Bush Creates Three Massive Ocean National Monuments
On Tuesday, President Bush created three new marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean. The newly protected areas will cover 195,280 square miles (roughly the size of Spain), and includes a series of isolated islands in the Pacific, along with the Mariana Trench, which is the deepest ocean canyon on earth. With this act, Bush will have protected more ocean, over the course of his term, than any person in history.
The monuments are being created under the powers of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which is traditionally used to protect statues and cultural sites. Under the new designation, oil and gas exploration, as well as commercial fishing, in the protected areas will be severely restricted. READ MORE
Interactive Map Highlights Our Dependency on Foreign Oil
Check out this cool interactive map that was created by the Rocky Mountain Institute, as part of a grant from Google.org. The map shows how much oil the U.S. has imported, from where, and how much we have spent every month since 1973.
Google explains:
“By clicking on the green light to play, you can see the countries supplying oil to the U.S. (either in terms of barrels or dollar value) and how our imports have changed over the last 35 years. The thicker the line in the map, the more oil produced or imported.”
Watching this dynamic map just further drives home the point that we need to get off of oil now. And to answer those who chant “DBD,” we would suggest pressing the “ANWR” and “Offshore Drilling” buttons on the lower left side of the map.
Commission Recommends Raising U.S. Gas Tax
A failing economy may accomplish what environmental and geopolitical necessity could not– which is, cause the government to increase the national gas tax. A congressionally sponsored commission is set to recommend that the national gas tax should be raised by 10 cents per gallon in order to cover the massive shortfall the national Highway Trust Fund is facing.
The current lack of funds, which are used to reduce congestion, improve roads, and expand transit, is a result of two problems. First, the high gas prices in the beginning of 2008 and the failing economy in the end of the year, caused drivers to substantially cut-back on their driving habits. As a result, between October 2007 and September 2008, the Highway Trust Fund took in $3 billion less than it did the prior year. Second, even when Americans were driving a lot, the revenues raised by the gas tax were insufficient to properly maintain and upgrade our transportation infrastructure. READ MORE
Obama Reiterates Call for Energy Efficiency and Decreased Dependency on Foreign Oil
In his weekly video address, Obama covered major issues like health care, education, jobs, and energy. Some highlights:
“To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will double renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient…
“…we need an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that not only creates jobs in the short-term but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long-term. And this plan must be designed in a new way - we can’t just fall into the old Washington habit of throwing money at the problem. We must make strategic investments that will serve as a down payment on our long-term economic future. We must demand vigorous oversight and strict accountability for achieving results. And we must restore fiscal responsibility and make the tough choices so that as the economy recovers, the deficit starts to come down. That is how we will achieve the number one goal of my plan - which is to create three million new jobs…”
America Enters the ‘Trance’ Phase of ‘Shock and Trance’
Tom Friedman presents another in-depth case for a dramatic increase in the national gasoline tax, or an economy-wide carbon tax, in the NY Times on Sunday.
His basic argument is that with falling gas prices, we’re quickly falling back into a sense of trance, which is the second half of America’s standard “shock and trance” cycle that has shaped American energy policy over the past forty years.
Although President-elect Obama has articulated his concern that we avoid this oft-repeated mistake of following petro-panic with petro-complacency, he has been opposed to new gas or carbon taxes. Friedman says that this is a terminal mistake.
Here are the highlights of Friedman’s argument:
Regarding the current situation, he notes:
“Of course, it’s a blessing that people who have been hammered by the economy are getting a break at the pump. But for our long-term health, getting re-addicted to oil and gas guzzlers is one of the dumbest things we could do.” READ MORE
New York Times Editorial Board in-Favor of a Gas Tax
The NY Times editorial board on Saturday followed the lead of co-worker Tom Friedman and endorsed the concept of a gas tax. Here are the highlights:
“…for all the conditions attached to it, the multibillion-dollar aid package for Detroit’s carmakers approved by the White House (with Mr. Obama’s support) fails to address one crucial question: Who will buy all the fuel-efficient cars that Detroit carmakers are supposed to make?
“The danger is that too few will, especially if gasoline prices remain low. Therefore, it might be time for the president-elect and Congress to think seriously about imposing a gas tax or similar levy to keep gas prices up after the economy recovers from recession. READ MORE
EPA Administrator Makes Last Ditch Attempt to Tie Obama’s Hands re CO2 Regulation
In a naked political maneuver, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson has issued a memorandum saying that CO2 is not a pollutant that should be considered when approving new power plants.
This memorandum comes in response to a decision by an EPA panel that requires the consideration of CO2 mitigation processes in the permitting process for new coal fired plants.
GreenBiz reports on this issue:
U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson has issued a memorandum saying that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant that is subject to regulation when approving new power plants. READ MORE
The Colorado River, and the Civilization Dependent Upon it, Faces Dramatic Threats
Although climate change takes most of the headlines nowadays, the environmental threats we are facing are even more widespread. While climate change will exacerbate many of these problems, there are a number of other external issues that must also be urgently addressed.
One of those environmental disasters that is being worsened by climate change, but which also is being worsened by external events, is the destruction of the Colorado River.
SignOnSanDiego expands on this crisis:
The Colorado River has endured drought, climate changes, pollution, ecological damage from dams and battles by 7 states to draw more water. Now energy companies are sucking up the river’s water to support increased development of oil, natural gas and uranium deposits. Yet, the river must provide drinking water for 1 out of 12 Americans and 15% of our crops. READ MORE
Against the bailout: ‘An old man dies, a little girl lives; fair trade’
NYT columnist Roger Cohen had a great analysis of the Detroit bailout this week. Although President Bush did approve a $17 billion bailout on Friday, it is useful to look at Cohen’s points, since this is surely not the last time we will have to contemplate bailing out the Big Three.
Cohen’s op-ed, “Pan Am Dies, America Lives,” which reminds us of the classic line from Sin City, argues that the strength of the American system is derived from the natural rise and fall of companies. He uses the death of Pan Am, once a terrific airline, as an example:
“[F]acts are facts. Pan Am, which had been a leading U.S. international airline since the 1930s, collapsed in 1991. Like other great U.S. companies, it died in the marketplace because it blundered. Churn - of people and businesses - has always defined America. Nobody subsidized U.S. Steel or the automaker Packard in the belief that the world without them was unthinkable.” READ MORE
Obama picks a ‘conservationist’ to head Interior Department
Obama has added to his already impressive list of energy and environmentally minded cabinet members by picking Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Col.) to head the Department of the Interior.
Salazar is a first-term senator who has a reputation as being a “staunch conservationist.” He has opposed developing oil shale projects on public lands, and supports the goal of getting 25% of the country’s energy from renewable sources by 2025.
It is also speculated that Salazar could be more supportive of the Cape Wind offshore wind farm, which has run into some delays recently. The project requires approval from the Minerals Management Service, which is a part of the Department of the Interior.
Friedman on ‘making cars the people want’
“Over the years, Detroit bosses kept repeating: ‘We have to make the cars people want.’ That’s why they’re in trouble. Their job is to make the cars people don’t know they want but will buy like crazy when they see them. I would have been happy with my Sony Walkman had Apple not invented the iPod. Now I can’t live without my iPod. I didn’t know I wanted it, but Apple did. Same with my Toyota hybrid.”
Obama’s Energy Pick Steven Chu: ‘Coal is My Worst Nightmare’
WSJ’s Environmental Capital has a great run-down of Steven Chu, President-elect Obama’s choice to head the Department of Energy. Basically, Chu is a proponent of energy efficiency and conservation as the first step in correcting America’s energy situation. He has also researched next-generation cellulosic biofuels and supports an interstate electricity transmission system that would solve one of the biggest hurdles to wide-spread adoption of renewable energy like wind and solar power.
Here are the highlights:
Chu’s marquee work at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is the Helios Project. That’s an effort to tackle what Dr. Chu sees as the biggest energy challenge facing the U.S.: transportation.
Helios has focused largely on biofuels-but not the bog-standard kind made from corn and sugar. The Energy Biosciences Institute, a joint effort funded by BP, is looking to make second-generation biofuels more viable. Among the approaches? Researching new ways to break down stubborn cellulosic feedstocks to improve the economics of next-generation biofuels, and finding new kinds of yeast to boost fermentation and make biofuels more plentiful while reducing their environmental impact.
Automaker bailout dies in Senate
Unfortunately for Detroit, they’re not in the coal mining business– otherwise, they may have received the necessary support from Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who basically doomed the bailout proposal by speaking out strongly against it on Thursday.
As we’ve indicated before, our position is that comprehensive bailouts should really be reserved to threats of systemic collapse, which may not be the case here.
As it now appears, the bailout bill, passed by the House on Wednesday, will die in the Senate. McConnell indicated that he did support a Republican proposal for a bailout, offered by Sen. Corker of Tennessee. That alternative plan would give company bondholders 30 cents on the dollar to reduce the automakers’ debt burden, would bring workers’ wages in-line with foreign competition, and force the UAW to eliminate payments to workers after their jobs have been eliminated.
Nonetheless, it seems unlikely that any compromise between the two competing proposals will be possible this year. GM has indicated that it may not make it to 2009 without a bailout, and Chrysler retained bankruptcy council earlier this month.
Key energy and environmental positions in Obama’s cabinet impress environmentalists
The key energy and environmental positions in President-elect Obama’s cabinet have been identified and are bringing praise from environmentalists.
For Energy secretary, Obama chose physicist Steven Chu. Chu won a Nobel Prize for the “development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light,” and is the director of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Under Chu’s leadership, the lab has focused on alternative energy research and efforts to boost energy efficiency in buildings.
For head of the EPA, Obama picked former New Jersey environmental protection commissioner Lisa Jackson. Jackson previously worked for the EPA for 16 years before she joined the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which she has run since 2006. She also supported efforts to create a cap-and-trade system among Northeastern states. READ MORE
Bailouts put the US on a slippery slope
Beyond the public’s moral outrage and protests of unfairness relating to the Wall Street and Detroit bailouts, there is a systemic hazard that is very real and often overlooked in these objections. That hazard is that once the government steps away from its traditionally passive role, and steps into the role of picking and choosing which companies will be subsidized and saved, and which will not, a huge can of worms is irreversibly opened.
Historically, this was one of the biggest problems with communism– that is– governments are notoriously bad at making centralized decisions. The market is amoral– it picks winners and losers based upon events and merit. But government is biased– it picks winners and losers based upon personal biases and prejudices.
Now that our government is in the business of picking and choosing which companies succeed and which fail, there will be increasing attempts by the government to tell those companies how to run their businesses. And why shouldn’t they? Once these companies failed to survive on their own, it only seems fair that they should forfeit the right to make their own business decisions.
Yet it is this righteous position that is so dangerous and could amplify the problems we already face. Although we personally don’t think a bailout is a good idea unless the actual viability of our entire system is at-risk, if we are going to bail out these companies, we need to resist the urge to micro-manage their businesses. READ MORE
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