independence.

So I'm thankful that you've kept reading, I'm thankful for what all those clicks have helped me achieve & I'm thankful that even as The Green Miles becomes a comparatively "old" blog I still look forward to posting as often as I can.

I hope you'll keep reading for another 100,000 visits & beyond. Here are some ways to keep in touch:

• Bookmark this page or subscribe to my posts
• Follow me on Twitter
• Add me on Facebook

Finally, a bit of The Green Miles trivia -- all-time most popular post? How to recycle VHS tapes.

The Green Miles Meets The BP Oil Spill

The Only Thing Labs Love More Than Water ...

... is shaking it all over you.

The Green Miles works in the National Wildlife Federation's press office, which means that usually while something fun is going on (like a boat trip), I have to stay behind & take care of calling reporters, writing blog posts, etc.

But for once, I had more fun than the people doing the event, thanks to this boat captain's dog:

I'd thrown the block of wood for her a couple of times, then realized I needed to get my Flipcam to record it -- because years from now, when I'm having a stressful day, I will pull up this YouTube clip & instantly relax. I went out to my car & came back -- she saw me come around the corner & straightened up like, "I thought you were gone! YOU MEAN I CAN CHASE IT AGAIN?"

And if you have to ask what this post has to do with the environment ... you need to get yourself a dog & a stick. 

Quick Clip of Obama Motorcade Departing Venice, LA

The Green Miles is in Venice, Louisiana tonight, part of a National Wildlife Federation team getting a first-hand look at the Gulf Coast oil spill. President Obama made a stop at a nearby U.S. Coast Guard station earlier today, but I was only able to catch his motorcade on the way out:

One piece of irony: The Coast Guard station is on the same street as a Halliburton location. Halliburton's role in the spill is being investigated.

Even a Little Oil is Extremely Toxic

As we watch the Gulf Coast oil spill unfold, a little be perspective on oil's toxicity.

One time I wondered if motor oil bottles were recyclable. I was surprised how vehement a blogger was that they should never go anywhere but in the trash with the cap sealed tightly:

Taking a risk that I shall henceforth be known as a dasher of hopes, I’m going to have to give you a “no” on this one. Motor oil residue has become one of the biggest contaminants for our plastics markets. The residue seeps into the porous plastic and cannot be removed through the washing process. Of course you should never try to rinse or wash a motor oil bottle yourself since motor oil down the sink or storm drain causes a much larger environmental crisis than a plastic bottle in the trash. The market representatives who take our plastics tell us a motor oil bottle in a pile of plastics could potentially contaminate a whole batch of otherwise-recyclable materials and cause the whole lot to be sent to the landfill. So, when you look at it, recycling a motor oil bottle would be the real dasher of hopes for all the other bottles that really wanted to be recycled. 

Considering how toxic just the residue inside a bottle can be, can you imagine what 25,000 barrels a day could do to the Gulf Coast?

Who Benefits from Expanded Drilling & High Gas Prices?

Expanded offshore drilling means more risk of spills. And just as the economy begins to recover, families are losing more of their disposable income to rising gas prices. But hey, not everyone's complaining!:

Exxon Mobil said Thursday its quarterly profit increased 38 percent as oil prices rose in the first three months of the year.

The company reported a profit of $6.3 billion, or $1.33 a share, in the first three months of the year. [...]

Exxon’s profit relied heavily on its exploration and production operation. Oil prices surged over the last 12 months, jumping from a low of $33 a barrel in the first quarter of 2009 to more than $80 a barrel this year.

It's about time Exxon Mobil's profits got back on track. After all, it's been a whole 16 months since it posted the biggest profit of the history of the planet. Good to see them back on their feet!

UPDATE: As my friend Teddy Goodson reminds me, Exxon's 2009 federal income tax bill was $0.

Cross-posted from BlueVirginia.us

What Would Gulf Coast Oil Spill Look Like Off Virginia's Coast?

Thanks to the magic of Photoshop, we can cut the Gulf Coast spill & paste it, scaled to size, off the Virginia coast in the area where drilling is planned. Via Twitter's Brad Johnson, here's what it looks like proportionately:

Obviously this is not exactly what a Virginia oil spill would look like. There are many variables -- wind direction & speed, water current patterns. This is not a forecast, it simply shows relative sizes.

What would all that oil do? Would it head out to sea? Towards the Chesapeake Bay & Virginia Beach? Up to Ocean City? Who knows.

But hey, at least oil spills come with a darkly comic side. Sen. Mark Warner, a relentless cheerleader for oil & gas drilling off Virginia's shores, is now being listed among coastal-state senators who've "expressed concerns about the safety & environmental impacts of offshore drilling." Who says you can't try to have it both ways?

Cross-posted from BlueVirginia.us

The Daily Show on Cape Wind

UPDATE: Cape Wind has been approved! Congratulations to the clean energy activists who've been working for years to make this happen & to the Obama administration for making the right call.

I first posted this when it aired waaaay back in 2007. Doesn't seem like that long ago, but it was before The Daily Show had its own fancy-schmancy video site. The YouTube version of this clip has since been removed, but considering we're expecting a final decision on Cape Wind today, I thought I'd dig up the fancy-schmancied archive clip from The Daily Show's site & re-post it.

As Jason Jones reports, there's only one reason Cape Wind wasn't approved long ago -- because the people who live nearby are really, really rich:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jason Jones 180 - Nantucket
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

If We Don't Tackle Climate, Who Celebrates?

What I just said, in video form:

Tell Warner & Webb: Tackle Clean Energy & Climate Next

Who's happiest about the delay in the rollout of the Senate clean energy & climate bill?

C'mon, Mahmoud. No need to be shy.

See? Told you. Every day we don't put a price on carbon pollution is another day Iran can rake in $100 million thanks to our continuing addiction to oil.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is flirting with postponing debate on the clean energy & climate bill so the Senate can take up immigration reform first. As today's Washington Post editorializes, Sen. Reid's effort to flip the bills may kill them both:

Painstaking negotiations on the substance of a compromise climate bill are nearly complete. Mr. Graham, Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lieberman have gone to extraordinary lengths to attract a coalition of supporters, including environmental groups, electric utilities, businesses, the Christian Coalition and even oil companies. Fence-sitting senators concerned about the bill's effects on manufacturing and American competitiveness seem to be coming around to the idea of pricing carbon. This emerging coalition, backers claim, is still behind the bill.

In contrast, there is no comparable groundwork that would lead to an immigration bill's passage. But at least some Democrats say they believe the politics of immigration reform are more favorable to them than the politics of climate legislation. House Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) faces a tough reelection battle, where a sizable Hispanic population wants to see him make an effort to achieve reform. We understand the politics, and we support immigration reform. If it's possible to accomplish something this year, great. But Mr. Reid and the White House should not allow immigration to push climate change so far down the calendar that it becomes impossible for the Senate to take up. And all parties -- including Mr. Graham -- should keep in mind that the politics of climate change are likely to be harder next year, when Democratic majorities will probably be slimmer. Defeat or postponement now could fracture the coalition behind the effort.

Immigration needs reform & legislation deserves a full debate. But while the House passed the American Clean Energy & Security Act 10 months ago, it hasn't even taken up immigration reform yet. Clean energy & climate is at the goal line, while immigration hasn't even kicked off yet. Let's get clean energy & climate done before moving on to the next issue.

I just called Senators Mark Warner & Jim Webb with a dual message:

Thank you for voting to break the Republican filibuster of Wall Street reform. I know you'll win the fight. Once we've won that battle, it's time to get the job done on clean energy & climate action.

You can reach Sen. Warner's DC office at 202-224-2023 (or call his local office). For Sen. Webb's DC office, call 202-224-4024 (or call his local office).