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Clinton on the Record
Amanda Griscom Little, Grist
An interview with Hillary Clinton about her presidential platform on energy and the environment
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True to form, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has done her homework on environmental and energy issues. A member of the Environment and Public Works Committee during her six and a half years in the Senate, she has sponsored or cosponsored nearly 400 legislative proposals related to energy and the environment. They’ve hit on high-profile topics like energy independence as well as less-discussed green issues like toxic exposure, environmental justice, and brownfield redevelopment. While Clinton hasn’t been a trailblazer in the fight against climate change, she has been vocal on the need to pursue clean energy and protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Her efforts have earned a respectable grade from the League of Conservation Voters — a 90 percent lifetime voting score.
But many enviros aren’t convinced that Clinton is at the head of the class on green issues, noting that she supports “clean coal,” and, like nearly every other candidate, pounds the drum for corn ethanol. Can she win the green lobby to her side? To get a feel for her chances, I caught Clinton by phone after a picnic on the Iowa campaign circuit.
(9 August 2007)
California plan would pay utilities more if energy use falls
Sarah Jane Tribble, Mercury News
Already a national leader in energy conservation, California is poised to pass a groundbreaking rule that would pay utility companies to cut energy use.
The California Public Utilities Commission late Thursday unveiled a proposal to create financial incentives for utilities such as PG&E to get their customers to use less power, with the threat of big fines if they do not. The plan would help meet the aggressive targets of the state’s landmark global-warming law passed last year, which calls for drastic cuts in the amount of carbon emissions Californians produce.
“This is one of the most important regulations on utility efficiency in history,” said Ralph Cavanagh, co-director of the energy program of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit environmental advocacy group. “In California, it’s the culmination of a whole host of steps to provide efficiency leadership, but it’s precedent-setting for the nation.”
Opponents say California, which has some of the highest electricity rates in the nation, already is spending enough money to cut energy consumption.
(10 August 2007)
BC Global Warming Policies Soon to Be Unveiled
Tom Barrett, The Tyee
After six months of behind-the-scenes discussions on climate change, the provincial government appears ready to announce the first phase of its plans next month.
The government has held a series of meetings on global warming with environmentalists in recent weeks and at least some of the activists have come away impressed.
“There’s a huge amount of stuff happening inside government,” Guy Dauncey, president of the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association, told The Tyee.
Dauncey said the government appears ready to reveal the first stage of its climate change strategy at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Vancouver, Sept. 24-28.
Dauncey, who met recently with Graham Whitmarsh, the head of the government’s Climate Action Secretariat, said he expects the announcement to have a “strong municipal thrust” — including some sort of municipal planning charter aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the local level.
He also said he expects the government to adopt a plan to cap all the province’s landfills to capture methane gas. Such a move would be one of the few “quick and easy” steps that can be taken against greenhouse gas emissions, Dauncey said.
While not all environmental groups are enthusiastic about the government’s record on global warming, Whitmarsh and Premier Gordon Campbell appear to have earned considerable good will by consulting with activists and promising to involve them in the implementation of their policies.
(10 August 2007)
