Obama to appoint climate czar? That's what enviros want

Now that Barack Obama is headed to the White House, the environmental groups who backed his candidacy are pushing for him to make good on his green promises -- particularly in regard to climate change. One idea gaining ground is for the new president to appoint a "climate czar."

"Members of the environmental community in and around Washington say such a post could oversee various government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, to focus on tackling global warming and fostering clean energy to jump-start the flagging economy," a Reuters report says.    

"For the first time, candidates and voters are really connecting the dots between energy, the environment and the economy," said Cathy Duvall, Sierra Club's political director, told Reuters.   

Investors also want to see some quick action to show he meant what he said when he included global warming along with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as priorities in his acceptance speech, according to another Reuters report. They want to see that "he is seriously looking for a quick way through for national cap and trade in the United States," said Henry Derwent, head of the Geneva-based International Emissions Trading Association, the carbon market lobby group.

"Analysts were wary of Obama's campaign promises, not convinced he will deliver on cap and trade nor plans to invest $150-billion over 10 years in low-carbon energy sources," Reuters reports.

[AP photo]

Craig Pittman

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Obama's top priority: energy -- to stop warming and to fix economy

Everybody's talking about what President-elect Barack Obama is going to do when he takes office in January -- fix the economy, deal with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.

Obama himself, during the second debate, told everyone what his top priority would be: energy.

When moderator Tom Brokaw asked the candidates to rate their priorities, Obama listed energy first: "Energy we have to deal with today, because you’re paying $3.80 here in Nashville for gasoline. . . . And it’s a strain on your family budget, but it’s also bad for our national security, because countries like Russia and Venezuela and, you know, in some cases, countries like Iran, are benefiting from higher oil prices."

He and John McCain both agreed that  clean energy is the key not only to combating climate change, but also to getting the stumbling economy on its feet and moving again. During the campaign -- and in particular in a speech in Lansing, Mich. (see clip below) -- Obama outlined an energy plan that included:

* $150-billion in public investment to accelerate clean energy such as electric cars, clean coal, renewable fuels and upgrading the nation’s electricity grid. This initiative would result in 5-million new jobs, Obama said.

* Allows expansion of offshore drilling, but only as part of comprehensive energy legislation. Nuclear power also should be part of the domestic energy supply, but he opposes the Yucca Mountain project to store nuclear waste.

* Launching a national a cap-and-trade mechanism to cut greenhouse gases 80 percent by 2050.

* Put 1-million plug-In hybrid cars -- cars that can get up to 150 mpg -- on the road by 2015.

* Ensure that 10 percent of all electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.

Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer

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Gas price dropping: here's why (and why "drill, baby, drill" won't work anymore)

When gas prices climbed above $2 a gallon four years ago, the increase made headlines. When gas prices topped $4 a gallon five months ago, there were lots more headlines, and it even became an issue in the presidential race. This week the price has dropped back down to below $3 a gallon in some places.

Is it because Congress dropped the 26-year moratorium on offshore drilling? Nope. According to the Wall Street Journal, it's because the economic meltdown has reduced demand and also scared off speculators.

"The sharp drop in U.S. oil demand -- down in recent weeks by about 9% from a year ago -- shows how deep the economic malaise is across much of the industrialized world now," the Journal reported. "As the U.S. unemployment rate rises and retail sales and manufacturing orders slump, the world's largest consumer of oil needs less crude to move goods, fly passenger jets, and transport workers to the office."

Demand is likely to keep on dropping, too: "The U.S. over the four weeks before Oct. 10 consumed around 18.6 million barrels of oil a day, a drop of 1.8 million barrels, or nearly 9%, over the year-earlier period. Many analysts predict the U.S. may shave off an additional half-million barrels a day in 2009, which would put U.S. consumption about where it was in the mid-1990s."

And what of those speculators who were playing prices like a yo-yo earlier this year? "Hedge funds, responsible for a large amount of the speculation in crude oil, have had to play defense in the credit crisis lately by unwinding trades that use a lot of borrowed money, such as oil futures bets," the Journal reports. "Hedge funds are also being hit by heavy redemptions as risk-averse investors cash out. This forces funds to sell at inopportune times, adding to the spiral."

As for those campaign chants of "Drill, baby,drill" -- well, that's probably out the window now, reports CNN: "Given rapidly declining prices, tight credit conditions, high input costs and weakening demand - the outlook for bold new oil exploration is grim."

[AP photo]

--Craig Pittman

Global warming fight to be a casualty of economic meltdown? Or the solution to it?

"Attempts to tackle global warming are being made more difficult by the spreading economic crisis even as Democratic congressional leaders say it's still a top goal for next year," the Associated Press is reporting.

"At the very least, fear of a prolonged economic downturn is expected to delay attempts by the United States to cap greenhouse gases blamed for global warming," the AP says. Some Republicans want to scrap any kind of cap-and-trade or carbon tax legislation, the story says, while some Democrats say that "a proposal to auction off emission permits — a source of money to help refocus the nation's use of energy away from fossil fuels — may have to be abandoned with permits distributed for free."

This, of course, is completely contrary to what the two presidential candidates said in their last debate. Both Barack Obama and John McCain asserted that clean energy is the key not only to combating climate change, but also to getting the stumbling economy on its feet and moving again.

The United Nations' climate chief agrees with McCain and Obama that the credit crisis is an opportunity, not a hurdle. According to Reuters, Yvo de Boer told reporters that the global credit crisis could hasten countries' efforts to create green growth industries by revamping the financial system behind them.

"The credit crunch, I believe, is an opportunity to rebuild the financial system that would underpin sustainable growth," de Boer said. "Governments now have an opportunity to create and enforce policy, which stimulates private competition to fund clean industry."

--Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer

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McCain, Obama on energy: new Manhattan Project?

In last night's debate, Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama both asserted that clean energy is the key not only to combating climate change, but also to getting the stumbling economy on its feet and moving again.

McCain said that energy independence, specifically “drilling offshore and nuclear power,” would power up the flagging economy: "We can work on nuclear power plants. Build a whole bunch of them, create millions of new jobs. We have to have all of the above, alternative fuels, wind, tide, solar, natural gas, clean coal technology."

When moderator Tom Brokaw asked the candidates to rate their priorities, Obama listed energy first: "Energy we have to deal with today, because you’re paying $3.80 here in Nashville for gasoline. . . And it’s a strain on your family budget, but it’s also bad for our national security, because countries like Russia and Venezuela and, you know, in some cases, countries like Iran, are benefiting from higher oil prices."

However, Obama added, "we can't simply drill our way out of the problem. And we're not going to be able to deal with the climate crisis if our only solution is to use more fossil fuels that create global warming. We're going to have to come up with alternatives, and that means that the United States government is working with the private sector to fund the kind of innovation that we can then export to countries like China that also need energy and are setting up one coal power plant a week."

McCain emphasized his opposition to the 2005 Bush energy bill that was loaded with tax breaks for oil companies -- a bill which, he said, was supported by "that one," a reference to his opponent which is already stirring some controversy.

Brokaw asked McCain if the government should "fund a Manhattan-like project" to produce alternative energy, "or should we fund 100,000 garages across America, the kind of industry and innovation that developed Silicon Valley?" McCain said he liked the idea of "pure research and development" by government scientists, an answer which the folks at Earth2Tech say "didn’t display much knowledge as to how technology innovation works in Silicon Valley."

For a full comparison of the candidates' energy proposals, check out our colleagues at Politifact. If you'd like a debate transcript, CNN has it here.

[Manhattan Project photo from Department of Energy]

--Craig Pittman

Palin's polar bear suit backed by Big Oil & climate skeptics?

Earlier this year, before she was being seriously considered as a vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took on the Bush Administration, the Endangered Species Act and global warming, all in one fell swoop.

Bush's Interior Department declared the polar bear to be a threatened species because climate change was melting the Arctic sea ice that is its habitat. Palin sued, arguing that the decision to list polar bears was based on shaky science regarding global warming, and would create a serious economic impact on the state's oil and gas industry.

Now, on the eve of Palin's debate with Democratic rival Joe Biden, a British paper, the Guardian, is reporting that Palin's polar bear suit was based on studies by global warming skeptics. One study used in Palin's lawsuit was funded by ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute, the story notes.

When a congressman questioned the use of those somewhat suspect studies, the story reports that Palin responded: ""Attempts to discredit scientists ... simply because their analyses do not agree with your views, would be a disservice to this country." Meanwhile, though, Alaska's own state scientists were agreeing with the polar bear experts at the Interior Department -- and not the climate skeptics -- that the bears deserved to be on the threatened list.

Since she joined the presidential ticket, Palin's repeated questioning of whether humans are causing the climate to get warmer have undercut her political credibility. Her Palin's polar bear lawsuit and her position on global warming (a stance that puts her at odds with her running mate, GOP presidential nominee John McCain) led to the Center for Biological Diversity awarding her its annual Rubber Dodo Award (shown here).

--Craig Pittman

Solar's so hot, even thieves love it

"Solar power, with its promise of emissions-free renewable energy, boasts a growing number of fans," reports the New York Times. "Some of them, it turns out, are thieves."

Last month, for instance, someone swiped about $20,000 in solar panels from an organic farm in Marin County, Calif., the Marin Independent Journal noted. Meanwhile workers at an elementary school near San Francisco discovered one morning that the school's expensive solar array was completely gone, CBS-5 reports.

One California victim told the Times that, after losing her 16 rooftop solar panels in three separate raids, she's ready for the next attempt: ""I have a shotgun right next to the bed and a .22 under my pillow." A victim in Arizona turned detective, tracking down her stolen solar panel when someone tried to sell it on Craigslist -- a common way to fence the loot from these 21st century crimes.

"Stealing a solar panel requires considerably more knowledge than simply tearing out wire or ripping down a railing, so investigators believe it’s likely the thieves at several homes and industrial sites had been trained in solar panel installation," reported KCBS, a San Francisco radio station.

The thievery is not confined to the U.S.. In England, for instance, thieves have swiped the solar panels off road signs, as well as from schools. Meanwhile, the International Herald Tribune reported earlier this month that, in Kenya, four men were arrested for trying to swipe the solar panel off a home belonging to Sen. Barack Obama's grandmother, Sarah, age 86.

[AP photo of solar panels on Al Gore's home]

--Craig Pittman

Offshore drilling moratorium to expire after 26 years

House Democrats have agreed to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week in order to keep the government running, the Associated Press is reporting.

"Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey is telling reporters that language continuing the moratorium will be omitted this year from a spending bill to keep the government in operating funds after Congress recesses for the election," the AP says.

"The White House made it clear any new drilling provision was a non-starter," said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in an e-mail to reporters. "The future resolution of offshore drilling will have to be addressed with a new president."

Now we get to find out if proponents of lifting the ban are right that simply lifting the ban will lower gas prices -- although even oil experts and economists who support lifting it say it won't make a dent in the cost of a gallon of unleaded, according to our colleagues at Politifact.

A 2006 law still prohibits drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico in a buffer area that extends 125 miles off the beaches of Pensacola and 234 miles off Pinellas County's shoreline.

[AP photo]

--Craig Pittman

McCains own 13 cars, Obamas own one

Forget the issues. Here's what we really care about with our presidential nominees: What's in their crib? And have they pimped their rides?

First it was the number of houses (in the case of John McCain)and who the neighbors were (in the case of Barack Obama).

Now here comes Newsweek with a report on the number of cars the candidates own. Based on public records of vehicle registrations, the score is: John and Cindy McCain, 13, and Barack and Michelle Obama, one.

The Obamas bought their Ford Escape Hybrid last year to replace the family's Chrysler 300C, a Hemi-powered sedan, Newsweek reports "after taking heat for driving a guzzler while haranguing Detroit about building more fuel-efficient cars."

Meanwhile McCain, who recently boasted to a Detroit TV station that he has only bought American cars all his life, might want to double-check the manufacturer's name on what's in some of his garages. The McCains own a 2005 Volkswagen convertible and a 2001 Honda sedan. The rest of the McCain fleet: a 2004 Cadillac CTS; a 2007 half-ton Ford pickup truck; a vintage 1960 Willys Jeep; a 2008 Jeep Wrangler; a 2000 Lincoln; a 2001 GMC SUV; and three 2000 NEV Gem electric vehicles (shown here), "which are bubble-shaped cars popular in retirement communities," Newsweek said. (Oddly, not a single Ford Maverick.)

McCain's spokesman said the senator's comments about buying American cars referred to the only car registered in his own name -- the Caddy, according to the Washington Post. Eleven of the others are registered in Cindy McCain's name, and one, a Lexus, "is registered to her family's beer-distributor business and is outfitted with personalized plates that read MS BUD," noted Newsweek.

Of course, that's the same waffling argument that John Kerry made in 2004 when he bragged on Earth Day that he didn't own a gas-guzzling SUV -- but then it turned out that his wife's name was on the family's Chevy Suburban.

--Craig Pittman

Florida may be safe from offshore drilling mania (for now)

In the flurry of battling bills over opening up new areas to offshore drilling, Florida's congressional delegation may have persuaded everyone to leave the Sunshine State alone -- at least for now, says today's St. Petersburg Times.

"Tuesday, Florida's Gulf Coast was in the sights of House Democratic leaders crafting a bill to expand offshore oil and gas exploration," our colleague Wes Allison reports from Washington.

"By Wednesday, Florida Democrats apparently had convinced House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Florida gave up enough in 2006, when Congress passed a compromise bill that opened 8.3-million acres of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to drilling in exchange for significant protections closer to shore."

"I think we're good," said Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, as she left a closed meeting of House Democrats.

"Aides to Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer confirmed the eastern Gulf of Mexico will remain off limits," Allison reports.

Of course, whether that holds depends a lot on who wins this year's presidential race, given the strong support that GOP candidate John McCain and his veep Sarah Palin have shown for greatly expanding offshore drilling, to the obvious dismay of some of their fellow Republicans and the delight of some country music fans.

[AP photo]

--Craig Pittman