Steny Hoyer Town Hall

I’ve had a lot of posts recently about my Congressman House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and the Clean Energy Town Hall Meeting on May 11th.  So the moment of truth finally arrived!  While I’m sure there will be more media to post, I’m going to reveal what I’ve seen thus far.  First, Holly of CCAN had a post about the Town Hall, and she has her own insight on the meeting.  CCAN also has a video of the Town Hall, in case you want to check it out.  Next, the Diamondback has an article out about the meeting today, which I felt portrayed the meeting accurately, although didn’t mention the speakers before Hoyer.  I got quoted too, and didn’t embarass myself too much.  One thing Holly and I definitely agree on is the question of the night by a member of my student group UMD for Clean Energy, Jesse Yurow.  If you see a politician asked ANY question this year, you have see this one.  It’s right after the 1 hour mark on the video.  We went over it in our student group meeting and he showed me what he had on his notecard before the town hall started.  I knew it was going to be good if he got to ask.  

The question combined the fact that efforts to develop clean coal technology had failed, that the extraction of coal is destructive, and whether or not Congressman Hoyer would support a moratorium on new coal plants.  This was followed by the entire audience roaring in applause.  Now Hoyer doesn’t support this, and he said so, but I could tell it was tough for him.  Picture is below.

 

          This is the look on Hoyer’s face….

All in all, this was a succesful meeting.  There were 250-300 people attending, the speakers did a great job, and the audience got in a few great questions.  The only unfortunate part was that the Congressman was supposed to talk for 15 minutes, but he rambled for 30 and there wasn’t as much time to ask questions as we would’ve liked.  Still, despite our differences I’m very gracious that Steny Hoyer took the time out of his busy schedule to come to our campus and participate in this meeting.  I’m going to likely have further analysis of this meeting, as well as more media and pictuteres.  I will hold off on that stuff until the weekend.

**Update 5/13/09**  More Media

Declining Chesapeake Bay

 It came to light yesterday that efforts to clean up the bay have failed, and things just plain aren’t looking good.  The Washington Post has an editorial out today regarding the declining health of the Chesapeake Bay which is right on the mark, but in my opinion doesn’t go deep enough into what Governors O’Malley and Kaine are doing wrong when it comes to the Bay.  

I’ll leave you with this excerpt from the editorial…

“But both states could do more, and much of the bay’s problem comes not from sewage plants or chicken farms but from elsewhere — roads, parking lots and other features of development that send warm, polluted stormwater runoff into the bay.”

ICC anyone?

The Death of Coal

I had a column out a day early on Monday about how coal’s sun is setting in America, largely thanks to a growing environmental movement.  Enjoy!

Environmentalism: The movement’s spreading

MATT DERNOGA

Issue date: 5/11/09

The coal industry has been running commercials since the presidential election joyfully touting that coal supplies 50 percent of America’s electricity. These commercials are outdated and untrue. According to the U.S. Energy Department, coal supplies 48.9 percent of America’s electricity. I’ll show you why the details matter.

Four of my closest friends are conservatives. Traditionally, support for regulating industry’s greenhouse gas emissions falls along party lines. Over the past couple years, I’ve been surprised to find three of these friends have come around to my viewpoint on this issue. Two of them lobbied with me on environmental legislation. Another referenced a column of mine in a college essay on why America needs to transition to a clean energy economy to avoid catastrophic climate change. And if I was referenced in a paper, the world really is in jeopardy.

I arrogantly assumed this shift was limited to my friends because my crazy environmentalism had rubbed off on them (and because I can blackmail them). But a snapshot from a recent poll suggests otherwise. Eighty-five percent of Democrats, 80 percent of Americans under 30 and 64 percent of Republicans support government regulation of greenhouse gases. A seemingly controversial issue is not even a close one. The most incredible number is almost two out of every three Republicans want regulation. I frequently tune into Fox News ,where commentators and news desk make it appear the planet is cooling and regulating emissions will wreck the economy. It hasn’t worked. 

This has been reflected in our energy policy. About 200 coal plants have been proposed since 2000. Since 2007, 95 of these proposals have been canceled or postponed, and nearly all of the remaining proposals are on hold. Most of this took place during a coal-happy Bush presidency. It’s not getting any prettier. In contrast, wind power grew by more than 8.5 gigawatts in 2008 and solar more than 1.2 GW – record growth during a contracting economy. The wind industry now has more jobs than the coal mining industry. For the first time in forever, the environmental movement is winning in the United States.Students at universities all around the country, including students at this one, have been on the forefront. I remember two years ago when an outgoing state senator and the director of an environmental nonprofit group came to the university to talk to 50 students about global warming. They said that some day, the state would pass a global warming bill. It seemed far off. This semester, students played a role in passing one of the strongest global warming bills in the nation right here in Maryland. Today, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will come to the university before hundreds of people for a clean energy town hall meeting. Part of the discussion will be about when the United States will pass a strong global warming bill. I see the paradigm shift in only two years. 

The details matter. They tell a different story than the commercials. The coal industry is trying to outrun the facts, but they are catching up quickly. We are witnessing the death of coal. A word for the coal industry: Coal might supply ALMOST 50 percent of America’s electricity, but your years are numbered. You are approaching zero. 

Matt Dernoga is a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at mdernoga@umd.edu

*Update 5/14/09* Here is an excellent op-ed largely supporting the % numbers and conclusion I write about above.

**Update 7/20/09** It’s now DOWN to 46.1 percent!.

**Update 8/19/09** Down to 42.6%!