Quietly, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has been signing contracts with several wind developers that will put the federal utility in a position to significantly grow its wind energy portfolio in 2012, if all goes to plan.
Today kicks off a 72 hour call-in campaign to ensure the United States Senate knows there is support for energy and climate policies that will put us on a path towards energy independence and a clean energy economy.
There is also a real and growing threat that Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and allies in both the Senate and the House of Representatives may call for votes on their “Dirty Air Act” proposals in an attempt to weaken protections offered by the decades-old, seminal environmental law known as the Clean Air Act.
All of us involved in this campaign recognize that investing in a clean energy future now, we can create millions of jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and tackle climate change — all at the same time. It’s time to ensure that our elected leaders recognize this, too.
Last week in Atlanta, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) held their annual meeting, which brought together leaders from over 900 Electric Membership Cooperatives (EMCs) across the country. The annual meeting provides an opportunity for EMC leaders to discuss issues facing their cooperatives and strategies to ensure the long term stability of individual EMCs. In response to this national gathering, an informal analysis of EMC operations was released highlighting the best and worst practices of select cooperatives in the country. One of the very worst in the nation, according to the report, is right here, in Georgia’s backyard - Cobb EMC. Read more…
Last week, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy helped coordinate two Congressional tours at clean energy manufacturing facilities here in the Southeast to visibly demonstrate the link between progressive clean energy policies and the green jobs that can result.
On Tuesday, February 16, U.S. Senator Kay Hagan (NC) joined a SACE-ally, American Wind Energy Association, for a tour of a Shelby, NC-based PPG Industries’ plant. The tour provided the opportunity for the senator to see one step in the wind-energy supply chain: fiberglass sheets production that will eventually become wind-turbine rotor blades. The tour enabled the senator to speak directly with a few of the plant’s 500 employees and the plant manager pointed out that a modest 20% by 2020 Renewable Energy Standard would enable PPG to add about 250 workers with an increased demand for their products. Read more…
On Monday, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), Mothers & Others for Clean Air (MOCA) and the University of Georgia (UGA) hosted a workshop and air quality demonstration in Athens, GA. The event was held as part of a $1.7 million stimulus grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Athens-Clarke County (ACC), University of Georgia (UGA), and Washington County to install pollution control devices (retrofits) to reduce toxic emissions from diesel transit buses and municipal vehicles. MOCA and SACE are leading the project’s outreach and education efforts.
Diesel exhaust contains particulate matter, black carbon, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and more than 40 hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) – all of which are dangerous to human health, especially to the developing bodies of children. The fine particles in diesel soot are so small that they penetrate deep into the lungs and get into the blood stream. Breathing diesel exhaust can contribute to both chronic and acute human health problems such as asthma attacks, reduced lung function, lung disease, cancer and even premature death. Analysis based on EPA’s most recent National Air Toxics Assessment data concluded that diesel exhaust poses a cancer risk that is 7 times greater than all 181 air toxics studied combined.
Ever find yourself in a debate with a climate change denier or anyone attempting to undermine the science behind global climate change? A new iPhone app offers a list of common skeptic arguments and what the science says on each argument. Whenever you encounter a denier, you can easily refute their claims by choosing from a list of rebuttals actually founded in scientific data.
We’re not all scientists, and we don’t all have iPhones, but we are interested in learning about how to respond to a climate skeptic. Real Climate, a website offering accurate climate information, has launched a wiki that can help us debunk popular climate nonsense we find in the media.
The site indexes op-ed pieces that are specifically written to confuse, obfuscate and abuse the science behind climate change. Under each article, there are links to rebuttals of specific arguments and overall critiques of the pieces. Next time you’re digging out of a major snowstorm and your neighbor snidely remarks, “So much for global warming,” you’ll know exactly how to respond.
I was on CNN yesterday responding to the nuclear loan guarantee announcement by President Obama. We are seriously disappointed in this action and SACE released a statement warning against the risk loan guarantees will put on taxpayers.
As outlined in a blog entry from last week, we feel the administration is making a serious mistake by offering financing for nuclear energy. It appears to be an effort to reach out to Senate Republicans, who have perfected the art of saying “no” and derailed the President’s agenda, including cap and trade.
When the 111th Congress reconvened last month, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced a “disapproval resolution” (S.J. Res 26) which many in the environmental community are calling the “Dirty Air Act.” What may seem like a simple statement of disapproval is actually a back-door attempt to use Senate procedures to cripple an essential environmental law.
Sen. Murkowski, and the 38 senators who joined her, intend to eliminate the Clean Air Act’s legal authority to crack down on dirty coal plants. Protecting the full authority of the landmark Clean Air Act legislation, which the conservative-leaning Supreme Court upheld in its 2007 MA vs. EPA decision, is critical because it gives us a way to hold dirty energy companies accountable for their global warming pollution until Congress gets serious about passing climate and energy legislation. Read more…
Last week, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy helped coordinate two Congressional tours at clean energy manufacturing facilities here in the Southeast to visibly demonstrate the link between 
When the 111th Congress reconvened last month, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced a 
