President Obama has voiced that "climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time." In his State of the Union, he expressed the importance of passing a comprehensive clean energy bill in order to meet this challenge and help recover the American economy. In the recently released 2010 Economic Report of the President, it was reported that "a clean energy transformation is essential."
In December, a bipartisan climate policy bill was quietly introduced in the U.S. Senate. Senators Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington state, and Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, introduced S. 2877, the Carbon Limits and Energy for America's Renewal (CLEAR) Act. The CLEAR bill has attracted increasing attention, including the lead editorial in today's Washington Post and a great commentary piece by Minnesota's own David Morris in the January 29 edition of the Star Tribune.
The American Corn Growers Association (ACGA) is speaking out in strong support of national energy and climate legislation. Keith Dittrich, chairman of the board of the ACGA, spoke January 15 in Chicago. A corn and soybean farmer from Nebraska, Dittrich addressed cap and trade policy as an opportunity to "save our productive environment."
I was pleased to see the Star Tribune reprint of Robert Frank's commentary on the conservative roots of carbon capping legislation, originally published in the New York Times. For those who missed reading it, Frank is at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University. His op-ed summarizes the writing of Ronald H. Coase, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago and the 1990 Nobel laureate in economics, on the topic of correcting market failure by internalizing environmental externalities.
Between UN climate discussions in Copenhagen and a climate bill in the U.S. Senate, one can't avoid the buzz about cap and trade. It's easy to get lost in the news. Luckily, Minnesota Public Radio last aired a highly educational series about cap and trade and how it affects Minnesotans last week. Check out the four-part series, called Cap and Tradeoffs.
Families aired December 7, 2009 Stephanie Hemphill opens the series with Cap and Trade 101. She discusses how the revenue may be dispersed and how much the system may cost families. Fresh Energy Science Policy Director J. Drake Hamilton provided information to Hemphill, who quoted her in the piece.
Transportation aired December 8, 2009 Dan Olson reports on how the transportation sector could help the nation reduce its pollution 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. He interviews a former Minnesotan, now living in Denmark, about the American mindset about cars and driving.
Agriculture aired December 9, 2009 Mark Steil discusses carbon sequestration and how it may affect farmers in Minnesota. He also evaluates corn-based ethanol and methane.
Big Emitters aired December 10, 2009 Stephanie Hemphill closes the series with a story about some of the state's largest polluters and how they would adjust to a cap and trade system. She also highlights 3M's ambitious energy reduction goals. The company has cut its pollution in half in five years.
The Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law surveyed top economic experts on climate change and summarized their findings in a new report.
As Congress debates clean energy jobs and emissions reduction policy to address climate change and grow a clean energy economy, 18 leading scientific organizations have sent a letter to U.S. senators stating the consensus scientific view on climate change. Read the letter and view the signatory organizations.
The EPA announced a proposed rule on September 30 that would require the use of best technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from large facilities. Under the rule, about 14,000 very large sources of greenhouse gases, those emitting more than 25,000 tons per year, would need to obtain operating permits that include global warming emissions. Those large facilities include power plants, refineries, and some large factories, but exclude farms and small businesses.
Senators Boxer and Kerry just announced a small delay in the introduction of the climate and energy bill. The bill will now be introduced in late September.
This week, eminent climate scientist Dr. James Hansen was arrested. At Massey Coal company in West Virginia, Dr. Hansen was arrested along with other protesters calling for an end of the egregious mining practices of blowing up mountain tops in rural Appalachia. Hansen writes "A Plea to President Obama: End Mountaintop Removal" today in the Yale 360 Journal.
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