View as Webpage (or if images don't appear)

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's latest

Time to Wake Up

Sen. Whitehouse was the only Federal elected representative to attend the recent climate conference in Brazil. (Gov. Newsom was there as well.) He says the State Department refused to facilitate his trip, and there was no US pavilion. China stole the show. The Senator conveys several important messages: Trump does not represent the USA. He represents the fossil fuel industry. Polls show overwhelming support for carbon pollution limits, fees on big polluters, and a price on carbon (@7'29), which he describes as "the only remaining path to climate safety. We had alternatives 20 years ago, but now the "last lifeboat" is the E.U.'s carbon border adjustment mechanism," about to go into effect next year, sending a global price signal.

He notes that the great climate insurance collapse is imminent, which will lead to massive, cascading destabilizing economic impacts. "It's not about polar bears anymore, but the entire global financial system. Buckle up, banks," he warns.



"You gotta put a price on carbon. There's no excuse." But an elaborate "web of denial" -- front groups spreading disinformation -- protects the 700 billion dollar annual subsidy the fossil fuel industry realizes by "externalizing" the costs of damages caused by their product, which remains artificially "cheap."

Spend a firey half hour with Sen. Whitehouse. (Scroll back to the beginning.) It's well worth your time.

You are invited to join the Marin/Sonoma Chapters' monthly call on Saturday, December 13 at 9 AM Pacific here.

First we'll have a presentation on "negative emission technologies," aka carbon dioxide removal (CDR), a complex and controversial set of technologies aimed at drawing down the billions of tons of CO₂ already up there. We'll then discuss local and national CCL news, and you'll have the opportunity to share your views about the past year's events. Join here.

Last month's inspiring talk by climate scientist Dr. Ben Santer is archived here.

*************************************

Then, at 10 AM, join the national call here.

Agenda to be announced shortly.



Trump Is the Biggest Wild Card in Permitting Reform

There's widespread agreement that America's electricity grid needs to be modernized and clean energy projects accelerated. CCL is actively lobbying for permitting reform; Congress is motivated to pass a bipartisan deal, but Democrats are demanding limits on executive power.

Edited excerpts from the Heatmap article:

"A big bipartisan permitting reform deal may be in the offing in Washington. But getting it done will require taking away one of Donald Trump’s favorite toys: The power to mess with solar and wind permits."

Rep.Huffman: “all of this is completely academic if you don’t release the hostage.” (Renewables.)

"Last week, the House Natural Resources Committee advanced the SPEED Act, (Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act), a bill introduced by Republican committee chair Bruce Westerman, that would put the full weight of Congress behind the federal permitting process. There’s a lot in this bill for energy developers of all stripes to like — and a lot for environmental activists to loathe, including a 150-day statute of limitations on litigation, language enforcing shorter deadlines for reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (also known as NEPA), and a requirement that final approvals be released within 30 days of said review’s completion. 

But this bill will mean nothing for the renewables industry if the Trump administration continues to dawdle on the kinds of routine governmental actions necessary to move any infrastructure project forward. 

Since the start of Trump’s latest turn in office, officials have woven a paralytic web of bureaucratic hold-ups that make it next to impossible for a solar or wind energy project to get federal permits for construction activities. Meanwhile the SPEED Act, like NEPA, is essentially a process statute at this point — it deals with the boundaries within which environmental reviews are conducted. Without requiring the government to process any project regardless of whether it’s a renewable energy project or a new coal plant, Trump officials could easily produce endless delays and remain inside the letter of the law.

This is why Representative Jared Golden, a retiring moderate Democrat from Maine, pushed to add language to the SPEED Act that blocks any president from rescinding a permit after its approval. In theory, this would insulate offshore wind projects from losing even more permits. 

The bill — including the restriction on executive power — passed the House Natural Resources Committee on a bipartisan 25 to 18 vote, though only two Democrats voted in favor. 

Our member of congress, Rep. Jared Huffman, ranking member of the House Natural Resource Committee, blasted the bill with this statement:

“The National Environmental Policy Act is the foundation of America’s environmental successes and a critical tool for government transparency. Chairman Westerman has taken the most tired lie in Washington — that NEPA is to blame for America’s permitting problems — and spun it into an assault on our environmental protections and public input. This is not a NEPA “tune up” focused on building “things we need,” as their press release euphemistically spins. This bill is a deliberate effort to shield polluters from scrutiny and bury the climate risks of massive fossil fuel projects – while the Trump administration continues to kneecap permitting of the clean energy projects we actually do need.”

“Americans don’t ‘need’ a rubber-stamp express lane for pipelines and strip mines. We need smart, coordinated planning, real community engagement, and investment in the people and agencies that move good projects forward, and we need to end Trump’s absurd war on clean energy. Enacting this polluter wishlist takes us in exactly the wrong direction.”

“Any deal hinges on the Trump administration providing assurances they’re not going to kill every single clean energy project in existence,” said Representative Mike Levin, a California Democrat.

“We’re going to need language in any bill that would provide certainty that all these projects permitted would be allowed to proceed, that permits will be honored, that in the future more permits will be granted. And I do not trust this administration to honor that without concrete language in the bill." 

CCL is also skeptical of the SPEED act and hopeful that Congress can work the kinks out. Click here for more detail.

Park bench in Ashland, Oregon. Courtesy of Dr. Ben Santer.

The Trump administration has shut down more than 100 climate studies

“These grant terminations are theft from the American people...By illegally ending this research the Trump administration is wasting taxpayer dollars, gutting US leadership in science, and telling the world that the US government breaks its promises.”

Tens of millions of dollars in NSF grants have been slashed, and scientists fear the US is about to lose a generation of climate researchers.

This story is part of MIT Technology Review’s "America Undone” series, examining how the foundations of US success in science and innovation are currently under threat. You can read the rest here.

The Trump administration has terminated National Science Foundation grants for more than 100 research projects related to climate change amid a widening campaign to slash federal funding for scientists and institutions studying the rising risks of a warming world.

The move will cut off what’s likely to amount to tens of millions of dollars for studies that were previously approved and, in most cases, already in the works. 

Affected projects include efforts to develop cleaner fuels, measure methane emissions, improve understanding of how heat waves and sea-level rise disproportionately harm marginalized groups, and help communities transition to sustainable energy, according to an MIT Technology Review review of a GrantWatch database—a volunteer-led effort to track federal cuts to research—and a list of terminated grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) itself. 

The NSF is one of the largest sources of US funding for university research, so the cancellations will deliver a big blow to climate science and clean-energy development.

They come on top of the White House’s broader efforts to cut research funding and revenue for universities and significantly raise their taxes. The administration has also strived to slash staff and budgets at federal research agencies, halt efforts to assess the physical and financial risksof climate change, and shut down labs that have monitored and analyzed the levels of greenhouse gases in the air for decades.

Read more here. It's not pretty.

Paging Dr. Sagan: Do you see our pale blue dot?

As the US government squashes climate research and sows disinformation, it's encouraging to see other countries stepping up.

From Just Have a Think, here's the superb November 27 National Emergency Briefing held in London for parliamentarians, business, cultural and media leaders. Ten experts in diverse fields discuss how climate change is now and will continue to cause increasing chaos and damage in their area of expertise, including climate extremes, food security, national security, energy security, health and social impacts. Watch these supremely articulate speakers in ten concise presentations worth watching.

Worried, perhaps, about American democracy?

Listen to former CIA analyst and  Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a self-described "national security nerd and 9/11 baby," speaking at the Brookings Institution about her grave concerns for our democracy and what all of us -- politicians and citizens -- can do about it. Turn up your heat, because what she says is chilling. (16 min here.)

And finally, some basic science.

Why is Earth warming, exactly?

From Berkeley Earth

Earth's Energy Imbalance

Earth's energy imbalance is what drives global warming. It's the energy difference between incoming solar radiation that's absorbed -- the red line -- and outgoing infrared (heat) energy -- the blue line -- radiated back into space. Notice their slope. Before humans came along, trace amounts of heat trapping gases created just enough of an energy imbalance to keep the planet from freezing solid. That ended with the Industrial Revolution.

Basic physics dictates that the system seeks equilibrium. Either the sun dims -- let's hope not -- or the Earth warms -- which is exactly what it's doing and will continue to do until the outgoing radiant heat energy equals the incoming sun's energy and the two lines meet. At that point, unless we successfully reduce that gap, we will be cooking on a planet we don't recognize, but at least it will be in energy balance.

This is why we must follow Sen. Whitehouse's plea above to harness the global energy economy with a price on carbon emissions and make it global in order to reduce fossil fuel consumption and buildup of heat trapping gases -- exactly what our carbon fee, dividend and border adjustment proposal seeks to accomplish. The hour is late, and unfortunately physics doesn't negotiate.

You're invited, but...

This is how one behaves inside The Capitol:

Make an appointment. Business attire recommended. Bring nothing that even looks like a weapon.

Long live democracy.

Prepared by Peter G. Joseph, M.D. 

Peter.Joseph@cclvolunteer.org

Apologies for cross postings.

If you know someone who would like to be added to this distribution list, please suggest they join Marin CCL or contact me .