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Despite continued shenanigans, prospects looking up for Mass. wind project

The final environmental impact statement on Cape Wind was supposed to hit the press in December, but it's been put back another month thanks to the delay tactics of the 'antis' in Congress, this time notably Rep Jim Oberstar (D-Minn) who was recently singled out in Grist as an outstanding advocate for progressive stances on energy and transit, but only in Minnesota, I guess. The Providence Journal takes him and those he probably acted on behalf of to task here:

This is another win for the Kennedys, who have summer houses on Nantucket Sound, and Bill Koch, a fossil-fuel billionaire and a hardball political player and paymaster, and the leader of the anti-wind-farm group the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound ... That the vast majority of Massachusetts residents support Cape Wind seems not to matter at all ...

The FEIS is expected to be very positive on the proposal, opening the way to who knows what next hurdle the Alliance will erect, 7 years now after Cape Wind was first proposed.

Bill Richardson removes himself from consideration for commerce secretary

Bill Richardson has withdrawn his name from consideration for the post of commerce secretary. The New Mexico governor says he is concerned that a grand jury investigation into a company that has done business with his state might delay the confirmation process.

Obama tapped Richardson to head the Commerce Department last month, to the delight of enviros who praised his strong record on climate and energy issues.

"Let me say unequivocally that I and my Administration have acted properly in all matters and that this investigation will bear out that fact," he said in a statement. "But I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process."

Obama said in a statement that he is accepting the decision "with deep regret." "Governor Richardson is an outstanding public servant and would have brought to the job of Commerce Secretary and our economic team great insights accumulated through an extraordinary career in federal and state office," said Obama.

"It is a measure of his willingness to put the nation first that he has removed himself as a candidate for the Cabinet in order to avoid any delay in filling this important economic post at this critical time," Obama continued. "Although we must move quickly to fill the void left by Governor Richardson's decision, I look forward to his future service to our country and in my administration."

Obama made no mention of possible new nominees for the post.

Markey to replace Boucher as chair of Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee?

Congressional Quarterly Online reported last week:

The two senior House Democrats with jurisdiction over energy and telecommunications policies could swap gavels in the 111th Congress, with potentially dramatic implications for the shape of climate change legislation expected next year.

Since 2007, Rick Boucher of Virginia, the Energy and Commerce Committee's fourth-ranking Democrat, has led the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee, which has taken the lead role in crafting legislation to address global warming.

But Boucher said in an interview Tuesday that he expects Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, No. 3 among committee Democrats in seniority, to bid for the subcommittee chairmanship. Boucher said he would "respect that decision" and stake his own claim for chairmanship of Markey's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.

"I'm awaiting his decision," Boucher said. Markey has not yet made up his mind, a spokesman said.

This would be almost as big a deal as Waxman defeating Dingell for committee chair. Just as Dingell-Boucher co-authored a House climate bill last session, one would expect that if this change occurs, Waxman and Markey would co-author a House Bill in this session. And it certainly wouldn't be as lame (see "Q: Does Dingell-Boucher have meaningful auctioning of CO2 permits before 2026?").

The story continues:

The book of green

Fox News on the "green bible":

World's biggest solar power tower to open in Spain

The world's biggest solar tower will open early this year in Spain. The race for leadership in the next generation of solar power is taking off.

The U.K. Guardian reports that in the desert 20 miles outside Seville, the Spanish company Abengoa will be deploying over 1,000 sun-tracking mirrors -- each "about half the size of a tennis court" -- to superheat water to 260°C to drive a steam turbine and generate 20MW of electricity.

Concentrated solar power (CSP) technology, as it is known, is seen by many as a simpler, cheaper and more efficient way to harness the sun's energy than other methods such as photovoltaic (PV) panels.

Spain is placing a huge bet on CSP to meet their renewable energy and carbon targets:

Studies show mono-cultures, GMOs, and globalization are problems, not solutions

With the arrival of 2009, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) notes nearly a billion people a day go hungry worldwide. While India supplies Switzerland with 80 percent of its wheat, 350 million Indians are food-insecure. Rice prices have nearly tripled since early 2007 because, according to the International Rice Research Institute, rice-growing land is being lost to industrialization, urbanization, and shifts to grain crops for animal feed.

Who do we repay for the pollution from which we have benefitted?

If I buy bread from you, when you want to sell it to me, and we agree on a price, that's a deal between the two of us. Now imagine that you getting up early to bake bread wakes two people who would rather sleep in. They are not a factor in our deal -- they are "external" to our market exchange and any effect on them is an "externality" we have ignored in agreeing on our price. The same logic holds for the greenhouse gases your ovens generated when you baked the bread. That contribution to climate change is an "environmental externality."

How many of those did you create today?

The Obama's climate dream team, new sea-level rise, less arctic ice volume, and more

What events, actions, and findings had the most positive or negative impact on the likelihood that the nation and the world will act in time to avoid catastrophic warming?

Since the No. 1 story is way too obvious to generate any drama, I will start there and then go back and count down from No. 10 to No. 2.

1. Team without rivals. A year ago, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Rajendra Pachauri, desperately warned, "If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment." That means the next president and his cabinet, more than any other group, will determine my future and your future and our children's future, and perhaps the future of the next 50 generations to walk the earth. Fortunately, the American people rejected the old greenwasher and new denier nominated by the Drill, baby, Drill crowd -- and now we will be led by the greenest, most scientifically informed, radical pragmatists in the history of the Republic:

• Obama: "The science is beyond dispute ... Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response."
• Why Biden is such an important pick for those who care about the climate
• SOS trumps NSA (Hillary Clinton trumps Gen. Jones)
• Carol Browner to oversee energy and climate at the White House
• Top Five reasons Chu is a great energy pick -- No. 1: "It's not guaranteed we have a solution for coal"
• Obama picks a green jobs leader for labor secretary: Hilda Solis
• The first green secretary of commerce
• For NOAA head, Obama appoints yet another scientist who gets climate
• Obama's strongest message on climate yet: John Holdren to be named science adviser

Back to the countdown:

10. Gas pains. As NOAA reported, levels of methane rose sharply in 2007 for the first time since 1998. Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, especially over the near term. And the tundra has as much carbon locked away in it as the atmosphere contains today. Scientific analysis suggests the rise in 2007 methane levels came from Arctic wetlands. The tundra melting is probably the most worrisome of all the climate-carbon-cycle amplifying feedbacks -- and it could easily take us to the unmitigated catastrophe of 1,000 ppm. Though you should also worry that the methane might be coming from the underwater permafrost, which is also thawing and releasing methane. Or from the drying of the Northern peatlands (bogs, moors, and mires). If methane rises again in 2008 -- and NASA reported another brutally hot year for the Siberian tundra -- then that will probably be among the top three global warming stories of 2008.

9. The thrilla in vanilla. OK, it wasn't Ali-Frazier, but Henry Waxman's smackdown of John Dingell for chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee was high drama with high consequences. Finally, we have a champion of serious action and strong regulation, someone who gets the dire nature of global warming, in charge of the crucial committee for climate and energy.

8. Ice, ice maybe not. Everywhere scientists look, ice is disappearing:

Friday music blogging: Murs

Murs is a prolific underground rapper out of L.A. He's been around for over 15 years now, as part of at least five hip-hop groups and, recently, as a solo artist. He's something of a legend in the indie rap world.

His latest album, Murs for President, is a doozy. In particular, this song, "The Science," seems to sum up basically everything there is to know about rap. I guess there aren't many hip-hop fans around here, but this one's worth listening to for the lyrics alone.

Dynegy pulls out of coal-fired power plant partnership

Today Dynegy announced the dissolution of its partnership with LS Energy, formed in 2006. The goal of the partnership was the construction of up to eight new coal-fired power plants -- as part of its dissolution, Dynegy has abandoned plans for six of the eight.

Here's the key bit from the release:

"The development landscape has changed significantly since we agreed to enter into the development joint venture with LS Power in the fall of 2006," said Bruce A. Williamson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dynegy Inc. "Today, the development of new generation is increasingly marked by barriers to entry including external credit and regulatory factors that make development much more uncertain. In light of these market circumstances, Dynegy has elected to focus development activities and investments around our own portfolio where we control the option to develop and can manage the costs being incurred more closely."

One of those "factors" that has made the development of new (coal) generation "uncertain" is called grassroots organizing. Along with its nonprofit partners, the Sierra Club organized a campaign targeting Dynegy, with protests and rallies that drew unwelcome attention to its plans.

Another little piece of good news in the anti-coal fight.