Of climate and national security

Chemical and Engineering News: Floods, droughts, raging storms, and heat waves are likely consequences of climate change that will lead to unknown, unprecedented, and unpredictable environmental, political, and social global tragedies, says a report released Nov. 9 by the National Research Council. The report recommends that the U.S. intelligence community quickly act to better understand and prepare for the national security impacts of climate change. "We`d better get ready," urges the NRC panel chair, John D. Steinbruner,...

URL: http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i47/Climate-National-Security.html

Biotech Claims GM Trees are Fuel Industry ‘Game-Changer’

Guardian: It's a timber company's dream but a horrific industrial vision for others: massive plantations of densely planted GM eucalyptus trees stretching across Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia and China, engineered to grow 40 percent faster for use as paper, as pellets for power stations, and as fuel for cars. The prospect is close, says Stanley Hirsch, chief executive of the Israeli biotech company FuturaGene. All that is missing, he says, are permissions from governments for the trees to be grown commercially,...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/firm-claims-gm-trees-a-fuel-industry-game-changer-15251?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/11-15-12-Guardian-GM-eucalyptus-trees-450x270.jpg

Bhutan's glaciers at risk

Summit Voice: After significant warming during half century, about 10 percent of Bhutan`s glaciers are likely to disappear within the next few decades -- even if regional and global temperatures were to stabilize at current levels. "These particular glaciers have seen so much warming in the past few decades that they`re currently playing lots of catch up," Brigham Young University geology professor Summer Rupper said after studying climate and glaciers in the Himalaya. Rupper`s most conservative findings...

URL: http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/11/17/global-warming-bhutans-glaciers-at-risk/
Enclosure: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2012GL053010.shtml

Superstorm Sandy: How soon we forget

LA Times: Since Superstorm Sandy soaked the East Coast, there's been a presidential election and a CIA sex scandal. So I can hardly blame you folks in California for forgetting that there are people like me who still have no heat or elevators in our buildings. I find it disturbingly easy to forget about such people myself as soon as I get a few blocks out of the blackout zone. The former Sri Lankan ambassador to Cuba happened to be staying in our apartment when Sandy hit. My husband and I had arranged to...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-garson-hurricane-sandy-20121118,0,4869234.story
Enclosure: http://www.trbimg.com/img-50a6f6f9/turbine/la-oe-garson-hurricane-sandy-20121118-001/600

Island states mull risks and benefits of suing big emitters

ClimateWire: Tiny islands are getting some big-league help in their quest to haul major emitters into international court over global warming. But they're fearful the United States and China might punish them by cutting off foreign aid. Germany, Ireland and Switzerland have vowed support for the Republic of Palau, which is leading a coalition of vulnerable nations in a landmark campaign to make climate change a matter of international law. The backing of wealthy European nations brings support for a resolution...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2012/11/16/1
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Oil Platform Explosion Sends Shock Waves Through Gulf On Heels of BP Criminal Settlement

EcoWatch: An oil platform explosion and fire yesterday near the site of the nation's greatest offshore oil spill in history--BP's Deepwater Horizon--sent shivers up the spines of many Gulf residents as the U.S. Coast Guard reported that 11 crewmembers were flown to area hospitals and two crewmembers were still missing as of Friday evening. News reports said four workers were critically injured with burns. A Coast Guard spokesman said the oil and gas platform was 20 miles southeast of Grand Isle, LA, and...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/oil-platform-explosion/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/tarballs.jpg

Pelicans blown north by Sandy get ride home to Florida

NBC: Two brown pelicans blown to Rhode Island by the winds of Hurricane Sandy were flying back Saturday to their natural habitat in Florida -- via a private plane. The first of the large birds, whose wingspans measure 6 to 7 feet, was found on the side of a road at Fishermen's Memorial State Park on Nov. 7, nine days after the storm made landfall in New Jersey, said Jennifer Brooks, clinic director at the Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island. The bird, a juvenile likely from a nest...

URL: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/17/15241573-pelicans-blown-north-by-sandy-get-ride-home-to-florida?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121117_PelicansTent.photoblog600.jpg

Climate change affects Oregon

News-Register: The worst drought in more than half a century, continuing in many parts of the country, is expected to raise national average food prices 4 percent this fall. Ironically, it has largely been pushed off the front pages by yet another manifestation of the climate change phenomenon, Hurricane Sandy. As the planet continues its inexorable warming — September ended 16 consecutive months of above-average temperatures in the lower 48, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — the...

URL: http://www.newsregister.com/article?articleTitle=nicole-montesano-climate-change-affects-oregon--1353027195--5319--
Enclosure: http://www.newsregister.com/pub/photo/thumb/111612-EarthBurn_fitbox_400x1000.jpg

Tuning Up the President's Message on Climate Change

Energy Collective: Was it just me or did President Obama sound unprepared for a question on climate change at his press conference on Wednesday? Considering climate change is a top national issue, I was expecting a much stronger response from the President. Here's a breakdown of the three things he flubbed and my perspective on how to tune up the President's message on the issue. "We can't attribute any particular weather event to climate change." - The President's opening line was a major missed opportunity. While...

URL: http://theenergycollective.com/arnoharris/144821/tuning-presidents-message-climate-change

Pressure builds on Obama over oil pipeline: Jobs vs. climate change

Minneapolis Star Tribune: President Obama's decision on whether to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline looms huge now that the election is over, and it could define Obama's legacy on energy and climate change. The oil industry, which is pushing hard for approval, describes the choice as the president's "first test to the American people." Environmental groups are promising that thousands of activists will demonstrate against the pipeline on Sunday outside the White House, just the beginning of the efforts...

URL: http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/179818031.html
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The best climate projections are extreme

Living on Earth: Scientists agree that the planet is warming, but there is a wide range of projections as to how hot it's going to get. A new analysis from scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research finds that the more alarming estimates may be the most accurate. John Fasullo, one of the climate scientists responsible for the analysis, joins host Steve Curwood to discuss the future of our warming planet. Transcript CURWOOD: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios in Boston, this is Living...

URL: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=12-P13-00046&segmentID=1
Enclosure: http://www.loe.org/content/2012-11-16/best-climate-projections-extreme.mp3

Mixing processes could increase impact of biofuel spills on aquatic environments

ScienceDaily: Ethanol, a component of biofuel made from plants such as corn, is blended with gas in many parts of the country, but has significantly different fluid properties than pure gasoline. A group of researchers from the University of Michigan wondered how ethanol-based fuels would spread in the event of a large aquatic spill. They found that ethanol-based liquids mix actively with water, very different from how pure gasoline interacts with water and potentially more dangerous to aquatic life. The scientists...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121116104143.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

What cost to clear the air?

Merced Sun-Star: As hundreds of thousands of families are still struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy -- which roared ashore nearly three weeks ago -- it's difficult to ignore the economic and environmental impacts of our changing climate. Experts say property damage from this one storm could top $50 billion. Californians also face increasing threats from climate change. Our future depends on how we place our bets today. California is anticipating an economic boom from transitioning to a clean, efficient...

URL: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/11/17/2655661/anthony-l-westerling-what-cost.html

Indigenous people direct victims of climate change

Nation: Speakers at a seminar on 'Climate change: Impacts on Livelihood, Marine and Coastal Resources' said on Saturday that indigenous people were direct victims of climate change and the state had failed to provide required protection to the people during calamities. The seminar was jointly organised by Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) and National Council for Environment Journalists, which attracted a large number of fisherwomen and civil society...

URL: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/karachi/18-Nov-2012/indigenous-people-direct-victims-of-climate-change
Enclosure: http://www.nation.com.pk/print_images/480/2012-11-18/indigenous-people-direct-victims-of-climate-change-1353186435-4061.jpg

Keystone XL activists to press Obama again to block oil pipeline

Guardian: Environmental groups will step up the pressure on Barack Obama to act on climate change in his second term, with a rally Sunday at the White House against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Activists are pressing Obama to deliver early on his promise – renewed at his first White House press conference – to make climate change a personal priority of his second term, by blocking the Keystone XL. "We wanted to make a first statement right out of the gate after the election that the environmental...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/17/keystone-xl-activists-obama-oil-pipeline
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2011/10/6/1317908091857/Keystone-XL-Pipeline-Prot-008.jpg

United States: Patriot Coal concedes to activists, abandons mountaintop removal and strip mining

West Virginia Gazette Mail: Patriot Coal has agreed to phase out mountaintop removal and other forms of strip mining, in a move Patriot officials say is in the best interests of their company, its employees and the communities where it operates. In a deal with citizen groups and environmentalists, Patriot said it would never seek new permits for large-scale surface mining operations, according to details of the settlement that were made public in federal court Thursday afternoon. St. Louis-based Patriot can continue some...

URL: http://dgrnewsservice.org/2012/11/17/patriot-coal-concedes-to-activists-abandons-mountaintop-removal-and-strip-mining/
Enclosure: http://dgrnewsservice.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/mountaintopremoval.jpg?w=300&h=200&crop=1

Climate change touching Indiana Dunes, researchers say

Post-Tribune: The warming planet is affecting Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. From lower water levels in Lake Michigan to declining food sources for the endangered Karner Blue butterfly, climate change is having an impact on the national park. That was the message Saturday during a program at the Douglas Center in Gary's Miller neighborhood presented by Joy Marburger, a research coordinator with the Great Lakes Research and Education Center based at the lakeshore. It's one of 19 research centers located...

URL: http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/lake/16431127-418/climate-change-touching-indiana-dunes-researchers-say.html

Weathering the storms

Marshall Independent: Our climate is changing for the worse, members of a climate awareness group say, and although some of the effects of global warming are subtle here in the Upper Midwest compared to other places in the U.S., immediate changes are needed to slow down global warming. The Citizens Climate Lobby, a 3-year-old, non-partisan climate group with 60 offspring grassroots organizations in the U.S. (four in Minnesota) and Canada, just completed a southwest Minnesota tour to spread its message about the climate...

URL: http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/537057/Weathering-the-storms.html?nav=5015

GOP House leadership pledges to oppose climate change tax

Mother Jones: Perhaps smarting from getting a zero percent return on investment from the $36.7 million spent bashing Barack Obama, the Koch Brothers' Super PAC Americans For Prosperity has narrowed its focus on a new enemy: a tax on carbon emissions. On Thursday the AFP announced that the entire House GOP Leadership Team, including Speaker John Boehner, Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and seven other GOP Congressional leaders, signed a pledge to "oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes...

URL: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/11/gop-house-leadership-pledges-oppose-climate-change-tax
Enclosure: http://mjcdn.motherjones.com/preset_16/smoke_stacks_master.jpg

Giant reed seen as biofuel -- or kudzu-like disaster

Associated Press: It's fast-growing and drought-tolerant, producing tons of biomass per acre. It thrives even in poor soil and is a self-propagating perennial, so it requires little investment once established. To people in the renewable fuels industry, Arundo donax -- also known as "giant reed" -- is nothing short of a miracle plant. An Oregon power plant is looking at it as a potential substitute for coal, and North Carolina boosters are salivating over the prospect of an ethanol bio-refinery that would bring...

URL: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/17/15242788-giant-reed-seen-as-biofuel-or-another-kudzu-disaster?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121117-plant-hmed-10a.photoblog600.jpg

Sen. Vitter won't put as much emphasis on global warming

Times-Picayune: Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has already said he intends to use his post as the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to advocate for more Army Corps of Engineers reform, increased funding for key flood control projects in Louisiana and for chemical safety legislation that provides protection without over burdening a key state industry. Now, he's revealing one thing he won't do -- at least as much as his predecessor. Vitter told the E & E Reporter this week that...

URL: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/11/sen_vitter_wont_put_as_much_em.html#incart_river

GOP accuses EPA chief of using secret email

Politico: Republican leaders of the House Science Committee want to know if EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is using private email addresses or psuedonyms to conduct official business in an effort to dodge public scrutiny. Lawmakers are citing a recent Daily Caller story alleging that Jackson has used "alias email accounts,' including one under the name "Richard Windsor.' "This reported incident follows similarly secretive and highly questionable methods of communication by senior officials at science...

URL: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83990.html
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Brown defends California steps to fight climate change

Associated Press: Gov. Jerry Brown told attendees at an environmental conference Friday that climate change must be prevented or humans might one day be forced to live on another planet. Addressing the Greenbuild Expo in San Francisco, Brown lauded California's cap-and-trade auction for greenhouse gas emissions, which began this week. It was the formal launch of the nation's most ambitious carbon-trading market, which for the first time established a market-based system to put a price on greenhouse gas emissions....

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Brown-defends-Calif-steps-to-fight-climate-change-4044565.php

Canada: First standard for geologic storage of carbon dioxide

ScienceDaily: CSA Group, a leading developer of standards, codes and training programs, and the International Performance Assessment Centre for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide (IPAC-CO2 Research Inc.), an environmental non-government organization (ENGO), has announced the world's first bi-national carbon capture and storage (CCS) standard for the geologic storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) for Canada and the United States. CCS is a process consisting of the separation of CO2 from industrial and energy-related...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121116161023.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

Alarm sounded as water rose

New Haven Independent: The one-two punch of Superstorm Sandy and a follow-up Nor`Easter got local lawmakers asking: How should the city deal with rising oceans and extreme weather brought on by global climate change? In the storms` wake, East Shore Alderman Sal DeCola and East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker have introduced a bill to require the city to develop "a comprehensive plan" to address the changes in weather and sea levels that are already happening and expected to worsen as a result of climate change. Twenty...

URL: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/waters_rising_aldermen_sound_the_alarm/
Enclosure: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/images/sized/archives/upload/2012/11/BVirtue_irene-550x365.jpg

Nigeria Exxon spill spreads for miles along coast

Reuters: An oil spill at an ExxonMobil facility offshore from the Niger Delta has spread at least 20 miles from its source, coating waters used by fishermen in a film of sludge. A Reuters reporter visiting several parts of Akwa Ibom state saw a rainbow-tinted oil slick stretching for 20 miles from a pipeline that Exxon had shut down because of a leak a week ago. Locals scooped it into jerry cans. Mark Ward, the managing director of ExxonMobil's local unit, said a clean up had been mobilized, and he...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/17/us-nigeria-exxonspill-idUSBRE8AG0CZ20121117?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Climate change back on the table

Burlington Times News: One of the most conspicuously absent topics in the 2012 presidential campaign was climate change. Only mentioned with the utmost care and rarity by the Obama team, and used solely as a laugh line by Romney at the convention in Tampa, climate was the pariah of political issues. Until recently. Now, post-Superstorm Sandy, the public is questioning if extreme weather is yet another symptom of a changing planet. As New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo put it as he toured the devastation, "Anyone who says there...

URL: http://www.thetimesnews.com/opinion/opinion-columns/climate-change-back-on-the-table-1.50215

India to press for agreement on 2nd commitment period

Press Trust of India: As the world heads towards another climate conference, India and other developing countries would try to ensure that an agreement is reached on a second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol and legal amendments are put into place to operationalise it. However, there is an underlying worry that western developed countries may try to prolong negotiations, and even if legal amendments are adopted, the process of getting them ratified may take a long time. This year's climate conference will start...

URL: http://zeenews.india.com/news/eco-news/india-to-press-for-agreement-on-2nd-commitment-per_811284.html

Australian scientists find excess greenhouse gas near fracking

LA Times: Environmental researchers have detected excess greenhouse gas levels near the site of Australia's biggest coal seam gas field, prompting calls for halting expansion of hydraulic fracturing until scientists can determine whether it might be contributing to climate change. The reported findings of methane, carbon dioxide and other compounds at more than three times normal background levels have stirred new controversy in eastern Australia over the pros and cons of boosting natural gas output by...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-australia-fracking-leakage-20121116,0,7039884.story

Poor planning, climate shifts devastating India's Sundarbans

AlertNet: Saikh Rustam lives in a part of India where mobile phone reception is available, but clean drinking water is not. If he had to choose between them, the 52-year-old resident of Mousuni Island, at the southern tip of the country's Sundarbans region, would take the drinking water, and food for his family of five. But environmental pressures, exacerbated by poor development planning, are likely to leave his wish unfulfilled, at least for now. Experts warn that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/poor-planning-climate-shifts-devastating-indias-sundarbans
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/d75127ff-9214-482f-9d5c-0eb425dc61c8/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201211170114

BP settlement a boon to conservation group

Washington Post: The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has operated on a modest budget in relative obscurity for nearly three decades. Then it won the lottery. Over the next five years, BP is going to give the foundation nearly $2.4 billion as part of the $4 billion settlement with the Justice Department announced Thursday stemming from BP's disastrous 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The foundation's executive director, Jeff Trandahl, usually spends his time defending federal funding from the budget axe...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bp-settlement-a-boon-to-conservation-group-8325974.html

Climate change demands aggressive action

Central Jersey: While the impact of horrific storms on energy has been a pressing issue the last three weeks after Hurricane Sandy, energy's impact on horrific storms and the climate changes of global warming have been related concerns for many years. "The severe storms and hurricanes that have ravaged New Jersey in the past year and a half and the historic highs in sea levels underscore the urgency of protecting the environment," said Assemblyman John F. McKeon, D-Madison. McKeon, along with U.S. Rep. Rush...

URL: http://www.mycentraljersey.com/needlogin?type=login&redirecturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mycentraljersey.com%2Farticle%2F20121117%2FNJNEWS%2F311170012%2FClimate-change-demands-aggressive-action%3Fodyssey%3Dnav%257Chead%26nclick_check%3D1

United States: Jerry Brown: Act now on climate change

San Francisco Chronicle: California Gov. Jerry Brown urged thousands of entrepreneurs attending a green-building convention in San Francisco on Friday to push for more national action on climate change. Brown's appearance at the Greenbuild conference came two days after California began the country's first large-scale cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gases. The system will put a price on carbon dioxide emissions - something the federal government has failed to do. "California can only go so far," Brown told...

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Jerry-Brown-Act-now-on-climate-change-4045481.php
Enclosure: http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/16/20/16/3736504/5/628x471.jpg

E.P.A. Upholds Ethanol Standard on Use in Gasoline

New York Times: The Environmental Protection Agency declined on Friday to relax its requirement on the use of corn ethanol in gasoline, rejecting a request from several states related to a steep decline in the nation's corn production. A summer drought that withered crops led to a spike in prices, hurting the livestock industry and others that depend on corn for food. Estimates indicate that as much as half of the nation's crop will be used to produce ethanol this year to meet the federal renewable energy standard...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/business/energy-environment/epa-upholds-ethanol-standard-on-use-in-gasoline.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1&

California Tackles Climate Change, But Will Others Follow?

National Geographic: The state that has instigated every key U.S. effort to curb fossil-fuel emissions since the 1960s now will tackle the greatest challenge of all-reining in greenhouse gases-with a cap-and-trade system launched this week. In a closed three-hour auction conducted online Wednesday, California's energy companies and large manufacturers placed their bids for 62 million permits that essentially give them the right to pollute. Using these chits and a healthy number of free permits California has allocated...

URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2012/11/121116-california-cap-and-trade/
Enclosure: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/612/cache/california-cap-trade_61247_600x450.jpg

New film chases glaciers, with time-lapse photos

Reuters: Al Gore won an Oscar with a documentary that used bar graphs and pie charts to illustrate climate change and the fate of the Earth. Six years after Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," a new film, "Chasing Ice," goes beyond the data and the diagrams to document the disappearance of the world's glaciers with time-lapse photography. Nature photographer James Balog has been capturing the grandeur of glaciers and ice floes since 2007. He started the Extreme Ice Survey the same year, which is considered...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/film-chases-glaciers-time-lapse-photos-200156349.html
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Keystone pipeline gets political help ahead of protest

NBC: A bipartisan group of senators on Friday urged President Barack Obama to quickly issue a permit for the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, a project environmental groups have vowed to keep fighting. The senators -- nine Democrats and nine Republicans -- asked Obama to approve the pipeline because it will create jobs and reduce the need for oil from the Middle East. They were led by Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and powerful chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and John Hoeven, a North...

URL: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/16/15222615-keystone-pipeline-gets-18-senators-support-ahead-of-protest?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/reuters/2012-11-05t140259z_909276157_tm3e8b31pvy01_rtrmadp_3_railways-oil-northamerica.photoblog600.jpg

A vital energy deal on onshore wind power is blown apart

Telegraph: Come back Malcolm Tucker: we need a new epithet. Omnishambles -- made word of the year this week by the Oxford English Dictionary -- no longer even begins to do justice to the chaos in Whitehall and Westminster. When, three weeks ago, I suggested that the row over the normally boring subject of energy policy had become "the most damaging in the Government', I had no idea just how destructive it was about to become. Deep divisions between the Coalition partners were predictable enough, but open...

URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/9683141/A-vital-energy-deal-on-onshore-wind-power-is-blown-apart.html
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Australia: Solar scheme shift stuns industry

Sydney Morning Herald: Solar panels are about to get more expensive. A rebate for rooftop solar panels will be halved six months earlier than planned in a move blasted by an industry group as "diabolical". Climate Change Minister Greg Combet announced the solar credits scheme would end in January next year "due to continued strong demand for household solar''. In a statement, Mr Combet said the subsidy cut was expected to save households between $80 million and $100 million on electricity bills next year. "Phasing...

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/solar-scheme-shift-stuns-industry-20121117-29iex.html
Enclosure: http://images.smh.com.au/2012/07/24/3481531/better-solar-pnael_729-620x349.jpg

Climate Change panel chief says 'not invited to COP18'

Gulf Times: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will not be attending the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP18/CMP8) in Doha, chairman Dr Rajendra K Pachauri has said. “For the first time in the 18 years of COP, the IPCC will not be attending, because we have not been invited,” he told Gulf Times in Doha. COP18 is to be held from November 26 to December 7. The IPCC, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, former vice president of...

URL: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=544308&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16
Enclosure: http://www.gulf-times.com/mritems/images/2012/11/16/2_544305_1_248.jpg

Iran steps up pace and capacity of uranium enrichment, says IAEA report

Guardian: Iran has expanded its enrichment capacity and is enriching uranium at a pace that would bring it to what Israel has declared an unacceptable red line in just over seven months, according to a report by the UN nuclear watchdog. The International Atomic Energy Agency also found that Iranian technicians had removed the fuel rods from the country's only functioning nuclear power station at Bushehr, suggesting the new reactor has serious problems. Iran did not tell IAEA inspectors what those problems...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/16/iran-uranium-enrichment-red-line
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2012/11/16/1353093253977/Binyamin-Netanyahu-010.jpg

Amid Climate Change Inaction in Washington, Activist Urges Americans To 'Do The Math'

Huffington Post: Official shoulder-shrugging on climate change in Washington is no longer surprising to Bill McKibben, the environmentalist and tireless advocate for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. "It's true that D.C. hasn't yet caught on," he said in an email message Friday afternoon. "They're still in the grip of the fossil fuel industry." The consequences of that grip are appearing increasingly dire. The International Energy Agency released its annual World Energy Outlook this week, for example. Among the...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-zeller-jr/climate-change-math-politicians_b_2147001.html

All-of-the-Above Energy Strategy Trumps Climate Action

Scientific American: "I am a firm believer that climate change is real, that it is impacted by human behavior and carbon emissions. And, as a consequence, I think we've got an obligation to future generations to do something about it." So spoke newly re-elected President Barack Obama at a press conference on November 14 when questioned by a reporter. So what is Obama going to do about it? Probably not much, because it conflicts with other priorities such as jobs and growth--and there's nothing better for jobs and growth...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/above-energy-strategy-trumps-climate-action-180300486.html

Military Biofuels Debate Continues: NDAA Could Kill Job, Economic Growth, Report Says


The military biofuels debate continues with the release of a new report that claims military investment would generate more than 14,000 jobs by 2020 and $10 billion in economic activity, among other benefits. Commissioned by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), it claims that military investment would spark the biofuels industry and initiate further investment from other industries such as automotive and airline, but the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) could derail progress.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/military-biofuels-debate-continues-investment-would-boost-jobs-economy-report-says?cmpid=rss

Ash dieback highlights the increasing vulnerability of our flora and fauna

Guardian: In the debate over the British outbreak of ash dieback, caused by the Chalara fraxinea fungus, that threatens to devastate our 80 million ash tree population, much of the focus has been on the timetable of government action – whether the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) could have acted quicker, or done more to address the spread. Of course it's right that questions are asked about whether ministers could have been better prepared, and whether Defra really has a grip on...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/nov/16/ash-dieback-vulnerability-flora-fauna
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/11/8/1352398063248/A-sign-warns-of-ash-trees-008.jpg

Carbon tax: Exxon backs Obama plan to impose climate change fees

Newsday: Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) is part of a growing coalition backing a carbon tax as an alternative to costly regulation, giving newfound prominence to an idea once anathema in Washington. Conservative economists and fossil-fuel lobbyists united in 2009 to fend off climate-change legislation that would have established a cap-and-trade mechanism. They are now locked in a backroom debate over a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions that could raise an estimated $100 billion in its first year. A carbon tax...

URL: http://newyork.newsday.com/news/nation/carbon-tax-exxon-backs-obama-plan-to-impose-climate-change-fees-1.4229894
Enclosure: http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.3784474.1353088625!/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/display_600/image.JPG

Iran ready to sharply increase nuclear work in bunker: IAEA

Reuters: Iran is set to sharply expand its uranium enrichment in an underground site after installing all the centrifuges it was built for, a U.N. nuclear report showed on Friday, a move that could increase Western alarm about Tehran's nuclear course. The latest quarterly International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran came 10 days after the re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama, which raised hopes for a revival of nuclear diplomacy with Iran following speculation that Israel might bomb the nuclear...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/16/us-nuclear-iran-iaea-idUSBRE8AF10N20121116?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20121116&t=2&i=675154094&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE8AF1EA200

If Big Coal Can Phase Out Mountaintop Removal

EcoWatch: Call it a moment of truth for Big Coal--and a small crack in the wall of denial for the U.S. Congress and the White House. On the cliff of bankruptcy, St. Louis-based Patriot Coal Corporation agreed this week to a settlement to phase out its large-scale strip mining and mountaintop removal operations in central Appalachia. Even more importantly, Patriot became the first coal company to admit "our mining operations impact the communities in which we operate in significant ways, and we are committed...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/end-mountaintop-removal/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/mtr2.jpg

Canadian scientists set guidelines for carbon capture and storage

Canadian Press: Scientists have completed work on what they are calling the world's first standards for storing carbon dioxide underground. The Regina-based International Performance Assessment Centre for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide and the Canadian Standards Association have been working on the guidelines since 2009. Centre CEO Carmen Dybwad says the standards outline the risks companies should consider before burying CO2, including an area's geology and where the greenhouse gas could flow through...

URL: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1288190--canadian-scientists-set-guidelines-for-carbon-capture-and-storage

Climate change and global warming may be affecting NJ public water sources

Hunterdon Democrat: Climate change and global warming may be affecting our public water supply. United Water New Jersey, which serves about 812,000 customers in the northern half of the state, detected a "large" algae bloom in a West Amwell Township reservoir for the first time and now plans to step up monitoring. The West Amwell reservoir feeds the Lambertville public water system. Algae blooms are common in shallow reservoirs, said company spokesman Steve Goudsmith, but this was the first time a large bloom...

URL: http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2012/11/climate_change_and_global_warm.html

Creating Better Climate Policy: Linking Carbon Taxes to Investments in Clean Energy

Forbes: Nipping at the heels of Mayor Bloomberg's climate-tinged Presidential endorsement, Hurricane Sandy, and President Obama's victory speech shout-out to climate change is a reinvigorated debate on carbon pricing. This week, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Brookings Institution, the International Monetary Fund, and Resources for the Future co-hosted a daylong conference on designing a U.S. carbon tax. The Congressional Budget Office released a report discussing the socio-economic impact...

URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewstepp/2012/11/16/creating-better-climate-policy-linking-carbon-taxes-to-investments-in-clean-energy/

EPA turns down states' request for ethanol waiver

Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency has denied requests from several governors to waive production requirements for corn-based ethanol. A renewable fuels law requires that 13.2 billion gallons of ethanol be produced by this year and 15 billion gallons be produced by 2015. That's good for corn farmers, but it's angered poultry, hog and cattle farmers. They say they've seen big jumps in corn-based feed costs as corn is diverted to make ethanol vehicle fuel. States requesting the waiver say reduced...

URL: http://www.boston.com/cars/news-and-reviews/2012/11/16/epa-turns-down-states-request-for-ethanol-waiver/kzs4UqVKdRxKUBBxfhdabK/story.html

Researcher: The clocks are ticking and the climate is changing

PhysOrg: Dartmouth plant biologist C. Robertson (Rob) McClung is not your typical clock-watcher. His clocks are internal, biological, and operate in circadian rhythms-cycles based on a 24-hour period. Living organisms depend upon these clocks to keep pace with the Earth's daily rotation and the recurring changes it imposes on the environment. These clocks allow the plant or animal to anticipate the changes and adapt to them by modifying its biology, behavior, and biochemistry. "If you know that the sun...

URL: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-clocks-climate.html

Great Potential for Energy Efficiency Improvements in UK

Environmental News Network: With the ambitious goal of kickstarting "a revolution in UK energy efficiency," England's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has just launched a new program called the Government's Energy Efficiency Strategy. The goal is to cut the equivalent of 22 power stations worth of energy consumption throughout the United Kingdom by 2020. Though the UK has already made some significant progress in energy efficiency, the new strategy underscores just how much more opportunity there is to save energy...

URL: http://www.enn.com/climate/article/45217?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateChangeNews-Enn+%28Climate+Change+News+-+ENN%29

Green groups rip Obama for no-show on climate change

Examiner: Environmentalists aren't too impressed with President Obama heading into his second term. In his first press conference since re-election, Obama conceded that climate change legislation was not a top priority. And on Thursday, before Obama toured storm-battered New York City, White House press secretary Jay Carney acknowledged that despite pushing from liberals, "We would never propose a carbon tax and have no intention of proposing one." Obama trumpeted climate change and cap-and-trade legislation...

URL: http://washingtonexaminer.com/green-groups-rip-obama-for-no-show-on-climate-change/article/2513635#.UKXsOmeuV6M
Enclosure: http://cdn.washingtonexaminer.biz/cache/r620-2726828ebcf3a51912628d30be024f9d.jpg

Scientists: Record temperatures will alter landscape

Cape Code Times: Given the Katrina-like devastation after Superstorm Sandy slammed into New York and New Jersey, it was no surprise Thursday when panelists at a global warming symposium were told that water temperatures in the Northeast for the first half of 2012 were the warmest in more than 150 years of record keeping. The region experienced record heat on land in 2012, and water temperatures hit all-time highs from top to bottom, all along the continental shelf from the Mid-Atlantic states to Canada. This was...

URL: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121116/NEWS/211160321
Enclosure: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CC&Date=20121116&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=211160321&Ref=AR&maxH=230&maxW=370&border=0&Q=80&cb=20121116005400

California voters support cap and trade

LA Times: California voters strongly support the state's ambitious program to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming, according to a new post-election poll. At the same time, the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll of 1,520 registered voters showed that they are sharply divided over whether it is a good idea for the state to relax requirements for environmental reviews of proposed new developments. The two environmental findings were part of a wide-ranging...

URL: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cap-trade-poll-20121116,0,5315262.story
Enclosure: http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2012-11/73329079.jpg

Trees Stand Tall Against Climate Change

Voice of America: The next U.N. Climate Change Conference gets underway November 26 in Doha, Qatar. Once again, negotiators will try to reach a broad agreement on dealing with rising global temperatures. Deforestation is expected to be on the agenda. The meeting is known as COP 18, or the 18th meeting of the Conference of Parties of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. There are now 195 parties to the treaty, but a definitive agreement on coping with a warming planet has been hard to come by. In 1997,...

URL: http://www.voanews.com/content/climate-forests-16nov12/1547532.html
Enclosure: http://www.voanews.com/audio/Audio/231391.html

40 Communities Worldwide Organize Actions to Protest Dirty Energy

EcoWatch: Solidarity actions are taking place in more than 40 communities around the world protesting dirty energy and spotlighting an urgent need to address the climate crisis during the week of action Nov. 14 to Nov. 20. Following a summer of unprecedented extreme weather and the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy the Tar Sands Blockade, a sustained direct action campaign based in Texas against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, has called for this week's actions. The closing of the hottest year...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/protest-dirty-energy/

Philippines: Unsung heroines in battle against climate change

Inquirer: Women are the unsung heroines in the battle against calamities and natural disasters brought about by climate change, Senator Loren Legarda said Thursday. "The role of women in our society has continuously evolved through the years," Legarda said in a statement. She recently spoke at the first anniversary of the women`s group "Nagkakaisang Kababaihan [United Women] ng General Trias" in the province of Cavite south of Metro Manila. "For instance, in times of disaster and economic stress, women...

URL: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/308120/unsung-heroines-in-battle-vs-calamities-climate-change
Enclosure: http://1-ps.googleusercontent.com/h/newsinfo.inquirer.net/files/2011/12/236x177xloren-legarda-298x224.jpg.pagespeed.ic.TRL1gK7BQI.jpg

In Sandy's wake, a reshaped coastline

National Public Radio: New Jersey's most affluent community, Mantoloking, sits on a narrow barrier island 30 miles north of Long Beach. As Sandy approached, most of the residents fled inland. But Edwin C. O'Malley and his father, Edwin J. O'Malley Jr., hunkered down in their 130-year-old house. They tied a boat to their porch and then watched the storm surge break over the dunes and flood the streets. "Overnight that night, lying in bed, I could actually hear waves hitting the side of the house - which obviously...

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/11/15/165051640/in-sandys-wake-a-reshaped-coastline
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=165051640&m=165234756

Drought, water scare has agribusiness giant worried

Associated Press: At the height of this year's drought, decision-makers at the agribusiness giant Archers Daniels Midland kept an uneasy eye on the reservoir down the hill from their headquarters. At one point, the water level fell to within 2 inches of the point where the company was in danger of being told for the first time ever that it couldn't draw as much as it wanted. The company uses millions of gallons of water a day to turn corn and soybeans into everything from ethanol and cattle feed to cocoa and a...

URL: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/16/15217252-drought-water-scare-gets-attention-of-agribusiness-giant-adm?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121116_adm-water.photoblog600.jpg

Human waste still pouring into NY Harbor after Sandy

NBC: The operator of the fifth largest sewage treatment plant in the nation says it can make no promise as to when the plant will stop polluting the New York harbor. A 12-foot surge of water swamped the Newark plant that serves some 3 million people when Sandy struck on Oct. 29 and repairs are not incomplete. Mike DiFrancisci, executive director of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, would only say "ASAP" when asked when repairs to the sprawling facility could be made. Until then, the main...

URL: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/16/15216026-human-waste-still-pouring-into-ny-harbor-after-sandy?lite

Fukushima's food champion fends off taint of nuclear disaster

Guardian: The laughter coming from diners in a corner of Kenji Suzuki's restaurant is flowing as effortlessly as the beer. The chatter cuts through the steam drifting from a nabe, or hotpot, in the centre of the table. There is talk of work, and praise for the chicken, vegetables and tofu being transferred to bowls from the bubbling stock. Their exuberance is unusual, not just because the working week is only a day old, but because every dish is made with produce many Japanese have spent the past 20 months...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/16/fukushima-food-nuclear-disaster
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2012/11/15/1352997220259/Customers-eat-Fukushima-h-010.jpg

Weather Service Halts Review of Its Work During Sandy

Climate Central: Just days after commissioning a review of its performance during Hurricane Sandy, the National Weather Service (NWS) abruptly disbanded the review team Thursday, saying that "a larger, multi-agency review of this event may take place' instead. The agency gave no time frame on when another review team might be put in place, or what other agencies might be involved in such a review. Consistent with its tradition of evaluating its performance following major and deadly weather events, the NWS had...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/weather-service-cancels-review-of-performance-during-hurricane-sandy-15252?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/11_9_12_andrew_njdamage2-325x534.jpg

Decarbonisation target 'could be postponed'

Guardian: Plans to limit the carbon emissions of future power stations are on the brink of being delayed until next parliament, in what would be a blow to the climate and energy secretary, green campaigners and business chiefs. Ministers have been wrangling over whether to include a 2030 "decarbonisation target" for the power sector in the energy bill, which is expected to be published in parliament within the next fortnight. The Guardian understands a decision on such a target now risks being delayed...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/16/decarbonisation-target-postponed-parliament
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/pictures/2010/5/24/1274714379950/Clean-coal-plant-using-ca-006.jpg

Obama on Climate Policy: Not Just Now, Thanks

New York Times: Environmental advocates have expressed frustration with the lack of discussion of climate change in the presidential race this year, a reticence that persisted even after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. On Wednesday, in his first post-election news conference, President Obama offered his most extensive remarks on climate change in months. They did not particularly thrill environmentalists. The president said that it was impossible to attribute a specific weather event to global warming, but...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/obama-on-climate-policy-not-just-now-thanks/
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/11/16/blogs/obama/obama-blog480.jpg

5 ways rapid warming is changing the Arctic

LiveScience: Scientists predict global warming will affect certain areas more dramatically than others. The Arctic is one of these climate-change hotspots. Significant changes are happening sooner and more intensely in the cold northern cap over the planet. For instance, in recent years, Arctic sea ice has reached unprecedented low annual extents, and making a record retreat in September. The signs of change, and the implications for the people, animals and plants that live in the Arctic, are numerous....

URL: http://www.livescience.com/24798-global-warming-changing-arctic.html
Enclosure: http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/032/210/original/arctic-sea-ice.jpg?1350394489

US Military Takes Part in Reducing Ecological Footprint

Environmental News Network: In an effort to enhance American security and address climate change, the U.S. military is diminishing its footprint. The military is producing cleaner power, reducing energy consumption, managing water and minimizing waste. Their efforts encompass vast numbers of vehicles, ships, planes, buildings, lands, and other facilities. A major impetus for these efforts is Executive Order 13514, "Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance," which President Obama signed on October...

URL: http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/45227

Climate change is a major challenge for agriculture and food security in West - Research

African Press Organization: Climate change is a major challenge for agriculture and food security in West Africa. Complex relationships and interactions exist between agriculture and climate change. The FAO estimates (2011) show that agriculture produces 14% of carbon emissions, the equivalent of 7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. Given the high population growth and increasing demand for food, agriculture must adapt and also contribute to reducing carbon emissions through climate-smart management practices. In...

URL: http://www.worldstagegroup.com/worldstagenew/index.php?active=news&newscid=6727&catid=44

EU climate change initiative zeroes in on Chile

Santiago Times: Historical corroboration of the feverish climate trend has been scattered and silent in the southern Pacific, but a new initiative sponsored by the European Union aims to assemble and digitize the last century's maritime data for free global use. At a conference Wednesday in Santiago, researchers from across the globe emphasized the need to understand how the character of southern Chile and the Pacific has changed in the last hundred years. "The south Pacific is one of the most important oceans...

URL: http://www.santiagotimes.cl/chile/health-and-environment/25401-eu-climate-change-initiative-zeroes-in-on-chile
Enclosure: http://www.santiagotimes.cl/images/stories/photos/2012/nov/16/julian_dowdeswell.jpg

EU climate head wants Obama to pull his weight

Associated Press: The European Union's climate commissioner says she hopes that President Barack Obama's renewed attention to global warming after the election will translate into greater U.S. involvement in U.N. climate talks. Connie Hedegaard told The Associated Press during a visit to Stockholm on Thursday that many Europeans were disappointed that climate change didn't get more attention during Obama's first term. "But I hope that the re-elected president will pull his whole weight now into this area," she...

URL: http://www.nwherald.com/2012/11/15/eu-climate-head-wants-obama-to-pull-his-weight/a6d3re4/

Australia: Carbon contradiction clouds coal's future

WA Today: IT'S a disconnection most policymakers seem loath to confront: global demand for fossil fuels, especially coal, is forecast to grow strongly and yet carbon emissions will have to peak soon if dangerous climate change is to be avoided. The release of the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook this week provided the latest update to this stark discrepancy. The IEA, a body representing mostly energy importing nations, noted demand for coal rose 5.6 per cent in 2011 and is now 55 per...

URL: http://www.watoday.com.au/business/carbon-contradiction-clouds-coals-future-20121116-29hn9.html
Enclosure: http://images.watoday.com.au/2012/11/16/3802310/ZAH_coal_LW-20121116205817727383-620x349.jpg

Global drought may have changed less than thought

ScienceNews: Droughts shrivel crops, threaten communities, and wither ecosystems. Studies claim global warming is increasing drought worldwide, and may already have done so. But the standard method of assessing drought has exaggerated drying trends over the past 60 years, scientists report in the Nov. 14 Nature. The 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that "more intense and longer droughts have been observed over wider areas since the 1970s." Its findings were largely based...

URL: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/346428/description/Global_drought_may_have_changed_less_than_thought

‘We Would Never Propose A Carbon Tax,’ Says White House Spokesman

State Journal: Directly taxing emission of carbon dioxide to thwart its effect on climate has been much talked about post-election, but a spokesman for the president said it's off the table. By implementing a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, many believed significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions could be achieved absent the complicated system of cap-and-trade that failed Congressional muster in 2010. The coal industry likely stands to suffer the most from any sort of tax on carbon dioxide emissions....

URL: http://www.statejournal.com/story/20108999/obama-spokesman-we-would-never-propose-a-carbon-tax

Why Alternative Energy Stocks Are Down Despite An Obama Victory


If you follow the energy sector closely, then you know that many questions regarding the direction of alternative energy companies were looming during the 2012 campaign season. Was the country going to continue with the Obama Administration's "all-of-the-above" strategy with its strong emphasis on renewables, or would there be an accelerated domestic drilling and pipeline bonanza under Republican leadership.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/why-alternative-energy-stocks-are-down-despite-an-obama-victory?cmpid=rss

All About Energy Efficient Mortgages

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When you buy a new home or refinance your present home, you can pay for energy upgrades with an EEM

Images:&nbsp_place_holder;

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A relatively new home financing option — the energy efficient mortgage — can let home buyers qualify for larger loans than they might otherwise, while improving their homes with environmentally friendly, cost-cutting upgrades that can reduce energy bills.
An energy efficient mortgage (EEM) is a great way to help a family improve their home and save money while doing good for the environment, and securing one is a lot simpler than you might think.

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/all-about-energy-efficient-mortgages

Obama vows climate efforts but stays vague on agenda

The Hill: President Obama on Wednesday vowed new efforts to tackle global warming during his second term but offered no concrete agenda to expand on current administration policies to address what he called a major threat. "I don't know what either Democrats or Republicans are prepared to do at this point, because this is one of those issues that is not just a partisan issue. I think there are regional differences," Obama said when asked about the possibility of climate legislation at his first White House...

URL: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/267973-obama-calls-climate-change-a-priority-but-stays-vague-on-agenda

EU carbon market needs quick fix and deep reform -Commission

Reuters: The European Union must agree by the end of this year on a stop-gap measure to tackle the virtual collapse of its main instrument for cutting carbon emissions, the bloc's climate boss said on Wednesday. Allowances on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) sank below 8 euros a tonne, down more than 6 percent on the day, reflecting trader disappointment Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard's statement on Wednesday did not go further. Anticipation of EU action to support the market has been behind...

URL: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/11/14/eu-ets-idUKL5E8ME50320121114

Australia: Climate change action focuses on tourist traps, say researchers

PhysOrg: Efforts to help Queensland's tourism industry to adapt to the effects of climate change are likely to be focused on areas that attract the most tourist dollars rather than those with the greatest need, according to new UQ research. Researchers at The University of Queensland Business School fear that natural heritage such as The Great Barrier Reef and northern tropical rainforests could lose out if investment decisions are made on the basis of economic values that fail to take into account its...

URL: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-climate-action-focuses-tourist.html

House GOP leaders pledge to oppose climate 'tax'

The Hill: The entire House GOP leadership team has registered its opposition to climate legislation that raises revenue, underscoring the long odds that taxing carbon emissions has in negotiations on the fiscal cliff. The Tea Party group Americans for Prosperity greeted Wednesday's election of the House GOP leadership team by pointing out that the lawmakers are among the signers of the group's "no climate tax" pledge. Signers agree to "oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a...

URL: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/268289-house-gop-leaders-pledge-to-oppose-climate-tax

The US will be an oil giant again. But it won't be energy independent

Environment Health: U.S. Presidents since Richard Nixon have obsessed about American dependence on foreign oil--and have proven unable to do much about it. U.S. domestic oil production was on a long slope downwards, while the American thirst for crude--and the size of our automobiles--kept increasing. As a result, despite all the bipartisan hand wringing about imports, the U.S. just kept getting more and more dependent on foreign oil--and especially foreign oil from the Middle East, which happens to be home to a number...

URL: http://science.time.com/2012/11/13/the-u-s-will-be-an-oil-giant-again-but-it-wont-be-energy-independent/

Obama Vague on Climate Change Policy For Next 4 Years

KCET: California came out of the recent election well-armed to take a leading role in the U.S.'s climate change mitigation strategy, with voters approving tax hikes to fund renewable energy just as the state's carbon cap and trade program goes into effect. But despite the resounding victory by the climate friendlier party in the Presidential election, it looks as though California won't be getting much more backing from the feds in getting off fossil fuels. In his first post-electoral press conference,...

URL: http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/government/federal-government-wont-be-catching-up-to-california-on-climate-policy-anytime-soon.html
Enclosure: http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/assets_c/2012/11/obama-11-15-12-thumb-600x400-40399.jpg

Canadian ice sheet responded rapidly to ancient climate change

Mongabay: Even as glaciers retreat from rising temperatures worldwide, new research says they could bounce back just as suddenly. The study, published Sept. 14 in Science, shows that both small mountain glaciers and large ice sheets grew considerably during a short, 150-year cold spell in Canada 8,200 years ago. The results suggest that massive ice sheets are surprisingly sensitive to brief shifts in seasonal temperatures. Glaciologists had thought that ice sheets, such as Greenland's and Antarctica's,...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1116-ucsc-abrielsen-ice-sheet-recovery.html
Enclosure: http://photos.mongabay.com/12/1115baffin-island-boulders.jpg

BP agrees to record criminal penalties for U.S. oil spill

Reuters: BP Plc will pay $4.5 billion in penalties and plead guilty to felony misconduct in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which caused the worst U.S. offshore oil spill ever. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called the deal a "critical step forward" but was adamant that it did not end the criminal investigation of the 2010 spill. The settlement announced on Thursday includes a $1.256 billion criminal fine, the largest such levy in U.S. history. It was not, however, the "global" settlement some had...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/16/us-bp-spill-idUSBRE8AE1AC20121116?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20121115&t=2&i=674840798&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE8AE1A3P00

BP to Admit Crimes and Pay $4.5 Billion in Gulf Settlement

New York Times: BP, the British oil company, said on Thursday that it had agreed to pay $4.5 billion in fines and other penalties and to plead guilty to 14 criminal charges related to the rig explosion two years ago that killed 11 people and caused a giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In a rare instance of seeking to hold individuals accountable for company misdeeds, the Justice Department also filed criminal charges against three BP employees in connection with the accident. "This is unprecedented, both with...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/business/global/16iht-bp16.html

Remembering the Dust Bowl

Mongabay: The Dust Bowl, a film by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, and The Dust Bowl: An Illustrated History, a book authored by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns, chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history. Told in first-person narrative by survivors of the Dust Bowl and brought to color through vivid storytelling and over 300 rare archival photos, these two combined efforts must be watched and read by those concerned with our human impact on Earth. "And they might last two or three days....

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1115-thoumi-burns-dust-bowl.html
Enclosure: http://photos.mongabay.com/12/0115dustbowl001.jpg

90% Chance 2012 Will Be Warmest Year on Record for US

LiveScience: Continuing a hot trend, October was the fifth warmest across the globe since record keeping began in 1880. And climate scientists say it's likely, about 90 percent so, that 2012 will become the warmest year on record for the contiguous United States. The last 36 Octobers, including this one, have experienced global temperatures above the 20th-century average; in fact, the past 332 months have all shown above-average temperatures globally, according to a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/90-chance-2012-warmest-record-us-202808646.html

Forest carbon schemes must consider people, biodiversity - scientists

AlertNet: Efforts to cut carbon emissions by curbing deforestation may fail unless they avoid negative impacts on biodiversity and local people, a network of forest scientists said on Friday. The world's shrinking forests need to be valued as more than just carbon sinks for mitigating climate change, says a report from the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO). Biodiversity is key in determining a forest's ability to absorb greenhouse gases, it adds. And accounting for those who...

URL: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/forest-carbon-schemes-must-consider-people-biodiversity-scientists
Enclosure: http://www.trust.org/contentAsset/resize-image/548f7e61-2a26-49d6-ae85-a54cd0814d9c/photowide/?w=460&h=318&vn=201211160010

BP in 'advanced' oil spill talks

BBC: BP has received the biggest criminal fine in US history as part of a $4.5bn (£2.8bn) settlement related to the fatal 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Two BP workers have been indicted on manslaughter charges and an ex-manager charged with misleading Congress. The Department of Justice (DoJ) said BP must hand over $4bn. The sum includes a $1.26bn fine as well as payments to wildlife and science organisations. As part of the agreement, BP will also plead guilty to 14 criminal charges. The company...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20336898#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64154000/jpg/_64154684_ymgphwhl.jpg

Top Senate lawmakers see chance to revamp U.S. energy policy

Reuters: The United States needs to update its energy policy to reflect the boom in natural gas and oil production that has boosted manufacturing jobs, said the top Democrat on the Senate energy committee on Thursday. Ron Wyden, who is in line to take over the panel's gavel in January, said he sees the opportunity for "transformative energy policy" to both spur jobs created by the newfound wealth of energy while also protecting air and water from pollution. But Wyden and Lisa Murkowski, the top Republican...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/16/us-usa-congress-energy-idUSBRE8AF01820121116?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Winds Seen As Key Driver Of Antarctica’s Growing Sea Ice

Climate Central: It was big news in September when scientists announced that Arctic sea ice had melted back to its lowest extent on record, thanks largely to the heat-trapping greenhouse gases generated by human activity. It was smaller news a few weeks later when they noted that the sea ice at the opposite end of the globe had swelled to its greatest extent to date -- largely because the swelling wasn't all that pronounced, because September marks the end of winter in Antarctica, when you'd expect there to be lots...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/changing-winds-the-smoking-gun-in-antarcticas-growing-sea-ice-15246?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/11-15-12-Mike-Trends-Antarctic-seaice-motio-375x376.jpg

Winter Storms Bring A Little Relief to U.S. Drought Areas

Climate Central: Nearly 60 percent of the continental U.S. is still under drought conditions, according to the latest update from the U.S. drought monitor. While the past week brought rain to many of the afflicted regions, it may not be nearly enough to compensate for the historically low levels of rainfall seen across the country since early spring. However, the little rain that fell was enough to prevent conditions from deteriorating in most places. The total percentage of area affected by drought dropped slightly...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/winter-storms-bring-a-little-relief-to-u.s.-drought-areas-15250?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/uploads/news/11-15-12-Dan-DroughtMonitorUpdate.jpg

October Ties for 5th Warmest; Winter Forecast Uncertain

Climate Central: With the year-to-date running as the eight-warmest on record, October 2012 tied with 2005 for the globe's fifth-warmest such month since recordkeeping began in 1880, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This was the 36th straight October with global average surface temperatures above the 20th-century average. The last below-average month of any month occurred in February of 1985, the year the Space Shuttle Discovery completed its first mission. For the year-to-date,...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/globe-records-fifth-warmest-october-u.s.-winter-forecast-more-uncertain-15248?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/11_15_12_andrew_octtempsglobal-475x268.jpg

Mapping Cameroon's Motley Canopy

New York Times: From above, the forests of Cameroon seem to sweep across the land in an unending carpet of green. The forested swath is the second-largest in Africa, with tens of thousands of people at its fringes and nestled in its lush depths, dependent on what appears to be a continuous canopy. But according to an updated interactive map released by the World Resources Institute in partnership with the government of Cameroon, this blanket of trees is not as encompassing as it seems. The atlas, coded with...

URL: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/mapping-cameroons-motley-canopy/
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/11/15/blogs/maP/maP-blog480.jpg

BP agrees to pay largest penalty in US history in $4.5bn Gulf oil spill deal

Guardian: BP has agreed to pay the largest criminal fine in US history – $4.5bn – to resolve all criminal charges arising from the fatal oil rig explosion and catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The company said on Thursday that it had agreed to pay $4bn to the US government over five years, and $525m to the Securities and Exchange Commission. That money will be paid over three years. The criminal settlement does not settle all of the claims against BP for the April 2010 blowout of the Deepwater...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/15/bp-largest-penalty-history-gulf-oil-spill
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/4/21/1303369386325/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-rig-007.jpg

Increasing Interest in Carbon Tax Could Improve Outlook for Renewable Energy

Bloomberg: Exxon Mobil Corp. is part of a growing coalition backing a carbon tax as an alternative to costly regulation, giving newfound prominence to an idea once anathema in Washington. Conservative economists and fossil-fuel lobbyists united in 2009 to fend off climate-change legislation that would have established a cap-and-trade mechanism. They are now locked in a backroom debate over a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions that could raise an estimated $100 billion in its first year. A carbon tax would...

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/11/increasing-interest-in-carbon-tax-could-improve-outlook-for-renewable-energy?cmpid=rss

Drought persists despite rain; wheat struggles

Reuters: A storm system that brought cold, wet weather to much of the United States last week helped ease drought in many states, but some areas that were most in need of moisture were missed, according to a climatology report issued on Thursday. The U.S. High Plains, which includes key farm states of Nebraska, South Dakota, and Kansas, saw slight improvement last week due to good precipitation. But three quarters of both Kansas and Nebraska continued to suffer from extreme or exceptional drought. In...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/15/us-usa-drought-idUSBRE8AE1ES20121115?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

When climate change gets fiscal

Reuters: Neither candidate paid much attention to climate change during the presidential election: it wasn't so much as mentioned in any of the three debates. Then came Superstorm Sandy, Mayor Bloomberg's climate-motivated endorsement of President Obama, and Businesweek's mince-no-words cover. There's also the fiscal cliff (or austerity bomb, if you prefer). What better time to start taxing carbon? The logic is simple: a carbon tax could raise $1.25 trillion over a decade, and according to Treasury officials,...

URL: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/11/15/counterparties-when-climate-change-gets-fiscal/

BP Oil Spill Has Lingering Effects In Gulf Coast

National Public Radio: Oil giant BP will plead guilty to criminal misconduct related to the 2010 Gulf Oil spill. The settlement deal will also include the largest-ever penalty in a criminal case, $4.5 billion.

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/11/15/165233712/bp-agrees-to-pay-4-5-billion-for-gulf-oil-spill?ft=1&f=1025

How cheap energy from shale will reshape America's role in the world

Guardian: After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of China and the Arab spring, American energy independence looks likely to trigger the next great geopolitical shift in the modern world. US reliance on the Gulf for its oil – and its consequent need to maintain a dominant presence in the Middle East to keep the oil flowing – has been one of the constants of the post-1945 status quo. That could be turned on its head. It's been dubbed "the homecoming". After decades in which the hollowing out of American...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/15/shale-energy-implications-geopolitics-america
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/GU_front_gifs/2012/11/15/1353006495934/An-Iraqi-policeman-shouts-012.jpg

BP hopes $4.5bn fine will draw line under Deepwater Horizon disaster

Guardian: BP's decision to accept a record $4.5bn fine to resolve all criminal charges relating to the Deepwater Horizon blowout in 2010 has taken the total bill – money already paid out or set aside – to $42bn – and the costs could yet escalate further. The oil group could still find itself open to more than $60bn worth of liabilities if it is found guilty of gross negligence in forthcoming court actions – although analysts suggested that outcome seems less likely after yesterday's agreement. The new...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/nov/15/bp-fine-draw-line-deepwater
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Business/Pix/cartoon/2012/11/15/1353009431294/Deepwater-008.jpg

Rising Temperatures Could Lead To Sea Levels Rising Three Feet Or More

RedOrbit: A rapid response between global temperatures and ice volume/sea-level that could lead to sea-levels rising by over 3 feet have been revealed by a new study from the University of Southampton. Global ice-volume variability has been one of the main feedback mechanisms in climate change during the last few million years. This is because of the strong reflective properties of large ice sheets. Scientists reconstruct ice volume changes in ancient times using sea-level records, however, a detailed assessment...

URL: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112732599/rising-temperatures-sea-levels-111512/
Enclosure: http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2012/11/tide.jpg

As U.S. hesitates, California pours billions into green energy

Reuters: California, long the national leader in clean energy policy, is poised to double down on its investments in the sector, with billions in new subsidies set to flow in over the next few years. California voters last week directed some $2.5 billion to energy conservation programs with the approval of Proposition 39, which closes a corporate tax loophole, allocates about half of the new revenue to environmental goals for five years, and which passed with more than 60 percent of the vote. In addition,...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/15/us-clean-energy-california-idUSBRE8AD0F720121115?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20121115&t=2&i=674854692&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE8AD0Y4K00

Airborne particles smuggle pollutants to far reaches of globe

ScienceDaily: Pollution from fossil fuel burning and forest fires reaches all the way to the Arctic, even though it should decay long before it travels that far. Now, lab research can explain how pollution makes its lofty journey: rather than ride on the surface of airborne particles, pollutants snuggle inside, protected from the elements on the way. The results will help scientists improve atmospheric air-quality and pollution transport models. The results also show that the particles that envelop pollutants...

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121115141458.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
Enclosure: http://images.sciencedaily.com/2012/11/121115141458.jpg

BP to pay $4.5bn penalty over Deepwater Horizon disaster

Guardian: BP met its day of reckoning in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster on Thursday when the company admitted guilt on 14 criminal charges and agreed to pay an historic $4.5bn penalty in connection with the fatal explosion of its rig and the catastrophic oil spill. The payments include $4bn for criminal charges and $525m to security regulators. BP will plead guilty to 11 felony counts of misconduct or neglect in the deaths of 11 men aboard the Deepwater Horizon when the rig blew up and sank in April 2010,...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/15/bp-deepwater-horizon-gulf-oil-spill
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/11/15/1353021562939/Site-of-the-Deepwater-Hor-008.jpg

BP Reaches Plea Agreement Over Gulf Oil Spill

National Public Radio: British oil company BP agreed to pay $4 billion over five years to mostly government environmental agencies, and $525 million to settle claims with the Securities and Exchange Commission. BP will also plead guilty to 11 felony counts of misconduct or neglect related to the deaths of 11 people who died in the accident.

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/11/15/165218746/bp-reaches-plea-agreement-over-gulf-oil-spill?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=165218746&m=165218739

“Writing Is on the Wall” at Upcoming Climate Summit

Inter Press Service: Two-thirds of the world's proven fossil fuel reserves cannot be used without risking dangerous climate change, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned this week. In the wake of the storm, a damaged flag stands among the remnants of the boardwalk on Rockaway Beach. President Obama vows to make climate change a personal mission in his second term. (Photo by Frank Franklin II / AP) Preventing the consumption of those two-thirds will be the primary task of the annual U.N. climate negotiations...

URL: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/11/15-9
Enclosure: http://www.commondreams.org/sites/commondreams.org/files/imagecache/headline_image/article_images/1101_rockaway-damage-624x416.jpg

U.N. aviation body welcomes EU carbon decision

Reuters: A top official at the UN's civil aviation agency said on Thursday he welcomed the EU's suspension of a scheme to control airline emissions in order to give the UN agency time to thrash out a plan to reduce the industry's carbon footprint globally. In a surprise on Monday, the European Union put its scheme on hold for a year after the UN agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), agreed to set up a committee to work through difficult political issues such as how to deal fairly...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/15/us-airlines-emissions-idUSBRE8AE1VJ20121115?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Is BP Getting Away with Murder?

Greenpeace: According to various news reports, BP has reached a deal with the Department of Justice and agreed to pay a record U.S. criminal penalty totaling $4.5 billion in addition to pleading guilty to gross misconduct in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon gulf oil disaster. The AP reports BP will also plead guilty to obstruction "for lying to Congress about how much oil was pouring out of the ruptured well." The agreement was reportedly made in exchange for a waiver of future prosecution on the charges, and sources...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/bp-getting-away-with-murder/