The Lieberman-Warner “Climate Security Act” (S. 2191) is scheduled for a vote next week in the US Senate. The cap-and-trade scheme created by the bill would set an arbitrary ceiling on how much carbon can be produced by a given company and allows a company operating below that cap to sell credits to over-producing companies. The credits […]
Archive | May, 2008
Chilly Forecast for Heating Bills
Utilities say users could pay 50 percent more this winter By Leslie Brooks Suzukamo Consumers worried about filling their gas tanks this summer probably don’t even want to think about their heating bills. But state energy officials and utilities are. And they worry that come winter, heating customers could be paying up to 50 percent […]
More Biofuelishness
By Paul Chesser With food and gas prices skyrocketing, several state climate commissions are ignoring the backlash against the suddenly antiquated policy of plant-enhanced petrol, as they hope to stop the alleged future global warming catastrophe. Why? Because before they even get started, panelists and their hired management team (in most cases), the Center for […]
On Energy, Aim Matters
By Linda C. Runbeck A recent Pioneer Press column by Sen. Amy Klobuchar called for a federal energy policy with multiple strategies, or in her words, ‘silver buckshot,’ to bring gas prices under control and increase our energy reserves. A good approach, but she fails to include the simplest and most easily accomplished ways to […]
Discredited Strategy
Increasing allegations of corruption and profiteering are raising serious questions about the UN-run carbon trading mechanism aimed at cutting pollution and rewarding clean technologies By Patrick McCully The world’s biggest carbon offset market, the Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism (CDM), is run by the UN, administered by the World Bank, and is intended to reduce […]
Ethanol Vehicles for Post Office Burn More Gas, Get Fewer Miles
By Peter Robison, Alan Ohnsman and Alan Bjerga The U.S. Postal Service purchased more than 30,000 ethanol-capable trucks and minivans from 1999 to 2005, making it the biggest American buyer of alternative-fuel vehicles. Gasoline consumption jumped by more than 1.5 million gallons as a result. The trucks, derived from Ford Motor Co.’s Explorer sport- utility […]
Ethanol Turmoil a Serious Threat to Some Companies
By David Mercer Not long ago, the fledgling ethanol industry was the darling of investors, farmers, the federal government and a lot of Americans who liked the idea of turning corn into fuel. But suddenly, it doesn’t have nearly as many friends. Rising worldwide food prices and shortages have spurred calls in Congress to roll […]
Big Money to be Made in Carbon Trading
Richard Sandor is cashing in on carbon “crops.” Mr. Sandor is the CEO of the Chicago Climate Exchange, a firm that is already making big-money deals with major companies to buy and sell paper representing non-carbon. Companies, like Ford Motors, who ostensibly aren’t emitting as much carbon as they could, sell their “crop†of non-carbon to […]
New Trend in Biofuels Has New Risks
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL ROME — In the past year, as the diversion of food crops like corn and palm to make biofuels has helped to drive up food prices, investors and politicians have begun promoting newer, so-called second-generation biofuels as the next wave of green energy. These, made from non-food crops like reeds and wild […]
WCCO Meteorologist: Global Warming Extremism uses 'Squishy Science'
By Paul Walsh Longtime WCCO TV meteorologist Mike Fairbourne says that the environmental movement is practicing “squishy science” when it ties human activity to global warming. Fairbourne’s assessment Monday came on the same day that the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine appeared before the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and announced that it […]
31,000 Scientists Reject 'Global Warming' Agenda
‘Mr. Gore’s Movie has Claims no Informed Expert Endorses’ By Bob Unruh More than 31,000 scientists across the US, “ including more than 9,000 PhD.s in fields such as atmospheric science, climatology, Earth science, environment and dozens of other specialties, have signed a petition rejecting “global warming,” the assumption that the human production of greenhouse […]
Eco-friendly Claims for ‘Hybrid’ Cars Dismissed as Gimmickry
By Lewis Smith Cars promoted as eco-friendly were criticised yesterday for pumping out up to 56 per cent more carbon dioxide than the manufacturers claim. Three models, including the Honda Civic hybrid, performed so badly in tests that their environmental claims were dismissed as a gimmick. A further five vehicles, including Volkswagen’s Polo BlueMotion, hailed […]
Global Warming Alarmists Using Polar Bear as a Pawn
Why it Should’t be Listed Under Endangered Species Act From Red State The Washington Post devoted its KidsPost page today to a sympathetic plea for the polar bear — the predatory creature that environmentalists want listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. With a decision looming on Thursday for the Bush administration, […]
Lingering Lake Ice Threatens to Spoil Minnesota's Fishing Opener
The Star Tribune reports some Minnesota lakes my still be frozen for the fishing opener. The ice remains on lakes longer than it has in over a dozen years. By Doug Smith With less than three days to go before Minnesota’s fishing opener, ice still stubbornly clings to some northern Minnesota lakes, leaving anglers to wonder […]
California's Energy Colonialism
By Max Schulz California’s proud claim to have kept per-capita energy consumption flat while growing its economy is less impressive than it seems. The state has some of the highest energy prices in the country – nearly twice the national average – largely because of regulations and government mandates to use expensive renewable sources of […]