United States News
The latest news from and about U.S. issues.Sunday, August 17, 2008
Greenhouse gas battle plan good for business.
Calgary Herald, August 17, 2008 - “Seven western states and four provinces have joined forces in a plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, a host of technology giants are rushing into the global solar play. In February 2007 California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oregon’s Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Washington’s Gov. Chris Gregoire formed the Western Climate Initiative. Their mandate was clear: Reduce greenhouse gases.” Read more.
Friday, August 15, 2008
So Who Is Actually Building the Wall?
Latino Evangelicals, August 14, 2008 - “So what exactly is the status of the great wall of Homeland Security along the Mexican border? With all of the long-winded rhetoric and debate about the value of a wall along the border, some critics still question whether the wall will actually ‘secure the border?’ Government estimates show that about half of the undocumented immigrants in our country are immigrants who have over stayed their visas. If that is true, then the wall along the border will do nothing to stop this group of immigrants from entering the country. These immigrants are crossing the border legally at entry checkpoints staffed by U. S. customs and border guards.” Read more.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
U.S. Could Halve Fuel Consumption by 2035: Report.
Greenbiz.com, August 14, 2008 - “The U.S. could feasibly halve its gasoline consumption if the country switched to hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles by 2035, according to a new MIT report. For too long, automakers have focused on improving performance at the expense of efficiency, said the report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A large part of the challenge will involve convincing consumers that they don’t need fast, gas-guzzling cars.” Read more.
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.
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