New York Times Joins the Bumbling Keystone XL Cops
Coral Davenport
The pipeline is intended to ship upwards of 830,000 barrels of tar-sands crude a day for a 40-year lifespan. The pipeline will add 120-200 million tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent to the atmosphere annually, with a lifetime footprint of 6 to 8 billion tons CO2e. That’s as much greenhouse pollution as 40 to 50 average U.S. coal-fired power plants. Furthermore the Keystone XL pipeline is recognized by the tar-sands industry as a key spigot for the future development of the Alberta tar sands, which would emit 840 billion tons CO2e if fully exploited.
Interviewing Washington insiders who have offered various forms of support for the Keystone XL project, Davenport claims instead that “Keystone’s political symbolism vastly outweighs its policy substance.” To support the claim, Davenport then erroneously underestimates the global warming footprint of the pipeline by a factor of ten. Davenport’s crucial error is to contrast the actual carbon footprint of existing fossil-fuel projects — such as US electric power plants (2.8 billion tons) and tailpipe emissions (1.9 billion) — to the impact of the pipeline’s oil being dirtier than traditional petroleum, without explaining that she was switching measurements:
Consider the numbers: In 2011, the most recent year for which comprehensive international data is available, the global economy emitted 32.6 billion metric tons of carbon [dioxide] pollution. The United States was responsible for 5.5 billion tons of that (coming in second to China, which emitted 8.7 billion tons). Within the United States, electric power plants produced 2.8 billion tons of those greenhouse gases, while vehicle tailpipe emissions from burning gasoline produced 1.9 billion tons.By comparison, the oil that would move through the Keystone pipeline would add 18.7 million metric tons of carbon [dioxide] to the atmosphere annually, the E.P.A. estimated.
[There are two side errors in the passage: Davenport uses “tons of carbon” where she means “tons of carbon dioxide equivalent”. One ton of carbon is the equivalent of 3.67 tons of carbon dioxide. All of her numbers refer to tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent. Secondly, the estimate was not made by the E.P.A. but by a State Department contractor hired by TransCanada; the E.P.A. cited that analysis but did not make the calculations.]
What the oil-industry contractor for the State Department actually calculated is that the oil that would move through the Keystone pipeline would add 147-168 million metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere annually, 1.3 to 27.4 million of which (central estimate 18.7 million from the draft assessment) are because tar-sands crude is dirtier than other petroleum sources. Those 18.7 million tons are the “incremental” or “additional” footprint of the pipeline, not the full 160 million-ton footprint.
Based on this order-of-magnitude measurement-switching error, Davenport incorrectly concludes that “the carbon emissions produced by oil that would be moved in the Keystone pipeline would amount to less than 1 percent of United States greenhouse gas emissions, and an infinitesimal slice of the global total.”
In fact, the carbon dioxide emissions produced by oil that would be moved in this single pipeline would amount to 3 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and half a percent of the global carbon footprint. Only thirty-two countries have larger annual footprints than this single tar-sands project.
Climate scientist John Abraham made this point in The Guardian last week. “People who think Keystone is a minor issue don’t understand science and they sure don’t understand economics,” he wrote.
Jason Bordoff
Putting aside any possible political and economic motivations to support the intentions of the global petroleum industry, the intellectual failure rests on an obvious error made subtle through convolution.
Whether one is looking at actual or incremental footprints of carbon-infrastructure projects, the results should be equivalent from a policy standpoint, although the numbers would be different. Why, then, does the incremental analysis used by the EPA and the State Department’s oil-industry contractors appear to give the absurd result that the Keystone XL impact is “infinitesimal”?
The methodology of incremental footprint analysis assumes a baseline of future projected carbon pollution, and then looks whether a given project would increase or decrease the baseline. The validity of incremental-footprint analysis thus depends on the baseline.
In line with scientific warnings, President Barack Obama and the U.S. State Department have committed to limiting global warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. In the International Energy Agency’s 2°C scenario, global oil consumption would fall by 50 percent from current levels by 2050, within the intended operating lifetime of the Keystone XL pipeline.
The Keystone XL final environmental impact statement instead assumes that global oil demand will increase over that time period. The baseline used is the Energy Information Administration’s 2013 Annual Energy Outlook, which projects that global oil consumption will increase by 30 to 40 percent by 2040. In that scenario, the world would be on a pathway for rapid and catastrophic global warming of 4 to 6°C (or greater) by 2100.
No matter the analysis, the Keystone XL pipeline is incompatible with climate security. The global-warming impact of constructing Keystone XL is only “infinitesimal” if you assume catastrophic global warming is inevitable and that the signed climate pledges of the United States government are worthless.
Perhaps Ms. Davenport should ask Levi, Book, Bordoff, Morris, and Goldwyn if that is their assumption.
Update May 2: The Times has posted a correction:
Correction: May 2, 2014An article and an accompanying chart on April 22 comparing the projected Keystone XL pipeline with other sources of carbon emissions referred imprecisely to projected emissions from tar-sands oil moving through the pipeline. Producing and burning that oil would emit 18.7 million more metric tons annually than would conventional oil, or far less than 1 percent of United States emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The tar-sands oil would not emit 18.7 million tons total, but about 150 million tons, or less than 3 percent of United States emissions.
The correction itself is in error; the estimate of 18.7 million metric tons is not from the E.P.A., but is from the draft assessment prepared by TransCanada contractor Environmental Resources Management for the State Department.
A Review of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Budget for Fiscal Year 2015
Witness
- Charles F. Bolden, Jr., Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Statement of The Honorable Charles F. Bolden, Jr. Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration before the Subcommittee on Space Committee on Science, Space and Technology U. S. House of Representatives
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I am pleased to have this opportunity to discuss NASA’s FY 2015 budget request. The requested budget of $17.46 billion provides the resources NASA needs to pursue the goals and priorities that the Congress and the Administration have established for the Agency and will ensure that NASA will remain the world’s leader in space. A summary of the FY 2015 budget request is appended to this statement.
The President’s FY 2015 request supports NASA’s continuing quest to extend human presence into deep space and on to Mars. NASA will continue to perform research aboard the International Space Station (ISS), partner with American industry for crew and cargo delivery to low Earth orbit (LEO), develop the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion crew vehicle, and test our new capabilities in the proving ground of cis-lunar space before sending a human mission to the Red Planet. NASA will also continue to develop a rich array of commercial and international partnerships as part of its overall exploration framework. As we speak, American astronauts aboard the ISS are learning the fundamental lessons necessary to safely execute extended missions deeper into space. Later this year we will see the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) of Orion atop a Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle. NASA is pressing forward with development of SLS and Orion, preparing for a first, uncrewed mission in FY 2018. As a critical element in this long-term exploration strategy, as well as a source of continuing scientific and material benefits to life on Earth, operations in LEO remain among NASA’s highest priorities. With the Administration’s commitment to the extension of ISS operations through 2024, NASA looks forward to expanded research opportunities with continuing support from our commercial partners for both crew and cargo. Two American companies are launching supplies to the ISS from U.S. soil. NASA will complete a commercial crew competition this summer, and if Congress fully funds our FY 2015 budget request, we believe we can stay on track to launch astronauts to the ISS from American soil by the end of 2017. This capability is critically important to safe/sustained operations, and will end our sole reliance on our Russian partners for this service. The requested funding is required to meet this critical near-term need.
Consistent with the 2010 NASA Authorization Act (P.L. 111-267) and the National Space Policy, NASA continues to make solid progress on the development of SLS and Orion for a series of test flights including a compelling mission in the proving ground of cis-lunar space to redirect a small asteroid into orbit around the Moon, and to send U.S. astronauts to rendezvous with and explore this target. The proving ground of cis-lunar space also puts the Nation in a position from which we may help our commercial and international partners robotically explore other destinations on that pathway, such as the Moon.
The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) will enable NASA to test powerful Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) and integrated human/robotic vehicle operations in deep-space trajectories. Like the invaluable ISS, this mission will provide NASA with critical knowledge, experience and technologies for future human exploration missions deeper into space. Drawing on our long-term investments across three Mission Directorates, the FY 2015 request supports continued core capability development and formulation of the integrated mission concept. The overall asteroid initiative also includes enhanced Near Earth Object (NEO) detection and characterization, which will extend our understanding of the NEO threat while providing additional opportunities for investigations of asteroids and demonstrations of technologies and capabilities.
NASA’s FY 2015 request for Science supports operation of the world’s premier constellation of spacecraft dedicated to exploring Earth, the solar system, and the universe beyond, while we continue to develop the next generation of missions in pursuit of our Nation’s highest priority space and Earth science. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), NASA’s next-generation successor to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), continues on schedule for its 2018 launch. In recent months, NASA has completed rigorous testing of the spine of the massive telescope and completed the primary mirrors for integration. As we announced last year, we have begun work on a large Curiosity-scale rover for a 2020 mission to Mars, and the FY 2015 request includes funding to continue pre-formulation activities of a potential mission to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons believed to harbor a vast subsurface ocean. NASA will launch five Earth science missions in calendar year 2014, taking advantage of the unique vantage point of space to secure new insights into our home planet. The Earth science budget will support airborne campaigns to the poles and hurricanes, development of advanced sensor technologies, and use of satellite observations and data analysis tools to improve natural hazard and climate change preparedness.
With NASA’s FY 2015 request, our pioneering Aeronautics research program will continue to focus on substantially reducing aircraft fuel consumption, emissions, and noise – and help make the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen, a reality. NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) will continue to implement the strategic vision for aeronautics that NASA launched last year, with a focus on addressing the challenges facing the U.S. aviation community – civil and military – in the coming decades.
In essential support of the Agency’s broader mission, the FY 2015 request supports an active Space Technology Program to advance cutting-edge technologies, providing an on-ramp for new space technologies, creating a pipeline that matures them from early-stage through flight, and delivering innovative solutions that dramatically improve technology capabilities for NASA, the aerospace sector, and the Nation. The request supports the sustained investments that NASA must make to mature the capabilities we need to achieve the challenging goals that the Congress has set for us. By the end of FY 2014, NASA will test and deliver two candidate designs for high-power solar electric systems for SEP with critical applications for deep-space exploration as well as for Earth-orbital activities. By the end of calendar year 2015, NASA will have completed seven Space Technology missions in 24 months, including demonstration of a deep-space atomic clock for advanced navigation, the green propellant demonstration (an alternative to highly toxic hydrazine), a solar sail to demonstrate propellant-free propulsion, and four small spacecraft missions pioneering new technologies. The Space Technology Program is also developing high performance systems for decelerating spacecraft at Mars, high bandwidth laser communications with the potential to transform communication systems for both space exploration and commercial use, advanced life support technology, advanced robotics, and lightweight composite propellant tanks.
The program laid out in detail in NASA’s FY 2015 request continues NASA’s implementation of the priorities established for it in the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act of 2010. In the current constrained budget environment, we have designed a balanced program that pursues the Nation’s highest priorities in science, exploration, and aeronautics; with a critical technology development program to develop essential capabilities. The FY 2015 request supports the next steps on the way to Mars in a sustainable way. It enables NASA to restore an American capability for sending humans to orbit while continuing development of a deep-space capability for human space flight. This is not an either-or scenario. Each is critically dependent on the other. The request supports the Nation’s highest priority science and technology goals for space. NASA appreciates the strong budget support the Agency has received despite a difficult budget environment, and we are fully committed to delivering the world’s leading space program on behalf of the American people.
NASA is pleased to be included in the President’s Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative (OGSI). Under this initiative, NASA would receive nearly $885.5 million in additional funding in FY 2015 to focus on specific priorities. This initiative recognizes NASA as a critical source of innovation and technology that creates opportunity, economic growth, and ultimately security and prosperity. NASA’s funding under OGSI would focus on priority investment opportunities such as an expanded Space Technology Program, reducing risk and enhancing competition in the Commercial Crew Program, continuing currently operating science missions and accelerating work on potential future missions. NASA’s portion of OGSI would also enable further development work on SLS and Orion, more fully utilize the ISS, and support additional Earth Science mission development, advanced computational fluid dynamics research and increased investment in composite materials.
Science
With 95 missions in development and actively observing Earth, the Sun, the planets, and the universe beyond, NASA remains the world’s premier space science organization and the critical source of information on the home planet. The President’s FY 2015 budget request for the Science program includes $4,972.0 million, with $1,770.3 million for Earth Science, $1,280.3 million for Planetary Science, $607.3 million for Astrophysics, $645.4 million for the James Webb Telescope, and $668.9 million for Heliophysics.
Earth Science
The President’s FY 2015 budget request enables NASA to continue to make critical spaceborne measurements of Earth, our home; to conduct and fund a comprehensive, competed scientific research program to turn those measurements into an understanding of our complex planet; and to use the measurements and understanding to develop and demonstrate applications that will provide direct benefit to our Nation, and indeed all of humanity. Today, there are 17 NASA- developed research satellites on orbit, making measurements of more than 60 key aspects of our planet’s environment. Just a few weeks ago, in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM) was launched to provide the first-ever, accurate, global maps of rain- and snowfall over the globe. During the rest of 2014, NASA will be launching four more Earth observing research missions: Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) to measure global carbon dioxide concentrations with unprecedented coverage and accuracy; RapidScat to the ISS, to make measurements of ocean wind speed and direction; Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS), also to the Space Station, to measure atmospheric aerosols; and, in November, the Soil Moisture/Active Passive (SMAP) mission to make accurate measurements of soil moisture and freeze-thaw cycling. These 2014 missions will be followed in 2015-2017 by the SAGE-III (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III) instrument to the ISS for atmospheric trace gas profile data, including ozone measurements; the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)-Follow On gravity mission with our German partners to measure changes in the Earth’s gravity field and water storage, such as aquifer level changes; a constellation of eight smallsats, called Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS), to use reflected Global Positioning System (GPS) signals to measure conditions in cyclones and hurricanes; an instrument called Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) to fly on a commercial geostationary communications satellite, to measure air quality over greater North America; and Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESAT-2), to make precise measurements of our planet’s rapidly changing ice caps and glaciers. NASA is now developing the Pre-Aerosol, Clouds and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) ocean color and aerosol continuity mission, and the NASA-Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (NI-SAR) mission in collaboration with the Indian space agency to measure solid earth processes, ice flows, global vegetation, and response to disasters and geohazards. The FY 2015 budget request also supports NASA to develop missions that will continue key climate data series, including a set of solar irradiance, ozone profile, and Earth radiation budget instruments, and follow-on capabilities in support of U.S. Geological Survey for sustained land imaging following our successful launch of Landsat-8 just one year ago.
Astrophysics and James Webb Space Telescope
NASA is making strong progress on JWST, the most powerful space telescope in history, and remains on cost and schedule for launch in 2018. The Webb telescope is the next in a series of astrophysics missions, including the venerable, yet still unrivaled, HST and the incredibly productive Kepler exoplanet mission, which are revolutionizing our understanding of the universe. After launching in 2018, the Webb telescope will travel one million miles from Earth, unfold its sunshield to the size of a tennis court, and keep its instruments cooled to a temperature of 370-387 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (40-50 Kelvin). The Webb telescope will allow us to observe objects even fainter than HST can see, which will allow us to study every phase in the history of our universe, ranging from the first luminous glow after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own solar system. The FY 2015 request will support work to continue testing the integrated science instrument module for JWST, continue the construction of the spacecraft that will carry the science instruments and the telescope, and begin the assembly of the delivered mirror segments into the telescope backplane. NASA’s Astrophysics Program operating missions include the Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, and Kepler telescopes; and other missions that together comprise an unrivaled, and in many ways unprecedented resource for the study of our universe. NASA is currently working with our German partner to identify a path forward for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a mission with high annual operating costs that cannot be accommodated within the FY 2015 budget request. In FY 2015, NASA’s next two astrophysics Explorer missions will continue their development. The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) will probe the interiors of neutron stars and determine the laws of physics that govern atomic nuclei. NICER will be launched to the ISS in 2016. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will extend the pioneering work of the Kepler Space Telescope, which showed us that virtually every star in the sky has a planetary system. TESS launches in 2017 and will discover rocky exoplanets orbiting the nearest and brightest stars in the sky in time for the JWST to conduct follow-up observations that will characterize their atmospheres and other properties.
Planetary Science
Planetary science missions continue to explore the solar system in unrivaled scope and depth. This past November, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) was successfully lowered into its optimal position in lunar orbit to enable science data collection. Using its ion engines, the Dawn spacecraft is nearing its next target, Ceres, the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt, with an expected arrival in April 2015. Other upcoming outer planet encounters include the New Horizons mission flyby of Pluto in July 2015 and the Juno mission orbit insertion around Jupiter in August 2016. The FY 2015 budget request also includes funding for continuing pre-formulation activities and studies for a potential mission to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa; with compelling evidence of a liquid water ocean beneath its crust, exploration of Europa is vital to our understanding of the habitability of other planets. Building on the success of NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars, the FY 2015 request supports plans for a robust multi-year Mars program. In a little more than a year on the Red Planet, Curiosity has landed in an ancient river bed, determined the age of the surrounding Martian rocks, found evidence the planet could have sustained microbial life, taken the first readings of radiation on the surface, and shown how natural erosion could be used to reveal the building blocks of life protected just under the surface. Curiosity is providing vital insight about Mars’ past and current environments that will aid plans for future robotic and human missions. The current Mars portfolio includes the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Mars Odyssey orbiter, and our collaboration on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter. It also includes the new Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) orbiter, launched in 2013 to study the Martian upper atmosphere, which will arrive at the Red Planet in mid-September 2014. Future missions include the 2016 Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission, which will take the first look into the deep interior of Mars; participation in the European Space Agency’s 2016 and 2018 ExoMars missions; and the new Mars rover planned for launch in 2020. The FY 2015 budget request includes enhanced funding for NASA’s Near Earth Object survey and characterization activities in support of the ARM effort, as well as to protect our planet. Just last year, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft was reactivated, renamed NEOWISE and given a renewed mission to assist NASA’s efforts to identify the population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs). NEOWISE’s first discovery of its renewed mission came on December 29, 2013 – a large near-Earth asteroid designated 2013 YP139, which was about 27 million miles from Earth with an estimated diameter of roughly 0.4 miles. NEOWISE can also assist in characterizing previously detected asteroids that could be considered potential targets for future exploration missions.
Heliophysics
NASA’s Heliophysics Program is composed of 29 spacecraft and the associated research to understand the universal physical phenomena of magnetized plasmas and their interactions. These include the influence of the Sun in our local region of the galaxy, the origins of solar variability, and the coupling among various regions at the Earth and other planetary systems. Last year, NASA successfully launched the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), a Small Explorer mission. Within a few months, IRIS provided a new understanding of how the outer solar atmosphere is heated to over a million degrees. The FY 2015 budget request will support completion of development of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, which will launch in 2015 to investigate how magnetic fields connect and disconnect, often releasing tremendous amounts of energy in the process. NASA will continue to develop the Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission for a planned launch in FY 2018, together with our instrument contributions to the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter mission; Solar Probe Plus will repeatedly pass through the hot outer atmosphere of the Sun, to within five times the Sun’s diameter, which is much closer than any man-made object ever has flown before. Finally, the Explorer missions selected in 2013 to study Earth’s outer atmosphere – Ionospheric Connection (ICON) and Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) – are in their preliminary design phases for planned launches in 2017.
Aeronautics Research
NASA’s Aeronautics research is making air travel cleaner, safer, and more efficient. NASA’s FY 2015 budget request provides $551.1 million to fulfill the Agency’s strategic research agenda. This innovative research is aimed at transforming the aviation industry through game-changing advances in the safety, capacity, and efficiency of the air transportation system, while minimizing negative impacts on the environment. NASA’s FY 2015 research portfolio is aligned with six strategic research thrusts to directly address the growing global demand for mobility, severe challenges to sustainability of energy and the environment, and technology advances in information, communications, and automation technologies. This portfolio includes those activities in our current portfolio deemed to be the most relevant and critical, as well as new activities focused on high-risk, forward thinking ideas to address aviation’s big problems. The Agency will clearly define the most compelling technical challenges facing the aviation industry, and retire these challenges in a time frame that is supported by stakeholders and required by NASA’s customers. Over the next two years, NASA will continue to develop, demonstrate, and transition to industry and the Federal Aviation Administration new vehicle and airspace management concepts and technologies to help realize the promise of NextGen, as well as provide technical data, analysis and recommendations to support the integration of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) into the National Air Space. We will strengthen our external partnerships through joint flight experiments using alternative aviation fuels and advanced flight deck and vehicle technologies, and through demonstrations of advanced sensors to improve safety and identify emerging faults before damage occurs. By the end of FY 2015, NASA will close out the six-year Environmentally Responsible Aviation project with a series of integrated technology demonstrations to demonstrate the feasibility of a suite of technologies to meet our aggressive environmental goals. Through the alignment of our research portfolio to address the most critical challenges facing the aviation sector, NASA will be best positioned to continue supporting the global competitiveness of the U.S. aviation industry that contributes to a $47 billion positive balance of trade, infuses $1.3 trillion annually into the U.S. economy and supports more than 10 million direct and indirect jobs1,2. NASA is truly with you when you fly.
Space Technology
NASA’s FY 2015 request includes $705.5 million for Space Technology, to enable our future in space, drawing on talent from the NASA workforce, academia, small businesses, and the broader national space enterprise, by delivering innovative solutions that dramatically lower costs and improve technological capabilities for NASA and the Nation. By the end of FY 2014, NASA will test and deliver two candidate designs for large deployable solar array systems, power processing units, and advanced thrusters to support a flight demonstration of SEP. In addition to being important to the future of human spaceflight and the ARM effort, high-power SEP can enable orbit transfer capability for satellites, and addresses the rapid power demand increases facing today’s communications satellites. Having successfully demonstrated a 2.4-meter propellant tank in 2013, NASA will complete testing a 5.5-meter diameter composite tank to enable lower-mass rocket propellant tanks for future systems, including the SLS. By the end of 2015, NASA will have completed seven Space Technology missions in 24 months, including demonstration of a deep-space atomic clock for advanced navigation that has commercial application for improving GPS systems, the green propellant demonstration (a higher-performing, less toxic alternative to hydrazine), a solar sail to demonstrate propellant-free propulsion, and four small spacecraft missions pioneering new technologies. Building on recent successes with its Low Density Supersonic Decelerator, NASA plans to conduct high-speed tests – at an altitude of 170,000 feet – of the largest planetary parachute ever developed to enable precise landing of higher-mass payloads to the surface of other planets, with particular focus on infusing advanced capabilities into the Mars 2020 mission and future human exploration missions. NASA’s Space Technology investments are aligned with NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations and Science Programs to reduce technological barriers and mission risk, and to foster affordable missions. The Space Technology Game Changing Development effort is delivering advanced life-support, advanced robotics, and battery technologies for system demonstrations planned by Human Exploration and Operations. For Science, Space Technology is improving navigational accuracy, developing advanced computing and avionics, and developing advanced Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) solutions, observatory technology, and optical communication technology to transmit large amounts of science data from deep space. Space Technology is partnering with Human Exploration and Operations and Science on many activities, including demonstration of in-situ resource utilization, optical communications, and advanced measurements on Mars. These precursor activities will pave the way and reduce risk for future Mars exploration.
Exploration and Space Operations
NASA is building the capabilities and knowledge to send humans farther from the home planet then we have ever been before. The FY 2015 budget request for Exploration is $3,976.0 million with $2,784.4 million for Exploration Systems Development, $848.3 million for Commercial Space Flight, and $343.4 million for Exploration Research and Development. Space Operations, including the ISS and Space Flight Support, form a critical component of the Agency’s exploration plans by enabling us to develop the knowledge, experience, and technology necessary for safely living and working in space. The FY 2015 request for Space Operations is $3,905.4 million, with $3050.8 for ISS and $854.6 for Space Flight Support (SFS).
Exploration Systems
The FY 2015 request will enable NASA to continue to meet its milestones in the development of the Space Launch System (SLS), a rocket system ultimately capable of bringing an unprecedented 130 metric tons of payload to Earth orbit. The Orion program continues on track for an uncrewed test flight later this year. This test flight, Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), will see Orion conduct two orbits of Earth and reenter the atmosphere at approximately 85 percent of lunar re- entry speed of a returning deep-space exploration mission. The test will provide valuable data about the spacecraft’s systems – most importantly its heat shield and structure. The flight test article for this mission is already in place at the Kennedy Space Center and being readied for this test. The FY 2015 budget request supports progress toward a first uncrewed test of the Orion and the SLS together, known as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) in FY 2018, with the first crewed mission of the two vehicles slated for FY 2021-2022. Orion, SLS, and Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) are using the latest in systems and manufacturing technology to develop the safe and sustainable systems this country needs to extend human presence to Mars. Examples include Orion’s use of time-triggered gigabit Ethernet, SLS’ use of friction-stir welding on large structures to build the Core Stage, and EGS’ replacement of cables from Pad 39B with the latest in fiber optics. In developing the Orion, SLS, and EGS, NASA is building a national capability for the long-term human exploration of space.
International Space Station
The FY 2015 request supports the ISS with its international crew of six orbiting Earth every 90 minutes. The Station is making deep-space exploration possible, as we build on the knowledge and experience we are gaining from the astronauts living, working, and conducting research on the ISS. On January 8, 2014, the Administration announced it is committing the United States to the extension of ISS operations through at least 2024. This will allow NASA to complete many of the research and technology development activities aboard the ISS necessary to enable planned long-duration human missions beyond LEO; extend the broader flow of societal benefits from research on the Station, which has already resulted in a discoveries that could have significant medical and industrial implications; provide NASA and its private-sector partners time to more fully transition to the commercial space industry the transportation of cargo and crew to LEO; instill confidence in the science community that the ISS platform will be available for important, long-term research endeavors; and help cement continuing U.S. leadership in human spaceflight going forward. NASA’s plans for the coming year include preparing for an extended duration, year-long human-crewed mission – slated to launch in March 2015 – to explore human adaptation to space; and continuing to utilize the ISS to improve our ability to live and work in space, including conducting technology demonstrations enabling future exploration. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) continues to manage the National Laboratory research being conducted in the U.S. segment of the ISS by an array of organizations, including commercial researchers interested in taking advantage of this unique, microgravity facility. One company, NanoRacks, uses standardized hardware to provide a microgravity research option for scientists working in venues ranging from grade school to academia to industry. During its first three years of business, NanoRacks sent 91 investigations to ISS, returned 10 to Earth, and deployed one CubeSat – a new area of focus using satellites that measure about four inches on all sides.
Commercial Crew and Cargo
A top priority for NASA and the Nation is to affordably and safely launch American astronauts and their supplies from U.S. soil, ending our sole reliance on foreign providers and bringing that work back home. Under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) was awarded 12 cargo flights to the ISS, and Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) was awarded 8 flights. Counting demonstration flights and CRS resupply flights, SpaceX has now completed three cargo missions to the ISS, successfully delivering cargo and returning scientific samples to Earth, with the fourth mission expected to launch in the next few days. Orbital Sciences Corporation has completed their demonstration mission to the ISS and their first contract mission under CRS to deliver crew supplies, research and other cargo onboard the Cygnus spacecraft. NASA continues to work with its commercial partners to develop a U.S. commercial capability for human spaceflight and plans to launch American astronauts from U.S. soil by the end of 2017. 2014 will be a pivotal year for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) as the Agency intends to award development and certification contract by August/September for the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) phase that would lead to operational crewed flights to the ISS. Competition is a key to controlling costs over the long term, and NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has opined that competition should be maintained until safety confidence is achieved. Through the successful execution of this partnership, we will return to the United States the vital capability to launch astronauts to the ISS from U.S. soil and return them to Earth.
Education
The Administration is proposing increased interagency coordination of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education investments, aligned with the Five-Year Strategic Plan released last year by the Committee on STEM Education (CoSTEM). The FY 2015 budget request for Education will enhance the impact of the Federal investment in STEM Education through greater interagency coordination and cooperation in support of a cohesive national STEM strategy focused on four priority areas: K-12 instruction, undergraduate education, graduate fellowships, and informal education activities. The Office of Education will continue its intra-agency consolidation of certain educational programs to eliminate duplication of efforts and achieve maximum leverage of resources. The FY 2015 budget request of $88.9 million consolidates education activities in the Office of Education, including several elements that may be transferred from NASA’s mission directorates under a competitive process. The FY 2015 budget request for the Education account includes funding for the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP), and STEM Education and Accountability Projects. These education investments link to NASA’s research, engineering, and technology missions. Each of these investments provides unique NASA experiences and resources to students and faculty. The budget also provides $15 million to the Science Mission Directorate to competitively fund the best application of NASA Science assets to meet the Nation’s STEM education goals.
Conclusion
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to provide you with our progress and status over the past year. I would be pleased to respond to any questions you or the other Members of the Subcommittee may have.
Data-Driven Efforts To Boost Climate Change Preparedness and Resilience
On Wednesday, March 19, the White House, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will host an event highlighting the Administration’s commitment to empower America’s communities with the information they need to prepare for the impacts of climate change. The event will include new announcements from Federal agencies, businesses, researchers, academia, and others to deploy data-driven technologies and leverage freely available open government data to build products and services that strengthen our Nation’s ability to prepare for the effects of climate change today and in the future.
The Obama Administration recognizes that even as we act to curb the carbon pollution that is driving climate change, we must also improve our ability to prepare for climate impacts that are already occurring across the country. The insights gathered from scientific data are essential to help communities and businesses better understand and manage the risks associated with climate change. The cutting-edge technologies built by American innovators and businesses must be harnessed in order to unleash the insights of science in ways that directly benefit communities on the front lines of climate change.
Over the past few years, the Obama Administration has launched a series of Open Data Initiatives, which have released troves of valuable data that were previously hard to access in areas such as energy, health, education, public safety, and global development. These data are being used by innovators, businesses, researchers, and the public to create new services and applications that benefit Americans.
- John Podesta, Counselor to the President
- Dr. John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
- Mike Boots, Acting Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality
- Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan, NOAA Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
- Dr. Ellen Stofan, NASA Chief Scientist
- Jack Dangermond, CEO of Esri
- Rebecca Moore, Founder of Google Earth Engine
- Rachel Kyte, World Bank Group Vice President & Special Envoy for Climate Change
- Joel Dunn, Executive Director, Chesapeake Conservancy
- Denice Ross, Director of Enterprise Information, City of New Orleans
- Stephen Harper, Global Director, Environment and Energy Policy, Intel Corporation
The event will also feature remarks, presentations, and demonstrations of data-driven tools by private-sector technology companies, communities, scientists, and other climate experts.
MEDIA REGISTRATION: This event is OPEN PRESS. Media wishing to cover this event must RSVP. Press holding White House hard passes must send their name, media outlet, phone, and email, to media_affairs@who.eop.gov, by Wednesday, March 19, at 12:00PM ET, with the subject line “CLIMATE.” Press not holding White House hard passes must include their full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, gender, country of citizenship, and current city and state of residence. All press will enter the White House at the Northwest Gate.
Nate Silver Hires Climate 'Trickster' Roger Pielke Jr
Nate Silver’s new ESPN venture has hired political scientist and blogger Roger Pielke Jr. as one of its first contributing writers, Silver announced Friday. Pielke Jr., a fellow at the University of Colorado’s CIRES program, is known primarily for defending climate deniers like Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and attacking climate scientists and environmental advocates in the public sphere. Pielke Jr. is the son of climate scientist Roger Pielke Sr., one of the handful of contributing climatologists who question the scientific consensus of the threat of anthropogenic warming. Silver’s embrace of Pielke Jr. is surprising, as Pielke’s record of misusing statistics and misinterpreting scientific information goes against Silver’s record of data-based analysis and reporting.
I can’t figure him out, except that one consistent pattern emerges-he is a self-aggrandizer who sets up straw men, knocks them down, and takes credit for being the honest broker to explain the mess-and in fact usually adds little new social science to his analysis.
Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) Thinks Global Warming is a Hoax
Now we hear all the time about global warming. Actually, we have had flat-line temperatures globally for the last 8 years. Scientists all over this world say that the idea of human-induced global climate change is one of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated out of the scientific community. It is a hoax. There is no scientific consensus.
In reality, the carbon-dioxide greenhouse effect is a physical fact known since the 1800s. The only scientifically plausible systematic explanation for the rapid and continuing warming of the planetary climate since 1950 is industrial greenhouse pollution.
Broun is a member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. He has received 146,050 from the energy sector including $87,550 in lifetime political contributions from the oil and gas industry, of which $33,500 is from Koch Industries and $31,750 from Georgia Power.
BROUN: This bill is going to kill millions of jobs in America. People are going to be put out of work because of this bill.
Now we hear all the time about global warming. Actually, we have had flat-line temperatures globally for the last 8 years. Scientists all over this world say that the idea of human-induced global climate change is one of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated out of the scientific community. It is a hoax. There is no scientific consensus.
But this is going to kill jobs. It’s going to raise the cost of food. It’s going to raise the cost of medicines. It’s going to raise the cost of electricity and gasoline. Every good and service in this country is going to go up, and who is going to be hurt most? The poor, the people on limited income, the retirees, the elderly, the people who can least afford to have their energy taxes raised by, MIT says, over $3,100 per family.
This rule must be defeated. This bill must be defeated. We need to be good stewards of our environment, but this is not it. It’s a hoax.
Former Climate Hawk John McCain Ridicules Kerry for Being a Climate Hawk
Former climate hawk Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday ridiculed Secretary of State John Kerry for treating climate change as a serious foreign policy issue and national security threat, as he once did himself.
Appearing on Phoenix radio station KFYI’s The Mike Broomhead Show, McCain said:Why should he talk about climate change when we’ve got 130,000 people in Syria killed, and, as I predicted on this show many times, when the Geneva thing is a fiasco, and the US-Iran talks are obviously a joke, and the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations haven’t even begun? John Kerry and the president, they could be hitting the trifecta here, gross failure in all three. So he has to go over to Asia and talk about climate change and say it’s the most important issue? Hello? On what planet does he reside?
“Kerry is obviously butterflying around the world,” McCain added, “saying all kinds of things.”
As Nicholas Stern, the U.S. Department of Defense, and many others have pointed out, rapidly accelerating global climate change is a “threat multiplier,” a destabilizing force that increases the risk of armed conflict over degraded resources and forced mass migrations. We are already seeing this in action, experts point out. For example, the polluted climate helped precipitate the ongoing Syrian conflict. Climate change poses “real security concerns” to the Middle East, the International Institute of Sustainable Development cautioned in 2009.
Ten years ago, McCain was criticizing John Kerry for not talking enough about the threat of global warming.
In 2004, McCain described the threat of global warming as “very, very serious” and challenged John Kerry to talk about the issue on the campaign trail.
McCain continued for years, until his failed run for the presidency in 2008 led him towards climate denial, to speak with passion about the importance of taking action on the climate crisis. In 2006, McCain called climate inaction “a crime to our children and grandchildren.” In 2007, McCain claimed he would make climate change a “top agenda” because “it’s such a threat to our planet and our future and our children.” In a 2007 GOP presidential debate, McCain said that he would establish “a national security requirement that we reduce and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil — and we stop the contamination of our atmosphere, which is climate change, which is real and is taking place.”
In 2008, McCain said the “facts of global warming demand our urgent attention, especially in Washington” and that “global warming presents a test of foresight, of political courage, and of the unselfish concern that one generation owes to the next. “
In Series of Misspelled Tweets, CNN's Newt Gingrich Attacks John Kerry as 'Delusional'
CNN personality Newt Gingrich lambasted John “Kerrey” in a series of tweets on Monday for the Secretary of State’s recent remarks on climate change. Secretary Kerry said that global warming is “perhaps the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.”
Gingrich’s position on global warming has repeatedly flipped. In a 2007 appearance with then-Senator Kerry, Gingrich said action on carbon pollution should be taken “urgently.” This week, he called for Kerry’s resignation for making similar comments in a series of misspelled tweets.
“The most direct reaction to kerrey’s global warming speech is to ask if he is completely out of touch with reality.”“If kerrey believes his global warming speech it is a terrifying prospect for American policy. He is making policy in a fantasy world”
“Does kerrey really believe global warming more dangerous than north Korean and iranian nukes? More than Russian and Chinese nukes? Really? ?”
“Every American who cares about national security must.demand Kerrey’s resignation.A delusional secretary of state is dangerous to our safety”
Gingrich’s criticism of Kerry could be caught in the crossfire of previous Gingrich remarks, as he has argued that climate change is a serious threat in previous years. In 1989, Gingrich co-sponsored legislation saying “global warming imperils human health and well-being” and represents “a major threat to political stability, international security, and economic prosperity.” In 2007, Gingrich said “mandatory carbon caps” is “something I would strongly support.”
Most notably, Gingrich stood on stage with Kerry in 2007, saying that the country should “urgently” take “most effective possible steps to reduce carbon-loading of the atmosphere,” calling himself a “green conservative.”
Global warming and nuclear weaponry are very different kinds of global threats. In particular, as Nicholas Stern, John Kerry, the U.S. Department of Defense, and many others have pointed out, rapidly accelerating global climate change is a “threat multiplier,” a destabilizing force that increases the risk of armed conflict over resources and forced mass migrations. We are already seeing this in action, experts point out. For example, the polluted climate helped precipitate the ongoing Syrian conflict. For those concerned about the threat of nuclear war, global warming is considered a serious risk factor.
It may be informative to compare the scale of nuclear conflict with that of global warming on a purely energetic basis.
The nuclear arsenal of North Korea is estimated at 12 to 27 “nuclear weapon equivalents”, with less than a dozen warheads, each with an explosive potential of about 10 kilotons of TNT (46 terajoules). Iran is not known to have any nuclear weapons. Russia’s estimated nuclear stockpile is 8500 nuclear weapons, and that of China is estimated at 250.
Greenhouse pollution adds 250 terajoules of heat energy to the climate system every second. Thus, global warming adds more heat energy to the planet than the equivalent to the explosive yield of the estimated nuclear arsenal of North Korea every five seconds, and the equivalent of the nuclear arsenals of North Korea, China, and Russia combined every thirty minutes. Every hour, the planet warms at the heat energy equivalent of the entire global nuclear arsenal.
As Kerry said in 2009, “we live in a country where if you dismiss the threat posed by terrorism, you would be laughed out of the political mainstream. But if you dismiss the threat of climate change, you might just find yourself a leadership position inside the Republican Party.”
Secretary of State John Kerry: Climate Change Is A 'Weapon of Mass Destruction'
Speaking in Jakarta, Indonesia on February 16th, Secretary of State John Kerry described manmade global warming as a “weapon of mass destruction, perhaps the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.”
Kerry’s vision of the threat of climate change should mean a death knell for federal approval of fossil-fuel projects such as the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline and coal export terminals. He said that “governments and international financial institutions need to stop providing incentives for the use of energy sources like coal and oil.” Although fossil fuels are “currently cheap ways to power a society, at least in the near term,” Kerry went on, governments “have to factor in the cost of survival.”
Some other key quotes:
The fact is that climate change, if left unchecked, will wipe out many more communities from the face of the earth. And that is unacceptable under any circumstances – but is even more unacceptable because we know what we can do and need to do in order to deal with this challenge.
There’s a big set of opportunities in front of us. And that’s because the most important news of all: that climate change isn’t only a challenge. It’s not only a burden. It also presents one of the greatest economic opportunities of all time.
Coal and oil are currently cheap ways to power a society, at least in the near term. But I urge governments to measure the full cost to that coal and that oil, measure the impacts of what will happen as we go down the road. You cannot simply factor in the immediate costs of energy needs. You have to factor in the long-term cost of carbon pollution. And they have to factor in the cost of survival.
Today I call on all of you in Indonesia and concerned citizens around the world to demand the resolve that is necessary from your leaders. Speak out. Make climate change an issue that no public official can ignore for another day. Make a transition towards clean energy the only plan that you are willing to accept.
And if we come together now, we can not only meet the challenge, we can create jobs and economic growth in every corner of the globe. We can clean up the air, we can improve the health of people, we can have greater security; we can make our neighborhoods healthier places to live; we can help ensure that farmers and fishers can still make a sustainable living and feed our communities; and we can avoid disputes and even entire wars over oil, water, and other limited resources. We can make good on the moral responsibility we all have to leave future generations with a planet that is clean and healthy and sustainable for the future.
Kerry’s speech reflects remarks made by President Obama as a campaigner in 2007 and to students in Turkey in 2009. Kerry has a long history of urgency on the climate crisis, including repeated efforts to pass non-partisan climate legislation in the U.S. Senate.
Full transcript:
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Robert. Thank you very, very much. I don’t know. I think some of you were cheering twice for the same university. I don’t know. (Laughter.) It seemed to come from the same place anyway.What a pleasure to be here at America, where we are looking at all of the air conditioning pipes running right through here. I love it. The spirit and feel of this place is very special and it’s wonderful to see our friends up here from Kalimantan and also everybody from Sumatra. Thank you very much for being with us. Can you hear me? Yeah! Wave! (Laughter.) Do a few selfies, everybody will – (laughter.) Anyway, it’s really a pleasure to be here. I see a lot of iPads up in the air sort of flashing away.
This is special. Ambassador Blake, thank you for doing this. Thank you all for coming here today. I want to welcome all of those of you who are tuning in elsewhere, some of you who are watching on a home webcast, and we’re delighted to have you here. It’s really a pleasure for me to be able to be back in Jakarta, back in Indonesia, where you have one of the richest ecosystems on Earth. And you live in a country that is at the top of the global rankings for both marine and terrestrial biodiversity, and you have a human ecosystem that includes some 300 ethnic groups, speaking at least 700 languages – extraordinary place.
But because of climate change, it is no secret that today, Indonesia is also one of the most vulnerable countries on Earth.
This year, as Secretary of State, I will engage in a series of discussions on the urgency of addressing climate change – particularly on the national security implications and the economic opportunities. And I want you to think about those. But I wanted to start right here, in Jakarta, because this city – this country – this region – is really on the front lines of climate change. It’s not an exaggeration to say to you that the entire way of life that you live and love is at risk. So let’s have a frank conversation about this threat and about what we, as citizens of the world, need to be able to do to address it.
Some time ago I travelled to another vibrant city – a city also rich with its own rich history – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And I was there, sitting in a big room, surrounded by representatives from about 170 countries. We listened as expert after expert after expert described the growing threat of climate change and what it would mean for the world if we failed to act. The Secretary General of the conference was – he was an early leader on climate change, a man by the name of Maurice Strong, and he told us – I quote him: “Every bit of evidence I’ve seen persuades me that we are on a course leading to tragedy.”
Well, my friends, that conference was in 1992. And it is stunning how little the conversation has really changed since then.
When I think about the array of global climate – of global threats – think about this: terrorism, epidemics, poverty, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction – all challenges that know no borders – the reality is that climate change ranks right up there with every single one of them. And it is a challenge that I address in nearly every single country that I visit as Secretary of State, because President Obama and I believe it is urgent that we do so.
And the reason is simple: The science of climate change is leaping out at us like a scene from a 3D movie. It’s warning us; it’s compelling us to act. And let there be no doubt in anybody’s mind that the science is absolutely certain. It’s something that we understand with absolute assurance of the veracity of that science. No one disputes some of the facts about it. Let me give you an example. When an apple separates from a tree, it falls to the ground. We know that because of the basic laws of physics. No one disputes that today. It’s a fact. It’s a scientific fact. Science also tells us that when water hits a low enough temperature, it’s going to turn into ice; when it reaches a high enough temperature, it’s going to boil. No one disputes that. Science and common sense tell us if you reach out and put your hand on a hot cook stove, you’re going to get burned. I can’t imagine anybody who would dispute that either.
So when thousands of the world’s leading scientists and five reports over a long period of time with thousands of scientists contributing to those reports – when they tell us over and over again that our climate is changing, that it is happening faster than they ever predicted, ever in recorded history, and when they tell us that we humans are the significant cause, let me tell you something: We need to listen.
When 97 percent of scientists agree on anything, we need to listen, and we need to respond.
Well, 97 percent of climate scientists have confirmed that climate change is happening and that human activity is responsible. These scientists agree on the causes of these changes and they agree on the potential effects. They agree that the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide contributes heavily to climate change. They agree that the energy sources that we’ve relied on for decades to fuel our cars and to heat our homes or to air condition our homes, to – all the things that provide us electricity like oil and coal – that these are largely responsible for sending those greenhouse gases up into the atmosphere. And the scientists agree that emissions coming from deforestation and from agriculture can also send enormous quantities of carbon pollution into our atmosphere.
And they agree that, if we continue to go down the same path that we are going down today, the world as we know it will change – and it will change dramatically for the worse.
So we know this is happening, and we know it with virtually the same certainty that we understand that if we reach out and touch that hot stove, we’re going to get burned. In fact, this is not really a complicated equation. I know sometimes I can remember from when I was in high school and college, some aspects of science or physics can be tough – chemistry. But this is not tough. This is simple. Kids at the earliest age can understand this.
Try and picture a very thin layer of gases – a quarter-inch, half an inch, somewhere in that vicinity – that’s how thick it is. It’s in our atmosphere. It’s way up there at the edge of the atmosphere. And for millions of years – literally millions of years – we know that layer has acted like a thermal blanket for the planet – trapping the sun’s heat and warming the surface of the Earth to the ideal, life-sustaining temperature. Average temperature of the Earth has been about 57 degrees Fahrenheit, which keeps life going. Life itself on Earth exists because of the so-called greenhouse effect. But in modern times, as human beings have emitted gases into the air that come from all the things we do, that blanket has grown thicker and it traps more and more heat beneath it, raising the temperature of the planet. It’s called the greenhouse effect because it works exactly like a greenhouse in which you grow a lot of the fruit that you eat here.
This is what’s causing climate change. It’s a huge irony that the very same layer of gases that has made life possible on Earth from the beginning now makes possible the greatest threat that the planet has ever seen.
And the results of our human activity are clear. If you ranked all the years in recorded history by average temperature, you’d see that 8 of the 10 hottest years have all happened within the last 10 years. Think about it this way: all 10 of the hottest years on record have actually happened since Google went online in 1998.
Now, that’s how fast this change is happening. And because the earth is getting hotter at such an alarming speed, glaciers in places like the Arctic are melting into the sea faster than we expected. And the sea is rising – slowly, but rising – and will rise to dangerous levels. Scientists now predict that by the end of the century, the sea could rise by a full meter. Now, I know that to some people a meter may not sound like a lot, but I’ll tell you this: it’s enough to put half of Jakarta underwater. Just one meter would displace hundreds of millions of people worldwide and threaten billions of dollars in economic activity. It would put countries into jeopardy. It would put countless – I mean, come to the local level – it would put countless homes and schools and parks, entire cities at risk.
Now, climate change also tragically means the end of some species. The changing sea temperature and the increasing amount of acidity – the acidity comes from coal-fired power plants and from the pollution, and when the rain falls the rain spills the acidity into the ocean. And it means that certain species of fish like cod or sardines can no longer live where they once lived. This is devastating for the world’s fisheries. And scientists predict that fisheries will be among the hardest hit. Just think about the fishermen who sell their fish catches at Pasar Ikan. Think about it. There are some studies that say that Indonesia’s fisheries could actually lose up to 40 percent of what they currently bring in – so a fisherman who usually has about a hundred fish to sell one day would suddenly only have 60 or so for sale. The impact is obvious.
Climate change also means water shortages. And if you have these enormous water shortages, then you have a change in the weather – because of the weather patterns, you’re going to wind up with droughts, the lack of water. And the droughts can become longer and more intense. In fact, this isn’t something around the corner – this is happening now.
We are seeing record droughts right now, and they’re already putting a strain on water resources around the world. We’ve already seen in various parts of the world – in Africa, for instance – people fighting each other over water, and we’ve seen more conflicts shaping up now over the limits of water. Back in the United States, President Obama just the other day visited California, where millions of people are now experiencing the 13th month of the worst drought the state has seen in 500 years. And no relief is in sight. What used to be a 100-year or a 500-year event is now repeating itself within 10 years.
Furthermore, climate change means fundamental transformations in agriculture worldwide. Scientists predict that, in some places, heat waves and water shortages will make it much more difficult for farmers to be able to grow the regular things we grow, like wheat or corn or rice. And obviously, it’s not only farmers who will suffer here – it’s the millions of people who depend on those crops that the farmers grow. For example, the British government research showed that climate change may have contributed to the famine that killed as many as 100,000 people in Somalia just back in 2010 and 2011.
And scientists further predict that climate change also means longer, more unpredictable monsoon seasons and more extreme weather events. Now, I’ll tell you, I can’t tell you – no weatherman on TV or anybody is going to be able to look at you and tell you – that one particular storm was absolutely the result of climate change. But scientists do predict that many more of these disastrous storms will occur if we continue down the current path. Ladies and gentlemen, I saw with my own eyes what the Philippines experienced in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan and I will tell you it would be absolutely devastating if that kind of storm were to become the normal thing that happens every single year in many places.
On top of the unspeakable humanitarian toll, the economic cost that follows a storm like that is absolutely massive. I don’t mean just the billions that it costs to rebuild. We’ve seen here in Asia how extreme weather events can disrupt world trade. For example, after serious flooding in 2011, global prices for external computer hard drives rose by more than 10 percent. Why? Because electronic manufacturing zones around Bangkok were out of commission, wiped out by the weather. So it’s not just about agriculture – it’s also about technology. It’s about our global economy. It’s about potentially catastrophic effects on the global supply chain.
Now, despite all of these realities – despite these facts – much of the world still doesn’t see or want to see the need to pursue a significant response to this threat. As recently as 2011, a survey of city officials here in Asia found that more than 80 percent of the population said they did not anticipate climate change hurting their cities’ economies.
And despite more than 25 years of scientific warning after scientific warning after scientific warning – despite all that, the call to arms that we heard back in Rio back in 1992 – despite that, we still haven’t globally summoned the urgency necessary to get the job done. And as a result of this complacency, last year the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere reached the highest point in human history – despite all the warnings.
Now, I know that these are some dramatic scientific facts – statistics. But think of it this way: If the worst-case scenario about climate change, all the worst predictions, if they never materialize, what will be the harm that is done from having made the decision to respond to it? We would actually leave our air cleaner. We would leave our water cleaner. We would actually make our food supply more secure. Our populations would be healthier because of fewer particulates of pollution in the air – less cost to health care. Those are the things that would happen if we happen to be wrong and we responded. But imagine if the 97 percent of those scientists are correct and the people who say no are wrong. Then the people who say no will have presented us with one of the most catastrophic, grave threats in the history of human life. That’s the choice here.
Notwithstanding the stark choices that we face, here’s the good thing: there is still time. The window of time is still open for us to be able to manage this threat. But the window is closing. And so I wanted to come to Jakarta to talk to you because we need people all over the world to raise their voices and to be heard. There is still time for us to significantly cut greenhouse emissions and prevent the very worst consequences of climate change from ever happening at all. But we need to move on this, and we need to move together now. We just don’t have time to let a few loud interests groups hijack the climate conversation. And when I say that, you know what I’m talking about? I’m talking about big companies that like it the way it is that don’t want to change, and spend a lot of money to keep you and me and everybody from doing what we know we need to do.
First and foremost, we should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists and science and extreme ideologues to compete with scientific fact. Nor should we allow any room for those who think that the costs associated with doing the right thing outweigh the benefits. There are people who say, “Oh, it’s too expensive, we can’t do this.” No. No, folks. We certainly should not allow more time to be wasted by those who want to sit around debating whose responsibility it is to deal with this threat, while we come closer and closer to the point of no return.
I have to tell you, this is really not a normal kind of difference of opinion between people. Sometimes you can have a reasonable argument and a reasonable disagreement over an opinion you may have. This is not opinion. This is about facts. This is about science. The science is unequivocal. And those who refuse to believe it are simply burying their heads in the sand.
Now, President and I – Obama and I believe very deeply that we do not have time for a meeting anywhere of the Flat Earth Society. One of the arguments that we do hear is that it’s going to be too expensive to be able to address climate change. I have to tell you, that assertion could not be less grounded in fact. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. Serious analysts understand that the costs of doing nothing far outweigh the costs of investing in solutions now. You do not need a degree in economics or a graduate degree in business in order to understand that the cost of flooding, the cost of drought, the cost of famine, the cost of health care, the cost of addressing this challenge is simply far less – the costs of addressing this challenge are far less than the costs of doing nothing. Just look at the most recent analysis done by the World Bank, which estimates that by 2050, losses – excuse me one second – losses from flood damage in Asian ports – fishing ports, shipping ports – the losses in those ports alone could exceed $1 trillion annually unless we make big changes to the infrastructure of those ports.
Finally, if we truly want to prevent the worst consequences of climate change from happening, we do not have time to have a debate about whose responsibility this is. The answer is pretty simple: It’s everyone’s responsibility. Now certainly some countries – and I will say this very clearly, some countries, including the United States, contribute more to the problem and therefore we have an obligation to contribute more to the solution. I agree with that. But, ultimately, every nation on Earth has a responsibility to do its part if we have any hope of leaving our future generations the safe and healthy planet that they deserve.
You have a saying, I think, here in Indonesia, “Luka di kaki, sakit seluruh badan”. (Laughter.) I – for those that don’t speak as well as I do – (laughter) – it means “when there’s a pain in the foot, the whole body feels it.” Well, today in this interconnected world that we all live in, the fact is that hardship anywhere is actually felt by people everywhere. We all see it; we share it. And when a massive storm destroys a village and yet another and then another in Southeast Asia; when crops that used to grow abundantly no longer turn a profit for farmers in South America; when entire communities are forced to relocate because of rising tides – that’s happening – it’s not just one country or even one region that feels the pain. In today’s globalized economy, everyone feels it.
And when you think about it, that connection to climate change is really no different than how we confront other global threats.
Think about terrorism. We don’t decide to have just one country beef up the airport security and the others relax their standards and let bags on board without inspection. No, that clearly wouldn’t make us any safer.
Or think about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It doesn’t keep us safe if the United States secures its nuclear arsenal, while other countries fail to prevent theirs from falling into the hands of terrorists. We all have to approach this challenge together, which is why all together we are focused on Iran and its nuclear program or focused on North Korea and its threat.
The bottom line is this: it is the same thing with climate change. And in a sense, climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.
Now I mentioned earlier, a few minutes ago, that last December I went to Tacloban in the Philippines, not long after Typhoon Haiyan. I have to tell you: I’ve seen a lot of places in war and out of war and places that have been destroyed, but in all the time of my life, I don’t think I’ve ever seen devastation like. We saw cars and homes and lives turned upside-down, trees scattered like toothpicks all across a mountainside. And most devastating of all, so quickly, that storm stole the lives of more than 5,000 people – women, and children who never saw it coming.
The fact is that climate change, if left unchecked, will wipe out many more communities from the face of the earth. And that is unacceptable under any circumstances – but is even more unacceptable because we know what we can do and need to do in order to deal with this challenge.
It is time for the world to approach this problem with the cooperation, the urgency, and the commitment that a challenge of this scale warrants. It’s absolutely true that industrialized countries – yes, industrialized countries that produce most of the emissions – have a huge responsibility to be able to reduce emissions, but I’m telling you that doesn’t mean that other nations have a free pass. They don’t have a right to go out and repeat the mistakes of the past. It’s not enough for one country or even a few countries to reduce their emissions when other countries continue to fill the atmosphere with carbon pollution as they see fit. At the end of the day, emissions coming from anywhere in the world threaten the future for people everywhere in the world, because those emissions go up and then they move with the wind and they drop with the rain and the weather, and they keep going around and around and they threaten all of us.
Now, as I’ve already acknowledged, I am the first one to recognize the responsibility that the United States has, because we have contributed to this problem. We’re one of the number – we’re the number two emitter of greenhouse gas emissions. The number one is now China. The fact is that I recognize the responsibility that we have to erase the bad habits that we have, which we adopted, frankly, before we understood the consequences. Nobody set out to make this happen. This is the consequence of the industrial revolution and the transformation of the world, and many of the advances that we made that have changed the world for the better came from these steps. But now we do know the attendant consequences that are linked to these actions.
President Obama has taken the moral challenge head on. Over the past five years, the United States has done more to reduce the threat of climate change – domestically and with the help of our international partners – than in the 20 years before President Obama came to office.
Thanks to President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the United States is well on our way to meeting the international commitments to seriously cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and that’s because we’re going straight to the largest sources of pollution. We’re targeting emissions from transportation – cars trucks, rail, et cetera – and from power sources, which account together for more than 60 percent of the dangerous greenhouse gases that we release.
The President has put in place standards to double the fuel-efficiency of cars on American roads. And we’ve also proposed curbing carbon pollution from new power plants, and similar regulations are in the works to limit the carbon pollution coming from power plants that are already up and already running.
At the same time, Americans have actually doubled the amount of energy we are creating from wind, solar, and geothermal sources, and we’ve become smarter about the way we use energy in our homes and in our businesses. A huge amount of carbon pollution comes out of buildings, and it’s important in terms of the lighting, in terms of the emissions from those buildings, the air conditioning – all these kinds of things thought through properly can contribute to the solution. As a result, today in the United States, we are emitting less than we have in two decades.
We’re also providing assistance to international partners, like Indonesia. This year the Millennium Challenge Corporation launched the $332 million Green Prosperity program to help address deforestation and support innovation and clean energy throughout the country. We also implemented what we called “debt for nature” swaps, where we forgive some of the debt – and we have forgiven some of Indonesia’s debt – in return for investments in the conservation of forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
But the United States – simple reality: just as I talked about the scientific facts in the beginning, this is a fact – the United States cannot solve this problem or foot the bill alone. Even if every single American got on a bicycle tomorrow and carpooled – instead of – or carpooled to school instead of buses or riding in individual cars or driving, or rode their bike to work, or used only solar powers – panels in order to power their homes; if we each, every American, planted a dozen trees; if we eliminated all of our domestic greenhouse gas emissions – guess what? That still wouldn’t be enough to counter the carbon pollution coming from the rest of the world. Because today, if even one or two economies neglects to respond to this threat, it can counter, erase all of the good work that the rest of the world has done. When I say we need a global solution, I mean we need a global solution.
That is why the United States is prepared to take the lead in bringing other nations to the table. And this is something that President Obama is deeply committed to. And as Secretary of State, I am personally committed to making sure that this work is front and center in all of our diplomatic efforts. This week I will be instructing all of the chiefs of our missions at American embassies all over the world to make climate change a top priority and to use all the tools of diplomacy that they have at their disposal in order to help address this threat.
Now I have just come here today, I arrived last night from China, where I met with government leaders and we discussed our cooperation, our collaboration on this climate change front at length. The Chinese see firsthand every single day how dangerous pollution can be. I recently read that an 8-year-old girl was diagnosed with lung cancer because of all the air pollution that she was inhaling. Eight years old. And the devastating human toll pollution, it takes comes with a very hefty price tag: Air pollution already costs China as much as 8 percent of its GDP because two things happen as a result of the pollution: healthcare spending goes up and agricultural output goes down.
Now I am pleased to tell you that the leaders of China agree that it is time to pursue a cleaner path forward. And China is taking steps, and we have already taken significant steps together through the U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group that we launched in Beijing last year.
Just yesterday, we announced a new agreement on an enhanced policy of dialogue that includes the sharing of information and policies so that we can help develop plans to deal with the UN climate change negotiation that takes place in Paris next year, in planning for the post-2020 limit to greenhouse gas emissions. These plans are a key input into UN negotiations to develop a new global climate agreement, and we have hopes that this unique partnership between China and the United States can help set an example for global leadership and global seriousness.
Now make no mistake: this is real progress. The U.S. and China are the world’s two largest economies. We are two of the largest consumers of energy, and we are two of the largest emitters of global greenhouse gases – together we account for roughly 40 percent of the world’s emissions.
But this is not just about china and the United States. It’s about every country on Earth doing whatever it can to pursue cleaner and healthier energy sources. And it’s about the all of us literally treating the pain in the foot, so the whole body hurts a little less.
Now this is going to require us to continue the UN negotiations and ultimately finalize an ambitious global agreement in Paris next year. And nations need to also be pursuing smaller bilateral agreements, public-private partnerships, independent domestic initiatives – you name it. There’s nothing to stop any of you from helping to push here, to pick things that you can do in Indonesia. It’s time for us to recognize that the choices the world makes in the coming months and years will directly and substantially affect our quality of life for generations to come.
Now I tell you, I’m looking out at a young audience here. All of you are the leaders of the future. And what we’re talking about is what kind of world are we going to leave you. I know that some of what I’m talking about here today, it seems awful big, and some of it may even like it’s out of reach to you. But I have to tell you it’s not. One person in one place can make a difference – by talking about how they manage a building, how they heat a school, what kind of things you do for recycling, transportation you use. What you don’t – I think what you don’t hear enough about today, unfortunately, and I’ve saved it for the end, because I want you to leave here feeling, wow, we can get something done. There’s a big set of opportunities in front of us. And that’s because the most important news of all: that climate change isn’t only a challenge. It’s not only a burden. It also presents one of the greatest economic opportunities of all time.
The global energy market is the future. The solution to climate change is energy policy. And this market is poised to be the largest market the world has ever known. Between now and 2035, investment in the energy sector is expected to reach nearly $17 trillion. That’s more than the entire GDP of China and India combined.
The great technology – many of you have your smart phones or your iPads, et cetera, here today – all of this technology that we use so much today was a $1 trillion market in the 1990s with 1 billion users. The energy market is a $6 trillion market with, today, 6 billion users, and it’s going to grow to maybe 9 billion users over the course of the next 20, 30, 40 years. The solution to climate change is as clear as the problem. The solution is making the right choices on energy policy. It’s as simple as that. And with a few smart choices, we can ensure that clean energy is the most attractive investment in the global energy sector.
To do this, governments and international financial institutions need to stop providing incentives for the use of energy sources like coal and oil. Instead, we have to make the most of the innovative energy technology that entrepreneurs are developing all over the world – including here in Indonesia, where innovative companies like Sky Energy are building solar and battery storage and projects that can help power entire villages.
And we have to invest in new technology that will help us bring renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydro power not only to the communities where those resources are abundant –but to every community and to every country on every continent.
I am very well aware that these are not easy choices for any country to make – I know that. I’ve been in politics for a while. I know the pull and different powerful political forces. Coal and oil are currently cheap ways to power a society, at least in the near term. But I urge governments to measure the full cost to that coal and that oil, measure the impacts of what will happen as we go down the road. You cannot simply factor in the immediate costs of energy needs. You have to factor in the long-term cost of carbon pollution. And they have to factor in the cost of survival. And if they do, then governments will find that the cost of pursuing clean energy now is far cheaper than paying for the consequences of climate change later.
Make no mistake: the technology is out there. None of this is beyond our capacity.
I am absolutely confident that if we choose to, we will meet this challenge. Remember: we’re the ones – we, all of us, the world – helped to discover things like penicillin and we eradicated smallpox. We found a way to light up the night all around the world with a flip of the switch and spread that technology to more than three quarters of the world’s population. We came up with a way for people to fly and move from one place to another in the air between cities and across oceans, and into outer space. And we put the full wealth of human knowledge into a device we can hold in our hand that does all of the thinking that used to take up a whole room almost this size.
Human ingenuity has long proven its ability to solve seemingly insurmountable challenges. It is not a lack of ability that is a problem. It is a lack of political resolve that is standing in our way. And I will tell you as somebody who ran for elected office, when you hear from the people, when the people make it clear what they want and what they think they need, then people in politics respond.
Today I call on all of you in Indonesia and concerned citizens around the world to demand the resolve that is necessary from your leaders. Speak out. Make climate change an issue that no public official can ignore for another day. Make a transition towards clean energy the only plan that you are willing to accept.
And if we come together now, we can not only meet the challenge, we can create jobs and economic growth in every corner of the globe. We can clean up the air, we can improve the health of people, we can have greater security; we can make our neighborhoods healthier places to live; we can help ensure that farmers and fishers can still make a sustainable living and feed our communities; and we can avoid disputes and even entire wars over oil, water, and other limited resources. We can make good on the moral responsibility we all have to leave future generations with a planet that is clean and healthy and sustainable for the future.
The United States is ready to work with you in this endeavor. With Indonesia and the rest of the world pulling in the same direction, we can meet this challenge, the greatest challenge of our generation, and we can create the future that everybody dreams of.
Thank you all very much for letting me be with you. Thank you.
Top Oil Industry Lobbyist: State Department Will Issue Keystone XL Environmental Approval This Week
A key hurdle for the controversial Keystone XL transnational tar-sands pipeline will be removed by the Obama administration this week, the nation’s top oil lobbyist predicts.
American Petroleum Institute (API) president and CEO Jack Gerard, citing “sources within the administration,” told reporters that the State Department will issue its final environmental impact statement in favor of TransCanada’s pipeline “as early as Thursday,” two days after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason writes:
The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s top lobbying group and a big Keystone backer, said it expects the State Department’s report to come out as early as Thursday.“It’s our expectation it will be released next week,” the group’s chief executive, Jack Gerard, said last week during an interview, citing sources within the administration.
“We’re expecting to hear the same conclusion that we’ve heard four times before: no significant impact on the environment,” Gerard said.
The draft State Department supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) was written by ERM Group, an oil-industry consultant with membership in API and business ties to TransCanada. That draft statement found that “impacts could potentially be substantial,” including impacts to wetlands, streams, and endangered species; and that spills could threaten groundwater and surface water. However, the report also concluded that “there would be no significant impacts to most resources along the proposed Project route assuming” TransCanada follows all laws and recommended procedures.
The “no significant impacts to most resources” language has been mistakenly reported as “no significant impact on the environment.”
The draft SEIS assessed the greenhouse pollution impact of the tar-sands pipeline by measuring it against a business-as-usual scenario, a common practice that is however incompatible with President Obama and the State Department’s commitments to international climate targets. The pipeline’s carbon footprint alone — not taking into account the economic and political realities of how Keystone XL approval would unlock further tar-sands development — is in fact quite significant. The lifetime footprint is at least six gigatons of carbon-dioxide equivalent, the same as 40 coal-fired power plants.
“We as a nation must have the foresight and courage to make the investments necessary to safeguard the most sacred trust we keep for our children and grandchildren,” Kerry said in his first speech as Secretary of State. “So let’s commit ourselves to doing the smart thing and the right thing and truly commit to tackling this challenge.”
“Today scientists tell us—the best we have, the best minds we have, the John Holdrens, the Jim Hansens, and everybody else tell us-we have a 10-year window here to try get this right and even that before catastrophic climate change takes hold,” Kerry said in 2009. “Now ladies and gentlemen, this is our memo. And the question is whether or not we’re going to act on this in time.”
A finding of “no significant impact on the environment” by Kerry would call into question his seriousness on climate policy when he had the power to act.
Podesta Rebukes Environmentalists For Criticizing Obama's "All of the Above" Support For Fossil-Fuel Extraction
Obama’s new top climate adviser rebuked environmental leaders who challenged the president to dump his “all of the above” energy strategy as incompatible with needed climate action. In a letter obtained by the Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin, John Podesta questioned why the climate advocates criticized the president for his support of increased fossil-fuel extraction.
Making reference to Obama’s “bold Climate Action Plan” announced in June 2013, Podesta cited “significant decreases in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions” despite “opposition to key components of the plan” from Republicans in the House and Senate. Podesta noted that the plan “commits to additional steps to cut the emissions of carbon pollution, prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change, and lead international efforts to combat global climate change,” claiming that the “breadth of the plan makes it impossible to detail those steps in this letter.”
Podesta’s only reference to President Obama’s “all of the above” energy strategy of increased fossil-fuel extraction came in his criticism of the environmentalists:
Given this context, I was surprised that you chose to send your January 16 letter to President Obama. The President has been leading the transition,[sic] to low-carbon energy sources, and understands the need to consider a balanced approach to all forms of energy development, including oil and gas production.
Podesta did not reply to the environmentalists’ mention of the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline, which he has previously criticized. Upon taking the White House job, Podesta said he would not weigh in on the decision of whether the construction of the pipeline would be in the national interest, a determination to be made by the State Department and President Obama.
Under Podesta’s direction, the Center for American Progress offered divergent views on Obama’s “all of the above” policy:- Center for American Progress Director of Climate Strategy Daniel Weiss testified in 2012 and in 2013 in support of Obama’s “all of the above” strategy.
- Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Joseph Romm, editor of Climate Progress, bluntly said in 2012 that the “all-of-the-above energy strategy” is what defines Obama’s “failed presidency.” He later excoriated Obama’s “big wet kiss to oil and gas.”
The text of the letter, typos included, is below:
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTONJanuary 17, 2014
TO:Wm. Robert Irvin, American Rivers, President and CEO
Robert Wendelgass, Clean Water Action, President
Jamie Rappaport Clark, Defenders of Wildlife, President and CEO
Trip Van Noppen, Earthjustice, President
Maura Cowley, Energy Action Coalition, Executive Director
Margie Alt, Environment America, Executive Director
Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund, President
Eric Pica, Friends of the Earth, President
Gene Karpinski, League of Conservation Voters, President
David Yarnold, National Audubon Society, President and CEO
Larry J. Schweiger, National Wildlife Federation, President & CEO
John Echohawk, Native American Rights Fund, Executive Director
Frances Beinecke, Natural Resources Defense Council, President
Andrew Sharpless, Oceana, Chief Executive Officer
Catherine Thomasson, MD, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Executive Director
John Seager, Population Connection, President
Michael Brune, Sierra Club, Executive Director
Sandy Newman, Voices for Progress, PresidentI am writing in response to your January 16 letter to President Obama regarding climate change. President Obama understands that climate change poses a significant threat to our environment, to public health and to our economy. He believes it is imperative that we act to address these threats, and that doing so provides an opportunity for the United States to lead in the development and deployment of clean energy technologies needed to reduce emissions. For these reasons, the President has taken steps to address the climate change challenge throughout the last five years, including a issuing a bold Climate Action Plan in June of 2013.
The Climate Action Plan builds on major progress during the President’s first term, including: historic fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for light-duty vehicles that will cut 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide pollution, cut oil consumption by 12 billion barrels of oil, and save consumer $1.7 trillion over the lifetime of the program; energy efficiency standards for appliances that will cut pollution and save consumers and businesses hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming decades; historic support for renewable energy that has helped to drive down technology costs and more than doubled generation of electricity from wind and solar. These steps by the Obama Administration have contributed to significant decreases in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions; 2012 emissions of carbon dioxide were at their lowest level the lowest [sic] in nearly twenty years.
The Climate Action Plan outlined by President Obama in a historic speech at Georgetown in June of 2013 builds on these measures, and commits to additional steps to cut the emissions of carbon pollution, prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change, and lead international efforts to combat global climate change. The breadth of the plan makes it impossible to detail those steps in this letter, but key commitments to continue to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions include establishing the first-ever carbon pollution standards for power plants, a multi-sector strategy to reduce methane emissions, action to limit the use of HFCs and promote the use of more climate-friendly alternatives, additional DOE energy efficiency standards, and additional fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy duty vehicles.
We have made significant progress in implementing the plan in the last seven months, and I attach for your review a recent report that details this work. However, significant work lies ahead in meeting the commitments outlined in the Climate Action Plan. In addition, opposition to key components of the plan remains. Last week, the White House had to fight off anti-environmental Appropriations riders, including ones that would have prevented the EPA from implementing regulations to reduce carbon pollution from existing power plants under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, and would have prevented the Administration from moving forward with Tier 3 vehicle and fuel standards. On the day your letter arrived, the Senate Minority Leader filed a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn rules to regulate CO2 emissions from new power plants.
Given this context, I was surprised that you chose to send your January 16 letter to President Obama. The President has been leading the transition,[sic] to low-carbon energy sources, and understands the need to consider a balanced approach to all forms of energy development, including oil and gas production.
With respect to meeting the threats posed by a rapidly changing climate, implementation of the Climate Action Plan must and will remain the focus of our efforts. In the meantime, we will continue to welcome your advice, based on your very long experience on how to convince the American public of the need and opportunity to transform dirty energy systems to ones that are cleaner and more efficient.
Sincerely,
John D. Podesta