Big news: We won. You won.

That’s Bill McKibben’s headline at Tar Sands Action (full statement below).

In a stunning reversal of a “done deal,” the Obama administration has sent the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline back to review at the State Department:

… the Department has determined it is necessary to examine in-depth alternative routes that would avoid the Sand Hills in Nebraska in order to move forward with a National Interest Determination for the Presidential Permit.

There will be a “supplemental” environmental impact statement — presumably one that isn’t rigged (see “Bombshell: State Department Outsourced Tar Sands Pipeline Environmental Impact Study to ‘Major’ TransCanada Contractor.”  It “could be completed as early as the first quarter of 2013.”

Yes, Obama has punted this until after the election, but don’t undersell what just happened.  Bill McKibben is the man most responsible for leading the charge to kill the pipeline, and as he wrote me, “a done deal has come spectacularly undone.”  He added:

The people spoke very loudly, and thankfully the president appears to have heard them. We have had few enough even partial victories on climate change in Washington. That makes this a very important day.

In his statement at Tar Sands Action, McKibben writes, “most analysts are saying [the delay] will effectively kill the project.“  While we must continue to hold Obama’s feet to the fire burning planet, I agree with that assessment.

The people, the 99%, have won a victory over the 1% — the only group that would have profited from this pipeline.

Here is the McKibben’s eloquent, must-read statement (followed by the State Department’s and Obama’s):

Read more

Former President Bill Clinton was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart Tuesday night talking about his new book, “Back to Work. ”

In recent years, Clinton has been a strong advocate for clean energy and addressing climate change, helping bring together numerous large-scale investments in the sector through the Clinton Global Initiative.

In his new book, Clinton outlines a strategy for deploying more renewables and efficiency as a way to continue creating jobs and enhance America’s competitiveness. Ignoring the political pressure to ditch clean energy as a jobs creator, Clinton continues his strong public messaging on the need to invest in the sector.

Due to copyright issues, we can’t isolate specific pieces of the interview. It’s worth listening to the whole conversation. But if you want to skip straight to the clean energy portion, start at around 3:50.

by RL Miller in a repost

The Keystone XL pipeline symbolizes our national debate.  It’s a governmental policy to be made that will set policy, for good or bad, for years to come: claimed energy security (access to friendly North American oil) and jobs vs environmental ruin and carbon bomb continuing our addiction to cheap-ish fossil fuels.

Keystone XL is a huge decision to be made at a Presidential level. However, all across America, similar decisions are being made: fossil fuel production is being expanded with the blessing of the federal government.

Consider Alton Coal.

But first, consider Bryce Canyon National Park.

Bryce Canyon is best known for its hoodoos, but the park is also the last grand sanctuary of natural darkness. High and dry on the edge of a huge plateau, Bryce has wide open skies; its isolation means no light pollution (light from human activity) and very little air pollution. The park’s Dark Rangers give over 100 astronomy programs each year. Arriving from the west via Las Vegas or Salt Lake City, a Bryce visitor probably passes through Panguitch, an Old West town of 1600 heavily dependent on tourism – 70% of Garfield County’s economy is tourism-based.

What a great place for a coal mine!

Until now, Alton Coal Development, LLC has mined 635 acres of private land in Coal Hollow. It wants to expand on to 3,576 acres of federally owned land, administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM’s draft environmental impact statement, released November 4, considered three alternatives: full-bore production of 2,000,000 tons/year, operating 24 hours a day, 6 days a week; a limited mine on less land with seasonal closures to protect sage grouse and other threatened animals; and no mine at all.

Anyone who thinks the BLM seriously considered all three alternatives needs a reality check. The BLM prefers to expand a strip mine near a national park.

What’s wrong with expanding one strip mine? Everything that’s wrong with Keystone XL, and fossil fuels policy in America, that’s what:

Read more

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has failed in his bid to overturn key air quality standards that were finalized this summer.

Environmental groups were on edge today as they awaited a vote in the Senate on a Congressional Review Act that would have killed the Environmental Protection Agency’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. The CSAR requires 27 states to reduce emissions that are contributing to ozone and particulate pollution in other states.

Paul introduced the Congressional Review Act, a tool created in the 1990′s that allows Congress to overturn regulations, in an effort to strip the EPA’s ability to regulate toxic cross-state emissions from power plants.

John Walke, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, wrote about the consequences of Paul’s CRA:

Read more

Other stories below: Vestas Wind CEO Warns U.S. Wind May “Fall Off a Cliff”; Senate Republicans Fight the EPA

California Hits Renewable Energy Milestone: 1 GW of Solar Power Installed to Date

California has hit a major renewable energy milestone: 1 gigawatt — or 1,000 megawatts — of solar power has been installed on rooftops throughout the state, according to a report to be released Wednesday by Environment California, a statewide advocacy group.

One gigawatt is … enough energy to power 750,000 homes. Five countries have hit the 1 gigawatt installation mark to date: Germany, Spain, Japan, Italy and the Czech Republic. California has installed more solar power than France, China and Belgium.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE OR COMMENT

Read more

Valero Energy Corporation, a top U.S. refiner and one of the main backers of the failed effort to kill California’s climate laws, is poised to produce Keystone XL tar sands fuel for tax-free export to foreign markets. “The company that appears positioned to receive and refine more of TransCanada’s crude than anyone else is the Valero Energy Corporation,” DeSmogBlog reports:

Valero is publicly “dedicated” to the Keystone XL project, and their 310,000 barrels per day Port Arthur, Texas refinery would receive the Alberta-born crude. Valero has invested heavily to upgrade the Port Arthur plant to handle “heavy” “sour” crude (a.k.a. tar sands DilBit) for the past few years, anticipating the pipeline’s completion.

“The nation’s top refiner has locked in at least 20 percent of the pipeline’s capacity,” Oil Change International found, “and, because its refinery in Port Arthur is within a Foreign Trade Zone, the company will accomplish its export strategy tax free.”

“As far as I know, we’ve never said anything about exporting products to China, nor do we have plans to,” Valero spokesperson Bill Day told Platts EnergyWeek. Day’s statement is technically accurate — the company actually intends to export tar sands products like diesel and jet fuel tax-free to Europe, Mexico, and South America.

by Cole Mellino

Getting stuck in traffic causes a lot of stress, which is bad for mental health. It turns out, the health impact could be a lot deeper.

We already know that there is a link between long term exposure to tailpipe emissions and higher rates of heart disease, cancer, and respiratory illness. But several studies, compiled in a Wall Street Journal article, have begun to show that high level exposure to car exhaust can also affect brain development. The exact impact is still not entirely certain, but research from separate teams in New York, Boston, Beijing, and Krakow, Poland shows a startling link:

Children in areas affected by high levels of emissions, on average, scored more poorly on intelligence tests and were more prone to depression, anxiety and attention problems than children growing up in cleaner air, separate research teams in New York, Boston, Beijing, and Krakow, Poland, found. And older men and women long exposed to higher levels of traffic-related particles and ozone had memory and reasoning problems that effectively added five years to their mental age, other university researchers in Boston reported this year. The emissions may also heighten the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and speed the effects of Parkinson’s disease.

Not only are intelligence levels and mental health at risk, but a child’s chance of developing autism goes up markedly if his mother lives in a highly polluted area, according to research from the Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives. Dr. Volk, a medical epidemiologist at University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, and her colleagues calculated that:

Read more

Numerous scientific studies have shown a link between car exhaust and stunted brain development. Perhaps riding around in a campaign bus so often is impacting Rick Perry’s judgment in presidential debates?

In last night’s most talked about CNBC debate moment — one that most pundits on MSNBC’s Morning Joe said was all but fatal to his campaign — Perry painfully struggled to remember the third government agency that he wanted to cut if elected to office, settling instead on the Environmental Protection Agency.

Perry: “And I’ll tell you. It’s three agencies of government that are gone when I get there: Commerce, education, and…the…uh…Oh, what’s the third one there? Let’s see.”

Finally, one of the other candidates comes up with a solution off screen: “The EPA?”

Perry responds: “EPA there you go,” waving his hand in jest.

It turns out, that’s not what he meant. He meant the Energy Department, a decision just as bad.

After the embarrassing exchange, Perry had only one thing to say: “Oops.”

And that’s what we’ll be saying if we get rid of the EPA or the Department of Energy.

Other key stories below: Canada’s Climate Stance Likely to Cause Controversy; South African Industries Question Climate Change Plan

Ban Ki-moon urges consensus on emissions and funding at climate change meeting

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today stressed that the forthcoming United Nations conference on climate change in Durban, South Africa, should produce agreement on limiting emissions of greenhouse gases, and launch the green climate fund for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries.

“In Durban, I expect governments to find a way forward for the Kyoto Protocol so we can make a broader comprehensive climate agreement possible,” said Mr. Ban in remarks prepared for delivery to an event on climate change organized by the mission of the United Kingdom to the UN.

Mr. Ban urged governments to launch the Green Climate Fund, which was established last year in Cancun, Mexico. “But it must not be an empty shell – a fund in name only. Governments must provide the $100 billion that was pledged. This would be a welcome concrete outcome at Durban.”

Read more