Re: Summer from Hell: Our New Normal on a Warming Planet?

On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 9:42 AM, Environmental Defense Action Fund <takeaction@edf.org> wrote:

Having trouble using links or viewing images? View the web version. Dear Scotts, A face from the future? Pakistani girl is one of millions affected by massive flooding. Please email your Senators today: Urge them not to limit EPA climate action. As Charles Dickens may have written of the summer that ended last week, "It was the worst of times. It was the worst of times." There is brutal irony in the Senate's failure to take up a strong climate and energy bill during a summer when the world baked, melted, flooded, and burned. Below is a summary of some of the most tragic and ominous climate impacts from this summer. We offer this list not to scare or depress you, but to: Emphasize what's at stake and make it clear that the consequences of climate inaction are not theoretical – they are frighteningly real. Inspire us all to stay in this fight and keep urging our leaders and our networks of friends, family, and colleagues to treat this environmental crisis seriously. Afterall, the polluters aren't giving up -- not for a second. Even now, they and their well-heeled lobbyists are working overtime to secure Senate votes to limit the EPA's authority to cut climate pollution. We must stop them. Please take this opportunity to email your Senators and urge them to oppose efforts to limit the EPA's authority to address the climate crisis. Even if you have already emailed your Senators, email them again. Make sure they understand that the polluters may have the money and the lobbyists, but we have the numbers and we will stay in this fight for our planet's future. Thank you! Here are some of the most tragic and ominous events from this year's "Summer from Hell." Please forward this to everyone you know and urge them to get involved in this fight. Summer from Hell: Our New Normal on a Warming Planet? 10 U.S. states had their hottest summer on record and all but 7 states were above normal. And summer nighttime heat records were set in 37 states. June-August global land surface temperature was the warmest on record, 1.80 F (1.00 C) above the 20th century average of 56.9 F (13.8 C) and surpassing the previous record of 1.66 F (0.92 C) set in 1998. For only the third time in the satellite record and the third time in the last four years, the Arctic sea ice extent fell below 5 million square kilometers (1.93 million square miles). This summer's Arctic sea ice extent fell more than 25% below the 1979-2009 31-year average. Arctic sea ice volume (extent and thickness) reached the lowest level ever recorded, prompting Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center to predict, "The Arctic summer sea ice cover is in a death spiral. It's not going to recover." A record Russian heat wave caused massive wildfires and drought and may have killed up to 15,000 people, cost the Russian economy $15 billion, and destroyed a third of the Russian grain crop, causing global wheat prices to nearly double. Peat bog and forest fires filled Moscow's air with carbon monoxide levels reaching 6.5 times more than the maximum allowable levels. Devastating floods inundated one-fifth of Pakistan, drove millions from their homes, and led to the deaths of more than 1,600 people. Up to a foot of rain fell in a 36-hour period and Ghassem Asrar, director of the World Climate Research Programme, pointed to climate change: "There's no doubt that clearly the climate change is contributing, a major contributing factor. We cannot definitely use one case to kind of establish precedents, but there are a few facts that point towards climate change as having to do with this." Hundreds of walruses on Alaska's North Slope were stampeded to death when they beached themselves on land because there were no sea ice floes available. This year's extreme heat is causing only the second known global bleaching of coral reefs. In oceans from Thailand to Texas, scientists fear this year's die-off may be as bad as or worse than in 1998 when an estimated 16% of the world's shallow water reefs were severely damaged. In the waters off the Philippines, 95% of the corals have died this year. Sources: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2010-09-08-record-summer-heat-_N.htm http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/09/37-states-set-nighttime-high-temperature-records-this-summer.php http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/hottestsummer/ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100919104002.htm http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/ http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52896 http://psc.apl.washington.edu/ArcticSeaiceVolume/IceVolume.php http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-10/russia-may-lose-15-000-lives-15-billion-of-economic-output-in-heat-wave.html http://www.economist.com/node/16994407 http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100808/160116529.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/7937269/Pakistan-floods-Climate-change-experts-say-global-warming-could-be-the-cause.html http://www.hindustantimes.com/Map-of-Pakistan-s-flood-area/Article1-591497.aspx http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2010/08/18/1 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/39278191#39278191 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/science/earth/21coral.html http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0923-fidenci_coralbleach.html] Environmental Defense Action Fund 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 600 Washington, DC 20009 1-800-591-1919

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Tell Big Oil You Refuse to Be at Their Mercy!

On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 1:24 PM, Kayla C., Care2 Action Alerts <actionalerts@care2.com> wrote:

Hi Scotts, Big Oil is at it again: they and their allies have spent $83 million trying to tear down one of the toughest anti-global warming laws in the world. California could be a clean air catalyst -- don't let Big Oil stand in their way! » The targeted California law focuses efforts that reduce pollution and increase consumers' clean energy options. Not only does the law drastically improve the energy efficiency of one of America's most populated states, it serves as a model for others states to hold polluters accountable and develop innovative clean energy sources. » Texas Oil companies like Valero Oil and Tesaro Corp want to keep us at the mercy of their spiraling, unstable prices. Tell Big Oil you don't want their dirty energy! » Thanks for taking action! Kayla ThePetitionSite Hey, Big Oil: Consumers Don't Want Dirty Energy!

Take action link: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AF3h9/zKjF/BJ1xQ

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Care2.com, Inc.
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Re: MegaVote: MO 3rd, 9/27/2010

On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 5:35 PM, <megavote@mailmanager.net> wrote:

presented by: Solar Nation

September 27, 2010 In this MegaVote for Missouri's 3rd Congressional District: Recent Congressional Votes Senate: Cloture Motion; National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 Senate: Cloture Motion; Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act House: Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 Upcoming Congressional Bills Senate: Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act Senate: Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act Recent Senate Votes Cloture Motion; National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 - Vote Rejected (56-43, 1 Not Voting) The Senate rejected a cloture motion to move forward on this bill authorizing $726 billion for defense programs in fiscal year 2011. The bill contains provisions repealing a 1993 ban on homosexuals serving openly in the armed forces. The legislation is expected to be considered again in a "lame duck" session after November's election. Sen. Christopher Bond voted NO......send e-mail or see bio Sen. Claire McCaskill voted YES......send e-mail or see bio Cloture Motion; Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act - Vote Rejected (59-39, 2 Not Voting) The Senate again rejected a motion to end debate on campaign finance disclosure legislation. The bill's future is not clear. Sen. Christopher Bond voted NO......send e-mail or see bio Sen. Claire McCaskill voted YES......send e-mail or see bio Recent House Votes Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 - Vote Passed (237-187, 9 Not Voting) The House passed a bill that would provide for a variety of small-business tax provisions, including a revival of an expired bonus depreciation provision to allow companies to write off assets more quickly. The legislation was sent to the President, who is expected to sign it. Rep. Russ Carnahan voted YES......send e-mail or see bio Upcoming Votes Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act - S.3816 The Senate is scheduled to work on a bill to give companies a two-year reduction in their share of Social Security payroll taxes for new employees hired to replace workers performing similar duties overseas. Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act - H.R.3081 The Senate is also scheduled to work this bill that will likely be the vehicle for a continuing resolution to keep the government funded after Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

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Wind Capital Wind Farm- NW MO Site-Carnahan vs Blunt

Carnahans respond to GOP blowback over brother's stimulus money

BY JAKE WAGMAN | jwagman@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8268 | Posted: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 2:51 pm |

Russ and Robin Carnahan

Related Stories

• Related: Blowin' in the wind: GOP pans stimulus cash for Carnahan sibling
• Related: Eads Bridge fix-up, Missouri wind farm on list of stimulus projects

Related Links

• Related: Wind Capital Group

ST. LOUIS -- The campaigning Carnahan siblings have struck back against GOP complaints that they played a role in helping their younger brother land stimulus cash.

Tom Carnahan's St. Louis-based firm, Wind Capital Group, was awarded $107 million in stimulus funds to aid a wind farm in far northwest Missouri.

Predictably, Missouri Republicans have accused Carnahan of treading on his name to get the money, a claim the Carnahans deny.

"This is just more of the same as Congressman Blunt and his friends try to distract from his 14-year record of waste, corruption, and sticking it to the middle class that has given billions of taxpayer dollars to Big Oil companies who ship our jobs overseas," said Linden Zakula, a spokesman for Democrat Robin Carnahan's Senate campaign. "They are attacking a Missouri company's use of a tax credit that Congressman Blunt has voted to extend four separate times."

Zakula refers to the production tax credit, which is available to renewable energy firms like Tom Carnahan's. But it was the stimulus bill -- that Blunt opposed -- that gave eligible companies the option of taking the money in the form of a cash grant, instead of tax credits.

The campaign of Robin Carnahan's other brother, U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, offers a similar argument against Republican criticism.

"This latest, baseless attack is a complete lie and it is exactly what voters are tired of - the politics of division and misinformation," said Angela Guyadeen, communications director for Russ Carnahan's campaign. "Russ Carnahan played absolutely no role in Wind Capital's application for tax credits available to any qualified producer. Anyone who wants this credit must apply and quality for it through an independent process."

Again, it's not a credit -- it is a payment in "lieu of tax credits" for up to 30 percent of the cost of an renewable energy property. But Guyadeen is correct that the benefit is widely available -- more than 1,100 companies have qualified for funding in the same program, which has, according to the Treasury Department, has distributed $5.2 billion since last year.

Posted in Political-fix on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 2:51 pm Updated: 12:10 am. | Tags: Mosen, Carnahan Family, Robin Carnahan, Russ Carnahan, Wind Capital Group, American Recovery And Reinvestment Act, Linden Zakula, Angela Guyadeen, Renewable Energy Firms

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US Senators aim to keep renewable power bill "clean"

Fri Sep 24, 2010 3:45pm EDT

* Requires utilities to generate 15 pct renewable by 2021

* Bill gains two co-sponsors this week, now 4 Republicans

* Senators want to pair bill with ethanol incentives

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Senators backing a bi-partisan
bill that would make big utilities begin embracing renewable
electricity believe they can get enough votes to pass it without
having to add oil or nuclear incentives to the measure, a
Congressional aide said on Friday.

Democrat Jeff Bingaman, the chair of the Senate's energy committee,
and Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican, introduced the bill this week
that includes a Renewable Electricity Standard, or RES.

The RES is backed by environmentalists and other groups as a
consolation prize after the failure by the Senate to pass a more
comprehensive climate bill, one of the key priorities of the Obama
Administration. The law would help reduce greenhouse gases by cutting
back on fossil fuel consumption.

The bill, which is similar to an RES that passed easily in Bingaman's
committee last year, would require big utilities to generate 15
percent renewable power such as solar, wind, geothermal, and some
hydroelectric, by 2021.

Since the senators introduced the new bill, two more senators have
climbed on board as co-sponsors, bringing the total to 25. It has four
Republican co-sponsors, including Charles Grassley.

The bill would need 60 votes to pass in the 100-member Senate, but the
aide cautioned against counting co-sponsors.

"Many other senators are ready to vote for the bill but they are not
ready to co-sponsor it," the aide told Reuters, adding that some
senators do not want to add their names to it before the Nov. 2
congressional elections.

Bingaman told the Reuters Washington Summit this week he believes the
bill will be taken up in a so-called lame duck session after the
elections. [ID:nN22275479]

He also told the Summit he does not see a big climate bill reaching
the Senate floor in the remainder of President Barack Obama's first
term, undermining the administration's hopes of taking a lead role at
the global climate talks.

Because the RES bill may be the only chance of getting energy
legislation through the Senate this year, many senators who are not
co-sponsors are attempting to add items to it that would get them
support at home.

Some senators see a chance to boost coal power and want electricity
from plants where companies bury carbon emissions in the ground to be
counted as a renewable power. Others want nuclear power to count.

KEEPING IT CLEAN

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Calif. wants third of its power renewable by 2020

State air regulators require Calif. utilities to get a third of
electricity from renewables

Jason Dearen, Associated Press Writer, On Friday September 24, 2010,
9:29 am EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The state with some of the nation's most
ambitious clean energy standards went even further Thursday:
Regulators approved new regulations requiring utilities to draw a
third of their power from alternative energy sources such as wind,
solar and geothermal in 10 years.

California already is pushing utilities to reach a
20-percent-renewable standard by next year, which has been a struggle
to accomplish. Toughening the rules could prompt regulators across the
country to do the same, but some consumers fret that they will end up
paying for the changes in the form of higher utility bills.

"To the extent that prices do become unreasonably elevated, there must
be a safety valve to protect retail customers," said Matthew Freedman,
a staff attorney at The Utility Reform Network, a consumer advocacy
group.

At a time when nearly one-eighth of the state's work force is jobless,
some want California to dial back, not bolster, its leading-edge air
pollution rules. A November ballot measure bankrolled by Texas oil
companies would delay the state's landmark 2006 global warming law
until the unemployment rate falls dramatically.

Advocates of the proposed utility standards plan say it will usher in
"green" jobs and save rate payers money in the long run by decreasing
dependence on fossil fuels.

"This standard is going to further diversify and secure our energy
supply while also growing California's leading green technology
market, which will lead to cost savings for consumers," Mary D.
Nichols, chairman of the board considering the new rules, said in a
statement after the vote.

Some clean-air advocates gave tepid support for the regulation but
said it is filled with loopholes that would allow utilities to
circumvent clean-energy upgrades.

Regulators say California now gets nearly 14 percent of its
electricity from renewable sources, excluding large hydroelectric
plants and nuclear power, which do not count toward either the
proposed or the existing standards.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he favors raising the state's
renewable mandate to 33 percent to help the state comply with the 2006
global warming law, which seeks to reduce California's greenhouse gas
emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

The California Legislature failed to vote by the end of its session on
a bill that would have adopted the 33 percent standard. The California
Air Resources board took up the issue Thursday. Rules set by the board
are more easily undone than laws approved by the Legislature, and its
requirements would need to be adopted within a year by a state legal
office that reviews new regulations.

Laura Wisland, a clean energy analyst at the Union of Concerned
Scientists, said her group wants a 33 percent standard, but not this
one.

She said the air board's plan would actually slow clean technology
investment because it allows utilities to meet the entire 33 percent
by purchasing "renewable energy credits" rather than actually using
renewable energy to supply their customers. The credits would
represent renewable power that was generated at facilities outside
California and never ends up in the state.

"California doesn't get any power for that (energy credit) purchase,
so we get no greenhouse gas reduction benefits, no air quality
improvements and no clean jobs," Wisland said. "But the utilities
still have to provide electricity for customers, and that could still
come from fossil fuels."

Under current law, utilities are not authorized to use any renewable
energy credits to satisfy the 20-percent targets. All the energy must
be produced in California or in another state connected to its power
grid.

The air board said it will consider placing a cap on renewable energy
credits as the regulation's language is finalized in coming weeks.

One of the state's three large, investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas
& Electric Co., said it is committed "to working to achieve the 20
percent and 33 percent targets."

The company, which has more than 6 million customers in central and
northern California, has struggled to meet the 20 percent goals in the
set time frame, but says it has made substantial progress. PG&E has
contracts for renewable energy deliveries representing more than 20
percent of its future needs, but many of those projects are not yet
producing energy, said Cynthia Pollard, a company spokeswoman.

Utilities face fines for failing to meet the goals but can seek extensions.

Cindy Montanez of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
applauded the regulation and said the utility is moving quickly to
increase its renewable energy. "We want to see real emission
reductions and real jobs created. We think this is a smart way
forward," she said.

Consumer advocates warned that the proposal did too little to protect
utility customers from fluctuating energy costs. Young said there are
no cost caps in the current plan, but added that officials will be
able to add them later if they are needed.

In a state with a 12.4-percent unemployment rate and heated contests
for governor and senator, the debate over whether a renewable
electricity standard will create or kill jobs has been fierce.

California voters will have a big say in the future of the state's
efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions when they vote Nov. 2 on
Proposition 23. The measure would delay the global warming law until
California's unemployment falls to 5.5 percent and stays there for a
year. The proposition would not affect the renewable energy standards,
legal experts said.

Congress considered imposing a national renewable electricity mandate
in the latest energy bill, but the idea was nixed amid heavy
opposition from utilities. Senate Democrats hope to pass a bill after
the midterm elections that would mandate utilities get 15 percent of
their energy from such sources by 2021.

Renewable energy projects are under way across the West, though many
are years from being able to deliver power to energy-hungry cities. On
Thursday, the California Energy Commission approved plans to build a
massive solar energy plant in the Mojave Desert that could generate
enough power for about 140,000 California homes.

Hawaii has a 40 percent renewable energy requirement, but has given
its utilities until 2030 to meet the standard.

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22- Used Wind Turbines 4 Sale

18 Used Mitsubishi MWT 450 – 500kW Wind Turbines For Sale
Sep 24, 2010 05:36 pm (Ralph)
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This is a massive 9mW of wind turbines for only €247,222 EUR per 1mW –
($333,472 per 1mW) On behalf of one of our ...


4 Used Lagerwey LW 18/80 Wind Turbines 80kW For Sale
Sep 24, 2010 01:04 pm (Ralph)
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