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May 24, 2013
(Bloomberg)
The U.S. State Department released about 100,000 public comments it has received on TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the first batch of more than 1.2 million submitted to the agency on the project.
The comments on a draft environmental impact study were posted yesterday on a government website a month after the State Department reversed an earlier decision not to release them. The agency said last night in a statement that it would publish comments in similarly sized batches on a weekly basis.
(The Hill)
Two dozen Senate Republicans are warning President Obama not to link “wholly unrelated” climate change policies to approval of the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.“You should approve the Keystone XL pipeline project on its merits alone without suddenly moving the goalposts after more than four years of review by tethering its fate to wholly unrelated and economically disastrous new regulatory policies,” states the new letter to Obama led by Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.).Rumors have long swirled that if Obama approves Keystone, he might link approval to policies aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon standards for the nation’s existing power plants.
(Bloomberg)
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government should take steps to contain the cost of the German energy switch from nuclear power to renewables, the International Energy Agency said.
German consumers have so far borne the brunt through power bills that have been inflated by renewable power subsidies while large consumers have been shielded from the increased costs, the Paris-based adviser said in a study released today. The costs need to be “minimized and allocated fairly and equitably,” the agency said in the report.
(Reuters)
The European Commission rejected Chinese trade association statements that talks to resolve a dispute over allegations of dumping of solar panels had broken down, while Chinese comments highlighted risks the dispute could escalate.
EU regulators agreed to impose solar panel duties averaging 47 percent earlier this month following a investigation launched by a complaint from German manufacturer SolarWorld.
The dispute has the potential to impact 21 billion euros (17.9 billion pounds) worth of imported Chinese solar panels, cells and wafers from manufacturers such as Trina Solar, Yingli Green Energy and Suntech Power Holdings.
(Guardian)
Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, made one of his strongest speeches yet on the dangers of a warming planet when he warned this month that climate change is "the greatest risk we have ever faced". Action must be taken now, the Prince said, because the risk of doing nothing is "too great."
It is therefore a little ironic to look at the latest results from a study by the monitoring organisation Media Matters for America and find that the goings-on of the British royal family – but not their comments on the dire state of the planet – feature far more prominently on the major US networks than any topic related to climate change.
(AP)
Gov. Jerry Brown warned scientists and policymakers Thursday that they are losing the war on climate change and urged them to become advocates for the planet.
"We've got a big challenge. It's daunting," Brown said. "This is not just about science, this is about activism."
A team of climate change experts gave Brown a new, 20-page call to action during a conference at NASA Ames Research Center sponsored by the nonprofit group Sustainable Silicon Valley.
The report, signed by more than 500 scientists, is aimed at providing lawmakers with specific action items.
(NPR)
Organizing for Action — a group that formed out of President Obama's re-election campaign — has posted five tweets in the past week about climate change using the@BarackObama Twitter account.
OFA's mission is to promote the president's agenda on a wide range of issues, from guns to immigration. But now that it's focused on global warming, there's some tension with the agenda inside the administration.
This week, Organizing for Action unveiled a website urging supporters to "Call Out the Climate Change Deniers." The group recently produced a video highlighting Republicans who question the science of climate change — including House Speaker John Boehner.
(Houston Chronicle)
The southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline is more than 75 percent complete and construction is proceeding on schedule, a spokesman for pipeline owner TransCanada told FuelFix.
“We have some pump stations to build, but we’ve made great strides on the pipeline itself,” said David Dodson, a spokesman for the Canadian pipeline giant.
TransCanada in April pushed back its estimated completion date for the northern segment of the Keystone XL project, which is planned to eventually connect oil sands fields in Canada with the U.S. Gulf Coast. The delay was a result of slow federal approvals, the company said.
(Globe and Mail)
The Quebec government has announced plans to hold its own hearings onEnbridge Inc.’s proposed pipeline project to bring western oil to Montreal, a move that could raise roadblocks to Alberta’s efforts to access new markets for its growing oil production.
Parti Québécois Environment Minister Yves-François Blanchet said Thursday that review would be done simultaneously with the National Energy Board and will allow local citizens and municipalities to make recommendations on how to make the pipeline safe or whether that is even possible.
May 23, 2013
(The Hill)
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) noted Wednesday that a carbon tax could generate “significant” revenues for the United States and avert “catastrophic” effects of climate change.
CBO said in a new report that there are many uncertainties about how to design and implement a carbon tax, but waiting too long to curb greenhouse gas emissions would have clear results.
“[D]elays would increase the expected damage from climate change by increasing the risk of very costly, potentially even catastrophic, outcomes. … In general, the risk of costly damage is higher as the extent of warming increases and as the pace of warming picks up; thus, failing to limit emissions soon increases that risk,” the report said.
(Bloomberg)
A coalition of 67 grassroots groups criticized the Environmental Defense Fund for its ties to natural gas drillers in setting voluntary standards for hydraulic fracturing, a process opposed by many green advocates.
The activist groups, many in communities where natural gas production is booming or in New York where it could start soon, said EDF is offering “greenwashing” for companies such as Chevron Corp. by joining them on a set of standards for fracking.
(Texas Tribune)
The Ogallala Aquifer suffered its second-worst drop since at least 2000 in a large swath of the Texas Panhandle, new measurements show.
The closely watched figures, published this week by the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District, cover a 16-county area stretching from south of Lubbock to Amarillo. The Ogallala wells measured by the district experienced an average drop of 1.87 feet from 2012 to 2013. That makes it one of the five or 10 worst drops in the district's more than 60-year history, said Bill Mullican, a hydrogeologist with the district.
“There are some pretty remarkable declines,” Mullican said. One well in the western part of the water district, he said, dropped 19 feet over the year.
(The Hill)
Legislators in the Senate are unveiling a bipartisan agreement to update federal toxic chemical regulations, though environmental groups are responding with mixed emotions.
Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and David Vitter (R-La.) on Wednesday released an agreement to update the Toxic Substances Control Act, the consumer safety law passed in 1976.
The bill, which has the support of 14 other senators from both parties, gives new powers to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and lays out a clearer path for bringing new chemicals to the market.
(Climate Central)
Knowing how much methane is leaking from the natural gas system is essential to determining the potential climate benefits of natural gas use. Our extensive review of the publicly available studies finds that a pervasive lack of measurements makes it nearly impossible to know with confidence what the average methane leak rate is for the U.S. as a whole. More measurements, more reliable data, and better understanding of industry practices are needed.
It has been widely reported that shifting from coal to gas in electricity generation will provide a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. In reality, the extent of reduced global warming impact depends largely on three factors:
(Bloomberg)
Stan Dempsey, an oil and gas lobbyist, raced from one committee hearing to another in Colorado’s statehouse this spring, defending the industry against an onslaught of bills.
While only one of 10 measures passed, the flurry of activity is one of several worrying signs to Dempsey and others in the industry that Colorado, an oil-patch state long seen as friendly to energy producers, is becoming a battleground over hydraulic fracturing, the drilling process fueling the nation’s energy boom.
“The politics have shifted in the state,” Dempsey, president of the Colorado Petroleum Association in Denver, said in an interview. “Energy has become a big issue.”
(Michigan Radio)
The U.S. House voted Wednesday to sidestep President Obama, and authorize the first leg of a controversial pipeline project carrying tar sands oil to the US from Canada.
Detroit Congressman Gary Peters used the opportunity to push for more scrutiny of petroleum coke — a byproduct of tar sands refining that’s already showing up in Detroit.
The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would bring tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada tar through the U.S. to Gulf Coast refineries. Much of the debate around importing that oil into the U.S. for refining has centered around Keystone.
But plenty of tar sands oil is already flowing to the U.S. — including the Marathon refinery in southwest Detroit.
(Wall Street Journal)
This car deal sounds too good to be true: Drive a car, almost free.
To entice drivers to try electric-powered cars, auto makers are lowering the price of entry to the zero-emission lifestyle.
A new round of discount leases on mainstream-brand plug-in cars such as the Nissan Leaf or Fiat 500e, combined with federal, state and local electric-vehicle incentives, could make a battery-electric car an extraordinarily economical way to get around for drivers. There are two big caveats: Drivers need to live in states offering tax incentives and can't drive very far in a single day.
May 22, 2013
(AP)
A deadly tornado hit suburban Oklahoma City on Monday. A quick look at some basic facts:
Q. Is global warming to blame?
A. You can't blame a single weather event on global warming. In any case, scientists just don't know whether there will be more or fewer twisters as global warming increases. Tornadoes arise from very local conditions, and so they're not as influenced by climate change as much as larger weather systems like hurricanes and nor'easters. They're not easy to incorporate in the large computer simulations scientists use to gauge the impact of global warming.
And when scientists ponder the key weather ingredients that lead to twisters, there's still no clear answer about whether to expect more or fewer twisters. Some scientists theorize that the jet stream is changing because sea ice in the Arctic is shrinking. And the jet stream pattern drives weather in the Northern Hemisphere.
(Omaha World-Herald)
As the Republican-controlled House prepares to once again register its support for the Keystone XL pipeline, the White House waved its veto pen and Nebraska-based opponents vowed to fight the project down to the county level if need be.The House is expected to approve legislation today written by Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., that would deem the controversial project approved and seek to sweep away obstacles such as drawn-out legal battles and regulatory delays.While testifying Tuesday before the House Rules Committee, Terry said it’s past time to move on the project, noting that it’s been nearly five years since TransCanada filed its permit to build the pipeline.
(E&E Daily, sub req'd)
A war of words is brewing over hydraulic fracturing and efforts to ban or limit it in California.
Activists who believe they've created negative buzz around the oil and gas extraction process also called "fracking" have launched a new battle: persuading the state's Legislature to look at also restricting different drilling techniques. Green groups warn that other oil recovery methods underway are equally risky, including one they fear could rapidly balloon in use.
Because those aren't labeled as "hydraulic fracturing," proposed moratoriums and other restrictions might not apply.
"We're developing all of these regulations with a very narrow definition of hydraulic fracturing," said Andrew Grinberg, oil and gas program coordinator at Clean Water Action. "We're leaving out potentially a large part of the well stimulation that may be going on in California."
(StateImpact Pennsylvania)
Discord over how to best protect the environment from impacts of natural gas drilling has led to a coalition of grassroots environmental groups shunning the Environmental Defense Fund. The groups plan to hold a conference call on Wednesday to "send a message ... disapproving of [EDF's] willingness to be coopted by industry interests on the issue of hydraulic fracturing for shale gas."
EDF recently drew the ire of fractivists when it announced its participation in The Center for Sustainable Shale Gas Development, a collaboration with energy companies and philanthropical organizations to develop performance standards related to protecting air and water quality. EDF is the only national environmental group to join the coalition, which also includes PennFuture, Group Against Smog and Pollution, and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. [CSSD includes two organizations that also provide funds to StateImpact Pennsylvania: the Heinz Foundation and the William Penn Foundation.]
(The Hill)
New Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz vowed Tuesday to help advance a big bipartisan energy efficiency bill that's moving through Congress and make conservation a major priority using his existing authorities.
Moniz, sworn-in earlier Tuesday, used a major Washington, D.C. energy efficiency conference as the platform for his first public remarks in the new job, telling the audience that efficiency is a vital part of meeting the nation's climate and energy challenges.
"Let me just say off the bat that I have been working these problems for quite a while, I have never seen a credible solution to the climate risk mitigation challenge, to reach the kinds of goals we need to reach, without the demand side playing a very, very important part in that," Moniz said at the EE Global 2013 conference hosted by the Alliance to Save Energy.
(SustainableBusiness.com)
A new report shows solar energy's growing role in powering military installations and military homes across the US.
As of early 2013, over 130 megawatts (MW) of solar PV are supplying energy to Navy, Army and Air Force bases in at least 31 states and the District of Columbia, says the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
Just as importantly, solar energy is playing an increasingly central role in making the military's energy supply more secure, more affordable and less reliant on unstable foreign sources. And it is protecting our troops.
(The Independent)
The battle against global warming has received a transformational boost after China, the world's biggest producer of carbon dioxide, proposed to set a cap on its greenhouse gas emissions for the first time.
Under the proposal China, which is responsible for a quarter of the world's carbon emissions, would put a ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions from 2016, in a bid to curb what most scientists agree is the main cause of climate change.
It marks a dramatic change in China's approach to climate change that experts say will make countries around the world more likely to agree to stringent cuts to their carbon emissions in a co-ordinated effort to tackle global warming.
(Bloomberg)
Elon Musk, Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA)'s chief executive officer and co-founder, said in a Twitter post the electric-car maker will “probably” repay its Energy Department loan as early as tomorrow.
A separate announcement Tesla was planning on the expansion of its so-called Supercharger network is being pushed back to next week “given govt loan repayment this week (prob Wed),” Musk said yesterday.
The maker of Model S sedans was planning to pay off the remaining portion of its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan this week, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on May 17.
May 21, 2013
(Houston Chronicle)
Canadian energy producers lobbying for U.S. approval of the Keystone XL pipeline are targeting undecided Democratic lawmakers in Washington in advance of a decision on the $5.3 billion project.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, which represents more than 100 energy producers including Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (COS) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)’s Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO), will travel to the U.S. capital next month to promote TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s plan to carry Alberta oil-sands crude to Gulf Coast refineries. A decision by U.S. President Barack Obama on the pipeline is expected this year.
(Reuters)
Days before a Shell drillship went aground in the storm-tossed Gulf of Alaska, it was clear that towing failures could spell disaster for the vessel, the crew and the marine environment, a company official told a U.S. Coast Guard panel on Monday.
The Kulluk, having completed preliminary drilling on an exploration well in the Beaufort Sea, broke away from its tow lines, and support vessels attempting to regain control of the drillship developed their own engine and mechanical problems, Norman Custard, Royal Dutch Shell's Alaska emergency response leader, told the panel.
Custard said he began planning for a crew evacuation on December 27, four days before the Kulluk grounded off Kodiak Island.
(Reuters)
Water levels in U.S. aquifers, the vast underground storage areas tapped for agriculture, energy and human consumption, between 2000 and 2008 dropped at a rate that was almost three times as great as any time during the 20th century, U.S. officials said on Monday.
The accelerated decline in the subterranean reservoirs is due to a combination of factors, most of them linked to rising population in the United States, according to Leonard Konikow, a research hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey.
The big rise in water use started in 1950, at the time of an economic boom and the spread of U.S. suburbs. However, the steep increase in water use and the drop in groundwater levels that followed World War 2 were eclipsed by the changes during the first years of the 21st century, the study showed.
(AP)
Federal regulators have indefinitely delayed a decision on the proposed restart of the shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant in California, raising new questions Monday about whether the twin reactors will produce electricity again.
The seaside plant between San Diego and Los Angeles has been dark since January 2012, after a small radiation leak led to the discovery of unusual damage to hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water.
Operator Southern California Edison wants permission to restart the Unit 2 reactor and run it at reduced power in hopes of stopping vibration and friction that was blamed for damaging tubing.
(Los Angeles Times)
For decades, war has been waged over the holy grail of America's Arctic frontier, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The wide coastal plain on the edge of the Beaufort Sea contains stunning populations of caribou, grizzly, musk oxen and other wildlife -- and also an abundant pool of oil and gas.
While Congress has periodically taken steps to consider opening up oil and gas development in the refuge, President Obama and many congressional Democrats have rebuffed any drilling on what conservationists often call America's Serengeti.
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell, a Republican, launched a new bid Monday to at least determine what the argument is about. In a proposal to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Parnell said Alaska is willing to consider a $50-million contribution to launching a full oil exploration program in a section of the coastal plain, complete with modern 3D seismic studies.
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