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Biofuel from pond scum could replace 17 percent of imported oil
Good news: Growing algae for biofuel could allow us to replace almost half our oil imports! Bad news: It would take a ginormous amount of water and land. Better news: Even if we plan the algae farming in a water-conscious, environmentally responsible way, we can still replace 17 percent of imported oil with biofuel. That's […]
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Distributed solar approaches grid parity
This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Grid parity is an approaching target for distributed solar power, and can be helped along with smarter electricity pricing policy. Consider a residential solar photovoltaic (PV) system installed in Los Angeles. A local buying group negotiated […]
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Yesterday’s fracking blowout: What happened, and will it happen again?
Yesterday, on the one-year anniversary of the BP oil spill, a natural gas well in Bradford County, Pennsylvania — perhaps suffering from an overload of irony — ruptured and leaked "thousands and thousands of gallons" of fracking fluid over the surrounding farmland and into a nearby creek. Officials say no gas was released, but local […]
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‘BP hasn’t made people whole’
The Gulf oil disaster largely disappeared from the headlines last August, after the well was finally capped and the federal government declared that most of the oil was “gone.” For Gulf coast residents, though, the nightmare was just beginning. A year later, business hasn’t come back for many in fishing and tourism, and the compensation […]
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Major fracking spill happening now in Pennsylvania
We have the makings of an environmental disaster in northern Pennsylvania at the moment. According to local Pennsylvania television station WNEP, a natural-gas well blew out in the middle of the night while crews were engaged in “fracking” activities: Bradford County’s director of public safety said a Chesapeake well went out of control late Tuesday […]
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Germans happily pay more for clean energy. Why don’t Americans?
In the U.S., any policy that raises taxes on anyone or causes anyone to pay more for anything — at least in a way that’s visible or traceable — has become verboten. It’s axiomatic in American politics that you can’t do it. The populace will revolt, right-wingers will demagogue you, you’ll be driven from office. […]
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Faces from the Gulf Coast, one year after the BP disaster
It’s now been a year since the BP gusher started gushing. The leak was plugged up, but the mess isn’t gone. Meet some of the people whose lives have been turned upside-down by the BP disaster. Photos and audio came out of a collaboration between the Natural Resources Defense Council, StoryCorps, and Bridge the Gulf. […]
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10 reasons to still be pissed off about the BP disaster
BP is gunning to get back to drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. When the Department of Interior issued its first deepwater permit since the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it was for a well that BP owns half of. Earlier this month, company officials also announced that they are seeking an agreement with the U.S. government to resume drilling […]
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Cape Wind approved: The U.S. could have offshore wind this year
The nation's first offshore wind farm could start construction as early as this fall. The Cape Wind project got final approval for its operating plans today, after ten years of opposition and permitting headaches. Michael Bromwich, last seen terrifying Rachel Maddow on the subject of deepwater drilling, said that the wind farm "will accelerate interest […]
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Rachel Maddow helps us all feel more informed, terrified about deepwater drilling
[vodpod id=Groupvideo.10775076&w=425&h=350&fv=launch%3D42485182%26amp%3Bwidth%3D400%26amp%3Bheight%3D320] Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Here's Rachel Maddow last week, having a conversation with an anthropomorphic personification of human malevolence known as Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement director Michael Bromwich. (Seriously, the dude is grim. Does the Bureau not have a magical […]
