President Obama is calling on Congress to invest $50 billion into transportation infrastructure in order to bolster the economy and create jobs. The plan includes creating a federal infrastructure bank, which the Administration hopes will mobilize additional private investment.

Over 80 percent of U.S. water in the Gulf of Mexico has been reopened to fishing, but many believe long term threats to the health of the industry caused by the BP oil spill have not disappeared.

A new HSBC bank report predicts low-carbon vehicles will see higher growth than clean energy as a whole over then next decade.

A piece at the Natural Resources Defense Council blog argues that investing in smarter, cleaner transit can be a part of building a healthier economy and long-term job creation.

A new carbon map shows where carbon is locked up in tropical vegetation and created by land use practices in the Peruvian Amazon. The map is part of the UN’s Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation initiative(UN-REDD), which aims to reduce carbon emissions associated with deforestation and land overuse.

Today’s National Clean Energy Summit 3.0 will be live streamed here. The event is being hosted by the Center For American Progress Action Fund, Senate Majority Leader harry Reid (D. - Nevada), and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Local Green: Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says local and federal efforts can help bring a clean energy economy and green-collar jobs to Alasaka.

The San Jose Mercury News spoke with San Francisco Bay Area energy leaders about clean energy and economic growth.

New Jersey began taking applications last week for its solar rebate program after a fourth month hiatus.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of the White House

An offshore oil drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday about 100 miles from the Louisiana coast. An early sighting of a mile-long sheen in the area was later rebutted by Coast Guard reports claiming no sign of a spill had yet been detected. The deepwater rig explosion comes a day after a judge refused to toss a lawsuit, filed by several offshore drilling companies, challenging the Obama administration’s deepwater drilling moratorium.

The federal government awarded the Peace Corps $1 million to start a program that will bring clean energy to developing areas of Central and South America.

West Virginia University will lead an effort to develop carbon capture and storage technology to be used at U.S. coal plants. The project is part of a U.S. - China clean energy partnership.

In honor of Labor Day, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis issued her unofficial “State of the American Worker” address.

A piece at Grist explains district energy, and looks at a bill that could boost its production.

Environmental writer and 350.org founder Bill McKibben appeared on the Late Show With David Letterman.

Local Green: 40 clean energy projects financed by $20.5 million in state and federal grants will help Pennsylvania create 1,400 jobs.

Coda announced it will introduce its all electric sedan in Hawaii toward the end of next year.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of Melody Kramer

New research confirms the existence of a 22-mile long oil plume in the Gulf of Mexico. The plume is thousands of feet below the water’s surface where cold temperatures are likely to slow the breakdown of oil.

Representative Ed Markey (D. - Massachusetts) demanded that the Obama administration hand over data that informed a recent federal study asserting much of the oil from the Macondo spill was no longer in the Gulf of Mexico .

The building of a final relief well that officials say will permanently seal BP’s ruptured Macondo well is being delayed until next month.

Assistant Secretary of Commerce Suresh Kumar discussed how clean energy technology and manufacturing operations can benefit from the goal of increasing America’s exports.

Ocean Renewable Power Company says its Beta Power System off the Maine coast is the “largest ocean energy device ever installed in U.S. waters.”

A piece at Grist argues that climate legislation supporters should adopt a few moves from the NRA playbook.

Local Green: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed a bill that requires the state to generate enough electricity from wind to power up to 330,000 homes.

Campaigning in Ohio, President Obama singled out Toldeo as a model of how an older manufacturing city can become a thriving hub of clean energy industry and good-paying jobs. Also in Ohio, a dedication ceremony was held this week at what is now the state’s largest solar farm.

REC Solar will build the nation’s largest carport solar array, covering seven different carports in Tucson, Arizona.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of duncandavidson

Two new reports say at least 75 percent of the oil released by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is still in the Gulf of Mexico. “The idea that 75 percent of the oil is gone and is of no further concern to the environment is just absolutely incorrect,” said one of the report’s authors.

A new survey from Columbia University’s Earth Institute finds only a very small percentage of Americans have a good understanding of what constitutes meaningful energy saving behavior.

The proposed Isalmic cultural center at Ground Zero in Manhattan would be the nation’s first LEED-certified mosque, writes Ibrahim Abdul-Matin.

Economist Robert J. Shapiro says broad payroll tax cuts, combined with a carbon fee that supplements the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, could do much to stimulate the hiring of new workers and cut America’s unemployment rate.

In an interview with the Wonk Room, the American Petroleum Institute’s chief economist John Felmy admits that clean energy investment creates more jobs than investments in fossil fuel industries.

Local Green: The Natural Resources Defense Council reports that the Brooklyn Navy Yard is becoming “a national model for a green jobs industrial zone.”

A piece in the Providence Journal explores how the Rhode Island capitol’s Green Pathways Out of Poverty program is helping unemployed and low-income residents find success through clean energy.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors met in San francisco this week to discuss ways local government can spur clean energy growth.

Seattle’s city council approved legislation that allows for the widespread distribution of locally grown food. Grist reports on the city’s growing urban agricultural movement.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of lukesaagi

BP says plugging its leaking Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico with cement has successfully stopped the flow of oil. Drilling continued on a number of relief wells to ensure there is no future leakage.

The Obama administration says it supports turning over federal penalty money collected from BP to the states hit the hardest by what has become the worst oil spill in U.S. History.

The Environmental Defense Fund held a roundtable discussion on how to best clean up the BP oil spill.

Just because the oil well has been plugged doesn’t mean the environmental and economic crisis the spill has created for thousands of people along the Gulf Coast is over, argues Sojourers‘ Rev. Jennifer Kottler.

China plans to invest 5 trillion yuan, or $738 billion, into renewable energy projects over the next decade, according to the state-owned China Securities Journal.

A piece at the Daily Green looks at how the Republican stance on cap-and-trade has shifted over the last several decades.

Four states now generate at least ten percent of their energy with wind power, and components for the industry are increasingly manufactured in the U.S., according to a new study of wind energy in America.

Luca Technologies developed a process by which coal-feeding bacteria can produce methane for natural gas.

Toyota announced that its Scion iQ (”the world’s smallest four-seater“) will hit dealerships in the U.S. around March.

Local Green: California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown released a 10-page jobs plan (pdf) that details how the Golden state can produce green and manufacturing jobs and strengthen job training programs.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm responded to talk radio host Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on the electric Chevy Volt, calling his statements “un-American.”

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of Deepwater Horizon Response

A new federal report that uses scientific modeling and “best guesses” for unknown data to assess the state of the post-oil spill Gulf of Mexico has generated controversy among scientists.

Responding to a column (written by a Senior Fellow at the conservative National Center For Policy Analysis) calling the BP oil spill “more hype than harm,” a piece at the Hill’s Congress Blog retorts: “Eleven men died. Millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico. Vast quantities of untested chemical dispersants have been dumped into the sea. Tens of millions of dollars in tourism and fishing revenues are gone. Thousands of fishing industry workers have lost their livelihoods. So, how bad does it have to be?”

Clean Energy Works, Blue Green Alliance, and other clean energy advocacy organizations will spend the month of August mounting a campaign against Senators who have blocked a string of energy and climate bills this year.

A coalition representing more than 5,000 businesses is launching an ad campaign aiming to bring climate legislation back to the Senate floor. A letter, sent to the Senate by the coalition, says failing to pass legislation is “costing American businesses meaningful opportunities to grow and leaving good-paying American jobs uncreated.”

International leaders are voicing frustration and confusion over America’s inability to lead on climate change, reports the New York Times.

Grist investigates location-efficient mortgages, which could make it easier to buy housing in walkable and “smart growth” neighborhoods.

Morgan Stanley, the world’s leading manager of clean energy stock offerings in 2009, is hiring new bankers specializing in the industry, reports Bloomberg.

GM said it will increase U.S. production capacity of the electric Chevy Volt by 50 percent next year.

Local Green: Northern California’s Butte College says it will be the first in the nation to go “grid positive,” generating more clean energy than it uses.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of Stuart Barr

The House of Representatives passed its version of the oil spill bill, which removes liability caps and protects whistleblowing workers. A similar bill that includes provisions supporting the home energy efficiency program Home Star is currently held up in the Senate.

A new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report compiled by over 300 scientists from 48 countries identifies ten climate indicators that are “undeniably” linked to changing surface temperatures caused by human activities.

BP hopes to begin carrying out the next stage of its efforts to permanently seal its busted oil well in the Gulf of Mexico as early as Monday night, reports the Washington Post. Observers will know “within hours” of beginning the operation whether the “static kill” method will be a success.

While BP’s oil-dispersing efforts have done much to reduce the visibility of oil in the Gulf, they have not removed it from the marine ecosystem, where it will inevitably harm the food web, warns ClimateProgress.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance reports that worldwide subsidies for fossil fuels are twelve times higher than those for renewables.

A new study conducted by two University of California economists finds more evidence that high unemployment and financial worries decrease public concerns about climate change.

Local Green: The E.P.A. has already spent $5 million cleaning up over one million gallons of oil that spewed from a busted pipeline into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River.

The Pennsylvanian Pocono Raceway is the world’s largest solar-powered sports facility, says owner Doc Mattioli. A nearby solar farm supplies the raceway as well as 1,000 homes with electricity.

An op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News argues that California’s landmark climate change legislation (AB32) will “improve lives of low income and minority Californians.” The legislation could be held up indefinitely by a state ballot initiative financed largely by out-of-state oil interests.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of U.S. E.P.A.

The E.P.A. officially rejected the challenges to its ruling that industrial CO2 emissions pose a threat to human health. Opponents of the ruling, which include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Peabody Energy (the world’s largest private-sector coal company), have based their position largely on the discredited “Climategate” emails.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act this week. While the bill cannot replace broader clean energy and climate legislation, it makes progress in several important areas, explains a piece from the Center For American Progress.

The Denver Post came out in support of the House of Representatives’ CLEAR Act, which would lift oil spill liability caps and provide $5 billion in incentives for energy efficiency measures and alternative fuels.

BP may begin working this weekend on a “static kill” operation that experts say is likely to permanently plug its broken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. The company says a temporary cap has contained the flow of oil since July 15.

The Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969 initiated a massive and immediate change in the way Americans think about natural resources, argues the Associated Press’ Frederic Frommer, but a comparable response to the BP spill may take longer to develop.

Local Green: The Natural Resources Defense Council released its 2010 Smart Cities list this week, which highlights the achievements of 22 cities “leading the way in green power, energy efficiency and conservation.”

Worried that legal challenges could hold up Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loan programs for some time, California is diverting $30 million in federal funds intended for PACE to other energy initiatives.

California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown sees his support for the state’s landmark climate change legislation as the key difference between himself and Republican opponent Meg Whitman.

Florida’s Clean Energy Investment Program taps $36 million in federal funding for clean energy technology and energy efficiency efforts.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of WWF France

The Senate introduced legislation responding to the BP oil spill yesterday. Bills in both the House and Senate seek to revamp offshore oil drilling regulations, subsidize home energy efficiency projects, and incentivize electric and natural gas vehicles. Calling the nation’s current energy policies “unsustainable,” President Obama said the legislation is only a “first step” and vowed to keep pushing for “broader reform.”

Over 360 groups representing more than 12 million people signed a statement chastising the senators who obstructed this summer’s attempt at comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he is willing to tack provisions that would save Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans onto his scaled-back energy legislation if a Republican supporter can be found.

A tugboat collided with an abandoned oil well in a Louisiana bayou 65 miles south of New Orleans yesterday. The Gulf of Mexico is littered with over 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells.

The sticker price on GM’s electric Chevrolet Volt will be just over $40,000 when it hits the market later this year, but a $7,500 federal tax credit intended to speed up the adoption of electric vehicles gives buyers a hefty discount. A leasing program offered by Chevy will make the vehicle available for as low as $350 a month.

Local Green: American Transmission Company (ATC) is interested in building a 150-mile transmission line that would carry clean energy to Western Wisconsin.

Developers, officials and clean energy supporters celebrated the groundbreaking of California’s Alta Wind Energy Center. The 600-turbine, 1,550-megawatt project could become the world’s largest wind energy project.

Clean energy projects in the Golden State worth as much as $30 billion are being held up by federal foot-dragging, complain California officials.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of straight, no chaser

Twelve Democratic Senators sent a letter (pdf) to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D. - Nevada) urging him to ensure clean energy and climate legislation puts a price on carbon emissions.

A piece in the New York Times looks at potential clean energy policies from an economic standpoint and weighs in on the likelihood of their implementation by Congress.

A piece at Politico examines the odds of a climate bill being passed by the Senate before the August recess.

A storm forming in the Caribbean threatens to shut down work on relief wells BP is building to stop the flow of oil from its ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Local Green: New York Governor David Paterson signed three clean energy and energy efficiency bills into law, one of which requires the state to reduce the amount of sulfur in home heating oil.

Salt Lake City’s new City Creek Center development boasts a mixed use design that encourages walking and public transit use.

Petra Solar’s utility pole-mounted solar panels in New Jersey will use AT&T’s wireless network to communicate with local utility PSE&G.

Terra-Gen Power says it has secured more than $1 billion to finance four southern California wind farms that could, together, generate up to 3,000 megawatts of power.

A new University of California, Berkeley study finds that, like all other places where they have been implemented, feed-in-tarrifs could generate explosive clean energy growth for California.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of Micah A. Ponce