Tomorrow night, Friday, April 11, independent vice-presidential candidate and former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez — Ralph Nader’s running mate — will speak at 7 p.m. in Berkeley City College’s auditorium, 2050 Center St. He’s keynoting the opening night of “Changing Climates, Class, Culture, and Politics in an Era of Global Warming,” a three-day conference highlighting the challenges, conflicts, and politics of climate change in California, with journalists, scholars, and activists on hand to discuss green-collar jobs, the media’s coverage of climate issues, the environmental impacts of California ports, and the effects of water policy on Native American tribes in Northern California. Hosted by the California Studies Association, the conference is free and open to the public, although there’s a suggested donation of $35 for the three days ($10 for students and low-income attendees).
Looking further ahead, the Commonwealth Club of California announced yesterday that it’s serving up a whopping political double-header on Monday, May 19. First, Arianna Huffington — co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post — will be touting her new book, “Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution and Made Us All Less Safe” at the Fairmont Hotel, 950 Mason St. in San Francisco. The program is at noon, book-signing at 1 p.m.; it’s $15 for clulb members, $30 for nonmembers, with tickets available online. Then, the same day, San Jose’s own Mary Tillman — mother of pro football star turned slain Army Ranger Pat Tillman — will “chronicle her family’s harrowing journey through the maze of bureaucracy, red tape and cover-ups to learn the true circumstances of Pat’s death. She will also recount memories of him as a loving son, brother, husband, friend and teammate.” There’s a 5:30 p.m. wine-and-cheese reception before the 6 p.m. program, both at the club’s offices on the second floor of 595 Market St. in San Francisco; it’s free for club members, $18 for nonmembers, with tickets available online.
The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held a hearing this morning on “Drilling for Answers on Oil and Gas Prices, Profits, and Alternatives,” at which executives from the five largest oil companies were asked about current oil and gas prices; their profits; and the need for clean, renewable fuels to ease demand for oil and cut global warming pollution.
The hearing’s backdrop is that as prices at the pump have risen sharply and oil companies are reporting record profits, the companies also are fighting to keep $18 billion in tax breaks that Congressional Democrats say should be rescinded and shifted to renewable energy incentives for wind, solar, biomass and other climate-friendly sources.
Here’s the opening statement from committee member Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton:
And here’s committee chairman Ed Markey, D-Mass., lighting into Simon of ExxonMobil, which reported record profits of $40.6 billion in 2007:
Most members of the Bay Area’s House delegation are among original cosponsors of the Right to Clean Vehicles Act, a bill introduced today which would force the Environmental Protection Agency to grant a waiver giving California and 12 other states the ability to implement limits on greenhouse-gas emissions from cars.
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, issued a news release expressing her support for the House bill.
“There is simply no excuse for the Bush administration to deny California’s waiver, or any other state’s effort to combat global warming and promote the use of cleaner, more efficient vehicles on their roads,” she said. “The Right to Clean Vehicles Act will give a much-needed green light to states taking the right approach to achieving a greener future and I am proud to support it.”
Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, wasn’t listed among the original cosponsors in Sherman’s news release, but spokesman Andy Stone just told me McNerney fully supports it as well — he just hadn’t had time to fully review it and sign on before the authors went public today, but should be listed among the cosponsors by next week.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said it “will only make matters worse by raising taxes and setting the table for even higher prices at the pump,” which is both “unacceptable” and “irresponsible.”
Don Young, the House Natural Resources Committee’s ranking Republican, said it’s “a true indication of how out of touch they (Democrats) are with the needs of our nation… It makes no sense whatsoever.”
And Jim McCrery, the Ways and Means Committee’s ranking Republican, said it “completely ignores reality” and “will make our economy more dependent on foreign sources of energy… This is worse than no solution at all.”
Here’s what their fellow Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had to say:
I commend Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of Congress who worked hard to pass this critical legislation that will allow us to continue investing in our nation’s renewable energy supplies – we need as much clean energy in our resource mix as possible. With our aggressive environmental goals, unprecedented energy portfolio standards and booming ‘green economy,’ California has a vital stake in legislation to be passed by Congress and approved by President Bush.
A long-term solar tax credit is critical because of the time needed to bid, permit, engineer and build solar projects. Today’s action will help California in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions and our dependence on imported fuel sources. I urge the U.S. Senate and the President to quickly pass this legislation.
Wow, this sounds a lot like saying that, “At a time when our economy is struggling, this bill will provide savings to consumers, protect the environment, create jobs and make our nation stronger by ending our dependence on foreign oil.” Or, that “(e)nding our dependence on foreign oil and using renewable energy to help fight global warming will make our nation stronger.” Or, that the bill will “put us on a path toward energy security and energy independence in a fiscally responsible way.”
But those latter words of praise came from Democrats — House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Martinez; Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton; and Hosue Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, respectively.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson was urged by his staff to allow California to set greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles, even though he ultimately decided to block the regulations, according to documents obtained by the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she plans to grill Johnson about his decision at a hearing Wednesday on the EPA’s proposed fiscal 2009 budget.
“The people in the agency who were charged with advising administrator Johnson were very, very clear that this waiver should be signed,” Boxer said.
Johnson announced late last year that he would not grant a waiver to allow California to implement a state-level global warming program. California’s regulations would set fuel economy standards for vehicles stricter than those in force at the federal level. Numerous other states have indicated they would adopt identical regulations if California were allowed to move forward.
Boxer has introduced legislation to require the EPA to allow the state emission standards. She plans to move the bill if she can obtain 60 votes to overcome a filibuster on the floor. States have also filed a lawsuit against the EPA.
In the meantime, Boxer is requesting documents from the agency on the background behind Johnson’s decision. One presentation from October is a strong recommendation from EPA staff that the waiver should be granted. The document was prepared by Christopher Grundler, deputy director at the Office of Transportation and Air Quality.
Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA must allow California to set its own pollution standards for vehicles unless the state standards are found to be arbitrary and capricious, are unnecessary to meet “compelling and extraordinary” environmental conditions, or are otherwise inconsistent with the federal anti-pollution law.
As a compromise, the staffer suggested the EPA could grant the waiver for three years and then defer it for subsequent years. This was described as a “grand bargain” that would put the EPA “in the driver’s seat to craft a national solution.”
Boxer says the documents, excerpted on her committee’s Web site, “paint a picture of an Environmental Protection Agency in crisis. They show the dedicated professional staff of the EPA working hard to do what they are paid to do by the American people — protect our health and our environment. At the same time, we see more and more evidence of Administrator Johnson ignoring the science and the facts, and discarding the advice of his professional staff.
“I believe this decision will be reversed by the next President or by the courts, but the Administrator can save the taxpayers time and money, and can get us started cleaning up our air if he would simply follow the law, the facts, and the advice of his agency professionals.”
Here’s a video of her news conference:
Are we looking forward to hearing this testimony tomorrow? Oh yes, yes we are.
Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, apparently was feeling vindicated Friday, sending out a news release calling attention to the Congressional Budget Office’s new report that evaluates proposals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The report concludes that a carbon tax “would be the most efficient incentive-based option for reducing emissions and could be relatively easy to implement.”
Stark last April introduced the Save Our Climate Act to impose a tax on carbon-based fossil fuels and slow climate change. Under his H.R. 2069, an initial tax of $10 per ton of carbon content would be assessed on coal, petroleum and natural gas when these fossil fuels first are taken rom the ground or imported into the United States. The tax would increase by $10 each year, freezing when a mandated report by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Energy determines carbon dioxide emissions have decreased by 80 percent from 1990 levels.
“A carbon tax is our best hope of responding to climate change before its too late,” Stark said in today’s news release. “The Congressional Budget Office report confirms what other economists have been saying for years. A carbon tax would be predictable, transparent, universal and difficult to game. I strongly encourage my colleagues to support a carbon tax as the most sensible solution to the most significant environmental challenge we face.”
Got thoughts on this? Don’t just comment here — go talk to Stark about it. He’ll be holding three town-hall meetings tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 16: 9 to 10 a.m. in Fremont City Hall’s council chambers, 3300 Capitol Ave.; 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Hayward City Hall’s council chambers, 777 B St.; and noon to 1 p.m. in the Earhart School’s multipurpose room, 400 Packet Landing Road in Alameda’s Bay Farm Island section.
Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater tomorrow (Thursday, Oct. 25) will screen Al Gore climate-change magnum opus “An Inconvenient Truth” all day long — that’s five screenings, at noon, 2:30, 5, 7:35 and 10 p.m. — with all proceeds going to benefit the national Draft Gore campaign. Draft Gore activist Monica Friedlander of Oakland — who founded and chaired the effort to pull Gore into the 2004 race, and who now is at it again — says the money probably will be used to produce a television ad; Draft Gore on Oct. 10 ran a full-page ad in the New York Times, which got lots of national media attention but didn’t manage to pull the former vice president and 2000 Democratic presidential nominee into the 2008 race.
Will a television ad work? As I’ve said before, the movie won an Oscar for best documentary; Gore’s Current TV won a Primetime Emmy for interactive technology; and he just shared this year’s Nobel Peace Prize — he seems too effective in his current role, and too smart, to squander all the goodwill he has built up by jumping into a presidential race $91 million and 30 percentage points behind the apparent frontrunner.
Here’s what some notables have to say about Gore’s Nobel Prize:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco: “Al Gore sounded a clarion call that awakened the world to the very real threat of global warming. He has performed an invaluable service to humanity that is more than worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Through his ground-breaking film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ his lectures, books, concerts, and many other activities, Al Gore has done more to educate the public on the dangers of climate change – and on the positive steps we can take to prevent it – than any other individual.
“Vice President Gore’s public advocacy and the scientific efforts of Dr. Rajenda Pachauri and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have opened the world’s eyes and removed any doubt that the climate crisis threatens our world and our children’s future.”
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.: “No one on Earth has done more to put climate change and global warming on the front burner of public policy in virtually every country than Al Gore.
“My husband and I saw him last evening, and he had no idea. So, it must be a wonderful surprise.
“An Oscar, an Emmy, and a Nobel Peace Prize, is an unprecedented combination in one year. So, congratulations, Al Gore.”
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles: “I’m delighted about the award because it not only recognizes Al Gore’s visionary leadership on climate change, it also establishes the fact that climate change has broader implications beyond specific environmental threats. Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reminds us all that global instability and insecurity will rise alongside the planet’s temperature. It’s very appropriate that the prize was announced while the Vice President was here in California, since California has been the proving ground that shows political leaders, the business community and environmental groups can all come together behind effective climate change solutions. For years Al Gore has issued a stirring challenge to the world. With our commitment to implementing AB 32, developing new alternative fuels and spurring a green economy for our state, California will continue to lead the response to that challenge.”
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., today gave the keynote address at the Business Council for Sustainable Energy’s climate change conference in San Francisco. She called for a comprehensive legislative agenda to achieve major reductions in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, including increasing automobile fuel-economy standards; promoting development of a national cap-and-trade framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from major electricity and industrial sectors; and encouraging the use of low-carbon fuels.
Meanwhile, climate-change guru Al Gore will be in San Francisco this afternoon to speak at a fundraiser for U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.; musicians Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne also will be on hand for an acoustic performance. Gore had cancelled yesterday, but reversed that earlier today and is scheduled to attend — one day before this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner is announced, with rampant speculation that it’ll be Al Gore himself.
Will he win? If so, will he run for president? My guesses: maybe, and no.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., will watch tomorrow’s Live Earth concerts — a 24-hour series of concerts in nine cities on seven continents, expected to be viewed by 2 billion people, calling attention to the issue of global warming — from her Oakland home, she told reporters this morning.
“Yes, I’m going to watch everything that I can,’’ she said. “For me the most important thing is action, I’ve got to get the votes out of my committee — I’m going to watch the party, but boy I have a lot of work ahead of me.”
Boxer said she approaches the issue “with hope, not fear.”
“Just six months ago few would’ve predicted that meaningful action on global warming was possible in this Congress,” she said, yet an unrelenting stream of scientific evidence and expert testimony has “begun to build the consensus that I was so hopeful for when I took the gavel.”
U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., and U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., last week announced they’ll collaborate to draft an economy-wide global warming bill that includes a cap-and-trade program, she noted — a bipartisan effort that could finally kick the federal government into gear on an issue for which hundreds of cities and dozens of states already have committed to action. “People all over the world realize action on global warming is needed now … and Americans are far ahead of our government.”
On the same conference call, MoveOn.org Political Action Executive Director Eli Pariser said the hubbub around Live Earth is adding up to his group’s biggest series of events since the 2004 presidential election. Tens of thousands of Americans will attend MoveOn-organized house parties tomorrow, and with help from partner organization Avaaz.org, almost 10,000 such parties are expected to be held worldwide.
Then, the same day, San Jose’s own Mary Tillman — mother of pro football star turned slain Army Ranger Pat Tillman — will “chronicle her family’s harrowing journey through the maze of bureaucracy, red tape and cover-ups to learn the true circumstances of Pat’s death. She will also recount memories of him as a loving son, brother, husband, friend and teammate.” There’s a 5:30 p.m. wine-and-cheese reception before the 6 p.m. program, both at the club’s offices on the second floor of 595 Market St. in San Francisco; it’s free for club members, $18 for nonmembers, with tickets available online. 
