From a scientific perspective, the deal Waxman made with the aggies is not optimal.  From the perspective of consequences in the real world, however, I just don’t see how this deal changes any of the major outcomes of the bill much, if at all.

UPDATE:  I’ve added comments on the deal from Dr. Michael MacCracken, a top U.S. climate scientist.

E&E News (subs. req’d) reports on what it took to secure the farm vote:

Two powerful House Democratic committee chairmen announced terms of a deal this evening on a comprehensive global warming bill, paving the way for a vote later this week.

Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) told reporters today he would vote for the House climate bill — and bring dozens of rural lawmakers with him — after Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) agreed to make a number of concessions that had drawn the ire of farm state members….

“We have something that I think works for agriculture,” Peterson said. “We have a couple of areas that may get resolved down the line, but I think we have a meeting of the minds about where we are generally headed.”

Like the bill as a whole, the deal is imperfect.  But in the real world, I think the compromises are unlikely to have much if any overall impact on the bill’s key outcomes.  Let me start with the deal on the life-cycle analysis of biofuels:

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I’ll be happy to forward any comments readers have to Hansen.

Two years ago, the nation’s top climate scientist wrote, “It seems to me that, as yet, it is difficult to use actions of our government as grounds for civil disobedience, however egregiously stupid those actions are” (see Hansen on “civil disobedience”).  But like all of us, his positions have evolved over time.

Author Jeff Biggers reports at HuffingtonPost:

UPDATE: 2:30 EST: 94-year-old Ken Hechler, the legendary West Virginia congressman and coal miner hero who has been battling mountaintop removal since 1971 was arrested in a non-violent protest with NASA’s celebrated climate scientist James Hansen, actress Daryl Hannah, Michael Brune, the executive director of Rainforest Action Network, and Goldman Prize winner Judy Bonds. Vietnam veteran Bo Webb, and dozens of other coalfield residents were arrested by crossing onto the property of leading mountaintop removal coal mining company, Massey Energy–purposely trespassing to protest the destruction of mountains immediately above the Coal River Valley community.

In the face of recent Obama administration actions to regulate and not abolish mountaintop removal, which has wiped out 500 mountains and destroyed historic communities, the action launched a yearlong national campaign to bring mountaintop removal to an end.

“I am not a politician; I am a scientist and a citizen,” said Dr. James Hansen. “Politicians may have to advocate for halfway measures if they choose. But it is our responsibility to make sure our representatives feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not what is politically expedient. Mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, should be abolished.”

Hansen just wrote “A Plea To President Obama: End Mountaintop Coal Mining,” in which he said:

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This week, the House of Representatives is moving ahead on historic legislation that will transform the way we produce and use energy in America. This legislation will spark a clean energy transformation that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and confront the carbon pollution that threatens our planet.

So said President Obama in the opening remarks of his press conference today.  He made his strong pitch for passage of the climate bill after discussing the dramatic situation in Iran — but before discussing healthcare.  He continued:
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If I may paraphrase Sir Thomas More in the masterful A Man for All Seasons:

It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the world.  But for ExxonMobil?

The NYT apparently thinks that the way to preserve its declining fortunes is by selling (what’s left of) its soul to ExxonMobil.  As you can see here (clearer picture here, at least through today), the NYT is once again running an ad that its senior staff must know is false and misleading.

I debunked the ad here:  The New York Times sells its integrity to ExxonMobil with front-page ad that falsely asserts “Today’s car has 95% fewer emissions than a car from 1970.” I know some at the NYT read CP and that emails have been sent to top reporters.

Also, the story has since been picked up by Media Matters (“ExxonMobil Exaggerates Emissions Reductions In NYT Ad“) and Fast Company (“Exxon’s Brazen Greenwashing, on the Front Page of The New York Times“), among others.

Ironically — or perhaps intentionally — ExxonMobil seems to be running this ad on Tuesdays, which is when the NYT runs “Science Times.”

Paper of Record, R.I.P.

Maybe it’s a waste of time, but please email the public editor at public@nytimes.com to explain you are “concerned about the paper’s journalistic integrity.”

Amazon deforestation in 2009 declines to lowest on record

Annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell below 10,000 square kilometers for the first time since record-keeping began, reported Brazil’s Environment Minister Carlos Minc on Sunday.

Minc said preliminary data from the country’s satellite-based deforestation detection system (DETER) showed that Amazon forest loss between August 2008 and July 2009 would be below 10,000 square kilometers, the lowest level in more than 20 years. Official figures are due out in August or September.

Falling commodity prices and government action to crack down on illegal clearing are credited for the decline in deforestation.

Conversion to cattle pasture accounts for roughly 80 percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Pasture is used for beef production as well as to speculate on rising land prices.

Swiss glaciers melting faster than ever before

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Someone sent me this:

Coincidentally, I had a very similar idea when I saw this New Yorker cartoon a couple weeks ago [Note to self -- Bizarre minds think alike]

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In the whipsawing environment that is the House of Representatives, the vote for Waxman-Markey is back on for this week, scheduled for Friday.  My sources put the odds of an actual vote at 70-30.

The updated American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) is here (a big PDF).   E&E News (subs. req’d) reports:

House Democratic leaders late last night released a revamped, 1,201-page energy and global warming bill, clearing the way for floor debate Friday even though it remains uncertain if they will have the votes to pass it.

The House bill posted on the Rules Committee Web site has grown from the 946-page version adopted last month in the Energy and Commerce Committee. Sources on and off Capitol Hill said the bulk of the changes largely reflect requests from the eight other committees that also had jurisdiction over the bill, including the Ways and Means Committee and Science and Technology Committee.

Sponsors expect to draft a manager’s amendment later this week that reflects additional deals reached among lawmakers, according to several House Democratic aides.

Perhaps the biggest modification in the new version involves language sought by the nation’s rural electric cooperatives that gives the country’s smallest power utilities a free 0.5 percent slice of the cap-and-trade program’s valuable emission allowances.

So for, nothing terribly shocking has been changed in the bill.  But more changes will be made:

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