Senate Climate Bill Draft Finally Introduced: The American Power Act

[Update]: Here are some initial write-ups about the legislation – something to peruse until more specific commentary can be put together.

MSNBC

Huffington Post

Daniel Weiss at Climate Progress

Original Post:

It’s still early in the process of passing climate legislation, but Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman today will finally introduce a draft bill to address our climate and energy crises: The American Power Act (S1733).  As we saw with the health care insurance legislation that eventually made it through the Senate, a lot can happen to a bill after being introduced – including not passing at all, which is what has happened for decades.  This is a prime example of science meshing with politics.  As someone who has studied science and experienced politics, I can’t say I’m optimistic about either this bill’s chances of passing the Senate or this bill’s effects.  I will continue by saying now that I sincerely hope I’m wrong on both counts.  The survivability of our civilization and countless species across the globe largely depends on me being wrong.

With the bill being released to the public as of this afternoon, the analysis of the bill and comparison between it and the House version (ACES, H.R. 2454) which passed last summer can begin.  As I view the climate crisis as the leading issue of our day (indeed, the leading issue of our generation and likely our species’ existence), I will have much more to say about its details, how debate alters it and whether it will or will not be passed by the entire Senate.

I think an argument can be made that given recent dirty energy-related disasters have occurred in the U.S., now could be the best time to really push progressive changes to the legislation.  American’s attention will eventually turn away from the Massey mine explosion and the Gulf oil volcano.  The climate crisis is simply a slower version of these kinds of disasters – all man-made and all similarly preventable by our actions.  Thus I ask: Where is President Obama on this issue?  Yes, there is a lot on his plate right now.  But this culmination of events likely won’t occur together again for some time.  As attention wanes, public pressure for short- and long-term climate and energy solutions will also likely decrease.  The climate doesn’t care what the political will or pressure is within the U.S.  It’s going to continue doing what it has been doing until physical balances are once again reached.

For now, a few links to materials that easily shatter the most likely myths that will be cited by the fringe right-wing to defeat this legislation.

McKinsey Global Institute’s June 2008 Carbon Productivity paper.  This report addresses the “It will cost too much to implement anything” myth.  See especially p.15 (Exhibit 5) which details how readily available cost savings are from a number of proposed activities.  Many solutions pay for themselves quickly and many times over.  Others have a higher cost, but even some of those costs will fall as larger economies of scale are exploited.

Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s October 2009 Energy Self-Reliant States report.  The wind section was just updated this month.  This paper addresses the “We have no choice but to continue to use dirty energy” myth.  I’m not sure which of these two myths is more absurd.  As this report demonstrates, Colorado is one of a number of states (mostly in the middle of the country) which has >1000% electricity self-sufficiency using combined clean energy sources (wind, solar, geothermal & hydro).  Yes, you read that correctly: more than one-thousand percent.  A majority of states have far more potential electricity potential available today with clean sources than they use from dirty sources.

And now, I have some reading to do…

Good Video on Wind Power Potential

“We’re swimming in energy,” as Peter Sinclair says in this very well done video:

There is plentiful wind power.

Wind power is more viable than most people realize.

Germany has paid customers to use excess power from their wind farms, a “problem” that will happen more often in the future.  When was the last time your utility paid you to use their excess power from dirty energy?  Never.

China installed gigawatts of wind power in 2008 and 2009.  The Communist Chinese are doing something the Capitalist Americans refuse to do: become the world leaders in renewable energy.  80 wind turbine manufacturers exist in China.  Foreign wind turbine manufacturers operate in the U.S.

Dems “Vow” To Push Climate Legislation

Excuse me while I yawn after reading something so silly.  Senate Democrats have vowed to introduce this legislation for the past 15 months.  It has yet to be introduced.  Senate Democrats have no idea what they’re doing in terms of controlling the schedule or the debate on most issues.  They botched the stimulus (certainly not enough, as  I fear we’ll come to find), they botched health care legislation (which turned into a massive health insurance giveaway), they botched climate and energy (the House has been done with their bill for almost a year now) and they’ve botched immigration (I don’t think it’s the leading issue of our time, but they certainly allowed racist Arizonans to decide when it was going to be handled).

So when I read the Senate Democrats are planning on introducing their climate and energy legislation this Wednesday, after last Monday’s false start thanks to Arizona, consider me underwhelmed.  The American people by large numbers wanted something, anything to happen with regard to health care.  Those numbers don’t exist for climate and energy legislation, despite the obviously larger degree of necessity for a 21st century policy approach.  What I think that means is there won’t be 60 votes to stop the pathetic batch of losers known as the Senate Cons from stopping everything from moving forward.  The Cons think they need to move even further toward the political fringe because a minute number of over-spoken, wealthy white men have managed to convince the corporate media that they’re more politically important than demonstrable majorities of the rest of America.

If Democrats cannot introduce and pass progressive climate and energy legislation while they control historic majorities in the House and Senate while also controlling the White House, it won’t happen any time soon.  By the time it does, critical tipping points will have been handily passed and any future actions taken will be more expensive and less effective than if they had been passed in 2009 or 2010.

Because here’s what the entire topic boils down to: the climate doesn’t care what kind of political support climate legislation enjoys in any country.  The climate is a physical process that is responding to our forcing more than it is responding to natural forcing.  It will do what it will do.  We can push it even further out of the balance it was in for most of past few hundred thousand years or we can stop forcing it and allow it to regain an equilibrium more suitable for the current variety of life on this planet.

Nashville Rainfall Record Shattered Last Week

Amidst all the bad news emanating from the Tennessee area after storms hit the region last week, an important piece of information was not very well reported.

In 1979, a weakening Hurricane Frederic let 6.60″ of rain loose in the Nashville, TN area.

In 2010, thunderstorms dumped over 13″ of rain in Nashville over two days.  That includes a new one-day record, 7.25″, and the third highest 24-hour amount recorded, 6.32″.  13″ of rain in two days is a ridiculous amount of precipitation.

To the anti-science, climate change denier crowd: extreme precipitation events are one of the projected effects of climate change as we continue through the 21st century.  Storm systems that unleash twice as much rain in two days as a hurricane did 30 years prior would easily qualify as an extreme precipitation event.  While no one storm system can be directly attributed to climate change, it’s not like such projections were never made by climate scientists.  We continue along the same destructive habits at our own peril.

Remember the deluge that affected Atlanta, GA last September?  Conditions for these kinds of events have been primed.  The climate system is responding to the forcing being exerted.

State of the Poles – 5/5/10

The state of polar sea ice in April 2010 is fairly good compared to climatological conditions (1979-2000), which strongly contrasts with the past few months when global conditions were below climatology.  As it has done this time of year for a few years in a row, the global sea ice extent increased to the point where it is near climatological values, as this graph demonstrates.  The anomalies observed in 2006 and 2007 become more obvious each time the globe’s sea ice increases in March/April.

Max Baucus & The Deficit

Max Baucus is a Democratic Senator from Montana.  He’s been making noise in the past year about wanting to control our deficits, while telling the American people that health care reform measures would have to be paid for with money from other policies.  He had a quote lately about unemployment insurance.  Some folks have been out of work and unable to find a new job for a very long time.  Currently, unemployment insurance runs out after 99 weeks.  Congress did a poor job in the past year or so extending those benefit payments for more weeks than was “normal” in the 2000s.  It seems Sen. Baucus doesn’t think unemployment insurance payments should extend beyond the current 99 weeks they’re available:

“You can’t go on forever,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, of Montana, whose panel oversees the benefits program. “I think 99 weeks is sufficient,” he said.

Really, Sen. Baucus?  That’s an interesting position to take, given his record on the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Both were not subjected to the same budget constraints that Sen. Baucus wants to apply to unemployment insurance: there was no requirement that they be paid for so that the deficit wouldn’t increase.  The occupation of Iraq has lasted over 370 weeks.  Where is Sen. Baucus’ “99 weeks” limit?  The occupation of Afghanistan has lasted over 445 weeks.  Where is Sen. Baucus’ “99 weeks” limit?

No the, 99 weeks limit only applies to American workers who through no fault of their own find themselves out of work and unable to be hired for a new one.  They are not providing for their families, their communities or their country.

But the off-budget, deficit-busting occupations of two countries can last forever, as long as Sen. Baucus cares.

It’s good to know what his priorities are.

Gulf Coast Oil Spill: Worse and Worse and Worse

In light of the fact that BP was not sufficiently prepared to be doing the kind of work they were doing (at immense and obscene profits), the news yesterday that the rate at which oil is leaking from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico where BP was drilling has likely increased day by day for 10 days now is shocking and damning.

Instead of the original 1,000 barrels per day (42,000 gallons) of oil leaking, pro-environmental groups examining satellite data helped convince the government and BP to revise that estimate upwards dramatically – to 5,000 barrels per day (~200,000 gallons).  Further examination indicates that a worst-case scenario is developing that far outpaces that 5,000 barrel per day estimate.

A Florida State University professor has come out with an 8 million to 9 million gallons of oil already leaked estimate.  The Exxon Valdez oil spill back in 1989 totaled 11 million gallons of oil.  This newest spill could easily become the largest oil spill disaster in American history.  That well head isn’t expected to be capped for weeks to months.  How much environmental damage will occur in the meantime as oil sloshes around the Gulf of Mexico?  How many small businesses will be shut down that depend on Gulf wildlife in their jobs?

Oil is dirty.  Oil drilling is dirty.  It’s that simple.  Instead of expanding off-shore drilling, as President Obama outlined earlier this year, drilling should have been placed under more common-sense regulations and problems that have been festering for years should have been taken care of.  As I wrote above, the oil industry’s profits are obscene.  It’s not like they don’t have the money to invest in a little safety.

As I wrote yesterday, wind and solar energy are called “clean” for good reasons.  Oil, coal and natural gas are called “dirty” for good reasons.  Note the dirty energy industry’s attempts to relabel itself as “clean” on dozens of commercials per day.  They’re spending a lot of money in a re-brand attempt.  We need to end our addiction to dirty energy.  Clean energy resources exist in such abundance that the world’s energy needs today are dwarfed by the supply.  We don’t need to suffer through mine explosions, oil spills and environmental disasters that grow worse by the year.

Off-Shore Oil Leak Now Impacting U.S. Coast; BP Had No Plans

BP is going to take a big PR hit for the oil drilling rig explosion and subsequent oil leak that as of this weekend is impacting coastal areas along Louisiana.  This event has a lot of aspects that, unsurprisingly, the corporate media is failing to cover.  I will point out early that “clean energy” is called clean for very good reasons.

I’ll start with some breaking news: BP didn’t adequately plan for this contingency.  That news isn’t particularly surprising to many observers.  Corporations as big as BP count potential disasters such as this just a tiny cost of doing business.  Remember, this industry makes billions of dollars in profits every 3 months.  Square that away with news that similar operations in northern Europe are required to operate with new technologies that can stop the flow of oil from significant depths.  Thanks to lobbying by BP and others, use of such technologies were designated as voluntary in the U.S.  A $500,000 piece of technology likely could have prevented this unfolding environmental disaster.  BP lobbied against regulations – that’s a major side of this that is getting next to no exposure.

In fact, BP’s relationship with the U.S. government deserves much more scrutiny.  BP didn’t notify the government how bad the resulting oil leak was, though they likely knew days before the government figured it out for itself.  Imagine for a moment if the Bush Regime were still in office.  I doubt the response to this disaster from them would match what President Obama’s team is doing.  Cabinet-level involvement from the Bushies?  Only to defend BP in their spin room.  So after fighting against more common sense regulations (just trust BP, they can take care of everything themselves) and not telling the government pertinent information, BP now wants that same government’s assistance – because they don’t have equipment to deal with the disaster they created.  Why should BP, or any other corporation, be required to demonstrate up-to-date safety and clean-up procedures for their activities, after all?  They like to project themselves as a responsible corporation that has the U.S. peoples’ and our environment’s best interests in mind.  The walk can’t live up to the talk, as we’ve found out.

Additionally, BP fought against common-sense safety rules implementation and auditing on their rigs.  In order to make more money sooner, safety shortcuts were taken; auditors were rushed through their inspections; the results were downplayed.  Contrast that again with operations in the scary socialist countries of northern Europe.  While not free of fraud or corporate influence, operations there are held under tighter scrutiny.  More often, the results are different.

Another big difference between the uber-capitalist approach taken by the U.S. and the scary socialist approach in European countries is the presence of union workers on rigs overseas.  Union safety officials work with governmental safety inspectors – they have their people’s lives and livelihoods in mind, and not the bottom-line of the corporation.  Only workers who are alive and whole can make money, after all.

So spill, baby, spill.  It should be considered a national tragedy that something like this occurred.  This is the direct, and by folks like myself, expected result of allowing corporations to run government instead of allowing government to take reasonable measures to ensure corporate activities made sense.

Oh, another thing.  Do you read news stories of wind farms blowing up, as coal mines do when methane gas is allowed to build up?  Do you read news stories of solar farms spilling millions of gallons of flammable fluid that kills wildlife?  Of course you don’t.  Wind and solar energy is called ‘clean energy’ for good reasons.  Coal, oil and natural gas are called ‘dirty energy’ for good reasons.  We can push our elected officials to make clean energy a bigger part of our lives.  or we can destroy the environment for thousands of years and continue to make every effort possible to use all the dirty energy we can.