This Month: > Hearings on Climate Change Bill Commence in the Senate > Newest Wind Technology Showcased at U.Va. > Cap and Trade's Political Past > Upcoming Events > Hearings on Climate Change Bill Commence in the Senate The Senate Environment and Public Works committee began hearings this week on the Boxer-Kerry climate bill. Environmental Defense Fund's President Fred Krupp was among the experts to testify. Highlights of his testimony included descriptions of jobs the bill would create and the support of USCAP companies. Call Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner and ask for their support as the hearings continue and the bill moves forward. The Washington, DC telephone numbers are: Senator Jim Webb: 202-224-4024 Senator Mark Warner: 202-224-2023 Check out EDF's Climate 411 Blog to keep up-to-date with the latest reports and news. > Newest Wind Technology Showcased at U.Va. On October 26th, Congressman Tom Perriello joined Delegates David Toscano, Rob Bell and Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris to visit the University of Virginia in conjunction with Central Virginia Wind Energy & Manufacturing (CVAWE) and see the future of wind energy technology in Virginia. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the US market for small wind turbines grew 78 percent in 2008 and will experience a 30-fold growth within the next five years. To meet the growing demand for wind energy, CVAWE has designed the Bladerunner 5000, a vertical wind turbine that will operate at a rated wind speed of 15 mph to better suit Virginia's conditions. The scaled prototype has been built and tested in U.Va.'s Aerospace lab with the assistance of ROMAC of U.Va. A full-scale (50 KW) turbine will be built and installed in Southside Virginia resulting in the creation of much needed job opportunities. The plant will employ at least 12 local workers in its first year of production growing to approximately 85 jobs in the following four years. "It's totally fitting that Jefferson's university should be right at the forefront of the independence struggle of our era, and that's energy independence," said Congressman Perriello in the Daily Progress. For businesses to expand and create more jobs and renewable energy opportunities in Virginia, encourage Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb to vote in favor of the Kerry-Boxer bill. Special thanks to CVAWE and U.Va. for opening-up their lab for us to see the great work occurring. > Cap & Trade: Past Success, Future Progress In his speech on the MIT campus on October 24th, President Barack Obama argued for an increase in incentives for clean energy sources. In his speech, he stated that the nations that lead in the production of clean energy technology will soon become the leaders in the world economy. Building upon the investment supplied in the funds of January's stimulus bill, Obama expressed his desire to increase funding for scientific research on clean energy. The President noted the efforts of the Defense Department and Operation Free Vets to conceptualize climate change as a national security threat. Since hearings on a climate change bill began in the Senate this week, it is worth looking at the past forms of climate change legislation. Smithsonian Magazine released a report detailing the political history of Cap and Trade, which attempts to trace the cap and trade movement for the first instance of its use in 1990 under the title of the Clean Air Act. The act, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, was inspired by the widespread instances of acid rain across the Midwestern and eastern regions of the US and Canada. The reigning paradigm at the time, the report says, was a command and control approach, which would have mandated the use of specific anti-pollutant technology on a uniform basis across the affected region. Confronted with frequent legal and economic challenges, the Reagan and Bush administrations sought to pursue a policy to achieve a reduction in sulfuric acid emissions that didn't rely on bureaucratic command legislation. Cap and trade was thus born as a product of cooperation between White House legal counsel and Environmental Defense Fund policy staffers. Despite wide-ranging debates inside the environmental community and the White House, the bill was finally presented with a target of a ten million ton cut in annual acid rain emissions. This cut would be achieved by utilizing emissions monitoring technology rather than frequent bureaucratic regulatory inspection and intervention. The business community, initially hesitant, finally latched onto the program after 18 months of uncertainty. As a result of the program, industries reduced acid rain emissions by three million tons in 1995 alone. According to the article, the program's success is that it "continues to let polluters figure out the least expensive way to reduce their acid rain emissions," and it has "generated an estimated $122 billion a year in benefits from avoided death and illness, and healthier lakes and forests… on the Eastern seaboard," all at a cost of about $3 billion annually. The Senate's Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (along with the House's American Clean Energy and Security Act) are seeking to expand upon the successes of the Clean Air Act. In order to successfully implement the cap and trade system on a national level, lawmakers are providing for a transitional phase that will place a buffer between the consumer and increased utility costs. According to recent information released by the Environment and Public Works Committee, "the bill would allocate about 30 percent of the free pollution permits to local electric distribution companies and another 5 percent to merchant coal firms. The grants are intended to smooth their transition to cleaner fuels while protecting consumers against price increases, and would mostly phase out by 2030." According to the same source, "electric utility customers would get about 35 percent of the free allowances to help compensate them for the higher costs of energy as utilities move away from burning cheap and highly polluting fossil fuels like coal." The committee hearings on the bill took place from October 27th through the 29th, and Senator Boxer indicated that the bill will be marked up for debate in the Senate as soon as possible. > Upcoming Events Green Living and Energy Expo        November 6-7, Roanoke: Roanoke Civic Center Virginia Alternative & Renewable Energy Conference (VAREC)        November 12-13, Richmond: Omni Hotel Green-Up Hampton Roads Expo        November 12, Chesapeake: Chesapeake Conference Center Hydrogen Seminar & Go Green Virginia Roundtable Meeting        November 13, Richmond: Virginia DEQ Local Climate Action Week        November 16-18, Washington, DC: Hyatt Regency JRGBC Annual Green Building Leadership Awards Luncheon        November 18, Richmond: Virginia Historical Society VCN Legislative Workshop        December 5, Richmond: Capitol Building

Website News 9 South 12th Street, Suite 300 Richmond, VA 23219 804.648.6299