This is The Source for July 13, 2012, green jobs news every day from the BlueGreen Alliance. Don’t forget to “tell your friends” about this great resource. You can sign up here.
HELP SAVE AMERICAN JOBS
The BlueGreen Alliance is working to Save American Jobs, calling for the continuation of the Production Tax Credit (PTC), 1603 Treasury grant program, and Advanced Energy Project Credit. Take a look at our information and take a moment to tell Congress “Stop Playing Games; It’s Time to Create American Jobs.”
TOP THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW FOR JULY 13, 2012
Majority Wants Action. A Washington Post/Stanford University poll found most Americans agree that temperatures and unstable weather patters have increased during the past three years. They also view “future warming as something that can be addressed, and… want government action across a range of policies to curb energy consumption.”
Ninth. America's score of 47 out of 100 earned us ninth place on the American Council for an Energy-Efficiency Economy’s new International Energy Efficiency Scorecard. The scorecard “ranked countries using 27 metrics, including the amount of energy consumed relative to gross domestic product, the miles-per-gallon ratings for vehicles, the energy use per square foot for floor space in residential buildings and more.
Enough Games! For the last two days, manufacturers and others have been in Cleveland at Making It Here 2012: Manufacturing Our Energy Future creating a strategy for the development of America’s energy future (read coverage here, here and here).
National and International Blue-Green
The U.S. Department of Agriculture declared 1,000 counties in 26 states “natural disaster areas.” Bloomberg states this is the largest natural disaster declaration the USDA has ever made.
More than 25 people are dead or missing following flash floods and mudslides in Japan, the Associated Press reports.
The Huffington Post looks at how this year’s heat wave is “taking a toll on small businesses, physically and financially.”
The Sierra Club — a member of the BlueGreen Alliance — released ads encouraging the renewal of the Production Tax Credit for renewable energy. The Hill has more.
Reuters looks at BP’s decision to pay $13 million to settle safety violations at its Texas refinery.
The European Union Wednesday announced a proposal to further limit greenhouse gas emissions from new vehicles. Reuters has more on the proposal which the “[European] Commission says can shave billions of euros off the EU fuel bill and cut greenhouse gas emissions by millions of tons.”
According to the Washington Post, “A Texas judge has ruled that the atmosphere and air must be protected for public use, just like water…”
E&E News discusses why “the private sector is beginning to take unusual new steps to protect communities -- and itself -- from the impacts of climate change.”
To the States
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was on hand Thursday when Energy Secretary Steven Chu visited Intgeteam’s first U.S. factory and headquarters and called for an extension of the Production Tax Credit for renewable energy.
The Wichita Eagle reports wind farms are being “a crash crop for rural Kansas counties.”
California plans to have 1,940 megawatts of solar capacity installed by 2016, according to CleanTechnica.
Blue-Green Links
Politico: Energy stimulus spending fuels outsourcing debate
Hill: Energy defends loan guarantees, attacks GOP for offering 'No More Solyndras' bill
Washington Post: Survey: The bigger your impact on the planet, the less guilty you feel about it
Huffington Post: Starbucks Georgia Factory Jolts U.S. Manufacturing
E&E News: U.S. producers accuse Canadian pipeline company of refusing to carry their crude
National Geographic: Formula One Legend Murray Sets Course for Energy-Efficient Car Design
USA Today: EPA, CDC officials testify to Senate on child lead poisoning
Hill: Left-right climate group quietly weighing proposals for carbon tax
GreenBiz.com: How to turn Millennials into sustainability champions
Reuters (UK): Green Energy Funding Cuts Must Be Better Communicated To The Public, Analyst Says
Fresno Bee (CA): New bullet train plan ‘mangled,’ perhaps illegal, ex-rail booster says
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA): Transportation tax foes plan a rolling protest on I-285
Medill Reports (IL): Evanston propels offshore wind farms to state debate on lakebed leases
Baltimore Sun (MD): Renewable energy sources are the answer to power outages
Asbury Park Press (NJ): Green energy jobs offered in Lakewood
Cincinnati Enquirer (OH): Time for cleaner energy is now
Midwest Energy News (WI): Wisconsin business group wants state senator to end ‘war on wind’
Watertown Daily Times (NY): Clean energy can create north country jobs
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI): Downtown businesses urged to cut energy use 20%