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Magnetically levitated wind turbines

Some surprisingly cool green tech, brought to you by ... Jay Leno?

(via Jetson Green)

Half of oil and gas CFOs say we are peaking

It's amazing enough that the normally staid International Energy Agency recently said we've run out of time. Now Business Wire reports:

According to a new survey by BDO Seidman, LLP, one of the nation's leading accounting and consulting organizations, 48 percent of chief financial officers (CFOs) at U.S. oil and gas exploration and production companies agree that the world has reached its peak petroleum (liquid hydrocarbon) production rate or will reach it within the next few years, while another 52 percent disagree with that statement.

I think the headline is wrong, though:

Energy CFOs Are Split on World's Peak Petroleum Production Rate, According to BDO Seidman, LLP.

Chief Financial Officers at exploration and production companies are arguably the most cautious "show me the money" people in the entire energy business. The news is not that they are split. The news is that half think we are peaking or soon will.

Coming together to work toward a sustainable food and farm future

On Wednesday, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack began his confirmation hearing to become the 30th U.S. secretary of agriculture with the promise to be a forward-looking leader who would make the USDA a 21st century agency. While his nomination has been unpopular among some members of the sustainable-agriculture community, there is hope that under his guidance the USDA can grow into a very different agency than it has been during the past four decades, when it's been run by secretaries such as Earl Butz.

As the next head of the USDA, Vilsack will be charged with revamping a sprawling agency that has an annual budget of $89 billion and more than 92,000 employees, a task that he is uniquely qualified to do.

In Iowa, which my family has called home for six generations, Vilsack is known to be a smart, capable administrator who has been willing to listen to the concerns of family farmers and rural advocates. While attending a Practical Farmers of Iowa conference this past weekend, where many of the state's most progressive and sustainable farmers gathered, there was almost universal agreement that Vilsack is capable of much more at the national level than he was as the governor of a former red state, where almost any progressive policy he would have put forward would have been blocked by a Republican-controlled Iowa House and Senate.

CAFOs and GMOs

That said, many are still upset over Vilsack's 1995 vote as a state senator to repeal local control (H.F. 519), which stripped local elected officials from having a say in where confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are located. His promotion of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has concerned members of the sustainable-ag community even more. They fear that his closeness with agribusiness companies will only prolong U.S. farm policies benefiting corporate agribusiness at the expense of family farmers.

Here in Iowa, while we have been disappointed with many of our political leaders, we are pragmatic and understand when it is important to work with them and when it's time to hold them accountable.

New York Times creates dedicated environmental reporting team

This is extremely kick-ass news: The New York Times is creating a dedicated unit of eight reporters, with their own full-time editor, to cover environmental stories.

Columbia Journalism Review has all the details:

That editor is Erica Goode, a former behavior and psychology reporter turned Health editor who has been at the Times since 1998 and spent her last year in Baghdad covering the Iraq War. Her impressive team comprises Andrew Revkin and Cornelia Dean from Science, Felicity Barringer and Leslie Kaufman from National, Elisabeth Rosenthal from Foreign, Mia Navarro from Metro, and the Washington bureau's Matthew Wald, who writes for the paper's Energy Challenge series (another multi-department project).

Sutley promises to be 'voice for the environment' in Obama White House

Nancy Sutley, President-elect Obama's pick to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality, faced tough questions from several senators about whether she will play second fiddle to Carol Browner, the Clinton-era EPA chief who has been tapped by Obama to serve as climate and energy czar.

During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sutley insisted that CEQ "would retain all its statutory responsibilities and its role as an adviser to the president on environmental issues." She said her office "will play an important role in coordinating the efforts of the federal government to build a cleaner environment and a sustainable economy and future for our nation," and said that CEQ will be "the voice for the environment" in the White House.

Some of her comments were prompted by questions from James Inhofe (Okla.), the committee's ranking GOP member and resident climate-change skeptic. "I am quite concerned that the chair's role has been diluted by the addition of former EPA administrator Carol Browner as White House climate and energy czar," Inhofe said. "The law states that the CEQ chair is to report directly to the president on environmental policy. I sincerely hope that Ms. Browner's new position will not undermine the statute's intentions nor overshadow the chair's autonomy and judgment."

Sutley sought to allay those concerns, asserting that the council would oversee critical environmental issues like the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act. But she also argued that there will be plenty of climate and energy work to go around.

Obama's EPA nominee promises to embrace science and act on climate issues

Lisa Jackson, Barack Obama's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, got a warm reception from both sides of the aisle at her Wednesday hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, facing little of the tough questioning her critics had hoped for.

In her testimony, Jackson promised that "scientific integrity and the rule of law" would be her guiding principles at the agency. "I understand that the laws leave room for policymakers to make policy judgments," said Jackson. "But if I am confirmed, political appointees will not compromise the integrity of EPA's technical experts to advance particular regulatory outcomes."

She was given an especially warm welcome from Environment and Public Works Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who called the hearing "a turning point for the EPA and the Council on Environmental Quality." Boxer has faced off regularly with current EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, who has in the past refused to testify before her committee. "I'm reminded of Sleeping Beauty ... who needs to be awakened from a deep and nightmarish sleep," said Boxer. "I am confident we can wake up the EPA and the CEQ to their critical mission of protecting health and the environment."

The Republicans on the committee, including climate-change skeptic James Inhofe (Okla.), were also largely complimentary. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) called Jackson "imminently qualified."

A New Climate

Jackson said her early priorities would include reevaluating California's request for a waiver to set tougher tailpipe CO2 emission standards and following the Supreme Court's directives from the Massachusetts v. EPA climate-change decision.

Transportation nominee's confirmation hearing indefinitely postponed

There was plenty of confirmation hearing action on Capitol Hill today, but apparently Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), President-elect Obama's pick to head the Department of Transportation, was not a part of it. He was slated to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee this morning, but a notice posted on the hearing room door announced that the hearing has been postponed to an indefinite later date.

The New York Times quotes an anonymous Senate aide as saying LaHood's paperwork had not yet been sent over by the president-elect's transition staff.

The enviro angle on LaHood, of course, is that he'll have a role in spending a portion of Obama's big stimulus bill. Among other things, greens will be pushing for more mass transit funding, not more roads.

Umbra on raw milk

Dear Umbra, My husband was raised with milk straight from the cow that he milked himself every morning, so he and his parents are very into organic milk. However, I am concerned about the benefits/dangers of some of the milk they are giving to our toddler. Could you elaborate on the differences of non-homogenized vs. […]

Vilsack glides through Senate Ag Committee confirmation hearing

Tom Vilsack, Obama's pick for USDA chief, made pleasant conversation Wednesday with his new (and old) best friends on the Senate Agriculture, Forestry, and Nutrition Committee. As a confirmation hearing, the event had about as much drama as a John Deere combine gliding through a vast field, harvesting corn. The process was smooth and efficient, and no one seemed to break a sweat.

I watched much of the hearing live via a stream on the committee website. About the closest thing to genuine tension I saw came from Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who seemed worried that Vilsack might support limits on subsidies to his beloved cotton farmers. (Chambliss worships free markets -- unless and until they interfere with the flow of government cash to his cotton cronies.)

Vilsack did say some encouraging stuff, including (from Congressional Quarterly):

Lou Dobbs works to make CNN viewers less informed

Will you look at the monumental, paleolithic, mind-boggling idiocy that's appearing on CNN in prime time?

Amazing. But there's more:

"Advocates of global warming." They're called scientists, you neanderthal. Christ. What year is it?