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Feds look into space solar

Perhaps in the future, all of our stuff will be powered by space solar. Wacky.

Bush administration complicit in lead-toy debacle

While China has endured a lot of criticism from the lead-toy debacle, the Bush administration is not off the hook. Consumer advocates say the anti-regulation administration has hindered attempts to crack down on inspection of imported Chinese playthings; in addition, critics accuse the feds of encouraging the Consumer Product Safety Commission to be less oriented to consumer safety and more focused on pleasing manufacturers. "We've been complaining about this issue, warning it is going to happen, and it is disappointing that it has happened," says Tom Neltner of the Sierra Club, which sued the U.S. EPA in December after the agency chose not to require safety studies for companies using lead in children's products. China is, of course, far from guilt-free: It's currently fighting a CPSC proposal that would reduce allowable lead levels in children's jewelry.

source: McClatchy Newspapers

And don’t piss off Pearl Jam

BP’s sludge dumpage into Lake Michigan has a whole mess of people pissed off. Including green-leaning band Pearl Jam, who performed an angry li’l ditty at this year’s Lollapalooza festival. The lyrics are pretty simple; sing it with me: "Don’t go to BP Amoco!"

Conservation organization sues feds over energy development

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership has sued the Department of the Interior over the authorization of thousands of new oil and gas wells, roads, and miles of pipeline in a wildlife-rich area of Wyoming. News that an organization has sued the federal government over environmental travesties is, well, not really news -- unless it's TRCP, a non-litigious group with a largely Republican membership. The move is indicative that even the Bushies' natural allies are fed up with the administration's one-track-mind approach to energy development. Case in point: The Bureau of Land Management stated that opening the Wyoming area to drilling would "have adverse impact to suitable habitat for many wildlife species" and turn hunting grounds into "an industrial setting" -- but recommended the DOI go ahead anyway.

sources: Casper Star-Tribune, The New York Times

Read on

A study by Stephen Schwartz of Brookhaven National Lab, to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR), has the deniers and doubters delighted.

"Overturning the 'Consensus' in One Fell Swoop" gloats Planet Gore, which says the study "concludes that the Earth's climate is only about one-third as sensitive to carbon dioxide as the IPCC assumes" and so we "should expect about a 0.6°C additional increase in temperature between now and 2070″ [0.1°C per decade] if CO2 concentrations hit 550 parts per million, double preindustrial levels.

Is this possible? Aren't we already warming up 0.2°C per decade -- a rate that is expected to rise? Has future global warming been wildly overestimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) consensus?

Or, as I argue in my book, has future global warming been underestimated by the IPCC? This is perhaps the central issue in the climate change debate, so this will be a long post. To cut to the chase, it is not possible for one study to overturn the consensus, and in any case this inadequately researched, overly simplistic, and mistake-riddled study certainly doesn't.

Climate sensitivity expert James Annan points out key mistakes that rip the guts out of Schwartz's analysis. That is strike one. Now I'll offer my two cents.

Barge spills diesel near Vancouver Island orca habitat

A barge tipped over off the coast of Canada's Vancouver Island yesterday, creating a diesel slick over a mile long that is threatening orca whale habitat. The barge, which was carrying logging equipment including a fuel truck, was just outside the boundary of an ecological reserve when it flipped. Diesel fuel dissipates and evaporates in the sun, so poses less of a threat than crude oil à la Exxon Valdez -- but it still doesn't make a very good whale dinner.

sources: CBC News, Victoria Times Colonist, The Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail

U.S. joins the ‘I call the Arctic’ bandwagon

In the last few weeks, the U.S. has been kicking itself for not thinking to place a flag on the sea floor at the North Pole. But Russia is not the only country to have laid claim to the oil-rich area; other competitors include Canada, Denmark, and a pack of Siberian huskies that have been peeing there for ages.

However, all of them are certainly in for a disappointment, because on Friday the U.S. struck back, by sending out a team of scientists to map the area. Just as Lewis and Clark did before, the U.S. hopes to use the survey data as a foundation for political and economic expansion into the explored regions. Rock beats scissors, map beats flag.

Of course, the U.S. Senate has not ratified the UN Law of the Sea Convention treaty, which took force in 1994 (despite years of urging from Presidents Clinton and Bush). So technically the U.S. doesn't have a seat at the table as critical decisions are made on how to divvy up the ocean bottom.

As Grist reported, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tom Casey scoffed, "I'm not sure of whether they've put a metal flag, a rubber flag, or a bed sheet on the ocean floor. Either way, it doesn't have any legal standing or effect on this claim." Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay went on to add, "You can't go around the world these days dropping a flag somewhere -- this isn't the 14th or 15th century."

No kidding. When was the last time that happened?

Top Forest Service official may be held in contempt of court

The top official overseeing the U.S. Forest Service has some 'splainin' to do. Mark Rey may be held in contempt of court, and possibly jailed, unless the USFS follows through on a court-ordered analysis of the environmental impact of a toxic flame retardant, U.S. District Judge Donald W. Malloy ruled on Friday. In 2003, ammonium phosphate dropped on a wildfire killed 20,000 fish in a creek in central Oregon. As a result of a lawsuit brought by Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, Malloy ordered the USFS to provide an environmental analysis of the chemical; on the day the review was due, the agency filed for an extension. Unamused, Malloy has ordered Rey to appear in his court in October -- unless the USFS completes the environmental analysis beforehand, which is unlikely. "The Forest Service cannot disregard the orders regarding the Endangered Species Act," Malloy wrote. According to Andy Stahl of FSEEE, a little time in the slammer would "coerce future good behavior." Hey, it worked for Paris Hilton.

source: Associated Press

see also, in Grist: D'oh! Rey: Me?

aka ‘glamping’

I’m not sure how I feel about glamorous camping — aka “glamping” — a growing trend in North America among "affluent travelers who want to enjoy the outdoors but can’t fathom using a smelly outhouse." (Really? Me neither!) On the one hand, I wanted to start this post off with some comment about how this […]

BLM offers yet another plan for drilling on Alaska’s sensitive North Slope

In 1923, President Warren G. Harding designated 23 million acres on Alaska's North Slope as a national petroleum reserve. The ecologically sensitive northeast corner of the reserve -- which includes pristine Lake Teshekpuk and is vital habitat for breeding caribou, migrating birds, and Inupiat Eskimos -- was closed to energy development by the Reagan, Bush Elder, and Clinton administrations. But damned if the current administration won't pull out all the stops trying to access it! The Bushies tried in 2005. They tried in 2006 -- twice. Last fall, a judge blocked the administration from its quest, saying it had failed to consider environmental impacts of drilling in the area, and ordered the Bureau of Land Management to develop a new plan. Yesterday, the agency obliged, offering a vague proposal which suggests various options for development. The BLM will offer final recommendations after a two-month public-input period, which starts Friday. So get thee to inputting!

sources: Reuters, Associated Press, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

comment on the plan: Bureau of Land Management website