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Our daily oil spills

Most of the points I mentioned on Northwest Environment Watch's blog about the recent devastating oil spill in southern Puget Sound also apply to the Unalaska spill now unfolding in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Here's a recap of the most relevant points, with an addition.

1. Like the death toll in the Middle East and the melting of the Northwest's glaciers, these spills show us the true cost of oil -- which is far higher even than the prices in this year's world oil market.

2. The spilled petroleum is ship fuel, not a product being transported on a tanker. Parts of the shipping industry are holdovers from the bad old days of dirty fuel, dirty engines, and careless practices. The "bunker fuel" they burn is literally the dregs of oil refining: the polluting crud that's left over after gasoline, diesel, and other products are "cracked" out of crude. In recent years, shipping has finally begun to get the attention it deserves from the press and environmental regulators, both to its air pollution and to the sewage dumped by cruise ships. But it's still in the days cars were in before catalytic converters.

Alternative giving

Via Joel Makower, check out the Alternative Gifts International (AGI) catalogue, for those of you who like giving holiday gifts but don't like filling up landfills.  Says Joel:

In a world sated with gizmos, gadgets, and geegaws, AGI offers the opportunity to give simply, elegantly, and effectively. It works with reputable nonprofit agencies that aid established projects around the world. Its annual gift catalog is an education in itself. Each of the gift opportunities included features background information about the problem and how even a small contribution can make a big difference. Categories include child survival, development, disaster relief, education, hunger relief, peace/justice, medical assistance, livestock, shelter, water, and women in development.

You can view the catalogue online or order copies to pass out to friends and family.

Green, Even in the Dark

Nuclear industry lobbies for “green” credit Nuclear-plant owners in the Northeastern U.S. are campaigning to be recognized as “green” energy sources. Following the success of a New Hampshire plant that last year received credits for not polluting the air, the nuclear industry is lobbying to be included in the Northeast’s nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative […]

At Last, an Evil Worldwide Cabal of Our Own

Crichton thriller denies climate change; world fails to laugh at him Popular author Michael Crichton’s new novel State of Fear features an evil cadre of environmentalists that uses secret technology to cause catastrophic natural disasters in order to convince the public of the dangers of global warming. They are aided by gullible Hollywood types and […]

A fearful state

To all of you greenies plotting intentional, catastrophic natural disasters to call attention to climate change, your caper has been uncovered. Prepare to be exposed for the scheming revolutionaries you are in Michael Crichton's new novel State of Fear. Crichton sets out to debunk all this global warming nonsense. Michiko Kakutani shreds the book in a New York Times Books of the Times feature.

The fictitious treatment isn't enough apparently. Kakutani quotes Crichton from the book's "Author's Message" saying:

"I suspect the people of 2100 will be much richer than we are, consume more energy, have a smaller global population and enjoy more wilderness than we have today. I don't think we have to worry about them." And: "I blame environmental organizations every bit as much as developers and strip miners" for current failures in wilderness management.

More links: Andrew Revkin asking "Is it Science?"

UPDATE: The invaluable folks at RealClimate take on Crichton's book here. It ain't pretty.

Chevron Texaco wins prestigious award

The Green Life, as part of their ongoing "take greenwash to the cleaners" series (countering corporate greenwashing efforts), has awarded Chevron Texaco their Greenwasher of the Month award. They have a fairly extensive piece comparing the company's eco-friendly advertising rhetoric with its actual behavior. Good reading.

Another Refiner Mess

EPA brags about oil-refinery cleanups that haven’t happened “Settlements under EPA’s Petroleum Refinery Initiative have reduced emissions of air pollutants by 200,000 tons per year at 48 refineries in 24 states,” said top U.S. EPA enforcement official Tom Skinner in October. Turns out that was a lie. Oh, wait, did we say “lie”? Actually, says […]

Hybrid buses

A little while back, Seattle got a lot of "the future is now!"-type press for ordering a full fleet of diesel-electric hybrid buses, which cost $200,000 more apiece than their articulated diesel brethren. Unfortunately, according to the Seattle P-I, claims that they would get up to 40 percent better gas mileage have not cashed out. In fact, their gas mileage is roughly comparable to the old buses', although they are quieter, produce fewer emissions, and cost less to maintain. Guess the future is still in the future.

UPDATE: For a much longer and more informative take on this story -- to which there is less than meets the eye -- read what Alan Durning's got to say.

Politician instructs media on accuracy; timespace implodes on itself

You know the press is failing in its obligations when a politician has to instruct it on honesty and integrity.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg just sent a letter to the Washington Post taking them to task for bogus "he said - she said" journalism on the subject of global warming. The article in question, by Juliet Eilperin, discussed a recent study on heat waves caused by climate change. Says Lautenberg:

But the last half of the article is squandered on the views of Myron Ebell, an economist -- not a climate scientist -- whose "studies" at the American Enterprise Institute are funded by Exxon Mobil. The article fails to mention this shameless conflict of interest.

The problem with this type of reporting was highlighted at a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing. Robert Correll, senior fellow at the American Meteorological Society, warned, "The trouble with a debate of this nature is you put 2,600 [scientists] against two or three or four [scientists who disagree]." Ebell is not in the same league as the qualified climate scientists who report that the climate is changing before our eyes; only the intensity and the speed of those changes are unknown. Your newspaper does an injustice to its readers by giving Ebell's caterwauling equal weight with the widely accepted views of reputable and unbiased scientists.

That's exactly right. Eilperin is an excellent reporter, and I don't know what kind of pressure she's under from higher-ups, but she -- and environmental reporters generally -- needs to take a stand and stop watering her pieces down with this sort of misleading faux-balance.

UPDATE: Well, egg on my face. Both Chris Mooney and RealClimate beat me to the punch.

New blood at EPA

Current EPA head Mike Leavitt was just tapped to head the Department of Health and Human Services according to the AP. The appointment was a surprise so no word yet on likely successors.