Hill Heat

The consensus behind climate change science and the InterAcademy Council’s review of IPCC processes and procedures

Brad Johnson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:45:00 -0600

United Nations, UN Foundation will join with IPCC scientist to provide commentary on the announcement of a IPCC review panel and the state of climate science overall.

Telephone conference call to discuss the consensus behind climate change science and the context of the InterAcademy Council’s review of IPCC processes and procedures.

Speakers

Chris Field, director, Carnegie Institution Department of Global Ecology, Stanford University
Janos Pasztor, director of Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team
Timothy Wirth, president, United Nations Foundation

US: 1-800-351-9742
Int’l: 1-334-323-7224

Code: IPCC2010

The Clean Energy Recovery: Creating Jobs, Building New Industries and Saving Money

Brad Johnson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:30:00 -0600

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act invested in projects that create clean energy jobs while helping families save money on their energy bills. These investments in renewable energy, efficiency, weatherization and new technology development have established robust American energy industries, such as advanced battery technology to power cars and trucks.

On Wednesday, Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will explore some of the clean energy results from the Recovery Act, and discuss how an American-made clean energy future can continue.

Witnesses

Lisa Patt-McDaniel, Director, Ohio Department of Development
Bryan Ashley, Chief Marketing Officer, Suniva Inc.
Paul Gaynor, Chief Executive Officer, First Wind Holdings LLC
Mary Ann Wright, Vice President and Managing Director, Business Accelerator Project, Johnson Controls, Inc.
Brian M. Johnson, Federal Affairs Manager, Americans for Tax Reform & Executive Director, Alliance for Worker Freedom

Senate Watch: Baucus, Begich, Brown, Cardin, Graham, Gregg, Landrieu, Lieberman, McCain, Murkowski

Brad Johnson — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:47:00 -0600

Max Baucus (D-Mont)

E&E News For this bill [green tax extenders], most of the activity is behind us. This bill reached its stride. We see the finish line ahead on Tuesday or so, and we expect a final push then.

Mark Begich (D-Alaska)

E&E News I felt I got a lot [from K-G-L] of what I needed, understanding the timetable and the schedule, and what sources will be regulated first, which won’t be.

Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)

E&E News We want this bill to work for jobs. It’s ultimately an energy independence, jobs and environmental bill together. We don’t have details yet, but we’re making progress.

Ben Cardin (D-Md.)

E&E News There’s the potential for a broader coalition supporting this.

Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

E&E News Offshore drilling and energy independence is essential to any bill I would support. There’s a way to drill for oil and gas offshore that will really lead to energy independence.

Judd Gregg (R-N.H.)

E&E News I think he’s [Kerry] trying to approach this in a creative way and I’m listening. It’s better than where they started.

Mary Landrieu (D-La) http://www.eenews.net/EEDaily/2010/03/09/3/ They [Kerry, Graham, Lieberman] are all on the same page as I am that partnership with the states needs to be established. The idea would be to open as much of the coast of the United States as possible and have appropriate revenue sharing levels, and we have to negotiate a lot of that.

Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)

E&E News We’re going to have to go outside of our comfort zone. That’s how it’s going to get done.

John McCain (R-Ariz.)

E&E News You know I’m always deeply disturbed about the fact there’s no meaningful nuclear power component.

Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)

E&E News I’m saying that you want to have me sit down at the table and talk about what a strong domestic production piece is, you have to be willing to talk to me about ANWR. Pretty simple… It’s kind of like feeling the elephant when you’ve got the blindfold on. The trunk feels entirely different than the tail and the leg. And right now, we’re just feeling maybe the trunk, and I want to know what the leg looks like and what the tail looks like.

Financial transmission rights and other electricity market mechanisms

Brad Johnson — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -0600

Witnesses

Panel 1

Jon Wellinghoff, Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Gary Gensler, Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Panel 2 T* Garry Brown, Chairman, New York State Public Service Commission and NARUC Committee on Electricity

Vince Duane, PJM Interconnection L.L.C.
Joseph Kelliher, Representing the Edison Electric Institute and The Electric Power Supply Association
Michael Henderson, Representing the Arkansas rural electric cooperatives

Fiscal Year 2011 budget request for the Department of Interior

Brad Johnson — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:30:00 -0600

Witness

Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior

Fiscal Year 2011 budget request for the EPA

Brad Johnson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:30:00 -0600

Witness

Lisa Jackson, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

State Legislatures Work To Deny Regulation of Climate Threat

Brad Johnson — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:49:00 -0600

Yesterday, the South Dakota legislature passed a resolution telling public schools to teach “balance” about the “prejudiced” science of climate change by a vote of 37-33. Earlier language that ascribed “astrological” influences to global warming was stripped from the final version.

There are at least fifteen state legislatures attempting to prevent limits on greenhouse gas pollution. The states of Alabama and global warming endangerment finding, with legislators in thirteen more states in tow. Several of these resolutions argue that the scientific consensus on the threat of manmade global warming is actually a conspiracy:

KENTUCKY: “WHEREAS, a recent disclosure of communications among scientists associated with the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia has cast serious doubt upon the scientific data that have purportedly supported the finding that manmade carbon dioxide has been a material cause of global warming or global climate change . . .”
MARYLAND: “WHEREAS, E–mail and other communications between climate researchers around the globe discovered as part of the recent “climate–gate” controversy indicate that there is a well–organized and ongoing effort to manipulate global temperature data and incorporate tricks to substantiate the theory of climate change . . . “

OKLAHOMA: “WHEREAS, intense public scrutiny has revealed how unsettled the science is on climate change and the unwillingness of many of the world’s climatologists to share data or even entertain opposing viewpoints on the subject . . .”

UTAH: “WHEREAS, emails and other communications between climate researchers around the globe, referred to as ‘Climategate,’ indicate a well organized and ongoing effort to manipulate global temperature data in order to produce a global warming outcome . . .”

Every resolution makes the claim that protecting citizens from hazardous climate pollution would hurt the economy, instead of spurring a green recovery. Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Alaska lawmakers talk about being “dependent” on their states’ coal and oil industries. Several of the resolutions, drafted early last year, call on Congress to reject the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), which passed the House of Representatives in June but has languished in the Senate. The Alaska and West Virginia resolutions support Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) effort to rewrite the Clean Air Act (S.J.Res. 26), and Alabama’s resolution calls for the passage of Rep. Earl Pomeroy’s (D-ND) similar effort (H.R. 4396).

Bizarrely, Arizona state senator Sylvia Allen’s (R-AZ) resolution argues that the U.S. Congress does not have the Constitutional authority to regulate greenhouse gas pollution. Allen also believes the Earth is 6000 years old. The other Arizona resolution, along with the Kentucky, Virginia, and Washington resolutions, would attempt to block state enforcement of global warming rules.

These efforts to overturn the Clean Air Act and politicize established science are being supported by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a national organization that brings conservative state lawmakers together with industry. ALEC promotes a resolution opposing the endangerment finding drafted by its Natural Resources Task Force, which includes over 120 lawmakers from around the nation and a similarly sized group of corporate representatives. Although ALEC does not have an official position on the validity of climate science, the organization is “actively involved in helping people get together and share ideas,” a representative told Hill Heat. For example, the spring ALEC task force meeting will feature noted climate conspiracy theorist Paul Driessen, the author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death.

States With Resolutions Opposing Greenhouse Endangerment Finding
State	Bill	Sponsor	Status	Notes
AK	HJR 49	Stoltze ( R)	Pending	Supports Murkowski
AL	HJR 218	Gipson ( R)	Enacted	Supports Pomeroy
AZ	HB 2442 SCR 1050	Burges ( R) Allen ( R)	Pending	Blocks state enforcement Tenther resolution
FL	HR 1357 SR 958	Stephens ( R) Pearson ( R)	Pending	Supports overturn
IL	HR 961 SR 666	Phelps (D) Forby ( D)	Pending	Opposes Waxman-Markey
KS	SR 1809	Natural Resources Committee	Pending	Opposes “administrative fiat” by EPA
KY	HJR 20	Fischer ( R)	Pending	Cites hacked emails to block state enforcement
MD	HJR 13	Jenkins ( R)	Pending	Cites “climate change conspiracy” to oppose EPA
MO	HCR 46 HCR 59	Funderburk ( R) Brown ( R)	Pending	Opposes Waxman-Markey, EPA
OK	SCR 41	Lamb ( R)	Adopted by Senate	Cites “unsettled” science to support overturn
UT	EPA withdrawal
VA	HB1357	Morefield ( R)	Pending	“Carbon dioxide shall not be considered air pollution”
WA	S 6477	Stevens ( R)	Pending	Blocks state enforcement
WV	HCR 34	Shott ( R)	Pending	Cites “vigorous, legitimate, and substantive” scientific debate to support Murkowski

Senate Watch: Graham, Kerry, McCain, Rockefeller

Brad Johnson — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:41:00 -0600

Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

E&E News Yeah, it’s complicated, but doable. You have to look at it anew. There are different ways to price carbon from different sectors of the economy.

John Kerry (D-Mass.)

E&E News If we want to get the economy moving, it seems to me, you have to build out an American grid. We have a gaping hole in the middle of our nation, which prohibits investment.

E&E News We’ll be coming out with a bill sometime soon and start engaging in the debate. A lot is happening behind the scenes.

John McCain (R-Ariz.)

E&E News I appreciate anybody’s efforts that’s trying to do anything, but I can’t join in an effort where nuclear power is basically out of the equation. They announce they’re closing Yucca Mountain, and they will not recycle. You can’t get there from here. You can have all the titles you want, but it doesn’t work.

Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)

E&E News It [the Murkowski amendment] completely obliterates all of EPA’s functions. If it were to pass, I don’t think the president would sign it, an automobile company in Detroit making cars they send all over America, each state would have its own CAFE standards. Not the way to run a country.

It [Rockefeller’s proposal to delay EPA regulation] clears out matters of that sort, and leaves them with the powers they need to have, but concentrates on the emission problems and gives us more time.

the President’s Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2011 for the Forest Service

Brad Johnson — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -0600

Witness

Tom Tidwell, Chief, U.S. Forest Service

The opportunities and challenges presented in increasing the number of electric vehicles in the light duty automotive sector

Brad Johnson — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:15:00 -0600