Latest Articles

The New York Times’ absurd energy editorial

The lead editorial in today’s NYT, “Energy Fictions,” is a misguided and misinformed smear of Obama’s outstanding energy proposals. It harshly criticizes a few tiny pieces of Obama’s energy plan that deal with short-term oil strategies, in particular, his willingness to compromise on offshore drilling, and then ends: Here is the underlying reality: A nation […]

A three-pronged approach to getting off oil for transportation

This is the third in a series on how we can build an energy future based on our best science and no longer critically dependent upon exhaustible and polluting fossil fuels. Getting off oil: a three-pronged approach Oil is not “evil,” it’s an undervalued resource that has been squandered on tasks that could be much […]

AEP demands 45 percent rate increase for Ohio

What happens when your utility is 68 percent dependent on coal? American Electric Power said Thursday it must raise electricity rates 45 percent for its nearly 1.5 million customers in Ohio over the next three years, to cover soaring coal prices and the cost of modernizing its systems to keep them reliable … AEP executives […]

Science: Extreme rains supercharged by warming

Science has just published, “Atmospheric Warming and the Amplification of Precipitation Extremes” ($ub. req’d). It concludes: Here, we use satellite observations and model simulations to examine the response of tropical precipitation events to naturally driven changes in surface temperature and atmospheric moisture content.These observations reveal a distinct link between rainfall extremes and temperature, with heavy […]

Evidently, the GMO giant has better things to do than to harass dairies over labels

After years of battling in court to prevent dairies from labeling their milk rBGH-free, Monsanto is apparently udderly fed up. Facing a growing backlash against its genetically engineered Recombinant bovine growth hormone (hence rBGH) that once conquered the U.S. dairy industry, the Gene Giant is selling rights to produce Posilac, its name for the the […]

How much of a subsidy is the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industry Indemnity Act?

The answer is perhaps as high as a hundred billion dollars. First some background. I testified in front of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee in July. In my testimony, “The High Cost of Nuclear Power,” I pointed out the obvious — that nuclear is a mature source of power that has benefited disproportionately […]

New House bill combines drilling with tax extensions for renewables

A bipartisan group of House members has unveiled a new compromise energy bill, roughly along the lines of the Gang of 10 bill released in the Senate last week. “The National Conservation, Environment, and Energy Independence Act” would repeal federal prohibitions on offshore oil and gas production and lift the ban on finalizing regulations for […]

Green music festivals losing money

Music festivals across the country are going green … but losing green in the process. By the numbers, green festivals can be both encouraging and discouraging. Jeremy Stein, one of the producers of Rothbury, which took place over the July 4 weekend, said that by composting waste, using recyclable materials for concessions and taking other […]

Another reason to fear the factory farm

Superbugs. An alarming story in this week’s The New Yorker focuses on man-made new diseases that cannot be eradicated with conventional antibiotics, even inside hospitals. The writer quotes Michael Pollan to explain the connection to your local meat factory: “Seventy per cent of the antibiotics administered in America end up in agriculture,” Michael Pollan, a […]

Obama clean-energy ad will air during Olympics coverage

Thought the Olympics might bring some reprieve from election season? Think again. Today Barack Obama rolled out his $5 million ad campaign that will run during Olympic coverage on NBC, focusing on a clean energy economy. “The hands that built this nation can build a new economy,” says the ad, as it shows images of […]