The U.S. wind energy industry installed 1,210 megawatts (MW) of new power generating capacity in the second quarter, bringing the total added this year to just over 4,000 MW -  an amount larger than the 2,900 MW added in the first six months of 2008, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said today in its second quarter (Q2) market report [click here].

And this is after a record 2008 (see "U.S. wind energy grows by record 8,300 MW"), which in turn made this country the global wind leader. AWEA's press release notes:

The state posting the fastest growth in the 2nd quarter was Missouri, where wind power installations expanded by 90%.

"Missourians know that in order for us to grow our state's economy and create the jobs of the twenty-first century, we must embrace new technology and advances like the ones presented to us through renewable wind energy," said Missouri Governor Jay Nixon. "So I'm proud that the American Wind Energy Association's quarterly report shows no state has capitalized on these growth opportunities more aggressively over the last three months than Missouri has.  But that isn't enough.  Missouri will continue to look for ways to enhance our energy supply and independence by using common-sense and cost effective expansions of clean, renewable wind power."

Paging Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) - your vote is needed on a climate and clean energy bill.  As is the vote of members from other fast growing wind states:

Pennsylvania and South Dakota ranked second and third in terms of growth rate in the second quarter, expanding by 28% and 21% respectively.

With growth like this comes more than a dozen new and expanding factories around the country - and the jobs they bring:

AWEA explains what this means for clean energy jobs:

New installations will generate approximately 1,000 construction jobs in Q2 and a projected 4,500 construction jobs for 2009 in its entirety. The wind industry in the U.S. currently employs 85,000 people but could be cut by half without a strong RES in place, meaning a loss of more than 40,000 jobs in an already depressed economy.

And while EIA projects wind at 5% of U.S. electricity in 2012, all renewables at 14%, thanks to Obama stimulus, even that is not a sure thing in this economic and financial meltdown.

While the pace of new wind farm installations and manufacturing announcements is substantial, AWEA said it is seeing a reduced level of activity in manufacturing of wind turbines and their components, a development it termed troubling in view of the fact that the U.S. industry was previously on track for much larger growth and the global wind power industry is continuing to expand.

We need a stronger renewable electricity standard to remain competitive with China which has tripled its wind goal to 100,000 MW by 2020.

The U.S. is the only developed country without an RES in place. And if the RES as it stands in the House climate bill is not strengthened, the U.S. risks losing 75% of the global wind jobs overseas.

For now, though, let's celebrate an industry that is adding jobs in these troubled times:  It's STILL braggin' time for wind!

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Claire McCaskillSen. Claire McCaskill doesn't think the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill that passed the House in June stands much chance of passing the Senate, and she would not support the bill as it stands.

During House debate on the legislation, McCaskill expressed her concerns via Twitter: "I hope we can fix cap and trade so it doesn't unfairly punish businesses and families in coal dependent states like Missouri."

McCaskill has acknowledged that the science shows the need to act against climate change, but she still doesn't seem interested in acting quickly. For a climate bill to pass, it would need "very gradual implementation as we move toward changing to wind and solar and other kinds of energy," the senator told conservative Missouri talk radio host Mike Ferguson recently. "I'm going to be one of those trying to craft it in a way that is very gradual, that is not going to hurt a state like Missouri that is so coal-dependent."

"We need to be a leader in the world but we don't want to be a sucker," she continued. "And if we go too far with this, all we're going to do is chase more jobs to China and India, where they've been putting up coal-fired plants every 10 minutes."

Track the debate and take action >>>

McCaskill admits that her position on climate legislation will make her "friends on the left very unhappy." She says she'll be “working with a group of moderates in the middle” to shape a bill.

Last year, she voted to move the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act forward to a full vote on the floor, but that vote never happened, and afterwards McCaskill joined with 10 other senators to say she would have voted against final passage.

Do you know more about this senator's stance on climate legislation? Tell us.

Find out about other senators by clicking on their names in the right column.

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Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) doesn't think that the climate and energy bill that passed the House last month stands much of a chance in the Senate.

And if climate legislation is going to pass the Senate, it would have to have a "very gradual implementation," McCaskill told conservative Missouri talk radio host Mike Ferguson on Tuesday. She also said she would not vote for the climate bill that the Senate rejected last year, nor would she vote for the House bill (Waxman-Markey) as it stands.

"If there is going to be enough support for the bill, it will be a very gradual implementation as we move toward changing to wind and solar and other kinds of energy," said McCaskill. "I'm going to be one of those trying to craft it in a way that is very gradual, that is not going to hurt a state like Missouri that is so coal dependent."

She said she will probably make those on the left and right angry in this debate, and will be "working with a group of moderates in the middle" to shape the Senate bill. She acknowledged that the science shows that action on climate change is urgent, and also that there is a need for the United States to be a leader in the world in crafting climate policy, but didn't seem too interested in acting very quickly.

"We need to be a leader in the world but we don't want to be a sucker," she said. "And if we go too far with this, all we're going to do is chase more jobs to China and India, where they've been putting up coal-fired plants every 10 minutes."

McCaskill has also expressed concerns about the House bill via Twitter, where she posted during the debate, "I hope we can fix cap and trade so it doesn't unfairly punish businesses and families in coal dependent states like Missouri."

The bill that passed the House, however, already includes major concessions for the coal industry, including free distribution of the majority of pollution permits, $60 billion for carbon-capture-and-sequestration technology, and the grandfathering of old coal-fired power plants for more than a decade.

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The League of Conservation Voters is taking a swing at Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) for not supporting climate and energy legislation, accusing him of being short on patriotism.

In a new television ad launched on Monday, LCV argues that Blunt does not believe in American ingenuity and the ability to develop new, clean energy sources, and has has been tainted by hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from oil companies over the years. "Roy Blunt says no. No to clean energy. No to millions of new jobs," says the ad. "Call Roy Blunt and tell him it's time to start believing in America again."

Blunt, the minority whip in the House, is the second-highest ranking Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which will be taking up discussion of a draft climate bill this week. Earlier this month, Blunt criticized Democrats for trying to impose "new energy taxes" on Americans.

Blunt is the frontrunner for the GOP nomination to fill the seat of Republican Sen. Kit Bond, who is retiring in 2010. Thus, the ad is a very early strike in that race, which will likely be a contentious one, as Democrats have been making gains in Missouri in recent years.

The new ad, shown below, is airing across Missouri, with a focus on Blunt's district in Springfield. LCV is also launching online ads and sending direct mailers, to "ensure that Missourians know that Rep. Blunt is opposed to creating good, American jobs in a clean, American energy sector," according to the group.

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How much responsibility do humans have for the floods disastrously deluging the Midwest? Of course the rain poured for days, but it fell on plowed-up prairies, drained fields, altered streams, no-longer-wetlands, and developed flood plains -- all unable to absorb precipitation to the best of their natural ability. Between 2007 and 2008, more than 160,000 acres of Iowa land (mostly covered with deep-rooted, water-absorbing grasses) was taken out of a federal conservation-reserve program to be farmed (mostly for corn). Near St. Louis, Mo., nearly 30,000 homes have been built on land that was submerged by flooding in 1993; despite taller, stronger levees -- which some say are part of the problem, not the solution -- the area may very well be swamped again as floodwaters roll south. "Cities routinely build in the flood plain," says Kamyar Enshayan, a city councilmember in Cedar Falls, Iowa. "That's not an act of God; that's an act of City Council."

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