Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. Proponents of the dangerous Keystone XL project claim that construction of the 1,700-mile tar-sands pipeline from Canada to Texas will create tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of much-needed jobs across the country. "Jobs for the 99%!" proclaims a website funded by the American Petroleum Institute (API). The Wall Street Journal promises "13,000 union jobs." On the House floor today, Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.) claimed the pipeline will create "20,000 high-wage construction jobs." Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) says the pipeline will "create 14,600 jobs in Illinois." The U.S. Chamber of Commerce claims the project …

Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. The Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline will not reduce dependence on imports from the Middle East, an analysis conducted for the Department of Energy revealed a year ago. The hope of getting away from oil from the volatile region is a favored talking point by proponents. "The Keystone project has the potential to significantly reduce oil imports from the Middle East," Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) has claimed. However, an analysis by Department of Energy contractor Ensys Energy in December 2010 found that the pipeline would have virtually no impact on Middle East imports [PDF]: In contrast, efforts …

Ralph Hall.Photo: vexroboticsCross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas), the science-denying chairman of the House science committee, says a federal clean energy standard would be an "expensive new electricity tax on the American people," based on a study he requested. An analysis by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of a clean energy standard (CES) he designed finds that "household electricity bills could jump an average of $115 per year by 2025." President Obama has called for a CES of 80 percent clean electricity production by 2035, allowing for production from renewable sources, nuclear, natural gas, and coal, with carbon …

Photo: NASACross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. Jane Lubchenco, a top marine ecologist and senior Obama administration official, is concerned that opening the Arctic to oil and gas development brings unknown risks to human civilization. In an exclusive interview with ThinkProgress Green, Lubchenco, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), discussed the vicious circle of oil and gas greenhouse pollution melting the Arctic sea ice, making it possible for new oil and gas drilling in the region that will melt the ice even faster. Lubchenco had just appeared in a panel on threats to oceans at the Society of …

Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. This morning, President Barack Obama bashed the Republican argument that the United States can no longer compete in global manufacturing. Earlier this week, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) said that the bankruptcy of Solyndra means that the United States should surrender the clean-energy race to China. "We can't compete with China to make solar panels and wind turbines," Stearns told NPR, because one advanced-technology solar company that had received private and public financing had closed shop. "I'm not going to surrender to other countries," Obama shot back in today's press conference, after noting that Stearns, like dozens …

Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. A new economic analysis of the costs of pollution to the United States finds that coal power is harming the economy. In the American Economic Review article "Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy," economists Nicholas Z. Muller, Robert Mendelsohn, and William Nordhaus model the physical and economic consequences of emissions of six major pollutants (sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, ammonia, fine particulate matter, and coarse particulate matter) from the country's 10,000 pollution sources. They estimate the "gross external damages" (GED) from the sickness and death caused by the pollution, and compare …

Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. In a stunning conflict of interest, public hearings on federal approval for a proposed tar-sands pipeline are being run by a contractor for the pipeline company itself. The U.S. Department of State's public hearings along the proposed route of the TransCanada Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline this week are under the purview of Cardno Entrix, a "professional environmental consulting company" that specializes in "permitting and compliance." Cardno is not only running the State Department hearings, but also manages the department's Keystone XL website and drafted the department's environmental impact statement (EIS). Comments from the public about the …

Now this is worth subsidizing!Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. Today, House Republicans crowed over the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a company with an innovative thin-film solar technology granted a $535 million loan guarantee under the 2005 Energy Policy Act. Massive investments by the Chinese government drove down the price of polysilicon and pushed Solyndra into bankruptcy at the beginning of this month, despite annual revenues of over $100 million a year. The company is now under investigation by the FBI, likely because of assurances made to Congress by its top officials that Solyndra was in good financial health. At a hearing today, …

Yup, climate change is real -- but what can ya do?Photo: Bob JagendorfCross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoed legislation to preserve his state's participation in a regional climate program on Friday. As he vetoed the bill (S. 2946), which would have blocked his decision to pull out of the successful Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), Christie announced that he had been convinced by scientists that human-made climate change is a real threat. The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that he said "climate change is real": He added that "human activity plays a role in these changes" …

Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. In the decades since switching from supporting Al Gore in 1988 to becoming a Republican agriculture commissioner and George W. Bush's lieutenant governor, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has seen his state undergo devastating changes in its climate. Texas has grown hotter and drier, with stronger wildfires and torrential storms as greenhouse pollution builds in the atmosphere. Now, 99 percent of Texas is in drought, with a staggering 78 percent in exceptional drought. The state's farmers and ranchers are expected to lose about $10 billion this year to the killer climate, the worst in history. However, Perry …