By GottaLaff
For your viewing pleasure:
The President visits a Siemens wind turbine blade manufacturing plant in Fort Madison, IA on his White House to Main Street tour and speaks about how his Administrations investments in clean energy are creating jobs and new industries
By GottaLaff
Click to enlarge:
Some good news via a New York Times e-mail alert:
After nine years of regulatory review, the federal government gave the green light Wednesday to the nation's first offshore wind farm, a sprawling project off the coast of Cape Cod.
The approval of the 130-turbine farm gives a significant boost to the nascent offshore wind industry in the United States, which has lagged behind far Europe and China in harnessing the strong and steady power of ocean breezes to provide electricity to homes and businesses.
“I am approving the Cape Wind project,” Mr. Salazar said. “This will be the first of many projects up and down the Atlantic coast.”
By GottaLaff
And while we're at it, until there's a safe way to store nuclear waste, ix-nay on the ukes-nay, too.On the face of it, making the nation's abundant supply of coal less polluting is alluring. Keeping coal in the energy equation preserves jobs, and a way of life.
However, some scientists, clean-energy advocates and electricity producers are questioning Obama's approach. Instead, some argue, the world should phase out coal, use natural gas more efficiently and put more emphasis on renewable energy.
Critics of the administration's coal strategy also say it will be too expensive to retrofit existing plants with new technology, capture the carbon dioxide, compress it and pipe it to underground storage. More coal also would be needed to run the capture equipment.
What's more, the process wouldn't reduce coal's other pollution problems: smog, mercury, and the toxic metals such as lead and selenium in coal ash. Continuing to rely on coal also would do nothing to end the environmental damage of mining the coal itself. [...]
The Sierra Club has said it likes the president's overall energy plan, but disagrees with him on coal.
By GottaLaff
What's up with politics these days? According to John Podesta, it's suckitude, pure and simple. Can't argue with that:
Asked in an interview with the Financial Times to comment on "the health of American political system," Podesta responded: "Sucks." [...]
"I think the president is trying to re-engage with Republicans, but quite frankly he is not dealing with the party of Lincoln, he is dealing with the party of Palin and the party of McConnell and the party of Boehner," Podesta said in the interview, which was filmed and posted online Monday. "They have a political strategy, really, which is that fierce opposition, trying to say no to everything will endure to their political benefit, and so far it looks like that is working for them, so I don't see them changing all that much." [...]
"All the concentration was on working the inside legislative process and I think they paid a price for that, in my mind, the administration paid a price for that because I think the narrative was all about the deals and not what was in it, what the substance of what the legislation was and how it connected to the broader project" of improving people's lives and strengthening the economy, Podesta said.
Another "that said" moment: He still thinks a health care bill and an energy bill can be passed.
Apparently, the suckitude isn't fatal.
By GottaLaff
From: "Al Gore, Repower America" <info@repoweramerica.org>
Date: January 12, 2010 3:25:39 PM EST
To:
Subject: Clean Air Under Attack
 |
| Dear , It's an outrage. 2010 should start in a way that reflects our movement's amazing accomplishments from last year -- moving the ball forward to passage of comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. Instead, our elected leaders are proposing policies that would set us back decades and let the worst polluters completely off the hook. Despite the chorus of alarm bells sounding the need to address the climate crisis and stop polluting the air our families breathe and the water we drink, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and her allies are attacking the Clean Air Act -- for the second time in six months. And it gets worse. Last night, news broke that the original version of the amendment was literally drafted with lobbyists for the oil and coal industry.* We can't let this attack succeed. Write your Senators right now and tell them to vote NO on Senator Murkowski's proposal.  We defeated this same effort once already, just six months ago -- but the fossil fuel lobby is at it again. The amendment would strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its ability to regulate most carbon pollution, letting the worst polluters completely off the hook. Efforts like this are designed to do one thing and one thing only -- slow our transition to a clean energy economy that will create millions of new jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and solve the climate crisis. Help flood your Senators with messages to vote NO on this attack on the Clean Air Act. The very last thing we should do in the fight to end the climate crisis is throw away tools that we already know are effective at reducing pollution. But that's exactly what Senator Murkowski's proposal does. For decades, the Clean Air Act has kept millions of tons of pollutants out of our air and water. Senator Murkowski's proposal would create an Alaska-sized loophole in the Clean Air Act, giving a pass to the biggest carbon polluters. Write your Senators now and tell them to vote NO on Senator Murkowski's amendment -- and protect our air, water and climate. http://cpaf.repoweramerica. In 2010, our movement to solve the climate crisis will face its biggest test yet -- passing comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. But if Senator Murkowski's amendment passes, some in Congress will use it as an excuse to keep stalling -- and the long overdue promise of progress toward a 21st century clean energy economy will be lost. You helped stop this toxic amendment once before. Together, we can and must stop it again. Thank you, Al Gore __________ * "Murkowski and her lobbyist allies," The Washington Post, January 11, 2010 http://views.washingtonpost. |
By GottaLaff
Hey, nothing new here! Rachel Maddow thinks "infrastructure" is sexy. I feel a trend coming on...
I think this might be some of that "innovation" that President Obama speaks of.
HONOLULU—The plan to pump frigid waters from the ocean's depths to air condition downtown Honolulu isn't a pipe dream, and it could reduce the state's dependence on fossil fuels while slashing power bills that are the highest in the nation.
The long-studied cooling project by Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning would extend plumbing nearly 5 miles offshore, suck 45-degree water from 1,800 feet deep, circulate frosty water into buildings' existing A/C systems and then dump it back into the sea.
(snip)
"We'll save so much energy for the buildings. It's a real benefit when you don't have to go out and buy foreign oil and you get to keep the money in Hawaii," said Frederic Berg, project director for the company.
Hawaii gets about 90 percent of its power from foreign sources, resulting in the highest retail electricity prices of any state in the nation, according to an October report by the federal Energy Information Administration.
By GottaLaff
Just you wait, Prez Obama, just you wait...
If a letter from a presidential aide is to be believed, President Barack Obama is set to make an audacious call to end fossil fuel subsidies at the United Nations on Tuesday.
A letter (PDF) from Michael Froman, an aide to Obama, setting out the White House’s climate change priorities ahead of the Copenhagen summit, states that “eliminating fossil fuel subsidies would help energy markets work better and improve our energy security.”
That leads DailyKos blogger RLMiller to conclude that Obama “will ask the G-20 countries, including our own, to end the hypocritical practice of billions of dollars of subsidies to dirty, carbon-emitting fuels while preaching to developing countries about their carbon emissions.”
Yay! 
But the move will likely place the Obama administration at odds with some of the world’s most profitable companies. As DailyKos’ Miller writes: “If you thought the health insurers hated Obama, it ain’t nothing compared to the reaction by Exxon Mobil and pals!”
What?! 
By GottaLaff
If you missed this in the live feed of President Obama's speech in Elkhart, Indiana:
President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the federal government will provide $2.4 billion in grants for the development of more fuel-efficient, battery-powered automobiles.
I can almost smell the fresher air now...
By GottaLaff
Abnormalities in Sarah the Quitter's Tweets are the norm for someone as abnormal as she is:
A comprehensive analysis of Palin’s last two months of Twitter updates (May 26-July 26) reveals that she mentioned energy 53 times out of 400 updates, far more than any other single issue. That is nearly 4 times as many mentions than the economy, and just short of 11 times the mentions of health care. A word cloud based on her Twitter activity reinforces the fact that Palin has been focusing her efforts on leading the GOP’s opposition to clean energy reform. [...]
Moose? Does that say "moose"?
Wait. The amount of health care Tweets and moose Tweets are nearly equal. Say it ain't so, schmo.
Seriously, when I heard her last few speeches, I, too, noticed that she put the emphasis on energy. She does that a lot. Shrill, baby, shrill:
Palin continues along the same tired Republican trajectory on energy: continued dependence on fossil fuels combined with subsidies to the oil, coal, and nuclear industries.Why anyone would consider her a spokesperson for anything, let alone "clean" energy is beyond me.
By GottaLaff
What a knee-slapper! These wacky zany Foxers, what cut-ups, I gotta tell ya...
Yesterday on Fox Business, anchor David Asman hosted a round table dedicated to smearing the Waxman-Markey clean energy economy legislation. [...]How very sensitive of them. Then again, what do you expect from a guy named Asman? A guy named "Bishop", on the other hand...
Earlier during the programming (the segment aired at 7:30 eastern time), the death of Michael Jackson was announced.
By GottaLaff
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday canceled leases to drill for gas and oil on 77 parcels of public land in Utah.
The leases, which cover more than 100,000 acres, including lands near Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, were auctioned in the last weeks of the Bush administration. They were among 11th-hour actions taken by the Bush Interior Department that have been criticized by environmental groups and are being reviewed by Obama officials.
In a news conference, Mr. Salazar said that after a review of the leases he concluded that the Bush administration had “rushed ahead to sell oil and gas leases at the doorstep of some of our greatest national icons, some of our nation’s most treasured landscapes” without proper scientific review or consultation.
Why is there always a "however"? Whywhywhy? Here it is: How-damn-ever:
Go green. Drilling is so Sarah Palin ago. Just. Go. Green.He did not rule out drilling on the lands in the future if a review found it feasible. He said, however, that the Obama administration would find a “new balance” between protecting environmentally sensitive park areas and opening public lands to energy exploration and drilling. [...]
The cancellation is effective immediately and means that the government will forfeit $6 million in fees from the bidders.
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