Olver and climate-change author to open national coalition office in Lee on Nov. 22

SOURCE: Climate Crisis Coalition
Contact Tom Stokes or Natalie Boyce at 413-243-5665
or Mark Miller at 413-443-7441
Three related websites are www.climatecrisis.us, www.kyotoandbeyond.org, and www.heatisonline.org.

Congressman and Author to Speak on Climate Change at Opening of New Center

U.S. Representative John Olver, D-Massachusetts, and Ross Gelbspan, veteran journalist and author of two books on global warming and climate change, will speak on the subject Tuesday, November 22, in South Lee, Massachusetts.

The occasion is the official opening, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., of the regional office of the Climate Crisis Coalition, which doubles as national headquarters for the Kyoto and Beyond Campaign, at 1383 Pleasant Street (Route 102) in South Lee.

Olver is co-chair of the Climate Change Caucus in the House of Representatives and one of 107 co-sponsors of the Climate Stewardship Act of 2005 (H.R. 759). He has represented the Massachusetts First District in Congress since 1991.

Gelbspan is author of "The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription" (Perseus Books: 1997) and "Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists and Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis -- and What We Can Do to Avert Disaster" (Basic Books, 2004). A retired Boston Globe senior editor, he has written climate-related articles for The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Magazine, The American Prospect, The Nation, Mother Jones, and Sierra, among other magazines.

The Climate Crisis Coalition was founded in 2004 to help broaden the circle of people engaged in the related issues of global warming and climate change. The CCC works at local, regional and national levels to organize "town meetings" on global warming and other local initiatives, further the "People's Ratification" of Kyoto Global Warming Treaty of 1997, and convene regional and national summits and other assemblies addressing climate change.

The Kyoto and Beyond Campaign is the part of CCC dedicated to the "People's Ratification" of the Kyoto Treaty through a nationwide petition drive.

The CCC and Kyoto and Beyond offices are located on the south side of Route 102 about two miles east of the center of Stockbridge, on the second floor over the Berkshire office of the Housatonic Valley Association. They are across the street from Lee Fire Station No. 2 and a white church.

The Climate Stewardship Act of 2005 would provide for a program of scientific research on abrupt climate change, to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by establishing a market-driven system of greenhouse gas tradeable allowances to limit those gas emissions in the United States, reduce dependence upon foreign oil, and ensure benefits to consumers from the trading in such allowances.

The act would also (1) establish a graduate fellowship program, (2) create a grant program for research in identified priority areas, and (3) institute research programs on potential abrupt climate change and greenhouse gas-related standards, measurement, technologies and processes.

H.R. 759 would amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to require the Secretary of Commerce to report to Congress on the oceanic and coastal impacts of climate change, and assist certain coastal States in preparing for adaptation to climate change.

The act would require the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a National Greenhouse Gas Database consisting of: (1) an inventory of GHG emissions by covered entities (specified entities that emit more than 10,000 metric tons of GHGs per year); and (2) a registry of GHG emission reductions and increased sequestration, applicable to both covered and noncovered entities.

It would establish a program for the market-driven reduction of GHGs by covered entities through the use of tradeable emissions allowances. It would equire covered entities, beginning in 2010, to submit to the EPA administrator one tradeable allowance for every metric ton of GHGs emitted. Tradeable allowances could be sold, exchanged, purchased, retired, or otherwise used as authorized by the act.

The act would establish the Climate Change Credit Corporation (CCCC) to receive, manage, buy, and sell tradeable allowances.

It would direct the EPA administrator to make allocations of allowances to covered sectors and entities, and to the CCCC, providing initial allocations for early action and accelerated participation.

The act would impose civil penalties on covered entities that fail to submit allowances.

U.S. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, D-Maryland, introduced the H.R. 759 in the House on Feb. 10, 2005. Legislation with many of the same aims, S. 1151, was introduced in the Senate by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona. It has two co-sponsors.

Gelbspan is expected to speak on the latest information about climate impacts, the history of obstruction and disinformation by the fossil fuel lobby, and Bush administration's position in the face of widespread concern in the United States and, especially, in Europe. He has put forth a set of three policies that, in addition to reducing emissions by the 70 percent "required by nature," would create millions of jobs around the world, increase the overall wealth and equity of the global economy and provide a platform to bring the countries of the world around a common global project.