Sensible energy policies

Apollo Alliance recently circulated the email below.

This is the job creation initiative we need to move Americans forward, protect and create American manufacturing jobs, and create energy security.

On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced stand-alone renewable energy legislation. The bill's lead co-sponsors, Senators Jeff Bingaman (D. - New Mexico), Tom Udall (D. - New Mexico) and Sam Brownback (R. - Kansas), say it will require utilities to generate 15 percent of their energy from renewables by 2021. Wind, solar, ocean, geothermal, biomass, new hydropower, and landfill-generated methane would be considered renewable sources, and states would be allowed to meet more than a quarter of the requirements through energy efficiency efforts. The bill now has four Republican co-sponsors: Brownback (R-KS), John Ensign (R-NV), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Brownback says he believes the support of several more Republicans can be rounded up. Yesterday Democrats Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Jon Tester (D.-MT) signed on to support the bill, which now has 25 supporters.

A group of 21 businesses, labor unions, think tanks, and advocacy groups recently released an RES Action Statement, calling on the Senate to approve a clean energy standard immediately in order to prevent a renewables industry slowdown and stem the flow of clean energy capital and jobs from the U.S. to China. "If we wait another year," said a senior vice president for Iberdrola Renewables, "we're going to lose a lot."

In fact, this Wednesday, Ravi Viswanathan of the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associated testified in Congress that the US has lost its leadership to China, Japan, and Germany in clean energy manufacturing and deployment, and is challenged and threatened by emerging economies such as India, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines. "These nations have outpaced the US in recruiting, incenting, and developing domestic manufacturing of solar, wind, and battery technology, Viswanathan said. "As one example, the US's market share for solar manufacturing has fallen from 45 percent in the mid 1990's to roughly 5 percent today."

American Wind Energy Association CEO Denise Bode called the proposed renewable energy standard "modest," but said the RES is the "single most important thing we can do to grow jobs here in the United States and keep 85,000 American wind energy workers on the job. This bill sends a signal to manufacturers that the time is right to invest in and grow their operations here in America."

Passing a renewable energy standard has become a rallying point for a broad spectrum of U.S. labor, business, and environmental interests. According to a recent RES Alliance For Jobs study, an RES of 25 percent would generate 274, 000 new American jobs. Although many states already have renewable or alternative energy standards higher than 15 percent (see map of states), the legislation will be particularly important for states like Indiana and several Southeastern states that have no policies to generate demand for renewable energy.

The Apollo Alliance views the passage of a national RES as an important first step in ensuring that the U.S. remains a competitor in the race to lead the global clean energy economy while creating good American jobs.

Senators looking for inspiration in drumming up support for a federal standard need look no further than California, where regulators moved to strengthen the state's existing RES yesterday. The Golden State, which now has the strongest RES in the nation, will require utilities to generate 33 percent of their electricity through renewables by 2020. The change marks a 13 percent increase over the state's previous standard. "This standard is going to further diversify and secure our energy supply while also growing California's leading green technology market, which will lead to cost savings for consumers," said Mary D. Nichols of the California Air resources Board, which voted unanimously in support of the new regulation.


Infamous Koch Brothers Join Big Oil's Effort to Derail California's Landmark Global Warming Law By Supporting Prop 23

Many Americans had never heard of the Koch brothers before the New Yorker published an expose in late August about their funding of the Tea Party movement. According to New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer, the billionaire Koch brothers-whose company, Koch Industries of Wichita, Kansas, owns oil refineries and oil pipelines, and produces such products as Dixie cups and and Lycra-are stalwart funders and supporters of libertarian causes, especially the cause of eliminating environmental regulations.

Now the Koch brothers have joined the effort by Texas oil giants Valero and Tesoro to stop the implementation of California's landmark climate and clean energy bill, AB 32. They have contributed $1 million to Proposition 23, a ballot measure that would stop AB 32 from going into effect. Prop 23's main funders are Valero and Tesoro.

If these oil interests succeed in derailing AB 32, it will be a blow not only to California but to the entire country. AB 32 is a model clean energy and climate law that will reduce California greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. It includes such measures as a renewable energy standard; strict building and appliance energy efficiency standards; GHG emissions standards for passenger vehicles; a low-carbon fuel standard; a plan for high-speed rail between Northern and Southern California; a cap and trade program, in collaboration with other Western U.S. states and Canadian provinces; and many other measures in areas including land use, industrial energy efficiency, agriculture, forests, recycling and waste, and water. Click here to learn more about AB 32.

Luckily, many businesses, labor unions, environmental groups and community organizations are lining up against Prop 23, including energy companies like PG&E and Sempra. Additionally, this week, Republican candidate for governor of California, Meg Whitman, has announced that she will oppose Prop 23, although she still says she would suspend AB 32 for one year if elected. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown opposes Prop 23 and supports full implementation of AB 32.

The California Apollo Alliance strongly backs AB 32 and has released a California Apollo Program (http://apolloalliance.org/programs/caap/) that calls for reinforcing and expanding the state's commitment to clean energy at a time when AB 32 is under attack, and clean energy job growth is one of the few bright spots in California's struggling economy.

"We can't afford to quit on California's best opportunity to create jobs and ensure a more prosperous decade-expansion of California's clean energy economy," said Lisa Hoyos, California coordinator of the Apollo Alliance.

Click here to find out more about the campaign to stop Prop 23 and here to learn about the California Apollo Program.

In other news …

*Check out our op-ed in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Andrea Alderson-Bazemore, Apollo's Indiana coordinator, penned an op-ed about clean energy job creation that was published this week in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. She wrote, "For Indiana workers and businesses to see the clean-energy job creation our state so desperately needs, we are going to need to push our senators to make another attempt to pass clean-energy and climate policies this fall. It won't be easy, especially during an election season, but Indiana workers, businesses and our economy can't wait another year or longer without strong national clean-energy and climate policies." Click here to read the op-ed

*Join the Apollo Alliance team as a Senior Policy Associate! The Apollo Alliance is seeking a skilled, experienced, policy and research expert with a background and interest in energy policy and economic development to work closely with the Policy Director and senior staff in a fast-paced environment. This position is an excellent opportunity for a highly talented and experienced professional who is committed to clean energy and social equity issues and wants to work in a high-caliber, results-oriented non-profit policy organization. For more information, check out the job announcement. ().


You can keep track of the quickening pace of state and federal action on clean energy policy on our Apollo Blog and Daily Digest.
And how about joining us on Twitter?

Take care and talk to you again next week.

Yours,


Andrea Buffa
Apollo Alliance
buffa@apolloalliance.org

Real Job Creation and Sensible Economic Development

Honorable House Speaker "Racino" DeLeo and Honorable Senate President "Money" Murray (AKA Ca Ching) -

How come Massachusetts is NOT included in the list of states participating in PACE?

Is Beacon Hill too focused on Something for Nothing Schemes like Predatory Gambling, too busy being wined and dined by Gambling Lobbyists to work toward job creation and sensible economic development that would create a legacy to the future to be proud of?




From Apollo Alliance --

As Oil Spill Tragedy Continues, Clean Energy Progress in Missouri and Georgia Points to Hope for the Future

According to a report on PACE released by the White House in October 2009, "If only 15 percent of residential property owners nationwide took advantage of clean energy community financing, the resulting emissions reductions would contribute 4 percent of the savings needed for the U.S. to reach 1990 emissions levels by 2020." PACE programs also create jobs in home weatherization and renewable energy installation.

Veterans, Energy and Job Growth

From Apollo Alliance --

This Wednesday was Veterans Day, and to honor our veterans and their service to our country, the Apollo Alliance published a feature story about veterans’ role in the green economy. The article profiled two green jobs programs—Veterans Green Jobs of Colorado and the Veterans Conservation Corps of Washington state—and the recently launched “Operation Free” campaign that has veterans touring the country to call for federal action on climate change.

Veterans Green Jobs runs a 9-week “Home Energy Auditor Training” (HEAT) for veterans, using a rapid, hands-on “military” style of training and a curriculum that was developed in collaboration with community colleges and industry organizations. Upon completion of the training, graduates receive college credits as well as a home energy efficiency certification. The first class of trainees graduated in June, and another class just began in October.

“We think veterans are uniquely qualified to lead the environmental restoration here at home,” said Kirsten Maynard of Veterans Green Jobs. “Not only have they seen environmental destruction across the world; they also have technical skills and other kinds of work skills that allow them to do the really tough work that needs to be done - like go into homes and crawl in the attic and the basement. They’ve been trained by the military to do it, and they actually feel comfortable being in that kind of environment.”

The Veterans Conservation Corps, which is run out of the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs, puts veterans to work on habitat restoration and protection projects across Washington state. The program has been in existence for four years but has faced challenges recently because state budget cuts eliminated the stipends the program paid veterans for their conservation efforts. The Veterans Conservation Corps has also inaugurated a new program, called Veterans Corps, which is modeled on the AmeriCorps program.

“It’s a revitalization of a mission they had in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Mark Fischer, who runs the Veterans Conservation Corps. “Once they left the military, that mission is gone, and it’s a big loss. When they lose that purpose it can be disheartening and disorienting. We try to create a meaningful job - for a purpose-driven life.”

Operation Free is a new campaign by national security and veterans organizations to draw attention to the national security threat created by climate change. “The reason why national security organizations are taking this as a serious threat is that not only are we [the United States] dependent on oil, but the conflicts that arise from famines, floods and droughts [caused by climate change] multiply the threat of current conflicts and create instability,” said Alex Cornell du Houx, an Iraq war veteran and participant in Operation Free. Operation Free held an inaugural event in Washington, D.C., in September, which was followed by a bus tour by veterans in October.

To read the full article and learn more about these green jobs and climate change advocacy efforts by veterans, visit the Apollo Alliance website.

Solutions Aren't Simple

Senator McCain's speech at the Republican Convention was well crafted and extremely effective. It contained all of the buzzwords and warm and fuzzy things carefully designed to inspire, but short on meaningful substance. It was designed to provoke a great emotional response that his heroism and courage compensated for flawed proposals, questionable Senate votes and failed solutions. Senator McCain's experience should not obscure his platform that will not serve America well in the future.

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The Senator's speech was intended to appease Big Energy, not provide real solutions. "Drill, Drill, Drill" is not a solution, but more of how we got here, regardless of lofty rhetoric.

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Derrick Z. Jackson's comments address the fallacies of nuclear energy as a solution, excerpted here, but worth the read in their entirety:

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The Department of Energy recently announced that the estimated cost of dealing with the waste of existing nuclear power plants has risen in the last seven years from a prior guess of $57.5 billion to $96.2 billion.

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Progress Energy Florida announced a proposed rate increase of 31 percent, in part to pay for two new nuclear reactors, which will cost an estimated $17 billion.

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Florida Power & Light followed up this week with a proposed 7 percent increase,....

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The only way to furnish this empty house is through massive taxpayer subsidies. The once-moribund US nuclear industry has been reenergized from $13 billion in federal subsidies and $20.5 billion in loan guarantees in recent years. But the industry wanted $50 billion in guarantees.

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Other information has been posted about the flaws of Nuclear Energy that make nuclear energy no longer cost effective. The capital markets are NOT investing in nuclear plants with good reason. And that's before we un-mask the charade that it takes decades to construct a nuclear plant.

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Of the "Drill, Drill, Drill" hype:

At the top of this site is a Search Blog feature that allows a search of topics, for instance OIL DRILLING.

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The following quotes were plucked from that search:

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“I think this is a very shortsighted approach to put our economy at risk for oil drilling along the coast when we all know that the first drop of oil wouldn’t even come for ten years,” Sink said. CNBC
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Off Shore Drilling: Are Americans Being Snookered?
Wind is already more competitive than electricity generated from new nuclear and coal-fired power plants.
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Oil companies currently have 5,500 offshore leases they are not drilling, and with 80 percent of the untapped oil in offshore areas already open to development, they do not need access to more areas to increase supply.
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Newsweek in McCain's Power Outage
Of offshore oil drilling:
...something that takes 22 years to deliver significant results hardly qualifies as a "short-term"
solution.
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Tight supply + high gas prices = good times for Big Oil.
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Same reason why oil companies don't invest in more refineries.
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Not because of environmental standards, as they typically complain about. But because they're not interested in increasing supply, driving prices down and reducing their profits. The National Resources Defense Council explains: "...refiners reap higher profits when capacity is tight, so they actually have a disincentive to significantly expand production. In fact, oil executives have stated that the reason they did not expand refining capacity in the 1990s is that the low profitability of the business did not justify the investment."

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Same reason why oil companies aren't drilling in all of the 68 million acres of federal space for which they already have leases. As Sen. Joe Biden recently noted in a Wilmington News Journal op-ed:

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First, the oil companies in this country now hold 7,000 leases to drill offshore, yet only 20 percent of those leases are producing oil. That is 68 million acres for which they already have the rights to drill. Nearly 80 percent of our offshore oil is already available for leasing -- approximately 54 billion barrels total. They could be drilling in these areas, but they are not.

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As authoritative sources published informed comments that provided reasonable arguments about our energy solutions, it was my attempt to post as many as possible.

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Apollo Alliance offered:

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September 5, 2008:

Misconceptions About Oil Drilling Connected To Media Omissions

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It even includes the Boston Globe article in which the Town of Carver proposed solar panels along a state highway:

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The town of Carver will ask state officials to consider its proposal to install a solar panel array along Route 44 to provide electricity for a town water-supply system. If the plan goes through, it would be the first time a state highway has hosted a solar power installation.

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Boston Mayor Meninno announced Lights out, conservation on for city's tall towers .

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Even NYC Mayor Bloomberg is moving forward, according to NYT (emphasis mine):

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In a plan that would drastically remake New York City’s skyline and shores, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is seeking to put wind turbines on the city’s bridges and skyscrapers and in its waters as part of a wide-ranging push to develop renewable energy.

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The plan, while still in its early stages, appears to be the boldest environmental proposal to date from the mayor, who has made energy efficiency a cornerstone of his administration.

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The mayor’s plan includes the widespread use of solar panels, possibly on the roofs of public and private buildings. One proposal is to allow companies to rent roofs for solar panels and sell the energy they harvest to residents.

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The city is already using tidal turbines under the East River that provide energy to Roosevelt Island. That technology could be widely expanded under the mayor’s proposal.

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There are viable options available now that are excluded from Senator McCain's plan that deserve serious consideration.

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Apollo Alliance also offers email subscriptions for those who want to remain informed on the issue.

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Paris and New Energy

Apollo Alliance offers some insight into the energy war being waged by Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain. Can we afford to make a joke of such a weighty issue? (Ssshh! I didn't even know who Paris Hilton was until Senator McCain's campaign ad. Thanks, Senator McCain.)