The Environmental Protection Agency is asking for public comments on whether greenhouse gases that cause global warming "endanger public health and welfare."
Global warming is one of the greatest threats people and wildlife have ever faced. Now is the time for action. More than 21,000 National Wildlife Federation supporters have submitted comments urging the Environmental Protection Agency to take responsibility to regulate greenhouse gases.
Now you can add your voice to this historic opportunity to stop global warming.
Our goal is to have 35,000 public comments submitted by the public comment deadline of November 28th.
In a recent post-election poll, 78% of voters see clean energy as a pathway to revitalize America's economy. The poll also showed 57% of voters said it was important to back candidates who support reducing global warming pollution. And just recently President-Elect Obama released a powerful video statement:"Few challenges facing America -- and the world -- are more urgent than combating climate change," he said. "Many of you are working to confront this challenge....but too often, Washington has failed to show the same kind of leadership. That will change when I take office."
The following statement was released today by National Wildlife Federation in response to President-Elect Obama's call for climate action. See Obama's surprise climate change video appearance at:
Contact: Miles Grant, National Wildlife Federation, 703-864-9599 (cell), grantm@nwf.org
NWF President & CEO Reacts to Obama’s Call for Climate Action
WASHINGTON, DC (November 18, 2008) - President-elect Barack Obama delivered a speech via video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvG2XptIEJk) today to the bipartisan Governors’ Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles.
Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said today:
"With today’s call for action on global warming, President-elect Obama has kicked the gears of change into motion. The call for action will echo from the halls of Washington to the capitals of nations around the world.
"After years of gridlock in Washington, Obama has offered America and the world a new beginning that promises to revitalize our economy with clean energy and to protect our planet in peril.
"As world leaders gather in the coming weeks in Poland to negotiate a pathway out of the climate crisis, the eyes of the world will be upon America and our newfound resolve to rejoin global efforts.
"The American public stands behind Obama’s call for action. According to a Zogby post-election poll, 60 percent of Americans who voted in the elections believe combating global warming should be a high priority’ for the next president and new Congress.
"The time for America to act is now. With our economy in crisis and our planet in peril, the fate of our economy and environment hinge on how quickly we move to repower America with clean energy solutions.
Clean energy investments create jobs, revitalize our economy, and reduce the pollution that is accelerating global warming. The investments in clean energy that forestall a climate meltdown will aid our recovery from the global financial meltdown.
"We applaud President-elect Obama’s determination to aggressively pursue his campaign commitment to cap the pollution that is causing global warming and invest financial resources from a cap-and-trade plan in deploying clean energy technologies and safeguarding America’s natural resources.
"With the backing of our four million supporters across America, the National Wildlife Federation is committed to enacting strong climate and clean energy legislation in Congress in 2009."
The National Wildlife Federation ( http://www.nwf.org/ )is America's largest conservation organization inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future.
In his New York Times opinion piece The Climate for Change, former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore rightly points out that:
"…the bold steps that are needed to solve the climate crisis are exactly the same steps that ought to be taken in order to solve the economic crisis and the energy security crisis."
In the spirit of change that is coming to the land, National Wildlife Federation offers a post-election take on our changing political landscape.
The National Wildlife Federation’s What’s Out and What’s In list provides a new perspective on what is going out and coming in after the sea-change 2008 elections.
In his victory speech last night, President-elect Barack Obama called on America to defend a "planet in peril" as one of the three great challenges of our time. President-elect Barack Obama is inheriting not just two wars, dangerous energy dependency, crushing debt, and a broken economy, but he is inheriting a climate crisis that is far worse than most Americans know. Obama understands how difficult "remaking this nation" will be. He explicitly expressed this challenge in his acceptance speech: "For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime:two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century."
The good news is that we finally have a leader who gets the urgency of climate change and has the capacity to unite America.
Election Day 2008 will be remembered not only for delivering a new President and a new Congress, but for a clarion call for a new direction to end our dependence on oil, reinvent our energy economy, and to find climate solutions. America must now embrace a new national economy built on a vision of carbon-free, domestically-produced energy. This election was powered by younger voters, including many first-time and previously disaffected voters who are deeply worried about their future. They want dramatic and meaningful change, especially for a new energy economy that will protect the planet while creating domestic jobs. Obama’s bold stimulus package will be driven by new energy investments for clean power and investments in energy efficiency at the community level. In his words: "There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair."
The only way the President-elect solves all of the staggering problems facing us at one time is by bundling them together into a single new energy pathway through the creation of a bold, carbon-free energy stimulus program, a national grid, and a comprehensive energy policy that creates a new pathway forward by capping carbon pollution and stimulating massive public and private investments in building a new energy infrastructure within ten years. Building a new clean energy infrastructure will not be easy or quick. As Obama said last night, "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may notget there in one year or even in one term… I will ask you to join in the work of the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand."
It’s truly a new day in Washington. I hope it will be a new day for bipartisan cooperation to solve America’s problems. Senator John McCain’s willingness find bipartisan solutions will be needed more now than ever. Our leaders on both sides of the aisle can’t afford to take this new opportunity for granted. Americans want a clean energy economy that moves away from dependence on oil and toward solutions to global warming. They will be looking for results, not more rhetoric. They expect legislation that caps and rapidly reduces U.S. global warming pollution, invests in made-in-America clean energy solutions, and provides funding to protect natural resources from the harmful impacts of global warming. The National Wildlife Federation looks forward to working with President-elect Barack Obama and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in this new political climate to pass strong new energy/global warming legislation. After eight years of denial and delay, we simply cannot afford to wait any longer.
The report’s Executive Summary outlines 50 specific policy recommendations that will save the state $28 billion, reduce greenhouse gas emissions 64% by 2025, and reduce Florida’s energy use by 53.5 gallons of petroleum and 200 million tons of coal.
The report also outlines a host of strategies to protect Florida’s wildlife and natural resources from the harmful effects of climate change already underway.
Florida’s report shows that the state’s early investments in a low carbon economy will provide Floridians with significant economic and energy security benefits. Other states that are looking to create economic opportunity, reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, and confront the climate crisis should take note of Florida's example.
Walk, bike, roll or stroll to a trail near you this Columbus Day Weekend (October 11-13th, 2008) for the first annual Make Tracks™ Family Trail Weekend!
A new website by National Wildlife Federation has taken the legwork out of preparing for a fun family outing. Go to http://www.nwf.org/maketracks/ to get a list of supplies, tips for family-friendly activities, and a link to NatureFind, a terrific database to locate the best nearby trails, walking paths and parks, just by entering your zip code.
With today’s high gas prices, discovering nature where you live has even more benefits.
Haven’t hiked much, or ever? No problem, you don’t need to be an expert or in top physical condition to enjoy the outdoors. Have small children? Grab the stroller. Your outing can be as long or as short as you want. Be part of a growing movement in the U.S. to rediscover the outdoors – and realize the benefits of stepping away from the computer or TV or video game and breathing some fresh air while experiencing the wonders of nature.
Field and Stream recently ran my opinion piece on oil shale: A Sub-Prime Energy Future on their home page.
By doing Big Oil’s bidding and allowing the offshore drilling and commercial oil shale moratoriums to expire, Congress has failed to protect the interests of Americans in general, and hunters and anglers in particular. Though largely overshadowed in the national discussion, commercial oil shale drilling in the West is a sub-prime investment that America cannot afford, because it endangers scarce water resources, wildlife and recreation habitat and is a step backward for the climate.
Meanwhile, we are shutting the door on millions of Americans who are waiting for the good paying jobs that Made-in-America clean energy technologies could produce. But these investments, which would recharge America’s economy, are losing ground to Big Oil’s multi-million dollar campaign to "drill, baby, drill."
Oil shale is the poster child for a sub-prime investment in our energy future.
While the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 has critical extensions of incentives forconservation and renewable energy, it is fatally flawed because it includes substantial new subsidies for dirty fuels that will dramatically increase global warming pollution and threaten millions of acres of wildlife habitat.
The clean energy tax incentives have passed both the Senate and House several times. I applaud the Senate’s efforts to move these into law. Unfortunately, by including sweeping new federal subsidies for oil shale, tar sands and liquid coal refining, the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 no longer represents the kind of progress America needs toconfront global warming. Specifically, the following are critical flaws in the bill:
Oil shale development would put at risk millions of acres of wildlife habitat throughout the Rocky Mountain West important to hunters, anglers and other wildlife enthusiasts. Moreover, producing transportation fuels from oil shale and tar sands would increase global warming pollution.
Even the best emerging technology for oil shale production would result in 20-45% more global warming pollution per gallon as compared to conventional gasoline. Other technologies to develop oil shale can generate up to five times as much carbon dioxide as conventional gasoline.
The United States cannot change course on its rising global warming pollution levels while so dramatically increasing the carbon dioxide in the nation’s transportation fuels.
A viable shale industry would also have significant direct impacts on wildlife, and inevitably collide with consumer water needs in the arid West.
Shale production requires at least three to five gallons of water to produce one gallon of fuel, and the vast majority of shale is located in arid states with limited water resources. The federal government reports that a viable shale industry would consume upwards of 300 million gallons of water daily – 130 percent of the City of Denver’s daily water use.
Oil shale development will destroy two million acres of essential wildlife habitat that supports economies throughout Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. This area is home to an impressive array of wildlife including the largest mule deer herd in the country, mountain lions, black bears, bald eagles and elk. This is the heart of the American West. Oil shale development will leave this iconic area of America decimated.
The "Refinery Expensing" provision in the bill promotes the production of oil shale and tar sands fuels. This provision expands the Internal Revenue Code Section 179C tax credit to refinery property that is used to directly convert oil shale and tar sands into liquid transportation fuels.
Tar sands production is four times more carbon dioxide intensive than conventional drilling and gasoline production. Tar sands also threaten wildlife habitat as they are currently being mined from Canada’s boreal forest, and could be produced in the Western United States as well. Of the half dozen U.S. refinery expansions in the permitting stage, most are multi-billion dollar expansions to take more tar sands oil from Canada. Supporting these refinery expansions through the tax code will impose high costs on taxpayers when oil companies operating in the tar sands are making record profits.
The "Carbon Capture and Sequestration Demonstration Projects" and the "Extension and Expansion of the Alternative Fuels Credit" would promote coal to liquid transportation fuels. The production and use of coal-based transportation fuels would more than double the global warming pollution per gallon as compared to conventional gasoline. It would also increase the devastating effects of coal mining felt by communities and wildlife stretching from Appalachia to the Rocky Mountains.
National Wildlife Federation strongly supports provisions in the bill that would extend federal tax incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies that have expired or will expire at the end of this year. These incentives must be extended immediately to avoid significant harm to the developing clean energy industries in the United States. The technologies produced by these industries play a vital role in reducing global warming pollution, creating new high-wage jobs here at home, and saving consumers and businesses money on their energy bills.
The extensions would blunt the impact of high energy bills by encouraging greater use of energy efficiency and renewable energy, and therefore decrease demand for natural gas. High natural gas prices are putting significant upward pressure on inflation and consumer energy bills.
However, the increased global warming pollution and destruction of important wildlife habitat that would result from the oil shale, tar sands, and coal-to-liquid provisions in the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 outweigh the benefits of these clean energy incentives.
The public wants Congress to take the urgent and necessary steps that will give consumers better energy choices, cut oil dependency and cut global warming pollution.
Because of the provision allowing commercial oil shale leasing, the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Taxpayer Protection Act (H.R. 6899) that’s being voted on today by the House of Representatives fails to address the fundamental challenge of avoiding significant new increases in global warming pollution and protecting important wildlife habitat on our public lands.
The Comprehensive American Energy Security and Taxpayer Protection Act does include several important provisions that would advance clean energy solutions and reduce global warming pollution, including the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), tax incentives for conservation and renewable energy, cuts in subsidies and giveaways for big oil, and building codes that would increase efficiency in our home and offices. Unfortunately, HR 6899 also affirmatively lifts and does not extend a longstanding moratorium on commercial oil shale leasing, putting at risk millions of acres of wildlife habitat throughout the Rocky Mountain West important to hunters, anglers and other wildlife enthusiasts. Moreover, commercial oil shale leasing could lead to dramatic increases in global warming pollution that far outweigh the good provisions in this bill.
Even the best emerging technology for oil shale production would result in 20-45% more global warming pollution per gallon as compared to conventional gasoline. Other technologies to develop oil shale can generate up to five times as much carbon dioxide as conventional gasoline.
The United States cannot change course on its rising global warming pollution levels while so dramatically increasing the carbon dioxide in the nation’s transportation fuels.
A viable shale industry would also have significant direct impacts on wildlife, and inevitably collide with consumer water needs in the arid West. Shale production requires at least three to five gallons of water to produce one gallon of fuel, and the vast majority of shale is located in arid states with limited water resources. The federal government reports that a viable shale industry would consume upwards of 300 million gallons of water daily. Combined with the massive disturbance of land and habitat caused by shale extraction, this fuel presents a grave risk to sensitive wildlife habitat in the Rocky Mountain West.
Most of America’s oil shale is found in Green River Formation which is home to some of the most valuable wildlife habitat in the United States. The area supports an impressive array of wildlife, from mule deer and elk to mountain lions, bald eagles, sage grouse, and native trout fisheries. It also provides drinking water to local communities. Millions of Americans, including sportsmen and women, enjoy our public lands for recreational, commercial, or professional activities related to fish and wildlife that would be threatened by oil shale development.
The expected "motion to recommit" is anticipated to include expensive subsidies for coal to liquids and no restrictions on oil shale leasing, in addition to drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge and other national treasures.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, expanded drilling will have an "insignificant" impact on oil prices, saving consumers a few pennies a gallon decades from now. In just the last eight years we’ve seen a 260 percent increase in drilling on our public lands while the price of gas has more than doubled. We need to minimize expanded drilling and ensure that our nation’s most cherished public lands and waters remain protected.
With only 3% of the world’s oil, the United States could drill every national park, wildlife refuge and coastline, and still be importing most of its oil. As long as we are dependent on oil, we are susceptible to global supply and demand factors and the OPEC cartel, which can easily increase or decrease production to affect prices, easily adjusting to any new U.S. oil production.
Any final energy legislation acted on by Congress must meet the test of giving consumers real energy choices, reducing global warming pollution, and protecting our treasured landscapes for future generations. With the inclusion of commercial oil shale leasing, legislation being considered by the House of Representatives today fails to meet this test.
The wilderness isn't just out there. It's near you. It's that wild place you cherish and the wildlife that make it special What can you do to protect it? Support NWF.
Stay on top of the latest updates by adding this blog to your newsreader or web portal.
Subscribe Now.
The Environmental Protection Agency is asking for public comments on whether greenhouse gases that cause global warming "endanger public health and welfare."
In the spirit of change that is coming to the land, National Wildlife Federation offers a post-election take on our changing political landscape.
In his victory speech last night, President-elect Barack Obama called on America to defend a "planet in peril" as one of the three great challenges of our time. President-elect Barack Obama is inheriting not just two wars, dangerous energy dependency, crushing debt, and a broken economy, but he is inheriting a climate crisis that is far worse than most Americans know. Obama understands how difficult "remaking this nation" will be. He explicitly expressed this challenge in his acceptance speech: "For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime:two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century."
Walk, bike, roll or stroll to a trail near you this Columbus Day Weekend (October 11-13th, 2008) for the first annual 
The public wants Congress to take the urgent and necessary steps that will give consumers better energy choices, cut oil dependency and cut global warming pollution. 
