The USA and global warming: Obama changes the game!

Climate change and the USA

Obama Happy Dances!

It was just one week ago that Kristina and I were celebrating Barack Obama’s Inauguration as the 44th President of the United States of America with little happy dances around the living room.

We’re still doing the same thing today. If you care about the environment and global warming, Obama has had an extraordinary week, rolling back the darkness that has characterized the last eight years of Darth Cheney’s American environmental policy.

Obama’s moves have been swift and slick. In move after savvy move, he’s showing that he understands that global warming is the Story of the Century, and he’s given me hope that we will make a real difference going forward.

Here are a few stories that highlight why it’s been a good week for environmentalists.

Obama urges EPA to grant California’s Emissions waiver

President Obama signed a memorandum in his first week in office urging newly-confirmed EPA head Lisa Jackson to approve California’s waiver to set its own strict vehicle emissions standards. The waiver was originally submitted to the former EPA chief Steven Johnson in December 2005, and denied in 2007, supposedly because Johnson* believed a confusing patchwork of laws would result if states were permitted to set their own vehicle emissions standards. Since that rejection, 13 other states have joined California’s quest to set tough emissions standards.

* I write supposedly because the 14 states planing to introduce California standards represent more than 150 million people.

EPA revokes approval for South Dakota coal-fired power plant**

The Environmental Protection Agency has turned back South Dakota’s approval to build a big coal-fired power plant because of pollution concerns. The proposed $1.3 billion Big Stone II plant was to be built near Milbank, SD, close to the Minnesota border, and almost 50 percent of the electricity would have been sent to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The EPA has given the project 90 days to correct three environmental deficiencies. The plant, supported by five utilities, including Otter Tail Power, would produce up to 580 MW of electricity — enough to serve more than 400,000 homes. But coal plants are the worst way to generate electricity, and this one would have emitted 4 million tons of CO2 annually.

Bruce Nilles, who leads the Sierra Club’s fight against coal-fired power plants, sees this decision as proof that the EPA is finally going to enforce a CO2 mandate imposed by the Supreme Court in 2007, and believes this decision is a watershed event. He says the cost of compliance will make the project too expensive to build.

** Coal is dirty, and we can’t build any more unless they can be adapted to capture their carbon emissions. The problem is that carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is a good 15 years away from implementation, and it might not be successful. Read this Sierra Club primer, and understand that coal doesn’t only fill the air with CO2. Mercury, uranium, sulfur, and several other harmful chemicals are spread far and wide by our addiction to coal.

Todd Stern appointed US special envoy on climate change

Citing the “complex, urgent and global threat of climate change,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has appointed a special envoy for climate change who will lead the US team at in international climate negotiations. Todd Stern, a former Clintonite and fellow at the Center for American Progress, believes that dramatic action on climate change is needed.

Stern immediately called for a new multilateral agreement on climate change, saying that “a new day is dawning in the U.S. approach to climate change and clean energy.”

In the past, Stern has said that he will listen to the experts. “Our scientists are telling us, emphatically, that the rate at which we are warming the planet is unsustainable and will cause vast and potentially catastrophic damage to our environment, our economy, and our national security…

“Containing climate change will require nothing less than transforming the global economy from a high-carbon to a low-carbon energy base. But done right, this can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and become a driver for economic growth in the 21st century.”

Federal funds flow for renewable energy

The US House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved the $25 billion green energy provisions of the $825 billion economic stimulus package — a section focused on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and electrical transmission initiatives. Most environmentalists consider these initiatives to be crucial to jump start the US transition to a low-carbon economy.

Waxman also added a provision to the stimulus package that could result in billions in energy efficiency investment. I wrote about it here, but I’m surprised that it hasn’t been more broadly covered.

At the same time, the House Ways and Means Committee also approved $20 billion in incentives for a bevy of low-carbon technologies, including three-year extensions to the renewable energy tax credit for wind farms, and the production tax credit that biomass, geothermal, and tidal power projects can claim to offset costs. Homeowners can also receive a 30 percent tax credit (up to $1,500) for home energy improvements, including cogeneration units.

(And that’s your reward for reading this far… cogeneration units — also known as combined heat and power units — can operate at between 80 and 90 percent efficiency, so they cut your home heating bills dramatically!)

We'll keep a very close eye on developments in the USA. It's a very good time to be American!

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