Tag Archives: political

In the renewable energy race, solar power is hot hot hot

by Markianish Posted on September 30, 2013

In the renewable energy race, solar power is hot hot hot

By

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It’s all good.

Solar power installations are expected to edge out new wind farms this year for the title of fastest-growing clean energy source.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance has projected that photovoltaic plants like this monster that we reported on last week will add 36.7 gigawatts of capacity this year — up 20 percent from last year. New wind farms, meanwhile, will add 35.5 gigawatts. That’s an awesome figure, too, but it’s nearly a quarter less for wind than in 2012. From Bloomberg:

Lower panel costs and government support are accelerating deployment of solar energy even as growth slows in the mature European markets. Wind installations, more than double solar before 2011, are also being slowed by Europe, as well as a lack of clarity on policy in the U.S. and China.

Wind power installations will drop by almost a quarter this year to their lowest level since 2008 because of the policies in these two countries, according to Justin Wu, [Bloomberg New Energy Finance]’s head of wind analysis. China and the U.S. combined represented about 60 percent of the global wind market last year.

What are these policies of which they speak? The biggies are known as renewable energy “production tax credits,” and they expire at the end of every year unless Congress takes action to, well, renew them. That hasn’t happened so far this year, and with Republicans in Congress about to force a government shutdown, it doesn’t look likely. Here’s Bloomberg again:

Neither of the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate have yet to mark up a legislative package to extend the provisions, with time running short before they expire Dec. 31, energy analyst Kevin Book said.

“It’s pretty telling” that “there is still no draft, no amendment has come up for a vote” on the extension, said Book, the managing director of research for ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington-based consulting firm.

“A better than average probability” exists that the expiring tax credits will be allowed to lapse, Book said, though he predicted they would be retroactively reinstated at some point in 2014.

That’s exactly what happened this year, after Congress let the tax credit lapse at the end of 2012 only to renew it in January — and wind energy has attracted significant private funding lately. Still, for the time being, wind power is blowing in the political breezes. Solar, on the other hand, is having its day in the sun.


Source
Annual Solar Installs to Beat Wind for First Time, Bloomberg
Credits to Spur Renewable Energy Sources Seen Set to End, Bloomberg

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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In the renewable energy race, solar power is hot hot hot

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Bobby Jindal doesn’t think Big Oil should have to clean up its mess

by Una6lnto Posted on August 29, 2013

Bobby Jindal doesn’t think Big Oil should have to clean up its mess

By

Derek Bridges

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal wants everyone to stop picking on poor oil companies.

Oil and gas companies have ruined coastal wetlands that formerly helped protect Louisiana from storms and floods, but Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) doesn’t believe they should have to pay to repair the damage.

The governor opposes a lawsuit filed last month by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. The suit seeks billions of dollars from energy companies, including BP and ExxonMobil, to restore coastal ecosystems that have been trampled to make way for oil and gas infrastructure along the state’s coast. The Times-Picayune explains:

Jindal said the state needs to protect and restore the coast, “but this lawsuit is not the way to do it.” [His] statement also called the lawsuit “a potential billion dollar plus windfall” for the attorneys representing the levee authority.

At a meeting dedicated to the lawsuit last week, Jindal and other members of the state’s top levee and restoration board said allegations that the oil and gas industry don’t participate in the state’s restoration efforts are incorrect. They pointed out that a number of the restoration and levee projects actually are being built on industry property or with industry assistance. …

[Jindal] also said the levee authority should join the state’s efforts to seek a higher share of federal oil and gas revenues to pay for coastal restoration.

Enviros have a theory about why Jindal opposes the lawsuit. From The Advocate:

A coalition of environmental groups accused Gov. Bobby Jindal on Wednesday of attempting to quash a coastal erosion lawsuit against oil and gas companies in order to benefit his political contributors.

Jindal has racked up more than $1 million in donations from oil and gas companies and their executives over the past 10 years, according to an analysis of campaign finance reports from organizations including Levees.org, the Sierra Club, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, League of Women Voters and Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans.

The response from Jindal’s spokeperson to the charges: “That’s absurd.”

Alicia Lee

Natural flood control in Louisiana.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Bobby Jindal doesn’t think Big Oil should have to clean up its mess

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Former Republican EPA chiefs back Obama on climate change

by Cosetta Shallenberger Posted on August 2, 2013

Former Republican EPA chiefs back Obama on climate change

By John Upton

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What do Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and George W. Bush have in common?

Yes, OK, obviously they were all Republican presidents. But now there’s something else that ties them all together.

EPA administrators who worked for all of those presidents have come out in support of stronger actions on climate change, co-signing a powerful op-ed in The New York Times supporting Barack Obama’s climate plan and arguing that “the United States must move now on substantive steps to curb climate change.”

Here are some highlights from the op-ed, which was written by William D. Ruckelshaus, Lee M. Thomas, William K. Reilly, and Christine Todd Whitman:

The costs of inaction are undeniable. The lines of scientific evidence grow only stronger and more numerous. And the window of time remaining to act is growing smaller: delay could mean that warming becomes “locked in.”

A market-based approach, like a carbon tax, would be the best path to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, but that is unachievable in the current political gridlock in Washington. Dealing with this political reality, President Obama’s June climate action plan lays out achievable actions that would deliver real progress. He will use his executive powers to require reductions in the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the nation’s power plants and spur increased investment in clean energy technology, which is inarguably the path we must follow to ensure a strong economy along with a livable climate. …

Rather than argue against his proposals, our leaders in Congress should endorse them and start the overdue debate about what bigger steps are needed and how to achieve them — domestically and internationally. …

We can have both a strong economy and a livable climate. All parties know that we need both. The rest of the discussion is either detail, which we can resolve, or purposeful delay, which we should not tolerate.

Mr. Obama’s plan is just a start. More will be required. But we must continue efforts to reduce the climate-altering pollutants that threaten our planet. The only uncertainty about our warming world is how bad the changes will get, and how soon. What is most clear is that there is no time to waste.

The op-ed also states that there “is no longer any credible scientific debate about the basic facts” of global warming. But, then, nobody should need a bunch of former EPA chiefs to tell them that.

Source

A Republican Case for Climate Action, The New York Times

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Former Republican EPA chiefs back Obama on climate change

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Most Americans don’t give a frack about fracking

by ElizaTSK Posted on May 30, 2013

Most Americans don’t give a frack about fracking

By John Upton

A fucking gashole in Pennsylvania.

You might think fracking is a highly divisive, heatedly contested issue, but most Americans don’t give a damn about it either way.

The latest Climate Change in the American Mind survey found that 39 percent of respondents had never heard of fracking, while another 13 percent didn’t know whether they had heard of it.

So it’s not too much of a surprise, then, to learn that 58 percent of survey respondents held no opinion on whether fracking is a good thing or a bad thing.

Those who did have an opinion were roughly split between supporters and opponents, the survey found. Older conservative men tended to think it’s ace. Younger liberal women did not.

The survey was conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, which asked 1,061 people for their views on fracking in September. Let’s take a look at the major findings in graph form:

Climate Change in the American MindClick to embiggen.

And here’s a graph on the political divide:

Climate Change in the American MindClick to embiggen.

It’s not just fracking that has Americans shrugging their shoulders. Recent survey results published by the same project revealed something similar about Keystone XL: “Fewer than half of Americans are following news about the Keystone XL pipeline; only one in five are following the issue closely; a majority of those who have heard of Keystone support building it.”

Where the hell is everybody?

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Senate gives a big, fat thumbs-up to Keystone XL

by Curtis Tangredi Posted on March 23, 2013

Senate gives a big, fat thumbs-up to Keystone XL

By Lisa Hymas

350.org

The Senate was not listening to these guys.

The vote was non-binding but all too telling. On Friday, the U.S. Senate voted 62 to 37 in favor of building the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline, with 17 Democrats joining all Republicans. It was just an amendment to a budget plan that won’t even be going to the president’s desk, but it shows that the political class in D.C. views the pipeline very favorably — and believes voters view it very favorably too.

From The Washington Post:

The 17 Democrats who voted yes included every single possibly vulnerable incumbent facing reelection next year, from 34-year veteran [Max] Baucus [Mont.] to first-term Sen. Mark Begich (Alaska).

Perhaps more importantly, Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo.), who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, voted for the resolution. Bennet is not up for re-election until 2016, but his post requires him to raise money from the wealthy liberal community that is highly opposed to the pipeline.

Additionally, a crop of Democrats who survived difficult reelections in 2012 — Sens. Bob Casey (Pa.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) — all supported the GOP Keystone amendment.

Did fossil-fuel money have anything to do with the vote? You be the judge:

New analysis today from Oil Change International reveals that supporters of the just-passed non-binding Keystone XL pipeline amendment received 3.5 times more in campaign contributions from fossil fuel interests than those voting “no.” In total, researchers found that supporters took an average of $499,648 from the industry before voting for the pipeline, for a staggering total of $30,978,153.

The Keystone decision still ultimately rests with President Obama, who appears to be dithering — and procrastinating like mad. From The Hill:

In meetings with Obama last week, House and Senate Republicans pressed the president for a timeline on his decision — about which Obama was vague. …

Obama has been noncommittal on Keystone. According to some Senate Republicans present at last week’s confab, the president said his decision would come by year’s end.

On top of that, the president told the GOP their claims about Keystone’s job creation prospects were exaggerated. He also suggested a good amount of the oil sands were destined for export. …

Republicans also said Obama told them last week that environmentalists’ fears of Keystone’s impact on the climate were overblown.

Climate activists at 350.org, who’ve been leading the anti-Keystone charge, plan to let senators know what they think while the lawmakers are back in their home districts for a recess over the next two weeks.

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Senate gives a big, fat thumbs-up to Keystone XL

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Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (a John Hope Franklin Center Book)

by Myrna Posted on March 22, 2013

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Monsanto CEO acknowledges climate change, open to GMO labels, thinks veggies suck

by AshleaMelina844 Posted on January 31, 2013

Monsanto CEO acknowledges climate change, open to GMO labels, thinks veggies suck

By Susie Cagle

The Wall Street Journal sat down with Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant in what were probably some very nice chairs for this comfy little edited Q&A. The global agriculture giant is “battered, bruised, and still growing,” according to the WSJ, whose cup runneth over with pathos for poor Hugh. The interview kicks off with: “What’s the harm in disclosing genetically modified ingredients to consumers?” Yes, Hugh, please tell us about the harm.

Grant says California’s Proposition 37 — which would have required GMO foods to be labeled, and which Monsanto spent millions to defeat (weird, WSJ, y’all left that bit out!) — “befuddled the issue.” But Grant says he’s personally “up for the dialogue around labeling.” Why? Because he thinks GMOs are so great of course! (Come on, you knew that answer.)

They’re the most-tested food product that the world has ever seen. Europe set up its own Food Standards Agency, which has now spent €300 million ($403.7 million), and has concluded that these technologies are safe. [Recently] France determined there’s no safety issue on a corn line we submitted there. So there’s always a great deal of political noise and turmoil. If you strip that back and you get to the science, the science is very strong around these technologies.

GMO haters gonna GMO hate! And Grant would rather be in the future than in the past. “I think some of the criticism comes with being first in a lot of these spaces. I’d rather be there than at the back of the pack.” On the whole, Monsanto has “mended a lot of fences” and “turned things around” recently with the general public, according to Grant, in part because of “consistent messaging.” I will give him that!

One of Grant’s and Monsanto’s messages, apparently: Vegetables taste crappy. This should definitely help the company with the 18-and-under crowd, at least.

Fresh fruit and high quality vegetables are becoming more important than they ever were. So we see an opportunity there, but the opportunity in veggies is going to be driven by where we are spending our money. We are spending our money on nutrition and taste. A lot of veggies look great, but they don’t taste like much. We think the consumer will pay a premium for improved nutrition and improved taste.

Grant says Monsanto spends a billion-and-a-quarter dollars a year on research and development but only “took a look at” climate change a couple years ago (!!), asking scientists if it was “fact or fiction?”

The conclusions that came back were, ‘There’s definitely something there. This isn’t an anomaly. There’s enough evidence to suggest that it’s getting warmer.’ For agriculture that’s going to absolutely present challenges, at the very time we need to produce more, it’s an environment that’s heated. In the much longer term, we’re going to have to focus on breeding to accommodate those temperature shifts.

Climate change: It’s bad for business. That’s actually not a terrible slogan to reach right-wing climate deniers. Thanks, Monsanto.

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Cleantech investment fell off a cliff in 2012

by RubinkJoseph Posted on January 8, 2013

Cleantech investment fell off a cliff in 2012

By Lisa Hymas

Shutterstock

“You could call it the cleantech cliff,” writes the San Jose Mercury News:

Global clean-technology venture investment plunged to $6.46 billion in 2012, down 33 percent from the $9.61 billion invested a year ago, according to San Francisco-based research and consulting firm Cleantech Group.

Why such a big drop-off?

The low price of natural gas has made it harder for renewable energy to compete on cost. Venture capitalists are shying away from capital-intensive deals after seeing companies like Santa Clara-based Misasolé sold at fire sale prices. And global economic uncertainty took a toll: Several privately backed cleantech companies, including Oakland’s BrightSource Energy, were forced to shelve their IPO plans and raise additional funds from existing investors.

Political uncertainty contributed too, according to Sheeraz Haji, CEO of Cleantech Group. “That said, the entire venture capital industry contracted in 2012, so cleantech is not alone in experiencing this pullback,” he added.

The Mercury News reports that the “one bright spot belonged to SolarCity, a San Mateo-based solar financier and installer that had a successful IPO Dec. 13. SolarCity slashed its share price but ultimately raised $92 million.”

The cleantech sector is already looking brighter in 2013. Last week, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway spent as much as $2.5 billion on a huge solar project, sending solar stocks soaring.

But why leave cleantech investing to the big boys? If you live in California or New York, you can get into the game yourself via just-launched Solar Mosaic, a crowdfunding service for rooftop solar projects. Don’t let Warren Buffett have all the fun.

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The apocalypse is here: FDA clears way for fast-growing GM monster salmon

by Myrna Posted on December 21, 2012

The apocalypse is here: FDA clears way for fast-growing GM monster salmon

By Susie Cagle

The Food and Drug Administration has a special present for you this holiday season: genetically modified salmon that have been developed to grow at twice the usual salmon speed. What, you didn’t put that on your list? Well, surprise!

rogergolub

Run, little salmon, the monsters are coming!

USA Today reports:

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released its environmental assessment of the AquaAdvantage salmon, a faster-growing fish which has been subject to a contentious, yearslong debate at the agency. The document concludes that the fish “will not have any significant impacts on the quality of the human environment of the United States.” Regulators also said that the fish is unlikely to harm populations of natural salmon, a key concern for environmental activists.

The FDA will take comments from the public on its report for 60 days before making it final …

Experts view the release of the environmental report as the final step before approval.

The fish was first invented (invented!) in the ’90s but has been swimming around in regulatory limbo for the last two years, with some skeptical it would ever see a dinner plate. From Slate:

[W]ithin days of the expected public release of the [environmental assessment] this spring, the application was frozen. The delay, sources within the government say, came after meetings with the White House, which was debating the political implications of approving the GM salmon, a move likely to infuriate a portion of its base …

When asked about the holdup, FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey said, “I recommend you talk to the [Office of Management and Budget] or the White House. That’s all I’m willing to say.”

AquaBounty, the company that developed and essentially owns the monster salmon, says there’s little to no risk of fish escaping their growth pens and mating with wild salmon. Food Consumer did its own math:

Ninety-five to 99 percent of AAS [AquAdvantage salmon] are sterile, said AquaBounty at FDA hearings in 2010, so they are unlikely to breed and threaten wild salmon stocks if they escape. (If they did breed, though, it could be Jurassic Park-like since AAS eat five times more food than wild salmon and have less fear of predators, according to background materials.) Nor is 1 to 5 percent a small amount considering the 15 million eggs AquaBounty plans to grow: that could amount to 750,000 fertile fish.

Besides their massive food consumption and lack of fear (!), the FDA’s report found that the AquAdvantage salmon had a high level of infection and “jaw erosion.” There’s also a disturbingly detailed protocol for how to dispose of a whole lot of dead fish in deep “burial pits” that would be covered with plastic. Hungry yet?

With frankenfish now set to be mingling with wild and farmed varieties at the market, the next question is: How will we know? Not that they’d be required to label the stuff, but I hope AquaBounty is so pleased with its frankenfish market dominance that it’ll plaster its name all over these monster salmon meats …

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Words the coal industry doesn’t want to hear: Senator Ashley Judd

by Myrna Posted on December 4, 2012

Words the coal industry doesn’t want to hear: Senator Ashley Judd

By Philip Bump

Here is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) saying something very stupid in late 2010:

That was his political priority for two years. It’s not clear that he currently has any political priorities; our attempts to reach out to his office didn’t happen.

How does that priority compare with those of, say, Hollywood celebrity Ashley Judd? Well, here’s Judd speaking out against mountaintop-removal mining at the Kentucky state house.

Think Judd might make a better senator than McConnell? Well, so does she.

From Politico:

s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

The Hollywood movie star and eighth-generation Kentuckian is seriously exploring a 2014 run for the Senate to take on the powerful Republican leader, four people familiar with the matter tell POLITICO. In recent weeks, Judd has spoken with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) about the possibility of a run, has discussed a potential bid with a Democratic pollster and has begun to conduct opposition research on herself to see where she’s most vulnerable in the Bluegrass State, sources say.

A Senate race would be an extremely steep hill to climb for Judd. Not only is McConnell deeply entrenched in the Washington establishment, but Judd is strongly progressive (see ThinkProgress’ overview of her credentials, including on climate change). Kentucky is … not. Romney won the state by 23 points — a wider spread than McCain’s 16 in 2008.

Worse for her political prospects, Judd’s anti-coal activism became a coal-country symbol of outside agitation against mining and, thanks to the ill-advised reference below, classism.

“I’m not too keen on reinforcing stereotypes about my people, but I don’t know a lot of hillbillies who golf,” Judd said in [a 2010] speech.

Those comments angered individuals associated with the mining industry and the golf courses built on former mine sites, like the StoneCrest Golf Club, where the sign was found.

“She’s not an eastern Kentuckian. A real eastern Kentuckian never would have degraded the people here by saying hillbillies don’t play golf,” David Gooch, president of the Coal Operator’s Association, told local TV station WKYT.

The Washington Post lists various celebrities who have tried — and failed — to seek high office previously. Most who won did so in unique circumstances: recalls, three-person races, etc.

One spot of good news for Judd: 2012 seems to have demonstrated that the “coal vote” is a bit of a paper tiger. Both Romney and Obama vied heavily for coal-producing areas in Ohio, and Obama emerged victorious.

And another: McConnell only won his 2008 reelection by six points — and he wasn’t running against a Hollywood celebrity who is married to a race car driver and who is part of a country music dynasty. And who loves dogs, for Pete’s sake.

One thing is for sure. If the campaign comes down to the ability to tell jokes, a professional actress has to do better than this:

And Ashley Judd now knows better than to joke about golf.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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