Blog & news round-up 9/18: Bad news from Alaska, the G-20 Summit, and a message from Van Jones

Sorry to kick off the roundup with bad news, but this first item needs some attention. Miles at NWF writes about the incomprehensible steps Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is taking to block limits on greenhouse gases:

Alaska has been called the poster state for global warming. Winter temperatures have already risen 6 degrees. Sea ice that protects coastal villages from winter storms forms a week later than it used to. Forests are under siege from wildfires and insects. Melting permafrost is shifting foundations of homes and drying up lakes. And the state's symbol, the polar bear, is seeing its habitat literally vanish from under its feet.

Which is why it's so unbelievable that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) would be leading an effort to block limits on global warming pollution:

Murkowski, ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, may introduce an amendment to the fiscal 2010 Interior and environment appropriations bill that would allow EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions only from mobile sources, and prohibit the agency from regulating heat-trapping emissions from stationary sources like power plants and industrial facilities. [...]

Environmentalists assailed the amendment, saying it would basically instruct EPA to ignore the law.

"This amendment suggests that if global warming pollution comes from a power plant, it is safe, but if it comes from a car, it is harmful," said David Moulton, director of climate policy and conservation funding at the Wilderness Society. "That is a preposterous distinction that cannot be supported in either law or fact."

If you live in Alaska, please get on the phone right now with Sen. Murkowski's office today and ask her knock it off. You can call at 202-224-6665, or better yet, use our handy online tool that lets you call toll-free.

This week, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon published an op-ed column in the New York Times urging world leaders to take bold action on climate change at Copenhagen this December:

The Arctic is our canary in the coal mine for climate impacts that will affect us all.

I was alarmed by the rapid pace of change there. Worse still, changes in the Arctic are now accelerating global warming. Thawing permafrost is releasing methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Melting ice in Greenland threatens to raise sea levels.

Meanwhile, global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.

I am therefore all the more convinced we must act — now.

To that end, on Sept. 22 I am convening a special summit on climate change at the United Nations for some 100 world leaders — history’s largest-ever such gathering of heads of state and government. Their collective challenge: transform the climate crisis into an opportunity for safer, cleaner, sustainable green growth for all.

The key is Copenhagen, where governments will gather to negotiate a new global climate agreement in December.

The summit is part of Climate Week NY°C, a partnership between The Climate Group, the United Nations, the UN Foundation, the City of New York, the Government of Denmark, Tck Tck Tck Campaign and Carbon Disclosure Project. Climate Week NY°C will be holding a number of other events next week in NYC, which you can find on their events page.

Next week will be a busy one on the climate front here in the U.S. In addition to the U.N. summit, the G-20 Summit will take place in Pittsburgh next Thursday and Friday. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a preview of what the G-20 Summit could mean for climate negotiations down the road:

Because the G-20 gathering will put the 20 nations responsible for 80 percent of the world's man-made carbon dioxide emissions in the same room, it could provide the best opportunity to efficiently address the roles of industrialized nations in structuring a global financing deal. Plus, President Barack Obama asked the finance ministers to work on climate change funding plans.

"Next week is an extremely important week, an opportunity for President Obama to play a leadership role on climate change," said David Doniger, policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate Center. "It's an opportunity to work with other countries to make sure all can commit the resources necessary to the global effort. Presidential engagement is critical."

Mr. Doniger said the president and Congress have made a serious commitment to deliver climate change legislation and other nations are also stepping up.

China's most recent five-year plan includes a number of conservation measures and commitments to reduce emissions, he said. And there is movement on those issues in Brazil, South Africa and other developing countries. India, another major player, has expressed concern about international commitments, and still must ramp up its domestic actions on emissions and energy efficiency.

The Obama administration showed some of that leadership earlier this week by fleshing out a proposal that could strengthen America's hand in Copenhagen:

The Obama administration on Tuesday formally proposed new fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, a move that signals the first federal limits on greenhouse-gas pollution.

In a news conference at the White House on Tuesday, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said the proposed regulations would save 1.8 billion gallons of oil between 2012 and 2016, and prevent greenhouse-gas equivalent to the output of 42 million cars. The regulations will now go through a 60-day public comment period.

. . .

"This is the biggest increase in fuel economy in over 30 years. It's truly historic," said Brendan Bell, of the group Union of Concerned Scientists. Bell said, however, that the proposal contains a complex system of accounting for pollution that could be gamed by automakers. The government has "to watch to make sure that automakers are not using Enron accounting to meet compliance," he said.

The move could bolster the U.S. negotiating position at the upcoming international climate talks in Copenhagen, said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), because "the Obama administration is taking steps to reduce our emissions. It sends a message, 'We're going to do this across our economy in a way that makes sense.'"

This is terrific new of course, but we still need President Obama's leadership to prod the Senate into passing a strong clean energy and climate bill ASAP. Tell the President to lead on climate, then call your senators and ask them to do the same!

If you follow New York State politics at all, you know that the State Senate hasn't exactly been a model of bipartisanship (or governance, in fact) for a few months now. But sometimes even the most dysfunctional political institutions can prove you wrong. 1Sky board member Billy Parish writes this week about the groundbreaking Green Job/Green New York Act that cleared the State Senate last week and transcended partisanship for the good of the state:

The bill—expected to be signed into law this week by Gov. David Patterson—leverages $112m in revenue from the Northeast's’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) into $5 billion of private investment to finance home weatherization, energy efficiency projects, and green jobs creation.

We should all be paying closer attention for three reasons:

1) It is one of the first large-scale pieces of legislation that concretely demonstrates why green jobs are a win-win-win. Homeowners win by reducing their energy costs. The private sector wins by gaining a safer investment with strong expected returns. And New Yorkers benefit through the creation of 16,000 new jobs and the increased economic activity and tax receipts the program will generate.  It’s a blueprint that can work in other states and regions as well.

2) It’s also a model for sensible national climate and energy policy. While the version of the American Clean Energy & Securities Act that passed in the House gives away a substantial portion of the pollution allowances to utilities, the RGGI program in the Northeast auctions off the credits creating the $112 million in revenue, which the state is leveraging 50x to create new jobs and save homeowners on their heating and electricity bills. 

3) Finally, the Green Job/Green New York Act highlights the power of bipartisan efforts to achieve common sense solutions. Republican support is what made the bill possible. Rather than fight any effort for sensible policy like the national Republican leadership, local leaders have proven to be in touch with the concerns of their constituents, helping to pass the bill 52-8 in the Senate and 147-0 in the Assembly. But putting politics aside and the needs of New Yorkers first, they showed the way for national cooperation on this issue.

Finally, let me leave you with some words from the man who drives Glenn Beck crazy -- well, crazier -- and is also a bona fide climate hero: Van Jones. Earlier this week, Van broke his silence about this resignation from the White House with a message he sent to his friends and supporters:

Dear Friends:

My family and I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and support that we have received over the past week or so. I resigned from the White House on Sept. 6, and I have remained silent since then—in keeping with my promise not to be a distraction during a key moment in the Obama Presidency.

Over the past several days, however, many people have been asking how they can help and what they can do.

The main thing is this: please do everything you can to support both President Obama and the green jobs movement. Winning real change is ultimately the best response to these kinds of smear campaigns.

Read the rest of Van's message, then show him so love on Facebook and Twitter. Have a nice weekend and if we missed any good stories, share them in the comments!