Waxman-Markey Climate Bill's Emissions "Cap" May Let U.S. Emissions Continue to Rise Through 2030

If fully utilized, the emissions "offset" provisions in the American Clean Energy and Security Act would allow continued business as usual growth in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions until 2030, leading one to wonder: where's the cap in the "cap" and trade? At the heart of the nearly thousand page long climate change and clean energy bill being debated in the U.S. House of Representatives this week is a "cap and trade" mechanism aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. However, a provision in the bill, known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454 or "ACES"), allows polluting firms in the U.S. to finance emissions reductions overseas in lieu of reducing their own global warming pollution and may allow American emissions to continue to rise for up to twenty years, according to new analysis from the Breakthrough Institute. The provision allows power plants, oil refiners, and other polluters regulated under the bill's cap and trade program to use up to one billion tons of international emissions reductions, or "offsets," to be used instead of reducing their own emissions each year. The bill also allows up to one billion tons of additional offsets each year, sourced from sectors of the U.S. economy that do not fall under the pollution cap, such as forestry and agriculture. If a suitable supply of domestic emissions offsets are unavailable, the limit on the use of international offsets may be raised to 1.5 billion tons annually at the discretion of the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The extensive use of these international and domestic offsets would effectively allow U.S. firms in capped sectors to continue emitting global warming pollution at levels well above the reductions supposedly driven by the emissions cap. New analysis from the Breakthrough Institute reveals that if fully utilized, the offset provisions in the ACES bill would allow continued business as usual growth in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions until 2030...Breakthrough Institute

The Goode Family Premiere On ABC Tonight

Making a Mockery of Being Green Director Mike Judge’s new animated television series “The Goode Family” is a send-up of a clan of environmentalists who live by the words “What would Al Gore do?” Gerald and Helen Goode want nothing more than to minimize their carbon footprint. They feed their dog, Che, only veggies (much to the pet’s dismay) and Mr. Goode dutifully separates sheets of toilet paper when his wife accidentally buys two-ply. And, of course, the family drives a hybrid. On Wednesday at 9 p.m., “The Goode Family” will have its premiere on ABC...

Here are two preview clips:

Hippies, Hollywood and the Flush Factor

Cameron Diaz, an actress who is also known for her eco-friendly lifestyle, had bloggers buzzing after an appearance earlier this week on the “Tonight Show”, where she described her water-conscious toilet-flushing mantra to host Jay Leno. “If it’s yellow leave it mellow; if it’s brown flush it down,” Ms. Diaz said. “I believe in that 100 percent.” The “yellow mellow” adage is hardly new , and was purportedly coined by hippies in the early days of the environmental movement. The phrase entered the mainstream in the 1980s when former New York Mayor Ed Koch reportedly urged New Yorkers to take up the practice during a water shortage. According to Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the no-flush approach is worthy of serious consideration today, as water levels of major rivers and lakes that supply drinking water to population centers are plummeting...NYTimes

Antigua's 'Mount Obama' to Be National Park

Antigua plans to do more than just rename its highest peak to honor President Barack Obama. Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer says his government wants to create Mount Obama Monument and National Park with a new network of hiking trails. He also plans a museum with entertainment and educational facilities. Spencer says Mount Obama will be a "beacon of hope for all people." He outlined his plan to reporters Monday. He did not say how much it would cost or how the government of the dual-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda would pay for it. The 1,319-foot (402-meter) mountain is currently known as Boggy Peak. It will be renamed on Aug. 4 - Obama's birthday. Spencer says the U.S. president will be invited to the ceremony. AP

EPA: Cap-and-Trade Bill Could Hurt U.S. Manufacturing, Send Factory Jobs Overseas

According to an analysis of climate legislation performed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the cap-and-trade system favored by President Barack Obama and many congressional Democrats could potentially damage the U.S. manufacturing sector and force jobs to move overseas. The policy, under certain scenarios, for example, “can cause domestic production … to shift abroad,” reads the EPA analysis, and result in greater greenhouse gas emissions in countries that do not have similar cap-and-trade rules. Further, the EPA’s Apr. 20 preliminary analysis of the bill, sponsored by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), shows that the plan would reduce U.S. manufacturing capacity 0.3 percent by 2020 and by nearly 1.5 percent by 2050...CNSNews

Global CEOs Back Greenhouse Gas Cuts, Carbon Caps

Global business leaders added momentum to prospects for a new U.N. climate treaty by agreeing Tuesday that the world must cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by mid-century by setting specific limits on carbon. Government officials reported little progress in setting such limits, however, showing how distant a new treaty remains. Some 500 CEOs and other top business experts said at the conclusion of the three-day World Business Summit on Climate Change in Denmark that "immediate and substantial" emissions cuts were needed by 2020, followed by cuts of at least 50 percent of 1990 levels by 2050. They said governments should use the marketplace to set a global price on carbon instead of taxing it, according to a statement from conference organizers. The business leaders said governments' overriding aim at a December U.N. meeting in Copenhagen on replacing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol should be limiting the global average rise in temperature to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius...CNSNews

Where's The Crisis?

The Waxman-Markey climate change bill that would establish a regime to limit carbon dioxide emissions through a cap-and-trade system was passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week. It was approved 33-25 after a speed reader ripped through its 946 pages, babbling aloud before the vote at the insistence of the opposition. Only one Republican — Rep. Mary Bono Mack of California — voted for it while four Democrats voted against it. The legislation might not get such a cushy ride on the House floor. Rep. Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, is threatening to derail it and says he has the support of 40 to 50 other Democrats. Peterson is not opposing Waxman-Markey because he's a skeptic of global warming. Nothing so noble as that. His opposition is purely political. He wants parliamentary power over the bill. Should he fail to get it, he's willing to sink the legislation. Which brings up the question: If global warming were a grave threat, wouldn't getting a CO2 emissions restriction law passed and signed take precedence over lawmakers' objections on behalf of their constituents? The fact that Peterson and so many Democrats would rather have no bill than to let it become law without input from the Agriculture Committee exposes the global warming scare: It's not about the environment — it's about power and politics...IBD

With Billions at Stake, Trying to Expand the Meaning of ‘Renewable Energy’

The definition of renewable energy seems clear cut: The sun continues to shine, so solar energy is renewable. The wind continues to blow, so wind turbines churn out renewable power. But industries are now pushing to have a growing number of other technologies categorized as renewable — or at least as environmentally advantageous. They include nuclear power plants and the burning of garbage and even the waste from coal mines. The lure of the renewable label is understandable. Federal tax breaks for renewable energy have been reauthorized, and quotas for renewable energy production have been set in 28 states, accompanied by extensive new grants, loans and other economic advantages. And legislation is moving through both houses of Congress to establish national quotas for renewable energy sources, including the climate bill passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday. With billions of dollars at stake, legislators have been besieged by lobbyists eager to share in the wealth...NYTimes

Watch the hogs rush to the trough.

Big Oil Warms to Ethanol

For decades, the big oil companies and the farm lobby have been fighting about ethanol, with the farmers pushing to produce more of it and the refiners arguing it was a boondoggle that would do little to solve the country’s energy problems. So why are technicians for BP, the giant oil company, now working at an experimental ethanol plant in this old Louisiana oil town, helping to make it more efficient? The erstwhile enemies, it turns out, are gradually learning to get along, as refiners increasingly see a need to get involved in ethanol production. Ethanol, made chiefly from corn, now represents about 9 percent of the country’s market for liquid fuels. And the percentage is growing year after year because of federal mandates. With the nation’s thirst for gasoline, and the ethanol that is blended into it, expected to revive when the economy does, the oil companies want to be in a position to take full advantage...NYTimes

What else is in Waxman-Markey?

We are all familiar with the Cap and Trade provisions in the bill, but what is in the rest of the proposal? Marlo Lewis at Open Market gives us this list of mandates and "incentives" in the other sections of the bill:

* Requires utilities to meet a certain percentage of their load with electricity generated from renewable sources, like wind, biomass, solar, and geothermal.
* Promotes small-scale “distributed generation” of renewable electricity by offering three renewable electricity credits (instead of one credit) for each MWh produced.
* Authorizes electric power generators to create a Carbon Storage Research Consortium with the power to assess “fees” (aka taxes) totalling approximately $1 billion annually to fund carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration plants.
* Directs the EPA Administrator to hand out free rationing coupons to subsidize CCS.
* Establishes a CCS mandate requiring new coal-fired power plants to emit 65% less carbon dioxide if permitted after 2020, and emit 50% less if permitted between 2009 and 2020; also requires EPA to review these standards not later than 2025 and every five years thereafter.
* Requires utilities to ”consider” developing plans to support electric vehicle infrastructure, and provides assistance (including free emission allowances) to subsidize electric vehicles and infrastructure.
* Mandates stricter building codes achieving 30% higher energy efficiency in 2010 and 50% higher in 2016 for new buildings, and establishes a “building retrofit program” for existing residential and nonresidential buildings.
* Mandates tougher energy efficiency standards for indoor and outdoor lighting, hot food holding cabinets, bottle-type drinking water dispensers, hot tubs, commercial-grade natural gas furnaces, televisions, and other appliances.
* Requires the President, EPA, the Department of Transportation (DOT), and California to establish greenhouse gas (GHG)/fuel economy standards for new passenger cars and light trucks.
* Requires and sets deadlines for EPA to establish GHG emission standards for heavy-duty engines and vehicles and non-road vehicles including marine vessels, locomotives, and aircraft.
* Requires States to establish goals and submit transportation plans to reduce transport sector GHG emissions, and imposes sanctions on States that fail to comply.
* Requires the Deparment of Energy (DOE) to establish industrial energy-efficiency standards.

Video: Morticians Association of America Endorses President Obama's Tough Fuel Efficiency Standards

Obama’s Transportation Secretary Says He Wants to ‘Coerce People Out of Their Cars’

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told a group of reporters at the National Press Club on Thursday that he wants to “coerce people out of their cars.” In Newsweek magazine last week, nationally syndicated columnist George Will published a piece critical of Lahood, entitled, “Ray LaHood, Transformed--Secretary of Behavior Modification.” “He says he has joined a ‘transformational’ administration: ‘I think we can change people's behavior,’” Will reports that LaHood said over lunch. LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Peoria, Ill., has become a champion of using the Department of Transportation and federal transportation spending to get people to take trains, busses, and ride bikes instead of driving cars...CNSNews

Democrats in power hand victories to NRA

President Obama and his allies in Congress have given the gun lobby a string of victories - from forgoing new gun laws to easing restrictions already on the books - since Mr. Obama took office and Democrats assumed complete command of political power in Washington. Democratic leaders in Congress tend to support more restrictive gun laws but have yielded on the issue since a majority of their rank-and-file members increasingly side with the National Rifle Association (NRA) when votes involve the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Gun-control groups blame the Obama White House for the setbacks, saying the administration kept mum on firearms issues even when shooting incidents killed six at a North Carolina nursing home in March and left 13 dead at an upstate New York immigration center in April. The NRA gained a major victory when Mr. Obama backed off from a push to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, even as top Democrats and administration officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, endorsed the ban. On Friday, Mr. Obama signed a bill with a provision lifting the prohibition on bringing loaded firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges. Mr. Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress were forced to accept the gun amendment, which was sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, to a bill that added protections to consumers in credit card contracts. The ease with which the bill sailed through the Democrat-led Congress to the ready pen of Mr. Obama gave a rude awakening to gun-control activists as the gun lobby secured a win that eluded it when Republicans ruled Washington...WTimes

Ethanol proposal may derail climate bill

Rural Democrats are threatening to vote against climate change legislation unless the Environmental Protection Agency halts new proposals that could hamper the development of corn ethanol. Ethanol has long been an energy third rail in Congress, with lawmakers — particularly those from the Midwest and other states with large agricultural industries — clamoring to support the biofuel both to transition away from foreign energy and to support rural economies. But in recent years, environmentalists, livestock producers and grocery manufacturers have raised concerns about the fuel, claiming that it threatens to exacerbate global warming and that it raises food prices. The debate intensified recently when EPA released a draft decision ruling that “indirect land use” issues must be considered when calculating the carbon footprint of corn-based ethanol. That decision raises the overall emissions of corn ethanol by including sometimes tenuously linked activities — critics say totally unrelated activities — in its carbon count. And in fact, the EPA finding showed that while biofuels from plants and other next-generation renewables reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, the fuel might not be as environmentally friendly as the law requires...Politico

Burping of the lambs blows roast off menu

GIVE up lamb roasts and save the planet. Government advisers are developing menus to combat climate change by cutting out “high carbon” food such as meat from sheep, whose burping poses a serious threat to the environment. Out will go kebabs, greenhouse tomatoes and alcohol. Instead, diners will be encouraged to consume more potatoes and seasonal vegetables, as well as pork and chicken, which generate fewer carbon emissions. “Changing our lifestyles, including our diets, is going to be one of the crucial elements in cutting carbon emissions,” said David Kennedy, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change. Kennedy has stopped eating his favourite doner kebabs because they contain lamb...London Times

Song Of The Day #047

How about a little Bob Wills & Tommy Duncan this morning. Here they are doing "Heart To Heart Talk" from their 3 CD collection Encore.

Global milk glut squeezes dairy farmers, consumers

A collapse in milk prices has wiped away the profits of dairy farmers, driving many out of business while forcing others to slaughter their herds or dump milk on the ground in protest. But nine months after prices began tumbling on the farm, consumers aren't seeing the full benefits of the crash at the checkout counter. The average price for a gallon of milk at grocery stores last month is down just 19 percent from its peak of $3.83 in July. Farmers, on the other hand, got $1.04 a gallon in April — 35 percent less than they were paid last fall. This winter, wholesale prices were down as much as 45 percent. Price disparities are a fact of life both for farmers and anyone who shops at a supermarket, but the nature of milk — how it's stored, priced and sold around the world — makes the gap all the more dramatic. In fact, the price that farmers get has been wildly volatile for years, creating a succession of booms and busts felt from pastures to the grocery store...AP

Questions about Kagan

U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan is reported to be on the short list to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. If she were a Republican on the short list for a court opening, Senate Democrats would move heaven and Earth to turn a 1996 contretemps into a major scandal. On the evidence so far, such a political hit job would not be fair. What is fair, though, is to insist that not all the evidence is in, and to demand more answers. As the Wall Street Journal's "Political Diary" reported May 21, Ms. Kagan was in the middle of Clinton White House deliberations that put a kibosh on legal action against a group of eco-terrorists in Oregon who were blocking some legal logging operations. To quote from a House task force investigation in 1999, "these 'environmentalist' protesters erected barricades and other structures (out of timber) in the roadways and in the forest; they dug trenches and deliberately washed out the roadways in several areas, polluting the waterways downstream with runoff; they polluted the area with human waste; they built 'booby-traps' of trenches and sharpened metal spikes designed to maim intruders or damage vehicles; they chained and locked themselves to buried cement structures; and at least one protester was heavily armed." The Forest Service and local law enforcement, with approval from the FBI, the local U.S. Attorney and federal marshals, were ready to move in against the demonstrators. Then, on June 12, 1996, a high-level group of White House officials, including Ms. Kagan, met and ordered that the arrest plans be aborted...WTimes

GOP lawmaker raises stakes in Piñon battle

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman says that legislation being prepared by Colorado Democrats to permanently prohibit the expansion of the Army's Piñon Canyon training area would severely undermine the future of Fort Carson, setting off a devastating economic ripple effect in the southern part of the state. Combined with recent actions by the state legislature and a lawsuit by nearby landowners, just the suggestion of a permanent congressional prohibition such as the one suggested by Reps. John Salazar and Betsy Markey could have a powerful psychological effect, Coffman said, giving Colorado an anti-Army reputation and encouraging other states to pony up incentives and lure the Army away. "If Congressman Salazar is successful, then it's a deal-killer. Then the Army does have to move," Coffman, R-Colo., said of legislation that Markey and Salazar say they'll soon introduce to finally put an end to the controversy over the training area's expansion. Piñon Canyon has been a flashpoint for controversy since the Army announced plans to expand the sprawling maneuver area — the second- largest in the country — by more than 400,000 acres. The proposed expansion later was scaled back to 100,000 acres, with the Army promising to acquire the land only from a willing seller or through a long-term lease...Denver Post

Biologists study turbines' effect on grouse

In the high-stakes game of preserving sage grouse, biologists say they're still figuring out how the birds will react to the influx of wind turbines rising up from the wide-open sagebrush plains where the birds evolved. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 15 months ago commenced a review of whether sage grouse should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. In Wyoming, home to more than half the bird's population, Gov. Dave Freudenthal's administration has worked to try to ensure protection of sage grouse habitat. His goal is to avert federal listing, which could have a stultifying affect on the state's lucrative oil-and-gas industry and other economic development. Growing interest in Wyoming wind development has raised a new set of questions about protecting the ground-dwelling, chicken-like birds. "Most of our traditional industries have been willing to forego new activities in (prime sage grouse habitat) until either populations are re-established elsewhere or technology advances to the point that industrial development and sage grouse are seen as wholly compatible," Freudenthal said last week. "I cannot speak with the same certainty with regard to wind development." Biologists say very little research has been done on how wind turbines affect sage grouse. But they say the birds are likely affected by turbines' height, movement and noise, as well as by habitat disruption associated with building a wind farm...Casper Star-Tribune