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A powerful industry lobby group called the the“Western Business Roundtable” is scheming to derail the Western Climate Initiative

You have to start somewhere. That was the attitude of a number of progressive US states and Canadian provinces when they formed theWestern Climate Initiative(WCI), an effort to begin tackling carbon emissions in the face of endless inaction from their national governments.

The WCI aims to lay the foundation for a continentalcap and trade systemto limit greenhouse gases 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. The coalition currently has 11 member states and provinces representing 20% of the US, and 70% of the Canadian economies. They recently released their detailedrecommendations for a regional cap and trade systemthat will be voted on for ratification by the member states and provinces.

But like ants to a picnic, you can bet some industry-funded front group is bound to show up whenever there is serious talk about reducing carbon emissions.

Introducing the“Western Business Roundtable”– a new group with membership including Peabody Coal, Shell Oil, and Western Fuels Association. And guess what? This group is about to release an“economic analysis” that will trash the recommendations of the WCI. Wonders never cease.

Desmog Blog has come into possession of an internal memo that Western Business Roundtable recently sent to their members, laying bare this strategy for smearing the work of the WCI. This document talks candidly about yet to be released findings:

Our report… will critically examine virtually all aspects of the WCI Recommendations, including its major assumptions, scenarios, findings,recommendations and economic modeling. Among the specific topics to be addressed in this analysis are these:

-Inefficiencies of a Unilateral Regional Plan

-Lack of measurable benefit in future climates according to United Nations-IPCCassumptions

-Implausibility of the WCI's Electric Power Scenario

-Likely Actual Costs of WCI Initiative

-Macroeconomic Implications on GDP, Industry and Jobs

-Disproportionate Impact On Low-Income Families of Higher Prices Caused by WCIRecommendations

-Impacts on New Power Plant Construction and Energy Supply

-Bureaucratic Implications

Strange. This“detailed economic analysis” sounds a lot more like an industry-funded PR campaign… Their Executive Director of the,Britt Weygandt, helpfully tells their members:

“We will gladly provide you with a copy of this report as soon as it is completed so that you and your colleagues can benefit from its findings. Stay tuned!”

We at Desmog Blog will also stay tuned, but don’t expect any surprises when industry again apposes meaningful change around carbon. Instead, except more drivel about“carbon capture and storage” technology and of course, the further expansion of coal plants.

The important work of theWestern Climate Initiativerepresents a significant step towards tackling carbon emissions and move towards a green economy. As their recommendations move toward ratification, expect the usual fossil-fueled push-back. It seems no good deed goes unpunished…

Gen. James Jones looks like a good soldier, but President-elect Barack Obama's choice as a National Security Advisor just spent two years making energy policy with one of the most influential climate-policy footdraggers in the country - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Far from being a force for good, if Jones pursues thepolicies that the Chamber has been pushing, he will undermine the security of the United States - and the habitability of the whole planet.

That said, there are reasons to be optimistic.

In an interview with theWall Street Journalthis week, Jones said some blunt, sensible things that would have got him in trouble if he was working in the Bush White House:

"You can't use the word energy independence. That to me is not a valid phrase. It is designed to excite people. But it is simply not going to happen.(Ed note:"Ooh-rah! General, Sir!")

"But what the U.S. can do is supply leadership and put our own house in order. We can put technology to greater use and can help developing countries skip the pollution era. It is a big part of the national security portfolio."

If Jones thinks it's possible to"skip the pollution era"by using"clean coal,"- as the Chamber dissemblers and their big funders, theAmerican Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, like to argue, then the promise of climate change leadership from the Obama administration will come up painfully short.

For the time being, however, Jones probably deserves the benefit of the doubt, regardless of how obstructionist the Chamber is promising to be in the coming months.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released its 2007 Greenhouse Gas Emissions report today, outlining the the latest trends in US energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

You can go here to download a full copy of the DOE's"Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2007"(PDF) report.

Here's some of the highlights:

• Total greenhouse gas emissions in 2007 were 1.4 percent higher than in 2006.

• The increase in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions in 2007 resulted primarily from two factors:

1. Unfavorable weather conditions requiring more home heating and cooling, and

2. A greater reliance on fossil fuel energy from coal and natural gas

• Human-caused greenhouse gas emissions rose from 7.1 million metric tons in 2006 to 7.2 million metric tons in 2007 - a one year increase of 1.4%

• 81% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States was related to energy usage in 2007

• The main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, has risen continually (except for a minor fall in 2006) since 1990

• The United States will account for 19.6% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions in 2030