Highlight of the Week

Climate Action On Capitol Hill

The U.S. Senate passed an economic recovery package today, setting up a conference committee to reconcile its version with a House of Representatives bill.

Adam Kolton, National Wildlife Federation's senior director of congressional and federal affairs, said today:

"Both houses of Congress have clearly shown they recognize the urgent need to repower America's economy with bold investments in clean energy and efficient technologies.

"We can put millions of Americans back to work installing solar panels and windmills, greening our schools and modernizing our power grid. As the two versions of the bill move to conference committee, we hope Congressional negotiators maintain the House bill's strong investments in education, clean energy and America's natural resources—all proven ways to stimulate shovel-ready projects and rapidly create jobs."

Looking ahead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says she intends to schedule a vote on a climate change bill before December 2009, when world leaders will meet in Copenhagen for the U.N. Climate Conference to reach a global agreement on how to deal with climate change.

Speaking to reporters recently, Pelosi said she intends to have a climate bill passed before the UN-sponsored summit in December.

"We can't fix it all overnight," Pelosi told the San Francisco Chronicle, "but we have to begin."

Henry Waxman (D-CA), whose Energy and Commerce Committee is likely to lead House action on climate legislation, said last month that he intends to have a climate bill ready by Memorial Day.

U.S. Needs Climate Action Partnership With China

The world’s two top polluters must act swiftly and work together with global warming solutions to save the planet from devastating climate change.

A report produced in part by the new Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned that China and the United States must bring their leaders together for a climate summit.

"If these two countries cannot find ways to bridge the long-standing divide on this issue, there will literally be no solution," the "Roadmap for U.S.-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change" said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has highlighted China as an important stop on her first trip abroad as Secretary, and climate and energy will be high on the State Department’s agenda.

“Secretary Clinton is keenly aware that the United States—as the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases—and China—as the largest emitter going forward—need to develop a strong, constructive partnership to build the kind of clean energy economies that will allow us to put the brakes on global climate change,” Todd Stern, the newly created special envoy on climate change, told the New York Times in an email.

“We need to put finger-pointing aside and focus on how our two leading nations can work together productively to solve the problem.”

Salazar Scraps Sale Of Oil, Gas Leases

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said recently the government is throwing out the leases of 77 parcels of federal land for oil and gas drilling in Utah's redrock country.

"In the last weeks in office, the Bush administration rushed ahead to sell oil and gas leases near some of our nation's most precious landscapes in Utah," Salazar told the Associated Press in a teleconference call.

Secretary Salazar said he had ordered the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management to not cash checks from winning bidders for parcels at issue in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups.

"We will take time and a fresh look at these 77 parcels to see if they are appropriate for oil and gas development," Secretary Salazar said.

A federal judge put the sale of the 77 parcels, totaling about 100,000 acres, on hold recently until the lawsuit was resolved. Now, Secretary Salazar is refusing to sell any of them until the new administration reviews them.

Quote:

"We believe that this legislation will reinvigorate the economy."

—Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, recently unveiled guiding principles of climate legislation.

Economic Message of the Week

U.S. Agriculture And Food Supplies May Be Slammed By Global Warming, Drought

California, the nation's leading agricultural producer, may be hit particularly hard by the effects of climate change and drought, with dire consequences on the industry and our food supplies, a top Obama official said recently.

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said that California's farms and vineyards could vanish by the end of the century if Americans do not act to slow the advance of global warming. The Nobel-prize-winning physicist warned of detrimental water shortages in the western United States with particularly dire results in California.

California is experiencing the worst water crisis in the state's history. “We're definitely in really bad shape,” said Elissa Lynn, chief meteorologist with the California Department of Water Resources. “People can expect to pay higher prices for produce ...We just don't have enough water.”

A recent University of California study estimates that 60,000 agricultural jobs and more than $1.6 billion in agriculture wages will be lost due to the drought. The study did not account for the loss in farm income, according to a new letter from congressmen to Governor Schwarzenegger.

“I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said. “We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California.”

Warmer temperatures, different patterns of precipitation and runoff, and rising sea levels will profoundly affect the state’s ability to manage water supplies and other natural resources, according to the California Department of Water Resources.  

Happening This Week

Wednesday, February 11: Testimony by Ted Danson, award-winning actor, longtime ocean advocate and Oceana board member, Environmental and Commercial Perspectives on Offshore Drilling Hearing, House Natural Resources Committee, led by Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV). 10:00 a.m. 1324 Longworth House Office Building.

Thursday, February 12: Senate Energy Committee Hearing on DOE Loan Guarantee Program 10:00 a.m., Dirksen 366

House Science Committee Hearing on Transportation R&D Priorities, 10:00 a.m., Rayburn 2318

House Transportation Committee on Energy Efficiency in Federal Buildings, 2:00 p.m., Rayburn 2167

Friday, February 13: Shifting Gears in the Global Dialogue on Energy Policy, Energy Security, Climate Change, 10:00-11:00 a.m., Falk Auditorium, The Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC