It doesn’t get much more visionary and ambitious than Al Gore’s speech last week on energy and climate change, and this sentence in particular:

Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.

If you missed it, you can find the full text here or read a helpfully annotated version here.

My only quibble with this fantastic speech was that Gore said little about the transportation sector, which is the second largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

But that’s a minor point. Go read what he said, if you haven’t already. We can meet demand for electricity using clean, renewable sources. We do not need new nuclear reactors or coal-fired power plants.

Gore turned up at the Netroots Nation conference over the weekend, and Mooncat at Left in Alabama posted some videos from his speech.

Andrew Villeneuve of the Northwest Progressive Institute liveblogged Gore’s speech in Austin here for those who don’t have time to watch the video.

Mark your calendar for July 9: Moveon.org is organizing events at gas stations around the country in a “National Day of Action for an Oil-Free President.” The main goal is to inform voters that

John McCain’s campaign is run by oil lobbyists,1 it’s funded by oil companies,2 his policies are straight out of Big Oil’s playbook,3 and he won’t solve our energy crisis.

After the jump you can read the full text of the e-mail I received from Moveon.org. It includes footnotes supporting the assertions in that quote.

Fortunately for Barack Obama, Moveon.org isn’t going to be less involved in this election just because Obama made a gratuitous swipe at the group on Monday.

I was happy to see that Moveon.org also defended Wes Clark, who has been getting slammed by the right-wing noise machine. By the way, the Obama campaign went out of its way to “reject” Clark’s reasonable statements about McCain’s qualifications to be president.

This post by Chris Bowers explains succinctly why disavowing Clark was dumb:

No one in the entire country is more important to Democratic credibility on foreign policy than Wesley Clark. No one. And this isn’t just my opinion, it is the opinion of Democratic congressional candidates who requested him.

There are those who think that Obama is being super secret strategic on this one, and playing both the McCain campaign and the media for a fiddle. However, if you really want to be strategic, you need to see the whole board. Going well beyond this media cycle, and even going beyond this presidential election, Republicans score a huge strategic victory if they are able to permanently damage the credibility of the leading Democratic spokesperson on national security.

Paul Rosenberg had a priceless comment in that thread:

Incompetent is you think tactically instead of strategically.

Idiotic is you think tactically instead of strategically about the strongest surrogate you have on your weakest suit in the game.

Getting back to the main point of this post, Moveon.org is right to hit McCain campaign over energy policy. He is worse than Obama on that issue, and the price of gas is at the forefront of voters’ minds this summer.

If you attend or help organize one of the July 9 events, please put up a diary here to let us know how it went.

It’s no surprise that the Bush administration and other Republican politicians would seize on high gasoline prices as an excuse to expand offshore drilling for oil. Never mind that oil companies apparently are not fully utilizing the leases they already have to drill offshore, as Tom Harkin points out in a statement excerpted at iPol.

But are you cynical enough not to be surprised by this story in the New York Times?

Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.      

The Bureau of Land Management says an extensive environmental study is needed to determine how large solar plants might affect millions of acres it oversees in six Western states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

But the decision to freeze new solar proposals temporarily, reached late last month, has caused widespread concern in the alternative-energy industry, as fledgling solar companies must wait to see if they can realize their hopes of harnessing power from swaths of sun-baked public land, just as the demand for viable alternative energy is accelerating.

If that makes you mad, get involved with the Iowa Renewable Energy Association. Their list of upcoming events includes a residential solar energy workshop on July 19, as well as a huge annual Energy Expo, which will be in Cedar Falls the weekend of September 13 and 14.

Speaking of renewable energy, the Iowa News Service ran this report on growing demand for wind turbine technicians, which has prompted Iowa community colleges to create new programs for training them.

Also from the Iowa News Service, I found this report on how farmers can increase their cash flow by owning their own wind turbine.  

If you’ve ever attended a typical town hall meeting featuring a member of Congress in his or her district, you know that turnout tends to be low.

Congressman Bruce Braley held a telephone town hall meeting Tuesday evening to discuss high gas prices with interested constituents. Nearly 5,000 first-district residents who received an automated phone call inviting them to the meeting opted to listen.

That is a huge number. Obviously, the convenience of the telephone format helped, because people didn’t need to drive to a different town or county (which would burn gas and cost money).

Still, people have so many competing demands on their time that I am shocked by how many people spent part of a summer evening listening to a member of Congress talk about energy policy.

A lot of people hang up the second they realize the voice on the other end is a robocall.

In case it wasn’t already obvious, the high price of gas is of great concern to large numbers of Iowans. The overwhelming majority of us live in car-dependent neighborhoods.

A statement released tonight by Braley’s Congressional office is after the jump.  

Sven of the Nevada progressive community blog Silver State posted this diary here yesterday asking people to tell him about promising future Democratic leaders in Iowa. One of the people I mentioned was State Senator Rob Hogg, who is a strong voice for the environment in our legislature.

Today I received a press release from the Iowa Environmental Council in which Hogg advocated “clean car” policies:

American innovation should be employed to help us maintain our mobile lifestyles, while reducing global warming pollutants, say clean air advocates, who are examining policies that will help reduce carbon dioxide and other pollution from cars.

“Clean car policies are a win-win for Iowans, reducing global warming pollution and saving consumers money at the pump,” said Iowa Senator Rob Hogg, (D-Cedar Rapids).

Hogg and other members of the Climate Change Advisory Council (ICCAC) will meet in Council Bluffs next week to discuss “several policies to make cars more efficient and help reduce both the expense of buying gas and greenhouse gas emissions.”

The full release from the IEC is after the jump.

It’s nice to see Hogg speaking out on this subject, and I would be thrilled if our Democratic leaders in the legislature stepped up to the plate on clean car regulations next year.

That said, I can’t honestly say I’m very hopeful on that front. Mike Carberry published a strong indictment of our state’s inaction regarding several pressing environmental issues, and I find it hard to disagree with anything he wrote.

We don’t have to wait for state legislators to act in order to reduce the carbon-dioxide emissions from our cars. Daily Kos user Devilstower offered this handy list of tips:

   * Drive less.

   * Take public transit.

   * Walk.

   * If it’s too far to walk, use a bike.

   * If it’s too far to bike, and there no public transportation, car pool.

   * If you can’t car pool, use a smaller, more efficient vehicle.

   * If you have a long commute, move closer to work.

   * If you can’t move closer, take a closer job.

   * If you can’t get a different job, see if you can telecommute.

But individual actions can’t do all the work on this front–better government policies on vehicle emissions and transportation generally are also needed, as Daily Kos user cryptochrome pointed out in this response to Devilstower.

In any event, it’s good to see members of the ICCAC willing to consider clean car policies. Stay tuned–the council will submit its recommendations to Governor Chet Culver and the state legislature by December.

For the first time that I can remember, I agree with one of Charles Krauthammer’s syndicated columns:

You want more fuel-efficient cars? Don’t regulate. Don’t mandate. Don’t scold. Don’t appeal to the better angels of our nature. Do one thing: Hike the cost of gas until you find the price point.

Unfortunately, instead of hiking the price ourselves by means of a gasoline tax that could be instantly refunded to the American people in the form of lower payroll taxes, we let the Saudis, Venezuelans, Russians and Iranians do the taxing for us — and pocket the money that the tax would have recycled back to the American worker.

This is insanity. For 25 years and with utter futility (starting with “The Oil-Bust Panic,” the New Republic, February 1983), I have been advocating the cure: a U.S. energy tax as a way to curtail consumption and keep the money at home. […]

Want to wean us off oil? Be open and honest. The British are paying $8 a gallon for petrol. Goldman Sachs is predicting we will be paying $6 by next year. Why have the extra $2 (above the current $4) go abroad? Have it go to the U.S. Treasury as a gasoline tax and be recycled back into lower payroll taxes.

Announce a schedule of gas tax hikes of 50 cents every six months for the next two years. And put a tax floor under $4 gasoline, so that as high gas prices transform the U.S. auto fleet, change driving habits and thus hugely reduce U.S. demand — and bring down world crude oil prices — the American consumer and the American economy reap all of the benefit.

Krauthammer came late to this party–I supported Republican presidential candidate John Anderson’s call for a 50-cent hike in the gas tax way back in 1979-1980. (The Republican Party was not yet fully in control of the anti-tax zealots back then.)

Unfortunately, we kept the price of gas artificially low for so many decades that we’ve developed most of our suburban neighborhoods in a way that makes people depend on cars to get around. It will take some time to change our mindset and make our neighborhoods more bike-friendly and accessible by public transit.

I discussed other things individuals and governments can do to reduce our consumption of gas in this post.

Speaking of transportation policy, Democratic State Senator Matt McCoy has an op-ed in Saturday’s Des Moines Register about a bill in Congress that would (in his view) impose unnecessary regulations on the freight rail industry.

Please put up a comment if I have left out any important events.

Monday, June 2:

Ed Fallon will be on the 98.3 WOW FM radio station’s show Mac’s World, beginning at 1:30 pm.

Tuesday, June 3:

Get out and vote in the Democratic primary!

Leonard Boswell’s election night party will be at the Hotel Fort Des Moines, Wedgewood Room, 1000 Walnut St in Des Moines, beginning at 8:30 pm. This seems to be open to the public, as I received a mass-mailed postcard invitation.

Ed Fallon’s election night party will be right next door at the Raccoon River Brewery, 10th and Mulberry in Des Moines, beginning at 9 pm.

Wednesday, June 4:

One Iowa is holding its last volunteer workshop where you can sign up for shifts at Pride this June. There will be a quick overview and training session to let you know about what the different volunteer needs and roles will be, where to check in and check out during Pride, and how this process will work.  Immediately following will be a chance for you to ask any questions you may have and to sign up for volunteer shifts. The workshop will be at 6 pm, and you can RSVP here:

http://eqfed.org/oneiowa/event…

For questions, please contact One Iowa at (515)288-4019, or you can visit our web site at www.oneiowa.org.

Thursday, June 5:

Immigration in Iowa will be the topic of a forum at the DMACC Urban Campus (1100 7th St. in Des Moines) from 11 am to 12:30 pm. Confirmed panelists include: Alicia Claypool of the Iowa Immigration Education Coalition; David Roederer, executive director of the Iowa Chamber Alliance (representing 16 chambers of commerce in Iowa); James Benzoni, a Des Moines attorney specializing in immigration law and an adjunct faculty member of the Drake Law School in Des Moines; and state Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames. The event, sponsored by IowaPolitics.com, DMACC and Mediacom, is free and open to the public, but reservations are required as lunches will be provided to the first 50 people who sign up to attend. For reservations call 515.226.8774 or e-mail Julie Rutz at rutz@IowaPolitics.com. Doors at DMACC Urban Campus will open at 10:30 a.m. Free parking will be available at the DMACC Urban Campus. The panel discussion will also be televised to a statewide audience on the Mediacom Connections Channel and will be available for On Demand viewing from Mediacom on Channel 1.

Derek Maurer invites anyone interested in peak oil to join him for a discussion of the topic Thursday, June 5, at 7 p.m. in Meeting Room E of the Iowa City Public Library. This will be an opportunity to learn more or share what you know about peak oil. Many Iowans are becoming more informed about the peak oil phenomenon, with its implication that the era of abundant and relatively cheap energy is drawing to a close. What can we do as a community to respond to the likelihood of this drastic change in the basis of our economy and society?

Friday, June 6:

The Matthew Shepard Scholarship Committee cordially invites you to Iowa’s 2008 Matthew Shepard Scholarship Awards Dinner. Featuring music by members of the Des Moines Gay Men’s Chorus, a keynote address by Iowa Board of Regents President David Miles, and presenting Iowa’s 2008 Matthew Shepard Scholarship Recipients.

Friday, June 6, 2007

5:30 PM Reception (Cash Bar)

6:45 PM Dinner and Program

$55.00 per Ticket

Hy-Vee Conference Center

5820 Westown Parkway

West Des Moines, Iowa 50266

Register here:

http://www.eychanerfoundation….

Yet again, Republicans are trying to sneak an amendment benefiting oil companies into otherwise good legislation. This time they are trying to use the Flood Insurance Bill as a vehicle to open up the last portions of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling.

This action alert went out on the Sierra Club e-mail list today:

This is an urgent alert: As soon as tomorrow (Tuesday), the Senate will vote on an amendment to the national Flood Insurance Bill offered by Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) and co-sponsored by Senator Pete Domenici (NM) that threatens polar bears and other wildlife.

Rather than addressing high oil prices and dependence on foreign oil by moving toward better alternatives and practical solutions, this amendment promotes more drilling in more places for more oil profits.

This is not a solution, it’s a sell off. Please take action right now…

1. Make the call. Either today or tomorrow morning, please call your Senators at one of the numbers below:

   * Tom Harkin – (202) 224-3254 or (515) 284-4574 – http://harkin.senate.gov/c/

   * Charles Grassley – (202) 224-3744 or (515) 288-1145 – http://grassley.senate.gov/pub…

If you are calling after 5:00 PM or before 8:00 AM Eastern time, please be sure to leave a message.

The rest of the action alert is after the jump. It includes more information and talking points for you to use when you make the call.

As I have said before, I think Hillary Clinton was wrong to make a summer gas tax holiday the centerpiece of her campaign for several weeks. I am glad that didn’t pan out for her in the Indiana and North Carolina primaries.

However, as bad an idea as a gas tax holiday would be (delivering more profits to oil companies, not really helping consumers, not helping to reduce our demand for oil), it would only be bad for a few months.

Take a look at the ad Obama is now running in Kentucky:

Also view the direct-mail piece the Obama campaign has sent out in Kentucky.

Now, maybe Obama is only pandering to Kentucky Democrats to avoid a blowout in the May 20 primary, but my fear is that if elected he would actually follow through and invest more national resources in so-called “clean coal.”

Every new coal-fired power plant built is a 50-year investment in the wrong direction, with much worse long-term consequences for our climate and environment than any summer holiday from the federal gas tax.

This came through on the Sierra Club’s e-mail list:

Please call Representative Leonard Boswell’s office and ask him to cosponsor HR 39, a bill that would permanently protect the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  His Des Moines office number is 515-282-1909 and D.C. number is 202-225-3806.  All other Iowa Democratic members of Congress have already cosponsored HR 39.

Some facts:  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls the Refuge’s Coastal Plain “the center for wildlife activity” for the entire Refuge.  The Refuge provides vital habitat for some of America ‘s most spectacular wildlife. Polar bears, grizzly bears, caribou, wolves, and muskoxen are a few of more than 250 species that rely on the Coastal Plain for their survival.  Millions of birds, representing some 180 species, migrate to the Coastal Plain to nest, rear young, molt, and feed.  Birds from all 50 states and six of the seven continents migrate to the Refuge for summer.

The native people living near the Refuge are the Gwich’in (meaning “caribou people” in their language) and their livelihood and culture have been dependant on the Porcupine Caribou Herd, which gives birth on the Coastal Plain, for centuries. They refer to the Coastal Plain as the “Sacred Place Where Life Begins” and oppose drilling in the area and strongly support permanent protection. Impact to the caribou herd could mean a loss of their way of life.

Global warming is already threatening life in the Arctic and drilling for gas and oil will only accelerate the warming trend.

I can’t resist adding that if Ed Fallon were representing Iowa’s third Congressional district, this kind of action alert would be unnecessary. He would sign on to a bill like this in a heartbeat without needing to be nudged by constituents.