Coal makes a comeback As oil prices rise, coal will emerge as the fuel of the future. This depressing assessment is the collective judgment of international power company executives, expressed in a recent survey. Interestingly, the same execs cited greenhouse-gas emissions as one of their top concerns, and assumed there would be a push to develop "clean coal" technology -- or as we like to call it, "magic coal, with a pony." In Britain, a couple of energy companies are in fact working to develop coal-powered plants that would capture and store carbon dioxide emissions, but their schemes are moving …

Another BP pipeline leaks in Alaska Hot on the heels of last month's big oil spill, British petro-giant -- sorry, beyond-petro giant -- BP has confirmed that another pipeline ruptured on Alaska's North Slope on April 6, leaking 12,000 cubic feet of natural gas. The leak occurred at the same Prudhoe Bay oilfield as last month's 200,000-gallon oil spill, but was small enough that BP was not required to report it. "We are at the point where there is so much damage to the lines from corrosion, we don't know where another leak will occur," said a BP employee. The …

Dear Umbra, Given that there is a possibility/probability that sea levels will rise significantly [due to climate change], and that some parts of the world may become too hot while others could become too cold, where in the world will things be relatively "safe"? If I start thinking about moving my family to another country, in which direction should we be looking? Michael Laird Belgium (below sea level!) Dearest Michael, With the entire planet to choose from, specificity may be impossible, but we can look at general guidelines. Oh, honey, remember when we lived below sea level? Photo: iStockphoto. In …

Global warming is bad news for baby walruses It seems global warming is now separating babies from their mothers. Heartless bastard. The cute and bristly walrus makes its home on Arctic ice shelves, which are melting rapidly as unusually warm water flows in from the Bering Sea. As their happy walrus home melts and collapses, baby walruses can be separated from their mothers and swim out into deep waters, where they -- sniff -- drown. In the space of two months in 2004, a Coast Guard ship came across nine walrus calves swimming alone, a highly unusual sight. "[T]he calves …

I just got done watching Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight, a documentary on the American military-industrial complex (a term coined by Dwight D. Eisenhower in his extraordinary farewell address) and the enormous influence in exerts over our foreign policy. It's depressing, but still, I can't recommend it highly enough. It got me thinking about the nuclear question again, and a post I wrote almost a year ago -- one of my favorites -- called "Renewable energy and the devolution of power." The idea was basically this: The kind of distributed-energy/smart-grid future greens envision would, if implemented, devolve political power outward …

Kevin Drum, whose judgment and writing I very much admire, has made a rare lapse. He points to this Washington Post editorial from Patrick Moore -- deceptively described only as a "co-founder of Greenpeace" -- and sighs that although he struggled with the decision, he's come to the conclusion that aside from nuclear power, "there aren't any other realistic alternatives for replacing coal-fired facilities." Rather than repeat myself, I'll just reprint two comments I left on Kevin's site (slightly edited), in reverse order. On Patrick Moore: Patrick Moore did not just now "change his mind" about nuclear. He's been advocating …

Christopher Cook has a piece in the American Prospect identifying my central concern about the ethanol boom. To wit, here are the sustainability advocates: An array of ideas are afloat to encourage a more sustainable biofuels expansion: a diversified renewable energy policy that, rather than expanding corn crops, promotes more wind power and cellulosic energy from switchgrass and crop residues (which may favor localized, small-scale production); a federal version of Minnesota's model, creating targeted incentives for farmer co-ops; and increased research spending by the USDA and Department of Energy to develop smaller-scale biofuels processing plants. Sounds great, huh? Here's the …

Canada plans cuts to climate programs and backs further away from Kyoto Do you hear that? The mild harrumphing? That's the sound of disgruntled Canadian enviros. They're unhappy with the new Conservative government's reported plans to slash funding for programs to fight climate change, despite a recent federal review that found most such programs to be cost-effective. On Wednesday, top environmental leaders in the country called on opposition parties to defeat the Conservatives if they back out of trying to meet emissions limits under the Kyoto Protocol. The government has indicated that it will not pull out of Kyoto entirely, …

Governing magazine has an excellent, compact overview of current developments in coal. If you're hazy on gasification this, coal-to-liquid that, and Fischer-Tropsch the other, I recommend it. With oil and natural-gas prices rising and coal in plentiful supply, it's more or less inevitable that coal's going to get used, so it makes sense that (some) enviro organizations are biting the bullet and joining the push for the cleanest possible applications. There is reason for cautious optimism. Coal mining is destructive as hell, but in places like northeastern Pennsylvania -- where the article focuses, and where the first U.S. coal-to-liquid plant …

Plants don't absorb as much CO2 as expected, study finds Those who tout tree-planting as the answer to all the earth's problems may have to go back to the drawing board (the planting board?): A new study in Nature finds that carbon dioxide-absorbing plants can't hoover up quite as much of the greenhouse gas as had been hoped, at least not without some artificial juicing of the plants' nitrogen intake. Sorry, dreamers ... oh, there are no dreamers left? Sigh. Computer models have counted on vegetation to absorb much of the CO2 humans spew into the atmosphere. But the six-year …