Complete list of press releases

(Sacramento, CA – November 24, 2009) Environmental Defense Fund praised the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for its preliminary draft regulation (PDR) to reduce global warming pollution in the state. The PDR outlines key concepts the agency is considering as its designs a comprehensive cap-and-trade program.

California’s groundbreaking clean energy law, The Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), requires cutting global warming pollution 15 percent by 2020. The CARB board approved a plan last December calling for a cap-and-trade program that covers 85 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in California by 2020.  

“On the eve of the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen next month, California’s ‘leadership by example’ is an important sign that meaningful action is occurring at the sub-national level in the United States and around the world,” said Derek Walker, director of the California Climate Initiative at Environmental Defense Fund, which co-sponsored AB 32. “California is taking another important step on the path to a clean energy future that will create economic opportunities and environmental benefits for all Californians.”  

Cap-and-trade is a proven, effective mechanism for cutting pollution quickly and at the lowest cost, a particularly important consideration given the economic downturn. In the 1990s, a cap-and-trade program incorporated into the federal Clean Air Act achieved 100 percent compliance in reducing sulfur dioxide emissions that cause acid rain at just 20 to 30 percent of the cost forecast by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

The PDR highlights the pros and cons of various design approaches. CARB has gotten broad stakeholder input at 21 public workshops and is taking public comment on the PDR until mid-January.   

A Proposed Draft Regulation will be released for further public comment in spring 2010, and the final regulation is set to be approved by CARB in October 2010. California’s cap-and-trade program is scheduled to begin on January 1, 2012.  

“California is once again leading the world in tackling a complex, but critical environmental and economic challenge,” concluded Walker. “We are showing the world the power of state leadership in promoting innovation, while helping combat the most dangerous impacts of global warming.”  

Since AB 32 was signed in 2006, five other states (Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey) have passed laws capping their greenhouse gas emissions. California’s own cap-and-trade program will be linked to the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), a partnership of seven U.S. states (Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Utah) and four Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario) that are working together to develop a regional cap-and-trade market. 

The preliminary draft regulations are available on the CARB website at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/meetings/121409/pdr.pdf.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

Contacts: Sean Crowley, 202-572-3331, scrowley@edf.org
Dan Cronin, 202-572-3354, dcronin@edf.org

(New Orleans – November 23, 2009) – Environmental Defense Fund and National Wildlife Federation “fervently” support the state of Louisiana’s initiative announced this afternoon to seek the intervention of the U.S. Commerce Secretary to stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from mismanaging the Mississippi River Delta Ecosystem.

“The Corps is actively managing the collapse of the Mississippi River Delta Ecosystem, and Congress has not authorized that purpose,” said Environmental Defense Fund General Counsel Jim Tripp, who serves on the Louisiana Governor’s Commission on Coastal Restoration and Conservation. “This on-going collapse is contributing to increased instability of the navigation system, mounting vulnerability of oil and gas infrastructure and reduced vitality of Gulf fisheries, assets of national economic importance, and undermining the integrity of urban levee hurricane protection systems.”

“The Corps’ current management of Mississippi River water and sediment is actually compromising the core flood control and navigation missions of the Corps that date back to 1927,” added Tripp, whose statement was endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation. “The collapse of the coastal delta is occurring in large part because the sediment in the Mississippi River that used to be conveyed by high water river flows into the deltaic ecosystem is now confined and shunted by navigation and flood control levees to the Gulf of Mexico, thanks to the Corps’ mismanagement.”

“Since the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is playing a leading role as a member of the White House Coastal Mississippi - Louisiana Restoration Working Group, this intervention also provides the Working Group with an immediate opportunity,” concluded Tripp. “It can begin the process of redirecting federal management of the sediments of the Mississippi River away from the 20th century acceptance of delta collapse towards a 21st century engagement with sediment reintroduction and delta restoration. Such an orientation is both consistent with and ultimately necessary for flood control and navigation.”

To read Tripp’s full statement, visit http://www.edf.org/documents/10608_CoastalLAConsistencyStatement112009.pdf.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Tony Kreindler, Environmental Defense Fund, 202-445-8108, tkreindler@edf.org

BOSTON (Nov. 23) – It’s impossible for investors to adequately assess the risk to their investment money if companies don’t tell them how much climate change and its impacts might affect their financial performance.

That’s the simple truth behind a supplemental petition submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission today by a broad coalition of 20 institutional investors. The petition asks the SEC to provide interpretive guidance outlining climate-related ‘material risks’ - such as new regulations, physical impacts, new economic and business opportunities and other climate-related trends - that companies should be disclosing to investors.

The 20 signatories to the petition include leading U.S. and Canadian institutional investors managing more than $1 trillion in assets, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), British Columbia Investment Management Corporation of Canada, Pax World Management Corporation, state treasurers from Oregon, North Carolina, Connecticut, Maryland and Vermont and Florida’s Chief Financial Officer. See full list below.

“CalPERS protects workers’ retirement benefits, and climate change poses both great risks and opportunities to these investments,” said CalPERS CEO Anne Stausboll, who heads the nation’s largest public pension fund with close to $200 billion under management. “Current SEC regulations require companies to disclose material risks like climate change, but many companies haven’t examined these risks. The SEC should strengthen and enforce its current requirements so investors’ decisions fully account for climate change’s financial effects.”

“Climate change is without question a material risk to businesses, and ignoring it is a disservice to investors,” said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres and director of the $8 trillion Investor Network on Climate Risk, which includes many members who submitted the petition. “We need to measure and disclose these risks so that both investors and companies can make financially-sound decisions.”

Today’s submission echoes several earlier requests to the SEC for guidance on climate risk disclosure. But what makes this submission different is a spate of recent regulatory, legislative and scientific developments - including the Environmental Protection Agency’s new mandatory greenhouse gas reporting rule – and new economic opportunities that dramatically change the landscape of corporate climate risk disclosure. Congress is also hard at work on climate legislation that would set specific limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other large company facilities. A climate and energy bill was approved by the House in June and is now before the Senate.

The SEC took a large step toward greater corporate disclosure of climate risks last month. It decided then to allow shareholder resolutions seeking information from companies on the financial risks they face from social and environmental issues including climate change. Issuing clarifying guidance on climate-related disclosure is fundamental to the SEC’s core mission “to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation.”

Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp said, “Companies across America are poised to prosper and create new jobs in a clean energy economy. Investors have a right to know which companies are planning to be part of the clean energy future and which are lagging behind.”

As a result of the new developments plus strongly solidifying scientific consensus, the submission says “Investors responsible for trillions of dollars of assets have concluded that the growing weight of scientific, economic and regulatory evidence about the impact of climate change on businesses is highly relevant to their investment decisions.”

North Carolina State Treasurer Janet Cowell, who is sole fiduciary for the North Carolina Retirement Systems, called disclosure of far-reaching financial risks such as climate change key to properly functioning capital markets.

“Investors need to know if their companies are successfully managing climate risk and opportunities,” said Cowell. “SEC action on climate risk disclosure will ensure the transparency and accountability that is crucial for efficient markets.”

Signatories to today’s submission include:
California Public Employees’ Retirement System
California State Teachers’ Retirement System
Doug Pearce, Chief Executive Officer/Chief Investment Officer, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, Canada
Alex Sink, Chief Financial Officer, State of Florida
Ben Westlund, Treasurer, State of Oregon
Jeb Spaulding, Treasurer, State of Vermont
Bill Lockyer, California State Treasurer
Nancy K. Kopp, Treasurer, State of Maryland
Janet Cowell, State Treasurer, North Carolina Department of State Treasurer
Connecticut Treasurer Denise L. Nappier - Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds
Thomas P. DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller
John Chiang, California State Controller
Andrew M. Cuomo, New York State Attorney General
Julie Gorte, Senior Vice President for Sustainable Investing, Pax World Management Corporation
Elizabeth E. McGeveran, Senior Vice President, Governance & Sustainable Investment, F&C Management Ltd.
Richard Metcalf, Director, Corporate Affairs Department, Laborers’ International Union of North America
Lance E. Lindblom, President & CEO, The Nathan Cummings Foundation
Michelle Chan, Program Director, Green Investments, Friends of the Earth
Environmental Defense Fund
Ceres

About Ceres
Ceres is a leading coalition of investors, environmental groups and other public interest organizations working with companies to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change. Ceres also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a network of more than 80 institutional investors with collective assets totaling $8 trillion focused on the business impacts from climate change. For more information, visit www.ceres.org or www.incr.com

About Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 500,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. www.edf.org
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mary Barber, (212) 616-1351, mbarber@edf.org
Evan Thies, (917) 715-9265, erthies@yahoo.com

(Hauppauge, NY – November 20, 2009) Environmental Defense Fund applauded a new law signed by New York Governor David Paterson today to save property-owners money by increasing energy efficiency in buildings.

The federal stimulus bill – The American Economic Recovery Act – includes more than $450 million for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing programs to help defray the upfront cost to property-owners for building retrofits and efficiency improvements to save on energy bills. The law signed today, and bills passed by the New York State Legislature earlier this week ensure New York’s eligibility for the funds by allowing municipalities to administer them.

“This new law will protect our environment and improve our local economy,” said Mary Barber, New York Region Campaign Director for Environmental Defense Fund. “Now the state is well-positioned to get its fair share of federal stimulus funds to enable New York’s households and businesses to save money on electric bills. Thank you to Gov. Paterson, the legislature and Rep. Israel for this forward-looking legislation.”

Retrofits of older buildings can create an immediate 20 to 40 percent reduction in energy costs, leading to major savings for building-owners and their tenants. However, many people cannot afford the initial cost of installing energy efficiency and clean energy technology, such as double-insulated windows or solar panels. The PACE-enabling legislation allows municipalities to lessen significantly the impact of these costs by creating an extended loan program for building-owners that lets them pay for the improvements over a long period of time – up to 20 years – instead of all at once. PACE financing is important because it stays with a building when ownership changes, making it possible to invest now to reduce energy wasted by buildings well into the future.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mary Barber, (212) 616-1351, mbarber@edf.org
Evan Thies, (917) 715-9265, erthies@yahoo.com

(New York, NY – November 16, 2009) Environmental Defense Fund applauded the New York State Legislature today for passing historic legislation to save property-owners money by increasing energy efficiency in buildings.

The federal stimulus bill – The American Economic Recovery Act – includes more than $450 million for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing programs to help defray the upfront cost to property-owners for building retrofits and efficiency improvements to save on energy bills. The bills passed today ensure New York’s eligibility for the funds by allowing municipalities to administer them.

“This legislation is an economic shot in the arm that also pays environmental benefits,” said Mary Barber, New York Region Campaign Director for Environmental Defense Fund. “Now the state is well-positioned to get its fair share of federal stimulus funds to enable thousands of New Yorkers to save millions of dollars in energy costs.”

Retrofits of older buildings can create an immediate 20 to 40 percent reduction in energy costs, leading to major savings for building-owners and their tenants. However, many people cannot afford the initial cost of installing energy efficiency and clean energy technology, such as double-insulated windows or solar panels. The PACE-enabling legislation allows municipalities to lessen significantly the impact of these costs by creating an extended loan program for building-owners that lets them pay for the improvements over a long period of time – up to 20 years – instead of all at once.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington (November 13)  —U.S. non-profit group Environmental Defense Fund applauds Brazil’s bold move to declare a national target to reduce its estimated greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

Brazilian officials pledged Friday to lower projected 2020 emissions by 36% to 39%, making Brazil the first major emerging economy to declare a national-level target for 2020. Brazil had already pledged to cut its emissions from tropical deforestation 80% by that date.

“Other emerging economies aren’t even publicly discussing national targets like this,” said Steve Schwartzman, EDF’s Tropical Forest Policy Director. “Brazil is way out in front. What we’re seeing is the emergence of a new global leader on clean energy and climate.”

“Brazil’s national target is a powerful gesture that could shift the dynamics of the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen this December,” said Schwartzman.

“Other nations are watching Brazil, and they see the world is headed toward an emissions cap and those who move swiftly are going to grab the advantage. That has a big impact.”

Steve Schwartzman / 001-202-746-9201 / sschwartzman@edf.org
Andrea Welsh/ 001-202-297-7723 / awelsh@edf.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Tony Kreindler, 202-572-3378, akreindler@edf.org
Andrea Welsh, 202-572-3230, awelsh@edf.org
 

(Washington – November 13, 2009) Environmental Defense Fund and the Asia Society tomorrow will partner on a full-page New York Times advertisement featuring dramatic photos of rapidly melting Himalayan glaciers, highlighting threats to Asian water supplies from climate change. 

The ad coincides with President Obama’s trip to Asia, during which he is scheduled to meet with China’s President Hu Jintoa to discuss climate change, among other topics.

“A picture is worth a thousand good intentions. These pictures show why it’s critical that we act - and act quickly - to fight climate change,” said Environmental Defense Fund Executive Director David Yarnold.

“I think the melting of the glaciers, which you can see so graphically in these photographs, is a very concrete visual warning to us. We can see what’s happening. If we do not take heed, we will reap a bitter harvest in the decades to come. They are the alarm system. And the alarm has gone off. The question is, will we hear it,” said Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director, Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society.

Billions of people get their fresh water from mountain glacier meltwater flows. The problem is the planet’s glaciers are receding at alarming rates. Nowhere is this more acute than in Asia, where up to two billion people rely on meltwater from thinning Himalayan glaciers.

The ad says the Beijing Summit between Presidents Barack Obama and Hu Jintao “presents an incomparable opportunity to begin a major new collaboration to meet the challenge of climate change. The world urgently needs the leadership of the U.S. and China to establish a global framework for accountability and action.”

The ad, viewable online at http://edf.org/documents/10583_NYTad_C.pdf, features the work of mountaineer and photographer David Breashears, who is using comparative photography to capture undeniable evidence of the rapid melt rate of Himalayan glaciers.

Climate change and Asian water supplies by the numbers:

7 – Number of great rivers in Asia fed by meltwater from Himalayan glaciers (Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Huang He).

2 billion – Number of people, mostly in India and China, who rely on meltwater from Himalayan glaciers for their fresh water.

2035 – Date by which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and India’s Energy and Resources Institute predict that much of the Himalayas could be glacier free.

66% — Amount by which the July-September flows would be reduced in the Ganga River if we lose the Himalayan glaciers.

37% — Amount of India’s irrigated land located in the Ganga region.

1 and 2 – Respective rank of China and India as the world’s producers of wheat and rice, food staples for all of humanity.
 

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Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org

For Immediate Release

Contacts:

Laura Harnish, EDF California Regional Director, lharnish@edf.org, (510) 290-5794
Cynthia Koehler, EDF Senior Consulting Attorney, ckoehler@edf.org, (415) 515-0511
Jennifer Witherspoon, EDF California Communications Director, jwitherspoon@edf.org,
(415) 378-1985

EDF Joins Governor Schwarzenegger for Historic Water Legislation Bill Signing

Group calls the ‘Delta Governance’ bill vital for path forward for ecosystem recovery

(Sacramento, CA – November 12, 2009) Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) joined Governor Schwarzenegger today as he signed SB x 1 (Simitian, Palo Alto), the “Delta governance” bill, into law. “This is a really proud moment for the Environmental Defense Fund,” said EDF Regional Director Laura Harnish. “For over a year we have worked closely with legislative leaders, such as Darrell Steinberg, Jared Huffman, Fran Pavley and Joe Simitian, and with the Governor’s office and numerous stakeholders, to secure assurances for ecosystem protections through this legislation.”

“This bill represents a path forward for our endangered salmon and beleaguered Delta Estuary,” said Cynthia Koehler, EDF’s senior consulting attorney, who helped to negotiate the environmental safeguards in the legislation. “The State Water Resources Control Board is now required to determine the freshwater flow needs of salmon and all of the other public trust resources of the Bay-Delta; this is no longer a determination that will be left primarily in the hands of those who export water from the estuary.”

The new law has something that environmentalists have sought for decades: requiring the State Water Resources Control Board to do a public trust analysis, within nine months, of how much water is required to restore the Delta, a mandate the State Board has never had before. This will be an important data set for the upcoming Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The legislation does not authorize a peripheral canal, as some have suggested, but instead requires new oversight of the BDCP process to ensure that it complies with highest recovery standards for species by restoring the ecosystems they depend upon as required by the Natural Communities Conservation Act.

“It should be made crystal clear to everyone that this bill does not authorize a canal or any other facility,” said Laura Harnish. “Any new water infrastructure must now be tied to guarantees of ecosystem recovery and long-term sustainability.”

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Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org or blogs.edf.org/waterfront/.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dan Cronin, Environmental Defense Fund, (202) 572-3354, dcronin@edf.org
David Ringer, Audubon, (601) 661-6189, dringer@audubon.org
Maura Wood, National Wildlife Federation, 225-205-2804, woodm@nwf.org 

(Washington, DC – November 11, 2009) National conservation groups focusing on the restoration of coastal Louisiana are hailing today’s announcement by federal officials that the state bird of Louisiana, the Brown Pelican, is being removed from the Endangered Species List. Audubon, the Environmental Defense Fund and the National Wildlife Federation view the recovering pelican as powerful proof that a healthy coast and strong environmental protections can benefit people and nature alike.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the species has sufficiently recovered from the impact of DDT contamination compounded by continuing habitat loss to be taken off the list in areas where it is not already delisted. Populations along the Atlantic Coast, in Florida and Alabama were delisted in 1985.

“The delisting of this iconic Gulf of Mexico species shows that cooperation produces results,” said Mary E. Kelly, senior counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund’s Center for Rivers and Deltas. “Now, we need to ensure that same spirit of cooperation and results extends to restoration of coastal Louisiana’s wetlands, which, among many other benefits, provide habitat and food for this beautiful bird.”

“This is an Endangered Species Act victory that demonstrates the great success we can achieve when we work together,” echoes NWF’s John Kostyack. “Maintaining that success will require confronting climate change and its relationship to coastal restoration and the species that depend on these important ecosystems.”

According to Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count, Brown Pelican population trends have risen in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and California for the past 40-50 years. Hurricane Katrina took a toll on the Gulf Coast populations that has not been thoroughly erased, but the prospects remain good, provided coastal recovery stays on track.

“The future of the Brown Pelican depends on the same strategies that will benefit coastal residents,” said Audubon’s Louisiana Bird Conservation Director Melanie Driscoll. “Pelicans and people need a strong, well-funded coastal restoration plan that will speed the recovery of coastal marshes and the barrier islands that are our first defense from hurricanes and their primary source of food and shelter.”

Continued monitoring of Brown Pelicans is essential to detect any unexpected future population declines. Conservationists also caution that proper site selection, operational guidelines and vigilance will be needed to ensure that proposed wind power projects don’t threaten recovery in Texas and other areas.
 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Dan Cronin, 202-572-3354, dcronin@edf.org
Kathryn Phillips, 916-893-8494, kphillips@edf.org

(Davis, CA – November 10, 2009) Nearly 600 farmers and ranchers receiving funds this year from a new program administered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to reduce on-farm air pollution will improve air quality in the Central Valley by the equivalent of taking more than 150,000 cars off the road.

Environmental Defense Fund partnered with farm groups and members of Congress last year to develop the funding source within the 2008 Farm Bill to reduce on-farm air pollution. The NRCS program will provide up to $37.5 million in funding annually over a four year period to help farmers nationwide reduce emissions from diesel engines and other air pollution sources.

“Everybody wins in this NRCS program,” said Kathryn Phillips, director of the California Transportation and Air Initiative for Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). “It’s a triple play: Farmers struggling in a tough economy get financial help to buy cleaner, newer equipment; they and their families can breathe cleaner, healthier air; and the government reduces its soaring health care costs.

NRCS recently approved funding for 586 applications out of more than 2,500 submitted for the program to reduce on-farm air pollution. Farmers and ranchers provide approximately half of the funds needed to implement pollution-reducing practices, including voluntarily replacing older diesel farm engines with newer, more efficient ones that are nearly 75 percent cleaner.

“The success of the air quality initiative in California is largely due to an effective partnership,” said Acting State Conservationist Gayle Norman. “Conservation, farming and environmental groups all got behind the effort to help put California agriculture on the leading edge of conducting business in a cleaner, greener way that protects the air and complies with local and state regulations.”

Farmers in counties where air quality does not meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards are eligible to apply for the federal funds. Thirty-six counties in California fall in that category: Alameda, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, and Yolo.
 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mary Barber, (212) 616-1351, mbarber@edf.org
Evan Thies, 917-715-9265, erthies@yahoo.com

(New York, NY – November 9, 2009) Environmental advocates and elected officials are calling on the New York State Legislature to pass two key bills Tuesday that would save property-owners money, increase energy efficiency in buildings, and improve air quality statewide.

The federal government recently made more than $450 million available for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing programs, which would help defray the upfront cost to property-owners for building retrofits and efficiency improvements to save on energy bills. However, the state must pass enabling legislation to ensure eligibility for the funds.

“Passing this legislation is the right thing to do both environmentally and economically, especially in a tough economy,” said Mary Barber, New York Region Campaign Director for Environmental Defense Fund. “If we pass the bill tomorrow, we will be well-positioned to take our share of the federal funds, which can be used to enable thousands of New Yorkers to save millions of dollars in energy costs. If the bill isn’t passed, or is delayed, we may never see a dime, and energy inefficiency will cost us dearly over the long-term.”

Retrofits of older buildings can create an immediate 20 to 40 percent reduction in energy costs, leading to major savings for building-owners and their tenants. However, many people cannot afford the initial cost of installing energy efficiency and clean energy technology, such as double-insulated windows or solar panels. The PACE enabling legislation allows municipalities to lessen significantly the impact of these costs, by creating an extended loan program for building-owners that lets them pay for the improvements over a long period of time - up to 20 years - instead of all at once.

Last week, more than a dozen members of the New York congressional delegation wrote to Gov. Paterson in support of authorizing legislation, so that the Empire State will not lose out to other states for a share of the PACE money. In fact, 14 other states already have enacted authorizing legislation to make them eligible for the federal funding.

A second bill the legislature will consider on Tuesday would cut the sulfur content of the most commonly used type of heating oil in New York City, No. 2 heating oil, by more than a hundred-fold - from 2,000 parts per million allowable to 15 parts per million - by July 1, 2011.

“Reducing sulfur levels in No. 2 heating oil will help improve air quality, and lessen New York’s contribution to regional haze and acid rain,” Barber concluded. “However, to protect public health and reduce black carbon, we also need to phase-out the use of the most polluting heating oils which are No. 4 and No. 6 oil.”

Gov. Paterson has called a Special Session of the state legislature for Tuesday.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Sean Crowley, 202-572-3331, scrowley@edf.org
Suzy Friedman, (202) 492-1023, sfriedman@edf.org

(Washington, DC – November 9, 2009) A bill to reauthorize cleaning up the heavily polluted Chesapeake Bay will offer farmers new economic opportunities for the water quality improvements they implement, according to hearing testimony this afternoon by a Pennsylvania agriculture consultant before the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee.

Communities in Pennsylvania, five other states and Washington, DC around the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake Bay watershed must meet federally established requirements for reducing pollution to restore the Chesapeake Bay - which has depleted blue crab populations and is plagued by dead zones - by 2025.

“The largest contributor of nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment to the Chesapeake Bay is from agricultural activities,” testified Peter Hughes, president of Red Barn Consulting in Lancaster, which has 650 farm clients within Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed. “Agriculture does need the technical and educational tools provided under the reauthorization of the Chesapeake Bay Initiative.”

The reauthorization bill, - the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009 - includes a provision for water quality trading, which achieves the same water quality improvement as standard regulations would achieve, but at a lower overall cost. Farmers who take steps to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from their fields beyond the pollution reductions required by federal law can sell credits to facilities with higher pollution control costs, such as developments and municipal sewage plants, to help the latter meet their pollution reduction requirements.

Three years ago, Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental protection started a nutrient credit trading policy to foster the relationship between point (direct) sources of pollution, such as wastewater plants, and non point (indirect) sources of pollution, such as farms. Red Barn Consulting formed a sister company, Red Barn Trading, to serve as an aggregator and certifier of nutrient credits, or quite simply to aid in the reduction of pounds nitrogen and phosphorous through various farm best management practices.

“Pennsylvania has become a national model for a nutrient cap and trade free market system that the agricultural community has embraced,” added Hughes. “Due to low commodity prices, especially milk prices, farmers are more than ever seeking ecosystem services to bring new revenue streams onto the farm through the acres they own.”

“Absent this legislation, inevitably farmers and local communities will face expanded regulations without federal funding or technical support to meet new regulatory requirements,” said Suzy Friedman, Chesapeake Bay Regional Director for Environmental Defense Fund. “Given how tight state budgets are, it’s unlikely that state funds will be available to help get the job done either.”

In addition to the water quality trading provision, the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act:

• Creates two new grants programs for local governments to reduce storm water pollution (authorizes a total of more than $1.5 billion).
• Expands and enhances Implementation Grants (authorizes $80 million per year) and Monitoring Grants (authorizes $5 million per year) for Chesapeake Bay state farmers and forest landowners.
• Expands Small Watershed Grants and renames them “Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Grants” (authorizes $15 million annually).

“The bill will help ensure we gather the information needed to track and account for both progress and gaps in implementation,” concluded Friedman. “In addition to water quality data the states and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will continue to collect, the bill will help ensure all farmer efforts to improve water quality are counted by encouraging farmers to share their data -voluntarily and in confidence - with government agencies.”
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Barcelona (Nov 6)—Some of the critical elements needed for a strong Copenhagen climate treaty were still missing as U.N. climate talks in Barcelona ended Friday.

Negotiators must keep cool heads and zero in on what they can credibly put on the table in December to ensure the emerging Copenhagen climate treaty is environmentally sound and legally binding, said non-profit group Environmental Defense Fund.

“We all want a global deal but if countries can’t put firm numbers on the table in December, then we have to keep up the momentum and keep working until they can,” said Jennifer Haverkamp, managing director of EDF’s international climate team.

“We need to keep cool heads so we can zero in on the essential elements that guarantee equity and environmental integrity in a treaty,” said Haverkamp. “We can’t downgrade, we must build a treaty that is stronger than what we already have.”

“The essential elements are basic. Firm emissions caps for developed countries, pathways to caps for all major emitters, tropical forest protection, adaptation finance for the most vulnerable, and strong governance and compliance so we all know we’re doing what we pledged to do to stop warming.”

“The most critical thing we need in Copenhagen is an ironclad commitment to reach a strong, binding agreement, and negotiators must create an accelerated timeline for arriving at such an agreement in early 2010. We mustn’t settle for anything that won’t solve the problem of climate change,” said Haverkamp.

Jennifer Haverkamp / 1-202-316-4914 / jhaverkamp@edf.org

Andrea Welsh/ 1-202-297-7723 / awelsh@edf.org

Barcelona, Spain

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Scientists and non-governmental organizations at the U.N. climate negotiations commented today on the percentage of global warming emissions that is due to tropical deforestation, in light of a new analysis published earlier this week in Nature Geoscience. The group, which included most of the leading experts on deforestation emissions, released the following statement:

‘The new paper and other papers and IPCC reports published in the last few years, lead us to conclude that the percentage of global emissions of CO₂ from deforestation and forest degradation is less than the commonly used figure of “about 20%”. The best current estimate would be about 15% if peat degradation is included. Given the uncertainties involved one can not rely on estimates to the nearest 1%.

The change in the estimate is due to several factors, including increases in fossil fuel emissions as well as revision of the estimates of deforestation emissions, due to new data and scientific analyses. The change is NOT due to a decrease in deforestation since the 1990s, and in fact the analyses agree that global deforestation in the early 2000s has been similar to that in the 1990s. So, this new estimate is NOT a sign of progress.

This figure includes deforestation, forest degradation, and peat emissions from deforestation and degradation (including later decomposition and fires in peat from previously deforested areas).

These changes and the new paper are typical of how science advances, and reflect our improved ability to measure the emissions due to deforestation. They reinforce the point that reducing emissions from tropical deforestation is critical to slowing global warming. These emissions are comparable to the emissions of all of the European Union, and are greater than those of all cars, trucks, planes, ships and trains worldwide.

Reducing tropical forest emissions remains a relatively cost-effective option to reduce
emissions. We would highlight some important lines from the new paper:

‘…reducing fossil fuel emissions remains the key element for stabilizing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Nevertheless, efforts to mitigate emissions from tropical forests and peatlands, and maintain existing terrestrial carbon stocks, remain critical….’”

The scientists and organizations endorsing the statement were:

BirdLife International
Conservation International
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Investigations Agency
Natural Resources Defense Council
Rainforest Action Network
Sierra Club
The Nature Conservancy
World Vision International
World Wildlife Fund – International
Union of Concerned Scientists

Frédéric Achard, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
Pep Canadell, Australian National University
Ruth DeFries, Columbia University
Tim Herzog, World Resources Institute
Richard Houghton, Woods Hole Research Center
Douglas Morton, NASA
Guido van der Werf, Free University, Amsterdam

(Scientists’ affiliations are listed for identification purposes only, and do not indicate institutional endorsement of this statement.)

Contact: Gus Silva-Chavez, gsilva-chavez@edf.org, +1 (202) 572-3384

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Tony Kreindler, 202-572-3378, akreindler@edf.org

(Washington – November 4, 2009) Environmental Defense Fund today praised Senator Debbie Stabenow for introducing legislation that would establish a domestic “offset” program for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but cautioned that the bill needs more work to guarantee that offsets are environmentally effective.

“Offsets are contentious, but they are essential to effective climate policy. Senator Stabenow deserves praise for trying to find the middle ground and move climate legislation forward,” said John Mimikakis, senior policy manager at EDF.

The design of an offset program was one of the last issues to be resolved in the debate leading up to the House vote on climate legislation this summer. Today’s proposal gives the Senate an opportunity to craft a consensus approach that delivers low-cost emissions offsets with environmental credibility.

More work must be done to guarantee that the legislation would provide the emission reductions that offset developers could claim. As currently written, the draft falls short on a number of technical details necessary to ensure that offsets are scientifically sound and accurately quantified.

“We have a number of concerns with the bill that we’d like to see addressed as the legislation moves forward,” Mimikakis said. “Offsets need to be measured as rigorously as any other emissions reduction. Otherwise there will be little faith in what offset developers are selling and no certainty that we’re achieving pollution reduction goals. We look forward to working with Senator Stabenow and other members of the Senate to build on the legislation introduced today.”

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Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org