At SolveClimate, Leslie Berliant writes:
Earlier this month, California voters rebuffed a power-grab by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), defeating a ballot initiative that would have helped the utility maintain its monopoly on electrical power in northern California.
California’s Prop 16 would have required local governments to gain the support of two-thirds of voters before purchasing local power. The state’s voters rejected the measure. It would have made it extraordinarily difficult for local governments to create or expand their own municipal utilities and compete with PG&E.
PG&E is not the only utility company using legislation, ballot propositions and lots of cash, to try to hold onto its monopoly or control the future of power supply in the vicinity of its operations.
In May, an attempt by New Hampshire utility PSNH to spend most of the state’s renewable energy project funds was rejected by the state legislature.
In Kansas, Sunflower Electric Corp has been waging an ongoing battle to build new coal-burning power plants that would export most its power to out-of-state customers.
And in Colorado, the state’s Renewable Energy Standard (RES), passed by a large majority of voters, is facing attack in the legislature.
But in these fights, political influence and a deep war chest does not necessarily translate into victory for the utilities. PG&E spent $46.1 million on the failed ballot initiative in California. Opponents say they stopped the utility with a campaign that cost less than $100,000. |
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The green diary rescue regularly appears on Sundays and Thursdays. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it. The rescue begins below and continues in the jump:
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Brad Johnson of the Wonk Room, known here as The Cunctator, explained how Senator Harry Reid Calls The Bluff Of The Climate Peacocks: "Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) is giving obstructionist senators a chance to finally take action on climate and clean energy, after they attempted to block the "unelected bureaucracy" of the Environmental Protection Agency from doing so. After holding a 'thrilling' climate caucus with his members last week, the Democratic majority leader plans to bring an 'impenetrable' comprehensive package of legislation to repair the damage caused by fossil fuels to our economy and our planet."
NRDCActionFund suggested that it might be
Time to Turn Off The A/C At the White House?: "...perhaps we should all hope for the White House air conditioning to be broken tomorrow – or turned off on purpose - so that the Senators meeting there get a taste of what the planet will feel like everywhere if they don’t do something about it now. When you think about it, a bit of Senatorial sweat and a few stained shirts is not too high a price to pay if it results in long-overdue, comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation on the President’s desk sometime this sweltering summer. Is it?"
Climate Change
RLMiller wrote of how Dems Go Big, Part 1: Bingaman Spill Bill Analysis: "The big news out of Washington on matters environmental has been a unanimous decision by Senate Democrats to craft an impenetrable package: a legislative strategy 'more akin to the financial regulatory legislation than of health care, with Democrats bringing to the floor an impenetrable package that Republicans could not roadblock.' Specifically, they 'plan to anchor the climate and energy effort to widely popular legislation that would overhaul offshore drilling regulations in the wake of the Gulf spill, and then dare Republicans to vote against it.'"
Action! Tell The White House: It's Time For James Hansen! wrote WarrenS: "Here's something simple all of us can do to help Dr. Hansen, and to help our embattled planet: Tell The White House — It's Time For James Hansen To Get What He Deserves."
jamess also noted that James Hansen Awarded, but NOT yet Acknowledged: "James Hansen, NASA Scientist, an early-warning advocate about the seriousness of the Climate Change problem facing the Planet, has finally been "awarded" for his tireless efforts: [continuing with the 2010 ...] Prestigious Blue Planet Prize."
And with some terrific short videos, he showed us how our planet breathes in A Key Strand in the Web of Life: PhytoPlankton: "The Oceans naturally trap huge Quantities of Carbon Dioxide. But rising Ocean Temperatures, are starting to restrict how much CO2 the Ocean can hold. Warm Waters can hold LESS Carbon Dioxide. Rising Ocean Temperatures also help to cause Water stratification zones (low mixing areas). This can cut off the Plankton's natural nutrient source: the deep water Upwellings."
In his diary, Frank Palmer said we need radical changes to deal with climate change, not what has so far been proposed , Global Warming -- lifestyle -- housing and transportation: "Now, we need technological change. And, at a glacial pace compared to how fast we need it, we are getting technological change. But we need, as much -- perhaps more, changes in the way we live. And those changes need to be drastic. While the changes I suggest after the jump sound radical, they wouldn't be enough to lower the US carbon footprint in the next thirty years as much as it needs to be lowered right now."
newusername said Really. It IS time to Blame Canada, re climate bill: "The problem is that the center and left in Canada are divided into three significant parties. And all of the right wing support is in the hands of a well-disguised far-right circle of corporatists. People used to call them Bush/Cheney light, when a more accurate description is probably Bush/Cheney sly. Rand Paul on mute. They are one with the oil industry in every practical way, and as a result the current Canadian government is partnered with big oil, and working hard to weaken climate legislation in the US."
billlaurelMD weighed in with his latest News from the Arctic: 27 June 2010: "There has been a rapid retreat of sea ice from the Bering (between AK and Siberia) and Davis (between Greenland and Canada) Straits, a reduction in sea ice concentrations generally in the Arctic Ocean, and the Hudson Bay ice is just about gone. ...I don't believe we can declare with any certainty that there'll be a record minimum this summer in arctic sea ice extent. There is still too much uncertainty as to what kind of wind, cloud, and temperature anomalies there'll be this summer over the arctic. However, we are as of yesterday at the lowest arctic sea ice extent (and I believe volume as well, given how rapidly the ice is retreating and how warm it was in the arctic last winter, which reduces how thick existing ice will get) of all the years from 2002 through the present."
LaughingPlanet gave us the skinny on the growing popularity of accepting scientific studies about climate change in Walk, don't run (your engine) {ECSTASY}: "Going green, once popular only amongst frogs, is now cooler than ever amongst image-conscious people and corporations alike. Climate change, once just a theory known as the greenhouse effect, is now a scientific fact backed by 98% of the world's scientists, and 100% of the population of non-stupid people worldwide."
Food, Agriculture & Gardening
In another installment about agriculture abroad, BorderJumpers discussed why it's good to Learn to Listen to Farmers: "At the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension at Cape Coast University in Southern Ghana, learning takes place not only in classrooms, but also literally in fields and farms all over the country. As part of a program to improve agricultural extension services, extension officers are working with professors to find ways to improve food production in their communities. The extensionists, who are already working with farmers, are selected by the Ministry of Agriculture and the University from all over the country to train at the University to help them better share their skills and knowledge with farmers."
dashat wrote about his recent experience in What I Learned in Detroit: "Organic farming is on the upswing in the United States. For the first time in 40 years we have more farms now than we had a year ago. Small farms begun by young couples or groups of friends, often without farming as an inherited skill is making the difference. The economy that results is the non-corporate and locally sensitive culture of food. The farmer’s market and roadside trading undermines chain stores like Whole Foods. Of course, the sheer health that this personally-raised minimally-shipped food allows in its customers – results in radical clear thinking!"
beach babe in fl posted her latest installment of Macca's Meatless Monday...Basil, It's You (with McCartney concert!): "I have a special surprise for you tonight. You can hear Paul McCartney's concert Hard Rock Calling from yesterday direct from London!"
Frankenoid had a pair diaries, the longest running series at Daily Kos, Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 6.18: "There's a riot of blooming going on in the front yard. I really like this combo of whirling butterflies gaura and trumpet lilies — a happy accident. I hadn't planned for them to coordinate so well in color, form and bloom time. Of course the gaura will continue blooming all season long; it just happens that they first bloom along with the lilies."
And the follow-up: Saturday Morning Garden Blogging After Hours.
Energy & Transportation
ekyprogressive talked about a little contretemps in coal country between Ashley Judd and Stella Parton: "Here in eastern Kentucky, there has been quite a bit of stir that I have noticed in the news regarding King Coal. Now, I have been very hard on coal, as my diaries and comments show. I believe it to be an exploiting industry, which holds the regions it inhabits hostage to a resource extraction economy that gives few opportunities outside of coal extraction or its supportive businesses. Recently Ashley Judd had quite a bit to say about this. And boy, did it bring out the rabid..."
Non-corn based ethanol got the thumbs up from shpilk in National Works Alternative Energy Program: "Cattails can yield as much as thousands of gallons of ethanol per acre under optimal conditions. The best practical yield one can get from corn is less than 500 gallons per acre. Even if cattails are an order of magnitude less efficient than claimed, it still offers an alternative to corn or sugar cane based ethanol. Unlike corn, cattails require no fertilizer, special handling or maintenance. They just grow, and thrive in places where there is a lot of pollution to clean up."
sjbob proposed a Green GasCap Disruption: "This 'Green GasCap' proposal works against two problems at once: our lavish purchases of foreign oil and the penance we'll have to pay for swimming in the greenhouse gases we produce. It will not be an evolutionary approach, like cap and trade, which works primarily upon suppliers. Their prime directive will always be to support the market demand they actually see. Instead, it attempts to create an economic disruption; it modifies the demand that suppliers see. It realigns market forces coherently and presses a balanced, directed force against the status quo."
A Siegel smacked natural gas around in FRACK YOU, Mother Earth!: "We know that 'Clean Coal' is an oxymoronic lie useful as an advertising slogan but (generously speaking) little substance behind it (at best, 'less dirty coal' could be accurate). Deepwater Horizon has given us a very clear understanding that 'Beyond Petroleum' made people feel good while the Bloody Polluters having been happily taking their cash to the bank. Yet, 'clean natural gas' is a term that seems to roll off far too many tongues without, it seems, any realization of the irony that the best we can do with a fossil fuel is make it 'less dirty' as opposed to clean."
Animals
BlueDragon was not very optimistic in Dolphins "Basted" in Oil Are Watching Us: "James Lovelock's last book, The Vanishing Face of Gaia, came out in paperback the week after Horizon exploded. In it he states unequivocally that we cannot now avert global climate catastrophe and a mass extinction event. While I do not agree with Lovelock concerning nuclear energy or, even his assessment of alternative energy (although he may be right about the second), I do agree that it is probable, if not certain, that the overwhelming majority of humans will die. We have simply exceeded Earth's carrying capacity.
RogerShuler also took note of slicked dolphins and whales in Video: Dolphins and Whale Struggle to Survive in BP Oil Slick: "A new video from an Alabama environmental investigator shows more than 50 dolphins, some of them dying, in the BP oil slick. The video also shows a sperm whale with oil all around its blow hole and red splotches down its back, as if it's been 'basted in crude.'"
juliewolf wrote Dawn Chorus: Vermont's "Northeast Kingdom": "Birding and camping in Northern Vermont this month took us through Island Pond, Victory Basin and a part of the Sylvio Conte refuge network. We had good sightings of birds, butterflies and even one fairly cool sighting of a young bull moose." Dem Beans found an ecologically sound way of dealing with fleas that he explained in My Dogs Have Gone Green.
Round-ups, Wrap-ups & Digests
eKos: eKos Earthship Monday, Kids Cereal Recall, Dispersant Issues and Plastic Islands: "It's not just the food we have to worry about, but as we know from such additives as BPA, it's the things we package it in that can harm us as well and now there is a recall in Cereal's because the actual packaging is making KIDS sick."
Eco-Philosophy, Eco-Policy & Eco-Action
matching mole penned an essay on A Sense of Place and a Changing World: "One of the greatest things that could be accomplished in a battle against climate change and other environmental problems is to encourage more people to more connected to the places they live and experience. The quote at the top of this diary comes from a woman I met on the Shetland Islands a couple of weeks ago and the picture above shows where she lives. I was quite envious of her deep attachment to where she lived. I went out on a walk in the long twilight of a far northern evening in June and ended up here."
PaulLoeb discussed action coalitions in Unexpected Environmental Alliances Amidst The Oil Spill: 'Jesus Will Rip Your Head Off': "A powerful model comes from Seattle and Alaska salmon fisherman Pete Knutson, who has spent thirty-five years engaging his community to take environmental responsibility, creating unexpected alliances to broaden the impact of their voice, and in the process defeating massive corporate interests."
In a prose ode to summer, annetteboardman said Cicadas should only come on the first of July!: "I just hope that eventually the cicadas will go back to showing up only in the first week of July, and the lightning bugs will not show up before June second."
From his high-latitude perch, David Kroning II wrote about A Crime against Nature: As an environmental historian who has worked on fisheries-related issues, for more than two decades, I’m not surprised by the popular discourse surrounding the calamatous oil gusher still pumping millions of gallons of crude uncontrollably into the Gulf of Mexico. It is only the most recent assault in a long, destructive and atrocious campaign waged by humans in an effort to expand their exploitation of the planet's dwindling resources."
AndyS In Colorado wrote an eco-fantasy in Rain falls in Imladris: "The autumn leaves swirl. From my childhood, I can smell the smoke of burning leaves. Burning pine needles as our forests turn brown with the ravages of the pine beetle. Burning leaves. It's a smell from my youth, from innocuous and unknowing people and causes, plying the results of their uncaring into the atmosphere. But I remember it fondly, alongside the acrid diesel of the airport. The end of days, the burning leaves, the hubris of human technological triumph. Twinned in complex carbon compounds."
Bcgntn asked The Preamble; Fix it or Nix It?: "In an earlier era, and now, the electorate embraces practices that establish justice, while we unreasonably raze the planet. As a devoted citizenry, we insure domestic tranquility through appeasement. Furthermore, for the sake of homeland harmony, we adopt practices that encourage petroleum production, excessive oil and coal profits, whilst we also rob crops of their inherent dignity. We, the countrymen, commit to the promise that we will provide for the common defense. In accordance with the demands of the public, policymakers further endorse perilous practices."
Bob Higgins described A Sickening in the Gulf Stream: "If you watch carefully you will see the people of the coast as they come to the water for their food, for their work, for play, for the simple enrichment of their souls. Watch them as their boats go to sea and return, as shops and restaurants and parking lots fill and empty, as beaches are walked and waves are ridden and music wafts on the salt breeze, as lines are cast and reeled in, as castles are built in the morning sand and washed away by the evening tide."
Spotlighting his 4-year-old, dantilson discussed how BP Is Turning Tykes Into Eco-Activists: "When I got off the phone, Aliza was full of questions. So I carefully filled her in on what offshore oil drilling was, how BP's rig had exploded and sunk in the Gulf of Mexico, how oil had been gushing out ever since and how much trouble that was causing. I reassured her that it would get fixed, but I couldn't promise her it would never happen again. That's where activism came into play. Aliza was disturbed and dismayed when she heard about the oil spill and what it was doing to waters, wildlife and coastlines. She wanted to know if other kids knew about all this. And she wanted to know what she could do about it."
Politicians
Steven D lambasted Governor Barbour's Priorities: "Gee, I guess when you drown the government in a bathtub, it gets hard to find anyone capable of cleaning the bathtub up when someone makes a big mess. But, of course, that's no reason to stop offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Nosirreebob. That might have unfortunate consequences for campaign contributions to certain politicians in the Gulf states, after all. And there's nothing more important than that. 'Gee, I guess when you drown the government in a bathtub, it gets hard to find anyone capable of cleaning the bathtub up when someone makes a big mess. But, of course, that's no reason to stop offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Nosirreebob. That might have unfortunate consequences for campaign contributions to certain politicians in the Gulf states, after all. And there's nothing more important than that.'"
Minnesota district 3 candidate Jim Meffert for Congress urged us to to have an honest conversation about clean energy": "Listen to MN-03 challenger and Democratic Farmer-Labor party (Minnesota's Democratic party) endorsed candidate Jim Meffert talk about the across-the-board changes we have to make in our country to achieve a real clean energy future in our country."
Gulf Gusher
Gulf watchers: Gulf of Mexico Liveblog Digest: "If a corporation proceeds with plans that put people's lives in jeopardy with the intention of increasing profit are their actions any different than a terrorist's? In both cases a calculated risk is taken that is likely to result in the loss of human life. In both cases the intention is to advance one's own cause by terminating the existence of other human beings. When Massey and BP made decisions that put their workers lives at risk they were knowingly jeopardizing human life for the purpose of making profit. They might as well have planted a bomb in an airport or parked an SUV laden with explosives in Times Square and walked away."
Liveblog: BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 32.
Gulf watchers: BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 33.
Gulf watchers: BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 34.
peraspera: BP Oilpocalypse Liveblog - ROV 141.
David PA: BP Oilpocalypse Liveblog - ROV #142.
CindyMax: BP Oilpocalypse Liveblog - ROV #143 - Hands Across the Sand Edition.
peraspera: BP Oilpocalypse Liveblog - ROV #144.
politik: Gulf Watchers ROV #145 - BP's GoM
Catastrophe.
gchaucer2: Gulf Watchers ROV # 146 - BP's GoM Catastrophe.
Garrett: Gulf Watchers Liveblog - ROV #147.
Gulf Watchers Overnight: Gulf Watchers ROV # 148 - BP's GoM Catastrophe Launch.
khowell: BP's Disaster in the Gulf - ROV #149 - Hurricane Georges Edition.
Yasuragi: Gulf Watchers ROV #150 - BP's GoM Catastrophe.
gchaucer2: Gulf Watchers ROV #151 - BP's GoM Catastrophe.
David Kroning II: Gulf Watchers ROV #152, John Muir Edition.
Rei: If BP Was A Plumbing Company...: "'You've reached Mr. and Mrs. Lowry. We're out of town while our house is being rennovated. If you could leave your name and number, we'll get back to you after the beep.' BEEP!"
mwmwm: eco-PANIQuiz for June 21-27: Funning the horror: Snark.
davidwalters: We need to apply nuclear standards to oil drilling!: "Unlike many on the political Left, I don't rush to argue that drilling needs to be stopped altogether. This helps no one. What does need to happen, is that BP ought to be expropriated with no compensation. This is not only the socialist inside me arguing this. It's what they deserve. ...So...what does this all mean? Well, for starters, we ought to have a serious open ocean regulatory authority like the NRC has with nuclear: completely financed by fees levied on oil extraction (a national oil excise tax to start wouldn't be bad)."
freilichd: The Gulf between management and leadership: "The federal government is squandering the Gulf oil spill crisis. Entrenched Democratic Party leaders such as Senator Leahy appear willing to settle for ‘management’ without firm ‘leadership’. Is the explanation conflict of interest, ‘old school’ out-of-touch thinking, or lack of vision? In any case, this is an area where we really cannot accept typical Democratic Party establishment incrementalism."
Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse: BP Nixes Congress Talking to Key Employees (and other BP News): "This is not the first time BP has tried to control governmental probes of BP. The excuse of BP's own internal investigation was used to wiggle its way onto a governmental probe team where it succeeded in flipping employees to recant prior statements unfavorable to BP. Congress does not need to give BP an inch: BP’s approval ratings of 6% is approaching Saddam Hussein’s 3%, a person that "our nation has gone to war against."
pragprogress: "BP Has Taken Over Our Gulf!": " This is a national emergency, much bigger than any one company. BP should of course be held fully liable for all costs incurred, but right it's about the federal government stepping in and taking full control of the entire situation."
Something the Dog Said: Making Drilling Safer Using Magnitude Of Regret: "When we are talking about reliability what we are looking at is the chance of occurrence. This is what BP and its engineers were really talking about.
Knucklehead: GULF COAST, a dedication: "I feel so much for the people on the gulf coast. I want as many people as possible to see what is being devastated below the surface, even if it aggravates their sorrow at what is being devastated above it. The only way for the gulf coasters to be 'made whole' is if all the damages are brought to the light of day. All these images are from my reef tanks I`ve kept & still keep, over the years."
tbetz: To an oil-fearing Floridian threatening to go GOP: "There is a myth that the government has secret magic technologies available that would clean this oil mess up, but the fact is that nobody does. Why? Because Republicans have consistently made sure that we don't require oil companies to develop such technologies before drilling oil wells."
citisven: EcoJustice: Truth & Reconciliation for the Gulf: "If we are looking to achieve true and lasting environmental justice and restoration, it would behoove us to set up something along the lines of an ecological Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Gulf. Unlike any other TRC ever attempted, it would be the first of its kind to represent non-human victims, such as fish and birds killed and defiled by swaths of crude oil."
Major Tom: The Despicable Judicial Ethics of Judge Martin Feldman: "The reader should also be aware that there was a more direct and quicker way in which the judge could have been forced to recuse himself from hearing the moratorium case. The lawyer representing the United States (had he had the sufficient "Audacity of Hope" and guts) should have filed a pre-hearing motion with Judge Feldman for him to recuse himself, backed up by the evidence that Rachel Maddow has provided us through her own personal initiative."
james richardson: Why Barton was right to apologize to BP: "You have to feel a little sorry for BP. They most likely never saw the 20 billion dollar shakedown coming. And why would they? We've been telling them for years that regulation is bad, capitalism is good and the free market knows all. And yet at the first sign of trouble those very same free market supporters are now telling BP they have to cough up billions of dollars for some glorified slush fund?"
icebergslim: It doesn't smell like a beach. It smells like a gas station: "Who in their right mind want to go into water that smell like a gas station? Can someone help me understand that? I carry and KEEP Purell in my car just for cleaning my hands after pumping gas into my car, and this is even if gas does or does not get on me. The authorities in Florida need to do the right thing and close those beaches. Furthermore, residents need to STAY AWAY."
worldforallpeopleorg: New Gulf video; Oiled & dying dolphins and whales.
joegee: Enjoy Our Birds This Season: "A fact is being overlooked by the media, and it needs mentioned somewhere. For many of us in the northern states and Canadian provinces, when our migratory birds fly south this winter too many will not be returning."
Pakalolo: Before it arrives; A Sub-tropical Barrier Island's story: "Fifteen miles southwest of Fort Myers, Fl is a sub-tropical barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico named Sanibel Island. A good portion of this small, and very wealthy I might add, island has been preserved as a National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling was instrumental in blocking the sale of this portion of Sanibel Island to developers and in 1945 the Sanibel Island NWR was signed into law by President Harry Truman. In 1967 the refuge was renamed J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge to honor the hard work of the person who made this refuge possible."
good grief: Oilwellian: "Appearance is everything in BP’s marketing -- especially when it comes to managing the "look" of BP's oil spills. Even the use of Corexit has (for BP) conveniently allowed oil to be dispersed throughout the water column (forming underwater plumes and dead zones due to oxygen depletion as micro-organisms gradually consume the oil), with the oil surfacing in visible form only belatedly after the initial days and weeks after the blowout at the bottom of the ocean and then in sporadic clumps after media cameras have left the scene and attention of the rest of the country has wandered to the next diversion. The oil is now -- over 60 days later -- beginning to come in on the tide."
GreyHawk: Record Keeping: Signs of Civilization and Its Subsequent Demise: "The current huge gusher in the Gulf will leave an ecological wound that will impact not only the local communities, but also other ocean-based life -- even if the oil remains relatively close in proximity. ...And we already have plenty of indicators that "close proximity" is highly unlikely, with some predictions stating that the oil (including all the accompanying toxins and chemical dispersants) may ride the Gulf Stream for a trans-Atlantic boost to start impacting far-off places like Norway. The more conservative estimates range from only affecting shores along the inner gulf to tainting shores along the eastern US seaboard."
pinkskin: Beds Are Burning: "Recent polling suggusts that the majority of Americans believe that the response from our President over the horror in the Gulf has not been sufficient and do not feel confident in his abilities to handle a crisis situation. I cannot help but recall the children's book 'The Seven Chinese Brothers' when I consider these poll numbers."
myles spicer: Critics of Federal response to oil spill disengenuous...and dishonest: "A few weeks a go, I contended that critics of Obama’s handling of the oil spill were "uninformed, unfair, and unwarranted". Now I would like to modify that charge by adding "disingenuous", and intellectually dishonest, as well."