Al FrankenSen. Al Franken wrote the following letter to a Grist reader in early November, expressing support for “comprehensive energy legislation” and a “national energy plan that keeps our country moving down a path to a homegrown economy with more jobs, more innovation, and more opportunities for investment.”

The senator has been concerned about the possible loss of manufacturing jobs to countries without emission-reduction plans (e.g. China and India), and in August he joined with nine other Democrats in writing a letter to President Obama calling for a climate bill to include tariffs on goods from countries without binding emission targets. Franken continues to express that concern in this letter to a constituent:

Dear [Constituent],

Thank you for contacting me about energy and climate change legislation.  I appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns with me on this important issue for Minnesota and the nation.

One of the reasons I support comprehensive energy legislation is that Minnesota is uniquely positioned to become a global leader in clean energy production.  Whether it’s harnessing the wind in Pipestone, growing the next generation of bio-fuels in Willmar, or tapping into geothermal energy in Appleton, Minnesota is ready to lead.

We have the potential to foster a new industrial revolution—a 21st century economy built on changing the way the world makes and uses energy.  Right now, China and Germany are winning the race to develop solar and wind power, but together we can change this.  Minnesotans can ensure that the world’s energy future is found in the farms and rural communities of Benson and Bemidji, not the factories of Beijing and Berlin.  We need a national energy plan that keeps our country moving down a path to a homegrown economy with more jobs, more innovation, and more opportunities for investment.

Minnesota is in a position to benefit from the national energy legislation that Congress is now considering.  But it’s critical that we get the details right.  On August 6, 2009, I sent a letter to President Obama urging that any national climate change program include incentives to force China and India to reduce their emissions.  These incentives will ensure environmental integrity and economic security here at home.  Additionally, I am working to secure new economic opportunities for Minnesota farmers in the emerging market for carbon offsets.

Over the next few months, as the Senate completes work on its energy plan, I will work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that Minnesota is best positioned to reap the benefits of the new energy economy and that any legislation does not put an undue burden on consumers like you.

Track the climate debate and take actionThank you again for contacting me, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future on this or any other matter of concern to you.

Sincerely,

Al Franken
United States Senator

Do you know what your senators think about climate legislation?  Ask them, then tell us what you find out.

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This post was co-written by Mary Anne Hitt, deputy director of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign.

We’re celebrating great news out of Minnesota and South Dakota this week:

After almost five years of planning and permitting efforts, the participating utilities in the proposed Big Stone II Project announced ... Monday that they will end their quest to build the project’s large coal-fired power plant and associated transmission facilities.

We echo our own Cesia Kearns, a Sierra Club staffer from Minnesota, in what the halting of Big Stone II means for the region.

The failure of this enormous proposed coal plant expansion unravels the myth that the Midwest is starving for more electricity, and that coal is the only way to adequately meet that perceived need. This victory demonstrates that even when we may lose the battles -- consistent pressure, engaged citizens, and strong partnerships can win the war. It's a strong example of how even though the regulators may be on the side of a developer, the public is not.

We salute our tough band of local residents in South Dakota and Minnesota (the plant was proposed for northeastern South Dakota, near the border with Minnesota), who spent the last five years fighting this dirty coal plant. The Sierra Club also partnered with grassroots, state, and regional organizations during this long and difficult campaign. They knew how bad the air pollution and global warming contributions this plant would spew forth would be, they wanted clean energy for their region, and even when the going got tough, they never gave up.

Stopping the Big Stone II project prevented about 4.7 million tons of CO2, or the equivalent of the pollution from roughly 670,000 cars (substantially more than all the cars in South Dakota) from entering the atmosphere every year.

The residents so entrenched in this fight against Big Stone II helped lead a long fight against the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for its issuance of an air pollution permit for the plant and, equally important, an enforcement action targeting the existing coal-fired unit at the Big Stone facility for past violations of the Clean Air Act.   We also challenged the state of South Dakota's Clean Air Act plan for failure to comply with federal law.

Kearns added that one noteworthy example of the grassroots push for clean energy was the mention of Sierra Club's "footprint petition" in the administrative law judge's written recommendation to the Minn. Public Utilities Commission to deny the certificate of need for Big Stone II’s transmission lines.

“The footprint petition was a long swath of fabric with the signatures and outlines of the footprints of over 2,000 Minnesotans who wanted to see global warming solutions in Minnesota,” explained Kearns. “It was presented to the administrative law judge during a public hearing in Ortonville, Minn. -- the town closest to the location of the proposed plant.”

This plant’s demise is also a sign of impending climate legislation. Otter Tail Power had pulled out of this plant back in September, citing, among other reasons, “a high level of uncertainty associated with proposed federal climate legislation and existing federal environmental regulation.”

No other utilities stepped in to take over the Big Stone II expansion themselves -- because the companies all know that this legislation is coming.

Coal power is not the future of U.S. energy.The public is speaking up for more clean energy. And from coast to coast, that voice is getting louder every day.

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You looking at me, punk? Okay, okay. I've got a good one for you. Ready?

Q: Why are CAFOs just like B-movie action "star" Steven Seagal?

A: Because despite being Under Siege, Marked for Death and On Deadly Ground, they remain Hard to Kill and, even worse, Above the Law.

The ultimate example of this has got to be the Excel Diary CAFO in Minnesota. El Dragón from Fair Food Fight has the details:

Fair Food Fight reported on Excel Dairy back in 2008, when the dairy became the first CAFO in Minnesota to be declared a public health hazard -- so noxious and obnxious is Excel, that even the Minnesota Milk Producers Association hung them out to dry.)

A year later, it's only gotten worse. So far in 2009, the dairy has wracked up over 100 fines (the dairy was issued over 500 last year, so that's an improvement), emissions of hydrogen sulfide have exceeded the state maximum, several evacuations have taken place, and, in June and July, Excel was ordered by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to empty two of its three manure lagoons. Luckily, there have been no cattle on the operation this year, giving the land and the neighbors a bit of a rest.

Bafflingly, Pollution Control officials could have put a stop to all this back in April but didn't. At an emotional MPCA Board meeting April 2009 to discuss whether or not to issue a new permit to Excel, owner/operator Rick Milner told the board that he wouldn't or couldn't comply with any conditions requiring him to clean up his own mess.

...Despite Milner's efforts to give MPCA every reason to deny him, the permit was issued anyway, and Milner has plans to move 1500 heads back onto the dairy in January and resume bolstering his manure lagoons in 2010. Furthermore, according to MinnPost's Ron Way, the state could have evoked its "superfund" law to clean up the mess and bill the dairy. But didn't.

El Dragón wonders who in the state can act to shut this guy down. Even the Minnesota's Department of Health can't do much more than beg the state's pollution control board to do its job. The Minnesota Post article linked above does a great job tracing the failings of the state's system of environmental enforcement against the ag sector. But this isn't just about Minnesota -- this phenomenon is replicated in states across the country, from Iowa to North Carolina.

What fascinates me is the fact that public health risks are pushed so far down the list -- the system can't seem to take them into account. I guess it helps when you've depopulated rural counties through consolidation, stripped municipal governments of development authority over their own land and effectively captured state regulatory agencies so that when a CAFO does move in to a populated area, residents are all but powerless to stop them. And then, you leave it up to a single pollution control board as the only real choke point -- creating a small target at which industry groups and captured ag departments can focus all their fire. In this case, it sounds like the state attorney general is getting involved and perhaps there will be a happy ending here.

Still, the system remains rigged to let these CAFO get built and operate with zero regard for the consequences. But you know how it is in this country, keep that retail price nice and low and you can get away with just about anything.

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I just published a new study of the Minnesota food system.  The main take-home message is that building trust is good for business.  Close relationships with suppliers and customers are exactly what allow food firms to respond to changing conditions.

The report, "Mapping the Minnesota Food Industry," was commissioned by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota's Center for Prevention, which has launched a Healthy Eating Minnesota initiative.  The full study is available for free download at http://www.crcworks.org/mnfood.pdf.

My favorite part of the work was interviewing food businesses.  Even some of the more successful, multi-million dollar firms felt they could not do everything they need to do because economic structures get in the way.

One apple grower complained that his apples, lovingly tended for a full season, gain more value in the 36 hours after he picks them, once they enter the distribution stream, than they gain during the five-month growing season.  He added that the food economy has no way of rewarding producers for quality, since daily transactions are based on price and quantity.

Minnesota is a global center for food business.  Of the state's top 20 manufacturing firms, seven are food manufacturers and distributors.  These seven earn $114 billion of revenue each year, two-thirds of all revenue earned by the state's leading firms.  The state has 17,000 food-related businesses, hiring a combined 316,000 employees who earn $7.8 billion of wage and farm income.

With 80,000 farms selling over $13 billion of crops and livestock each year, Minnesota is also the seventh-largest farm state.  However, over the past decade, state farmers have lost an average of nearly one half billion dollars each year producing these foodstuffs.  Despite doubling productivity, Minnesota farmers earned $1.1 billion less from commodity sales in 2007 than they did in 1969, in inflation-adjusted dollars.

Meanwhile, state consumers buy $12 billion of food each year.  Experts estimate that 90% of this ($10 billion) is sourced outside of the state, meaning consumers spend a great deal of money that leaves Minnesota.  Only $23 million of the foods farmers sell (three-tenths of one percent) are sold directly to consumers.

The study also shows that outcomes for consumers have not been positive.  Two of every three Minnesotans are overweight.  Nearly a third of all residents are obese.  The Centers for Disease Control estimates the costs of treating obesity-related diseases in the state to be $1.3 billion - and other researchers report twice those costs.  Food-related medical conditions, combined with a lack of exercise, have become a leading cause of death.  Although mortality rates for diet-related diseases in the Twin Cities are among the lowest for metro areas in the U.S., only 24% of adults eat the recommended five servings of fruit and vegetables per day.

I would add that three themes characterize the emerging businesses that are leading the way in creating a new, more community-oriented food economy in the state.  First, these firms value trusting relationships.  Second, they plan for an uncertain future - especially the fact we don't know if we will have oil, or at what cost, in a few years.  Third, successful firms build a business that recycles resources within the state, rather than exporting them.

I would welcome comments and discussion as people read the study.

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Climate change is a global problem—but as of yet, there’s no global solution. That’s why mayors across the U.S. are taking action, from building green to organizing bike rides, from redeveloping downtowns to cutting emissions. Here are just a few of the municipal leaders who have worked to take our collective future into their own hands.

Bloomberg unveils his grand Plan.PlanNYC 20301. Michael Bloomberg, New York City.
Pop.: 8.2 million
Call New York the accidental eco-city: cram millions of people onto an island, and you’ve got to figure out how to build up, not out. Throw a big park in the middle, and voila: you’ve got an anti-sprawl city that values open space. During his tenure, Bloomberg has made the most of that happy accident, creating an ambitious 127-point initiative called PlanNYC 2030 that encompasses everything from reclaiming waterfronts to repairing electrical grids to reducing traffic congestion. (OK, that last one hasn’t gone so well.) A year after unveiling the plan in 2007, the city had launched a full 93 percent of its components.

Nickels at a climate rally with King County exec Ron Sims, since tapped to head HUD.Oran Viriyincy 2. Greg Nickels, Seattle.
Pop.: 594,000
In some ways, Greg Nickels became synonymous with the phrase “green mayor” after spearheading the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in 2005. Since then, more than 900 of Nickels’ fellow mayors have come on board, Republican and Democrat alike, from all 50 states. No stranger to eco-ideas at home, Nickels—who has led the Emerald City since 2002—has also been instrumental in bringing light rail to the area, pushing to increase investments in open space, and launching an ongoing series of “clean and green” community-service events. He’s up for reelection this year, and one challenger says he hasn’t done enough on the environment. Only in Seattle.

Newsom uses a white hanky to demonstrate clean diesel emissions. Seriously!MTC3. Gavin Newsom, San Francisco.
Pop.: 765,000
Another mack daddy of sustainability, Newsom is almost too green to believe. Since he took office in 2004, the city has reduced government emissions to below 1990 levels, launched the nation’s largest solar incentive program, banned plastic bags, and introduced ambitious green building and green jobs programs. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, city leaders hope to increase wind power by the Bay, including underwater turbines at the Golden Gate Bridge. Speaking at a conference of green IT entrepreneurs this spring, Newsom—who also recently confirmed his 2010 gubernatorial ambitions—offered up his city as guinea pig: “If you have an idea, let me know. We are a laboratory for innovation.”

Malloy in a glamorous mayoral moment.Will Merydith/flickr4. Ed Malloy, Fairfield, Iowa.
Pop.: 9,650
In November, the city fathers in this liberal southeastern Iowa outpost unanimously adopted a Green Strategic Plan. Their vote was more than ceremonial: they also secured a state-funded grant to hire a sustainability coordinator, inventory their greenhouse gases, and create educational materials for residents. The new plan envisions everything from conserving energy to supporting local farms. Malloy, who’s been mayor since 2001 and heads up a local oil company, says the environment-economy connection is clear. He hopes Fairfield’s ideas will catch on: “We want to create a model community, a virtual template that other small towns can adopt to create the same results.”

What a difference a Daley makes.www.drugabuse.gov5. Richard Daley, Chicago.
Pop.: 2.8 million
Since announcing his intention to make Chicago the country’s greenest metropolis, Daley has made great strides. Green roofs cover or are planned for 3 million square feet, topping everything from City Hall to a McDonald’s. Redevelopment and landscaping have revitalized gathering places across the city, from prominent landmarks like Grant Park to neighborhood playgrounds. And the Windy City is committed to increasing its use of renewable energy (though a recent revelation showed things lagging in that area). Chicago is even bidding to host the 2016 Olympics—a bid that hinges on the event being the greenest Olympics in history.

Franklin, my dear, she does give a damn.City of Atlanta6. Shirley Franklin, Atlanta.
Pop.: 519,000
Often held up as the poster child for sprawl, Atlanta boasts more green than meets the eye—and Franklin is to thank for much of the recent progress. Mayor since 2002, she has attacked infrastructure and intangibles with the same gusto, from overhauling the city’s sewer systems to creating a Climate Action Plan. The city is building a public-transit BeltLine, is tops in LEED-certified buildings, and has implemented practices in City Hall that led to a 20 percent decrease in energy usage. A comprehensive private-sector group called Sustainable Atlanta is developing recommendations for further actions, and all eyes are on the future. “We are building a green, sustainable city,” Franklin says. “We do this for our children, and we do this because it is the right thing to do.”

Planner, politico, father, grandfather.RalphBecker.com7. Ralph Becker, Salt Lake City.
Pop.: 179,000
Building on the groundbreaking work of predecessor (and official Grist crush) Rocky Anderson, Becker—who took office in 2008—has already made ripples in the eco-community. Upon taking the helm, Becker introduced his Blueprint for a Green City, in which he pledged to improve public transit, expand greenways, create neighborhood centers to promote walkability, and improve air and water quality. And the former urban planner isn’t just talking the talk; among other concrete steps, the city is piloting hybrid police cars and has undertaken an overhaul of its city code to make sustainability easier for all residents to achieve.

Don’t mess with Jerramiah.Byron Smith/Jersey Journal8. Jerramiah Healy, Jersey City.
Pop.: 242,000
He’s a rough and tumble guy running a historically rough and tumble city. But that just goes to show that green can be pursued anywhere, by anyone. Healy was recently given a Green Leadership Award by the state U.S. Green Building Council chapter. During his five-year tenure, he has held polluters accountable, opposed a controversial reservoir development scheme, and redeveloped brownfields. Up for reelection this month, Healy recently introduced ordinances that would require city departments to pursue LEED certification and green purchasing, and is reportedly considering a ban on plastic bags.

Manny being Manny.City of Miami9. Manuel Diaz, Miami.
Pop.: 410,000
Though some critics have dubbed him “Concrete Manny” due to his love of development, Diaz is paving the way for sustainability in Miami. An early signatory to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, he created Miami’s first sustainability department and a community-wide Green Commission. He has pushed green building, led an energy-retrofit of City Hall that included solar-panel installation, and is converting the city’s fleet to more efficient vehicles. Late last year Diaz launched Bike Miami Days, and this spring the city hosted a week of events leading up to Earth Hour. “We’re on the front line of global climate change here,” Diaz told Newsweek in 2007. “The water level doesn’t have to rise too much for us to be riding around Miami in canoes.”

Walker? I’d rather bike.Robert the Noid/flickr10. Elaine Walker, Bowling Green, Ky.
Pop.: 53,000
This TV producer-turned-politician has her hands full, from increasing affordable housing to contending with the crash of Big Auto, but green is on her radar screen. Transportation issues loom large in this western Kentucky city, and Walker has worked with local bike-advocacy groups (even creating a Mayor’s Bike Ride) and launched a Rethinking Transportation Choices task force. A signatory to the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, she is a proponent of green building and downtown redevelopment. “There’s too much of a perception that going green is a little bit out there and idealistic,” she has said. “It’s not idealistic—it’s vital.”

Cicilline envisions a model future.Cicilline.com11. David Cicilline, Providence, R.I.
Pop.: 175,000
In late March, this native son signed an order requiring all new municipal buildings to be LEED-certified, saying such a move would help create jobs and boost the economy. It was the first step in a 30-point plan called Operation Opportunity that seeks to help this mid-sized New England city rise from the doldrums; other steps include doubling the recycling rate, creating a green jobs training corps, and finalizing site plans for wind turbines. Cicilline, at the wheel since 2003, has also named walkability and sustainable leadership among his goals for the city.

Get your Phil.Tom Story/ASU12. Phil Gordon, Phoenix.
Pop.: 1.6 million
The long-time Phoenician made a splash in March when he unveiled a 17-point sustainability plan for the desert megalopolis he’s run since 2004. During his tenure, Gordon has already overseen eco-upgrades ranging from LED traffic lights to LNG buses, as well as bringing light rail to the city. The new plan aims to make Phoenix the first carbon-neutral city in America, through green job training, building retrofits, and a massive investment in solar energy. It’s making Phoenix hot in a whole new way.

Coleman (left) and Rybak do their thing.Lou Michaels13. Christopher Coleman, St. Paul.
Pop.: 274,000
14. R. T. Rybak, Minneapolis.
Pop.: 377,000
The Twin Cities are in the hands of two progressive mayors intent on doubling the metro region’s eco-efforts. Coleman and Rybak, elected in 2005 and 2001 respectively, have both made sustainability a priority—Minneapolis, for instance, doles out climate change grants to neighborhood organizations, while St. Paul created its own hybrid car-sharing program. Together, the two leaders have created an annual sustainability report and a green manufacturing initiative, and they’re bringing bike-sharing to town. It’s all part of an effort, they say, to make theirs the most livable cities in the country.

Dixson, far left, leads the groundbreaking of Greensburg’s first eco-home.Greensburg GreenTown15. Bob Dixson, Greensburg, Kansas.
Pop.: 850
Talk about inheriting someone else’s problem: Bob Dixson became mayor of Greensburg in 2008, exactly a year after it was devastated by a tornado. But Greensburg has rallied, and the former postmaster is now overseeing the town’s much publicized green rebuilding effort (which has also been documented for TV). Learning as he goes, Dixson has become an eco-evangelist of sorts, traveling the nation to talk up renewable energy, green building, community spirit, and the common sense behind green. “In rural America,” he told Smithsonian magazine earlier this year, “we were always taught that if you take care of the land, the land will care of you.”

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The Bush administration misread the law when it removed endangered-species protections from a population of some 4,000 gray wolves in the Great Lakes region, a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman reinstated the wolves onto the endangered-species list, agreeing with green groups that Great Lakes wolves are not a "distinct population segment" able to be de-listed without regard to wolf well-being elsewhere. Friedman's ruling reverses new state rules that allowed residents in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to kill wolves that attacked livestock or pets. The ruling echoed recent goings-on in the Northern Rockies, where the Bush administration recently declared wolves recovered, inspiring states to lift bans on wolf hunting, only to see a judge reinstate endangered-species protections. Notes Amy Atwood of the Center for Biological Diversity, "The Bush administration's repeated attempts to push the limits of the Endangered Species Act have been decidedly rejected by the courts."

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If you don't border the Great Lakes, keep your grubby hands out of 'em. That's the general message of a bill that would bar any major water diversion from Lakes Erie, Ontario, Huron, Michigan, and Superior, unless all eight lake-bordering states approve. The so-called Great Lakes Compact, which has passed Congress and heads to the welcoming pen of President Bush, also holds Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to new conservation standards and requires that they regulate their own large-scale water use. The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have agreed to similar conservation measures. The compact -- which exempts diversions of fewer than 5.7 gallons, a favor to bottled-water producers -- eases fears that thirsty states and even countries would try to siphon the lakes, which hold 90 percent of North America's fresh surface water and 20 percent of the world's supply.

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A giant dairy farm in Thief River Falls, Minn., is producing such noxious fumes that the state health department has advised nearby residents to evacuate. Excel Dairy's emissions of hydrogen sulfide have been calculated at 200 times the standard allowed by Minnesota law; neighbors' complaints include headaches, nausea, blurred vision, shortness of breath, and fatigue. "It's so strong and so sour and so potent that it takes your breath right away," says Jeff Brouse, who evacuated last week. "It's so nauseous we've had neighbors throw up in their driveways." Excel, which wants to add another 500 cows to its 1,500-cow dairy, says the extra fumes are coming from repairs to a damaged manure pit and are not illegal. Unappeased, some residents are planning a class-action suit against the dairy, and Marshall County has filed a public nuisance charge. Meanwhile, the U.S. EPA is considering a regulation change that would exempt factory farms from reporting toxic air pollution from animal waste.

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