E2 Morning Roundup: Tea Partiers and independents may be split on climate, Fla. candidates for gov. sound off on Gulf spill, Sierra Club has new TV ad to help Perriello, Canada echoes U.S. on heavy-duty trucks, and more

Sink and Scott not even close on green issues

Scott and Sink widely differ on environmental issues. Scott sides with those who question the existence of climate change and especially whether humans are responsible. He also supports offshore drilling — though he does not believe it should occur in state waters until it is proven safer.

Pressed on his environmental stances at Monday’s nationally televised debate — co-sponsored by CNN and the St. Petersburg Times — Scott turned to jobs. “We all live here because we all love this environment,” he said. “At the same time we’ve got to make sure that right now our biggest issue is jobs. We need jobs.”

Sierra Club unveils another TV ad to help Perriello

The Sierra Club is launching a new 30-second TV ad Tuesday to help embattled Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), this time arguing he and Republican challenger Robert Hurt differ on “clean” energy policies that would preserve jobs from being outsourced.

The ad further underscores green praise for Perriello for voting for last year’s House cap-and-trade and economic stimulus bills, and criticism for Hurt for opposing cap-and-trade.

The Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters recently extended another TV ad buy accusing Hurt of having a conflict of interest regarding studying the safety of uranium mining in the state. Hurt’s campaign has called that ad “patently false.”

The “six-figure buy” is will be broadcast in the district through the end of the election.

Canada echoes U.S. on heavy-duty trucks

The Canadian government announced Monday it too would be following the same path as the Obama administration and will issue comparable first-time greenhouse gas tailpipe restrictions for heavy-duty vehicles starting in model year 2014. Canadian Minister of the Environment Jim Prentice released a “consultation document” outlining the proposed structure of future regulations there to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new heavy-duty vehicles. Canada’s heavy-duty vehicle regulations will be aligned with those of the United States, Prentice announced.

“Canada and the United States have had great success in working together to reduce emissions from new light-duty vehicles, and we are looking forward to doing the same for heavy-duty vehicles,” Prentice said in a statement. Heavy-duty vehicles account for about six percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. Canada also has the same goal as the U.S. in reducing its overall greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels in 2020.

The proposed U.S. rule unveiled Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Monday earned mixed reaction from green groups and a cautiously warm reception from a trucking industry that prefers a national fuel savings standard to specific mandates on alternative fuel use. The American Truck Dealers, though, did send out a statement from its chairman, Kyle Treadway, citing concern that the proposed rule “is expected to add thousands of dollars to the cost per truck [which] could price some buyers out of the market.”

EPA’s Jackson names chief aide of Gulf restoration task force

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on Monday named a former Clinton EPA regional head for Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and other Southeastern states to be executive director of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force.

John Hankinson was EPA’s Region 4 administrator from 1994 through the end of the Clinton administration. He will answer directly to Jackson, who President Obama this month named as chairwoman of the task force, which will coordinate efforts to implement restoration programs and projects in the Gulf Coast following the BP spill.

Hankinson is currently a conservation consultant, and previously worked on the National Estuary Program in the Gulf of Mexico and directed the development and implementation of a water quality protection plan for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Interior greenlights massive solar power plant



The Obama administration is unapologetically deepening its ties to Big Solar.



Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Monday approved construction of the world’s largest solar electricity plant. The Blythe Solar Power Project, to be built in California’s Mojave Desert, is the latest of several solar projects on public lands that Interior has recently approved.



“The net effect of these projects is that we are opening a new chapter in renewable energy,” Salazar told reporters on a conference call. The plant will produce up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 300,000 homes and maybe as many as 750,000, Interior said.



The project will create more than 1,000 jobs at the peak of construction and 295 permanent jobs, the agency said.

 Interior is requiring Solar Millennium LLC – the U.S. subsidiary of a German solar company – to fund more than 8,000 acres habitat for the desert tortoise, western burrowing owl and other critters. 

The company is seeking a $1.9 billion Energy Department loan guarantee.

Power from the project could start flowing as soon as the end of 2011, Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey told reporters Monday.

EPA’s Jackson testifies at Senate children health field hearing

Jackson is testifying at a Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee field hearing in Newark, N.J., on toxic chemicals and children’s environmental health. Neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta is also among those testifying.

IPCC’s Pachauri talks Obama-India meeting

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Chairman R.K. Pachauri is featured on a 10 a.m. conference call sponsored by the Natural Resources Defense Council regarding Obama’s upcoming inaugural trip to India.

Obama is going to New Delhi in early November to meet with India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and may address international climate talks aimed largely on addressing greenhouse gas emissions from major developing nations like India and China. “This meeting holds particular significance in light of the unprecedented bilateral agreements the U.S. and India have made over the past year on clean energy development and pollution reduction projects,” according to an NRDC press advisory.

Obama’s visit is part of a nine-day trip that will also include visits in Indonesia, South Korea and Japan.

Interior’s David Hayes, Colorado Gov. Ritter talk green

Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D-Colo.) address the first of a two-day “Green Intelligence” forum hosted by The Atlantic magazine. Hayes is scheduled to speak at 8:50 a.m., and Ritter gives a keynote address at 2:30 p.m.

Day two of the forum Wednesday will feature Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council; Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D); and White House Office of Science and Technology Director John Holdren.

In case you missed E2 yesterday

Our posts Monday included:

Study: Space tourism could drive climate change

New BP CEO turns down Markey’s request to testify — again

BP’s Dudley slams media coverage of oil spill

Poll shows campaign to block California climate law falling short

Tips, comments or complaints? Please send them to ben.geman@digital-stage.thehill.com and dgoode@digital-stage.thehill.com 



Follow us on Twitter: @E2wire and @DarrenGoode