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Ottawa Wades Into Oilsands Debate

A National Geographic article highlighting the environmental toll of the Alberta oilsands is a crippling blow to the industry, columnist Don Martin writes. (photograph: Rick MacWilliam, Edmonton Journal)

OTTAWA - The House of Commons environment committee is wading into a raging public relations war over the Alberta oilsands with a study of the industry's impact on water resources.

The MP who proposed the study is Montreal-area Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia. In an interview, he said he assured Conservative MPs - sensitive about an industry in the heart of their political bastion - that the study "is not about a witch hunt" in a sector of the energy industry that some environmentalists are campaigning to have shut down.

Posted in conservation, Energy, Environment, Indigenous peoples, oil, oil sands

Obama Unlikely to Wade Into Oil Sands Debate

WASHINGTON - The issue of Canada's carbon-heavy oil sands may be stickier than ever as Barack Obama readies for his lightning visit to Ottawa tomorrow.

But as environmental pressure mounts on the U.S. president to adopt a hard line against Alberta's "dirty oil," sources in Washington expect Obama to sidestep the question so as not to sully a journey intended to send a positive message of renewed Canada-U.S. engagement.

Posted in Energy, Environment, obama, oil sands

Activists Push for Offshore Energy Drilling Ban

With offshore oil platforms seen in the distance, a group of students from the Crane Country Day School surf team play in the water Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009 in Santa Barbara, Calif. The State Lands Commission meets in Santa Barbara Thursday to vote on whether to lift the moratorium on offshore oil drilling that has been in place for nearly 40 years. (AP Photo/Michael A. Mariant)

WASHINGTON - Environmental advocates urged Congress yesterday to reinstate the broad moratorium on offshore oil drilling, but a key congressman said on that issue, "The ship may have already sailed."

Representative Nick Rahall, Democrat of West Virginia, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said the political reality is that the broad moratorium across 85 percent of the country's Outer Continental Shelf lifted by Congress last fall is unlikely to be reimposed.

Posted in Energy, Environment, offshore drilling

The Human Cost of Bush's Arctic Policy

Wainwright, Alaska - "We'll have to give you an Eskimo name if you like our food!" Kenneth "Kenny" Tagarook teased as he sliced another piece of frozen raw caribou meat for me with his ulu - a hand-sized, flat piece of metal with a small handle opposite the sharp, curved edge.

Kenny and his wife Ann are Inupiat ("In-OU-pe-at" or "Eskimo"). They are hosting me and Kenny's cousin Rosemary Ahtuangaruak during our visit in Wainwright. The village of 520 mostly Inupiat people lies along Alaska's North Slope over 200 miles above the Arctic Circle.

Posted in conservation, Energy, Environment, Human Rights, offshore drilling, oil

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2009
4:02 PM

CONTACT: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Erin Allweiss, NRDC, 202-513-6254

Salazar Announcement Shows New Approach to Offshore Energy at Department of Interior

WASHINGTON - February 10 - Department of Interior Secretary Salazar announced today that he is going to take a thorough review of the five-year OCS oil and gas leasing program that was announced in the final days of the Bush administration.  

Following is a statement by Wesley Warren, director of programs for the Natural Resources Defense Council:  

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The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Links:
Posted in Energy, Environent, offshore drilling

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2009
12:00 PM

CONTACT: National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)
Lynn Davis, Nevada Program Manager, National Parks Conservation Association, 702-318-6524, cell: 702-281-7380

Great Basin National Park Spared from Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant

Statement by NPCA Nevada Program Manager Lynn Davis

WASHINGTON - February 10 - The National Parks Conservation Association applauds the recent decision to postpone the development of the Ely Energy Center, which threatened to degrade the air quality in Great Basin, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.

Visitors go to our national parks expecting fresh, clean air, and breathtaking views, and this decision is critical to helping ensure that the air in our parks is healthy for our children and grandchildren to enjoy.

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NPCA is a non-profit, private organization dedicated to protecting, preserving, and enhancing the U.S. National Park System.
National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) Links:
Posted in coal, conservation, Energy, Environment

Opponents in Missouri Mobilize Over Positioning Nuke Plants as 'Clean'

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo county, California. \"Nuclear certainly isn't a clean energy source,\" said Alan Nogee, Clean Energy Program Director for the Union of Concerned Scientists. When the "Clean and Renewable Energy Construction Act" was introduced in the Missouri Senate, the bill's title evoked images of new wind turbines sprouting from the northwest Missouri plains and solar panels lining St. Louis rooftops.

A more fitting image might be two more massive cooling towers rising in Callaway County.
Posted in Energy, nuclear power, nuclear waste, renewable energy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2009
10:51 AM

CONTACT: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Erin Allweiss, 202-513-6254 or 202-277-8370 (cell)

Senate Passes Recovery Package, Makes Down Payment on Clean Energy Future

WASHINGTON - February 10 - In response to Senate passage of the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009," Wesley Warren, Director of Programs for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), issued the following statement:

"Passing this bill shows that the Senate recognizes we can't wait any longer to start our economic recovery and invest in a clean energy future. The recovery package includes significant investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency, which will save consumers money and create millions of jobs that can't be shipped overseas.

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The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Links:
Posted in Economy/Trade, Energy

US Environmentalists Hail Halt of Land Lease for Gas Drilling

The North Window of the Turret Arch in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah in 2002. US environmentalists including actor Robert Redford have hailed US President Barack Obama's administration's reversal of a Bush-era move to lease wilderness land in Utah to energy companies. (AFP/File/Gero Breloer)

WASHINGTON - US environmentalists have been celebrating after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reversed a move by the previous administration to lease wilderness land in Utah to energy companies for exploration.

Salazar on Wednesday ordered the Bureau of Land Management "not to accept the bids on 77 parcels" that, he said, the Bush administration had rushed to sell off in its dying days in office.

Posted in conservation, Energy, Environment, mining

Environmental Activists Bring Coal Fight to Seacoast

Larry Gibson of Dorothy, W.Va., overlooks the Kayford mountaintop removal mining site. Gibson, whose family has owned land here for 235 years, calls the method as \"the genocide of Appalachia.\" (Jeff Gentner / AP file)

There's 600 miles as the crow flies between New Hampshire and West Virginia's mountain coal country. Worlds apart. No connection beyond a national affiliation.

Posted in Activism, coal, Energy, mountain top removal
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