Ambitious goals in 2009 and beyond In October, the federal clean energy tax credits that Environment Ohio and allies pushed in 2008 fi nally became law. Since then, we’ve turned our attention to making sure that the new president and Congress pass a comprehensive energy plan that will cut dependence on oil and reduce global warming pollution. We’re getting behind a bold plan to repower America, calling for 100 percent renewable electricity and 50 percent oil-use reduction.

Saving energy through high-performance and even zero-energy homes and busi-nesses can cut energy use by at least 30 percent. Energy effi ciency is the fastest and cheapest way to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, but we also need new sources of clean, renewable homegrown energy.

Even with existing technology, solar power in the Southwest and in cities across America, and wind power offshore and on land could provide the power we need to meet our electricity needs. There would even be power left for transportation, and breakthroughs are being made every day that extend the reach of today’s systems.

Political momentumEnvironment Ohio and our national federation, Environment America, worked to persuade then President-elect Barack Obama and incoming members of the 111th Congress to commit to the following principles: use 100 percent renewable electricity; cutting global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050; and cutting oil use in half.

Wind turbines in Bowling Green.

Environment Ohio—and our allies across the country—laid the groundwork by going door-to-door and activating our e-mail list to build support for the plan. After the election, we released “Renewing America,” a report laying out a blueprint for how we can rebuild our economy on a sound foundation of clean energy. We enlisted the support of scientists, business leaders and entrepre-

VOLUME 3 | NO. 1 Winter Report | 2009

Repowering America with clean energy

neurs to stand up to the opposition from the oil, gas and coal industries.

Politically, the winds of change are blow-ing in our direction. President Obama pledged during this campaign to invest $150 billion in clean, renewable energy. And many candidates for Senate seats made investment in clean energy a cen-terpiece of their campaigns.

Wind farms will create news jobs in Ohio. Read more about Ohio’s wind potential on our Web site.

Links to additional content are posted at: www.EnvironmentOhio.org/newsletters/winter09

more online

Winter Report

Recent actionWhat a breath of fresh air.

After eight years of a president with one of the worst environmental records in history, we fi nd ourselves poised to make great strides in 2009 and beyond.

Our last president censored climate scien-tists. Our new president has pledged to do what it takes to prevent the worst effects of global warming. Our last president pushed for tax breaks for Big Oil. Our new president has promised to push forward a plan to end our dependence on Middle Eastern oil in 10 years.

Perhaps more importantly, the last Con-gress needed eight tries to renew critical incentives for clean energy. The new Congress is populated by dozens of new leaders—30 of whom were endorsed by Environment America—who pledged to support clean, renewable energy.

It’s cause for celebration, but also a call to work harder than ever to take advantage of the incredible opportunities that your support makes possible.

Sincerely,

Amy Gomberg, Program Director

Environment Ohio

Historic regional agreement to protect Great LakesIn late September, Congress approved a historic water resources policy, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact, a multi-state agree-ment to ensure more sustainable use of Great Lakes water. Millions of Americans depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water and recreation, and although vast, the lakes are vulnerable. When too much water is taken out of the Lakes, everything from shoreline wildlife to fi shing and boating is disrupted.

The Great Lakes Compact will help prevent this threat by prohibiting nearly all new or increased out-of-basin water diversions and requiring Great Lakes states to develop water conservation and effi ciency programs. Over the last two years, Environment Ohio partnered with Environment Illinois, Wisconsin Environment and other state members of the Environment America federation to help pass the Great Lakes Compact in their respective states, and our staff in Washington, D.C. advocated its passage in Congress.

Making homes more energy-effi cient In September, state building code offi cials from across the country approved the largest improvement in our federal building codes in recent history. If Ohio’s governor authorizes the new codes, the energy effi ciency of new Ohio homes would increase by as much as 20 percent.

“Much work needs to be done to move America toward a future of super-effi cient and, better yet, zero-energy buildings,” said our chief energy advocate, Rob Sargent. “Ohio should take full advantage of all energy effi ciency opportunities by going above and beyond this national code.”

Environment Ohio called for making building codes 30 percent more effi cient—a goal that our research showed was feasible with current technology. To make the case we released a white paper in July, titled “Building an Energy-Effi cient America.” Later that month, Brad Heavner, from our sister organization Envi-ronment Maryland, testifi ed before a key congressional committee, urging the federal government to support efforts to improve building effi ciency.

To our members

Lake Erie’s waters are now protected from unnecessary diversion, thanks to the passage of the Great Lakes Compact.

www.EnvironmentOhio.org/newsletters

Sincerely,

Amy Gomberg, Program Director

Winter Report | 2009

In October, Environment Ohio released “Feeling the Heat,” a report that identi-fi ed 2007 as one of the warmest years on record. The report demonstrates once again that we’re in a race against time to reduce the carbon pollution that causes global warming. In recent months, we helped to put policy solutions in place at the state and regional levels—progress that provides building blocks for long overdue action on global warming at the federal level.

Environment Ohio believes that an effec-tive national program will require three elements. First, a cap on carbon emissions that’s strong enough to prevent the most catastrophic effects of global warming. The program also must accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. Lastly, companies must pay to pollute, providing an incentive to reduce emis-sions and fund new technology to cut global warming pollution.

Regional global warming plansIn Sept. 2008, 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states announced the nation’s fi rst auction of pollution permits under a global warming emissions cap. The historic move was a culminating step of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initia-tive (RGGI), a program that caps global warming emissions from power plants.

On Sept. 23, seven Western states an-nounced the details for implementing the Western Climate Initiative, which builds on the regional approach taken by RGGI, but extends it to economy-wide emissions. The plan will reduce global warming pollution by at least 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

And in the Midwest, six governors and one Canadian province signed on to the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord. Ohio’s Gov. Ted Strickland chose to be an observer, rather than a participant in this accord. Environment Ohio’s Program Director Amy Gomberg

serves on the accord’s advisory board to the Midwestern Governors Association.

“As the details of the accord are fi nalized in the coming months, we urge Gov. Strick-land to consider signing onto this historic regional agreement,” stated Gomberg.

Effecting a national approachScience-based emission caps, applied to the entire economy (power plants, trans-portation manufacturing and everything else that emits carbon dioxide), with the right incentives and penalties should serve as the model for national action.

Our progress in the states provides valu-able lessons and much needed momen-tum toward a federal approach to global warming legislation. In early October, we helped organize 152 members of Con-gress, including Reps. Tim Ryan, Betty Sutton and Dennis Kucinich, to send a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, laying out strong principles for action on global warming.

States continue to set bar for action on global warming

more onlineAlmost 90 percent of Ohio’s electricity is generated from dirty coal.

Ask Gov. Strickland to sign on to the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord by going to our Web site and visiting the Global Warming page.

Right now, 16,000 miles of roads traverse our national forests, breaking apart critical habitat for wildlife and opening the door for chainsaws to follow. In 2001, Environment Ohio and our allies halted new road construction with the enactment of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which placed nearly 60 million acres of pristine forest land off-limits to road-building, mining and virtually all logging.

Unfortunately, the Bush admin-istration has undermined and cir-cumvented these protections ever since. Already, they consigned the entire Tongass National Forest to any logging and road-building the state of Alaska deems appropriate. In its fi nal months, the administra-tion rushed to change the imple-mentation of the Roadless Rule to allow logging, mining and drilling in Idaho’s pristine backcountry—the largest national forest in the continental United States.

Since the beginning of 2008, Environment America members sent nearly 10,000 public com-ments to former Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell, demanding that she retain protections for all of our national forests. This public outcry will serve as a stark reminder to the next administra-tion and Congress that America wants its most treasured forests permanently protected.

Parting shots at national forests

Visit our Web site for more about our work to protect roadless forests. Click on “Preservation.”

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Want to learn more about the Clean Ohio Fund?

Visit the Preservation section of our Web site to see a list of the successful Clean Ohio Fund sites across our state.

Between 1992 and 2003, America lost an area larger than the state of Maine to development. Unfortunately, as states face tight budgets in 2009, history has shown that open space funding is often one of the fi rst programs on the chopping block.

That’s why Environment Ohio launched a campaign this fall to ensure that Ohio’s voters were getting out to the polls to protect Ohio’s opens space. We went door to door to ensure that Ohioans voted YES on Issue 2, the Clean Ohio Fund.

On Nov. 4, the Clean Ohio Fund passed with overwhelming support. The program will dedicate $400 million to cleaning up and preserving threatened waterways, parks and natural areas. The program has already helped clean up over 170 abandoned industrial waste sites. Now, thanks to your votes, it will be able to continue to clean up and protect Ohio’s open space for years to come.

Funding for open spaceMission StatementWe all want clean air, clean water and open space. But it takes independent research and tough-minded advocacy to win concrete results for our environment, especially when powerful interests stand in the way of envi-ronmental progress. That’s the idea behind Environment Ohio. We focus exclusively on protecting Ohio’s air, water and open space. We speak out and take action at the local, state and national levels to improve the qual-ity of our environment and our lives.

CreditsPhotos: Page 1, banner: CoreyAnn**; center: Jeni Richard**; bottom: ownway*. Page 2, top left: staff; bottom: Holly**. Page 3, top left: Mark Round**; right: prism_68*; bottom: Brittany Courville*. Page 4, banner: Robert Kyllo*; bottom: crimfants**. * under license from Shutterstock.com. ** used under Creative Commons license.

Editor: Amy Gomberg. Contributors: Jim Amspacher, Zach Cullimore, Matt Curtis, Sara Landis, Jenna Perry Leschuk, Jesse Littlewood, Ryan Moeckly, Leana Nordstrom, Dan Platt, Kate Powers, Nathan Proctor, Heather Shute, Jenne Turner. Publications Director: Richard J. Hannigan. Design: Public Interest GRFX (215) 985-1113. E-mail: info@EnvironmentOhio.org. Printed on recycled paper.

This report is sent to Environment Ohio members three times a year.