E2-Wire

Ever since the 193-nation Copenhagen climate talks melted down last year, several experts have suggested that progress toward emissions cuts is possible in other, less sprawling multilateral forums.

This month’s G-20 summit in South Korea might provide a test case.

A White House official said Monday the administration wants to bolster G-20 efforts launched at its Pittsburgh summit last year to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies.

“This is good fiscal policy. It's good health policy. It's good energy policy. It's good climate policy. And, in fact, it may be the most important thing the G-20 does in addressing climate change. We've made some progress in this area, and we'll continue to work along those lines,” said Mike Froman, the deputy National Security Adviser for International Economic Affairs.

With voters headed to the ballot box Tuesday, here is a quick snapshot of a few races E2 is watching.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is a favorite among unmarried women voters by a whopping 32 points.

China dominates global supply of the materials that are used in wind turbines, hybrid cars and various hi-tech and defense applications.

Our Ballot Box bloggers are all over the campaign trail. Shane D’Aprile caught up with House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) on the stump. He’s in a tough battle against Republican Eliot “Spike” Maynard.

Shane's piece looks at how coal is playing in the race:

In their final debate of the contest earlier this week, Maynard accused Obama and Washington Democrats of waging "a war on coal," which he said Rahall is a party to, accusing the incumbent of standing by while the EPA works to limit surface mining in the state.  

Rahall has targeted Maynard's ties to coal mining CEO Don Blankenship, with whom the Republican has a past that was part of his costing him his seat on the state's Supreme Court.

President Obama Friday evening praised embattled freshman Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) as having the “political courage” to side with his administration and take tough votes that may cost him a second two-year congressional term.
 
Obama’s presence at the Perriello rally in Charlottesville, Va., is the only one he is doing for a House member this final weekend before Election Day. It is aimed at helping an unabashed Democratic supporter of last year’s House cap-and-trade bill in a district that voted for Republican presidential candidates in at least the past three election cycles.
 
“The reason I am here is because in this day and age, let’s face it, political courage is hard to come by,” Obama told the crowd. “The easiest thing to do, especially when you’re a first-term congressman, … is make your decisions based on the polls. You put your fingers up to the wind, you check which way the political wind is blowing before you cast every vote. That's how a lot of folks think they should do their jobs in Washington.”

The wind power industry’s main trade group said Friday that growth has slowed to its lowest level in years — data the group called proof Congress should approve a nationwide renewable power standard.

“The U.S. industry added just 395 megawatts (MW) of wind-powered electric generating capacity in the third quarter of 2010, making it the lowest quarter since 2007,” the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said.

“Year-to-date installations stood at 1,634 MW, down 72 percent versus 2009, and the lowest level since 2006. In 2010, wind projects in the U.S. are being installed at half the rate as in Europe, and a third of the rate as in China,” AWEA said.

Senate Democrats are cautioning Secretary of State Hillary Clinton not to rush to judgment on a controversial pipeline to carry crude oil from Alberta oil sands to Texas after she said she is “inclined” to support it.
 
Eleven senators — 10 Democrats and one Independent who caucuses with the party — say the State Department “should not pre-judge the outcome of what should be a thorough, transparent analysis of the need for this oil and its impacts on our climate and clean energy goals,” according to a letter to Clinton dated Friday. “We believe it is in the national interest to do a careful assessment before reaching a decision about this project.”
 
The senators find fault in a draft environmental impact analysis the department has issued about the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline, which would extend an existing pipeline in Kansas and run oil-sands-based crude oil from Alberta through Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma and into Texas.

Vulnerable Rep. Tom Perriello’s (D-Va.) GOP foe attacked him Friday for standing with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on her “signature” issues — including the cap-and-trade bill that the House approved in 2009.

The criticism from state Sen. Robert Hurt (R) comes hours before President Obama will appear with Perriello — a first-term lawmaker who barely won the seat in 2008 — at a rally in Perriello’s central Virginia district.

Hurt accused Perriello of running a negative campaign during a Republican National Committee conference call with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House minority whip.

White House doubles down for cap-and-trade backer Perriello.