A new government study comes to the same conclusion as most others: clean energy legislation would cost little for the average consumer.
 
According to the Energy Information Administration, the nation's foremost energy projection authority, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, passed by the House in June, would cost only about $114 per household in increased energy bills by the year 2020.
 
Despite flaws in the analysis that artificially inflate the cost of the bill, the EIA study was in line with recent estimates from other nonpartisan groups, including the Congressional Budget Office and Environmental Protection Agency, which pegged the cost at less than a dollar per day by 2020.
 
The bill requires energy companies to help consumers mitigate costs during the crucial early years of the emissions-limiting system. The EIA study does not take into account the extension of consumer protection measures beyond the year 2025.
 
Adding to the growing consensus, the CBO reported last week that emission offsets could cut the costs of the bill by 70 percent from 2012 to 2050. The Government Accountability Office, an arm of the CBO, concluded that consumer costs could be largely offset if revenues are properly utilized.
 
Building on the findings, Senate leaders say they’re prepared to move forward with their own version of the House bill.
 
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) says he will meet a September committee deadline set by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for global warming legislation. According to Sen. Baucus, the Finance Committee is already planning for hearings and mark-ups on an emissions-limiting piece of clean energy legislation.

New York Governor David A. Paterson signed an executive order establishing an 80 percent emissions reduction goal by the year 2050.
 
Gov. Paterson stressed the importance of curbing harmful emissions as well as the economic opportunities afforded by the move to a clean energy economy:
 
“Climate change is the most pressing environmental issue of our time. By taking action, we send a signal that New Yorkers will do our share to address the climate crisis and we will do it in a way that creates opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship to flourish.”
 
New York becomes the eighth state to set an 80 percent goal for the year 2050, joining California, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and New Hampshire. Judith Enck, New York’s deputy secretary for the environment, noted the significance of the growing group: "When you have New York and California together on this, you know, these economies are larger than some nations. We can really make national progress on this."
 
The executive order may lead to a strategy-mapping state emissions bill similar to the law adopted by California in 2006.
 
Pennsylvania and members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state trading program for power plant emissions, are also considering adopting a low-carbon fuel standard.
 
Jackson Morris, air and energy program director for Environmental Advocates of New York, said the reduction goal helps President Obama affect change on emissions.
"We firmly believe that New York making this announcement today helps President Obama in his quest to achieve 80 percent reduction by 2050," Morris said.
 
Gov. Paterson is also forming a climate action council, featuring the heads of major state agencies. The group is tasked with creating a climate action plan by September 2010 and setting out a logistical strategy for achieving the emissions goals.

It seems opponents of clean energy are increasingly resorting to dirty tactics in their fight against climate legislation.

Washington lobbying group Bonner & Associates recently sent fraudulent letters to U.S. Representative Tom Perriello (D-Va.) purporting to represent the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Creciendo Juntos, a Latino advocacy network, and asserting opposition to the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

The notes first surfaced in June, when, two weeks prior to a House vote on the clean energy bill, Rep. Perriello's office received letters urging the freshman representative not to vote for the legislation, which institutes an emission-limiting system and initiatives to stimulate job growth. Rep. Perriello ultimately supported the bill.

The six letters contained nearly identical language and were 'signed' by fictitious members of each organization.

Bonner & Associates has been accused of so-called 'astroturfing' in the past, and has lobbied on behalf of utility companies and obstructionist groups. This time, the firm did not register to lobby against the clean energy bill for any company or organization, a requirement in many cases.

Victims of the deception campaign have been vocal in their condemnation of the firm.

Tim Freilich, who sits on the executive committee of Creciendo Juntos, claimed the firm "stole (its) name" and criticized the act as an example of "an activity that undermines Americans' faith in democracy."

Leaders at the NAACP, which recently ratified a resolution to fight global warming and its effects, were similarly outraged. Hilary O. Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau, released a statement saying he was “appalled that an organization like Bonner and Associates would stoop to these depths to deceive Congress." Shelton further accused the firm of "exploiting the African-American community to achieve their misdirected goal."

Bill co-sponsor Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), in response to what he calls "an appalling abuse," said  that the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming would launch an investigation of the incident. "This fraud on Congress shows that some opponents of clean energy have resorted to forgery and theft to block progress," Markey said.

According to a new report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, adoption of emissions-limiting public policy could cut U.S. energy bills in half by mid-century.

Investments in energy efficiency versus conventional energy use may lead to up to half of the emissions reductions that analysts say are necessary by 2050 in addition to spurring economic growth and job creation.

The report also suggests that many studies on the economic impact of climate legislation rely on models that underestimate the importance of advances in energy efficiency.

Because it is an "invisible energy source," many economic models have ignored the potential gains arising from energy efficiency improvements, according to John Laitner, director of economic and social analysis at ACEEE. "Energy efficiency is the cheapest and largest resource to satisfy the growing demand services in the U.S. economy."

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.”

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."

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.

It's still early in session for the U.S. Senate, but you wouldn't know it by the progress being made on clean energy leMomentum has picked up quickly on a Senate bill similar to the American Clean Energy and Security Act, recently passed in the House. If adopted, the proposed legislation would set renewable energy standards for power producers, create clean energy jobs, and institute a carbon cap system to curb industrial emissions.

According to a report released Monday by President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, jobs in the environmental sector are increasing at a faster rate than those in other sectors, and are set to experience “tremendous growth” between now and 2020.

The report, which forecasts the changing labor market in the years ahead based on recent market data, identifies green jobs as part of a growing sector that is transforming the economy, according to a White House official. It emphasizes “worker flexibility” as key to an expected economic uptick.

New environmental sector jobs are expected to include ‘blue collar’ work and “pay more on average than otherwise comparable jobs.” They are also considered “more likely to be…unionized” and instrumental in the growth of a secure middle class.

Though the Senate is still moving ahead with clean energy legislation, advocacy groups haven't forgotten the contributions already made by lawmakers in the fight against global warming.

In a series of television and print advertisements, House members who voted for the American Clean Energy and Security Act, passed in June, have been drawing recognition for their efforts from a wide variety of organizations and citizen coalitions.

Favorable television spots have been running in at least 25 congressional districts, while print campaigns have been launched in approximately 40 districts. Many of the ads focus on the economic promise of the bill, which will create scores of new jobs in the Midwes and elsewhere. A series of print advertisements run by a sportsmen group emphasizes the inclusion of dedicated funds for safeguarding natural resources.

 Among members being singled out for praise are Tom Perriello (D-VA); Harry Teague (D-N.M.); John Boccieri (D-Ohio); Alan Grayson (D-Fla.); Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.); and Frank Kratovil (D-Md.).