The US Debt Ceiling Crisis and the Green Economy

On Sunday July 31st, President Obama announced that a compromise has been reached to avert an American credit default. The President's announcement came just as the Asian markets opened for business causing Tokyo's Nikkei Index and the valuation of the American dollar to respond favorably.

If it passes in the House and the Senate, this deal will succeed in averting a Tuesday, August 2nd deadline.

A credit default would be devastating to the environment and the economy. As a sector with unparalleled growth potential, the green economy could address the revenue shortfalls that cause debt crises without raising taxes. As many economists are warning, investment in the green market is vital to economic growth and competitiveness.

Additional economic hardships arising from a credit default would all but eliminate any hope for government investment in the green economy. Government investments in things like renewable energy and efficiency are crucial to protecting the planet and helping the economy to grow.  The US cannot afford to wait for jobs that will never return, it is time to address climate change and create jobs by investing in the next economy.
Although this is hardly a good deal, it is better than having no deal at all. The credit rating agencies made it clear that the AAA rating the US has enjoyed since 1917 was at risk. Many pundits predicted that in addition to eroding confidence, increasing inflationary pressures, raising interest rates and perhaps even auguring a double dip recession, a credit default would have a ripple effect felt around the world.

The President wanted an agreement, but this was not the deal he wanted. Despite the unhappy people on both sides of the political divide, the agreement will have to be passed quickly in both chambers of Congress to beat the August 2nd deadline. 

Further cuts are expected as part of this agreement. However, this is at odds with the fact that further investments are also required if America is to be competitive in the new green economy.

Servicing a $14 trillion debt is enormously expensive. Cuts are necessary, but if the US hopes to be competitive in the economy of tomorrow, the US government must follow the leads of other states like the UK and China and invest in the future. This means investing in the kind of growth that produces good jobs.

America once rallied around the iconic words of President J.F. Kennedy, “We will go to the moon and do other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard.” Now we must say, we invest in the green economy, not because it is easy, but because it is necessary.

America's economic well being and the health of the environment are intimately interdependent, you cannot have one without the other. Budget cuts are necessary, but so are investments that position the US as a leader in the emerging green economy.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Chu Video: The Worst Anti-Environmental Bill of her Career

Rep. Judy Chu spoke out today in strong opposition to H.R. 2584, the Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2012. This Bill represents the greatest threat to the environment and public health in decades, and undermines jobs and economic development in growing clean energy industries at a time when Americans are struggling to overcome economic crisis. H.R. 2584 is being considered in the House of Representatives this week. Congresswoman Chu received a lifetime rating of 100% from the League of Conservation Voters for her outstanding environmental voting record.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Gerry Connolly Video: Climate Disasters And GOP Denial

7/25/11: Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) railed against the efforts by the Republican majority to prevent action on climate pollution with their FY 2012 Interior and Environment appropriations bill, HR 2584. Connolly observed that the extreme weather disasters around the United States are the "symptoms of global warming," but Republicans are putting animals, ecosystems, infrastructure, and public health at risk with their denial.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Blumenauer Video: 'The Jihad Against Climate Change Continues'

7/25/11: "The jihad against climate change continues for my friends on the Republican side of the aisle," Rep. Earl Blumenaur (D-OR) said on the House floor this afternoon, criticizing the anti-climate provisions of the FY 2012 Interior and Environmental Agencies Appropriations Act (HR 2584) now under debate. "And it's ironic. when people can barely walk outside in Washington, DC., where we're dealing with drought, flood, wildfires, extreme weather events across the country. And the scientists tell us that it's related to human activity. This budget reduces our ability to deal with climate change and extreme weather events."

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Republican Obstructionism on the Debt Ceiling Risks Global Environmental Collapse

If Republicans do not compromise on a new debt ceiling, it will undermine the American economy which will surely undermine efforts to address climate change. If Democrats accept the Republican's plans to cut spending (including the bill known as H.R. 2584), it will significantly cut the budgets of environmentally oriented government organizations and agencies.

If a deal cannot be reached by the August 2nd deadline, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s have threatened to downgrade America's credit rating. This would undermine the credit system, raise interest rates and put pressure on an already fragile recovery.
Republican partisanship has already wreaked havoc in stock markets around the world. On Friday, July 29 the Dow Jones industrial average rose sharply after President Obama said that there is a "rough agreement" to raise the US debt, but then began falling again.

If the US defaults it will be particularly disastrous for the environment. Preoccupation with the effects of a post default America will lead to even more inaction on climate change. In such a crisis the already under-supported issue of climate change will be wiped from the national consciousness which will be far more damaging over the long-term.

In an article titled, "Climate Is a Way Bigger Deal than the Debt Ceiling," Green Alpha explains how environmental issues trump economic concerns. They indicate that the impacts of climate change are more significant then the debt ceiling debate.

Although the impact of a US default would be long lasting and cost trillions, the costs associated with inaction on climate action are even greater.

"Global warming...marries economic failure to degradation of our basic life support system. What is peaking is not merely this or that resource, but earth’s ability to absorb the pressures we’re putting on it. The economic impacts of unchecked climate change are huge enough that the combination of economic and ecological collapse may, sooner than we like to think, surpass civilization’s ability to compensate."

According to Google, failure to move aggressively to implement a clean energy economy will cost the US GDP “trillions” over just the next five years. In 2009, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) published a report authored by the co-chair of the IPCC and other climate science experts, revealing that the net present value of climate change impacts, i.e. the costs to civilization, are US$1,240 trillion under our current emission path and $410 trillion if we manage to stabilize atmospheric carbon at 450ppm. Most climate scientists would like to see that number at 350ppm or less.

In 2011, the Royal Society published a report which concludes that if we continue with business as usual, the earth will warm seven degrees Fahrenheit (4°C) by the 2060s: “In such a 4°C world, the limits for human adaptation are likely to be exceeded in many parts of the world, while the limits for adaptation for natural systems would largely be exceeded throughout the world.”

There is a growing number of scientific papers and presentations that indicate that a business as usual approach will be catastrophic. We risk such a catastrophe if we continue to burn oil and coal at ever increasing rates.

The new green economy is our best hope of reducing atmospheric carbon and strengthening our economy. While, there is widespread agreement that we have to reduce spending, Republicans want to slash spending in areas that would undermine US competitiveness in the green economy. The Tea Party movement want no part of compromise and they are passionate about resisting government investment to help grow the green economy.

Tragically, fathoming a collapse is too much for people. Many deny the existence of anthropogenic climate change rather than face the facts and make the required changes.

The debt ceiling and climate change are intimately intertwined. The most expedient way we can effectively address the problem of climate change is by helping to grow the green economy. Investing in a low carbon economy is the best way to increase govenment revenues and avert a debt crisis.

History will judge harshly Republicans who put partisan interests ahead of the interests of the nation and the earth itself. They are not just playing politics they are jeopardizing the future of the planet and its inhabitants.

If Republican obstructionism causes America to default, they risk damning civilization to the hell of global warming.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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EDF Campaign Opposing US Anti-Environment Bill

An EDF campaign is working to kill the Republican's anti-environment crusade. Under a bill known as H.R. 2584 Republicans are seeking to drastically cut funding to the EPA and other environment oriented government organizations and agencies.

The EDF campaign asks Americans to "Help Stop Mother of All Anti-Environmental Bills!" In an open plea to America, the EDF says:

If you care about the water you drink, the air you breathe, and America's natural heritage, we need you to stand with us right now against the mother of all anti-environmental bills.

The U.S. House is poised to vote this week on the must-pass House Interior Appropriations Bill, which contains more than 40 amendments and "policy riders."

Taken together, these provisions represent the single worst attack on public health and the environment in American history.

Please take action right now to urge your members of Congress opposing this monstrous bill, and to oppose all anti-environment amendments.

Some of the most outrageous provisions that have already been added include:

-- An amendment that would block EPA from regulating deadly pollution like mercury, smog, and soot from power plants and cement plants. The pollution that these facilities would then be allowed to spew could cause up to 27,800 premature deaths.

-- A provision opening up lands immediately next to the Grand Canyon to uranium mining, despoiling one of the most iconic landscapes in the United States, and potentially contaminating its waters with radioactivity.

-- An amendment stripping Clean Water Act protections for the drinking water sources of 117 million Americans.

-- A provision driving endangered plants and animals to extinction, by preventing federal agencies from listing any species as endangered or protecting their critical habitats.

These four provisions alone would represent a historic assault on our environmental heritage and human health protections. There are dozens of others just like them in this, the mother of all anti-environment bills.

A vote could come any day.

Please send a message to your Representatives and Senators asking them to stand against this deadly assault on our public health and environmental standards by voting no on this version of the Interior Appropriations bill.

Tell your Representative to Vote Against This Bill.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Republican Assault on the Environment

Under the cover of America's preoccupation with the debt ceiling the Republicans are launching an all out offensive against the Environment. This is the latest attempt by Republicans to slash funding to the EPA and undermine environmental regulations. Cutting funding on environmental issues like air quality and pesticides will prove harmful to Americans and their environment. It will also eliminate jobs and undermine the economy.

"This is the most anti-environmental House in history," House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman told the House. "The new Republican majority seems intent on restoring the robber-baron era where there were no controls on pollution from power plants and oil refineries and factories."


Republicans want to emasculate the EPA by slashing 18 percent of its budget amounting to $8.65bn this year and $7.15bn next year. The bill proposes a budget cut of around seven percent for many other environmentally oriented departments and agencies.

On Monday July 25, the US House of Representatives started work on H.R. 2584, the 2012 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. This Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill funds many of America's signature environmental laws. This is the first of 12 bills that fund the US federal government, all of which must be passed by the first of October.

On Tuesday July 26, the House continued work on the Interior Department spending bill. On Wednesday and Thursday July 27 and 28, the House is expected to work on H.R. 1938, which would require the government to decide by November 1 on a proposed oil pipeline from Canada.

Minority whip Steny H. Hoyer, accused the GOP of ignoring the will of their constituents. "I got no message from any voter that I ought to come to Congress and undermine the air, water and land that they survive on, recreate on and rely on for the quality of their lives," he said. "Not one constituent, whether they voted for me or against me, said 'undermine the protections of our land and water and air'. Not one."

In a recent sustainable business article, H.R. 2584 was referred to as the "Mother of All Anti-Environment Bills." According to the Environmental Defense Action Fund, HR 2584 is the Mother of All Anti-Environmental Bills, because it contains nearly 40 anti-environmental policy riders.

"Instead of moving stand-alone legislation or openly debating the merits of gutting America's environmental protections, the House is trying to sneak more than 40 anti-environment amendments and policy riders to the Interior Appropriations bill," says Environmental Defense. "And that's even before it comes to the floor, where many members of Congress have already announced plans to amend the bill and make it even worse."

Here are some examples:

• Prohibit the federal government and states from increasing vehicle fuel efficiency to reduce U.S. oil dependence, prevent climate change, and lower fuel costs
• Block EPA from regulating water pollution, affecting the drinking water of 117 million people
• Prevent the EPA from regulating air pollution: mercury, smog, soot and other pollutants from power and cement plants, allowing our dirtiest plants to emit unlimited pollution.
• Cease protection for endangered species. No new species could be listed as endangered and no federal agencies would be prohibited from protecting critical habitats.
• Open up lands immediately next to the Grand Canyon to uranium mining, despoiling one of our most iconic landscapes and potentially contaminating its waters with radioactivity.

The House of Representatives Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC) blasted the Republican agenda, for attempting to use a federal funding bill to overturn our country's most important environmental laws.

SEEC leaders - co-chairs Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Steve Israel (D-NY), and vice chairs Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Jared Polis (D-CO), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), and Chellie Pingree (D-ME) - released the following joint statement on behalf of the 48-member coalition:

Both parties and houses of Congress should be focused on preventing a default crisis, and on creating jobs in a competitive 21st century economy. But instead, this week the House will consider H.R. 2584 - an unprecedented back-door attempt to roll back essential pollution controls and public health protections in favor of bigger profits for the country's worst polluters. This is a low mark for the 112th Congress that has already seen the GOP majority preserve giveaways to Big Oil and advance legislation to overturn common sense energy efficiency standards, slash clean energy innovation, and carve loopholes in important environmental statutes.

"H.R. 2584 would overturn 40 years of bipartisan progress protecting the clean air and water on which all Americans depend, and the lands and wildlife that Americans treasure. The American people reject the false choice between a prosperous economy and a sustainable environment, which we've proven can go hand in hand. SEEC calls on the Congress to reject this bill."

In addition to impoverishing America's environment, Republicans are also directly cutting jobs and adding to the country's unemployment rolls. For example, the proposed bill would eliminate the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, which provides funding for migratory birds. The Outdoor Industry Foundation estimates that bird watching and other wildlife viewing contributes $43 billion a year to the US economy. An estimated 66 million Americans participate in wildlife viewing, which supports nearly half a million jobs and generates $2.7 billion annually state and federal tax receipts.

"This environmental spending bill is one of the worst assaults on birds and other wildlife ever to come before Congress," says Darin Schroeder of the American Bird Conservancy, the leading bird conservation organization in the US.

"These aggressive provisions are an unprecedented and blatant attempt to undermine bedrock environmental laws that Americans have depended on for nearly 40 years to protect their health, air, water and public lands. They also undermine the development and deployment of energy efficiency and clean energy technologies and forbid various agencies from proceeding with current work related to climate change," says Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), a national group of about 850 business leaders who promote strong environmental policy to grow the economy.

Here's an excerpt from a letter Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) sent to the House:

"Strong federal resource management, protection and performance standards are fundamental to the success of American businesses and a thriving economy, and the clean energy technology sector offers the single most promising platform for reviving our struggling manufacturing base, creating new jobs and providing a robust opportunity for export expansion. However, the U.S. is swiftly losing our competitive advantage with countries such as China and Germany which are embracing the opportunities provided by improved energy efficiency and fast growing clean energy industries. Though we should rightfully be leading in this trillion dollar global market since many of these technologies were developed here with U.S. research dollars, this bill ensures that we will fall further behind."

H.R. 2584 proposes deep cuts to funding for federal agencies that protect America's air, water, lands, and wildlife, and contains 40 policy riders that would undermine the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act.

Tell your Representative to Vote Against This Bill.

To see a list of all the Riders click here.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved

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