L.A. Green Bean

by Agence France-Presse.

NEW ORLEANS -- The U.S. government authorized BP to keep closed the busted Gulf of Mexico oil well for 24 more hours to allow tests Monday even though experts detected seepage from the surrounding seabed.

Admiral Thad Allen, the Obama administration's pointman on efforts to end the worst oil disaster in U.S. history, made the decision after talks with federal scientists and BP to discuss a seep near the well and methane traces.

"I authorized BP to continue the integrity test for another 24 hours and I restated our firm position that this test will only continue if they continue to meet their obligations to rigorously monitor for any signs that this test could worsen the overall situation," Allen said in a statement.

The announcement last week that BP stopped the oil flow with a new cap, as it conducted key pressure tests on the well, had raised hopes of devastated coastal communities that their three-month nightmare may soon be over.

But fresh concerns were raised on Sunday after bubbles were detected at the site, even though BP said it did not believe they were caused by hydrocarbons -- meaning the wellbore reaching deep to the oil reservoir below may be compromised and leaking oil, even as it is choked off at the wellhead.

While Allen stopped short of ordering the immediate removal of the cap, which has halted the gusher of crude for the first time since April, he ordered BP to draw up an emergency plan for the possible reopening of the cap.

And in a letter on Sunday to BP's managing director, he said the firm must inform the government within four hours of when seeps are detected, and raised concern over what he said were "lower than expected pressure readings."

"While we are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way, it is important that all decisions are driven by the science," Allen told BP's Bob Dudley. "Ultimately, we must ensure no irreversible damage is done which could cause uncontrolled leakage from numerous points on the sea floor."

BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said pressure was rising slowly in the well as expected and touted "encouraging signs" that would allow the new cap to remain on until permanent relief wells can be drilled in August.

"In two different locations we've seen a few bubbles. This is not uncommon but clearly it's important that we check everything very closely so we're monitoring that," Suttles said.

BP has said the valves on the cap would remain shut as long as no leaks are discovered. The start of a two-week operation to plug the well permanently by pumping in heavy drilling fluids and then cement is now less than a fortnight away as engineers have only 100 feet left vertically to drill.

Gulf residents, who have seen the crude tarnish their shorelines and cripple the local economy since a rig leased by BP exploded and killed 11 workers in April, reacted cautiously to news that the cap was holding back oil.

"I don't know if it's going to help. It's still a short-term fix," New Orleans resident and medical researcher Ashok Pullikuth told AFP. "The permanent fix is the relief wells. This cap has saved a month's worth of spill damage."

Measuring devices on BP's latest cap have given steadily increasing high-pressure readings since tests began Thursday on the well bore, which stretches 2.5 miles below the seabed.

Seismic and sonar surveys and video footage filmed by robotic submarines in the murky depths of the Gulf have been monitoring whether any oil or gas was leaking through the rock formations on the sea floor.

Allen did not specify what sort of "seepage" or "anomalies" the testing had found but warned earlier that "ultimately, we must insure no irreversible damage is done which could cause uncontrolled leakage from numerous points on the sea floor."

BP said in a statement Monday that the current $3.95 billion total cost of its response to the spill so far included 67,500 compensation payouts totaling $207 million. It also includes the bill for containing and cleaning spilt crude, relief-well drilling, grants to Gulf states, and money paid to the U.S. federal government, the company said in a statement.

 

Related Links:

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Ask Umbra asks readers for an accurate name for the oil spill

How Obama can wean the country off oil without help from Congress

by Jonathan Hiskes.

Contrived news hooks based on LeBron James are so last week, but Aaron Renn at New Geography has a good link between the departing free agent and a struggling Rust Belt city:

In a sense though, Cleveland's disappointment was inevitable. LeBron James was never going to turn around the city. No one person or one thing can. Unfortunately, Cleveland has continually pinned its hopes on a never-ending cycle of "next big things" to reverse decline. This will never work. As local economic development guru Ed Morrison put it, "Overwhelmingly, the strategy is now driven by individual projects. ...This leads to the 'Big Thing Theory' of economic development: Prosperity results from building one more big thing."

... James' departure also fits the narrative of generalized anxiety around "brain drain" and cities losing their best and brightest of each generation.

The skepticism of single Big Things sounds rather Tom-Philpottian -- Grist's food writer often makes the case that farms and foodsheds are more resilient when they don't rely on a single monocrop, and local economies are more resilient when they don't rely on a single employer or commodity.

As it happens, there's some interesting work afoot in Cleveland to find durable ways to improve cities without relying on Next Big Things like downtown megaprojects or superstar forwards. Buffalo State College economics professor Bruce Fisher explains:

This weekend in Cleveland, the Great Lakes Urban Exchange is bringing 100 thinkers, activists, elected officials, and wonks to kick around ideas about how one of the richest but most challenged Great Lakes cities can turn itself around. It's going to be a three-day sequence of sessions on the "urban laboratory" that is underway in Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, Toledo, and other towns that are struggling with the prospect of global economic irrelevancy.

The participants are going to describe their experiences with policy innovations like land-banking, with block-by-block reinvestment in distressed neighborhoods, with business plans that work, and with policy initiatives that still need work. The program is noticeably focused on how community-based organizations and small-scale investors are achieving increments of success in places that have been synonymous with economic distress for more than a generation.

One somewhat wonky key to successful regional planning is metropolitan planning organizations that look at metropolitan regions as a whole. City and suburban governments don't have jurisdiction over the whole interconnected area of, say, greater Chicagoland, so it's difficult for them to address a whole region's needs. State governments typically give disproportionate representation to rural areas (as the U.S. Senate does) and hence aren't very good at considering the health of metro areas as a whole. 

Fisher again:

Of all the metros in all the Great Lakes states, only Indianapolis is actually governed as a metro. Every other one is experiencing what Cornell geographer Rolf Pendall calls "sprawl without growth," and features a hollowed-out central city surrounded by a patchwork quilt of independently governed suburbs that spread ever more expensively and ever farther from the urban core thanks to the dimwit state governors who keep giving them road and sewer money.

On the bright side, the slogan "Less sensible than Indianapolis" is available for any metro area that wants to claim it.

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by Randy Rieland.

The big story of the week, of course, is that BP, after almost three miserable months, may have finally stopped its Gulf gusher. (Emphasis on "may.") But chances are you missed these greener tales -- from the beauty of pond scum to the bendable bike to the regenerative power of beer. 

Scum and get it: It used to be a term reserved for ex-boyfriends and telemarketers, but now pond scum is feeling the love. For all their (sometimes) stench and sliminess, algae are powerful little engines that convert solar energy into an oily material, and that has once again made them hot properties in the biofuels world. Debora MacKenzie tells the story in New Scientist.
Beer ... What can't it do? Later this summer, a plant in the U.K. will start converting waste from a local brewery into energy. The waste from about 600 pints of beer can heat a home for a day. Seems like a lot of quaffing will be needed to make this work. No worries there. Brits gulp at least 28 million pints a day. Get a clear-eyed report at Greenbang. 
There goes the neighborhood: While you were sleeping, a big chunk of Greenland fell into the sea. Scientists say satellite photos from last week revealed that a piece of the giant Jakonbshavn glacier about an eighth the size of Manhattan cracked away and floated out to sea. Larry O'Hanlon, at Discovery News, has more on what it all means.

And it won the World Cup: Spain passed the U.S. as the largest generator of solar power in the world now that it's opened a massive solar farm in Alvarado in the western part of the country. The operation, as big as 77 soccer fields, means that Spain now has the capacity to produce as much energy through solar power as through a nuclear plant. Stephen Burgen, writing in The Guardian, fills in the details.
What if half a billion trees fall in the woods? New analysis reveals that one kick-ass storm that swept across the Amazon five years ago wiped out as many as 500,000,000 trees. Scientists had blamed drought, but now they're thinking it was one line of severe thunderstorms. And that makes them wonder what will happen as global warming breeds more violent weather. E! Science News assesses the storm damage.
The bend is near: The latest urban travel innovation is a bike you can wrap around a pole. Brit Kevin Scott has designed a bendable bike that allows you to curl your two-wheeler around a post and lock up both tires at once. Brilliant! See for yourself at Discovery News.
All hail the great goby: It's that time of year when we're reminded incessantly that great white sharks are pretty awesome. But what about the bearded goby? The fish is only six inches long, but it lives in toxic mud, takes on stinging jellyfish, and is almost singlehandedly keeping an entire ecosystem off the coast of Africa alive -- plus, it doesn't bite humans. Brandon Keim pays homage to the goby's awesomeness at Wired Science.
Not so frequent fliers:  Germany wants more people to get off planes and onto trains, so it's considering a tried and true way to encourage the environmentally-friendly transition: Taxes. The German government hopes to start adding a $33 surcharge to any ticket on all outbound flights. Get the details at GreenBiz.com.
Eat my dust: Scientists have known for awhile that dust storms swirling out of Northwestern Africa are doing damage in the Atlantic Ocean, even to coral reefs as far away as the Caribbean. But new research concludes that the dust problem really intensified beginning in the mid-1800s. That was when people started farming along the southern fringe of the Sahara. Evidence of human activity causing climate change? Could it be? Sid Perkins, writing for ScienceNews, tells the dirty tale.
They've seen the light:  So what does a church do about killer energy bills? In Britain, they look to the heavens. British Gas estimates that churches around the country could generate as much as $52 million -- most of it through government incentives -- by installing solar panels on their roofs. Greenbang sheds some light.

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by Agence France-Presse.

WASHINGTON -- President Obama Friday gave a cautious welcome to the "good news" that BP has halted the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, saying a permanent solution still needed to be put in place.

Obama went out of his way to guard against any euphoria after the new cap was placed on the well by the British-based firm, but said the device would at worst allow most of the oil gushing into the sea to be captured.

"There were a lot of reports coming out in the media that seemed to indicate, 'Well, maybe this thing is done,'" Obama said. "We won't be done until we actually know that we've killed the well and that we have a permanent solution in place. We're moving in that direction, but I don't want us to get too far ahead of ourselves."

Obama noted that BP engineers along with government scientists were now carrying out a battery of tests to determine whether the well could be safely shut down using the new cap, without threatening the structural integrity of the well.

"Even if a shut-in is not possible, this new cap and the additional equipment being placed in the Gulf will be able to contain up to 80,000 barrels a day, which should allow us to capture nearly all the oil until the well is killed," he said.

"The final solution to this whole problem is going to be the relief wells and getting that completed."

Obama, before heading off for a vacation weekend in Maine with his family, stressed that there was still an enormous job to do in cleaning up the huge environmental damage wrought by America's worst environmental disaster.

And he stressed that his administration would keep the pressure on BP in order to ensure that the firm pays for cleanup costs and helps businesses that have been devastated by the disaster.

Watch Obama's speech:

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by Jonathan Hiskes.

Thirty House Democrats signed on to a new bill on Thursday that would save Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs, which have been under attack from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. PACE is a finance tool that helps homeowners afford energy-efficiency retrofits and renewable-energy installations.

The PACE Assessment Protection Act of 2010 would force the government-sponsored corporations to adopt standards that support PACE, based on Department of Energy guidelines.

Yet the bill's author, Rep. Mike Thompson of northern California, hopes the legislation persuades Fannie and Freddie to accept a compromise before it's signed into law.

"I think we can do this without legislation, and I think we should do it without legislation," Thompson said in an interview. "PACE does everything from reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to creating jobs to reduce our reliance on traditionally generated energy. This is something that needs to continue. There are hundreds of jobs that have been created by this program."

The finance tool certainly has a lot of friends. It's been backed by $150 million in Department of Energy stimulus funding, the vice president's Middle Class Task Force, 23 state legislatures, governors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger [PDF], and mayors such as Michael Bloomberg [PDF]. California Attorney General Jerry Brown sued Fannie and Freddie yesterday to defend the PACE programs, the largest of which are in California.

PACE programs let home and business owners pay for rooftop solar arrays, high-efficiency furnaces, insulation, and other improvements through a surcharge on their property tax bills, removing high up-front costs. Fannie and Freddie dislike that those tax assessments have senior lien standing to mortgages, even though analyses and pilot programs have found that energy efficiency and PACE programs can make borrowers more financially secure.

The bill would ban lenders from imposing penalties or stricter criteria on municipalities that use PACE; Fannie and Freddie recently told lenders to do just that. The bill would also prevent lenders from requiring homeowners to pay off assessments before refinancing their mortgages or selling their property.

Thompson said lawmakers and PACE advocates will meet next Tuesday with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie and Freddie's regulator. He's hopeful they can reach a resolution that lets cities and counties put programs back into action -- which would be much quicker than a lawsuit or passing a bill.

"These guys don't want to pick a fight with Congress," he said of Fannie and Freddie. "There's no value in that. I've been absolutely mystified as to how they've come to the conclusions they've come to, and I'm not sure why they're doing what they're doing. I think they're way off base and I'm hopeful we'll be able to bring them back into this universe."

Cisco DeVries, who designed PACE as chief of staff to the mayor Berkeley three years ago and now runs a company that helps cities and counties set up programs, said the legislation looked to be sound. "The bill looks spot on to us," he said by email.

PACE programs generally focus on cutting energy waste through insulation, leak-sealing, and more efficient furnaces, although some finance rooftop solar and wind as well. More than a third of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions come from buildings, so retrofits are an appealing step in fighting climate change, with the added benefits of creating local jobs and cutting utility bills for property owners.

Thompson said there were no Republican cosponsors of his bill because he hadn't had time to seek them out. More than 15 Republican districts have municipalities using or considering stimulus-funded PACE programs, so it's possible the legislation will pick up Republican support. Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), a cosponsor of the bill, plans to introduce another measure that would promote PACE and complement Thompson's legislation, an aide said.

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by Agence France-Presse.

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- British energy giant BP stopped the oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday for the first time in three months as it began key tests hoping to stem the spill for good.

Shortly after BP engineers shut down the last of three valves on a giant new cap placed on the blown-out well, Senior Vice President Kent Wells announced that no oil was leaking into the seas.

"I'm very excited to see no oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico," Wells told reporters, but cautioned it was only the start of a testing process set to last 48 hours to analyze the condition of the underground wellbore.

The tests are intended to determine whether the wellbore, which stretches 2.5 miles below the seabed, was damaged during an April 20 explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig.

BP is hoping to choke off the oil flow out of the well, estimated at between 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day. But cutting off the flow of oil from the top could force oil out in new leaks if the wellbore was damaged.

"We would like the result that says there is perfect integrity," Wells said, but cautioned it was too early to say whether the leaking well had been completely choked off.

During the test, engineers will be taking multiple readings from the 30-foot capping stack placed on top of the wellhead on Monday to monitor the pressure inside.

High pressure readings would allow the three valves to remain shut and the well would effectively be sealed, but low readings could mean there is a hole somewhere in the casing of the well where oil is escaping.

"If we have very low pressure readings, it'd be the equivalent of putting your thumb over the garden hose and the water's going someplace else because there's no pressure," said the official in charge of the government response, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen. "If we get high pressure readings, that'd give us some indication that the wellbore's intact, about the integrity of the casing pipe."

Allen said that after 48 hours the engineers would open up the system again and begin capturing the oil through two surface vessels hooked up to the ruptured pipe, and would carry out a new seismic survey.

"That will tell us, as a result of that testing at high pressure for 48 hours, was there a change in the wellbore, did we have oil leak into the formation and form a pocket that could be a precursor for a breach in the ocean floor, is there methane gas coming up, which could be a precursor as well," Allen said.

The two container vessels at the site capturing the spilling crude were shut down before the test started.

The White House said Wednesday that President Obama was being kept up-to-date.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, is involved in the consultations every six hours during the integrity test, alongside BP and government scientists.

The announcement was the first sign of real hope for desperate Gulf residents who have had their livelihoods ravaged by the worst environmental disaster in the nation's history, now in its 13th week.

Teeming fishing grounds have been closed and tourists have been scared away -- two vital economic lifelines for the southern region still struggling to recover from the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.

Endangered wildlife has also been increasingly threatened by huge ribbons of oil fouling the shores of five states -- Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The costly, massive clean-up is likely to last years.

The Gulf disaster has so far cost BP some $3.5 billion, and compensation claims from devastated residents of the region could reach 10 times that.

A final solution to the leak is not expected before mid-August, when crews will complete the first of two relief wells, allowing the oil reservoir to be permanently plugged in a "kill" operation.

Related Links:

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by Randy Rieland.

While waiting, once again, to see if BP's latest plan to plug its Gulf gusher will work, we decided to amuse ourselves by taking a look back at the lighter side of this environmental apocalypse. First (and last) stop: YouTube. Pass the popcorn. Here's a BP dirty dozen:

But I really hate when it gets in your trunks:

Giant hole in the sea floor:

Sing, dummy, sing:

Earth's "diarrhea attack:"

The old BP coffee spill -- can't get enough of this one:

He's Gumby, dammit:  

Sometimes oil and water do mix:

Spill kitties to the rescue, sort of:

So sorry, mate, but how 'bout those Beatles?

Ka-ching:

The wonderful world of Fox:

Click to see how BP rebrands itself as Baby Otter Smiles, Inc:

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by Agence France-Presse.

TOKYO -- Tokyo's Ginza district is usually abuzz with shoppers and office workers, but high above its skyscrapers nature-lovers have created a home for real busy bees -- the ones that make honey.

It's part of a project to bring a slice of natural life back to the center of the world's largest urban sprawl, a cityscape home to more than 30 million people that stretches far beyond the horizon.

Eleven stories above the heart of the Tokyo concrete jungle -- with its beehive office partitions and swarms of suit-clad worker-bees -- enthusiasts have stacked up beehives dripping with golden honey.

"Let's enjoy the harvest, but be careful you don't have an accident," urban beekeeper-in-chief Kazuo Takayasu tells his fellow volunteers from behind the protective fine-mesh net covering his face.

Clad in white body suits, the crew gets to work, squeezing out the glistening syrup using a simple centrifugal machine they crank by hand as a cloud of bees breaks free from the honeycombs.

"Don't be scared. They don't sting unless you harm them," says Satoshi Nagai, 49, who has taken a break from his desk at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. "Try the honey. The scent has a touch of citrus."

The honey is largely organic, he said, because pesticide use has been banned in Tokyo city parks and gardens including the Imperial Palace, about one mile away, where the bees collect much of their nectar.

"Through beekeeping, you get to learn how harmful pesticides are for insects," he said. "It makes you think about your hobby of playing golf on courses which cannot be maintained without pesticides."

The beekeepers may be an odd sight in the Japanese capital, but they are not the only urban farmers -- on a rooftop just blocks away, barefoot farmers were recently wading through almost knee-high mud to plant a wet rice field.

On top of the building of the Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co., its employees and their spouses and children were screaming with excitement as they stomped barefoot, the mud squelching between their toes.

"Good job, good job! Well done!" said Asami Oda, 56, the vice president of Hakutsuru's Tokyo office, who takes care of the rice paddies every day.

"We harvest 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of rice every year, from which we make 80 liters (21 gallons) of sake. Of course it's organic. I like having a pesticide-free harvest, which is also good for the honey bees," he said.

Projects such as these have gained attention here this year as Japan readies to host a 193-nation international conference on biodiversity, which aims to find ways to stem the world's massive species loss.

The 10th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity will be held in the central city of Nagoya in October to discuss a pressing environmental issue that has received less attention in recent years than climate change.

Animal and plant species are disappearing around the world at the fastest rate known in geological history, and most of these extinctions are tied to human activity, says the United Nations Environment Program. Species under threat include 21 percent of all known mammals, 30 percent of known amphibians, and 12 percent of known birds, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The Earth is now losing a species about once every 20 minutes, estimates the nonprofit group Conservation International.

Scientists warn that wildlife habitat destruction is destroying ecosystems that give humans "environmental services" such as clean water and air and are vital for climate control and food production.

Honeybees are a case in point in Japan.

The price of honeybees has doubled in recent years after imports were banned to prevent the spread of parasites, and as local populations declined in a phenomenon that beekeepers have blamed on pesticide use.

Because of the shortage of bees that help pollination, farmers have reported that fruits don't grow well enough to satisfy urban consumers.

"We've received a number of complaints from beekeepers that pesticides kill honeybees," said Kazuo Kimura of the Japan Beekeepers Association.

Japanese scientists taking part in the biodiversity meeting have discussed ways to convince Japan's highly urbanized public how important biodiversity is.

"Urban beekeeping and rice growing are good examples of how human beings can reshape their relationship with nature," said Kazuhiko Takeuchi, director of the Institute for Sustainability and Peace at the U.N. University in Tokyo. "Above all, it's effective in changing people's mindsets."

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by David Roberts.

I'm technically on vacation, but there's an extremely important fight going on in the background right now so I want to weigh in, even at the risk of irritating my long-suffering family.

Here's the deal: Right now, two things are happening in parallel. The first is getting all the attention, but the second is, in practical terms, more significant. Yet the first may screw up the second. Let me explain.

The first thing is, Democrats in the Senate are now talking about passing a limited cap-and-trade system that only covers electric utilities. This is widely seen as a second-best measure, something short of an economy-wide system but better than no CO2 restrictions at all. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), among others, is working on legislative language for such a system (though he has said he's skeptical it can get to 60 votes). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is apparently going to go for it, including such a system in the coming energy bill, and he's deep in negotiation with various stakeholders about it.

The second thing is, EPA is working on a whole suite of new Clean Air Act regulations. I'm not talking about the much-discussed EPA regulation of greenhouse gases -- I mean tightened standards on traditional ("criteria") air pollutants. The Clean Air Act dictates that EPA regularly revisit pollution standards and update them to reflect the best current science. Needless to say, that wasn't done during the Bush years, so there's a huge backlog of work. Every single criteria pollutant is being revisited. The upshot is, there are tons of new standards either recently released or on their way in the next year or so. (Also relevant are upcoming regulation of coal ash and tightened Clean Water Act standards.)

The utilities see an opening here. Their support will be crucial for getting the energy bill through the Senate. In exchange for their support, they are now asking to be exempted from the EPA's new rules (as they are in Sen. Dick Lugar's [R-Ind.] proposed energy bill). Darren Samuelsohn and Coral Davenport have a great story today on the heated negotiations going on around this issue as we speak.

I've been planning a long post, or even series of posts (whee!), on this subject for a long time. There's a lot of complex history and background that needs to be understood to really get what's going on. But I'm on vacation, dammit, and I'm not going to start writing that post now.

Instead, let me just cut to the core point: A deal to exempt utilities from new Clean Air Act rules in exchange for their support for a utility-only cap-and-trade system would be a terrible deal. Terrible. I've resisted the repeated tendency of greens to say this or that compromise renders the climate bill "worse than nothing," but this deal really would do that: it would make the bill worse than nothing. It would be a step backward, on both climate and health grounds. Any environmental group that supports such a deal should be scorned by progressives and cut off by progressive funders. (I'm extremely gratified to hear Samuelsohn report that green groups are, so far, holding firm on this.)

Why would it be so bad? Because the new Clean Air Act regulations are going to have bigger, faster, and more substantial effects on the power sector than any watered-down utility-only cap-and-trade system. Those regulations will eliminate more pollution, shut down more dirty coal plants, and avoid more greenhouse gases than a utility-only cap-and-trade system.

The power sector is terrified. After putting off needed investments in new, cleaner generation for years and years -- aided and abetted by simpatico regulators in D.C. -- all the sudden they're going to have to start making those investments. And quickly! They might have to scramble, and innovate, and maybe even change their business models! Some of them might even have to ... gasp ... raise rates (which have been artificially suppressed for years)!

Utilities are extremely accustomed to their moldy old business models and practically allergic to innovation, so they're reacting to the coming regulations with the same strategy they've always used: whining to politicians. They're telling politicians that the regulations will force coal plant shutdowns faster than replacement generation can be found. There will be reliability issues. Brownouts! Puppies will freeze! Grandma will bake!

It's bull -- the same bull they've been peddling for years. If they get away with it, it will mark the true devolution of the climate bill into farce.

More, probably much more, when I'm back next week.

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by Jonathan Hiskes.

California Attorney General (and candidate for governor) Jerry Brown sued Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac today for blocking Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs. There's a good chance that Fannie and Freddie's legal costs from defending this suit will add up to more than they ever stood to lose from the clean-energy programs, but here we are. The town of Babylon, N.Y., has also been threatening to sue over the same issue, but Brown was quicker. 

Todd Woody reports at the New York Times' Green blog:

The suit alleges that the [actions of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie] violated California law, which authorizes PACE programs, and are "severely hampering California's efforts to assist thousands of California homeowners to reduce their energy and water use, help drive the state's green economy, and create significant numbers of skilled, stable and well-paying jobs."

"The actions of these government-sponsored, shareholder-owned private corporations have placed California's PACE programs -- and the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus money supporting them -- at immediate risk while benefiting their own pecuniary interests," the suit states.

The housing agency said it would mount an aggressive defense. "In keeping with our safety and soundness obligations, the Federal Housing Finance Agency will defend vigorously its actions that aim to protect taxpayers, lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," Edward DeMarco, the agency's acting director, said in a statement.

"Homeowners should not be placed at risk by programs that alter lien priorities and fail to operate with sound underwriting guidelines and consumer protections," he said. "Mortgage holders should not be forced to absorb new credit risks after they have already purchased or guaranteed a mortgage."

Interesting:

The suit's most novel allegation is that the agency violated federal environmental law by not conducting a review of the potential environmental impact of restricting PACE programs.

"F.H.F.A. has effectively precluded PACE programs in California and deprived California and its citizens of the associated residential energy and water efficiency and renewable energy benefits, thereby significantly impacting the human environment, without completing the required environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act," the suit states.

After Fannie and Freddie warned lenders away from PACE, many municipalities froze their PACE programs. But on Tuesday, Sonoma County, Calif., voted to reopen its Energy Independence PACE program, and Missouri's governor signed PACE-enabling legislation (joining at least 22 other states). Clearly many people have confidence that this model will survive once the Fannie/Freddie dispute gets resolved.

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by Randy Rieland

It’s been almost a month since the Deepwater Horizon exploded and began spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico.  But it’s not your typical oil spill; because of its depth and distance from shore, it has so far brought no images of fouled beaches or blackened, dead sea birds.

Whatever damage is being done by the viscous soup floating under the sea is still largely unknown.  But more and more scientists are fearing the worst, reports Justin Gillis in The New York Times. The researchers who've had the closest look beneath the surface ratcheted up the anxiety when they described giant underwater plumes of oil as large as 10 miles long and three miles wide.  Said scientist Samantha Joyce: 

There’s a shocking amount of oil in the deep water, relative to what you see in the surface water. There’s a tremendous amount of oil in multiple layers, three or four or five layers deep in the water column.

What the oil spill and the dispersants being used to break it up mean for marine life in the Gulf -- short term and long term -- is anybody’s guess. But it has all the makings of an ecological disaster.  Writes Joel Achenbach in The Washington Post:

The millions of gallons of crude, and the introduction of chemicals to disperse it, have thrown this underwater ecosystem into chaos, and scientists have no answer to the question of how this unintended and uncontrolled experiment in marine biology and chemistry will ultimately play out.

In fact, as Bettina Boxall and Alana Semuels point out in the Los Angeles Times, the chemicals being dumped into the sea to break up the oil may only be making things worse under the surface. 

The widespread spraying of chemical dispersants on the surface slick may be compounding exposure and speeding oil uptake into the food chain, scientists warned. The problem, said George Crozier, executive director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, is that it is easier for particle-munching microorganisms to ingest the broken-up bits of oil.

Grist’s Tom Philpott has also been digging up the ugly story behind the dispersants.

And the Christian Science Monitor's Mark Sappenfield goes a step farther, raising the specter of huge dead zones created by lack of oxygen in the water. 

... serious environmental degradation could take place in the open ocean, creating massive “dead zones” where no creature can live because of the lack of oxygen in the water. The spread of oil at all levels of the Gulf also could become a concern for shore communities in hurricanes, which stir up the water column as they come ashore.

Thar she blows

Meanwhile, in a galaxy far away, aka Wall Street, experts can also only speculate as to how this disaster will play out in their world.  It may come down simply to which way the wind blows. Worst-case scenario, according to investment adviser David Kotok, is that the slick moves west, where the majority of oil-producing wells in the Gulf are located, which might lead to fire hazards. If drilling platforms in the area have to be abandoned, “[a]bout 31 percent of our domestic oil supply will be shut off,” he says. “You can imagine the impact on fuel prices.”  But if the slick moves east, well, that’s not so great either. Here’s the take from FireDogLake.

Related Links:

MMS goes under the spotlight

Oil now threatening Gulf’s cradles of biodiversity, its reefs

Tube is suctioning one-fifth of spewing oil, says BP executive

by Randy Rieland

Last week, execs from BP, Transocean, and Halliburton took their Capitol Hill beatdown.  This week, federal regulators will be led into the ring.  With Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar at the front of the line, they’ll appear before three Senate committees tomorrow and then a House committee on Wednesday, at which members of Congress can be expected to express equal measures of shock, dismay, and disgust.

The bull's-eye will be on Minerals Management Service (MMS), the Interior Department agency that’s responsible for overseeing offshore drilling but has developed more of a reputation for its staffers deferring to and partying with its oil industry buds.  

AP’s Justin Pritchard reveals the latest example of MMS’s diddling.  During the past five years, the agency became increasingly lax about making monthly safety inspections of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded.  Which explains why since January 2005 inspectors had issued just one minor infraction for the rig. Which explains why last year MMS was able to single out the Deepwater well as an industry model for safety. 

A case of Bush reflux

One person who won’t be anywhere near Washington this week but deserves to take heat for the MMS mess is none other than George W. Bush, says Matthew Yglesias, writing for The Daily Beast.  The MMS became a poster child for the Bush policy of hands-off regulation, or as Yglesias puts it:

[The MMS developed] a culture of indifference to the substantive missions of government agencies. This, of course, was the very essence of the Bush administration approach to government. When a regulator could be staffed by shills for the industry it was supposed to oversee, it was. When no industry particularly wanted to own an agency, like FEMA, it was handed over to a random crony. The results were disastrous and we're still paying the price today.

Andrew Sullivan, in his Daily Dish blog for The Atlantic, fingers a different culprit.  “The BP disaster is not Obama's Katrina; it's Cheney's delayed Katrina,” he writes. He also points out how enthusiastically Sarah Palin was waving her pom-poms for “Damn the permits, full speed ahead!” in a column for The National Review just weeks before Deepwater went down.  Among her comments:

What we need is action -- action that results in the job growth and revenue that a robust drilling policy could provide.  And let’s not forget that while Interior Department bureaucrats continue to hold up actual offshore drilling from taking place, Russia is moving full steam ahead on Arctic drilling, and China, Russia, and Venezuela are buying leases off the coast of Cuba.

She hit the trifecta: China and Russia and Chavez, oh my!  Plus Cuba.

Enough , already

Not surprisingly, newspapers along the Gulf Coast have joined the MMS whipping party.  From an editorial in the New Orleans Times-Picayune: 

For South Louisianians, the Minerals Management lapses are painfully reminiscent of the shoddy work by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that led to the deadly collapse of federal floodwalls during Katrina ... It is already clear, though, that federal oversight was virtually nonexistent, and safety suffered because of it.

And from the Pensacola News Journal:   

To ensure that regulatory agencies didn't regulate well, Bush stocked them with former industry officials and even lobbyists, who worked from inside to loosen regulation.

Finally, Reuters reports that the Center for Biological Diversity plans to sue the Interior Department for failing to get environmental permits for many offshore drilling activities, as required by two environmental laws, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.

"The Department of the Interior and the Minerals Management Service are creating a lawless zone in the Gulf of Mexico when it comes to these environmental laws," said Miyoko Sakashita, the center's oceans director. "The oil companies really get to call the shots."

For MMS, the party’s over.

Related Links:

The real trouble from the oil spill is brewing deep under the sea

Oil now threatening Gulf’s cradles of biodiversity, its reefs

Tube is suctioning one-fifth of spewing oil, says BP executive

by Agence France-Presse

NEW ORLEANS, La. - The tube inserted by BP into a ruptured oil pipe is sucking up about one-fifth of the crude spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, a top company official said Monday.

BP's Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles told CNN that about 1,000 barrels of oil per day are being suctioned up by the tube, out of about 5,000 barrels that the company believes is gushing out daily.

"I'm really pleased we've had success now. We've actually had what we call this rise insertion tube working more than 24 hours now," he told CNN. "This morning we were producing over 1,000 barrels of oil into the drill ship. So it's good progress."

Suttles acknowledged that most of the oil continues to spill into the open Gulf waters, but said he hoped to be able over time to increase the ratio of captured oil.

"This doesn't capture all of it. There's still oil coming out. But what we hope to do over the next 24 hours is continue to raise the rate, increase the rate coming out of that insertion tube and capture more and more of the flow," Suttles said.

The tube insertion was the first tangible sign of success in more than three weeks of efforts to prevent at least 210,000 gallons of oil from spewing unabated into the sea each day and feeding a massive slick off the coast of Louisiana.

The four-inch-diameter tube was inserted into the 21-inch leaking pipe using undersea robots over the weekend and finally managed to begin siphoning oil after some early glitches.

BP estimates that 5,000 barrels of oil each day are gushing into the Gulf, but independent experts have said that the amount could be as much as 10 times higher.

The bigger estimate, if accurate, would mean that the tube has only managed to corral a small fraction of the oil flowing into the Gulf, rather than the 20 percent that BP officials suggest is being siphoned off.

Company officials also are weighing the possibility of drilling a relief well that would divert the flow and allow the well to be permanently sealed, but it was not expected to be ready until August.

Related Links:

The real trouble from the oil spill is brewing deep under the sea

MMS goes under the spotlight

Oil now threatening Gulf’s cradles of biodiversity, its reefs

by Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - British energy giant BP, which is battling a gigantic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, also has a record of flagrant safety violations at its U.S. refineries, according to a Washington-based investigative group.

The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, said its analysis showed two refineries owned by BP account for 97 percent of all flagrant violations found in the U.S. refining industry by inspectors over the past three years.

Most of BP's citations were classified as "egregious willful" by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the group said in its release Sunday. It noted that BP has been under scrutiny from the federal worker-safety monitor since its refinery in Texas City, Texas, exploded in March 2005, killing 15 workers.

The report said refinery inspection data obtained by the center under the Freedom of Information Act showed that BP received a total of 862 citations between June 2007 and February 2010 for alleged violations at its refineries in Texas City and Toledo, Ohio.

Of those, 760 were classified as "egregious willful" and 69 were classified as "willful," according to the report, which said BP accounted for 829 of the 851 willful violations among all refiners cited by OSHA during the period.

OSHA officials told the center in an interview that BP failed to correct the types of problems that led to the 2005 Texas City accident even after OSHA pointed them out.

BP, which operates five U.S. refineries that collectively process about 1.5million barrels of crude oil per day, was hit last year with a proposed $87 million fine from OSHA for violations at the Texas City refinery with another fine of $3 million for violations in Toledo, Ohio, according to the report. BP is contesting both penalties.

Contacted by AFP, BP had no immediate response to the report.

Related Links:

The real trouble from the oil spill is brewing deep under the sea

MMS goes under the spotlight

Oil now threatening Gulf’s cradles of biodiversity, its reefs

by Agence France-Presse

NEW
ORLEANS, La. - BP succeeded Sunday in capturing "some" oil and gas by
inserting a mile-long tube into the main Gulf of Mexico leak, but would not say
if it was a significant percentage of the gusher or just a few drops.

Despite
the uncertainty, it was still the first tangible sign of success in more than
three weeks of efforts to prevent at least 210,000 gallons of oil  (and maybe
much more) from spewing unabated into the sea each day and feeding a
massive slick off the coast of Louisiana.

BP
Senior Executive Vice President Kent Wells refused to be specific on quantity,
but confirmed that after a temporary hitch in which the tube became dislodged
overnight, siphoning operations were up and running once again.

"We
will look to ... capture as much of the oil as we can," he told reporters
in Houston, Texas. "At this point, we don't know what percentage we will
capture" by the process, in which the oil is sucked up as if through a
straw to a giant ship.

A
BP statement said simply that the four-inch-diameter tube inserted into the
21-inch leaking pipe using undersea robots had captured "some amounts of
oil and gas."

Wells
added that the BP crews "don't have any idea at this point" how much
crude is being collected and would only have a better estimate in coming days.

"The
oil was stored on board the Discoverer Enterprise drill ship 5,000 feet above
on the water's surface, and natural gas was burned through a flare system on
board the ship," the statement said.

The
Obama administration seemed unimpressed, however, pointing out that BP's latest
efforts, even if they manage to slow the leak, would not permanently stop the
underwater geyser.

"This
technique is not a solution to the problem, and it is not yet clear how
successful it may be," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. "We are closely
monitoring BP's test with the hope that it will contain some of the oil, but at
the same time, federal scientists are continuing to provide oversight and
expertise to BP as they move forward with other strategies to contain the spill
and stop the flow of oil."

Engineers
are mulling several different options to seal the main leak, which has spewed
out an estimated 5 million gallons so far, according to the most conservative
estimates, and prevent the giant slick from destroying ecologically fragile
wetlands and nature reserves.

A
relief well that would divert the flow and allow the well to be permanently
sealed may not be ready until August.

Fresh
analysis of enormous plumes of oil under the surface suggest the spill may be
far worse than previously estimated. One was reported to be 10 miles long,
three miles wide, and 300 feet thick.

Researchers
from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology said the plumes
were "perhaps due to the deep
injection of dispersants which BP has stated that they are
conducting."

Response
crews have so far used some 560,000 gallons of the controversial
chemical dispersants, spraying them onto surface oil and also directly into
the leak in a bid to break up the oil.

"The
oil still exists, it's just spread in smaller pieces," Aaron Viles,
campaign director for the Gulf Restoration Network, a coalition of
environmental groups, told AFP. "It could have a significant impact on the
marine life of the Gulf of Mexico."

University
of Georgia researcher Samantha Joye, who is on a scientific mission to gather
details about the looming environmental disaster, told The New York
Times that oxygen levels have dropped 30 percent near the plumes, in an
"alarming" trend that is endangering marine life.

But
Andrew Gowers, head of group media for BP, dismissed reports that
"speculate" on the giant plumes. He said officials "had no
confirmation" of oil clumping together in mid-ocean areas.

On
Sunday, a large concert in New Orleans drew crowds to support Gulf fishermen,
whose livelihoods are threatened by the oil spill, with rocker Lenny Kravitz
heading the line-up.

"This
is a catastrophe," Kravitz told CNN television. "I love this place.
And this place has been through so much in the last several years," he
said, referring to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. "Here we are,
getting hit again."

Officials
said some 19,000 personnel and more than 650 vessels have been deployed to try
to mitigate the negative effects of the spill on the Gulf shoreline and
wildlife.

Meanwhile,
the U.S. Coast Guard told AFP that oil was washing ashore in at least two new
locations -- Whiskey Island, La., and Long Beach, Miss.

Engineers
are mulling several different options to seal the main leak, which has spewed
out an estimated 5 million gallons so far, according to the most conservative
estimates, and prevent the giant slick from destroying ecologically fragile
wetlands and nature reserves.

A relief well that would divert the flow and
allow the well to be permanently sealed may not be ready until August.

Related Links:

The real trouble from the oil spill is brewing deep under the sea

MMS goes under the spotlight

Oil now threatening Gulf’s cradles of biodiversity, its reefs

by Agence France-Presse

NEW ORLEANS -- U.S. officials on Friday approved the use
of controversial subsea chemical dispersants to battle a massive oil spill
gushing out of a ruptured offshore well deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

"This was
not a decision that was made lightly," said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral
Mary Landry.

Landry told
reporters that the approval was only granted after a team of experts analyzed
the results of three tests of subsea dispersant use.

Environmentalists, scientists, and fisherman have raised concerns that
the dispersants could be creating a toxic soup in critical habitats and simply
shifting the damage from the oil out of sight.

"It's a
series of tradeoffs," Landry acknowledged. "Our focus in this
response is to respond to what's out there and fight this spill as far offshore
as possible."

More than
517,000 gallons of dispersants have already been sprayed on the surface of the
massive slick, which has been growing by the day since the BP-leased Deepwater
Horizon rig sank on April 22 after a huge explosion.

For the past two
weeks, a U.S. federal agency has conservatively estimated the leak at some
210,000 gallons per day, but scientists who analyzed recently released video
showing the oil spewing from the busted pipe say as much as 2.9 million
gallons could be pumping uncontrolled into the Gulf every day.

The dispersant
effort is meant to break down the oil so that over time the slick is reduced to
smaller particles that biodegrade instead of being left as chunky, thick globs
that can choke both wildlife and vegetation.

Injecting
dispersants directly into the plume of oil gushing out of a ruptured pipe on
the seabed "might be a better option" because it "requires less
by volume than what you might use on the surface," Landry said.

"We're
really trying to minimize the impact on the environment as much as
possible," she said.

Crews have also
attacked the growing slick with controlled burns and have skimmed more than 6
million gallons of oily water off the surface.

Those operations
are dependent on calm seas, whereas the robots used to inject the dispersants
into the plume can work in rough weather.

 

Related Links:

The real trouble from the oil spill is brewing deep under the sea

MMS goes under the spotlight

Oil now threatening Gulf’s cradles of biodiversity, its reefs

by Jonathan Hiskes

Obama giving his "angry" speechPresident Obama has so
far declined to give voice to the connection between the massive,
stomach-churning fossil-fuel disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the massive,
stomach-turning damage that fossil fuels wreak every day. He hasn't used his
bully pulpit to highlight the opportunities to use energy more intelligently
and gather it from cleaner sources.

Instead, the president
today offered finger-wagging and "anger," directed chiefly toward BP and the
inept Minerals Management Service.

"This is a
responsibility that all of us share," he said [full
text]. "The oil companies share it. The manufacturers of this equipment
share it. The agencies and the federal government in charge of oversight share
that responsibility.

"I will not tolerate
more finger pointing or irresponsibility."

Fine, but he's
continued to let BP drive the message on the Gulf leak by lowballing
leak-rate estimates, stalling on releasing
information on the leak rate, and pushing false optimism about the latest
desperate gambit for plugging it up. The federal government, not an oil
company, should be controlling the information and the emergency response.

And on the clean-energy
connection ... still
nothing. This is all Obama had to say about the big energy picture:

"Now, as I've said
before, domestic oil drilling continues to be one part of an overall energy
strategy that now includes more clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency
than at any other time in our history.  But it's absolutely essential that
going forward we put in place every necessary safeguard and protection so that
a tragedy like this oil spill does not happen again."

A call for "no more
spills like this" and assurance that Obama still supports offshore drilling -- that's
all we've gotten.

Meanwhile, the Senate released its last shot at
a climate and energy bill this year, and Obama's the only person powerful enough to make it a reality.

Back during the presidential campaign, a campaign strategist told Obama, "You are more clutch than Michael Jordan."

"Just give me the ball," the candidate replied.

Mr. President, you've got the ball now.

 

Related Links:

The real trouble from the oil spill is brewing deep under the sea

MMS goes under the spotlight

Oil now threatening Gulf’s cradles of biodiversity, its reefs

by Jonathan Hiskes

$125,000
to play SimCity? Sort of.

A
new contest from the Cascadia Region Green
Building Council is offering serious cash for the best visual renderings of
an existing city transformed into a place that's sustainable. Like, really sustainable.

The
Living City
Design Competition is calling for:

Photo-realistic
three-dimensional modeling and renderings (a napkin sketch won't cut it)
Collaboration
from designers, planners, artists and animators
Cities
designed around the principles of the hyper-rigorous Living Building Challenge

The
First Prize winner will get $75,000, and two smaller prizes will come with
$25,000 each. 

The
contest builds on the Living
Building Challenge, another of the council's projects; it's a green
building standard that's far more demanding than the highest LEED level
(Platinum). It calls for buildings to produce all of their own energy (net zero
energy) and use only water falling on-site (net zero water). Builders must avoid
toxic materials, include windows that open, allow for natural light, and take
other measures to make the buildings pleasant spaces.  They must also site projects on reclaimed
land and in walker-friendly locations.  Unlike
with LEED, builders must meet each requirement, rather than picking and choosing
the ones they prefer. 

There
are only 70 proposed Living Buildings in the world, all in planning or
construction phases, including the Bullitt
Foundation mid-rise building in Seattle and the 11-story Oregon Sustainability Center at Portland State University. The four-year-old program is managed by the
Cascadia Region Green Building Council's CEO and resident green-building guru Jason McLennan.

But
McLennan and co. recognize that isolated buildings won't get us the cities we
need in time to confront climate change. Hence, the Living City Design
Competition, focused on reimagining whole cities.

"We
think it's our job to help people understand where we need to head," McLennan said
in a talk in Seattle last week.

He
was unveiling the group's new slogan, "Envisioning a Living Future." It seems
to get at a key task for the climate movement: showing
people what a sustainable future can look like, to alleviate fears of the
unknown and to illustrate the quality-of-life benefits that come with
auto-independent design.

While
it's easy to imagine dystopias, it's a much bigger challenge to envision a
future that's dramatically transformed in a positive way.

"We've
had several generations of novels and movies training us to think that the
future will be full of grim cities," McLennan said in a statement. "Just think
of how Los Angeles is portrayed in Blade
Runner.  We need to offer a new vision -- not a sci-fi ‘ecotopia,' but
an achievable vision of the ecologically sound future we can create if we
clearly define the endgame."

The
Living Building standard and the Living Cities design contest are "bleeding edge"
-- technology even newer and more advanced than "cutting edge," with higher
risks and more to figure out for the first time.

How
do these kinds of projects affect the rest of the building industry, the vast
majority of which isn't taking on such ambitious projects? I asked Pam Worner,
who runs a business helping home builders figure
out green building practices. She emailed this response:

"The
move to improve how our homes are built needs people all along the spectrum,
from leading edge to mainstream. With the Living Building Challenge, the
Cascadia GBC is stimulating experimentation with new approaches on projects
with the time, money, project team members, and other elements to make them
feasible.

"I
see this as a process where lots of ideas get tried out in innovative projects,
the best ones find their way to the wider community of green builders, and
those broader results lead to them being incorporated into every home that's
built."

Related Links:

The real trouble from the oil spill is brewing deep under the sea

MMS goes under the spotlight

Tube is suctioning one-fifth of spewing oil, says BP executive

by Randy Rieland

We're #2! We're #2!

Sure enough, here's a new study out of the University of
Adelaide in Australia, naming the Top
10 Countries Ruining the Planet, and the U.S. isn't even the leader.  It ranks second behind Brazil, followed by China, Indonesia, and Japan. 
The research focused solely on environmental impact, using seven indicators of ecological
damage: natural forest loss, habitat conversion, marine capture, fertilizer
use, water pollution, carbon emissions, and species threat.  But while they deliberately avoided human
health and economic data, the researchers did make a discovery about the relationship between a
nation's wealth and its environmental impact. 

Says lead scientist Corey Bradshaw,  "There is a theory that as wealth increases,
nations have more access to clean technology and become more environmentally
aware so that the environmental impact starts to decline. This wasn't
supported."

Trust us, eh?

Given the debacle unfolding a thousand or so miles south,
Canadian legislators had plenty of questions for the head of BP's Canadian
operations when they met with her Thursday. 

Unfortunately, she didn't have many answers. 

Like their U.S. counterparts, Canadian legislators seemed
exasperated by the responses of the BP exec -- Anne Drinkwater, president of BP
Canada -- particularly when she said it would be "inappropriate" for her to
comment on the differences between Canadian and U.S. regulations governing
offshore drilling.

Some experts believe an oil blowout in the Canadian Arctic could damage the
environment much more than the Gulf disaster because it would be in such a
remote location and face severe weather conditions.  Get more from Canwest
News Service. 

Hate when that happens

A new
report says India's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions rose by almost 60
percent between 1994 and 2007, and the country's energy industry was
responsible for more than half of that increase. This comes a week after news
that China just experienced the largest six-month GHG rise ever recorded by
a single country.

Based on 2007 estimates, India ranks fifth in GHG emissions, behind the
United States, China, the European Union, and Russia.  But U.S. and Chinese emissions were each four
times higher than India's.

Grain Drain

Singapore's desire to literally keep growing is having a bad ripple effect
across Southeast Asia.  The densely packed
country's strategy to keep getting bigger -- another 7 percent more land by
2020 -- requires bringing in sand from neighboring countries.  It's now the world's largest importer of
sand, shipping in more than 14 tons in 2008 alone.

All that dredging is being linked to damage of coastal ecosystems and fish
stocks, so much so that Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam have now attempted to
limit exports.  So Singapore is now
looking to neighboring Cambodia to slake its thirst for sand.  The
Ecologist has the story.

Meanwhile, at the North Pole

Scientists for
the first time have been able to get samples of ocean water from beneath the
North Pole, Adam Vaughan reports in the Guardian.  And that will give them a
much better idea of how fast the Arctic Ocean is acidifying due to rising CO2
levels.

After a brutal
two-and-a-half-month trek across sea ice, during which, among other trials,
they had to deal with ice cracking under their tents, the researchers managed
to drill through the polar ice to collect Arctic water.  That's significant because cold water tends
to acidify more rapidly than water in warmer regions. Globally, oceans have
seen a 30 percent increase in acidity since pre-industrial times.

The Green Medal Goes to ...

... Rio, if it can pull off its goal of being the first
zero-carbon footprint Olympics in 2016. 
The showpiece, according to early plans, will be a Solar City Tower
featuring a dazzling energy-generating waterfall.  See more at Gizmag. 

And the "Cut to the Chase" Award Goes to ...

... the German solar energy company Solon, which has, as its
tagline, the phrase "Don't Leave the Planet to the Stupid."   Thanks, Triple
Pundit.  

You had me at stupid.

Related Links:

The real trouble from the oil spill is brewing deep under the sea

MMS goes under the spotlight

Oil now threatening Gulf’s cradles of biodiversity, its reefs

by Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON -- A visibly angered President Barack Obama hit out at oil companies Friday for trying to avoid blame over a massive slick, and vowed an all-out effort to stop the leak pouring into the Gulf of Mexico.

"I will not tolerate more finger-pointing or irresponsibility. The people of the Gulf Coast need our help," Obama said, as he also unveiled a review of the environmental safeguards to be put in place for oil and gas exploration.

He slammed the three oil companies linked to the Deepwater Horizon rig for seeking to pass the blame, denouncing what he called a "ridiculous spectacle" by their top officials during congressional hearings. And he also accused oil companies of enjoying a "cozy relationship" with federal agencies set up to monitor the energy sector.

Obama said he shared the "anger and frustration" of Gulf Coast residents that more than three weeks after the rig was crippled by an explosion on April 20, the oil is still spewing unchecked into the seas.

"I'm not going to rest or be satisfied until the leak is stopped at the source, the oil in the Gulf is contained and cleaned up, and the people of the Gulf are able to go back to their lives and their livelihoods," he vowed.

Earlier this week the president dispatched a team of top officials  -- including Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist -- to BP's command center in Houston, Texas, to discuss efforts to contain the leak.

"What really matters is this: There's oil leaking and we need to stop it, we need to stop it as soon as possible," Obama said Friday in his statement in the Rose Garden.

"I know BP is committed to pay for the response effort. We will hold them to their obligation," Obama said.

"I have to say, though, I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle during the congressional hearings into this matter."

BP, which had leased the rig from Transocean, has pledged to pay for the cleanup efforts and all reasonable damages.

But in testifying before lawmakers this week, top executives from the two companies, as well as oil services supplier Halliburton, which carried out some vital cement work, traded accusations as to who was to blame for the accident.

"I understand that there are legal and financial issues involved, and a full investigation will tell us exactly what happened," Obama said.

"But it is pretty clear that the system failed and it failed badly. For that, there's enough responsibility to go around.

"For too long, for a decade or more, there's been a cozy relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them to drill."

Here are his full remarks:

THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, everybody. I just finished meeting with some of
my Cabinet and administration officials about the ongoing efforts to stop the BP
oil spill. And I wanted to give the American people an update on these efforts,
but I also want to underscore the seriousness and urgency of this crisis.

The potential devastation to the Gulf Coast, its
economy, and its people require us to continue our relentless efforts to stop
the leak and contain the damage. There's already been a loss of life, damage to
our coastline, to fish and wildlife, and to the livelihoods of everyone from
fishermen to restaurant and hotel owners. I saw firsthand the anger and
frustration felt by our neighbors in the Gulf. And let me tell you, it is an
anger and frustration that I share as President. And I'm not going to rest or
be satisfied until the leak is stopped at the source, the oil in the Gulf is
contained and cleaned up, and the people of the Gulf are able to go back to
their lives and their livelihoods.

Now, the most important order of
business is to stop the leak. I know there have been varying reports over the
last few days about how large the leak is, but since no one can get down there
in person, we know there is a level of uncertainty. But as Admiral Thad Allen
said today, our mobilization and response efforts have always been geared toward
the possibility of a catastrophic event. And what really matters is this:
There's oil leaking and we need to stop it -- and we need to stop it as soon as
possible. With that source being 5,000 feet under the ocean's surface, this has
been extremely difficult. But scientists and engineers are currently using the
best, most advanced technology that exists to try to stop the flow of oil as
quickly as possible.

Our second task has been to
contain the spill and protect the Gulf Coast and the people who live there. We
are using every available resource to stop the oil from coming ashore. Over one
million feet of barrier boom have been deployed to hold the oil back. Hundreds
of thousands of gallons of dispersant have helped to break up the oil, and about
four million gallons of oily water have been recovered; 13,000 people have been
mobilized to protect the shoreline and its wildlife, as has the National
Guard.       

This week, we also sent to
Congress legislation that would provide us with the additional resources to
mitigate the damage caused by this spill. And I ask for prompt action on this
legislation. That would help with cleanup efforts, it would provide
unemployment assistance and job training to folks whose jobs are affected by
this crisis, and it would help with the region's economic recovery. That's why
this legislation is important.

It would also help ensure that
companies like BP that are responsible for oil spills are the ones that pay for
the harm caused by these oil spills -- not the taxpayers. This is in addition
to the low-interest loans that we've made available to small businesses that are
suffering financial losses from the spill.

Let me also say, by the way, a
word here about BP and the other companies involved in this mess. I know BP has
committed to pay for the response effort, and we will hold them to their
obligation. I have to say, though, I did not appreciate what I considered to be
a ridiculous spectacle during the congressional hearings into this matter.  You
had executives of BP and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to
point the finger of blame at somebody else. The American people could not have
been impressed with that display, and I certainly wasn't.  

I understand that there are legal
and financial issues involved, and a full investigation will tell us exactly
what happened. But it is pretty clear that the system failed, and it failed
badly. And for that, there is enough responsibility to go around. And all
parties should be willing to accept it.

That includes, by the way, the
federal government. For too long, for a decade or more, there has been a cozy
relationship between the oil companies and the federal agency that permits them
to drill. It seems as if permits were too often issued based on little more
than assurances of safety from the oil companies. That cannot and will not
happen anymore. To borrow an old phrase, we will trust but we will verify.

Now, from the day he took office as Interior Secretary,
Ken Salazar has recognized these problems and he's worked to solve them. Oftentimes he has been slammed by the industry, suggesting that somehow these
necessary reforms would impede economic growth. Well, as I just told Ken, we
are going to keep on going to do what needs to be done.

And so I've asked Secretary
Salazar to conduct a top-to-bottom reform of the Minerals Management Service.
This week, he announced that the part of the agency which permits oil and gas
drilling and collects royalties will be separated from the part of the agency in
charge of inspecting the safety of oil rigs and platforms and enforcing the
law. That way, there's no conflict of interest, real or perceived.

We've also ordered immediate
inspections of all deepwater operations in the Gulf of Mexico. And we've
announced that no permits for drilling new wells will go forward until the
30-day safety and environmental review that I requested is completed. We're
also closing the loophole that has allowed some oil companies to bypass some
critical environmental reviews, and today we're announcing a new examination of
the environmental procedures for oil and gas exploration and development.

Now, as I've said before, domestic
oil drilling continues to be one part of an overall energy strategy that now
includes more clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency than at any other
time in our history. But it's absolutely essential that going forward we put in
place every necessary safeguard and protection so that a tragedy like this oil
spill does not happen again. This is a responsibility that all of us share --
the oil companies share it; the manufacturers of this equipment share it; the
agencies in the federal government in charge of oversight share that
responsibility. I will not tolerate more finger pointing or irresponsibility.

The people of the Gulf Coast need
our help, and they deserve nothing less than for us to stand up and do whatever
is necessary to stop this spill, prevent further damage, and compensate all
those who've been harmed already. That's our job.

It's also our job to make sure
this kind of mess doesn't happen again. It's a job we've been doing. It's a
job we will keep doing until the well is capped and the spill is cleaned up, and
all claims are paid.

Thank you very
much.

Related Links:

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MMS goes under the spotlight

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