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EU Changes its tune on CO2 emissions from developing nations
In a dramatic shift away from their 15-year long commitment to the theme of "common but differentiated responsibilities,"EU nations have adopted a position very similar to the American notion that developing countries must commit to specific carbon reduction targets as part of the post-2012 Kyoto agreement.
BC Political Scientist: forget climate change & focus on the economy
An Oct. 23rd Globe & Mail article on the rapid downturn in Canadian economic well-being had an interesting quote from a respected, British Columbian political scientist, Norman Ruff.
Ruff discussed British Columbia Premier, Gordon Campbell’s, moves to bolster the economy and keep the province of BC a "deficit-free zone" through a mix of spending restraint and tax cuts. In his opinion, one could also easily see a suggestion (or a warning?) for other governments that might consider following British Columbia down the path of taxing carbon emissions.
"He’s drawn the lesson that everyone told him he should draw from the federal election, that ‘it’s the economy, stupid.’ He has to get off his fixation with climate change and show he’s concerned about the economy…"
Gore once again calling for direct action against new coal plants
Last September we reported in the Coalblog about former Vice President Al Gore’s calls for young people to engage in civil disobedience as a means of stopping the construction of new coal plants.
We are now treating the Earth’s atmosphere as an open sewer … I can’t understand why there aren’t rings of young people blocking
bulldozers … and preventing them from constructing
coal-fired power plants.
In that post we also noted how NASA climate scientist James Hansen
continued in his moves further into a more extreme activist form of
"science" by joining Gore in his calls for direct action.
It seems to me that young people, especially, should be doing whatever
is necessary to block construction of dirty (no CCS) coal-fired power
plants.
At the September 24th meeting for the Clinton Global Initiative, the former Vice President upped the ante by once again calling for civil disobediance and direct action against new coal-fueled plants.
Chrysler to release EV vehicles for 2010
This Popular Mechanics article describes the Chrysler company’s plans to have at least three models of EV (electric vehicle) in production and for sale by 2010.
British court OKs vandalism of UK coal plants
In a September 10, 08 ruling a British jury handed down a ruling that essentially encourages vandalism of the UKs coal-fueled power plants.
Biden: “No coal plants here in America”
According to this Wonk Room (Think Progress) blog posting, Senator and Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Joe Biden, stated — at a September 17, 2008 campaign stop — that the Obama campaign was "not supporting clean coal."
That comment came when Biden answered a question from an environmental activist in the crowd about energy options for the country. In response, he clearly stated his strong support of renewable energy technologies like solar and wind and then moved on to attack coal as "dirty" and claimed it was "causing people to die." He made it abundantly clear that he was "not supporting clean coal."
Senate Committees vote to continue funding for FutureGen project
Several media outlets, along with Senate, and the FutureGen Alliance websites were praising the July 8th and July 11th votes by the The Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee and Senate Appropriations Committee respectively. In both votes, the Senate chose to protect $134 million in federal funding for the FutureGen plant at Matoon, Il.
In two separate FutureGen Alliance news releases, CEO Michael Mudd applauded the decision as helping to move the world’s first near-zero emissions coal plant closer to reality.
McCain pledges $2 billion per year in funding for clean coal
As part of his campaign platform, Republican Presidential nominee, John McCain is calling for a variety of measures aimed at increasing domestic energy production and reducing American dependence on foreign energy resources.
Alongside of his calls for ending the federal moratorium on drilling for offshore oil reserves and expanding the royalty sharing agreements with states, McCain is also calling for the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030. McCain further proposed to provide $2 billion per year in funding to aid in the development of clean coal technologies.
DOE officially pulls financial support from FutureGen project
In a June 13 letter from Energy Secretary, Samuel Bodman, the Department of Energy has indicated its plans to cease all funding to the FutureGen project and withdraw from the FutureGen Alliance — a public-private group founded on the goal of building a near-zero emissions coal-fueled generation plant. The DOEs decision cemented its intentions towards the project and closed out some short-term options for the FutureGen Alliance group.
US Chamber chart shows complexity of climate legislation
This just released chart, prepared by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, gives the briefest glimpse into how complex and confusing the proposed climate change legislation bill would have been. (Click on the graphic to see the full pdf version of the chart.)
[img_assist|nid=934|title=Warner-Lieberman bill with Boxer amendments|desc=|link=url|url=http://www.uschamber.com/assets/env/080602boxer_amd_chart.pdf|align=middle|width=400|height=267]
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