Midwest state and local government elected officials are among the thousands who have converged on Copenhagen, Denmark to urge the leaders of 192 nations to come together to tackle climate change. Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin is the highest ranking midwestern elected official with a public role here, giving a key address. "Why would someone fight to maintain an energy system that basically imports all of our fuels (from outside of Wisconsin)?" Doyle asked. He intends to meet with the largest American manufacturer of wind turbines, General Electric and the largest Danish maker of wind turbines while in Copenhagen.
This afternoon, I participated in a conference call with Mary Nichols, head of the California Air Resources Board with clean cars advocates from around the country. She spoke for 20 minutes immediately before boarding her plane to Washington, D.C. for a huge victory announcement on clean cars with President Obama and Governor Schwarzenegger on Tuesday. With more details to come, the Obama Administration has brought together the auto companies and the states following California's lead to regulate global warming emissions from cars.
Recent surveys commissioned by the Pew Environment Group demonstrate overwhelming support from voters across party lines for reducing global warming pollution in a way that creates clean energy jobs and boosts energy independence.
Today I read in the Star Tribune that the chancellor of the University of Minnesota-Morris, Jacqueline Johnson, will be heading to Austin, Texas to speak about the role that universities can play as incubators for new renewable energy technologies at Bill Clinton's Global Initiative University.
This speech yesterday by Barack Obama was remarkable, not because of any surprises in his push for the energy independence provisions of the recovery bill, the move to raise fuel economy for cars, and his call for a quick EPA review of California's waiver request, allowing it to regulate CO2 from cars. What's remarkable is how clearly he communicates the three energy crises: our security, economy, and planet. If anyone has any doubts at all about how urgently Obama views the energy issue, this is a must-read speech. Heck, read it in any case.
Wednesday, the electric car discussion moved forward locally and nationally. First, Thomas Friedman wrote a column on Better Place, a California-based company with a radical idea: electric cars can replace gasoline-powered cars NOW if we build the infrastructure to support them.
The latest on the federal economic stimulus package includes a "Rebuild America" proposal from Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar. His plan calls for a $45 billion infrastructure investment, which would include $18.25 billion for roads and bridges, $6 billion for transit, and $2 billion for intercity rail. While the numbers will likely change, there is little doubt that there will be a large investment in transportation infrastructure. Now the question is: what will the details of the transportation investment look like?
Last week, City Pages picked up the story and quoted me saying this: "The key issue with these tar sands is that this is the bottom of the barrel, the last sludge of oil remaining in the world. It's the dirtiest and most polluting oil by far, much more polluting than conventional sweet crude. Its mining, extraction, refining, and shipping would all essentially move the refining capacity of the Gulf Coast up to the Midwest Great Lakes region."
Did you think that the economic crisis would move climate to the back burner? Quite the contrary.
In President-elect Obama's well-publicized video address to Governor Schwarzenegger's climate conference this week, he threads the needle through these three urgent challenges: fixing the economy, ending oil addiction, saving a planet in peril. As Fresh Energy has said since its inception in 1990, forging a new energy economy is the way to a stronger economy and a safer and cleaner world.
Midwest Governors Association members Doyle, Sibelius and Blagojevich were all at the event, as was Florida governor Charlie Christ.
This morning the BBC reports that the "drill, baby, drill" chant at St. Paul's Republican convention might get a repeat performance in the last days of the Administration.
Weakening the Endangered Species Act to grease drilling and mining permits is part of a package of last minute executive orders that's in the works. Teams for Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama weigh options to reverse the damage after inauguration. The full BBC story here.
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