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Influential CEOs gather to discuss sustainability, by which I mean plot total global domination

Today I’m heading down to sunny Santa Barbara for “a CEO-level view of the rapidly developing relationship between the environment and the bottom line." The list of speakers is daunting, a veritable gaggle (murder?) of CEOs: Jeff Immelt of GE, H. Lee Scott, Jr. of Wal-Mart, Jim Rogers of Duke Energy, Patricia Woertz of ADM, […]

Company agrees to pay record $250 million in Superfund cleanup costs

W.R. Grace & Co. agreed to pay $250 million to reimburse the U.S. EPA for ongoing cleanup of the asbestos-ridden mining town of Libby, Mont. A mine owned by Grace that operated from 1963 until 1990 contaminated much of the town with asbestos-tainted vermiculite. Over 200 area residents have died from related cancers, and over […]

Obamamississippi

Barack Obama won the Mississippi primary today by a huge margin: 60-37. Blacks composed more than half the turnout and 90% of them voted for Obama. Only a third of whites did, marking one of the most racially divided contests yet. This is the beginning of a six-week lacuna between primaries — next up is […]

Do Not Mail Registry campaign launches

Image: donotmail.org Just about five years after the opening of the Do Not Call Registry, ForestEthics has signed, sealed, and delivered on a campaign for a Do Not Mail Registry, aimed at eliminating that other annoying way marketers try to reach their grubby little hands into our personal lives: junk mail. According to ForestEthics, some […]

What’s right with the WCI?

Last week, my colleague Eric de Place dinged the Western Climate Initiative -- an effort by Western states and provinces to develop a carbon market with a strict, declining cap -- for kicking the can down the road on transportation fuels.

Of course, the WCI has not ruled out the possibility of capping emissions from the transportation sector. They've just delayed a decision until they run some more economic analysis. So there's no reason to gnash our teeth over a lost opportunity -- not yet, anyway. Still, it's hard to tell whether the glass is half full (transportation fuels haven't been ruled out -- hooray!) or half empty (transportation isn't clearly in yet -- boo!).

However, I listened in on a WCI climate conference call yesterday -- and I gotta say, I really like what they've done with electricity!

The WCI floated a draft proposal last week. And in my view, at least, the glass is about as full as it can get:

Gulf War syndrome likely caused by chemical exposure, says research

Fatigue, dizziness, rashes, memory loss, and other symptoms of Gulf War syndrome are likely tied to a combination of chemicals that veterans were exposed to during the war, says new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The review of studies on Gulf War syndrome supports the theory that pesticides used […]

Carbon offsetting is not the best way for the global north to subsidize the global south

Okay, my last post summarized Tom Athanasiou and Paul Baers' arguments in favor of drastic cuts in emissions. They place responsibility on the rich and to some extent the middle class rather than the poor. As you might expect, I agree with both these points. I disagree with their arguments that carbon trading and even offsets are the best way for the global north to subsidize the global south.

Tom and Paul's argument: the rich countries are responsible for cuts exceeding 100 percent. The only way to meet that obligation is by paying for cuts in the poor nations; Tom & Paul suggest buying offsets from them.

Why use offsets? Tom and Paul argue that the size of the cuts makes it essential to use the absolutely cheapest methods, and emissions trading tends to the produce the cheapest cuts.

I have argued in the past that emissions trading may be less expensive statically, but not dynamically. Compare rule-based regulation with stringency increases against a cap-and-trade with a cap that tightens.

Climate change has it out for transportation infrastructure, says report

Climate change is likely to wreak havoc on U.S. transportation infrastructure, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Research Council. Think bridge joints weakened by too-high temperatures, flooded tunnels, shipping disrupted by heavy storms, roads threatened by erosion, and much, much more! Coastal regions are likely to be especially hard hit, as more […]

How will the auction vs. allocation debate affect power prices?

Last January, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) convened hearings on the ways allocation of CO2 permits under a cap-and-trade system will impact power prices and utility profit margins. The short version, drawn from the evidence of Kyoto and other systems that have given credits away for free, is that while free allocations lower power prices in theory, in reality prices rise just as much as they would otherwise -- but they increase margins for exempt generators (i.e., coal plants). Indeed, one of the great criticisms of the Kyoto Protocol has been that it has directly led to increased profits for Europe's old coal plants.

Since then, there has been a growing chorus from (coal-heavy elements within) the electric sector arguing that utility regulations compel them to pass along any operating savings to the rate payers -- and therefore, that free allocations really do ensure lower power costs. (See here for more details on the "pass-throughs" innate to modern utility regulation.)

So on the one hand, we have the paper trail from Kyoto, and on the other hand, we have what would appear to be a pretty robust theory based on modern utility law. Who's right?

The short version: facts on the ground trump theory. The longer version is below the fold.

Concerned about air, world-record holder will not run Olympic marathon

Marathon world-record holder Haile Gebrselassie will not compete in his favored event at the Beijing Olympics this summer over fears that polluted air will damage his health. The Ethiopian runner, who has exercise-induced asthma, will try to qualify for the Games in the 10,000-meter race instead. Other athletes have expressed similar concerns about the breathability […]