Upton Tapped for House Energy Panel Chair. Reuters, 12/7/10. “Representative Fred Upton was chosen by a Republican organizing panel on Dec. 7 to become the next chairman of the House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee, considered one of the most power panels in the U.S. Congress. Pending approval of the full House Republican Conference on Wednesday, Upton of Michigan would head the influential panel that has oversight of energy policy, as well as healthcare and telecommunications. Upton would replace Democratic Chairman Henry Waxman when Republicans take control of the chamber in January from President Barack Obama's Democrats. Shortly after his victory over former committee Chairman Joe Barton, Upton said in a statement: ‘The Obama administration is on notice -- they will not be allowed to regulate what they have been unable to legislate.’ That comment was likely aimed at the Environmental Protection Agency, which in January could move ahead with new regulations forcing large manufacturers to reduce their carbon dioxide pollution emissions.”

Chu Facing Political Challenges. By John McArdle, E&E,12/6/2010. “With Republicans just weeks away from taking control of the House, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is facing political challenges unlike anything he has faced before. And as an agency head who is known as more of a thinker than a political animal, it remains to be seen whether Chu has the stomach for the coming funding battles, oversight hearings and pushback over his plans to advance energy research. ‘From a technical standpoint, Chu knows more than anybody, but I think from a policy perspective and from a political perspective certainly he struggled more than some,’ said Frank Maisano, an energy specialist at Bracewell & Giuliani. ‘But I don't see any signs that he's being pushed out or moving or interested in leaving.’”

After Tough Year, Salazar Brand May Be Tarnished. By Sarah Abruzzese, Greenwire, 12/1/10. “In a tidal wave year in which Democrats gave up at least 63 House seats, Salazar's loss in a conservative-leaning district is not especially surprising; although the congressman put up a fight, he received 46% of the vote while his Republican challenger, Scott Tipton, received 50%… Salazar's defeat caps a difficult year for the politically powerful family. His younger brother, Ken Salazar -- a former Colorado senator and state attorney general -- has been the target of harsh criticism from all corners for his handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as secretary of the Interior Department. This election cycle, outside groups spent a few million dollars trying to defeat John Salazar, who had won his two previous re-election campaigns with relative ease.”

The Dark Lord of Coal Country. By Jeff Goodell, Rolling Stone, 11/29/10. “Unless you live in West Virginia, you've probably never heard of Don Blankenship. You might not know that he grew up in the coal fields of West Virginia, received an accounting degree from a local college, and, through a combination of luck, hard work and coldblooded ruthlessness, transformed himself into the embodiment of everything that's wrong with the business and politics of energy in America today -- a man who pursues naked self-interest and calls it patriotism, who buys judges like cheap hookers, treats workers like dogs, blasts mountains to get at a few inches of coal and uses his money and influence to ensure that America remains enslaved to the 19th-century idea that burning coal equals progress. And for this, he earns $18 million a year -- making him the highest-paid CEO in the coal industry -- and flies off to vacations on the French Riviera”… “OnDecember 3rd, a week after this article was published in Rolling Stone, Massey Energy announced that Don Blankenship will be retiring as CEO and chairman.”

India’s Environment Minister Called an ‘Eco-Crusader’ by Friends and Foes. By Katy Daigle, AP, 12/13/10. “India's environment minister has blocked the construction of mines, power plants and dams. He's held up a new airport and describes diesel cars as criminal. He's even taken Harry Potter to task for promoting threatened owls as pets. Just a year and a half into the job, Jairam Ramesh has turned a once-marginal Environment Ministry into a powerful gatekeeper on India's road to prosperity. He's been called an eco-crusader, a ‘Dr. No’ of development and even a buffoon, angering so many investors and politicians that there are constant rumors of his impending dismissal. But his tenacity has fuelled an environmental debate that many say is long overdue.”

Rep John Shimkus Stands by Genesis on Climate Change. By Darren Samuelsohn, Politico, 11/10/10. “Rep. John Shimkus is standing by a controversial comment that global warming isn't something to worry about because God said he wouldn't destroy the Earth after Noah's flood. The Illinois Republican running for the powerful perch atop the House Energy and Commerce Committee told POLITICO on Wednesday that his understanding of the Bible reaffirms his belief that government shouldn't be in the business of trying to address rising greenhouse gas emissions. ‘I do believe in the Bible as the final word of God,’ Shimkus said. ‘And I do believe that God said the Earth would not be destroyed by a flood.’”

Avatar's James Cameron Kicks in $1 Million to Defeat California’s Prop. 23. By Margot Roosevelt, LATimes, 10/15/10. “James Cameron, the director of Avatar, the environmental fable masquerading as a 3-D blockbuster, popped a million dollars Friday into the campaign to defeat Proposition 23, a California ballot initiative to suspend the state's global warming law… Another player with deep Hollywood ties, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, held a fundraiser at his home in Brentwood last month to raise money to fight the measure, which he sees as a threat to his legacy of promoting clean energy… California’s 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act, known as AB 32, is the most aggressive [such] law in the country. It would slash greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 through regulations that would force utilities to get a third of their electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind plants, improve the fuel efficiency of automobiles and cap emissions from industrial plants.”

Danish Couple Attract Attention in China in Round-the-World Electric Car Odyssey. By Xu Chi, Shanghai Daily, 10/16/10. “An intrepid Danish couple who set out from Copenhagen in an electric car 113 days ago finally arrived in Shanghai yesterday afternoon, their first major destination in a round-the-world-tour. Their vehicle, a modified green Nissan, trundled slowly into the Denmark Pavilion at the World Expo site for a two-day exhibition, and immediately attracted the attention of visitors… Travelers and writers, Hjalte Tin, 56, and his wife Nina Rasmussen, 67… left Denmark's capital on June 25 and plan to drive their Nissan around the world to prove that electric cars can contribute towards a greener world…

“During their 14,000-kilometer-long journey, the couple traveled across the Gobi Desert, which they described as the ultimate test to prove that electric cars are ready to enter people's daily lives… Rasmussen said they had to use a small generator to power their vehicle and spent a week crossing the desert. Tin said that when they were traveling through cities in China, they could easily find power charging spots by asking locals for help. ‘Chinese people already have a lot of experience in electric vehicles as I saw a lot of electric-powered scooters here,’ said Tin, ‘In Europe, the issue is still mainly discussed on a theoretical level.’ The couple said they planned to ship their vehicle to the United States and drive across the US, before heading back to Europe.”

Grist to Host Live Online ‘Chat’ with New Yorker Reporter Ryan Lizza on ‘Climate Change in the Senate’. Posted by David Roberts, Grist, 10/12/10. “This month, The New Yorker ran an extraordinary 10,000-word piece by reporter Ryan Lizza detailing the climate bill's slow and inglorious failure in the U.S. Senate. It was a feat of inside reporting, meaty enough to support dozens of follow-on posts dissecting and illuminating it. I myself wrote no less than five posts spinning off Lizza's story… I'm very pleased to report that Lizza will be stopping by for a chat with Grist readers and me on Thursday at 2 p.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. Pacific. I'll be moderating and selecting questions. If you've got questions for Lizza about the piece or climate politics, leave them in comments. And come back to this page on Thursday to log in and join the chat, which will be right here.”

10/10/10 Global Work Party. 350.org, 10/11/10. “[Sunday, 10/10/10], people at 7,347 events in 188 countries got to work on the climate crisis. People joined together to dig community gardens, install solar panels, plant trees and more. We’re sending a clear message to our political leaders: ‘if we can get to work, so can you!’” 350.org is displaying thousands of pictures from around the world on its website of the 10/10/10 Global Work Party.

The Attacks Against Science Must Stop. Commentary by Michael E. Mann, WashPost, 10/8/10. “As a scientist, I shouldn't have a stake in the upcoming midterm elections, but unfortunately, it seems that I -- and indeed all my fellow climate scientists -- do. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has threatened that, if he becomes chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, he will launch what would be a hostile investigation of climate science. The focus would be on e-mails stolen from scientists at the University of East Anglia in Britain last fall that climate-change deniers have falsely claimed demonstrate wrongdoing by scientists, including me. Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) may do the same if he takes over a committee on climate change and energy security.

“My employer, Penn State University, exonerated me after a thorough investigation of my e-mails in the East Anglia archive. Five independent investigations in Britain and the United States, and a thorough recent review by the Environmental Protection Agency, also have cleared the scientists of accusations of impropriety. Nonetheless, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is investigating my previous employer, the University of Virginia, based on the stolen e-mails. A judge rejected his initial subpoena, finding that Cuccinelli had failed to provide objective evidence of wrongdoing. Undeterred, Cuccinelli appealed the decision to the Virginia Supreme Court and this week issued a new civil subpoena…

“Challenges to policy proposals for how to deal with this problem should be welcome -- indeed, a good-faith debate is essential for wise public policymaking. But the attacks against the science must stop. They are not good-faith questioning of scientific research. They are anti-science. How can I assure young researchers in climate science that if they make a breakthrough in our understanding about how human activity is altering our climate that they, too, will not be dragged through a show trial at a congressional hearing? America has led the world in science for decades. It has benefited our culture, our economy and our understanding of the world. My fellow scientists and I must be ready to stand up to blatant abuse from politicians who seek to mislead and distract the public. They are hurting American science. And their failure to accept the reality of climate change will hurt our children and grandchildren, too.”

Waste Pickers Speak Out. By Karl Malakunas, AFP, 10//8/10. “Maya Khodave normally spends her days rummaging through rubbish dumps in a crowded Indian city but last week she was in China to offer herself as part of the solution to tackling global warming. Dressed in a colorful sari, the slightly built 23-year-old has dazzled amid a wall of dark-suited negotiators at United Nations climate change talks while trying to raise awareness about the value of waste pickers around the world. ‘We play a very important role in the environment, yet our work is not recognized,’ Khodave told reporters on the sidelines of the event in Tianjin, her voice strong and loud but tears occasionally welling in her eyes. There are about 15 million people in cities across the developing world who survive by collecting rubbish, according to the Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance (GAIA), a non-government organization that brought Khodave to China. People such as Khodave can play an important role in combating climate change because they cheaply and efficiently gather materials such as paper, metal and organic waste, then sort them and send them off for recycling.”

Will Pete Rouse Push for Climate Legislation? By Jonathan Hiskes, Grist, 10/1/10. "Rahm Emanuel gets blamed for the president's hands-off approach to energy legislation… [As the President's new chief of staff], Pete Rouse is stepping into the powerful role (at least through the end of the year) after an influential career as chief of staff to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), then to Sen. Barack Obama, then as senior advisor to President Obama… Rouse is another insider/pragmatist. He's built a career on working within the limits of Washington, running Daschle's office for 19 years, then helping acclimate Obama to the halls of Congress. His record suggests he'll support the White House's continued deference to Congress in writing energy bills. But he knows his energy and climate policy. Rouse's time in Daschle's office put him in the scrum of key energy battles of the '90s...

"He put the freshman Sen. Obama in touch with experts on biofuels and energy security to help him get up to speed. And he cares about the stuff, according to Eric Washburn, who worked with him as Daschle's legislative director for 10 years. 'Pete's a pretty progressive guy in his heart,' said Washburn, who now lobbies for solar, nuclear, and gas companies. 'He feels pretty strongly about not just environmental stuff and climate change, but health care too. The thing that distinguishes Pete is that he's, more than anything, a political pragmatist.'... Using the filibuster to prevent EPA-neutering amendments could keep Obama out of difficult situations. Rouse's intimate knowledge of Congress would be an asset in that fight. 'He knows the Senate probably better than anyone in the White House, including the president,' said Daniel J. Weiss of the center-left Center for American Progress Action Fund. 'He's a very, very smart and politically savvy person ... If there is an opening, Pete Rouse can help find it and take advantage of it.'"

Heinz Foundation Announces Awards to Climate Heroes. By Elizabeth Weise, ScienceFair, September 21, 2010. "This year's Heinz Family Foundation awards include honors for a scientist documenting the effects of endocrine disruptors, a champion on the global seed vault and one of the giants in the field of 'green,' or non-toxic, chemistry. The awards come with an unrestricted cash prize of $100,000. They recognize outstanding individuals for their contributions in the areas of Arts and Humanities, the Environment, the Human Condition, Public Policy, and Technology, the Economy and Employment. They were established by Teresa Heinz in 1993 to honor the memory of her late husband, U.S. Senator John Heinz.

"This year's winners include: James Balog, Extreme Ice Survey (Boulder, Colo.) For his dramatic use of photography to document the devastation of global warming… Cary Fowler, Ph.D., Global Crop Diversity Trust (Rome, Italy) For establishing the Global Seed Vault to conserve genetic diversity of the world's food plants despite climate change… Gretchen Daily, Ph.D., Stanford University and the Natural Capital Project (Stanford, Calif.) For her achievements demonstrating the financial value of natural ecosystems, which include climate stability, flood control, water purification, pollination and production of food… Daniel Sperling, Ph.D., University of California, Davis (Davis, Calif.) For advancing sustainable transportation policies and accelerating the transition to low-carbon alternative fuels nationwide… Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, (Williamstown, Mass.) For her groundbreaking environmental journalism and devotion to informing readers… Michael Oppenheimer, Ph.D., Princeton University (Princeton, N.J. and New York, N.Y.) For assessing the impacts of global warming and air pollution, and working for policies to prevent future harm… Richard Feely, Ph.D., NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (Seattle, Wash.) For his extraordinary efforts in identifying ocean acidity as global warming's 'evil twin.'"

'Spiderman' Scales Another Skyscraper to Unfurl Global Warming Warning. AFP, August 30, 2010. "A French climber known as "Spiderman" was arrested on the roof of a 57-storey Sydney skyscraper on Monday after scaling the building without ropes or a harness to raise climate change awareness. Alain Robert scaled the 150-metre (492-foot), twin-tower Lumiere apartment building in central Sydney in about 25 minutes, as dozens of curious onlookers packed the pavement to cheer, clap and take photographs... The Frenchman unfurled a banner advertising the www.onehundredmonths.org website which claims mankind has only limited time before greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere reach irreversibly dangerous levels... Robert, 48, has overcome crippling vertigo prompted by two 15-metre falls in the 1980s to climb some of the world's tallest buildings, as well as iconic monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and the Luxor Obelisk in Paris."

Billionaire Brothers Waging War Against Obama. By Jane Mayer, NewYorker, August 30, 2010. "With his brother Charles... David Koch owns virtually all of Koch Industries, a conglomerate, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, whose annual revenues are estimated to be a hundred billion dollars… The Kochs operate oil refineries in Alaska, Texas, and Minnesota, and control some four thousand miles of pipeline. Koch Industries owns Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Stainmaster carpet, and Lycra, among other products. Forbes ranks it as the second-largest private company in the country, after Cargill, and its consistent profitability has made David and Charles Koch... among the richest men in America. Their combined fortune of thirty-five billion dollars is exceeded only by those of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

"The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry -- especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers' corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a 'kingpin of climate science denial.' The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies -- from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program -- that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.

"Five hundred people attended the summit, which served, in part, as a training session for Tea Party activists in Texas. An advertisement cast the event as a populist uprising against vested corporate power. 'Today, the voices of average Americans are being drowned out by lobbyists and special interests,' it said. 'But you can do something about it.' The pitch made no mention of its corporate funders. The White House has expressed frustration that such sponsors have largely eluded public notice. David Axelrod, Obama's senior adviser, said, 'What they don't say is that, in part, this is a grassroots citizens' movement brought to you by a bunch of oil billionaires.'"

Obama's Electric Car Champion. By Ken Thomas, AP, August 24, 2010. "David Sandalow starts his five-mile commute each day by unplugging an orange extension cord connecting his Toyota Prius hybrid to an outlet in his brick carport... If American consumers begin to shift to electric cars this decade, Sandalow will be one of the government's driving forces behind the change. Crafting policy from the vantage point of an electric car driver himself, the former Brookings Institution scholar has helped shape the Obama administration's ambitious plan to pump billions of dollars into partnerships aimed at developing cars running on electric power, creating an advanced battery industry and helping communities prepare for the transition.

"President Barack Obama has pledged to bring 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to U.S. highways by 2015, and turned to the nascent battery industry as one of the hallmarks of his economic recovery plan. Electric vehicles built by General Motors and Nissan are arriving in showrooms later this year and every major auto manufacturer is working on an electric strategy, encouraged by federal funding and tax incentives. Plenty of obstacles remain: the lithium-ion batteries expected to power electric vehicles are extremely expensive, even when the costs are reduced by a $7,500-per-vehicle federal tax credit. The government recently estimated that a battery with a 100-mile range costs about $33,000, although federal stimulus funds could bring the costs down to $10,000 by the end of 2015. Other concerns remain about the durability and longevity of the batteries.

"Sandalow discovered the merits of electric cars while studying oil dependence at Brookings. His 2007 book, Freedom From Oil... concludes that electric cars and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles represented the quickest way to begin making the shift. With more than 240 million vehicles on the road, it will take years to turn over the fleet, but he noted that drivers with short commutes -- like his own daily trip to the Energy Department from his home in Washington -- could use electric power, recharging at night when electrical loads are low. Following his research, Sandalow decided to get his Prius, a gas-electric hybrid, converted into a plug-in hybrid at a Gaithersburg, Md., auto dealership. The $9,000 conversion, which was developed by Massachusetts battery maker A123Systems, included the installation of a large battery inside the spare tire well underneath the trunk and a charging outlet in the bumper. The conversion allows Sandalow to recharge his battery from a standard 110-volt outlet in about six hours. His family owns another car but Sandalow says his plug-in Prius is used for long-distance travel as well. Sandalow estimates running the car on electricity costs the equivalent of about 75 cents a gallon of gasoline."

Two New Converts to Taxing Carbon Are High-Profile, But Are They Truly Onboard? By Charles Komanoff, CarbonTax.org, September 1, 2010. "Last week, Bill Gates. This week, Bjorn Lomborg. With the world's #1 software magnate and the man whom the Guardian labeled 'the world's most high-profile climate change skeptic' both endorsing a carbon tax, is the tide of influential opinion on climate policy and carbon pricing turning? Lomborg... built a lucrative career lambasting climate-change advocates as scaremongers who would consign millions to early death by devoting resources to decarbonizing the world economy rather than fighting killer diseases like malaria. But in a new book to be published next month, the self-styled 'skeptical environmentalist' reportedly will call global warming 'one of the chief concerns facing the world today' and 'a challenge humanity must confront.' According to the Guardian, Lomborg will urge investing tens of billions of dollars a year to tackle climate change, with the funds to be raised through a carbon tax.

"Gates, on the other hand, has long worried about climate change. But in an interview in Technology Review last week, he added a new wrinkle: criticism of cap-and-trade... Gates: 'It's ideal to have a carbon tax, not just a price on carbon, which is this fuzzy term that includes cap-and-trade... with all sorts of markets and options and uncertainties about prices, and traders in the middle, and confusion about who initially gets the most advantage?... Gates' disparagement of cap-and-trade is striking. But neither his 2% carbon tax nor Lomborg's, which appears to resemble Gates' in magnitude and function -- funding energy R&D -- is going to end the reign of fossil fuels in the foreseeable future... They now need to see the next light: to have the necessary impact, a carbon tax can start modestly but must keep rising predictably. Fortunately, we have the example of British Columbia to show that an upward-trending carbon tax of the needed size can be politically popular if the revenue is returned to the public."

Eco-Moms, 2 Years Down the Road. By Sandy Bauers, PhillyInquirer, August 23, 2010. "Two years ago, they were eco-moms on a mission. Five Swarthmore women gathered weekly in Beth Murray's living room to examine the footprint of their lifestyles. Relentlessly data-driven -- they wanted facts, not conjecture -- they charted their electric usage, weighed their trash, and held buckets under their faucets to measure the flow. Somehow, they even managed to get their kids to time their showers. Then they took action, experimenting with various conservation tactics, and spending less on their electric, gas, and water bills... Recently, they met again... The theme that ran through the meeting -- is that even with all the changes, the women feel guilty. They don't think they do enough." Check EcoMom Alliance.

We're Hot as Hell, and We're Not Going to Take It Any More. Commentary by Bill McKibben, TomDispatch, August 4, 2010. "According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the planet has just come through the warmest decade, the warmest 12 months, the warmest six months, and the warmest April, May, and June on record... A 'staggering' new study from Canadian researchers has shown that warmer seawater has reduced phytoplankton, the base of the marine food chain, by 40% since 1950... Nine nations have so far set their all-time temperature records in 2010, including Russia (111 degrees), Niger (118), Sudan (121), Saudi Arabia and Iraq (126 apiece), and Pakistan, which also set the new all-time Asia record in May: a hair under 130 degrees. I can turn my oven to 130 degrees... And then, in late July, the U.S. Senate decided to do exactly nothing about climate change...

"Now what?... Step one involves actually talking about global warming. For years now, the accepted wisdom in the best green circles was: talk about anything else -- energy independence, oil security, beating the Chinese to renewable technology. I was at a session convened by the White House early in the Obama administration where some polling guru solemnly explained that 'green jobs' polled better than 'cutting carbon.'... Step two, we have to ask for what we actually need, not what we calculate we might possibly be able to get... We need a stiff price on carbon, set by the scientific understanding that we can't still be burning black rocks a couple of decades hence... most of the money raised in the process should be returned directly to American pockets... [Step three] If we're going to get any of this done, we're going to need a movement, the one thing we haven't had.

"Last year, with almost no money, our scruffy little outfit, 350.org, managed to organize... 5,200 demonstrations in 181 countries, 2,000 of them in the U.S.A... Those demonstrations were just a start (one we should have made long ago). We're following up in October -- on 10-10-10 -- with a Global Work Party. All around the country and the world people will be putting up solar panels and digging community gardens and laying out bike paths. Not because we can stop climate change one bike path at a time, but because we need to make a sharp political point to our leaders: we're getting to work, what about you?" Bill McKibben is founder of 350.org and the author, most recently, of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet.