Brian Smith's blog

The U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change has announced a policy that would ban new coal-fired power plants without carbon capture and storage (CCS).

New plants would be required to capture and store CO2 equal to at least 300 megawatts of CO2 emissions from the day they go online, and would be expected to capture all their CO2 emissions by 2025. For comparison, the climate bill that passed out of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee last week requires only 60 percent capture and storage by 2025 for new plants. Government-subsidized demonstration projects in the U.K. will cost at least £10 billion ($16.76 billion).

That’s quite an investment in coal that will not be spent on renewables. The energy plan also calls for 10 additional nuclear power plants to be built largely on sites where nuclear plants already exist, a part of the proposal that was met by skepticism from green campaigners.

At this week's U.N. climate talks in Barcelona, a big showdown is brewing between the rich countries and the Global South. The dispute boils down to whether the rich countries ("Annex 1 countries" including the USA) have made strong enough commitments heading into Copenhagen.

If the Annex 1 countries, who have profited from industrial pollution for decades, have missed their Kyoto targets, how can they now demand poor nations dramatically reduce their emissions? Here's more on that issue.

The dispute led to a brief walkout. But, African nations are now back at the table.

Meanwhile, back at home…

Despite the insistence of multi-billion dollar ad campaigns from the coal industry, “clean coal” simply does not exist.

Even when scrubbers are installed to filter air pollution from coal-fired power plants, the mercury, selenium, and other toxic heavy metals released by coal combustion have to go somewhere. Sadly, too much pollution is ending up in America’s rivers and groundwater.

This week, the New York Times’ excellent series "Toxic Waters" takes a look at the dangers of shifting coal pollution from air to water.

Earthjustice was more than a little surprised to hear that a regional office of the Tongass National Forest is moving ahead with plans to open a roadless area in America's largest temperate rainforest to logging. The Central Kupreanof timber sale project, would carve 15 miles of new roads and log 1,339 acres of old growth forest.

But this is not a done deal. As the press release from the regional national forest office admits…

"The Final EIS is being released without an accompanying Record of Decision (ROD) in light of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary's memorandum dated May 28, 2009, which stated the Secretary reserved decision-making authority over construction and reconstruction of roads and the cutting, sale or removal of timber in Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRA)."

Earthjustice attorney, Tom Waldo called the news, "a reckless action by local officials in the Tongass National Forest…The Secretary of Agriculture should just say no to this project."

The final decision now sits on the desk of Agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack.

David Brower

In his final years of life, David Brower spoke of the need for Global CPR (conservation, preservation and restoration). What a shame Dave is not around to witness a few major river and stream restoration projects that are upon us.

Last week, stretches of the San Joaquin River that had been dry for more than 60 years began to flow once again. The eventual goal is to reintroduce salmon to the river in 2012. Our hats are off to all the organizations that fought so hard to make this dream a reality.

Earthjustice has been hard at work on restoration projects as well.

Fox News' Sean Hannity and his crew came to California's Central Valley last week to hold a rally that lambasted environmental protections for the delta smelt, Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon, Central Valley spring-run chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, green sturgeon, and southern resident killer whales.

According to recent biological opinions by federal government scientists, all these species depend on a healthy San Francisco Bay-Delta for their survival. Earthjustice lawyers led the team that overturned Bush administration rules that imperiled the Delta by allowing excessive water exports to industrial agriculture in the Valley. 

Solar panels

The San Joaquin Valley is facing hard times.

A new economic report by the University of the Pacific found that the ongoing drought caused 6,000 fewer agricultural jobs in the San Joaquin Valley, representing $170 million in employee compensation. But that number was far overshadowed by the housing downturn, which caused 47,000 lost construction and real-estate-related jobs, or $1.8 billion in employee compensation.

Seeking a solution, the tiny town of Mendota on the west side of the valley recently discovered an alternative to dependence on construction and agriculture. The light at the end of the tunnel may be their most abundant resource: sunlight.

Unhappy with the Waxman-Markey climate bill, polluting industries are planning their own version of Town Hall disruptions recently seen over health care reform. The goal is to shout down any public discussion of the most important environmental issue facing the world.

Greenpeace obtained a copy of a secret memo allegedly being distributed by the American Petroleum Institute that encourages industry workers to  "aim a loud message at those states’ U.S. senators" with a series of rallies. They want senators to reject "tax increases, and access limitations on jobs and on consumers’ energy costs" and call on sentaors "to oppose unsound energy policy and 'get it right'."

Are you ready for the summer?

We learned recently that the Bush administration kept photographic evidence of climate change from the American people. The pictures from US spy satellites were declassified by the Obama White House. The anti-science bias of the last administration continues to shock.

As proof of global warming mounts, California is preparing for decreased snow pack in the mountains, flooding on its coast, raging wildfires, and increased infectious disease in cities.

A new report predicts – and warns that the state must adapt to these unstoppable consequences. The report, 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy, is still in draft form and open for public comment for the next 45 days. It is the nation’s first such official effort to delineate and plan for impacts associated with global warming.

The new book Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities has been warmly received by the cycling community. Musician/artist/cyclist David Byrne called it, "...great ammunition for those of us who would like to see American cities become more bike-friendly" in his New York Times book review.

Author Jeff Mapes, senior political reporter at The Oregonian, told the crowd at a recent book reading in San Francisco that his identification as a cyclist came late in life, during the time when Portland, Oregon was becoming the Amsterdam of the United States. After riding to work through America's bike Mecca, Mapes would joke to his co-workers "I Lost 15 pounds Commuting to Work, Ask Me How." But it's no joke, as recent research suggests, not surprisingly, that walking or biking to work is linked with better fitness.