Feds Give Thumbs-up to Cape Wind

According to the 718-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released today by the Minerals Management Service, the proposed wind farm would have little lasting impact on wildlife, navigation and tourism - claims that Cape Wind supporters have been making since the project was proposed seven years ago.

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Audio: Mitt Romney on the Enviroment

This week's Living on Earth has a good story about Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his environmental policies. Now I don't know much about Romney's enviropolitics, except for the fact that while Governor of Massachusetts, he made national headlines with his opposition to Cape Wind, the proposed offshore wind energy project off the coast of Cape Cod. It wasn't so much that his position on Cape Wind was headline-worthy in itself, but rather, that he and Senator Ted Kennedy(D-MA) were on the same side of the issue (but that post will have to wait).

Including the forum that Living on Earth hosted last fall, the radio program is covering all of the presidential candidates' stances on environmental issues. If you are not familiar with Living on Earth, I highly recommend it, especially for its rather sharp political takes. Also, Grist has compiled the candidates' views on climate and energy issues into a single handy resource with lots of links.

Photo: Fecke

Video: World's First Manure-Fired Ethanol Plant

Colorado: The 2008 State of the Green State Address

Denver - For the second year in a row, Colorado environmental leaders were delighted to learn that green issues were one of the central themes of Governor Bill Ritter's State of the State Address. Considering that the Governor, as well as both houses of the legislature are held by the Democrats, my guess is that he will get most or all of his environmental agenda passed.
In addition to covering renewable energy, natural resources, energy efficiency and carbon proposals, the Governor also announced the winners of the first ever Excellence in Renewable Energy Awards. I was very happy to see that one of Fort Collins' hometown heroes, New Belgium Brewery brought home the prize in the large business category. (If a brewery can make you feel good about yourself for buying a beer, they might just have a customer for life :)

Excerpts and more from the Colorado State of the State Address:

• "In 2007, we saw nearly 650 megawatts of wind farms built on Colorado's Eastern Plains -- enough energy to power nearly 250,000 homes."
• "Vestas Blades picked Colorado for its first North American wind blade manufacturing plant. This means hundreds of new jobs for Colorado. Thanks to companies like Vestas, Ascent Solar and Abengoa, thanks to world-class research institutions, the next generation of new-energy technology is being developed right here in Colorado."

Summary of Governor Ritter's latest proposals for Colorado's New Energy Economy

• Pass a net-metering law would allow homeowners and businesses to earn credits on their energy bill by selling power back to the grid.
• Initiate a "Go Solar" program would require utilities to give homeowners a rebate when they purchase solar power equipment.
• Create a Colorado Carbon Fund that would assist with the financing of various GHG emission reduction efforts. The fund would be financed with voluntary contributions.

Complete text of speech
Politics West

MMS Establishes Offshore Wind Guidelines (sort of)

January 11, 2007

The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) has formally established an interim adaptive management program called the Alternative Energy and Alternate Use Program to regulate the development of offshore wind projects on the outer continental shelf. The new program puts forth 52 "best management practices to minimize potential adverse impacts of future projects" but has no impact on the imminent decision in the proposed Cape Wind project.

In a bit of bureaucratic reorganization, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized MMS to regulate offshore wind development, thus pulling the carpet out from under Cape Wind, America's first proposed offshore wind energy project. The proposal was awaiting final approval in 2005 when Sen. Edward Kennedy was able to place a moratorium on offshore wind development until the permitting process was relocated out of the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers and into the jurisdiction of the MMS, an arm of the Department of the Interior that deals primarily with offshore oil and gas leases.

Photo: Danish Windpower Association (www.windpower.org)

WFC Unveils Climate Change Policy Toolkit

The World Future Council has just rolled out their new PACT website at www.onlinepact.org. The very cool new site will serve as an online community for the diffusion of climate relevant policy knowledge. According to Miguel Mendonça at the World Future Council, PACT is a free online resource designed to speed up the exchange and utilization of best policy practices to mitigate the dangers of climate change.

The first policy domain covered by the PACT concerns Feed-in Tariffs (FITs), which are used to cheaply and rapidly accelerate the deployment of renewable energy installations. The site offers a means of assisting legislators and advocates with the initial development of, or improvements to, a FIT law for their country or region. These draft laws can be developed by lawyers and used for local debate, and the site offers the user legal text for each of the core elements of a good FIT.

The FIT policy mechanism is now in place in 47 countries, states and provinces around the world, with the greatest success coming in Germany and Spain. A major benefit of the spread of FITs is that they bring many more players into the energy production market, including homeowners, small businesses, cooperatives, farmers and businesses. The decentralization of energy production that occurs as a result of a healthy FIT is challenging the traditional dominance of utility-scale energy generation and transmission. FITs are often politically popular amongst the masses, but less so with the utilities and corporations that stand to lose out on the revenue. Other than one bill introduced in Michigan, powerful interests in the U.S. have, thus far, all but quashed any discussion of FITs. American lawmakers are preferring instead to go with the renewables portfolio standard (RPS or RES), which mandates minimum levels of electricity utilities must supply from renewable sources.