Environmental Law

In The News (October 6)

By Dennis Pfaff and Kevin Livingston, Editors

• Federal officials have agreed to a June 2009 deadline for determining "critical habitat" for polar bears, which were declared "threatened" earlier this year because of melting sea ice; the date is contained in a court agreement with environmentalists who sued seeking the animals' protection. Environmental groups involved in the case issued a statement saying the pact would help strengthen protections for the bears but noting that other elements of the continuing litigation remain unresolved.   
• New Jersey regulators have awarded the rights for construction of a $1 billion offshore wind farm, located 16 to 20 miles off the coast; it's a move that could prompt New York officials to take similar action regarding proposals for projects off that state's shoreline, reports The New York Times. And there might be potential for other East Coast projects and companies, according to this take on the situation from the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal.
• U.S. energy officials have announced federal awards for research and development of enhanced geothermal systems that will result in more than $78 million -- including more than $43 million from the government -- in spending on next-generation technologies, from a U.S. Department of Energy statement. 
• Here's further concern that the global financial situation might interfere with the fight against climate change, with the United Nation's climate chief saying he's worried about the impact of the credit crisis on international action to deal with global warming, according to this Reuters dispatch.
• But even as everything economic seems to be plunging downward, the prices for carbon offsets are strong, and even going up, according to this look at the phenomenon from the Washington Post.
• The maritime industry's top regulating body this week considers how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships, possibly by including the sector for the first time in an emissions trading scheme, in another report from Reuters.
• And, just in case the news wasn't gloomy enough, here's word that negotiations on a new agreement to combat global warming "could end in disastrous failure" -- the warning coming from China's top climate change envoy, as reported, again, by Reuters.
• GE Energy has announced it has received more than one gigawatt of commitments for its "2.5xl" wind turbine over the next year and a half -- enough to supply a million German homes, as reported by Clean Edge News. 
• The venture capital titans of California's Silicon Valley are betting heavily on a green energy revolution, as this visit to the "ski chalet of capitalism" by The New York Times Magazine shows.
• Solar energy isn't just for sunny California anymore, apparently, as even places like Long Island have experienced a dramatic increase in rooftop installations, reports The New York Times.
• Climate change can manifest itself in all sorts of ways, including threatening the livelihoods of Peruvian potato farmers, as revealed by this story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
• A lucrative tax biofuels benefit known as "splash and dash" that has been criticized by the European Union will end under the new renewable energy tax provisions in the bailout bill passed by Congress last week, according to Reuters.  

Full post as published by Climate Law Update on October 06, 2008 (boomark / email).