How specifically can we help the Senate to strengthen ACES, the American Clean Energy & Security Act (aka Waxman-Markey, aka HR 2454, aka cap & trade)? One solution is a win-win-win:
Clean energy, clean jobs.
The American people will win because clean energy will reduce carbon emissions.
Senators will win because they'll be bringing clean, high paying jobs to states that need it most.
And Senators will win -- again, at reelection time -- because clean energy and clean jobs are extraordinarily politically popular. When's the last time 90% of the American public agreed on anything?
This is my second diary in a short series on ACES. First was: Senate: Pass a Reality-Based ACES Bill. Scientific reality is 350 ppm, and every amendment to the bill must pass one simple test: Will it help bring carbon emissions down to 350 ppm, or not?
The American people will win (along with people in other countries, polar bears, and the planet as a whole) when a strong ACES bill reduces carbon emissions.
Senators will win by bringing clean jobs to the states that need it most. To use only the example of wind power, this clean technology was ignored by the Bush administration but now expects rapid growth. The Obama administration has only recently declared a victor (Department of the Interior) in bureaucratic wrangling, began to clear the regulatory underbrush, and expects to see offshore wind turbines within one year, reports the LA Times.
A Department of Energy map shows strong potential for wind power across the Great Plains, from eastern Montana all the way to Texas.
Wind power will especially benefit rural America. The Department of Energy estimates that rural America could see $60 billion in capital investment if 5 percent of the nation’s energy comes from wind power by 2020. Leasing land for a single utility-scale wind turbine could provide a farmer with about $3,000 a year in income. Wind power already brings 1,000 jobs to the small state of South Dakota; is it any wonder that Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) has supported ACES for the clean energy and clean, high paying jobs that it brings his state? Senators Baucus and Tester of neighboring Montana should emulate his example. Michigan, with its oustanding potential for wind and its vast supply of freshwater, could turn its economy around by investing in wind -- are you listening, Senators Levin and Stabenow?
And Senators will win, again, at reelection time. A brand new Washington Post/ABC poll shows that support for Obama's energy policy, including cap and trade, remains strong.
Most Americans approve of the way President Obama is handling energy issues and support efforts by him and Democrats in Congress to overhaul energy policy -- including the controversial cap-and-trade approach to limiting greenhouse gas emissions, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Even as public support has slipped for Obama's health-care proposals, support for ambitious changes in energy policy has been steady. Although the issue of health care arouses more intense feelings than energy policy does, those who do feel strongly about energy and climate policy tend to tilt toward the administration's position and a broad majority of people echo Democratic lawmakers' views on the benefits of proposed changes.
Nearly six in 10 of those polled support the proposed changes to U.S. energy policy being developed by Congress and the administration. Fifty-five percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the issue, compared with 30 percent who do not. A narrower majority, 52 to 43 percent, back a cap-and-trade system; that margin is unchanged since June. A cap-and-trade system would set a ceiling for the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, and it would allow firms to buy and sell emissions permits.
Some of the highlights of the crosstabs include slipping support for more oil, gas, and coal. However, wind and solar power are favored by eye-poppingly huge margins. Ninety percent of the American public agrees that we need more wind and solar power, while opposition to coal mining has grown from 39% in 2001 to 45% today.
a. Build more nuclear power plants
--------- Support --------- --------- Oppose ---------- No
NET Strongly Not strongly NET Strongly Not strongly opinion
8/17/09 52 36 16 46 30 15 2
6/3/01 46 29 17 51 36 15 3
b. Develop more solar and wind power
--------- Support --------- --------- Oppose ---------- No
NET Strongly Not strongly NET Strongly Not strongly opinion
8/17/09 91 79 12 8 5 3 1
6/3/01 90 80 10 8 3 4 2
c. Increase oil and gas drilling
--------- Support --------- --------- Oppose ---------- No
NET Strongly Not strongly NET Strongly Not strongly opinion
8/17/09 64 48 16 33 21 12 3
6/3/01 67 49 19 29 19 11 3
d. Increase coal mining
--------- Support --------- --------- Oppose ---------- No
NET Strongly Not strongly NET Strongly Not strongly opinion
8/17/09 52 31 21 45 27 18 3
6/3/01 54 33 21 39 23 15 7
And this is after a summer of astroturfing: lobbyists that forge letters from grassroots groups, use stock photos instead of real "FACES" of coal, and bar real Americans waving American flags from "Energy Citizen" rallies. Maybe the American people are beginning to see through their charade.
"Clean energy, clean jobs": This term includes an array of renewable energy sources, and a staggeringly wide variety of jobs. There's only two industries that are excluded: oil and coal. Those nonrenewable energy sources are dirty.
Senators Boxer and Kerry will be introducing the Senate version of ACES in less than two weeks, and Senators will begin the process of amending it. The House version of the bill was watered down while we were busy with health care reform, but this time let's multitask. We can support amendments that bring us clean energy and clean jobs and oppose those that don't.
To help separate -- and influence! -- the Senators who favor clean energy and clean jobs from those who do not, I've begun a variation on a whip, Adopt A Senator For ACES, Win Friends, Influence Senate! So far, 18 Senators have been adopted. Interested? Click the link, reply in the comments or by email, and check out the FAQ on DK GreenRoots.
GreenRoots is a new environmental series created by Meteor Blades and Patriot Daily for Daily Kos. This series provides a forum for discussing, and acting on, all environmental issues, including the need for sustainability and the interrelationship between environment and salient issues of our lives, including health care, family, food, economy, jobs, labor, poverty, equal justice, human rights, political stability, national security and war.