"Further, we must learn that with any risky technology, whether it is offshore oil drilling or nuclear power, it is not good enough to be 99% safe. One event can have a calamitous and irreversible impact. We need a major investigation to understand how this accident occurred. We must make certain that precautions are put in place so nothing like it ever happens again.

This crisis occurred at a time when the United States was considering opening new areas to offshore oil drilling. If there is a lesson to be learned from this disaster, it is that Congress must end that policy. There must be no new offshore drilling. Not now, not ever.

Offshore drilling simply does not achieve the goals that its advocates claim, and it is not worth the risk. If we are serious about wanting to break our dependence on foreign oil and move to energy independence; if we want to lower the cost of energy; if we want to combat climate change and cut greenhouse gas emissions; if we want to create millions of new jobs – then more offshore drilling is not the way to go."

In light of the BP oil disaster Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger promptly withdrew his plans on lifting a 40-year moratorium on drilling off the California coast. Earlier Greenpeace have called for an offshore moratorium in the USA and have asked President Barack Obama to cancel Arctic drilling plans. Schwarzenegger should of course be complimented for taking back his support for any new offshore oil drilling plans. But isn’t it a bit sad that an “unprecedented environmental disaster” has to take place before anyone cares to realize the dangers of offshore oil drilling (or nuclear energy)?

But then again this might just all be nice talk from politicians and legislators. It will be interesting to see if they will continue to talk about ending offshore drilling and transforming the nation’s energy system even after the media storm have calmed. Somehow I doubt it. After all, the current oil spill is nothing new. And we shouldn’t forget that the Gulf disaster is only unusual for being so near the US. Elsewhere in the world Big Oil rarely cleans up its dirty mess. And the Western media rarely cares about it.

But one might say that Barack Obama have called for the transformation of the US energy system long before the oil disaster in the Gulf. And yes this is true. In late 2008 when the failing auto industry was the hot topic of the day Obama said that this is "our pattern" and it has to be broken:

"We go from shock to trance. You know, oil prices go up, gas prices at the pump go up, everybody goes into a flurry of activity. And then the prices go back down and suddenly we act like it’s not important, and we start, you know filling up our SUVs again.

And, as a consequence, we never make any progress. It’s part of the addiction, all right. That has to be broken. Now is the time to break it."

But then again, this is also nothing new. As Jon Stewart shows the last eight presidents in the USA have all gone on television and promised to move America towards an energy-independent future.

Photo credit: Brave New Films

The well-known Oscar and Emmy-winning director Michael Moore says goodbye to GM today as the failed auto company files for bankruptcy. Moore says the “big three” auto companies in the USA are responsible for their own demise and that they have created “some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming”.

“We are now in a different kind of war — a war that we have conducted against the ecosystem and has been conducted by our very own corporate leaders. This current war has two fronts. One is headquartered in Detroit. The products built in the factories of GM, Ford and Chrysler are some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of our polar icecaps. The things we call “cars” may have been fun to drive, but they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the planet.”

But Moore says he feel “joy” about the fact that the American people now owns 60% of GM and that he is confident “we can do a better job”. He is also calling for a swift transformation of GM into a modern and environmentally-friendly company that produces cars for the future, and that the old GM factories start to produce windmills and solar panels. In short Moore is suggesting the following:

1. Convert the auto factories to factories that build mass transit vehicles and alternative energy devices.
2. Don’t lay off more workers. Instead use them to help build the new modes of the 21st century transportation.
3. Invest in high-speed railway across the nation.
4. Put light rail mass transit lines in all our large and medium-sized cities, and build those trains in the GM factories.
5. Make GM produce clean and energy efficient buses for the rural areas of USA.
6. Have some factories build hybrid or all-electric cars (and batteries), it will only take a month to re-tool the factories.
7. Transform some of the empty GM factories to facilities that build windmills, solar panels and other means of alternate forms of energy.
8. Provide tax incentives for those who travel by hybrid car or bus or train.
9. Help people switch to a more energy efficient car or use the public transportation system more by imposing a two-dollar tax on every gallon of gasoline.

Moore has loads of good ideas but somehow I doubt we will start seeing common sense in the US auto industry some day soon.

Also read:
- Let GM and the other failed auto giants go under
- “There is no need to spend a penny of public money on greening the motor industry”
- Uneven Development and Northern Imperialism in the making of Today’s Ecological Crisis
- Al Gore: The whole auto industry needs to be transformed
- Obama on 60 Minutes: “We go from shock to trance and that has to be broken”

“Did you notice the ads after last night’s presidential debate? ABC had Chevron. CBS had Exxon. CNN had the coal lobby. But you know what happened last week? ABC refused to run our Repower America ad — the ad that takes on this same oil and coal lobby”, said Cathy Zoi, CEO of the We Campaign, in an email newsletter to the campaigns member two days ago.

ABC is still, after more than two days, refusing to say or even respond to the We Campaign about why they won’t run the Repower America ad.

“As our country faces deep economic problems, we need to be able to have an honest debate about the root causes of our problems. As Al Gore has said, “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the future of human civilization. And every bit of that has to change. As oil and coal backed groups outspend even major party committees in this political year, it’s outrageous that ABC would deny our ad”, said Cathy Zoi.

In response to the refusal the We Campaign launched an online petition site to make ABC change their mind. In just 24 hours over 100,000 have signed it and sent messages to ABC in support of the Repower America ad.

The EIA doesn’t expect any oil production from offshore drilling until around the year 2017. And that it won’t reach peak production until around 2030, and then it would only produce 200,000 barrels of oil per day (marked in yellow below). “This would supply a meager 1.2% of total US annual oil consumption (just 0.6% of total US energy consumption)”.

And architecture2030.org, which the chart comes from, concludes that “the offshore oil would be sold back to the US at the international rate, which today is $106 a barrel. So, the oil produced by offshore drilling would not only be a “drop in the bucket”, it would be expensive, which translates to “no relief at the pump”.”

More oil consumption charts:
- A Picture is Worth… Gasoline Consumption Per Day

“I’ve been deeply frustrated. I suspect a lot of you have been too.

We’re facing such huge challenges and all you hear through the media are demagogic chants like “drill, drill, drill.”

Skyrocketing energy prices. The climate crisis. Unraveling financial markets. Wars that just happen to be in places with a lot of oil. These are all just different faces of exactly the same thing. As I’ve said in the past, we’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the future of human civilization. And every bit of that has to change.

We all know what we have to do. Ask anybody on the street and they’ll tell you. We need to “Repower America” — invest in ourselves, here at home, with clean, economical energy technologies that we know work. And be the global leader as these technologies take off around the world.

And ask anyone, and they’ll also tell you why it isn’t happening: the oil and coal lobbies — and the politicians who do their bidding.”

Learn about Al Gore’s clean renewable energy challenge for USA and why offshore drilling is not the answer to high gas prices.

Update: Cathy Zoi, from the We Campaign, just sent out this email:

Wow! I just got an update on the number of donations we received from Al Gore’s email. I couldn’t believe it. Just in the first 6 hours, folks gave more than $150,000 to get our Repower America ad on the air.

With your help, we can support a national CNN buy for the next week, too. Will you chip in to keep it on the air?

If you want to contribute to the TV ad click here.

Gristmill also has a lengthy post about Sarah Palin and her record on issues related to energy and the environment. For example they list Sarah Palin’s support to build a natural-gas pipeline from Alaska’s North Slope and her suggestion to eliminate Alaska’s gas tax.

Gristmill also lists several quotes from Sarah Palin and from people who have reacted to her nomination. Such as this one from Gene Karpinski, the President of the League of Conservation Voters:

“Unfortunately, with her support for drilling in the Arctic Refuge and off our coasts, Governor Palin will simply continue the failed policies of the Bush-Cheney Administration and their Big Oil friends — policies that could make us even more dependent on foreign oil.

Governor Palin characterizes McCain’s flip-flop on drilling offshore as a positive step in his transformation from maverick to Big Oil’s best friend. She has implored McCain to change his position against drilling in the Arctic — something she will have plenty of opportunities to pursue as his running mate.

In addition to supporting backward-looking energy policies, Governor Palin has also opposed a crucial clean water initiative, sued the federal government for listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and opposed other important wildlife protection measures.”

The post Sarah Palin’s awful environmental record has been updated with the new information.

It seems that as for every day that passes more and more jobs in USA gets outsourced and shipped overseas to countries with cheaper labour. That’s why it must be great news for the people of Colorado in USA that Vestas, the world’s leading supplier of wind energy, has announced that they will “outsource” 1350 new green tech jobs to Colorado.

Besides one factory already being built in Colorado at a total cost of $200 the Danish company Vestas will invest $120 million in a new blade factory and a nacelle assembly factory in Brighton. Thanks to these investments a total of 2450 people will be on Vestas payroll in Colorado.

“On behalf of the people of Colorado, I am grateful that Vestas has chosen to once again invest in our state,” says Bill Ritter, Governor of the State of Colorado. “This is a tremendous boon for all of Colorado, not just Brighton. By bringing more than 1,350 additional jobs here, Vestas is cementing its standing as one of Colorado’s pioneering partners in the New Energy Economy. I look forward to continuing the relationship for years to come. My administration has worked closely with Vestas to make the Brighton project a reality. This only adds momentum to our efforts to diversify our economy and grow these modern-energy industries of the future.”

The green tech jobs currently being created in Colorado mainly come from the state’s “growing political and economic commitment to renewables”, as the Washington Post reports:

Colorado’s growing political and economic commitment to renewables is causing fear in the oil and gas industry, which is fighting to keep its tax breaks and its influence over state rulemaking.

“We’re not feeling very cherished,” said Collins, whose oil and gas association represents more than 30 companies. The group objects to an initiative on the ballot in November; it would eliminate the industry’s 87.5 percent property tax exemption, estimated to cost the state treasury $230 million to $320 million a year.

If the ballot rule passes, the tax money will be channeled to renewable fuels, wildlife conservation and education. The industry also objects to proposed rules that would require greater public health and environmental protection in areas where drilling takes place.

An 87.5 percent property tax exemption? Yes, you read right. No wonder big oil likes status quo and does everything it can to halt any kind of transformation to a more sustainable energy market.

Via Solve Climate