Climate 411

It must have been a late night for one of the headline writers at the Washington Post. That’s the best explanation we can think of for the seriously misleading headline on a generally balanced story by reporter Juliet Eilperin.

The story is about the testimony of the head of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Elmendorf, who appeared before a Senate energy panel yesterday.

The article points out that Elmendorf went out of his way to say the costs of shifting to clean energy would be “comparatively modest” and that his analysis didn’t even include the heavy cost of failing to take action to slow climate change.  He estimated a very small economic difference under the clean energy bill over a long period of time.

The headline writer summed it up this way: “Cap-and-Trade Would Slow Economy, CBO Chief Says.”

This is extremely misleading since many readers will interpret this to mean that economic growth would actually turn negative, which is absolutely NOT what Elmendorf said.

What he said (and what Eilperin reported) is what’s reflected in the CBO analysis – that the economy is expected to grow strongly and thrive whether we pass a carbon cap or not. If we do nothing, the American economy would reach $25 trillion by January 2030; if we pass a cap on carbon, it will reach the exact same size of $25 trillion by May of 2030 (and that’s a conservative estimate – we’d reach that between March and May). And, remember, that projection doesn’t include the economic benefits of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.

What is confusing in the headline is that “economy slowing” has become shorthand for “panic, it’s a recession” — which is the opposite of what Elmendorf was talking about. What Elmendorf actually said is that a cap would “cut the nation’s gross domestic product … compared to ‘what it would otherwise have been.’” The CBO finding was that a carbon cap would cut GDP “0.25 to 0.75 percent” by the year 2020. Again, that’s a cut from what it would have otherwise reached without the policy — not a cut from where the economy stands now.

To put that in perspective, if you had to cut the Post article by the same amount, you’d need to edit out – three or four words. Or, to cut that headline proportionately you’d have to – lose half the “s” on the end of the last word. That’s a tiny amount, and certainly no reason to panic – unless you’re looking for a reason to panic so you can try to kill a clean energy bill.

Read more in EDF’s latest Climate Economics Brief, Or read the CBO report itself. And check out National Wildlife Federation’s comments on, as they call it, the Post‘s “scare headlines” — we’re flattered that they used an EDF graph to help make their case.

The Chamber of Commerce story is all over the media again today, which means we get to keep using the phrase “Scopes monkey trial” almost a century after it should have been old news.

In yesterday’s blog post we told you about Apple “resigning .. effective immediately” from the Chamber because of the Chamber’s position on global warming policy. Apple became the fifth big company to leave either the Chamber or its board of directors because of inflammatory comments about the underlying truth of climate science (the others are Exelon, PG&E, PNM and Nike).

Apple’s departure touched off a slew of articles and editorials around the country, all pointing out that the Chamber has gotten itself into a public relations hole — and most suggesting that it follow the advice of the old proverb and stop digging.

Here’s a sample of the reactions:

• San Francisco Chronicle: “U.S. Chamber of Commerce Feels the Heat“
• Boston Globe: “Chamber of overstated horrors“
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “When Big Business does the right thing“

And the winner in the pop-culture reference department is Marc Gunther, writing for the Energy Collective, who compares the Chamber to David Letterman, because the have both “really, really embarrassed themselves.”

But the Chamber is apparently not interested in the above advice. Instead, it is digging in and has launched counterattacks against Apple and some of its other critics, including the Boston Globe.

Chamber CEO Tom Donohue told reporters, including Politico‘s Lisa Lerer today:

The only regrets we have is that we maybe have not always used the right language. We don’t have regrets about our position and we don’t intend to change it.

Donohue blamed the resignations on an “orchestrated pressure campaign” by environmental groups. He also said:

What we decided to do is we’re going to let the scientists argue the science.

Of course, the scientists aren’t actually arguing anything. The vast majority of scientists long ago determined that climate change is real, and is a really big threat to us all. But it is generous of Donohue to cede the world of science to the scientists, I suppose.

On a related note, Environmental Defense Action Fund has decided to join the ranks of the vast green-wing conspiracy that Donohue blames for his problems. Check out these new ads that we’re running with our friends at NRDC.

Donohue would no doubt see this as part of an “orchestrated pressure campaign.” But much as we’d like to take credit for making five huge corporations leave an organization whose goal is to re-enact one of the most infamous trials in history — as the losing party, no less — we do have to point out that our ads are brand new, so those corporations quit the board all by themselves.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce continues to make a monkey of itself over its “Scopes trial” comment, as well as its general policy on climate change.

The latest chapter in the ongoing saga comes from high-tech powerhouse Apple, which announced that it is resigning from the Chamber effective immediately. Apple says it objects to “the chamber’s recent comments opposing the E.P.A.’s effort to limit greenhouse gases.” Those comments include threatening litigation.

In a letter to chamber president Thomas Donahue, Apple wrote:

Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the chamber at odds with us in this effort.

You can read Apple’s entire letter [PDF] here.

But the bad news for the Chamber doesn’t end there. One of its chapters is now distancing itself from the national organization. That item comes from the San Jose Mercury News editorial “U.S. chamber is a dinosaur on climate change“.

The paper says the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce has “had discussions with the U.S. Chamber and the California Chamber as well as PG&E and several other members.”

The president of the San Jose Silicon Valley chapter solidly opposed her national counterpart’s comments, saying:

There isn’t anyone who doesn’t realize that climate change is a man-made phenomenon and something we need to address and address quickly.

PG& E, of course, has already resigned from the chamber because of its climate policy — as have PNM Resources and Excelon (and now Apple).

Nike withdrew from the Chamber’s board of directors, but hasn’t given up its membership altogether.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce continues to rack up bad press because of its knee-jerk opposition to climate change legislation. (If you want the whole sordid history, read our earlier post.)

The latest news: Nike announced Wednesday that it is resigning its position on the Chamber’s board.

It’s not dropping its membership in the Chamber altogether — at least, not yet. But Nike’s statement suggests a long and happy future together may not be in the cards.

The statement begins with:

Nike believes US businesses must advocate for aggressive climate change legislation …

It continues ..

…we fundamentally disagree with the US Chamber of Commerce…

and it ends rather ominously:

Moving forward we will continue to evaluate our membership

Nike’s statement does make clear that, for now, they believe they’ll be better advocates for climate change legislation by working within the Chamber. But if the Chamber continues to push its extreme and inflexible views, Nike could become the fourth big company to walk away from the group — following in the fleeing footsteps of Exelon, Pacific Gas & Electric, and PNM Resources.

A fifth company, Johnson&Johnson, also supports climate change legislation and has publicly expressed its displeasure with the Chamber’s stance the issue. The company hasn’t taken any steps away from the Chamber… yet.

The New York Times has more on the story of Nike’s resignation.

I took this photo today at the Capitol, where twelve senators, two national security figures, and scores of supporters gathered for the announcement of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.

We’re excited that work in the Senate is beginning in earnest, and look forward to working with the Senators and staff to pass a smart, tough bill.