THE HOT HOUSE

September 28, 2007

Truckee goes for the green

Back in December, the Truckee Donner Public Utility District was on the verge of signing a 50-year power contract with a coal-fired power plant in Utah called Intermountain. District leaders came under fire for the contract, which seemed aimed at sidestepping a pending state law that would have limited the ability of utilties to import coal-powered electricity into California.

The Sacramento Bee was one of the first newspapers to editorialize against Truckee's proposed power contract:

"While Truckee and many other utilities can't make a complete break from coal, they can move to obtain 20 percent of their energy from solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources," The Bee stated on December 10, 2006. "If Truckee, a wealthy community with many environmentally conscious residents, can't make this transition, there is little hope for the rest of the world."

Four days later, the Truckee district's board rejected the Intermountain contract, and the utility has since gone through some soul searching. Now, as The Bee's Daniel Weintraub reports, Truckee is quietly moving forward with a plan that could allow it to get at least 21 percent of its power from renewable sources, and possibly as much as 49 percent by 2009.

"Soon, ironically, the little utility district in the mountains that once courted coal might have one of the greenest power portfolios around," Weintraub reports.

Photo courtesy of the town of Truckee

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 04:08 PM | Comments

September 24, 2007

Schwarzenegger -- the Statesmanator?

I notice that my fingers tend to freeze up when typing the words "Schwarzenegger" and "statesman" in the same sentence. But I have to hand it to our California governor. He has put himself in the position to influence international climate policy, and on Monday, he delivered exactly the right message to a United Nations conference.

"The time has come to stop looking back at the Kyoto Protocol,” Schwarzenegger said in his speech. “It is time to stop looking back in blame or suspicion … The rich nations and the poor nations have different responsibilities, but one responsibility we all have is action."

Schwarzenegger also devoted a large portion of his speech to the economic benefits of developing alternative power and new technologies.

"Last year alone, California received more than $1.1 billion in clean tech investment. This amount is expected to grow 20-30% a year for a decade. More venture capital is being invested in clean tech than in telecommunications."

As Schwarzenegger was trying to sound diplomatic, U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman was busy exposing the Bush administration's undercover efforts to prevent California from implementing its clean car law. The Bee's David Whitney has the story here.

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 04:49 PM | Comments

September 20, 2007

Wangari Maathai in Sac on Friday

I'm heading out of town on a bicycle trip, but if I were in Sacramento tomorrow, I'd go and hear Wangari Maathai speak.

Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for founding Kenya's Green Belt Movement, which has worked to help replant that country's decimated forests.

"The most critical message of the day has to do with the threat of climate change," Maathai told The Bee's Allen Pierleoni in an email interview published today.

Go to Allen's story to get more information on Maathai's talk and other events organized for her visit. We hope Wangari enjoys her time in the tree city.

Photo special to The Bee/Brigitte Lacombe

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 06:31 PM | Comments

Beside reading

The Hot House needs to buy some new book shelves to handle all the reports on climate change that are coming my way. Here three that were released Thursday:

-- Environment California makes a case for why regulators in California and elsewhere should auction allowances to industries subject to an expected cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases. The report is called "Cleaner, Cheaper, Smarter" and can be found here.

-- The Pacfic Research Institute for Public Policy takes a swipe at climate change alarmists in a report called "Hysteria's History." Like others of its kind, the report suggests that extremists are overhyping the global warming threat. Unclear if PRI considers includes the National Academy of Sciences and Wangari Maathai in this classification.

-- On the other wide of the political spectrum, the Urban Land Institute and other groups have released a report examining how spread-out development patterns -- generally known as sprawl -- are complicating the task of reducing greenhouse emissions. More compact development patterns could reduce vehicle miles traveled in the United States by 30 percent, says the "Growing Cooler" report, with a corresponding reduction in greenhouse emissions.

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 06:17 PM | Comments

September 14, 2007

Jerry Brown: Hurtful? Or helpful?

In our previous item, Bee cartoonist Rex Babin provided some comic relief on how Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has hefted away the globe that Al Gore once carried on his shoulders.

That got me thinking: Maybe Rex should do a cartoon showing Jerry Brown trying to grab the globe from Arnold? With the two of them fighting over it?

Attorney General Brown continues to generate headlines as a climate crusader, as he did this week with his settlement with ConocoPhillips. Some readers are not impressed, including one who sent me this message this week, accusing Brown of being a shakedown artist:

"Isn't the Attorney General supposed to promote and protect our system of laws? Why is he using the powers of his office to shakedown legitimate businesses? His office is in effect extorting money. Is that a good example for the state's top attorney? ConocoPhillips Contra Costa refinery expansion was properly approved by the appropriate agencies. Why is his office using the CEQA process to try to get businesses to comply with regulations that are not yet written? Where is the cost/benefit analysis? Where do you think the millions of dollars will come from? Corporate profits? No, this will be an increased cost of doing business in California. And who will pay for it? You and me! What are we getting for our money? This is bad public policy and bad for business. A business needs to know what the rules are, and how much the permit process will cost. So do the regulators. If it's high profile and you have deep pockets, the cost to do business goes up? This is outrageously unfair, and one of the main reasons why the business climate is so poor in many third world countries. A business person can not determine what his costs are going to be. Who do we have to pay off? How much?"

On the other hand, the San Jose Mercury News opines that Jerry is playing a "helpful role" in furthering California's interests in fighting global warming.

"Indeed, the aggressive use of CEQA by a high-level state official already has changed thinking and behavior, which one environmental leader described as a "sea change." Already more local governments are including greenhouse gas reductions in their environmental impact reports."

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 02:43 PM | Comments

September 12, 2007

Babin's new spin on Schwarzenegger's green image

Remember that over-the-top cover of Newsweek that portrayed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as an Earth saver? The one that showed Arnold spinning a globe on his finger?

Bee cartoonist Rex Babin poked some fun at that image in a cartoon earlier this year. It showed Al Gore laboring up a mountain with the Earth on his shoulders, whereupon Schwarzenegger grabbed it from Al and twirled it on his finger.

Now Rex has taken that same panel and turned it into some cool animation. You can check it out here. Since the Hot House is into recycling, we thought we'd bring it to your attention.

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 05:53 PM | Comments

Automakers lose in Vermont

A U.S. District Court judge in Vermont has affirmed that state's ability to control greenhouse gases from automobiles, ruling that Vermont's law does not pre-empt the federal government's authority to set fuel economy standards.

The automakers have filed a similar lawsuit against California's so-called clear cars law, AB 1493, which was the model for Vermont's version. As the Wall Street Journal reported today, "The Vermont ruling would appear to provide momentum for California officials, though a judge there could decide that specific case differently."

Even if its law is upheld, California still needs a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce AB 1493, and such a waiver has not been forthcoming from the Bush administration. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger again put pressure on the EPA today to grant that waiver:

"Today's decision marks another important victory in the fight against global warming. California and other states that want to take aggressive action will no longer be blocked by those who stand in our way. Recent legal decisions are all pointing in a positive direction for California, and we're confident we have a very strong case."

Attorney General Jerry Brown, who yesterday announced a settlement with a major oil company to reduce emissions from a refinery expansion, had even tougher words in response:

"We will haul the Bush administration into court if it persists in stalling on our request to regulate emissions from motor vehicles."

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 03:04 PM | Comments

September 10, 2007

Schwarzenegger and McClintock heat up the air at GOP convention

Climate change and efforts to transition to cleaner (and potentially more expensive) energy sources continues to drive a wedge through the California Republican Party.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke to the state GOP convention Friday, telling the audience that "we are dying at the box office," partly because the party refuses to move to the center on issues that people care about, such as the threat of global warming.

Said Schwarzenegger:

"According to the polls, nearly three-quarters of our own party support the global warming bill that I signed last year. They want this party to do something more about climate change than simply doubt it. If it is the policy of the Republican Party to ignore the great majority of the world's scientists...to ignore the views of 80 percent of the young people who believe the same...then that party is at odds with the future. The Republican Party needs once again to be the party of Teddy Roosevelt conservationists."

Schwarzenegger's speech so riled the fossil-fuel wing of the GOP that Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, was prompted to respond two days later:

Said McClintock:

"We are told that this vision should not be guided by principle, but by the polls. And I don't deny that at this moment global warming and universal health care are hot political issues and that they have overwhelming support.

I doubt that will be the case a year from now. The so-called global warming bill mandates a 25 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 - a tall order since carbon dioxide is an integral part of all human activity - starting with exhaling.

To accomplish these draconian reductions, on Thursday, the Chairwoman of the Air Resources Board announced plans to triple the number of anti-business regulations previously contemplated. That has devastating implications for California's economy - impacting construction, cement production, agricultural fertilizer, cargo transportation, energy generation, semiconductor manufacturing, baking and wine production, just for starters."

Sacramento Bee Photo/John Decker
(Shot at the 2003 recall election debates)

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 06:26 PM | Comments

Nichols tries to turn this ship around

ARB Chair Mary Nichols unveiled five measures Friday for early reductions of greenhouse emissions under the state's global warming law, AB 32.

Newspapers, including The Bee, gave her announcement a good deal of coverage, but I didn't see much analysis of one key goal of the roll-out: To help the Schwarzenegger administration win over environmental justice advocates who oppose the governor's plan for a market trading system to reduce emissions.

A so-called "cap-and-trade" system has generated more conflict than any other issue surrounding AB 32. Industry groups and mainstream environmental organizations generally support cap-and-trade, but environmental justice groups -- who represent Latino, black and Asian communities who live near refineries and power plants -- generally oppose it. EJ activists fear that polluting industries will simply buy CO2 credits under cap and trade, and be allowed to expand their operations, thereby creating spewing more pollutants into the air. Their opposition prevented cap and trade from being explictly required under AB 32, and may stall efforts to design it over the next year or so.

In a nod to the EJ community, Nichols proposed a measure Friday that would require ships docked at California's crowded ports to shut off their auxiliary engines. Ships generally run these engines to power lighting ventilation, communication and other equipment while docked, and the result is tons of highly toxic pollution, along with a fair amount of greenhouse gases.

Instead of running these engines while docked, Nichols would have them draw power off California's electric grid. The U.S. Navy, Princess Cruise Lines and other shippers already use electrification at various West Coast ports, so there's no big technological challenge here. The proposal would be a bit expensive -- costing shippers and ports about $1.2 billion, according to an ARB analysis. But it would also would reduce 15,000 tons of nitrogen oxides and 400 tons of toxic diesel particulates by 2015, and also eliminating up to a half a million metric tons of greenhouse gases yearly.

Before Nichols arrived at ARB, the agency's leadership seemed lukewarm about measures that would create "co-benefits" -- reducing both CO2 and traditional pollutants. Now they have made it a centerpiece of their proposals, possibly because it might make EJ activists more comfortable about the administration's direction.

I was on a panel with Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez on Saturday at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference at Stanford University. Nunez gave Nichols high praise in his remarks, saying she had jumped into her job with "guns blazing."

The Speaker made no mention of reports that Nichols' arsenal includes significant investments in oil and coal companies. She is now reportedly trying to unload those investments, which were reported first by the San Francisco Chroncle and criticized in a recent op-ed in The Los Angeles Times.

Los Angeles Times Photo/Lori Shepler

Tags: SEJ2007

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 04:47 PM | Comments

September 06, 2007

Thanks to GOP, Jerry Brown paints himself as climate crusader

I tell ya, the Senate Republicans did Attorney General Jerry Brown a huge favor by holding up the state budget in a lame attempt to stop him from filing lawsuits related to climate change.

Ever since, Brown has gotten more publicity than he ever did prior to the GOP budget play. He's talking about running for governor. Dang, if the Republicans keep casting him as such a crusader against global warming (which most California voters are highly worried about) he might even have the juice to retake his old job.

Today, Brown spoke to the League of California Cities meeting in Sacramento, further burnishing his credentials as Captain Climate Crusader.

According to a press release from his office, Brown urged mayors and other local officials to lead the fight:

"Under the Global Warming Solutions Act, AB 32, California is required to cut greenhouse gases dramatically, starting in 2012. Yet the challenge is so daunting -- and growing daily -- that we can't wait five years to act. With intensifying hurricanes, heat waves and forest fires, the problem is upon us. Local governments should jump in now and lead the campaign against oil dependency and worsening climate change."

I tell ya, the guy is running for governor.

My only question is, if he gets elected again, will he recycle his old Capitol portrait? Or get a new one?

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 06:43 PM | Comments

Desmogging the climate denial industry

I've been watching the steady development of a relatively new hip and cool website called the DeSmogBlog, which says it is devoted to clearing "the PR pollution that is clouding the science on climate change."

In other words, this blog is taking aim at a network of skeptics and industry funded organizations that work to debunk global warming and derail regulations to control greenhouse gases.

Of course, any effort to desmog "PR pollution" is an act of PR itself. This one is headed by Jim Hoggan, the president of the public relations firm James Hoggan & Associates. Not sure who is underwriting the site, but it's an interesting read.

One current item involves a controversy brewing over attempts to update a 2004 paper, published in the journal Science, which examined 928 scientific papers on climate change and found that scientists agree with the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Academies of Science and other professsional organizations. DeSmog reports that teh denialists are trying to keep this update from being published.

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 06:08 PM | Comments

Why won't the naysayers reveal themselves?

Apparently, there's no shortage of global warming naysayers who are heated up by The Hot House, but don't want their names attached to any comments they send my way.

Here's the latest one I've received, apparently in response to the "Heat Waves" posting:

"This article reminds me that the press in the US is still looking at ten-year old science and believing Al Gore's silly predictions.

In 1990, we had the Kyoto accords which the US never ratified. The California laws (AB32)and the mind-set of the press and Government is a slightly dressed up but more demanding version of Kyoto.

Now, what happened with Kyoto? It just did not work. There are only a handful of coutries who reduced emissions, but the great majority of countries found that it would cripple their economies by raising the costs of energy to reduce consumption of carbon emitting plants and automobiles. And, here in Europe the Goverments issued so many carbon permits that the per ton price went from 20 EUR to just a few centimes. Kyoto is a disaster and California is planning to do exactly the same.

In 1990, we did not know as much as we do today. The press has ignored virtually all the new scientific evidence which is now available. Why is this? Well, if you read the report of the US Senate Environment and Public works committee, you will discover that the majority of Climate Scientists no longer believe that man is causing Global Warming, and, if fact, the earth has not warmed since 1998.

And, most telling, the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (considered the most authoritative expert source on this subject) has retracted studies which have been proven wrong. The IPCC is a political, not a scientific group.

So, if the majority of Climate Scientists say man is not causing warming, Kyoto is a miserable failure, why is your Newspaper so ignorant of the facts and so determined to assist those who would cripple our economies by spending trillions of dollars for absolutely nothing."

Funny, I hadn't realized that a majority of scientists say man is not causing global warming, and that the Earth hadn't warmed since 1998.

How did I miss this news item?

Perhaps because it is....utter baloney?

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 05:15 PM | Comments

September 04, 2007

Heat wave deaths, a surprise announcement, and Al Gore's carbon footprint

A grab bag of news that crossed my desk over the Labor Day weekend:

Posted by Stuart Leavenworth at 06:38 PM | Comments