October 9, 2009 - The sightings of 10-20 great white sharks off Chatham this past summer had some locals thnking that a warming Atlantic Ocean might have been a factor. Now comes a report in the journal Global Change Biology. University of British Columbia researchers used a computer model to analyze data on 1,066 fish species ranging from sharks to shrimplike creatures at the bottom of the food chain. By 2055 they predict that countries like China, Chile, Indonesia and the United States (excepting Alaska and Hawaii) will see catches decline, while catches off Alaska, Greenland, Norway and Russia will rise. Here's the complete writeup from Cornelia Dean of the NY Times.

September 30, 2009 - The US Chamber of Commerce is being criticized and losing members because of its failure to support legislation limiting the emission of greenhouse gases even as it voices support for projects like Cape Wind. Bill Kovacs,Sr VP Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs for the Chamber writes the following in a recent blog post:

It has been a long, hard road for Cape Wind, but finally the light at the end of the tunnel is beginning to shine after years of environmental permitting challenges and activist opposition. Since 2001, the Cape Wind project has undergone a comprehensive federal and state permitting review. Opponents of the project have sued over allegations that the turbines would pose navigational and radar hazards, as well as a threat to birds. Affluent homeowners have argued that the unsightliness of the turbines could hurt their views. Indian tribes opposed to the project have even argued that the entire Nantucket Sound should be designated as an Indian historic property for listing on the National Register. The intense scrutiny this project has received has only reinforced its environmental soundness. More...

September 29, 2009 - Power companies have been quitting the US Chamber of Commerce because it opposes laws that would limit emissions of greenhouse gases. Yesterday, Chicago-based Exelon Corp., a leading provider of nuclear power, joined the Public Service Company of New Mexico and California's Pacific Gas and Electric in saying that it was quitting the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of the group's position on global warming. The heart of the dispute is more than an interest in doing good. It's also about money. The power companies see action on climate change as inevitable and want to plan for it. Placing a cost on carbon emissions enables them to make investment decisions on what kinds of plants to build and whom to buy energy from. Currently proposed "cap and trade" legislation would set maximum limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Coal powered utilities that exceed set limits would buy credits from cleaner utilities with emissions below the set levels.

Economists have been saying for years that the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would be to tax those emissions directly. One example would be a $1 per gallon tax on gasoline. Politicians have avoided this approach because they believe the public would not accept it. Thus cap and trade is set to join EPA requirements for car mileage as a way to enact what is believed to be a necessary public policy. However, unlike an EPA mandate, cap and trade is a market based solution that should allocate resources more efficiently. In a speech at an energy-efficiency conference John Rowe, Exelon's chairman and chief executive, said, "If Congress does not act, the EPA will, and the result will be more arbitrary, more expensive and more uncertain for investors and the industry than a reasonable, market-based legislative solution."

September 19, 2009 - The world's largest offshore windfarm began transmitting electricity last Thursday from the North Sea. The Horns Rev 2 project uses 91 turbines to generate enough green power for 200,000 households. The project was built by the Danish national company Dong Energy. An industry audience gathered in a civic centre to watch the opening via a videolink. When the turbines were switched on the audience was silent as the turbines failed to turn. Half a minute later as a breeze developed and the first blade slowly began to rotate, there were cheers of relief from executives of the developer, Dong, and its guests. Here's the story from Guardian.UK.