News Summary

Week of January 25, 2010

WHAT'S HOT

CNN poll: 3 of 4 Americans say much of stimulus money wasted
CNN
Nearly three out of four Americans think that at least half of the money spent in the federal stimulus plan has been wasted, according to a new national poll. Read More...

Global warming concerns again rank dead last in public's mind
Pew Research Center
A new Pew Research Center poll shows that dealing with global warming ranks at the bottom of the public's list of priorities. Read More...

EPA tightens NO2 standard
Greenwire
U.S. EPA today strengthened the federal public health standard for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution, a limit that has been in place for nearly four decades. Read More...

Glacier scientist: I knew data hadn't been verified
Daily Mail
The scientist behind the bogus claim in a Nobel Prize-winning UN report that Himalayan glaciers will have melted by 2035 last night admitted it was included purely to put political pressure on world leaders. Read More...

Justices overturn key campaign limits
New York Times
Sweeping aside a century-old understanding and overruling two important precedents, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections. Read More...

Expanded mining helps save the planet
Site Selection Magazine
Renewable energy, among other sectors, needs non-renewable resources to fuel growth. Read More...

Copenhagen dampens banks' green commitment
guardian.co.uk
Banks are pulling out of the carbon-offsetting market after Copenhagen failed to reach agreement on emissions targets. Read More...

State polls show voters opposed to federal cap-and-trade system
PR Newswire
The National Federation of Independent Business released 16 state surveys assessing voter concerns on the impact a cap-and-trade system would have on jobs, energy prices and economic growth. Read More...

Clean Water Act fix may not be navigable in 2010
E&E News
By all accounts, Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) will face an uphill battle this year if he tries to move a controversial bill to amend the Clean Water Act. Read More...

EPA's plan to set water-quality standards in Florida, a first
Miami Herald
The EPA's proposal for water pollution in Florida marks the first time the federal agency has intervened in a state to set legal limits. Read More...

CLIMATE NEWS
Sea icy off part of Antarctica despite fear of melt
Reuters
Sea water under an East Antarctic ice shelf showed no sign of higher temperatures despite fears of a thaw linked to global warming that could bring higher world ocean levels, first tests showed on Monday. Read More...

Opinion: Climate change camp experiencing a cooling-off period
Los Angeles Times
Climate change just isn't what it used to be. Case in point: The number of otherwise intelligent people who are saying that all the cold weather (in the East) and rain (here at home) are causing them to lose faith in the gospel of global warming. Read More...

Imported from Asia: Ozone
ENN
Ever wonder how the western U.S. has high ozone levels when the winds usually blow in off the Pacific Ocean? Did you think it was all from the cars clogging the freeways? Turns out, it is caused in part from emissions of ozone generating air pollutants from Asia. Read More...

Chu defends U.N. climate science, admin efforts on nuclear waste
New York Times/Greenwire
Energy Secretary Steven Chu dismissed accusations of fraud in climate science generated by the release last year of hacked e-mails between researchers, saying e-mails showed "warts and bumps" in the scientific process. Read More...

Past decade warmest on record, NASA data shows
New York Times
The decade ending in 2009 was the warmest on record, new surface temperature figures released Thursday by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration show. Read More...

Paving city parks might make them "greener" -- study
ClimateWire
Researchers in Southern California believe they have stumbled on a new way to cut greenhouse gas emissions: Eliminate the green. Read More...

ENERGY SECURITY

Interior chief Salazar's first year a gusher of controversy
Denver Post
Somewhere just after 12:30 p.m. on a cold Wednesday this month, the image of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as a Western pragmatist and wily political deal-maker evaporated in a cloud of heated rhetoric. Read More...

Offshore drilling language poses problems for 'energy only' bill
New York Times/Greenwire
The idea of passing an energy bill without cap and trade is gaining currency on Capitol Hill as Democratic leaders look at scaling back their agenda. But it may run into trouble from liberal and coastal lawmakers who oppose more offshore drilling. Read More...

New report denies oil drilling threat
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
In a setback for opponents of offshore oil drilling, a key senator and a group of former military leaders released a report Tuesday that challenges a long-held belief that increased oil drilling would disrupt military training missions in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida. Read More...

Tailoring rule could harm gas industry, association officials warn
Oil & Gas Journal
The presidents of three large natural gas trade associations expressed concern with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's tailoring rule under the agency's proposed greenhouse gas emission regulations. Read More...

Energy chiefs defend natural gas from shale as safe
Houston Chronicle
The heads of Exxon Mobil Corp. and XTO Energy sought to assure skeptical lawmakers Wednesday that their companies can produce natural gas from shale rock without damaging the environment or contaminating nearby drinking water supplies. Read More...

U.S. says wind could power 20 percent of eastern grid
Reuters
Wind energy could generate 20 percent of the electricity needed by households and businesses in the eastern half of the United States by 2024, but it would require up to $90 billion in investment, according to a government report released on Wednesday. Read More...

BLM oil, gas lease nets more than $20 million
ABC News
The Bureau of Land Management's quarterly oil and gas lease sale has netted nearly $20.4 million for 34 federal leases in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. Read More...

PG&E to fund installation of solar power systems
BusinessWeek
PG&E Corp. said Wednesday it will provide $60 million in financing to fund the installation of solar power systems by SolarCity Corp., in exchange for the related lease revenues from SolarCity customers. Read More...

Kinder Morgan Partners expands in ethanol
Oil & Gas Journal
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP is expanding its role in the transportation of renewable fuels. Read More...

Williams combines affiliates to create large player in natural gas sector
Los Angeles Times
Williams Cos. said Tuesday it will create one of the largest natural gas partnerships in the nation by combining its pipeline and processing units. Read More...

Alaska Natives, environmental groups file legal challenge to Chukchi offshore drilling
San Francisco Examiner
A coalition of Alaska Natives has combined forces with some of the heaviest hitters in the environmental community to challenge a plan by Shell to drill for oil off northwest Alaska. Read More...

MINERAL SECURITY

U.N. scientists urge stop to mining around Glacier National Park
Missoulian
An international team of UNESCO scientists has recommended a moratorium on mining north of Glacier National Park, a conclusion that echoes the longstanding sentiment of locals on both sides of the border. Read More...

Obama admin objects to scope of bill limiting mining in Ariz.
E&E Daily
Obama administration officials said they want to reduce the scope of legislation that would prevent new mining claims in a region rich in metals. Read More...

Report: Appalachian states should look beyond coal
ABC News/AP
Coal production in Central Appalachia is likely to continue its 12-year decline, and an environmental consulting firm said Tuesday it's time policy makers and legislators in four states work to diversify the region's economy. Read More...

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Abengoa to build hybrid ethanol and power project
StrategyEye
Spain's Abengoa Bioenergy plans to build a hybrid cellulosic ethanol and power plant in Kansas. Read More...

The smart grid's big winners
Site Selection
How new technology is changing the electrical infrastructure of the country - and what that means for the future of industrial site selection. Read More...

Technology recycles wastewater used in hydraulic drilling process
Environmental Leader
A look at a new environmentally-friendly water reclamation process that uses osmosis technology to recycle wastewater in the oil and gas industry. Read More...

Geothermal advocates tout plants' smaller environmental footprint
New York Times/Greenwire
As the geothermal industry seeks approval for hundreds of new projects in the West, it brings with it a promise most wind and solar developers have been unable to make: more power using less land. Read More...

Changing the economics of desalination
Greentech Media
A look at a water start-up that is commercializing a new membrane material for reverse osmosis, potentially changing the economics of the desalination process. Read More...

Sunflower DNA map could produce plants for fuel
USA TODAY
Researchers envision crossbreeding a standard sunflower with the Silverleaf species out of Texas to produce a hybrid with yellow flowers and stalks filled with complex sugars that can be turned into ethanol. Read More...

How to make money in carbon capture
Greentech Media
There is a strong business case scenario for carbon capture, even without carbon taxes and cap and trade. And that could be a good thing or a bad one, depending on your perspective. Read More...

Germany to slash solar panel subsidies
Reuters
Germany on Wednesday slashed subsidies for solar power in a move to ease the world's largest solar market towards free competition, drawing howls of protest from panel manufacturers. Read More...

NEWS FROM THE STATES

Ariz. brownfields survey nets 42 possible development sites
Land Letter
A federal pilot project that will reuse contaminated industrial sites in Arizona for renewable energy plants is moving swiftly into its second phase, officials announced this week, improving the state's prospects for quickly developing new wind and solar farms. Read More...

California: Water briefing provides little encouragement
California Farm Bureau
Hope was in shorter supply than water at a briefing on the California's water supply situation last week. Read More...

Colorado: County commissioners to industry: Remote fracking regs to be left to state
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
Garfield County commissioners on Monday reassured natural gas developers that they don't plan to regulate the growing practices of remote and centralized well fracturing. Read More...

Colorado: Report says drilling threatens state's wildlife
ABC News
The leasing of public land for oil and gas drilling on large tracts of wildlife-rich northwest Colorado is a growing threat to the state's heritage and an important part of the economy, the Colorado Wildlife Federation said in a report released this week. Read More...

Colorado: Summit County fire officials wary about proposed new wilderness
Aspen Times
Environmental groups are working with local officials to ensure a proposed wilderness area doesn't create new risks for wildfires. Read More...

Idaho nuclear company passes first zoning hurdle
IdahoStatesman.com
The Payette County Planning and Zoning Commission approved a change to the county's comprehensive plan, giving the Eagle-based nuclear developer Alternative Energy Holdings Inc. a step forward. Read More...

Montana: Fla. company pursues 100 MW wind farm
ABC News/AP
A Florida wind developer said that he wants to build a 100-megawatt wind farm on state land in northeast Montana. Read More...

North Dakota raises oil forecast on advances by shale explorers
BusinessWeek/Bloomberg
North Dakota raised its forecast for oil output on growth in and around the Bakken Shale formation, portending further gains nationwide after the largest U.S. increase since Dwight D. Eisenhower's first term as president. Read More...

Oregon: FERC asked to rethink LNG project
NRToday.com
Top Oregon officials are following through on a threat made in December to challenge federal approval of a natural gas terminal project and gas pipeline that would cut through Douglas County. Read More...

Wyoming county considers wind farm moratorium
Billings Gazette
Converse County will again consider a landowner group's request for a moratorium on wind development, not long after the County Commission rejected an earlier moratorium proposal. Read More...

Water pipeline idea interests irrigation districts
Casper Star-Tribune/AP
Representatives of some of the Colorado municipalities and irrigation districts interested in drawing water from a proposed pipeline from Wyoming say they need more water regardless of the source. Read More...

Wyoming governor works to revive wind tax proposal
ABC News/AP
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said he's working with lawmakers on a proposal for the upcoming Legislature to tax wind energy production. Read More...

Wyoming: Power company supports projects
Billings Gazette
Rocky Mountain Power's Blue Sky program awarded money to support three community-based Wyoming renewable energy projects in 2009. Read More...

KUDO OF THE WEEK

Murkowski offers resolution to block EPA GHG action under CAA
Oil & Gas Journal
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski introduced a disapproval resolution cosponsored by 35 Republicans and 3 Democrats on Jan. 21 to keep the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Read More...

OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK

UN climate change expert: There could be more errors in report
The Times
The Indian head of the UN climate change panel defended his position yesterday even as further errors were identified in the panel's assessment of Himalayan glaciers. Read More...

THIS WEEK'S CARTOON

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