Climate Law Update: Climate Change & Sustainable Energy News : Thelen Reid Law Firm : Renewable Energy, Construction, Project Finance Lawyers & Attorneys

• Businesses in the United Kingdom will not back the case for high levels of environmental taxation, such as those placed on emissions auctions, if the money goes towards meeting other public spending commitments, argues Independent business columnist Jeremy Warner.
• British great tits have proved themselves to be far more adaptable to climate change than their counterparts in the Netherlands. Or so reports London's ever-vigilant The Times. 
• Think there's nothing funny about climate change? There are those who disagree, reports the Guardian.
• Environmental groups are urging Congress to keep in place a ban on purchases of fuel from Canadian tar sands deposits, writes the Globe and Mail (see environmental organizations' press statement here).
• Another day, another verbal beating administered by Congress upon the Environmental Protection Agency for its alleged failure to make decisions based on science rather than politics, as recounted by McClatchy Newspapers. 
• Giant Danish wind power company Vestas says Europe should focus on land-based rather than offshore facilities, reports the Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital. 
• President Bush and Congress remain at odds over the latest version of a farm bill, according to the Des Moines Register.
  

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Coal may be a fossil but apparently it isn't dead.

The U.S. Department of Energy looks to be backing carbon sequestration projects and clean coal in a big way, despite some setbacks for the fuel in recent months (see Climate Law Update stories here and here). The Bush administration acted just as some environmentalists have raised new concerns about the technology.

The department announced this week it was supporting sequestration research efforts, which also could be used for capturing carbon from non-coal sources, in California and the Midwest to the tune of more than $126 million (see press statement here). An executive of the company where the California project will be located said the technology would be useful for many fuels. 

Then on Wednesday the department outlined the separate restructuring of its "FutureGen" program, which could help underwrite "clean coal" projects using carbon sequestration technology to the tune of  many more hundreds of millions of dollars (see press release here).

While neither of the two newest sequestration projects appeared to rely on coal as a primary fuel source, coal clearly wasn't far from the minds of Bush administration energy  officials. The energy department's announcement earlier this week said that "advancing carbon sequestration is a key component of the Bush administration's comprehensive efforts to commercially advance clean coal technology" to meet the nation's energy needs. 

In a statement, California Energy Commission Vice Chair James Boyd waxed enthusiastic about the $65.6 million headed toward the state (see press release here):

"By demonstrating how greenhouse gas emissions can be safely contained through carbon sequestration, we make strides to curb the effects of global warming. Using the newest carbon capture and storage technology, California can show how environmental and industrial concerns are working together for the same cause."

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• Who finds it easy -- or good business -- being green? The San Francisco Chronicle, citing a report from a New Hampshire nonprofit group, gives an accounting of climate-friendly companies.
• It's mercury, not climate issues, driving the opposition, but the Sierra Club is threatening to sue to block a number of coal-fired power plants, according to Reuters.
• The pending lapse of renewable energy tax credits causes the Christian Science Monitor to look at the implications, focusing on Arizona. 
• Nuclear power is on the minds of all three major presidential candidates, reports Reuters in a story carried on Planet Ark. 
• Democrats in the U.S. Senate unveil a new energy bill that taxes "Big Oil," according to a report on Reuters (see Democratic analysis of bill here). 
• The worldwide carbon market, now valued at $64 billion, "could become a victim of its own success and paralyze further progress," writes the Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital, citing a new World Bank report (see World Bank press release here; text of report here).
• Iowa Gov. Chet Culver signs a bill promoting renewable energy in that state, reports The Messenger of Fort Dodge, Iowa (see Culver press release here).

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A new lawsuit filed by environmentalists challenges Arctic oil and gas exploration efforts the groups contend threaten marine mammals such as whales.

Plaintiffs include organizations that have already sought to force new federal protections for polar bears and other animals because of alleged threats from climate change, a move that could also have implications for oil development in the region.

Filed in U.S. District Court in Alaska on Monday the lawsuit asks a judge to rule that federal authorizations allowing the explorations in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas by Shell  and BP were issued before proper environmental reviews were conducted and that the actions could seriously harm marine mammals. The plaintiffs also asked for a preliminary injunction blocking the activities, at least some of which were planned for this summer (see lawsuit text here; motion for preliminary injunction here).

Seismic surveys planned by the companies "will result in excessive noise pollution in Arctic waters that have not been subjected to such levels of concurrent seismic noise pollution for at least 15 years, if ever," claimed the documents filed by the groups. The plaintiffs, which also include a native village, focused primarily on concerns for the health of such animals as whales and seals. Polar bears are only briefly mentioned in the lawsuit, as inhabitants of both of the seas year-round. 

Officials of the federal Minerals Management Service, which issued the seismic survey permits, and the National Marine Fisheries Service, which was also named as a defendant, told Climate Law Update they would have no immediate comment on the case.  Both oil companies, neither of which was named in the lawsuit, also declined comment specifically on the case but they each defended the environmental soundness of their exploration practices.   

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• European and Japanese investors have bought slightly over half of London-based Climate Change Capital, which invests in projects to cut carbon emissions in the developing world among other enterprises, Reuters reports.
• Efforts to address the transportation industry's carbon footprint, particularly that from air travel, are examined in a recent article in the New York Times.
• Top climate modelers have gathered in the United Kingdom to plan a revolution in climate prediction but computer power may have to increase before many improvements are seen, according to a story from the BBC.
• Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and nearly two-dozen other senators have asked the Bush administration to waive ethanol production requirements, stories in the Guardian and other media say.
• Venture capitalists put $2.2 billion into clean tech companies last year and prospects for the future look good, according to an upbeat new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, documented by C/Net's news.com. 
    

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Gov. Ted Strickland of coal-heavy Ohio has signed a bill pushing his state's electric distribution utilities to make sure that 25 percent of the power they sell comes from "alternative" resources by 2025.

Under Senate Bill 221, that would include juice coming from such renewable sources as wind and solar, to other forms of generation, including "clean" coal, fuel cells and advanced nuclear, according to a statement by Strickland (see statement here; bill text here) and a report in the Toledo Blade (see story here).

To meet the mandate that at least 25 percent of the power come from "alternative energy resources," Ohio's legislation requires that "at least half shall be generated from renewable energy resources, including one-half per cent from solar energy resources," in accordance with a number of annual benchmarks. 

The Blade reported that the measure allows utilities to avoid full compliance with the standards if they can demonstrate that their attempts to comply would raise consumers' bills by 3 percent or more, a provision that disappointed some environmental groups.

In his statement, Strickland (pictured) lauded the measure:

"This bill, Senate Bill 221, will ensure predictability of affordable energy prices and maintain state controls necessary to protect Ohio jobs and businesses.

We will safeguard Ohio families by empowering consumers and modernizing Ohio’s energy infrastructure.

And we will attract the jobs of the future through an advanced energy portfolio standard—and today’s action by Ohio means that a majority of states now agree that these technologies represent the future of energy in the United States." 
 

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• The Asian Development Bank's head announces a new fund to combat damage caused by climate change, writes The Economic Times of India. 
• Scientists suggest species living in the tropics may be in more serious danger than those living near the Arctic, reports the CBC.
• The world can reach a significant new climate change agreement by the end of next year, if current talks keep up their momentum, the head of the United Nations climate panel says, according to Reuters.
• A connection between rising shark attacks and global warming? Perhaps, the Guardian newspaper writes.
• A new book that offers "a profound academic, spiritual, theological, exegetical, politically grounded and energizing rendering of the global climate and sustainability crisis" is positively reviewed by The Christian Century. 
• Sempra Energy Chairman Donald E. Felsinger says there is enough scientific evidence in place that "we need to take action" to mitigate the effects of climate change, according to an interview with the New York Times appearing over the weekend
• The Bush administration literally chose to "add more fuel to the global warming fire" by moving ahead to open the Chukchi Sea to drilling, argues the Audubon Magazine.
• Ethanol mandates "are just an appetizer for a much larger big business feast should a liberal Congress be paired with a liberal White House," argues a posting on the Heritage Foundation's blog, The Foundry.   
  
  

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This saving the planet stuff just isn't complicated enough, it seems.

Underscoring the importance of the finer points involved in establishing a market-based approach to controlling greenhouse gas emissions, a new report (accessible here) sponsored by a fascinating collection of interests shows how huge sums are at stake depending on how such a program is structured.

The most intriguing part of the document examines one of the most controversial parts of a cap-and-trade scenario: the distribution of emissions credits or "allowances" that will determine how many tons of heat-trapping gases that, say, a power plant can emit over a year. It looks at the differences in formulas contemplated by two bills now before Congress, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act and the Bingaman-Specter Low Carbon Economy Act. The document also adds another twist, such as examining what would happen if credits were allocated based on each company's electricity output, versus its share of emissions.

The report generally seems to side with Lieberman-Warner. That bill would require selling more of the credits initially and it would also allocate some credits for sale to benefit the public.

The document also finds that some utilities, such as those with relatively cleaner technologies, would fare vastly better under a system in which credits were distributed on the basis of power output. However, both bills so far propose to allocate the allowances to electric providers based on their historic carbon dioxide emissions. 

The bills are named for their sponsors, Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., John Warner, R-Va., Jeff Bingaman, D-New Mexico, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

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• The Arctic and the Antarctic experience similar greenhouse gas levels and solar radiation but are responding in dramatically different ways, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which reported on a new study soon to be published in EOS, a publication of the American Geophysical Union.
• Consumers who reduce the amount of meat and dairy in their diets will do more to reduce their carbon footprint than buying all local all the time, writes Science Times, reporting on a new study of the issue.
• The United Nation's new top adviser on food is urging a freeze on investments in biofuels, reports the BBC.
• Great Britain is experiencing a boom in installations of  "green roofs" and rainwater harvesting technologies in response to a changing climate, reports The Times of London. 
• A company called OptiSolar wants to build the largest solar farm in the world about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, says a report on C-Net's news.com.
• Shell's decision to drop out of a large offshore wind project has caused an uproar in the United Kingdom, according to the Guardian.
• Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has raised $1.2 billion in two distinct funds, one of them entirely "to help speed mass-market adoption of solutions to the world's climate crisis," the San Jose Mercury News reports.  
• Hawaii's Legislature has voted to require all new homes to have solar water heaters installed starting in 2010, says the Associated Press in a story appearing in the Houston Chronicle.  
  
  
  
  
  

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