Monday, 27 Nov 2006

Thank You, Sir, May I Have Another

As climate evidence solidifies, some U.S. energy companies request regulations

This climate-change conspiracy is getting elaborate: now leaders of some of the largest energy companies in the U.S. are in on it. Faced with a mish-mash of state-level regulations, behemoths like Shell Oil and Duke Energy are pushing for a federal cap on greenhouse-gas emissions, and an end to climate squabbling. "From Shell's point of view, the debate is over," company president John Hofmeister said recently at the National Press Club. "When 98 percent of scientists agree, who is Shell to say, 'Let's debate the science'?" As other businesses, including ski resorts and hydroelectric plants, wrap climate concerns into their planning, the Supreme Court is preparing to hear a case this week on whether the EPA should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Meanwhile, a recent review of 866 studies on the effects of the global-warming crisis on wildlife says it has likely caused the extinction of some species and mass migration of others. Did we say "crisis"? We meant to say conspiracy.


Sam Pratt spent six years fighting the polluting plans of the largest cement company in the world. His story, and that of fellow citizens of Hudson, N.Y., is featured in the soon-to-air PBS documentary Two Square Miles. As InterActivist this week, Pratt speaks out about accidental activism, his embarrassing furniture, and why he's proud to be known as the guy who "will never be satisfied." Send Pratt a question by noon PST on Wednesday; we'll publish his answers to selected questions on Friday.

Nothing New Under the Sea

After days of negotiations, U.N. fails to pass high-seas bottom-trawling ban

In a roughy outcome for conservationists, the U.N. failed to adopt a high-seas bottom-trawling ban supported by countries including the U.S. and Australia. The controversial fishing method, currently used by 11 countries including ban-busters Iceland and Russia, involves dragging vast nets and coral-crunching rollers across the sea floor. It has been deemed "highly destructive" and "likely to pose significant risks to [deep-sea] biodiversity, including the risk of species extinction" by the World Conservation Union, and more than 60 conservation groups had spent over two years lobbying for the ban. But the final agreement, reached after days of negotiations, relies on regional fisheries management groups to monitor the practice instead. Such groups oversee a mere 25 percent of the high seas. The new deal "has more loopholes in it than a fisherman's sweater," says Karen Sack, oceans policy adviser for Greenpeace. "It's exactly what states are supposed to be doing anyway. It's nothing new."


When winter's breezes blow, don't just shiver there -- do something about it. Today advice maven Umbra Fisk helps a homeowner in Georgia figure out how to use weather-stripping to seal the spaces where the cold sneaks in. (Really? Georgia gets cold? There go all our relocation plans.)

For Every Action, There's a Reactor

Russian spy death linked to nuclear black market, and other glowings-on

Oh, nuclear -- will it ever cease to amaze? As authorities probe the radiation-poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, they've suggested a link to Russia's robust radioactive-materials black market. The market's deals, said an International Atomic Energy Agency rep, "are of little concern [terrorism-wise], but they show security vulnerabilities at facilities." That's a comfort. In other storage news, incoming U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he'd rather leave 50,000 tons of waste at 65 plants in 31 states than pass the feds' flawed plan to dump it all at his state's Yucca Mountain. No doubt easing his mind, the U.S. EPA is expected to issue a waste-disposal rule soon that's intended to cover the next million years. Meanwhile, in Australia, nuclear task force head Ziggy Switkowski (!) says the country's first reactors could come online in a decade. Said Labor Party leader (and fun-stopper) Kim Beazley, "We are not a nation that needs to go down that road."