The Weekly Planet: Arctic drilling OK'd, Sarkozy bans fracking, track your congressmen
We're taking a look at some of the stories affecting our planet. Here's some news you shouldn't miss.
Panel recommending extreme climate fixes, just in case
A bipartisan panel of scientists, ex-government officials and national security experts is recommending we look into extreme engineering techniques to to reverse climate change, The New York Times reports. Members said they hoped that such extreme engineering techniques, which include scattering particles in the air to mimic the cooling effect of volcanoes or stationing orbiting mirrors in space to reflect sunlight, would never be needed. But in its report, to be released on Tuesday, the panel said it is time to begin researching and testing such ideas in case “the climate system reaches a ‘tipping point’ and swift remedial action is required.
Obama Administration OK's Arctic drilling leases
JanforGore shares a story from the Wall Street Journal, which reports the Obama administration is "moving forward with oil-drilling leases off the coast of Alaska issued by the Bush administration in 2008, a victory for oil companies in the battle over Arctic Ocean drilling."
Meanwhile, Sarkozy bans fracking in France
France will maintain a ban on fracking until there is proof that shale gas exploration won’t harm the environment or “massacre” the landscape, President Nicolas Sarkozy said, BusinessWeek reports. “Development of hydrocarbon resources underground is strategic for our country but not at any price,” Sarkozy said.
Republican upping criticism on Solyndra, similar spending
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), who chairs an energy and commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, originally supported the program when Congress created it. Now he says, "I think the administration is putting taxpayers' money at risk in areas that are not creating jobs," NPR's "All Things Considered" reports. He still doesn't like the idea of government putting taxpayers on the line for other ventures. "We can't compete with China to make solar panels and wind turbines," Stearns says.
Emails reveal excessive chumminess with TransCanada on pipeline
The New York Times reports a State Department official provided Fourth of July party invitations, subtle coaching and cheerleading, and inside information about Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton’s meetings to a Washington lobbyist for a Canadian company seeking permission from the department to build a pipeline that would carry crude from the oil sands of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
Fossil fuel subsidies up by $110 billion over last year, to $409 billion
The Hill reports that global fossil fuel consumption subsidies rose in 2010 despite a pledge by G-20 nations to take steps to reduce them in coming years, according to a new analysis. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated Tuesday that subsidies that artificially lower fuel prices reached $409 billion in 2010, an increase of almost $110 billion above 2009 levels.
Congressman tracking 'anti-environment' votes by 112th Congress
Our boss wrote yesterday about a new, searchable database unveiled by Rep. Henry Waxman that reveals “anti-environment votes by the 112th Congress. The database details the 125 votes taken to date by the House that undermine the protection of the environment.” Check out the database here.
