President Obama today announced a series of steps as part of a comprehensive strategy to enhance American energy independence and build a foundation for a new clean energy economy.

The administration believes that the strategy will create new industries and millions of jobs. (Reuters;  Reaction from Renewable Fuels Association).  At a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors,  the President set forth three efforts that he believes will work in concert to boost biofuels production and America’s dependence on foreign oil:

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule to implement the long-term renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons by 2022 established by Congress.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a rule on the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that would provide financing to increase the conversion of biomass to bioenergy. 

• The President’s Biofuels Interagency Working Group released its first report – Growing America’s Fuel. The report, authored by group co-chairs, Secretaries Vilsack and Chu, and Administrator Jackson, lays out a strategy to advance the development and commercialization of a sustainable biofuels industry to meet or exceed the nation’s biofuels targets. 

In addition, President Obama announced a Presidential Memorandum creating an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage to develop a comprehensive and coordinated federal strategy to speed the development and deployment of clean coal technologies. The U.S. will continue to rely on the availability and affordability of domestic coal for decades to meet its energy needs, and these advances are necessary to reduce pollution in the meantime.

The Presidential Memorandum calls for five to ten commercial demonstration projects to be up and running by 2016.

President Obama said, “Now, I happen to believe that we should pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill. It will make clean energy the profitable kind of energy, and the decision by other nations to do this is already giving their businesses a leg up on developing clean energy jobs and technologies. But even if you disagree on the threat posed by climate change, investing in clean energy jobs and businesses is still the right thing to do for our economy. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is still the right thing to do for our security. We can’t afford to spin our wheels while the rest of the world speeds ahead.” 

“Advancing biomass and biofuel production holds the potential to create green jobs, which is one of the many ways the Obama Administration is working to rebuild and revitalize rural America,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Facilities that produce renewable fuel from biomass have to be designed, built and operated. Additionally, BCAP will stimulate biomass production and that will benefit producers and provide the materials necessary to generate clean energy and reduce carbon pollution.”

“President Obama and this Administration are strongly committed to the development of carbon capture and storage technology as a key part of the clean energy economy. We can and should lead the world in this technology and the jobs it can create,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “The actions President Obama has taken today will create jobs, slash greenhouse gas emissions and increase our energy security while helping to put America at the leading edge of the new energy economy,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “The renewable fuel standards will help bring new economic opportunity to millions of Americans, particularly in rural America. EPA is proud to be a part of the President’s effort to combat climate change and put Americans back to work – both through the new renewable fuel standards and through our co-chairmanship with the Department of Energy of the Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage.”

(Cross-posted at RenewableEnergyMemo).

Stuart Taylor had a thoughtful piece recently that broke through the tired arguments about trying terrorists in civilian courts. 

Republicans have argued that the 9/11 suspects and the Christmas Day bomber should be tried in military tribunals because the perpetrators originated outside the U.S. and brought to bear a level of violence (or attempted violence) that was more akin to combat that crime.  Because the perpetrators viewed themselves as combatants and were engaged in conduct that was more like combat than crime, they argue, they should be treated as combatants.

Democrats have argued that the destinction between crime and combat is too fine to draw and that U.S. ideals were be better upheld by trying suspected terrorists in U.S. courts, allowing the virtues of the American justice system to shine through.

Taylor correctly argues that the Obama administration's mistake is in acting too much like the Bush administration by relying upon "unilateral presidential power and judicial improvisation."  What the country needs, Taylor argues, is new legislation that creates an alternative process for combatant criminals of the kind typified by Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. 

The stark choice between unilateral executive action and the slow deliberation of the U.S. criminal justice system is a choice we don't have to make.  Taylor proposes that Congress adopt new legislation that allows the government to detail suspects without trial for a limited period of time under circumstances in which the administration takes the position that the perpetrator is acting as the agent of a foreign power.  Taylor writes:

"Congress could, for example, authorize preventive detention and incommunicado interrogation of suspects such as Abdulmutallab for up to 10 days if, and only if, the attorney general certifies that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the suspect is a member or material supporter of an international terrorist group or conspiracy and that the suspect's release would endanger public safety."

"Such a law could also provide that after the 10 days, or longer in special cases if the government makes a showing of necessity, authorities must choose whether to relegate the suspect to the ordinary criminal process, to a military commission, or to longer-term detention without criminal charges as an enemy prisoner."

"Terrorism suspects who are subjected to long-term detention could have a right to timely, trial-like due process hearings at which to dispute claims that they are dangerous, both 10 days after their arrest (except in special cases) and at regular intervals thereafter. The government's burden of proving dangerousness should become heavier as the time spent behind bars increases."

The political gridlock now prevailing and the Administration's focus on domestic policy (health care and stimulus bills) virtually guarantee that Taylor's proposal will not get the attention it deserves.  But if you believe that the problem of Islamic terrorism will be with us longer than the present administration, Taylor's idea is one worth pursuing for the day when Congress is ready to consider it. 

Senator Christopher Dodd (D. Ct.) has announced a press conference at which he is expected to say that he will not seek reelection.  Dodd is one of several Democratic members of congress who were under pressure and facing sinking polls.  Dodd's decision not to seek reelection increases the number of Democratic seats at risk in the 2010 elections.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D. Ca.) threw an elbow at the President yesterday in a rare public display of intraparty conflict. 

As Politico reported:

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, piqued with White House pressure to accept the Senate health reform bill, threw a rare rhetorical elbow at President Barack Obama Tuesday, questioning his commitment to his 2008 campaign promises. "

"A leadership aide said it was no accident. "

"Pelosi emerged from a meeting with her leadership team and committee chairs in the Capitol to face an aggressive throng of reporters who immediately hit her with C-SPAN’s request that she permit closed-door final talks on the bill to be televised. "

"A reporter reminded the San Francisco Democrat that in 2008, then-candidate Obama opined that all such negotiations be open to C-SPAN cameras."

"“There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail,” quipped Pelosi, who has no intention of making the deliberations public. "

"People familiar with Pelosi's thinking wasted little time in explaining precisely what she meant by a “number of things” – saying it reflected weeks of simmering tension on health care between two Democratic power players who have functioned largely in lock-step during Obama’s first year in office."

The incident should do nothing to quell the fears of Democrats who are looking at possible losses in the upcoming 2010 elections.  The President's approval ratings have been falling and Congress' approval rating is about as low as it ever has been.  One Democratic member of the House has switched parties and several other Democratic congressmen have announced that they won't be running for re-election. 

If Democrats take their internal squabbles public it will only fuel their fire of their discontent.

Landfill methane projects are picking up steam, growing on the basis of the need for new sources of power and tax credits extended under the ARRA. 

This AP Article profiles a Waste Management operation in Altamont, California that generates 13,000 gallons per day of liquified natural gas (LNG) from landfill methane. 

The number of landfill methane projects in operation more than doubled over the past decade.