Restore or Retreat Annual General Membership Meeting

Monday, April 28, 2014

Guest Speaker: Justin Ehrenwerth, Executive Director, Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council

The RESTORE Act established a Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, comprised of the five Gulf States, as well as federal departments and agencies, which will manage a 30 percent share of Gulf oil spill Clean Water Act penalties distributed under the RESTORE Act for ecosystem restoration through a Comprehensive Plan.

When: Monday, April 28, 2014
11:30 am Registration
12:00pm Program

Where:
Envie Restaurant
207 East Bayou Road
Thibodaux, LA

Reservations are open to the public, but are requested by Wednesday, April 23.

Cost:
$25 payable in advance
$30 at the door
$250 table sponsors (seating for 8 with priority seating and event recognition)

Call (985) 448-4485 or fax (985) 448-4486 to RSVP or register online at www.restoreorretreat.org.

By Jim Marston

Source: Alternative Energies

The assault on successful renewable energy legislation continues, long after the facts have proven that state renewable policies deliver clean, affordable, and reliable energy solutions that the majority of Americans support. Apparently, the fossil fuel industry and its so-called “free market” allies didn’t get the memo.

There’s a great line in the opening scene of Ridley Scott’s 2000 blockbuster Gladiator where a soldier says to his general, as they are about to slaughter an overmatched foe, “People should know when they’re conquered.” The general replies, “Would you? Would I?”

So I can’t really blame the fossil fuel industry for fighting old battles in an effort to undo approaches that have increased investment in renewable energy in states around the country, created thousands of jobs, and continue to lower energy costs with each passing day.

The usual targets of their attacks are state laws that require a certain percentage of the state’s total energy generation to come from renewable sources like solar, wind, or hydropower. Ohio is the most recent battleground, where state legislators began hearing testimony last week on S.B. 310, a law that would freeze Ohio’s energy efficiency and renewable energy standards at their 2014 levels. Sometimes called renewable portfolio standards (RPS) or renewable energy standards (RES), these laws are in place in 30 states. They have not only proven economically successful across the country, but they are popular in both red and blue states alike.

Just last month, for example, a scientific poll found that Kansas’ 2009 renewable energy law enjoys overwhelming support across political lines: 73% of Republicans, 75% of Independents, and 82% of Democrats support the law. In fact, two-thirds of those polled said they would support increasing the state's renewable energy law, even if it increased their energy bills.

This is Kansas, mind you – not California – whose State Legislature is virtually 100% conservative Republican.

In Texas, which is the largest generator of wind energy in the country, the Republican comptroller has touted the state RPS as an economic driver: “After the RPS was implemented, Texas wind corporations and utilities invested $1 billion in wind power, creating jobs…and increasing the rural tax base.”

Everyone knows that Texas’ history is deeply rooted in oil and gas. But the state RPS is popular among elected officials that have witnessed the remarkable economic boom it sparked. Texas has already surpassed the RPS goal set for 2015. More than 1,300 companies employ more than 100,000 Texans in industries directly and indirectly related to renewable energy.

The state’s Public Utilities Commission concluded that mass deployment of wind reduces the price of electricity for the entire market – each 1,000 MW of wind lowers the wholesale price of electricity by $2.38/MWh.

Colorado’s program has also been a success. The American Wind Energy Association estimates that the state’s RPS is supporting nearly 4,000 direct and indirect jobs and generating a billion dollars in capital investment along with millions in leasing revenue for landowners who benefit from the policy.

There are other analyses, too, that show that RPS laws actually reduce energy prices, and the overall cost of renewable energy continues to fall. Solar panel prices dropped 60% between 2011 and mid-2012 – and they continue to plummet. Austin Energy is in talks to purchase half a billion dollars of solar energy from SunEdison at an astoundingly cheap $50/MWh (for comparison, natural gas is currently priced at more than $65/MWh).

But still, the attacks keep coming, full of questionable studies from fossil fuel-funded think tanks.

I can’t blame them. I’ve been fighting for what I believe in for decades, and I’ve had more defeats than wins. But I never gave up, and neither will the fossil fuel companies. What’s different now, however, is that the evidence against them is so convincing that voters, energy customers, and most everyone else recognize that opposition to renewable energy is based on lost corporate profits. Cries of “higher energy costs” and “lost jobs” are no longer credible arguments against the clean energy revolution. They may never know they’ve been conquered, but everyone else will.

This commentary originally appeared on our Energy Exchange blog. 

April 14, 2014

BP oil spill choked off important pelican nesting sites on Louisiana coast
By Bob Marshall, The Lens. April 11, 2014.
“The immediate impact of the lost nesting sites is likely to be felt more by humans than the birds, said Melanie Driscoll, the National Audubon Society’s director of bird conservation for the Gulf Coast…” (read more) 

Mississippi Basin Water Quality Declining Despite Conservation
By Brian Clark Howard, National Geographic. April 11, 2014.
“U.S. federal scientists say water quality has declined in the massive Mississippi River Basin in recent years…” (read more)

Beach and Dune Projects Near Grand Isle & Fourchon Play Big Role in Restoring Barataria Basin
By Coastal Angler.  April 1, 2014.
“Simone Maloz, executive director of Restore or Retreat, a non-profit group that advocates for coastal restoration and hurricane protection efforts…” (read more)

GNO Inc. describes branding strategies for Pelicans parternship [sic]
By Jed Lipinski, The Times-Picayune. April 11, 2014.
“Members of the New Orleans Pelicans basketball team will soon be carried aloft in seaplanes to explore the dynamics of the Louisiana coast…” (read more)

On 4th anniversary of BP oil spill, questions linger about health impact (+video)
By David Hammer, WWL TV (New Orleans, La.). April 11, 2014.
“With the fourth anniversary of the BP oil spill just nine days away, there are still major questions about the spill’s human health effects…” (read more)

New Surge Barrier in New Orleans Wins Prestigious Engineering Award
By Business Wire. April 9, 2014.
“The Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Surge Barrier (IHNC) located in New Orleans, Louisiana, and which Ben C. Gerwick, Inc. designed…” (read more)

 

BP oil spill choked off important pelican nesting sites on Louisiana coast
By Bob Marshall, The Lens. April 11, 2014.
“The immediate impact of the lost nesting sites is likely to be felt more by humans than the birds, said Melanie Driscoll, the National Audubon Society’s director of bird conservation for the Gulf Coast…” (read more) 

Mississippi Basin Water Quality Declining Despite Conservation
By Brian Clark Howard, National Geographic. April 11, 2014.
“U.S. federal scientists say water quality has declined in the massive Mississippi River Basin in recent years…” (read more)

Beach and Dune Projects Near Grand Isle & Fourchon Play Big Role in Restoring Barataria Basin
By Coastal Angler.  April 1, 2014.
“Simone Maloz, executive director of Restore or Retreat, a non-profit group that advocates for coastal restoration and hurricane protection efforts…” (read more)

GNO Inc. describes branding strategies for Pelicans parternship [sic]
By Jed Lipinski, The Times-Picayune. April 11, 2014.
“Members of the New Orleans Pelicans basketball team will soon be carried aloft in seaplanes to explore the dynamics of the Louisiana coast…” (read more)

On 4th anniversary of BP oil spill, questions linger about health impact (+video)
By David Hammer, WWL TV (New Orleans, La.). April 11, 2014.
“With the fourth anniversary of the BP oil spill just nine days away, there are still major questions about the spill’s human health effects…” (read more)

New Surge Barrier in New Orleans Wins Prestigious Engineering Award
By Business Wire. April 9, 2014.
“The Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Surge Barrier (IHNC) located in New Orleans, Louisiana, and which Ben C. Gerwick, Inc. designed…” (read more)

 

By Keenan Orfalea, Communications Intern, Environmental Defense Fund

Last month, ORA Estuaries took first place in the 2014 Water Challenge business pitch competition at New Orleans Entrepreneur Week. The Baton Rouge-based company beat out four other startups to claim the prize, which included $50,000 in seed money as well as free office space and legal counsel for a year. This support will help the company to expand the use of its innovative products and services in restoring Louisiana’s wetlands.

Tyler Ortego, president and founder of ORA Estuaries.

ORA Estuaries provides engineering, scientific and regulatory consulting services as well as project implementation for clients including local, state and federal governments. The company’s primary products are the patented OysterBreak™ and OysterKrete® technologies.

“The OysterBreak and OysterKrete technologies were originally developed in Louisiana to address Louisiana's coastal land loss,” said Tyler Ortego, president and founder of the company. “This prize package, combined with recent project successes, is critical to allowing ORA Estuaries to export that success to other areas of the country and world.”

ORA’s innovative technologies are specifically designed to facilitate the protection, restoration and healthy growth of coastal estuaries. OysterBreak™ is designed to use the gregarious, shell-building nature to form a living coastal protection structure. The system has proven more effective than alternative rock structures. By employing these tools, ORA Estuaries is able to accomplish its primary goals of stabilizing shoreline and enhancing marine ecosystems.

Small Oysterbreak™. Credit: ORA Estuaries.

While ORA Estuaries may be a startup, Ortego has years of experience working in coastal engineering and natural resource management. He is a Graduate of Louisiana State University and holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biological Engineering, as well as being both a professional engineer and a certified oyster biologist with the state’s Oyster Lease Damage Evaluation Board. He started his career consulting on wetland restoration, flood protection and mitigation projects around Louisiana and the Gulf Coast before founding ORA Estuaries. Since then, the company has participated in a number of large-scale plans involving the study and design of oyster reefs and various other aquatic environments. Through the success of these projects, Mr. Ortego hopes they will become “the new definition of a living shoreline.”

Thanks to winning the Water Challenge business pitch, ORA Estuaries plans to use its innovator prize monies to help market their OysterBreak™ technology as a solution to coastal restoration experts internationally.

By Keenan Orfalea, Communications Intern, Environmental Defense Fund

Last month, ORA Estuaries took first place in the 2014 Water Challenge business pitch competition at New Orleans Entrepreneur Week. The Baton Rouge-based company beat out four other startups to claim the prize, which included $50,000 in seed money as well as free office space and legal counsel for a year. This support will help the company to expand the use of its innovative products and services in restoring Louisiana’s wetlands.

Tyler Ortego, president and founder of ORA Estuaries.

ORA Estuaries provides engineering, scientific and regulatory consulting services as well as project implementation for clients including local, state and federal governments. The company’s primary products are the patented OysterBreak™ and OysterKrete® technologies.

“The OysterBreak and OysterKrete technologies were originally developed in Louisiana to address Louisiana's coastal land loss,” said Tyler Ortego, president and founder of the company. “This prize package, combined with recent project successes, is critical to allowing ORA Estuaries to export that success to other areas of the country and world.”

ORA’s innovative technologies are specifically designed to facilitate the protection, restoration and healthy growth of coastal estuaries. OysterBreak™ is designed to use the gregarious, shell-building nature to form a living coastal protection structure. The system has proven more effective than alternative rock structures. By employing these tools, ORA Estuaries is able to accomplish its primary goals of stabilizing shoreline and enhancing marine ecosystems.

Small Oysterbreak™. Credit: ORA Estuaries.

While ORA Estuaries may be a startup, Ortego has years of experience working in coastal engineering and natural resource management. He is a Graduate of Louisiana State University and holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biological Engineering, as well as being both a professional engineer and a certified oyster biologist with the state’s Oyster Lease Damage Evaluation Board. He started his career consulting on wetland restoration, flood protection and mitigation projects around Louisiana and the Gulf Coast before founding ORA Estuaries. Since then, the company has participated in a number of large-scale plans involving the study and design of oyster reefs and various other aquatic environments. Through the success of these projects, Mr. Ortego hopes they will become “the new definition of a living shoreline.”

Thanks to winning the Water Challenge business pitch, ORA Estuaries plans to use its innovator prize monies to help market their OysterBreak™ technology as a solution to coastal restoration experts internationally.

By Michael Panfil

Source: Greenpeace, Tim Aubry

Improving energy resiliency has become critically important throughout the United States – particularly in the Northeast, where devastating events like Superstorm Sandy debilitated our electricity grid. States are searching for ways to create a stronger, smarter, and more flexible energy infrastructure, so that storm damage can be minimized and restoration times shortened. Doing so, however, is no small task. Ensuring that the lights stay on in critical facilities like hospitals, emergency shelters, and water treatment facilities requires innovative thinking, as well as a forward-looking instead of reactive approach to our power sector.

The issue is critical for New Jersey

New Jersey was among the worst hit when Superstorm Sandy pummeled the East Coast eighteen months ago. The state suffered more than $30 billion in damage, most of it along the Jersey shore, while an estimated 2.6 million households across the entire state lost power, many of them for weeks. Five days after Sandy hit, a third of New Jersey’s homes and businesses still did not have electricity.

The storm highlighted the state’s vulnerable power infrastructure and the need to modernize the antiquated electricity grid. The loss of power not only impacted residents, it left many critical facilities unable to function. According to a disaster recovery plan released by the New Jersey Governor’s office, “[e]lectricity interruption also impacted 9-1-1 facilities, hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, domestic violence shelters, foster homes, mental health facilities, and other infrastructure that provides critical social services throughout the State.”

The solution is paradigm shifting

A more resilient energy system needs to not only be more responsive to extreme weather events but also work in advance to minimize and prevent damage. The path forward will require the integration and deployment of clean energy resources and technologies, which are critical to a resilient power infrastructure. Clean energy is not only environmentally friendly, but by its very nature provides lasting resiliency benefits to our electricity grid. For example, distributed generation (like rooftop solar and combined heat and power units) and microgrids (clusters of homes and buildings that share local electricity power generation and/or energy storage devices while disconnected from the utility grid) can limit the extent of an outage, while renewable energy and energy storage can keep the lights on in critical facilities. Furthermore, smart grid technology can help identify outages more quickly, vastly reducing the time it takes to restore power. These examples only begin to scrape the surface of the potential for clean energy resources and technologies to transform an aging and outmoded electricity grid into a flexible and resilient one.

What we’re doing

EDF has advocated for resiliency solutions that include clean energy resources and technologies as tools to get to the root of this critical issue. Starting today, we’re taking another step in this direction by launching this blog series, Resiliency+, which highlights the ways in which clean energy can play an important part in increasing energy resiliency in New Jersey and around the country. Check back every two weeks, or sign up to receive Energy Exchange blog posts via email, when a new article will spotlight a particular clean energy resource or technology and the part it can play in helping to build a more resilient electricity grid.

By Michael Panfil

Source: Greenpeace, Tim Aubry

Improving energy resiliency has become critically important throughout the United States – particularly in the Northeast, where devastating events like Superstorm Sandy debilitated our electricity grid. States are searching for ways to create a stronger, smarter, and more flexible energy infrastructure, so that storm damage can be minimized and restoration times shortened. Doing so, however, is no small task. Ensuring that the lights stay on in critical facilities like hospitals, emergency shelters, and water treatment facilities requires innovative thinking, as well as a forward-looking instead of reactive approach to our power sector.

The issue is critical for New Jersey

New Jersey was among the worst hit when Superstorm Sandy pummeled the East Coast eighteen months ago. The state suffered more than $30 billion in damage, most of it along the Jersey shore, while an estimated 2.6 million households across the entire state lost power, many of them for weeks. Five days after Sandy hit, a third of New Jersey’s homes and businesses still did not have electricity.

The storm highlighted the state’s vulnerable power infrastructure and the need to modernize the antiquated electricity grid. The loss of power not only impacted residents, it left many critical facilities unable to function. According to a disaster recovery plan released by the New Jersey Governor’s office, “[e]lectricity interruption also impacted 9-1-1 facilities, hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, domestic violence shelters, foster homes, mental health facilities, and other infrastructure that provides critical social services throughout the State.”

The solution is paradigm shifting

A more resilient energy system needs to not only be more responsive to extreme weather events but also work in advance to minimize and prevent damage. The path forward will require the integration and deployment of clean energy resources and technologies, which are critical to a resilient power infrastructure. Clean energy is not only environmentally friendly, but by its very nature provides lasting resiliency benefits to our electricity grid. For example, distributed generation (like rooftop solar and combined heat and power units) and microgrids (clusters of homes and buildings that share local electricity power generation and/or energy storage devices while disconnected from the utility grid) can limit the extent of an outage, while renewable energy and energy storage can keep the lights on in critical facilities. Furthermore, smart grid technology can help identify outages more quickly, vastly reducing the time it takes to restore power. These examples only begin to scrape the surface of the potential for clean energy resources and technologies to transform an aging and outmoded electricity grid into a flexible and resilient one.

What we’re doing

EDF has advocated for resiliency solutions that include clean energy resources and technologies as tools to get to the root of this critical issue. Starting today, we’re taking another step in this direction by launching this blog series, Resiliency+, which highlights the ways in which clean energy can play an important part in increasing energy resiliency in New Jersey and around the country. Check back every two weeks, or sign up to receive Energy Exchange blog posts via email, when a new article will spotlight a particular clean energy resource or technology and the part it can play in helping to build a more resilient electricity grid.

By Michael Panfil

Source: Greenpeace, Tim Aubry

Improving energy resiliency has become critically important throughout the United States – particularly in the Northeast, where devastating events like Superstorm Sandy debilitated our electricity grid. States are searching for ways to create a stronger, smarter, and more flexible energy infrastructure, so that storm damage can be minimized and restoration times shortened. Doing so, however, is no small task. Ensuring that the lights stay on in critical facilities like hospitals, emergency shelters, and water treatment facilities requires innovative thinking, as well as a forward-looking instead of reactive approach to our power sector.

The issue is critical for New Jersey

New Jersey was among the worst hit when Superstorm Sandy pummeled the East Coast eighteen months ago. The state suffered more than $30 billion in damage, most of it along the Jersey shore, while an estimated 2.6 million households across the entire state lost power, many of them for weeks. Five days after Sandy hit, a third of New Jersey’s homes and businesses still did not have electricity.

The storm highlighted the state’s vulnerable power infrastructure and the need to modernize the antiquated electricity grid. The loss of power not only impacted residents, it left many critical facilities unable to function. According to a disaster recovery plan released by the New Jersey Governor’s office, “[e]lectricity interruption also impacted 9-1-1 facilities, hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, domestic violence shelters, foster homes, mental health facilities, and other infrastructure that provides critical social services throughout the State.”

The solution is paradigm shifting

A more resilient energy system needs to not only be more responsive to extreme weather events but also work in advance to minimize and prevent damage. The path forward will require the integration and deployment of clean energy resources and technologies, which are critical to a resilient power infrastructure. Clean energy is not only environmentally friendly, but by its very nature provides lasting resiliency benefits to our electricity grid. For example, distributed generation (like rooftop solar and combined heat and power units) and microgrids (clusters of homes and buildings that share local electricity power generation and/or energy storage devices while disconnected from the utility grid) can limit the extent of an outage, while renewable energy and energy storage can keep the lights on in critical facilities. Furthermore, smart grid technology can help identify outages more quickly, vastly reducing the time it takes to restore power. These examples only begin to scrape the surface of the potential for clean energy resources and technologies to transform an aging and outmoded electricity grid into a flexible and resilient one.

What we’re doing

EDF has advocated for resiliency solutions that include clean energy resources and technologies as tools to get to the root of this critical issue. Starting today, we’re taking another step in this direction by launching this blog series, Resiliency+, which highlights the ways in which clean energy can play an important part in increasing energy resiliency in New Jersey and around the country. Check back every two weeks, or sign up to receive Energy Exchange blog posts via email, when a new article will spotlight a particular clean energy resource or technology and the part it can play in helping to build a more resilient electricity grid.

By Jim Marston

Source: Alternative Energies

The assault on successful renewable energy legislation continues, long after the facts have proven that state renewable policies deliver clean, affordable, and reliable energy solutions that the majority of Americans support. Apparently, the fossil fuel industry and its so-called “free market” allies didn’t get the memo.

There’s a great line in the opening scene of Ridley Scott’s 2000 blockbuster Gladiator where a soldier says to his general, as they are about to slaughter an overmatched foe, “People should know when they’re conquered.” The general replies, “Would you? Would I?”

So I can’t really blame the fossil fuel industry for fighting old battles in an effort to undo approaches that have increased investment in renewable energy in states around the country, created thousands of jobs, and continue to lower energy costs with each passing day.

The usual targets of their attacks are state laws that require a certain percentage of the state’s total energy generation to come from renewable sources like solar, wind, or hydropower. Ohio is the most recent battleground, where state legislators began hearing testimony last week on S.B. 310, a law that would freeze Ohio’s energy efficiency and renewable energy standards at their 2014 levels. Sometimes called renewable portfolio standards (RPS) or renewable energy standards (RES), these laws are in place in 30 states. They have not only proven economically successful across the country, but they are popular in both red and blue states alike.

Just last month, for example, a scientific poll found that Kansas’ 2009 renewable energy law enjoys overwhelming support across political lines: 73% of Republicans, 75% of Independents, and 82% of Democrats support the law. In fact, two-thirds of those polled said they would support increasing the state's renewable energy law, even if it increased their energy bills.

This is Kansas, mind you – not California – whose State Legislature is virtually 100% conservative Republican.

In Texas, which is the largest generator of wind energy in the country, the Republican comptroller has touted the state RPS as an economic driver: “After the RPS was implemented, Texas wind corporations and utilities invested $1 billion in wind power, creating jobs…and increasing the rural tax base.”

Everyone knows that Texas’ history is deeply rooted in oil and gas. But the state RPS is popular among elected officials that have witnessed the remarkable economic boom it sparked. Texas has already surpassed the RPS goal set for 2015. More than 1,300 companies employ more than 100,000 Texans in industries directly and indirectly related to renewable energy.

The state’s Public Utilities Commission concluded that mass deployment of wind reduces the price of electricity for the entire market – each 1,000 MW of wind lowers the wholesale price of electricity by $2.38/MWh.

Colorado’s program has also been a success. The American Wind Energy Association estimates that the state’s RPS is supporting nearly 4,000 direct and indirect jobs and generating a billion dollars in capital investment along with millions in leasing revenue for landowners who benefit from the policy.

There are other analyses, too, that show that RPS laws actually reduce energy prices, and the overall cost of renewable energy continues to fall. Solar panel prices dropped 60% between 2011 and mid-2012 – and they continue to plummet. Austin Energy is in talks to purchase half a billion dollars of solar energy from SunEdison at an astoundingly cheap $50/MWh (for comparison, natural gas is currently priced at more than $65/MWh).

But still, the attacks keep coming, full of questionable studies from fossil fuel-funded think tanks.

I can’t blame them. I’ve been fighting for what I believe in for decades, and I’ve had more defeats than wins. But I never gave up, and neither will the fossil fuel companies. What’s different now, however, is that the evidence against them is so convincing that voters, energy customers, and most everyone else recognize that opposition to renewable energy is based on lost corporate profits. Cries of “higher energy costs” and “lost jobs” are no longer credible arguments against the clean energy revolution. They may never know they’ve been conquered, but everyone else will.

By Jim Marston

Source: Alternative Energies

The assault on successful renewable energy legislation continues, long after the facts have proven that state renewable policies deliver clean, affordable, and reliable energy solutions that the majority of Americans support. Apparently, the fossil fuel industry and its so-called “free market” allies didn’t get the memo.

There’s a great line in the opening scene of Ridley Scott’s 2000 blockbuster Gladiator where a soldier says to his general, as they are about to slaughter an overmatched foe, “People should know when they’re conquered.” The general replies, “Would you? Would I?”

So I can’t really blame the fossil fuel industry for fighting old battles in an effort to undo approaches that have increased investment in renewable energy in states around the country, created thousands of jobs, and continue to lower energy costs with each passing day.

The usual targets of their attacks are state laws that require a certain percentage of the state’s total energy generation to come from renewable sources like solar, wind, or hydropower. Ohio is the most recent battleground, where state legislators began hearing testimony last week on S.B. 310, a law that would freeze Ohio’s energy efficiency and renewable energy standards at their 2014 levels. Sometimes called renewable portfolio standards (RPS) or renewable energy standards (RES), these laws are in place in 30 states. They have not only proven economically successful across the country, but they are popular in both red and blue states alike.

Just last month, for example, a scientific poll found that Kansas’ 2009 renewable energy law enjoys overwhelming support across political lines: 73% of Republicans, 75% of Independents, and 82% of Democrats support the law. In fact, two-thirds of those polled said they would support increasing the state's renewable energy law, even if it increased their energy bills.

This is Kansas, mind you – not California – whose State Legislature is virtually 100% conservative Republican.

In Texas, which is the largest generator of wind energy in the country, the Republican comptroller has touted the state RPS as an economic driver: “After the RPS was implemented, Texas wind corporations and utilities invested $1 billion in wind power, creating jobs…and increasing the rural tax base.”

Everyone knows that Texas’ history is deeply rooted in oil and gas. But the state RPS is popular among elected officials that have witnessed the remarkable economic boom it sparked. Texas has already surpassed the RPS goal set for 2015. More than 1,300 companies employ more than 100,000 Texans in industries directly and indirectly related to renewable energy.

The state’s Public Utilities Commission concluded that mass deployment of wind reduces the price of electricity for the entire market – each 1,000 MW of wind lowers the wholesale price of electricity by $2.38/MWh.

Colorado’s program has also been a success. The American Wind Energy Association estimates that the state’s RPS is supporting nearly 4,000 direct and indirect jobs and generating a billion dollars in capital investment along with millions in leasing revenue for landowners who benefit from the policy.

There are other analyses, too, that show that RPS laws actually reduce energy prices, and the overall cost of renewable energy continues to fall. Solar panel prices dropped 60% between 2011 and mid-2012 – and they continue to plummet. Austin Energy is in talks to purchase half a billion dollars of solar energy from SunEdison at an astoundingly cheap $50/MWh (for comparison, natural gas is currently priced at more than $65/MWh).

But still, the attacks keep coming, full of questionable studies from fossil fuel-funded think tanks.

I can’t blame them. I’ve been fighting for what I believe in for decades, and I’ve had more defeats than wins. But I never gave up, and neither will the fossil fuel companies. What’s different now, however, is that the evidence against them is so convincing that voters, energy customers, and most everyone else recognize that opposition to renewable energy is based on lost corporate profits. Cries of “higher energy costs” and “lost jobs” are no longer credible arguments against the clean energy revolution. They may never know they’ve been conquered, but everyone else will.

By Jim Marston

Source: Alternative Energies

The assault on successful renewable energy legislation continues, long after the facts have proven that state renewable policies deliver clean, affordable, and reliable energy solutions that the majority of Americans support. Apparently, the fossil fuel industry and its so-called “free market” allies didn’t get the memo.

There’s a great line in the opening scene of Ridley Scott’s 2000 blockbuster Gladiator where a soldier says to his general, as they are about to slaughter an overmatched foe, “People should know when they’re conquered.” The general replies, “Would you? Would I?”

So I can’t really blame the fossil fuel industry for fighting old battles in an effort to undo approaches that have increased investment in renewable energy in states around the country, created thousands of jobs, and continue to lower energy costs with each passing day.

The usual targets of their attacks are state laws that require a certain percentage of the state’s total energy generation to come from renewable sources like solar, wind, or hydropower. Ohio is the most recent battleground, where state legislators began hearing testimony last week on S.B. 310, a law that would freeze Ohio’s energy efficiency and renewable energy standards at their 2014 levels. Sometimes called renewable portfolio standards (RPS) or renewable energy standards (RES), these laws are in place in 30 states. They have not only proven economically successful across the country, but they are popular in both red and blue states alike.

Just last month, for example, a scientific poll found that Kansas’ 2009 renewable energy law enjoys overwhelming support across political lines: 73% of Republicans, 75% of Independents, and 82% of Democrats support the law. In fact, two-thirds of those polled said they would support increasing the state's renewable energy law, even if it increased their energy bills.

This is Kansas, mind you – not California – whose State Legislature is virtually 100% conservative Republican.

In Texas, which is the largest generator of wind energy in the country, the Republican comptroller has touted the state RPS as an economic driver: “After the RPS was implemented, Texas wind corporations and utilities invested $1 billion in wind power, creating jobs…and increasing the rural tax base.”

Everyone knows that Texas’ history is deeply rooted in oil and gas. But the state RPS is popular among elected officials that have witnessed the remarkable economic boom it sparked. Texas has already surpassed the RPS goal set for 2015. More than 1,300 companies employ more than 100,000 Texans in industries directly and indirectly related to renewable energy.

The state’s Public Utilities Commission concluded that mass deployment of wind reduces the price of electricity for the entire market – each 1,000 MW of wind lowers the wholesale price of electricity by $2.38/MWh.

Colorado’s program has also been a success. The American Wind Energy Association estimates that the state’s RPS is supporting nearly 4,000 direct and indirect jobs and generating a billion dollars in capital investment along with millions in leasing revenue for landowners who benefit from the policy.

There are other analyses, too, that show that RPS laws actually reduce energy prices, and the overall cost of renewable energy continues to fall. Solar panel prices dropped 60% between 2011 and mid-2012 – and they continue to plummet. Austin Energy is in talks to purchase half a billion dollars of solar energy from SunEdison at an astoundingly cheap $50/MWh (for comparison, natural gas is currently priced at more than $65/MWh).

But still, the attacks keep coming, full of questionable studies from fossil fuel-funded think tanks.

I can’t blame them. I’ve been fighting for what I believe in for decades, and I’ve had more defeats than wins. But I never gave up, and neither will the fossil fuel companies. What’s different now, however, is that the evidence against them is so convincing that voters, energy customers, and most everyone else recognize that opposition to renewable energy is based on lost corporate profits. Cries of “higher energy costs” and “lost jobs” are no longer credible arguments against the clean energy revolution. They may never know they’ve been conquered, but everyone else will.

April 13, 2014

NWF: Barataria Bay still struggling 4 years after BP oil spill (+video)
By Paul Murphy, WWL TV. April 10, 2014.
“The BP oil spill is neither gone, nor forgotten along coastal Louisiana…” (read more)
Cross posted here

Nearly 4 years later, researchers gather data to realize full impact of Deepwater Horizon disaster (+video)
By Rachel Wulff, WDSU. April 10, 2014.
“As the four-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill approaches, researchers are beginning…” (read more)

Four years after BP disaster, erosion quickens along Gulf shore (+video)
By Amy Wold, The Advocate.  April 11, 2014.
“The boats that pulled up to a shoreline in Bay Jimmy on Thursday morning were still in water…” (read more)

Assessing the BP Spill, 4 Years later
By Rob Masson, WVUE (New Orleans, La.). April 10, 2014.
“Nearly four years after the BP oil spill, a coalition of environmental groups says the impacts are still being felt…” (read more)

Gulf Health: 4 Years After The Oil Spill (+audio)
By Eileen Fleming, WWNO (New Orleans, La.). April 10, 2014.
“As the four-year anniversary of the BP oil spill approaches, a leading environmental group is warning…” (read more)

Marking a somber milestone
Editorial by The Daily Comet (Lafourche Parish, La.). April 9, 2014.
“It has been four years since the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon killed 11 oilfield workers…” (read more)

4 Years After BP Spill, Questions On Long-Term Health
By Kevin McGill, Associated Press. April 11, 2014.
“When a BP oil well began gushing crude into the Gulf of Mexico four years ago…” (read more)

The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill at a Glance
By the Associated Press. April 11, 2014.
“April 20 marks the fourth anniversary of an explosion on the BP-operated drilling rig Deepwater Horizon…” (read more)

New Orleans Pelicans partner with GNO Inc. to boost awareness of coastal restoration
By Jed Lipinski, The Times-Picayune. April 9, 2014.
“Greater New Orleans, Inc. and the New Orleans Pelicans announced a partnership Wednesday…” (read more)

Louisiana getting $300,000 to fight feral swine, reducing damage to farms and wetlands (+video)
By Associated Press. April 9, 2014.
“The National Feral Swine Management Program is giving Louisiana $300,000 to help…” (read more)

 

NWF: Barataria Bay still struggling 4 years after BP oil spill (+video)
By Paul Murphy, WWL TV. April 10, 2014.
“The BP oil spill is neither gone, nor forgotten along coastal Louisiana…” (read more)
Cross posted here

Nearly 4 years later, researchers gather data to realize full impact of Deepwater Horizon disaster (+video)
By Rachel Wulff, WDSU. April 10, 2014.
“As the four-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill approaches, researchers are beginning…” (read more)

Four years after BP disaster, erosion quickens along Gulf shore (+video)
By Amy Wold, The Advocate.  April 11, 2014.
“The boats that pulled up to a shoreline in Bay Jimmy on Thursday morning were still in water…” (read more)

Assessing the BP Spill, 4 Years later
By Rob Masson, WVUE (New Orleans, La.). April 10, 2014.
“Nearly four years after the BP oil spill, a coalition of environmental groups says the impacts are still being felt…” (read more)

Gulf Health: 4 Years After The Oil Spill (+audio)
By Eileen Fleming, WWNO (New Orleans, La.). April 10, 2014.
“As the four-year anniversary of the BP oil spill approaches, a leading environmental group is warning…” (read more)

Marking a somber milestone
Editorial by The Daily Comet (Lafourche Parish, La.). April 9, 2014.
“It has been four years since the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon killed 11 oilfield workers…” (read more)

4 Years After BP Spill, Questions On Long-Term Health
By Kevin McGill, Associated Press. April 11, 2014.
“When a BP oil well began gushing crude into the Gulf of Mexico four years ago…” (read more)

The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill at a Glance
By the Associated Press. April 11, 2014.
“April 20 marks the fourth anniversary of an explosion on the BP-operated drilling rig Deepwater Horizon…” (read more)

New Orleans Pelicans partner with GNO Inc. to boost awareness of coastal restoration
By Jed Lipinski, The Times-Picayune. April 9, 2014.
“Greater New Orleans, Inc. and the New Orleans Pelicans announced a partnership Wednesday…” (read more)

Louisiana getting $300,000 to fight feral swine, reducing damage to farms and wetlands (+video)
By Associated Press. April 9, 2014.
“The National Feral Swine Management Program is giving Louisiana $300,000 to help…” (read more)

 

April 11, 2014

Written by Dominique Browning

At its best, a strong sense of faith nurtures love, hope, comfort, a sense of community–and moral leadership. Think back on the history of sweeping change in this country–and the world over–and you will find spiritual leaders at the beating heart of transformational times.

Moms Clean Air Force salutes the many people of faith, from world leaders to citizen congregants, who are doing so much to lead the way in tackling the most urgent problem humanity faces: global climate change. Whatever your beliefs, there is much to learn, and admire, in the thoughts that follow.

Read our newest eBook and learn what faith voices have to say about our changing climate.

Hope springs from many sources. We honor them everywhere, and in everyone.

Happy holidays to everyone. I’m glad to see daffodils again!

 
TELL EPA YOU SUPPORT NEW LIMITS ON CARBON POLLUTION

By Kate Zerrenner

Source: Jack Newton

It may seem like only yesterday that Texans were asked to conserve water after another scorching summer, but in reality it was four, dry years ago. The drought, which began in 2010 after La Niña altered sea level temperatures in the Pacific, continues to persist in the Lone Star State and promises to surpass the state’s record-setting multi-year drought from the 1950s. Ranchers have been forced to sell off cattle, town water supplies continue to go dry, and power plants struggle to provide a reliable supply of electricity due to water scarcity and long stretches of hot weather. Given these bleak conditions, it should not come as a surprise that 70 percent of Texans believe global warming is happening—and 52 percent said they have personally experienced the effects of global warming.

An all-star team of producers, including James Cameron, Jerry Weintraub and Arnold Schwarzenegger, intends to bring the Texas drought home to millions of televisions across the nation in the Years of Living Dangerously series premiering Sunday. Through this series, a host of celebrities, activists and journalists share the stories of those impacted most by our changing climate and what’s being done to save our planet. What is clear right now, in Texas and beyond, is that as climate change intensifies, we must adapt to more extreme weather conditions and make resilient changes that mitigate further stress.

Adapting to a hotter, drier climate

But don’t take my word for it. Texas State Climatologist and professor in the Atmospheric Sciences Department at Texas A&M University, John Nielsen-Gammon, has confirmed that the high temperatures experienced in 2011, which greatly exacerbated the drought, are, in fact, linked to a changing climate. The La Niña-related heat wave that prompted Texas’ extreme temperatures was made 20 times more likely by climate change. In his words: “We would have broken the record with this drought in terms of high temperatures even without climate change, but we ended up breaking it by quite a comfortable margin with climate change.” According to his estimates, Texans may expect a reprieve this year, to the benefit of ranchers and farmers, but nothing is certain, especially given extreme weather patterns are expected to increase in frequency and intensity in the future.

Arguably, the state’s agricultural sector was hit hardest during 2011, but water touches all of our lives and Texans across the state felt the environmental, societal, and economic costs. Ranchers and farmers lost nearly $8 million during 2011, as crops wilted, cattle were sold off, and utilities shut off water to farms, which inevitably sent food prices across the nation soaring. The state’s water supplies either evaporated completely or shrank to alarming levels, and they have yet to be fully replenished. But the most tragic consequence came in the form of wildfires, which swept across densely-populated Central Texas and burned over 1,000 homes in its wake. As ‘Years of Living Dangerously’ will aptly depict, Texans are already adapting to a hotter, drier climate.

Years of Living Dangerously

Don Cheadle will kick off the new series this Sunday, as he travels to Plainview and Lubbock, Texas to meet with ranchers, Texas Tech Climate Scientist Katharine Hayhoe and others as they share how their lives are impacted by the drought. EDF’s own leadership, Fred Krupp and Eric Pooley, participated on the advisory board for this film, along with several other thought-leading experts and environmental advocates. For a sneak peak, watch here.  For my fellow Texans and me, the drought has been at the top of our minds for the past four years and will be for many more. And as climate change intensifies, many other Americans will also face the water scarcity issues we Texans are too familiar with. Most of the western-half of the United States is currently in the midst of a drought and California, in particular, is reeling from the effects. In fact, California’s conditions are very similar to those in Texas back in 2011, which means rising food prices and devastating wildfires are soon to follow, and the impacts will be felt far beyond its borders.

At EDF, we are seeking solutions that reduce our dependence on fossil fuel generation, which emits extreme amounts of climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions and requires an abundant amount of water. The U.S. has the potential to adopt technologies and policies that will significantly cut down on water use, reduce the need for dirty fossil fuel power plants, and help Americans save money. By lining up the incentives to enable novel energy and water savings – such as implementing the widespread use of wind and solar energy, which consume little to no water and generate negligible carbon emissions – we can ensure America’s faucets remain flowing during the next record-setting drought and beyond.

This commentary originally appeared on our EDF Voices blog.

By Kate Zerrenner

Source: Jack Newton

It may seem like only yesterday that Texans were asked to conserve water after another scorching summer, but in reality it was four, dry years ago. The drought, which began in 2010 after La Niña altered sea level temperatures in the Pacific, continues to persist in the Lone Star State and promises to surpass the state’s record-setting multi-year drought from the 1950s. Ranchers have been forced to sell off cattle, town water supplies continue to go dry, and power plants struggle to provide a reliable supply of electricity due to water scarcity and long stretches of hot weather. Given these bleak conditions, it should not come as a surprise that 70 percent of Texans believe global warming is happening—and 52 percent said they have personally experienced the effects of global warming.

An all-star team of producers, including James Cameron, Jerry Weintraub and Arnold Schwarzenegger, intends to bring the Texas drought home to millions of televisions across the nation in the Years of Living Dangerously series premiering Sunday. Through this series, a host of celebrities, activists and journalists share the stories of those impacted most by our changing climate and what’s being done to save our planet. What is clear right now, in Texas and beyond, is that as climate change intensifies, we must adapt to more extreme weather conditions and make resilient changes that mitigate further stress.

Adapting to a hotter, drier climate

But don’t take my word for it. Texas State Climatologist and professor in the Atmospheric Sciences Department at Texas A&M University, John Nielsen-Gammon, has confirmed that the high temperatures experienced in 2011, which greatly exacerbated the drought, are, in fact, linked to a changing climate. The La Niña-related heat wave that prompted Texas’ extreme temperatures was made 20 times more likely by climate change. In his words: “We would have broken the record with this drought in terms of high temperatures even without climate change, but we ended up breaking it by quite a comfortable margin with climate change.” According to his estimates, Texans may expect a reprieve this year, to the benefit of ranchers and farmers, but nothing is certain, especially given extreme weather patterns are expected to increase in frequency and intensity in the future.

Arguably, the state’s agricultural sector was hit hardest during 2011, but water touches all of our lives and Texans across the state felt the environmental, societal, and economic costs. Ranchers and farmers lost nearly $8 million during 2011, as crops wilted, cattle were sold off, and utilities shut off water to farms, which inevitably sent food prices across the nation soaring. The state’s water supplies either evaporated completely or shrank to alarming levels, and they have yet to be fully replenished. But the most tragic consequence came in the form of wildfires, which swept across densely-populated Central Texas and burned over 1,000 homes in its wake. As ‘Years of Living Dangerously’ will aptly depict, Texans are already adapting to a hotter, drier climate.

Years of Living Dangerously

Don Cheadle will kick off the new series this Sunday, as he travels to Plainview and Lubbock, Texas to meet with ranchers, Texas Tech Climate Scientist Katharine Hayhoe and others as they share how their lives are impacted by the drought. EDF’s own leadership, Fred Krupp and Eric Pooley, participated on the advisory board for this film, along with several other thought-leading experts and environmental advocates. For a sneak peak, watch here.  For my fellow Texans and me, the drought has been at the top of our minds for the past four years and will be for many more. And as climate change intensifies, many other Americans will also face the water scarcity issues we Texans are too familiar with. Most of the western-half of the United States is currently in the midst of a drought and California, in particular, is reeling from the effects. In fact, California’s conditions are very similar to those in Texas back in 2011, which means rising food prices and devastating wildfires are soon to follow, and the impacts will be felt far beyond its borders.

At EDF, we are seeking solutions that reduce our dependence on fossil fuel generation, which emits extreme amounts of climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions and requires an abundant amount of water. The U.S. has the potential to adopt technologies and policies that will significantly cut down on water use, reduce the need for dirty fossil fuel power plants, and help Americans save money. By lining up the incentives to enable novel energy and water savings – such as implementing the widespread use of wind and solar energy, which consume little to no water and generate negligible carbon emissions – we can ensure America’s faucets remain flowing during the next record-setting drought and beyond.

This commentary originally appeared on our EDF Voices blog.