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Morganza levee project inches forward in Congress
By Amy Wold, The Advocate. April 30, 2014.
“The Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee protection system, which has inched its way along the federal authorization process for decades…” (read more)

Morganza levee project gets promising signs of progress
By The Daily Comet (Lafourche Parish, La.). April 29, 2014.
“After decades of waiting, local advocates of the Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee project could be on the verge of seeing their frustration turn to satisfaction…” (read more)

Louisiana commercial fishery tops Gulf of Mexico in total catch and revenue
By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune. April 30, 2014.
“Louisiana commercial fishers in 2012 had the largest amount of commercial seafood landed in the Gulf of Mexico…” (read more)

Hog Commander summoned by West Bank levee board to limit feral hog damage
By Andrea Shaw, The Times-Picayune. April 29, 2014.
“A Denham Springs company will spend two months trying to contain the feral hogs that are tearing…” (read more)

Morganza levee project inches forward in Congress
By Amy Wold, The Advocate. April 30, 2014.
“The Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee protection system, which has inched its way along the federal authorization process for decades…” (read more)

Morganza levee project gets promising signs of progress
By The Daily Comet (Lafourche Parish, La.). April 29, 2014.
“After decades of waiting, local advocates of the Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee project could be on the verge of seeing their frustration turn to satisfaction…” (read more)

Louisiana commercial fishery tops Gulf of Mexico in total catch and revenue
By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune. April 30, 2014.
“Louisiana commercial fishers in 2012 had the largest amount of commercial seafood landed in the Gulf of Mexico…” (read more)

Hog Commander summoned by West Bank levee board to limit feral hog damage
By Andrea Shaw, The Times-Picayune. April 29, 2014.
“A Denham Springs company will spend two months trying to contain the feral hogs that are tearing…” (read more)

LISTENING to the polarized energy debate in the United States, you might think natural gas was an economic and geopolitical cure-all — or an environmental curse.

By Elena Craft, PhD

Source: eoearth.org

Today marks the second in a series of clean air court victories that are nothing less than triumphant for air quality and health in Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in favor of Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), a clean air standard that will protect the health of Americans across 28 Eastern states, including Texas, from the harmful air pollution emitted by distant power plants that moves across state borders. For Texas, the nation’s number one emitter of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and the number two emitter of sulfur dioxide (SO2), these vital clean air protections will safeguard the health of our children and elderly and revoke the coal industry’s free license to pollute without limitation, shielding neighboring states from lethal particulate matter and smog-forming pollution. Not to mention, today’s decision (once again) proves that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s crusade to dismantle EPA’s common sense standards is fruitless, wastes taxpayer’s dollars, and jeopardizes the public health of all  Texans.

Much like the life-saving Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), upheld earlier this month by the U.S. Court of Appeals, CSAPR will reduce sulfur dioxide levels from power plants in eastern power plants by 73% and nitrogen oxide levels by 54% from 2005 levels. The emissions reductions from CSAPR alone will save up to 1,704 lives in Texas and provide the state with $5.8 to $14 billion annually in health benefits starting in 2014. Despite these substantial health benefits, the State of Texas challenged the rule to prevent a handful of coal plants from switching to low-sulfur coal, increasing scrubber efficiency, or installing readily-available pollution-control technology.

Source: EPA

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who was infamously quoted as saying, “What I really do for fun is I go into the office, [and] I sue the Obama administration” has endlessly opposed the current administration’s efforts to clean our air under the dubious pretense that regulations will be too costly for the state’s coal industry. This is simply not true, yet these suits are costing Texans millions in order to protect the interests of dirty coal power producers. Abbott has sued the federal government 31 times since 2004, needlessly costing Texan taxpayer’s nearly $4 million. Not surprising, more than half of these lawsuits were filed against the EPA. With this recent series of clean air victories that will put in place common sense safeguards for human health and air quality, it’s time for Abbott to end the vendetta against environmental protections and stop wasting taxpayer’s dollars.

Texans deserve leaders that will fight for their health and the livelihood of future generations; we do not need ideological leaders who will serve office on behalf of industry. These two recent decisions come as resounding victories for Texans who care about life-saving actions to address out-of-control air pollution from the state’s largest sources. Texas has abundant natural gas, cheap wind power, and plentiful solar energy potential. These energy resources have ignited an energy boom in the state, along with a rise in manufacturing and jobs that are poised to benefit Texas for years to come. Rather than fight for the aging, polluting power plants of the past, Texas leaders should invest in world-class wind and solar energy resources to maintain the state’s leadership in the new American energy economy and protect Texas communities from the debilitating impacts of air pollution.

By Elena Craft, PhD

Source: eoearth.org

Today marks the second in a series of clean air court victories that are nothing less than triumphant for air quality and health in Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in favor of Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), a clean air standard that will protect the health of Americans across 28 Eastern states, including Texas, from the harmful air pollution emitted by distant power plants that moves across state borders. For Texas, the nation’s number one emitter of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and the number two emitter of sulfur dioxide (SO2), these vital clean air protections will safeguard the health of our children and elderly and revoke the coal industry’s free license to pollute without limitation, shielding neighboring states from lethal particulate matter and smog-forming pollution. Not to mention, today’s decision (once again) proves that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s crusade to dismantle EPA’s common sense standards is fruitless, wastes taxpayer’s dollars, and jeopardizes the public health of all  Texans.

Much like the life-saving Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), upheld earlier this month by the U.S. Court of Appeals, CSAPR will reduce sulfur dioxide levels from power plants in eastern power plants by 73% and nitrogen oxide levels by 54% from 2005 levels. The emissions reductions from CSAPR alone will save up to 1,704 lives in Texas and provide the state with $5.8 to $14 billion annually in health benefits starting in 2014. Despite these substantial health benefits, the State of Texas challenged the rule to prevent a handful of coal plants from switching to low-sulfur coal, increasing scrubber efficiency, or installing readily-available pollution-control technology.

Source: EPA

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who was infamously quoted as saying, “What I really do for fun is I go into the office, [and] I sue the Obama administration” has endlessly opposed the current administration’s efforts to clean our air under the dubious pretense that regulations will be too costly for the state’s coal industry. This is simply not true, yet these suits are costing Texans millions in order to protect the interests of dirty coal power producers. Abbott has sued the federal government 31 times since 2004, needlessly costing Texan taxpayer’s nearly $4 million. Not surprising, more than half of these lawsuits were filed against the EPA. With this recent series of clean air victories that will put in place common sense safeguards for human health and air quality, it’s time for Abbott to end the vendetta against environmental protections and stop wasting taxpayer’s dollars.

Texans deserve leaders that will fight for their health and the livelihood of future generations; we do not need ideological leaders who will serve office on behalf of industry. These two recent decisions come as resounding victories for Texans who care about life-saving actions to address out-of-control air pollution from the state’s largest sources. Texas has abundant natural gas, cheap wind power, and plentiful solar energy potential. These energy resources have ignited an energy boom in the state, along with a rise in manufacturing and jobs that are poised to benefit Texas for years to come. Rather than fight for the aging, polluting power plants of the past, Texas leaders should invest in world-class wind and solar energy resources to maintain the state’s leadership in the new American energy economy and protect Texas communities from the debilitating impacts of air pollution.

Written by Judith A. Ross

The TV series, Years of Living Dangerously, continues to explore the personal impact of climate change and the politics and science behind it. 

Just after the opening credits of Episode 3, aptly titled, “The Surge,”  we see an aerial view of Hurricane Sandy as it closes in on New York’s Staten Island. It is an enormous, fast-spinning mass of white: scary, surreal, ominous monster of a storm that took more than 20 lives on Staten Island alone.

Viewers are then introduced to Patricia Dresch, whose life was forever changed by Sandy. Dresch describes every mother’s nightmare to MSNBC anchor and “Years” correspondent Chris Hayes: a wall of water that ripped through her Staten Island home, killed her husband and 13-year-old daughter, and left her dangling from the phone lines. “That’s how high up I was,” she recalls, adding, “I’ll never see her get married, I’ll never see her grow up. I don’t want to see her in her grave…”

Hayes also trails Republican Congressman Michael Grimm (yes, THAT Michael Grimm), as he works to help his constituents recover from the storm. At first, Grimm isn’t willing to accept that climate change is man-made, or engage in political debate about what is causing it.

He finally comes around, but is reluctant to take on the issue, claiming that Congress is focused on other things. Hayes refuses to let him off the hook, and tells Grimm,

 “If history unfolds in the way that I think and science thinks it does, and makes these distinctions between the people that actually had the fortitude to stand up and say the unpopular thing and those who didn’t. History judges those people incredibly harshly, it puts them in two categories: it puts them in the categories of people that met the biggest challenge of their time, and the people that didn’t.”

The episode’s parallel story line explores the cause of events like Hurricane Sandy. “Years” correspondent Dr. M. Sanjayan, Executive Vice President and senior scientist at Conservation International, travels to Christmas Island, located in the southern Pacific, near the equator. This area is the source of El Niño, a naturally occurring rise in water temperature of up to 14 degrees that lasts about 6 months, and reorganizes the atmospheric circulation of the entire globe. Atmospheric changes brought on by El Niño can result in all manner of natural disasters — from droughts to floods.

Sanjayan asks scientist Kim Cobb whether El Niños are getting worse because of human impact on our climate. And just as the aerial image of Hurricane Sandy is breathtaking in an ominous way, the source of Cobb’s answer is breathtaking in a miraculous one. Coral, like trees, is an environmental archivist that can store data for thousands of years.

Coral, explains Cobb, stops growing when it gets too hot. In a core specimen taken from the ocean floor, we see a gash, or disruption of growth, that dates back to 1997-1998, the year of the worst El Niño event on record: more than 20,000 people were killed worldwide in a rash of floods, mud slides, droughts, and fires.

Cobb discovers the answer to Sanjayan’s question inside samples of fossilized coral that contain thousands of years of data. Her findings are striking.

“There’s something different about these 30 to 40 years in the recent past: larger events, more frequent events….The inference in uncovering an unprecedented behavior in climate in the last 30, 40 years as opposed to the natural variations of the last 6000 — the strong inference is that that is causally linked and that it’s related to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”

Cobb is talking about rising carbon dioxide caused by human activity. In fact, as a group of Staten Island teens learn when climate scientists from Columbia University visit their school after Hurricane Sandy, one out of every four carbon dioxide molecules in the atmosphere is caused by human activity. And the extra foot of sea level caused by climate change played a huge role in making Sandy worse.

Radley Horton, PhD tells the students,

“ …. If you think of a basketball analogy — it is like the equivalent of raising the floor of a basketball court by one foot without changing the height of the rims at all. You’re just going to get many more slam dunks in the form of coastal flooding.”

Those explanations are cold comfort, however, to someone like Patricia Dresch who has lost her family and her home. As the episode winds down, we see her visiting the graves of her husband and daughter. She’s sobbing, so it’s hard to make out her exact words, but it sounds like she’s saying,

“It’s not supposed to be like this.”

 No, it’s not, and that’s why we must take action now.

Photo via tumblr


TELL EPA YOU SUPPORT NEW LIMITS ON CARBON POLLUTION




Written by Moms Clean Air Force

This was written by Dorthea E. Thomas, CEO and Founder of The Minority Women in Leadership Commission.

Living in a city full of environmental hazards such as tar sands, illegal dumping, and coal-fired facilities that emit tons of pollutants in our air and water every year, I’ve become empowered by necessity to become the change I wish to see in Detroit.

The World Health Organization published a report stating air pollution causes about 1 in 8 deaths and air polllution has become the single biggest environmental health risk. By reducing air pollution levels, we can reduce the burden of disease from stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and both chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma.

After losing my grandmother from a multitude of very rare cancers, I’ve also had health issues. I was diagnosed with an eye disease called scleritis which is affected by the atmospheric pressure of carbon dioxide (greenhouse gases) — I worry about my environment. So I knew I had to stand up and do something even if no one else would.

Where I come from social justice activism is considered a way of survival. If we don’t fight, we won’t live. If we don’t stand up, we’ll be walked on. I am just trying to survive and take others with me along the way.

I am an activist because I believe my voice has the power to influence the betterment of my community, and our environment. We need to push for healthier, sustainable communities for generations to come by educating and empowering others.

My mission in life is to advocate for healthier communities and better clean energy options, while promoting better economic opportunities in the green job sector. Because of this mission, I decided to write for Mom’s Clean Air  Force. I believe that in order to make an effective change, we need job-creating regulations to assure that our children have clean air right now, and for their future. For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change and air pollution, because studies have shown that children are more vulnerable to the many effects of air pollution, climate change and fossil fuel combustion.

With high hopes, I  want to pass down a legacy to my future family that their mother, grandmother or great grandmother did all she could to make a difference in this world, and provide the best quality of life for generations to come. As an environmental justice advocate, I look forward to spreading a message of hope, justice and education by working with Mom’s Clean Air Force.

Dorthea E. Thomas is the CEO and Founder of The Minority Women in Leadership Commission which mission is to educate and empower young women of color to increase their leadership capabilities as social change agents. As a community organizer and sustainable technology specialist focusing on sustainable environmental design, she advocates on behalf on environmental justice issues. With the heart of a public servant, she is also the 1st Vice President of the NAACP Michigan Youth and College Division and the National Environmental and Climate Justice Youth Ambassador. She self-identifies as an Eco-Glam enthusiast and enjoys creating natural skin and body products at home. In each capacity, she aims to help be the change she wish to see in a healthier, cleaner and more just society for generations to come.

JOIN MCAF

Written by Ronnie Citron-Fink

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) welcomed today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision clearing the way for a clean-air regulation to move forward to protect New Hampshire and other downwind states from pollutants emitted by out-of-state power plants. Ayotte has fought efforts in the Senate aimed at rolling back the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which encourages the use of the best technology available so downwind states such as New Hampshire will be able to achieve national clean air standards.

“Air pollution doesn’t stop at state borders, and New Hampshire shouldn’t be the tailpipe for pollutants from out-of-state power plants. Without this rule in place, New Hampshire would be unable to achieve national clean air standards because of air pollution that is outside of the state’s regulatory control,” said Senator Ayotte. “It’s a matter of common sense to ensure that one state’s emissions aren’t unduly harming another state’s air quality, and I’m pleased that the rule will move forward.”

Senator Ayotte voted in 2011 against Senate Joint Resolution 27 – a Resolution of Disapproval that sought to prevent the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule from being implemented. The resolution failed by a vote of 41 to 56.


TELL EPA YOU SUPPORT NEW LIMITS ON CARBON POLLUTION




By Richard Denison

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.

Release in response to today's House Environment and Economy Subcommittee hearing on a revised discussion draft of the Chemicals in Commerce Act (CICA)

Today’s hearing makes clear that the discussion draft has made progress but still falls far short of legislation that will fix the fundamental flaws of the current law, according to Dr. Richard Denison, Lead Senior Scientist at Environmental Defense Fund. He urged all sides to keep the bipartisan process moving forward in both houses of Congress.

“While bipartisan discussions have yielded a number of substantial improvements to address serious concerns with the original draft, the most problematic provisions remain virtually untouched,” Denison said. “The goal now should be to keep the conversations going.”

Examples of progress include giving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to require testing where data are insufficient for prioritization purposes; incorporation of deadlines for agency action to assess and address risks of high-priority chemicals; and less prescriptive and onerous information quality and evaluation requirements.

Sections of the draft pose major concerns and fail to strike a fair and reasonable balance. Examples include the sweeping preemption of state authority for chemicals never subject to a thorough EPA safety review; overly broad allowances for companies to mask the identity of chemicals even long after market entry; and a failure to ensure that conditions placed on new chemicals apply to all companies making or using them.

“We’re optimistic that solutions are at hand that address the needs of all stakeholders, but it is going to take a redoubling of effort by all sides to get there,” he said.

By Richard Denison

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.

Release in response to today's House Environment and Economy Subcommittee hearing on a revised discussion draft of the Chemicals in Commerce Act (CICA)

Today’s hearing makes clear that the discussion draft has made progress but still falls far short of legislation that will fix the fundamental flaws of the current law, according to Dr. Richard Denison, Lead Senior Scientist at Environmental Defense Fund. He urged all sides to keep the bipartisan process moving forward in both houses of Congress.

“While bipartisan discussions have yielded a number of substantial improvements to address serious concerns with the original draft, the most problematic provisions remain virtually untouched,” Denison said. “The goal now should be to keep the conversations going.”

Examples of progress include giving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to require testing where data are insufficient for prioritization purposes; incorporation of deadlines for agency action to assess and address risks of high-priority chemicals; and less prescriptive and onerous information quality and evaluation requirements.

Sections of the draft pose major concerns and fail to strike a fair and reasonable balance. Examples include the sweeping preemption of state authority for chemicals never subject to a thorough EPA safety review; overly broad allowances for companies to mask the identity of chemicals even long after market entry; and a failure to ensure that conditions placed on new chemicals apply to all companies making or using them.

“We’re optimistic that solutions are at hand that address the needs of all stakeholders, but it is going to take a redoubling of effort by all sides to get there,” he said.

By Richard Denison

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.

Release in response to today's House Environment and Economy Subcommittee hearing on a revised discussion draft of the Chemicals in Commerce Act (CICA)

Today’s hearing makes clear that the discussion draft has made progress but still falls far short of legislation that will fix the fundamental flaws of the current law, according to Dr. Richard Denison, Lead Senior Scientist at Environmental Defense Fund. He urged all sides to keep the bipartisan process moving forward in both houses of Congress.

“While bipartisan discussions have yielded a number of substantial improvements to address serious concerns with the original draft, the most problematic provisions remain virtually untouched,” Denison said. “The goal now should be to keep the conversations going.”

Examples of progress include giving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to require testing where data are insufficient for prioritization purposes; incorporation of deadlines for agency action to assess and address risks of high-priority chemicals; and less prescriptive and onerous information quality and evaluation requirements.

Sections of the draft pose major concerns and fail to strike a fair and reasonable balance. Examples include the sweeping preemption of state authority for chemicals never subject to a thorough EPA safety review; overly broad allowances for companies to mask the identity of chemicals even long after market entry; and a failure to ensure that conditions placed on new chemicals apply to all companies making or using them.

“We’re optimistic that solutions are at hand that address the needs of all stakeholders, but it is going to take a redoubling of effort by all sides to get there,” he said.

BP Says Gulf Cleanup Over
By Steve Curwood, NPR – Living on Earth. April 25, 2014.
*Melanie Driscoll featured
“There’s a saying about ecology that it’s not rocket science, it’s a lot more complicated than that. We’re looking at a system…” (read more)

Zeringue: Diversions are essential to coastal restoration
By Amy Wold, The Advocate. April 28, 2014.
“River diversions are only one part of the integrated plan for coastal restoration and flood protection in the state…” (read more)

Coastal Restoration Fund Maneuver Used to Balance Budget
By Sue Lincoln, WWNO (New Orleans, La.). April 29, 2014.
“There’s no one-time money for recurring expenditures in the budget,” Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols guaranteed from the start of this year’s budget process…” (read more)

Inside Report: Oil cleanup not over ‘by a long shot’
By Amy Wold, The Advocate. April 28, 2014.
“The U.S. Coast Guard has moved almost three miles of Louisiana beach into a new phase of cleanup called a “Middle Response…” (read more)

Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority proposes $725 million plan to help save our coasts
By Lauren McCoy, WGMB (Baton Rouge, La.). April 28, 2014.
“There's a big push to protect Louisiana's coastline and for good reason. Our state loses nearly 35 square miles of land every year…” (read more)

Morganza to the Gulf to get House hearing needed for 'authorization'
By Bruce Alpert, The Times-Picayune. April 28, 2014.
“The $10.3 billion Morganza to the Gulf levee system appears headed for congressional authorization…” (read more)

Louisiana seafood certification program tightens rules
By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune. April 28, 2014.
“The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries on Monday announced rule changes to its seafood certification program…” (read more)

BP Says Gulf Cleanup Over
By Steve Curwood, NPR – Living on Earth. April 25, 2014.
*Melanie Driscoll featured
“There’s a saying about ecology that it’s not rocket science, it’s a lot more complicated than that. We’re looking at a system…” (read more)

Zeringue: Diversions are essential to coastal restoration
By Amy Wold, The Advocate. April 28, 2014.
“River diversions are only one part of the integrated plan for coastal restoration and flood protection in the state…” (read more)

Coastal Restoration Fund Maneuver Used to Balance Budget
By Sue Lincoln, WWNO (New Orleans, La.). April 29, 2014.
“There’s no one-time money for recurring expenditures in the budget,” Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols guaranteed from the start of this year’s budget process…” (read more)

Inside Report: Oil cleanup not over ‘by a long shot’
By Amy Wold, The Advocate. April 28, 2014.
“The U.S. Coast Guard has moved almost three miles of Louisiana beach into a new phase of cleanup called a “Middle Response…” (read more)

Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority proposes $725 million plan to help save our coasts
By Lauren McCoy, WGMB (Baton Rouge, La.). April 28, 2014.
“There's a big push to protect Louisiana's coastline and for good reason. Our state loses nearly 35 square miles of land every year…” (read more)

Morganza to the Gulf to get House hearing needed for 'authorization'
By Bruce Alpert, The Times-Picayune. April 28, 2014.
“The $10.3 billion Morganza to the Gulf levee system appears headed for congressional authorization…” (read more)

Louisiana seafood certification program tightens rules
By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune. April 28, 2014.
“The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries on Monday announced rule changes to its seafood certification program…” (read more)

By EDF Blogs

By: Gavin Purchas, Policy Director, Clean Energy, and Eric Gimon, Philanthropist

Fântânele-Cogealac Wind Farm, Romania

For those of you who are avid viewers of the TV show, “House,” you are probably all too familiar with Dr. House’s chaotic yet extremely effective style. He solves cases and achieves fame and notoriety, while those working with him try to learn valuable lessons along the way, hoping none of the crazy will rub off on them. So too it is with Europe and the many countries around the world looking to learn a thing or two from its experience with implementing one of the most aggressive set of renewable energy targets in the world.

The European Union’s (EU) attitude towards renewable energy started out as a rational set of targets followed by supporting financial mechanisms, but has ended up as a chaotic series of missteps that have resulted in the region losing its number one spot as the world’s clean energy leader. For countries following the EU (House’s team and colleagues in this metaphor) the message is simple: Do what we did in the beginning and not what we’re doing now…or else you’ll end up losing your license.

The recent decision by the EU Commission to phase out support for renewable energy technologies by 2017 is the latest in a series of missteps across the continent that have led to decreased investment and fewer renewable energy generator installations.

Rocky Mountain Institute

The first steps were triggered by the need for austerity measures, which led to the retrospective rollback of renewable support in countries like Spain, and decreased financial support in countries like Italy and Germany. As a result, in 2013 Germany saw a 57 percent reduction in solar installations compared to 2012, while Italy saw a decline of 70 percent, resulting in the countries losing their first and second spots (respectively) to China and Japan in the global rankings for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations.

The story for wind is similar, with installations decreasing by eight percent across the EU as a whole. Germany and the UK make up the bulk of all new installations in Europe at 42 percent, while other countries with previously healthy markets such as Spain, Italy, and France have seen their rate of wind energy installations decrease by 84, 65, and 24 percent respectively. This hit to the clean energy economy has been at a great loss to jobs in the renewables sector and the families they support.

Yet it is not all bad news. While both investment and installations are down, renewable energy installations made up 72 percent of all new generation projects in 2013 (up from 70 percent in 2012).

Furthermore, the level of support that has been provided over the last ten years by EU renewable energy policies has allowed European countries, especially Germany, to enjoy much lower installed costs for solar PV. In fact, the total cost of solar PV sits at $2.21/watt in Germany compared to $4.22/watt in the U.S. A recent report by the Rocky Mountain Institute entitled, “Reducing Solar PV Soft Costs: Focus on Installation Labor,” reveals that a significant part of the difference between what Germany is paying for solar versus what the U.S. is paying, is that the U.S. shells out $1.22/watt for installation and other ‘soft costs’ like customer acquisition, compared to $0.33 in Germany. Essentially Germany has gotten a lot better at getting customers interested in taking up solar and a lot more efficient at installing the units.

So what’s the lesson? Firstly, robust and predictable support for renewable energy policies have helped to bring down the cost of solar PV in the EU to half that of the US, resulting in a greater number of installations, a far higher capacity base, and a much larger and more vibrant clean energy economy. Had the member states and Commission stayed the course, faster cost reductions could have been achieved and the fall in investment and installations could have been avoided. However, by making the markets more volatile, the EU has succeeded in surrendering their global, clean energy leadership role to China and Japan.

If the U.S. is to learn a lesson from this experience, it is not that renewable policies are ready to be removed, but rather that they need to be maintained, and as the market evolves to favor renewables, scaled down in a way that is predictable to investors and in line with technology cost reductions.

To quote Dr. House, “Mistakes are as serious as the results they cause!” The EU is making a big mistake in scaling back support for renewables and the results are already being seen. The rest of the world should not follow.