E2 Morning Roundup: White House shifts from oil to renewables, report faults global climate aid, business group defends EPA, and much more

By Ben Geman and Darren Goode - 10/06/10 06:41 AM ET

Oil out, wind and solar in

The Obama administration is using several announcements this week to shift the political narrative on energy towards renewable initiatives.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar – who rolled out new oil drilling rig safeguards last week – will appear in Atlantic City Wednesday for a speech on offshore wind power.

Salazar believes Atlantic Coast wind can become a major power source, and projects are in the planning stages in federal waters off several states.

White House, California go solar

The speech on wind comes a day after the administration announced plans to install solar panels on the White House roof and gave the green light to solar projects in California.

Salazar called the first-time approval of large-scale solar projects on public lands an “historic day” for the agency. “We have opened up a new chapter on renewable energy on our public lands in America,” he said on a conference call.

Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey said the first phases of the California projects are slated to be done in late 2011 and will start producing power shortly thereafter.

The plans

Here are Interior’s descriptions of the two projects and estimates of the power they can produce:

“The Imperial Valley Solar Project, proposed by Tessera Solar of Arizona, will use Stirling Energy System's SunCatcher technology on 6,360 acres of public lands in Imperial County, California. The plant is expected to produce up to 709 megawatts from 28,360 solar dishes, enough to power 212,700 – 531,750 homes.”

“The Chevron Lucerne Valley Solar Project, proposed by Chevron Energy Solutions of California, will employ photo-voltaic solar technology on 422 acres of public lands in San Bernardino County, California, and will produce up to 45 megawatts from 40,500 solar panels, enough to power 13,500 – 33,750 homes.”

Interior also said there’s more to come, calling the two projects the first in a series in the final stages of review.

Feinstein is happy

“Today's approvals demonstrate that we can develop solar energy in a fair and efficient manner without sacrificing the most pristine parts of our desert lands,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in a prepared statement Tuesday. “I am pleased that the Interior Department, after rigorous environmental review, has fixed a broken permitting process that prevented clean energy projects like these from creating jobs for hard-working Californians.”

Rhone Resch, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, also cheered the projects, calling the approvals a “major milestone in advancing utility-scale solar power on public lands.”

Report says climate aid is missing vulnerable nations

Oxfam is out with a new report that calls for major reforms in providing aid to poor countries that are the hardest hit by climate change. The report comes amid United Nations climate talks in Tianjin, China ahead of the big UN global warming summit late this year in Cancun, Mexico.

The report finds that “less than a tenth of climate funds to date have been spent on helping people in vulnerable countries adapt to the impacts of climate change.”

“The poor are losing out twice: they are hardest hit by climate change they didn’t cause, and they are being neglected by funds that should be helping them. Climate finance can and must be made to work from the bottom up, particularly for women smallholder farmers,” it adds.

Calling for a global fund

Oxfam – joining several U.S. lawmakers – says the Cancun talks should result in a new global climate fund to administer the $100 billion in annual aid by 2020 that was broadly pledged to developing nations at last year’s Copenhagen summit.

The group is calling for a fund and broader finance system that “is seen as legitimate by both developed and developing countries and that is representative, equitable, accountable, accessible, transparent and efficient,” notes a summary of the report.

Oxfam warns that developing nations must not be relegated to the role of passive aid recipients. “Poor governments must be able to directly access the fund and at least half of the money should be spent helping poor and vulnerable people adapt to a changing climate,” the report summary notes.

“In addition, a number of accountability measures are recommended, including ensuring that poor countries and women have an equal say in how the fund is managed and spent and that the fund is transparent as to where the money is going.”

Tough talks in China

Whatever the challenges of setting up a global fund, they can't be as daunting as cutting an interntional deal on binding emissions cuts.

“The United States said on Wednesday U.N. climate talks were making less progress than hoped because of a rift over poorer nations' emission goals, and that other avenues might be needed to tackle climate change,” Reuters reports.

“’There is less agreement than one might have hoped to find at this stage,’ said Jonathan Pershing, the United States Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change and lead U.S. negotiator in Tianjin,” the piece adds. The Cancun summit later this year is not expected to result in a final emissions-cutting deal.

Small biz backs EPA climate regs

A coalition of roughly 500 small businesses are giving the Obama administration and Democratic leaders a little help in their effort to stem momentum for blocking EPA climate regulations.

“Climate change poses a serious threat to the health of our communities, putting Main Street small businesses' economic future at risk,” according to a letter sent to lawmakers from the Main Street Alliance. The alliance is a network of state small business coalitions in 13 states launched two years ago in Seattle, Wash.

EPA regulations will “also encourage investments in clean energy and create green jobs,” the coalition wrote. Using rhetoric generally reserved for green groups and liberal Democrats, the coalition railed against “entrenched special interests – like Big Oil and Big Coal” who are “lobbying hard to gut the EPA's authority to do its job. We can't let that happen.”

Report: the Clean Air Act works

The coalition joined another national small business network – the Small Business Majority – in issuing a report Tuesday arguing that the economic benefits of the Clean Air Act are four times greater than the cost of complying with regulations over the past 20 years. EPA “routinely overestimates” the future costs of regulations, the report adds.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has bipartisan backing for a plan to delay EPA climate regulations set to start in January for another two years. He is holding Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to a promise to hold a vote on that two-year delay during a lame-duck session, despite an insurmountable veto threat from the White House and no plans for House action on the bill this year.

Cleanup, search for missing people continues after toxic sludge spill in Hungary

“Hungarian crews were working to prevent seepage from a sludge reservoir of an alumina plant in western Hungary on Wednesday as rescue units searched for missing people in a flooded village,” Reuters reports.

“Hungary declared a state of emergency in three counties on Tuesday, a day after a torrent of toxic red sludge from an alumina plant tore through local villages, killing four people and injuring 120. Three people were reported missing.”

In case you missed E2 Wire yesterday

Here are our Tuesday posts:

EPA's Jackson is heading to China

Clinton under pressure on climate

Report: Shallow-water permit slowdown could cost 40,000 jobs

Texans seek industry legal protection from higher ethanol use

Melancon, Vitter trade barbs over BP oil spill

Green group targets Tea Partier O'Donnell

White House roof to get solar panels

On tap Wednesday: Commerce chief on energy and China

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is slated to speak at a Woodrow Wilson Center event on U.S.-China cooperation in the electric power sector.

On tap Wednesday II: GreenGov symposium continues

It’s day two of the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s three-day event that brings together a range of stakeholders to discuss making government greener. George Washington University is hosting. Speakers Wednesday will include CEQ Chairwoman Nancy Sutley.

Making it official: Obama creates Gulf Coast task force

President Obama issued an executive order Tuesday creating the multi-agency Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force that will be headed by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who grew up in New Orleans.

The move has been expected since last week when Navy Secretary Ray Mabus unveiled a long-term recovery blueprint that calls for the task force. Federal officials announced at the time that Jackson would lead the body.

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Correction: Yesterday’s news roundup provided an incorrect date for Commerce Secretary Gary Locke’s appearance at an event on U.S.-China energy cooperation. The event will be held Wednesday.