CLEAN Featured

As Seen in The Nation: It's Time for "Plan B" on Climate!

What happens if Congress fails to pass a climate or energy bill in 2010? Even without a federal carbon policy, the United States could move from the "business as usual" status quo to a dramatically cleaner and healthier approach to meeting its electrical power needs, according to a major new report from the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute think tank. The report was prepared by Synapse Energy Economics of Cambridge, MA.

The CSI/Synapse report outlines a "Transition Scenario" that would step up energy efficiency and the use of clean, renewable energy, allowing the country to retire all coal-fired power plants, and over a quarter of existing nuclear reactors. The overall cost of the plan would involve modest near-term costs over a "business as usual" (BAU) scenario, but result in savings by 2040. The good news is that America can get the job done without a deeply flawed climate bill that creates more problems than it solves.
To get the facts, start here.

Game-changing report: Beyond Business as Usual

A new ground-breaking report from CSI and Synapse has clearly demonstrated that our energy future can be free of Coal and Nuclear Power. The report is a game changer, one that will immediately affect the conversations and business-as-usual approach surrounding current energy and climate legislation efforts.

CLEAN Corner; We Won!

Click here for the latest news and ideas from CLEAN on the CLEAN Corner Blog!


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No New Version Of Nuclear Power

Does the fact that President Obama held a news conference to announce a loan guarantee for nuclear reactors in Georgia mean that the industry is on a roll again?

Does the U.S. nuclear industry now have a reactor design in hand that addresses the manyproblems - including runaway costs, radiation exposure and proliferation dangers - that are troubling the industry?

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CLEAN Action Area

Urgent Coal Ash Action Needed!

June 28, 2010

Dear CLEAN Activist,

We need your help. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering rules that would finally set federal standards for the toxic ash that comes from burning coal. It contains concentrated amounts of many toxic heavy metals that threaten our health and environment. Coal-fired power plants in the United States produce about 130 million tons of coal ash per year. Up until now, coal ash has been entirely unregulated by the EPA, and lax state laws have resulted in this toxic waste leaching into our groundwater from unlined landfills, blowing in the wind from dry ash dumps, and being used as fill material on construction sites and even as fertilizer!

Allow the EPA to do its job!

June 08, 2010

Dear Clean Activist:
As if the eco-disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (we refuse to call it an oil spill) and the mining disaster in West Virginia weren't enough, Senator Lisa Murkowski (Republican, Alaska) wants to neuter the power of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). She has introduced a resolution in the Senate that would severely curtail the power of the EPA to do its job.

American Power Act is NOT the Answer!

May 20, 2010

Dear Clean Activist:

We strongly urge you to contact your Senators to ask them to vote "NO" on the newly-released American Power Act, introduced by Senators John Kerry (D, MA) and Joe Lieberman (I, CT). As of this writing it is unknown when this legislation will come to the floor of the Senate for a vote.

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News and Surveys

Are You Frackin Kidding Me?

July 26, 2010

For those who think that natural gas is a bridge to a clean energy future, check out the film now showing on HBO, "Gasland". We have all seen the scenes of blackwater running from the taps of people in Appalachia who live daily with the effects of mountain removal and sludge and slurry ponds toxic legacy leaching into their streams and wells. "Gasland" looks at the drilling and 'fracking' process used by oil and gas companies to tap the rich natural gas reserves across Pennsylvania and the state of New York and out west in my own state of Colorado.

We're Not Ready

July 23, 2010

By Bob Herbert, NY Times

We were told by oil industry executives and their acolytes and enablers in government that deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico would not cause the kind of catastrophe that we've been watching with an acute and painful sense of helplessness for the past three months. Advances in technology, they said, would ward off the worst-case scenarios. Fail-safe systems like the blowout preventer a mile below the surface at the Deepwater Horizon rig site would keep wildlife and the environment safe.

Clean Coal Dream a Dirty Nightmare

July 12, 2010

By Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune reporter

Sold on a promise of cheap, clean electricity, dozens of communities in Illinois and eight other Midwest states instead are facing more expensive utility bills after bankrolling a new coal-fired power plant that will be one of the nation's largest sources of climate-change pollution.

What If There is No Climate/Energy Bill? Greater Midwest Region Would Fare Among the Best Under Transition to Clean Energy Future

September 01, 2010

Read the 09.02.10 news release here ...
Read the analysis here ...
Listen to the news conference ...

What If There is No Climate/Energy Bill? Northwest U.S. Region Would Fare Best Under Transition to Clean Energy Future

July 28, 2010

Read the 07.28.10 news release here ...
Read the regional analysis here ...
Listen to the news conference ...

After the Climate Bill: Plan B

May 11, 2010

WHAT IF THERE IS NO CLIMATE/ENERGY BILL?
CIVIL SOCIETY INSTITUTE REPORT FROM SYNAPSE

SHOWS CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE STILL POSSIBLE FOR U.S.

With Uncertainty Mounting About Climate/Energy Bill, Major New Study for CSI Details Path for Breaking Away From "Business As Usual" in the Electric Power Sector.

Vermont Town Halls Went 14-1 For Closure of Vermont Yankee Reactor

April 01, 2010

As predicted based on a survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) for the nonpartisan and nonprofit Civil Society Institute, the vast majority of Vermont Town Halls deliberating this week the fate of the Vermont Yankee came out in support of closure of the controversial nuclear reactor by 2012. The final tally of Town Halls in Vermont opposing the relicensing of Vermont Yankee was 14-1.

Montana Energy Climate Survey:

October 23, 2008

72% FAVOR ENDING "TAX HOLIDAY" FOR OIL & GAS PRODUCERS, 7 OUT OF 10 FAVOR FREEZE ON COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS

Strong Support Seen in State For Moving Ahead on New Energy, Climate Solutions; Coal-Fired Power Plant Moratorium Is Significant Since MT Has One of Largest Number in the Works.

Colorado Energy/Climate Survey:

October 16, 2008

Colorado Energy/Climate Survey:

CLEAN Action Alert -- Stop Nuclear Power Plants

February 22, 2010

Dear Clean Activist:

On February 16th, President Obama announced conditional approval of an $8.3 billion loan guarantee for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Vogtle site in Georgia.

This is part of the Administration's proposal to triple the loan guarantee program for new nuclear reactors in his 2011 budget and would raise the amount of loan guarantees to $54 billion.

CLEAN Action Alert -- Cape Wind

February 04, 2010

US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has committed to issuing a decision on Cape Wind in the next several weeks. But before he does, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) is accepting public comments now through February 12. We need you to offer your comments to MMS to help demonstrate the overwhelming citizen support for Cape Wind.

Now, more than ever, it is crucial that Secretary Salazar hears from you.

CLEAN Action Alert -- They Think We're Stupid

February 01, 2010

Dear Clean Activist:

The Washington establishment thinks we're stupid. It's the only explanation left for their behavior.

They think that if they just add the word "clean" to something then we and the rest of America won't figure out what they are really up to. In this case: giving even more of our taxpayer money to the same people who brought about both the economic crisis and the environmental crisis.