By Jessica Goad, manager of research and outreach, Public Lands Project, Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Forty Republicans in the House of Representatives are promoting a bill that would allow the secretary of homeland security to permanently waive all or part of 36 laws on both public and private lands within 100 miles of any U.S. border or coast. Some of the laws waived by H.R. 1505, the “National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act,” are strictly public health laws, like the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Superfund law. Others are environmental, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. Two-thirds of the American population lives in the areas covered by this bill, because most major cities are along the borders and coasts.

 

Further, H.R. 1505 could give the Department of Homeland Security complete authority over public lands across the entire United States. It would allow DHS to undertake any activities on public lands the secretary deems necessary for border security, such as building fences and roads, installing monitoring equipment, and instigating closures—all without any opportunity for public comment or judicial review.

During a press conference earlier this morning before a hearing on the bill, Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), and John Garamendi (D-CA) spoke to the overreach of this bill:

This bill waives the Clean Water Act. We will not keep undocumented workers out of the country by letting pollution into our drinking water. The bill waives the Clean Air Act. We will not keep illegal drugs out of our country by letting smog into the lungs of children and the elderly in our country. The bill waives the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. We will not honor our national sovereignty by trampling the sovereign rights of native people to protect the grave sites of their ancestors. The bottom line is, we will not prevent illegal entry into this country by degrading the quality of life for nearly two-thirds of the people who already live here.

Watch it:

 

 

It’s unclear what exactly this bill would mean on the ground, because so much is left to the discretion of the secretary of homeland security. But it is almost certain that recreation activities on public lands—hunting, fishing, hiking, off-road vehicle use, beach access—etc. could be cut off without any notice on the whim of one agency. Many favorite places on public lands could be closed, like the Superior National Forest, Glacier National Park, and Cape Cod National Seashore.

Perhaps most astoundingly is that the Administrative Procedures Act could be rolled back for lands within the 100-mile zone. This act governs every administrative agency in our country, keeps agencies from enacting regulations that are arbitrary and capricious, and also allows for judicial review of regulations. Without this act in place, our country’s checks and balances system would be extremely compromised.

Real solutions to border security are complex and varied, but certainly mean ensuring a strong budget for security and border patrol. Republicans cut the budget for the Department of Homeland Security by 6.8 percent in their H.R. 1 spending bill, including a drastic 65 percent cut below the president’s request for state and local homeland security grant programs which fund disaster assistance, major emergencies, and first responders to terrorist attacks. Instead of funding these programs, conservative lawmakers in the House have offered a bill that Garamendi called “the epitome of stupidity” and former Solicitor (General Counsel) of the U.S. Department of the Interior John Leshy called “the most breathtakingly extreme legislative proposal of its kind I have ever seen.”

After peaking in February, food prices have stayed at historic highs.

Food prices are climbing back to historic levels, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports.  Prices increased by 1.3% in June due to worries over bad sugar harvests from “a spell of two months without rain.”

Food prices are poised to increase:

Goldman Sachs said it expected further increases in a wide range of commodity prices this year and into 2012 – in food, as well as energy and metals – on the back of strong demand from Asia.

However, Goldman is confident that now is a good time to get back into commodities. “We expect this [Asian] demand growth will be sufficient to tighten key commodity markets over the next six to 12 months, particularly for those markets where supply constraints will become binding even on slower economic growth,” said Jeffrey Currie, Goldman’s global head of commodities research.

In other words, expect more food shortages and high prices. This is good for investors, but bad for the world’s poorest people. The World Bank estimates that these record highs are pushing tens of millions more people into poverty:

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Governors around the nation are fighting back against the Tea Party predations of the oil industry:

Gov. John Lynch (D-NH) vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have pulled his state out of the regional carbon-reduction program. RGGI has been under non-stop attacks funded by the Koch brothers, and in making the veto, Lynch rejected the false claims made by opponents and recognized those benefits for the state.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) on Thursday said “the state is pulling out of the unified command team overseeing the cleanup of oil from a ruptured ExxonMobil pipeline that leaked an estimated 1,000 barrels of crude oil into the Yellowstone River late last Friday. Schweitzer accused ExxonMobil officials of not being transparent about the extent of the oil spill and the resulting cleanup effort.”

Gov. Bev Perdue (D-NC) signed an executive order to create the Offshore Wind Economic Development Task Force, in conjunction with her veto of Senate Bill 709, which would have pushed the development of offshore oil and gas, as well as onshore gas fracking.

The nation desperately needs climate hawks like these fighting for a clean energy future, especially as hopes for a national mobilization on greenhouse pollution needed to stave off catastrophic climate change have dimmed.

Earlier this week, the Daily received a copy of the video deposition of former BP chief Tony Hayward. At one point during the testimony, plaintiff attorney Robert Cunninham questions Hayward about his relationship to the workers at the Deepwater Horizon rig. At first, Hayward expresses his profound sympathy. But moments later, he stumbles and says he can only remember the names of three out of the 11 workers who lost their lives. He only got one out of the three names correct (Karl Kleppinger):

CUNNINGHAM: And did you get the impression that they considered themselves all one big family even though they were from different companies?

HAYWARD: Yes.

CUNNINGHAM: Do you remember any of the names of the individuals who lost their lives?

HAYWARD: Uh, I remember some of them: James Anderson, Gordon Clark, Karl Kleppinger, I think. I can’t remember all of them.

Watch it:

Later in the video, Hayward becomes dodgy and refuses to answer a question about the timing of a BP report that blamed the explosion on the dead workers. Cunningham asked if the report, which was put out on the one year anniversary of the disaster, might have been insensitive to the families of the deceased. Hayward replied that he could not pass “any judgment one way or another” on the sensitivity of the report. After further prodding by the attorney, Hayward grudgingly conceded that the wives of the men could have been hurt by BP’s attempt to shift the blame.

As the Daily notes, Hayward admits to Cunningham later in the deposition that BP’s investigation of itself after the disaster neglected to examine possible failures by BP leadership. When he testified under oath before Congress, Hayward had promised a “full and complete investigation” of his company and the mistakes that led to the Deepwater Horizon spill. The admission of an incomplete investigation suggests that Hayward lied under oath.

For the first time ever, developing countries lead yearly investment in clean energy — representing about $72 billion in spending in 2010, versus $70 billion in rich countries. So while U.S. lawmakers argue about efficiency standards in light bulbs, the 800-pound dragon, China, is dominating. Meanwhile, Brazil, India and various Middle Eastern countries are catching up.

The figures, which were put together by Bloomberg New Energy Finance for the UN Environment Program, show that total global investment grew by 30% in 2010 to $211 billion:

China, with US$48.9 billion in financial new investment in renewables (up 28%), was the world leader in 2010. However, other parts of the emerging world also showed strong growth: South and Central America: up 39% to US$13.1 billion; Middle East and Africa: up 104% to US$5 billion; India: up 25% to US$3.8 billion; and Asian developing countries excluding China and India: up 31% to US$4 billion.

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by Stewart Boss

As the combined threat of climate change and energy dependence continues to drive the urgent need to shift away from risky fossil fuels, few entities are leading the charge quite like the U.S. military. In a June memo, General David Petraeus wrote that “ ‘operational energy’ is the lifeblood of our warfighting capabilities.” The military’s ambitious goals for investing in renewables, efficiency and alternative fuels are unparalleled in the U.S. today.

A panel briefing on Thursday hosted by the Pew Charitable Trusts highlighted the extraordinary energy innovations that the Department of Defense as well as the Army, Navy and Air Force are working on collectively under DOD to minimize the risks posed by high fuel use. There is plenty of work to do. According to Petraeus, fuel is responsible for nearly 80 percent of ground supply movement, and the DOD spends $20 billion on 135 million barrels of fuel and 30 million megawatt-hours of electricity every year.

The event, “Leading by Example: How Energy Innovation is Strengthening America’s Military,” brought together three department assistant secretaries who currently serve as the highest-ranking officials directly overseeing energy-related issues in the military. Interestingly, and perhaps not surprisingly, these officials – Katherine Hammack (Army), Jackalyne Pfanneenstiel (Navy) and Terry Yonkers (Air Force) – were all recruited from the private sector. Sharon Burke, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs, reiterated the importance of private-sector innovation and capital to enable the military’s transition to cleaner energy sources.

Despite strong DOD support for leaving the law intact, the House voted yesterday to approve a GOP amendment to the defense spending bill that blocks funding for Section 526, which bans the federal procurement of alternative fuels with higher greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fossil fuels as part of extensive and bipartisan energy legislation that passed in 2007. This comes despite vocal opposition from DOD, clearly expressed in a July 5 memo:

This exemption could further increase America’s reliance on non-renewable fuels. Our dependence on those types of fuels degrades our national security, negatively impacts our economy, and harms our planet. This exemption would also send a negative signal to America’s advanced biofuel industry and could result in adverse impacts to U.S. job creation, rural development efforts, and the export of world leading technology….  The Department urges exclusion of the House provision. The existing law has not, in any way, prevented the Department from meeting its current mission needs.

Pfannenstiel outlined Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ aggressive Five Energy Goals and affirmed that these are not just lofty goals, but rather part of a 5-year, $4 billion plan to save lives, save money and enhance national energy security:

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On Thursday, the House Appropriations Subcommittee for the Interior and Environment approved a slash-and-burn budget for land and environmental agencies. The FY 2012 budget bill includes several riders to prevent the federal government from protecting Americans from global warming pollution. The agencies whose budgets were cut, including the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and U.S. Forest Service, monitor and respond to flooding, drought, and wildfires.

With hundreds of billions of tons of fossil-fuel greenhouse pollution in the atmosphere, climate disasters are on the rise. The Republican members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for the Interior and Environment who voted to block interior and environmental agencies from fighting climate change come from districts that are being ravaged by these very disasters:

Subcommittee Chairman Michael K. Simpson (R-ID): Idaho, like much of the nothern United States, has been battered by extreme rains. Presidential Disaster M1987, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides

Jerry Lewis (R-CA): San Bernadino County was inundated by extreme rains. Presidential Disaster M1952, Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Debris and Mudflows

Ken Calvert (R-CA): Orange County hit by mudslides from extreme rains. Presidential Disaster M1952, Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Debris and Mudflows

Steven C. LaTourette (R-OH): On May 26, LaTourette’s district was hit by a tornado. On July 2, power outages from severe storms. On July 6, air quality advisory. With climate change, Asian carp threaten Lake Erie.

Tom Cole (R-OK): Oklahoma is the epicenter of climate disasters in the United States, with death and destruction wrought by blizzards, tornadoes, and extreme drought. Presidential Disaster M1985, Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm. Presidential Disaster M1989, Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, and Flooding, Presidential Emergency EM-3316, Severe Winter Storm. Secretarial Disaster S3080, The combined effects of drought, extreme heat, and high winds.

Jeff Flake, (R-AZ): On July 6, the “dust storm of a lifetime” struck Flake’s district.

Cynthia Lummis (R-WY): Following a grasshopper infestation last year, Montana was struck by flooding rains this spring. Presidential Disaster M1996, Severe Storms and Flooding. Secretarial Disaster S3060, Weather-related grasshopper infestations.

These climate deniers willingly accept federal taxpayer money to support the victims of climate disasters, but are shirking their fiscal and moral responsibility to defend our nation from the pollution that is making these disasters more intense and more frequent. They are letting polluters profit from the suffering of innocent, hard-working Americans and their children. Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) says he’s scared of the EPA’s efforts to fight greenhouse pollution. He should be considerably more scared of the consequences of polluting our weather.

Ice extent (from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2011 in red).

The National Snow and Ice Data Center’s reported this week:

Arctic sea ice extent for June 2011 was the second lowest in the satellite data record since 1979, continuing the trend of declining summer ice cover. Average ice extent fell below that for June 2007, which had the lowest minimum ice extent at the end of summer. However, ice extent this year was greater than in June 2010. The sea ice has entered a critical period of the melt season: weather over the next few weeks will determine whether the Arctic sea ice cover will again approach record lows.

Whatever happens in the short-term, the long-term trend in sea ice extent is unmistakable:

Monthly June ice extent for 1979 to 2011 shows a decline of 3.6% per decade.

Extent is, however, just a two-dimensional measure of how Arctic sea ice is trending.  We know that the third dimension — thickness — has also been melting away (see “Arctic sea ice volume: The death spiral continues; One-year-old ice in Beaufort Sea now a foot thinner than in 2009″).

The best modeling of Arctic sea ice volume is done by the Polar Science Center of the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington.  They have recently improved their PIOMAS model using  the best observational data — and they have released their data for others to analyze.  They have also added ‘conservative’ error bars to their estimates.  Finally, they just published their reanalysis in the Journal of Geophysical Research, “Uncertainty in Modeled Arctic Sea Ice Volume.”

Their key conclusion is that the death spiral of Arctic sea ice continues:

… the 2010 September ice volume anomaly did in fact exceed the previous 2007 minimum by a large enough margin to establish a statistically significant new record.

So those who have been asserting that the Arctic is in some sort of recovery are wrong.  Quite the reverse.

Here is PSC’s improved 30-year trend-line for the reduction in volume:

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Leading manufacturer:  “The reality is, consumers will see no difference at all. The only difference they’ll see is lower energy bills because we’re creating more efficient incandescent bulbs.”

In a move that could be called anything but conservative, Republican lawmakers are set to bring a bill to the House floor next week that will repeal state and municipal rights to set efficiency standards for light bulbs.  The bill would unravel a piece of federal legislation that was strongly supported by light bulb manufacturers and has spurred innovation in the lighting industry.

The bill, sponsored by Texas Republican Joe Barton, would strip away any “federal, state or local requirement or standard regarding energy efficient lighting” that uses light bulbs containing mercury. In other words, all compact fluorescent bulbs.

Remember, in May, Barton, denied there was any “medical negative” from mercury emitted from coal power plants.  Now he fancies himself a protector of the public from a vastly smaller source of potential mercury poisoning. The reality: There is an extremely small amount of mercury in CFL bulbs. Even after more than 8 hours of exposure to a broken bulb, mercury levels are equal to eating a 6 oz can of tuna.

But that’s not what this is really about.

Barton’s bill targets the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which increases the efficiency of incandescent light bulbs by 27% through 2014. It was a completely non-controversial bill that had bi-partisan support, was strongly supported by light bulb manufacturers (and still is) and was signed into law by George W. Bush.

“When this bill was passed, it was passed by people who knew how to make light bulbs,” says Randall Moorhead, vice president of government affairs at Philips, a leading light bulb producer. “Everyone supported it. And since then, it’s created more choice for consumers – we have two incandescent bulbs on the market that weren’t there before.”

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A round-up of climate and energy news. Please post other stories below.

U.S. offers help to finance first advanced ethanol plant

The Energy Department on Thursday provided a $105 million conditional loan guarantee to help finance the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the country.

The Iowa-based plant, which would be operated by privately-held POET LLC, would use corncobs, leaves, husks and some stalks provided by local farmers to produce up to 25 million gallons of advanced ethanol a year.

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