Tell Congress to promote renewable energy, not nuclear waste

The House Ways and Means Committee is considering a disastrous subsidy for the nuclear industry.

Nuclear power is expensive, dangerous and dirty. It has posed a serious risk to people and our planet for over 60 years. Long-term exposure to nuclear radiation can lead to cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Committee Chairman Richard Neal could promote renewable energy, electric vehicles and energy efficiency. But instead, he’s seriously thinking about adding this massive, billion-dollar bailout for dirty and dangerous nuclear power into obscure legislation and hoping no one notices. We need your help to stop him!

Tell Chairman Neal: Promote renewable energy, not dangerous nuclear waste!

Despite massive subsidies, the nuclear industry is dying of its own accord. Why? Because no one wants a nuclear power plant in their backyard. And it simply cannot compete against safer, cleaner renewable energy like wind and solar. 

Nuclear power is also expensive. The only reason the industry is still clinging to life is because Congress has been propping it up through subsidies buried in hundreds of spending bills. And the industry has left bills literally unpaid, defaulted on or passed to taxpayers.

We need Congress to prioritize cost-effective, proven energy generation technology that can be rapidly scaled up, like solar and wind -- not wasting limited valuable resources on additional subsidies for dirty and dangerous nuclear reactors. We need your help to ensure the House Ways and Means Committee supports sustainable energy industries. 

Tell Chairman Neal to invest in clean renewable technology, not dirty nuclear energy!

With just over a decade left to stop the worst effects of climate change, we must dramatically transform how we produce, use and pay for energy. And as momentum around the Green New Deal turns into concrete proposals, Congress must recognize that nuclear power is a discredited and dishonest distraction, not a solution.

The task ahead is indeed daunting if we are to turn around global greenhouse gas emissions in the time we have. We must move from a 20th-century energy system based on dirty, dangerous and expensive fossil fuel and nuclear power to a 21st-century energy system based on renewables. 

Sign the petition: Stop Chairman Neal from bailing out the nuclear industry!

Standing with you,
Ariel Moger,
Legislative coordinator,
Friends of the Earth Action

CounterCurrents: Obama: TTIP Necessary So As To Protect Megabanks From Prosecution, The Sustainable Energy Transition: A "Back Of The Envelope" Calculation, On Ecology And Going Back To The Land

Dear Friend,

If you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/subscribe.htm. You can also follow us on twitter, http://twitter.com/countercurrents and on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/countercurrents

In Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org


Baghdad On Military Lockdown Over Fear Of Protests 
By Bill Van Auken 

http://www.countercurrents.org/auken080516.htm

Security forces erected heavy concrete blast walls and strung barbed wire across two strategic bridges in the capital of Baghdad Friday as heavily armed troops deployed across the city. The security lockdown was meant to prevent a repeat of the events last Saturday, when thousands of demonstrators stormed the Green Zone, the walled-off seat of the Iraqi government


Obama: TTIP Necessary So As To Protect Megabanks From Prosecution 
By Eric Zuesse

http://www.countercurrents.org/zuesse080516.htm

On May 7th, Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, or German Economic News, headlined, "USA planen mit TTIP Frontal-Angriff auf Gerichte in Europa” or “U.S. Plans Frontal Attack on Europe’s Courts via TTIP,” and reported that, “America’s urgency to sign TTIP with Europe has solid reason: Megabanks must protect themselves from claims by European investors who allege that they were cheated during the debt crisis. … The U.S. Ambassador to Italy has now let the cat out of the bag on this — probably unintentionally.”

In this particular case, the megabank that’s being sued isn’t American but German, Deutsche Bank, which the U.S. Ambassador to Italy has cited as his example to defend, perhaps so as to appeal to Germans to protect their megabanks against lawsuits from foreign investors (such as Italians) who complain. In that case it was investors in the Italian city of Trani, population 53,000. The smallness of the city was an issue the Ambassador raised against the suit’s having been brought there.

Reuters headlined on May 6th, "Italian prosecutor investigates Deutsche Bank over 2011 bond sale”, and reported that, "An Italian prosecutor is investigating Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) over its sale of 7 billion euros ($8 billion) of Italian government bonds five years ago, an investigative source told Reuters. A prosecutor in Trani, a town in southern Italy, is investigating because Deutsche Bank allegedly told clients in a research note in early 2011 that Italy's public debt was no cause for concern, and then sold almost 90 percent of its own holding of the country's bonds.” The U.S. bond-rating agencies are also subjects in this suit, because Trani had relied upon their ratings of those bonds.

The Obama Administration (through its Italian Ambassador) seems thus to be saying, in effect, that unless TTIP is passed into law, Europe’s megabanks (and the U.S. bond-rating agencies, S&P, Moody’s and Fitch) will be able successfully to be sued by cheated investors, just as has been happening with such American banks as JPMorgan/Chase and Goldman Sachs in the United States, which — since TTIP hasn’t yet been in force anywhere, including in the U.S. — were forced to pay billions to cheated investors. Apparently, Obama would be happier if those suits had been impossible in the U.S. The argument here, though only implicitly, seems to be that TTIP is the way to protect megabanks and the bond-rating firms. It concerns specifically the selling of sophisticated derivative investments.

If this is the argument behind the remarks by Obama’s Italian Ambassador, John Phillips, he’s obliquely warning Europeans that unless TTIP gets signed, their megabanks might similarly be forced to pay billions to investors who were cheated. As quoted by Reuters, he said that, in the U.S., it's "highly unlikely that such a case would be brought outside the major financial centers, where prosecutors have both jurisdiction and expertise in securities fraud prosecutions,” and that megabanks need the protection that’s provided by such prosecutors, since they possess “expertise in securities fraud prosecutions.” Phillips was clearly implying that small-city prosecutors (such as are allowed to prosecute such cases in Europe) aren’t such “experts,” as are needed in order to protect the megabanks. Reuters characterizes Phillips’s argument as asserting, “Italy’s justice system was deterring investors.” However, no clarification of the meaning of that statement was provided by Reuters.

DWN alleges that under the TTIP such a court-issue would probably not even have been raised but would simply have ended before an arbitration panel, in which the aggrieved investors exert no influence and where it would be almost impossible for these investors’ rights to be protected.

Another example is cited, where the German city of Pforzheim successfully sued, at the Federal Court of Justice, the U.S. megabank JPMorgan/Chase, and where that court allowed Pforzheim to seek “accumulated damages of 57 million euros.”

Under TTIP, a megabank fined this way might in turn sue the nation’s taxpayers to restore the megabank’s ensuing loss of profits. If the cheated investors win, taxpayers might thus end up bearing the cheated investors' losses. Under TTIP, the fined company would be arguing that the law under which it had been fined is in violation of TTIP and thus constitutes a violation of that treaty, so that the violating government is obliged to be paying the fine — the law against fraud would itself be violating the fined company’s rights. If the three-arbitrator TTIP panel rules in the megabank’s favor, the government would need to pay the fine it had assessed against the bank, and no appeals court exists for any of these arbitration-panels’ rulings — these rulings are final. Obama and other proponents of that system, which is called ISDS for Investor State Dispute Settlement, say that it’s a more efficient way of handling such disputes. In international commercial affairs, it not only eliminates appeals courts, it gradually eliminates democracy, by fining the government into ultimate submission to these three-person panels of international-corporate-accountable arbitrators.

On the same basic idea, Benito Mussolini was praised for “making the trains run on time.”

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.

Thank You, Andrea Dworkin 
By Mickey Z.

http://www.countercurrents.org/mickeyz080516.htm

As someone who eschewed college and instead embarked on a long journey of dedicated radical self-education, I find it quite illuminating that it took so damn long for me to finally encounter the work of Andrea Dworkin


The Sustainable Energy Transition: A "Back Of The Envelope" Calculation 
By Ugo Bardi

http://www.countercurrents.org/bardi080516.htm

Here are a few notes on the kind of effort we need in order to move to a completely renewable energy infrastructure before it is too late to avoid the double threat of climate disruption and resource depletion. It is a tall order: we need to do it, basically, in some 50 years from now, possibly less, otherwise it will be too late to avoid a climate disaster. So, let's try a "back of the envelope" calculation that should provide an order of magnitude estimate


On Ecology And Going Back To The Land 
By Dr. Glen Barry

http://www.countercurrents.org/barry080516.htm

One of the primary components of the coming Great Ecological Transition will be going back to the land to reverse ecological fragmentation and once again place humanity within the context of surrounding healthy land. Along with ending fossil fuels, limiting human population and inequity, and military demobilization; going back to the land is a requirement for a peaceful, just, and fair human future on a living Earth that can last forever


Shhh……! Don't Talk About The Economy! 
By Vijaya Kumar Marla

http://www.countercurrents.org/marla080516.htm

Keep silent! Do not disturb! Big Biz at work! The biggest loot of Indian economy is going on for the last 25 years. Dare not complain – otherwise “business sentiment” will be hurt! In the year 2016-17, the total subsidies and concessions in the form of taxes and revenue foregone to the rich amounts to a paltry sum of Rs. 6.11 lakh crores, out of the annual budget of Rs. 19 lakhs of rupees (about 1/3rd and no less)


The New Middle East :The World After The Arab Spring 
Book Review By Suraj Thube

http://www.countercurrents.org/thube080516.htm

The author commendably weaves a complex narrative that would surely act as more than an authoritative text to decipher future events. He concludes on an optimistic note even in this ocean of pessimism by stating that these Middle eastern countries have shown the willingness to shed their client-nation status. More than anything else, they have managed to keep hold of their greatest gain from the Arab Spring - their voice


Shocking Indifference To The Plight Of Project Affected Persons In Narmada Valley
By National Alliance of People’s Movements

http://www.countercurrents.org/napm080516.htm

The recent High Level meeting in Delhi chaired by the Prime Minister’s Pirncipal Secretary Nripendra Mishra and attended by the Chief Secretaries of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra on the 6th of this month regarding the Sardar Sarovar Project, reveals the deep sense of apathy and indifference of the current Central and respective State governments to the plight of the thousands of Project Affected Persons in the Narmada valley

Renewable Energy News: Two Ways PG&E Community Solar Gardens Enable 100 Percent Solar for All

Excerpts below from Renewable Energy News, available by email subscription.

Great source for current industry information!

Geothermal Outlook 2015: International Market Ripe with Opportunity as US Market Withers by Meg Cichon, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com | February 18, 2015 | Post Your Comment
	While it is difficult to discuss the geothermal industry in just one-year increments, it seems as though 2015 is set to have some notable developments. Full Article

Easing the Renewable Energy Transition by The Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Inc., Erica Schroeder McConnell | February 18, 2015 | 1 Comment
	What a week for energy news! And right in the middle of it all is what we believe to be a landmark paper. In the event you didn't find time to take a look at it, here are the highlights. Multiple compounding factors are driving na... Full Article

We Have “Value for Solar,” But Should We Use It? by John Farrell | February 19, 2015 | 2 Comments
	Earlier this year, Minnesota became the first state to formalize dozens of studies by adopting a "value of solar" formula that would fundamentally change the relationship between solar energy producers and their utility. It's desi... Full Article

Two Ways PG&E Community Solar Gardens Enable 100 Percent Solar for All by Susan Kraemer, Correspondent | February 18, 2015 | 1 Comment
	PG&E already has enough renewable energy contracts in its portfolio that its customers now get a quarter of their electricity from sources like solar and wind. (Large hydro is not included.) Full Article
TOPNEWS

v

A Dire Warning on Global Warming

Your VOTE on Tuesday, Nov. 4th will impact the future of our nation and our planet.

Please make an informed decision and vote for candidates willing to address Global Warming!  It matters!

Tell Bernie: What issues interest you most?

The loudest alarm ever over global warming was sounded on Sunday by an international team of scientists. Climate change caused by burning fossil fuels has accelerated to the point that the only chance of keeping the world’s temperature below a dangerous level may be to end all greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this century, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said. The report issued in Copenhagen said climate change already is affecting life on every continent and in rising oceans. "Science has spoken. There is no ambiguity in their message. Leaders must act. Time is not on our side," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “The scientific community across the world is sounding the alarm. Climate change is real and it will have devastating consequences around the globe unless we act boldly and decisively,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, a member of the Senate environment and energy committees. Sanders has proposed a fee on carbon and methane emissions. The measure is cosponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Their bill would help create millions of jobs transforming the U.S. energy system away from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. Another Sanders bill would end tax breaks and subsidies for oil and coal companies. A companion measure in the House is sponsored by Rep. Keith Ellison. Both ideas are backed by scientists and leading economists but blocked by Republicans in Congress. “Many Republicans now respond to the crisis of climate change by saying they are not scientists and therefore have no opinion,” Sanders said. “Well, most of them are not doctors but they respect doctors’ opinions on cancer and heart disease. Most of them are not generals but they respect the opinions of our military leaders. It’s time for them to respect the views of the scientific community on climate change.”

	Read more about the Sanders-Boxer legislation

Read more about the Sanders-Ellison Legislation

Renewable Energy: How One State’s Net Metering Expansion Offers a Model to the Nation

Once again, Vermont is leading the nation! Bravo Vermont!

How One State’s Net Metering Expansion Offers a Model to the Nation by Andrew Savage | April 16, 2014 | 4 Comments
	While battles rage with utilities taking on both solar customers and businesses around the country, Vermont has quietly expanded its net metering program by nearly four-times without so much as a skirmish. Net metering gives renew... Full Article

Utility Nightmares: Distributed Generation and Halving Electricity Consumption by Scott Sklar, The Stella Group | April 16, 2014 | 1 Comment
	While many utility executives attribute much of their predicted market challenges to the rise of photovoltaics and net metering, they actually have much more to worry about. Full Article

Clean Energy Investment Rises 9 Percent, Led by Solar-Power Demand by Alex Morales, Bloomberg | April 16, 2014 | 1 Comment
	Clean energy investment rose by 9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier on surging demand for rooftop solar panels from the U.S. to Japan. Full Article

Renewable News: German Utility Says It Should Have Invested in Renewables Sooner

Just a few interesting articles - the web site offers some inspiring information to which you can subscribe!

CEO of German Utility RWE Says It Should Have Invested in Renewable Energy Sooner by Tino Andresen, Bloomberg | April 15, 2014 | Post Your Comment
	What’s a beleaguered utility to do when forced by the government to close its profitable nuclear power plants? Full Article
TOPNEWS

Turning the Tide on Barrage Technology by David Appleyard, Contributing Editor | April 15, 2014 | Post Your Comment
	For countless centuries the power of the tides has been known and understood. It is perhaps remarkable that this prodigious energy been used to generate electricity only within the last half a century. In a bid to rectify this app... Full Article
MAGAZINE

State Legislature Hearing: Why Isn't California Using More Geothermal? by Leslie Blodgett, GEA | April 11, 2014 | Post Your Comment
	Geothermal potential was the subject of a joint committee hearing in California on April 3 led by State Senator Ben Hueso, D-40th Senate District, and Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, D-46th Assembly District. As the hearing began, Se... Full Article
TOPNEWS

Global Renewable Energy Should Triple to Save Climate, UN Panel Says by Alex Morales and Stefan Nicola, Bloomberg | April 14, 2014 | 4 Comments
	The world needs to triple the energy it gets from renewables, nuclear reactors and power plants that use emissions-capture technology to avoid dangerous levels of global warming, United Nations scientists said. Full Article
TOPNEWS