Tuesday, 09 Nov 2004

Frankenbill

Energy bill is alive -- alive! -- and that could be bad news for ANWR

Before the election, many observers had considered Bush's omnibus energy bill dead in the water. But now it's lurching back to life, like a killer in the last 15 minutes of a bad horror movie. Language that would shield producers of the gasoline additive MTBE from lawsuits is still a sticking point, but if the bill is broken into smaller, more digestible bits, many are likely to make it into law -- including a provision that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. Get the details in Muckraker -- today on the Grist Magazine website.

Undercooked Marburger

Study finds effects of global warming across America

Despite alarming studies about the consequences of climate change across the globe -- the latest, just last week, documents massive changes in Arctic geography and wildlife -- U.S. citizens remain curiously unconcerned about the issue. Perhaps a new report from the Pew Center for Global Climate Change will break through the apathy: It documents effects of global warming in the U.S., "all the way from Florida to Alaska and from the East Coast to the West Coast," said study coauthor Camille Parmesan. Many southern species of butterfly have disappeared; red fox ranges are moving north; warm-water fish are migrating into new waters; plants are blooming weeks earlier in the spring. About half of all wild species are affected, says Parmesan. White House science adviser John Marburger said the study seemed "responsible," but that the Bush administration's policy on global warming would not change.

Blood and Gore

Al Gore launches an investment firm focused on sustainability

After the whole endorsing-Howard-Dean thing didn't work out, Al Gore is hoping his new venture is more successful: It's an investment firm called Generation Investment Management that will focus on socially and environmentally conscious companies. The firm's approach "is designed to serve people who want to integrate sustainable returns with traditional equity analysis," said the former VP with his typical fiery charisma. David Blood, formerly CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, will serve as managing partner of the firm, while Gore will act as chair, shaping its overall strategy but not choosing investments. "I'm not a stock picker," he emphasized (again, see: Howard Dean). He said the firm will meet a rising demand for long-term analysis that takes into account the "carbon intensity" of companies' profits.

Exx the Foul

ExxonMobil's greenhouse-gas emissions continue to rise

ExxonMobil, the world's biggest oil company, supported President Bush's decision to keep the U.S. from ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. In a wacky coincidence, the company's greenhouse-gas emissions have been increasing, last year rising 2 percent to almost 150 million tons -- more than twice the emissions of the entire country of Norway. Exxon is addressing the problem by ... oh, wait, they're not addressing the problem. While the company claims it is "taking steps" to reduce gases, it has set no actual targets, according to a spokesflack. By comparison, BP, the world's second largest oil company with production just slightly under that of Exxon, produces less than half of Exxon's emissions. Much of the problem lies in the oil fields of Nigeria, where Exxon often brings natural gas to the surface with the oil and "flares" -- i.e., burns -- it off in the open air. Nigeria has requested that the company cut it out. Speaking of Nigeria, its government has also requested that Shell clean up the more than 250 oil spills in the country for which the company is responsible.

Topic of Cancer

Scientists seek environmental causes of breast cancer

Scientists currently know enough about breast cancer "to explain about half the causes,'' says Aaron Blair of the National Cancer Institute. To fill in the gaps, researchers are increasingly focusing on possible environmental causes like exposure to radiation or toxic chemicals in air, water, and food. Traditionally, studies have analyzed genetic and reproductive factors -- only one of every nine dollars of breast-cancer research money goes to environmental studies -- but that is changing, particularly as researchers take note of the fact that breast cancer rates are highest in North America and northern Europe, industrialized areas where the use of human-made chemicals is ubiquitous. The issue is knotty: Breast cancer is highly complex, arising from multiple lifestyle, genetic, and environmental factors that interact in unpredictable ways, and only 10 percent of the 80,000-some chemicals on the marketplace have even been tested for health effects on humans.