McCaskill Presses Obama on Climate Plan

Sen. Claire McCaskill was one of nine Democratic lawmakers to sign a letter to President Obama Thursday that says other countries should take a larger role in dealing with climate change.

"Poorly designed climate policies could jeopardize US national interests by imposing burdens on US consumers, companies and workers without solving the climate challenge," the Democratic Senators wrote. "Engaging developing nations will be especially important as they represent half of global emissions today and are expected to account for nearly all of the growth in future emissions," they added.

The New York Times notes the Senators are mostly from industrial states or regions "heavily dependent on coal for power." The Senators said they would support climate legislation if all nations are held to such stringent limits on emissions.

The letter to Obama comes just days before the United Nations climate change talks in Copenhagen.

PLUS: GOPers SEIZE on E-MAILS

Sen. Kit Bond has joined other Republicans in blasting hacked e-mails that show climate data was manipulated. Bond called it "a pattern of egregious misbehavior by scientists."

Blunt Comfortable With Nuclear Plant in the Ozarks

Congressman Roy Blunt said he would be comfortable with the presence of a nuclear power plant in the Ozarks, but continued to stress the importance of coal-generated power as an energy source.

"I'd be comfortable with a plan. I'd be comfortable in an expansion of the plan at Fulton," Blunt said, when asked about nuclear.

Blunt made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with KY3 News earlier this week.

*EXCHANGE EXCERPT ABOVE*

ALSO: CAP & TRADE

Sen. Lindsey Graham is working with Sen. John Kerry on an attempted compromise energy plan in the U.S. Senate. Asked about that effort, Blunt said, "I'd have to see it first. But I'm for more American energy of all kinds."

On Coal: "We should still be using it as a resource . . ."

Blunt Responds To 'Stain' Ad

Congressman Roy Blunt defended himself against the third television ad launched against him this year by the League of Conservation Voters, which is targeting U.S. House members who voted against cap and trade legislation this summer.

The ad, called 'Stain', is a brutal depiction of the Congressman at a campaign event, sliming supporters and even a child, with the stain of oil.

"Particularly that part where I leave oil all over the little child, I didn't think that was a very good part," Blunt said with a smile, before outlining the League's connection to his likely Democratic opponent, Robin Carnahan.

*WATCH MORE Q & A ABOVE*

WATCH THE KY3 NEWS @ 10 REPORT HERE

WATCH THE 'STAIN' AD HERE

ALSO: PEW ENVIRONMENT GROUP POLL
67% Missourians Favor
-Forced Emission Reductions
-Tapping Alternative Energy

Questions Don't Factor in Cost to Consumer

POLL Details HERE

"The vast majority of people in this state are opposed to this tax on coal generated electricity," said Blunt. "So they know I'm voting in their interest."
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LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS:
"This is going to cost the average household just a couple hundred dollars a year," said spokesman Mike Palamuso. "What we can't afford is to continue spending $1 billion dollars a day on foreign oil. What we can't afford is to lose our competitive edge in the international marketplace by letting the clean energy jobs of the future go overseas."

Veterans for Cap & Trade in Springfield Tuesday

A group of military veterans will stop in Springfield Tuesday as part of a nationwide bus tour to talk about the dangers climate change present to national security.

"Operation Free," will hold a town hall style meeting Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. at the Goad Ballinger American Legion Post 69 at 149 Memorial Plaza in Springfield.

In conjunction with the tour, VoteVets.org is running radio ads in Springfield, Columbia, and St. Joseph featuring a local veteran urging Senators McCaskill and Bond to support clean energy legislation in Congress.

VoteVets.org, Veterans for Green Jobs and the Truman National Security Project are all sponsors of the tour. Similar stops are scheduled in St. Louis, Jefferson City and Kansas City over the next two days.

Builders Fear Cap and Trade Could Slow Green Home Growth

The first few homes in Springfield's first EnergyStar subdivision are almost complete, but builders are already worried that pending legislation known as "cap and trade" will be a barrier to future projects.

WATCH THE KY3 NEWS @ 10 REPORT HERE

Some Springfield builders don't want any new government regulations forcing them to do more.
The cap and trade bill that's already cleared the U.S. House includes new national building standards that would require builders to go even further.

"Essentially it transplants the most stringent requirements in the U.S. to the rest of the U.S," Homebuilders Association president Matt Morrow said.

But St. Louis developer Jim Trout argued national standards are needed to produce significant energy savings.

"We know what we can do with houses. We know if we're all doing it next year, it's going to drive the cost down, it'll restore confidence in homebuilding," said Trout, who readily expects building costs to increase by 2 percent. "We're going to have to bite the bullet and make an investment in our future."

Ad Targets Blunt on Cap & Trade, While Carnahan's Position Remains Unclear

A new ad by the League of Conservation Voters focuses on the campaign contributions Congressman Roy Blunt has received from energy companies and links the donations to his vote against controversial energy and climate legislation, also known as "cap and trade."

The fairly boilerplate attack ad begun airing Tuesday in Columbia-Jefferson City, Kansas City and Springfield media markets.

"They sent in their lobbyists, they contributed to your campaign . . . And when it was time to vote for the Clean Energy and Security Act, you voted 'NO,'" charges the ad.

*WATCH THE AD HERE*

The ad claims that cap and trade legislation would create 1.7 million new jobs, but it cites the liberal think tank, Center for American Progress, to get to that number. The problem is that while even some Republicans have acknowledged the legislation would create a bundle of new "green jobs," other manufacturing jobs could be lost due to higher energy costs.

Ozarks area utilities have also estimated that the cap and trade legislation would add about $20 a month to the bill of residential customers. WATCH THE KY3 NEWS REPORT HERE.

AND: Congressman Blunt has said cap and trade would also increase costs disproportionately on Midwest Farmers. "Their electricity they use would go up. The diesel fuel they use would go up. The nitrogen fertilizer they use would go up, and probably everything they buy would go up, because our manufacturing costs would increase," Blunt told KY3.

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PLUS: ROBIN CARNAHAN HASN'T TAKEN A POSITION

LAST WEEK: The Associated Press reported Carnahan declined in an interview to say whether she would have voted for the House-passed legislation, but she added that it should probably be changed by the Senate. "We need to do something to have homegrown energy that makes us so we're not so dependent on these foreign petro dictators controlling our economic destiny," Carnahan said.

"In what’s become a growing pattern, Robin Carnahan is unable – or unwilling -- to offer even basic details on her positions on key issues other than to say 'we need to do something,'" said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brian Walsh.

Bond Points to Black Chamber Study on Cap & Trade

Sen. Kit Bond pointed to a study by the National Black Chamber of Commerce Thursday to bolster his case that cap and trade energy legislation would hurt Missouri.

The Chamber study estimates that the bill would cut net employment by 2.5 million jobs a year. It also finds that the average Missouri family would lose $800 of its "purchasing power" by 2030, as a result of the bill.

"Cap and trade is a double-barreled shotgun of lost jobs and higher energy taxes pointed at the Midwest and South," said Bond. "Because some do not like these findings, some may try to question the integrity of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, but I do not. What I question is how we would even consider killing 2.5 million net jobs across America when we are in the middle of the worst recession since World War II and suffering high unemployment," Bond added.

Reuters notes that the study added the touchy topic of race relations into the already contentious debate over climate change: "At a hearing to discuss the economic impact of legislation to combat global warming, the head of an African-American business organization accused Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer of being "racial" and "condescending." During a tense exchange, Harry Alford of the National Black Chamber of Commerce said he objected to Boxer bringing up other African-American groups as a contrast to the arguments he was making at the hearing."

The Left Comes After Claire

MoveOn.org is rallying its members to pressure Sen. Claire McCaskill on her reluctance to support the House's climate and energy bill known as "cap and trade."

In a letter, MoveOn.org writes: "Several times recently, Senator Claire McCaskill has repeated Republican talking points that President Obama's big clean energy jobs plan is bad for the economy. Clean energy is the solution for Missouri's economy, not the problem. Call Sen. McCaskill today and tell her clean energy jobs are exactly what Missouri's economy needs. Senator Claire McCaskill Phone: 202-224-6154."

The letter also urges members to post to Twitter and Facebook and provides an example: "Call Sen. McCaskill @clairecmc today, 202-224-6154: Stop repeating Republican talking points; support clean energy jobs for MO."

The letter goes on to say that McCaskill has "repeatedly and inaccurately" said the energy bill will "punish businesses and families in coal-dependent states." "But if the Obama plan is going to pass, we need senators like Claire McCaskill to stop repeating myths that clean energy will hurt Missouri's economy," it reads.

McCaskill has said she couldn't support the House bill in its current form, and has even predicted trouble with the left of her party.

McCaskill: House Climate Bill Won't Pass Senate

NO GO

Speaking on radio Wednesday, Sen. Claire McCaskill said a House bill meant to cap carbon emissions does not have a chance in the U.S. Senate.

"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," McCaskill told conservative Missouri talk radio host Mike Ferguson. "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."

McCaskill also said she's in no rush on cap-and-trade because other world powers haven't agreed to do their share.

"We need to be a leader in the world but we don't want to be a sucker. 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," she said.

ALSO: Predicts Ire from The Left

"Well, I’m going to make people, my friends on the left, very unhappy and I’m going to make those who don’t think global warming is real very unhappy because I’m probably going to be working with a group of moderates in the middle to try to come up with a bill that doesn’t punish coal-dependent states like Missouri. We’ve got to be very careful with what we do with this legislation."

NRDC Study: Ozarks Would Benefit From Alternative Fuels

PLUS: CAP & TRADE

BOND BLASTS TOWERING BILL --
COST ESTIMATES VARY FROM $6 SAVINGS TO $20 HIKE

Parts of the Ozarks are ripe to develop alternative fuels to coal -- such as wind power and biogas -- according to a new study of Missouri energy commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

The report argues that the state's rural areas could take advantage of new climate and energy policy commonly known as "cap and trade," which recently passed the U.S. House. The legislation limits carbon emissions and encourages the development of renewable fuels. But Ozarks utility companies have warned the current bill would raise customer utility rates significantly.

Martin Cohen, who wrote the NRDC report, estimated that Missouri's fossil fuel bill adds up to about $3,000 a person each year. "If a small faction of that went to developing local renewables, it would create thousands of jobs," Cohen said in a conference call with reporters.

The study finds that northern Barry County, southern Lawrence County and southern Dade County are areas that produce the wind speeds necessary to generate power. Twenty-five hundred square miles in 27 Missouri counties are identified in the study as prime areas for wind power production.

The report also identifies 50 counties with livestock operations large enough to support biogas production, including Camden and Cedar.

The problem, according to the report's author, is that Missouri lags behind other states in tapping these resources.

For instance, while Iowa generates almost 3,000 mega watts of wind power, Missouri only produces about 163.

"It would not create a great deal of development . . . to create a lot of jobs," Cohen said.

The lack of a marketplace is also a barrier, according to NRDC spokesperson Tony Wyche. "Without some incentive to produce clean, renewable energy, such as a cap and trade bill, there is also no incentive to invest in it," said Wyche, who also serves as a spokesperson for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Robin Carnahan.

According to an NRDC analysis, the cap and trade legislation could save Missourians an average of $6.32 on their utility bills by 2012. That's a stark difference from the $20 hike many Ozarks area utilities estimate will be tacked onto customer bills if the legislation is enacted in its current form.

The impact of the legislation is widely disputed from the Ozarks to Washington. Even Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill has voiced concerns about the cost on the coal-dependent state she represents.

Senior Senator Kit Bond has been much more vocal and adamant in his opposition, recently stacking all the different versions of the House bill in front of colleagues, which added up to more than 6-thousand pages.

"What needles are the majority trying to hide in the haystack?" Bond said, noting that 300 pages were added during a 3 a.m. committee hearing.

Bond has made the case that push to clean the air has been cloudy.

"The American people and my Missouri constituents deserve to know why it takes 1,427 pages to address energy issues," Bond asked.

Even without Bond, the climate for cap and trade remains a rough sell for Senate Democrats because many of their members come from states that produce a use coal.

According to Reuters, among changes that could be sought to win broader support for the bill are less ambitious carbon emission reduction goals, the inclusion of nuclear power as an alternative energy source, and tougher regulation of the pollution permits that companies could trade to each other.

Bond: Public Healthcare Option Would Bankrupt Private Insurance in 1 Year

ALSO CLAIMS THERE'S NOT A GLOBAL WARMING CRISIS

Using stark and unambiguous language, Sen. Kit Bond predicted that a public government-run healthcare option would bankrupt private insurance companies within one year of its implementation.

"If you try a government run option, everybody knows that within a year or less, it would drive the private sector out, and they would bankrupt the private companies because they don't pay taxes, they can subsidize their patients . . .," Sen. Bond said to reporters in Springfield this week.

ON THE CAP & TRADE PLAN that passed the House, Bond took numerous shots at comments President Obama made during the campaign. He said the energy and climate legislation would be "a disaster" for Missouri that would drive jobs out of the state.

Bond also seemed to say that the global warming crisis is being grossly overblown.

"But to put a punitive tax on where there is not a crisis in global warming, that makes absolutely no sense," Bond said.

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SKELTON EXPLAINS CAP & TRADE VOTE:

ALSO: Following mounting criticism from state and national Republicans, Congressman Ike Skelton explained his vote on the cap and trade legislation, and in a statement said his vote to send the bill to the Senate "does not give my blessing to any final bill on air pollution regulation."

"I am pleased that HR 2454 would exempt farms from the bill's proposed regulatory framework and would put in place a number of policies sought by and supported by the agricultural community," Skelton explained. "My vote to move HR 2452 to the Senate does not give my blessing to any final bill on air pollution regulation that might be presented to Congress later this year or next year. I will reserve judgment on a final bill until it has been produced."

"We will be wise to remember that energy reform is not just a matter of regulating air pollution, it is also a matter of national security," said Skelton. "There are real national and global security implications when lakes go dry and when oceans rise. As Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, this aspect of climate change worries me."

Both Sides Agree Cap & Trade Would Raise Ozark Utility Bills

Local utility companies worry climate and energy legislation now heading to the U.S. Senate would force them to raise customer rates dramatically. But supporters argue the long-term savings environmentally and financially would be much greater.

WATCH THE KY3 NEWS @ 10 REPORT HERE

COSTS WILL GO UP -- BUT HOW SOON WILL THEY COME BACK DOWN?

"The monthly increase on the average residential customers bill would be $20 per month, almost immediate in 2012," Duane Highley of Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. estimates.

"It's going to be an incremental $15 dollars, and then we should be ramping back down," said Jonathan Conrad of Springfield's MoveOn.org chapter.

ALSO: Sierra Club Reaction

"I am no fan of the watered down version of Waxman-Markey, and quite frankly, I suspect that its impact both financially and environmentally will be nominal at best for at least 10 years," said Brian Hamburg.

*CLARIFICATION: Hamburg e-mailed The Notebook Friday to say his comments are his personal views and do not necessarily represent the views of the Sierra Club