The Obama administration today proposed opening vast expanses of ocean to oil and natural gas drilling, including 167 million acres from Delaware to Florida, 130 million acres off Alaska, and more in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil companies are pleased, but residents and environmentalists are angry.
Archive for March, 2010
Obama to open offshore areas to oil drilling for first time
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010E.P.A. delays plants’ pollution permits
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010The E.P.A. announced that it would not begin phasing in until next January a controverial requirement that power plants obtain permits to emit greenhouse gases. The Obama administration would prefer comprehensive energy legislation, but is developing a regulatory plan in case Congress fails to act.
Greenpeace takes aim at Koch Industries
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010Ever wonder who finances all those climate skeptics? A report just issued by Greenpeace, the activist environmental group, says it is Koch Industries. Who? Koch is a big Kansas-based industrial conglomerate, a “financial kingpin” of denialists that has outspent Exxon Mobil in recent years.
Past decade was warmest on record meteorological agency reports
Monday, March 29th, 2010A U.N. agency, the World Meteorological Organization, reported that the past decade was the warmest on record. This outcome supports one by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which found that the decade from 2000 to 2009 was the warmest since modern temperature recording started in the 1850s.
Radioactive leak is fixed at Vermont plant
Monday, March 29th, 2010After two months’ repair, the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant can begin operating again. The state senate has ordered it closed for good in 2012. Reversal is possible, but public opinion is heavily against continued operation. Entergy, the operator, said no pipes existed to leak, but they did and did.
Heat-toting ocean currents chugging along
Monday, March 29th, 2010Some scientists have worried that glacial melting could cool the warm Atlantic Ocean curents, causing them to slow, or even cease flowing. New evidence suggests that little slowing has occurred in the last decade or two. Scientists are now more confident that Atlantic currents are at little risk.
Audit Finds Vulnerability of EnergyStar Program
Friday, March 26th, 2010Most people are familiar with the EPA’s EnergyStar rating, which certifies that products save energy. However, a Congressional audit casts doubt on the rating’s reliability. Several bogus products the auditors submitted won the coveted rating. The EPA must tighten controls to restore confidence.
‘Cap and Trade’ loses its standing as energy policy of choice
Friday, March 26th, 2010Just a year ago, ‘cap and trade’ was the basis for a national climate change bill. Today it is widely discredited. Lawmakers felt they had to give away so many pollution allowances to get passage, it became known as ‘cap and tax’. Today, ‘cap and dividend’ would auction allowances, simply, to all.
E.P.A. to seek more data on emissions
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010The E.P.A. has proposed adding the oil and gas industries to the 31 which already report their CO2 and methane emissions to the government. Reporting these emissions should yield better information and smarter policies to address pollution. If approved, data collection would start this year.
Concentrating photovoltaic project underway at California college
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010A startup is building the U.S.’s first concentrating photovoltaic solar farm at a college near Los Angeles. The 1 megawatt farm uses solar panels with small mirrors that concentrate sunlight onto tiny photo cells. The technology costs more than standard photo cells, but uses less land and silicon.