Watch Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) get chastised for trying to pit the NAACP and another black-led business group against the National Black Chamber of Commerce in a racially-charged Senate hearing on climate.
Sen. Boxer’s seems to insist that the view of the NBCoC is offset by the NAACP’s view simply because both are black groups.
Need to disabuse someone of the notion that carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is a viable strategy?
University of Houston energy expert Michael Economides says in this recent study that CCS for just Kyoto Protocol-type CO2 cuts in the U.S. would require the drilling of 161,429 injection wells by 2030 at a cost of 1.61 trillion dollars — and there’s no guarantee that the CO2 would stay sequestered, much less accomplish anything for the climate.
That price tag doesn’t include the cost of capturing the CO2 at the point of generation, purchasing rights of way for pipelines, pipeline installation costs, liability insurance etc. Economides says the total cost may be as high as $1 trillion annually.
Waxman-Markey-type CO2 limits, which are much more Draconian than the Kyoto Protocol, would obviously be even more expensive.
It’s quite a price to pay for something that may not work and, even if it did, would accomplish nothing.
The Sierra Club and other green groups petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to stop the construction of a second reactor at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Plant in Tennessee.
WBIR TV (Knoxville) reported,
“TVA keeps pushing for more nuclear reactors in spite of massive cost overruns they always have when they build them,” said Bill Reynolds, a member of the Tennessee chapter of the Sierra Club, in a written statement.
The group also raises concerns about the safety of the reactor design.
Northeast Utilities is applying for $100-150 million in Obama stimulus funds to install so-called “smart meters” for 200,000 customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, reports Smart Grid Today.
One if by land, two if by sea… and three if through your home’s electrical hook-up?
Shark attack victims testified on Capitol Hill yesterday in favor of a nationwide ban on shark-finning — the practice of cutting-off a shark’s dorsal fin and throwing back the rest, reports Energy & Environment Daily.
Recruited to testify by the Pew Environment Group, Al Brennika was attacked in 1976 while surfing by a 7-foot lemon shark. He testified that,
“I was limbed. They get finned. It gives me … empathy for their situation.”
Brennika was one of several shark-attack victims at the hearing apparently suffering from Jaws-version of Stockholm syndrome.
That’s today’s insight into the mind of an environmentalist and the nutty way environmental policy is made in Washington, DC.
An amendment to the 2010 Financial Services bill (H.R. 3170) offered by Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) would prohibit the payment of salaries to Obama climate czar Carol Browner, her deputy and anyone on the Council on Environmental Quality, according to Energy & Environment Daily. The vote is expected today.
A Broun spokesman told E&E that,
“These federal agencies do answer to Congress, but the people that oversee them in the White House do not. This is not right. … If the administration feels that there needs to be an overarching person or agency to facilitate the flow of information between the numerous federal agencies beneath them, then that’s fine, but this person, or people, need to be confirmed by the Senate and be subjected to congressional oversight.”
Browner probably doesn’t need/want the money anyway since:
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the “the grandfather among Republicans on climate change,” may be changing sides at least with respect to the Waxman-Markey bill, according to Energy & Environment Daily.
According to the report,
Asked about the Senate debate [on Waxman-Markey], McCain said only, “I hope it’s vastly different than the House bill.”
McCain also rationalizes that his criticism does not conflict with his earlier efforts. “It says I’ve had good bills, and this is a lousy one,” he said.
But the Republican’s stance has launched a guessing game of which McCain will take part in this year’s debate…
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) also expects McCain to get more involved when the legislation ripens. But when he does, Voinovich expects McCain to have a different take than many expect. “I think he probably has a much better appreciation of the impact all this has on various sections of the country because he ran a presidential campaign. Up until that, I don’t think there were a lot of things he was aware of.”
This would indeed be a good time for McCain to redeem his embarrassing performance during last fall’s campaign.
… according to E&E News. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) reportedly hopes to have a Republican co-sponsor. Developing…