Thursday, 07 Dec 2006

Friends in Flow Places

U.S. Interior lets oil-industry royalties slip away, investigation says

An eight-month investigation by the U.S. Interior Department's inspector general reveals that Big Oil may be skirting millions of dollars in annual gas and oil royalties while Interior officials grease the skids. Some of the juicier findings: officials said they'd reviewed 72 percent of revenues from leases, but the total is closer to 9 percent of properties and 20 percent of companies. Audits seem to have dipped 22 percent since 2000 -- an exact count was apparently hard to come by -- and the computerized compliance system relies on the word of oil companies, not a review of records. "That gushing sound you hear is our government leaking royalties owed to American taxpayers," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). "They are going to have some explaining to do next year when there's new leadership in Congress." Not content to wait, Interior created its own panel last month to review the situation. What, you're worried that the panel will be led by a former American Petroleum Institute lawyer? Cynic.

Plumb Crazy

U.S. EPA considers delisting lead as an air pollutant

That sound you hear? It's jaws dropping everywhere in response to the U.S. EPA's announcement that it might stop regulating lead as an air pollutant. Citing the fact that concentrations of the toxic heavy metal in the air have dropped 90 percent since 1980, and using logic we can only assume was supplied by EPA administrator Stephen Johnson's six-year-old granddaughter, the agency says lifting the national standard may be justified "given the significantly changed circumstances since lead was listed [as an air pollutant] in 1976." In other words, listing it worked so well, we might as well delist it. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who's set to take over the House Committee on Government Reform, told Johnson "this deregulatory effort cannot be defended" and urged the agency to "renounce this dangerous proposal immediately." Meanwhile, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is recommending that lead be banned from children's jewelry. Because. Lead. Is. Poisonous. Now close your mouth.


So far, we've spent a lot of our biofuels series talking about big corporations getting on board for the renewable-fuel revolution. But what about the little guys? Across the U.S., small-scale biofuel production is going strong, powering cars and homes in unexpected places. Today we profile entrepreneurs in Seattle, Atlanta, and western Massachusetts who are flying their fuel flags high. Oh, and because we love to hurl information at you, we've also put together a glossary of biofuel-related terms, with a couple of short videos from Current TV. Watch and learn!

The Good Phyto

Global warming affects ocean's tiny plants, which could affect global warming

Proving that big things do come in small packages, researchers say global warming could hobble the teeniest marine organisms, phytoplankton -- which could, in turn, lead to more warming. Whuh-huh? Well, these wee plants not only make a tasty sea snack, they provide a vital piece of climate-change resistance by absorbing carbon dioxide -- more than 100 million metric tons a day, accounting for about half of the photosynthesis occurring on the planet. But a decade worth of satellite data analyzed by a team from Oregon State University shows that the plants' productivity slows when sea temperatures rise. The data, said lead author Michael Behrenfeld, "clearly showed that overall ocean productivity decreases when the climate warms." Besides worrying about the food chain, researchers fear a vicious climate cycle: warming leads to less carbon-sucking, which leaves more carbon in the air, which leads to more warming, which leads to ... less carbon-sucking. O phytoplankton, we hardly knew ye.

Bra-vo

Victoria's Secret pledges to end use of endangered-forest paper in catalogs

The parent company of sexed-up retailer Victoria's Secret announced yesterday that it will nip a bad trend in the bud: sourcing its catalog paper from endangered forests. Succumbing to two years of pestering from ForestEthics and other green groups, U.S.-based Limited Brands agreed to stop supporting suppliers who log in at-risk boreal forest and rainforest in Alberta and British Columbia, unless the paper is Forest Stewardship Council-certified. To fill the void, the company will aim to use at least 10 percent post-consumer recycled waste in the more than 360 million soft-pornalogs Victoria's Secret sends out yearly. Limited Brands has "set a new standard, one that we expect other major catalog companies to meet or exceed," says Todd Paglia, ForestEthics executive director. As we take a look in Gristmill at companies whose catalog ethics could use a boost, we wonder: did anyone ask the trees whether they prefer storing carbon to hobnobbing with nearly nude models? Didn't think so.