Energy Rebellion
New Drilling Leases Denied in Wyoming
After several conservation groups filed a protest, the Bureau of Land Management has pulled 15 oil and gas leases in southern Wyoming off the table.
Two years ago, the State of Wyoming designated this area of the state, known as Adobe Town, as “very rare or uncommon,” and the county had passed a resolution last year recommending oil and gas leasing be withdrawn from it.
The groups made use of those facts in their protest, arguing that the proposed leases were at odds with local government and state plans for the area, a remote region of badlands and rock formations. Groups filing the formal protest included the Wyoming Association of Churches, The Wilderness Society, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council, Wyoming Outdoor Council and Wyoming Wilderness Association.
Young People To Demand Power Shift at Summits in West and Midwest
Power Shift 2009 winds up its regional conferences this weekend with events in Ohio and Oregon. These are the last of the 11 regional summits that saw young people across the nation gather to send a message to President Obama and Congress: enact a climate and energy plan by December that rebuilds the economy, ends dependence on dirty energy and brings America lasting security.
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For more information: West Power Shift |
At Oberlin College in Ohio, some 400 people are registered to attend, and more than 500 are registered at the University of Oregon, for a weekend full of panel discussions, workshops and grassroots organizing for a clean energy future.
These summits are part of the nationwide Power Shift '09 campaign, organized by young voters to exercise their political power.
Businesses Unite to Support Climate Bill
More than a dozen companies have formed a new lobbying group to urge legislative action on climate change. The new group, American Businesses for Clean Energy, includes several companies that split with the US Chamber of Commerce to protest that organization’s oppositional stance on climate change legislation, such as New Jersey’s PSEG and New Mexico’s PNM. Other members of the new group include New York Power Authority, National Grid, Gap and Aspen Skiing Co.
The message they are sending to lawmakers: “We are businesses from a broad cross-section of American industry that support Congressional action to enact clean energy and climate legislation that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now is the time to act."
- Suzanne Bopp
Under Pressure, a Change of Heart By US Chamber?
In a letter sent to senators currently working on climate change legislation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has promised the organization's “continued support for strong federal climate change legislation.”
The letter expressed approval of most of the principles outlined by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Lindsey Graham (R-NC) in a recent New York Times op-ed, which called for bipartisan climate change legislation that would include market-based solutions to cut greenhouse gases. Those include incentives for nuclear power, offshore oil drilling, and technology the utility industry says enables it to use coal with lower environmental risks -- providing “new financial incentives for companies that develop carbon capture and sequestration technology,” according to the op-ed.
The Chamber’s letter encouraged consideration of a "different approach" to break the stalemate that has kept strong climate legislation from passing, and it indicates the organization is open to a federal cap on emissions as a possible solution.
Even though the Chamber opposed the House's cap-and-trade climate bill, protested EPA plans to regulate greenhouse gases, and saw several high-profile members quit over its obstructionism on climate change, Chamber officials insist that their letter does not represent a change in the organization's position.
Nevertheless, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) called the letter another potential “game-changer.”
-- Suzanne Bopp
Perfect Score from Big Oil Awarded To Oklahoma's Inhofe
According to a little-known legislative scorecard and Voter Guide from the American Petroleum Institute, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is the ideal legislator. The National Wildlife Federation discovered his MVP status with the oil industry’s top trade association, and they have issued a limited-edition trading card to commemorate it. The card highlights some of the Senator’s career milestones, including:
•Sen. Inhofe and his leadership PAC have received $2,182,631 from the oil & gas industries since 1998, according to OpenSecrets.org. During that time, America’s foreign oil imports have increased 21 percent.
•Sen. Inhofe took to the Senate floor in 2003 to call global warming “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.”
This recognition from Big Oil came as Sen. Inhofe, a climate-change denier, organized a boycott of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which had been working on the Kerry-Boxer clean energy bill. Concerned that some Republicans might be willing to engage in some bipartisan compromise on it, Sen. Inhofe has chosen to organize the Republican members of his committee and obstruct the entire process by walking out.
“Senator Inhofe has taken his team off the field before the real action has even started. Behind the scenes, you can be sure Big Oil is giving Sen. Inhofe a standing ovation,” said Jeremy Symons, senior vice president of the National Wildlife Federation. “The oil industry has led a multi-million dollar assault on clean energy and climate legislation to protect its profits at the expense of America’s energy security. Now, Sen. Inhofe is once again coming through in the clutch for Big Oil.”
Sen. Inhofe told reporters that Republicans will not return to debate the climate bill until a proper EPA analysis is done. Senator Boxer (D-CA), meanwhile, said the EPA had already done a two-week analysis of the Kerry-Boxer bill, which came on top of the five-week review of the House-passed bill — and the two bills are “90 percent similar.”
Such facts would not stand in the way of Sen. Inhofe’s plans. Keep in mind that it was Sen. Inhofe who bragged about opposing health care legislation, saying last summer at a town hall meeting, “I don’t have to read it, or know what’s in it. I’m going to oppose it anyways.”
-- Suzanne Bopp
Citizen Events to Focus on Senate and Copenhagen
In these pressure-building weeks as the Senate considers new legislation climate and before world leaders converge on Copenhagen, Focus the Nation has begun a campaign to help communities get their voices heard on issues of climate change and clean energy. It’s called Community and the Road to Copenhagen, and all across the country young organizers are hosting climate dialogues in their communities.
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For more information: Phone: 407-765-5945 |
The campaign started on October 23 in Durango, CO. Local politicians, business leaders and representatives from the Navajo Nation attended, as well as about 150 area residents. “It was the type of event that energizes the people there,” says Mark Kimbrell, communications and actions manager at Focus the Nation. “There’s a creation of momentum that leads into taking the next steps.” Those steps might include lobbying Senators and calling and writing the White House, asking for action on climate protection and clean energy legislation. “It’s all about communities getting active.”
Following each event, Kimbrell will collect and synthesize the attendees’ comments and turn them into Clean Energy Action Lists to be delivered to Senate offices and also to Copenhagen in December, showing leaders that the people want action on climate change.
Other events across the country are planned for the coming weeks. These currently include:
Nov. 6— New York City
Nov. 7 – Santa Cruz, CA
Nov. 12—Jonesboro, AR
Nov. 12—Southfield, MI
Nov. 14—Tallahassee, FL
Nov. 20 – Akron, OH
Nov. 21 – Philadelphia, PA
Nov. 21 – Tempe, AZ
Nov. 21 – Charlotte, NC
Dec. 1 – New Orleans, LA
Kimbrell expects that list to grow as he gets events organized in other states; he encourages people to create their own events. “If you go to the Web site and click on the link that says ‘Organize,’ it walks you through what you need to do,” he says. “There’s an organizing guide and an event model, and you can connect with people in your state so you can share resources and skills.”
-- Suzanne Bopp
One More Down; South Dakota Coal Plant Cancelled
A coal-fired power plant planned for Milbank, South Dakota, will not be built. The lead developer cited the economic downturn and the uncertainty of federal climate legislation now moving through the Senate, likely to put in place some limits on carbon dioxide emissions.
A spokesman said they will look at other possibilities for energy supply and that they already have plans to expand wind production in the coming year.
Growing Business Advocacy Group Focuses on Sustainability
Businesses hoping for an alternative to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has lost several prominent members recently over its obstructionism on climate legislation, might consider the New Voice of Business, a non-profit business advocacy group that puts sustainability high on its agenda.
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For more information: Phone: 415-626-3625 |
It’s built into their mission, in fact, which is to inform, engage and mobilize an influential network of business people to advocate for a sustainable economy and encourage best practices that align the priorities of the planet, people and profits. They call this philosophy “Business 3.0.”
The New Voice of Business was formed four years ago by Elliot Hoffman, co-founder and former CEO of Just Desserts, at a time when the California Chamber of Commerce was lobbying the state legislature against subsidies for rooftop solar panels. Hoffman brought together a group of businessmen who worked with the Public Utilities Commission to talk about the benefits of a large-scale solar power effort, and the result was a 10-year, $3.35-billion program to subsidize solar panel installations, known as The Million Solar Roofs Initiative.
Such accomplishments come from the belief that, as the group’s Web site says, “Individual businesses need not wait for policy change before moving forward with solutions that provide environmental, social and economic sustainability. A broad range of innovative business practices boost profitability – while helping to ensure opportunity and prosperity for society.”
New Voice of Business has a membership of 2,500 business leaders – and counting.
Economic Growth Will Follow Clean Energy and Climate Legislation
New analysis shows that strong clean energy and climate policies would create jobs, raise incomes and strengthen the U.S. economy.
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For more information: Phone: 415-875-6100 |
The University of Illinois, Yale University and the University of California collaborated on the new study, which demonstrates that clean energy and climate legislation, such as the American Clean Energy and Security Act, would lead to large-scale investments in clean energy and energy efficiency.
Such legislation would create up to 1.9 million new jobs, the study suggests, and increase household income by up to $1,175 per year; GDP would get a $111-billion boost.
In addition, every state would see economic gains. Environmental Entrepreneurs, an independent business voice for the environment, along with Ceres and the Clean Energy Network, have sponsored the publication of 50 state fact sheets to show what benefits each state could anticipate following the passage of comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation.
- Suzanne Bopp
Mountaintop Removal Protests at EPA Offices in D.C. and Several States
Activists with Mountain Justice, Rainforest Action Network and other groups are organizing protests today at EPA headquarters in Washington and in cities across the country where the EPA has offices. They are demanding an end to mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia.
Mountaintop removal is a form of strip mining that blasts ridges off mountains to expose coal seams. Operators dump the rock and earth into neighboring valleys, often obliterating streams and forests.
More than two dozen events are taking place across the country, including at EPA offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City, and Boston and a New Jersey office of JPMorgan & Chase Co., a bank environmentalists say is the biggest financier of mountaintop removal.
This is the third demonstration since June; the EPA has put a hold on 79 permits in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio.
-- Suzanne Bopp
