Hill Heat

Alex Kaplun reports for E&E News:

Top House Democrats say that shortly after Congress reconvenes, they will put on the floor a piece of legislation that will include an expansion of offshore drilling but also a renewable electricity mandate, energy-efficiency standards for buildings and oil industry tax provisions.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) described the plan as “a political reverse takedown on the Republicans,” by calling the GOP bluff on their calls for an “All of the Above” energy agenda. David Sandalow, an adviser to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), told E&E News: “We’ll see whether the proponents of all of the above can take yes for an answer.”

Renewable electricity standards, building efficiency standards, and oil tax provisions have repeatedly passed the House over Republican opposition, but have died in Republican filibusters in the Senate.

The legislative plan will represent a compromise from the agendas of the various national lobbying campaigns by outside organizations:

• Al Gore’s We Campaign’s call for a 100% renewable electricity standard by 2018;
• Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions For Winning the Future’s call for expanded drilling;
• T. Boone Pickens’ call for new grid development, tax incentives for wind and solar, and subsidies for natural gas;
• The coal industry’s American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity’s call for increased advanced coal technology subsidies.

ACCCE and Pickens each have had a significant presence at the national conventions.

On a lighter note, as Open Left’s Matt Stoller found, the people employed by ACCCE to spread the “clean coal” message in Denver weren’t necessarily all up to speed.

In a news release, the National Wildlife Federation’s climatologist Amanda Staudt warns that “this hurricane season is a stark reminder of what science tells us to expect from a new era of stronger hurricanes fueled by global warming: higher wind speeds, more precipitation, and bigger storm surge in the coming decades.”

Scientific findings she notes:

• “The big picture is that global warming is allowing hurricanes to pack a bigger punch. Over this century, windspeeds could increase 13 percent and rainfall could increase 31 percent.”
• “Even storms that do not reach category 3 and above will hit harder because they will likely bring more rain than a similar storm would have just a few decades ago. It is a law of physics that warmer air is able to carry more water.”
• “Both Tropical Storm Fay and Hurricane Gustav brought costly flooding, with rainfall totals exceeding 10 inches in some locations. As the remnants of Gustav continue to bring heavy rains, much of the lower Mississippi valley remains under flood watch.”

“We must restore the coastal wetlands, lowlands, and barrier islands that provide the first line of defense against hurricanes,” advises Dr. Staudt. “For example, about half of the wetlands around New Orleans have been lost in recent years. Because scientists estimate that every mile of healthy wetlands can trim about 3-9 inches off a storm surge – and an acre of wetlands is estimated to reduce hurricane damage by $3,300 – we must restore these wetlands.”

For more, read the full NWF report on the influence of global warming on the destruction caused by tropical storms.

From the Wonk Room.

President Bush exploited this morning’s press briefing on the “follow-up efforts” to Hurricane Gustav to attack Congress about lifting the offshore drilling moratorium. Stating that “what happens after the storm passes is as important as what happens prior to the storm arriving,” he made the declaration that “our discussion here today is about energy.” Bush wasn’t referring to the 1.4 million Louisianans who have lost power due to the storm’s destructive force, and chose not to mention the 102 deaths caused by Gustav. Instead, he went on the attack:

I know that Congress has been on recess for a while, but this issue hasn’t gone away. And, uh, this storm should not cause members of Congress say well, we don’t need to address our energy independence. It ought to cause the Congress to step up their need to address our dependence on foreign oil. And one place to do so is to give us a chance to explore in environmentally friendly ways on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Watch it:

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough were both floored by Bush’s decision “to use another hurricane in Louisiana to promote offshore drilling at this point,” after he “performed so poorly during Hurricane Katrina.”

Bush’s tasteless politicization of an ongoing civil emergency repeated tired right-wing talking points. As Van Jones told the Wonk Room last week, Bush is selling false solutions and more pollution:

Let’s be very clear. Number one: There’s no such thing as American oil any more. These are multinational corporations. If you let multinational corporations drill all this oil, they’re going to sell it to the highest bidder, whether it’s China, or India, it doesn’t matter. Why would we throw away America’s beauty chasing the lost drops of oil, so multinational corporations can sell it to India and China?

And people also got to remember, we didn’t stop this as an environmental issue. We didn’t stop offshore drilling for the duckies and the fishies. We stopped it because coastline communities were suffering. Because the property owners, the children who live in those coastline communities – not when there were oil spills – but every day, when your child goes out to swim, he comes back covered in oil, you have to use gasoline to get the oil off your child. That was happening coast to coast

Transcript:

Sen. McCain’s (R-Ariz.) running mate pick, Gov. Sarah Palin, is a proud evangelical conservative who questions anthropogenic climate change and evolution.

In January of this year, she questioned climate models that show the threat of extinction of polar bears due to the loss of sea ice:

In fact, there is insufficient evidence that polar bears are in danger of becoming extinct within the foreseeable future — the trigger for protection under the Endangered Species Act. . . The possible listing of a healthy species like the polar bear would be based on uncertain modeling of possible effects. This is simply not justified.

Following the decision to list polar bears as a threatened species in May, Palin chose to file suit to overturn the listing. She argued:

We believe that the Service’s decision to list the polar bear was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available.

In a Newsmax interview released today, Palin questioned the science of manmade global warming:

A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.

This position is in opposition to the global scientific community, the leaders of every nation on the planet, and her running mate.

Similarly, Palin is an advocate of teaching creationism in opposition to natural selection:

Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.

In an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, she said “I won’t have religion as a litmus test, or anybody’s personal opinion on evolution or creationism.”

From the Wonk Room.

At the Big Tent in Denver, Center for American Progress President and CEO John Podesta, Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope, and oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens engaged in a discussion about our energy future. Pickens, who believes that our global oil production is at its peak and will soon inexorably decline, discussed his “Pickens Plan” for a massive increase in wind and solar electricity production and a shift for trucking fleets from diesel to natural gas. Podesta noted that the climate crisis is evident today, in the flooding in Florida and the increasing threat of powerful hurricanes. “The cost of doing nothing,” Podesta said, “is extremely substantial.”

This panel of three highly powerful individuals from the environmental, progressive, and conservative energy industry communities represented a remarkable confluence of priorities, in recognizing the energy crisis and the need to get off oil. As Carl Pope described:

If our politics was even vaguely functional, anything that all three of us agree on would have happened long ago. We have some very deep profound political problems. Our politics are broken.

Pickens himself, a highly influential fundraiser for right-wing politicians, described how his money has gotten him access in Washington but that he had learned that his contributions don’t translate to policy. He expressed his enthusiasm for the ability of the Pickens Plan campaign to reach millions on the Internet and mobilize hundreds of thousands of people. He argued, “I’m not doing this to make money. My entire estate will go to charity when I go. We are now importing almost 70 percent of our oil. It’s too much. We’re not talking about my generation—we can make it to the finish line.”

Pope explained what Newt Gingrich and other conservatives are really trying to do with their drill-drill-drill agenda, when they know that lifting the offshore drilling moratorium won’t deliver new oil to this country.

What is it about? It’s about distracting us from the conversation we ought to be having. As long as we’re talking about drill drill drill, it distracts Americans from the fact there’s a chasm between the two candidates. It’s a huge headfake by Karl Rove.

At the end of the conversation, Podesta and Pickens talked about their political differences. Pickens – who helped sponsor the Big Tent – admitted he is inclined to defend oil companies, who work for their shareholders and are run by his friends. When challenged by Podesta for having given significant contributions to “the gang on Capitol Hill who have been blocking the renewable production tax credit,” Pickens, with resignation apparent in his face, said, “I grind on them . . . I don’t have the time.” He argued that he is now trying to act on behalf of the American people, to avoid being partisan, to move past the old politics—the politics that he has spent millions to sustain.

The Politico’s Jeanne Cummings reports that the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity is spending $2 million at the Democratic National Convention on billboards and street teams to promote the coal industry:

The Democrats are mighty proud of the “greening” of their convention. Recycling will be celebrated, as will bicycling and a whole host of other environmentally sound practices.

Amid the glow from all that global warming warfare enters the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. Yep, those fellows have got guts.

The coal coalition, a nemesis to many environmentalists, plans to spend $2 million on advertising in and around the Denver convention venues, promoting the virtues of clean coal.

It will also be doing “experiential advertising,” meaning the group will put people on the streets to actually talk to conventioneers about the role coal could play in future energy policy.

The street teams will also be handing out city maps with blurbs inserted about the importance of the coal-based electricity industry and ongoing research into capturing and storing carbon emissions from those plants.

“We started this conversation with policymakers and the American public in 2000,” said Joe Lucas, the coalition’s vice president of communications. “We’ve significantly turned up the volume on that conversation in the last year.”

And the coalition figured, what better place to go to continue that conversation than at the conventions?

In billboards and other ads, the coalition will argue that the coal-based electricity industry can help keep jobs at home, reduce costs for consumers and — with more research — find its own tidy spot in an environmentally cleaner energy future.

“Clean coal means the next president won’t have to choose between the economy and the environment,” concluded Lucas, adding that both Barack Obama and John McCain already see coal in the nation’s future energy industry.

This will be the coalition’s first appearance at the two political conventions. But Denver is clearly the group’s best shot at a breakthrough moment.

From the Wonk Room.

The National Wildlife Federation, which has been warning that global warming is worsening wildfires and floods, describes the triple threat of global warming-fueled tropical storms in a new report:

While Florida and Gulf Coast residents bear the brunt of Tropical Storm Fay, the latest science connecting hurricanes and global warming suggests more is yet to come: tropical storms are likely to bring higher wind speeds, more precipitation, and bigger storm surge in the coming decades.

Watch it:

As Dr. Staudt writes in the report, “Stronger hurricanes, heavier rainfall, and rising sea level: this is what global warming has in store for the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts.”

A report from the Public Campaign Action Fund on 2008 spending by oil and coal industries finds that they are on track to spend about one billion dollars this year on lobbying, political contributions, and advertising. The full report amasses the following expenditures:

2008 SPENDING BY OIL AND COAL INTERESTS, BY CATEGORY
Amounts in millions	Coal/Electric Utilities	Oil/Gas	Total
Political Contributions	$16.5	$20.9	$37.4
Lobbying Expenditures	73.7	55.3	129.0
Paid Media	7.4	201.2	208.6
Other Political Spending	40.0	12.2	52.2
Total	$137.6	$289.6	$427.2

Lobbying expenditures and political contributions come from Center for Responsive Politics data compiled from public disclosures. Paid media figures are from TNS Media Intelligence, the industry standard for tracking media spending.

The “other political spending” comes from the coal industry group Americans for Balanced Energy Choices / American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ABEC/ACCCE) and from Newt Gingrich’s 527 corporation, American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF).

Hill Heat will be adding relevant events at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions to its listings, including The New Republic’s “Future of Environmentalism” series (interestingly only with wealthy white men) and the Rocky Mountain Roundtable’s Energy and Climate series, which features a keynote by Sir Nicholas Stern. (Times are local.)

At the beginning of the month, five Republican senators and five Democratic senators unveiled an energy package that increases offshore drilling and coal-to-liquids, as well has rolling back some oil industry subsidies in favor of renewable tax breaks.

Leading the group are Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). The other members of the group: Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.). Pryor, Landrieu, Thune, and Graham are up for reelection; Graham is a close associate of Republican presidential nominee John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Provisions of the bill, as described by E&E News:

• Offshore drilling. The drilling provisions would open up large swaths of new acreage in the eastern Gulf of Mexico to new oil-and-gas drilling. Current law provides a 125-mile buffer for Florida in most areas; the proposal would shrink the no-drill zone to 50 miles. It would also allow drilling in federal waters in the Atlantic off the coasts of four Southeastern states – Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia – if the states allow it. The states would share in some revenue if they allow leasing.
• Oil subsidy repeal. Total funding for the proposal’s various energy programs is $84 billion—$30 billion of this would come from oil companies, according to a summary circulated today.

  The oil industry revenues would come in part from repeal of major oil companies’ ability to claim the Section 199 domestic manufacturing credit and provisions to ensure federal revenues from flawed late 1990s deep-water gulf leases that currently allow royalty waivers regardless of energy prices.

• $20 billion automotive incentives. The conservation and alternative fuels provisions include $20 billion for an “Apollo Project” aimed at weaning 85 percent of America’s motor vehicles from oil-based fuels in 20 years. The program would include research and development in areas like advanced batteries and funding to help automakers re-tool to make alternative fuel vehicles. Also in the mix are tax credits of up to $7,500 per vehicle for consumers who buy cars that run primarily on non-petroleum fuels.
• Four-year clean credit extension. The proposal would also extend a suite of renewable energy credits – for wind, solar and other projects – and energy efficiency credits through 2012. Current renewable power production and investment tax credits are set to expire at year’s end, and the industry has been pressing for multi-year extensions to provide “certainty” to the market.
• New incentives. Elsewhere, the bill includes new tax credits for highly efficient vehicles and $2.5 billion in funding for development and demonstration of next-generation biofuels and infrastructure, among the suite of conservation and renewable energy provisions.
• Coal-to-liquids and nuclear. In addition to the drilling measures, the bill offers grants and loan guarantees for building coal-to-liquids plants capable of capturing carbon dioxide emissions. It also contains provisions to expand domestic nuclear power, such as increasing staff at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission – which has begun receiving the first applications to build new reactors in decades – as well as work force training.