In today’s edition: Reuters reports “Lawmakers urge Obama admin to OK natural gas exports” along with a data-focused offering in “EIA trims US natural gas production, consumption growth outlook.” Around the world, meanwhile, “Basin authority releases final version of Murray-Darling plan” says ABC.
Quote of the Day:
“To us it’s more of the same but worse than before.”
–NSW Farmers Association President Fiona Simson in The Australian’s “Growing tide of anger at Murray rescue plan”
Lead Stories
How to Parse Climate Change and Extreme Weather?
The New York Times
James E. Hansen, the irrepressible NASA scientist who was among the first to sound the alarm about human-caused global warming, has roiled the scientific community again with a new scientific paper explicitly linking high concentrations of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases to recent severe heat waves and drought.
http://jlne.ws/MMG9wu
**RKB – More follow-up on Dr. Hansen. Broder, here, has the election consequences.
Opinion: Fred Krupp: A New Climate-Change Consensus
The Wall Street Journal
One scorching summer doesn’t confirm that climate change is real any more than a white Christmas proves it’s a hoax. What matters is the trend—a decades-long march toward hotter and wilder weather. But with more than 26,000 heat records broken in the last 12 months and pervasive drought turning nearly half of all U.S. counties into federal disaster areas, many data-driven climate skeptics are reassessing the issue.
http://jlne.ws/N20JgH
Reid ‘very confident’ wind credit will clear Senate
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas that he is “very confident” the Senate will extend a crucial wind energy tax credit this year.
http://jlne.ws/OXYd9j
Lawmakers urge Obama to help make nation an exporter of natural gas
The Hill’s E2 Wire
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday urged the Obama administration to green-light liquefied natural-gas facility construction across the country in order to turn the nation into a natural-gas exporter.
http://jlne.ws/MsmP6a
**RKB — Reps. Gene Green (D-Texas) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) spearheaded the letter. Other notable signatories included House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Ralph Hall (R-Texas) and Texas Republican Reps. Ron Paul, Joe Barton and Lamar Smith.
Lawmakers urge Obama admin to OK natural gas exports
Reuters
U.S. lawmakers ratcheted up pressure on the Obama administration on Tuesday to speed approval for companies to export natural gas, arguing it would help relieve a glut dampening output of the fuel.
http://jlne.ws/Rzcj3w
**RKB — Becoming election fodder as well.
EIA trims US natural gas production, consumption growth outlook
Reuters
The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday slightly trimmed its estimate for domestic natural gas production growth in 2012, but still expects output this year to be up 3.8 percent from 2011′s record levels.
http://jlne.ws/RnIdOY
Washington comes down with green fever, expected to survive
Grist.org
Two weeks ago, the Department of the Interior announced plans to open public land to renewable energy projects. Yesterday, it became public that the Department of Defense wanted in.
http://jlne.ws/N22GcY
U.K. Energy Push Draws $2.3 Billion From GDF Suez, BP Plc
Bloomberg
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said GDF Suez (GSZ) and BP Plc (BP/) will invest more than 1.5 billion pounds ($2.3 billion) in the U.K., part of a government effort to support the economy and lure companies to pay for upgrading the nation’s energy infrastructure.
http://jlne.ws/O1kGUM
Morgan Stanley Says Policy Changes Won’t Hurt Ethanol Demand
Bloomberg
Potential changes in a U.S. government mandate for ethanol are unlikely to “materially impact” demand for the gasoline additive made from corn, Morgan Stanley said.
http://jlne.ws/Te4zCC
Basin authority releases final version of Murray-Darling plan
ABC
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority will support a mechanism to adjust the amount of water to be returned to the environment, if the same outcomes can be achieved with less water.
http://jlne.ws/NbLXSG
Growing tide of anger at Murray rescue plan
The Australian
FARMERS, rural communities and green groups are united in opposing the rescue plan for the Murray Darling Basin, saying it doesn’t do enough to quarantine jobs or deal with the environment.
http://jlne.ws/QIOKpT
World Economic Forum Climate Change Council Members Announced: GAIN CEO to Chair and Raise Awareness of Adaptation
Press Release
Global Adaptation Institute (GAIN) Founding CEO Dr. Juan Jose Daboub was recently appointed Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Climate Change of the World Economic Forum (WEF). In the past week, other new council members have been incorporated including Gary Lawrence, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at AECOM, and Richard Saines, Partner and Head of North American Environmental Markets and Climate Change Practice at Baker & McKenzie.
http://jlne.ws/OMNmzK
Events
GreenGov Symposium
ACCO & White House Council on Environmental Quality
September 24-25, 2012
http://jlne.ws/OfOB9D
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
EMA 2012 Fall Meeting
**Keynote speaker is Richard Sandor
October 24 – October 26, 2012
Santa Monica, CA
http://jlne.ws/NIFCwM
Carbon
UN, World Bank Unveil Carbon Finance Program for Philippines Pig Farmers
Environmental Leader
A UN and World Bank initiative has begun providing pig farms with incentives for using Earth-friendly waste treatment facilities.
http://jlne.ws/Te0z51
Natural Gas/Coal
UT study finds earthquakes occur more frequently near injection wells
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
A University of Texas study has found that seismic activity in the Barnett Shale occurred far more frequently than previously reported and that most took place near high-volume injection wells.
http://jlne.ws/NicSui
Environmental concerns shadow Israel’s offshore drilling
Reuters
Israeli officials said they recognise the need to protect the unique and fragile marine environment of the Levant basin in order to ensure the success of the oil and gas industry there.
http://jlne.ws/MisX5I
Inhofe voices ‘serious’ security concerns over Chinese firm’s oil deal
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), citing national-security concerns, is questioning a Chinese oil company’s planned purchase of the Canadian energy firm Nexen Inc., which holds substantial oil-and-gas assets in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://jlne.ws/NmOwOD
India Conditionally Approves Reliance Capex Plan
The Wall Street Journal
India’s oil ministry on Tuesday agreed to conditionally approve the capital expenditure plans of Reliance Industries Ltd. and its partners for a key oil and gas block in the eastern offshore Krishna-Godavari basin, a senior oil ministry official said.
http://jlne.ws/QDqrY7
Power
Gillard Seeks State Help to Curtail Rising Electricity Prices
Bloomberg
Australia, which introduced a price on carbon emissions last month, is seeking help from state governments to improve the efficiency of electricity markets after power bills almost doubled since 2008.
http://jlne.ws/MsKjbb
Solar, wind power get Pentagon boost
San Francisco Chronicle
The U.S. Defense Department will encourage companies to build solar power plants and wind farms on 16 million acres of open land surrounding military bases, making each base less dependent on the nation’s aging electricity grid.
http://jlne.ws/P4MqHX
Mexico goes ahead with wind power project
UPI
Mexico is going ahead with a wind power project at Santa Catarina in the north that will add up to 22 megawatts of electricity generation capacity to the national grid.
http://jlne.ws/RnV6bT
RECs
U.S. Exim Bank to Lend South Africa $2 Billion for Clean Energy
Bloomberg
The U.S. Export-Import Bank signed an agreement to lend South Africa’s Industrial Development Corp. $2 billion to fund clean-energy projects, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
http://jlne.ws/RnCfxx
Reports
Advancing Technology for America’s Transportation Future (Posted August 6, 2012)
http://jlne.ws/MA2U6I
Benchmarking Air Emissions Of the 100 Largest Electric Power Producers in the United States (Posted July 31, 2012)
http://jlne.ws/QbRr0J
Per capita CO2 emissions in China reached European level (July 18, 2012)
http://jlne.ws/NAjBQQ
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
