The Pentagon has set quite a goal - by 2025, 25% of the U.S. military’s energy will come from renewable sources (RedOrbit). The skyrocketing price of oil, as well as the casualties it takes to get that oil to where it’s needed, were two major motivating factors.
Some interesting statistics: The Defense Department alone accounts for 1.5 percent of U.S. energy consumption. Every time the price of oil goes up $10 a barrel, it costs the Department of Defense $1.3 billion a year.
More on the Vestas decision to build a new blade manufacturing plant in Colorado (with 1,350 jobs) (NAWindpower).
Interested in who is getting the federal dollars for rural renewable energy dollars? Check out the most recent listing on who received the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) funds (formerly 9006 funds), at farmenergy.org - click here.
To those Kansas communities out there trying to put up wind turbines - note the $596,789 award to install a large wind turbine in Story City, IA.
Evangelicals fracturing over creation care (Center for American Progress). The latest dispute came over whether the Evangelical Environmental Network would be allowed to participate in a conference run by the National Religious Broadcasters Association. Quotable:
The Evangelical Environmental Network is more than 15 years old, but only in the past two years has its cause become a central topic of evangelical debate. It received a major boost in 2006 when 86 evangelical leaders signed the Evangelical Climate Initiative, which suggested the fight against global warming deserved a place on the evangelical agenda alongside the battle to ban abortion.
The Climate Initiative sparked a hostile backlash from the religious right. Radio personality James Dobson of Focus on the Family bitterly denounced the Climate Initiative’s backers, even joining with the Family Research Counsel’s Tony Perkins and 23 other leaders to demand that one of its main architects be fired from his position at the National Association of Evangelicals. The late Reverend Jerry Falwell even described global warming advocacy as “Satan’s attempt to redirect the church’s primary focus.”
Today, however, Dobson and his allies seem to be on the defensive. The National Association of Evangelicals, which represents some 30 million members, has identified “creation care” as one of its top five priorities. The Reverend Pat Robertson has reversed his opposition to global warming measures, even appearing in advertisements for the “We Can Solve the Climate Crisis” campaign.
But the fight over environmentalism is far from over. Recently, Dobson, Perkins, and other old-guard leaders launched a group called “We Get It,” which purports to be a Christian environmental organization. In actuality, its declaration of principles denies scientific consensus on global warming and opposes environmental measures because it claims they will hurt the poor.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
News Updates: Wind in Ellis Co, net metering in Wyandotte? the state of the grid, wind forecasting
July 15, 2008
Wind project moving forward in Ellis County. Most KS wind folk know the contentious history of the Ellis County wind project. Wind developer Iberdola is now one step closer to making that project work. County commissioners will hear the proposal July 28 (Hays Daily News).
Net metering to come to Wyandotte County? If the legislature can’t put together a statewide net metering policy, that may not stop some Kansas utilities, like BPU (KMBC 9).
Wichita man featured in WSJ story about not using AC. (WSJournal) Quotable:
Troy Newman, of Wichita, Kan. Last summer, his home energy bills hit an unacceptable $300 a month. So he has installed dark curtains on his south-facing windows and limited his family’s use of heat-generating appliances. All summer cooking, for instance, is done on the outdoor grill. Much of the laundry is hung on a clothesline.
On hot afternoons, Mr. Newman runs a hose to the roof and douses the shingles for 20 minutes, which he swears lowers the temperature inside. “I don’t know if it’s all that good for the life span of the roof,” Mr. Newman says, “but when it’s 110 degrees, I really could care less.”
Though he recently added 1,200 square feet of living space to the house, Mr. Newman says his energy bills are at least $100 a month lower than they were last summer.
Great post from Climateer Investing on the state of the U.S. electrical grid. Including links to video!
Best places in the county for renewable energy (Forbes). KS is prominently mentioned. Definitely check out the maps feature. Slick.
Utah moves to a four day work week for state employees (LATimes). Hmm.
Wind forecasting. Pretty much just for dorks, but an interesting FERC ruling on wind forecasting. (FOr non-dorks, wind forecasting helps integrate intermittent power into the grid.) (Energy Legal Blog).
The Pope REALLY gets going on climate change. He’s spoken on the topic before, but he is definitely kicking it up more than a notch (WSJ Environmental Capital blog).
—Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
The following is a story by Sarah Kessinger of Harris News Service on one of CEP’s new ventures - a Kansas chapter of the Interfaith Power and Light organization. (Original found here.)
What would Jesus drive?
The question’s become a catchy motto for at least one national religious group.
But a number of other faith-based organizations also are exploring the issue of fossil fuel consumption as awareness of climate change grows.
One new Kansas group has plans under way to lend churches a hand in curbing their carbon footprints.
Interfaith Power and Light, an ecumenical program of the national Regeneration Project, sought a few years back to reach out to churches nationwide by sending them copies of Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Since the film’s release, some 4,000 congregations have joined chapters of the program in 26 states, including Kansas.
One Kansas member said she was motivated to become involved largely by the state’s debate over coal-fired power plants, an increasingly endangered water supply as well as other issues.
“I’ve been impressed in how they want to make resources available to people across the country,” said Laurie Hesed, a Mennonite in rural Barton County who serves on Kansas Interfaith Power & Light’s new steering committee.
It’s exciting to think, Hesed said, of the prospects to initiate action statewide.
“If change happens it’s probably going to change from the grassroots level.”
While several congregations already have some sort of “green” committees, Kansas Interfaith Power & Light seeks to help them share information across denominations and work collectively on endeavors such as recycling drives, distribution of compact fluorescent lightbulbs and low-carbon diets for Lent, said Eileen Horn, community outreach coordinator for the Climate and Energy Project of the Land Institute at Salina.
Horn, who is facilitating the chapter’s work in Kansas, said the group would help provide energy audits for church facilities to identify financial savings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
They also plan to guide congregations on how to apply for low-interest loans and grant programs for energy efficiencies recommended by audits. And they’ll help churches raise funds for solar or wind energy.
Churches tend to be overlooked, Horn noted, when it comes to funding for energy audits.
“Congregations are in between, they’re not a big company and they don’t qualify for low-income home programs. They’re caught in the middle and most are cash-strapped,” she said. “We’re trying to connect them to resources so they can put their faith into action.”
A handful of congregations spread around the state are already gearing up for energy audits, she said, while at least one Lawrence church has already done one.
The interfaith network, which has its first steering committee meeting of 15 clergy and lay leaders in August at Emporia, also aims to educate churches on how to support public policies that reduce the threat of climate change.
The general dialogue on the issue might be one of gloom and doom, Horn said. But in churches, that’s not necessarily so.
“The faith-based community is adding this element of hope that doesn’t really exist in the scientific and political circles,” she said. “For me it’s been very inspiring to work with these churches because they have a different perspective. What they can do is an issue of faith.”
—
On faith and environmentalism: Some major faith traditions’ statements on climate change
“As a matter of stewardship and justice, Christians must take action now to reduce global warming pollution and stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the world whose land, livelihood and lives are threatened by the global climate crisis.”
The General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church
“At its core, global climate change is not about economic theory or political platforms, nor about partisan advantage or interest group pressures. It is about the future of God’s creation and the one human family.”
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
“Climate change is real and human induced. It calls for action soon. And we are saying action based upon a biblical view of the world as God’s world. And to deplete our resources, to harm our world by environmental degradation, is an offense against God.”
The Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals
“(The Church) strongly urges all Presbyterians to immediately make a bold witness by aspiring to live climate neutral lives …”
-2006 Presbyterian Church General Assembly resolution on climate change
“Global warming threatens the future of God’s good creation and the effects of global warming disproportionately hurt the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable in the United States and around the world.”
The Episcopal Church’s response to global warming07/03/08
Cost increases announced for new KCPL coal-fired plant. As a result of the rising construction costs for Iatan 2, customer bills are expected to increase up to 27%. From CNN/ Money:
Kansas City Power & Light now expects its Iatan 2 power plant near Weston to cost almost $2 billion, a 15 percent increase from two years ago and 47 percent higher than the original $1.3 billion price tag.
The utility, owned by Great Plains Energy Inc., has since increased the size of the 850-megawatt plant, which has generated some of the surge in cost. It also said it’s having to deal with rapid inflation of material and labor costs affecting most of the construction industry
Re-caps of the legislative session. This KCStar headline could have described a typical recent Kansas City Royals season… but no, they were talking about the 2008 legislature - “Small victories, big failures.” (The same article plus a helpful sidebar summary is available at the Eagle as well.)
How did legislators and various other policymakers evaluate the session? Quotables:
“Major progress on a number of fronts,” said House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, an Ingalls Republican.
“Probably the most difficult session in my years as governor,” Sebelius said. “Because there was an attitude of ultimatum.”
“The governor stood in the way,” said Sen. Tim Huelskamp, a Fowler Republican.
“A downhill conversation,” said Marcia Nielsen, director of the state’s Health Policy Authority.
“Hijacked by coal,” said Rep. Pat Colloton, a Leawood Republican.
“A train wreck waiting to happen,” said Rep. Candy Ruff, a Leavenworth Democrat.
The article is a nice re-cap of the legislation that did and did not pass. I’d like to add to the list the anti-stalking bill (I think that passed), the Amanda Bixby bill (which strengthens drunk/ impaired driving laws), the strengthening of the conceal-carry legislation (which in my opinion was pretty strong already), and I am very interested in an addendum to the KS constitution - a right to hunt and fish.
The case law that grows out of that last one should be fascinating. I have high hopes.
Creation care leader Richard Cizik named among Time magazine’s top 100 influential people. In particular, evangelical minister Cizik was recognized for his ability to work with the scientific community (Christian Post). Quotable:
“Science without religion loses its ethical guide, and religion without science lacks the means and resources to understand the world. Science enables us to better understand what creation is telling us about itself and its Maker,” Cizik said in a statement Friday. “This is an approach to the environment that draws on our mutual strengths.”
Random funny thought(s). If we all could just get along a little better… could our politicians then get along better, work faster and more efficiently during legislative sessions, and thus save taxpayer dollars…?
hey. it’s a theory.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
News Updates: China and wind, reprocessing fuel rods from nuclear plants, biofuels and the food crisis, etc.
April 29, 2008
China setting bonkers targets with wind. (Yes - bonkers is a technical term.) From the WSJ Env Capital blog, China is raising its wind power goal from 30 gigawatts to 100 gigawatts by 2020. How much is 100 gigawatts? The equivalent of 100 nuclear plants, or more generation capacity than in all of France.
What does this mean for Midwesterners? (1) For those purchasing wind turbines, you now will have even more international competition, and (2) for those producing wind turbines, you will have more markets.
Don’t forget the nukes. During this recent legislative session, even Kansas experienced a resurgence in the nuclear debate - one that would have gotten a lot more attention if it hadn’t had to compete with coal.
During the nuclear discussions that did occur, reprocessing spent fuel rods got a lot of attention. Good idea? Bad idea? Impossible? Too expensive to even contemplate? A gimme to terrorists who can use the resulting plutonium for dirty bombs? A great way to let future generations and technology solve the spent fuel and radioactive waste issue?
Opinions differed. Also from the WSJ Environmental Capital blog, more research on the topic.
Biofuels and the food crisis. A combination of factors has led to the current world food crisis - according to one measure, “market prices of cereals, dairy produce, meat, sugar and oils, was 57 percent higher in March 2008 than a year earlier” - and the recent explosion of corn-based biofuels is part of the problem (Reuters). Another part of the problem is higher fuel prices. Without fuel, farmers can’t farm as much acreage, so they grow less.
The situation: High demand - populations in the developing world are even growing. Limited supply - there’s less food to feed them. Result - food prices increase, and many people go hungry.
When people are hungry, they often riot. At the very least, they’re not very happy with their governments. Unhappy populations experience high incidences of civil unrest. Civil unrest contributes to international upheaval, even terrorism.
Biofuels originally promised to increase the energy security of the United States. Instead, they have become caught up in a cycle that is undermining it. How do alternative fuels disentangle themselves from this cycle? How much can we safely mix our sources of food and fuel?
TBD.
Anglican minister on climate change. Via NPR. Quotable: “It is not about, if we pray hard enough to God, he will end climate change. Yes, we should pray to God. We should also get off our backsides, get out there, and do something about it.”
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
News Updates: Interesting energy approaches in western KS, how they do it in Colorado, Cizik speaks on creation care and the Pope
April 28, 2008
Innovative approaches to power in western Kansas. Goodland Energy Resources not only got its permit for its 22 MW coal-fired power plant renewed by KDHE - but it also updated its capacity (Hays Daily News).
Located 5 miles west of Goodland, the plant sits with an ethanol plant also under construction. Steam from the coal plant would be supplied to the ethanol plant to aid in its manufacturing process.
Although the plant has had its air permit for burning of coal for some time now, the plant’s owners went back and asked for permission to modify its permit so it could burn other waste products, including tire chips and municipal waste.
That option, according to a release from EHL, would allow for emissions credits — “an asset with significant future value.”
Under terms of the permit, emissions of carbon dioxide would be limited to 270,000 tons a year, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokesman Joe Blubaugh. Other pollutants, he said, all are limited to less than 100 tons per year…
… (A spokesperson said that) the company went back in and asked to modify its permit, seeking permission to burn other products, such as sunflower hulls — presumably from the ADM sunflower processing plant a few hundred yards to the south — along with wood, tire chips and municipal waste.
“That’s a new technology coming on in power plants,” Sederstrom said. “It might not be something we do right away.”
But it’s a possibility.
Colorado has some minor energy drama of its own. Readers of this blog know that I have a touch of Colorado-envy. In terms of getting productive energy policies on the books - and renewable technologies on the ground - they have a really great track record.
As happens, though, there has been a little pushback. As the Telluride Watch reports, there are currently 18 renewable energy bills fighting their way thru the Colorado legislature. One of the more controversial measures broadens the scope of the state’s Public Utilities Commission (in Kansas, we call our equivalent the Kansas Corporation Commission, or KCC) by allowing it to consider renewables in rate cases.
Opponents argue that this means the PUC will privilege electricity generated from renewables over that from traditional fossil fuels, and also that the PUC has no business worrying about the environment.
Other Coloradoans seems to think energy and environment are VERY related - there are also plans for a ballot measure that would prevent not only the construction of new coal-fired power plants in Colorado, but also importing coal-fired power from states like Kansas or Wyoming (Rocky Mtn. News).
Rev. Cizik speaks on the Pope’s visit. Reverend Richard Cizik, a leader in the evangelical vision (I first typed “incarnation” - whoops!) of creation care, recently spoke to the Christian Post regarding the Pope’s recent visit to the U.S.
According to the Post, “the pope during his U.N. speech last week argued that environmental protection is a moral obligation, and urged global leaders to do more to preserve God’s creation.”
In Cizik’s words: “Pope Benedict’s statement about ‘rediscovering the authentic image of creation’ are helpful and reflect our own evangelical ‘creation care’ movement’s effort to take responsibility for the world that God created and love.”
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Pope Benedict traveled to the U.S. last week for his first official visit. He spoke at the United Nations (New York Times) (the text of his address is available at that link).
His comments ranged widely. In essence he argued that human rights - guarantees of justice and equality - are essential to the common good, and that both politics and religion offer ways to secure these rights for all peoples.
His words also contained points of interest for conversations on climate and energy. For example, the Pope called attention to a general problem in international politics - that consensus “continues to be in crisis because it is still subordinated to the decisions of a small number, while the world’s problems require from the international community that it act on a common basis.” He continued:
Indeed, questions of security, the development goals, the reduction of inequalities, both locally and globally, the protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate, require that all international leaders act together and show a readiness to work in good faith, in respect of the rule of law, to promote solidarity in the most fragile regions of the planet.
These remarks take place against the background of international conflict over a proposed treaty that would establish targets for greenhouse gas reductions. The United States has been one of a small yet powerful number of nations who have resisted such targets. One of the Bush’s administration’s concerns has been the economic costs of carbon regulation.
The Pope’s remarks offered another general perspective on how regulations impact the common good. Rather than economic costs, he is worried more about the human costs of not acting, on whatever the issue may be.
These regulations do not limit freedom. On the contrary, they promote it when they prohibit behavior and actions which work against the common good, curb its effective exercise and hence compromise the dignity of every human being.
In the name of liberty, there has to be a correlation between rights and responsibilities, on the basis of which every individual is called to shoulder responsibility for his or her choices, while taking into account relations with other people.
Previously, few of us have probably thought of our society’s development of science and technology as something for which we bear individual responsibility, let alone about how it impacts our relations with other people.
But as the Pope pointed out - if these developments compromise creation, then they definitely affect spiritual and community life as well:
Here our thoughts turn also to the way the results of scientific research and technological advances have sometimes been used. While recognizing the immense benefits that humanity can draw from them, some of the uses constitute a clear violation of the order of creation, to the point where not only is the sacred character of life contradicted, but the human person and the family are robbed of their natural identity.
Likewise, international action to preserve the environment and to protect various forms of life on earth must not only guarantee a rational use of technology and science, but must also rediscover the authentic image of creation.
This never requires a choice to be made between science and ethics: rather it is a question of adopting a scientific method that is truly respectful of ethical imperatives.
The Pope’s words raise the question: When it comes to climate and energy issues, can the larger community of nations achieve this vision?
If so, then to some extent they will have to transcend the limited confines of the current debate. Protecting sovereignty is one thing. Acting nationalistically against the common good of the international community is another.
The Pope phrased this broader tension a bit differently.
The action of the international community and of its institutions… should never be interpreted as an unwarranted imposition or a limitation of sovereignty.
On the contrary, it is indifference or failure to intervene that do the real damage.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Earth Day Sermons
April 20, 2008
Earth Day is April 22. CEP has had a fantastic download rate of our Earth Day Kit, which is designed to help local Kansas communities add information about climate and energy to their own local Earth Day events.
Add this to the list - a collection of Earth Day sermons, from creation care advocates and leaders of faith communities all over the map.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
In the words of the Evangelical Environmental Network (ENN) - What Would Jesus Drive?
Good question! And a great conversation starter. ENN is one of the many groups now exploring the links between faith and environment (check CEP’s handout for others). ENN has declared their moral obligation to reduce global warming pollution, and taken a pledge to do so by making smart transportation choices.
All across the U.S., religious communities are speaking out about the care of creation. In particular, they are addressing the climate crisis, and its potentially severe environmental, social, moral, economic and spiritual consequences. These groups have begun to speak out about stewardship, and the moral imperative to care for the world’s poor and vulnerable who will be most adversely affected by climate change.
At the Climate and Energy Project, these are the kind of conversations we like to help get started. Partnering with faith groups provides a great opportunity for CEP to do what we love best: Fostering creative and respectful conversations about climate change among concerned Kansans.
CEP’s newest outreach program, a Kansas chapter of Interfaith Power and Light, aims to connect Kansans with the information and tools necessary to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of their places of worship. By providing low-cost energy audits for congregations, partnerships with energy performance contractors, monitoring of GHG reductions achieved, and educational outreach to individual members, CEP hopes to both reduce total GHG emissions from congregations and allow Kansans an opportunity to put their faith into action.
To launch the Kansas Chapter, CEP is working with Kansas and Missouri-based interfaith environmental groups and the national chapter of Interfaith Power and Light (IPL), a nationwide campaign to mobilize a religious response to climate change.
With 26 states and 4,000 congregations already participating, Interfaith Power and Light has helped congregations and individuals reduce their carbon footprint through energy efficiency, renewable energy, and conservation. Some of our favorite successful programs are the California Interfaith Power and Light Program and the Iowa Interfaith Power and Light, which have reduced CO2 emissions in their congregations by 20 million pounds.
Envisioning and planning the Kansas IPL has been inspiring! We’ve met some great local faith groups who are working to foster individual and collective action on climate change. The Sustainable Sanctuary Coalition in Kansas City, MO, is an interfaith coalition which advocates sustainable living and ecological justice for all creation. We’ve also met with the Trinity Environmental Stewardship Team in Lawrence, St. Andrew’s Group for Ecology in Overland Park, and the Grassroots Environmental Action Team in Pawnee Rock. All are working on raising awareness of climate change issues in their congregations!
Concerns about creation are not limited to religious communities. In all of CEP’s conversations with Kansans about climate change, many tell us that they’ve switched to a low-carbon lifestyle because, “it’s the right thing to do” or because they believe that prudence and “not wasting what we’ve been given” is an important moral value.
Creating a Kansas chapter of Interfaith Power and Light will require input from people from all faith backgrounds, and from all parts of the state. Please consider talking with your faith leader and members of your congregation about the moral responsibility of addressing climate change.
We can do this. Let’s put our faith into action on climate change.
For more information, or to become one of the inaugural Kansas IPL congregations, please contact:
Eileen Horn, horn@climateandenergy.org
— Eileen Horn, www.climateandenergy.org
More links of interest:
National Religious Partnership for the Environment
Catholic Coalition on Climate Change
Evangelical Climate Initiative
Eco-Justice Ministries
CEP’s Interview with pastor Thad Holcomb on the interfaith nature of creation care
News Update: coal money and climate change
March 31, 2008
Historic climate pact under negotiation. This week, representatives from 163 countries are discussing the first streps necessary to produce an upcoming international climate pact to take effect in 2009 (CSMonitor). Quotable:
“And unlike talks that led to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, which applied only to developed countries, these talks must set some type of binding greenhouse-gas emissions objectives for developing countries as well.
More players are facing decisions that involve significant changes in long-established patterns of producing and using energy, of economic development, and of delivering economic and technological aid to the developing world.”
As this is going on, scientists have discovered that between 2000 and 2005, greenhouse gas emissions rose four times faster than they had during the previous 10 years.
What sort of emissions reductions are needed to head off catastrophic climate change? If implemented, an emissions objective arrived at an earlier UN conference in Bali would require industrial countries to “reduce emissions from 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.”
That represents a benchmark along the path to stabilizing global emissions so that by century’s end, global average temperature increases will be held to around 3.6 degrees F. Carbon dioxide, the key player in human-triggered warming, remains in the atmosphere for up to 200 years. Stabilization of atmospheric concentrations implies that emissions eventually must fall to virtually zero…
… “There’s a huge gap between what the scientists say is necessary” to hit the 2-degree mark “and what the political process can deliver,” Mr. Diringer says. “The challenge is to narrow that gap,” even if it isn’t slammed shut.
Kansas, coal, and climate change. The KCStar investigates Sunflower Electric’s connection to groups that have spent large sums to deny the existence or risks associated with climate change. They also report that:
… the effort to swing votes has turned into the most expensive lobbying fight in state history. Annual lobbying expenditures have topped $1 million for the first time. More than half of the $1.17 million in lobbying expenses reported to the state in 2007 came from energy companies and utilities.
Expansion opponents, including natural-gas-producing giant Chesapeake Energy, have kicked in more than $400,000. Proponents, led by Sunflower Electric Power Corp., which proposed the expansion, spent an additional $100,000, in addition to an unknown amount for advertisements that weren’t required to be reported to the state. Sunflower and its allies spent $127,000 more in January.
Humans contribute to climate change by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. When burned, these fuels release carbon dioxide long sequestered from the earth’s regular carbon cycle. When carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere, it leads to global warming and climate change.
Some costs on nuclear. Although Sunflower Electric’s proposed coal plants at Holcomb have dominated energy news lately, Kansas has seen a nuclear power debate stirring this legislative session as well. During the conversations that have taken place, there has been at least one very large, missing ingredient - how much would a new nuclear power plant cost?
As reported on NPR, Florida Power and Light just got two plants approved - price tag, $24 billion. Progress Energy, with another approved application, estimates $14 billion.
Wind power. WSJournal’s Environmental Capital blog looks at international picture of wind industry. Verdict:
“Wind power is already the fastest-growing source of new electric power in much of the world, the U.S. included, where wind power accounted for one-quarter of new generation capacity installed last year. And that will continue unabated—provided the industry can finally solve the turbine-supply problems that have plagued it for the last few years.”
Problem: Looks like they yanked the image for the article off Wikipedia… and, um, I think those are pretty old turbines. Which if memory serves, have the towers that are contribute to increased bird deaths, in part because of the perching potential. I really don’t think that picture represents contemporary turbine design. Small but important point.
Green, huh? Governor Sebelius and the TCJournal go a round over whether the second Holcomb bill, SB 148, is greener than the first, SB 327. CEP already offered its own opinion on the green/ not green thing. We were pretty underwhelmed.
TCJ started it, last Friday (sorry, I don’t seem to be able to get to the link without a subscription). Essentially, they argued that SB 148 represented concessions by Sunflower.
The larger point - that this is a special interests piece of legislation targeted at one single company out of the entire Kansas energy industry - seemed not to concern the Capitol-Journal. To quote an editorial in the Salina Journal: “This legislation addresses only one specific situation: the Sunflower plant. Drafting bills on a case-by-case basis is not good statecraft.”
This weekend, Governor Sebelius finished the discussion. Her comments - which were fairly crisp:
This most recent bill is not a concession — it’s an attempt to offer the same negative elements that caused me to veto it in the first place.
The “green energy provisions” the editorial writers championed are practically rendered obsolete by what’s in the rest of the bill…
… The so-called “green” provisions don’t reduce the amount of CO2 the two coal plants will emit. They discourage additional wind power by allowing utilities to shut off a consumer’s power if the wind stops blowing. And while they require a utility to develop an energy efficiency plan, they don’t say what kind of energy savings need to be accomplished by the plan. The statute would actually allow an energy efficiency plan that doesn’t decrease energy use. How is this compromise?
Creation care. Grist reports on the young Southern Baptist theologian who pushed for the conservative faith’s recent declaration of creation care principles.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
(Posted in time for Easter - MH)
Thad Holcomb, a native of rural Oklahoma, has run the Ecumenical Christian Ministries (ECM) at the University of Kansas for decades. In 2005, ECM won the Campus Ministry of the Year award for the South Central Region, by the National Campus Ministry Association.
Thad has long been interested in the issue of religion and the environment. He was raised Presbyterian and attended seminary at San Francisco Theological. He holds degrees in biblical studies and social ethics, as well as in clinical psychology and theology.
Maril Hazlett, CEP: Why don’t you start out by telling us a little about yourself, and how you got interested in these issues.
Thad Holcomb: I was brought up in rural Oklahoma - the cross-timber area of north-central Oklahoma. That was a sacred spot in my life. It influenced who I am and what I think and feel, and it moved me, really, into a religious understanding of life. Probably first from a mystical point of view. Then that broadened out into spirituality. That formed into faith, and then my faith turned into identity with a religious tradition.
MH: Was there any major turning point for you?
TH: I had a really profound experience when I was an adolescent, as far as nature and my connection to the larger powers. What was going on in our church at that time gave me a way to understand it - I was attending church in a small Presbyterian church. The pastor was a graduate of Princeton. More than anything, he emphasized the connections between religion and storytelling - narrative. I look back now and I see how he realized that narrative is so important in the biblical tradition. Just by telling a story, people can really identify with the characters and their situations and choices – they make up stories about others, they join in other stories…
That was my really important formulation of who I really was. My peers and I, we knew we were different. We didn’t identify with people in the city.
MH: Well, what is your story?
TH: I was probably fourteen or fifteen. On the ranch I would go out birdwatching a lot, particularly during the fall and spring, to see bird migrations. Sunrise or sunset was best. I’d go out to a farm pond, a large dam pond of ours, with my binoculars. I’d just curl up and watch wildlife.
One evening – it was fall - I was there watching ducks. Right before my eyes just an incredible explosion of wings occurred. I didn’t know what happened. Then I looked over – something was rustling in the shrubs. It was a bobcat. It had a duck by the neck. The bobcat went up to the top of a hill, it sat and it turned around. I thought it was looking right at me. Of course it wasn’t, but… Blood coming was dripping down, a little bit, from the duck. And then the bobcat just faded away, just faded away –
That affected me in a way that I had to… well, I think at any age we have questions about suffering. Watching the bobcat, I think it took away all the romanticism I had about nature. Instead, it put me into nature in a profound and spiritual way. I was no longer an observer. That day I somehow became a participant.
Because I said to myself - that is suffering. The suffering of another species, of the wild.
So that is a question that I took into kind of my faith journey. I was trying to understand that, that question.
News Updates: we’re all over the place today
March 11, 2008
I am sitting here frantically trying to post a news update while KS Clean Energy Day swirls all around me - 40 people from Reno County alone, how cool is that! - so pardon the fragmentation.
Let’s pull out the big guns first. Politics, schmolitics. Why not hear from a little religion for a change.
Catholics - don’t pollute! It’s now considered one of the new ecological sins that has emerged in modern times. So says a Vatican representative in a recent interview (Reuters). (I told Eileen this and she said - “Well, is it a mortal sin or a venal one?” I had to confess - ha, get it? - that I didn’t know.)
Southern Baptists - you’re apparently getting involved in this too. (Right up front, my favorite headline on this article came from Grist - “Holy Shift!”) As reported in the NYTimes:
44 Southern Baptist leaders have decided to back a declaration calling for more action on climate change, saying its previous position on the issue was “too timid.”
For the text of the Declaration made by the Church leaders, click here. I haven’t had a quiet moment to sit down and read it and think, but I am looking forward to doing so after today.
Now the mundane. We hear so much about regulatory uncertainty… well, there’s all sorts of ways to find yourself staring down the barrel of that one. New England is, actually, because they don’t have adequate access to transmission lines, so they are running into trouble in developing new sources of renewable energy (AP, USAToday).
The KCKansan very thoughtfully considered the problems facing the KC Board of Public Utilities (BPU) (CEP live blogged their testimony the other day while waiting to hear testimony on KCPL’s energy efficiency bill). In the course of the discussion, the writer commented on the Sunflower Holcomb controversy:
The state-level exercise on Sunflower’s plans has served a purpose, however, in that a nuanced energy policy is being discussed as a result. Nevertheless, finalization of those policies, let alone developing consensus on what such policies should include, could be a number of years away….
Clearly, decisions have to be made, and they need to be made relatively soon. These decisions, however, will have multi-generational impacts, and should include experts’ best predictions about the energy landscape beyond 2050.
Projecting the future feasibility of coal or natural gas is likely an exercise in futility. Experts would largely be unable to predict the hundreds of variables associated with such a forward-looking report, rendering the results purely speculative at best.
But today’s energy crunch should spur a completely new line of debate and examination on the energy infrastructure of tomorrow.
Is our current system of a relatively few points of electrical generation and the transference of power through electrical lines the most financially and environmentally friendly method of powering our needs?
Gott go gotta go - my photography skills (ha - I happen to be the one of us who owns a functioning digital camera) are required.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
“The age of innocence is over.”
February 25, 2008
Below is the prayer offered at the beginning of today’s House session of the Kansas legislature, by pastor Thad Holcomb of the Ecumenical Christian Ministries at the University of Kansas. (CEP has also interviewed Thad on the topic of environment and religion as part of our CEP Conversations series, and that interview should be posted some time next week.)
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O God, Father and Mother of us all, we are a thankful people for your presence that knows no bounds.
It is in you, O God, that we abide. For the men and women of this legislature, I give thanks. To them has been given the task of hearing your call to compassion. May they hear this call with an openness of heart and mind to all the citizens of the state. It is, O God, through a willingness to empathize with others, that we form a community of care for the pursuit of the public good. May this body be courageous in their deliberations and uphold the banner of justice.
We ask, O God, that this legislature acknowledge the sacredness of the earth and our interdependence with all of life. Let us acknowledge that the age of innocence is over. We cannot treat the earth as we have done in the past. The question is “what can we do to preserve and maintain the Creation on a long term basis?” May the legislation of this body be from the point of view of a life support system, and based on care for the generations of life that come after our demise. May the actions of this body be mindful of our children and grandchildren who will inherit the choices made and the votes cast by these men and women.
The call for compassion, by this legislature, O God, goes beyond defending the labels of conservative or liberal. The issues of today are too urgent to be trivialized by such action. The increasing pollution of water and air are too urgent. The gap between the poor and the wealthy grows larger, as does the number of citizens of this state who cannot afford adequate health insurance. The increasing population of our prisons calls for a justice tempered by compassion. Mental health issues and addictions that impair our citizens need the imagination and compassion of this legislature.
The age of innocence, O God, is over. No longer can any of us in this body, or citizens of this state, make decisions based on just our own survival or comfort. We are called to demonstrate that we are capable of viewing the urgent issues of our time with a perspective that will be celebrated by those who come after us in future generations as wise, compassionate and just.
— Rev. Thad Holcomb, ECM
the holcomb/ energy bill hearings - when and where - and a little video clip for your Sunday
February 3, 2008
Reprinted straight from the Lawrence Journal-World, here’s the schedule for the hearings on legislation that would allow the two coal-burning plants:
Monday through Thursday before the House Energy and Utilities Committee and the Senate Utilities Committee. The House committee meetings will start at 9 a.m. in Room 313-South in the Capitol. The Senate committee meetings will start at 9:30 a.m. in Room 526-South in the Capitol. Supporters of the bills are scheduled to testify Monday and Tuesday, and opponents, Wednesday and Thursday. Committee chairmen have said they would probably have their committees vote on the measures Friday.
Also some interesting quotables from that article:
Plant backers described the bills as a compromise because they include first-time limits on carbon dioxide emissions.
But Sebelius and environmentalists weren’t buying it.
The bills strip state authority used to reject the plants, and allow enough CO2 offsets to make Kansas the “welcome mat” for coal plants nationwide, Sebelius said.
“I’m concerned about what’s in the bill, I’m concerned about what’s missing from the bill, and I’m not quite sure at the end of the day that this is good energy policy for Kansas,” Sebelius said.
Sebelius urged lawmakers to slow down and analyze the two bills because the policies included in the legislation could affect the Kansas economy and environment for generations to come.
She had offered Sunflower Electric her support of a 660-megawatt coal-fired plant, similar to one that the company proposed in 2001, to address electric needs in western Kansas. But Sunflower rejected the proposal.
Meanwhile, the chairmen of the Senate and House committees are ignoring Sebelius’ call to slow down, and proceeding full-speed ahead, with possible votes on the bills Friday. “This is what I feel is best for Kansas,” state Rep. Carl Holmes, R-Liberal, told a receptive House Republican caucus.
Holmes also has said no energy bills would be allowed to move out of his committee until the issue of the coal plants is resolved.
When told about Holmes’ comment, House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg, said that was an “unfortunate” remark.
And now… time for a moment. Because it is, after all, Sunday. That said, reflect however you would like (or even not at all) - but if you are interested in watching a very short video clip on why we should lighten our impact on creation, check out the following from the Regeneration Project.
Things seem a little contentious right now, so that makes it an even better time to remember our common ground, and our shared obligation to be good stewards of our planet.
— Maril Hazlett
Want to know more about climate and energy in the Midwest? Check out www.climateandenergy.org.
on a sunday evening…
January 27, 2008
Sitting here on an early Sunday evening - technically, I am at my desk working. However, what I am actually doing is reading over the 2008 World Day of Peace Message from His Holiness Benedict XVI (aka, the Pope). So there is a little bit of contemplation involved.
The excerpt linked above is posted at www.catholicsandclimatechange.org. This text focuses on climate change, “urging the human family to begin to act prudently, responsibly, collectively, and urgently to solve global climate change which threatens our ‘home’, the earth.”
A lot of this message is clearly aimed at the current international discussion on climate change. Right now, that revolves around making sure that the costs and benefits of dealing with climate change are distributed fairly between developing and developed nations. However, there general language in the statement that speaks very well to the moment and the questions even here in the Midwest. Quotable:
Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken, decisions aimed at strengthening that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and towards whom we are journeying.
In this regard, it is essential to “sense” that the earth is “our common home” and, in our stewardship and service to all, to choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions (italics in original).
If you like the sentiments but would also like to read perspectives in addition to the Catholic one, of course check out one of the CEP website’s most popular pages - Tips for Congregations. Scroll down to the listings of creation care sites, click on one, read it, hop to their links and resources - like the Energizer Bunny, you can keep going and going.
— Maril Hazlett
Want to know more about climate and energy in the Midwest? Check out www.climateandenergy.org.
News Updates: More on KS transmission lines, and backlash launched against creation care movement
January 1, 1970
The transmission tale goes on. Many of the questions I still had yesterday about the latest episode in the transmission line story - Westar/ ETA applying to build a 765 kV line that ITC Great Plains had also received approval to construct - were answered by Sarah Kessinger’s story (Harris News).
Current cost estimates for the line are around $600 million. It will run 230 miles, from Spearville, KS, toward Wichita. Westar’s proposal is to build a 765 kV line; ITC Great Plains had proposed (and SPP approved) a 364 kV line. (I know that SPP is thinking about where to put a giant system of 765 lines, but I don’t know that they had decided the routes for sure).
Westar has also filed with the KCC to intervene against ITC Great Plains’ request to build that same line. (KCC, SPP, I know - the overlapping jurisdictions get a little confusing). I think that intervention might be based on the fact that the line would have to cross through a few miles of transmission territory already controlled by Westar - but if so, that’s not in the news coverage.
Comment from the ITC spokesperson (and this is from the news coverage):
An ITC Great Plains spokeswoman, Lisa Aragon, said the company remains committed to building its own ultra-high voltage line in southwest Kansas as approved by the SPP. The project would initially operate at 345 kV until the SPP deems operation at 765 kV appropriate, Aragon said.
Aragon noted that the Westar/AEP proposal has not received Southwest Power Pool approval.
“We were excited to hear the news about the AEP/Westar joint venture,” Aragon said. “There is a significant amount of needed high voltage transmission that has been identified in SPP and we believe it’s going to take a number of companies working together to get things moving.”
Also little more background about Westar’s partners, Electric Transmission American (ETA):
“Electric Transmission America will have equal shares in the the new Prairie Wind Transmission. ETA is a subsidiary of American Electric Power, owner of the nation’s largest transmission system, and MEHC America Transco, a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., one of the nation’s largest transmission holders.”
Backlash against creation care. A group called “We Get It” has launched a campaign targeting creation care ideas. Quotable:
Some say that to be a good steward of God’s creation, you must be convinced that global warming is likely to be catastrophic, that human activities caused most of the very slight warming of the last 150 years, and that stopping it requires drastic government action.
But is all that true? And if not, what kind of impact would global warming policies have on the people who can afford it the least – namely the poor here and around the world?
It is because of crucial questions like these that our environmental stewardship must not be based on mere emotions, or media hype – but on firm Biblical principles, and solid scientific and economic facts.
Maybe perspectives on evolution are changing as well.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
