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Climate Capsule: Week of August 4th

(National Wildlife Federation)

As Bush Fights for Big Oil, Exxon Mobil Amasses Profits Of $1,485 A Second

Big oil companies and overseas oil producers are seen as top culprits responsible for high prices at the pump, according to a recent CNNMoney poll.

The poll found that 68% of respondents think domestic oil companies are a major cause of today's surging gas prices.

Meanwhile, ExxonMobil reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion, the largest quarterly profit ever by any American corporation. On May 29, BNET.com reported Exxon Mobil plans to invest just $10 million this year in renewable energy.

"Just one day after President Bush renewed his demand for Congress to turn over more of America's natural resources to Big Oil, Exxon Mobil reports the largest quarterly profit in America's history, an amazing $1,485.55 per second," said Adam Kolton, senior director of congressional and federal affairs, National Wildlife Federation.

"Let there be no mistake where that profit came from - the pockets of American drivers, the victims of a vicious circle. Our government gives America's public lands and waters to Big Oil. Big Oil extracts the oil and consumers are forced to buy it because they have no other choice of alternative technologies or fuels - it's buy what Big Oil is selling or walk to work. Big Oil takes that money and invests that money not in cheaper, cleaner renewable energy, but in stock buybacks and dividends, Kolton said.

"Don't be fooled by the big lie. We can't drill and burn our way out of our energy crisis. It's failed Americans again and again while delivering record profits for oil companies. We need clean energy solutions to break America's addiction to oil, give consumers real energy choices, recharge our economy and help solve global warming," Kolton said.

Learn more about the real solutions that would cut our energy costs and ease our addiction to fossil fuels in the National Wildlife Federation's Don't Be Fooled fact sheet.

The Massachusetts State House and Senate gave final approval to the Global Warming Solutions Act, a bill that will commit the state to making the pollution reductions that scientists say are necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.

"Today the Massachusetts legislature passed the most progressive piece of legislation addressing the global warming and climate change crisis in the country," said State Senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton), chief sponsor of the Global Warming Solutions Act.

"Our actions today will revolutionize the Commonwealth's future economy by spurring job growth, sparking innovation and protecting our environment for future generations," Pacheco said.

The legislation allows the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to regulate all greenhouse gases across Massachusetts. Also mandated is a greenhouse gas reduction of 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. The administration is instructed to develop a shorter-term goal of between 10 percent and 25 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2020 as well as limits for 2030 and 2040, according to Environment Massachusetts.

Senator Marc Pacheco said Massachusetts must combat global warming, or face the consequences - from rising sea levels to more intense storms. "If global warming and climate change continue to remain unchecked in the commonwealth, the cost of inaction will be in the billions," Pacheco said.

Quote:  "If you're trying to quit smoking, you don't ask the Marlboro Man for help, and if you're serious about quitting your oil addiction, you don't ask Big Oil for help."�

-- Adam Kolton, the National Wildlife Federation's senior director of congressional and federal affairs.

Green Technologies Highlighted At Annual Congressional Renewable Energy Expo

Nearly 50 exhibitors presented sustainable energy technology
solutions at the 11th annual Energy Efficiency Expo.

Trade groups, governmental agencies, and non-profits were invited to Capitol Hill to present their clean energy advancements. The forum was hosted by the Sustainable Energy Coalition (SEC) in cooperation with members of the Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses.

The daylong energy expo began with a news conference with members of Congress, during which Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA) announced the introduction of the U.S. Climate Action Now (CAN) Act.  "We can't throw our hands in the air and stand idle this year as the planet cooks," Inslee said.

Presenters focused on transportation advancements, meeting today's demands for clean energy, and reducing energy costs by improving efficiency.

"Each group sees themselves as the next big thing, while recognizing that each technology is only a part of the (climate) solution," said Amy Sauer of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a member of the SEC.

Hydropower groups push for marine energy in coastal areas; the wind industry underscored the need for power in rural places; and solar advocates touted sun power in urban locations.

Making these technologies available for the average American consumer is critical: renewable technologies require investment, and the development of the wind, hydro and solar industries will continue to provide millions of jobs worldwide and cut energy costs in the long-term.

As The Economist reports, "The future price of these resources - zero - is known."

Giant sheets of ice spreading across more than seven square miles broke off a Canadian Artic ice shelf, scientists said. The current Arctic climate isn't rebuilding ice sheets as they break away or melt because the climate balance is gone.

"We're in a different climate now," Derek Mueller, a researcher at Ontario's Trent University said. "It's not conducive to regrowing (ice sheets)."

"It's a bit of a wake-up call for those people who aren't yet affected by climate change that there are places on earth that are, and the same could be true for them (these people) if you fast-forward a decade or two or three," Mueller said.

Mueller said the large ice sheet broke away last week from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf off the coast of Canada's far north. The sheet is the biggest piece discarded by one of Canada's six ice shelves since the Ayles shelf - which measured 25 square miles - broke loose in 2005, about 500 miles from the North Pole.

"(This event) underscores the fact that each year we're now crossing new thresholds in environmental change in the High Arctic, and of course our concern in the longer term is that these may signal the onset of serious change at all latitudes, much further to the south, for example," said Warwick Vincent, director of the Centre for Northern Studies at Laval University in Quebec.

Americans drove nearly 10 billion fewer miles in May compared with miles driven a year earlier, according to a report from the Federal Highway Administration.

"We have seen the longest decline in vehicular miles traveled since we started collecting this data," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters.

Peters said that in the first four months of this year, Americans traveled 40.5 billion miles less compared with the same period in 2007.

Many of these commuters turned to mass transit or teleworking from home.

Rising gas prices are a principle cause of the driving decline, and the use of public transportation is soaring, said Virginia Miller, spokeswoman for the American Public Transit Association.