Clean Tech Policy Update - April 9, 2010

News Summary

Top Stories

• Calif Regulators Issue New Rules on Public Power, San Jose Mercury News
• Local Municipalities Enter Lawsuit Against Prop. 16, The Business Journal
• California’s Updated Economic Analysis Finds Climate Plan Offers Greener Days Ahead, FavStocks
• Boost for U.S.-China Clean Energy Research, New York Times

Government & Politics

•  News Analysis: Too Soon for Another Partisan Battle?  LA Times
• News Risk Is Clear in Offshore Drilling; Payoff Isn’t, NY Times
• Carbon Permits Said to Be in Excess in Europe, NY Times
• California’s Climate Law Under Attack in Ballot Initiative, Public Radio International
• Who’s Up for Building Bridges? New York Times

Science, Jobs, & Investment

• Clean Technology Investments Bounce Back, New York Times
• Green Gone Wrong: Can Capitalism Save the Planet? New York Times
• Remember the historical role of federal investment in Silicon Valley, San Jose Mercury News
• Building a Green Economy, NY Times Magazine

Articles

Top Stories

Calif Regulators Issue New Rules on Public Power / San Jose Mercury News, April 9

State energy regulators have issued new guidelines meant to curb tactics used by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in its campaign against Marin County's new public power agency.  Among the new rules issued Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission is one that says utility companies cannot simply refuse to supply electricity to community choice aggregators.

Local Municipalities Enter Lawsuit Against Prop. 16 / The Business Journal, March 24

The San Joaquin Valley Power Authority is one of several groups included in a lawsuit to disqualify from the June ballot a proposition backed by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. that would necessitate a two-thirds vote before municipalities could sell electricity to community members.

California’s Updated Economic Analysis Finds Climate Plan Offers Greener Days Ahead / FavStocks, April 7

On March 24, California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) released a new economic analysis that found that California can grow its economy while meeting air pollution reduction goals of its Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32). This post is the second in a series. The first summarized ARB’s modeling methods and findings about gross state product. This one covers jobs.

Boost for U.S.-China Clean Energy Research / New York Times, April 2

The Department of Energy announced this week the availability of $37.5 million in financing to support a joint United States-China clean energy research initiative.

Government & Politics

News Analysis: Too Soon for Another Partisan Battle?  / LA Times, April 4

President Obama's victory on healthcare gave him some much-needed political momentum. But he seems disinclined to ride that into another all-in battle this year on his keystone domestic agenda items of climate change and immigration. Instead, the White House is planning to focus on narrower efforts to pump up the economy, rewrite financial regulation, amend campaign finance laws to limit corporate donations and impose new fees on banks to repay federal bailout funds. Nonetheless, the President "has implemented a lot of Republican ideas and goals into broad energy policy," said Joshua Freed, clean-energy policy director for the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way. "It's even bigger than saying, 'I want this in the bill.' It's acting."

News Risk Is Clear in Offshore Drilling; Payoff Isn’t  /  NY Times, April 4

In proposing a major expansion of offshore oil and gas development, President Obama set out to fashion a carefully balanced plan that would attract bipartisan support for climate and energy legislation while increasing production of domestic oil. It is not clear that the plan announced Wednesday will do either.

Carbon Permits Said to Be in Excess in Europe  /  NY Times, March 31

As the global economy faltered last year and factories idled, industries in the European Union benefited from one of the most lucrative outcomes of the recession: a huge excess of permits to emit carbon dioxide.

California’s Climate Law Under Attack in Ballot Initiative / Public Radio International, April 5

Arnold Schwarzenegger: “In California, we are proceeding on renewable energy requirements, and a cap and trade system for greenhouse gases, and limiting greenhouse gas emissions from cars. Nearly 60 percent of all venture capital in America flows through California, and this is creating the critical mass of money and intellect to develop new, green technologies." Governor Schwarzenegger has leaned heavily on businesses not to fund a measure that could tarnish his environmental legacy. So the effort has collected most of its money outside the state, about a million dollars so far, mostly from oil companies, including Valero, which owns two refineries here.

Who’s Up for Building Bridges? / New York Times, April 6

So, government matters. It needs to be incentivizing businesses to build their next factory in this country — at a time when every other nation is throwing incentives their way; it needs to be recruiting highly skilled immigrants; it needs to be setting the highest national education standards and funding basic research; it needs to be laying down the right energy regulations that will stimulate more clean-tech companies.

Business, Science, & Investment

Clean Technology Investments Bounce Back / New York Times, April 2

Global investments were up 29 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009 and 83 percent from the same quarter a year ago, according to a new report.

Green Gone Wrong: Can Capitalism Save the Planet? / New York Times, April 2

In a new book, Heather Rogers warns of the dangers of buying into green euphoria and says green capitalism is undermining ecological progress.

Remember the historical role of federal investment in Silicon Valley / San Jose Mercury News, February 20

Silicon Valley has the potential to be a leader in the emerging field of clean energy. We have a growing solar industry as well as opportunities to grow the tools for promoting energy generation and efficiency, including energy storage and smart-grid technologies. We also have the potential to become a leader in green transportation, including battery and hybrid technologies.

Building a Green Economy / NY Times Magazine, April 11

Like the debate over climate change itself, the debate over climate economics looks very different from the inside than it often does in popular media. The casual reader might have the impression that there are real doubts about whether emissions can be reduced without inflicting severe damage on the economy. In fact, once you filter out the noise generated by special-interest groups, you discover that there is widespread agreement among environmental economists that a market-based program to deal with the threat of climate change — one that limits carbon emissions by putting a price on them — can achieve large results at modest, though not trivial, cost. There is, however, much less agreement on how fast we should move, whether major conservation efforts should start almost immediately or be gradually increased over the course of many decades.

SUMMARY of CONGRESSIONAL CLIMATE & ENERGY LEGISLATION

Updated March 15, 2010

“The cap-and-trade bills in the House and Senate are dead.” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) stated the reality that Congress now faces as it negotiates a comprehensive climate and energy package that might get voted on before this November’s congressional elections.  One alternative to cap-and-trade has been a cap-and-dividend bill sponsored by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). The leading solution, though, appears to be coming from a bipartisan group of senators led by John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut), and Graham that would put a price on carbon emissions that targets only the electric utility, transportation, and industrial sectors of the economy.

The Senate is where the current debate lies because the House of Representatives already passed its bill in June 2009 (the “ACES Act” or the “Markey-Waxman” bill). The Kerry-Graham-Lieberman climate bill will join an energy bill written by Sen. Jeff Bingaman last Fall as the main vehicle for a new national policy. The House of Representatives must then decide what to do about its own bill and the Senate’s before President Obama signs anything into law. "It will be a very different mix of a bill from where we were at the end of the House effort," Kerry said. "It will be simpler, and hopefully, capable of attracting support."

I.   HOUSE CLIMATE & ENERGY BILL (“ACES Act” / “Waxman-Markey bill”)

Key Date: Passed June 2009 by House (219 to 212)

Authors: Rep. Henry Waxman, Chairman of House Energy & Commerce Cmte; Rep. Ed Markey, Chairman of Cmte on Energy Independence & Global Warming

More Info: www.pewclimate.org/acesa

• Cap-and-Trade
• Greenhouse Gas Reductions. 17 % reduction from 2005 levels by 2020 & 83 % by 2050
• US Renewable Energy Electricity Standard (RES) of 20% by 2020. Qualifying sources: energy efficiency, wind, solar, ocean, geothermal, biomass, biogas and biofuels derived exclusively from eligible biomass, landfill gas, hydrokinetic, waste-to-energy, wastewater-treatment gas, coal-mine methane, and new hydro at post-1992 dams
• R&D of $190 billion to energy efficiency, renewables, carbon capture & storage, electric vehicles
• Transmission Grid Supports.
• Energy Efficiency for Buildings, Lights, Appliances.
• Green Bank Financing Office.
• Carbon Offsets Program.
• Coal Plant Pollution & CCS Standards.
• Protections & Cost Supports for New Technology Development, Consumers, & Some Industries.

II.  SENATE CLIMATE BILL ( “Kerry-Graham-Lieberman”)

Key Dates: Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman are working on bipartisan compromise legislation for March 2010; March meeting occurred with Republican & Democratic senators with President Obama

Authors: Sen. John Kerry (Democrat), Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, Sen. Lindsey Graham (Republican), & Sen. Joe Lieberman (Independent)

• Cap-and-Trade Replaced with Carbon Caps on Specific Parts of the Economy – Electric Utilities, Transportation, and Industry.
• Greenhouse Gas Reductions. 17% reduction from 2005 levels by 2020 & 80% over “long term”
• Carbon Capture & Sequestration Standards & Research Funding
• Domestic Oil & Gas Production Expanded, Including New Offshore Drilling
• Nuclear Power: Incentives for nuclear power plants & low-emissions transportation

III.  SENATE ENERGY BILL (“American Clean Energy Leadership Act” / “Bingaman bill”)

Key Date: legislation passed by Energy Committee June 2009; additional amendments and new pieces of legislation are being debated in the Energy Committee in 2010

Author: Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Chairman of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee

• US Renewable Energy Electricity Standard (RES) of 15% by 2021.  Qualifying sources: energy efficiency, wind, solar, ocean, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas, incremental hydro, hydrokinetic, waste-to-energy, and new hydro at existing dams.
• Transmission “Interstate Highway System” & Grid Security.  Creates new planning system based on local, state and regional input with states taking initial lead. New security powers to Dept or Energy & FERC.
• Green Bank Financing Office
• CCS R&D Funding. $6.6 billion for 10 “early mover” large-scale CCS projects
• Offshore Drilling in Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Opens 3.8 billion barrels of new oil resources & 21.5 trillion cubic feet of new natural gas resources.