U.S. media misses the story, while “China spends big to counter severe weather caused by climate change”

It’s pretty remarkable that we are having record rainfall and record flooding in the cold season month of March. It’s much easier to set records in August, when there is much more moisture in the air available for record rains.

The Northeast has been walloped with record-smashing deluges and flooding.

I have called this type of rapid deluge, “global warming type” record rainfall, since it is one of the most basic predictions of climate science “” and it’s an impact that has already been documented to have started, as I’ll discuss.

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President Barack Obama has made comprehensive energy reform a key issue of his presidency, with massive investments in clean energy, initial efforts to confront climate change, and a commitment to “ending our addiction to foreign oil.” Today, Obama announced a sweeping new offshore drilling policy, opening “vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling” for the first time. This plan would also restore the ban on drilling in Alaska’s Bristol Bay and the West Coast. White House officials “pitched the changes as ways to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil and create jobs,” the Associated Press reports. For years, however, Obama has correctly explained that new offshore drilling would do nothing to “reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil”:

“The days of running a 21st century economy on a 20th century fossil fuel are numbered – and we need to realize that before it’s too late.”

“The truth is, an oil future is not a secure future for America.”

“We could open up every square inch of America to drilling and we still wouldn’t even make a dent in our oil dependency.” 9/15/05

“It would be nice if we could produce our way out of this problem, but it’s just not possible.” 2/28/06

“Instead of making tough political decisions about how to reduce our insatiable demand for oil, this bill continues to lull the American people into thinking that we can drill our way out of our energy problems. ” 8/1/06

“Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.” 8/28/08

This expansion in offshore drilling leases, the Energy Information Administration has found, will have no effect on gas prices or dependence on foreign oil. Nor will it increase jobs, as oil companies aren’t really interested in new drilling — they are already sitting on existing leases instead of drilling them, in order to inflate their bottom lines by claiming the value of leased oil reserves as an asset. Furthermore, a Center for American Progress study has found that money that goes into the oil sector instead of the clean energy economy means a net loss of 14 jobs per million dollars.

In the beginning of August 2008, as Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF) “Drill Here, Drill Now” campaign overlapped the presidential campaign, and oil and gas prices were skyrocketing to record levels, Obama dropped his “blanket opposition to expanded offshore drilling,” saying that he would be willing “to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage” in order to get Republican votes for comprehensive climate and energy reform.

In 2005 and 2006, Obama talked about the “tough decisions” of “how to reduce our insatiable demand for oil” and “investing in more hybrids and renewable energy sources, raising CAFE standards and helping our auto industry transition to a fuel-efficient future,” instead of drilling. In his first year in office, Obama made tremendous down payments on the clean-energy transition, the cash-for-clunkers program, and ninety billion dollars of Recovery Act funds for hybrid cars, efficiency, and renewable energy technologies, and momentous new CAFE standards that will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil demand. That accomplished, Obama took a step back, saying in his 2010 State of the Union speech that “clean energy jobs” means “making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.” America’s oil addiction can only be broken with comprehensive climate legislation that puts a real cap on carbon pollution.

Conservatives are treating the announcement with disdain — Gingrich’s ASWF said the president’s plan “is likely to be an attempt by Obama to seduce the public (into) believing that he will do something in the future on offshore drilling,” but amounts to little more than window-dressing. Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity vice president Phil Kerpen commented that “the idea that this is a big concession in exchange for which Congress should jumpstart climate legislation is ridiculous.”

Bush official Dan Bartlett admits authorizing offshore oil drilling will be unlikely to win over any GOP votes: “Republicans have made a calculation that cooperating with this administration at this time is not necessary for them to pick up seats”

The Obama administration announced today that it will be approving “significant oil and gas exploration off America’s coasts.”  Why?  Why?  Why?

Last year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration report, “Impact of Limitations on Access to Oil and Natural Gas Resources in the Federal Outer Continental Shelf” analyzed the difference between full offshore drilling (Reference Case) and restriction to offshore drilling (OCS limited case).  In 2020, there is no impact on gasoline prices (right hand column).  In 2030, US gasoline prices would be three cents a gallon lower.  Woohoo!

I have previously written about the trivial impact of opening the OCS further to drilling — The oil companies already have access to some 34 billion barrels of offshore oil they have barely begun to develop (see “The cruel offshore-drilling hoax“).  I have also written that I thought it inevitable that the Dems would cave on drilling when oil prices started to jump (which hasn’t happened yet thanks primarily to the global recession).

So the only reason for the administration’s policy shift would be to get conservative votes for comprehensive energy reform.  As Think Progress explains, that effect seems unlikely:

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Our guest blogger is Katie Chin, a student enrolled at the business school of Boston College, and a member of Students for a Just and Stable Future.

I slept in the Cambridge Common Sunday night. Cold, drenched, and hungry, I took the long bus ride Monday morning back to my college dorm carrying two sleeping bags, a tent, and my book bag weighed down from the rain the night before. Exhausted after a twenty-hour day of rallies, campaign planning, tweeting, and lobbying, I returned back to my classes, school job, and normal college life before returning to write about my experience.

Why do I do this? I have no choice. We have no choice. The world is burning.

As part of The Leadership Campaign, I am fighting alongside community partners to create legislation in Massachusetts for 100% clean electricity by 2020. Currently we are pushing the legislature to release An Act to Create a Repower Massachusetts Emergency Task Force so that we can see real change in our energy consumption necessary for fighting climate change. The science is clear: we must act now. This bill will be the first step in preventing the devastations of climate change in Massachusetts while opening up the opportunity for the state to lead the country in the clean electricity sector, inviting investment in the booming green technology field, and boosting our economy at a critical time.

To display the necessity of our legislature’s action, The Leadership Campaign has pioneered the ‘sleep-out’, demonstrating our moral qualms with sleeping in homes powered by dirty electricity by sleeping out across the state, joining together in public spaces in sleeping bags and tents under the stars. Throughout the past six months, hundreds of individuals have been participating in these sleep-outs. The most recent sleep-out took place Sunday on the Cambridge Common, before a day of lobbying on Monday. At the rally before the sleep-out, Martha Pskowski, a freshman at Hampshire College in Western Massachusetts, stated our current situation accurately:

I have good news and bad news. The good news is: It’s up to us. We have the drive, the energy, the imagination, the ingenuity and the determination not to quit that makes history. Combining our forces and forming coalitions we will shape the state of the world in thirty years. The bad news is: It’s going to be extremely hard, it’s going to take everything we’ve got, and powerful interests will be fighting us every step of the way. It’s not going to end with this bill. It’s not going to end with the next one. It’s not going to end until the world is a safe, stable, and just place for all our brothers and sisters.

Martha joined a superstar line-up of speakers, including former Seattle Major Greg Nickels, who founded the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, leading over 1,000 mayors to adopt Kyoto regulations in their respective cities, and Whit Jones, Deputy Field Director of the Energy Action Coalition, a youth climate action leader. Vice Mayor Henrietta Davis, Representative Will Brownsberger, Cambridge City Council members Leland Cheung, Craig Kelly, Sam Seidel, and Denise Simmons, community organization leaders, and student speakers also spoke at the rally. Monday morning, Dan Proctor, Massachusetts Chapter Chair of the Sierra Club, spoke and lobbied with members of The Leadership Campaign.

Our most important sleep-out of The Leadership Campaign will take place on the Boston Common on April 21st, the eve of Earth Day. As John Beatty, a junior at Harvard University and Boston Campaign Coordinator, said, “We are the cavalry. We need to go out there and be the fire to get this thing done!”

For a list of community partners, policy platform, and how to further participate with The Leadership Campaign, visit our website.

Senate Trio Targets Week of Earth Day for emissions bill

The three senators at the center of climate and energy negotiations are aiming to unveil their bill during the week celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22.

And that just happens to coincide with the launch of my new book Straight Up, which puts the bill and forthcoming debate into context.  Here’s more background on the bill.

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After Greenpeace released a report yesterday detailing the efforts of the Koch Industries billionaires David and Charles Koch to pollute energy policy and deny the threat of global warming, Koch Industries communications director Melissa Cohlmia attempted to greenwash their record:

Both a free society and the scientific method require an open and honest airing of all sides, not demonizing and silencing those with whom you disagree. We’ve strived to encourage an intellectually honest debate on the scientific basis for claims of harm from greenhouse gases.

Americans for Prosperity — founded, funded, and overseen by Koch Industries billionaire David Koch — claims to be trying to build that “free society” by “educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process.” So far, they’re not doing a very good job of engaging in an “intellectually honest debate” without “demonizing and silencing those with whom you disagree”:

‘Hitler Youth.’ At an Americans for Prosperity event in December 2009, guest speaker Christopher Monckton called youth climate activists “Hitler Youth.” He told a Jewish youth climate activist whose grandparents escaped the Nazis that he was “Hitler Youth,” and that “you people don’t care” that “millions are dying in third world countries.” Americans for Prosperity again featured Christopher Monckton at a regional summit in March 2010. [The Times, 12/11/09]

‘Radical Global Warming Agenda.’ “President Obama is at again,” the Americans for Prosperity Regulation Reality Tour warns, with a “radical global warming agenda” by “unelected bureaucrats regulating our life,” “ignoring the entire democratic process all together.” Supposed threats of “EPA’s power grab” include “Grass Mileage Standards,” “Government Control of your Thermostat,” “Churches would need EPA Permits,” and The tour features “EPA Carbon Cops” who want to punish you if you “opened your refrigerator” or “drove a car.” [RegulationReality.com]

‘Al Gore’s Global Warming Alarmism.’ The Americans for Prosperity Hot Air Tour told people to “rally against Al Gore’s global warming alarmism” and “propaganda advanced by global warming alarmists,” claiming “global warming alarmism” means “fewer jobs,” “less freedom,” and a “government that controls your home thermostat remotely.” The Hot Air Tour flew a balloon over Al Gore’s “energy-guzzling mansion” in Tennessee with the message “Global Warming Alarmism.” [HotAirTour.org]

‘We Might As Well Forget Freedom.’ The Americans for Prosperity Hot Air Tour says that “far left environmentalists” are “radicals” with a “radical Global Warming ideology that claims people are the problem” who “want GOVERNMENT to force us to drive less and live in smaller homes while killing jobs that help grow our economy” and “want GOVERNMENT dictating our lives.” [HotAirTour.org]

Cohlmia told the Wonk Room that “AFP is an independent organization and Koch companies do not in any way direct their activities.” This is a remarkable claim, as Koch Industries executive vice presidents and directors Charles Koch and Richard Fink are also directors of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation.

In a must-read report, Greenpeace details how Koch Industries has “become a financial kingpin of climate science denial and clean energy opposition,” spending over $48.5 million since 1997 to fund the anti-science disinformation machine.  Brad Johnson has the story.

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“Energy only” bills short-change new technologies

Studies show that “energy-only” legislation that fails to put a price on carbon pollution is less effective and more costly than comprehensive reform.  CAP’s Daniel J. Weiss and Kate Gordon explain why in this repost, which examines key provisions needed in a bill.

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