Cross-posted at Huffington Post.

When it comes to the outlook for climate and energy policy under President-elect Barack Obama and the 111th Congress, there’s the good news, and then there are the serious challenges that we must work together to confront in the critical year that lies ahead.

New coal plants are the most urgent threat to our dangerously fragile climate. Just yesterday, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appeals board issued a ruling that will essentially halt the construction of new coal plants in the United States for the near term.

Just a few hours ago, the EPA released a decision that will put an immediate halt to the construction of new coal-fired power plants in the US. This is an enormous coup for the climate movement.

This is a guest post from Kate Ellis, the 1Sky Minnesota Organizer at Fresh Energy (cross-posted from the Fresh Energy Blog).

Minnesota received great news Monday when Governor Tim Pawlenty unveiled a green jobs plan to spur economic development while preserving our environment and tackling global warming. The new program, dubbed the “Green Jobs Investment Initiative” includes tax exemptions and credits for businesses that create green jobs, credits specifically for small-scale green businesses, incentives for innovation in the green tech sectors, and monitoring of state energy usage and emission levels.

The Office of Management and Budget is burning oil – midnight oil, that is. They’re lucky it’s fairly cheap these days.

They’re working overtime to review a trainload of proposed rule changes that have been submitted by a variety of agencies in the twilight of the Bush Administration.

Late last spring, I flagged in this blog a memo issued by White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten to regulatory agencies advising them to pull together any proposed rule changes they might wish to pursue by June 1, with an aim toward making them final by November 1. This, Mr. Bolten explained, was to avoid a mad dash for midnight regulations -- those last-minute tweaks to federal rules made in the final weeks and months of a departing administration. The memo made an exception for “extraordinary circumstances” -- of course.

Ceres President Mindy Lubber reacts to Tuesday's election results:

The election of Barack Obama and a strengthened Democratic Congress is a pivotal opportunity for the nation to reset its course. We must accept the offer made last night by the president-elect to “join in the work of remaking the nation.” And we must hold our new leaders to their promise to reform the instruments of our society to assure a future that is livable, safe and just for everyone.

Cross-posted at Huffington Post.

Yesterday, millions of Americans voted in record numbers for a dramatic change our country's direction. After eight years of near-paralysis on the climate front, and in the midst of our biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the election of Barack Obama and a host of new Members of Congress--many of whom support clean, renewable energy, green-collar jobs and caps on carbon emissions--gives us hope that we'll finally get the bold climate leadership we've been looking for in Washington.

The following is a guest post from Morgan Pitts, Research Director at the Presidential Climate Action Plan (PCAP). -- Luis

The nearly two-year long campaign for the American presidency is finally, mercifully, drawing to a close. In less than two weeks, we’ll know who will lead our country for the next four years. That person will inherit significant challenges: two wars, a declining economy, a volatile energy system and a dangerously destabilizing climate.

Yesterday, two powerful House Democrats introduced a new climate bill that is substantially weaker than climate change legislation released in the last year. Rep John Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) have been promising a bill for quite some time, and have spent much of the last Congress discussing various aspects of a climate bill in detailed white papers.

Last night in the Vice Presidential debate, you heard both Senator Biden and Governor Palin touting their support for "clean coal".  Today, President Bush signed a $700 "bailout" bill passed by Congress that provides important tax credit extensions for renewable energy and energy efficiency measures--but also gives $25 billion in tax credits to the coal industry.

Both presidential campaigns and our Congress are missing the point:  Conventional coal-burning power plants are the leading cause of global warming pollution in the United States.

"Clean Coal" is a myth--a contradiction in terms.  Coal companies claim they can develop coal plants at some point in the distant future that will capture and sequester carbon pollution.  But carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is unproven and exorbitantly expensive.  At best, the technology will not be commercially available until 2030, and installing carbon capture systems will almost double plant costs, which won't provide any relief to Americans' soaring utility bills. We need real solutions, not coal industry myths.  Send a message to both Presidential campaigns that we need clean, green energy now.