United States News
The latest news from and about U.S. issues.Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Balancing border security, trade a delicate act, experts say.
Dallas Morning News, August 12, 2008 - “With heightened security at the border in wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and increased drug-related violence, residents find themselves in a delicate balancing act. They want enhanced security while continuing to maintain good access for the cross-border trade. ‘Violence has had a large impact on border trade because it affects our perceptions of public safety,’ said Maria Louisa O’Connell, president of the Border Trade Alliance. ‘We have to be careful that we give people an accurate understanding based on facts, not scare stories.’” Read more.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Flush With Energy.
NY Times, August 9, 2008 - “The Arctic Hotel in Ilulissat, Greenland, is a charming little place on the West Coast, but no one would ever confuse it for a Four Seasons — maybe a One Seasons. But when my wife and I walked back to our room after dinner the other night and turned down our dim hallway, the hall light went on. It was triggered by an energy-saving motion detector. Our toilet even had two different flushing powers depending on — how do I say this delicately — what exactly you’re flushing. A two-gear toilet!” Read more.
Big Oil, No Mojo.
Newsweek, August 9, 2008 - “BP CEO Tony Hayward is fighting the biggest battle in the British oil giant’s history since it enlisted the CIA to overthrow the Iranian government for nationalizing the company’s holdings in 1953. Except this time, the odds seem stacked against the company. BP has withdrawn executives and specialists from Russia in a battle over control of its Russian joint venture, TNK-BP. BP chairman Peter Sutherland has accused the Kremlin of turning a blind eye to an asset grab by BP’s partners, four powerful Russian oligarchs.” Read more.
Friday, August 08, 2008
U.S. green groups target Keystone oil pipeline.
Reuters, August 8, 2008 - “TransCanada Corp’s planned $5.2 billion Keystone oil pipeline system is facing opposition from U.S. environmental groups, who earlier this week went to court in an attempt to block U.S. government approval of the project. The National Resources Defense Council, the Dakota Resource Council and Dakota Rural Action filed suit on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., against the Department of State, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Reuben Jeffery, undersecretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs.” Read more.
Crow Tribe strikes deal for $7B coal project.
SF Gate, August 8, 2008 - “The Crow Tribe struck a deal Thursday with an Australian company toward building a $7 billion plant to convert coal into liquid fuels, which would be among the first such projects in the nation. Capping months of negotiations, the Crow Legislature ratified a 50-year development agreement with Australian-American Energy Co., a subsidiary of Australian Energy Co.” Read more.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
U.N. to tighten rules on earning carbon offsets.
ENN, August 6, 2008 - “The U.N.’s climate change agency on Wednesday proposed to make it more difficult for speculators to earn carbon offsets from emissions-cutting projects which were already profitable. Under the U.N.-run Kyoto Protocol, industrialized nations can meet limits on their output of planet-warming gases such as carbon dioxide by funding emissions cuts in the developing world in a scheme called the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).” Read more.
Controversial environmental author Paul Ehrlich talks biofuels, offshore drilling, peak oil.
E&ETV, August 7, 2008 - “Forty years ago, author Paul Ehrlich stirred up controversy by predicting that the world’s steady population growth would cause hundreds of millions of people to starve within a decade of publication of “The Population Bomb.” Though his predictions were wrong, he is often credited with having had a major influence on the environmental movement in the ‘60s and ‘70s. During today’s OnPoint, Paul Ehrlich, author of the new book “The Dominant Animal” and Bing professor of population studies and professor of biological sciences at Stanford University, gives his take on today’s top energy and environment issues.” View the video or read the transcript.
Drooping dollar makes Mexican vacations more expensive.
USA Today, August 7, 2008 - “The plunging U.S. dollar has already forced many Americans to give up vacations in Europe. Now, the dollar has lost nearly 10% against the Mexican peso since January — meaning that beach trips to sunny spots south of the border are becoming out of reach, too. The dollar’s value had been stable for years in Mexico, even as it fell against other currencies such as the euro. The shift could have a significant effect on tourism and the $347 billion in trade between Mexico and the United States.” Read more.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
The Oil Shortage Myth.
Kiplinger, August 6, 2008 - “Warnings about running out of oil are overdone. It’s a useful sound bite for proponents of so-called peak oil, who don’t have the foggiest knowledge of petroleum geology. But they do have something to sell. Some oil trading fund managers, for instance, hope to spook other investors into bidding up prices, and neo-green activists advocate ending oil usage because it’s “dirty” and say we’ll run out soon anyway.” Read more.
New mapping system shows how detailed climate changes will affect species.
Mongabay, August 6, 2008 - “A new computer simulation from the Nature Conservancy shows greater detail than ever before on how climate change will affect the world’s biodiversity, according to an article in New Scientist. In worst case scenarios—using the example of Bengal tigers in Sundarbans mangrove forest—the article’s author, Peter Aldhous, writes that some species will be forced into a “condemned cell”, literally having no-where to go while their region becomes inhabitable.” Read more.
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