Friday, 28 Jan 2005

Smokestack Lightening

ConocoPhillips will pay half a billion to clean up refineries

The largest refinery settlement in U.S. history was announced yesterday, as ConocoPhillips, the nation's largest oil refiner, agreed to spend more than $525 million to clean up nine refineries, a deal that will remove 47,000 tons of harmful pollutants from the air each year. This is the 13th such settlement since 1998. While coal-fired power plants produce far more total pollution -- and are fighting much harder against EPA enforcement efforts -- refineries can be more harmful to the health of communities where they are located, as their emissions come from low smokestacks and do not readily dissipate. Some critics question the strength of the settlements (California has opted out of this latest, saying it would be a step back from the state's current regs) and the EPA's will and ability to enforce them. Nonetheless, says John Walke of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Bush administration's progress in cleaning up refineries "is pretty extraordinary."

Where Do We Go, Where Do We Go Now?

McKibben inspired to think different on climate

As a climate-change gathering at Middlebury College came to a close yesterday, environmental writer Bill McKibben saw the focus turn to What Do We Do Next. Groups of innovative activists drew up plans for turning Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) into a climate activist, protesting at Ford headquarters, handing out Flat Earth Awards, and using ice cream to fight global warming. In a dispatch, McKibben reflects on finding himself inspired even in the face of a daunting challenge -- today on the Grist Magazine website.

Plug-in Play

Enterprising hybrid owners tinker to get better mileage

Hybrid vehicles have been touted as the Next Big Thing in efficient transportation. So what's the Next Next Big Thing? Maybe hybrids with a twist. A handful of engineering students at the University of California at Davis and other mechanically inclined greens have been tinkering with existing hybrids to boost their mileage by giving them increased battery capacity and a plug. The result is cars and SUVs that are still powered by a gasoline/electricity mix but whose internal-combustion engines switch on later and less often than those of unmodified hybrids -- and on short trips, often not at all. Toyota insists that "plug-in hybrids" would be impractical due to the weight of additional batteries. But Andrew Frank of UC-Davis disagrees: "We're just a bunch of students," he said. "If we can build this with off-the-shelf technology, they can too -- and do things better than what we do."

A Bouquet of Honey-Rosés

Butterfly conservationist Jordi Honey-Rosés responds to readers

As a program officer with the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico, Jordi Honey-Rosés must balance support for local economic growth with efforts to protect the monarch butterfly's habitat from illegal logging. Fortunately, he's found himself working with Mexican farmers who appreciate the value of their natural resources. Honey-Rosés talks more on the intersection of conservation and development, as well as the effects of eco-tourism, the best plants for making a backyard butterfly friendly, and how, exactly, he got that name of his -- in InterActivist, today on the Grist Magazine website.

Here a Whitman, There a Whitman, Everywhere a Whitman-Whitman

Christie Whitman does the rounds criticizing Republican radicalism

Ex-EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman's new book It's My Party Too is out now, and she is having her moment of media ubiquity, bashing what she calls the increasing extremism of the Republican Party. In interviews and appearances on such commie-pinko outlets as NPR's "Fresh Air" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," Whitman is revealing some of the details behind her decision to bail on her thankless job in 2003. The final straw, she says, was when it became clear that the White House was going to get behind weakened rules on power-plant emissions. Because she couldn't sign off on such regs "in good conscience," she left. She also dishes some juicy gossip (in her buttoned-up, patrician way) about Cheney's monomaniacal energy task force, the administration's torpedoing of chemical-plant safety regulations, and Bush's decision to reverse his campaign pledge on regulating CO2 emissions. Naturally, she's being savaged. "I expected criticism, but I'm surprised at how personal the attacks are," she said, raising doubts as to just how well she knows her party after all.