Earlier this month Rick Perry denied the reality of climate change at a presidential debate. This week Governor “Good-Hair” has continued his crusade of fact fabrication and blamed the loss of 500 Texas jobs on the EPA and its new regulations (called the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule or CSAPR). This accusation came just after TXU/Luminant, the largest power generating company in Texas, announced it would be shutting down two of its coal units. While Luminant is taking a step in the right direction, this unethical tactic of blaming impending EPA regulations for job losses has become old hat for politicians like Perry and large fossil-fuel corporations like Luminant.

Accusations like this are nothing new. The fossil-fuel industry shrilly shouted the same kind of job-killing rhetoric over forty years ago when the Clean Air Act was passed. Instead of killing jobs, however, the Clean Air Act created them. Many studies have shown that the economic benefits, including job creation, of making polluters clean up their act far outweigh any negative impacts (such as layoffs at plants).

Unfortunately, it looks like President Obama has been drinking the same Industry-financed kool-aid as his main opponent. The President has announced that these crucial smog-reducing rules will be pushed back to 2013 (at the earliest). President Obama should be ashamed of his decision to delay these rules. He has, in effect, sacrificed human lives and the lungs of children because big-energy lobbyists have whined about it. The excessive pollution from Luminant’s three dirtiest coal plants is estimated to cause one premature death every three days. Whether Obama or Perry (as the likely candidate) wins the next presidential election, it looks like neither will stand up to corporate polluters for the sake of American lives. Visit Greenpeace online to sign a petition asking Obama to reverse this decision.

The EPA’s purpose is not to coddle fossil-fuel industries, nor to ensure their profit margins stay at ideal levels – it exists to protect human and environmental health. If companies in Texas like Luminant cannot conduct their business responsibly and acknowledge the pollution and harm they cause, then they must be held accountable by the public and our leaders.

Texans are paying the price for the cowardice of our politicians and the irresponsibility of these large energy corporations. These Luminant plants are some of the dirtiest coal plants in the country. Why should we have to pay higher medical bills and environmental clean up costs so that companies like Luminant can maximize profits?

This report from TR Rose Associates shows in detail how Luminant’s shuttering of these coal plants is most likely due to poor financial management. Considering that these plants are practically worthless for Luminant it makes sense for them to shut them down. This retirement has everything to do with the energy market and Luminant’s mismanagement of their resources and very little to do with any new EPA regulations.

Luminant should follow the example of the TVA, who announced back in April the closure of 18 coal plants. TVA further committed to retraining their workers for jobs in energy efficiency and renewable energy – both fields which are likely to employ more people than traditional fossil-fuels. Luminant could easily end this boondoggle and shut down all three of their large, old, dirty plants: Monticello, Martin Lake, and Big Brown. Texas has some of the best solar, wind and geothermal potential in the country. There is no reason, or excuse, for TXU to lay off any workers from any of these old plants, when the company could easily retrain them and invest in geothermal plants throughout that region. If these workers are abandoned it will be Luminant’s fault, not EPA’s.

These regulations should be seen as an opportunity for Texas to embrace renewable energy generation and to transition our power generation (and the relative jobs) to new facilities and programs that use this century’s technology, not last century’s. Luminant and Governor Perry should stop scapegoating the EPA and take responsibility for the health of the public and the future of energy generation in Texas. We Texans should do all we can to encourage and promote that kind of action.

The Keystone pipeline project is Canadian initiated undertaking involving both TransCanada and ConocoPhillips.  The pipeline is set out to be about 1380 miles long and the pipe itself is projected to be about 36 inches in diameter.  The Keystone pipeline will enter the United States from Alberta, Canada through Montana, cross through South Dakota and Nebraska to send its 700,000 barrels/day supply into stations in Oklahoma and East Texas.  In doing so, this means the pipeline would be crossing 554 acres of wetlands and 91 streams that support either recreational or commercial fisheries.

The Keystone pipeline will also run right through the Ogallala Aquifer, meaning potential damage to one of the country’s largest sources of water if a spill should occur.   And we all know how easy it can be for an oil spill to occur.  (see the recent WSJ article on the BP Alaskan pipeline leak)

In fact, TransCanada is supposed to construct the actual pipes to be made out of a thinner material, but the oil will be pumped at a higher pressure than normal, which increases the risks of spills even more.  The last thing we need is another BP disaster in the gulf or pipeline leak in Alaska.  But suppose you say, “So what, what’s another oil spill?”  Well, it just so happens that this pipeline will be transporting some of the dirtiest oil in the world.

This type of oil, known as tar sands oil, produces more global warming pollution than our normal conventional oil, 20% more to be exact.  It also makes conventional oil seem pretty darn clean.  Tar sands oil is full of toxic and harmful materials not only dangerous to the environment but the health of the communities surrounding the pipelines are endangered  as well.  Producing this oil for the Keystone XL will essentially result in the emittance of 11 million more tons of carbon dioxide.

I don’t know about you, but I think we have enough carbon dioxide already to even begin worrying about adding any more.

Tar Sands Pipeline Route

Tar sands in general require strip mining techniques in order to be extracted, another detrimental mechanism that rapidly destroys our planet.  Before the tar sands pipeline reaches the United States, it is extracted from Canada and these tar sands happen to be found underneath the Boreal Forest.  The Boreal Forest is a critical carbon reservoir and an increase in deforestation should be a concern for all of us, not just Canada.  Go ahead, do the math. Cutting down trees in the Boreal Forest, but adding 11 million tons of more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere just doesn’t seem to add up.  By using these tar sands underneath the Boreal Forest, we are only continuing our trend of our inability to cope with the rising greenhouse gas emissions as we eliminate some of our most effective resources who can help combat the issue.

Because this pipeline crosses international boundaries, a Presidential Permit is required from the Department of State.  Unfortunately, Obama has granted the permit and phase 1 of the construction has already been put into effect.  Phase 2 of the pipeline project began in 2010 and  is set to be completed in late 2011.  But, members are currently challenging the order in court.

In October of last year, Nebraskan Senators Ben Nelson and Mark Johanns each send separate letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raising concerns about the proposed passage of the pipeline.  In November, an environmental group letter was compiled and sent to Clinton to request that the Department of State issue a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Keystone XL project and provide a sufficient period of time for public review.  A national ad campaign was also issued in November of 2010 calling upon President Obama to nix the pipeline and prevent future oil spill disasters.

Here at Public Citizen, we’ve been working with Sierra Club in Austin to mobilize and educate the citizens of East Texas.  Many landowners out in east Texas have been threatened with eminent domain from TransCanada to give up their land for the project.    Recently, Oklahoma citizens have filed a motion in district court to block TransCanada’s plan to exercise eminent domain in order to build across their property. Sierra Club and Public Citizen have established what is called the STOP coalition in Oklahoma and Texas for landowners in opposition of the pipeline.

There is still time to stop the tar sands project from reaching Texas, your voice is vital though.

Related Articles:

http://tarsandspipelines.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/another-day-another-keystone-pipeline-spill/

http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/keystone_pipeline/

http://www.foe.org/opposition-keystone-xl-pipeline-and-tar-sands-oil-getting-under-big-oils-skin

http://www.dirtyoilsands.org/dirtyspots/category/keystone_xl/

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Tyson Slocum

The following is a statement by Tyson Slocum, Director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program

As the White House finally rights a wrong and installs solar panels to heat and energize the East Wing, the Obama administration will have to determine if the installation is merely a symbolic gesture or a signal of robust leadership on climate and energy policy.

One indication of the latter would be strong leadership on a legislative response to the BP oil spill. Unfortunately, the administration might have its hands full doing damage control after the oil spill commission deemed the government’s spill response “either not fully competent” or “not fully candid with the American people about the scope of the problem.”

However, a swift, decisive course of action to reform Big Oil and hold the industry accountable might be just the solution the White House needs. Faced with the inadequacies of the spill response, America needs to see accountability for corporations and government agencies alike, stronger safety and environmental regulations for offshore drilling, and more rights for both oil rig workers and Gulf coast residents. Such legislation has already passed in the House of Representatives, but the Senate companion bill has yet to hit the floor.

America needs to see that action now. The immediate Gulf crisis is over, but the underlying causes for it must be addressed – before it happens again.

Big Oil is not wasting a moment cozying up to Congress. Just look at the Senate’s failure to approve subpoena power for the oil spill commission. By denying the commission the authority to subpoena witnesses and compel testimony, Congress is shielding companies associated with the spill from being held accountable.

Yes, the Obama administration should be applauded for its move to go solar. But as soon as the party is over, the administration must get back to work on holding BP accountable.

To read more about what Public Citizen is doing on climate and energy initiatives at the federal level, click here.

Wednesday’s announcement by President Obama to expand offshore oil drilling and gas exploration is devastating, especially for a Yankee like myself. I grew up cherishing my yearly family vacations to Ocean City, Maryland and Virginia Beach. Pristine memories of balcony breakfasts at sunrise, pirate mini-golf, and running with kites flying so high that you wonder if the sky is as endless as the sea.

Now, I get waves of nausea thinking that in 10 or 15 years, children will walk down those same beaches and gaze out, not at the brilliance of the colors in the sky and the mystery of where the horizon meets the sun, but at a row of tiny metal cranes, stooping down low to suck black blood out of the Atlantic.

Hopefully the ocean will still evoke profound wonder in developing minds, but will it be the fascination of Copernicus or the madness of Ahab?

“The white whale tasks me; he heaps me. Yet he is but a mask. ‘Tis the thing behind the mask I chiefly hate; the malignant thing that has plagued mankind since time began; the thing that maws and mutilates our race, not killing us outright but letting us live on, with half a heart and half a lung.”

Who is Obama? Copernicus? A man of science “guided not by political ideology, but by scientific evidence“?  A principled president navigating the ship of state in the stormy winds of corrupt politics in order to secure affordable energy for citizens?

Is he Ahab? Some mad man hell-bent on conquering nature for the greedy prosperity of the U.S. no matter the costs?

Or is he just another politician, maneuvering and manipulating public opinion for reelection in 2012?

If that’s the case, he’s got a problem. Nobody likes this. Neo-conservatives don’t think it goes far enough. Progressives deprecate the environmental impact of oil drilling.

It seems that he’s more akin to Christopher Columbus–an ambitious bootlick in the employ of fossil fuel tyrants.

He wants to find a new way to energy security. He’s been lost at sea for a very long time. His crew is mutinous. And when he finally spots land, he throws down a flag in celebration, only to discover that this isn’t India and those aren’t spices. The path to energy security is the same old politically unpopular route to renewables he left behind.

His funders won’t be happy with the news, so, instead, he kidnaps some naive natives and calls them slaves! Whoopy! Obama saves the day.

In as much seriousness as is permissible on April Fool’s, offshore oil drilling is a terrible idea. Our D.C. office put out a fantastic press release condemning the move. And Public Citizen’s Tyson Slocum wrote a fantastic blog entitled Obama’s Drill to Nowhere.

Its very sad to think that Obama, an intelligent, articulate, and inspirational President, continues to buy into the corporate manufactured myths of oil and all fossil fuels. You know better. I know better. Yet he keeps parading around, stumping for the 2012 election, making himself look like Ahab and Chris Columbus all rolled into one, on a fool’s mission, discovering fool’s gold, and earning the title of the man who discovered that the world is round.

Offshore oil drilling is a long-term project and a high-end investment with minimal prospects for securing our energy future. Why, oh why, must we chase after this black whale?

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Despite the Obama administration making claims they would crack down on MTR mining, the EPA has been slow to act and has actually granted some new MTR mining permits. It is only through continued pressure and media exposure that this horribly destructive practice can finally be stopped.

Civil disobedience and direct action are one of the most effective means of fighting injustice and tyranny. These activists are putting their freedom and their safety on the line to non-violently oppose one of the most irreversibly and violently destructive industries in history. Please help support their actions by posting at RAN and by contacting Lisa Jackson and asking her to go to Appalachia and take action against MTR.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Austin, TX – Progressives in America have been stunned over the last year as President Obama’s agenda has repeatedly faltered and the far-right Tea Party has emerged as a dominant force in public policy discussions. Given the failure to make progress on major national issues, perhaps it should come as no surprise that some progressives have turned to local solutions.

A shining example comes from the Lone Star State which may soon become the leading state when it comes to “green funds” on college campuses. Last week Texas’s two biggest rival colleges, Texas A&M and UT Austin, both passed student referendums in favor of raising fees to pay for environmental services on campus.

On Wednesday Longhorn students approved a $5 per semester fee hike, and on Thursday Aggie students followed suit with a $3 fee of their own. If approved by each institution’s board of regents, these two funds alone could raise up to $4 million for sustainability projects over the next five years. Meanwhile, five other campuses in Texas are looking at creating green funds of their own (Texas State also created such a fund in 2004). If all of these campuses create green funds, Texas will surpass California and Tennessee which each have 7 public universities with green funds, resulting in an additional $7million raised for campus sustainability over the five year life of the fee.

“I feel privileged to have been one of the students leading the Aggie Green Fund initiative,” said Aggie junior Faby Molina. “The amount of support we have seen from the student body, both at Texas A&M and across the state, shows that students are not only ready to embrace sustainability initiatives, but more importantly, are ready to lead them.”

The vote comes after a new state law passed in 2009 gave approval to public colleges and universities in Texas to establish such fees if they were supported by the student body. HB 3353 was authored by Elliot Naishtat (D-Austin) and co-authored by Fred Brown (R-College Station) and provides guidelines on how the money can be spent.

“The green fund will likely help a lot of good projects on campus move forward,” says Jim Walker, UT Austin’s Director of Sustainability. “Sustainability is a growing priority here on campus, as this vote demonstrates. I look forward to working with students on projects that show we’re moving in a direction that is supported by the student body.”

The “Think Green Fund” campaign was launched in February by ReEnergize Texas, a coalition of student groups focused on climate and energy issues. Votes are expected this spring at UT El Paso, UT Pan American, UT San Antonio, the University of North Texas and the University of Houston. Together these campuses enroll almost 140,000 students each year.

The green fund campaign is unique in that the Texas Legislature gave pre-approval to the necessary fees during the 2009 legislative session, clearing a major hurdle for most student-driven fees.

“It shows that our state lawmakers think this is an important priority,” said Jackie Trevino, leader of the campus campaign at UT Pan American.

Most of the remaining campuses will hold special elections on Earth Day, April 22nd. If all 7 participating campuses pass the initiative, they will join Texas State in giving Texas 8 public colleges with green fees, more than any other state.

For more on the Think Green Fund campaign, go to http://aggiegreenfund.org or http://thinkgreenfund.org/.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

President Obama wants to triple the loan program for construction of new nuclear reactors, to $54 billion.

The nuclear loan guarantee program commits taxpayers to not only underwrite risky nuclear reactor projects, but also allows wealthy nuclear utilities to borrow the money from the government’s Federal Financing Bank- funds for this bank come directly from the U.S Treasury. You might want to read that again.

If you are struggling with the absurdity of a program that allows taxpayer dollars to both guarantee and provide direct loans for billion dollar projects that the Congressional Budget Office has found will default 50% of the time, you are not alone.

On February 25th, Public Citizen and several ally organizations are calling on their members to tell Congress to stop the tripling of the nuclear loan program. The proposal to expand this ill-conceived program is not a done deal. So, please join us to stop this boondoggle. You can reach all of your Congress members at 202-224-3121.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Terrified victims of SNOWMAGGEDON tremble in fear outside the Public Citizen office

That’s right folks, those fluffy flaky beauties may be lovely to our amazed southern eyes, but to climate deniers they are cold hard proof that global warming is fake. Because its cold outside, so how can the globe possibly be warming?!?! Hah! “Fact” your way out of that truthiness!

***Sigh*** Some folks have a lot of fun busting up climate deniers, but I just don’t have the stomach for it. Far from laughing in glee at those fools who can’t tell the difference between “weather” and “climate”, it just makes me sad. So I’ll let the president do my dirty work for me.  Check out this video of Obama addressing the crowd at a town hall meeting in Nevada.  He actually does  a really good job of explaining the science of “global boiling”, as Brad Johnson at the Wonk Room notes:

…we just got five feet of snow in Washington and so everybody’s like-a lot of the people who are opponents of climate change, they say, “See, look at that. There’s all this snow on the ground, you know, this doesn’t mean anything.” I want to just be clear that the science of climate change doesn’t mean that every place is getting warmer. It means the planet as a whole is getting warmer. But what it may mean is, for example, Vancouver which supposed to be getting snow during the Olympics, suddenly is at 55 degrees and Dallas suddenly is getting seven inches of snow. The idea is that as the planet as a whole gets warmer, you start seeing changing weather patterns and that creates more violent storm systems, more unpredictable weather. So any single place might end up being warmer. Another place might end up being a little bit cooler. There might end up being more precipitation in the air…

So there you have it, folks. Global warming doesn’t mean it is simply getting hotter. It doesn’t mean there will never be snow again. It means that global temperatures overall are going up, and that’s going to make weather all over the place get a little wonky.  Like stronger hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, extreme drought in south Texas, or even snow right here in Austin.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Justin at Asian American Action Fund Blog notes that Houston is the first locale President Obama named in his Lunar New Year Greeting. Could there be a political meaning behind it?

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme marvels at the jackassery presented to voters on the Republican ballot. No, we’re not talking about the candidates. It’s the propositions that disenfranchise voters, turn Texas into Colorado Springs or California, and humiliate pregnant women.

Fake Consultant, over at TexasKaos, gives us a tale from the health care frontier. He points out that even in the little things the present system is fundamentally broken. Check it out here.

From TXsharon: How Oil and Gas industry bullies turned an ordinary, honest man into a modern day hero. Read it on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

WhosPlayin is watching candidates file for the 2010 Lewisville ISD School board election.

Contrary to what the Star Telegram keeps repeating, the Texas Cloverleaf reminds everyone that there is a Democrat running in CD-26.

“Why I’m supporting Dr. Alma Aguado for Texas governor” is PDiddie’s endorsement in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Read more at Brains and Eggs.

MeanRachel endorses Bill White and Linda Chavez-Thompson in the two top spots on the Democratic primary ticket.

Adam at Three Wise Men lays out our blog’s endorsements for the 2010 Texas Democratic Primary.

Off the Kuff says there’s a smart way to do budget cuts and a dumb way to do budget cuts, and we need to do it the smart way.

Neil at Texas Liberal endorsed Hank Gilbert in the Democratic Primary for Texas Commissioner of Agriculture. The post includes a picture of a Longhorn steer, a watermelon, and of a Channel Catfish.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the coming budget woes and that we can’t balance the budget on the back of the poor again, the 2011 budget cannot be balanced like in 2003, not this time.

This week at McBlogger, Mojito takes a look at a Travis County JP race and find the challenger lacking.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

The Texas Cloverleaf highlights the sentencing of GOP Denton County Constable Ken Jannereth. Probation, anger management, laying off the bottle, and maybe more to come for the disgraced lawman.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is watching 2 Texas Counties fight it out with their DAs over legal duties.

Bay Area Houston says Teabaggers claim illiterate Blacks elected Obama.

Is your gas wet or dry? Despite industry spin, it seems to not matter. TCEQ testing shows Barnett Shale “Dry Gas” health hazard. TXsharon thanks State Representative Lon Burnam for wading through the recent TCEQ testing report to find the truth. Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Over at TexasKaos, lightseeker connects Obama’s big picture with our big picture, in Obama’s Problem is Our Problem In a Nutshell. Is our future Sarah Palin, Tea Partyers and failure?

This week at Left of College Station, Teddy interviews several members of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community at Texas A&M while investigating what it is like to be gay in Aggieland. Left of College Station also takes a look at American’s ignorance of current events and the political process, and a report on the local campaign spending and donations. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines.

The Nuge was campaigning for 39% over the weekend. Can’t you just feel the greasy, smelly excitement?

WCNews at Eye On Williamson looks at how the legislature is already laying the groundwork for adding sales taxes to items currently excluded like bottled water, basic internet service, and coin operated services, House Ways and Means Committee to look at “Certain Sales Tax Exemptions & Exclusions.

Off the Kuff looks at the effect of the “Citizens United” ruling on judicial elections in Texas.

WhosPlayin is neck-deep in local issues in North Texas, having spent the weekend with the Lewisville City Council at their retreat, and noting that he local school district is discouraging candidates from running for school board.

Neil at Texas Liberal commented that office building janitors in Houston have set up a Facebook page as they prepare for a new round of contract negotiations in 2010. All work has merit and all people should be paid a living wage.

Yesterday was huge for New Orleans but it was also TeaBagger Rally Day in northwest Harris County, as PDiddie at Brains and Eggs recounted in “Rick and Ted’s (and Sarah’s) Excellent Super Bowl Sunday Venture”.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

1.  Please send an email to President Obama:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

This toxic waste is often stored in wet, slurry impoundments  like this TVA one that failed just over a year ago in Tennessee. Such facilities post the risk of catastrophic failure – the TVA disaster was labeled one of the worst environmental disasters in history by the EPA. Toxic sludge can leech and runoff into nearby watersheds over the course of years, contaminating the ecosystem. The ash is also sometimes stored in dry landfills, as is often the case in Texas. While these landfills don’t pose the same catastrophic risk of slurry impoundments, they still contaminate the environment through leeching, runoff and by the wind blowing the toxic dust off the piles.

It is extremely important that Texans call in because Texas tops the list of states at risk from coal combustion waste. The coal industry is attempting to get dry-ash landfills exempted from new regulations – and most of the coal ash in Texas is stored in this fashion. It is the same, exact, toxic substances in both storage facilities, the only difference is whether or not you mix it with water. ALL coal ash waste MUST be regulated as the hazardous waste it is.

Because coal ash waste has been largely unregulated it is permitted to be used or “recycled” in many different applications such as fertilizer manufacturing (for spreading on our cropland) and components in building materials such as wallboard and roads. Basically, we are allowing the coal companies to profit by selling their toxic, hazardous waste and having it spread throughout our environment.

The coal industry has been successful at affecting EPA regulation so heavily that they have been allowed to directly edit and change EPA publications and presentations. Read this article for more on that insanity.

Below are instruction for joining in TODAY’S action — we ask that you take a small amount of time out of your day to let the White House and EPA know that this is an issue that needs action now. PLEASE do not let this opportunity for change slip away.

1.  Please send an email to President Obama:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Fill out the form provided at this White House link (see above), including the space for your personal comments – tell President Obama:

America has waited far too long for comprehensive protections against toxic coal ash threats to our health and our water. Industry should not be allowed to flex its lobbying muscles and stand in the way of better health and a cleaner environment.

Despite the known threats to our health and environment, coal ash dumps remain unregulated by the US EPA. A deadline to propose the first-ever national coal ash regulations by the end of 2009 has been missed.

Please instruct the US EPA to regulate coal ash as a hazardous waste and use the full extent of the law to protect our health and environment. Coal and power industry lobbyists are pressuring your Administration to scale back plans to propose the strongest safeguards. Lobbyists are using power and influence to misinform and misguide federal regulators.

President Obama, you promised you would put an end to the influence of special interests – and we call upon you, now, to fulfill that promise to all Americans.

Thank you.

2.  Call the White House:

• Comments: 202-456-1111 – leave a message
• Switchboard: 202-456-1414 – talk to an operator
• FAX: 202-456-2461

Here is a sample script that you can use when calling the White House (202-456-1414):

“Hello. My name is [first and last name], and I’m calling from [city, state] to ask that coal ash be immediately regulated as hazardous waste.”

“I’m very concerned that coal ash dumps remain unregulated by the EPA, and that a deadline to propose the first ever national coal ash regulations by the end of 2009 has been missed.”

“I’m asking for federal regulations that use the full extent of the law to protect our health and environment from coal ash ponds and landfills.”

[Additionally, you can include one or more of the following:]

“I’m especially concerned about coal ash, because:”

• Coal ash contains dangerous pollution like arsenic, lead, selenium, mercury and other toxins that can cause cancer and lung disease, damage internal organs and nervous systems, and cause developmental problems in babies and young children.
• The EPA estimates there are nearly 600 coal ash ponds in 35 states—and just as many landfills. These huge dump sites contain enough coal ash to flow continuously over Niagara Falls for 3 days straight!
• The EPA has said it planned to regulate coal ash by the end of 2009, but did not meet that deadline. Now coal ash regulations are being delayed by industry lobbyists pushing for less federal oversight.
• Coal ash spills have occurred far too often. In April 2000, drinking water wells in Town of Pines, IN, were poisoned with arsenic, boron and other pollutants from coal ash ponds.
• In November 2007, Constellation Energy settled with residents of Gambrills, MD for $54 million for poisoning water supplies with dangerous pollutants.
• State coal ash rules are often grossly inadequate and ineffective. Federal protections are needed to guarantee strong, equal safeguards for public health and the environment across the U.S.
• Coal ash is hazardous waste that should be regulated under the strongest provisions of the law.

3.  SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT COAL ASH – AND THE NEED FOR FEDERAL REGULATIONS:

Share this Action Alert with your family and friends … neighbors and co-workers — we need and deserve federal protections from toxic coal ash.  Let’s send a message to President Obama – we seek the fulfillment of his promise for hope, change and a government free from the influence from special interests.

Thanks for standing with us on this important day … and for standing up for protections for all!

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

5. The Little Climate Bill That Couldn’t

We had high hopes coming into 2009.  Congressmen Waxman and Markey were hard at work on draft legislation that they promised would meet scientific standards on climate change.  They had even collected signatures from the majority of their caucus on principles that they would build off of. And those principles were pretty good.  So was Obama’s proposed budget, which showed they had revenue plans starting in 2012 of a 100% auction of CO2 credits- a 100% auction being the method that most agree brings quicker pollution reductions and is also, according to the EPA, the least regressive method of implementation.  Hey, anything that hurts poor people the least is what we want to do, right?

WRONG. Clearly, you think differently than the majority of the US Congress.

Then Waxman and Markey released their draft legislation – our reaction was not pretty. Texas Congressmen had been complicit in weakening the bill away from the standards of the original principles.

Good Points:

• AMAZING building code and appliance standards for energy efficiency
• Good long term (2050) and short term (2020) goal for carbon reduction (still needed to be improved to what science calls for- but a good start)
• Had a renewable energy mandate and an efficiency mandate: we’d get 20% of our power from renewables by 2020 and increase energy efficiency by an additional 10%.

Bad points

• Well… all of those goals could be bigger.
• No language on how the carbon credits would be auctioned or allocated.  Nada. Left to be decided later. Like a “scene missing” slide in a Nine Inch Nails video that gets crazier and scarier as time goes on….

And then the hearings on the bill started.  In typical fashion, climate denier troglodytes like Texas’ own Joe Barton tried to slow down the proceedings– by insisting that the entire bill and its amendments be read aloud before the committee.  Because of this unprecedented demand, the House Energy and Commerce Committee simply hired a speedreader.

If only that had been the extent of the funny business with the bill… but both behind closed doors and by amendment in the committee, the climate bill got gutted.  First, special giveaways to the nuclear industry. Then to the coal industry. Then decreasing the renewables and efficiency goals by almost half.  Then offsets language that guaranteed that polluters would be able to continue to pollute above the cap– meaning in a bill whose primary purpose is to make sure we curb pollution so we don’t fry the planet, our emissions might actually GO UP, not down. And the bill passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee, its largest hurdle, but by then it had been incredibly compromised.  Our immediate reaction was:  follow the money (ad this remains the single best explanation of what happened to the climate bill to date, imho– it also helps that I wrote it).

But they weren’t done with the gutting of the bill yet…

Then special giveaways to the agribusiness industry. And finally, the coup de grace, they stripped the EPA of their authority to regulate greenhouse gases through the Clean Air Act.

During all of this, we were trying our best to stand up for ordinary Texans against these corporate interests– you may have seen us at the King William Parade in San Antonio, telling San Antonio’s Congressman Gonzalez, “Sorry Charlie, Bailouts Aren’t Green.”  I think aside from crashing the Energy Citizens Rally this was the most fun I had all year.

We were, to say the least, conflicted.  We REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted a climate bill.  But what we got was a climate disaster.  The Waxman-Markey Bill, co-authored by your special interest friends, passed on June 28.  Ugh.  It’s like sending out a birth announcement of a really, really ugly baby.  Or opening a beautifully wrapped present you thought was the perfect gift but finding instead the world’s ugliest Christmas sweater.  Disappointment? That’s not strong enough.  To use the parlance of our day: #EPIC FAIL.

The Senate side hasn’t fared much better.  Despite a decent framework from Senators Kerry and Boxer (it really needs to be improved, but it could be worse) passing through the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (partisan knuckledraggers, led by Denier-in-Chief James Inhofe, actually boycotted the hearings and the vote), it has yet to be worked on by the Senate Finance Committee (who, you may have heard, was REALLY busy working on some bill having to do with health care.  It didn’t get much media coverage, so you may have missed it. </sarcasm>)

Meanwhile, others felt that both the Boxer bill and the Waxman-Markey bill were DOA in the Senate, so a tri-partisan group of Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Kerry (D-MA- look! I got my name on TWO climate bills this Congress!), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) have said they would develop their own climate bill.  No word yet on their framework (a draft could come any day now), but, unfortunately signs are pointing to “not good”.  It seems the only thing the three of them can really agree on is more pork for nuclear.

However, the EPA in December issued an endangerment finding for greenhouse gases, the next step in actually regulating them, as they were ordered to do in 2007′s Massachusetts v EPA Supreme Court case.  So a year that began on a hopeful note went bad, then worse…. but ended with a little ray of sunshine.  Here’s to a New Year’s Resolution of ACTUALLY passing a climate and clean energy bill that can ACTUALLY fight climate change and create more clean energy. And just like that New Year’s Res to lose 10 pounds, this year we REALLY mean it!

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Current standards for ozone are not protective of human health – in fact, the current rule ignored the recommendations of the EPA’s own scientists, and that is why Obama’s EPA has reconsidered it.  In their decision to propose the rule, EPA reviewed more than 1,700 scientific studies and public comments from the 2008 rulemaking process – studies and comments that were simply ignored by the Bush Administration.  The new rule will save lives, reduce cases of aggravated asthma, and avoid unnecessary hospital and emergency room visits.  All things considered, the proposal will yield health benefits between $13 Billion and $100 Billion, with an implemented cost of $19 – $90 Billion – information which can be clearly found in the EPA’s press announcement today.  It sounds like Governor Perry and Bryan Shaw were taking notes today from oil and gas profiteers scared they’ll have to pay for the devastation they’ve wreaked on Texas’ air rather than sound science and the facts.

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

• EU: 20% cut in emissions relative to 1990 levels by 2020
• USA: 17% cut below 2005 levels by 2020
• China: 40-45% relative to the size of their economy (cutting what is called “carbon intensity”–curbing growth but not cutting it)
• India: 25% cut in carbon intensity.

Well, it’s a start, but, as we’ve said previously, is simply not enough– and we’re not the only ones who think so. Some estimates, such as the Climate Interactive Scoreboard above, show that current climate pledges put us on a path to at least another 3.5 C of warming (that’s almost 8 F).

This has caused preeminent climate scientist Jim Hansen of NASA to say he hopes the negotiations at Copenhagen will fail, so that we will have to start over and write a brand new climate treaty.

I’m not one to call for failure, but I am one to call for leadership. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for deeper cuts from both Britain and the EU. Is it time for Obama to do the same?

Let’s examine the facts. According to a study by McKinsey and Company (a consulting firm who does efficiency studies for Fortune 500 companies– you know, real Communist Party sympathizers </sarcasm>) the US can reduce approximately 35% of our carbon emissions at a net cost savings.

In the above chart, you see all of our emissions sources on the horizontal axis, and costs going up and down. Everything below the X-axis is something that will save us money. And, if you notice, the cost savings are pretty massive– almost massive enough to cancel out the costs of tackling the other 65% of our emissions.

And McKinsey, being the conservative types they are, are only using technology we have in hand: NOT any of the next-gen fuel cells, not even the super-high efficiency photovoltaics that are currently being developed, not any energy storage mechanism, not even the solar-impregnated roofing tiles that are now being produced– because this study came out in March of 2009 and Dow didn’t go into production on the roofing tiles until October.

According to the IPCC, we need to cut our emissions 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020 — or about 35% from current levels. If that same 35% if the sweet spot where we can save ourselves money, then why in the world are we not doing this? I’m willing to bet the entirety of my net worth in 2020 that by then our technology will have improved such that we can get MORE greenhouse gas reductions at a net cost savings. I have yet to find anyone who will take that bet against me — because to do so is to bet against American ingenuity and spirit. Having a long term cap on carbon consistent with scientific standards can only further drive our economy into the places we already want it to go: clean, non-polluting, renewable energy and a new generation of green jobs.

Also, notice what is included in these strategies: compact fluorescent light bulbs, building shells, combined heating and power. Notice what ISN’T in the strategies that save money: big giveaways for nuclear and carbon capture and sequestration projects (which even when their carbon savings are calculated, they are far from the panaceas the nuke and coal industries claim them to be). The answers are fairly simple and relatively low-tech. Should our new mantra be “weatherstrip, baby, weatherstrip”?

I asked rhetorically why we’re not setting a 35% goal. The answer is the big polluters, energy companies, and especially the petroleum industry are worried that people will use less energy. More efficiency means we are burning less oil, less coal, etc — and this concept scares some of them out of their wits. Which is why you seem them trying to confuse and frighten people with their climate change denier junk science and bogus economic studies predicting gloom and doom if we do anything to curb our appetite for sweet, sweet fossil fuels.

Stand up to these bozos. Every time you hear a dire prediction about job loss or GDP growth, ask to see the study. I can guarantee you that if you actually read them, the study will show robust economic growth with only a small impact of a carbon cap. Most likely their economic models also fail to model all portions of any proposed federal policy. They’re the real ones trying to use “tricks” to “hide the decline.”

This is the time for real American leadership. We should set strong goals because economics says we should and science demands we must. When JFK challenged the nation to go to the moon by the end of the decade, he said “Why does Rice play Texas?” (ask Citizen Sarah, our resident Rice grad)

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.” And yet, if only JFK had been faced with the ease of reducing our greenhouse gas pollution, he could have chosen to cut our emissions 35% not because it is hard, but because it is easy.

If only all of our problems were so easy to solve.

Andy Wilson is a climate change researcher/organizer in Public Citizen’s Texas office. Follow him on Twitter @CitizenAndy

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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, cleaner cars, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.

Xanthippas at Three Wise Men airs out some thoughts on the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, and some painful lessons learned blogging about the war in Iraq.

Bay Area Houston claims The Race for Houston Mayor is Now About Race.

Texas is the first state to conduct testing of citizens to determine if their health symptoms are caused from exposure to drilling toxins. But TXsharon is not sure this is such a great idea. Find out why on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

BossKitty at TruthHugger sees a political disconnect between incarceration and rehabilitation within America’s “big business prison system”. Follow through and accountability are casualties of creative budgeting in the criminal justice system with furlough programs, commutations and pardons BACKLASH. Maurice Clemmons was but a single example of a mentally unstable felon. Where was his follow up? Where was his parole officer? Where was the mental health infrastructure that could have defused this violent explosion?

Neil at Texas Liberal asked who are the Democrats running for Houston municipal offices in the runoff election, and who among the Democrats is someone a liberal can support. The post also features pictures and paintings of scenes of gambling as any election is little more than a spin of the wheel.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme sees tea parties and general batsh*t craziness in Nueces County with Club for Growth guy leading the Republican Party.

Teddy at Left of College Station covers the political maneuvering in local Republican primaries, and writes about Obama’s War: Choosing Escalation and Occupation. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines.

nytexan at Bluebloggin clearly states “I’m Sick of War.” As I listen to Obama’s speech to increase troops in Afghanistan, all I can think of is, the US has been in some kind of war my entire life. Just so you know, I was born between the Korean War and the Vietnam War. We are a war nation. No way to get around it.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts about a conversation over Thanksgiving weekend with two Houston Republicans, or Why Bill White can win.

This was Dickens on the Strand weekend in Galveston and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs took a break from politics and spent the weekend on the island. Here are a few photos from the festival.

Charles of Off the Kuff spent much of the week engaged in an email debate on the Texas Tribune with conservative blogger David Benzion over the merits of Bill White as Mayor of Houston and potentially Governor of Texas.

liberaltexan reports on Political Maneuvering Begins in Republican Primaries. It seems that the race for Texas State Senate District Five is gettting compicated. Check it out at TexasKaos.

The Texas Cloverleaf offered it’s prediction on whether Bill White would run for Governor. 1-0! Yes!

WhosPlayin thinks the Texas Railroad Commission is on a ‘power trip’, intervening in the placement of power lines bringing renewable energy to Texas population centers – ostensibly because the lines might cross over abandoned oil and gas wells, or land that might be used for oil and gas wells in the future. *** Citizen Sarah says, an excellent read!!

BREAKING NEWS: Natural Gas Development Brings “amazing and very high” Levels of Carcinogens and Neurotoxins to Barnett Shale area! Take a deep breath before you read this study because the findings will take your breath away! TXsharon at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS broke this story and the study evaluation by MacAuthur (Genius) Award winner, Wilma Subra.

This week Left of College Station, Teddy reports on why the anti-choice movement is not about abortion but about the oppression of women. Also, guest blogger Litia writes about asking non-tradition questions about Texas A&M traditions; Litia writes a weekly guest blog for College Station about a liberal teaching in Aggieland. Left of College Station also coves the week in headlines.

Neil at Texas Liberal writes that Socialist candidate for Mayor of Houston Amanda Ulman should run a serious campaign or not run at all. There once was a solid base of socialist voters in Texas and the U.S. Who says that cannot someday happen again?

McBlogger takes aim at people who think that adjusting to climate change is just something that will unfairly hurt the poor.

Off the Kuff contemplates the possible entry of Farouk Shami into the Governor’s race.

The old Easter Lemming has a useful post on voting for the Constitutional Amendments in his area.

The Texas Cloverleaf looks at the 22 year high TX unemployment rate. What recession? We’re in one?

Agriculture commissioner Todd Staples opened his mouth and out fell a big wad of stupid. Stupid so ignorant that it topped anything Rick Perry or John Cornyn or even Glenn Beck could manage this week. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has it — if you can stand it.

WhosPlayin followed up on an open records request for internal emails related to Lewisville ISD’s decision to ban President Obama’s speech to children. The emails, including a racially charged email from a board member to the superintendant, do not paint a pretty picture..

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on money, energy, and the economy in the Texas governor’s race, Perry’s cap and trade photo op.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes Rick Perry does his best George Bush cowboy imitation with Ranger Recon.

Over at TexasKaos, boadicea, Warrior Queen, is seeking a pulse, any pulse over at the Tom Schieffer campaign, as she opines that Tom Schieffer Needs Something Original to Offer. It seems that lifting policy ideas from Hank Gilbert is the best he can do right now. Read the rest at TexasKaos.

(Austin)  — Sierra Club, Public Citizen, and the Galveston/Houston Association for Smog Prevent (GHASP) welcomed the EPA proposal today to disapprove key aspects of the Texas clean-air permitting program that “do not meet federal Clean Air Act requirements” followed by other states.

Texas environmental community leaders commented on the proposed decision –

Tom ‘Smitty’ Smith, Director of the Texas office of Public Citizen –

It’s refreshing to see an agency that actually believes in enforcing our clean air laws.  We’ve gotten too comfortable with allowing substandard permits through TCEQ, and our air quality and our quality of life have suffered the consequences.  We must put the public’s interest above the special interests of the polluters if we are to pass on a better Texas than we found to our children and grandchildren.

Ken Kramer, Director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club –

The Sierra Club welcomes today’s action by EPA to disapprove portions of the State of Texas air pollution control program. Our concerns have fallen on deaf ears for years, but the new Administration at EPA is taking action once again to enforce the nation’s environmental protection laws.  We now need EPA to take swift action to ensure that every permit issued in Texas complies with the Clean Air Act’s health based protections.

Matthew Tejada, Executive Director of GHASP, Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention

This means two things to GHASP and for everyone in the Houston region: first it means that President Obama and Administrator Lisa Jackson have solidly put the EPA back where it is supposed to be – aggressively protecting the human and environmental health of this country.  Second, and possibly most important for us in Houston, it means that the government has finally jammed a crowbar into the most opaque and ineffective air permitting program in the country in order to shed a little bit of light – and hopefully let in a little bit of clean air.

The EPA will post notice for comments in the Federal Registry and the public will have sixty days to comment.

The Texas Cloverleaf wonders why only one person showed up to a budget meeting where taxes are being increased in Denton County. No tea bags left?

Neil at Texas Liberal offered the fullest extension of the back of his hand to opponent’s of Houston’s Ashby High Rise.

TXsharon wonders what Governor Perry is thinking to appoint a global warming denier as the highest environmental official in Texas at a time when polling shows Americans support Obama on reducing greenhouse emissions and when the EPA has just confirmed water contaminated with hydraulic fracture fluid. Maybe the question should be: Does Perry think?

South Texas Chisme wants you to know that Medicare is a PUBLIC heath care option. Ciro, stand up. Henry, wise up.

Bay Area Houston has video of Republican Pete Olson punking himself punked at his own town hall meeting while trying to use a sick kid for political gain.

Lightseeker over at TexasKaos insists that we not hold health care reform hostage to solving the Abortion Wars. See this and more in his posting, Abortion Wars, Health care and Private Enterprise.

Off the Kuff analyzed some policy papers from Houston’s leading Mayoral candidates, examining Gene Locke’s crimefighting plan, Annise Parker’s education plan, and Peter Brown’s energy plan.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts about The good news health care reform would bring to TX-31 and Williamson County.

Setting a date for the eventual US Senate special election is all about the MoFo, according to PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

This week, McBlogger asked a very good question… Why do we even care about Joe Lieberman?

Teddy at Left of College Station covers the Chet Edwards town hall on health reform live from the Brazos Center, and then shares his thoughts on the town hall, and why a vocal minority is against health care reform. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines: remembering Senator Ted Kennedy.

The event was clearly a media event and an exercise in public relations for the president. Also, the event was meant to answer some very broad questions the about health care that the general public has. I see this type of thing as being very similar to what happens at National Democratic or Republican conventions. During these events the party introduces the candidate they selected and has a big celebratory party to tell everyone how great he (as of yet we have not had a female nominee from one of the major parties) is. In my opinion that makes these rather dull events. Who enjoys a story with no conflict in it? In the past, National Party Conventions were places of high energy, conflict and debate and candidates would go into specific details about their plans and disagreements. This can no longer be done since the major parties now use their National Conventions to convey messages of unity and rally voters behind the chosen candidates.

I noticed a similar trend when watching debates between candidates in both parties during the 2008 election cycle. They confined their discussion to nothing but talk that was easy to follow for the average uninterested viewer. In the debates it was difficult to find any features that differentiated Hillary Clinton’s health care plan from Barack Obama’s, and the candidates were criticized when the delved too deeply into the finer points of their plans.

All of this leads me to question the state of public discourse in our country. Are our attention spans so short that we cannot handle anything more than short bumper-sticker soundbites and endless sloganeering? Does public opinion really rest more on a figure’s media image and personality than it does on the actual content of their ideas? Is our media actively keeping us politically shallow as it diminishes the role of political discourse to that of filler between commercial messages?

America is lucky enough to have had an electoral government and peaceful transfers of power between leaders continuously for more than two centuries. We live very well compared to people in other parts of the world and our government is very stable, so maybe changes in our government do not raise as much passion as some of the more disruptive political changes that take place around the world, but our politics are important — we are in the middle of two on-going wars and a period of mass economic uncertainty.

Our politics not only play a big role in issues like health care, environmental quality, how we educate our children, and more. This is not to mention that what happens in U.S has a huge influence worldwide, but we are (for now) the global hegemon, and our economy is intricately tied to that of every other nation on Earth. In American politics the future of the world is often literally at stake. So, with that I urge all of our readers to please take a little more interests in what are government is doing. Maybe then the media will follow suite.

The Disappointed Environmentalist

But House Democrats Henry a. Waxman (California) and Edward J. Markey (Massachussettes) want more!  They drafted a bill with even more gusto to capture greenhouse gases—a 20% reduction in emissions by 2020!

Remember that this power team was also responsible for the bill to put a moratorium on coal plants introduced a year ago.   The new Waxman-Markey bill will require every region of the country to produce 25% from renewable sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal.  This could be a huge factor to increase the demand for sustainable energy to spur wide-range development and adoption of energy technology.

Mr. Waxman, the chairman of the Energy and Commerce committee said regarding his bill:

This legislation will create millions of clean energy jobs, put America on the path to energy independence, and cut global warming pollution.  Our goal is to strengthen our economy by making America the world leader in new clean energy and energy efficiency technologies.

However, the bill also makes some concessions to the states whose economy rests upon coal and energy-related industries, with the hope that it will smooth the transition to cleaner forms of energy.   To read more, check out this press release from Tyson Slocum at our D.C. office.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This bill is a really great start.  Obama started the bid at a 14% cut, the House upped the ante to 20%, but according to the Nobel-prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the real target we should be shooting for is about 35%.  Unfortunately, none of the bills in the House or Senate is shooting for this target.  The good news is, according to an analysis by McKinsey and Company, almost all of that 35% can be achieved at a net cost savings through things like energy efficiency.  And realistically, that’s only 3.5% per year for the next decade. ~~Citizen Andy