hide details

Our Last Chance to Snap into Action for the Climate. By Mike Tidwell, Orion, May/June, 2008 issue. "What the scientists have been wrong about -- and I mean really, really wrong -- is the speed at which it's all occurring. Our climate system isn't just 'changing.' It's not just 'warming.' It's snapping, violently, into a whole new regime right before our eyes. A fantastic spasm of altered weather patterns is crashing down upon our heads right now. The only question left for America is this: can we snap along with the climate? Can we, as the world's biggest polluter, create a grassroots political uprising that emerges as abruptly as a snap of the fingers?... Amid the sudden need to rethink everything a.s.a.p. comes another piece of good news: the clean-energy solutions to global warming grow more economically feasible and closer at hand with each passing year... Getting off carbon fuels-though vital and mandatory-won't steer us clear of climate chaos. We've delayed action far too long... But the answer to the question Can human beings artificially cool the planet? is almost certainly yes. That answer, I realize, poses a terrible conundrum for conservationists like me who understand it's precisely this sort of anthropocentrism and technological arrogance that got us into the mess we're in. But like it or not, we are where we are. And I, for one, can't look my ten-year-old son in the eye and, using a different sort of ideological arrogance, say, No, don't even try atmospheric engineering. We've learned our lesson. Just let catastrophic global warming run its course... Although there are surely dark times ahead, I can see him living through them, living deep into the twenty-first century, when most of the lingering greenhouse gases will have finally dissipated from our atmosphere, allowing an orderly end to the geo-engineering process." Mike Tidwell is the author of The Ravaging Tideand is the founder and director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

Running on Empty. By Mark Hertsgaard, Nation, April 24, 2008. "It used to be that only environmentalists and paranoids warned about running out of oil. Not anymore. As climate change did over the past few years, peak oil seems poised to become the next big idea commanding the attention of governments, businesses and citizens the world over. The arrival of $119-a-barrel crude and $4-a-gallon gasoline this spring are but the most obvious signs that global oil production has or soon will peak... Though largely unnoticed by the world media, a decisive moment in the peak oil debate came last September, when James Schlesinger declared that the 'peakists' were right. You don't get closer to the American establishment and energy business than Schlesinger, who has served as chair of the Atomic Energy Commission, head of the CIA, Defense Secretary, Energy Secretary and adviser to countless oil companies... Schlesinger said, 'It's no longer the case that we have a few voices crying in the wilderness. The battle is over. The peakists have won.' Schlesinger added that many oil company CEOs privately agree that peak oil is imminent but don't say so publicly... At first glance, one might think that peak oil would help the fight against climate change. After all, less available oil should translate into less oil consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions. But modern civilization, to borrow George W. Bush's term, is addicted to oil. If peak oil arrives before the addiction is treated, the junkie will seek even more dangerous ways to get his fix... Activists in scores of towns and cities around the world are trying to prepare their communities for the transition to a post-oil economy. Rather than wait for national governments and multinational corporations to save them, these ordinary citizens are examining how their communities can produce their own energy, food, buildings and other essentials using local resources rather than materials that arrive from afar via oil-based transport... In Britain... Rob Hopkins...drawing on the experience of his hometown of Totnes, in Devon, has just published The Transition Handbook, which explains how other towns can also begin preparing for the post-oil future."

Climate Change Could Spark More Islamic Extremism, Report Warns. By Lisa Freidman, EENews, April 25, 2008, subscription. "Climate change could spawn the next Osama bin Laden unless industrialized nations aggressively reduce emissions and help those suffering the brunt of weather catastrophes, a new international security report[PDF 141 pp] warns. From Bangladesh to Indonesia, sub-Saharan Africa to the Maldives, Muslim countries are in some of the most water-stressed regions of the world. As sea levels rise, the study from a top U.K. think tank predicts, so will tensions with the West. 'Climate change will be used by extremist groups to bolster existing resentment against developed countries,' author Nick Mabey wrote in Delivering Climate Security: International Security Responses to a Climate Changed World. Noting that bin Laden already has used the decades of emissions-spewing in the West to stoke resentment, Mabey implored industrialized countries to act quickly on global warming. Failing to do so, he said, could unravel confidence in the international system."

U.S. Scrambles to Address International Food Crisis. By Dan Eggen, WashPost, April 26, 2008. "The Bush administration and Congress have been caught flat-footed by rapidly escalating global food prices and are scrambling to respond to a crisis that they increasingly view as a threat to U.S. national security, according to government officials, congressional staffers and human rights experts. The White House released $200 million in emergency wheat stores for developing countries last week... Top Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are pressing the White House to devote more money to emergency food aid -- up from $350 million to $550 million -- as part of a supplemental Iraq war budget package. But administration officials and legislative aides acknowledge that they have only recently begun to focus on the severity of the problem, and humanitarian groups fear that assistance from the United States, which already supplies about half of the world's total food aid, may come too late to provide much benefit in the near term... The escalating prices have sparked riots in more than a dozen nations, from Cameroon to Bangladesh to the Philippines. World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick warns that more than 30 nations are at risk of social unrest from the crisis and that at least 100 million additional people could be pushed into poverty in coming months... The World Food Program, which is the single largest recipient of U.S. food aid, provides a stark example of food-price inflation: On March 3, the group's purchase price for rice in Bangkok was $460 per metric ton; five weeks later, it was $780."

hide details

Chronicling Climate-Challenged Communities Around the World. By Dan Charles, NPR, April 26, 2008. "Juan Hoffmaister is 24 years old, a citizen of Costa Rica and a recent graduate of College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. Since last summer, he has been on a voyage of discovery, a year-long tour of places that may bear the brunt of changes in Earth's climate... 'I started the journey thinking that I was going to go out there and collect success stories,' he says. 'Within a couple of months, I realized that what I was collecting was survival stories.'"

Costa Rican University Cultivating World's 'Green' Leaders. By Stefan Lovgren, National Geographic News, April 22, 2008. "At Earth University in eastern Costa Rica, the quest for green extends far beyond campus life -- it's the main focus of study. 'We're forming leaders to go out and influence their communities and their countries to take greater care of the Earth and change the world,' said Jose Zaglul, the university's president. That may seem like a lofty mission for a small agricultural college of 417 students tucked into the remote tropics. But the university has earned a reputation for its hands-on, can-do academic approach to agricultural science and natural-resources management. And many of its graduates have taken up significant positions in governments in Central and South America... The university has its own 2,400-acre rain forest preserve and organic farm, so students can learn how their planet works while on campus."

Jane Goodall Passes Torch to World's Youth on Earth Day. By Barbara Liston, Reuters, April 23, 2008. "Renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, 74, symbolically passed the torch on Tuesday to a new generation of hand-picked environmental and peace activists whom she gathered this week for the first Jane Goodall Global Youth Summit. 'The 100 (young people) who are here represent hundreds of thousands of others,' Goodall said on the 38th annual Earth Day. 'You hear them debate some of the problems of the world, and you know there is hope for the future.' Goodall, who rose to fame in the 1960s through her ground-breaking study of chimpanzees in East Africa, now spends 300 days a year on the road using her personal story and rock star status among young people to inspire them to act on critical issues in their communities. She said her goal has been to build a critical mass of young activists to carry on her life's work for a more humane world, acting through youth organizations such as her own Roots & Shoots which started on her front porch in Tanzania in 1991. 'I was determined not to die until Roots & Shoots could survive. Now I know it will. It's got its own life without me, Goodall said. The 100 young people at the summit in Orlando, Florida, came from 28 countries, and all were selected personally by Goodall based on their work in their communities."

hide details

Congressional Leaders Issue 'Principles for Global Warming Legislation'. Press Release, House Oversight Committee, April 22, 2008. "Today on Earth Day, three Congressional leaders on climate and energy issues laid out principles for any effective legislative solution to the challenge of global warming. Chairman Henry A. Waxman, Chairman Ed Markey and Rep. Jay Inslee released Principles for Global Warming Legislation [PDF 5 pp], which are designed to provide a framework for Congress as it produces legislation to establish an economy-wide mandatory program to cut global warming emissions... The principles recognize four key goals for global warming legislation: 1) Reduce emissions to avoid dangerous global warming; 2) Transition America to a clean energy economy; 3) Recognize and minimize any economic impacts from global warming legislation; and 4) Aid communities and ecosystems vulnerable to harm from global warming... The principles include the following elements: strong science-based targets for near-term and long-term emissions reductions; auctioning emissions allowances rather than giving them to polluting industries; investing auction revenues in clean energy technologies; returning auction proceeds to consumers, workers, and communities to offset any economic impacts; and dedicating a portion of auction proceeds to help states, communities, vulnerable developing countries, and ecosystems address harm from the degree of global warming that is now unavoidable... Chairman Waxman [D, CA] is the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Chairman Markey [D, MA] is the Chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Rep. Inslee [D, WA] is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and a senior member of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming."

Congress Cuts Key Ethanol Tax Credit in Farm Bill. By James Politi, FT, April 26, 2008. "Congressional negotiators on Friday reached a tentative agreement on the farm bill, potentially ending months of deadlock over U.S. agricultural policy amid record profits by farmers and mounting concerns over rising food prices. The proposed legislation, whose final details will be unveiled next week and still face the possibility of a White House veto, will cost $280 billion over five years and largely preserves an extensive programme of subsidies to U.S. farmers. Under the terms of the deal reached by House and Senate negotiators, a key ethanol tax credit is expected to be reduced from 51 cents per gallon to 45 and the tariff on ethanol imports from outside the US is also expected to be scaled back. In addition, negotiators broadly agreed on an additional $10 billion in funding for national food aid programmes, designed to tackle the threat posed by rising food prices in the US and address fears that millions of poor Americans risk going hungry."

Waxman to Pursue EPA Scientists Complaint About Political Pressure. By H. Josef Hebert, AP, April 23, 2008. "Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists say they have been pressured by superiors to skew their findings, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Union of Concerned Scientists... Francesca Grifo, director of the UCS Scientific Integrity Program, said the survey results revealed 'an agency in crisis' and 'under siege from political pressures' especially among scientists involved in risk assessment and crafting regulations. 'The investigation shows researchers are generally continuing to do their work, but their scientific findings are tossed aside when it comes time to write regulations,' said Grifo... Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif... said he planned to pursue the issue at an upcoming hearing by his Oversight and Government Reform Committee where [EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson] is scheduled to testify. UCF sent an online questionnaire to 5,500 EPA scientists and received 1,586 responses, a majority of them senior scientists who have worked for the agency for 10 years or more. The survey included chemists, toxicologists, engineers, geologists and experts in the life and environmental sciences."

Senate Votes to Extend 'Green' Energy Tax Breaks. By Sara Spivey, Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 11, 2008. "The Senate on Thursday voted to extend a suite of tax breaks for renewable-energy industries, a move to bolster investments and encourage job growth in forward-looking technologies. Despite the broad support of an 88-8 vote, the tax incentives face an uncertain future in Congress. They were attached to a major mortgage-relief bill that is expected to undergo significant changes in the coming weeks. The tax credits available on wind, solar, geothermal and other clean energy technologies will expire at the end of the year. The bill approved Thursday would extend for one year a 2-cent-per-kilowatt-hour production credit for wind, biomass, geothermal, small irrigation power, landfill gas, trash combustion and hydropower. A 30 percent tax credit for the manufacture of solar and fuel cells was extended to 2016. People who purchase solar panels to generate power also would qualify for a 30 percent write-off. Tax credits for makers of energy-efficient dishwashers, washing machines and refrigerators also would be extended, as would credits for home purchases of solar hot water heaters."

Wild Sky Wilderness Bill Passed by Senate. By Jennifer A. Dloughy, SeattlePI, April 11, 2008. "A long-stalled plan to wall off more than 106,000 acres of Washington state wilderness from motorists and loggers moved one step closer to becoming law Thursday when the Senate passed a bill authorizing the project. The measure, which would create the Wild Sky Wilderness Area, now heads to the House, which is expected to pass it quickly and send it to President Bush. The president has not indicated whether he would sign the legislation... If the legislation passes the House, the Wild Sky bill will confer the highest level of protection afforded federal property on 106,577 acres in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, about 90 minutes by car from downtown Seattle. Wild Sky would become the first new wilderness area in Washington state in 23 years... The area would be off limits to vehicles, including bicycles and snowmobiles... Logging, mining and other commercial uses would be banned... Over the course of nine years, Wild Sky ran into roadblocks... The bill passed the Senate several times, only to run into strong opposition in the House. Rancher and former Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., staunchly opposed the Wild Sky project and used his chairmanship of the House Natural Resources Committee to keep it from passing the House. Pombo lost his bid for re-election in November 2006, when Democrats recaptured control of the House."

hide details

Bicycle-Sharing Program to Be Launched in Washington D.C. By Bernie Becker, NYTimes, April 27, 2008. "Starting next month, people in D.C. will be able to rent a bicycle day and night with the swipe of a membership card. A new public-private venture called SmartBike DC will make 120 bicycles available at 10 spots in central locations in the city. The automated program, which district officials say is the first of its kind in the nation, will operate in a similar fashion to car-sharing programs like Zipcar. The district has teamed up with an advertiser, Clear Channel Outdoor, to put the bikes on the streets... In the deal, Clear Channel will have exclusive advertising rights in the city's bus shelters. The company has reached a similar deal with San Francisco. Chicago and Portland, Ore., are also considering proposals from advertisers. For a $40 annual membership fee, SmartBike users can check out three-speed bicycles for three hours at a time. The program will not provide helmets but does encourage their use.

Similar programs have proved successful in Europe. The Velib program in Paris and Bicing in Barcelona, Spain, both started around a year ago and already offer thousands of bicycles.

Buying Green Power with Community Choice Aggregation. By Peter Asmus, CSM, April 22, 2008. "There are new ways for you to fight climate change in your own backyard. One of the most promising models is called 'Community Choice Aggregation.' CCA is the legal term for an innovative way for cities and counties to purchase electricity by votes of local governments. Previously, the only way for a local government to have a say in where the community's power came from was to establish a municipally owned utility. The CCA process provides an easier way to switch to an earth-friendlier power supply without taking on the burden of managing the power lines, collecting bills, and the divisive politics involved with the expensive process of bringing energy under municipal control. This type of community energy planning is happening in a big way in California's Marin County." Peter Asmus is a board member of the Marin Conservation League.

hide details

Texas Governor Calls For 50% Reduction in Ethanol Mandate. By David Ivanovich, HoustonChron, April 26, 2008. "Texas Gov. Rick Perry has asked federal regulators to relax rules requiring use of corn-based ethanol in the nation's fuel supply, arguing the mandate is driving up world food prices and harming the Texas economy. In a letter sent Friday to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Perry asked the Bush administration to waive 50 percent of the federal mandate for production of ethanol derived from grain. In pushing for the waiver, Perry injected himself into an ongoing debate over corn-based ethanol, an argument that touches on energy and environmental policy and affects numerous special interests. Federal law requires that the nation use 9 billion gallons of renewable fuels this year and 11 billion gallons in 2009. Ethanol is blended into more than half the gasoline sold in the United States, including in Houston and other cities struggling with the worst air-quality problems. While the push for greater use of renewable sources may have been 'well intentioned policy,' the measure has 'had the unintentional consequence of harming segments of our agriculture industry and contributing to higher food prices,' Perry wrote in his letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson."

Georgia Gov. Launches Green Initiative. By Stacy Shelton, AtlantaJ-C, April 24, 2008. "On Thursday, Gov. Sonny Perdue declared a new 'culture of conservation' in a fast-growing state where every day the net loss of trees totals more than 100 acres, electric usage is among the top in the nation, and -- until recently -- water is generously lavished on lawns. On a three-stop state tour to launch Conserve Georgia, a marketing and public relations campaign aimed at rallying residents and businesses to conserve water, energy and land, Perdue ordered state government to reduce energy use 15 percent by 2020. 'I like to conserve money, but the way we do that is by conserving all over,' said Perdue [known as a business-friendly Republican], wearing jeans and work boots at his first stop at the Pratt Industries recycling plant in East Point. 'We want to make 'conservation' not a sacrificial word but a badge of honor.'"

Governors Convene At Yale To Fight Global Warming. By David Funkhouser, Hartford Courant, April 19, 2008. "In what was intended as a historic replay of a landmark meeting on conservation called by President Theodore Roosevelt 100 years ago, Yale brought together governors and officials from several states April 18th to sign a declaration calling on the federal government to get moving on climate change. Arnold Schwarzenegger came to sign the declaration and to deliver his own brand of eco-politics: As a fiercely independent Republican governor of California... he makes no bones about his differences with Congress and the Bush administration. 'In California, we say don't wait for Washington, because Washington is asleep at the wheel,' he said. Like many who spoke at the conference, he is looking to the next administration for decisive action: 'Things will begin to pick up speed after Inauguration Day.' That sentiment matched the central theme of the conference, which was that states have moved far out in front on the issue, and the federal government needs to work with them when developing climate policy. 'Today, we recommit ourselves to the effort to stop global warming and we call on congressional leaders and the presidential candidates to work with us'  -- in partnership -- to establish a comprehensive national climate policy, states the declaration, signed so far by 18 governors... Yale also brought in Nobel Prize-winner R.K. Pachauri, head of the U.N.'s IPCC, to speak at the signing... He warned that without action now, irreversible changes in climate could lead to melting of the massive Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets. Such events would send sea levels up several meters 'and put at risk several hundreds of millions of people,' he said." See video of event, 2:30 min.

Lacking Clear Direction from Washington, States Battle Fiercely over Energy Policy. By Felicity Barringer, NYTimes, March 20, 2008. "'There are certainly battles happening all over the nation,' said Steve Clemmer, the Clean Energy Program research director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. In Kansas and Washington State, the battles are over individual plants. Other fights, as in California, are over... who will have to pay, and how much. Some, as in Minnesota, are over how much renewable energy must be created and what forms are appropriate. And that list does not take into account major battles between the states and the federal government [as in] EPA's refusal to let California control greenhouse-gas emissions from automobiles. What to do about the greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil fuels -- particularly the coal that fuels the lion's share of electricity in 25 states -- is a question Washington has largely dodged. But politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. The national gridlock over climate-change policy has led to an ever-increasing number of state initiatives. Currently 18 states seek to cap carbon dioxide emissions for industry and 25 support mandates for renewable energy; renewable-mandate legislative battles are under way in Ohio and Michigan. There are three multi-state compacts intended to limit emissions and allow trading of carbon allowances; governors of 10 Midwestern states, including [Kansas Gov.] Sebelius, joined such a pact last fall. The trend has not been slowed by the Bush administration's approval of new gas-mileage standards for new trucks and cars, or its nearly simultaneous refusal to give California and 17 other states the waiver needed to control emissions from cars. For example, Washington State last year passed a law limiting the amount of greenhouse-gas emissions that any new power plant could produce. After the law was passed, regulators blocked a power plant that would be partly coal-fired, saying it would emit an illegal amount of carbon dioxide."

U.S.'s First Carbon Auction Set for September 10. By David Funkhouser, Hartford Courant, March 18, 2008. "For the first time in the U.S., carbon dioxide goes on sale in September -- and the bidding will start at $1.86 a ton. A consortium of 10 states, including Connecticut, said Monday it will hold the first auction of carbon emissions 'allowances' on Sept. 10... Subsequent auctions will be held quarterly, and power plant operators -- who until now have been able to emit without paying -- will have until the end of 2011 to acquire enough credits to account for all of their CO2 emissions... The states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative have agreed to auction off nearly all of the allotment of carbon allowances, totaling about 188 million tons of CO2 in the first year. The consortium includes all of New England, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York."

N.H. House Joins Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. By Norma Love, AP, March 20, 2008. "New Hampshire's House… voted 214-107 to send a bill to the Senate that implements the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative... 'This is a very small step. It is almost a token step. I would agree with that 100 percent. But we have to start somewhere,' said Lee Democrat Naid Kaen, the bill's prime sponsor... The bill adds New Hampshire to the other New England states, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland in a market-based, 'cap and trade' program to reduce CO2 emissions from the region's power plants... beginning in 2009... New Hampshire's cap would be 8.6 million tons per year out of 188 million tons emitted by the 10 states... Other types of allowances also are part of the plan. For example, capturing methane gas at a landfill also reduces carbon emissions. Also under consideration is using forestry management to reduce carbon emissions through techniques as simple as planting trees." [Gov. John Lynch supports the bill.]

Vermont Governor Signs Bill Promoting Energy Efficiency. By Dave Gram, AP, March 20, 2008. "Gov. Jim Douglas on Wednesday signed into law a bill aimed at promoting renewable energy like solar and wind power, as well as new efficiency measures devoted to reducing Vermonters' use of oil and other heating fuels.more stories like thiThe bill... will 'help Vermonters better manage their heating resources, protect our environment and save money,' Douglas [said]... The bill calls for the Department of Public Service to hold a series of 'stakeholder workshops' beginning this spring to come up with a request for proposals, basically a work order for a contractor or contractors who would administer the new efficiency programs. By next year, those programs should be up and running, providing Vermonters with grants and other financing to add new insulation, tighter windows and the like to their homes... In addition, the bill allows for new [renewable energy] tax credits... which advocates said would be timely given the uncertainty over whether federal [solar] tax credits... will be renewed this year. And among a broad range of other measures, [the bill] allows an expansion of 'net metering,' in which people who make their own power can ship any extra onto their utility grid, lowering their electric bills in the process."

San Francisco One Step Closer to Nation's Greenest Building Code. By Cecilia Vega, San Francisco Chronicle, March 20, 2008. "San Francisco moved a step closer Wednesday to imposing the country's most stringent green building codes, regulations that would require new large commercial buildings and residential high-rises to contain such environmentally friendly features as solar power, nontoxic paints and plumbing fixtures that decrease water usage. City officials estimate that by 2012, the new green building codes could reduce CO2 emissions by 60,000 tons and save 220,000 megawatt-hours of power and 100 million gallons of drinking water. The Building Inspection Commission... voted unanimously Wednesday to send the green building standards to the Board of Supervisors. If the supervisors approve the regulations, Mayor Gavin Newsom, who last year convened a task force to study and develop the proposals, has promised to sign them into law... While local builders initially would see the overall cost of their projects increase by as much as 5 percent as a result... they nonetheless applauded the stricter codes."

Revisiting a 2007 Energy Policy Speech by New York's David Paterson. By David A. Paterson, Speech to the Energy Association of New York, January 17, 2007. "We propose to increase renewable energy's complementary role in New York's power grid. Solar and wind power will be an important part... [as will] installing solar panels on large commercial ventures, in public housing, and in schools. Streamlining the state approval process and [making] it easier for new wind farms to connect to the electricity grid will be an essential part of our efforts. We propose to strengthen energy efficiency standards for buildings and promote green buildings statewide. Buildings consume nearly a third of America's energy nationwide, so reducing this demand in the construction or renovation stage could bring real rewards. We should consider requiring the school construction authority to use the best available technologies for energy-efficient buildings. We will also expand net metering laws, which allow ratepayers to sell back to the utilities excess power they generate from renewable energy... It's time for some vision in our energy policy. It's like looking at a child and seeing the adult she will become. That's why you send kids to school and that's why you put money in the bank." [David A. Paterson, Lt-Gov. under Gov. Eliot Spitzer, has just been sworn in as the new Governor of New York.]

Governors Seek Action on Global Warming. By H. Josef Hebert, The Associated Press, September 12, 2007. "Governors want to expand state regulation of greenhouse gases in hopes of increasing pressure for federal action on global warming, the chairman of the National Governors Association said Wednesday. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., said in an Associated Press interview that getting more states to limit greenhouse gases is a priority among clean energy issues for the group. Others include spurring energy conservation and broadening use of renewable fuels such as ethanol. 'We have a federal government that doesn't seem to want to move as fast or as bold as many would like' on these issues, Pawlenty said. If enough states act to curtail greenhouse gases, 'it becomes a de facto national policy,' he said. A dozen states have adopted plans to require a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles and three other states are considering similar action. Auto companies complain that the limits would require increases in average mile-per-gallon standards that may not be achievable... At a news conference with Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, Pawlenty discussed how states can promote conservation and alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, and accelerate development of clean energy technologies. The association announced a task force, headed by eight governors, to advance clean energy development at the state level and potentially 'alter the landscape of clean energy policy in the United States.' The Energy Department said it will provide $610,000 to support the association's effort." NGA Officially Launches Clean Energy Initiative. Press Release, NGA, September 12, 2007. "NGA is committed to promoting clean energy policies across the country. NGA Chair Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius officially launched the Securing a Clean Energy Futureinitiative."

Conoco to Spend 10 million on California Offset Deal. By Leonard Anderson, Reuters, September 11, 2007. "California Attorney General Jerry Brown said on Tuesday that U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips agreed to pay $10 million to offset greenhouse gas emissions caused by an expansion of its San Francisco-area oil refinery in Rodeo, California. Conoco will spend $7 million for environmental projects in the San Francisco Bay Area, $2.8 million for reforestation in the state, and $200,000 to restore local wetlands. The accord is believed to be the first time a U.S. oil company agreed to offset emissions of heat-trapping gases from a refinery expansion, Brown said at a news conference. Conoco has proposed a refinery expansion including a hydrogen plant to produce steam and electricity to make cleaner-burning gasoline and diesel fuels. Under the accord, the hydrogen plant initially will emit about 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, and Conoco agreed to offset any CO2 emissions beyond that level if it raises its use of hydrogen…The agreement helps California to meet greenhouse gas reduction coals in the state's landmark law adopted last year to fight global warming, Brown said."

California Attorney General Jerry Brown Vows 'To Do Everything in My Power' to Enforce State's Greenhouse Gas Policy. By Josh Richman, The Oakland Tribune, February 2, 2007. “California Attorney General Jerry Brown extended an olive branch to the nation's largest automakers this week, even as he tries to beat back their attempt to kill a state greenhouse-gas lawsuit against them. Brown's office filed a response in federal court Thursday to automakers' claim that California's lawsuit -- the first ever to seek monetary damages from the industry for past and future harm by greenhouse-gas emissions -- should be dismissed… Brown, at his first news conference since taking office last month, gave reporters a letter he sent Wednesday to the automakers' attorney in which he said he was 'struck by the need' for the state to work with them 'to address the profound environmental challenges posed by global warming'... 'Accordingly, I am requesting a meeting with each of the CEOs of General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Honda, Chrysler and Nissan to discuss resolution of our pending litigation and moving forward cooperatively,' he wrote. 'I am willing to meet at any suitable time or location.' Brown told reporters Thursday he will 'do everything in my power, political and legal, to get the job done' — the job in question being comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions policy. He said a Chrysler lawyer had called him earlier Thursday, and the company seemed 'amenable' to talks. He also noted that this lawsuit was filed by his predecessor, Bill Lockyer"

California Legislator to Introduce Bill to Ban Incandescent Light Bulbs by 2012. By Bernie Woodall, Reuters, January 30, 2007. "A California lawmaker wants to make his state the first to ban incandescent light bulbs as part of California's groundbreaking initiatives to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The 'How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb Act' would ban incandescent light bulbs by 2012 in favor of energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs. 'Incandescent light bulbs were first developed almost 125 years ago, and since that time they have undergone no major modifications,' California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine said on Tuesday. 'Meanwhile, they remain incredibly inefficient, converting only about 5 percent of the energy they receive into light.' Levine is expected to introduce the legislation this week, his office said."

Mass. Gov. Patrick Signs Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. By Steve LeBlanc, The Associated Press, January 18, 2007. "Gov. Deval Patrick, making good on a campaign pledge, signed an agreement Thursday committing Massachusetts to the nation's first multistate program to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Patrick also announced a new program intended to create energy savings for households and industry by auctioning off so-called 'mission allowances' that electricity generators will need for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit under the pact. 'Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of our time,' Patrick said. 'On this day, we want everyone to know that Massachusetts will not stand on the sidelines.' The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is designed to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 10 percent by 2019. It has already been signed by governors from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Vermont. Former Gov. Mitt Romney opted out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in 2005, saying it could drive up energy costs for consumers. Patrick acknowledged that joining the pact could drive up electricity bills by $3 to $16 on the average household with an annual energy bill of $950. 'What's most important is that we be careful not to use short-term factors to defeat long-term objectives,' he said." Patrick Re-Joins RGGI, Press Release, MassPIRG, January 18, 2007.

Vermont Legislators Debate Higher Fuel Taxes. By Candace Page, The Burlington Free Press, January 19, 2007. "Over the objections of four members, the Governor's Commission on Climate Change agreed Thursday to keep higher fuel taxes on the menu of anti-global-warming strategies it will analyze for possible recommendation to Gov. Jim Douglas and the Vermont Legislature. The debate offered a first taste of the fights certain to break out as the commission -- and lawmakers -- move from studying the perils of climate change to considering specific steps to reduce Vermont's greenhouse gas emissions. 'A higher fuel tax can be an effective way to fund other steps that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions,' argued Richard Cowart of the Regulatory Assistance Project. 'I would oppose raising the gasoline tax for any reason,' countered Bill Sayre of Associated Industries of Vermont, a manufacturers' group."

Schwarzenegger Signs Executive Order to Establish Alternative Fuels Plan. Commentary by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The San Francisco Chronicle, January 18, 2007. "The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to debate legislation today aimed at reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and I am glad to see Washington finally focus on this vital issue. But in California, we're not waiting for Washington to act. We are moving forward on our own because the issue is too important to wait for someone else to lead. Under an executive order I am signing today, California will establish the world's first carbon standard for transportation fuels. This is a follow-up to the historic global warming legislation I signed last September, and it has the benefit of being great for the environment and great for the economy and national security. Our global warming act set the most ambitious targets in the world for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. It commits California to reduce climate change emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 -- a 25 percent reduction. By 2050, we will reduce emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels. The plan goes farther than the Kyoto Protocol, as those targets only extend to 2012. And the Kyoto target is to reduce green-house gas emissions 12.5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. We will do this while creating jobs and raising incomes. But to achieve these goals, we must reduce our dependence on oil for meeting our enormous transportation needs. That's where my new executive order comes in."

California Lawmakers Just Got Greener. By Nancy Vogel, The Los Angeles Times, January 19, 2007. "If you are what you drive, California lawmakers are a newly green bunch. They're swapping gas-sucking sport utility vehicles for gas-sipping hybrids as their official state cars. Now that the lease on his Ford Explorer has expired, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) is driving a Toyota Prius. At least 38 of his fellow members also have chosen hybrids; only 10 have requested nonhybrid SUVs as their taxpayer-subsidized wheels. That's a transformation since 2002, when a single member drove a hybrid and 33 had SUVs. Some senators are converts too, though not nearly as many. And it was Nuñez who largely orchestrated the turnaround: He used his discretionary budget to slice $6,000 off the price of a leased hybrid for any member who chose one."

An Interview with California Environmental Adviser Terry Tamminen. By David Roberts, Grist Magazine, January 4, 2007. "With his bluntness and lack of pretense, it's easy to see why Arnold Schwarzenegger trusted him. The California governor brought Tamminen on as his environmental adviser in 2003, elevated him to secretary of the state EPA, and then appointed him a senior cabinet adviser in 2004. In part due to Tamminen's behind-the-scenes influence and tireless work, Schwarzenegger's first term saw the state pass numerous groundbreaking environmental laws. Now, with Schwarzenegger's blessing, Tamminen has left the administration to "Johnny Appleseed" California's climate plan. He wants to help other states experiment and share best practices, with the ultimate goal of creating a de facto national greenhouse-gas policy, forcing the feds' hand on the issue... The latest addition to Tamminen's almost comically varied resume -- sheep farmer, licensed ship captain, real-estate mogul, environmental campaigner -- is author. His new book Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction is a scathing indictment of big oil companies, a careful accounting of the subsidies they receive and the costs they impose, and a consideration of legal strategies to hold them responsible... Q. 'Do you have any words of wisdom on what environmental groups could do better?'... A. 'On the climate-change issue in particular, the mistake most environmental groups are making is going to Washington and looking for the national solution first. In the United States, we're so big -- the way we use energy and emit greenhouse gases is so different from one part of the country to another -- to come up with a national solution right out of the box is going to be very hard and very complex. If you let some of these state and regional solutions percolate up and get some success, you can build on them and allow for some flexibility and adaptation.'"

 

Vermont Lawmakers Hear from Amory Lovins. By Ross Sneyd, The Associated Press, January 11, 2007. "Leading lawmakers through a computerized presentation Thursday, an international expert on global climate change said state government can take a number of steps to reduce Vermont's greenhouse gas emissions this winter and spring. Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute said the state could build on its existing reputation as an environmental leader in a number of ways, including: -- Reducing or eliminating sales taxes on the most fuel efficient vehicles. -- Promoting vehicle fleets that consume less fuel through other incentives. -- Altering land-use regulations so they take into account a project's energy use before it wins a permit... Gov. Jim Douglas has proposed some steps, such as reducing the purchase and use tax on new vehicles from 6 percent to 5 percent for hybrids and others getting 30 miles per gallon or better. The governor said he was not enthusiastic about reducing that further -- or increasing the tax for the least fuel-efficient, as Lovins suggested -- because he does not want to tell consumers what kind of vehicles they should drive. Those kinds of policies might make it more expensive to live in Vermont, he said... Lovins said his proposed initiatives... can ultimately cost a lot less because efficiency measures save more than the alternative costs... His presentation, complete with a computer presentation on big screens set up in the House chamber, was part of three weeks of education about global climate change that legislative leaders have organized."

Bill McKibben Testifies before the Vermont Legislature. By Candace Page, The Burlington Free Press, January 11, 2007. "Two leading voices on climate change kicked off a rare, three-week Statehouse tutorial on global warming Wednesday, urging Vermont action to help avert the dire consequences of rising greenhouse gas emissions... Bill McKibben was the lead-off witness in a series of hearings called by Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin and House Speaker Gaye Symington to advance their plans for significant anti-warming legislation. The hearings are unusual because so many lawmakers -- members of eight committees -- are devoting so much time to a single subject. 'Climate change is the single greatest challenge -- the single greatest catastrophe -- our children and grandchildren will face,' Shumlin said as the session began. He and Symington also emphasized that they see the climate-change challenge as an economic opportunity for Vermont to build a thriving sector of alternative-energy, energy-efficiency businesses... McKibben, author of essays and books on global warming, and Pittsford climate scientist Alan Betts outlined the scale of changes needed in human behavior to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Vermont needs more wind power, more hydro-electric power, more incentives for solar power, they said. The state needs more high-mileage vehicles -- but even more needs its residents to become less automobile-dependent. 'Sprawl, the Circ Highway -- they are global warming machines,' McKibben said, because they encourage or require more driving in autos that emit carbon dioxide as they burn gasoline."

Al Gore Documentary Gets Air Time at Maryland Assembly. By Kristen Wyatt, The Associated Press, January 12, 2007. "It was popcorn time at the Maryland legislature today as House members settled in to watch a global warming documentary to prepare them for bills about the problem this session. An Inconvenient Truth... was screened at the first meeting of the House Environmental Matters Committee. Del. Maggie McIntosh, chairwoman of the committee, said the documentary made such an impression on her that she decided to bring in a popcorn machine and show the film to her committee. The film will also be screened twice next week. 'For us as policy-makers, there's a moral imperative to do something,' said McIntosh... The movie is getting attention from policy-makers nationwide... Public officials from upstate New York to Oregon have watched it, including Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer, who went to Nashville, Tenn., last fall to learn to present the movie. In Arlington County, Va., officials credited the movie in part for deciding to commit to cutting greenhouse gas emissions earlier this month."

New Jersey Legislature Passes Bill to Reduce Emissions 80% by 2050. By Anthony DePalma, The New York Times, June 22, 2007. "The New Jersey Legislature passed a bill yesterday that set ambitious goals for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from power plants, refineries, motor vehicles and other sources that contribute to global warming. Business leaders expressed concerns about the bill's effect on energy costs and the state's competitiveness, but environmental advocates hailed it as pathbreaking, and Gov. Jon S. Corzine said he was ready to sign it into law. Under the new law, greenhouse gas emissions generated by every aspect of the state's economy, not just electricity-generating stations, will have to drop about 13 percent, to 1990 levels, by 2020. The bill further requires that emissions be capped at 80 percent of 2006's levels by 2050. A few other states have set emissions reduction goals, but none go as far into the future as New Jersey's. California, which passed a similar law earlier this year that was widely considered the toughest in the country, extends only to 2020." [This story should have said "capped at 80 percent REDUCTION of 2006's levels by 2050." The text of the NJ Global Warming Response Act is: here (PDF 10 pages) Section 3 reads: "2050 limit" means the level of greenhouse gas emissions equal to 80 percent less than the 2006 level of Statewide greenhouse gas emissions.]

Maine Governor Signs on to Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. By Glenn Adams, The Associated Press, June 18, 2007. "Gov. John Baldacci signed legislation Monday that includes Maine in the nation's first regional effort to control greenhouse gas emissions through a cap-and-trade system. Maine joins nine other states... that have already joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which is intended to reduce pollution from northeastern power plants by 10 percent over a decade through 2018. The law signed by Baldacci requires Maine's six largest power plants to pay for the right to release carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas most blamed for global warming. Baldacci said industries that will be affected by the law worked collaboratively with environmentalists and state regulatory officials to write the complex legislation. Baldacci said the regional effort will trigger green energy development, which will be benefit the economy... The RGGI bill establishes a new energy conservation board and directs up to $25 million in new energy conservation investments, said Michael Stoddard, deputy director of Environment Northeast, a nonprofit advocacy group that supports RGGI. Other RGGI states include Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont."

hide details

Poll Finds Hispanic Voters Highly Concerned about Climate Change. By Jim Lobe, IPS, April 23, 2008. "Hispanic voters in the United States show a high degree of awareness and concern about environmental issues, particularly global warming, according to an unprecedented national survey on Latino opinion and the environment released here Wednesday by the Sierra Club. The poll, which was conducted by Bendixen & Associates, found a strong willingness by the largest and fastest-growing ethnic community to take measures to curb energy use and thus reduce greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say contribute to climate change. More than 80 percent of the 1,000 Hispannic voters interviewed in the poll said they recognized that energy usage had a substantial impact on their environment."

Candidates Not Focused on the Climate Crisis. Commentary by Nicholas D. Kristof, NYTimes, April 20, 2008. "Three respected climate experts made that troubling argument in an important essay in Nature this month, offering a sobering warning that the climate problem is much bigger than anticipated. That's largely because of increased use of coal in booming Asian economies. For example, imagine that we instituted a brutally high gas tax that reduced emissions from American vehicles by 25 percent. That would be a stunning achievement -- and in just nine months, China's increased emissions would have more than made up the difference. China and the United States each produces more than one-fifth of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. China's emissions are much smaller per capita but are soaring: its annual increase in emissions is greater than Germany's total annual emissions... The next president should start a $20 billion-a-year program (financed by a pullout from Iraq) to develop new energy technologies, backed by a carbon tax and cap-and-trade system. Each of the presidential candidates favors some form of a cap-and-trade and would mark a step forward from President Bush's passivity -- although John McCain's recent proposal for a summer holiday from the gas tax would be a deplorable step in exactly the wrong direction, unless he hopes to turn his land in Arizona into coastal property. The bottom line is that none of the candidates focus adequately on climate change, for this will be one of humanity's great tests in the coming decades -- and so far we're failing."

All Atmosphere, No Climate. Commentary by Charles M. Blow, NYTimes, April 19, 2008. "The questioning at Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate has been roundly panned, and rightfully so... When they finally got around to the issues, they were the same ones that we've heard before... One was missing: the environment. The League of Conservation Voters… reports that in the debates in which five Sunday-morning television anchors -- George Stephanopoulos, Tim Russert, Wolf Blitzer, Chris Wallace and Bob Schieffer -- have participated (17 in total) and in their major interviews with the candidates (176 in total) only eight of the 2,372 questions [0.3%] asked have mentioned global warming or climate change...  Better to have tied patriotism to the environment [than to U.S.-flag lapel pins] and ask whose global warming plan will best ensure that no one will ever have to go to Lower Manhattan and point to the spot in the water where ground zero used to be."

Environmentalists Target 3 Senate Races. Press Release, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, April 17, 2008. "Building on the success of 2006, particularly the defeat of Richard Pombo [the implacable anti-environment Chairman of the House Resources Committee, whose lifetime LCV score was 7%], a coalition of leading environmental organizations led by the League of Conservation Voters [LCV], the Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, Environment America, and Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund today announced its top collaborative election targets in 2008. These organizations will work together to elect pro-environment champions in the Senate races in New Mexico, Colorado, and New Hampshire... Mark Udall has been a leader on renewable energy since his time in the Colorado State House, and as Co-Chair of the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, he fights to expand America's commitment to renewable energy every day. His lifetime LCV score is 99%. [He is seeking to replace retiring Republican Sen. Wayne Allard.] Tom Udall [of New Mexico] has fought to defend America's wild spaces and led the first successful effort to pass meaningful renewable electricity standards in the House in 2007. His lifetime LCV score is 96%. [He is seeking to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pete Domenici.]... Former Governor Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire worked with members of both parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants and has pledged to fight for clean energy as a US Senator. [She is seeking the seat held by Republican John E. Sununu.]"

North Carolina Gubernatorial Candidates Split on Coal-Fired Power Plants. AP, April 22, 2008. "While the next governor of North Carolina is likely to face a host of environmental issues, none is likely to be more immediately contentious than the ongoing construction of Duke Energy Corp.'s new power generator at its Cliffside Steam Station. Work began in late January on the new 800-megwatt unit in western North Carolina, one day after the state Division of Air Quality approved a final permit... 'I was against the permitting of Cliffside and I've been public about that,' said Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, one of the two Democratic candidates for governor. 'I believe I may be the only candidate in the race who's said as governor there will never be another coal plant licensed on my watch.' A coalition of more than two dozen environmental groups -- including the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Sierra Club - have appealed the state's decision to grant the air quality permit and want a judge to halt construction... 'I still don't think it's too late for the Division of Air Quality to go back in and deny the permit,' said State Treasurer Richard Moore, Perdue's rival for the party's nomination. 'We have got to put an end to burning dirty coal'... All the leading candidates seeking the Republican nomination argue that North Carolina needs more electric capacity to meet the demand of a booming population expected to grow by 35 percent in the next two decades. Sen. Fred Smith said the new generator at Cliffside would be one of the cleanest coal-fired units in the nation... Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, who worked for 29 years at Duke until leaving the company last year to run for governor, bristled at the idea the state doesn't need the power the new generator will provide."

Cynthia McKinney Poised for Green Party Run. By Matthew Cardinale, IPS, April 23, 2008. "With media attention focused almost exclusively on the dramatic contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, millions of U.S. voters probably have no inkling that there is a ballot option beyond the Democratic and Republican Parties. 'There needs to be room for a lot of policy threads in American discourse. But the corporate media is not informing the people,' Cynthia McKinney, the front-runner for the Green Party presidential nomination, told IPS... McKinney, a former congressional representative from Georgia, abandoned the Democratic Party last year in disgust at its failure to end the U.S. troop presence in Iraq, and is now poised for a presidential run on the Green Party ticket. She has won Green Party primaries in Arkansas, Illinois, and Washington, DC. Ralph Nader, who gave the party national stature as its candidate in 2000, won in California and Massachusetts, prior to announcing he is running as an Independent instead. McKinney also won the Green state caucuses in Wisconsin and Rhode Island, and has a total of 71 delegates... The likelihood of McKinney winning the nomination at the party's national convention in Chicago this summer is 'very high', Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News, told IPS, although he added that the Green Party will have a 'one in a million' chance of winning the presidency this November.'"

Jeb Bush Skeptical On Global Warming. By David Keonig, AP, April 24, 2008. "Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says he is 'light green' on the environment and is skeptical that humans are causing global warming. more stories like thisBush, whose two terms ended in 2007, also said Wednesday he 'can't imagine' running for national office and isn't interested in being Sen. John McCain's running mate... As governor, Bush, a Republican, was largely silent on global warming. His successor, Charlie Crist... has said Florida should become a leader in addressing climate change because its low elevation makes it vulnerable if ocean levels rise. Bush said those who advocate action to limit climate change are acting out of something like religious zeal. 'I don't think our policies should be based on emotion; they should be based on sound science,' he said. Rather than reducing oil consumption, Bush said the United States should focus on 'energy security'... by encouraging alternative fuels. Bush said he isn't thinking of running for national office and said he only wanted to be governor... Bush also... took a swipe at Florida's alligators... Bush told the Texas audience how he repeatedly vetoed spending state money to market alligator meat. 'Alligators proliferate in Florida. They eat small dogs,' Bush said. 'We don't need to market them, we need to kill them.' After a slight pause, he added, 'Is this open to the press?'"

hide details

Massive Wind Energy Plan Rejected by Scottish Government. BBC News, April 21, 2008. "Plans to construct one of Europe's largest onshore wind farms has been refused by the Scottish Government. It said Lewis Wind Power's 181-turbines for Lewis on the Western Isles did not comply with European law protecting sensitive environments. The scheme had the backing of the local authority and business, but attracted almost 11,000 objections. LWP said it was 'bitterly disappointed' with the decision and said the farm would have created hundreds of jobs. Scottish ministers decided the project would have a serious impact on the Lewis Peatlands Special Protection Area."

Texas Billionaire Oilman Makes Big Bets on Wind. By Chris Baltimore, Reuters, April 18, 2008. "Legendary Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens has gone green with a plan to spend $10 billion to build the world's biggest wind farm. But he's not doing it out of generosity -- he expects to turn a buck... Next month, Pickens' company, Mesa Power, will begin buying land and ordering 2,700 wind turbines that will eventually generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity -- the equivalent of building two commercial scale nuclear power plants -- enough power for about 1 million homes... Pickens' wind farm is part of his wider vision for replacing natural gas with wind and solar for power generation, and using the natural gas instead to power vehicles. To picture Pickens' energy strategy, imagine a compass. Stretching from north to south from Saskatchewan to Texas would be thousands of wind turbines, which could take advantage of some of the best U.S. wind production conditions. On the east-west axis from Texas to California would be large arrays of solar generation, which could send electricity into growing Southern California cities like Los Angeles. The end result would be to free up more clean-burning natural gas - primarily a power-generation fuel now -- to power automobiles."

SkySail Ship Midway Through Atlantic Maiden Voyage. By Erik Kirschbaum, Reuters, February 3, 2008. "The world's first commercial ship powered in part by a giant kite is recording fuel savings of between 10 and 15 per cent midway into its maiden voyage across the Atlantic, the shipping company told Reuters on Friday. The 10,000-tonne MS Beluga SkySails left Germany on Jan. 22 for Venezuela, but its computer-guided kite system was fully deployed only after it reached the trade winds near the Azores, said Verena Frank, Beluga Shipping's SkySails project manager. The 10-to-15-per-cent reduction in bunker oil consumption, which amounts to about $1,000 to $1,500 a day savings, is in line with projections made by the shipping company and SkySails. The SkySail system, which is also designed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, had never before been used on a ship as large."

Surge in Wind Turbines Creating Critical Shortage of Technicians. By David Twiddy, AP, February 3, 2008. "Last year, wind farms installed almost 3,200 turbines, boosting the nation's wind energy capacity by 45 percent and cranking out an additional 5,200 megawatts, or enough electricity to power 1.5 million homes for a year. The industry, which now accounts for a little more than 1 percent of the U.S. electric supply, expects to repeat that surge in 2008. Critics of wind power have called the mammoth turbines eyesores and environmentalists have fought against them, warning the giant rotors could pose a hazard to migratory birds and other wildlife. But wind power officials see a much larger obstacle coming in the form of its own work force, a highly specialized group of technicians that combine working knowledge of mechanics, hydraulics, computers and meteorology with the willingness to climb 200 feet in the air in all kinds of weather. That work force isn't keeping up with the future demand, partly because the industry is so new that the oldest independent training programs are less than five years old. The American Wind Energy Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group, estimates the industry employs about 20,000 people, not including those making turbines or other equipment. Future need is harder to quantify, given the uncertainties of the industry's growth. But with two-man teams generally responsible for seven to 10 turbines, the industry would need up to 800 technicians to serve the turbines expected to be installed this year alone."

Long Island Considers More Offshore Wind. By Tom Incantalupo, New York Newsday, January 30, 2008. "A Hauppauge company [called Winergy Power] is proposing its second wind energy project south of Long Island... to serve Nassau and Suffolk electricity customers... The plan is for 86 wind turbines with a peak output of 300 megawatts. 'As well as New York City, Long Island needs clean reliable energy,' [said Winergy president Dennis Quaranta]... The project also needs government approval and an arrangement made with the Long Island Power Authority to handle the electricity it produces... The proposed location, Quaranta said, is about 15 miles east of [another, 167-turbine project] Winergy proposed in November... Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone said Winergy's projects seem to make more sense economically [than a 40-turbine field proposed jointly by LIPA and FPL Energy, ultimately rejected last year] and probably will have less environmental impact so far out to sea, but he was still concerned about effects on the Great South Bay ecosystem."

Wind Farm in Maryland Hits Gale Force Opposition. By Tom Pelton, Baltimore Sun, January 29, 2009. "Business and political leaders in Western Maryland's Garrett County are lining up against a proposal to allow the clearing of up to 400 mountaintop acres of state forest for the construction of 40-story wind turbines. With a pair of public hearings scheduled this week, Garrett's Chamber of Commerce, Board of Realtors, Democratic Central Committee and Republican state delegate and senator have come out against the proposal to use two state forests in the county for wind farms... But David F. McAnally, chairman of Pennsylvania-based U.S. Wind Force, said he believes people will support his company's proposal to build a total of 100 turbines on two state forest tracts once they hear all the facts. McAnally said it's worth using a fraction of 1 percent of the public land in western Maryland to increase the supply of clean electricity to the state, which faces a power shortage in future years... Author and climate change activist Mike Tidwell... said he thinks Maryland should ban logging in state forests if it's going to prohibit wind farms. He said logging is more environmentally harmful than windmills. 'I appeal to the governor to make a fair and balanced decision that does not favor one industry that has obvious harmful impacts versus a new industry that brings clear benefits to the state, while being admittedly imperfect,' Tidwell said."

Despite Efforts, California's Altamont Bird Toll Rising. By Charles Burress, SFChronicle, February 3, 2008. "The Altamont wind farms saw an apparent increase in bird deaths last year in spite of efforts to reduce the bird kills, according to a new report. Bird-carcass surveys at about half of the nearly 5,000 Altamont wind turbines found a striking jump in deaths among many species in the year ending last September over the previous year... The windmills are shut down for two months during the low-wind season each winter as part of the effort to curb bird kills. Nearly 100 of the most dangerous turbines have been shut down or removed, and the parties are negotiating over recommendations by a county-appointed scientists' panel to remove more than 300 additional ones. A small blade-painting test was conducted in the past on some turbines, and one wind company has proposed a larger test. The Golden Gate Audubon Society contends the companies have failed to meet conditions of the settlement and invoked a mediation clause to resolve several issues. The first mediation session was held Jan. 18, and a second is scheduled for Feb. 8."

Kite-Powered Ship Sets Sail For Greener Future. By Ben Martin and Tony Paterson, London Telegraph, January 20, 2008. "A cargo ship pulled by a giant, parachute-shaped kite will leave Germany on Tuesday on a voyage that could herald a new 'green' age of commercial sailing on the high seas... The owners of the MS Beluga, a 462ft cargo vessel, will try to prove that modern steel ships can harness wind power and reduce their reliance on diesel engines. During the journey from Bremen to Venezuela, the crew will deploy a SkySails, a 160 square metre kite which will fly more than 600ft above the vessel, where winds are stronger and more consistent than at sea level. Its inventor, Stephan Wrage, a 34-year-old German engineer, claims the kite will significantly reduce carbon emissions, cutting diesel consumption by up to 20 per cent and saving £800 a day in fuel costs. He believes an even bigger kite, up to 5,000 square metres, could result in fuel savings of up to 35 per cent."

Cape Wind Blows Through Regulatory Obstacle. By Beth Daley, Boston Globe, January 15, 2008. "The nation's first proposed offshore wind-energy project cleared its most formidable hurdle yesterday as the U.S. Minerals Management Service declared that the wind farm off Cape Cod would have little lasting impact on wildlife, navigation, and tourism.The agency's nearly 2,000-page draft environmental impact statement makes clear that the federal government is inclined to approve construction of the 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound, 5 miles from the nearest coastline, unless major new concerns arise during a public comment period. Federal approval would probably come late this year or early next year, and remaining state permits are not expected to be a major obstacle, given that Governor Deval Patrick is in favor of the project... Jim Gordon, president of Cape Wind, expressed glee... saying, 'Any rational observer will understand that this project is not going to produce a negative environmental impact... This report validates that this is the right project in the right place at the right time'... A spokeswoman for the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the lead opposition group... said the federal agency's report 'missed the mark' and the group was assembling a team of specialists to review the project... Jack Clarke [of] Massachusetts Audubon said the federal report appears to satisfy his group's concerns. 'They have done an adequate and thorough job of reviewing the potential environmental impacts with regard to avian life,' he said."

Despite Nod From Feds, Obstacles Remain for Cape Wind. By Patrick Cassidy, Cape Cod Times, January 16, 2008. "Caution: Wind turbines on Nantucket Sound may appear closer than they are. The U.S. Minerals Management Service found little to complain about in a draft environmental report released Monday on Cape Wind's plan to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound. But a host of government agencies, opponents of the project and the general public are now delving into the federal agency's environmental review and its implications. And Cape Wind must still secure at least 19 assorted approvals and permits before construction can begin. From a cautionary letter written by the acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to strict conditions imposed by the Coast Guard, the project faces many more hurdles... The FAA 'issued a presumed hazard determination for the Cape Wind project,' according to a Jan. 11 letter written by Robert Sturgell, acting administrator of the agency... The FAA, Sturgell wrote, would require further investigation that should be complete this spring. Cape Wind had changed the proposed height of its turbines from 426 feet to 440 feet, and a company spokesman said it's likely the change led to the 'presumed hazard' designation and the further review... The Coast Guards [will likely] require the Minerals Management Service and Coast Guard to determine whether 'identified impacts, if any, allow for an acceptable risk to navigation safety'... Wayne Kurker, owner of Hyannis Marina and a co-founder of the anti-Cape Wind group, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, said it would be impossible for the project to meet the Coast Guard requirements... [Mark Rodgers, spokesman for Cape Wind, said] 'We are going to comply with the conditions from the Coast Guard,' he said. 'It's something we can do'... As long as Cape Wind meets those conditions the Coast Guard should be satisfied, said Edward LeBlanc, chief of the Coast Guard Waterways Management Division."

Offshore Wind Power Resolution Introduced in Delaware Legislature. By Aaron Nathans, Wilmington News Journal, January 18, 2008. "Twenty-eight [Delaware] lawmakers have co-sponsored a resolution that recommends passage of an offshore wind power contract. It was filed Thursday by Rep. Robert Valihura (R-Talleyville); half of the Republican-controlled House, including Speaker Terry Spence, had signed on as co-sponsors. The resolution says Controller General Russ Larson should approve a 25-year contract for Delmarva Power to buy offshore wind power from Bluewater Wind. At a meeting with three other state agencies last month, [the controller] declined to sign the contract because of division among the legislative leadership… One co-sponsor, Rep. Peter Schwartzkopf (D-Rehoboth Beach), said he hoped the measure would pass in the House and move to the Senate… But it faces an uncertain future there. While seven of 21 senators co-sponsored the resolution, including three Democrats, none of the Democratic majority leadership had signed on. Senate Majority Leader Anthony DeLuca could not be reached for comment Thursday. Sen. Harris McDowell III, D-Wilmington, chairman of the Senate Energy and Transit Committee, said he will first hold hearings on a broad range of renewable energy sources [which] could hold up consideration."

U.S. Wind Industry Breezed Along at 45 Percent Growth Last Year. By Rebecca Smith, WSJournal, January 18, 2008. Subscription required. "Two forms of renewable energy -- wind and solar power -- enjoyed substantial growth last year, spurred by federal and state energy policies and incentives that support green energy sources. The U.S. wind-power industry grew in size by 45% last year, adding a record 5,244 megawatts of capacity that amounted to a third of all new generating capacity built in the U.S. in 2007, according to the American Wind Energy Association. General Electric led the pack as the nation's largest supplier. The solar industry grew at a similar clip, though from a much smaller base, adding more than 300 megawatts of capacity last year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Additions are expected to roughly double this year. Large commercial solar installations now exceed home installations in California, reversing a long-term pattern and likely a bellwether for other states… One worry for the sector is the expiration, at the end of 2008, of certain federal tax credits that have spurred development."

Study Finds Strong Winds Off Lake Erie for Turbine Project. By Tom Breckenridge, Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 11, 2008. "Lake Erie winds are the strongest recorded anywhere in Ohio, good news for city leaders exploring whether Cleveland could be an international hub for offshore wind power. A two-year study of wind off downtown Cleveland's shoreline found average speeds markedly stronger than those already turning wind turbines in Bowling Green, the nonprofit Green Energy Ohio reported Thursday... On Tuesday, Cuyahoga County commissioners approved a $1 million study that will look at the costs and challenges of erecting a small wind farm on Lake Erie... There are few wind turbines operating on the world's waters, and none in fresh water, officials say. As a demonstration project, the task force has proposed building up to 10 wind turbines in Lake Erie, generating power for up to 6,000 homes."

Wind-Power Industry 'Exploding,' Says Report. By Nathan Isaacs, Salem Statesman Journal, January 10, 2008. "An explosion of new wind farms is happening throughout the U.S. and particularly in the Pacific Northwest with the region's existing power system anticipating the addition of as much as 6,000 megawatts of wind energy by 2024 or sooner. Carried on those winds is an expected boost in jobs -- as many as 15,000 in Oregon and Washington during the construction of new wind farms, according to a U.S. Department of Energy report... The study found that U.S. wind power capacity jumped 27 percent in 2006, the largest incremental jump on record and the highest incremental capacity in the world. 'The wind power industry has entered an era of substantial growth, both globally and in the United States,' said Ryan Wiser, the co-author of the report. 'The market is just exploding.'"

Leader of Group Fighting Cape Wind Becomes Wind Advocate. By Patrick Cassidy, Cape Cod Times, January 10, 2008. "[Charles Vinick, president of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, which has led a seven-year fight over the wind farm proposed for the Sound] will 'transition' out of that position within a month... The Alliance was formed to combat...130 wind turbines on Horseshoe Shoal in the sound, [a project of Boston-based Cape Wind Associates]… Vinick [who has called the project] an 'industrial blight on the horizon'... made $203,099 as president of the Alliance... 'We're glad to hear that Charles Vinick has decided to stop blocking wind power and to champion it instead,' Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers wrote in an e-mail to the Times. 'Cape Wind will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make America more energy independent and we hope that Mr. Vinick's wind projects will too.' [Vinick] said his consulting work for Clipper Windpower, which assembles 2.5-megawatt turbines at its Iowa plant, was in no way ironic. 'I am very much committed to all of these technologies being used in the right ways,' he said."

Germany's Green Shipbuilders Hark Back to the Age of Sail. By Roger Boyes, The London Times, December 15, 2007. "The age of sail could be staging something of a comeback as part of an imaginative attempt to cut greenhouse gases on the high seas. German engineers have devised a way of tugging merchant vessels along with huge, computer-steered kites, known as SkySails, that catch the ocean winds. Today the first new cargo ship to harness wind power in well over a century will be launched in Hamburg, with the maiden journey taking the 10,000-tonne MS Beluga Skysails across the Atlantic to Houston. If the Beluga performs well on wind power and if the high-flying kites dramatically cut its fuel consumption, then the age of sail will be back. 'It marks the beginning of a revolution in the way that ships are powered,' said Stephan Wrage, the inventor of the SkySails idea. 'We calculate that the sails can reduce fuel consumption by between 30 and 50 per cent, depending on the wind conditions.'"

Tethered Turbines: Picture a Spinning Goodyear Blimp. By David Gelles, The New York Times, December 9, 2007. "Traditional wind turbines can be unreliable sources of energy because, well, the wind blows where it will. Not the case 1,000 feet up. 'At a thousand feet, there is steady wind anywhere in the world,' says Mac Brown... of Ottawa-based Magenn Power. To take advantage of this constant breeze, Brown has developed a lighter-than-air wind turbine capable of powering a rural village. 'Picture a spinning Goodyear blimp,' Brown says. Filled with helium, outfitted with electrical generators and tethered to the ground by a conductive copper cable, the 100-foot-wide Magenn Air Rotor System (MARS) will produce 10 kilowatts of energy anywhere on earth. As the turbine spins around a horizontal axis, the generators convert the mechanical energy of the wind into electrical energy, then send it down for immediate use or battery storage. Planning for the MARS has been under way for a few years, but this fall Magenn got the $5 million it needed to build prototypes from a California investor. In October, the MARS received its U.S. patent. Already, larger models -- ones that might light a skyscraper -- are in the works. Brown says he hopes his floating wind turbines will power off-the-grid villages in the developing world. He says the governments of India and Pakistan have expressed interest."

UK Business Secretary Proposes 7,000 Offshore Wind Turbines by 2020. BBC News, December 10, 2007. "All UK homes could be powered by offshore wind farms by 2020 as part of the fight against climate change, under plans unveiled by John Hutton. Up to 7,000 turbines could be installed to boost wind produced energy 60-fold by 2020. The business secretary admitted it would change Britain's coastline, and mean higher electricity bills... 'This could be a major contribution towards meeting the EU's target of 20% energy from renewable sources by 2020, he told a European energy industry conference in Berlin. 'The challenge for the government and for industry is to turn this potential - for our energy and economy - into a cost-effective reality. Next year we will overtake Denmark as the country with the most offshore wind capacity.'"

Homespun Electricity, From the Wind, Grows in Popularity. By Kristina Shevory, The New York Times, December 13, 2007. "Last summer, [Rena Wilson Jones and her husband Drew] installed a 56-foot wind turbine in their yard [near the edge of Urbana, Ill.] to draw electrical power from the wind, which sometimes gets up to 40 miles per hour. They did the work themselves over a weekend, digging a four-foot-deep hole for the foundation and raising the $13,000 turbine with a winch on their Jeep. It was spinning by early September, and their electricity bills dropped... from $90 to $10 for November, one of the windier months. 'Now, the faster the wind goes, the happier I am,' said Ms. Wilson Jones... Reductions in [the] size and cost [of wind turbines], along with improvements in their efficiency, are allowing suburban homeowners... to install them in growing numbers... Last year, about 7,000 small wind turbines -- defined as those that have a capacity of up to 100 kilowatts, roughly enough to power a large school -- were purchased in the U.S., according to [the American Wind Energy Association], which said it expects sales to reach about 10,000 this year. Residential turbines, which account for half those sales, are typically 33 to 100 feet tall, with outputs of two to 10 kilowatts. They cost between $12,000 and $55,000, but in recent years, 19 states, including California, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Ohio, have begun offering incentives and rebates that can cut [that cost in half]."

Bush Sr. Uses Wind to Power Maine Home. The Associated Press, November 22, 2007. "A 33-foot-tall windmill that can produce 400 kilowatts a month at a wind speed of 12 mph was installed last week at the [summer] home of Bush and his wife, Barbara. An average household uses about 600 kilowatts a month, said Bob Greig, president of All Season Home Improvement Co. in Augusta, which installed the windmill. The Bushes had the windmill installed after being approached by Southwest Windpower, a nationwide company that manufactures wind turbines, said Jim Appleby, personal aide to the former president. The turbine is connected to the electric power grid... Because of the high visibility of Walker's Point, which is a popular stop for tourists, wind power's popularity should get a boost, said Bruce MacDonald, a member of Gov. John Baldacci's wind power task force."

Cape Wind Seeks to Get State to Overturn Cape Cod Commission Rejection. By Stephanie Ebbert, The Boston Globe, November 22, 2007. "Cape Wind Associates launched an effort on Wednesday to make an end run around local permit battles, asking a state energy panel to overrule a recent permit denial and to consolidate and approve the remaining eight state and local permits needed to build a wind farm in Nantucket Sound. The bold maneuver comes six years after Cape Wind first proposed the 130-turbine project, which is awaiting a long-delayed federal environmental review. While Cape Wind's new strategy could expedite the pace of development, it further alienated wind farm opponents, whose leader called the effort 'underhanded'... In a sweeping, 32-page initial petition, Cape Wind asked the state Energy Facilities Siting Board to overturn last month's decision by the Cape Cod Commission denying a permit for local transmission lines for the project, because of what the commission said was a lack of information and cooperation from the developer... The Siting Board has broad author ity to overturn the decisions of local agencies if it believes an energy project is in the public's interest... The Siting Board comprises six state officials and three appointees of the governor. While many fear political influence over its rulings, the board is charged with acting as an independent, adjudicatory panel."

Foreign Firms Envision Wind Farms Dotting America. By Peter Mahoney, The New York Times, November 7, 2007. "The European Union has taken the lead on many climate change issues -- from ratifying the Kyoto Protocol to passing laws to require and encourage the development of renewable sources of energy. Why, then, are so many European energy companies looking to the United States for investment opportunities? For António Mexia, the chief executive of Energías de Portugal, the answer is short and simple. 'The United States is the fastest-growing market in the world for wind power,' he said. 'If we want to be a leader, we have to be here'... All the biggest players in wind power are focused on the United States... 'In America you can put up a 200- or 300-megawatt wind park,' Mr. Mexia said. 'You can't do that in Europe,' because there is not as much open space. There is also greater potential for growth in the United States, where wind farms account for about only 1 percent of installed generating capacity. In some European countries, that figure is as high as 10 percent."

Are Alaska's Riches Blowing in the Wind? By Barbara Maynard, Inter Press Service, November 7, 2007. "Alaska has tried before to tap the wind. In the early 1980s, when the state was awash in oil money, over 140 wind projects sprung up across the state, but little power was generated, thanks to poor planning and immature technology... Today, better-organised projects are demonstrating that the power of Alaska's strong and steady coastal winds can be economically tapped."

Australia in Giant Wind Farm Plan. By Phil Mercer, BBC News, October 8, 2007. "Plans to build Australia's largest wind farm have been announced by the German company Conergy. The project would involve installing about 500 turbines near the outback town of Broken Hill in New South Wales. The Australian government wants renewable sources to generate 15% of the country's energy needs by 2020. The giant wind farm could generate enough electricity for 400,000 homes and put quite a dent in Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. Research has shown that the sparsely populated site is particularly blustery. Scientists have said it has some of Australia's best wind resources. The $1.8bn project is the idea of Conergy - one of Germany's largest solar power companies. A spokesman for the firm said construction of the facility was expected to begin in 2009 and would take about three to four years to complete... The region was the back-drop for the post-apocalyptic movie Mad Max 2, released in the early 1980s. Conergy has said there is overwhelming support for the project -- both in the local community and from environmentalists."

Energy Farms Gaining a Foothold in Kansas. By Tim Carpenter, The Topeka Capital Journal, October 8, 2007. "Capturing the zephyr streaming across the state is doing more than brighten light bulbs -- it is energizing Kansas' green revolution... Indians who long ago inhabited this prairie were known as the People of the South Wind. Kansas homesteaders who followed made use of domestic windmills to pull water from wells. Larry Flowers, a 25-year veteran of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., said this natural phenomenon ranks Kansas as the nation's third-best state in terms of wind energy potential. Kansas has more than 16,000 square miles of Class 5, or excellent, terrain for production of wind power. The problem is about 10 states have done a better job than Kansas developing this indigenous resource. Flowers said wind generation in Kansas could reduce reliance on increasingly expensive Wyoming coal shipped hundreds of miles to power plants making 70 percent of the state's electricity."

Wind Energy May Lead to Competition to Build Texas Transmission Lines. By Elizabeth Souder, The Dallas Morning News, October 7, 2007. "Texas regulators are contemplating a plan to require power line monopolies to compete for the right to build hundreds of miles of transmission lines to bring wind power from West Texas to North Texas. The plan, which would cost billions of dollars, might spawn a form of competition in the last remaining regulated monopoly in the electricity industry - the business of operating power lines. 'I've stirred up a whole host of bees,' said Public Utility Commission Chairman Paul Hudson."

Quebec Hopes to Take World Lead in Wind Power. By Lynn Moore, CanWest News Service, October 2, 2007. "Quebec intends to become a world leader in wind-power expertise and wind-turbine manufacturing, the province's natural resources minister told Canada's largest-ever gathering of industry professionals on Monday. About 1,500 delegates from North America and Europe are attending the Canadian Wind Energy Association's annual conference and trade show [Quebec City, Sept. 30th to Oct. 3rd]. Most are seeking a piece of the green-energy bonanza... Hydro-Quebec -- North America's largest hydroelectric power producer -- recently held the largest-ever single solicitation for wind power. More than 25 developers have made 66 bids for wind farms, proposals that total 7,724 megawatts of wind power, which is almost four times the 2,000 megawatts that Hydro-Quebec is seeking to add to its network. Wining bids are expected to be announced by Hydro-Quebec in the spring. The Quebec government sees wind-power as a natural complement to hydro power and an opportunity to develop and eventually export expertise and wind turbines within North America."

Wind Power Industry Soars to New Heights. By Lee Bowman, Scripps Howard News Service, October 2, 2007. "Wind farming is a reality, or soon will be, in all but about 10 states, offering a 'double-cropping' benefit to landowners who can reap thousands of dollars a year for each turbine on their property, along with most of whatever revenue the land was already producing, including agricultural subsidies. Stretching several hundred feet above the landscape with blades extending the length of a 747's wingspan, today's most advanced windmills typically take up only about 5 percent or 10 percent of the acreage they sit on, mostly in access roads for maintenance crews. The rest can stay as is. Elwood Gillis, mayor of the southeast Colorado farming town of Lamar, host to 108 industrial-grade windmills, said, 'If you stand right under one, there's a little swishing sound,' but that neither farmers nor cattle seem to mind them. 'They are clean, they use no water, and they have turned what used to be a curse -- the wind -- into a blessing, he said. According to the American Wind Energy Association, a national trade association for the wind energy industry, wind power is expected to generate more than 31 billion kilowatt-hours this year - enough to power some 3 million homes. That's still less than 1 percent of the nation's electrical production capacity... With wind-generating capacity increasing at nearly 30 percent a year, [foreign] companies that make the turbines and generators are starting to invest in American plants to make the equipment, a move more practical because shipping the giant components long distances can add tens of thousands to their costs. Production facilities for towers, turbines and blades, many of them set in steel and other manufacturing plants abandoned over the past two decades, are open or planned in Iowa, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Louisiana, Colorado and Texas, among others."

Indian Railways Exploring Wind Energy for Electric Trains. Economic Times [India], September 29, 2007. "Indian Railways have now found a new business avenue. With its public private partnership (PPP) model, the government utility is planning to foray into wind power generation. The Railways has identified large tracts of land lying unused on its coastal network for setting up wind farms for captive use... Across the country, state electricity boards sell power to the Railways at much higher rates as compared to any other industry. The Railways has had a series of talks with Indian Wind Energy Association."

New Jersey Governor Pushing For Offshore Wind Projects. By Tom Hester, The Newark Star-Ledger, August 26, 2007. "As part of its plan to combat global warming, the Corzine administration is quietly taking the first steps toward creating an array of giant windmills off the South Jersey coast to turn ocean breezes into electricity. Environmentalists who were briefed on the plan by an adviser to the governor say it could involve as many as 80 wind-powered turbines towering 30 stories high over the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere between southern Ocean County and Cape May... Corzine's energy policy calls for 20 percent of the state's electricity to be wind- or solar-generated by 2020, and 80 percent by 2050, to reduce the use of power from fuel-burning plants that emit greenhouse gases."

Long Island Power Authority Chief Kills Major Wind Farm Project. By Mark Harrington, Long Island Newsday, August 23, 2007. "Long Island Power Authority Chairman Kevin Law said, on Wednesday, he will 'terminate' a controversial project to install 40 wind turbines off the coast of Jones Beach [New York], dealing a fatal blow to a plan alternately portrayed as an environmental necessity and an economic boondoggle. The decision follows Law's review of a recently completed independent report on the economics of the $700 million project that he said showed its costs to be 'significantly' higher than traditional forms of energy generation or even a new energy-efficient plant? Law emphasized that the decision, which he will discuss with trustees at a Sept. 22 LIPA board meeting, doesn't mean an end to wind power proposals for Long Island. He will continue to pursue that source of alternative energy, he said, including possibly land-based windmills, at other locations. The Jones Beach location, he said, is off the table."

Australian Wind Power Firm Shuts Down. By Matthew Franklin, The Australian, August 23, 2007. "Vestas Australia Wind Technology announced yesterday it would close its Portland turbine blade factory at the end of the year after concluding that Australia's green energy market was unviable. Labor environment spokesman Peter Garrett said the Howard Government's refusal to lift the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target beyond 2 per cent was responsible. The Vestas operation was the fourth to shut in the past year."

Profits Surge for World's Biggest Windmill Maker. By Bunny Nooryani, Bloomberg News, August 23, 2007. "Vestas Wind Systems, the world's biggest windmill maker, rose 5.3 percent on the Copenhagen exchange after profit surged on increasing demand for alternatives to fossil fuel. Second-quarter net income climbed to 51 million euros ($69 million), or 28 cents a share, from 10 million euros, or 5 cents, a year earlier, Randers, Denmark-based Vestas said today in a statement. Sales rose 19 percent to 1.07 billion euros. Higher oil and gas prices, as well as state subsidies and incentives worldwide, have encouraged investment in energy from renewable sources such as wind. Vestas reiterated a forecast for sales to climb about 17 percent this year as it boosts production capacity in China and the U.S., two of the company's biggest growth markets."

Wind in Schools. By Kristyn Ecochard, United Press International, June 24, 2007. "Schools across the United States are taking renwable energy education to a whole new level as they build wind turbines to generate their own power... The wind turbine projects range from several hundred watts to a couple of megawatts. Student movements like the Energy Action Coalition are pushing renewables such as wind power on campuses and in local communities. Through the Campus Climate Challenge, more than 200 colleges and universities in theUnited States and Canada have taken steps to reduce their environmental footprint, some by supporting wind power. In Europe, particularly England, as well as Canada, there are a number of schools adopting wind power... Not only are schools implementing the projects -- they are doing a lot of the research and development. More than a dozen have degree programs to prepare the next generation for the wind industry."

New Wind Farm Opens in Pennsylvania. By Michael Rubinkam, The Associated Press, June 19, 2007. "Under the whirling blades of 13 towering turbines, Gov. Ed Rendell dedicated Pennsylvania's latest wind farm on Tuesday, showcasing a technology that is expected to power hundreds of thousands of homes over the next decade. The Locust Ridge project in Schuylkill County is the seventh wind farm in Pennsylvania, a state that is aggressively pushing wind power as an alternative to electricity produced by fossil fuels. At present, the state's wind farms generate enough electricity to serve about 45,000 homes, or less than 1 percent of the Pennsylvania market. But the state expects another four wind farms to begin operating within the next year, more than doubling capacity... Under a 2004 state law, 18 percent of the electricity sold to retail customers in Pennsylvania must come from renewable sources of energy, including wind