‘US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encourages at the recent summit of the Organization of the American States (OAS) other countries in the American hemisphere to tap US academic expertise on clean energy and energy efficiency. For this purpose three leading US scientist were appointed to a special fellowship position at the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA). Nobel laureate Dan Kammen from the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at UC Berkeley was named as first fellow, next to Ruth DeFries from Columbia University and Gerry Galloway from the University of Maryland.’

via Dan Kammen is appointed to be the first Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) fellow | Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory.

‘The White House is gearing up for five days of events to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and they’re starting big. Vice President Joe Biden announced today a plan to invest $452 million in Recovery Act funding to go toward energy-efficient building retrofits in 25 communities.’

via White House Earth Day Announcements And Activities.

‘(Reuters) – Senator John Kerry, leading the drive for compromise climate change legislation, said on Tuesday his proposal would not contain any sort of motor fuels tax and could scrap an oil sector “fee” that has been discussed.’

via Sen. Kerry hints at changes in climate bill | Reuters.

‘Cochabamba, Bolivia– Indigenous Peoples from across North America and their allies from around the world gathered at the invitation of Bolivian President Evo Morales in Cochabamba this morning for the kick-off of an historic conference on climate change and the “rights of Mother Earth.”’

via Indigenous Peoples of North America Join President Evo Morales in Bolivia for Historic Earth Day Climate Change Conference – Indigenous Environmental Network – pitchengine.com.

April 10, San Francisco

San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi denounced PGE & Proposition 16 at the Spring Green Festival.

Key points:

• Proposition 16 is solely funded by PGE ratepayer money to the tune of $35,000,000.
• Proposition 16, if passed by a simple majority vote, would then require that a two-thirds popular vote by the citizenry before local governments could opt to develop alternative energy systems independently of PGE.

Partial exceprt:
“Thank you for this quick opportunity to inject what I think is a very important message …that is to be aware of what is on the June ballot, proposition 16. Proposition 16 has been solely funded at $35,000,000 of ratepayer money by PGE for the June election to literally kill any cities ability to pursue an alternative energy path.”

“There are well over two dozen cities in California, like Sacramento, there’s the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Palo Alto, Alameda, LA is a hybrid water and power, all throughout California, who will deliver cleaner and greener energy at a competitive, or even a cheaper price than PGE.”

“San Francisco would like to pursue a similar path, so would Marin, but right now PGE has decided in their infinite way, in order to annihilate – I’m using this word accurately – annihilate the ability of any municipality or any citizen determination to want to pursue an alternative energy path, you then – with the passive of prop 16 – must be required to get a two-thirds vote of the citizenry. What is reprehensible about this is that the June ballot only requires a simple majority of the vote. For a corporation to decide, because they are solely funding, that they will, because they could win this based on the volume of money they’re putting in, implement based on a simple majority vote a two-thirds requirement, will be the first corporation in the history of the state of California that will enshrine themselves in our state constitution. So PGE, by seeking the two-thirds requirement, will then become in the state constitution. It won’t stop in California, because for any state that has the initiative process, other private utility companies will seek the same opportunity to secure their private interest.”

“So for anybody who is visiting the Green Festival and who lives the kind of ethos that I’m sure we are of like mind, then keep in mind, that if you really think that we’re going to do something about global warming or climate charge – forget it. Because, just imagine a private utility company literally trying to envelop the power of the sun, so that they’re the ones that their able to then chart based on what they decide to chart of how we will benefit from solarization or from wind. It is our goal and it is Marin’s goal in cities throughout California to deliver the alternate energy path, or at least provide this option.”

He made many of the same points in a different presentation:

Report by James George

‘April 9 Bloomberg — Venezuela and Bolivia urged negotiators at United Nations climate talks to set aside the Copenhagen agreement on global warming, threatening to keep open a rift that led to a breakdown in the discussions last year.’

via Venezuela, Bolivia Urge UN to Set Aside Copenhagen Climate Pact – Bloomberg.com.

‘(Reuters) – The United States will host a meeting of major economies on April 18-19 in Washington to advance talks on a global deal to fight climate change, the top U.S. climate negotiator said on Wednesday.’

via Washington to host major economies meeting on climate | Reuters.

‘WASHINGTON — Several Texas oil companies are bankrolling a petition drive to suspend California’s path-breaking climate change law in a move that may prove a bellwether for national efforts to address global warming.’

via Texas Oil Companies Oppose California Climate Change Law – NYTimes.com.

‘(Reuters) – U.S. climate scientist James Hansen won a $100,000 environmental prize Wednesday for decades of work trying to alert politicians to what he called an unsolved emergency of global warming.’

via Climate scientist Hansen wins $100,000 prize | Reuters.

Today President Obama announced plans to open new coastal areas to offshore oil exploration and drilling, including in Alaska’s North Slope. He also called for development of “clean” coal.

Obama invoked science to mollify critics of offshore drilling: “We’ll be guided not by ideology but by scientific evidence”. However, this policy shift clashes with climate science. The extraction and use of fossil fuels moves carbon from safe long term underground storage up into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide where it acts as a greenhouse gas, trapping additional heat in the atmosphere.

Full text of Obama’s statement