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Daily Weekly

Daily subscribers receive summaries and links to breaking climate-related stories Monday - Friday as well as a Sunday edition which includes a review of top stories of the week. Weekly subscribers receive the Sunday edition only.

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U.S. Lifts Moratorium on New Solar Projects. By Dan Frosch, NYTimes, July 3, 2008. "Under increasing public pressure over its decision to temporarily halt all new solar development on public land, the Bureau of Land Management said Wednesday that it was lifting the freeze, barely a month after it was put into effect. The bureau had Announced on May 29 that it was no longer processing new applications to build solar power plants on land it oversees in six Western states after federal officials said they needed first to study the environmental effects of solar energy, a process that would take two years. But amid concerns from the solar power industry, members of Congress and the general public that the freeze would stymie solar development during a particularly critical time for energy policy, the bureau abruptly reconsidered. 'We heard the concerns expressed during the scoping period about waiting to consider new applications, and we are taking action,' the bureau's director, James Caswell, said in a statement. 'By continuing to accept and process new applications for solar energy projects, we will aggressively help meet growing interest in renewable energy sources, while ensuring environmental protections.' In the meantime, the bureau will continue with its plans to conduct a sweeping study on the environmental impacts of large-scale solar development on public land in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, said a spokeswoman, Celia Boddington."

Sen. Bernie Sanders to Introduce Bill Aimed at Achieving 10 Million Solar Roofs. Press Release, Bernie Sanders, July 1, 2008. "Senator Bernie Sanders announced on Tuesday that he will introduce legislation to encourage the installation of 10 million rooftop solar units on homes and businesses... Sanders said sun power could provide economical electricity for millions of Americans from a combination of rooftop systems on private homes and businesses along with power from generating plants... Rebates would cover about one-half of the $20,000 average cost of installing a solar unit that, depending on location, could provide up to one-half of the electricity for a typical home. The legislation's bipartisan cosponsors include Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), John Warner (R-Va.), and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). The 10 Million Solar Roofs Act of 2008 [PDF, 6 pp] would encourage installation of 10 million photovoltaic systems over a ten-year period at private homes and businesses. Non-profit organizations, and state and local governments also would be eligible for rebates covering up to half the cost of systems. In order to qualify for the federal rebates, the homes and businesses would have to meet stringent energy efficiency standards... [The bill] will be formally filed when the Senate reconvenes on Monday."

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German Government Seek to Build 2,000 Offshore Wind Generators. AFP, July 6, 2008. "The German government wants to build up to 30 offshore windfarms [in the Baltic and North Seas] in a bid to meet its renewable energy targets, Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said [that] some 2,000 windmills should soon be producing 11,000 megawatts of electricity... Germany's Bundestag or lower house of parliament passed a law last month aimed at increasing the amount of power generated by renewable energy sources like wind or solar power to 30 percent from the current 14 percent by 2020. Wind energy currently makes up seven percent of the nation's energy consumption. The new law was part of a long-awaited package aimed at fighting climate change agreed by Chancellor Angela Merkel's left-right coalition government. The government has agreed to honour a decision to close the country's 17 nuclear power plants by 2020 but remains divided over the issue."

The Island in the Wind. By Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker, July 7, 2008 issue. "[The Danish Island of] Samsø, which is roughly the size of Nantucket, sits in what's known as the Kattegat, an arm of the North Sea. For the past decade or so, Samsø has been the site of an unlikely social movement... They formed energy coöperatives and organized seminars on wind power. They removed their furnaces and replaced them with heat pumps. By 2001, fossil-fuel use on Samsø had been cut in half. By 2003, instead of importing electricity, the island was exporting it, and by 2005 it was producing from renewable sources more energy than it was using... Samsø has eleven large land-based turbines... enough to meet all the island's demands for electricity... [Ten still larger] offshore turbines... were erected to compensate for Samsø's continuing use of fossil fuels in its cars, trucks, and ferries. Their combined output... provides the energy equivalent of all the gasoline and diesel oil consumed on the island, and then some; in aggregate, Samsø generates about ten per cent more power than it consumes... Around the same time that Samsø was designated Denmark's renewable-energy island, a group of Swiss scientists who were working on similar issues... asked themselves what level of energy use would be sustainable, not just for an island or a small European nation but for the entire world. The answer they came up with -- two thousand watts [20 100-watt bulbs burning 24/7] per person -- furnished the name for a new project: the 2,000 Watt Society... Most of the people in the world today consume far less than this. The average Bangladeshi, for example, uses... the equivalent of using roughly three hundred watts continuously... China [is] a fifteen-hundred-watt society... Those of us who live in the industrialized world, by contrast, consume far more than two thousand watts... Most Western European countries are six-thousand-watt societies; the United States and Canada run at twelve thousand watts. One of the founding principles of the 2,000-Watt Society is that this disparity is in itself unsustainable... Few parts of the U.S. may be as windy as Samsø, or as well organized as Switzerland, but just about everywhere there are possibilities for generating energy more inventively and using it more intelligently. Realizing these possibilities will require a great deal of effort. We may well decide not to make this effort. Such a choice to put off change, however, will merely drive us toward it."

City of Houston Gives Wind Power a Turn. By Jeffrey Ball, WSJ, July 2, 2008, subscription. "The heart of the U.S. oil patch on Tuesday began using wind-powered electricity for about a fourth of its municipal power needs at a lower price than it is paying for power produced from coal and natural gas, city officials said. The move shows how renewable energy's prospects are improving at a time of soaring fossil-fuel prices. Long derided as an expensive niche, wind power now is moving closer to the mainstream. Houston's push also underscores how far renewable energy has to go. Wind power has taken hold more in Texas than in many other states, both because the western part of the state is breezy and because Texas has enacted a mandate designed to boost wind-power generation. The federal government has rejected calls to implement that kind of mandate nationally."

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Suppressed World Bank Report Finds Biofuels Responsible for 75% of Global Rise in Food Prices. By Aditya Chakrabortty, Guardian (UK), July 4, 2008. "Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% -- far more than previously estimated -- according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian. The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at the global financial body. The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil. Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush... The report's author, Don Mitchell, is a senior economist at the Bank and has done a detailed, month-by-month analysis of the surge in food prices, which allows much closer examination of the link between biofuels and food supply."

Colombia Finds Biofuels Bonanza in Sugar Cane. By John Otis, HoustonChron, July 6, 2008. "Colombia's biofuels industry is growing by leaps and bounds... The world's sudden thirst for biofuels came at precisely the right moment for Colombia's sugar growers. Not only did world prices for the sweetener drop from nearly 15 cents to 10 cents a pound last year, but the weakening dollar meant less income for sugar exporters. In 2007, their profits plummeted by 44 percent... These days, however, mills are shifting much of the cane from sugar to ethanol production, which is far more profitable."

Kenyan Biofuel Threatens River Delta. BBC, July 2, 2008. "Kenyan environmentalists [say that the Kenyan] government should revoke a decision to allow a controversial biofuels project to go ahead. The project involves growing sugarcane for biofuels in coastal wetlands. The project's backers argue the development in the Tana River Delta will produce ethanol and generate power, providing thousands of jobs. But Nature Kenya says the project threatens the habitat of hundreds of species in the 20,000-hectare site. 'Clearly these species are going to be really negatively impacted,' [said] Sarah Munguti, the organization's spokeswoman... The area, more than 100km (62 miles) north of the port city of Mombasa, has 350 species of birds as well as lions, elephants, rare sharks and reptiles including the Tana writhing skink, according to the UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds... The Tana Integrated Sugar Project aims to produce 23 million litres of ethanol a year."

GOP Reps Petition EPA to Reduce Ethanol Requirements. By Dina Cappiello, AP, June 30, 2008. "More than four dozen House Republicans asked the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to reduce required ethanol production this year, saying renewable fuel standards enacted by Congress will boost already high corn prices in the wake of Midwest floods. 'The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is a significant factor in the increased cost of commodities, which is causing severe economic harm for low-income Americans and livestock producers,' the 51 lawmakers, led by Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, senior Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, said in a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson... Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked EPA in April to cut by half a requirement in last year's energy law to produce 9 billion gallons of ethanol in 2008 for blending into gasoline. That's 30 percent to 35 percent of the nation's corn crop this year, the Agriculture Department says. Corn prices have surged more than 80 percent in the past year due to sharp increases in global demand to feed people and livestock and to make ethanol for gasoline blends. Recent flooding in the Midwest and drought in the South reducing this year's corn crop will only add to the supply pressure. The Agriculture Department reported Monday that farmers will harvest 9 percent fewer acres of corn this year in part because of the flooding. A 2005 energy law allows individual states to seek a reduction in the renewable fuel standard if they can show it will harm the economy or environment. An EPA decision on Texas' appeal is expected in July."

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Drilling for Gas in PA.By Harold Brubaker, PhilyInquirer, July 6, 2008. "In a time of relentlessly rising energy prices, industry is after one of the hottest prospects in the United States -- gas trapped in the pores of a 365 million-year-old layer of rock called Marcellus shale that stretches from New York through West Virginia. It is especially promising in northeastern Pennsylvania. And especially troubling to local environmentalists. Drilling will lead to 'contaminated drinking water, carcinogens in the farmland and food chain, torn-up roads, risk of explosions, toxic air pollution, plummeting real estate values, and screeching noise pollution,' the group Damascus Citizens for Sustainability warns."

The Quest for Florida's Offshore Oil Has Begun. By Melissa Nelson, AP, July 5, 2008. "Record crude oil prices are fueling support for oil and natural gas exploration off the nation's shores. In Florida, movement was underway even before President Bush called on Congress last month to lift a federal moratorium that's barred new offshore drilling since 1981... The early activity here stems from a 2006 Congressional compromise that allows drilling on 8.3 million acres more than 125 miles off the Panhandle -- an area that had been covered by the moratorium, which was enacted out of environmental concerns. In exchange, the state got a no-drilling buffer along the rest of its beaches... In March, four companies -- Australia-based BHP Billiton Petroleum Deepwater Inc., Houston-based Anadarko E&P Co., Shell Offshore Inc. and Italian oil and natural gas company Eni SpA -- purchased leases on 36 Gulf of Mexico tracts under the 2006 compromise... The 1981 moratorium -- enacted out of environmental concerns in response to a massive oil spill off the Santa Barbara coast a decade earlier -- has prevented the Interior Department from spending money on offshore oil or gas leases in virtually all coastal waters outside the western Gulf of Mexico and in some areas off Alaska... The ban won't be lifted without a fight. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who has led opposition to offshore drilling among the state's Congressional delegation, criticized the governor for reversing his position, accusing [Florida Gov. Charlie] Crist and [John] McCain of putting oil company profits before protecting the state's $65 billion annual tourism industry."

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Georgia Judge Cites Supreme Court Ruling on CO2 in Denying Permit for Coal Plant. By Greg Bluestein, AP, June 30, 2008. "The construction of a coal-fired power plant in Georgia was halted Monday when a judge ruled that the plant's builders must first obtain a permit from state regulators that limits the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. Fulton County Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore's decision overturned a ruling that allowed the construction of the $2 billion Longleaf Energy Plant, which would become Georgia's first new coal-fired plant in more than two decades. Environmentalists said the decision marks the first time that a judge has applied a U.S. Supreme Court finding that carbon dioxide is a pollutant to emissions from an industrial source... 'We will be taking this decision and making the same arguments to push for an end to conventional coal,' said Bruce Nilles, who oversees the Sierra Club's national coal campaign. The plant's developers, LS Power and Dynegy Inc., said they planned to appeal."

The Case For and Against Nuclear Power. By Michael Totty, WSJ, June 30, 2008, subscription. "NUCLEAR'S THE ANSWER... One of the biggest dangers to our security is from oil nations providing support to anti-U.S. terrorist groups. The faster we can move away from carbon-based energy, the faster we take away that funding source. Nuclear energy offers [for reasons spelled out in article] the fastest and most direct path to that safer future... NO TO NUCLEAR... If nuclear power really were able to make a big dent in greenhouse emissions, then it would be worth the time and resources necessary to address all these problems [spelled out in the article]. Instead, though, the magnitude of these difficulties will keep any nuclear renaissance too small to make a difference, and will require expensive government support just to achieve modest gains. Those resources are better spent elsewhere." [Editor's Note: Readers unable to access the full article can request it -- and other such article -- from CCC by return email.]

G8 Expected to Agree to Expand Use of Nuclear Power. Asia Pacific News, June 30, 2008. "Group of Eight leaders were expected to agree to expand the use of civil nuclear power to fight climate change at the upcoming Toyako summit July 7-9, according to Japanese media Monday. The world's seven largest economies and Russia expect to reach a consensus next week in Toyako, Japan, on a new initiative for the use of nuclear power while pledging three principles of nonproliferation, safety and nuclear security, Kyodo News Agency said citing a draft of a post-summit statement. The draft said: 'recognizing that ensuring safeguards (nuclear nonproliferation), nuclear safety and nuclear security (3S) forms a sound basis for international transparency and confidence in the sustainable development of nuclear power, we agree on a G8 initiative to assist countries in ensuring 3S.' The G8 would seek cooperation from the International Atomic Energy Agency in promoting the nuclear power and keeping the three principles so that the nuclear energy would be restricted to the peaceful use, the draft said. Acknowledging that participation from emerging economies is essential, the group was also expected to urge China, India and other major developing nations to join global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The draft made no mention of a Japan-proposed target to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but showed the G8 leaders would agree to set national goals and make action plans."

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G-8 Convenes to Discuss Oil Crisis and World Recession. By Linda Sieg, Reuters, July 5, 2008. "Leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations meet this week in northern Japan to grapple with a raft of problems from soaring food and fuel prices to African poverty and global warming amid doubts about how much the annual diplomatic pageant can achieve. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Canada and the United States will be joined during the July 7-9 meetings at a luxury hotel in the lakeside resort of Toyako by heads of seven African states and major economies including China and India. That makes this the largest such gathering since the event began more than three decades ago when a cozier club of the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain and Italy met at the Chateau de Rambouillet outside Paris in November 1975 to discuss the oil crisis and a world recession. The themes sound familiar, but the scale of the summitry, which draw huge media coverage, countless activists and sometimes violent protests, has some charging that the event has got out of hand... At the same time, the relative clout of the core group has shrunk. The G6 accounted for about 48 percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) in 1975, but by 2006 the G8's share had slipped to around 43 percent. Over the same period, the share of five big emerging economies that call themselves the Group of Five -- China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa -- grew to 27 percent from 12 percent, measured by the purchasing power of their currencies."

G-8 Climate Scorecard Shows U.S. in Last. By Patrick McGroarty, AP, July 3, 2008. "The U.S. has done the least among the world's eight largest economies to address global warming, a study released Thursday found. The G-8 Climate Scorecards 2008 [PDF, 48 pp], released Thursday ahead of next week's gathering of the Group of Eight on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, also found that none of the eight countries are making improvements large enough to prevent temperature increases that scientists think would cause catastrophic climate changes. The gathering includes the heads of states of the U.S., Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia. Regine Guenther, director of the World Wildlife Fund Climate Change Program in Germany, told reporters in the German capital that G-8 leaders should commit to reducing emissions in their countries 40 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. 'If we don't achieve that, the world's climate will change in ways that we can't even imagine today,' Guenther said. The scorecard ranked Britain as the developed nation that has done the most to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and reach targets set by the Kyoto Protocol. France and Germany are close behind. Germany was praised for its investment in renewable energy. 'But all three countries are at best half as far along the road as they should be,' a statement announcing the study said."

Bush Makes Final Push for Global Climate Deal. ByMichael Abramowitz and Blaine Harden, WashPost, July 3, 2008. "In his final months in office, President Bush is mounting a last-ditch effort to forge a new global deal to limit greenhouse-gas emissions but finds himself once again at odds with much of the rest of the world on how to address climate change. Bush aides said a deal might be struck when the president sits down next week in Japan with the leaders of the world's largest industrialized nations and developing countries such as China and India. Japan is pushing for leaders at the Group of Eight summit to agree to a goal of cutting global carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2050, a proposal that the White House appears to be considering seriously. The Bush administration is also conducting negotiations with countries on including more-specific targets for each to meet by 2020 or 2025. Germany is pushing for more-significant cuts in emissions than the United States and some other countries are willing to consider, while China and India want the United States and other industrialized countries to do most of the heavy lifting for the next 10 to 15 years. Previewing his G-8 agenda yesterday in the Rose Garden, Bush emphasized the necessity of including the developing countries in any agreement struck by his administration... Environmentalists contend that Bush's moves on global warming are too little, too late. They say even an agreement on a long-term goal would be meaningless because it would likely not bind the United States to making actual reductions. In many ways, they said, G-8 nations have begun to shift their focus to presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, both of whom have indicated a willingness to consider steeper reductions than Bush -- the kind of cuts the White House regards as unrealistic... Anything that the leaders agree to next week would have to be worked into a treaty that the United Nations hopes to conclude by the end of 2009 in Copenhagen."

Blair Issues Climate Plan Aimed at G8 and Post-Kyoto Treaty. By Brian Walsh, Time, June 27, 2008. "On Friday in Japan, where the G8 summit of global leaders will convene next week, [Former British Prime Minister Tony] Blair released a global warming report titled Breaking the Climate Deadlock:  A Global Deal for Our Low Carbon Future [PDF, 66 pp] that he'd helped guide with The Climate Group, a London-based environmental NGO. The study plots a roadmap for international climate negotiations between now and the end of 2009, when the world's nations will meet in Copenhagen to hammer out a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012... global warming is likely to be high on the agenda at the G8, where leaders from the world's biggest economies, along with representatives from major developing nations like China and India, will try to set a long-term goal for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. Speaking in Tokyo, Blair urged world leaders to commit to cutting global carbon emissions 50% by 2050 -- including developing nations, which have no obligations under Kyoto -- and paving the way toward a firm interim target for cuts by developed nations by 2020... Blair seems resolute to meet the climate challenge... 'If you've got children, you want them to grow up in a world that doesn't have catastrophic climate change,' he said."

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American Energy Policy, Asleep at the Spigot. Commentary by Nelson D. Schwartz, NYTimes, July 6, 2008. "For all the surprise at just how high oil prices have climbed, and fears for the future, this is one crisis we were warned about. Ever since the oil shortages of the 1970s, one report after another has cautioned against America's oil addiction. Even as politicians heatedly debate opening new regions to drilling, corralling energy speculators, or starting an Apollo-like effort to find renewable energy supplies, analysts say the real source of the problem is closer to home. In fact, it's parked in our driveways. Nearly 70 percent of the 21 million barrels of oil the United States consumes every day goes for transportation, with the bulk of that burned by individual drivers, according to the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan research group that advises Congress.' Although oil prices remained low through the 1990s, consumption patterns were taking an ominous turn... In recent years, [former EPA Administrator William K.] Reilly says that both the White House and Congress have passed up opportunities to call for higher gas taxes and fuel standards in the name of national security, especially after the Sept. 11 attacks. 'We could have, but we didn't, says Mr. Reilly, who describes himself as a moderate Republican. 'It's part of a long pattern in which Democrats and Republicans have not wanted to wade into this issue.'"

India Unveils Climate Plan Emphasizing Renewables. By Krittivas Mukherjee, Reuters, June 30, 2008. "India unveiled on Monday a national plan to deal with the threat of global warming, focusing on renewable energy for sustainable development while refusing to commit to any emission targets that risk slowing economic growth. The National Action Plan identified harnessing renewable energy, such as solar power, and energy efficiency as central to India's fight against global warming and said a climate change fund would be set up to research 'green' technologies... In spite of its pledge to clean technology, coal remains the backbone of India's power sector -- accounting for about 60 percent of generation -- with the government planning to add some 70,000 megawatts in the next five years... India says it must use more energy to lift its population from poverty and that its per-capita emissions are a fraction of those in rich nations, which have burnt fossil fuels unhindered since the industrial revolution. India's per-capita emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, were 1.2 tons in 2004, compared with 20.6 tons for the United States for the same year, according to U.N. data. India, whose economy has grown by 8-9 percent annually in recent years, contributes around 4 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 'Despite our development imperatives, our per capita GHG emissions will not exceed the per capita GHG emissions of the developed industrialized countries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said."

Gandhi Inspires Indian Emission Plan. By Matt Wade, Brisbane Times (AU), July 2, 2008. "When Mahatma Gandhi said the 'earth provides enough to satisfy everyone's need, but not everyone's greed' little did he know his words would one day be applied to the politics of greenhouse gas emissions. When the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, revealed Indian's new climate change action plan on Monday he said the spirit of Gandhi's famous warning must underpin the world's response to global warming. 'Every citizen of this planet must have an equal share of the planetary atmospheric space,' Dr Singh said. The action plan commits India to a gradual shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But it also demands that big emitters such as Australia and the US take steps to ensure that per capita emissions move into line with the global norm."

McCain and Obama Share Energy Goals, Not Methods. By Ariel Sabar, CSM, June 30, 2008."With fuel topping $4 a gallon and oil at a record price, energy now ties the economy in polls as voters' top concern, and the presidential candidates spent the past week trying to outflank each other on an issue that's thinning billfolds from Maine to California. Their plans share key goals -- less reliance on foreign oil, a push for cleaner fuels -- but their methods differ sharply. Senator McCain... wants 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030 and an end to the federal moratorium on new offshore drilling. He would use market lures -- tax rebates for electric cars, a $300 million prize for a better car battery -- to promote alternative sources of energy. He would offer motorists immediate relief in the form of a hiatus in the federal gas tax... Senator Obama... opposes new offshore drilling and is wary of nuclear power. He would double auto fuel-efficiency standards within 18 years, subsidize development of ethanol, and force power companies to generate one-quarter of their energy from wind, solar, and other renewable sources by 2025. An opponent of the gas-tax holiday, Obama favors a 'windfall profits' tax on multinational oil companies... In many ways, their approaches square with party ideology. On the Republican side, financial carrots and a significant role for the private sector. On the Democratic side, subsidies, taxes, and regulation. But in a departure from GOP predecessors, McCain has refused to cede the 'green' label to his Democratic rival. His aides say his plan strikes the right balance among short-term relief for consumers, environmental stewardship, and long-term energy independence. They have taken to calling Obama 'Dr. No,' portraying him as an obstructionist with too narrow a view of the country's energy woes."

White House Blocks EPA Emissions Draft. By Ian Talley and Siobhan Hughes, WSJ, June 30, 2008, subscription. "The White House is trying to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from publishing a document that could become the legal roadmap for regulating greenhouse-gas emissions in the U.S., said people close to the matter. The fight over the document is the latest development in a long-running conflict between the EPA and the White House over climate-change policy. It will likely intensify ongoing Congressional investigations into the Bush administration's involvement in the agency's policymaking. The draft document, which has been viewed by The Wall Street Journal, outlines how the government, under the Clean Air Act, could regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from mobile sources such as cars, trucks, trains, planes and boats, and from stationary sources such as power stations, chemical plants and refineries. The document is based on a multimillion-dollar study conducted over two years. The White House's Office of Management and Budget has asked the EPA to delete sections of the document that say such emissions endanger public welfare, say how those gases could be regulated, and show an analysis of the cost of regulating greenhouse gases in the U.S. and other countries. The OMB instead wants the document to show that the Clean Air Act is flawed and that greenhouse-gas regulations should be developed under new legislation, several people close to the matter said. The EPA needs to clear a final draft with the White House in order to release the document."

A Day to Celebrate. By Charles Komanoff, Carbon Tax Center, June 30, 2008. "[Today, on Canada Day] British Columbia becomes the first state or province in the Western Hemisphere with a comprehensive, revenue-neutral carbon tax. The BC carbon tax starts at a level of $10 (Canadian) per metric ton of carbon dioxide, equivalent to 2.41 (Canadian) cents per litre of gasoline. In U.S. terms and at current exchange rates, that's $8.91 per short ton, or just under 9 cents per gallon of gas. The rate rises by $5 in each of the next four years, reaching $30 Canadian per tonne (U.S. $26.73 per ton) in 2012... The revenues [will be dedicated] to four tax reduction measures: 1) A new Climate Action Credit will pay lower-income BC'ers $100 per adult and $30 per child per year. 2) The bottom two personal income tax rates have been reduced by 2% on the first $70,000 in earnings. 3) The corporate income tax rate has been reduced to 11% from the current 12%. 4) The small business tax rate has been cut to 3.5% from 4.5%. Each provision will expand in tandem with the tax rate... The [Finance] Ministry last week preceded the tax with what it calls 'an immediate Climate Action Dividend' -- $100 for every man, woman and child in British Columbia -- via dividend checks sent to province residents."

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Environmentalists Join Utilities in Opposing California Renewable Energy Ballot Initiative. By John Wildermuth, SFChron, July 6, 2008. "A November ballot measure to boost the amount of renewable energy generated by California utilities has attracted a wildly diverse group of opponents -- from the Natural Resources Defense Council to the Democratic Party and Pacific Gas and Electric Co... Jim Gonzalez, the former San Francisco supervisor... [is] behind Proposition 7 [CA 2008 ballot measures], Solar and Clean Energy Act of 2008 [PDF, 43 pp]... Peter Sperling, son of John Sperling, the billionaire founder of University of Phoenix and a longtime supporter of liberal causes... already has put $3 million into the initiative campaign... Many [of the environmental groups opposing Prop 7] had been working on energy legislation for years, were never really brought into the initiative effort, said Ralph Cavanaugh of the Natural Resources Defense Council... The initiative sets up such a detailed plan for dealing with renewable energy and siting and building the new, greener power plants that it opens the way for many unintended consequences, Cavanaugh said. Even groups closely involved with renewable energy, such as the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology, have lined up against Prop. 7."

Utah is going to a 4-day workweek to save energy. By Mike Stark, AP, July 4, 2008. "In a yearlong experiment aimed at reducing the state's energy costs and commuters' gasoline expenses, Utah is about to become the first state to switch to a four-day workweek for thousands of government employees. The order issued by Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman will affect about 17,000 out of 24,000 executive-branch employees."

Pennsylvania Assembly Passes First Global Warming Law. ENS, July 3, 2008. "Global warming legislation will be enacted for the first time in Pennsylvania when Governor Ed Rendell signs the Pennsylvania Climate Change Act as he is expected to do. The measure was overwhelmingly approved today by both houses of the Pennsylvania General Assembly... The measure will require Pennsylvania to conduct an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and set up a registry for business and industry where they can track their emissions and get credit for pollution reductions. The bill provides for an stakeholder advisory group for the state Department of Environmental Protection and requires the DEP to develop a state plan to reduce emissions."

Massachusetts Landmark Energy Bill Signed into Law. By Beth Daley, BGlobe, July 3, 2008. "Governor Deval Patrick signed a landmark energy bill yesterday that does away with long-standing obstacles to building renewable power projects in Massachusetts and making homes and businesses more energy efficient. The Green Communities Act was hailed by environmentalists as among the most innovative efforts in the nation to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and to encourage use of clean technologies that don't contribute to global warming. The law will probably result in utilities' designing customized plans for homeowners and businesses to cut energy costs and providing rebates to pay for measures such as installing insulating windows and more efficient boilers.Homeowners and businesses will be able to rent solar panels from utilities to avoid expensive up-front costs, and the law makes it easier for homeowners who have installed wind turbines or solar panels to sell surplus energy. Supporters said the new law could save hundreds of millions of dollars through energy efficiency, helping to hold down consumers' electric bills as energy prices are skyrocketing. 'I am here today to sign into law the best clean energy bill in America,' a jubilant Patrick said during a signing ceremony at the Museum of Science. 'Climate change is the challenge of our times, and we in Massachusetts are rising to that challenge.' Massachusetts has long been a leader in energy legislation, and it is taking part in a regional effort to reduce greenhouse gases from power plants. Patrick has set an aggressive goal to increase solar power in the state by 600 percent in four years."

Western Govs Hope to Sway Future Energy Policy. By Matt Joyce, AP, July 2, 2008."Citing a lack of federal leadership, the nation's Western governors want to draft a national energy policy they hope will influence the next presidential administration. Governors participating in the final day of the Western Governors' Association meeting in Wyoming said their resource-rich region is well positioned to take the lead on the issue... Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said, 'This group is very, very serious about putting forward a policy recommendation to the next administration.' Tuesday's meeting wrapped up three days of discussions on issues related to energy, climate change, water supply and wildlife habitat. Over the next several months, representatives from the governors' offices will craft the energy policy proposal."

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Pedaling Against Global Warming in Turkey. Turkish Daily News, July 6, 2008. "Seven members of an ?zmir cycling association... [are on a 10-day] 700-kilometer trip to draw attention to global warming... Tour leader Mehmet Sava?ç?o?lu said members of the group have been telling locals in the villages they pass through the reasons and consequences of global warming, and the cautions people can take individually against the growing environmental problem. They advocate for the use of bicycles instead of motorcycles, and suggest turning off unused electronic equipment in houses. Emphasizing that the group's goal is 'to leave a livable world,' Savc?o?u said, 'The antagonists of global warming are the nations that don't sign the Kyoto contract.'"

Australian Greenpeace Protesters Chain Themselves to Coal Power-Plant Conveyor Belts. New.com (AU), July 3, 2008. "Greenpeace protesters chained themselves to coal conveyor belts at the Eraring power station on the New South Wales Central Coast in a protest against carbon dioxide emissions...Police said they arrested 19 Greenpeace protesters... One of the arrested protesters, Graham Brown, a retired coal miner, said Australia must make a more rapid transition from coal-fired power to renewable energy. 'Renewable energy is the future and it's bright,' he said... Greenpeace says Eraring is Australia's most polluting coal-fired power station. These plants were responsible for half the state's greenhouse pollution, it said, and Eraring was the 'biggest culprit,' sending nearly 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the air every year."

Canadian Greenpeace Website Takes Aim at Alberta Oilsands. By James Emery, Cochrane Times (Alberta), July 2, 2008. "Greenpeace has launched a new web site that takes aim at Alberta's oil sands development and says it can save tourists the trip of having to see the pollution and toxins it produces for themselves. TravellingAlberta.com was launched June 24 and is a tongue-in-cheek travel site that uses humour to try and communicate their message of how destructive they believe the oilsands development is to the environment... The site was launched 'in reaction to the provincial government announcing a $25-million public relations campaign to try and tell the world that the tar sands are being managed environmentally and really to sort of counter that claim,' said Mike Hudema, tar sands campaigner for Greenpeace Canada... 'One of the biggest reasons people come to Alberta is because of Alberta's natural beauty,' Hudema continued. 'People come here for clean and running streams, intact forests, and a lot of that is being lost with this development.' The site is a staunch attack on the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and their website www.canadasoilsands.ca, but a spokesperson said they're not concerned with Greepeace's newest campaign."

Faith in Action. By Ashly McGlone, Religion News Service, June 30, 2008. "From Christians in Hawaii to Buddhists in Connecticut, and from Jews in New York to Muslims in Wisconsin, people of all walks of faith are finding a myriad of ways to care for the environment, according to a [new] report from the Sierra Club. According to the Faith in Action Report [PDF, 36 pp]... 67% of Americans said they care about the environment because it is God's creation. Highlighting faith-based environmental initiatives in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, the report praises the 'breadth, depth and diversity of spiritually motivated grassroots efforts to protect the planet'... The report highlights different programs, from Episcopalians working to restrict oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to a large-scale recycling program at a Southern Baptist megachurch near Orlando. The report said faith communities are leading a new eco-conscious wave that is rolling across the nation, 'greening' all areas of religious and secular life... reducing their carbon emissions, protecting endangered species, launching energy awareness campaigns, etc."

People Need to Take Notice. By Ted Glick, U.S. Climate Emergency Council, June 29, 2008."Dr. James Hansen is a, if not the, leading climate scientist in the USA and probably the world. When he says, as he did a week ago before a Congressional hearing in Washington, that avoiding catastrophic climate change 'requires a transformative change of direction in Washington in the next year,' people really need to take notice... Many people who understand the urgency of this issue have been unwilling to... take it seriously in their lives, to talk about it and act upon it consistently, day after day after day... We all have an obligation to internalize the seriousness and the priority of the climate crisis and to speak and act accordingly... The most important task right now is do everything we can to bring this issue into the 2008 elections for President and Congress...: No new coal plants, invest in renewables, cap and rapidly reduce carbon pollution, and 5 million green jobs in a sweeping national mobilization for change."

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At $9 a Gallon, British Driving Habits Change. By Mark Rice-Oxley, CSM, July 2, 2008. "Reacting to the $9 per gallon gas prices, Britons are driving less, opting instead for public transportation, car pools, and a reduced number of overall car trips. Recent surveys show that Britain is leading the way with the change in driving habits, probably because pump prices here are higher than the global average. British demand for gasoline fell by around 8 percent year-on-year in January and February. Across the globe, governments are dealing with a string of protests by truckers, fishermen, and others stung by price hikes. The movement will escalate in Britain on Wednesday when thousands of truckers descend on London to demand urgent financial relief, with the threat of blockades and civil disobedience. Their protest follows Operation Escargot in France, during which truck drivers drove at a snail's pace to protest the high price of fuel, causing major traffic jams through June. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a Paris-based think tank, the decline in driving is the same across Europe. 'The rest of Europe is pretty much in line with that, although in the UK the effect is slightly higher because prices are higher [here] than elsewhere,' says Eduardo Lopez, an oil market demand expert at the IEA."

Tax Incentives Drying Up for Popular Hybrid Cars. By Martin Zimmerman, LATimes, June 28, 2008. "On Tuesday [today], the tax credit on the No. 3-selling Honda Civic hybrid will be cut in half, from $1,050 to $525. It will disappear altogether at the end of the year. The credit on the top-selling Toyota Prius, once $3,150, and the No. 2 Toyota Camry hybrid, vanished last fall. According to the 2005 federal law that established the hybrid credit, the tax break begins to phase out after a manufacturer sells 60,000 qualifying vehicles."

For NYC Bicycle Commuters Parking is Scarce. By Colin Moynihan, NYTimes, July 1, 2008. "At a time when, city officials say, the number of people cycling in New York is soaring and the city has been implementing a plan to create 200 miles of new bike lanes, one glaring problem for those who want to cycle to work is the shortage of parking, particularly in areas like Midtown Manhattan. 'It's one of the biggest missing links preventing New York from being a world-class bicycling city,' said Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group that promotes bicycling. 'It's the No. 1 reason that serious, savvy cyclists don't use their bikes to get to work.'"

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U.N. Reports Big Jump in 'Green Energy' Investment. By John Heilperin, AP, July 2, 2008. "Global investors plowed $148 billion into new wind, solar and other alternative energy assets last year, in what the United Nations describes as a 'green energy gold rush' gaining speed the last several years. The spike in investment - 60 percent above the $92.6 billion spent on such projects in 2006 - reflects sharply rising concerns over climate change and energy prices, U.N. officials said in a report [PDF, summary, 6 pp] Tuesday. In 2005, alternative energy drew $58.5 billion in new money... U.N. Undersecretary-General Achim Steiner, who heads the U.N. Environment Program, said the agency's report on global trends in sustainable energy investment indicates a 'green energy gold rush is attracting legions of modern-day prospectors in all parts of the globe'... Wind energy led last year, drawing $50 billion in new investments, a more than 40 percent rise from 2006, according to the report. Solar power was the fastest-growing sector, rising almost 90 percent to $28 billion... Most of the new money flowed into Europe, followed by the U.S., the report said. But it noted there is growing interest in green technologies in China, India and Brazil, emerging economies that have become major emitters of greenhouse gases."

Wal-Mart Buying More Fruits and Veggies Locally. By Nicole Maestri, Reuters, July 1, 2008. "Wal-Mart Stores Inc is sourcing more produce sold in its U.S. supercenters and Neighborhood Market stores from local farmers as it tries to offset the soaring transportation costs that are driving up food prices. The world's largest retailer said on Tuesday it had increased the number of local U.S. farmers that it works with by 50 percent in the past two years, and it would like to continue expanding that figure at a double-digit rate. While Wal-Mart declined to provide an exact figure, it said it now works with 'hundreds' of individual farmers, and this year it expects to source about $400 million in locally grown fruits and vegetables from farmers across the United States. 'When we're buying local, there are less trucks on the road, less miles that the produce is traveling and therefore less fuel,' said Pam Kohn, Wal-Mart's general merchandise manager for grocery. Wal-Mart defines local as buying from farmers in a state and selling the produce at stores in the same state. Over the summer months, it said locally sourced fruits and vegetables make up a fifth of the produce available in Wal-Mart stores. Grocery is a big business for the company, accounting for 41 percent of sales in its U.S. Wal-Mart stores for its fiscal year ended January 31. As food prices rise, shoppers have been flocking to its stores in search of cheaper groceries."

Solution, or Mess? A 'Green' Milk Jug. By Stephanie Rosenbloom, NYTimes, June 30, 2008. "A simple change to the design of the gallon milk jug, adopted by Wal-Mart and Costco, seems made for the times. The jugs are cheaper to ship and better for the environment, the milk is fresher when it arrives in stores, and it costs less. What's not to like? Plenty, as it turns out. The jugs have no real spout, and their unorthodox shape makes consumers feel like novices at the simple task of pouring a glass of milk. 'I hate it,' said Lisa DeHoff, a cafe owner shopping in a Sam's Club... But retailers are undeterred... The new jugs have many advantages from their point of view, and Sam's Club intends to roll them out broadly, making them more prevalent... The redesign of the gallon milk jug, experts say, is an example of the changes likely to play out in the American economy over the next two decades. In an era of soaring global demand and higher costs for energy and materials, virtually every aspect of the economy needs to be re-examined, they say, and many products must be redesigned for greater efficiency... But if the milk jug is any indication, some of the changes will take getting used to on the part of consumers."

Princeton Gets a $100 Million Gift for Climate Change Studies. By Tom Avril, Philadelphia Inquirer, July 2, 2008. "Princeton University plans to announce a $100 million gift today that will establish a major new engineering center to tackle the issues of energy and the environment, with a strong focus on climate change. The gift, from alumnus and business executive Gerhard R. Andlinger, is tied with two others for the largest made to the university. The money represents the initial piece of what will be $400 million in university spending on these issues over the next decade, Princeton president Shirley M. Tilghman said in a phone interview. Princeton already has strong programs addressing both policy and basic science related to global warming and energy use. The new Andlinger gift is designed to enable the engineering school to develop technological solutions for the marketplace. A handful of other universities have strong interdisciplinary approaches like this one, but Princeton has an added benefit purely because of its location, said David G. Hawkins, director of climate programs for... NRDC. Just across Route 1 are two prominent institutions, both with strong ties to Princeton, that study key pieces of the climate puzzle: The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is in the business of modeling the earth's climate. The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, seeks to harness the power of nuclear fusion... Andlinger, 77, a native of Austria, first visited the United States in 1948 as the winner of a newspaper essay contest. He later entered Princeton on a scholarship as a junior, graduating in 1952. He is chairman and founder of Andlinger & Co., an investment firm in Tarrytown, N.Y. Andlinger's son Merrick, who graduated from Princeton in 1980 and is president of the firm, said his father felt the need to address the climate issue after his work with various companies in the 'energy and carbon sectors.'"

Belgian Architect Proposes Floating Cities. Newslite.tv, July 4, 2008. "Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut... says he has come up with a answer to the problems of rising sea waters - floating cities.Each 'Lilypad' would be capable of housing 50,000... [They] would be built around a lake which purified rain water... Inspired by the highly ribbed leave of the great lilypad of Amazonia, Victoria Regia, he is certain technological advances will make the construction of the cities a possibility by the time we need them. He is now calling for governments to spend money developing the idea rather than trying to increase flood defenses. 'Whereas the Netherlands and the United Arabic Emirates fatten their beach with billion of euros to build their short-living polders and their protective dams for a decade, Lilypad deals with a tenable solution to the water rising,' he said. 'It is a true amphibian half aquatic and half terrestrial city, able to accommodate 50,000 inhabitants and inviting the biodiversity to develop its fauna and flora around a central lagoon of soft water collecting and purifying the rain waters. The goal is to create a harmonious coexistence of the couple Human / Nature and to explore new modes of living the sea by building with fluidity collective spaces in proximity, overwhelming spaces of social inclusion suitable to the meeting of all the inhabitants - denizen or foreign-born, recent or old, young or aged people."

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Hot Future Shock: Heat Wave Temperatures to Soar. By Seth Borenstein, AP, July 3, 2008. "During the European heat wave of 2003 that killed tens of thousands, the temperature in parts of France hit 104 degrees. Nearly 15,000 people died in that country alone. During the Chicago heat wave of 1995, the mercury spiked at 106 and about 600 people died. In a few decades, people will look back at those heat waves "and we will laugh," said Andreas Sterl, author of a new study. 'We will find (those temperatures) lovely and cool.' Sterl's computer model shows that by the end of the century, high temperatures for once-in-a-generation heat waves will rise twice as fast as everyday average temperatures. Chicago, for example, would reach 115 degrees in such an event by 2100. Paris heat waves could near 109 with Lyon coming closer to 114. Sterl, who is with the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, projects temperatures for rare heat waves around the world in a study soon to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. His numbers are blistering because of the drying-out effect of a warming world. Most global warming research focuses on average daily temperatures instead of these extremes, which cause greater damage. His study projects a peak of 117 for Los Angeles and 110 for Atlanta by 2100; that's 5 degrees higher than the current records for those cities. Kansas City faces the prospect of a 116-degree heat wave, with its current all-time high at 109, according to the National Climactic Data Center."

Global Warming Is a Cause of This Year's Extreme Weather. Commentary by Sharon Begley, Newsweek, July 7-14 issue. "It's almost a point of pride with climatologists. Whenever someplace is hit with a heat wave, drought, killer storm or other extreme weather, scientists trip over themselves to absolve global warming. No particular weather event, goes the mantra, can be blamed on something so general. Extreme weather occurred before humans began loading up the atmosphere with heat-trapping greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. So this storm or that heat wave could be the result of the same natural forces that prevailed 100 years ago -- random movements of air masses, unlucky confluences of high- and low-pressure systems -- rather than global warming... This pretense has worn thin. The frequency of downpours and heat waves, as well as the power of hurricanes, has increased so dramatically that '100-year storms' are striking some areas once every 15 years, and other once rare events keep returning like a bad penny. As a result, some climatologists now say global warming is to blame. Rising temperatures boost the probability of extreme weather, says Tom Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center and lead author of a new report [PDF, 180 pp] from the Bush administration's Climate Change Science Program." [See Report Predicts Severe Weather Increases As Earth Warms. By Juliet Eilperin, WashPost, June 20, 2008.]

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Why is the West Ablaze?. By Mark Shea, National Geographic, July issue. "While fire in densely populated California draws the most attention, forests and rangelands throughout the American West are burning at unprecedented rates. In 2006, wildfires burned 15,000 square miles across the country, a record nearly matched last year. Two-thirds of the burned acreage was in the West. One obvious cause is a decade of drought and warmer temperatures. Mountain snow melts earlier, and winter storms arrive later, extending the fire season in some regions by several weeks. Vast tracts of drought-weakened forest have succumbed to insects and disease, turning trees to tinder. In response, we have bolstered our fighter ranks, padded them with private contractors, provided them more hoses and axes and trucks. Annual federal spending on firefighting has leaped from $1 billion when the recent drought began in 1998 to more than $3 billion last year, with even greater costs forecast for the future. But the drought is only one part of the burn equation... By stamping out small fires and allowing fuel to stockpile, our policies ensured that when conditions were right, fire would return -- bigger, hotter, more destructive than ever. And the right conditions could become routine. Most climate models now strongly suggest that the recent drought is not just a temporary phenomenon but part of a long-term drying trend made worse by global warming. There comes a point where no amount of money, no measure of heroism, is enough... Fire becomes unstoppable."

With Help from Farm Bill, Vast Forests Preserved in Montana. By Kirk Johnson, NYTimes, July 1, 2008. "A huge patchwork of privately owned forest in northwest Montana -- much of it abutting wilderness, and together almost a third the size of Rhode Island - will be permanently protected from development under an agreement announced Monday by two private conservation groups, The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land. The groups will pay $510 million for about 500 square miles of forest now owned by Plum Creek Timber, a lumber and real estate firm based in Seattle. It is one of the biggest sales of forestland for preservation purposes in United States history, conservation experts said. About half the amount will come from private donations, the conservation buyers said, and about half from the federal government under a new tax-credit bond mechanism that was included in the giant farm bill recently passed by Congress over President Bush's veto. The bond mechanism was devised by Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana. Mr. Baucus, his spokesman said, was approached about a year ago by representatives of the Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land, who argued that development pressures were growing so intense that new tools had to be created to buy the Plum Creek properties if they were to be protected."