Kerry, Lieberman Promote Offshore Oil, Coal, Nukes, Offsets in New "Climate" Bill

[villager]

Kerry, Lieberman Promote Offshore Oil, Coal, Nukes, Offsets in New "Climate" Bill

In introducing the "American Power Act" on May 12, 2010, Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) seemed oblivious to the various public relations disasters the industries favored in their bill had suffered in recent weeks. In short order, we have witnessed: an explosion at a Massey coal mine in West Virginia, in which 29 workers were killed; BP's unfolding oil catastrophe, wherein 11 workers were killed in what is proving to be the worst offshore oil industry disaster in U.S. history in the Gulf of Mexico; and the contamination of the groundwater supply of much of southern New Jersey by a tritium leak from the aging Oyster Creek nuclear power plant.

Unabashed, the two senators took to the podium accompanied by nuclear and coal industry titans (though nary an oil exec in sight) to introduce draft legislation that subsidizes nuclear power, "clean" coal (an oxymoron, if there ever was one), and incentivizes states' support for offshore oil drilling, while gutting the EPA's authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

In addition, despite an Interpol investigation into organized crime's involvement in forest carbon offsets and massive tax fraud in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, Senator Kerry promised the bill would provide "additional carbon offsets". Do we really need more than the 2 billion tons of carbon offsets per year already provided under the House-passed Waxman-Markey bill? The U.S. Government Accountability Office studied carbon offsets and found them impossible to verify. This quantity of carbon offsets means the U.S. could make no verifiable emissions reductions until at least 2030, making the 17 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels promised by 2020 meaningless in the short-term-- when it's needed most.

We can and indeed we must do better.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daphne-wysham/kerry-lieberman-promote-o_b_574252.html

[ProSense]

1. "Thankfully, the bill does not expand offshore drilling,"

Live Q & A: Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune

Q: The bill expands potential areas for offshore drilling and appears to offer states incentives for opening their waters through enhanced profit-sharing. Though there are mechanisms for states to try and block drilling offshore in neighboring states, the mechanism appears to be very favorable to opening areas. Is this at all viable in the face of what we're currently seeing in the Gulf?

MB: We are calling for a reinstatement of the presidential moratorium and are working with the administration to secure protections for our oceans.

This bill does not achieve our goal of protecting our oceans, and the revenue sharing provision increases the risk of drilling. Thankfully, the bill does not expand offshore drilling, and does not call for leasing in areas previously protected by the Congressional drilling moratorium. The bill also provides a temporary moratorium on any new offshore drilling until the cause of the BP Oil Disaster is determined and the Secretary of the Interior certifies it is safe.

The bill outlines key protections, which need to be expanded: Liability Mechanism, Improved Safety Measures and Clean Up Technology. The bill calls for all three, but there are no details in the bill.

Impact Studies. Allows impacted states to veto drilling in nearby states eligible to receive revenue sharing. The bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to study the environmental and economic impact of a potential oil spill on neighboring states eligible for revenues sharing before drilling can occur. For example, if the DOI study documents that an oil spill from Virginia would pollute beaches in New Jersey, its legislature could pass a law vetoing drilling off the coast of Virginia.

Allows states to establish a 75-mile drilling buffer. There is currently no buffer zones in place for the Atlantic or Pacific coasts; the bill gives states the opportunity to petition the Department of the Interior for a 75-mile no leasing, no drilling, buffer zone.

[villager]

3. " This bill does not achieve our goal of protecting our oceans, and the revenue sharing provision...

...increases the risk of drilling."

[Name removed]

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