Wednesday, 07 Jun 2006

"[E]nergy is the albatross of American national security," says Sen. Dick Lugar, Republican of Indiana. Not surprisingly, this farm-state legislator thinks biofuels are the best way to cut U.S. oil use, but he's also backed recent efforts to raise auto fuel-economy standards. Oh, and drill in the Arctic Refuge. Lugar talks with Amanda Griscom Little about ethanol, Bush's energy policy, and his beloved Prius.

That Thing Utah Do!

Bill to sell federal land in Utah could set off cascade of land sales

In the American West, many of the fastest-growing regions contain the most federally owned land, which limits expansion. This puts developers, local officials, and the vacation-home set in conflict with the public interest, and ... well, we hardly need to finish that sentence, right? Some members of Congress from Western states are getting the itch to sell off public land to make more room for development, and a new bill proposed by a senator and rep from Utah is widely seen as a test of their ability to get away with it. The Utahans want to sell off up to 40 square miles of federally owned land in Washington County -- which is 87 percent federally owned -- and use the proceeds to finance local development (instead of putting the money in the federal treasury). The plan would designate 219,000 acres of wilderness too, but most of that land is already protected; it would also create a threatened tortoise preserve and, um, put a highway through it. The fate of the bill will be watched closely by nearly a dozen other rural Western counties in similar situations.


The table is set, the organic roses are in place, and it's time to dim the lights for a romantic dinner with your main squeeze. But wait! Avast! Ahoy! Your bulbs are all compact fluorescents, and everyone knows you can't use those in a dimmer. Or can you? Advice maven Umbra Fisk dons her satin evening gloves and perches on your loveseat to offer an answer.

Shiver Our Timbers

Washington state timber industry gets exemption from species act

For the next 50 years, the Washington state timber industry will be shielded from prosecution under the Endangered Species Act for harming salmon. In return, the industry has agreed to help the fish by leaving more trees standing near critical streams, reducing logging on unstable slopes, and controlling sediment runoff. The deal, signed by the feds on Monday, applies to 9.3 million acres of timberland and 60,000 miles of streams in the state. But (there's always a but) Native American tribes have calculated that up to 35 percent of that land may remain unprotected, as the deal gives breaks to landowners who have 20 acres or less. The initial proposal was approved by the state in 1999, despite bad reviews from two panels and a letter written by 28 scientists to Washington's then-governor stating that the pact had "a low probability of achieving its goals." Proponents promise that uncertainties will be studied and salmon protection increased if need be, but tribes and many enviros are skeptical.

Train of Thoughtless

Railroad from Beijing to Tibet tries to outmaneuver climate change

A railroad connecting Beijing, China, to Lhasa, Tibet, has been completed, despite considerable political and environmental obstacles. The project, conceived over 40 years ago by Mao Zedong, is a symbol of Chinese domination and has faced opposition from proponents of Tibetan independence. The railroad runs through seismically active areas, climbs over a mountain pass that reaches 16,900 feet, and crosses permafrost that could move as much as 15 feet over time as it thaws and refreezes. To adapt, Chinese scientists pushed the project budget up nearly 50 percent, to roughly $4.2 billion, by designing a refrigeration system (!) to keep ground underneath some portions of the railroad frozen as the globe warms. They predicted the rate of climate change at exactly 3.6 degrees over 100 years -- if global warming accelerates faster than expected, the railroad could be defunct within a decade. If all goes "well," plans are in the works for luxury resorts and other developments along the route, bringing tourists to Tibet whether nomadic herders want them or not.