Mercury emissions from power plants on the rise in the U.S. Mercury emissions in the U.S. fell by nearly 2 percent between 2003 and 2004, according to newly released federal data, but that small bit of good news masks a troubling trend. Mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants were actually up 4 percent over the same period, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis, thanks to increases in 28 states, including Texas, Missouri, and Illinois. The Bush administration's plan for decreasing mercury emissions -- a cap-and-trade system that gives utilities until 2017 to cut emissions by 70 percent -- is widely …

Solar providers can't keep up with growing demand Solar power may not yet be ready for the big time: The current spike in oil prices is causing a surge of interest in home solar, but supply of polysilicon (the stuff solar panels are made of) is unable to keep up with demand. It used to be that only those in the semiconductor industry cared about polysilicon, but about half of this year's supply will go to the solar industry. The current shortage means higher prices and longer wait times. The delightfully named Barry Cinnamon of California's Akeena Solar admits that …

Republican gas-price pander disgusts even pander-lovin' American people Hollywood producers like to say that no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people. Hollywood producers, meet Senate Republicans. Their latest gas-price gambit, coordinated by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) -- a legislator who puts the "less" in "hapless" -- seems to have exceeded even the legendarily high pander threshold of the American people. What they proposed: Sending a $100 check to almost every American, in exchange for permission to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. As soon as word got out, scornful feedback started pouring in. …

In lieu of real energy policy, senators propose sending people checks Apparently driven insane by high gasoline prices, congressfolk are reaching virtuosic heights of pandering and venality, approaching some sort of Platonic ideal of What's Wrong With Politics These Days. Exhibit A: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) just unveiled a proposal that would bribe the American people with $100 checks in exchange for permission to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We wish that were some kind of metaphor or figure of speech, but really, that's what it does: Everyone with an income below $125,000 would get a …

In this post, David echoes what seems to be conventional eco-wisdom on high gas prices: It's good that gas prices are rising. We want people to buy more fuel-efficient cars and drive less. I'm not so certain. Sure, high prices will spur people to use less gas. But the incentives cut both ways: high prices also spur energy companies to produce more oil. And now that most of the world's easy-to-reach, easy-to-refine oil has already been put to the drill, high prices are making some seriously malevolent projects -- Canadian oil sands come to mind -- turn the corner from …

Like many environmentalists, I tend to think that gasoline prices -- even at today's wallet-rending heights -- are too low. In fact, no matter how high the market price for petroleum goes, it ought to be higher, since it won't include the so-called "external costs" of using oil. For example, whenever I burn a gallon of gas in my car, I'm creating pollution and climate-warming emissions; fostering overseas military entanglements; increasing the risk of oil spills and pipeline leaks; siphoning money from the local economy into the bank accounts of unsavory oil magnates; yada yada. Each of those factors carries …

Russian president changes route of Siberian pipeline to protect lake Last month, we reported that a Siberia-to-Asia oil pipeline backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin was set to be built half a mile from the world's deepest lake, home to hundreds of unique species. Well, we've been Putin our place: yesterday, the Russian prez ordered the pipeline rerouted to avoid Lake Baikal by at least 25 miles. Widespread public protests and opposition from Russian scientists and green groups likely had, well, nothing to do with it -- this is Putin we're talking about. More likely the dramatic reversal was theater …

The boat ride down southeastern Peru's Urubamba River cuts through mountains and sweltering jungle, passing wooden shacks of colonos -- mixed race and grindingly poor Peruvians lured to the jungle with promises of free land -- and nativos, tribes recently brought into contact with the modern world. The area is a biological gold mine, home to endemic and rare species, and some of the world's last uncontacted humans. It's also home to an asset that may become the Amazonian rainforest's biggest threat: the mamma jamma of South America's natural-gas lodes. The Camisea pipeline. Big Oil has been pushing its pipelines …

Dear Umbra, Coming from a scientific background, I was under the assumption that water vapor was the worst -- or you could say the best -- at causing global warming. Do you believe this to be false, and if not, why is no one talking about it? Erik Nash Dearest Erik, I've decided to use your letter as a continuation of B's from earlier this week. Spouting off on global warming. Photo: iStockphoto. Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas. It is the dominant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere by mass and volume, but scientists don't seem to agree on …

House Republicans fight to preserve $5 billion in oil industry tax breaks In public, prominent Republicans are chastising oil companies over high gas prices, and threatening price-gouging investigations and windfall-profit taxes. Behind closed doors, House Republicans are fighting to protect some $5 billion worth of tax loopholes for those very same oil companies. Luckily for them, the country's Strategic Outrage Reserve has been completely tapped. At issue is a tax bill designed mainly to extend the tax cuts for the rich passed in Bush's first term. The Senate version includes changes in arcane tax accounting rules, among them rules that …