Environmental Policy

Arctic Ocean acidification

After three years of ongoing research by an international team of scientists, a study commissioned for a first-ever comprehensive assessment of Arctic Ocean acidification was presented last week.[read more]

renewable energy/shutterstock

Renewable energy is ideologically very attractive. But such ideological perfection can easily switch off the critical thinking of environmentally-conscious individuals and this is exactly what we are seeing at the moment.[read more]

carbon emissions/shutterstock

There is vastly more carbon in the ground than can safely be put into the atmosphere, whatever temperature limit you think there should be. Policy should seek to ensure the available carbon budget is used as wisely as possible.[read more]

E15 fuel/shutterstock

EPA approved E15 for the marketplace knowing that automotive and fuels experts were still studying its impacts. Rather than acknowledge approval was premature, EPA and DOE instead attack the research and the researchers.[read more]

natural gas well entrance

Just released federal government draft rules for fracking fail to protect people from harm. Instead the rules protect the oil and gas industry from having to follow strong public health and environmental standards.[read more]

South Korean carbon emissions

With roughly 18 months until launch, South Korea appears ready to create the world’s most ambitious cap and trade market, with the highest global price on carbon.[read more]

new DOE Secretary Moniz

The budget proposal for FY2014 would give Moniz a solid start in advancing the low-carbon economy, by increasing funding for renewable energy, advanced vehicle research and development, and energy efficiency programs.[read more]

Tom Reichner / Shutterstock.com

BLM’s aim with this rule, compared to a previous version, was to take hydraulic fracturing regulation in a better direction – acknowledging the role of the states and measures including FracFocus.org, the online fracking fluid registry.[read more]

atmospheric CO2

Our goal to be avoided, 450 ppm, is now feeling a bit close for comfort, given we are already at 400 ppm and 300 ppm was only passed under the previous British monarch.[read more]

fracking/shutterstock

Complaints by both sides over the Obama administration’s newly updated draft of fracking rules on public and Indian lands signals the Interior Department has found enough common ground to raise the bar on drilling operations.[read more]

arctic drilling risks

New policy emphasizes U.S. security interests in the Arctic. That makes sense in the light of the Arctic’s international significance. But the administration’s plan makes the mistake of equating security with drilling for oil in the region.[read more]

Alberta Tar Sands

Time for a tar sands reality check.Here's the top 10 reasons Canada needs to rethink their unrelenting desire to expand tar sands operations.[read more]

rendering of Belo Monte Dam

Large hydropower projects are the bedrock of clean energy production, by virtue of their sheer size and reliance upon natural rainfall. But climate change's effects on rain patterns could affect new hydropower projects.[read more]

RGGI's new cap rules

RGGI’s new cap not only falls short of creating real price pressures due to its closeness to baseline emissions, its excessive compensatory measures, and its failure to deal with leakage, but also runs the risk of locking in emissions.[read more]

oil production/shutterstock

An all-of-the-above approach to energy encompassing oil and gas, along with renewables, carbon sequestration, nuclear power and efficiency is fully consistent with addressing climate change.[read more]