Climate Files 62 / EPA Priorities
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Discusses 2010 EPA Priorities
On March 8, 2010, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson spoke to the National Press Club on progress made by the agency in 2009 and priorities for 2010. She discussed actions on climate change, America’s waters and EPA’s efforts to expand the conversation on environmentalism.
She was asked why the EPA doesn’t stop surface mining (mountaintop removal) and she basically said because the EPA regulates pollution and water quality; the EPA does not and cannot regulate mining. That is a political excuse. They are the Environmental Protection Agency — it’s their job to protect the environment. Mountaintop removal is one of the most environmentally destructive practices in the U.S. and they must have the authority to stop it. Apparently, this is the EPA’s way of stalling a decision on mountaintop removal. Surface coal mining is especially destructive, not just to our water but to the trees, the ecology of the area, and to the land itself. There is no way to put the top back on a hill or mountain once it has been removed, and no way to completely reinstate the wildlife and balance of the ecology of the area once it has been ruined.
Unfortunately today, in conjunction with this talk, the EPA approved a surface mining operation in Ohio. They imposed supposed stringent rules on the mining operation so that it doesn’t pollute the water, but nowhere are there requirements of a carbon fee or any way for this mining to take responsibility for how it adds to global warming. This is where the EPA has to change. The EPA’s responsibilities should include protecting the human race’s ability to live in its environment–which would necessarily render coal mining obsolete. Read about the EPA’s new permit below. To see the video of this talk, visit CSPAN.org.
Below is the press release released by the EPA today in its approval of the Ohio surface mining permit. This is a blow to the environment, and it’s hard to see how this is the EPA “protecting” the country’s land and water.
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Climate Files 52 / Eco Rock Stars
Bill McKibben at Klimaforum09
Some news from Copenhagen, some of it kind of surprising and disturbing.
Bill McKibben of 350.org and President Nasheed of the Maldives, both Eco Rock Stars, are featured in this episode. Their main message: 350 ppm is a necessary target, and it needs to be reinserted into the text of the international agreement that is being written in Copenhagen.
So there will be a lot of work to do after Copenhagen is over because the negotiators won’t arrive at the decision that is necessary, which is topping out at 1.5C in temperature rise and 350 ppm.
President Nasheed at Klimaforum09
The way it stands now, some of the developed country representatives believe we can survive 450 ppm but there is no historical precedent for humans surviving on a planet with that type of atmosphere. A leaked UN document also showed that the final agreement would lead to temps of 3 degrees C, not 2C.
Those in the environmental movement and everyone who cares about this issue has a lot of work to do as soon as Copenhagen’s climate summit ends.
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This is the last episode until after Copenhagen’s conference and after the holidays because the eco-elves just can’t keep up with everything. There may be a release of a summary of some of the final COP15 statements which were recorded.
This podcast was formerly Futurism Now; all future podcasts will be here only at Climate Files Radio and will be named Climate Files. All previous FN podcasts are here also. If any of the links are broken, please contact me at admin @ climatefiles.com. You will have to re-subscribe to this RSS feed if you are a subscriber and if you are subscribed on iTunes, you’ll have to wait a bit . . . . . it will be announced here when and if the new podcast name will be appearing on iTunes.
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Climate Files 44 / Green News & Gore Fest
Dust Storm in Baghdad
LinkTV has a new weekly climate change video here and will appear on FN’s news website every week also.
I went to a talk tonight given by Sami Rasouli . . . He’s an Iraqi-American who has been a peace activist for Iraq and he recently returned from a trip to Iraq. One thing he talked about was the environmental disasters now in Iraq, how they have come about because of the war. The water in their rivers is so polluted, they can’t drink it, and they can’t eat the fish either, because the fish have been eating the dead bodies thrown in the river. Because the dirt has been ground to such a fine powder, they are having dust storms twice a week now. Other topics covered include the activist movement, Al Gore’s opinion on climate change Obama, that Obama might go to Copenhagen in December (and he should), and the UK wind sector has gotten a big infusion of money.
Massachusetts rethinks using its forests for “renewable energy.”
This and more news in this episode of the 10th installment of the podcasting marathon known as NaPodPoMo. Read about the EPA Fish Study revealing widespread contamination here.
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Climate Files 41 / The Brutal Truth
Let's hope there are a lot of planets out there that will support human life and that we can get to them in about 10 years. Could someone please invent long-distance teleportation by then?
The Brutal Truth about climate change is this: it’s much worse, and much more threatening to our future, than the public thinks it is. In fact, it has scientists scared. Yet the political response is to “work with business” and “work with Republicans” and conservative Democrats like Joe Lieberman to get a passable bill that is so watered down it won’t solve any of the problems of climate change nearly in time. It seems pointless.
What can we make of this? I don’t know. ‘Cap and trade’ mostly solved a sulfer dioxide problem years ago, but it isn’t going to solve this enormous problem. It’s a totally inadequate solution to a monumental problem.
The brutal truth about climate change is that it could be the end of all future generations unless extremely aggressive actions are taken now. If you’re not worried, you should be. Mainly because we aren’t taking action to stop it that is adequate! This episode includes testimony before the EPW by Senator John Kerry and an article about this existential threat known as global warming. This is NaPodPoMo #7.
Here is John Kerry planning to further weaken the bill. What is he thinking?
The article by Jeff Goodell that I read, Warming Gets Worse, is not found online. It appeared in the November 12th issue of Rolling Stone magazine.
“The science is more definitive than ever. The science is screaming at us.” says John Kerry. “A voluntary approach just doesn’t work.”
He’s right about that. So how could he in good conscience expect us to support what he’s doing?
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Climate Files 27 / National Clean Energy Summit 2.0
Bright Source energy solar array
How best to mitigate climate change legislatively, and jobs and energy–specifically renewable energy discussed at the National Clean Energy Summit (website here). (The subtitle of this episode is “Dog and Pony Show”) See the news items I discussed on the FN news site here.
The most disappointing bit of news was that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (and Obama, by inference) OK’d the Alberta Clipper pipeline that was discussed last week. There is also new evidence that the methane in the oceans is beginning to bubble to the surface. Methane is a super-potent greenhouse gas that is stored in very cold slushy pools at the bottoms of the oceans and now, it’s escaping. And it’s not just methane.
Research finds higher acidity in Alaska waters
The Age of Stupid, will launch in America on September 21st 2009 from a solar-powered cinema tent in New York LIVE to over 400 movie theatres across the country. This One Night Only live event is your only chance to see The Age of Stupid on the big screen and is timed for the day before the UN’s climate meeting on September 22nd, when 80 Heads of State – and therefore the world’s media – will gather in New York. This movie also kicks off the UN’s Climate Week.
Speakers from the Direct Carbon Pricing senate briefing on July 13, 2009:
- James Hansen, PhD: Leading climate scientist
- Robert Shapiro, PhD: Co-Founder and Chairman, Sonecon; former U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs; economist, author
- Prof. Janet E. Milne, JD: Professor of Law, Vermont Law School, author of “The Reality of Carbon Taxes in the 21st Century”
- Cecil Corbin-Mark, Deputy Director, WE ACT for Environmental Justice and Co-Coordinator, Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change
- Moderated by Brent Blackwelder, PhD: President, Friends of the Earth
See the video and find out more at http://www.pricecarbon.org
The National Clean Energy Summit 2.0 was the real dog and pony show. Half of the people there were hawking their particular form of energy they have invested in, in their attempts to sell it to us. Some of it was very good, such as the real renewable energy like solar. The other people there played supporting roles, except for Bill Clinton and Al Gore and a few others. There were many speakers, it was hours and hours long, and this episode only plays a few excerpts from the following.
- Denise Bode – CEO, American Wind Energy Association
- Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
- Secretary Steven Chu – U.S. Department of Energy
- Former Vice President Al Gore
- Rose McKinney James – Energy Foundation
- John Woolard – President and CEO, Bright Source Energy
- Steve Roell – Chairman and CEO, Johnson Controls
- Former Senator Tim Wirth (D-CO) – United Nations Foundation, Moderator
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Music: Waterslide by The Bonedaddys and Rush, 2112 with Lessons at the end. (Yes, I just saw I Love You, Man, which contains “Waterslide” and mucho Rush, hilariously too, though not this stuff.)
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Climate Files 24 / The Senate Takes on Climate
This episode is Part 2 of the highlights of the Senate hearing from the committee Environment and Public works from July 7th, 2009. You can listen to all 3+ hours of it from links on the committee website here. Many other hearings they have held recently are available there too.
It’s clear that Barbara Boxer, the chairwoman, is too willing to make concessions and compromises even at this early date in the senate process, and it’s also clear that she believes big business has a big role to play in shaping our climate legislation. USCAP is not only comprised of big business but also Big Oil and Big Chemical. And these people are writing our jobs-energy bills for us and then calling it a “climate bill”. (Is anyone reminded of another administration who let big business interests write our energy policy?)
It’s interesting that the only scientist at this hearing was our energy secretary, Steven Chu. Everyone there seemed to be a believer in the idea of “clean coal”. This senate committee is all too willing to believe that the dirtiest fossil fuel can or should be cleaned up, even at a cost of trillions of dollars. It was only a very short time ago that Al Gore and climate scientist James Hansen and many others were telling the world that there is no such thing as clean coal — because there isn’t. We really have to keep speaking out against this “clean coal” idea before we are deeply invested in it with this legislation. There is no time to waste. The Senate will move forward on these ideas unless they hear from us. You can read a good article about the politics of it here.
At the end, a few words of inspiration, some of them about our first moon landing 40 years ago. They are the type of inspiring words that we need to hear from President Obama very soon.
Speakers include: Energy Sec. Steven Chu, EPA head Lisa Jackson, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and Sec. Interior Ken Salazar. Salazar believes we can produce 29% of our electricity needs from solar power. In Part II, Rich Wells, Dow Chemical; David Hawkins, NRDC; and John Fetterman, the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania.
Music: (middle song) The Earth Keeps Turning On by Mister Smolin
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Climate Files 23 / Solutions, Malaise or Collapse
Temple of the Skulls, Chichen Itza, photo by ShellyT
Could climate change lead to the end of civilization, a real collapse, like what happened to the Romans, the Aztecs, the Mayans? It’s not inconceivable.
Today I have Part 1 of the Senate hearings on climate legislation from the Environment and Public Works committee. The initial hearing has taken on new meaning, because since this happened in early July there has been a delay, and the vote and hearings have been put off. They have put off the vote until probably September, though behind closed doors deliberations probably continue, and public debate begins again in August. This means we might not have a climate bill by the time of the Copenhagen meeting in December. According to some people, we might be in a better bargaining position if we don’t.
Giving the Senate more time to work on this bill could be a good thing if we can get them to consider other methods of reducing greenhouse emissions, like a revenue-neutral carbon tax, something that has my full support. In fact, many environmental groups are coming out for a revenue-neutral carbon tax versus a cap and trade system.
You can read more about the revenue neutral carbon tax at FuturismNow.com
So what do you think, will our excuse for civilization collapse or will we find a solution for climate change? Here’s the article from the Independent.
Climate Scientist Jim Hansen’s new paper: Strategies to Address Global Warming
30 years ago we had a president, Jimmy Carter, who leveled with the American people, actually told them the truth and wasn’t afraid to talk to the American public as adults who think in more than sound bites. He told us we needed to conserve energy and even change our way of life to make it more sustainable. We need honest leadership like that again from President Obama on the issue of climate change. Obama is forceful on health care, which is great, but we need him on climate change. He seems to be leaving the issue to Congress and that’s not turning out so well.
Two recent articles about Jimmy Carter’s energy speech from 1979:
We Could Use a little Malaise
and
In Praise of Malaise
Music: Middle: Out Of Space, Kasabian; End: Look at Us Now, Joe Walsh
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Climate Files 13 / Busta Myth
Busting the myths of the cost of changing energy and capping emissions. But is the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 cap and trade bill right for right now or is it a waste of time? I gaze into my cloudy crystal ball and find — the answer is not so clear. It’s tough to predict the future.
The cap and trade bill is rushing through Congress yet it provides huge giveaways for polluters and focuses an awful lot on coal funding and the myth of clean coal. Will carbon capture and sequestration ever work? Steven Chu is betting 2.4 billion that it will. Many scientists say it’s just not feasible. There is no such thing as clean coal!
Read about the new superfund lawyer here.
Disturbing news about the EPA approving 42 out of 48 permits for mountain top removal in Appalachia and their response, which is lame.
Two interviews are played in this episode; one with John Berger of Standard Renewable Energy, and the other with Björn Stigson, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, during the Energy Efficiency Global Forum. You can find more news and interviews at E&ETV. You will also hear from Kevin Knoblach, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
There are a lot of myths about what is happening in the rest of the world — one myth is that the EU’s emissions trading is not working and it is (reportedly) working. And yes, China is doing a lot on climate change. China is in the process of greening up their country, and spending a lot on doing it too. Spending more than the U.S. in fact. China and India should not be used as an excuse for the U.S. to not act aggressively on climate change!
Various news stories on the climate bill that might be of interest. An analysis of the cap and trade bill from the Wall Street Journal article that I discussed is here: “Panel Adds Free Permits to CO2 Bill”
This cap and trade bill does not go far enough on emissions and it makes too many allowances, especially for coal. Why? The top 3-takers of coal money, are Democrats — Dingell, Boucher, & Hoyer. Follow the coal money.
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FN12 / Take Action / A Republican Mis-Leader
We need climate legislation before it’s too late. According to a new May 5th CNN poll a majority of Americans DO want something done about climate change. Congress, are you listening? They need to hear from us. May 6th and every day is CALL IN day to Congress. But there are several key Democrats that really need some pushing on a climate bill. You can read about this action here and get the list of congressmen to call, their phone numbers, and even a script.
So Today –Take action on climate change legislation today and every day until legislation passes. See the recent action alert at ChesapeakeClimate.org (CCAN) The phone-in day is today but you can call every day until we get something passed!
See more at the Futurism Now blog — Action Day on Climate Legislation.
James Hansen, NASA climate scientist, wrote a letter to the Australian minister of climate change, which you can read from his website link. (It’s a pdf.) I only read his note explaining his frustration that he sent out to those on his mailing list.
Newt Gingrich spent some time in Congress last month misleading the American people and Congress on the economics of climate legislation. There were some mild fireworks, but there need to be more. Some Newt is played, but don’t enjoy it too much.
The government can fund all the new energy it wants, but people need to get those dividend checks from the tax and dividend or cap and trade legislation that is passed. That is what the Larsen bill and the Van Hollen bill describe. So mention those two bills when you call your Congressmen.
Better climate bills:
Larsen Bill H.R. 1337 — America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009
Van Hollen Bill H.R. 1862: — Cap and Dividend Act of 2009
Read these two bills, they are better than the cap and trade bill!
China IS studying carbon tax ideas, despite what Newt Claims.
CSPAN energy meetings can be found here. (Look under “Energy”). There were 3 days of debate and discussion in April, starring Al Gore and Steven Chu and Lisa Jackson and many others.
The sad melted Bolivian glacier story is here. It lasted 18,000 years… and mere mortals finished it off.
Music at end by John Doe, The Losing Kind
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FN11 / Major Economies Forum
The road to Copenhagen continues with the U.S. State Department’s Major Economies forum, the world meeting on climate change, the last week in April. It was convened by President Obama. This episode plays the overview speech of Secretary Clinton at the beginning of the forum, and the televised interview with UN Secretary Yvo de Boer after the forum. Here’s a list of interesting articles related to and about the forum.
Major emitters talk, one viewpoint.
Draft climate proposals reveal split on new pact
Submissions to the UNFCC by individual countries.
The recent EPA endangerment finding
U.N.’s Top Climate Change Official: A New Willingness to Tackle Emissions
“Major developing countries like China are doing far more to address climate change than most Americans realize, the top climate change official at the United Nations said yesterday after a meeting in Washington of ministers from the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters.”
Secretary of State Clinton speech to the Major Economies climate change forum, including transcript.
Todd Stern Q&A about the Major Economies climate change forum:
MR. STERN: We had quite an extensive conversation about the whole subject of mitigation, and to include the question of midterm targets, to include the question of what the United States is talking about. So yes, those discussions came up. People expressed their views. We expressed our views. Some people agreed with us, some people pushed back with – on us, we pushed back on them. It was a good conversation. There were plenty of people there who – I mean, there were all different views represented, and it was, I think, again, a very constructive conversation. It’s very much what we wanted. We wanted to not be dodging things.
You know, in – on your second question, I guess I would say that I come out of this meeting, if anything, a bit more optimistic. I think that I don’t ever underplay the size of the challenge here, because it is really very – the size of the challenge in terms of getting an agreement. Remember, the issue for me is – an issue for us is always an agreement that you can get, that – a consensus – an agreement that – a deal that can reach – that can produce consensus internationally and it can also be approved back at home. And those are the two things that are very challenging, and they can – and they’re still challenging, but I would say that I walk away a bit more optimistic. It was a very good exchange today and yesterday.
State Dept. Chairman’s summary of the forum.
More information on the Futurism Now Blog.
UNFCCC
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Music: All I Want Is You by Barry Louis Polisar.
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FN09 / The EPA Rules
The EPA rules! Last Friday, April 17th, the EPA released a preliminary ruling on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions, at last. These greenhouse gases are pollutants, and they are harming human health, now and for future generations. Finally the U.S. has the opportunity to lead on something worthwhile again. We need to attack this problem aggressively, creating green jobs and a green economy, now that the Obama administration is taking steps to solve the climate crisis. Read the EPA finding here and download the 133 page explanation on this page, as well as instructions to submit comments.
A portion of an interview about cap and dividend is included, from Congressman Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat representing Maryland’s Eighth District, who was interviewed on Earthbeat Radio. Here are the bills discussed: H.R. 1862– Cap and Dividend Act of 2009 (Van Hollen’s bill) and H.R. 1337 — America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009 (Larsen’s bill).
You will also hear from Friends of the Earth — Michelle Chan — on the subject of why cap and trade isn’t so great.
European cap and trade works, a little bit at least — they have cut emissions 4-5%, but that’s not enough.
Climate Change Congress — where you can find videos there of all three days of the conference, including a transcript of Sir Nicolas Stern’s speech that is played in this episode.
LA Times story — What will global warming look like? Look to Australia. They are seeing droughts, wildfires, and floods, just like what is starting in the U.S.
Cap and trade problems are abundant — From Counterpunch.org
The Stern Report — The Economics of Climate Change — can be found here.
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FN06 / A Criminal Enterprise
Highlights from Powershift09 sending a message to end the use of coal — and as speaker Robert Kennedy put it, coal is a criminal enterprise. What they are doing to mountains and our air is nothing short of criminal. It’s time to take action to stop coal. It’s time for a citizens arrest of coal. Speakers from Powershift09 include RFK Jr., Van Jones and Lisa Jackson; also Bill McKibben and Jimmy Carter in the second half.
The Age of Stupid movie trailer can be seen here.
Interested in the Clean Energy Corp — story link about green jobs from the Environment News Service:
“Clean Energy Corps Proposed to Create Jobs, Fight Global Warming”
In the 2nd half, you’ll hear about why natural gas isn’t such a great fuel, why it’s not “clean” like Pelosi is claiming, and whatever happened to Jimmy Carter’s solar panels, and his dream of clean energy.
It’s not a happy story, but 30 years later, we have another realistic chance at it. And at the end, bits of a speech from 32 years ago, much of which President Obama could be saying today.
Nancy Pelosi’s conflict of interest is her financial interest in T. Boone Picken’s natural gas venture.
From the Wall Street Journal.
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband invested between $50,000 and $100,000 in T. Boone Pickens’s Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which could benefit from legislation the California Democrat favors to boost U.S. use of natural gas.
Nancy Pelosi’s letter about switching the CPP to natural gas: Read the whole thing here.
Pelosi has a conflict of interest with natural gas, being an investor in T. Boone Pickens natural gas company. She’s an investor in natural gas, so she is pushing the use of natural gas on the nation’s capitol, insinuating that it’s “clean” and renewable, which it most certainly is not. She should be installing solar panels instead. — like our president did 30 years ago. The drilling process for natural gas contains the use of toxic chemicals, including Benzene which causes cancer. And get this — the company who perfected this deadly technique was Halliburton.
“Sublette County is the home of one of the nation’s largest natural gas fields, and many of its 6,000 wells have undergone a process pioneered by Halliburton called hydraulic fracturing, which shoots vast amounts of water, sand and chemicals several miles underground to break apart rock and release the gas. The process has been considered safe since a 2004 study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that it posed no risk to drinking water. After that study, Congress even exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act. Today fracturing is used in 9 out of 10 natural gas wells in the United States.”
And Jimmy Carter’s solar panels–they were removed by the Reaganites, and now you can hear why.
I read much of the story, but you can read the rest of it here.
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