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Climate Capsule: Week of June 16

(National Wildlife Federation)

Momentum Builds In The House

Following the Senate vote on the Climate Security Act late last week, there is a flurry of activity that is developing in the House and keeping the climate action momentum alive.

Two new comprehensive climate bills were introduced in recent weeks. Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced his Investing in Climate Action and Protection Act last week. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) introduced his Climate MATTERS Act Tuesday. Both bills would help put America on a pathway toward a cleaner, more prosperous energy future and include a cap-and-trade system that steadily ratchets down emissions on a scientifically sound emission reduction pathway. Both the Markey bill and the Doggett bill would promote clean and efficient energy technologies, protect consumers, encourage actions to store carbon in forests and soils, and foster progress toward a global agreement by providing assistance to the poorest nations of the world.

Of vital importance, both bills put some of the revenue generated from the auction of pollution allowances to help protect and restore America’s natural resources threatened by global warming, though the amount of funding for natural resources needs to be increased in the Markey bill. The Markey bill designates EPA to run the cap and trade program, which is preferable given the EPA's history with environmental regulation and experience with pollution markets. The Doggett bill designates the Treasury to run the cap and trade program, with guidance on the science from the EPA. These two new bills are significantly elevating the level of debate in the House on the urgency of passing global warming legislation.

In addition, the Energy and Commerce sub committee headed up by Rick Boucher (D-VA) is holding a hearing on legislative proposals this week, they plan to take comments from witnesses on the Senate's Climate Security Act and the proposal by Senator Bingaman (D-NM), as well as the Markey and Waxman bills in the House.

U.N. Climate Talks Seek A Honed Strategy

A United Nations climate conference in Bonn, Germany, urged governments to develop clearer ideas for a new treaty to prevent global warming after delegates warned that progress was too slow.

"You are going to pin down people to say exactly what they want," said Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat. De Boer told reporters the climate talks needed more details, such as on how to raise funds to help developing nations.

The concern crept over the conference that progress was too sluggish, given last year’s warning by the U.N. Climate Panel that rising global temperatures are positioned to bring more droughts, higher sea levels, crop failures, melting glaciers and more heat waves.

"This is going too slowly," the European Union said in a statement read by Thomas Becker of Denmark. "We could easily intensify the way we have been working."

"While the scientific evidence is universally recognised, we are yet to see the urgency in the response of the parties," Byron Blake of Antigua and Barbuda said on behalf of the group of 77 developing countries and China.

"This is the first time people are really getting down to serious business...zooming in on technology, finance and adaptation," de Boer told reporters. "It's a negotiation, not just a friendly discussion any more."

Quote:   "Many reports…have warned us of the huge economic risks and adverse impacts from climate change and underscored the need for all countries to take concerted action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly below current levels."

-- G8 Finance Ministers’ statement on their action plan for climate change.

Energy Independence and Tax Relief Act

Last week, Senate Republicans blocked a cloture motion to proceed on the Renewable Energy Job Creation Act of 2008. HR 6049 is a bill, approved by the House last month, that extends credits for solar installations, wind farms, energy efficient buildings, coal projects and other technologies that reduce global warming pollution.

These incentives must be extended immediately to avoid significant harm to the developing clean energy industries in the United States. The technologies produced by these industries play a vital role in reducing global warming pollution, creating new high-wage American jobs, and saving consumers and businesses money on their energy bills.

This is the tenth time Congress has voted on this issue, and while passage of this legislation remains uncertain, the promise for growth of American jobs in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries remains unrealized.

U.S. Urges Worldwide Support Of Global Warming Fund

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson urged other Group of Eight industrialized nations to support a special fund of up to $10 billion to help developing countries fight global warming.

Paulson met with leaders from Japan and Britain, and World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick, to encourage G-8 nations to back the Climate Investment Funds.

"None of us in the world are going to solve this problem unless we deal with it here," Paulson told reporters at the two-day long meeting of international finance ministers.

The fund is administered by the World Bank. Finances will go partly to help develop technology to boost energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Paulson said.

World Bank Group President Zoellick said the developing world is being hit by climate change, including droughts, floods, poverty and hunger.

"These funds offer an opportunity to take action on change now," he said.

The proposal for funding is, however, not without controversy, as those involved work through questions such as which agency will administer the funds and under what guidelines.

Companies Get Green Light To “Annoy” Threatened Polar Bears

Just about one month ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a decision to list polar bears as a threatened species. This week, the Bush Administration gave certain companies permission to “annoy” and potentially harm the dwindling species while in pursuit of oil and natural gas.

The FWS issued regulations this week that provide legal protection to seven oil companies that plan to search for these reserves off the northwestern coast of Alaska. “Small numbers” of polar bears or Pacific walruses are allowed to be incidentally harmed by the protected corporate activity.

"The oil and gas industry in operating under the kind of rules they have operated under for 15 years has not been a threat to the species," H. Dale Hall, the Fish and Wildlife Service's director, told The Associated Press on Friday. "It was the ice melting and the habitat going away that was a threat to the species over everything else."

The company activities in the Chukchi Sea’s 29.7 million acres will require as many as five drill ships, one or two icebreakers, a barge, a tug and two helicopter flights per day, according to the government. In addition, the said companies will forge hundreds of miles of ice roads along the coastline.

Last year, the Marine Mammal Oversight Commission told the Fish and Wildlife Service that it lacked adequate information needed to conclude that oil and natural gas exploration will not affect the bear population.