Enjoy this very short video of Presidential hopeful, John Edwards stumping about two weeks ago. In my view, John Edwards has the strongest ecopolitical platform of any of the candidates. He is the only one gutsy enough to call for a moratorium on any new coal-fired power plants. The question that raises, however, is will that matter in the end? And if so, how? I am considering caucusing for Edwards in Colorado on the Feb. 5th. If he doesn’t get the required 15% in the first preference poll, I’ll have to realign with another candidate (but not without letting my fellow precinct members why I chose Edwards). A piece of advice to the candidates’ strategists and advisors: Pay attention to the Western vote (not just CA).

If any Democrat wants to do well in the purple states of the mountain west, they must start talking about issues that westerners care about (i.e. energy and enviro issues). If, come election time, the Democratic nominee is not talking about these issues, they will not catch the swing voters, indies, and Republicans who are considering casting a vote for a Democrat. How do you think Gov. Bill Ritter (D) got elected in CO? Three words: New Energy Economy.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS), a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior has formally established an interim adaptive management program called the Alternative Energy and Alternate Use Program (imho, a very bad name). The program will regulate any future development of offshore wind projects on the outer continental shelf. The new program puts forth 52 “best management practices to minimize potential adverse impacts of future projects” but has no impact on the imminent decision in the proposed Cape Wind project.In a bit of bureaucratic reorganization, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized MMS to regulate offshore wind development, thus pulling the carpet out from under Cape Wind, America’s first proposed offshore wind energy project. The proposal was awaiting final approval in 2005 when Sen. Edward Kennedy was able to place a moratorium on offshore wind development until the permitting process was relocated out of the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers and into the jurisdiction of the MMS, an arm of the Department of the Interior that deals primarily with offshore oil and gas leases.

For some background on the very contentious Cape Wind saga:

1. On The Daily Show
2. Polling data showing support for cape wind
3. Sneaky Wind Politics
   
4. Cape Wind Opponent to Step Down

Renewable energy advocates are clearly disappointed with the recently passed version of the 2007 energy bill. Yes, there is an important increase in auto fuel efficiency, but considering that CAFE hasn’t been upped in nearly 30 years, I don’t think Congress should be patting themselves on the back too hard for that one. However, a little piece of renewable energy legislation may have sneaked into the farm bill without too many Republicans noticing, and it just might have a chance of getting passed into law.

The version of the farm bill passed by the Senate on Friday contains a small wind tax provision - the first in more than 20 years. The provision is a 30% investment tax credit (up to $4,000) for the installation of small wind systems. The credit is available for farmers, small businesses and homeowners for new wind systems up to 10 kw. This may be another piece of evidence of a farm bill in energy bill’s clothing.

The tax-credit has remained a part of the farm bill despite an attempt to scuttle it. Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) and others defeated an amendment sponsored by Lamar Alexander (R-TN) that would have limited the small wind investment tax credit to farmers and small businesses, thus excluding owners of rural residential property and commercial property suitable for small wind from taking advantage of what has traditionally been viewed as a burden. It comes as no surprise to see Sen. Alexander championing the anti-wind cause once again. The Senator from Tennessee has been surprisingly outspoken about wind energy policy in the U.S., even going as far as suggesting that it ruins mountaintops (to say nothing of the practice of ‘mountaintop removal’ in TN and other coal-heavy states). It is also interesting to note that Alexander owns property on Nantucket Island in MA, not far at all from the proposed Cape Wind project and that he has been a vocal opponent and unlikely ally of Sen. Edward Kennedy. Coincidence?! I think not.

I suppose I shouldn’t be trumpeting this small victory too loudly, President Bush hasn’t signed the bill into law yet, so I suppose there is also a chance that the small tax credit will get axed from the bill just like all of the other renewable energy legislation.

I found this video on YouTube - a Barack Obama campaign ad that highlights how politically useful it is for presidents to tout the need for American energy independence.

Obama says he’ll bring energy leadership… Somebody needs to.

Stumble It! • Digg This!

In light of my most recent post about the externalities of coal-fired power, I thought I would let the heavy weight of that one sink in a little and, in the mean time, find out what people pay for their electricity, or if they even know. It’ll only take two seconds to click on over to ecopolitology and answer one simple question in the right-hand column:

How much do you pay for your electricity?

If you don’t know, take a look at your most recent electric bill. If you can’t find one, find your utility’s rates online. If your electricity is included in your rent, it is pretty easy to find out how much your local provider charges per kwh.

I included the U.S. rate map below for general reference but I certainly encourage and welcome submissions from other countries as well.

Source: Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861, “Annual Electric Power Industry Report.”(2005)

Check back in a couple weeks for complete results.
Thanks!

It is quite common for the end-user of a commodity to have no idea where the good was actually produced, never mind how it got from point A to point B. But some consumers might prefer to get their vegetables them from a local farmers’ market, instead of the supermarket. A person might want to support a business because they have received exceptional service there in the past; or, because they know the signature dish is made with the freshest local ingredients. The global commodities market has separated the consumer and the producer across both time and space. Goods can be shipped all the way around the globe and many can be stored away for future use/sale. When consumers do not see where the good is produced, how it is produced, and the byproducts of that production, they are less likely to alter their own spending habits to align them with their own personal values. The global economy lives and dies at the level of uncertainty a consumer will accept before choosing to not buy a good. Coal may be less expensive in terms of how much you pay every month for electricity, but those bills do not accurately reflect all of the electricity’s costs, or what economists like to call, “externalities,” like sulfur dioxide, mercury, carbon dioxide, or even dead miners.

The globalized trade of products like gold, bananas, pork-bellies, sugar and wheat, to name a few, creates a market where consumers do not know where the good was actually grown, mined, plucked, or processed. Not only that, but it may not be so easy to buy something even though it is all around you (as my search for locally-grown soybeans proved). Why does this matter? It all boils down to consumer choice. On one hand, the modern globalized economy consists of consumers that are primarily concerned with getting a given commodity for the best price possible. On the other hand, some consumers may want more than whatever is cheapest.

There are some consumers who will want to weigh such variables as the ecological sustainability of a good and the process of manufacturing it; the human rights records in the country the good is produced; workplace health and safety records; environmental practices, or any of a number of monetary and non-monetary variables. Consumers who choose to shop with their conscience are faced with tough choices every day, and they usually go something like this: Pay more for a product because it is organically grown, or fair-trade certified and feel better about how your money affects the larger social, ecological and political climate, or, pay less for virtually the same product and spend the difference on something else you wanted. Read the rest of this entry »

[Cross-posted from ecopolitology.org]

Last week I attended a sold-out conference in downtown Denver that addressed the future of Colorado’s ‘New Energy Economy.’ In the absence of any substantial federal legislation to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, state-level government initiatives in such states as California, Vermont, New Jersey, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Colorado to name a few, are giving shape to a technological ‘race to the top’ scenario where states are competing with each other to attract the type of businesses that can spur the development of a regional new energy economy. Read the rest of this entry »