June 02, 2009

Capitol Hotline (Jun. 2)

Waxman-Markey Timing, Enviros Support Supreme Court Pick, Stimulus Funds for Green Jobs, Climate Positive Development Program, 2nd Round of UN Negotiations in Bonn, Climate Change Humanitarian Crisis, World Business Leaders Want Strong Treaty

In this issue

Hot Topic of the Week

o Timing for Waxman-Markey Floor Debate

USCAN Member Action Alert
Member-Only Resources
Inside the Beltway

o Environmentalists Back Obama's Supreme Court Pick

o Biden Announces Stimulus Funding for Green Jobs

o New Climate Positive Development Program Unveiled

Outside the Beltway

o Second Round of U.N. Climate Talks Begin In Bonn

o Climate Change is Greatest Global Humanitarian Crisis

o World Business Leaders Urge for Strong Post-Kyoto Treaty

Capitol Hill Events
Other Headlines

Hot Topic of the Week

Timing for Waxman-Markey Floor Debate

House Democrats are considering an aggressive push for floor passage of H.R. 2454, the energy and global warming legislation released by Chairmen Waxman and Markey earlier this year. Democratic leaders must choose between debating sometime in the next four weeks or waiting until after the July 4 recess. In order to move the bill to the floor for passage, Speaker Pelosi must reach the 218 vote threshold. It is predicted that the Speaker will schedule the eight committees that have a piece of the bill, to take action later this week. Read more and E & E (sub req'd)

USCAN Member Action Alert

There are a number of upcoming key organizing opportunities: a number of groups are working together on a strategy to strengthen and pass the Waxman Markey bill; comments to the EPA Docket on the "endangerment finding" are due June 23; and a large number of organizations are working together to create Climate Week NYC in September in New York. For more information on any of these activities and how to get involved, contact JKurz@climatenetwork.org.

Member-Only Resources

The following resources (talking points, sign-on letters, polling data, reports and more) were added to the member-area of the USCAN website recently. You must login to access them. Need an account? Register here.

Inside the Beltway

Environmentalists Back Obama's Supreme Court Pick

Last week, President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to replace Justice David H. Souter in the Supreme Court. If confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, environmentalists expect Judge Sotomayor to provide a valuable perspective on issues such as climate change. Many environmentalists in support of Obama's pick point to Sotomayor's involvement in Connecticut v. American Electric Power Company Inc., a closely watched court case involving greenhouse gas emissions. She said in a hearing, "I have absolutely no idea about the science of global warming, but if the science is right, we have relegated ourselves to killing the world in the foreseeable future. Not in centuries to come but in the very near future." However, it appears unlikely that environmental issues will play a large role in her confirmation process, which begins Tuesday. Read more at E&E News (sub req'd)

Biden Announces Stimulus Funding for Green Jobs

At a meeting of the Obama administration's task force on the middle class in Denver last Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden announced the creation of a national program to train workers in green jobs that will make public housing more energy efficient. "How could we possibly lead in the 21st century without a fundamental change in our energy policy?" said Biden, "It necessitates the jobs that will get us there, green jobs are good jobs." The middle class task force has been working since January to help Americans struggling in the current economic downturn. Read more at AP

New Climate Positive Development Program Unveiled

At the C-40 Cities Climate Leader Group in South Korea last week, the Climate Positive Development Program was announced as a joint venture between the Clinton Climate Initiative and the U.S. Green Building Council. The objective of the program is to help support 16 large-scale urban re-development projects around the world, including one in San Francisco. As more than half the earth's population now lives in cities, former President Bill Clinton supports the project, saying that the future of urban development is in this type of ultra-low emissions project. Read more at The New York Times

Outside the Beltway

Second Round of U.N. Climate Talks Begin In Bonn

The second round of U.N. climate talks began on Monday in Bonn, Germany where negotiators from 181 countries and 200 non-governmental organizations are discussing the first draft of a post-Kyoto global warming treaty. The United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) released the draft negotiating text on May 20, which serves as a baseline for the current talks as well as the final agreement to be reached in Copenhagen at the UNFCCC's Conference of Parties this December. However, this draft has been rejected by India, China, and the Group of 77, a group of developing nations, because they say the draft failed to take their proposals into account. On the other hand, the United States delegation has called for putting all countries on more equal footing. The talks will continue in Bonn until June 12. Read more from Livemint

Climate Change is the Greatest Global Humanitarian Crisis

Last week, Kofi Annan, President of the Global Humanitarian Forum, introduced The Human Impact Report: Climate Change -The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis as the first-ever comprehensive report documenting the human impact of climate change. The report projects climate change to be the greatest humanitarian challenge the world faces. According to the report, "Four billion people are vulnerable now and 500m are now at extreme risk. Weather-related disasters ... bring hunger, disease, poverty and lost livelihoods. They pose a threat to social and political stability". If emissions are not brought under control, the report states that as many as half a million people will die by 2030 due to climate related events, such as water-shortages, heatwaves, and severe storms. Read more at The Guardian

World Business Leaders Urge for Strong Post-Kyoto Treaty

At the World Business Summit on Climate Change, many of the 500 business leaders that attended called for a strong global climate deal that would provide the regulatory certainty and price signals that are needed to invest in renewable fuels and low-carbon technologies. Many business leaders that are making climate change a priority said they were working on a draft statement calling for an U.N. endorsed 50 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in a speech to the summit, "For those who are directly or implicitly lobbying against climate action, I have a clear message: Your ideas are out-of-date and you are running out of time." Read more at The Wall Street Journal

Capitol Hill Events

June 2: Briefing on Heating and Cooling with Sustainable Biomass Energy (EESI)
June 2: Hearing on DOE Nominees (Senate E & NR)
June 3: Hearing on Future of U.S. Forest Policy (House Ag)
June 3: Markup of National Climate Service Bill (House Sci & Tech)
June 3: Hearing on Transit and Housing New Starts (Senate BH & Urbn Aff)
June 4: Hearing on Shale Gas Potential (House NR)
June 4: Markup of Transportation Research Reauthorization (House Sci & Tech)
June 4: Markup of Water Bills (House Trans & Infra)
June 4: Hearing on Oil Spill Research and Development (House Sci & Tech)
June 4: Markup of Comprehensive Energy Bill (Senate E & NR)
June 4: Briefing on Electric Transmission-Upgrading the Grid (EESI)

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Capitol Hotline (Jun. 2)

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