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July 9th, 2009
 The 100th Coal Plant Milestone
This is the weekly blog post from Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign.
As of today, 100 coal plants have been defeated or abandoned since the beginning of the coal rush. Late yesterday, news came down that Utah-based Intermountain Power Agency is abandoning plans for a third coal-fired generator in the state.
This news comes as President Obama is at the G8 summit in Italy discussing action on global warming. As other countries like China say they will not act until the U.S. does, these 100 stopped plants are a sign from Americans. We are taking action against global warming, and it’s time to join us.
This also comes just a week after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the city would end coal use by 2020, and was announced the same day as a decision by Basin Electric Power in South Dakota to pull plans for a new coal-fired power plant. The decision marks a significant milestone in the shift to clean energy.
Since the first coal-fired power plant started operation in the U.S. more than 100 years ago our country has been wedded to dirty coal power. Despite the availability of affordable, cleaner energy alternatives, there were still plans on the drawing board for more than 150 new coal-fired power plants as recently as last year.
We are seeing a movement. That movement has kept well over 400 million tons of harmful global warming pollution out of the air, making significant progress in the fight against global warming. Stopping 100 new coal plants has also kept thousands of tons of asthma causing soot and smog pollution, as well as toxins like mercury out of our air and water.
This milestone also marks a significant shift in the way Americans are looking at our energy choices. Cities, states, businesses and electric utilities are all moving away from the polluting coal power of the past.
At the beginning of the coal rush, which came out of the Bush-Cheney energy plan of 2001, it seemed inevitable that most of the 150 new proposed coal plants would get built. Since then we’ve seen an incredible change in the way people, businesses and governments are thinking about energy–figuring out how to generate and use it more cleanly and efficiently. Coal is no longer the only option. We can and are creating jobs and electricity through clean energy technology made in America.
Tremendous grassroots pressure by the Sierra Club and others, rising costs, and upcoming federal carbon regulations all contributed to the demise of the 100 plants. Volunteers with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign worked on the ground in almost every state to fight local coal plant proposals, turning out to public hearings, holding rallies and meeting with officials to push for cleaner energy options for their area.
Instead of being locking into new coal plants we now have an opportunity to develop the clean energy technologies, like wind, that will help repower, rebuild and refuel America.
In many places a shift to wind energy is now well underway. Numbers out from the American Wind Energy Association show that last year over 8,000 MW of new generating capacity was added—that’s 42% of all the new power producing capacity in the U.S., and the equivalent of seven new large coal plants. Employing over 85,000 people, up from 50,000 a year ago, the wind industry for the first time created more jobs than coal mining, proving that new coal plants are not the only option for job creation, economic stimulus and power production.
We are also seeing a sea-change at the federal level. President Obama and his administration are clearly making strides for a clean energy economy. The Environmental Protection Agency has declared global warming pollution a threat to public health and welfare, the Interior Department is pushing for renewable energy development, and more. Even Congress is moving forward with a clean energy bill.
Obstacles still remain, though. The coal industry continues to push forward plans for dozens of new plants and is still pouring money into slick advertising campaigns and lobbying efforts to weaken the energy bill in Congress. Even in some of the top wind producing states, like Texas, coal companies are pushing for new plants, insisting that coal is the only viable option despite obvious evidence to the contrary.
This must stop. Coal is not part of our country’s clean energy future. Big Coal deserves no more free rides and loopholes. Their greed has gone too far. They store toxic coal ash waste in unsafe facilities. They push for weaker pollution regulations at all levels, claiming the opposite will bankrupt their industry.
The 100 dead coal-fired power plants are a message from Americans. We don’t want dirty power from a greedy industry looking to skirt the rules. We want clean energy that will boost the economy, create jobs and reduce our global warming pollution. Let’s keep up the fight!
Tags: alternative energy, coal
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June 25th, 2009
Call to action: Clean Energy Revolution!
Our dependence on dirty sources of energy – like oil and coal – threatens our health, our economy and the future of our great outdoors. While we work alongside President Obama and leaders in Congress to build a clean energy economy, oil and coal companies are fighting us every step of the way.
Together, we can stop them. President Obama has a plan that would put thousands of Minnesotans to work building wind-farms, installing solar panels and developing energy efficient homes. We can create jobs and cut global warming pollution.
President Obama has called for a clean energy revolution. Reps. Henry Waxman, Ed Markey and other leaders in Congress are working to deliver on that promise through the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the bill that we hope will drive the creation of a clean energy economy and cap the pollution that’s causing global warming.
The bill isn’t perfect. But it does reduce the pollution that’s fueling global warming, drive the transition towards a clean energy future and include a plan to get every new building to meet a “zero-energy” standard within a generation.
Call your members of Congress that you want them to work for a clean energy economy.
MESSAGE: I am a constituent of Representative X and I support HR 2454 – the American Clean Energy and Security Act. We need a strong version of this legislation to reduce global warming pollution and build the new energy economy. Does Rep. X support the American Clean Energy and Security Act?
Report what you find out from your call back to us at michelle.rosier@sierraclub.org.
US REPRESENTATIVES PHONE NUMBERS:
Bachmann, Michele MN-6th 202-225-2331
Ellison, Keith MN-5th 202-225-4755
Kline, John MN-2nd 202-225-2271
McCollum, Betty MN-4th 202-225-6631
Oberstar, James L. MN-8th 202-225-6211
Paulsen, Erik MN-3rd 202-225-2871
Peterson, Collin C. MN-7th 202-225-2165
Walz, Timothy J. MN-1st 202-225-2472
Michelle Rosier
Senior Regional Organizing Manager
Sierra Club – Central Region
Tags: climate change, congress, federal
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May 14th, 2009
 “There are three critical ingredients to democratic renewal and progressive change in America: good public policy, grassroots organizing and electoral politics.” Paul Wellstone
The nearing end of the legislative session brought Paul to mind. But forget that for a moment.
Victories for the environment have been few this session, but not non-existent.
The nuclear moratorium repeal went down to defeat in conference committee two days ago.
The Federal Stimulus legislation has passed conference committee. It will create green jobs while insulating thousands of Minnesota homes and retrofitting for energy effeciency public buildings–if Gov. Pawlenty signs it.
The Sensible Communities legislation has several facets in various omnibus bills, the one most likely to become law is the change in school siting requirements. In addition the Metropolitan Council (not the University of Minnesota Transporation Studies Center as our legislation wanted) would study how land use planning can affect vehicle miles traveled and in particular air pollution. They will report back by 2011. Also, the DOT would have a goal to reduce per capita driving by 15% by 2025.
There may be, too, legislation allowing confiscation of ATV’s for repeat offenders. A leasing law that could open our public lands to corporate management has been modified in the Senate.
All of these, of course, remain moot until signed into law.
In the end, though, this will go down as a session devoted mostly to the politics of a dismal budget, billions in the hole thanks to a sinking economy.
Paul Wellstone, standing for re-election in 2002, cast a solitary vote against war in Iraq. He had enormous pressure even from within his own party .
We do not win every fight, but when the environment demands the lone vote against pressure, people know they can count on the Sierra Club. It is in this kind of political context when the forests and lakes, the wolves and the snail darters, the wetlands and the open sky need us the most.
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May 8th, 2009
As of about 5pm on Friday: The Minnesota House of Representatives is currently debating the conference report on HF885, a tax/health care and education funding bill that DFL leadership has put together. This package was unveiled late last night, and is a fairly blunt attack in response to the Governor’s recent public posturing over the ongoing budget negotiations. If passed, the bill would raise a little more than $1 billion (roughly equal to the amount of new revenue from accounting shifts and borrowing in Governor Pawlenty’s budget proposal) from new taxes on liquor and various other areas, and allocate that revenue to E-12 Education and Health and Human Services. Later today, this package will be debated and voted on by the Senate as well, before heading to the Governor for a certain veto. An override may be attempted sometime next week.
All of this is relevant for two reasons: 1) conference committees are basically on hold today until this debate has been finished, and 2) resolution, or not, of the overall budget problem will determine whether or not we are heading to a special session.
In the meantime, here are a few quick updates on other items of interest:
-Governor Pawlenty signed the Environment and Energy budget bill yesterday. On the whole this is good news, as it means that agencies charged with protecting our natural resources have their budgets locked in place and are not likely to be affected should the debate on the global budget drag into the summer months. This new law also implements a variety of new mining fees, as we’ve been following over the last several weeks. However, the Governor did line-item veto a $15 million appropriation for TMDL’s, thereby reducing funding for cleaning up our state’s waters.
-The conference committee on SF657/HF680, the federal stimulus energy appropriations bill, began meeting on Wednesday and continued meeting throughout the day and night on Thursday. While the committee had intended to complete its work by the end of Thursday, there are still differences between the House and Senate appropriations and policy language that have yet to be resolved. The committee intends to continue meeting yet today, however this is dependent upon the House and Senate floor sessions first completing their controversial work. If they are unable to finish tonight, we can assume that meetings will continue to be held throughout the weekend.
-The conference committee on SF550/HF863, the energy policy omnibus bill, will meet for the first time at 3pm on Monday. The Senate version of this bill includes language repealing the moratorium on nuclear power, however there are not enough votes on the conference committee to pass the repeal language. We will continue to monitor the debate nonetheless.
At this point in the session things can change extremely quickly and I will do my best to keep you all informed as the legislature works towards – hopefully – completing its work over the next 10 days. As always, please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions.
Ethan Fawley added this to Justin’s update:
I would add that the Governor has signed the Omnibus Transportation Finance bill, which includes a (comparatively) positive solution for transit and a study that will highlight the importance of improving land-use planning. SC was involved in the transit funding discussion through our work with Transit Partners. The study was a piece of the Building Sensible Communities bill.
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April 30th, 2009
 Here’s a message from Justin Fay that seemed worth repeating whole:
Although the House vote today to oppose repealing the moratorium on nuclear power was a significant victory, we are by no means finished with this issue. We still have a conference committee to work through, and we can be certain that this amendment will continue to be offered every session until it passes…and in spite of today’s encouraging vote, defeating this initiative will only become more difficult in the future.
There are a few simple things that we all can do in the short term to help keep some momentum intact:
1. First and foremost, if your legislator is one of the 72 who voted in support of keeping the moratorium (vote count pasted below), please send them a quick note thanking them for their vote today, and ask your friends and family to do the same.
2. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper applauding the Minnesota House for their forward-thinking vote on the repeal.
3. Go to the following news stories about the repeal and leave a brief comment voicing your support for the House decision today:
House Vote Results (to be clear – a “negative vote” was a vote to maintain the moratorium):
Those who voted in the affirmative were:
Anderson, B.
Anderson, P.
Anderson, S.
Beard
Brod
Buesgens
Bunn
Cornish
Davids
Dean
Demmer
Dettmer
Doepke
Doty
Downey
Drazkowski
Eastlund
Faust
Garofalo
Gottwalt
Gunther
Hackbarth
Hamilton
Haws
Holberg
Hoppe
Hosch
Howes
Huntley
Juhnke
Kelly
Kiffmeyer
Koenen
Kohls
Lanning
Loon
Mack
Magnus
Mahoney
McFarlane
McNamara
Murdock
Nelson
Nornes
Norton
Olin
Pelowski
Peppin
Poppe
Sanders
Scott
Seifert
Severson
Shimanski
Smith
Swails
Torkelson
Urdahl
Westrom
Zellers
Those who voted in the negative were:
Abeler
Anzelc
Atkins
Benson
Bigham
Bly
Brown
Brynaert
Carlson
Champion
Clark
Davnie
Dittrich
Eken
Falk
Fritz
Gardner
Greiling
Hansen
Hausman
Hayden
Hilstrom
Hilty
Hornstein
Hortman
Jackson
Johnson
Kahn
Kalin
Kath
Knuth
Laine
Lenczewski
Lesch
Liebling
Lieder
Lillie
Loeffler
Mariani
Marquart
Masin
Morgan
Morrow
Mullery
Murphy, E.
Murphy, M.
Newton
Obermueller
Otremba
Paymar
Persell
Peterson
Reinert
Rosenthal
Rukavina
Ruud
Sailer
Scalze
Sertich
Simon
Slawik
Slocum
Solberg
Sterner
Thao
Thissen
Tillberry
Wagenius
Ward
Welti
Winkler
Spk. Kelliher
Tags: nuclear
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April 30th, 2009
Spring Waxing Flower Moon
“All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.” Ronald Reagan
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Maybe so. But who would want to sit at that desk?
The House, only moments ago, defeated an amendment to the House Omnibus Energy Bill, offered by Rep. Faust, DFL, to repeal the state’s moratorium on granting nuclear power plant certificates. The vote was 60-72.
The debate lasted almost an hour. The telling points seemed to be three: 1. What will we do with the waste? 2. Nuclear power plants are expensive and pollute water sources, usually rivers, with heat. 3. Should we follow the path laid down in the past toward our energy future or should we create a new path with renewables and a different conception about electrical use, e.g. more conservation, distributed production.
This defeat means the Omnibus Energy conference committee will not have both houses of the legislature in agreement on this issue. The repeal passed as an amendment on the Senate floor. The conference committee will, therefore, have to consider the repeal. This is not over yet.
Tags: nuclear
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April 30th, 2009
Spring Waxing Flower Moon
 “God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.” Thomas Jefferson
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Green Jobs: As reported yesterday, the Green Jobs legislation (part of the Federal Stimulus bill) will go to conference committee, perhaps as soon as the next couple of days. Its next stop after that is Governor Pawlenty’s desk.
We have one message for him: Sign It!
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Sensible Communities: As a stand alone bill, Sensible Communities has been dead for a few weeks. Four components of it live on in various omnibus bills: vehicle miles reduction goal, a study by the University of Minnesota on how to reduce vehicle miles, the elimination of school siting requirements and the addition of wetland conservation to environmental reviews required for land use and development planning.
It is possible than one or all of these might pass in their various bills. The one deemed most likely to become law at this point eliminates acreage requirements for school sitings. This would allow new schools to locate more toward the center of population densities rather than on their fringes encouraging more compact growth.
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Nuclear Moratorium Repeal: This has still not come up in the House though new information suggests today might be the day. A new wrinkle is the possibility of an amendment that would link lifting of the moratorium to development of a permanent depository for nuclear waste. This might encourage fence sitters to vote yes in the belief that the long road to such a depository would not mean lifting the ban for quite awhile. The problem is that another session of the legislature could then eliminate the permanent depository language and therefore repeal the moratorium.
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Bill Making Legal Challenges by Non-Profits much more difficult (HF1557): I mentioned this legislation on the 16th of April. In its original form it would have hampered lawsuits by organizations like the Sierra Club by imposing potential financial penalities, even if our suits were successful. This legislation as a whole is dead, but its author, prominent Range DFL’er, Tom Bakk, has changed tactics. He will now try to insert language that reduces the length of time in which a legal challenge can be raised from 6 years to 60 days. This would amount to the same onerous restriction since 60 days is not enough time for most non-profits to evaluate a situation, raise money if necessary, assemble a legal team and file suit.
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April 29th, 2009
 Green Jobs: Green jobs legislation has now passed the House and Senate. Exact language goes to a conference committee chaired by the bill authors, Rep. Hilty and Senator Anderson. This is a win for the environmental community. Congratulations to the Blue/Green Alliance and every one else who has worked on this important jobs and energy savings legislation.
Repeal of Nuclear Moratorium: Current word is that the repeal may show up on the House floor tomorrow. The House session tomorrow begins at 10:30 AM. You can watch on Minnesota Legislative Television or webcast.
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April 22nd, 2009
Spring Waning Seed Moon
 Lost Forty Chippewa Forest But I’ll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you’ll come to understand that you’re connected with everything.
Alan Watts
Yes, but what if the far, far forest got given away to land owners who share border with it? What if the far, far forest, instead of being quiet, had the sound of management activities taking place? Management by paper companies. If these things happened, then we might not come to know we’re connected to everything.
There are two bills making their way through the legislative process which would allow both of these incursions on our public lands.
The first bill, HF696, Rep. Dill, allows property owners whose lands are contiguous with public lands to acquire those lands which touch their property with a quit claim deed from the state if there are trespass issues involved. As one environmental advocate puts it, what will prevent a land owner from encroaching on public land with a building or a fence or a continuous use that will then get “resolved” by a private sale. A private sale means no public input. This bill has passed its division in the House.
HF1132, Rep. Dill and others, allows a pilot project which would lease our forest lands to private industry for management. This is, as MCEA puts it, an attack on public lands. The most essential word in the phrase public lands is public. If we allow our lands, our commons, to fall under industrial management then they lose their essence. Here is language from the bill itself: “Forest management lease-pilot project. Allows the commissioner to lease state-owned forest lands for forest management purposes as a pilot project.”
Tags: Forests
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April 16th, 2009
Spring Waning Seed Moon
“They played hard. They played defense. They respected their competition. This was a team.” John Schuhmann on the USA 2008 men’s basketball team winning gold.
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As the session moves closer to its May 18 adjournment date, more of the legislative committee’s attention gets taken up by necessary defensive work, that is, staying alert to bills that would harm the environment as well as pressing for adoption of bills that would help.
I’ve written more than once about attempts to repeal the nuclear moratorium. Preventing such legislation from passing is defensive work. The 2008 USA men’s basketball team recovered the gold medal with good defense.
Competitive arenas like the legislative process and the Olympics demand an offense and a defense. Always. Without both, as the USA Olympic team learned, gains from the offense can be lost on defense.
The nuclear moratorium repeal made it into the Senate’s omnibus energy bill on a floor amendment. It did not make it into the House omnibus energy bill, thanks in part to good defensive work. A floor amendment will be offered when the House takes up its omnibus energy bill, probably next Monday. Time for more defense.
Later, the energy bill’s conference committee will be yet another place for defense since the repeal is in the Senate’s bill. It will have to be reconciled with the House version.
A different sort of defensive work is underway on HF1557. This is a bill that would make taking legal action much more risky for groups like the Sierra Club. It is a direct affront to the due process of citizens wishing to challenge the decision of governmental bodies in the court system. In the Senate Tom Bakk carries this legislation. This bill would make challenging companies like Polymet in court many times more difficult.
ATV legislation has also moved to defensive work. There is, for example, a bill to increase the allowable engine size to increase from 800 cc’s to 900 cc’s.
Tags: ATV's, HF1557, nuclear energy
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