Members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee began marking up their version of comprehensive climate and energy legislation, buoyed by a CNN poll showing that 60 percent of Americans support efforts to limit carbon pollution. "The committee is laying the tracks that will carry the bill to the finish line," said Jeremy Symons, senior vice president for conservation at the National Wildlife Federation. Committee chairman Barbara Boxer's (D-Calif.) recently-unveiled version of a clean energy bill calls for reducing U.S. carbon pollution, promoting energy independence, and transitioning to a clean energy economy. Since its introduction, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Boxer and Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry (D-MA), has drawn diverse allies, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and sportsman groups.
President Obama announced the largest energy grid update investment in history, establishing funding for technologies that will drive the American clean energy economy. The grant awards, part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, total some $3.4 billion, and will be "matched by industry funding for a total public-private investment worth over $8 billion." They were awarded to 100 private companies, utilities, manufacturers, cities, and other partners across the country. The announced investments include infrastructure-boosting grants to help consumers cut utility costs, funds for the expansion of a manufacturing base to support smart grid technologies, and modernization projects intended to increase efficient energy transmission and distribution. The investments are projected to create tens of thousands of jobs, reduce costly power outages, and put America on a path to get at least 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. An analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute estimates that the implementation of smart grid technologies could reduce electricity use by more than 4 percent by 2030, saving $20.4 billion for businesses and consumers nationwide.
A CNN poll shows 60 percent of Americans support a plan that restricts carbon pollution and institutes a system for trading emission allowances. The survey comes as deliberations begin in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill introduced earlier this month by committee chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry (D-MA). Perhaps most crucial: energy legislation enjoys significant support among those identifying as independent, with nearly 6 in 10 supporting the plan. "Independents may not be red or blue, but they appear to be green," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Earlier polls indicate that Independents believe in global warming and believe that the government can take steps to curtail the problem."
As if the thoroughly discredited theory of global cooling needed another strike against it, statistics experts have come out with a new rebuttal of the well-worn climate-denier chestnut. A review of years of temperature data at the request of the Associated Press yielded evidence that the earth is, indeed, still warming - not cooling, as some have dubiously claimed. Statisticians reviewed two sets of unmarked data and found no trend of falling temperatures over time. The results confirmed U.S. government findings showing the decade 2000-2009 has been the warmest on record.
Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Chair Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) introduced legislation aimed at safeguarding wildlife and natural resources, and the essential goods and services they provide to every American, from the harmful effects of climate change. Co-sponsored by Senators Max Baucus (D-MT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Tom Udall (D-NM), the " Natural Resources Climate Adaptation Act" (S. 1933) provides a framework for protecting and restoring wildlife and natural resources from the existing and projected impacts of climate change. The bill calls for dedicated funding for these safeguards, which is expected to come from revenue generated by clean energy and climate legislation. The plan builds upon an earlier natural resources adaptation proposal championed by Senators Baucus and Whitehouse, which was included in the Senate's version of comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation introduced earlier this month by Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry (D-MA). "The support of these prominent Senators shows that safeguarding our communities, wildlife and natural resources from the impacts of climate change is as important as complementary efforts to curb the causes of climate change," said John Kostyack, executive director of Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming at the National Wildlife Federation. "This legislation prioritizes climate-smart conservation solutions that meet the scale and scope of the threats facing wildlife and natural resources today."
National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Larry Schweiger testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on the urgent need to pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation that includes large-scale dedicated funding to safeguard wildlife and natural resources from the harmful effects of climate change. In his testimony, Schweiger praised Senators Kerry and Boxer for their efforts to address the current and projected impacts of climate change in the Senate Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S. 1733). "As goes America's wildlife, so goes America. The health of wildlife and natural ecosystems is closely linked with the health of the economy, human health and safety, and quality of life," said Schweiger. "Congress must enact legislation that offers Americans a better way to power our future and a better way to protect the planet. We must address carbon pollution and the growing threats to our natural world. We cannot do one without the other, or we will fail to meet our moral obligations to the generations that will follow us." Schweiger added that the S.1733 provides long-term dedicated funding for a "strategic approach to natural resources adaptation" and will be an economic boon.
The hearing was the second in a series on the bill. Scientists, business leaders and the President of the Quinault Indian Nation joined Schweiger in testifying before the committee.
The House and Senate recently cleared a $32.2 billion Interior and Environment appropriations bill for the 2010 fiscal year that includes $385 million for programs that address global warming. The $4.7 billion overall program increase over 2009 funding levels will improve conservation efforts across the board and give agencies the resources they need to take on new climate change initiatives. President Obama signed the bill into law on October 30, 2009. The funds allotted for addressing the effects of climate change include $67 million for priority climate change research at the U.S. Geological Survey and an additional $15 million for that agency's National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center, which will help wildlife adapt to climate change, and $55 million for on-the-ground monitoring and adaptation to climate change impacts in national parks, national wildlife refuges, and other public lands. "Like a shot of adrenalin, this bill will breathe new life into our nation's conservation programs," said Corry Westbrook, legislative director at the National Wildlife Federation. "For too long, key conservation programs and agencies and have been shortchanged and undercut. Congress has reached the bar set by President Obama by delivering the best Interior appropriations bill we have seen in years."
The U.S. Department of Treasury announced the allotment of $2.2 billion in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds for hundreds of public power companies and cooperatives, helping them access lower cost credit and encourage clean renewable energy production. "Because of the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds awards announced today, energy developers will be able to access lower cost credit to help make the shift to clean renewable energy production, benefitting both our economy and our environment," said Treasury Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin. The department considered more than 1,000 applicants for the highly-prized bonds, eventually choosing 805. Most of the money awarded will go toward solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass projects.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) unveiled a newer, more ambitious version of climate and energy legislation that calls for reducing U.S. carbon pollution, promoting energy independence, and transitioning to a clean energy economy.
The proposal, cosponsored by Foreign Relations Committee Chair Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), builds on the House-passed American Clean Energy and Security Act, adding provisions that will further decrease U.S. production of harmful heat-trapping gases.
Among other new content in the 'Chairman's Mark' are provisions that ensure the majority of the bill's investments go to consumer protection, an increase in investments for energy efficiency and renewable energy, and a framework for the distribution of emissions allowances.
While the new carbon targets are more ambitious than those laid out in the House bill, they are projected to be easy on American pocketbooks: an Environmental Protection Agency analysis of the latest plan says it would cost the typical household about $100 per year, about the same as previous estimates.
The Environment and Public Works Committee opens debate on the bill this week.
A new report shows energy legislation would create millions of jobs, raise income levels, and strengthen the U.S. economy.
The analysis, released by Environmental Entrepreneurs, is based on collaborative research by teams at Yale University, the University of California, and the University of Illinois, and shows that legislation "would limit pollution and create incentives to drive large-scale investments in clean energy and energy efficiency."
According to the report, clean energy investments would create up to 1.9 million new jobs nationwide, boosting the GDP by up to $111 billion over the next decade.
"Using new modeling and the latest economic data, this analysis confirms that clean energy and climate legislation can strengthen our economy and create jobs," said Diane Doucette, Climate Campaign Director for Environmental Entrepreneurs. "America needs to move forward with this legislation to drive investment in clean energy technology, cut carbon pollution and make America a leader for the 21st century."
|
|
Subscribe to this blog's feed
