Thursday, 05 May 2005

Think you've heard about all the controversial provisions in the corpulent energy bill, which the Republican leadership is once again trying to push through Congress? Think again. The latest House-passed version has new language that would let energy companies skirt many key requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, a cornerstone of environmental law, Muckraker finds.

Oil Really Is a Lubricant

Diverse groups, unlikely allies join fight for energy independence

Military officials, environmental activists, and others from across the political spectrum are speaking up about the need for radical change in American energy policy. Over the last year, a number of labor groups and think tanks have joined the chorus, releasing detailed plans for reducing oil imports. Last month, the Energy Future Coalition -- a group of national-security "energy hawks," military leaders, and industry officials -- released a plan to use tax credits to promote hybrid and ethanol-production technology. The bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy and the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington energy think tank, have unveiled plans of their own. "It's one of the great failures of American politics and policy that we are so dependent on oil from one of the most corrupt and unstable areas of the world," says former U.S. Sen. Timothy Wirth. "The world's in crisis, and the U.S. is doing nothing to limit our dependence and extraordinary vulnerability."

Breaking a Bad Habitat

More problems uncovered with habitat conservation plans

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has published parts two and three of its special series on habitat conservation plans (HCPs) and, suffice to say, the story didn't get any cheerier after part one. A proposed 9.1 million-acre HCP in Washington -- which would cover the bulk of the state's private forestland -- promises big timber companies 50 years of immunity from Endangered Species Act lawsuits in exchange for a promise to keep salmon safe, but scientific reviews have called the plan "ill-informed." Political and development pressures have slowly whittled away at an urban HCP in Austin, Texas. In Southern California, land set aside as habitat by several small HCPs has gone almost entirely unmanaged and is now covered with trash and invasive species. The litany goes on, prompting a growing number of conservationists to call for sweeping overhaul of the HCP program, including a requirement that the plans actually help recover, rather than just observe the decline of, the species they are meant to protect.

Knock on Wood

Researchers suggest wood as source for ethanol production

Wood could one day join corn as a major source of ethanol, with the production process feeding off a by-product of paper mills. Researchers from the State University of New York estimate that bio-refineries built in already existing paper mills could produce some 2.4 billion gallons of ethanol a year from wood -- roughly 80 percent of the country's projected demand this year. The sugar xylan from trees, when captured and fermented, can be made into ethanol and blended with gasoline; currently, xylan at mills is dissolved and left unused. Bio-refineries could also extract other useful substances from mills' waste products, potentially doubling the paper industry's profits.

Doom and Bloom

Most Mother's Day flowers are far from green

Oodles of Americans will buy flowers for their moms for Mother's Day (that's this Sunday, you slackers), but not many will consider the environmental impacts. Conventionally grown flowers "are such a high-value crop that it takes a huge amount of pesticides to make them perfect," said Pesticide Action Network's Martha Olson Jarocki. And nearly 70 percent of cut flowers sold in the U.S. are imported from countries like Ecuador and Colombia, where labor is cheap and pesticide regulations less stringent. Still, if you're not ready to think outside the bouquet, try buying organic or locally grown blooms, or plan ahead for next year and grow them yourself. Ma will appreciate it -- and even if she doesn't, well, Mother Earth will.