Wednesday, 14 Mar 2007

A Little Light Music

U.S., E.U. push phaseout of incandescent bulbs, U.K. gets serious about carbon

The world is seeing the energy-efficient light: a U.S. coalition including Philips Lighting and the Natural Resources Defense Council will push to phase out incandescent bulbs by 2016. And following the lead of Australia and California, European Union leaders have proposed ditching the bulbs even sooner, a plan that could reduce E.U. carbon emissions up to 25 million tons a year. E.U. President Angela Merkel, who uses energy-saving bulbs at home, offered her pitch: they're "not quite bright enough, so sometimes when I'm looking for something that's dropped on the carpet I have a bit of a problem." Uh ... moving on. Yesterday, the British government proposed first-of-its-kind legislation to reduce the nation's CO2 emissions 60 percent by 2050 with a series of five-year "carbon budgets." While some wish the target were more ambitious, Prime Minister Tony Blair declared the bill -- which could become law by early next year -- a "revolutionary step" that "sets an example to the rest of the world."

Not So Fast

Environmentalists take EPA, Interior Department to task

Remember when U.S. agencies used to be able to get away with their nefarious eco-deeds? Like, for the last seven years or so? The times might just be changing. Deed one: the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management decided, after 20 years, to reactivate 23 drilling leases in areas of Utah that have since been protected, including Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Smackdown: three green groups, not buying BLM's explanation that it was merely correcting a failure to decide on the leases in the 1980s, filed suit today. Deed two: the Environmental Protection Agency set emissions standards for brick and ceramics plants without bothering to heed the Clean Air Act or a court's instructions to do so. Smackdown: a federal appeals court ordered the EPA to obey the Clean Air Act and take any objections up with Congress. "This decision is not just about brick kilns," said lawyer James Pew. "It is about an agency that thinks it is above the law."


Unless you're living in a bubble, it's pretty likely that you use plastic every day (and if you are living in a bubble, it's probably made of the stuff). The world's love affair with this magical material contributes to our pathetic petroleum addiction -- but to what extent? A reader asks advice maven Umbra Fisk exactly how much oil goes into the manufacturing of plastic, and Umbra breaks it all down.

Nothing to Fear But Corps Itself

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decisions continue to befuddle

Let it not be said that Hurricane Katrina's lessons didn't sink in. For example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers learned that it's good to look prepared, even if you aren't -- so it (apparently knowingly) installed 34 defective pumps in New Orleans before the 2006 hurricane season. The season was mild, so the Corps now has time to fix the gadgets' overheating engines, broken hoses, and blown gaskets for the 2007 season. (The pumps were made by a company run by a former business partner of Jeb Bush. We're just saying.) The Corps also learned that developing wetlands is bad, bad, bad. That's why it just issued controversial regulations allowing development on some flood plains to proceed without environmental reviews. Curiously, Corps officials say the rule -- which guides projects that fill less than half an acre of wetlands or less than 300 feet of a stream -- will deter building on bigger wetlands parcels by allowing it on small ones. It's a wonder their brains don't burst from all that logic.

On a Bing and an Err

Stanford and U.C. Berkeley criticized for partnerships with Big Oil

Movie producer Steve Bing has yanked a promised $2.5 million donation to Stanford University in response to several TV and print ads wherein ExxonMobil touts its partnership with the school. Exxon is funding up to $100 million of Stanford's climate and energy research; Bing, whose family has given millions to his alma mater, is unimpressed. "ExxonMobil is trying to greenwash itself, and it's using Stanford as its brush," says Bing's spokesperson. In light of the Bing thing, concerns have risen about academic integrity in a just-announced 10-year, $500 million deal between BP and U.C. Berkeley, which would create an energy institute focusing on creation of genetically modified crops for biofuels. Asks one associate professor, "If we signed the agreement, can anyone seriously imagine that Berkeley would be in a position to undertake significant research to show the problems with the BP strategy?" Uh, problems with BP strategies? As if.