The mid-term elections continue to dominate the August congressional recess. Members of Congress will go on campaigning for two more weeks before returning to Washington, D.C. in mid-September. 1Sky and our allies, including 350 and Energy Action Coalition, continue to hammer members of Congress to protect the Clean Air Act and work to address our addiction to fossil fuels and the climate crisis. See coverage in the New York Times.

Congressional Timeline:

• 9/13: Congress returns from recess
• 10/8: Target adjournment for House
• 11/2: Election Day

Key Primary Results

In the Alaska Republican Primary, tea party candidate Joe Miller is on pace to defeat Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) with a 1,900-vote lead with only a few thousand absentee ballots still being counted. Miller is a climate denier who consistently accuses Senator Murkowski of being too moderate on energy issues. This close defeat brings the political effectiveness of Senator Murkowski's attacks on the Clean Air Act into question. Senator Murkowski moved to the right on the issue of Clean Air Act regulations, but was still attacked as a more liberal candidate on energy in general. In the process, Senator Murkowski suffered in-state public criticism for her actions, which certainly didn't help her in such a tight race.

The Anchorage Daily News honed in on the fact that lobbyists helped write Senator Murkowsk's Dirty Air Act. Meanwhile, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) ran TV ads attacking Senator Murkowski for prioritizing out-of-state polluters over the people of Alaska:

Friends of the Earth ran Alaska radio ads (.mp3) highlighting her contributions from corporate polluters and their lobbyists, and Greenpeace's PolluterHarmony mocked her close ties to former Bush administration officials working on behalf of utilities and coal companies to gut the Clean Air Act:

By 1Sky blogger Nick Santos. See his bio at the end of this post.-- Luis

Take a good look at this graph from the Stern Review (data from McKinsey & Company). It's a graph of potential sources of CO2 reductions in Gigatons of CO2 equivalent per year (Abatement Gt CO2e/year) sorted by the cost of abatement in Euros per ton of CO2 equivalent reduced (Cost of abatement EUR/tCO2e). So, the height of a box shows the cost of that reduction, with negative costs being profits, and the width of the box shows the potential amount of CO2 we can reduce with it per year. The total area of a box is the total cost if we reduce the amount of CO2 in the box.

1Sky and our allies continue to hammer members of Congress for their failure to address climate change and our addiction to dirty energy while also highlighting how much money members received from the fossil fuel industry. On the campaign trail, some candidates are using climate change to score political points and capitalize on the general mistrust among voters of the D.C. establishment. The EPA is hosting public hearings around the country on toxic coal combustion waste and the effort to reduce smog and protect the public health. Finally, the controversy continues over the White House report claiming that 3/4 of the oil in the Gulf of Mexico has "evaporated or dissolved."

Coal power plants are by far the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in this country. Their pollution is making our planet a more dangerous place to live. But these coal plants also produce a by-product waste called "coal ash."  Coal ash contains toxic chemicals like arsenic, mercury and lead that can poison the water supplies of entire communities and are known to cause birth defects and premature deaths.

The Environmental Protection Agency needs to regulate coal ash as "hazardous waste" -- and as you'd expect, Dirty Coal and their allies plan to fight these regulations tooth and nail to protect their profits. The EPA needs to hear from you today. Tell the EPA you support cracking down on Dirty Coal and their dangerous coal ash.

On December 22, 2008, a ruptured ash dike at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Eastern Tennessee released 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash -- enough to fill 1,660 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The spill covered nearly 400 acres of land, causing major property and environmental damage. The sludge contained high levels of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and selenium that can cause cancer and neurological problems. This is exactly the kind of disaster that the EPA needs to prevent in the future with tough regulations.

The EPA will hold hearings in seven cities about these coal ash regulations over the next few weeks, so it's critical that they hear from you right now. If you live near any of the following cities, please sign up to attend an EPA hearing on coal ash regulations near you:

• Monday, August 30: Arlington, VA at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City
• Thursday, September 2: Denver, CO at the Grand Hyatt
• Wednesday, September 8: Dallas, TX at the Hyatt Regency Dallas
• Tuesday, September 14: Charlotte, NC at the Holiday Inn Charlotte (Airport)
• Thursday, September 16: Chicago, IL at the Hilton Chicago
• Tuesday, September 21: Pittsburgh, PA at the Omni Hotel
• Tuesday, September 28: Louisville, KY at the Seelbach Hilton

The more they hear from concerned citizens like you, the harder it will be for Dirty Coal to block these regulations. Let's protect the health of our families and communities --  send your comments to the EPA today and sign up to attend a hearing near you.

By 1Sky policy fellow Gabe Elsner. -- Ines

1Sky and our allies kicked off a summer of "shadowing" elected officials at events all over the country to express our outrage that the Senate failed to address our climate crisis and our dangerous addiction to fossil fuels. So far we have had a successful presence at events in AR, CO, FL, and MO, with many more to come.

This week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) canceled a vote on the oil spill response package, punting consideration until after the August recess. Without bipartisan support, the bill did not have the votes necessary for passage. BP's "static kill" finally plugged the deepwater well that has been spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico for over 3 months. Both houses of Congress are out on recess until September 13th. 1Sky’s board reflects on the state of affairs regarding climate action. During the recess, 1Sky will be "shadowing" members of Congress wearing giant "oily hands" to represent the dirty money from oil and coal companies that is holding our energy policy hostage in Congress.

By 1Sky blogger Janelle Corn, Ph.D. See her bio at the end of this post. -- Luis

Alex Bea recently posted a review of a publication (.pdf) that will help us all communicate more effectively about climate change. This led me to consider how I, as an ecologist, might add to the discussion about effective communication.

UPDATE: Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) postponed a vote on oil spill response legislation due to opposition from the entire 41-member Republican caucus and 2 moderate Democrats. Reid hopes to revisit the legislation after the August recess.

With hope of a climate bill this summer stamped out by partisan politics, the House and Senate have been working to pass narrowly-focused oil spill response and drilling reform measures. The House bill passed on Friday, 209-193, with two Republicans supporting it. The Senate bill failed to attract bipartisan support, and is being postponed until after recess. Members of the House are on recess beginning this week, and the Senate will follow suit after voting on Elena Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation later in the week. August recess will be a key time to hold senators accountable for their inaction on climate and energy.

Last Thursday, Senate Leaders announced that they would not be taking up climate legislation to the floor before August. This move makes consideration of a cap on carbon unlikely in this Congress. The Senate will instead move forward before the August recess with a more narrowly focused bill aimed mostly at responding directly to the oil spill. 1Sky’s angry press statement reaction is here.

After nearly three months of inaction since the beginning of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the Senate will finally take on climate and clean energy within the next two weeks.