Dodd to Obama: We Need Office for Sustainable Development

Tuesday June 16: DODD CONVENES HEARING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With reports this morning that the average price of gasoline in America has risen to $2.66, and in Connecticut alone prices are up 30 cents since last month, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, will convene a hearing entitled “Greener Communities, Greater Opportunities: New Ideas for Sustainable Development and Economic Growth” tomorrow.

Each year Americans spend billions of hours stuck in traffic, wasting billions of gallons of gasoline. Earlier this year, Dodd sent a letter to President Obama urging him to establish a White House Office of Sustainable Development to coordinate housing, transportation, energy, and environmental policies.

The Committee will discuss how such a comprehensive approach to development could best address a number of serious problems facing the nation – the costs of traffic congestion, a lack of affordable housing, and the threat of climate change.

Tuesday’s hearing will be webcast live at http://banking.senate.gov

WHO: Chairman Chris Dodd and Members of the Senate Banking Committee
Ray LaHood, Secretary, U.S. Dept. of Transportation
Shaun Donovan, Secretary, U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
Lisa Jackson, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency

WHEN: Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 9:30 A.M.

WHERE: Live webcast at http://banking.senate.gov, from 538 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Good News, Bad News on Connecticut Solar

By David Anderson, CTLCV Director

On the solar front we have bad news and good news.

On the final day of the legislative session a major bill that would have created 300 megawatts of solar power in the next ten years—and which had unanimous support in the House—died through inaction in the Senate. This dismal failure will receive full treatment in a subsequent post.

Now to the good news. As of July 1 the Clean Energy Fund is reinstating the rebate to homeowners for solar photovolaic installations. This program was so successful over the past several years that it ran out of money. It is funded by a small surcharge on utility electric bills.

In the original program the State contributed 50% of the cost. Under the new program, this has been slightly reduced, but this reduction is offset by changes in the federal tax incentives. (Details are available at www.ctcleanenergy.com.)

I took advantage of the original program in my own home. I have 36 solar panels, which cost $60,000+. But the State covered half that cost.

My solar panels generate 70% of the electricity I use at my house. This month my bill was $25, and in the summer I'll begenerating a big surplus sent back to the grid for a savings that will carry me through the winter months. Not bad.

T4America Wants Amendments to Clean Energy Bill

Transportation for America is getting the word out that the American Clean Energy & Security Act needs a little tightening up.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act is probably the biggest opportunity in generations to jumpstart our economy; create millions of good, new, jobs; and set the stage for America to prosper and lead in a 21st century economy, while reducing global warming pollution at the same time.

While China and India made massive investments in developing clean energy, oil and coal lobbyists are desperately trying to put the brakes on clean energy development in the US.

According to Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General, clean energy investment in the United States fell by 2% in recent years, but in 2008 China became the world’s second largest wind market in terms of new capacity and the world’s biggest photovoltaic manufacturer. A rise in geothermal energy may be getting underway in countries from Australia to Japan and Kenya.

Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal reports from a few days ago reveal that sustainable energy investment in India went up to $3.7billion in 2008, up 12% since 2007.

If Americans are serious about wanting to restore prosperity and lead the 21st century global economy, T4America and others argue that we must level the playing field for new energy industries and limit the entitlements and tax breaks and government handouts that have been par for the course for the energy industries that ruled last century.

T4 America calls on Congress to strengthen the bill through three amendments:

• Amendment #1: Ensure more clean energy for America. Increase the Renewable Electricity Standard to 30 percent by 2020. Support renewable energy and energy efficiency to deliver more clean energy jobs to the U.S. economy more quickly.
• Amendment #2: Hold Polluters accountable. Restore authority to the EPA to regulate carbon emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act.
• Amendment #3: Create more clean energy jobs for America and build resiliency to climate change. Reduce allocations to polluting industries in order to supplement allowance accounts that would bolster green job development and would protect vulnerable communities that are impacted first and worst by climate change. Shave allocations from fossil fuel producers and redistribute them to programs that deliver energy efficiency and renewable energy, create green jobs and train workers to fill them, and protect natural resources here and around the world.

Business as usual, or even mostly as usual, will not cure us of our fossil fuels habit or position us to compete well against the economic behemoths that are China and India. Congress needs to chart a new course. Tell them.