It's all about the cash - part 2

The Chamber of Commerce is so extreme they oppose research and development into renewable energy!

Some Pollyannas (climate ostriches?) claim we are moving towards a post-partisan Congress that might embrace massive increases in clean energy R&D. The folks with real money and influence on Capitol Hill, however, know we are moving in the opposite direction. As The Hill reported this week:


Karen Harbert, president of the Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, in a wide-ranging interview with The Hill late last month said members of Congress should rethink attempts to set aside large amounts of money for the research and development of nascent energy technologies like wind and solar at the expense of conventional forms of energy like oil.


The fact that the public overwhelmingly supports clean energy R&D means nothing to the pollutocrats who run the Chamber. They strongly opposed the climate and clean energy jobs bill, even though the public strongly supported that too (see “Post BP Disaster: Support grows for comprehensive energy bill that makes carbon polluters pay” for a long list of polls”).


The Chamber, of course, ran an unprecedented $75 million campaign to unseat progressives from Congress, in defense of a big-oil agenda.

I guess the6y know where their support will be coming from.

Ooops!

Stimulus Allows Big Polluters to Bypass Environmental Regulations

In its haste to jump-start "shovel-ready" stimulus projects, the Obama administration allowed many of the biggest polluters in the nation to sidestep key environmental regulations. The federal government made a stunning 179,000 "categorical exclusions" that allowed corporations -- many with disastrous environmental records -- to use stimulus funding to sponsor projects without submitting them to review under the nation's "most basic form of environmental oversight", a new report from the Center for Public Integrity found.


Making matters worse, many of these projects were approved under the auspices of being 'green' or clean energy projects (many more are transportation-related) -- thus helping to comprise the billions of dollars in funding for green projects that sent progressives' hearts aflutter two years ago. This all serves to raise questions about the efficacy of these 'green' stimulus projects, and whether many are in the end actually increasing environmental welfare.

Kidding? Wish it was a big joke. Trying to solve one issue they destroy another.

Get to know the Koch Bros

Get the Facts on Uber-Polluting Koch Industries

Before last year, many had never heard of Koch Industries. Even though it's the second largest company in the US, and it rakes in nearly $100 billion every year, it's still something of an unknown entity to most Americans. And that's how company head David Koch prefers it -- he's fond of saying his company is "the biggest company you've never heard of." The majority of its business is in oil refining, coal, and manufacturing. And over the last year, a series of reports surfaced that revealed the company's huge monetary influence, and the murky activist involvement of its bosses, on efforts to kill clean energy bills, overturn environmental regulations, and so on. Finally, someone is giving us the straight facts on Koch Industries:
The new website Koch Industries Facts, run by the clean energy group Repower America, has been launched to act as a simple information depot on Koch Industries. Aptly enough, it's a series of frankly presented facts, with links to the source material, that reveal the extent to which Koch Industries has been a leading force pushing back against both clean energy, climate science, and green policy across the US.
Here's a sampling of the facts collected at the site:

• Koch is responsible for over 300 oil spills in the U.S. and has leaked 3 million gallons of crude oil into fisheries and drinking waters. (EPA)
• Koch Industries spent more than $48.5 million from 1997 to 2008 funding climate science opposition groups.
• Koch Industries operates oil refineries in Texas, Alaska and Minnesota, and controls roughly 4,000 miles of oil pipelines.
• Koch Industries has spent $16,922,000 so far in the 111th Congress on lobbying.
• Koch Industries spent $1 million trying to roll back California's clean energy law - and failed.

These are the boys who b(r)ought us the new Congress. Their Solution:

Koch, Coke, coke - no matter how you spell it they're all bad for you.

Still hope

Cover via AmazonMore Like an Oil Spill Than a Landslide

The 2010 election was the year of The Empire Strikes Back. Big Oil, the coal industry, and corporate polluters are desperate to stop the momentum toward clean energy that's been building for years. You can't stop the construction of 139 coal-fired power plants, implement the first-ever fuel-economy standards for medium and heavy trucks, or put the "protect" back into the Environmental Protection Agency without provoking a reaction.
In this case, the Dirty Energy Empire broke all campaign spending records and used their financial Death Star to target any politician who took a stand on clean energy and global warming. It may not have been a subtle strategy, but it was effective. What it doesn't change, though, is that most Americans still disagree with Big Oil and Big Coal about environmental and energy issues.
Given a clear choice between moving toward a clean-energy future that brings new jobs versus staying stuck in the old, dirty-energy past, Americans will vote for the future.
You don't have to take my word for it -- because that's exactly what happened in California. Voters decisively defeated Proposition 23, which was aimed at rolling back the state's landmark clean energy and climate law. When clean energy and already-existing green jobs went head-to-head on the ballot against economic scare tactics from Big Oil, voters didn't fall for it -- even though the state has the third-highest unemployment numbers in the nation.
Big Oil was defeated because the Sierra Club, along with a broad coalition of other environmental groups, clean tech companies, small businesses, public health advocates, and organized labor, worked hard to make sure that voters both knew the true intention and real consequences of that initiative. But another reason for Prop. 23's defeat is that advocates for the new-energy economy -- from Silicon Valley venture capitalists to Bill Gates himself -- stepped up to counter the more than $10 million in deceptive advertising that was spent by out-of-state oil companies.
In the short term, it's not good that there will be more climate deniers and dirty-energy apologists in Congress and in Statehouses. It's deeply disappointing that so many of the Sierra Club's allies and supporters suffered defeats. But it's not a short-term future we're fighting for. We're fighting for America's future -- and that means continuing to build a clean-energy economy at the local, state, and, yes, federal level.
When we win, it will mean millions of new jobs, freedom from dependence on foreign oil, and a cleaner, healthier environment for all Americans. And on that day, the headline will read "The Empire Struck Out."

The fight continues.  But against the fat cats with fat wallets,,,!  

Thank you voters!

50% of the New Congressmen Deny Climate Change

Ah, the fallout from the 2010 midterm elections -- it just keeps on getting more depressing, at least from a climate and clean energy perspective. Yes, the folks over at Think Progress did some background research on the incoming Congressmen, and they reveal a disheartening stat: 50% of them outright deny that climate change is real. Nice.
Here's the breakdown from Think Progress:
A new ThinkProgress investigation has found that the incoming GOP freshman class is rife with legislators who not only oppose climate change legislation, but deny that manmade global warming even exists ...
Here is a snapshot of the GOP Class of 2010:
ENVIRONMENT
- 50% deny the existence of manmade climate change
- 86% are opposed to any climate change legislation that increases government revenue

Hooray! We can now look forward to many more years of the status quo -- which, of course means continued dominance from the heavily subsidized oil industry, reliance on foreign oil, and increased industry-wide greenhouse gas emissions right at a time when we're on track to have experienced the hottest year ever recorded.

The real winners of this election: oilmen and Koch brothers.

Blue-green on both coasts

Climate & Clean Energy Can Win Elections

Throughout the 2010 midterm election cycle -- and well before -- most politicians dared not even utter the word climate change. Sometime after the House passed its comprehensive energy bill and the Senate stalled, clean energy and climate got written into the media's horse-racing narrative as being dirty words in a political context; losing messages. The GOP lumping both in with cap and trade, which they falsely blasted as a tax, probably had something to do with that. Soon, clean energy and climate action-supporting politicians -- most notably, Obama -- gave up on trying to spread the word about those causes. They figured it was a losing battle. But they were wrong: To see why, and how climate and clean energy can win elections, look no further than California.
California, as you're likely aware by now, was one of the few states where Democratic candidates were able to beat back the insurgent Tea Party -- both Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina lost their races (for governor and senator, respectively) to Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer. And more importantly, California turned out against the Tea Party-favored Proposition 23, which would have halted the state's climate and clean energy law.
What's interesting in all three of these major victories, is one common thread: The candidates, and the coalition of 'No on 23' campaigners, never turned their back on climate and clean energy issues -- even with the rising tide of climate denialism and the anti-regulatory sentiment in full swing across the nation. On the contrary, they made climate and clean energy a campaign issue.

Here in Connecticut (proud to say we stayed Blue) green was also a topic but not as looming as in Calif. Wish other states/areas were as concerned.