Find out how Cooch took $55,000 from the disgraced "U.S. Navy Veterans Association," in apparent exchange for his promise to get the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs (which had "notified Thompson's group that it no longer qualified for an exemption from state registration requirements") off the group's back. Can we say "pay-to-play?" Find out more.
It's sad, because I've generally liked and respected the wonky, Virginia-focused Bacon's Rebellion blog over the years. True, I've mostly read the superb Peter Galuszka, and largely just skimmed Jim Bacon's increasingly boilerplate conservative talking points (e.g., about how the Baby Boom and entitlements mean that we're doomed, DOOMED - to Armageddon, no less - I say! lol). Still, I've always thought that Jim was a relatively sane, mainstream Republican of the type that used to exist in this country, but is basically extinct at this point. Sadly, Bacon himself now appears to have jumped the proverbial shark, joining the rest of his party on its lurch far, FAR away from reality, empirical evidence, and specifically science (in this case about the climate), with his post, From Rising Temperatures to Big Government In Six Easy Steps. Oy vey.
Look, I'm not even going to waste anyone's time quoting from the original article, because it's just an ungodly mishmash/mess of untruths, red herrings, and dark conspiracy theories (while discounting the Koch brothers and others spending millions of dollars a year in their assault AGAINST climate science). Instead, I'm simply going to quote from our own Kindler, a real, honest-to-goodness expert (I know, what a concept!) on environmental issues, who responded calmly, rationally, knowledgeably, and effectively over at Bacon's Rebellion. Kindler's responses follow. Enjoy...and learn!
Do you also talk about the "Gravity Establishment"? How about the "Evolution Priesthood"?
No? Why not? Perhap because enormous corporations like Koch Industries and Exxon do not find those scientific issues threatening enough to spend millions creating an infrastucture of websites, NGOs, etc., all united by a very savvy communications strategy designed to discredit climate science in order to protect their share prices. A big part of that strategy is convincing people who repeat their talking points that they are brave, free-thinking"skeptics" taking on some evil Establishment as opposed to just the latest yahoos to fall for the latest Internet scam.
Here are a few photos and video (on the "flip") from a short hike by my wife, Kelly, and me late this afternoon in Riverbend Park. It was relaxing and invigorating, but now that my head is clear, I have to decide who I root for in the Super Bowl: 1) New York, which is where I was born; or 2) New England, which is where I grew up (although Connecticut's split between Giants and Patriots fans). Hmmmm...maybe I'll just root for a good game! :)
P.S. Feel free to use this as an open thread to discuss the Super Bowl, Virginia's natural beauty, or whatever else you want.
George Allen and his campaign for U.S. Senate put out an awful lot of stupid statements, so many that if I responded to every single one, it would be approaching a full-time job in and of itself. Also, fortunately, the Kaine campaign's been doing a good job of debunking most of Allen's falsehoods and errors, so I haven't really had to. Today, though, Allen's campaign put out the following tweet that entered into my "wheelhouse," so to speak (note: I worked at the U.S. Energy Information Administration for 17 years as an economist), so I decided to take a few minutes to address this.
What's wrong with this statement? Let us count the ways. (Note: And no, I'm not "surprised" - nobody with 10 brain cells or more would be! - that Allen would make an idiotic comment, but I think there's value in the following analysis)
1. First, of course, is the absurd notion that the price of gasoline the day a president assumes office, and then another random day, has any particular relevance to much of anything. Or, for that matter, that the president is responsible for those prices, certainly in the short term, on a week-to-week or month-to-month basis. I'd love to hear George Allen's explanation of how that's the case, but I'm absolutely confident that we'd ever get anything approaching coherence from him on that one. Following Allen's "reasoning" (using the word very loosely), though, the price of gasoline peaked at $4.165 per gallon in early July 2008, when George W. Bush was president. Just prior to the financial system meltdown of autumn 2008, gasoline still cost about $3.70 per gallon. So why did gasoline prices fall so sharply by the end of 2008/early 2009? Because of the global financial and economic meltdown that occurred on the watch of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, etc.. Perhaps George Allen slept through the Econ 101 lecture on "supply and demand," but when demand implodes (due to an economic meltdown, for instance), while supply remains roughly constant, prices will also implode. That's what happened in late 2008. Allen's point, apparently, is that we should have stayed in economic meltdown mode forever, just so that gasoline prices could remain low. Imbecile.
Thanks to you and your hard work, the uranium industry did not have the votes in the General Assembly to introduce a bill to lift the ban. On January 19th, Gov. McDonnell was forced to concede that a report from the National Academy of Sciences identified "important questions related to the health and safety of workers, the public, and the environment." As a result, the ban will stay in place for 2012.
At the same time, however, Gov. McDonnell directed Virginia's health, mining and environmental agencies to draft "conceptual regulations" for the General Assembly to consider in 2013. Governor McDonnell's directive to create a draft statute and regulations, behind closed doors, is the first step toward lifting the ban.
The uranium industry has yet to show the citizens of Virginia that uranium mining can be done safely, and our legislators have not answered the fundamental public policy question: does Virginia want to take on the long-term economic and public health burden of mining uranium and storing millions of tons of toxic waste in our state?
Update by Miles: "Dominion Virginia Power is interested in building up to 400 wind turbines in Atlantic waters in what could be a powerful message for an emerging domestic source of clean energy," reports the AP.
Good news, courtesy of Environment Virginia (see statement on the "flip") and the Obama Administration. Of course, Bob McDonnell - and even, in fairness, several leading Democrats - continue to focus on dirty energy development, including risky oil drilling off our coast (need I remind these folks of the Gulf of Mexico disaster?). That's misguided, given that the answer for Virginia, America, and our planet clearly is to move as fast as possible in the direction of energy efficiency, wind, solar, and other forms of clean, inexhaustible, 100% "made in the USA" energy. In other words, time to move forward into the 21st century, not stay tethered to filthy, increasingly outmoded 19th and 20th century energy sources (which, I'd add, continue to receive huge taxpayer-funded subsidies, which they have for over a century now - why?!?).
On a warm Groundhog Day & with mild temperatures forecast to continue across Virginia through the 10-day outlook, E&E News (sub. req.) takes a closer look at at how global warming is impacting Punxsutawney Phil & friends:
Groundhogs are one of the few animals that achieve true, or "profound," hibernation, burrowing down below the frost line for the coldest months of the year. During this period, which usually lasts from mid-October to late February, a groundhog's heart rate drops from 80 beats a minute to only three or four, and its body temperature falls by 60 degrees. Warmer temperatures shorten hibernation, causing groundhogs to burrow later and rise earlier than is customary, said [Cornell wildlife expert Paul] Curtis.
That can be a problem if groundhogs rise before their spring food supply has emerged. But the milder winters & earlier springs have a more serious wildlife implication for Virginians:
As you probably know, Blue Virginia - and RK before it - has not exactly been a big fan of Dominion Virginia Power. In fact, we're the ones who coined the slogan, "Dominion: Global Warming Starts Here." In general, I think it's fair to say that we look at anything and everything Dominion does with skepticism at best. Still, there are times when it's important to give credit where credit is due.
In this case, as you can see from the graphic, Dominion Virginia Power's emissions of major pollutants - SO2, NOx, and Mercury (Hg) have been plummeting, and are forecast to continue plummeting in coming years. Now, obviously, a lot of that is due to Dominion simply complying with what the law makes them do, while another part is due to Dominion switching away from dirty coal to cheaper - and also cleaner - natural gas. In addition, I'd really like to see a similar graph for what's arguably the most important emission of all - carbon dioxide, which is contributing to potentially catastrophic global warming. Still, what this graph displays is progress, and I think it's fair to give Dominion at least some credit for that.
Up until last August, tonight's 3.2 earthquake in central Virginia would have been big news. But in the wake of August's 5.8 quake that shook much of the East Coast, the steady stream of light tremors in & around Louisa since then haven't gotten much attention. More on tonight's temblor from WTVR's Zach Daniel:
A magnitude 3.2 aftershock occurred at 6:39 PM this evening 5 miles south of Louisa and was felt across much of central Virginia. This aftershock was one of the strongest since the original quake back in August. I've been getting a lot of questions on my facebook page about these aftershocks, and specifically when we can call them a new earthquake. Technically, all of these aftershocks are earthquakes, but we call them aftershocks because they are smaller earthquakes associated with the larger seismic event (the 5.8 magnitude quake). If an aftershock is stronger than the original earthquake, it will be deemed the main quake, and all subsequent seismic activity will be referred to as foreshocks. Here's hoping tonight's was the last of them, but I doubt it.
While the U.S. Geological Survey has linked natural gas fracking to recent earthquakes in Youngstown, OH, talk linking fracking to Virginia's quake has been more speculative. Did you feel tonight's quake?
The DC area's forecast for Friday calls for temperatures near 60 degrees with thunderstorms. In January.
But you won't catch our television weather presenters attributing the bizarre forecast to global warming loading the dice for extreme weather! No, sir! Expect to hear lots of things like, "Wow, tropical weather in January. Uh ... weird!"
If they mentioned our changing climate, they might get angry calls from viewers who find climate reality doesn't fit in with their political views. Here in the DC area, unless your name is Bob Ryan, you're likely to figure it's better to keep quiet about the facts than risk standing up for inconvenient truths. Or maybe, like Topper Shutt, you're a climate science denier yourself.
Learn more about why some TV weathermen aren't straight with their viewers about climate science at ForecastTheFacts.org.
It's an empty threat. The fact is, overwhelming majorities of Americans - across party, age, and regional lines - support clean, modern energy. A poll conducted by ORC International in November found that 77 percent of Americans, including 65 percent of Republicans, believe that "the U.S. needs to be a clean energy technology leader and it should invest in the research and domestic manufacturing of wind, solar, and energy efficiency technologies." Last February, a Gallup poll offered a list of actions Congress might take. The most popular option, with an incredible 83 percent support, was "an energy bill that provides incentives for using solar and other alternative energy resources." [...]
Clean energy isolates the Republican base from the broad mass of American opinion and, in particular, from swing-state independents. It's a wedge issue and an electoral winner for Democrats if they can quit playing defense and go on the attack. The appropriate response to threats from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a well-administered ass kicking.
Next time you hear a Democrat waffling on support for clean energy, kick them in the shins. I am not making this up: Some focus group testing this week showed clean energy is almost as popular with swing voters as killing Osama bin Laden (although who gives killing the mastermind of 9/11 a B minus?). Plus, we all know how much voters love candidates apologizing for what they believe in.
Think Progress Green informs us of an important new campaign against climate science deniers on our TV screens:
America&'s television meteorologists are the primary source of climate information for most Americans, and are second only to scientists - who have much less access to the general public - in the level of trust they are given. Yet more than half of TV weather reporters don't believe in human-induced climate change, even as our poisoned weather grows more extreme.
Forecast the Facts, a new campaign of 350.org, the League of Conservation Voters, and the new Citizen Engagement Lab, aims to turn the tide. The first call to action challenges the American Meteorological Society to vote next week for a strong climate change statement that rejects science denial...
So, I looked through the list of science-denying meteorologists (you'd think that would be an oxymoron, but nooooo...), and surprise surprise, guess who I found there? That's right, none other than the DC metro area's own Topper Shutt (of WUSA-TV). Among other ignorant, crazy things Shutt has said, is this tweet: "What percentage of the atmosphere is CO2 ? 0.03 % !! That's driving climate?"
Actually, yes it is, as 99% of climate scientists will explain to Mr. Shutt if he'd just "shutt" up and listen for a change, instead of spewing forth his own hot air (that's heating up the newsroom, if not the planet). For more Topper-of-the-charts idiocy, see here and here.
A Mercer County coal miner died Wednesday evening as a result of injuries he received while working at Consol's Buchanan No. 1 Mine on Jan. 11. He was the first coal miner to be fatally injured on the job this year.
Joe Saunders, 44, of Princeton, died at Bristol Regional Medical Center in Bristol, Tenn., according to Mike Abbott, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Mines Minerals and Energy. Saunders and another coal miner were both injured at about 9 p.m., on Jan. 11, when a high-pressure water line valve they were working on blew off and broke into pieces. Abbott said that Saunders was struck in the head by one of the pieces. Abbott said that Saunders was initially transported to Clinch Valley Medical Center in Richlands, then transported to BRMC.
We tend to turn a blind eye to coal mining deaths unless they come in bunches like the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, but individual deaths like this add up to dozens of miners killed every year. While our dependence on coal keeps electricity rates low for consumers, it comes with a steep cost in human lives, both in mine accidents and pollution deaths.
This week, we learned famed culinary fat food-pusher Paula Deen has diabetes, but only revealed it 3 years late to protect her cooking empire and is now hawking diabetes drugs winking that - for a price - maybe you don't have to do all those hard diet & exercise changes.
Last night I was in Harris Teeter and spotted this combo package of DiGiorno Pepperoni Pizza/Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies and wondered ... isn't gluttony #2 on the list of deadly sins? And doesn't America claim to be three-quarters Christian? Talk about cafeteria Christianity.
But come on - there's no money to be made in hard choices. How could Paula Deen keep making money by the pudgy fistful by telling people to stop shoving cheese, salted meat, chocolate & dough into their gaping maws & go for a walk? How could Newt Gingrich keep the oil money flowing by telling people the only real way to save on gas is to drive less or pay more for an efficient vehicle?
Much easier to tell people to have a second helping of pizza & cookies and take their magic snake oil pill, and tell people it's not our conspicuous consumption but the gays that are the cause of our moral decay.
There's a ton of reaction this afternoon pouring in regarding President Obama's decision on the proposed Keystone XL Canadian tar sands project. The statement from the White House is available here (basically, it blames "the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people"). Also, keep in mind that this project would have created no jobs, and in fact might have caused a net loss in jobs, according to an independent study by Cornell University researchers. Basically, this thing is a boondoggle for Big Oil, combined with really bad news for the environment, for absolutely no good reason. Other than that, it's freakin' brilliant! LOL
Anyway, here are reactions by Virginian politicians and environmental groups, starting with Rep. Jim Moran, with whom I agree 100% on this. I'll add more as I see them, or as you let me know about them in the comments section. Thanks.
Moran Statement on Denial of the Keystone XL Pipeline Application
Washington, DC - Congressman Jim Moran, Ranking Member on the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, released the following statement on the Obama Administration's decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline:
"I applaud President Obama's decision to deny the application for the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline. Our collective national interests, whether economic, environmental, or national security, would be better served by reducing our addiction to fossil fuels. Instead, we should be investing in safer, cleaner energy sources of the future like wind and solar power. A robust investment in clean energy promotes thousands of higher-tech, higher paying jobs. Building a pipeline to tap one of the dirtiest sources of fuel and the few temporary jobs it might create are not in our nation's best long term interests."
EPA's first inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions finds Dominion-Virginia Power to be the state's Biggest Climate Change Polluter
Following a year of bizarre and destructive weather, the US EPA has just released its first inventory of large emitters of greenhouse gas emissions. The data available on a searchable website shows Dominion-Virginia Power to be the state's largest emitter of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The top three polluters in Virginia were all Dominion Virginia Power coal-fired power plants: Chesterfield, Clover, and Chesapeake Power Stations.
"We are pleased that Dominion is proposing to retire several of its oldest and dirtier coal units," said Glen Besa, Virginia Director for the Sierra Club. Last September, Dominion announced the retirement of both the Chesapeake and Yorktown coal plants which among the top ten polluters in Virginia.
"The retirement of the Chesapeake and Yorktown coal plants is welcome news except that Dominion has announced its intention to replace that electricity with new gas-fired power plants," said Besa. "Natural gas is cleaner than coal but it still is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. For example, also in the top ten of the state's biggest polluters is the Tenaska Virginia Generating Station, a gas fired power plant in Fluvanna County ranked at number nine."
Dominion Virginia Power CEO Paul Koonce has an op-ed in today's Washington Post responding to a recent evisceration of Dominion by Virginia Sierra Club Vice Chair Ivy Main. She'd made three key charges:
Dominion is using pre-existing hydro power or biomass projects of dubious environmental value for renewable energy credits
Dominion is not building large-scale solar and wind projects in Virginia to deliver that energy to Virginia customers
Dominion is insanely planning to slap a massive fee on customers who install their own solar power
Koonce's response?
Our renewable generation includes one of the largest biomass plants in the East, taking advantage of one of Virginia's richest renewable resources. Four more biomass projects are in various stages of construction or development. We operate several hydroelectric facilities and have announced plans for solar arrays on commercial and public buildings. Other Dominion companies operate large wind farms in Indiana and West Virginia.
That's Koonce's big rebuttal? That Dominion DOES rely heavily on existing hydro & questionable biomass, ISN'T currently building solar or wind in Virginia ... oh, and the massive fees on renewable energy? The CEO of Dominion, which earned $1 billion in profit in the first 9 months of 2011 alone, calls them "simple matter of fairness."
He might as well have written, "The 1% don't have to explain themselves to people like you."
The Virginia Aquarium is reporting whale sightings off the coast of Virginia Beach. The aquarium's winter wildlife boat season started December 27th and the first whale watchers were treated to a number of sightings in the first week.
New Year's Eve morning, two humpback whales and a seal were spotted hanging out near Rudee Inlet. Thursday the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team confirmed that there are four humpback whales near the Cape Henry Lighthouse.
Keep in mind this is the area Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) thinks should be open to oil drilling. More on the whales from About.com:
The Virginia Sierra Club responds to Gov. McDonnell's "Energy Policy and Budget Initiatives" (see on the "flip"), released earlier today. I agree with the Sierra Club's assessment: McDonnell's approach does not acknowledge environmental reality, weakens an already weak, voluntary "Renewable Portfolio Standard" - exactly the opposite of the direction we need to be going - and is simply inadequate in every way to the energy and environmental challenges we face as a state and as a nation. As with the rest of his governorship, Bob McDonnell's initiatives always end up with reminding us of that old, comic tag line: where's the beef? In this case, it's a nothing burger.
Statement of Glen Besa, Virginia Director for Sierra Club in response to Governor McDonnell's Energy Policy Initiatives
The "all of the above" approach to energy policy touted by Governor McDonnell fails to acknowledge the hard reality of a changing climate and the vulnerability of Virginia to its impacts from hurricanes and droughts to sea level rise. The economic vitality of the Hampton Roads region is second only to New Orleans in vulnerability to sea level rise.
The Governor's package of legislation includes two weakening amendments to the already broken voluntary renewable energy standard that this past year rewarded Dominion Virginia Power with $76 million in increased utility rates despite the fact that the utility has not built one wind or solar facility in the state.
With legislation the devil is always in the details, and until we actually read the bills we are concerned with the legislation related to mining and natural gas development. Branded as promoting improved safety in mining, any efforts to expand development of fossil fuels ignores the reality of climate change. At the same time, despite the claim of an "all of the above" approach, we see too few initiatives to advance wind and solar. We are pleased that the Governor has allocated $500,000 devoted to supporting offshore wind power although we note this far less that is needed. We also are pleased the Governor is moving forward with alternatively fueled vehicles in the state fleet using federal funds available to the state.
Are you ready for a risky life of hard labor digging up dirty fuels the 1% can sell to make billions in profit? Get excited for the brown jobs revolution!
No, really. An editorial in today's Wall Street Journal calls for More Brown Jobs. Even though American oil use is declining and what's being produced isn't lowering the price of gas or home heating oil here - it's just being sold overseas.
So get excited! From drilling for oil shale to fracking for methane gas to digging for uranium to building pipelines that bring Canadian tar sands to Chinese oil tankers, corporate polluters are eager to exploit the crushing economic crisis their Wall Street friends created to make unemployed workers think they have to sell out their children's health to put food on the table now!
What's that? Worried your community will be turned into an industrial wasteland? That you'll be able to light your tap water on fire? That soon you too will be saying things like, "Just about anybody I talk to that's a neighbor - and some of them are getting wealthy - are sick of it"?
Come on - corporate America wouldn't lie to you! Right?
Virginia's 2007 energy re-regulation bill was a terrible idea from the start. It was essentially written by Dominion Virginia Power and rubber-stamped into law by the Virginia General Assembly & Gov. Tim Kaine, who showed no interest in challenging one of Virginia's top sources of money in politics.
Five years later, as Virginia Sierra Club Vice Chair Ivy Main writes in the Washington Post, Virginia taxpayers are seeing huge costs and little benefit:
Yes, the Dominion family owns some wind farms, one just across the state line in West Virginia. But we aren't getting a single electron of that energy, because Dominion sells it to other states that have much tougher standards for what counts as renewable energy. For us in Virginia, Dominion buys cheap certificates that no one else wants.
That's a great deal for Dominion. According to the Southern Environmental Law Center, $1.7 million could buy enough of these certificates to satisfy Dominion's 2010 RPS targets, qualifying the company to collect an extra $76 million over two years from its ratepayers.
Worse yet, Dominion is aggressively using its monopoly power to target any small businesses who try to sell clean energy to customers in Virginia:
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Update by Miles: "Dominion Virginia Power is interested in building up to 400 wind turbines in Atlantic waters in what could be a powerful message for an emerging domestic source of clean energy," 
EPA's first inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions finds Dominion-Virginia Power to be the state's Biggest Climate Change Polluter
The Virginia Sierra Club responds to Gov. McDonnell's "Energy Policy and Budget Initiatives" (see on the "flip"), released earlier today. I agree with the Sierra Club's assessment: McDonnell's approach does not acknowledge environmental reality, weakens an already weak, voluntary "Renewable Portfolio Standard" - exactly the opposite of the direction we need to be going - and is simply inadequate in every way to the energy and environmental challenges we face as a state and as a nation. As with the rest of his governorship, Bob McDonnell's initiatives always end up with reminding us of that old, comic tag line: where's the beef? In this case, it's a nothing burger.
