ProgressNow.org Daily News Digest

Oil slips as global economic worries re-emerge - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/05/AR2009010500566.html Re-emerging global economic worries nudged oil prices lower Monday, but the fall was kept in check by evidence that OPEC was serious about production cutbacks and new unrest in oil-rich Nigeria. A dispute between Ukraine and Russia over gas imports and Israel's ground offensive in Gaza also kept tensions high, although analysts were split over how much the conflict in the Middle East is affecting markets. After rising for much of the day, oil prices moved into negative territory as the focus turned toward the United States, the world's largest economy. Expectations are that the Commerce Department on Monday will report another sharp drop in construction spending for November, and that automakers will report further declines in December vehicle sales. Light, sweet crude for February delivery slipped 56 cents to $45.78 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Europe. The contract rose Friday $1.74 to settle at $46.34.

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Russian Gas Embargo on Ukraine Is Felt In E. Europe - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/03/AR2009010301738.html The impact of Russia's natural gas embargo against Ukraine spread to several Eastern European countries Saturday, as a senior Ukrainian official warned of serious fuel disruptions across the continent in as little as 10 days if Russia refused to resume shipments. Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary reported drops in the gas they receive from Russia via Ukrainian pipelines but said consumers had not yet been affected because of reserve supplies and extra Russian deliveries through other countries. The European Union -- which gets a quarter of its gas from Russia, most of it through pipelines that cross Ukraine -- said it planned to call an emergency meeting as soon as Monday to discuss the crisis and urged "an immediate resumption of full gas deliveries" to the E.U. member states.

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EPA Eases Emissions Regulations for New Power Plants - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/18/AR2008121803687.html The Environmental Protection Agency ruled yesterday that new power plants are not required to install technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, rejecting an argument from environmental groups. The ruling, in a memorandum signed by EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, turns on a seemingly arcane regulatory question that could govern the future of new fossil fuel-burning buildings and power plants under the Clean Air Act. During the Bush administration, the EPA has rejected the idea that greenhouse gases should be regulated like soot, smog precursors and other kinds of air pollution, despite an April 2007 Supreme Court ruling that said carbon dioxide fit the definition of a pollutant that could be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

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OPEC Agrees to Slash Output, but Oil Prices Slide Anyway - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/17/AR2008121701314.html The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries yesterday agreed to cut production by 2.2 million barrels a day, slightly more than expected, and called on oil producers outside the group to join in output cuts in a bid to halt the five-month slide in world oil prices. But prices continued to fall as traders bet that OPEC's reductions would not be big enough to offset the steep decline in demand resulting from the slumping world economy. Moreover, many analysts expect that OPEC members will cheat and that actual cuts in production will fall short of the group's target. By the end of trading, the price of light, sweet crude oil for January delivery fell $3.54 a barrel, to $40.06, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The drop in prices came even though the value of the U.S. dollar fell sharply; that usually drives up the price of oil, which is denominated in dollars.

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Environmentalists file 11th-hour lawsuit to block proposed lease sales in Utah - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drilling-utah18-2008dec18,0,3382731.story The auction was announced late on election day. The National Park Service, which is routinely consulted before such announcements, was taken by surprise. The park service later objected to dozens of the sales, but the Bureau of Land Management moved ahead to sell the majority of them. The lawsuit, filed by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the Natural Resources Defense Council and five other environmental groups, contends that the Bush administration failed to comply with regulations requiring it to consider the sales' effect on air quality and other environmental factors. "The Bush administration has rushed to get these leases out the door," said Sharon Buccino, an attorney for NRDC, at a Washington news conference. "In their midnight madness, BLM has failed to complete the analysis required by federal law to protect America's natural and historic treasures." BLM officials said they would not comment on the litigation. They have previously defended the sales as part of their obligation to open federal lands to energy development.

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New security rules approved for nuclear power plants; defense against potential cyberattacks—chic

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-ap-nuclear-plant-security,0,1484840.story The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday approved new security rules for nuclear power plants, including measures aimed at better protecting against potential cyberattacks. For years in the making, the rules update requirements first imposed in emergency orders after the Sept. 11 attacks. But watchdog groups have criticized the agency for not going far enough. They say the rules do not call on plant operators to help protect against a potential attack from a large aircraft that might be flown into a reactor or a used fuel storage pool. The groups also say security forces still are not required to be strong enough to counter potential coordinated ground attacks by a dozen or more well armed terrorists. The NRC has maintained that protection against an attack by a large aircraft must be a joint responsibility among government agencies, the military and plant operators and is beyond the responsibility of a reactor owner. The new rules require a reactor operator to have in hand "strategies and response procedures to address an aircraft threat," the NRC said in a statement.

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Declining oil prices threaten Iraqi stability - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-12-16-iraqoil_N.htm Plummeting oil prices may force Iraq's government to slow ambitious reconstruction plans, and the country could face a budget shortfall by next summer, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. "We're in a situation where Iraq is … potentially going to be in a deficit mode next year," said Paul Brinkley, who leads Pentagon efforts to aid Iraq's economy. The trend worries U.S. officials who say a strong economy is needed to lock in the security gains made over the past year. "The long-term stability of the country heavily depends on a vibrant economy," Brinkley said. Iraq, which sits on the world's third-largest oil reserves, gets at least 90% of its revenue from oil sales. Crude oil prices have dropped about 70% since July when they topped $147 a barrel. Iraq's government is considering slowing, but not canceling, major reconstruction projects, Brinkley said. Many projects were planned during Iraq's massive oil windfall earlier this year.

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Declining energy prices extend to electricity - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-12-16-energy-prices-electricity_N.htm After years of steep increases, costs to build power plants and transmission lines have started to fall, promising to temper electricity rate increases for consumers, according to a report out Wednesday. The development is notable because the nation is poised to build the biggest wave of plants in a generation to meet rising electricity demand, and capital costs make up 50% of utility rates, says Larry Makovich, a managing director of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. CERA conducted the study. Construction costs have dipped 5% the past year and will likely drop an additional 7% to 10% next year, says Candida Scott, CERA's senior director of cost and technology. If the recession persists into 2010, further decreases are likely, she says.

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Environmental groups, scientists cheer Obama appointments - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-green16-2008dec16,0,1585629.story With a Nobel physicist and a former EPA chief on board, some expect Obama's White House to break from what they see as the Bush administration's record of overlooking science in favor of politics.

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OPEC Plans Drastic Cut In Oil Production - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/15/AR2008121502982.html Facing its biggest test in a decade, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is planning to make a major cut in oil output at a meeting in Oran, Algeria, tomorrow in an effort to stop the slide in oil prices, which have dropped by two-thirds since July. Confronted by sputtering world oil demand, the cartel is expected to make production cuts of about 2 million barrels a day to reduce the size of world inventories and to boost prices back up to the $75-a-barrel level that Saudi King Abdullah has called reasonable. It will be the group's fourth meeting in four months as it tries to adjust to the weakening world economy. "They are going to cut and they are going to cut big," said Roger Diwan, a partner at PFC Energy, a Washington consulting firm. Even after substantial OPEC output cuts earlier in the fall, world oil inventories "are building much faster than people thought," Diwan added. Oil stocks are big enough to cover 57 days of supplies, up from the five-year average of 52 days.

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Report Finds Meddling in Interior Dept. Actions - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/washington/16interior.html?_r=1 The inspector general of the Interior Department has found that agency officials often interfered with scientific work in order to limit protections for species at risk of becoming extinct, reviving attention to years of disputes over the Bush administration’s science policies. In a report delivered to Congress on Monday, the inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, found serious flaws in the process that led to 15 decisions related to policies on endangered species. The report suggested that at least some of those decisions might need to be revisited under the Obama administration. Among the more significant decisions was one reducing the number of streams that would be designated as critical habitat for the endangered bull trout and protected from commercial use. That rule is already the subject of a lawsuit by environmentalists.

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U.S. and UAE forge nuclear cooperation deal—chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-gulfnukes16-2008dec16,0,3939179.story The United States and the United Arab Emirates have hammered out a nuclear cooperation deal that would bring U.S. atomic technology and know-how to a site less than a hundred miles from Iran's shores, an envoy from the Persian Gulf monarchy confirmed Monday to state media. The deal, if implemented, would be the first of its kind involving the U.S. and an Arab country, experts said. The agreement could, in part, placate Arab countries that are pining to obtain nuclear technology to balance Iran's controversial uranium enrichment program while dissuading them from developing dual-use technologies on their own that could be reconfigured for weapons production. "We are confident that the agreement highlights the transparency of the civilian nuclear energy program the UAE is embarking on and should be lauded as the gold standard of nuclear cooperation agreements," Yousef Otaiba, the emirates' ambassador to the U.S., told the official Emirates News Agency on Monday. He said the agreement set "a new standard in ensuring the highest standards of safety, security and nonproliferation."

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Obama to Announce Energy, Environment Team Monday | 44 | washingtonpost.com

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/12/14/obama_to_announce_energy_envir.html President-elect Barack Obama will announce his energy and environment team late Monday afternoon at a news conference in Chicago -- continuing a steady roll-out of his Cabinet, which is now nearly complete. Obama is expected to name Carol Browner, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, as the head of a new policy council to coordinate climate, environment and energy issues. He is also planning to make official other choices: Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate in physics, as his energy secretary; Lisa Jackson, the chief of staff for New Jersey's governor, as head of the EPA; and Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor of Los Angeles, as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Obama is expected to take questions at the news conference, and is all but certain to face continued queries about the contacts between his aides and disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is accused of trying to effectively sell Obama's open Senate seat. The Illinois legislature is convening this week to debate potentially impeaching Blagojevich, who may resign as early as Monday.

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Storm-related power failures across Northeast continue to leave residents shivering in the dark - Lo

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-icestorm14-2008dec14,0,6522718.story Temperatures fell over the ice-coated Northeast on Saturday, where storm-related power failures had already plunged more than a million homes and businesses from Pennsylvania to Maine into the dark and cold. "If you don't have power, assume that you will not get it restored today, and right now make arrangements to stay someplace warm tonight," warned Gov. John Lynch of hardest-hit New Hampshire. State utilities said that power probably wouldn't be restored until Thursday or Friday, partly because of the sheer number of outages and partly because of the devastation. "What is facing us is the apparent need to rebuild the entire infrastructure of some sections of the electrical delivery system," said Martin Murray, spokesman for Public Service of New Hampshire.

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Obama’s ‘green dream team’ is warmly received - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/environment/2008-12-11-greenteam_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip One is a Nobel Prize winner overseeing research of alternative energy. The three others all have one thing in common: experience working for the Environmental Protection Agency. Together, the group — as the Associated Press has reported — will make up President-elect Barack Obama's team to oversee energy and environment, a lineup that drew mostly praise Thursday from environmental and industry groups alike. "This is clearly a green dream team," said Gene Karpinski, head of the League of Conservation Voters, an environmental group. "These people have shown they can get the job done." Obama has mustered an "impressive team of experienced and capable leaders," said Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, a group representing electric companies. All the same, fulfilling Obama's goals of taking action on global warming and turning the country toward more sustainable energy "is very challenging, and they ought not to underestimate how difficult this is going to be," said Eileen Claussen of the non-profit Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

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Concern for Climate Change Defines Energy Dept. Nominee - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121103380.html The man tapped to be the next secretary of energy, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu, recently compared the danger of climate change to a problem with electrical wiring in a house. Suppose, he said, you had a small electrical fire at home and a structural engineer told you there was a 50 percent chance your house would burn down in the next few years unless you spent $20,000 to fix faulty wiring. "You can either continue to shop for additional evaluations until you find the one engineer in 1,000 who is willing to give you the answer you want -- 'your family is not in danger' -- or you can change the wiring," Chu said in a presentation in September. Because of the danger of climate change, he said, the United States and other countries also need to make some urgent repairs. He said governments need to "act quickly" to implement fiscal and regulatory policies to stimulate the deployment of technologies that boost energy efficiency and "minimize" carbon emissions.

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Seasoned Regulators to Lead Obama Environment Program - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121103669.html The Obama administration has ambitions for a radical change in U.S. environmental policy. But President-elect Barack Obama did not pick radicals to lead it. Instead, the three officials tapped for leadership posts on the environment are not activists but regulators who have spent years in the weeds of such issues as mercury emissions, brownfields and black-bear hunts. They will inherit the usual issues -- dirty air, dirty water, brownfields and red tides -- plus an unprecedented one. Obama has promised to cut back U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases -- a proposal that could set off an enormous political fight. A review of their records and past statements reveals little about the exact policies they would pursue under Obama. It shows they have won over some environmental activists with an open attitude and disappointed others who felt they were not pushing hard enough.

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Barack Obama picks environmental team—chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-cabinetdec11,0,4735058.story President-elect Barack Obama will tap Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu as his energy secretary and former New Jersey environmental protection commissioner Lisa Jackson as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, a senior Democrat said Wednesday. In addition, Carol Browner, a former EPA administrator, will serve as a high-level coordinator on energy issues, reporting to the president. The three incoming officials will help form the backbone of a team responsible for carrying out what Obama has repeatedly indicated will be an ambitious environmental agenda. They will be joined by Nancy Sutley, the Los Angeles deputy mayor whom Obama plans to name as the head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and a still-to-be-named interior secretary. The three newly designated officials bring experience working on climate change. Chu is the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a government research lab in California that under his tenure has focused on alternative energy research and has pushed efforts to boost energy efficiency in buildings.

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Obama Team Set on Environment - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/us/politics/11appoint.html?ref=washington Collectively, they will have the task of carrying out Mr. Obama’s stated intent to curb global warming emissions drastically while fashioning a more efficient national energy system. And they will be able to work with strong allies in Congress who are interested in developing climate-change legislation, despite fierce economic headwinds that will amplify objections from manufacturers and energy producers. The officials said Mr. Obama would name Steven Chu, the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as his energy secretary, and Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor of Los Angeles for energy and environment, as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Mr. Obama also appears ready to name Carol M. Browner, the E.P.A. administrator under President Bill Clinton, as the top White House official on climate and energy policy and Lisa P. Jackson, who until recently was New Jersey’s commissioner of environmental protection, as the head of the E.P.A. Aides cautioned that while Mr. Obama appeared to favor Ms. Browner for the new White House post, there were still issues to be resolved before the appointment was formalized. Mr. Obama plans to name the environmental team next week in Chicago, aides said.

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Nobel Physicist Chosen To Be Energy Secretary - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003681.html President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who heads the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to be the next energy secretary, and he has picked veteran regulators from diverse backgrounds to fill three other key jobs on his environmental and climate-change team, Democratic sources said yesterday. Obama plans to name Carol M. Browner, Environmental Protection Agency administrator for eight years under President Bill Clinton, to fill a new White House post overseeing energy, environmental and climate policies, the sources said. Browner, a member of Obama's transition team, is a principal at the Albright Group. Obama has also settled on Lisa P. Jackson, recently appointed chief of staff to New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) and former head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, to head the EPA. Nancy Sutley, a deputy mayor of Los Angeles for energy and environment, will chair the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

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Obama and Gore talk energy, economy - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-12-09-obama-gore_N.htm President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday praised former Vice President Al Gore's ideas on the environment as one part of helping the nation's struggling economy recovery. Obama, Gore and Vice President-elect Joe Biden met privately at Obama's transition headquarters here for almost two hours. Obama said they discussed so-called green jobs as a way to boost employment across the country, improve national security by reducing reliance on foreign oil, and reduce energy costs. Obama said global warming is "not only a problem, but it's also an opportunity." "We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now, that this is a matter of urgency and national security, and it has to be dealt with in a serious way," Obama told reporters and photographers at the end of the closed-door meeting.

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Obama plans meeting with Gore to talk energy - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-12-09-obama-gore_N.htm Former Vice President Al Gore planned to visit with President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday, but those briefed on the meeting insisted the topic would be the planet rather than Gore's formal return to Washington. Gore sought the presidency in 2000 but lost to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in a disputed election that was settled in the Supreme Court. He then became a leader in the movement to draw attention to the issue of climate change and global warming. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, and his documentary An Inconvenient Truth won an Academy Award the same year. He lends Obama instant credibility among environmental activists.

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Exxon Valdez victims receive first payments - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-exxon6-2008dec06,0,2679084.story A little less than 20 years ago, Mike Webber was king of his own watery world. He was 28 years old, with three herring fishing boats. He leased another long-line boat for halibut, and gill-netted the fat salmon that made Prince William Sound one of the most legendary fisheries in the world. Then came the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Overnight, it was all gone: Fish prices plummeted. People started selling their fishing permits to pay their mortgages, and then lost their houses anyway. Salmon rebounded, but the $12-million-a-year herring fishery all but disappeared.

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The Energy Challenge - Energy Goals a Moving Target for States - Series - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/business/05power.html?ref=washington The state goals have contributed to rapid growth of wind turbines and solar power stations in some areas, notably the West, but that growth has come on a minuscule base. Nationwide, the hard numbers provide a sobering counterpoint to the green-energy enthusiasm sweeping Washington. Al Gore is running advertisements claiming the nation could switch entirely to renewable power within a decade. But most experts do not see how. Even with the fast growth of recent years, less than 3 percent of the nation’s electricity is coming from renewable sources, excepting dams. “I think we are really overselling how quick, how easy and how complete the transition can be,” said George Sterzinger, executive director of the Renewable Energy Policy Project, a Washington advocacy group.

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Interior Dept. Changes Rule to Remove Congress Veto - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/us/05withdraw.html?ref=washington In another regulatory action in the waning days of the Bush administration, the Interior Department on Thursday unveiled a new rule that challenges Congress’s authority to prevent mining planned on public lands. Congress has emergency power to stop mineral development, and has used it six times in the last 32 years. The most recent was in June, when it put a three-year moratorium on uranium mining on one million acres near the Grand Canyon. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has ignored that Congressional directive, saying it was procedurally flawed. The new rule issued by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management comes as environmental groups are suing the bureau in federal court for failing to obey Congress’s directive, which under a 1976 law can be invoked when “an emergency situation exists and extraordinary measures must be taken to preserve values that would otherwise be lost.”

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