Add this report, on "Federal Coal Leasing in the Powder River Basin," to the long list of taxpayer-funded corporate welfare going to fossil fuel companies. As David Roberts of Grist wrote in 2011, "fossil fuels have gotten the bulk of government help — 70 percent to renewables’ 10 percent, for a total of $594 billion in fossil-fuel subsidies over the last 60 years." But that only counts direct subsidies, not "externalities" or other indirect subsidies that are difficult, if not impossible, to measure. For instance, as this new report explains, coal leasing in Wyoming's Powder River Basin is a really "bad deal for taxpayers." Here's an excerpt:

According to the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication:

In light of the attacks on Tom Steyer from sources linked to the Koch Brothers, InsideClimate News posted a story the other day providing a detailed account of how the Koch brothers made their money. To put it mildly, it's not a pretty picture.

Let's get this straight: currently, 25% of the country is under severe, extreme or exceptional drought, with 18% of normal snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Clearly, it's time to be conserving and protecting precious water resources in this country. Which is why stories like this one are so jarring.

Based on this story, it looks like the U.S. has a lot of work to do when it comes to energy efficiency.

Cross posted with permission from Susannah Churchill, Vote Solar

This afternoon, the Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid (ADS) held a webinar covering a number of important topics:

A new poll indicates that Americans are growing more doubtful about our future and our national institutions, with "the number of Americans who think the United States 'stands above all other countries' [having] declined from 38 percent three years ago to 28 percent today." One bright spot in that sea of gloom is clean energy. Wind power is seeing "unprecedented growth." Solar industry employment is booming. Energy storage and microgrids are starting to take hold. And the price of renewable energy continues to fall, with a recent article on Greentech Media indicating that solar has reached "grid parity in Utah, a coal state with no renewable standard."

The following video will definitely get no argument from us. For more, see here:

Earlier this month, we noted another new poll indicating that Americans overwhelmingly want action to combat global warming and are willing to pay to do so.  Now, the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication reinforces that message with the release of its Politics & Global Warming Spring 2014 report.  Key findings from this report include: