Clean Tech Policy Update - July 29, 2010

News Summary

v   Top Stories

• Dems Call Off Climate Bill Effort in Congress, NYTimes
• A Congressional Post-Election Lame Duck Session on Climate & Energy?, NYTimes
• Bipartisan Attack to Stop California’s Prop23, San Francisco Chronicle

v   The Two-Front War: California’s Prop23 & Congress

• Polling Shows Prop 23 Potentially Tied with Likely Voters / PPIC Poll
• Going Backward: Prop 23’s Threat to Calif Jobs & Investment Clean Economy Network
• Don't Let Texas Oil Companies Kill California Clean Tech, Arno Harris (CEO of Recurrent)
• Don’t Fall for the Myths About AB32, Barry Cinnamon (CEO of Akeena Solar)
• Meg Whitman’s Middle Position on Prop23 Could Appeal to Voters, Fox&Hounds

• Forum Weighs Pros & Cons of AB32 & Prop23 / Contra Costa Times

• November Calif. Ballot Initiatives Impact Clean Tech, San Jose Mercury News

v   Government & Politics

• “Brown Dog” Democrats Complicate Federal Climate Plan, Politico
• Who Cooked the Planet? (Paul Krugman), NYTimes
• Put a Price on Carbon (Marty Lagod & Jason Scott), Politico
• California Yanks Home Solar, Energy Retrofit Loans, NYTimes
• Boxer, Fiorina have Opposing Views on Green Jobs, KGO/ABC

• Fiorina’s HP Mishaps Prompt Technology Executives to Back Boxer, Businessweek,

• “Smart Grid Architecture and Standards,” US House Hearing Summary
• Silicon Valley: DC Doesn’t Get Tech, Politico

v   Science, Jobs, & Investment

• Going Backward: Prop 23’s Threat to Calif Jobs & Investment Clean Economy Network
• Five Million Green Jobs for California, East County Magazine
• Taking on the Tool Belt Recession: Energy Efficiency Retrofits, Ctr for Am. Progress
• The Climate Majority, NY Times

Articles

v   Top Stories

Dems Call Off Climate Bill Effort in Congress / NYTimes, July 22

Bowing to political reality, Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader, said the Senate would not take up legislation intended to reduce carbon emissions blamed as a cause of climate change, but would instead pursue a more limited measure focused on responding to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and tightening energy efficiency standards … if this White House and this Democratic Congress can’t pass legislation, you have to wonder what the future of climate policy looks like. All the while, the risks and costs of climate change grow. See also, NYTimes (July20)

A Post-Election Lame Duck Session on Climate & Energy in Congress? / NYTimes, July 29

Although many climate advocates have turned their hopes to slipping cap and trade into a House and Senate conference bill after the elections, the uphill climb to 60 Senate votes likely won't get easier during a lame-duck session.

Bipartisan Attack to Stop California’s Proposition 23, San Francisco Chronicle, July 25

Combative political campaigns are a way of life in California, but a controversial ballot measure has prompted a Republican icon and a powerhouse Democratic donor to join forces and fundraising clout on the key issue of climate change. Top Democratic donor and financier Tom Steyer, who founded Farallon Capital Management in San Francisco will partner with former Reagan administration Secretary of State George Shultz to oppose Proposition 23, a November ballot measure that would suspend AB32, California’s landmark climate change law. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed the Global Warming Solutions Act in 2006, last week praised the bipartisan collaboration between Steyer, a supporter of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, and Shultz, a co-chair of GOP candidate Meg Whitman’s gubernatorial campaign.

v   The Two-Front War: California’s Prop23 & Congress

Polling Shows Prop 23 Potentially Tied with Likely Voters / PPIC Poll, July 28

A July 28^th PPIC poll did not ask a question about Proposition 23 using specific ballot language, but instead tested the underlying law. Likely voters supported the idea behind AB 32 to reduce greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020, 61% to 28%. Without the ballot title, PPIC asked a general conceptual question whether the state government should act right away to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or wait until the state economy and job situation improve. Likely voters split down the middle on the question with 48% support to move ahead right away; 48% voted to wait.

Going Backward: Prop 23’s Threat to Calif Jobs & Investment, Clean Economy Network

CEN’s economic analysis convincingly shows that passage of Prop 23 will jeopardize a half million clean tech jobs, 12,000 companies and billions of dollars of private investment in CA, creating a domino effect that will harm U.S. competitiveness.

Don't Let Texas Oil Companies Kill California Clean Tech

Arno Harris, CEO of Recurrent Energy in Fox & Hounds, July 13

I guess it's too much to ask the business-as-usual dirty energy companies to play fair. They see the writing on the wall as states like California take meaningful steps towards clean alternatives to burning fossil fuels. Now it's clear their response will be to wage a cynical and deceptive battle that maintains the profits they earn from their dirty ways.

Don’t Fall for the Myths About AB32

Barry Cinnamon, CEO of Akeena Solar in The San Francisco Chronicle, July 20

Texas oil companies, threatened by the emerging renewable energy sector, are funding a deceptive November 2010 statewide ballot initiative - Proposition 23 - that aims to suspend AB32. They have put forward a number of misleading claims.

Myth 1: AB32 is a job killer.

Myth 2: AB32 is driving business out of the state.

Myth 3: AB32 will cost small businesses tens of thousands a year.

Myth 4: We can't have a clean environment and a healthy economy.

Myth 5: AB32 is just an excuse for more government bureaucracy.

Myth 6: They are only trying to "suspend" AB32.

Meg Whitman’s Middle Position on Prop23 Could Appeal to Voters /  Fox&Hounds, July 29

The newly hatched PPIC poll on the environment indicates Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's middle path related to California's greenhouse gases law and a controversial November ballot measure could serve her well come Election Day … She has not offered her support for the ballot proposition, which would suspend the greenhouse gases law for an indeterminate period of time ... Instead, Whitman is suggesting that California postpone the law for one year. Take a breath, step back and try to understand the effect of the law while allowing the economy some time to recover. In the heat of a political campaign over the effects of the law on both the environment and the job market, Californians may see Whitman's middle path a smart way to travel. See also, http://blogs.kqed.org/capitalnotes/category/elections/

Forum Weighs Pros & Cons of AB32 & Prop23 / Contra Costa Times, July 23

The Bay Area Counctil forum was lengthy and chock full of interesting but complex information, including arguments from both sides of the Prop23 debate.

November Calif. Ballot Initiatives Impact Clean Tech / San Jose Mercury News, June 15

Forces wanting to preserve California's AB32 law and its requirement for cutting carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 have their own campaign committee, dubbed Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs, co-chaired by former Secretary of State George Shultz, who often backs conservative politicians and policies. Among its members are the League of Women Voters, Google, the Audubon Society, labor unions including the Teamsters and the California Nurses Association, Levi Strauss and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

v   Government & Politics

“Brown Dog” Democrats Complicate Federal Climate Plan / Politico, July 16

About a dozen Democrats — from the Great Plains, Midwest, Appalachia and the South — continue to resist the idea of putting a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. And despite months of legwork by the president’s Senate allies, few of these so-called Brown Dogs are biting. Election-year concerns, fueled by GOP labels of a “national energy tax” and public angst over expansive government, have many moderate Democrats holding tightly to the fence.

Who Cooked the Planet? (Paul Krugman) / NYTimes, July 25

So why didn’t climate-change legislation get through the Senate? Let’s talk first about what didn’t cause the failure, because there have been many attempts to blame the wrong people. It wasn’t the science, the scientists, or the economics that killed action on climate change. So what was it? The answer is, the usual suspects: greed and cowardice.

Put a Price on Carbon (Marty Lagod & Jason Scott) / Politico, July 26

The U.S. Senate debate came down to one question: Will putting a price on carbon create — or cost — U.S. jobs? Sadly, political fears allowed myths about the legislation to overshadow the strong reality that comprehensive reform will create jobs and lead to economic growth. We are clean energy investors who come from different political parties. We are not experts in vote counting or horse trading. But we do know investors and markets will [send money] to places like China, Europe and India — and U.S. jobs will go with it.

California Yanks Home Solar, Energy Retrofit Loans / NYTimes, July 29

California pulled funding for its home solar and energy-retrofit loans yesterday in response to federal mortgage overseers' negative ruling on the program.

Boxer, Fiorina have Opposing Views on Green Jobs / KGO/ABC, July 21

"Clearly clean energy jobs are growing at a faster rate than jobs in the overall economy and we found that not only in California, but also across the nation," said Cuttino. Cuttino says energy policies that promote green jobs are a benefit to job growth, but the Pew trust did not look at the specific effects of AB 32, nor at Fiorina's claim that repealing the measure would lead to more jobs.

Fiorina’s HP Mishaps Prompt Technology Executives to Back Boxer / Businessweek, Jun18

“Carly Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard Co., faces a wall of opposition from her Silicon Valley peers as she campaigns to win one of California’s U.S. Senate seats,” reports Ari Levy.  “Her victory in the Republican primary last week puts Fiorina up against Democrat incumbent Barbara Boxer, a senator since 1993. Boxer has the financial support of local executives, including Cisco Systems Inc.’s John Chambers, Oracle Corp.’s Larry Ellison, Netflix Inc.’s Reed Hastings, and John Doerr from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.” See also, Politico, June 24

“Smart Grid Architecture and Standards”  / US House Hearing Summary

On July 1^st, the Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation held a hearing on the development of interoperability and cyber security standards that will facilitate the growth of a reliable, efficient, and secure Smart Grid. For a summary of the hearing, please click here

Silicon Valley: DC Doesn’t Get Tech /  Politico, July 6

Some call it Capitol Hill’s own “digital divide” — the growing gap in understanding between lawmakers responsible for resolving the tech community’s most pressing issues and the industry leaders who first call attention to these issues. The gap is all the more worrisome to tech industry leaders because of the speed with which new devices and practices are clashing with old ways of doing business. Closing that gap is crucial, some valley leaders say, as technology increasingly intersects with larger questions about economic recovery and individual rights.

v   Business, Science, & Investment

Going Backward: Prop 23’s Threat to Calif Jobs & Investment, Clean Economy Network

CEN’s economic analysis convincingly shows that passage of Prop 23 will jeopardize a half million clean tech jobs, 12,000 companies and billions of dollars of private investment in CA, creating a domino effect that will harm U.S. competitiveness. (July 2010)

China’s Clean Energy Push / Center for American Progress

China has made large-scale investments in clean energy manufacturing and infrastructure. These signal China’s clear desire to lead the world in clean energy technology production, deployment, and eventually innovation. It also underscores the need for the United States to move aggressively to articulate our own clean energy strategy—one that builds on our historic strengths in innovation, entrepreneurship, and high-value added manufacturing. (June 2010)

Taking on the Tool Belt Recession: Energy Efficiency Retrofits / Center for American Progress

Today, 2.1 million construction workers are out of a job. Jobs are down 38 percent since 2006 in residential construction alone. This “tool belt recession” in the construction trades spills over to other parts of the economy as well. Because of declining demand for construction many manufacturing industry sectors that produce building products are currently operating at close to half their production capacity … This memo looks at data from the Census Bureau, the Federal Reserve, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics to demonstrate the urgent conditions facing blue-collar workers in America today and to show the capacity of the home performance retrofit industry to quickly scale in creating good American jobs in construction. (March 2010)