If you are a U.S. Senator or a Senate candidate, it pays to deny the science behind climate change, or at least to work against legislative action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That’s the conclusion drawn by a report released yesterday by Climate Action Network Europe. The group combed through public campaign finance records and found that “European polluters fund anti-climate crusaders in the U.S. while simultaneously fighting against strong climate legislation in Europe.”

Follow the Climate Change Denial Money

It’s no secret that virtually all of the candidates for U.S. Senate fielded by one of our two major political parties either flatly deny that climate change is a measurable phenomenon, or advance some other argument against taking action to reduce greenhouse gasses. A couple of candidates from the other party also share the same page. Climate Action Network found that the companies behind some of Europe’s major greenhouse gas emissions, including BAYER, BASF Solvay, Lafarge, BP, GDF-SUEZ, Arcelor-Mittal and EON, have contributed a total of $240,000 to these U.S. .Senate campaigns.

And Follow, and Follow…

The overseas funding might sound like nothing more than a placeholder compared to the tens of millions that domestic business interests have spent fighting climate action, and perhaps that is what it is intended to be. While European companies support their U.S. Senate candidates with direct campaign contributions, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has launched attack ads against Senate candidates who support climate action, for example in California and Pennsylvania. The lobbying group Americans for Prosperity has also staged elaborate campaigns against U.S. Senate climate action supporters, for example in Virginia. To top it all off, there’s the money that domestic oil companies are spending to promote California’s Proposition 23, which would effectively repeal the state’s landmark greenhouse gas legislation. Good thing there’s still one thing that money can’t buy, and that’s your vote.

Image: The Earth by aussiegal on flickr.com.

Leave it to larger-than-life Texas to lead the U.S. into a new energy future. While the state is  most closely associated with oil, it has also been an early pioneer of wind power, and is beginning to embrace solar energy along with armloads of new green jobs. Now the San Antonio Water System has set the national bar high in the sewage-to-biogas field, by becoming the first water district to hook a biogas facility up to a commercial gas pipeline.

Biogas from Sewage

Methane gas, a powerful greenhouse gas, is a natural byproduct of the sewage treatment process. In conventional treatment plant operations, the general practice has been to simply burn it off. More recently, some treatment plants have installed equipment to capture the gas and use it as a power source, which significantly lowers the release of greenhouse emissions. One notable example is in Washington State, where new biogas equipment is being installed in combination with an efficiency overhaul, with the resulting savings enough to power about 210 homes annually.

Recycling Biogas On Site

Other large-scale facilities that manage animal waste are also installing biogas facilities. The advantages are many. Dairy farmers, for example, can use biogas equipment to lower utility costs, reduce waste disposal costs, and grow their business without running afoul of environmental protection regulations. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has become a key mover of this trend through its AgStar biogas program.  Biogas recovery at food processing plants can also help cut utility costs, and help large-scale processors avoid millions in fines due to improper waste disposal practices.

The San Antonio Water System and Biogas Recovery

The new biogas system was installed in partnership with Ameresco, Inc. at the Dos Rios Water Recycling Center. Biogas captured at the facility is sold commercially through a nearby gas pipeline for an estimated $200,000 annually, which will help manage the cost of the treatment facilities. Biogas is just one-third of the Dos Rios “trifecta” as Ameresco calls it. Another component is biosolids, which just as in agricultural operations can be used as fertilizer. Third is the high quality water that comes out of modern sewage treatment plants, which in the case of Dos Rios is good enough to use for irrigating San Antonio’s famous Riverwalk as well as recreation facilities, parks and commercial properties.

Image: San Antonio Riverwalk AndYaDontStop on flickr.com.

The Independent Energy Producers Association is a leading non-profit California trade organization and the oldest of its kind in the state. Together, its members represent about one-third of California’s generating capacity, so when IEPA speaks, people listen.  Yesterday IEPA Executive Director Jan Smutny-Jones spoke. He issued a statement declaring that “Proposition 23 will undo the remarkable progress green energy generators are making in California – and put thousands of clean energy workers out of work.” This is a pretty forceful declaration for a major business group, so let’s see what’s behind it.

IEPA and the Oil Industry

IEPA was formed in 1982 and its mission is pretty straightforward, which among other thing is to “ensure that California remains a healthy market for development in the independent energy industry.” The focus on forward development makes sense, given its membership. Though IEPA includes members that operate certain gas-fired facilities and co-generation plants, its main thrust is away from fossil fuels and into clean tech including biomass, geothermal, small hydro, solar, and wind. The passage of AB32, California’s landmark climate legislation, has helped to give IEPA’s mission a huge boost. Much of that would be undone by the passage of Proposition 23. This ballot measure is backed by oil companies that are based out of state, which have devoted millions to ad campaigns and payments to researchers for developing studies that favor their position.

IEPA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Smutny-Jones’s statement puts IEPA squarely at odds with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been pouring millions into attack ads across the country that are primarily directed against candidates who support clean energy legislation. In California, the Chamber has funded ads attacking the incumbent Senator, who is opposed to Proposition 23, and it has officially endorsed her challenger, who supports Proposition 23.

IEPA and the National Slate of Candidates for U.S. Senate

California is not an isolated case. A couple of other examples are Pennsylvania, where Joe Sestak is under attack, and Virginia, where Tom Perriello faces a challenger who favors oil drilling off the Virginia coast. In fact, when you look at Senate races across the country, IEPA has staked out a position that is the polar opposite of the entire slate of candidates put forth for Senate by a major U.S. political party: virtually all of them oppose clean energy legislation, and many have expressed doubt and downright denial over the science of climate change. In contrast, IEPA simply posts Governor Schwarzenegger’s statement affirming the power of regulated markets to reduce greenhouse gasses and “make California No. 1 in the fight against global warming.”

Energy Giants Duke it Out

CleanTechnica has previously noted how environmental battles have evolved from a fight between citizens and corporations, to an all-out war between competing business interests with job opportunities for millions of Americans at stake. This election cycle is just a midterm but make no mistake, it’s going to make history. With this much at stake, don’t sit on the sidelines. Get out and vote!

In a first-of-its-kind melding of solar technology with high speed rail facilities, the clean energy company Enfinity will install 16,000 solar panels on the two-mile long roof of a rail tunnel in Belgium. If the name Enfinity doesn’t ring a bell it soon will. The Belgium-based company has trained its sights on the U.S. energy market and is poised to step up commercial and utility scale solar installations here, from coast to coast. New green jobs, much?

Solar Panels on a Rail Tunnel

At first glance, a high speed rail tunnel roof doesn’t seem to be a logical place for a solar installation. That’s primarily due to the beating the panels could take from the vibrations caused by trains passing through. However, Enfinity is confident that the installation has been engineered to withstand the punishment. If that proves true, it could pave the way for more solar installations at similar facilities around the globe.

Having Your High Speed Rail Cake and Eating It, Too

Planting solar energy installations on high speed rail facilities is just the icing on the cake. High speed rail is an acknowledged green technology, and it keeps on getting greener. For example, China has just announced plans to buy 80 super high speed trains with energy savings of up to 50% more than conventional technology. It’s part of a planned $300 billion investment in high speed rail by 2020. Here at home, President Obama is pushing for more high speed rail investments, some of which are being funded by the Recovery Act.

A Bit More About Enfinity and Green Jobs

Enfinity dipped its toes in the U.S. solar market last year with a solar installation for a school district in California, which used only solar panels manufactured in the U.S. Now the company is plunging in headlong with a just-announced acquisition of the solar energy developer ClearPeak, which has a fat pipeline of projects and deep connections in the U.S. solar market. The idea is to leverage Enfinity’s access to financial backing in order to rev up the pace of solar installations in the U.S., potentially using more U.S.-made solar panels as well as employing more U.S. installers. It’s ironic that companies from overseas are coming here to create new green jobs and accellerate our clean energy economy when our own U.S. Chamber of Commerce is more interested in attacking clean energy candidates than helping to create new jobs, but whatever.

Image: Lily by bgilliard on flickr.com.

The Philadelphia Navy Yard is going full speed ahead with its transformation from urban toxic eyesore to a hub for new green jobs and clean energy innovation. The latest step in particular reveals the power of clean energy to create new jobs, even to the extent of pulling new jobs into the U.S. from overseas companies: Mark Group, one of Europe’s biggest home energy efficiency companies, is making a new home at the Navy Yard and expects to hire more than 300 workers.

Brown Fields and Green Jobs

The Navy Yard languished for decades after its ship-building operations folded in the early 1970′s, but site clean-up finally began and about ten years ago jobs began trickling back in. Things are revving up under the Obama administration. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has focused on creating new green jobs on reclaimed industrial sites like the Navy Yard, which will become the site of what is believed to be the largest urban solar array in the U.S. Now the trickle is poised to turn into a flood.

Oh Those Pesky Meddling Government Planners

The Department of Energy has just designated the Navy Yard as an “Energy Innovation Hub,” one of only three in the nation, with a pledge of $122 million to get it rolling. More to the point, the Navy Yard’s energy hub will focus on developing new energy efficient building systems, which happens to be Mark Goup’s specialty  — oh, so that’s why they are coming all the way here from across the pond to create new green jobs. A hefty loan guarantee along with grants and a tax credit from the Pennsylvania Governor’s Action Team also played a crucial role. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? The Governor’s Action Team, by the way, has established a solid job-creating track record in Pennsylvania since it was launched in 2003, with 430,000 jobs retained or created along with $16 billion in new investment leveraged through just $2.2 billion in funding.

Oh That Pesky Meddling U.S. Chamber of Commerce

According to recent reports, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is also throwing a lot of cash around and may also be attracting foreign interest, only it’s not quite clear whether any new jobs are involved. Think Progress has been reporting on the Chamber’s foreign funding, The New York Times reveals the Chamber’s big corporate funders, and Time recently did a rundown on the millions that the Chamber has pumped into local races for attack ads, many of which are aimed against candidates who support clean energy legislation. Pennsylvania’s own Joe Stestak, a strong supporter of clean energy legislation, has been weathering these Chamber-funded attack ads. If you don’t usually vote in mid-term elections, now would be a good time to start.

The U.S. Chamber and Pennsylvania

Given Pennsylvania’s enthusiastic embrace of clean energy investments, it’s little wonder that the antics of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are starting to raise some hackles across the state. According to The Washington Monthly, the Butler County Chamber of Commerce is not longer a member, and its president has said of the U.S. Chamber, “They’ve abandoned the interests of smaller chambers like mine for their larger corporate members.” That’s just one county but hey, just a few years ago the U.S. Chamber monkey wrenched economic activity in the entire state of Missouri by exhorting its members not to do business there. With friends like these, who needs enemies – especially when it comes to creating new green jobs here in the U.S.