Environmentalists and other countries are apparently unhappy with the way the United States is bargaining at the world climate talks in Durban, South Africa.
U.S. negotiators have said they prefer that countries pledge voluntary cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, rather than a legally-binding deal. Now, green groups have written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging her and the U.S. negotiating team in Durban to show more flexibility in supporting mandatory, long-...
Environmentalists and other countries are apparently unhappy with the way the United States is bargaining at the world climate talks in Durban, South Africa.
U.S. negotiators have said they prefer that countries pledge voluntary cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, rather than a legally-binding deal. Now, green groups have written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging her and the U.S. negotiating team in Durban to show more flexibility in supporting mandatory, long-...
Senate Republicans have introduced legislation aimed at forcing President Obama to decide on the Keystone XL pipeline.
The Obama administration has delayed a final ruling on the proposed 1,700-mile link from the Alberta oil sands of Canada to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast because of concerns about the planned route through environmentally sensitive regions of Nebraska. The State Department has said an environmental review of the new route won't be complete until early 2013. Lawmakers in Nebraska have also passed legislation requiring that the state conduct its own...
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) is moving forward with plans to introduce legislation calling for a nationwide clean energy standard.
Bingaman has released an analysis by the Energy Information Administration of eight policy options on what might be included in the CES legislation. He says the paper will influence his bill. President Barack Obama has called for Congress to pass a CES following the collapse of carbon cap-and-trade legislation last year. “The EIA has...
China is scolding Canada for its rumored intent to walk out on the Kyoto Protocol.
Canadian officials have told reporters at the world climate talks in Durban, South Africa, that Kyoto is "in the past," however, they have refused to confirm or deny reports that they will pull out of the 1997 emissions deal among developed countries before it's scheduled expiration at the end of next year.
Chinese delegates in Durban tell china's official news agency, Xinhua,...
China is scolding Canada for its rumored intent to walk out on the Kyoto Protocol.
Canadian officials have told reporters at the world climate talks in Durban, South Africa, that Kyoto is "in the past," however, they have refused to confirm or deny reports that they will pull out of the 1997 emissions deal among developed countries before it's scheduled expiration at the end of next year.
Chinese delegates in Durban tell china's official news agency, Xinhua,...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
CLIMATE/ENVIRONMENT/EMISSIONS
China decries Canada's "bad example" in climate talks (via Reuters)
Banks seen as climate culprits at global talks: report (via Reuters)
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The European Union is standing by the the Kyoto Protocol for now, but before it agrees to extend the 1997 climate-change pact, it wants other countries to start working on a future global-warming treaty.
At UN climate talks in Durban, South Africa, EU chief climate negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger told reporters that European nations are prepared to stand alone in re-committing to Kyoto after it expires next year, according to South Africa's Cape Times. But...
A major shipping group will allow its members to be taxed to help pay for an international climate change fund, but delegates at the world climate talks in Durban, South Africa, still have sharp disagreements on how such a fund would be managed.
The Associated Press reports that the International Chamber of Shipping, which represents about 80 percent of the world's merchant marine, is joining aid groups Oxfam and WWF International in support of...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
CLIMATE/ENVIRONMENT/EMISSIONS
Climate Talks Open Amid Funding Spat (via The Wall Street Journal)
As world climate talks open today in Durban, South Africa, CTV News reports that Canada is set to pull out of the Kyoto Protocol, another serious blow to the 1997 agreement, which expires next year.
The Kyoto agreement commits 37 industrialized nations to binding reductions in their emissions of greenhouse gases, which scientists have linked to global warming. Nations have debated for years...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
CLIMATE/ENVIRONMENT/EMISSIONS
Last chance to save Kyoto deal at climate talks (via Reuters)
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energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
CLIMATE/ENVIRONMENT/EMISSIONS
‘Climate-gate’ resurfaces with a new round of e-mails (via The Washington Post)
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
CLIMATE/ENVIRONMENT/EMISSIONS
China to Urge Extension of Kyoto Protocol at Durban Climate Summit (via Bloomberg)
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
CLIMATE/ENVIRONMENT/EMISSIONS
No let up in greenhouse gas rise (via BBC)
Himalayan nations agree on climate adaptation plan (via THe Associated Press)
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House Republicans are promoting a plan to boost oil and gas drilling revenues to pay for transportation and infrastructure projects.
The Natural Resources Mineral Resources Subcommittee held a hearing today on a series of bills that would open new areas to oil and natural gas production, promote oil shale development and restrict federal regulations on the coal mining industry. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and other supporters say the bills would help the economy by creating jobs in both the energy and construction industries without raising taxes. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and other...
Energy Secretary Steven Chu says he takes full responsibility for the $535 million loan guarantee to failed solar manufacturer Solyndra and the decisions relating to it.
The Secretary told the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigation subcommittee today that he made all decisions related to the 2009 approval of a loan for the company’s Fremont, CA, factory without regard to politics. “My decision to guarantee a loan to Solyndra was based on the analysis of experienced professionals and on the strength of the information they had available to them at the...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
POLITICS
Energy Secretary Chu faces test on Solyndra loan (via The Associated Press)
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
POLITICS
GOP grills Steven Chu, keeps Solyndra affair burning (via Politico)
Solyndra hearing: Stearns says Chu has 'failed the test' (via Politico)
...
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the Obama administration's $535 million loan guarantee to solar company Solyndra was approved "with the best interest of the taxpayer in mind."
Chu is scheduled to testify Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee about Solyndra, which declared bankruptcy in September, two years after it was awarded the loan guarantee. In prepared testimony released by the...
The Obama administration has formally unveiled its plan to upgrade nationwide automobile fuel economy and emissions standards, building on an agreement announced in July.
The plan for model years 2017-2025 calls for corporate average fuel economy to ramp up to 54.5 miles per...
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico factored in the development of his department’s latest plan for offshore oil leasing.
“It’s important to not have amnesia about Deepwater Horizon and the Macondo well,” Salazar told the House Natural Resources Committee today, saying the spill showed that the oil and gas industry wasn’t prepared to deal with that kind of blowout.
Salazar told Rep. Rob Whitman (R-VA) that an area off the coast of Virginia, which was part of a leasing plan released early...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
POLITICS
Report Calls for Changes in the Energy Department (via The New York Times)
The Senate will consider a bipartisan plan to spur development of natural gas powered vehicles.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), along with Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Richard Burr (R-NC), have introduced a version of the NAT GAS Act, according to a press release from Menendez. The bill would extend tax...
The oil industry's lobbying arm says the Obama administration's latest five-year offshore leasing plan is based on outdated information and keeps key areas off limits to new exploration.
In a conference call with reporters today, the American Petroleum Institute's director of upstream and industry operations, Erik Milito, disputed Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's assertion that the 2012-2017 plan, unveiled last week, covers...
Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline say they’re encouraged by news that TransCanada has agreed to reroute the proposed 1,700-mile link from Canada’s oil sands to Texas refineries and that the state of Nebraska may have a major say in the environmental study of the new route.
Nebraska state lawmakers are in the midst of a special session to draft pipeline legislation after opponents objected to Keystone XL's proposed route. The State...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
KEYSTONE XL/OIL SANDS
Keystone Pipeline Will Be Rerouted (via The New York Times)
House GOP weighs bill to speed up pipeline re-routing (via The Hill's E2...
Energy companies are promising to be safe and responsible and bring jobs to West Virginia by drilling for natural gas, while environmental advocates say strict regulations are needed to protect the public.
The testimony came today at a field hearing in Charleston, WV, of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to examine development in the Marcellus Shale, the large, natural gas-bearing formation that extends into...
A Washington-based energy think tank is studying the effects of shale-gas development so it can recommend ways to improve drilling regulations and industry practices.
Resources for the Future’s Center for Energy Economics and Policy held a public forum today to discuss the research, which was launched in July. RFF called the study, funded by the Alfred P. Sloan foundation, the first independent, broad assessment of the key risks associated with the shale gas development...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
POLITICS
APEC leaders commit to green trade liberalization (via Reuters)
White House circulated plan to replace Chu (via The Associated Press)
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The State Department will delay its decision on whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, a move that has the full upport of President Obama.
The agency released a statement today saying it will consider an alternative to the current proposed route through the Sand Hills area of Nebraska. Lawmakers in that state have called a special session to consider...
President Obama says he is behind the State Department's move to study and alternate route for the Keystone XL Pipeline.
In a statement released today, the president says more time is needed to address all the concerns involved.
"I support the State Department's announcement today regarding the need to seek additional information about the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal," he wrote. "Because this permit decision could affect the health and safety of the American people as well as the environment, and because a number of concerns have been raised...
The Senate has rejected a plan to block the EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, voting 56-41 against a plan to nullify it under the Congressional Review Act.
The measure from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) would have needed 51 votes to pass. The House has passed a similar plan, but the White House has said President Obama would veto it.
According to the EPA, the rule, which is set to take effect on Jan. 1, requires power plants in 27 states to reduce emissions that contribute to ozone or fine particle pollution in other states...
Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s advisory panel on shale gas production says federal agencies, states and drillers need to move faster on recommendations to improve safety, or risk environmental damage that the public won’t tolerate.
The warning came today in the final draft report from the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Subcommittee on Shale Gas Production. Chu has ordered the panel to recommend immediate steps to improve the safety and...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
POLITICS
Kaiser's emails reveal angst about W.H. contacts (via Politico)
Republican measure to block EPA power plant controls tests Senate’s...
A major climate and energy think tank is no longer getting most of its funding from a charitable trust and is now relying on corporate funding.
The Pew Center on Global Climate Change announced today it is changing its name to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, after the Pew Charitable Trusts, which had provided more than 70 percent of the center's funding since the center opened in 1998, ended their financial relationship. Tracy Schario, a spokeswoman for the Pew Clean Energy Program, told energyNOW! that the Pew Trusts, which changed status in 2004 from a...
A panel of energy and climate experts agree that the government can play a key role in solving the nation’s energy and climate problems, primarily by setting a price on carbon and promoting research and development in the energy sector.
Former Sen. John Warner (R-VA), Resources for the Future President Phil Sharp, Entergy CEO Wayne Leonard and Eileen Claussen, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, discussed the issues today in a forum moderated by NBC News reporter Anne Thompson.
Warner, who served in the Senate for 30 years and co-authored...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
OIL/GASOLINE/DRILLING
Obama to expand oil, gas drilling off Alaska and in Gulf (via MSNBC)
Interior drilling plan takes fire from Republicans, greens (via The Hill's E2 Wire)
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Less than 10 years ago, U.S. energy companies were preparing to import liquefied natural gas from overseas. But with the boom in production from U.S. shale deposits, those same companies are now looking to export LNG. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee heard from government officials and experts today as it examined how the country should go about licensing those exports and how they would affect consumers, industry and the overall economy.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the committee’s ranking member, said it would be a welcome development. “We would all...
The Obama administration will focus on the Gulf of Mexico, the site of the nation’s largest offshore oil spill, in its new five-year plan for offshore drilling, although the plan also includes new lease sales off the coast of Alaska.
...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
KEYSTONE XL/OIL SANDS
U.S. Weighs Altering Keystone Pipeline Route (via Bloomberg)
State Dept. IG to review oil pipeline from Canada (via MSNBC)
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The Environmental Protection Agency has sent two proposed emissions regulations for power plants to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review.
The greenhouse gas New Source Performance Standard would set the first national standards for greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, with separate guidelines for existing units and those that are new, modified or reconstructed. The agency is under a June 2012 court deadline to release the rule.
The...
The State Department inspector general's office will conduct a special investigation of the department’s handling of the Keystone XL pipeline review.
In a memo released today by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT...
The American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying arm of the oil and natural gas industry, is launching a new ad campaign urging the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction not to raise taxes on their industry.
In a telephone conference call announcing the campaign, API President Jack Gerard said it's part of an ongoing campaign touting the industry as a job creator. “Raising taxes on our industry is not a serious strategy to deal with deficits or a slow economy,” he said. Over the long term, it...
energyNOW! producer Natalia Melia interviewed actor Mark Ruffalo Nov. 6 outside the White House, where opponents of the Keystone XL oil-sands pipeline held a protest urging President Obama to block the project.
Ruffalo, whose movie credits include “13 Going on 30” and “The Kids Are Alright,” took aim at the job creation estimates put forward by pipeline supporters.
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
KEYSTONE XL/OIL SANDS
Thousands protest at White House over pipeline (via MSNBC)
Canada's PM says oil pipeline still has U.S. support (via Reuters)
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energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
POLITICS
House Panel Votes to Subpoena Solyndra Documents (via The New York Times Green Blog)
Energy secretary: Loan programs can be improved upon (via The Hill's E2 Wire...
The Environmental Protection Agency has released the comprehensive plan for its long-term study on the potential effects of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water supplies.
The agency announced last year that it will study the natural gas extraction technique, which involves injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into the ground to break up underground rock formations and release trapped gas. The aim of the study is to determine whether the...
A Republican-led House panel has voted to subpoena internal White House documents related to failed solar panel maker Solyndra’s $535 million loan guarantee.
The Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee voted 14-9 today to compel the While House to turn over the documents. Republicans on the panel accused the Obama administration of stonewalling their probe, while Democrats argued that the White House is cooperating and the move is premature.
The panel had asked for the documents twice before, but the White House refused,...
Energy Secretary Steven Chu defended his department’s $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, a now-bankrupt California solar-panel manufacturer, saying the U.S. can’t afford to “wave the white flag” in the global clean-energy race.
“One has to take risks to promote innovative manufacturing,” Chu said at Washington Post Live’s Smart Energy conference, which is sponsored by energyNOW! Chu said about 50 other nations, including China, have similar financing programs...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
POLITICS
Obama administration considered Solyndra bailout (via The Associated Press)
Solyndra warned W.H. of troubles in October 2010 (via Politico)
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The inspectors general of the Department of Energy and Department of Labor say stimulus spending on clean energy projects was well intended, but did not get the desired results because the process was inefficient.
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
KEYSTONEXL/OIL SANDS
Obama to make decision on controversial oil pipeline (via The Washington Post)
Washington Post Live is hosting a Smart Energy conference on November 3rd, 2011. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, along with energy company CEOs, scholars and entrepreneurs working on new technologies will discuss the future of energy. What’s on the horizon?
We will ask experts to give an overview of how they see consumption changing and how the U.S. energy market is shifting. We will discuss the most promising new sources of power and smarter uses of traditional energy. Given growing concerns about energy emissions, costs and security, we...
A top official at the Environmental Protection Agency says his agency is on track to issue rules next month that would limit emissions of mercury and other pollutants from power plants.
Bob Perciasepe, deputy administrator for the EPA, told a House committee today that the agency will issue a rule on Dec. 16 that would require power generators to reduce toxic emissions by about 90 percent starting in 2016.
In his prepared testimony, Perciasepe told the Oversight...
energyNOW! publishes a daily roundup of top news and opinion on energy and the environment. Inclusion of articles does not mean endorsement.
POLITICS
Ener1 Joins Solyndra as Troubled Recipients of U.S. Government Aid (via Bloomberg)
Last Wednesday was a big milestone for people who care about public health and a livable climate. Two utilities announced the planned closure of nine coal plants.
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Today, in the UK, the world's oldest nuclear power plant shut down.
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The U.S. led the world in clean energy investment in 2011, but China retained the top spot in the latest Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index from Ernst & Young.
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Today's morning news roundup - all the energy and climate coverage you need to read.
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