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Hundreds of scientists to Canada PM: Pipeline report ‘deeply flawed’

Hundreds of scientists have signed a letter sent to Canada’s prime minister blasting a federal review recommending the approval of the Northern Gateway  tar sands  pipeline as biased, Canadian media reported. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to decide whether to approve the $7 billion pipeline, which will extend from Alberta to British Columbia, this month. “We urge you in the strongest possible terms to reject this report,”  the letter  said, adding that the study was based on a “flawed analysis of the risks and benefits to [British Columbia’s] environment and society.” Enbridge Energy’s 730-mile pipeline  would pump  525,000 barrels of Alberta tar sands oil every day on to 220 tankers annually in Kitimat on British Columbia’s northwest coast.  Many  indigenous groups  in Canada oppose the pipeline, as well as  environmentalists  concerned about the transport of tar sands oil to the pristine wilderness of British Columbia’s coast. They said […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Hundreds of scientists to Canada PM: Pipeline report 'deeply flawed'

Hundreds of scientists have signed a letter sent to Canada’s prime minister blasting a federal review recommending the approval of the Northern Gateway  tar sands  pipeline as biased, Canadian media reported. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to decide whether to approve the $7 billion pipeline, which will extend from Alberta to British Columbia, this month. “We urge you in the strongest possible terms to reject this report,”  the letter  said, adding that the study was based on a “flawed analysis of the risks and benefits to [British Columbia’s] environment and society.” Enbridge Energy’s 730-mile pipeline  would pump  525,000 barrels of Alberta tar sands oil every day on to 220 tankers annually in Kitimat on British Columbia’s northwest coast.  Many  indigenous groups  in Canada oppose the pipeline, as well as  environmentalists  concerned about the transport of tar sands oil to the pristine wilderness of British Columbia’s coast. They said […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Will Developing World Join EPA Push for Carbon Cuts?

Cows graze last week in the shadow of the Chalk Point Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in Benedict, Md. Getty Images America’s push to cut carbon-dioxide emissions is partly intended to spur other large emitters—especially China—to cut their own emissions more aggressively to tackle climate change. But will it work? Other countries already have national policies aimed at cutting carbon-dioxide emissions, and they are much further along than the U.S. The world’s largest system for trading emission allowances is operated by the European Union, which covers more than 11,000 power stations and industrial plants in 31 countries, as well as airlines. And some countries have implemented carbon taxes. Persuading other countries to follow suit won’t be easy. Many developing countries are on a long-term path of trying to industrialize their economies and continue to resist big domestic cuts in carbon emissions. "No matter what your view of climate […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China signals intention to cap carbon, a day after US pledges cuts

China said Tuesday it will set an absolute cap on its  CO2 emissions starting in 2016 — a potentially landmark move that, coupled with an earlier U.S. announcement on power plant emission curbs , could boost sluggish United Nations efforts to produce a new global climate accord. The exact extent of the cuts was not announced, but officials said renewable energy would account for up to 25 percent of the country’s energy production and nuclear power would be ramped up by the end of the next decade. “The Chinese announcement marks potentially the most important turning point in the global scene on climate change for a decade,” said Michael Grubb, a professor of international energy and climate policy at University College London. The international community hopes to conclude a global climate treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2015, when the United Nations will host a  climate conference  in […]

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Obama Emission Rules Discount Gas Leaks, Scientists Say

President Barack Obama ’s plan to fight global warming underestimates pollution from natural gas, according to scientists studying how leaks affect the climate. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week proposed requiring power plants to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 30 percent from their 2005 levels by 2030, largely by burning natural gas instead of coal. Researchers from Cornell University , Stanford University and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agree with the EPA that natural gas emits about half as much carbon dioxide as coal when burned to produce electricity. The issue is that methane leaks while natural gas is being extracted, processed and transported, and methane causes more warming than equivalent amounts of carbon dioxide, they said. “Converting to natural gas plants, which is what this latest rule is likely to do, will actually aggravate climate change , not make things better,” said Robert Howarth, a professor of […]

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China agrees to Doha amendment of Kyoto Protocol

The Chinese government announced it deposited its acceptance of an amendment to the Kyoto climate measure with the U.N. secretary-general. Wang Min, China’s deputy U.N. envoy, deposited Beijing’s acceptance of the Doha amendment. A statement published Monday by the official Xinhua News Agency says Beijing hopes other major economies follow suit. "It also attaches great importance to addressing climate change, regarding this as an important part of its efforts to promote ecological progress and to build a beautiful country," the statement said. China is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, followed by the United States, India and Russia. The Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol extends the commitment period to curb greenhouse gas emissions to 2020, after the first commitment period ended in 2012. Beijing said it would curb its emissions by 40 percent from a 2005 baseline by 2020. The Chinese announcement […]

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Kentucky plant emblematic of move from coal to gas

In the shadow of Paradise Fossil Plant’s aging smokestacks, where white steam and carbon dioxide rises into the sky, outdated coal-fired generators are being replaced with one that runs on natural gas. The change in Muhlenberg County, once the nation’s top producer of coal, is emblematic of what’s been happening across the U.S. as natural gas becomes cheaper and electric utilities try to meet stiffer carbon emissions rules the Obama administration announced this week. When the $1 billion natural gas facility is finished in 2017, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public utility, will shut down two coal-burning units at Paradise that date to the 1960s. The Environmental Protection Agency says natural gas generators produce about half the carbon dioxide of coal-fired units, and a fraction of other harmful pollutants. "It’s a fraction of what it is on a coal plant," said Billy Sabin, […]

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What's the Real Cost of the EPA's Emissions Cap?

Georgia’s Plant Scherer is the country’s largest emitter of CO2. Associated Press Are the new federal limits on greenhouse-gas emissions going to cost a lot, as critics say, or a little, as the Environmental Protection Agency asserts? That depends on whether you think Americans are going to use more electricity in coming years or cut way back. The EPA assumes electricity consumption will drop sharply. That plays a significant role in the agency’s calculation of the cost of complying with new rules to slash the carbon emissions from the utility industry. The industry accounts for about a third of all U.S. emissions, most of it from burning coal. The agency forecasts that the effort to cut those emissions by 30% from their 2005 level will cost utilities and their customers $8.8 billion a year in 2030. That is less than the cost of other recent EPA rules, such as […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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What’s the Real Cost of the EPA’s Emissions Cap?

Georgia’s Plant Scherer is the country’s largest emitter of CO2. Associated Press Are the new federal limits on greenhouse-gas emissions going to cost a lot, as critics say, or a little, as the Environmental Protection Agency asserts? That depends on whether you think Americans are going to use more electricity in coming years or cut way back. The EPA assumes electricity consumption will drop sharply. That plays a significant role in the agency’s calculation of the cost of complying with new rules to slash the carbon emissions from the utility industry. The industry accounts for about a third of all U.S. emissions, most of it from burning coal. The agency forecasts that the effort to cut those emissions by 30% from their 2005 level will cost utilities and their customers $8.8 billion a year in 2030. That is less than the cost of other recent EPA rules, such as […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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EPA Proposal Draws Fire From United Republicans, Some Democrats

Republicans pounced on President Barack Obama ‘s plan to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 as a job-killing sop to his environmental donors, while Democrats ran the gamut from embracing the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule to quickly backing away from it. The split between the unified GOP and split Democratic Party exemplifies the differences in the two parties in 2014. Republicans are rock solid in opposition to green regulations that may slow the economy—and more broadly to most anything Mr. Obama proposes. But Democrats find themselves choosing from Mr. Obama’s policies like an a la carte menu—embracing the ones that work back home while criticizing the ones that don’t. On the Republican side Monday, House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said "the president’s plan is nuts," while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) called the proposed rule "a dagger in the heart of the American middle class, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple