Updated : Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:11:48 PDT
President-elect Barack Obama will not attend the United Nations climate conference in Poland next month nor send a delegation on his administration’s behalf, the U.N. climate chief announced today. Many climate activists had high hopes that whoever was elected to succeed President Bush would attend the conference as a way to jumpstart the sluggish talks. Explaining his decision, Obama said, “There is one president at a time.”
source: Reuters
Publ.Date : Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:11:40 PDT
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg outlined a new, voluntary plan to encourage taxi-fleet owners to use hybrid vehicles after the city’s initial plan to dramatically increase taxi fuel-efficiency was struck down by a federal judge last month.
source: The New York Times
Publ.Date : Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:11:42 PDT
Representatives from some 46 nations are meeting this week in Morocco to try to hash out an agreement on stemming overfishing of imperiled bluefin tuna while still keeping the bluefin fishing industry alive. Experts say the sustainable catch limit in the Mediterranean Sea should be about 15,000 tons a year, but last year fleets caught an estimated 61,000 tons.
source: Agence France-Presse
Publ.Date : Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:11:59 PDT
As wildfires rage in southern California, concerns are burgeoning about the chemical mix that firefolk drop as a fire retardant. It’s “fairly well known that it’s toxic to aquatic organisms, to fish,” says one fire management officer; nonetheless, notes another firefighter, “It’s the people whose houses are not on fire that are concerned about it.”
source: The New York Times
see also, in Grist: U.S. forest official narrowly escapes being jailed over fish-killing flame retardant
Publ.Date : Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:11:37 PDT
The Bush administration on Monday cleared the way for tens of thousands of acres in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming to be used for oil-shale development, publishing final rules governing how federal land will be leased for extraction of the expensive, pollute-y, only recently un-banned fuel source. Companies tapping into oil shale will have to pay far less in royalties than the going rate for conventional gas and oil. Still, commercial oil-shale leasing is at least five to 10 years off.
sources: The Salt Lake Tribune, Denver Business Journal, Associated Press
see also, in Grist: It’s a 1980 flashback, as energy price spikes make oil shale economical once again
Publ.Date : Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:11:22 PDT
A bill that would protect hundreds of miles of public land is being put on hold until the new year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday. The Omnibus Public Land Management Act passed out of committee with bipartisan support, but Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has threatened to filibuster over concerns that it will stymie oil and gas development. Congress doesn’t have the time to deal with Coburn’s shenanigans this month, says Reid, but the bill will be top priority next year.
sources: CQ Politics, Casper Star-Tribune, Mail Tribune
Publ.Date : Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:11:13 PDT
It’s the 21st century, folks — text with your hitchhiker’s thumb. An iPhone application called Avego will soon be available to hook up drivers with those who need rides, helpfully suggesting a safe place to pull over and calculating the split cost between driver and rider. No word on how it’ll go over in Ontario, which recently effectively made ridesharing illegal.
sources: Los Angeles Times, Avego
Publ.Date : Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:11:20 PDT
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