CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia, January 13, 2009 (ENS) – The Southern Environmental Law Center, SELC, on behalf of itself and three other organizations, has called on the U.S. Department of Interior to abandon plans to open the Virginia coast to oil or gas drilling.

In a letter to the Minerals Management Service Monday, the law center detailed the risk to the environment and coastal communities from drilling and said those harms “far outweigh the benefit of extracting the relatively low amounts of fossil fuel from the ocean depths off Virginia.”

The federal agency announced plans to offer a lease sale shortly after Congress lifted a quarter-century moratorium on offshore drilling in the Atlantic in late September 2008.

Virginia Beach is vulnerable to impacts of offshore drilling. (Photo by G. Suave)

The law center wrote the letter on behalf of itself, the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, Virginia League of Conservation Voters, and Environment Virginia. It was submitted as part of the public comment period on the scope of a proposed environmental impact statement.

Virginia State Delegate Brian Moran also sent comments to Minerals Management Service Monday rejecting the idea of drilling off Virginia’s coast. Moran is a candidate for Governor of Virginia in the 2009 elections.

The current governor, Tim Kaine, has expressed objections to the agency’s plans. The Minerals Management Service has said it is acting at the behest of Governor Kaine. But in a letter to the agency in December 2008, the governor wrote, “The actions … to start the leasing process could lead to drilling and production of natural gas and oil, and, for that reason, do not comport with Virginia’s offshore energy policies.”

Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia, a Democrat who has received a 100 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters, also opposes the offshore lease proposal.

The area is used by the U.S. Navy, which also has objected to the proposed lease sale.

The area at issue begins 50 miles off the coast and extends eastward about 183 miles, covering approximately three million acres.

The Minerals Management Service estimates the area contains 130 million barrels of oil, which it estimates would be consumed in roughly six days, and 1,140 billion cubic feet of gas, which would be used up in 18 days.

SELC compared the “meager” amount of recoverable oil and gas with the “potentially drastic impacts of drilling.” The law center says the drilling would be harmful to important marine species, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale and humpback whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and migratory birds.

The proposed drilling could threaten the $9 billion commercial and recreational fishing industry and the $107 billion tourism industry from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras, the law center said in its letter.

The onshore infrastructure that would be built to store, process and transport the oil and gas would threaten environmental, recreational and scenic resources in Virginia’s coastal communities, the SELC letter points out.

“Scientists at a recent MMS workshop concluded that insufficient research is available to predict the impact of drilling on a broad range of resources, including fisheries and endangered species,” said SELC attorney Deborah Murray.

Climate change could worsen impacts on the ocean ecosystem, compounding the impacts of drilling offshore, the law center argues.

“Climate change is already causing stress on the wildlife that make the ocean so special in this area – the whales, dolphins and fish,” said SELC attorney Kay Slaughter. “Virginia Beach is rated tenth in the world in terms of expected impacts from climate change; drilling would only exacerbate this situation.”

SELC proposed that Minerals Management Service seek additional funding for environmental studies on this leasing decision.

The law center says offshore wind power would be a better way to generate energy from Virginia’s coastal resources, and it asks the federal agency to integrate offshore wind power into its five year plan for the area.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

WASHINGTON, DC, November 28, 2008 (ENS) – President-elect Barack Obama can revive the U.S. economy – and aggressively combat climate change – by investing in clean energy technologies and strengthening environmental protections, the leaders of major U.S. environmental groups advise.

The recommendation is a central part of a lengthy wish list of policies sent to Obama’s transition team Tuesday by a broad coalition of 29 of the nation’s leading environmental and conservation organizations, who also urged the president-elect to swiftly reverse “eight years of environmental neglect” under the Bush administration.

“Our economy is suffering and so is our environment,” Larry Schweiger, head of the National Wildlife Federation told reporters on a conference call. “The solutions to both go hand in hand.”

The groups contend that difficult economic times provide opportunities, rather than obstacles, to tackling the daunting issues of climate change, clean energy and environmental protection.

Oak Ridge National Lab engineer Jeff Christian
directs the design and construction of highly
energy-efficient houses for low-income
families. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

“Generating green collar jobs, making our offices and homes more efficient, rebuilding our water infrastructure, reducing our dependence on oil, reviving our ailing landscapes – these are solutions that can lead directly to economic prosperity, greater social equity and even enhanced national security,” the coalition said in the 391-page report.

The solution to the nation’s economic problems “is a new green economy,” said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. “Delay is not just bad for the planet, it is bad for the economy.”

That message echoes some of Obama’s own rhetoric on energy and climate change – last week he pledged support for a federal carbon cap-and-trade system, that would mandate cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and a further 80 percent by 2050.

Obama also outlined support for a $15 billion annual investment to support renewable energy and build a clean energy future, predicting the efforts would produce some five million new green jobs.

Those goals are in line with what environmentalists have long supported – a key reason the environmental groups are confident their agenda will now have a powerful advocate in the White House.

Workers install the first Mariah Windspire vertical
axis wind turbine in the Midwest at the
The College School, an elementary
school in St. Louis, Missouri. October
2008. (Photo by Matthew Diller)

Obama has made it clear that his priorities “jive nicely” with the major concerns of the environmental community, said Maggie Alt, executive director of Environment America.

The environmental groups’ planning document contains broad goals as well as specific recommendations for the White House and federal agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Interior Department, as well as the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy

“It covers a wide range of issues that merit prompt presidential attention, but it underscores the urgent need to build a green energy economy to tackle global warming,” the groups wrote. “Most importantly, the document reflects a fundamental consensus that serious action is needed right now in order to usher in a healthier, cleaner, more prosperous and more sustainable era for America.”

Along with the climate and energy recommendations, the groups call for a slew of policies to safeguard the Arctic, as well as steps to increase protection for wetlands, national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands.

The report recommends increased funding for conservation programs, stricter oversight of energy production from public lands and tighter air pollution standards.

The groups want Obama to reinstate a federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling along with a Clinton administration rule protecting roadless areas in national forests. They also want Obama to restore protections for endangered species weakened by the Bush administration.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District solar-powered
hydrogen vehicle fueling station opened
April 1, 2008. As solar panels make
electricity, it powers the separation of
water into hydrogen and oxygen to make
fuel for hydrogen-powered vehicles.
(Photo by Keith Wipke courtesy NREL)

“There is lot of work to do to reverse the damage of the last eight years,” Alt said.

In addition, the Obama administration should act quickly to reverse any last minute Bush rules that weaken environmental protections, Karpinski added.

“On day one they should place a moratorium on finalizing midnight regulations and reviewing those that have not yet taken effect,” he said.

The environmentalists contend the widely anticipated economic stimulus package provides a critical opportunity for Obama to quickly signal his intention to follow through on his promises to solve the “entwined economic, climate and environmental crises.”

Obama should lead the effort with bold measures to promote energy efficiency and spark increased development and use of renewable energy through modernization of the nation’s electrical grid, the groups said.

“There’s economic opportunity if we do this right,” said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The current electricity transmission grid is “a patchwork of antiquated technology” that loses 20-25 percent of electricity generated by coal-fired power plants, he explained.

Upgrading the grid can create jobs and unleash the potential of renewable energy, said Schweiger.

“This can get the system moving in terms of new energy … and allows us to invest in solar in the Southwest, wind in the Midwest and elsewhere and move that energy to places where it is needed,” he told reporters. “Currently we do not have an infrastructure for that.”

The following groups collaborated to produce the recommendations [www.saveourenvironment.org] – American Rivers, Center For International Environmental Law, Clean Water Action, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Environment America, Environmental Defense Fund, Friends Of The Earth, Greenpeace, Izaak Walton League, League Of Conservation Voters, National Audubon Society, National Parks Conservation Association, National Tribal Environmental Council, National Wildlife Federation, Native American Rights Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oceana, Ocean Conservancy, Pew Environment Group, Physicians For Social Responsibility, Population Connection, Population Action International, Rails-To-Trails Conservancy, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, The Trust For Public Land, Union Of Concerned Scientists, and World Wildlife Fund.

By J.R. Pegg

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

SACRAMENTO, California, November 5, 2008 (ENS) – California voters approved Proposition 1A, the Safe, Reliable High Speed Passenger Train Bond Act Tuesday by a margin of four percentage points. The act approves nearly $10 billion in bond money to build a modern bullet train linking northern and southern California that is expected to reduce air pollution by taking cars off the road.

“Californians showed their support once again for modern, clean energy technologies with their approval of Prop 1A, the high-speed rail bond,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, clean energy advocate for Environment California, one of several environmental organizations that endorsed the measure.

“Better public transportation is critical to solving global warming and creating real energy independence in California,” she said.

Artist’s conception of the California bullet train
(Image courtesy NC3D)

Quentin Kopp, chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said Tuesday night, “Thanks to tonight’s vote, a state-of-the-art, new transportation choice will link every major city in the state and move people and products like never before. The citizens of California have put the 21st century golden spike in the ground with a clear affirmation of high-speed trains.”

While voters approved Prop 1A, they struck down Props 7 and 10, both opposed by environmental and consumer groups around the state and across the country.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, California League of Conservation Voters, Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Sierra Club led the fight against Props 7 and 10.

Proposition 7, the Renewable Energy Generation Initiative, sought to increase renewable electricity mandates but was opposed by nearly every environmental organization because of drafting flaws that locked in loopholes for utility compliance, among other cited problems. It gained only 35 percent of the vote.

Proposition 7 would have erected complex regulatory barriers, excluded smaller renewable energy providers and made it harder to bring more renewable energy to California, according to the groups.

Jim Metropulos, Sierra Club California’s senior advocate, said, “Once again, California voters have shown that they are able to see through the smokescreen of clever ads and deceptive ballot language to do what’s best for our state. Now the real work begins: convincing the California Legislature to adopt meaningful, enforceable renewable power standards and convincing state regulators to do a better job at encouraging clean vehicles in our state.”

Proposition 10, the Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy measure, was also rejected, attracting only 40 percent of the vote.

It was backed by billionaire oilman and recent natural gas and wind energy advocate T. Boone Pickens. Critics of the proposition have noted Pickens’ financial interest in supporting natural gas vehicles.

Proposition 10 was written to provide large subsidies to natural gas, a non-renewable fossil fuel source, that the groups point out would have crowded out better vehicle technologies and cleaner fuels.

Prop 10 would require $5 billion in public bond money to fund a grab-bag of alternative fuel, vehicle, and energy measures which was predicted to balloon to $10 billion by the time it was to have been repaid.

“Californians were not be fooled by clever packaging and fancy TV ads,” said Del Chiaro. “This initiative was a special interest give-away to the natural gas industry and voters rightly said ‘no way.’”

The groups said the failure of Propositions 7 and 10 in no way reflects negatively upon the strong support for renewable energy or clean, alternative-fueled vehicles in the state.

David Pettit, director of NRDC’s Southern California Clean Air Program, said, “California voters overwhelmingly support renewable energy and alternatives to oil, and voted No on Props 7 and 10 to sustain California’s momentum and leadership on clean energy solutions. We cannot delay investing in solutions that will free us from our addiction to fossil fuel.”

“The fact that voters struck down Props 7 and 10 does not mean Californian’s support for clean energy solutions has waned,” said Del Chiaro. “On the contrary, Californians are keenly interested in promoting real, big and bold clean energy solutions as demonstrated by their willingness to pass Prop 1A.”

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

DENVER, Colorado, August 25, 2008 (ENS) – At the opening of the Democratic National Convention today, the Democratic Party adopted a new platform that incorporates the energy plan put forward by Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive presidential nominee.

The plan would implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

It would ensure 10 percent of U.S. electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.

It would enact a windfall profits tax on oil companies to provide a $1,000 emergency energy rebate to American families, and would help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next 10 years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.

Co-chair of the Platform Committee, New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid, told convention delegates, “We will jumpstart the economy, providing an energy rebate and keeping families in their homes. We will invest in America again, in clean energy technology, world-class education and infrastructure, so that our economy can generate the good, high-paying jobs of the future.”

“And,” she said, “we will harness American ingenuity to free this nation from the tyranny of oil.”

Delegates at the Democratic National
Convention August 25, 2008
(Photo courtesy DNCC)

“I am proud that this year the Democratic Party opened up the platform process and invited Americans in,” said Madrid. “There were over 1,600 platform hearings in every state of the union. Over 30,000 people attended. This platform reflects their concerns and their hopes.”

League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski commended the platform committee, calling the Obama energy plan, “the strongest, most comprehensive plan ever put forward by a presidential nominee.”

“Obama’s plan recognizes the enormous potential of renewable energy to end our addiction to oil, strengthen our national security, fight global warming, and create millions of jobs across America, Karpinski said. “On this platform, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will build the clean energy future that America deserves.”

Environmentalists are praising Obama’s choice of Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate, a choice Obama announced Saturday in Springfield, Illinois.

Introducing his running mate, Obama said, “Joe won’t just make a good vice president – he will make a great one.”

“Instead of secret task energy task forces stacked with Big Oil and a vice president that twists the facts and shuts the American people out, I know that Joe Biden will give us some real straight talk,” said Obama.

The comment slammed the current Vice President Dick Cheney, who held secret meetings with oil company executives in 2001 while drafting the Bush administration’s energy strategy, and also backhanded Republican candidate Senator John McCain, who repeatedly has promised “straight talk.”

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden is a six term Senator from Delaware, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

From left, Senator Joseph Biden and
Senator Barack Obama in Springfield,
Illinois for the announcement that
Biden will be Obama’s vice presidential
running mate. August 23, 2008
(Photo by Daniel Schwen)

Obama described him as “that scrappy kid from Scranton who beat the odds; the dedicated family man and committed Catholic who knows every conductor on that Amtrak train to Wilmington.”

“That’s what it’s going to take to forge a new energy policy that frees us from our dependence on foreign oil and $4 gasoline at the pump, while creating new jobs and new industry,” Obama said.

League of Conservation Voters President Karpinski agrees. “With a lifetime LCV environmental score of 83 percent,” he said, “Joe Biden recognizes that ending our addiction to oil is vital to our national security. Senator Biden is a long-time leader on key energy and environmental issues, and the members of LCV enthusiastically support Senator Obama’s choice.”

In 2007, Karpinski pointed out, Biden voted to strengthen vehicle fuel economy standards and to repeal subsidies to oil companies. In 1986, he introduced the first bill designed to limit global warming pollution.

Biden has chaired Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on the national security implications of unchecked global warming.

He partnered with Republican Senator Dick Lugar to co-author and pass a resolution calling on the Bush administration to return to international negotiations to address climate change.

Biden voted yes on reducing oil usage by 40 percent by 2025, and he voted to reject drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

In Denver, the first space of its kind ever created at a national political convention is open to new media journalists, bloggers, reporters and nonprofit leaders covering the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

The Big Tent, an 8,000 square foot two story temporary structure, is a joint project of Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, DailyKos, and ProgressNow.

Set up next to a 100 year old warehouse building owned by Alliance for Sustainable Colorado in Denver’s Lower Downtown district, the tent features a Google Retreat with a YouTube kiosk and speakers appear on the Digg Stage.

On Sunday, in an event closed to the public, national radio commentator Jim Hightower, founder and president of Green for All Van Jones, and Maryland Congresswoman Donna Edwards took a look at what the Democratic campaign for change will mean over the next four years – the conflicts and theopportunities. They covered environmental justice; climate change, clean energy and global warming; technology and democracy.

Today, Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute, and author of “Rescuing a Planet Under Stress – Plan 3.0″ was a featured speaker in the Big Tent.

“Plan B 3.0 is a comprehensive plan for reversing the trends that are fast undermining our future. Its four overriding goals are to stabilize climate, stabilize population, eradicate poverty, and restore the Earth’s damaged ecosystems,” said Brown. “Failure to reach any one of these goals will likely mean failure to reach the others as well.”

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

WASHINGTON, DC, February 21, 2008 (ENS) – In the 2007 National Environmental Scorecard released today by the League of Conservation Voters, Republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain received a score of zero. The Scorecard is an annual measure of lawmakers’ votes on environmental issues.

McCain, an Arizona Republican, scored 0 percent in 2007 due to missing all 15 votes scored, including the key vote on repealing tax giveaways to big oil – a measure that failed by only one vote.

McCain was the only member of Congress to skip every crucial environmental vote scored by the LCV, posting a score lower than members of Congress who were out for much of the year due to serious illnesses, and even lower than some who died during the term.

Senator John McCain on the campaign trail
in New Hampshire. (Photo courtesy
McCain for President)

Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said, “We were appalled two weeks ago when John McCain was the only senator who chose to skip a crucial vote on the future of clean energy in America – dooming the measure to fail by just a single vote.”

“McCain missed votes to save his constituents $499 million dollars at the pump and at least $550 million on their energy bills, while creating more than 10,000 new clean energy jobs in his home state,” said Pope.

McCain posts a lifetime LCV environmental score of only 24. By contrast, the average member of Congress scored a 53 in 2007.

Still, McCain has received the endorsement of Republicans for Environmental Protection, the only environmental group recognized by the National Republican Party.

The presidential candidates’ scores all suffered from the occupational hazard of absenteeism. Senator Hillary Clinton, a New York Democrat, and Senator Barack Obam, an Illinois Democrat, missed four votes each in 2007.

Yet both made a point of being on hand for the key vote that would have allowed a version of the energy bill to move forward that included a provision to repeal billions of dollars in tax breaks for big oil and put that money toward clean energy programs.

Clinton’s score in 2007 was 73 percent and she scored 87 percent over her lifetime in the Senate.

Obama’s 2007 score was 67 percent, with an 86 percent lifetime score.

LCV President Gene Karpinski said the Scorecard shows that last year “marked a turning point for the environment, and proved that electing pro-environment candidates is a critical first step toward enacting sound environmental policies that will protect our planet and our future.”

“The progress of 2007, including passage of the first increase in fuel efficiency standards for automobiles in a generation, was largely due to new leadership in both the House and the Senate,” Karpinski said.

“We especially applaud Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and Majority Leader [Harry] Reid for their leadership, and we also commend the many new members who came to Congress determined to bring about a clean energy future,” he said.

“As we begin the second half of the 110th Congress, we realize we still have a long way to go,” said LCV Legislative Director Tiernan Sittenfeld. “But we have high hopes that lawmakers will build on the progress of 2007. Most important, they must heed the warnings of the world’s leading climate scientists who say we have a very short window in which to avert the catastrophic effects of global warming.”

“This year, LCV urges Congress to pass legislation reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 15 to 20 percent by 2020 and by 80 percent by 2050,” Sittenfeld said. “Our future depends on it, and LCV will continue to work hard to educate the public on which lawmakers are helping us achieve those goals.”

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.