WashPost: “Dems have a real opportunity to seize on the Gulf spill to make energy reform a major issue.”

Joel Benenson, who “was Obama’s lead pollster” during the 2008 campaign,” has released a must-read strategy memo, “Support for energy bill.”

Based on polling of 650 registered voters May 4 and 5 — still the early days of BP’s Titanic oil disaster — Benenson finds, “not only do voters support a comprehensive clean energy bill by large double-digit margins, they also indicate their Senator’s vote could be an impactful re-election factor.”  Here are the numbers:

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The city of Nashville remains devastated, a week after “biblical” rainfall caused catastrophic flooding. On the first two days of May, 13.53 inches of rain fell in Nashville, setting not just six-hour, twelve-hour, one-day, and two-day records but also breaking the record for rainfall during the entire month of May in Nashville’s history. Country musician Marty Stuart, a regular with the now-flooded Grand Ole Opry, described the floods in just two words:

It’s biblical.

“After living through our recent flood,” one local wrote, “I certainly have a greater appreciation for Noah and his family.”

Although this devastating event would have been fantastically unlikely without global warming, scientists have been predicting for decades that our hotter world means more intense precipitation. The record rains “were accompanied by a surge of very warm air that set record high temperature marks at 21 major airports across the Eastern U.S. on Saturday,” Wunderground’s Jeff Masters writes. “This is not surprising, since more moisture can evaporate into warmer air, making record-setting rainfall events more likely when record high temperatures are present.”

Meanwhile, Tennessee’s senators, Republicans Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, dither on limiting greenhouse gas pollution. Corker — who has questioned the existence of man-made global warming — has flipped and flopped in recent years on whether mandatory limits on carbon pollution are needed. Similarly, Alexander has flipped and flopped on cap-and-trade legislation. When asked “how serious is the problem of global warming” for the people of Tennessee, Alexander responded, “Long term, it’s a problem. On the shorter term, the more serious problem is clean air.”

Nashville’s biblical rains come on the heels of catastrophic rains in the Northeast, the Southeast and the Midwest. Floods “of biblical proportions” have struck all regions of the world in recent years, including Great Britain, Canada, the Canary Islands, India, southern Africa, and China.

This week, CAP’s Brad Johnson traveled the Gulf Coast from New Orleans to Pensacola, learning how the people of the region are preparing for the oil disaster growing off their shores.  Here’s what he learned in Biloxi:

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Some commenters on CP have asked a similar question.  Meteorologist and former Hurricane Hunter Jeff Masters has the answer on his must-read WunderBlog.  His conclusion:

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Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, “has a reputation as a supporter of environmental law and as a lawyer who takes climate change seriously,” notes Green Energy Reporter.

“She left a nationally visible mark on environmental law at Harvard,” said Jim Rossi, an environmental law professor quoted in a March 2009 NYT/Greenwire piece on Kagan after she was confirmed as solicitor general.  “For many years, Harvard was not known for a primary expertise in the environmental jurisprudence, and that changed under Dean Kagan’s watch.”

Global warming is the issue of the decade and of the century.  Ultimately, assuming the anti-science, pro-pollution crowd continues to succeed in its policy of obfuscation and delay, then catastrophic human-caused climate change will come to dominate many aspects of life in this country.  So there can be little doubt that the Supreme Court will see its share of cases.

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The big day is almost upon us.  And the two amigos are confident about the Wednesday launch of their long-awaited climate and clean energy jobs bill.

In a joint statement, Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) write:

We are more encouraged today that we can secure the necessary votes to pass this legislation this year in part because the last weeks have given everyone with a stake in this issue a heightened understanding that as a nation, we can no longer wait to solve this problem which threatens our economy, our security and our environment.  Our optimism is bolstered because there is a growing and unprecedented bi-partisan coalition from the business, national security, faith and environmental communities that supports our legislation and is energized to work hard and get it passed.

Lieberman said on Fox News Sunday that even with the (presumably modified) offshore drilling proposals in the bill, “I think we’ve got a real shot at this.”

The third amigo is AWOL, to mix metaphors.  But though Lindsey Graham (R-SC) won’t be seen, he will be heard.  In fact, he’s talking so much it is no longer possible to figure out what he means and/or thinks.

Based on an interview last Wednesday, we had the NYT headline (via Greenwire), “I’m in this to Win,” Graham says of Senate climate bill. Then we had the Thursday Politico piece, “Graham unlikely to fold on energy bill.”  But Friday we had the WashPost headline, “Graham says climate bill cannot pass Senate.”

Whiplash!  Actually, the Post headline didn’t quite reflect exactly what Graham said, but given the Senator’s self-contradictory incoherence, the Post is only partly to blame.  Here’s Graham’s full statement:

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Electricity-Generating Shock Absorbers

Shock absorbers that generate electricity, which are being developed by Cambridge, MA-based Levant Power, can lower fuel consumption by 1.5 to 6 percent, depending on the vehicle and driving conditions. The system can also improve vehicle handling.

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The Earth Day oil rig disaster that began with an explosion that claimed 11 lives is becoming an ecological catastrophe.  But that hasn’t slowed Newt Gingrich in his quest to “petition the U.S. Congress to act immediately to lower gasoline prices (and diesel and other fuel prices) by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves.”

Of course, EIA has already shown that opening the entire outer Continental shelf to offshore drilling would have no impact on gasoline prices in 2020 and lower gas prices in 2030 a few pennies a gallon.  But the facts won’t stop Gingrich’s “drill here, drill now” campaign as Brad Johnson reports:

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Some of the photos below might upset small children and pro-pollution ideologues.

Environmentalists are increasingly worried about the toll the spill will take on more than 400 species in this rich nursery area. As Nancy Rabalais, a scientist who heads the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, said, “The magnitude and the potential for ecological damage is probably more great than anything we’ve ever seen in the Gulf of Mexico.”  TP has the story in this repost.

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As warnings mount, how can we speed science into policymaking?

Just within the past month, several news items underscored the dire situation our oceans face.  Kristen L. Marhaver, a Ph.D. Candidate in Marine Biology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has the story in this repost.

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