In America, today, there are three kinds of drivers: those who look at the other gas pumps down at the ol' gas station and think: "Oh my God, I can't believe how much that guy's spending on gas", those who look at their own pump down at the ol' gas station and think: "Oh my God, I can't believe how much I'm spending on gas" - and those who are doing both at the same time.
Naturally, this has brought the Sarah Palins of the world back out in public, and once again the mantra of "Drill, Baby, Drill" can be heard all the way from the Florida coast to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
But what if those folks have it exactly backwards?
What if, in a world of depleting oil resources, the last thing you want to do is use yours up?
To put it another way: why isn't all our oil part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
Got a simple little story for you today of a multinational corporation that wants to build a great big cement plant in North Carolina really, really, bad, and the local opposition to what appears to be a corrupt and distorted decision process.
Two local activists in particular have drawn the ire of Titan Cement, the Grecian corporation who seeks to build the plant-and because the Company doesn't like what the activists have been saying about what the impact of that plant will likely be or how the deal's going down...they're suing Kayne Darrell and Dr. David Hill, residents of North Carolina's New Hanover County, and the two folks who are doing the complaining the Company dislikes the most.
The Company further claims that they were slandered and defamed by the damaging statements that were uttered by the two at a county commissioners' meeting and that they have lost goodwill and the chance to do business with certain parties as a result of these statements.
But what if everything the Defendants said was not only true...but provably so-and the Company was, maybe...just looking to shut people up by sending teams of lawyers after them?
As I said, it's a simple story today-but it's a good one.
There was some small victory for the people of NY in the Special Session of the legislature that Governor Paterson called to "ease his conscience"-- aka, give the legislature one last chance to share his priorities.
Hey, Guv, they aren't so inclined to see things our way, either. But, this time, enough people called and enough people emailed and enough people visited.... and a 6-month hydrofracking "mini-moratorium" is likely to become law [if Paterson the Fickle should choose to put his royal stamp on it]. Which just goes to show that they still respond to persistent kicking, if enough of us are doing it.
There is a lot more to do on hydrofracking-- this is at best a reprieve during which we can work on water withdrawal legislation and bans against bringing radioactive drilling waste into our landfills from PA. But, it is gratifying to see that enough of us, being persistent, can be heard.
On Tuesday, a memo from the Department of Environmental Conservation's Commisioner, Pete Grannis, to the Governor was leaked to the press. In the memo, Commissioner Grannis tried to make the case that DEC was already at its lowest point in staffing, that the requested layoff of 209 personnel would seriously impact the ability of the Department to fulfill its mission.
was fired Thursday by Gov. David Paterson for what a state source ascribed to "poor performance and insubordination."
The immediate cause was the leak of a memo, sent by DEC to the Budget Division, that laid out in stark terms the possible consequences of the planned layoffs of more than 200 agency employees.
It is about a week before early voting begins for a bunch of us around the country, and that means this may be one of the last times I have to convince you that, frustrated progressive or not, you better get your butt to a ballot box or a mail-in envelope this November, because it really does matter.
Now I could give you a bunch of "what ifs" to make my point, or I could remind you how we spent all summer watching oil gush into the Gulf, and how that came to be...but, instead, it's "Even More Current Event Day", and we're going to visit Hungary for a extremely real-world reminder of what can go wrong when the environmental cops are considered just too much of a burden by the environmental robbers-and if today's story doesn't scare you to death, I don't know what will.
It ain't Texas, but we will surely visit a Red River Valley...and you surely won't like what you're gonna see.
For many who watched the NY Senate's session yesterday, the relatively uneventful passing of the second-latest-ever state budget was the coda to a long, frustrating session of a government that can't seem to get its job done. As Roatti correctly pointed out, the decision to stop counting prisoners in their location of incarceration is the most momentous aspect of the budget bill...
However, the Senate did continue its very-late August session beyond the budget bill, considering some policy that had been relatively contentious during the preceding six or seven months. The way in which two issues debated-- farmworker rights and protection from unconventional gas drilling methods(commonly referred to as hydrofracking)-- were handled is particularly interesting to those of us who believe that process reform is essential if NY is to have a legislature that is able to govern effectively. The processes by which these two issues were brought forward could not have been more different. Which kind of governance works? Which kind of governance do we want?
For those who did not watch (btw, remote access to Senate floor debate is AWESOME-- NY Assembly, where are you?!?), a recap is over the jump.
A battle is brewing between the energy industry and environmentalists about the dangers of removing natural gas from the shale using a process called hydrofracking. There have been reports of exploding houses, poisoned water supplies, and serious health problems as a result of the injection of chemicals, many of them toxic, into rock about a mile below the surface. These compounds can seep into underground and surface water supplies. As we don't even know what ingredients the energy industry is using to extract methane gas, we can only guess as to the long term ramifications of this process.
The Marcellus Shale, which reaches beneath the southern tier of New York and into Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia is one of the largest fossil-fuel reserves in the Western Hemisphere and could yield as much as 20 times as our natural current output of natural gas. You might think that such a large energy reserve seems too good to be true, and perhaps it is. It gets its name from a town in Western New York where there the shale formation juts out above the ground. The region's energy richness has been known for decades. But extracting the natural gas from the pores in the shale in a way that would be cost effective and efficient has always been a problem.
Brighton, Colorado (FNS)-Attorneys from the Republican Study Group (RSG) descended upon the 17th Judicial District courtroom of Judge John T Bryan today to present an amicus brief and associated oral arguments in order to prevent a settlement in a lawsuit related to an automobile accident in this Colorado city.
The intervening attorneys claim the settlement reached between the two parties to the accident is a "shakedown" because the plaintiff had not yet exhausted all possible legal remedies when the agreement was finalized, and because the agreement was executed in the presence of the plaintiff's brother, a well-known local attorney.
They hope Judge Bryan will decline to approve the settlement in today's hearing, and that he will order the parties to move forward to trial.
"What we have is government transferring property from one party, an admittedly unattractive one, to others, not based on preexisting laws but on decisions by one man, a car czar", said Crush Mimbaugh, attorney for the RSG, "and we are here today to protect all Americans from this legally sanctioned rape of an innocent driver."
Honestly, I am absolutely sick of commercial air travel these days. Just dealing with security is bad enough, but then there's the airlines, and...hey, all you really need to know here is that there has to be a pretty good reason for me to fly cross-country.
Well, I had one Saturday night, which is how I came to be in the Colonnade Room of the Fairmount Hotel, Washington DC with about 250 of my closest friends, in a classic shawl-collar tuxedo, attending one of the most exclusive "passing of the torch" ceremonies in recent Washington memory.
And when it was all over, Douglas Feith was a happy man.
Netroots Nation will be in Las Vegas in just a few weeks; with that in mind we are going to play "piano bar" and fulfill a couple of requests, one today and one tomorrow, from folks who would like to bring a couple of things to your attention.
Today's topic: climate change.
As you know, there is a lot of legislation floating around Capitol Hill that would begin to use some sort of market-based mechanism to reduce the amount of carbon we emit.
None of it will move unless it moves through the Senate, and today, that's what we'll be talking about.
It is by now obvious that even after we stop the gentle trickle of oil that's currently expressing itself into the Gulf of Mexico (thank you so much, BP) we are not going to be able to get that oil out of the water for some considerable length of time--and if you think it could take years, I wouldn't bet against you.
While BP is the legally responsible party, out on the water it will be up to the Coast Guard to manage the Federal response, and to determine that BP is running things in a way that gets the work done not only correctly and safely, but, in a world of limited resources, efficiently.
Which brings us to the obvious question: can the Coast Guard manage such a complex undertaking?
While we hope they can, you need to know that the Coast Guard has been trying to manage the replacement of their fleet of ships and aircraft for about a decade now...and the results have been so stunningly bad that you and I are now the proud owners of a small flotilla of ships that can never be used, because if they go to sea, they might literally break into pieces.
It's an awful story, and before we're done you'll understand why Deepwater was already an ugly word around Headquarters, years before that oil rig blew up.
I just wanted to take a minute to say hello and to see how things have been for you lately, and to maybe bring you up to date on a bit of news from here.
Well, right off the bat, we hear you have a new Conservative Prime Minister and that his Party and Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems are in partnership, which I'm sure will be interesting; you probably heard that us Colonials are again having Tea Parties, which has also been very interesting.
I have a Godson who's getting married this September, so we're all talking about that, and I hear Graham Norton was even better than last year at hosting Eurovision, despite the fact that it's...frankly, it's Eurovision.
Oh, yeah...we also had a bit of an oil spill recently that you may have heard about-and hoo, boy; you should see how the Company that spilled the oil has been acting.
Today, a bevy of 50 buses will ferry a "drill, baby drill" contingent from across the state to descend on Albany. Buses paid for by the industry will go lobby in opposition to a bill gathering some momentum in the Senate to put a moratorium on "horizontal, slick-water hydrofracking" a new natural gas exploration method,in NYS until 120 days after the completion of a study of these methods by the EPA. This as news of "accidents" involving the industry in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Texas (2!) and, of course, the Gulf of Mexico.
Of course, the safety assurances of the oil and gas industry have never been worth much. But, recently, the drilling disaster news seems to be overwhelming, if under-reported. So, remind me again why we are letting a bunch of multinational resource extraction companies-- including famous names like Exxon, Haliburton and Schlumberger-- buy up the rights to pollute a huge chunk of upstate real estate? In advance of the EPA finishing studying whether it is safe or not?
Baton Rouge (FNS)-Facing both a massive oil slick from a sunken offshore drilling platform and a second year of declining tourism revenues along the Louisiana Gulf Coast caused by high gas prices, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal today introduced a new tourism promotion that he reports is going to "...make lemons into lemonade".
Jindal, flanked by British Petroleum's Director of Marketing Dick Timoneous and the Executive Director of the Louisiana State Tourism Board, Jenna Talia, announced that the "All The Oil You Can Carry Festival" would officially commence today just east of New Orleans, and last at least through the month of May.
After my post the other day agreeing with Rep. Chris Lee's move on energy efficiency, I got to thinking about the parts of the energy picture, the ones nobody's talking about. Everyone likes to talk about alternative energy in vague terms like "green economy." What does it really mean for an area like ours, where the new natural resources actually are? And what actions do we need to take to make it practical for individuals, families, and small businesses to take advantage of?
We're diving deep into "geek world" today with a story that combines economic hardball, the periodic table of the elements, and a barely noticed provision of the Defense Authorization Act that seeks to break a monopoly which today gives China near-absolute control over the materials that make cell phones, electric cars, wind turbines, and pretty much every other tool of modern life possible.
If we successfully break the monopoly, we'll be able to create millions of new manufacturing jobs in this country-and if we don't, somebody else owns the 21st Century.
Ironically, the global warming we're trying to fight with new green technologies might be an ally in our efforts to make those very same green technologies happen.
There's a revolution in industrial processing going on, rare earths are at the center of it all...and in today's story, the revolution will be televised.
The long, lazy days of summer are upon us, and it's time to have a little fun-but it's also a great opportunity to volunteer a bit of spare time for a good cause.
So imagine how cool it would be if you could combine the two...and even better, do it in a way that doesn't take a bite out of your wallet...and even better yet, if it was something you and the kids could do together.
Imagine no more, because it has been done; which is why today we are going to be talking about lead in the soil of New Orleans, Operation Paydirt...and Fundred Dollar Bills.
There are certain issues that steal the spotlight for short or long periods of time. Right now, health care is the focus of the media's attention and in Washington D.C., health care is the hot topic right now with Congress looking at reforming our broken system.
But one issue that should not be forgotten is the environment. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand hasn't forgotten about the importance the environment plays and why keeping our air and water clean and addressing the issues with climate change deserve to be a top priority.
But Sen. Gillibrand is hoping that it will pass, but not at the environment's expense. Earlier this month, she spoke out regarding one key element in the House bill that would give coal-fired power plants less regulation and strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to regulate those coal plants.
Environmental activists already have complained that the House bill is too friendly to polluters and have been urging the Senate to toughen it by selling more emissions allowances -- rather than donating most of them to businesses initially.
Senate deal-making also jeopardizes some of the last-minute agreements that were key to passage in the House. For instance, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., is worried about a provision added to the House bill that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate pollution from coal-fired power plants -- language backed by lawmakers in coal mining states.
"The EPA has to have authority to regulate coal plants under the Clean Air Act," said Gillibrand, who has promised "to use every bit of persuasive power" she can to ensure the bill "reflects the needs of New York." Leaders in New York have been concerned about acid rain traced to coal-burning plants in the Midwest.
This provision was criticized by environmental activists for being too lenient on polluters in a bill supposedly touting clean (and green) energy. In response, progressives have led the charge to make sure that such a provision won't survive in the Senate version (and the future agreed upon version) of the bill. MoveOn has a petition you can sign voicing your opposition to the provision and also sent out an e-mail to New York members of MoveOn asking them to send a note of thanks to Sen. Gillibrand for being "one of the very first senators to speak out publicly against rolling back the Clean Air Act."
Here's an excerpt from that e-mail:
For years, New York has had some of the worst air pollution in the country. On top of local pollution, New Yorkers get tons of smog and acid rain blown in from out of state.
Now, coal industry lobbyists are trying to slip a provision into Obama's clean energy plan that would repeal a key part of the Clean Air Act. This would bring about a whole new generation of dirty coal power and make New York's pollution problems even worse.
But not if Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has anything to say about it. She's one of the very first senators to speak out publicly against rolling back the Clean Air Act.
...
Under the Clean Air Act, dirty coal-fired power plants are required to meet standards for their global warming pollution. The Bush administration refused to enforce these rules, but President Obama has already started taking steps to crack down.
That's why coal lobbyists are trying to repeal key sections of the Clean Air Act, letting coal plants off the hook and sticking New Yorkers with lots more pollution.
This rollback is the wrong thing to do, and it certainly doesn't belong in a "clean energy" bill. But the polluters might get away with it if champions in Congress don't fight back.
Sen. Gillibrand is fighting. She told the Albany Times-Union in an article that got picked up nationwide that "The EPA has to have authority to regulate coal plants under the Clean Air Act" and promised "to use every bit of persuasive power" to ensure the bill "reflects the needs of New York" by cutting power plant pollution.
MoveOn also thanked Sen. Gillibrand outside of her office in New York City:
Gillibrand has been at the forefront of many progressive issues during her time as a senator. This isn't the first time, but it is key since this legislation will be taken up by the Senate and there are already debates about what protections should be included (or excluded). Senators from coal-friendly states will be facing pressure to defend the interests of the industry. Gillibrand won't face such pressure, but she isn't going to let the best interests of coal be reflected in a bill that is supposed to be promoting clean and green energy.
You heard yesterday about the parts of Chris Lee's "energy plan" that he didn't feel like talking too much about, the parts lifted straight from George Bush and last year's failed Republican strategy for expanding big oil.
Now, let's have a look at what Lee did see fit to talk up. What follows are a few excerpts from the "plan summary" on Lee's official website, along with my comments.
A battle is brewing between the energy industry and environmentalists about the dangers of removing natural gas from the shale using a process called hydrofracking. There have been reports of exploding houses, poisoned water supplies, and serious health problems as a result of the injection of chemicals, many of them toxic, into rock about a mile below the surface. These compounds can seep into underground and surface water supplies. As we don't even know what ingredients the energy industry is using to extract methane gas, we can only guess as to the long term ramifications of this process.
