Hill Heat

From the Wonk Room.

“A convoy of 60 kayaks, rafts and boats” from Rising Tide Australia formed a blockade at Newcastle Harbour and blocked Newcastle’s new coal loader to protest the expansion of the world’s largest coal export port.

The Kerry-Graham-Lieberman climate legislation will be introduced the week of Earth Day , but Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune warns, “There are things that would cause the Club to oppose the bill,” including offshore oil drilling and pre-emption of Clean Air Act authority.

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) explored flood damage in Massachusetts, Gov. Jodi Rell (R-CT) prepared for a flooding emergency in Connecticut, and up to “100,000 people reportedly have fled or lost their homes in the flood stricken regency of Karawang, West Java.”

From the Wonk Room.

Senators are beginning to seriously tackle climate and clean energy reform, responding to the leadership of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) with letters staking out positions and making specific demands. Here’s an overview of these letters:

The Udall Group: Twenty-two Senators Say Senate Should ‘Consider’ Climate Legislation ‘This Year’.
Led by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), a moderate bloc of twenty-two Democratic senators “believe the United States should consider bipartisan and comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation this year with a renewed focus on jobs and reduced dependence on foreign oil.” Critically, eleven of the signatories last year signed on to a Republican filibuster threat of green economy legislation, and seven are members of Sen. Evan Bayh’s (D-IN) Moderate Democrats Working Group . Bayh himself did not sign Udall’s letter.

Download the Udall Group letter. Signatories: Begich (D-AK), Bennet (D-CO), Brown (D-OH), Burris (D-IL), Cantwell (D-WA), Carper (D-DE), Casey (D-PA), Franken (D-MN), Hagan (D-NC), Harkin (D-IA), Kaufman (D-DE), Klobuchar (D-MN), Merkley (D-OR), Murray (D-WA), Shaheen (D-NH), Specter (D-PA), Stabenow (D-MI), Tester (D-MT), Udall (D-NM), Udall (D-CO), Warner (D-VA), and Wyden (D-OR).

The Nuke Group: A Bipartisan Group Of Eleven Senators Demand A Nuclear Energy Summit.
Five Democrats and six Republicans, from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), propose the White House hold a “nuclear energy summit” on the “development of a 50-year strategy” within “the next 3-4 months,” because “safe nuclear power must play an increasingly important role in meeting our rising energy demand and ensuring cleaner air.” They want Energy Secretary Steven Chu, EPA Adminstrator Lisa Jackson, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko, and Bill Gates to attend.

Download the Nuke Group letter. Signatories: Carper (D-DE), Landrieu (D-LA), Klobuchar (D-MN), Webb (D-VA), Warner (D-VA), Voinovich (R-OH), Crapo (R-ID), Vitter (R-LA), Sessions (R-AL), Alexander (R-TN) and Inhofe (R-OK).

Coastal State Senators: Don’t Drill On Me.
In a letter to Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman, ten Democratic senators from coastal states – Florida, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maryland, Oregon, and Ted Kaufman of Delaware – write that “our states are literally the front lines when it comes to the severe impacts we’ll see from sea level rise and stronger storms,” and express their concerns that “some interests are aggressively pursuing an effort to open the nation’s coasts and oceans for unfettered access to oil and gas drilling.” They reject “the concept of sharing revenue with states,” as “funds that belong to the American people should be shared equally and prioritized to reduce the federal deficit and to protect our oceans and coasts that provide this resource.” They call for use-it-or-lose-it language on oil leases. Increased offshore drilling won’t reduce the cost of gas, they recognize, saying “the only way for us to lower oil prices is to pursue and aggressive policy of energy efficiency and conservation.”

Download the Coastal Senators letter. Signatories: Nelson (D-FL), Menendez (D-NJ), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Reed (D-RI), Whitehouse (D-RI), Cardin (D-MD), Mikulski (D-MD), Merkley (D-OR), Wyden (D-OR), and Kaufman (D-DE).

Feinstein Drills Into Policy Details.
In a letter to Kerry, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) touches on several specific policy details for his “bipartisan legislation to address the pressing problem of climate change.” She wants heavy industry to be exempted from the initial cap, opposes pre-emption of California’s tailpipe emissions standards, supports the Waxman-Markey formula for electric utility permit giveaways, wants new offshore drilling to require state-level legislation, thanks Kerry for including the Snowe-Feinstein market oversight language, and wants the oil carbon fee to be indexed to an emissions target rather than a carbon market. Significantly, Feinstein recommends that “the legislation’s spending authorizations expire no later than ten years after enactment”—a major change from the forty-year permit allocation formulas in previous legislation.

Download Feinstein’s letter.

Begich: ‘Alaska Is Ground Zero For Climate Change,’ So Let’s Drill It.
Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) penned a letter saying “Alaska is ground zero for climate change. We are feeling its near-term effects far more than the residents of any other state, including retreating sea ice, rapidly eroding shorelines, thawing permafrost, ocean acidification, and changing fish and wildlife migration patterns.” Despite this, Begich calls for “greater emphasis and expanded incentives for natural gas” and “sharing in revenue from oil and gas development” from federal waters off the Arctic coast. Citing the “billions of dollars” of “damage to Alaska public infrastructure alone due to climate change,” Begich also requests “a higher priority for domestic rather than international adaptation funding” and an increased investment in Arctic research.

However, Begich does not call for stronger emissions reduction targets, stronger renewable or efficiency standards, stronger investments in green technologies, or anything that would allow the United States to lead an international agreement to halt greenhouse gas pollution.

Download Begich’s letter.

Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman have been holding a marathon of meetings. On Thursday they met with representatives of oil majors Shell, BP America, and ConocoPhillips, yet again with the pollution lobbyists of the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, and also with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and later with members of the electric utility trade group Edison Electric Institute.

None of these senators’ letters call for stronger pollution reductions, stronger renewable or efficiency standards, stronger scientific review, stronger regulation of hydraulic fracturing, stronger action on coal ash waste, stronger mercury rules, an end to mountaintop removal, or greater auctions of pollution permits.

From the Wonk Room.

“I think the bill we came up with is the right approach,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said about the climate legislation she introduced with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Cantwell agreed that she prefers a limited carbon market.

A “lack of significant precipitation, above average temperatures and the disappearance of snow in what normally is the second snowiest month” is causing an early start to wildfire season in Minnesota, and because of drought a “thousand forest fires burnt through Cuba in the first quarter of 2010 alone.”

“Deforestation slowed in the last decade, in the first sign that global conservation efforts are bearing fruit, but an area the size of Costa Rica is still being destroyed each year,” the United Nations said on Thursday.

Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Senate Finance Chairman

The Hill If it’s a viable bill, we’ll have a markup.

National Journal I just want to see the bill when it’s written. I’d be foolhardy to get more specific.

Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Senate Environment & Public Works Chairman

E&E News In general terms, they give a lot of power to the states on that [offshore drilling]. It seems to me what they’re doing is they’re taking the best ideas that have appeared over the years.

Kent Conrad (D-N.D.)

E&E News I’m kind of waiting to see what happens. But if it looks like we’re not going to advance on the broader bill, I think it’s critically important that we at least have legislation to reduce dependence on foreign energy. I just think it’s critically important to the economy, critically important to our energy and economic future, and that can be done in a way that it’s harmonized with reducing our carbon footprint as well.

Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

E&E News On such a substantial decision about the future of a state [offshore drilling], a decision should be made by both the legislature and the governor. The state should also have the power to review its decision on a regular basis.

Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

E&E News I’m still committed to trying to roll out a vision of how you can price carbon and make it business-friendly. We’re still going to do that. … But the truth of the matter is, I think you’re going to find most of our colleagues around here risk adverse.

From the Wonk Room.

As a powerful storm that killed eight people and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands continues to drench the Northeast, Tomas, a Category Four cyclone, is ripping through Fiji, and Tropical Storm 90Q, the “second known tropical cyclone to form in the cooler South Atlantic Ocean,” is circling off the Argentina coast.

The $379 billion cost of “developing Canada’s controversial tar sands between now and 2025 could be used to decarbonize the western economy,” according to a new report from the Co-operative and WWF.

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) “secured a $750,000 earmark for a coal gasification technology company that has given him $14,250 this election cycle” and Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH) “won a $300,000 earmark for a syngas technology company that has contributed $3,000 to his re-election campaign.”

In a letter to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) outlined his policy priorities for the comprehensive climate legislation Sen. Kerry is authoring. Levin’s letter highlights “some of the points I made at the March 2 meeting on climate legislation” :

• Eliminate California waiver for automotive emissions
• Pre-empt EPA from Clean Air Act regulation of stationary sources
• A “realistic and firm” price collar
• A “delay of at least 10 years in regulation of industrial sources”
• “Sufficient” allowances for industrial sources
• Trade provisions “to assure a level playing field”
• A “100% emissions-based distribution formula” for permits to electricity generation

Although Levin’s language is unclear, the “delay of at least 10 years in regulation of industrial sources” appears to refer to individual site performance standards, not a decade-long delay in including industrial polluters under a market-based cap.

Giving allowances away to polluters for free based on their historic emissions, or “grandfathering,” says Environment America, “rewards owners of highly polluting facilities and discourages innovation.” Europe’s grandfathered cap-and-trade system generated $100 billion in windfall profits before they moved to an auctioned-credit system.

The liberal organization MoveOn is strongly opposed to pre-emption of the Clean Air Act in climate legislation.

Full text of the letter below:

From the Wonk Room.

The first group of what will become a 15,000-photo set from the Documerica project from the 1970s, when the Environmental Protection Agency “sent out 100 photographers to document the nation’s environment writ large,” are now available on Flickr Commons.

“My my guess is there will be a clamoring for an energy bill when gas prices go up, as they normally do, as we get closer to more driving as we get closer to the summer,” Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a briefing yesterday.

Scientists report that aquatic dead zones are exacerbating the impacts of global warming and contributing to ozone depletion, a increase in corn-based ethanol would change land use ” enough to cancel out the benefits,” and peak oil may come in 2014.

From the Wonk Room.

“Climate change is a fact,” said the Chinese government, as it officially joined the Copenhagen Accord and challenged the United States to “make stronger commitments on climate change and provide environmental expertise and financing to developing nations.”

Governors from 18 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam, led by Govs. Haley Barbour (R-MS) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) , sent a letter to Congress to “stop harmful EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions” and instead “pass comprehensive legislation that balances the role of conservation and climate security with the production of abundant and affordable American energy.”

The Ethicurean makes recommendations for the making a sustainable seafood supply chain of wholesalers, retailers, and restaurants through labeling, removal of unsustainable fish from stores, and consumer guides like fish2fork.

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has endorsed the Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal (CLEAR) Act (S. 2877), co-sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). In a letter sent to the senators, AARP Executive Vice President for Social Impact Nancy LeaMond embraced the CLEAR Act’s program of monthly rebate checks to all Americans paid for by a full auction of crabon credits.

The letter has some logical inconsistencies, claiming that AARP does not “advocate for any specific targets or structure for reducing carbon emissions and allocating emissions credits” but later stating that CLEAR’s “federal auction of 100% of emissions credits” is one of the features “essential to helping residential consumers transition to a clean energy economy.”

AARP has no official position on the existence of man-made climate change (“we do not take positions on the scientific issues underlying the debate on global warming”).

Full text of letter below:

From the Wonk Room.

Today is the National Call-In Day to stop mountaintop removal mining, as thousands are calling their representatives and asking them to become a cosponsor of H.R. 1310, The Clean Water Protection Act.

Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson “fought back on Monday against Senate attempts to challenge the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions”: “Supposedly these efforts have been put forward to protect jobs. In reality, they will have serious negative economic effects.”

“Women hit hard by the effects of climate change – drought, floods, sea level rise and crop failure” – “climate witnesses” from the United States, Peru, Senegal, Uganda and other countries “aim to tell their stories to members of Congress on Tuesday in a lobbying effort timed to follow Monday’s International Women’s Day.”