The Impact of Increasing Gas Prices on Small Businesses
- Tim Williford, Chairman Government Affairs Committee, Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors – National Association (PHCC)
- Gary Gilberti, Chesapeake Rehab Equipment
- John Urbanchuk, Director, LECG, LLC
- Michael J. Graff, President & CEO Graff Trucking, Inc.
- Vincent F. Orza, Jr., Dean, Meinders School of Business, Oklahoma City University
Transportation Challenges of Metropolitan Areas
This hearing is the first in a series of hearings exploring emerging themes in transportation policy and practice, the needs of our national surface transportation system, and the reauthorization of our surface transportation laws. The Subcommittee will continue this series by holding hearings in the near future on the issues surrounding freight access and goods movement, infrastructure preservation and modernization, highway safety, mobility and connectivity of rural areas, and other issues.
Witnesses- Robert Puentes, Metropolitan Policy Program at The Brookings Institution
- Robert D. Yaro, President of the Regional Plan Association in New York
- The Honorable Ron Sims, King County Executive, Seattle, Washington
- Jolene Molitoris, Assistant Director of the Ohio Department of Transportation
- Michael R. Wiley, Executive Director of Sacramento Regional Transit District
- Ron Kirby, Transportation Director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
Celebrate Appalachia
Please join mountain lovers from across the country to:
Celebrate Appalachia
Join citizens in the fight to protect their communities from mountaintop removal mining.
Reception Hosted By:
The Alliance For Appalachia
Appalachian Citizens Law Center * Appalachian Voices * Appalshop * Coal River Mountain Watch * Heartwood * Kentuckians For The Commonwealth * MACED * Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition * Save Our Cumberland Mountains * Sierra Club Environmental Justice Program * Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards * Southwings * West Virginia Highlands Conservancy
With special thanks to:
Alaska Wilderness League, Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Christians for the Mountains, EarthJustice, Environment America, Friends of the Earth, Natural Resource Defense Council, Rainforest Action Network, and the national Sierra Club.
RSVP to J.W. Randolph at (202) 669-3670 or [email protected]
Kansas, Bleeding Carbon Emissions, Looks to the Outback-Bound EPA
Reports from Kansas this morning indicated that today, state legislators would attempt to overturn October’s denial of construction permits for two coal-fired power plants by the administration of Governor Kathleen Sebelius—which has cited concern over global warming impacts and a desire to move instead toward clean energy solutions. (UPDATE: Literally just as we were publishing this post, the bill fell short of a veto-proof majority by a single vote.) Sebelius recently vetoed similar legislation, which would also significantly amend state anti-pollution law to strip regulators of the ability to factor in CO2 emissions, instead tethering their authority to the federal government’s position on GHG-related harm. Legislative supporters have laden their efforts with a handful of green-friendly provisions in order to greenwash their intentions dub the bill a "compromise," and claimed to have finally lined up enough support to override the governor, "unless someone lied to [House Speaker Melvin Neufeld]."
It’s painfully ironic that Kansas might move the ball into the EPA’s court, given the past week’s news, and considering that state officials recently told Congress that the Bush administration’s intransigence has helped bring about this fiasco. Our earlier favorable comparison between KS environmental honcho Roderick Bremby and EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson is also amplified by their divergent reactions to the hot seat: the former has publicly defended his decision, while the latter has infamously decided to dodge congressional testimony and subpoenas in Australia.
Finally, it bears mention that the full might of the anti-climate-regulation/denialist machine has been brought to bear on this issue (who can forget the infamous Ahmadiejad/Chavez/Putin ads?). An overwrought editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal—not that there’s any other kind from them on this topic, as Solve Climate has assiduously documented—accuses Sebelius of acting as though she were opposing "crimes against humanity" for daring to mention the moral implications of climate change (much in the same way the Supreme Court has). The current legislation was also greeted by an onslaught of Washington lobbyists testifying on its behalf, including former EPA official turned "Dirty Rotten Scoundrel" Bill Wehrum and born-again consumer-safety advocate Grover Norquist.
California Energy Policy: a Cautionary Tale for the Nation
Key lawmakers are now promoting California’s energy and global warming policies as a model for the federal government and other States to follow. Thomas Tanton’s talk will review California’s policies and show that they have had significant costs as well as other detrimental effects and are likely to have even higher costs and even worse effects in the future. California’s policies have led to the highest electricity and gasoline prices in the continental U. S. and contributed to the de-industrialization of California.
Mr. Tanton’s talk is based on his new White Paper for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, California Energy Policy: a Cautionary Tale for the Nation. Copies will be available at the event and online at www.cei.org.
Please RSVP by e-mail to Julie Walsh at [email protected]. Please give your name and office or organization.
For more information, please call Myron Ebell at (202) 331-2256
Enviros Criticize, Fete Ken Lewis of Bank of America For Climate Influence
Originally posted at the Think Progress Wonk Room.
Bank of America CEO Kenneth D. Lewis received two utterly different awards from environmental groups on Tuesday, April 1—the Energy Action Coalition and Rainforest Action Network (RAN) voted him the “Fossil Fool of the Year,” while the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) honored him at their annual fundraising gala as a “Force for Nature.”
Rebecca Tarbotton of RAN said, “Ken Lewis faced a who’s who list of polluters, but voters deemed him the worst of a very deserving crop.”
Frances Beinecke of NRDC said, “We have the know-how to beat global warming. What we need is the leadership to make it happen, and Ken Lewis is providing that leadership.”
Climate and environmental activists celebrated “Fossil Fools Day” yesterday, April 1, with actions across the globe protesting the fossil fuel industry. Heeding Al Gore’s call for “young people to engage in peaceful protests to block major new carbon sources,” they blockaded coal mines, coal plants, and energy company headquarters.
As part of the day of action, the Energy Action Coalition dedicated the Fossil Fools Awards to “the world’s biggest contributors to our global addiction to fossil fuels.” Kenneth Lewis won top honors for facilitating “nearly $1 billion in loans to Massey Energy and Arch Coal, two of the largest companies involved in the environmentally devastating process of mountaintop removal coal mining” in the last few years. Bank of America also made several billion dollars in loans and facilitated stock offerings in 2006 for Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private coal company.
NRDC’s tenth annual “Forces for Nature” $1000-a-plate fundraising gala feted Ken Lewis and NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg at Cipriani 42nd Street.
NRDC honored Lewis for Bank of America’s ten-year, $20 billion environmental initiative which “addresses climate change by championing sustainable business practices through innovative lending and investing strategies, new financial products and services and operations.” The initiative was launched last year. The new Bank of America Tower in New York City, when completed in 2009, will be one of the most environmentally friendly and efficient office buildings in the world.
At the NRDC gala, Lewis made the major announcement that Bank of America would adopt the Carbon Principles, “a set of guidelines that help advisors and lenders to power companies evaluate and address carbon risks in the financing of projects” drafted in January by Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Morgan Stanley. According to the Wall Street Journal, “the ‘Principles’ push utilities to explore other alternatives to regular coal plants . . . Still, the banks make clear they won’t stop funding all conventional coal plants—they’ll simply want assurances higher rates will cover likely costs of carbon.”
Surface Transportation Trust Funds and Amtrak
Witnesses Panel I: Status of Surface Transportation Trust Funds and Impact on Federal Spending
- James S. Simpson, Administrator, Federal Transit Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation
- James D. Ray, Administrator (Acting), Federal Highway Administration, U. S. Department of Transportation
- John F. McCaskie, Chief Engineer, Swank Associated Companies (Transportation Construction Coalition)
- William W. Millar, President, American Public Transportation Association
- Joseph H. Boardman, Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration
- Donna McLean, Chairman of the Board, National Railroad Passenger Corporation-AMTRAK
- Alexander Kummant, President & CEO, National Railroad Passenger Corporation-AMTRAK
- David Tornquist, Assistant Inspector General, United States Department of Transportation
- Joel M. Parker, International Vice President & Special Assistant to the President, Transportation Communications International Union
On Mass vs. EPA Anniversary, Stephen Johnson Delays and Hides
Originally posted at the Think Progress Wonk Room.
One year ago today, the Supreme Court handed down an epochal decision in the global warming case Massachusetts vs. the Environmental Protection Agency, stating that the EPA had the responsibility to determine how to regulate carbon dioxide for its contribution to global warming. The EPA, led by administrator Stephen L. Johnson, has utterly failed to do so, prompting a series of Congressional investigations and new lawsuits.
Johnson’s adversaries marked the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision today by continuing to press their case. Officials of 18 states filed suit against the EPA for its continued inaction—their petition “asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to require the EPA to act within 60 days.” By a unanimous vote, the House Global Warming Committee issued subpoenas “for EPA documents showing the Agency’s progress in making the ‘endangerment’ finding and proposing national emissions standards.”
The Supreme Court decision mandated that the EPA:- Declare whether greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health and need to be regulated;
- Make a decision on California’s Clean Air Act petition to regulate motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions;
- Propose federal regulations for motor vehicle greenhouse emissions.
Investigations by Congress, though repeatedly stymied by the agency, have determined that EPA staff actually worked vigorously last year to meet the Court mandate. In late fall Johnson brought the complete package with a health endangerment finding, approval of the California waiver, and motor vehicle regulations to the White House. After that, Johnson issued his waiver denial and all work at the EPA on the issue ceased. Henry Waxman, chair of the House Oversight Committee, has vigorously pursued documents related to the California waiver denial, even as the EPA responds to his subpoenas with document requests of their own.
Johnson’s latest act was to declare last week that the EPA would release an “Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” asking for new round of comments, a delaying tactic promoted by a “memo from the Heritage Foundation.”
He is now fleeing to Australia with his top staff for two weeks to discuss the “ongoing environmental collaboration” between the countries—and fortuitously delay further Congressional hearings. The $280,000 trip is taxpayer-funded.
Climate Change and the Midwest
Senate briefing on “Climate Change and the Midwest,” a discussion of the impacts of climate change on Midwestern states.
Panelists Include:- Dr. Donald Wuebbles, Director of the School of Earth, Society, and Environment at the University of Illinois, who will summarize the potential impacts of global warming on the Midwestern states. Dr. Wuebbles developed the concept of Ozone Depletion Potentials used in the Montreal Protocol and the U.S. Clean Air Act. He contributed to all of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) assessments on climate change, and coauthored both an assessment of the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes region and, more recently, a similar assessment of the U.S. Northeast.
- Dr. Jonathan Pershing, Director of WRI’s Climate, Energy and Pollution Program, who will focus on how proposed federal legislation might be tailored to address Midwest-specific concerns through allowance allocation or complementary policies, including policy options that can mitigate economic impacts of a federal program. Dr. Pershing is active in U.S. and international climate policy design; he serves on the CA Market Advisory Committee, was the facilitator for both the Northeast states’ emissions trading initiative (RGGI) and the Illinois state climate advisory group, is a regular participant in international UN climate negotiations, and was a lead author for the IPCC.
- Doug Scott, Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, who will present a summary of the actions taken to date by Midwestern states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Scott chairs Governor Blagojevich’s Climate Change Advisory Committee.
If you have any questions, please contact Senator Klobuchar’s office or Senator Lugar’s office.
Curbing Soaring Aviation Emissions
On Wednesday, April 2, 2008, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming is holding a hearing titled, “From the Wright Brothers to the Right Solutions: Curbing Soaring Aviation Emissions.” The hearing will take place on April 2, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 1310 of the Longworth House Office Building. Witnesses will be by invitation only.
At this hearing the Committee will also vote to subpoena documents from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showing what progress that agency has made in response to Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, which was delivered April 2, 2007.
As Congress examines all causes and impacts of heat-trapping emissions, the Select Committee is assessing aviation’s present contribution to greenhouse gasses and the potential to curb such emissions in the future. Aviation emissions generate 12 percent of U.S. transportation carbon dioxide emissions and three percent of the United States’ total carbon dioxide emissions. The FAA estimates that demand for passenger and cargo aviation in the United States will double or triple by 2025. As the European Union is poised to extend its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to all airlines, it is imperative for Congress to consider how aviation can contribute to or curb heat-trapping emissions through operations, technology and fuel.
Witnesses- Dan Elwell, FAA Assistant Administrator for Aviation Policy, Planning, and Environment
- Bob Meyers, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Tom Windmuller, Senior Vice President, International Air Transport Association
- James May, President and CEO, Air Transport Association