Climate Politics

Bank chief Zoelick hints his old boss Bush is full of it on biofuels and food prices

As I reported a few days ago, the Guardian recently uncovered what it called a “secret” World Bank assessment holding U.S. and European biofuel boosterism largely responsible for the recent run-up in global food prices. You know, the one that has pushed 50 million new people under the poverty line globally, and essentially priced tens […]

Not everyone jazzed about the G8 climate agreement

While G8 leaders are touting yesterday’s climate agreement in Hokkaido as “a significant step forward,” enviros and other world leaders are scoffing at the very idea that any progress was made. G8 leaders agreed yesterday to “consider and adopt” the goal of cutting emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050, though they didn’t agree […]

Alice Waters: Dem candidate gets it on food issues

I read once that during the 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy met Norman Mailer, already a lion of American letters. If I remember correctly, Kennedy let slip that his favorite novel was Mailer’s The Deer Park — thus establishing his impeccable taste and intellectual rigor in the eyes of that mercurial novelist. Mailer went […]

Top Dems in Congress open to possible compromise deal on offshore drilling

Some key Democrats in Congress have said they’re willing to work out a compromise deal to open some offshore areas in U.S. waters to oil and gas drilling. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he’s “open to drilling and responsible production.” He also said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid might also […]

Oil in the ocean: light as a feather!

“These [oil] firms have learned a lot over the past two decades and three decades about their ability to go out and put a platform in water and extract oil and do it in a way that they’re not causing any environmental harm at all.” — White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto

Ex-EPA official details White House interference on climate action

In a letter [PDF] made public today, former deputy EPA administrator Jason Burnett indicates that both the Office of the Vice President and the Council on Environmental Quality have attempted to censor discussion of the consequences that global warming poses to human health.   Burnett, who went public about the administration’s obstruction after leaving the […]

New Obama ad knocks McCain’s energy policy

Barack Obama’s campaign has released a new ad to counter those from the Republican National Committee criticizing his energy plan. Obama’s ad, called “New Energy,” accuses opponent John McCain of being “part of the problem” and hits on his support of drilling and tax breaks for oil companies. The ad says that energy independence is […]

E.U. committee vote signals backstep from biofuels

The European Union took another step back from biofuels late Monday, as the Parliament’s environment committee approved 36-0 a proposal to lower the E.U.’s original target for biofueled transportation. The committee’s proposal would have the E.U. source just 4 percent of transportation fuels from biomass by 2015, then do a major review before jumping to […]

Bush administration, other G8 leaders agree to halve emissions by 2050

Today at the G8 summit, which began yesterday in Hokkaido, Japan, world leaders reached a landmark deal: agreeing to cut emissions in half by 2050. The leaders agreed to “seriously consider” this goal last year, and six of the eight leaders have been trying desperately to get George Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper […]

Republican leaders advocate domestic shale development

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."

The Republican National Committee just launched an ad called, "Balance" claiming we have "a climate in crisis." Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced the Climate Destruction Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008 late last month that would repeal the congressional moratorium on shale development. In a press release today titled, "A Balanced Approach to Reducing Gas Prices for Americans," he claimed that, "Our western states are sitting on a sea of oil three times as large as the oil reserves in Saudi Arabia."

Actually, the shale ain't a sea of anything. It is a clay-like rock, organic marlstone, containing very little energy [PDF] -- per pound, it has one-tenth the energy of crude oil, one-fourth that of recycled phone books, one-third that of Cap'n Crunch. Turning it into a usable liquid fuel would require a massive amounts of energy and probably release more carbon dioxide than even liquid coal.

The best analysis of the climate risks of unconventional oil, "Risks of the oil transition," coauthored by the late Alex Farrell, has an outstanding figure that shows that from a climate perspective, shale is probably worse than liquid coal (which is pretty damn bad):