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Carl on Cooney

Carl Pope has one of the best and most comprehensive roundups I've read of L'affaire Cooney.

Carbon sequestration smells fishy.

In the midst of the recent climate pledging lovefest, it's easy to lose sight of the unhappy truth that atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases have already reached levels that effectively guarantee us at least several decades of global warming. While the Kyoto Protocol is worthwhile--to reduce global emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels--it is only a small first step toward putting brakes on climate change. To do that, scientists estimate that worldwide emissions must be reduced by at least 60 to 70 percent.   

Needless to say, achieving those levels of reductions will be a something of a challenge. We'll need to consume less, become more efficient, and develop alternative energy sources. We'll also need to figure out ways to capture greenhouse gas emissions--principally carbon--and prevent them from concentrating in the atmosphere and contributing to warming. The most talked-about way to do this is using carbon "sinks" such as forests and grasslands, which essentially soak up carbon by trapping it in living biological material.

Another possibility--one that is thick with possibility and contradiction--is sequestering carbon manually. The BBC reports on pioneering technology that the United Kingdom is exploring that will capture up to 85 percent of power-plant emissions and then trap them under the North Sea in geologic formations that were once occupied by petroleum or natural gas. Sounds good, right?

U.S. leaders, residents turn backs on impending coastal chaos

Don’t let Beantown become a has-been town. Buckle your seatbelts: it’s going to be a wet ‘n’ wild ride. That’s the prediction — or, rather, the certainty — that today’s global warming carries. Erratic and unpredictable weather is en route, and coastal areas are among the places destined to be hardest hit. So why are […]

An interview with Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels on his pro-Kyoto cities initiative

A Nickels’ worth of free advice … Meet the pied piper of one of the most exciting green grassroots uprisings to hit the U.S. in years: Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels (D). He’s managed to get roughly 300 mayors nationwide — from the Northwest to the deep South and everywhere in between — to agree that […]

The powers that be fear renewable energy, as it threatens their mechanisms of control.

There's a point about renewable energy that's been rattling around in my head for a while. Now one of our dear readers has gone and made it in comments, so let me take a whack at it here, drawing on what he said.

Imagine this: A (small-d) democratic, open-source, modular energy grid that accepts and distributes power from any source. Some regions or towns generate power with solar installations, some with wind turbines, some with hydropower, some with tide or wave power, and most with some combination of sources. The energy grid is a piece of federal infrastructure; access to it is a guaranteed public good.

This is, I think, the kind of energy grid most greens would like to see, and the kind they ultimately have in mind when they advocate for clean energy. (The details -- and they are legion -- will have to be hashed out, obviously.)

Now, consider a few characteristics of that system:

He will oppose renewable targets and climate-change measures.

A story today in the Wall Street Journal (which, sadly, you can't see without a paid subscription), digs into an Office of Management and Budget report on the energy legislation pending before the Senate. Here's the relevant bit:

The OMB said the president will oppose an amendment that would require utilities to produce 10% of their power from solar, wind and other renewable sources by 2020.

The White House budget experts said the administration "is not convinced of the need" for several pending amendments that propose different ways to restrict the nation's industrial output of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases." The president will oppose "any climate change amendments that are inconsistent with the president's climate change strategy," which remains centered on voluntary emissions-reduction efforts, the OMB said.

In case you wondered where the White House stood ...

Would Bush veto a bill just because it contained renewable targets or CO2 caps? I doubt it -- he's been begging for an energy bill for years, and scuttling it in such a transparent sop to his fossil-contributors would be politically ugly.

But we'll likely never find out. If anything sinks the bill, it will be the MTBE liability shield that the House (read: Tom Delay) is so hot for.

Bush admin hawks liquefied natural gas as energy answer

The Bush administration is championing natural gas as the answer to America’s domestic energy needs, despite reservations from the usual batch of freedom-haters about its cost, reliability, and safety. Proponents point out that natural gas is cheaper, less polluting, and more abundant than oil — and, oh yeah, a huge business opportunity. Major energy companies […]

Umbra on joining your first environmental organization

Dear Umbra, I am new to the environmental world, and looking for ways to help and organizations to join. It took me a while to find Greenpeace. I am wondering what other organizations are out there, and my friends (and I’m sure other Grist readers) would also like to know. Ayla Pinus elliottii var. densaNaples, […]

Put a Liar in Your Tank

White House official who edited climate reports moves to Exxon Philip Cooney, the White House official (and former oil-industry lobbyist) recently outed for watering down government climate-change reports, has left his position in the Bush administration to take a new job at … wait for it … ExxonMobil. Now, we know what you’re thinking, but […]

The Man From NIMBY

Wind-resistant senator owns land near proposed Mass. wind farm Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) has been blowing hard against wind power, a position that’s mystified both his Senate colleagues and wind-industry advocates. Alexander introduced an energy bill earlier this year that included grants for solar and other sources of clean power, as well as incentives for […]