Highlight of the Week

USDA: House bill should yield long-term benefits for agriculture

According to an analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the American Clean Energy and Security Act would cost the farming sector little in the short-term and yield great long-term benefits.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, discussing the analysis and the role of rural America in fighting global warming in testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee, said economic opportunities for farmers and ranchers resulting from the bill may "significantly" outpace costs:

"In the short term, the economic benefits to agriculture from cap and trade legislation will likely outweigh the costs. In the long term, the economic benefits from offsets markets easily trump increased input costs from cap and trade legislation."

Secretary Vilsack also noted that the USDA analysis is "conservative," not taking into account technological advances that would help farmers or the higher service costs farmers would command "as a result of enhanced renewable energy markets and retirement of environmentally sensitive lands domestically and abroad."

Provisions in the bill would reduce impacts on the cost of fertilizer, part of the reason it would only lightly impact agriculture in the near future. The analysis also found that income from biofuels would be worth a net return of at least $600 million a year.

Following the USDA analysis, agricultural groups reiterated their support for clean energy legislation. National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee, saying farmers "do not agree with those who claim climate change legislation will be void of economic opportunities and incentives."

“Since passage of ACES, regional and national press has focused its efforts on negative scenarios for agriculture under a cap and trade system,” Johnson said. “I believe as the leader of a national organization, it is my responsibility to help change the conversation about this legislation.”

Contact: Julie Sibbing at 202-797-6832 or sibbing@nwf.org

Cabinet Members Tout Energy Plans in Print

In regional newspapers around the country, members of President Obama's cabinet have published op-ed columns on the heels of their testimony before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack each wrote in favor of plans for a clean energy economy that they say will create millions of jobs, reduce carbon emissions, and make America energy independent.

 Secretary Chu, writing in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, said the time for action has come: "We have talked for decades about the energy problem; it is time to solve it. By passing a comprehensive energy bill that spurs a revolution in clean technologies, the United States can position itself to lead this new industrial revolution." Secretary Salazar struck a similar cord, imploring lawmakers to "step up to the plate" in the Denver Post. In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Administrator Jackson discussed the groundswell of public support for legislation and the need for bipartisan cooperation, and Secretary Vilsack, in the Des Moines Register, addressed the great economic opportunities provided for farmers and others by a carbon-capping system.

Happening This Week

Thursday, July 30:

Hearings to examine climate change and national security, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, 10:00 AM, 406 Dirksen

Thursday, July 30:

Hearings to examine climate services, focusing on solutions from commerce to communities, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, 2:30 PM, 253 Russell

Quote:

"The economic benefits from offsets markets easily trump increased input costs from cap and trade legislation."

—U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on analysis of the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

Economic Message of the Week
Governors Say Fighting Global Warming Will Create Jobs

Three Democratic governors told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that curbing emissions and developing a national clean energy economy could mean more jobs and economic prosperity.

Citing the successes of their own states in greenhouse gas reduction and job creation, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, Jr., Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine touted the benefits of adopting renewable electricity standards and other energy measures.

Gregoire said the state of Washington has created nearly 50,000 new green jobs in the last two years, twice the target number set for the year 2020. Corzine, who emphasized the need for national leadership in the clean energy revolution, said New Jersey is committed to reducing emissions by 80 percent and building wind farms offshore.

Overall, Ritter, Jr., said, the "lesson...for other states and the nation as a whole, it is that good energy policy and climate policy can energize the economy and help create good-paying private sector jobs."

Org Goes Door-to-Door For Clean Energy Education

As part of the Alliance for Climate Protection's Repower America National Mobilization Weekend, members and volunteers went door to door to educate Americans about the transition to a clean energy economy.

The campaign, which featured more than 12,000 stops, focused on the new jobs that stand to be created in a clean energy economy, as well as the environmental benefits.

Repower America Campaign Manager Steve Bouchard emphasized that Americans from many communities will need to answer the call to arms:

 "We will need Americans from all parts of the country and all walks of life to help make the transition to a clean energy economy that will help create millions of jobs, save our families money on their utility bills and end our harmful dependence on foreign oil."

Coral Reefs Imperiled By Rising Temperatures

According to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report, coral reefs in the Caribbean face a considerable risk of bleaching and die-offs partly due to rising water temperatures.

The report says bleaching, a trauma-induced ejection of symbiotic algae often resulting in paler coloring, may exceed the record levels recorded in 2005, when, in the eastern Caribbean, "as much as 90 percent of corals bleached and over half of those died."

The NOAA reported in June that National Climatic Data Center found global ocean temperatures were the highest on record, creating a habitat conducive to bleaching. That study also found that arctic sea ice had receded drastically from the 1979-2000 period.

It is thought that similar conditions may develop in the Gulf of Mexico and Central Pacific.

Contact: Doug Inkley at 703-438-6460 or inkley@nwf.org