The Politico reports on a new poll of 821 registered voters “in 16 key states who said they were likely to vote in next year’s mid-term congressional elections”:

In a poll obtained by POLITICO of likely 2010 voters in 16 states, many of them home to targeted senators, 63% of those sampled said they supported the energy bill while only 30% said they opposed the measure.

Further, 60% of respondents said they would be more likely to vote for their senator if he or she supported the bill while just 26% said they’d be less inclined to re-elect their senator for backing the “American Clean Energy and Security Act.”

Yes, this is precisely what ever other major poll shows (see Yet another major poll finds “broad support” for clean energy and climate bill: “Support for the plan among independents has increased slightly” plus links and Ruy Teixeira analysis below).

This poll is important because it interviewed likely voters in 16 states that have a large fraction of the swing Senators — AK, AR, IN, ME, MI, MO, MT, NC, NV, ND, NH, OH, PA, SD, VA, WV.  More key results:

• Independents support ACES by 59% support to 30%.
• On job creation:  50% say the number of jobs will increase, 26% say it will decrease and 26% say it won’t change.
• 53% say ACES will increase America’s standing as a world leader in renewable energy, 28% say it won’t change and just 10% say it will decrease.

Strangely, the Politico piece has an opening sentence that is flat wrong, politically:

Read more

Global warming is “capable of wrecking the marine ecosystem and depriving future generations of the harvest of the seas” (see Ocean dead zones to expand, “remain for thousands of years”).

A post on ocean acidification from the new Conservation Law Foundation blog has brought to my attention that the first documentary on the subject, A Sea Change: Imagine a World without Fish, is coming out.

Ocean acidification must be a core climate message, since it is hard to deny and impervious to the delusion that geoengineering is the silver bullet.  Indeed, a major 2009 study GRL study, “Sensitivity of ocean acidification to geoengineered climate stabilization” (subs. req’d), concluded:

The results of this paper support the view that climate engineering will not resolve the problem of ocean acidification, and that therefore deep and rapid cuts in CO₂ emissions are likely to be the most effective strategy to avoid environmental damage from future ocean acidification.

If you want to understand ocean acidification better, see this BBC story, which explains:

Man-made pollution is raising ocean acidity at least 10 times faster than previously thought, a study says.

Or see this Science magazine study, “Evidence for Upwelling of Corrosive “Acidified” Water onto the Continental Shelf” (subs. req’), which found

Our results show for the first time that a large section of the North American continental shelf is impacted by ocean acidification. Other continental shelf regions may also be impacted where anthropogenic CO2-enriched water is being upwelled onto the shelf.

Or listen to the Australia’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, which warns:

Read more

Electric utility giant Duke Energy has quit the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) because of the coal group’s unethical opposition to President Obama’s clean energy reform agenda. For the last few years, Duke has been one of the most prominent industry voices calling for the regulation of industrial global warming pollution, but has also supported the efforts of various right-wing lobbying groups to prevent such action. ACCCE, in addition to promoting “clean coal” Christmas carols, employs right-wing public relations firms to paint the American Clean Energy and Security Act as a job-killing energy tax through whatever means necessary — even blatant forgery. According to the National Journal, Duke has finally recognized that the time has come to choose energy reform over old pollution:

Duke Energy left the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy on Tuesday over differences with “influential member companies who will not support passing climate change legislation in 2009 or 2010,” the company said.

Duke Energy left the right-wing National Association of Manufacturers in May for similar reasons, but Duke’s CEO, Jim Rogers, still sits on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — alongside right-wing climate deniers Don Blankenship, Harry Alford, and George Argyros — which is spending tens of millions of dollars to kill clean energy jobs.

Members of business coalitions like the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) and Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP) have advocated for the establishment of a mandatory carbon market (“cap and trade”) to promote investment in clean energy while reducing global warming polution. In the meantime, business coalitions like the National Association of Manufacturers, ACCCE, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the American Petroleum Institute (API) are running Astroturf campaigns to kill clean energy legislation.

However, Duke is not the only company that has been playing both sides of the field:

– Members of USCAP and ACCCE: General Electric, Alstom Power and Caterpillar

– Members of USCAP and NAM: Dow Chemical, Ford, Chrysler, General Electric, ConocoPhillips, and Caterpillar

– Members of USCAP and API: Siemens, Dow Chemical, Shell, General Electric, ConocoPhillips, and BP America

– Members of USCAP and the Chamber of Commerce: Alcoa, Caterpillar, ConocoPhillips, Deere & Company, Dow Chemical, Duke Energy, and Siemens

– Member of BICEP and the Chamber of Commerce: Nike

Other ostensibly green companies on the boards of NAM and the Chamber include AT&T, Procter & Gamble, Verizon, Corning, Ford, Honda, Toyota, 3M, Intel, and IBM.

The National Journal reports this morning:

UPDATE (Sept. 2, 9:44 a.m.): Duke Energy left the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy on Tuesday over differences with “influential member companies who will not support passing climate change legislation in 2009 or 2010,” the company said.

The ACCCE is a coal industry front group that touts benefits of strong emissions regulations but that opposed the recent House energy and climate bill.  ACCCE is the source of the funding for fraudster Bonner who put out those fake anti-Waxman-Markey letters.  They have also hired top GOP voter-fraud company to run massive “grassroots” efforts to undermine climate and clean energy action.  And, of course, an ACCCE flack said mountaintop removal solves ‘lack of flat space’ in Appalachia.

The NJ article, “Shifting Alliances Define Energy Debate: By Playing Both Sides On The Climate Bill, Energy Companies Muddy The Lobbying Landscape,” is about the companies that have a dual membership in ACCCE and the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, which supports the climate bill (and indeed, helped write it), including General Electric, Alstom Power and Caterpillar.

Here’s more on Duke’s action:

Read more

First the Luddite U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it seeks “the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century” on global warming.  Then the monkey-see, monkey do deniers at Planet Gore and the office of Sen. James Inhofe (R-OIL) joined in.

Finally, the Chamber realized it needs to pretend to not be the extremist, anti-science organization it is, so Bill Kovacs, Vice President for the Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs Division, walked back (swung back?) his remarks in a blog post on the National Journal Energy & Environment “Expert blogs” [talk about lowering the bar on the word "expert"]:

My “Scopes monkey” analogy was inappropriate and detracted from my ability to effectively convey the Chamber’s position on this important issue.

“A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth,” as the journalist Michael Kinsley said back in 1992.  The analogy may have been “inappropriate” — but it was all too truthful.  Little distinguishes the deniers from the creationists, as the Christian Science Monitor explained here.

Then Kovacs lets out the biggest whine I’ve heard since, well, my daughter refused to help clean up the mess she made last night:

The anti-business lobby quickly jumped on these news articles without actually reading the substance of the Chamber’s petition, casting us as climate “deniers.” That is certainly unfortunate, but not unexpected. For many of these special interest groups, dogma trumps facts, and they’ve been calling us deniers for years, even though the Chamber supports sensible and ambitious congressional and international action on global climate change.

“Yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt.”

The fact is, the Chamber simply refuses to clean up the mess they made, which is to say the ever increasing amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases their members are pouring into the atmosphere.  They not only don’t support “ambitious congressional and international action on global climate change,” they actively oppose even the not-so-ambitious Congressional climate and clean energy bill passed by the House — although many of the major businesses on the Chamber’s board publicly support strong climate action (see here).

And speaking of “dogma trumps facts,” here is Kovacs pushing more denier dogma:

Read more

U.S. awards $503 million for renewable energy projects

The U.S. Energy and Treasury Departments on Tuesday announced $503 million in government cash grants to companies developing renewable energy projects.

The funding will help meet the Obama administration’s goal of doubling U.S. renewable energy production over the next three years, creating jobs and providing financing on easier terms than many companies can obtain in the private sector.

This the first round of some $3 billion in direct payments to companies in lieu of tax credits to eventually support an estimated 5,000 biomass, solar, wind and other renewable energy production facilities.

“These grants will help America’s businesses launch clean energy projects, putting Americans back to work in good construction and manufacturing jobs,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

The money comes from the economic stimulus package approved by Congress earlier this year.

Study: 1.6 billion face water, food threat in Asia

Read more

Memo to Media:  The environmental community is now going into overdrive on the climate and clean energy bill, as this recent move by WWF underscores.

Campaign Targets Key Battleground States in Preparation for Upcoming Senate Action; New Ads Ask: “Do we just tell our kids it’s up to them to solve climate change?”

WWF is one of the world’s most progressive environmental groups, in the Sierra Club vein, and they are the largest member-based conservation organization in the world.  They understand that all of their important local and regional efforts to save biodiversity will come to naught if we don’t stop Hell and High Water.  It’s great to see them getting actively involved in this crucial issue.

WWF fully understands what’s at stake, as their “campaign blog” press release makes clear:

Read more

How does the other side get their warped views?  Consider a Friday story from FoxNews titled, “Don’t Exhale: EPA Expected to Declare Carbon Dioxide a Dangerous Pollutant.  Here’s the opening:

Don’t exhale.

That advice may need heeding if the Environmental Protection Agency declares carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases dangerous pollutants, a move — expected in the next couple weeks — that would require the federal government to impose new rules limiting emissions.

But some skeptics say regulating carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, may be a difficult task, especially since people emit carbon dioxide with every breath.

And, no, sadly, this isn’t intended to be humorous story.  It’s just run-of-the-mill disinformation disguised as a “straight news” story.

Interestingly — or perhaps I should say typically — FoxNews doesn’t actually offer any “skeptics” who say regulating CO2 may be difficult because people exhale CO2.  It was apparently just the reporter’s own inane idea.

And speaking of inane, if you want to be simultaneously depressed and amused, read the comments on the article here.  The first one starts:

Really? I didn’t know that… What drivel. They talk to us like we are stupid.

And no, the “they” isn’t FoxNews.  Then there’s:

Read more