They say you cannot fight city hall, but recently some folks unhappy with the California Energy Commission’s decision to give hydrogen-fueling station contracts only to bidders approved by the major automakers won a victory. It’s a reversal of what they called “sweet heart” deals.

Citizens don’t often get change from their government ofiicials. This, however, is a classic case of how sunlight can still be the best disinfectant.

Tom Elias, a long time syndicated columnist, broke the story of the boondoggle and its collapse. After enough heat and light, the Commissioner responded by saying it would nix the automakers’ veto power in the contracts.

Elias writes:

Less than two weeks after this column exposed a situation where tens of millions of state tax dollars were given to billion-dollar corporations —- but only with approval from other billion-dollar corporations —- the California Energy Commission suddenly ended that practice.

In a message sent late May 25, the commission said it “is canceling its grant solicitation for hydrogen fueling stations in order to revise solicitation protocols. The commission will issue a new solicitation at a future date.”

The grants, funded by vehicle license fees under a 2007 law authored by former Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, amounted to $15 million in 2010, with an additional $12 million winning tentative approval in April. Those grants have now been canceled.

The grants are designed to encourage construction of refueling stations for hydrogen fuel cell cars that are due to hit showrooms by 2017. These will be built by eight automakers:Nissan, Toyota, Honda, GM, Chrysler, Volkswagen, Daimler and Hyundai.

The Energy Commission’s Schwarzenegger-era policy was to require that at least one automaker approve any refueling location before a grant application could even be considered.

Elias’s first column on the scandal ran statewide at a time when the goverment is trying to sell austerity and prudence to the public, which will vote on tax hikes in November.  Government officials need voters’ trust. The Commission felt the heat and changed the recipe.

Whether hydrogen vehicles are the best way to go remains to be seen, and most at Consumer Watchdog are skeptical. But at least the contracting for the developing fueling system won’t allowed to be rigged in favor of the major automakers and their allies.

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Posted by Jamie Court, author of The Progressive’s Guide to Raising Hell and President of Consumer Watchdog, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing an effective voice for taxpayers and consumers in an era when special interests dominate public discourse, government and politics. Visit us on Facebook and Twitter.

In the midst of over a year of energy disasters around the world, Californians have been given a reason to celebrate and look forward to a safer energy future. Today Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a historic mandate that will put California back at the forefront of the clean energy movement.

Senate Bill X1 – 2 (Simitian), better known as SB 2X, mandates that providers of electricity in California increase their supply of renewable energy to 33 percent by the year 2020. Iterations of the bill limped along the past three years, once making it all the way to former Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk where it fell victim to his veto pen; other times it didn’t even round up enough votes of support to pass out of the legislature.

This year was a different story.  

These factors made the timing ripe:

   * California’s 2010 election results helped replace some of the legislators who were in the pockets of the polluting industries with new environmental champions who put the best interests of the public first. It also gave us a new governor who sees the connection between support for the clean energy sector and the movement towards economic recovery for the state.

   * Grassroots actions including hundreds of calls and emails from constituents urging support for SB 2X to targeted swing-voting legislators helped demonstrate increasing public support from around the state.

   * The idea of investing in renewable energy became connected with economic recovery, helping garner bipartisan support for SB 2X. A record high of six votes in the legislature came from Republicans whose districts are expected to receive jobs and other economic benefits from the new standard.

The movement towards clean, safe energy also received mounting momentum from the number of recent tragedies that have occurred around dirty energy extraction and production. April, in fact, marks the one year anniversary of the biggest environmental disaster in our nation’s history – BP’s Gulf Coast oil spill.  Here are some of the others:

   * The nuclear crisis in Japan, where the full extent of the damage is still unknown

   * The explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia which resulted in the deaths of 29 workers

   * The pollution of groundwater supplies around the nation as a result of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas

With a laundry list like that, it’s hard to find a reason not to support SB 2X. Aside from being the safe option, though, SB 2X will stimulate one of the bright spots in California’s economy. Investors have been waiting for this kind of green light indicating that California is moving forward on renewable energy. Without the mandate for an increase in renewable energy that SB 2X calls for, investors would be more likely to take their projects and jobs to other states.

Aware of the economic potential of SB 2X early on, labor worked in coalition with the environmental movement to see that Californians be put back to work with the green jobs of the future. Asked about SB 2X, California Building Trades President and CA League of Conservation Voters Board Member Bob Balgenorth said:

“We worked hard for two solid years to get this bill passed, because Building Trades workers understand that a healthier environment and a stronger economy go hand-in-hand. This measure provides multiple benefits for Californians: thousands of megawatts of new renewable energy, the cleaner and healthier environment that will result, and billions of dollars worth of construction projects for tens of thousands of California workers. This great legislation was enacted because the labor and environmental communities worked together, for the benefit of all of us.”

As Governor Brown signs SB 2X into law, let’s not forget that the impacts extend beyond California. This is where environmental legacies stem from. And with U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu by the Governor’s side as he signed the bill into law, it’s hard not to hope that our influence will extend to the federal government once again.

(Cross-posted from Groundswell, the California League of Conservation Voters blog.)

We are so close to ensuring a clean energy future for California. Later this week, the California State Assembly will vote on Senate Bill (SB) 2X, which would increase renewable energy in California. With the help of nearly 700 emails and calls from California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) members, the State Senate passed SB 2X two weeks ago. Now we need you to take action to get the bill to Governor Brown's desk.

Because this bill is so important, CLCV launched a new tool this week to help you contact your legislators. Our new “click to call” feature makes calling your assemblymember simple. Just enter your phone number, and our system will dial your assemblymember for you. We provide a suggested script to make it easy. The whole process takes 2-3 minutes, and is so important since phone calls have a more powerful impact than emails to legislators.

SB 2X will put utilities on a path to 33% renewable energy by 2020. The mandates set by SB 2X will result in a reduction of global warming pollution from natural gas, oil, and coal power plants, and in improved air quality for California’s families.

A 33% renewable portfolio standard (RPS) for all utilities would continue to expand California’s renewable energy market and its clean technology industry, creating new green jobs for Californians. 

By 2020, a 33% RPS will result in 13,000 megawatts of new renewable power—enough to meet the electricity needs of 6 million typical homes. Action is needed now to make sure the opportunity doesn’t pass us by so please take a couple minutes and call your assemblymember today to urge support for renewable energy requirements.

Pro-democratic movements in the Middle East are in the midst of their rendezvous with destiny, but America’s destiny can no longer be linked with the fates of dictators, military juntas, and theocratic regimes. We must develop energy independence; we must Make It In America.

America must develop a national energy plan that prioritizes the need to (1) Make It In America, (2) transition away from dirty fossil fuels, and (3) secure energy independence. The events unfolding in the Middle East – and subsequent spikes in fuel prices – demonstrate America’s need to transition away from unclean energy from an unstable part of the world.

We spend 16 percent of our defense budget – more than $100 billion – securing oil shipments in the Straits of Hormuz and elsewhere, and there is little doubt that American foreign policy has been perversely shaped over the years by the raw calculus of oil politics (see: U.S. policy in Iraq over decades). It’s long past time that we wean ourselves off of foreign dirty fossil fuels. Energy security is national security.

A comprehensive national clean energy plan, including solar, wind, geothermal, cellulosic ethanol, advanced biofuels, and the Integral Fast Reactor is necessary to break our dangerous addiction to oil and to keep America safe. We have the technology and resources to be completely energy independent, creating thousands of good American jobs and strengthening our global competitiveness.  

In 2009, the United States received 8 percent of its total energy consumption from renewable sources of energy and 9 percent of its energy from nuclear power. Renewable sources of energy are anticipated to reach 17 percent of total energy consumption by 2035, but this will not provide the baseload power that is needed to meet our future energy demands.

According to a recent Pew study, between 1998 and 2007, clean energy jobs “from scientists and engineers to electricians, machinists and teachers” grew almost three times faster than jobs in the overall economy. An analysis by the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley suggests that transitioning to a 20 percent renewable portfolio standard by 2020, utilizing 40 percent biomass, 55 percent wind, and 5 percent solar, would create 188,018 jobs.

Clean energy is good for the environment, good for national security, and good for thousands of Americans who desire a rewarding career. That’s why I’ve authored Make It In America legislation that requires clean technology made with federal taxpayer dollars to be made in America. If we don’t Make It In America, we’ll buy it from a global competitor. China is now the world’s third largest wind power producer and the world’s fifteen largest photovoltaic solar power stations are in the European Union.

2011 has been electrifying year for millions of ‘small d’ democrats and people throughout the Middle East, but if we don’t act fast, we risk letting the 2010s be known as the decade the lights went out in America. For centuries, America has led the world on a long march toward freedom and democracy. Let’s reclaim our clean energy leadership and lead the world toward clean energy independence.

Congressman John Garamendi represents California’s 10th Congressional District. As a state legislator in the 1970s, he authored the first renewable energy tax credit in America.

California’s clean air and water, pristine coastline, wild open spaces and public health protections don’t happen by accident. They happen because champions for the environment run for office, and once they’re elected, they work to pass laws that protect our natural resources and improve our quality of life.

Today the California League of Conservation Voters released our annual California Environmental Scorecard. The Scorecard is the behind-the-scenes look at the battle to protect the Golden State’s natural legacy and public health, and reveals how the governor and members of the state legislature voted on critical environmental proposals in the 2010 legislative session. Take action and let your legislators know what you think about their 2010 scores: Visit http://www.ecovote.org/

The story of the 2010 Scorecard is as much about how the environmental community stopped multiple attacks on the environment as it is about how we passed strong laws that protect our quality of life. But the story doesn’t end there, because we expect more attacks in 2011 that falsely claim we need to sacrifice the environment in order to improve the economy.

Emboldened by the tough economic climate, anti-environmental legislators introduced dozens of so-called “regulatory reform” bills in 2010 in an attempt to weaken environmental protections. The good news is that, with the help of environmental champions in the state Senate and Assembly, CLCV and our allies successfully defeated the bills that posed the most serious threats to the environment and public health. At the same time, environmental advocates were able to deliver several important proposed laws to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk, including bills dealing with energy storage, recycling, water conservation, pesticides, clean energy jobs, and oil spill prevention.

Schwarzenegger’s 2010 score of 56% factored into an average lifetime score of 53 percent over his seven years as governor. The governor received national recognition for leadership on environmental issues. However, he leaves office with a mixed legacy, having championed some issues-notably, bold solutions to climate change-and having proven less reliable on others, including protecting public health and state parks.

How did your legislator perform on the environmental community’s priority legislation to protect the environment and public health? Learn your legislators’ scores and then let them know what you think! (More after the jump).

2010 California Environmental Scorecard Highlights:

Governor Schwarzenegger 56% (leaves office with 53% average score)

Senate average: 59%

Senate Democrats: 91%

Senate Republicans: 6%

Senators with 100% score: 12

Highest Scoring Senate Republican: Blakeslee, 21%

Lowest Scoring Senate Democrat: Correa, 30%

Assembly average: 64%

Assembly Democrats: 94%

Assembly Republicans: 7%

Assemblymembers with 100% score: 30

Highest Scoring Assembly Republican: Fletcher, 19%

Lowest Scoring Assembly Democrat: Huber, 43%

Perfect 100%:

Senators: Alquist, Cedillo, Corbett, DeSaulnier, Hancock, Kehoe, Leno, Liu, A. Lowenthal, Pavley, Steinberg, Yee.

Assemblymembers: Ammiano, Bass, Beall, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley, Carter, Chesbro, Coto, de Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Gatto, Hayashi, Hill, Huffman, Jones, Lieu, B. Lowenthal, Monning, Nava, J. Pérez, Ruskin, Salas, Saldaña, Skinner, Swanson, Torlakson, Yamada.

The California Environmental Scorecard is an important tool for environmental voters, who for nearly 40 years have helped CLCV deliver on our mission to hold elected officials accountable to their campaign promises to protect California’s families and natural heritage.

With the introduction this year of a new interactive, online Environmental Scorecard, CLCV is making it even easier for voters to communicate with their elected officials about their environmental performance.

Please know the score and take action today! Visit http://www.ecovote.org/

(Cross-posted from Groundswell, the California League of Conservation Voters blog.)

This morning Assembly Speaker John Pérez and Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg announced the Clean Energy Jobs Initiative, a package of four bills that focus on green jobs and clean energy growth.

CLCV is excited to see the leaders of both houses focusing on the environment. We have not yet fully reviewed the proposed legislation so we're reserving comments on most of the package details.

The one bill we wholeheartedly support is Senator Simitian's 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) bill. We've been working on this issue for years because a 33% RPS would have huge environmental and economic impacts, including:

• displacing nearly 13 million metric tons of global warming emissions in 2020—equivalent to removing almost 3 million cars from the road, or enough to avoid 10 to 15 new large fossil fuel power plants;
• stimulating clean technology investment and innovation, and creating “green collar jobs;”
• diversifying the state’s energy supply and protecting consumers from natural gas price volatility;
• helping to meet our pollution cap under the Global Warming Solutions Act, AB 32;
• promoting long-term planning for infrastructure needed to support high levels of renewable energy development; and
• improving air quality in vulnerable communities.

Thanks to Speaker John Pérez and President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg for continuing to lead on building a greener California. We look forward to working with them on this package and to passing RPS legislation in 2011!

With his State of the Union address, President Obama delivered an important message that Congress and the American people need to hear: our nation’s leaders must pass legislation that creates American jobs now.

America, our shining city on a hill, has been blessed with great fortune in our proud past, but as the President noted, every generation faces new challenges and new opportunities. We must be bold and forward looking, never forgetting that America’s prosperity has always relied on hard work, solid education, and well-maintained infrastructure. We’re a nation that has always thrived when we’ve built things – the light bulb, the automobile, the Internet, and the GPS. We need to build things again. We need to Make It In America

During the Great Recession, America stared into the abyss, but with the leadership of President Obama and Democrats in Congress, we steered our economy toward a better path. We invested in infrastructure, education, manufacturing, and smart tax incentives, putting millions of Americans to work. With the Recovery Act and other pro-growth, pro-jobs laws, we did a lot, but we need to do more. President Obama is right to call on this Congress to pass legislation that creates jobs now.

America – the idea and the nation – is at a crossroads. For decades we have stood by watching our manufacturing sector atrophy. We’ve seen hardworking breadwinners thrown to the curb, because big corporations can make more profits offshoring jobs to countries with atrocious labor and environmental standards. We’ve seen middle class families kicked out of their homes, because wages have not kept up with costs. We’ve seen too many great people on the sidelines of our economy, their talents wasted and dream deferred, because there simply are not enough jobs. We must do better. We must Make It In America again or else we’re not going to make it in America.

An American child born today will grow up in a world where her nation’s long held claim to economic supremacy will be challenged by peers in China, India, and elsewhere. She will live in a world where computer literacy and access to high speed Internet largely predict achievement. She will live in a world of infinite potential for people and nations committed to a better future. She will live in a world where mass transit and clean energy are everyday necessities of life, creating good jobs for someone somewhere. Let’s make sure we Make It In America and create American jobs now, so that she will live in a world where America is still the leader of the free world.

American manufacturing, which produced the largest middle class in history, is crucial to building sustained prosperity for the years to come. Across this country, we see evidence of a new fledgling Clean Energy Industrial Revolution. Detroit is producing hybrid cars, Pittsburgh is constructing robotic instruments, Schenectady, New York is developing advanced batteries, and Livermore, California is building solar panels. Across this country, clean energy is creating jobs.

In his State of the Union address, the President called for one million electric cars and a stronger clean energy standard. By setting this goal, the President was challenging Americans to dream big.

The President is right. This is our Sputnik moment. Imagine if we had responded to the challenge of Sputnik by soaring to the moon in a space shuttle that was Made in the Soviet Union. We could have gone that route – admitted failure and surrendered our economic and security assets to another country. Instead, we focused on inventing and constructing crucial technology, which sparked a wave of new businesses and jobs. Similarly, to address our twin 21st century challenges of energy security and advanced infrastructure, we cannot depend on the kindness of other countries. To enhance our geopolitical security and to create the jobs of the future, we have to strengthen these key manufacturing sectors.

As we see when basic scientific research spurs the flourishing of new industries and generates millions of new jobs, public policy has a valuable role to play in setting the stage for a return of America’s manufacturing prowess. A good first step would be to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent on American-made transportation and renewable energy projects. I am introducing legislation to this effect. Strengthening domestic content requirements for high-speed rail, solar panels, biofuels, and other growth industries will create jobs, right here in America, right now. It just makes sense.

America has energetic entrepreneurs, a skilled workforce, and visionary inventors. Let’s give them the opportunity to do what they do best- to work. The building blocks of a prosperous future are available today. Let’s start building.

Congressman John Garamendi (D-Walnut Creek, CA) represents California’s 10th Congressional District, which includes parts of Contra Costa, Solano, Alameda, and Sacramento counties. As California’s Lieutenant Governor from 2006-2009, he chaired the California Commission for Economic Development.

There were nine measures on the statewide November ballot and NRDC took positions on four of them: we supported Propositions 21 and 25, and opposed Propositions 23 and 26.

Proposition 23 was the largest public referendum in history on climate and clean energy policy, with almost 10 million voters, and is a decisive victory for California’s clean energy future. The measure was rejected by almost a two to one margin, with over 61 percent voting against Proposition 23. NRDC and a broad bipartisan coalition of environmental and public health advocates, businesses, labor unions, the NAACP, Latino organizations, community groups, utilities, consumers — and yes, even some oil companies – fought Proposition 23 together. This coalition represents the new face of the environmental movement and promises a clean energy future for California. We will continue to work together to foster policies that provide multiple benefits, including a prosperous economy and improved public health.

Voters also passed Proposition 25, which will help end budget gridlock by allowing passage of a state budget with a simple majority vote rather than the two-thirds vote currently required. Budget gridlock and the supermajority budget vote requirement was threatening the very foundation of state government; in recent years, a handful of legislators have been able to hold the entire state budget hostage as they pushed to weaken or repeal critical environmental policies in exchange for their budget votes.    

Then voters turned around and voted for Proposition 26, a measure funded by oil, alcohol and tobacco interests that will make the budget harder to balance, again. It will shift the cost of public health and environmental damages caused by companies from those responsible to taxpayers and create another $1 billion hole in the state budget. This was a short sighted measure, but this vote will not stop California’s path breaking climate program. Mary Nichols, Chair of the State Air Resources Board which is responsible for carrying out AB 32 said this morning that “Prop 26 does not impair the scoping plan adopted in 2008 or any regulations developed under that plan. AB 32 is on track, with renewed vigor thanks to the resounding defeat of Prop 23 by the voters.”

Proposition 21, went down to a surprising defeat given the popularity of our state parks. This measure would have helped keep our state parks accessible to all and fund sorely needed maintenance.

The defeat of Proposition 23 is much more far-reaching in its significance and impact than any setbacks on Propositions 21 and 26. This victory on climate and clean energy was particularly significant for the Golden State and the rest of the nation. In an election when the economy trumped all other issues, including two wars, it is no surprise why. Jobs in California’s clean energy sector have grown 10 times faster than the statewide average over the past five years, and the clean tech sector attracted $9 billion cumulative venture capital investment from 2005 through 2009.

We hope that this campaign will inspire the nation in another way. Proposition 23 was defeated because Californians are devoted to pragmatism and compromise rather than inflexible ideology. We’ve done it in the past by passing the nation’s most progressive air and water quality laws – regulations that consequently served as models for other states and the federal government.

As we celebrate a victory for common sense, it’s more clear than ever that working together is what makes us stronger. We need the great technical expertise, brain power and vast capital resources of businesses, the workforce of unions, the reach of diverse community groups and the wide sweep of public and private partners to make an efficient transition to the coming clean energy economy. And sooner or later, we will all work together for the common good. We have no other choice.