progress

EPA moves to veto wetland-destructive Army Corps project

The U.S. EPA has moved to block an Army Corps of Engineers flood-control project in the Mississippi Delta, the first time the agency has aimed to veto a Corps project since 1990. The $220 million project would have built the world’s largest hydraulic pump, sucking dry enough wetland area to cover New York City in […]

How we can make progress with climate change mitigation

There's a great deal of buzz in D.C. right now over the prospects of the Lieberman-Warner climate bill. A major environmental group (Environmental Defense) is running radio spots urging congressional passage this year, while a key Lieberman aide has been quoted as saying that the already compromised bill is open for further compromise (if that will get more votes). One issue up for discussion is preemption -- that is, taking away the right of states to limit greenhouse gases.

With that in mind, it might make sense to consider the views of a genuine eco-battler, my friend Dan Becker, long a Sierra Club activist who waged an often lonely war for years to improve federal fuel economy (CAFE) standards.

Wal-Mart CEO outlines lofty green goals

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott made a big ol’ speech yesterday spelling out ambitious social, health, and environmental goals for the retail behemoth. Wal-Mart will work with other retailers to boost industry-wide green standards, said Scott, and, within five years, Wal-Mart suppliers will be required to meet stringent environmental standards — and may even be paid […]

Norway will ban mercury

Come Jan. 1, Norway will completely ban mercury in manufacturing, imports, and exports. “Mercury is among the most dangerous pollutants. Good alternatives to mercury exist already and it is therefore right to introduce this ban,” says Environment Minister Erik Solheim, with due formality. Norway’s standards exceed that of the European Union, which will ban mercury […]

Mexican police conduct anti-logging raid in butterfly habitat

Hundreds of Mexican police raided illegal sawmills near a monarch butterfly reserve yesterday in “the largest seizure of illegally logged wood in the country’s history,” according to the attorney general’s office. Millions of butterflies travel some 2,500 miles each winter to spend the cold season in the Mexican forest, where illegal logging is rampant. The […]

Canada sets aside huge tracts of land for protection

The Canadian government plans to set aside 25.5 million acres of northern boreal forest and tundra as protected land, off-limits from resource development. The total acreage (hectarage?) of the protected area is 11 times the size of Yellowstone National Park — or, in Canadian, about twice the size of Nova Scotia and more than five […]

Wind power installations set to soar 63 percent this year

Some good energy news:

US wind power installations are projected to jump 63 percent this year amid concern about global warming and rising fuel prices, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The US wind industry is on track to complete a total of 4,000 megawatts worth of installations in 2007, or about enough to power 1 million average homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association [AWEA].

Tip o' the hat to state renewable energy standards and the federal production tax credit.

You can get more details from the AWEA website, including the third-quarter market report. Here are some state highlights:

• Texas again added the largest amount of new wind power generation (600 MW).
• Colorado installed 264 MW and now ranks as the state with the sixth-largest amount of wind power generation.
• Washington, with 140 MW of new wind capacity, pulls ahead of Minnesota into fourth place.

So yes, climate progress does occur, when the government works at it.

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Increasingly popular solar power conference mirrors growth in the industry

The heart and soul of the world's solar industry is gathered this week in Long Beach for the annual SEPA/SEIA solar conference. Five years ago, this conference drew 200 people to a dingy hotel ballroom in Reno. This year, it's sold out the Long Beach Convention Center, and you can't get a hotel room for love or money within a 20-mile radius. It's like the Super Bowl is in town.

Solar has come a long way -- and there's a lot of things to thank for what's brought the industry to this point. Certainly, the world owes the German feed-in tariff a big danke for all it has done to scale up manufacturing. And in the U.S., the California Solar Initiative has been the big driver, with a bevy of new state programs vying for the crown. While everyone is encouraged by the progress First Solar has made delivering on thin-film's long-deferred promise, I'd argue that to date, financial innovation -- more specifically solar PPAs -- has been a bigger driver in expanding markets than technological innovation.

So, the question of the day is: what's the new development that will emerge as the biggest theme of this year's conference? At the risk of blogmiscuity, I'm guest-blogging on just that question over at RenewableEnergyAccess. Check it out.

The benefits of using prizes to drive alternative fuel research

An article on the benefits of using economic prizes instead of subsidies as incentives for alternative fuel research appeared in Monday's edition of National Review Online, an extremely right-wing publication.

Besides the fact that this is a good idea that economists have been increasingly talking about over the past few years, there are a couple additional take-away points:

1. There are many people on the right who are sincerely interested in environmental progress and who are thinking seriously about the best ways to move forward.
2. Being able to converse relatively proficiently about economics and market principles, not just acknowledgment of the problems, is the best way to create a bipartisan consensus on policy. People on the right will listen to these and often agree.