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America is ill equipped to handle expensive oil

The Times‘ Jad Mouawad has written a piece describing the state of the world’s oil market. It is, in a word, tight. Production volumes have been flat at best, and consumption growth has continued. Kevin Drum comments: I imagine that a global economic slowdown will flatten oil consumption a bit over the next year or […]

Nonsensical nuggets from the prez’s press conference

George W. Bush -- dark green? I kid you not. Here's what he said in his press conference today:

One thing I think that would be -- I know would be very creative policy is if we -- is if we would buy food from local farmers as a way to help deal with scarcity, but also as a way to put in place an infrastructure so that nations can be self-sustaining and self-supporting. It's a proposal I put forth that Congress hasn't responded to yet, and I sincerely hope they do.

I have no idea what he's talking about -- what proposal did he put forward to Congress about local food? But I'm sure the 100-Mile Diet folks are on the phone with the White House right now.

What's next for Bush -- composting?

Colbert on ethanol and the energy war

Coal and agrofuels win the subsidy sweepstakes

Via the WSJ energy blog, follow the money:

Since 1999, federal energy subsidies have more than doubled-from $8.2 billion to $16.6 billion in 2007. Who gets the most?

'Renewables' landed $4.8 billion last year, but that includes $3.25 billion for ethanol and other biofuels.

Coal and cleaner-burning "refined" coal took home $3.3 billion, while the nuclear power industry got $1.3 billion.

In all, about 40% of the energy subsidy pie went toward electricity production; the rest for things like alternative fuels and energy conservation.

More here.

Snippets from the news

• Rockefellers push Exxon to go green. • President Bush threatens to veto the farm bill. • Wild Sky wilderness bill passes Congress. • Developers float plans to build wind turbines in Lake Michigan. • The world’s third-biggest food retailer tests out carbon labels.

Dr. Bronner’s says competitors aren’t really organic

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps has filed a lawsuit accusing competitors in the personal-care industry of falsely advertising products as organic. The word “organic” is not federally regulated for personal-care products. Dr. Bronner’s, the soap company known for its basic ingredients and rambling messages, voluntarily follows the USDA organic standard for food, which requires 95 percent […]

A non-technical piece on climate science

The nation's top climate scientist, James Hansen, has just published a general-audience article, "Tipping Point" [PDF], in State of the Wild 2008-2009 from Island Press. It is well worth sending to folks who don't like all the math. His key points:

We are at the tipping point because the climate state includes large, ready positive feedbacks provided by the Arctic sea ice, the West Antarctic ice sheet, and much of Greenland's ice.

...

Prior major warmings in Earth's history, the most recent occurring 55 million years ago ... resulted in the extinction of half or more of the species then on the planet.

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In my view, special interests have undue sway with our governments and have effectively promoted minimalist actions and growth in fossil fuels, rather than making the scale of investments necessary.

You might also like this figure on "cumulative fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions by different countries as a percent of global total" --

The fight over coal heads to a climax in Kansas

The fight over coal in Kansas is headed to a climactic battle on Wednesday, when the legislature gathers to finish its session. Twice it has sent bills to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius that would allow two blocked dirty coal plants to move forward; twice she has vetoed. The game on Wed. is for pro-coal legislators to […]

President Bush stumps for ANWR drilling and dirty-energy expansion

In a speech Tuesday, President Bush aimed to pacify Americans’ concerns about skyrocketing fuel and food prices with the assurance that it’s all Congress’ fault. Bush advocated tackling energy prices by throwing environmental protection to the winds (in not quite those words), urging Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and […]

Bush, Big Oil offer more of the same

Yesterday, David noted comments by an oil analyst who predicted $200 oil by 2012.

Today, that analyst was joined in his prediction by none other than the chief of OPEC, Chakib Khelil (who's also Algeria's energy minister). Mr. Khelil's comments were not date-specific, though this article leads me to believe he was thinking $200 oil could come much sooner than 2012.

Meanwhile, we saw more of the same from both President Bush and Big Oil.