Global Warming, Healthy Air, and a New Energy FutureIf SELC’s six southeastern states were viewed as a country, it would rank as the seventhlargest source of heat-trapping carbon dioxide on the planet due to our high concentra-tion of coal-burning power plants, overdependence on cars and trucks, and sprawlingdevelopment patterns that increase driving distances. The South is also the fastest grow-ing region in the U.S., and projected future growth will only exacerbate our air prob-lems.

The South is central to any global solution because it is disproportionately contributing to the problem—and because it offers such promising possibilities for change.

A number of political, economic, and environmental factors are converging as never before to create important opportunities for progress:

• There is mounting public concern about rising temperatures, severe storms, and prolongeddroughts, and growing consensus we need effectiveclimate policies.

• High gas prices and a stalled housing market,painful as they are to our economy, create openingsfor change in transportation and development.

• Federal global warming legislation is on the horizon.

• The primary federal transportation law is up forrenewal.

The Southern Environmental Law Center is the only organization in the South thathas a track record of comprehensively addressing both mobile and stationary sources ofgreenhouse gases. As the South’s environmental champion, we at SELC feel a responsi-bility to exercise global warming leadership, so we are expanding our resources andmounting a major initiative that ties together three of our primary areas of expertise:power plants, transportation, and coastal protection and adaptation.

Power PlantsOur most urgent priority is to prevent construction of a new fleet of coal-burningpower plants in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. These facilitieswould lock us into a half-century of increased global warming emissions, pumping outtens of millions of tons of carbon dioxide each year. What’s more, they would undercutincentives to create a new energy future based on renewables, energy conservation, andefficiency.

Achieving significant gains in energy efficiency is key to reducing the region’s outsizedcarbon footprint. SELC is going before utility commissions and working with state offi-cials to promote the policy changes necessary for aggressive utility investment in robustenergy efficiency programs as the first alternative for meeting electricity demand. These programs provide customers with financial incentives to invest in energy-savingappliances and to make improvements to homes and businesses that reduce power consumption.

(over) 09/01/08

A Powerful Champion For the SoutheastResults and leverage aretwo words frequently usedto describe the SouthernEnvironmental Law Center.Since our founding in 1986,we have earned a reputationas one of the most effectiveenvironmental groups in theU.S. Guided by a focused,unique mission—to defendthe health and environmentof the Southeast—SELCworks in Congress and withstate lawmakers to informand pass new legislation;with regulatory agencies toimplement environmentallaw and policy; and, whennecessary, in the courts tostop abuses or set far-reach-ing precedents. Our pro-grams champion healthy airand clean water, nativesouthern landscapes includ-ing mountain forests andthe coast, and our sceniccountryside and communitycharacter. With 74 staffmembers in seven offices,we are able to take on, sus-tain, and win complex, long-term efforts that havenational and regionalimpact. To learn more, visitSouthernEnvironment.org.

TIM WRIGHT

TransportationTransportation is theSoutheast’s fastest growingsource of greenhouse gasesand accounts for about athird of its CO2 emissions.SELC is helping policy mak-ers recognize how ourregion’s land use and trans-portation decisions are con-tributing to this problem, andwe are offering alternativesthat reduce tailpipe pollu-tion, save fuel, protect ourcountryside, and strengthenour communities.

Building on SELC’s achieve-ments in reforming ourstates’ asphalt-centered poli-cies, we are spurringincreased investment in well-designed, attractive, and reli-able alternatives to driving,such as transit and rail. We arealso showing how a “fix-it-first”approach that places a priorityon repairing existing roads canenhance safety, ease congestion,and eliminate the need forexpensive new highways thatdestroy rural lands and triggermore sprawl. To rein in far-flung, poorly planned growththat increases our commutingdistances, we are fosteringstronger links between trans-portation and land use plan-ning to promote more tradi-tional, compact developmentpatterns.

And by shielding our coun-tryside and forests fromsprawl and destruction, weare helping to preserve natu-ral ecosystems that take upand store carbon dioxide.

Our arguments are resonatingwith increasing power. Forthe first time since the advent of the interstate system,southerners are seriously examining their high drivingrates and the assumption that more asphalt is the answerto all of our transportation needs.

Coastal ProtectionAs global temperatures rise,sea levels and storm activityare expected to rise withthem. By some estimates, sealevels could rise as much as18.9 inches by the year 2100,resulting in the inundationof extensive areas of theSouth Atlantic coast and wet-lands.

Steering where and howdevelopment occurs—keepingroads and development offof our beaches and out ofour wetlands to provideflood control, storm buffers,and a “fallback zone” forwildlife—is an essential partof a climate change agenda.Through our enhanced cli-mate change initiative, SELCwill use a variety of law andpolicy approaches to 1) serveas an effective counterbal-ance to poorly plannedcoastal development; 2) max-imize federal protection forwetlands; and 3) defend andstrengthen state-level coastaland wetland safeguards.

A Strong Voice for theSouth in CongressOur Washington, D.C.,office is increasing SELC’spresence on Capitol Hill andmobilizing our region-widenetwork of influentialfriends. This will be increas-ingly important in theupcoming reauthorization offederal transportation andglobal warming legislation.The daily work of SELC’sattorneys throughout a six-state region enables us to befirmly grounded in the reali-ty of local politics and how

environmental legislation affects people and places, andour organization must be at the table to ensure that bothbills contain the litigation and implementation toolsneeded for meaningful results and enforcement.

KATHRYN KOLB

The South is central to any global warming solution because itis disproportionately contributing to the problem—and because it

offers such promising possibilities for change..

To learn more, sign up for updates, or support SELC’s climate change work, visit SouthernEnvironment.org.