Shows
Climate Money WatchdogLew Daly - 45Q Carbon Capture Tax Credits are a Financial Disaster in the MakingOur guest tonight is Lew Daly, Senior Fellow for Climate and Energy Policy at Just Solutions, where he works in partnership with state and federal organizations and networks in pursuit of a just and equitable clean energy transition. His previous 15 years work in the public policy field includes appointments such as:Director of Policy and Research and Senior Policy Analyst for Climate Equity at DemosDeputy Director of Climate Policy at the Roosevelt Institute Lew is a lifelong resident of New York State--Born and raised in Onondaga County, Central New York State, and has been based wi...2025-05-021h 13
Climate Money WatchdogNatural Gas is Worse than Coal - Dr. Robert HowarthWhile the fossil fuel industry continues to promote "natural gas" as a relatively "clean" energy source, Dr. Robert Howarth has argued since since his seminal report in 2011 that methane (which makes up roughly 5% of "natural gas") poses a greater threat to humankind than "dirty" options like coal and oil. This is particularly true of methane produced through hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") Join us for a conversation about what we've now known for more than a decade, and how much more convinced Dr. Howarth is now that we should not be fracking for gas, nor otherwise be using methane as an...2025-03-1348 min
Climate Money WatchdogA Law Firm Just for Whistleblowers - Poppy AlexanderWe’re delighted to welcome back Poppy Alexander, a founding partner at the law firm Whistleblower Partners, a law firm dedicated to representing whistleblowers reporting fraud and misconduct in:HealthcareProcurementSecurities and CommoditiesTaxesMoney Laundering and Sanctions EvasionCustomsEnvironmental RemediationVehicle SafetyPoppy represents whistleblowers and government entities in qui tam lawsuits, as well as under the various agency whistleblower programs including those administered by the Internal Revenue Service, Securities and Exchange Commission, FinCEN, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Department of Transportation. Poppy’s practice focuses on issues of international corruption and financial misconduct, with a specialty in the Foreign Corrupt Practice...2024-06-131h 05
Climate Money WatchdogHow The Plastics Industry is Tied to Fossil Fuels – Melissa ValliantWe’re pleased to have as our guest Melissa Valliant, Director of Communications for Beyond Plastics, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending plastic polution. She grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and graduated from Syracuse University with a plan to pursue magazine journalism. Somewhere along the way, she became hooked on environmental conservation and discovered a love for leveraging her communications abilities to make the world a better place. Melissa had her first letter to the editor published in a kids' science magazine at the age of 11 and has since been published in the New York Times, Wa...2024-03-221h 02
Climate Money WatchdogHow Fossil Fuel Subsidies Affect the Environment - Doug KoplowDoug founded Earth Track to more effectively integrate information on energy subsidies. For the past three decades, he has written extensively on natural resource subsidies for organizations such as the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Stockholm Environment Institute. He has analyzed scores of government programs and made important developments in subsidy valuation techniques. He has provided input on subsidy reform legislation, served as a peer reviewer on subsidy papers from all over the world, and has published his ow...2024-03-0147 min
Climate Money WatchdogDeveloping Clean Energy Solutions for the Seneca Nation - Matt RennerMatt Renner serves as Vice President of Seneca Environmental, a tribally owned and controlled Earth-healing solutions company focused on helping commercial customers achieve ambitious climate goals while supporting the long-term well-being of the Seneca Nation and other Indigenous people. His work focuses on partnership development and customer acquisition to create unprecedented collaboration and profitably accelerate climate action. Matt has worked as a nonprofit executive in clean energy, climate policy, and journalism for over a decade, focusing on the near-term social and economic impacts of climate change. He was the head of Climate Mobilization and now serves on t...2024-02-0253 min
Climate Money WatchdogProblems with Q45 Tax Credits for Carbon – Paul BlackburnOur guest tonight is Paul Blackburn of Pipeline Fighters’ Hub. Paul provides legal services on pipeline and renewable energy matters. He has worked on crude oil pipeline issues since 2008, and has experience in renewable energy policy and development. Paul represented nonprofit clients in the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission hearing on the Keystone XL Pipeline, and in the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission hearing on expansion of Line 67, another Enbridge pipeline. He has provided policy analysis and strategic advice on a variety of pipeline matters and authored reports on pipeline safety and oil spill response.Paul started his le...2024-01-2653 min
Climate Money WatchdogStanding Up for Communities in Houston – Erandi TrevinoOur guest this episode is Erandi Trevino of Public Citizen, Houston. Erandi grew up in Houston and has been concerned about the pollution in her neighborhood since she was a young child.Before joining Public Citizen in Houston as a Climate Policy and Outreach Specialist, she was an Advocacy Fellow with the Fulbright Association in Washington, DC, where she worked on education policy, nutrition, and financial regulations. During her time in DC, Erandi also volunteered for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.Earlier in her career, Erandi assisted the Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United...2023-08-2452 min
Climate Money WatchdogHow Today’s Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air: Mark Z. JacobsonWe’re excited to welcome back Mark Z. Jacobson, who joined us last year to talk about a study he co-authored called “Low-Cost Solutions to Global Warming, Air Pollution, and Energy Insecurity for 145 Countries”. He is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Atmosphere/Energy program at Stanford University, as well as a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for energy, and also the Co-Founder of The Solutions Project, 100.org and the 100% Clean, Renewable Energy movement. We've asked Mark back to see what progress the country has made w...2023-07-0450 min
Climate Money WatchdogIntroducing the Climate Money Watchdog and Climate & Capital Media Partnership - Peter McKillopIn this episode we welcome Peter McKillop, the founder and CEO of our new partner, Climate & Capital Media.Peter is the founder of Climate & Capital Media. Climate & Capital Media is a mission-driven information platform exploring the business and finance of climate change.Climate & Capital delivers original reporting, intelligence and insight from our global network of journalists, researchers, and investors with a focus on climate-related businesses, technology, and public policy, particularly for the emerging generation of economic leaders who will shape tomorrow’s global agenda.Prior to Climate & Capital, Peter McKillop was a Managing Di...2023-05-1845 min
Climate Money WatchdogRetiring 90% of our Coal Power Plants would Save Money - Michelle Solomon, Energy InnovationMichelle Solomon is a Senior Policy Analyst in the Electricity program at Energy Innovation, working to accelerate the transition to a clean, affordable, and equitable electricity sector in the United States. We’ve invited her to talk about their recent publication of the third edition of their report - Coal Cost Crossover – which argues that over 90% of coal-fired power plants in the U.S. could be replaced by renewable energy generation at a net cost savings.Prior to joining Energy Innovation, Michelle earned her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering at Stanford University, where she studied nano...2023-03-031h 02
Climate Money WatchdogCitizens Prevail over Venture Capitalists and Carbon Capture - Mike EisenfeldIn this climate fight will Big Fossil Fuel, it is hard and rare to have a clear-cut victory. The last time we did a podcast episode with Mike on 7/12/22, his group was fighting to prevent a closing coal-based power plant in Farmington, New Mexico from reinventing itself to keep open using the questionable technology of Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). This was described a June 29, 2022 High Country News article. A company named Enchant led this effort with the backing of financial groups to force this unproven technology through to keep the highly polluting plant open. Once they could not...2023-01-261h 01
Climate Money WatchdogProtecting Communities in an Oil Boom - Kayley ShoupKayley Shoup is an activist with the Citizens Caring for the Future, an environmental group that is affiliated with New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light in Carlsbad, New Mexico. When she moved back to her hometown, she became alarmed at the increase of pollution from the nearby expanded oil and gas fields of the Permian Basin, and is determined to do something about it. Recently, a NASA satellite from its EMIT program, which is designed to measure and characterize mineral dust sources to find new minerals, 2023-01-201h 00
Climate Money WatchdogCapturing CO2 with Paint - Steve & Beth McDanielDr. Steve McDaniel and Beth McDaniel, JD founded and run Reactive Surfaces, and intellectual property firm that develops and patents paints that do more than turn buildings attractive colors and protect them from the elements: They react to the atmosphere in intentional and desirable ways. They are currently in the running to win the most valuable X-Prize contest ever by creating a paint that captures CO2 from the atmosphere more simply, cheaply and scaleably than any direct air carbon technology before it.The McDaniels founded Reactive Surfaces in 2001 in response to the events of 911. They wanted to...2022-12-221h 09
Climate Money WatchdogWeathering a Hurricane in a Town Designed for Climate Change - Ryan FoelskeRyan Foelske a Carbon Free Electricity Program manager at RMI (previously the Rocky Mountain Institute) decided to put his money where his mouth is by buying a home in Babcock Ranch, a community designed to both reduce human contribution to climate change and to be more resilient to the effects of climate change, especially hurricanes. He tells us about his experience weathering hurricane Ian.Prior to joining RMI, Ryan worked at Deutsche Bank and Brookfield Asset Management as a buy-side equity analyst specializing in global regulated utilities and other publicly listed infrastructure companies. He built financial models...2022-12-1558 min
Climate Money WatchdogProtecting Communities from Pollution with Alison SteeleWhile pollution mitigation and control is vital to the environment, scientists are finding more and more problems for the humans that live near polluting corporate sites. Unfortunately in the name of jobs and profit, companies have produced pollution while ignoring or hiding the human health from their work, often producing what is known as "sacrifice zones" -- areas where the pollution is dangerous for people who often cannot leave. The Environmental Health Project has taken on the difficult job of using health science discern the short and long term effects of gas fracking and plastic production on local populations...2022-12-091h 06
Climate Money WatchdogRepurposing EV Batteries at Relyion with Dr. Surinder SinghDr. Surinder Singh’s distinguished career has focused on advancing and incubating technologies that address climate emergency with a focus on fundamentals of science, systems engineering, and business models. He is spearheading Relyion Energy Inc’s strategic business development to create second-life sustainable solutions for Lithium-ion batteries.Previously, Dr. Singh worked as Director of Engineering and Center of Excellence Leader for NICE America Research (that’s the National Institute for Clean and Low-Carbon Energy), an incubator for China Energy (CE), and a program leader at General Electric. China Energy is the world’s largest overall power producer and rene...2022-11-0355 min
Climate Money WatchdogThe California Environmental Quality Act - Ethan ElkindEthan Elkind is the Director of the Climate Program at the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at Berkeley Law and leads the Climate Change and Business Research Initiative on behalf of the University of California at Berkeley and University of California at Los Angeles Schools of Law. He taught at the UCLA law school’s Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic and served as an environmental law research fellow. He has a background in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), climate change law, environmental justice, and other environmental law topics. In 2005, he co-founded The Nakwatsvewat Institute, Inc., a Na...2022-10-2748 min
Climate Money WatchdogClimate Money Watchdog 20 Episode Recap with Dina and GregClimate Money Watchdog founders Dina Rasor and Greg Williams recap our first twenty episodes. We cover such issues as:Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)Every Dollar Spent on CCS is a Waste - Dr. Charles Harvey and Dr. Kurt HouseCO2 Pipelines and Carbon Capture - Kert DaviesHow Did DoE Waste Half a $Billion on Carbon Capture? Bob BaumanHow Community Choice Aggregation can make renewable energy more accessibleCommunity Choice Aggregation at MCE - Jenna TenneyHow community organizing can stop dangerous and wasteful projectsCitizens Challenging Venture Capitalists and Carbon Capture - Mike EiseHow oversight by government and private citizens can...2022-10-0347 min
Climate Money WatchdogCommunity Choice Aggregation at MCE - Jenna TenneyToday we’re joined by Jenn Tenny, Communications Manager for the MCE (originally Marin Clean Energy), a relatively new kind of government organization called a CCA, which stands for Community Choice Aggregation. CCA’s allow individual consumers to choose where they get their electricity, even if it’s delivered over transmission lines that are owned by a single, monopoly utility company.As a journalist and am MCE customer, Dina Rasor followed MCE's progress for many years, including writing an article about them in Truthout in 2014.As MCE’s Communications Manager, Jenna works to share messages of MCE’s...2022-09-2159 min
Climate Money WatchdogEvery Dollar Spent on CCS is a Waste - Dr. Charles Harvey and Dr. Kurt HouseDr. Charles Harvey is a professor of environmental engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Kurt House is the chief executive officer of KoBold Metals, a metals exploration company. On August 16th, they challenged the prevailing wisdom that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is key to fighting climate change in a New York Times guest essay titled, Every Dollar Spent on This Climate Technology Is a Waste.Doctors Harvey and House opinion is driven by their own direct experience starting the first privately funded company to make use of CCS in 2008. Back then, solar and wind e...2022-09-151h 05
Climate Money WatchdogFinally, A Possible End to PFAS Forever Chemicals - Dr. Brittany TrangDr. Brittany Trang recently made New York Times headlines with an experimental but extraordinarily promising method for turning dangerous "forever" chemicals called PFAS into different, harmless chemicals. Dr. Trang is a 2022-2023 Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellow at STAT News. Previously, she covered health and science at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Mass Media Fellow. Her freelance work has been published places like Chemistry World, Chemical & Engineering News, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.She has a bachelor’s in English and chemistry from the Ohio State University an...2022-09-0954 min
Climate Money WatchdogCharles Koch, ALEC and Climate Misinformation - Elliott NeginElliott Negin, Senior Writer at the Union of Concerned Scientists.Elliott was UCS media director from 2007 through 2011 and now writes about UCS-related topics for a range of news organizations including:. A contributing writer at HuffPost from 2011 through 2017, he has also written articles and columns for Alternet, The Atlantic, Columbia Journalism Review, EcoWatch, The Hill, Live Science, Mother Earth News, The Nation, The Progressive, Roll Call, Salon, Scientific American, The Washington Post and other publications. Prior to joining UCS, Elliott was the Washington communications director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a foreign news editor at National Public...2022-08-1250 min
Climate Money WatchdogLow-Cost, Low-Risk All-Renewable Energy Plans for 145 Countries - Prof. Mark JacobsonMark Z. Jacobson is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University. Some describe him as the architect of the U.S. Green New Deal. He has authored books, textbooks and articles on transitioning to renewable energy. Recently co-authored the study, “Low-Cost Solutions to Global Warming, Air Pollution, and Energy Insecurity for 145 Countries.Professor Jacobson came to our attention via his opinion piece in The Hill, “No miracle tech needed: How to switch to renewables now and lower costs doing it.”, which draws heavily on this report. His credentials are impressive:Director and co-fou...2022-07-2948 min
Climate Money WatchdogNatural Carbon Capture & Sequestration at the Carbon Institute - Dr. Jeff CrequeHave you ever dreamed of an approach to carbon capture and sequestration that can be deployed anywhere, and has many years of demonstrated success? It turns out farmers have been employers using this technology – plants – for thousands of years.Dr. Jeff Creque is a co-founder of the Marin Carbon Project and the Carbon Cycle Institute, where he serves as Director of Rangeland and Agroecosystem Management. Jeff provides senior leadership on carbon farming and land management, informed by thirty-five years of applied experience and theoretical training. He is an agricultural and rangeland consultant and a Natural Resources Conservation Servi...2022-07-2257 min
Climate Money WatchdogCitizens Challenging Venture Capitalists and Carbon Capture - Mike EisenfeldMike Eisenfeld is San Juan Citizens Alliance Energy and Climate Program ManagerMike joined SJCA in 2006 following ten years as an environmental consultant in the Four Corners region. Mike works on energy issues including coal, oil/gas, air quality and public lands. He specializes in the National Environmental Policy Act, Federal Land Policy & Management Act, and Endangered Species Act compliance. Mike has a B.A. from Bates College and a M.A. in Environmental Policy and Management from the University of Denver.Mike's current work and this episode focus on a venture capital...2022-07-1459 min