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In Venezuela, Protesters Point to Their Scars

Clipso Martínez was shot at such close range by a soldier at a protest that his surgeon said he had to remove pieces of the plastic shotgun shell buried in his leg, along with the shards of keys Mr. Martínez had in his pocket, shattered by the blast. Jorchual Gregory was detained with 10 others who said that over three days they were kicked, pistol whipped, doused with pepper spray and battered with helmets and shotgun butts. “They wanted to make people afraid so we wouldn’t stay in the streets,” said Mr. Gregory, 19. “But what happened was more protests and more deaths.” Venezuela has been shaken by more than two months of often violent protests that President Nicolás Maduro says are designed to overthrow him. He has held the opposition responsible for violence that the government says has claimed more than 40 lives, including those […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Chinese pollution: A shift in the wind

When it comes to difficult government jobs, few are as tricky as the one held by Xie Zhenhua, China’s chief negotiator on climate change. On the day he agrees to meet the Financial Times, in a room the size of a basketball court near his office in the country’s economic planning ministry, the air outside is “unhealthy”. At least, that is what it says on the smartphone air quality apps people in Beijing check as obsessively as Londoners watch weather forecasts. Much of the smog comes from cars but it also drifts in from the coal-powered plants that have helped propel China’s economy into second place after the US – and turned it into a carbon dioxide polluter like no other. China’s hunger for coal meant it pumped out almost 10 gigatons of CO2 in 2012, more than the US and the EU combined and nearly a third of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China's inability to achieve nuclear targets will be a boon for coal: Woodmac

China will be unable to achieve its target of increasing nuclear power generating capacity to 200 GW by 2030, translating into opportunities for coal producers to capture additional demand growth, Wood Mackenzie said Monday. Coal will remain the dominant fuel, at 64% of China’s power generation mix in 2030. China’s target is to increase nuclear generating capacity to 200 GW in 2030 from the current 14.6 GW, it said. However, Woodmac said China will only be able to increase its nuclear generating capacity to 175 GW in 2030, as some of its planned and proposed projects will be delayed or canceled. "The missed targets will translate into opportunities for coal producers to capture additional demand growth," Woodmac said. It added that by 2030, China’s nuclear capacity will account for 30% of the world’s total nuclear fleet, from 4.5% last year. And while China’s natural […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China’s inability to achieve nuclear targets will be a boon for coal: Woodmac

China will be unable to achieve its target of increasing nuclear power generating capacity to 200 GW by 2030, translating into opportunities for coal producers to capture additional demand growth, Wood Mackenzie said Monday. Coal will remain the dominant fuel, at 64% of China’s power generation mix in 2030. China’s target is to increase nuclear generating capacity to 200 GW in 2030 from the current 14.6 GW, it said. However, Woodmac said China will only be able to increase its nuclear generating capacity to 175 GW in 2030, as some of its planned and proposed projects will be delayed or canceled. "The missed targets will translate into opportunities for coal producers to capture additional demand growth," Woodmac said. It added that by 2030, China’s nuclear capacity will account for 30% of the world’s total nuclear fleet, from 4.5% last year. And while China’s natural […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China to finish analysis of air pollutant around Beijing

An analysis of the sources of air pollution in Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang will be finished by the end of June, an official with China’s environmental authority said on Sunday. The environmental authorities are working with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering to conduct the research and will jointly release reports on the results in the research, said Zhao Yingmin, director of the pollution control and management department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Zhao made the remarks when giving a report on air pollution in China to the Environment and Resources Protection Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature. The analysis of the sources of air pollution in Beijing has already been finished and published earlier this month and the result revealed that about 64 percent to 72 percent of the air pollutants in Beijing are […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Why Marcellus Shale Gas Doesn't Get to New England

Nearly 15 million people in New England live within driving distance of America’s biggest natural-gas field, yet heating and electricity prices reached a record for the region this winter. As states stretching from Massachusetts to Maine thaw out from bitter cold, questions linger about why New England hasn’t benefited from the energy boom in the nearby Marcellus Shale. The short answer is not enough pipelines. And the reason is an impasse between pipeline operators and power plants over how to pay for new capacity. The problem is that pipeline operators want long-term contracts in place before they spend the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to build a new pipeline or expand an existing one. But power companies, which buy gas to fuel generators on a need-to-have-it basis, work on a different timetable. Independent power-plant operators must supply electricity to utilities at the lowest cost possible, and utilities are […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Why Marcellus Shale Gas Doesn’t Get to New England

Nearly 15 million people in New England live within driving distance of America’s biggest natural-gas field, yet heating and electricity prices reached a record for the region this winter. As states stretching from Massachusetts to Maine thaw out from bitter cold, questions linger about why New England hasn’t benefited from the energy boom in the nearby Marcellus Shale. The short answer is not enough pipelines. And the reason is an impasse between pipeline operators and power plants over how to pay for new capacity. The problem is that pipeline operators want long-term contracts in place before they spend the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to build a new pipeline or expand an existing one. But power companies, which buy gas to fuel generators on a need-to-have-it basis, work on a different timetable. Independent power-plant operators must supply electricity to utilities at the lowest cost possible, and utilities are […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Texas: When fracking comes to town

Denton, about 40 miles northeast of Azle, is in the heart of the Barnett Shale gas patch. In rural areas the telltale sign of a gas well is a fenced-in field and signs saying, “No Trespassing” and “No Smoking.” But in cities, the placement gets more creative. In Denton, there are wells near the University of North Texas’s football stadium and on the grounds of a high school. But the prospect of a fracked future for their city has prompted a group of activists to fight back. “I didn’t set out to be a fracktivist,” says Maile Bush, a fast-talking stay-at-home mother who lives near the Ogletrees in the Meadows at Hickory Creek. “We’re moms and retirees and doctors and lawyers and nurses. We’re not some Berkeley enclave.” Bush is active in a group called Frack Free Denton, which in February began circulating a petition to outlaw hydraulic fracturing […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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US Midwest ethanol margin tumbles to six-week low as prices slide

The estimated production margin for a typical US Midwest dry-mill ethanol plant for the week ended Friday fell 20.06 cents, or 15.6%, to a six-week low of $1.0854/gal, a review of US Department of Agriculture and Platts data showed. As weekly stocks data and added imports had a starkly bearish effect on ethanol prices, the margin retreated for a fourth straight week from an eight-year high hit in the last week of March. The estimated ethanol price used in calculating the margin was the weekly average of the Platts Chicago Argo ethanol assessment, which tumbled 19.4 cents, or 8.13%, to a seven-week low of $2.3870/gal. Article continues below… Platts Biofuelscan is a daily report, covering the latest worldwide biofuel news and prices. It provides a daily summary of market events and developments, along with closing market price assessments from the Americas, Europe, and Asia. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New York state shale gas: Not so much

A drilling foreman once told me, “Don’t believe ANY reserve number unless it’s linked to a price.” And, that is just what petroleum geologist and consultant Arthur Berman and his colleague Lyndon Pittinger have done in a new report on the viability of shale gas in New York state. Not surprisingly, when Berman and Pittinger considered what it would cost to extract the shale gas beneath New York state at a profit, the mammoth claims about recoverable reserves made by the oil and gas industry appeared heavily inflated. The stunning conclusion of the report is that at current prices–in the mid-$4 range per thousand cubic feet (mcf)–NONE of the natural gas trapped in the New York portion of the Marcellus can be profitably extracted. It’s possible, of course, that someone would try. But, the economics look very shaky at current prices given what we know about the nature of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple