“A new report released today by CDP, an environmental organization that gathers information on behalf of investors, provides powerful evidence that: There is a global corporate consensus that carbon will be priced; Businesses are preparing for a robust, internationally-linked carbon market; and These companies would welcome regulatory certainty, nationally and internationally, with respect to climate… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Energy
Fugitive gases in eight clusters of domestic water wells overlying the Marcellus and Barnett Shales
Noble gases identify the mechanisms of fugitive gas contamination in drinking-water wells overlying the Marcellus and Barnett Shales. Published online before print September 15, 2014, doi:10.1073/pnas.1322107111 PNAS September 15, 2014: “Significance: Hydrocarbon production from unconventional sources is growing rapidly, accompanied by concerns about drinking-water contamination and other environmental risks. Using noble gas and hydrocarbon tracers, we distinguish natural sources of methane… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Critical Infrastructure Protection, EPA Regs and Electricity
CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION: DHS Action Needed to Enhance Integration and Coordination of Vulnerability Assessment Efforts, GAO-14-507: Published: Sep 15, 2014. Publicly Released: Sep 15, 2014: “DHS is not positioned to manage an integrated and coordinated government-wide approach for assessments as called for in the NIPP because it does not have sufficient information about the assessment tools and… Continue Reading
An Energy and Sustainability Roadmap for West Virginia
Van Nostrand, James M, An Energy and Sustainability Roadmap for West Virginia (2013). West Virginia Law Review, Vol. 115, No. 3, 2013. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2495555 “This article explores the measures that West Virginia policymakers can take to position the state for a more sustainable energy future. Throughout its history, energy resources have been… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Air Traffic Control System, Federal Rulemaking, Missouri River Flood and Drought
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM: Selected Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Operations, Modernization, and Structure, GAO-14-770: Published: Sep 12, 2014. Publicly Released: Sep 12, 2014. FEDERAL RULEMAKING: Agencies Included Key Elements of Cost-Benefit Analysis, but Explanations of Regulations’ Significance Could Be More Transparent [Reissued on September 12, 2014], GAO-14-714: Published: Sep 11, 2014. Publicly Released: Sep 11, 2014. MISSOURI RIVER FLOOD AND DROUGHT: Experts Agree… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Land Reclamation, Clinical Trails, Contract Management, DHS, Export-Import Bank, Military Training
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION: Availability of Information on Repayment of Water Project Construction Costs Could Be Better Promoted, GAO-14-764: Published: Sep 8, 2014. Publicly Released: Sep 9, 2014. CLINICAL TRIALS: Little is Known about Participation by Supplemental Security Income Recipients, GAO-14-734R: Published: Sep 9, 2014. Publicly Released: Sep 9, 2014. CONTRACT MANAGEMENT: DOD’s Implementation of Justifications for 8(a) Sole-Source Contracts, GAO-14-721R: Published: Sep 9, 2014.… Continue Reading
Smog in India Damaged Enough Crops to Feed 94 Million, Study Says
Yale e360 digest: “Ground-level ozone, the main component of smog, damaged 6.7 million tons of Indian crops worth an estimated $1.3 billion in a single year, according to a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters. That’s enough wheat, rice and other staple crops to feed 94 million people — roughly one-third of the country’s impoverished population. Arising from a… Continue Reading
Ruling on the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Well Blowout
New York Times: “A federal judge ruled on Thursday that BP was grossly negligent in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout that killed 11 workers, spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and soiled hundreds of miles of beaches. “BP’s conduct was reckless,” United States District Court Judge Carl J.… Continue Reading
Four states supply domestic uranium concentrate in 2013
EIA: Although most of the uranium used in domestic nuclear power plants is imported, domestic uranium processing facilities still provide sizeable volumes of uranium concentrate to U.S. nuclear power plants. In 2013, uranium concentrate was produced at seven facilities in four states. Wyoming accounted for 59% of domestic production, followed by Utah (22%), Nebraska (15%), and Texas (4%), according to the World Nuclear Association. Uranium… Continue Reading
Residential electricity prices are rising
EIA: “U.S. retail residential electricity prices for the first half of 2014 averaged 12.3 cents per kilowatthour, an increase of 3.2% from the same period last year. This is the highest year-over-year growth in residential prices for the first half of the year since 2009. Average prices rose in all areas of the country except… Continue Reading
40 Percent of Countries with Largest Shale Energy Resources Face Water Stress
Paul Reig and Andrew Maddocks, World Resources Institute: “…extracting natural gas and tight oil from shale poses environmental risks, especially when it comes to water. Hydraulic fracturing requires up to 25 million liters of fresh water per well, meaning shale resources can be hard to develop where fresh water is hard to find—including in some of the world’s fastest-growing… Continue Reading
Draft of UN’s New Report on Global Warming Delivers Bleak Assessment
Justin Gillis, New York Times: “Runaway growth on the emission of greenhouse gases is swamping all political efforts to deal with the problem, raising the risk of “severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts” over the coming decades, according to a draft of a major new United Nations report. Global warming is already cutting grain production by several percentage… Continue Reading
