In today’s edition, prospects for a carbon tax are covered in Politico’s “Low-key carbon tax talks fuel conservative outcry” and The Hill’s “GOP leaders slam the door on carbon taxes.” The Houston Chronicle offers “Natural gas glut a dilemma for Obama” and the AP says “Cheaper natural gas won’t lower power costs.”
Quote of the Day:
“Last time the cycle was this bad, the problems were essentially just cyclical. This time the major secular trends are far more likely to be unfavorable for years to come.”
Wilbur Ross in Bloomberg’s “Wilbur Ross Says U.S. Coal Is Facing Years of Headwinds”
Lead Stories
Low-key carbon tax talks fuel conservative outcry
Politico
Nobody expects the idea to be enacted anytime soon, but some liberal and conservative thinkers are having a quiet, informal dialogue about imposing a tax on industrial carbon emissions.
http://jlne.ws/MBz9jO
GOP leaders slam the door on carbon taxes
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Capitol Hill’s most powerful Republicans say advocates who have been discussing a carbon tax behind closed doors are wasting their breath.
http://jlne.ws/O5GcUd
Mexico’s historic climate law: an analysis
Environmental Defense Fund
While environmental issues were not center stage in Mexico’s recent election, Mexico’s new president, whether he is yet aware of it or not, will inherit a tremendous opportunity for win-wins on environmental stewardship and combating the country’s pressing economic challenges through Mexico’s new climate law.
http://jlne.ws/Ne3Rpl
Merkel warns of global warming if no climate accord
Reuters
Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Monday that global warming will accelerate at a dramatic rate unless leaders reach a deal on limiting greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible.
http://jlne.ws/NsmsfN
Wilbur Ross Says U.S. Coal Is Facing Years of Headwinds
Bloomberg
Billionaire Wilbur Ross, who built a company from distressed U.S. coal assets and sold it last year for $3.4 billion, says the industry’s current slump differs from earlier setbacks and may last for years because of the shale-gas boom.
http://jlne.ws/MruyTW
Natural gas glut a dilemma for Obama
Houston Chronicle
The drilling boom that has led to a glut of natural gas and sent prices to 10-year lows is causing a quandary for the Obama administration, which is struggling to decide whether – and how much – the U.S. should share the bounty with foreign countries.
http://jlne.ws/LVK2n2
Cheaper natural gas won’t lower power costs
AP
A plunge in the price of natural gas has made it cheaper for utilities to produce electricity. But the savings aren’t translating to lower rates for customers. Instead, prices for U.S. electricity are going up.
http://jlne.ws/Muq171
Israel, European Commission Agree to Expand Water Collaborations
Bloomberg
Israel and the European Commission agreed to a five-year plan to expand collaborative efforts to develop sustainable water supplies such as desalination and boost energy-efficiency efforts.
http://jlne.ws/OD15nW
Washington State Awards $82 Million for Clean Water Projects
Bloomberg
Washington has finalized $82 million in awards for low-interest loans and grants earmarked for 57 clean water projects across the state ranging from upgrading sewer plants to water re-use facilities.
http://jlne.ws/NANpyO
Bottled-Water Habit Keeps Tight Grip on Mexicans
The New York Times
Drinking bottled water is one thing. But bathing one’s baby in it? In Mexico, the world’s largest per capita consumer of bottled water, anything goes.
http://jlne.ws/Q0JuMN
Events
Carbon Forum North America
October 1-2, 2012
Washington, DC
http://jlne.ws/zDe43B
Sustainability Summit – Innovation Challenge
October 9, 2012
New York
http://jlne.ws/wKbX7U
Carbon
Australian CFOs Least Optimistic Since 2009
CNBC
A deteriorating global economy is hurting sentiment among Australian financial executives, bringing optimism to the lowest levels since 2009, a new survey shows.
http://jlne.ws/Q3rgva
Opinions Divided on Climate Change and CCS in Saskatchewan
Press Release
Saskatchewan residents have strong but divided opinions about climate change and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, concludes a public opinion survey commissioned by IPAC-CO2 Research Inc. released today.
http://jlne.ws/NAND9e
Industry welcomes ICAO CO2 standard
Air Transport World
IATA said it expects ICAO to fully develop a standard for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by the end of 2013, a move that is being welcomed by airlines and industry but which so far does not seem to have prompted the European Commission (EC) to change track on its emissions trading scheme.
http://jlne.ws/O4ZlHB
Natural Gas/Coal
Has Obama declared a “war on coal?”
CBS News
Can Mitt Romney win Ohio by convincing voters in this economically-depressed Appalachian town and those like it that President Obama has declared a “war on coal?” That’s the message coming from Romney’s Ohio campaign manager, Scott Jennings, who argued in an interview that Mr. Obama’s “hostility to domestic oil production” – particularly when it comes to coal – will help put Romney over the top in this pivotal swing state. Mr. Obama is holding a campaign event in Cincinnati on Monday.
http://jlne.ws/Q0LiFw
Cornell professor: Switching from coal to natural gas would cut greenhouse gases 40 percent
Syracuse Post-Standard
Switching from coal to natural gas will cut greenhouse gases 40 percent, even if getting the natural gas requires hydrofracking, a Cornell University professor said in a recently published paper.
http://jlne.ws/MdSQlX
Ill. EPA to rethink pollution permit for downstate coal-to-gas plant
Morris Daily Herald
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will reconsider an air pollution permit it granted to Tenaska Inc. in April for a coal-to-gas plant proposed for Taylorville near Springfield.
http://jlne.ws/NxKPHP
Power
Germany’s Altmaier Urged to Boost Energy-Saving Measures by BUND
Bloomberg
German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier, who told Bild newspaper the nation may miss energy- efficiency targets, was urged to introduce stricter measures to reduce power use by environmental group BUND.
http://jlne.ws/M4AYrl
U.K. Waste-to-Energy Plant at Navy Base Gets $244 Million Loan
Bloomberg
KfW IPEX Bank GmbH, the export credit unit of Germany’s development lender KfW Group, and Svenska Handelsbanken AB will loan 200 million euros ($244 million) to a U.K. project to create energy from waste.
http://jlne.ws/SDZaV3
U.K. to Spend 22 Billion Pounds Upgrading Gas, Power Networks
Bloomberg
About 22 billion pounds ($34.2 billion) will be needed to upgrade Britain’s aging gas and electricity networks, the Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets said today.
http://jlne.ws/MruxiQ
Judgement Day looms for wind industry as subsidy row enters final straight
Business Green
The Treasury has once again refused to explain its influence on low-carbon energy subsidies to MPs, as the government prepares to unveil changes to the renewable energy incentive regime.
http://jlne.ws/Pb2ZAQ
CleanTech
Apple: Withdrawing green certification a ‘mistake’
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Apple reversed itself on Monday and said its decision to withdraw from an environmental certification program was a “mistake.”
http://jlne.ws/Mrv4Bc
Miscellaneous
World Records Fourth-Warmest June Since 1880, U.S. Agency Says
Bloomberg
The month of June globally was the fourth-warmest on record since 1880 and the 328th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
http://jlne.ws/NAMz57
Worst-in-Generation Drought Dims U.S. Farm Economy Hopes
Bloomberg
A worst-in-a-generation drought from Indiana to Arkansas to California is damaging crops and rural economies and threatening to drive food prices to record levels. Agriculture, though a small part of the $15.5 trillion U.S. economy, had been one of the most resilient industries in the past three years as the country struggled to recover from the recession.
http://jlne.ws/NPHRPE
Fugitive Methane Caught in the Act of Raising GHG
Forbes Contributor
It may turn out that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are higher from using natural gas to produce electricity than from using coal. Or are they?
http://jlne.ws/NEmltd
Reports
The Interim Regulation of Voluntary Greenhouse Gases Emission Trading in China (Posted July 10, 2012)
The Climate Group
http://jlne.ws/Mhv62s
Measure for Management: C40 Cities (July 9, 2012)
Carbon Disclosure Project
http://jlne.ws/L9LC37
Characterizing Pivotal Sources of Methane Emissions from Unconventional Natural Gas Production (Posted June 4, 2012)
API, ANGA
http://jlne.ws/M6RzMQ
Vulnerability of US and European electricity supply to climate change (Posted June 4, 2012)
Nature Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/L3Slcb
Developing Dimension: State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2012 (Posted May 31, 2012)
Ecosystem Marketplace
http://jlne.ws/JQ18Bv
Tackling exposure: placing disaster risk management at the heart of national economic and fiscal policy (Posted May 22, 2012)
http://jlne.ws/JArFwf
Fossil fuel price shocks and a low carbon economy (Posted May 21, 2012)
Oxford/DECC
http://jlne.ws/JgVKG9
Using the Allowance Value from California’s Carbon Trading System: Legal Risk Factors, Impacts to Ratepayers and the Economy (Posted May 17, 2012)
Next10
http://jlne.ws/KEYcW5.
Inclusive Green Growth: The Pathways to Sustainable Development (Posted May 9, 2012)
World Bank
http://jlne.ws/IJXP8B
Meeting Canada’s 2020 Climate Change Commitments (Posted May 8, 2012)
Office of Auditor General
http://jlne.ws/K9Lxvd
