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The stage is set for a Capitol Hill tug-of-war over NASA budget priorities between lawmakers who favor space exploration and those who want to prop up the agency's sagging Earth science programs.
Funding for NASA's Earth observation programs has declined by nearly a third over the last decade, as the agency shifted its emphasis toward space exploration.
But that would change under a fiscal 2008 spending bill approved by the House Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee and scheduled for action later this month by the full Appropriations Committee. The measure would increase NASA's Earth and climate science budget, and stanch the flow of money to a planned manned mission to Mars.
"NASA has too much on its plate already," said CJS subcommittee Chairman Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) earlier this month during the introduction of the spending bill. "The president is welcome to include adequate funding for the Human Mars Initiative in a budget amendment or subsequent year funding requests."
The heart of the issue: an overall NASA budget that has remained relatively flat as the agency has added new programs, like the Mars effort. Unveiled by President Bush in January 2004, the Mars program was originally estimated to cost $12 billion over its first five years.
With NASA's budget hovering between $16 billion and $17 billion for the same time period, the agency has funded new programs in part by steering money from science to exploration.
"We've seen steep cuts in NASA's support of environmental research as well as aeronautics, astronomy and biology research," said Kei Koizumi, director of the budget and policy program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "NASA has to fit in these big increases for developing the next generation of human spacecraft within an overall flat budget, which means something has to give."
NASA's latest five-year budget projection would put the agency's Earth science funding at $1.35 billion by 2012 -- a 20-year low in real terms, noted Richard Anthes, who co-directed a recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report that found U.S. Earth science efforts to be "at great risk" after cumulative rounds of budget cutting.
"With a fixed NASA budget, when you start out planning for a hugely expensive mission like Moon-Mars, it's got to come from somewhere," said Anthes, president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. "You can't just have it all ways."
To reverse the Earth science decline, the National Academy report recommended $7.5 billion in new high-priority instruments and satellite missions through 2020. The vast majority -- 15 of 17 recommended missions -- would be funded by NASA, at an annual cost of about $500 million, restoring the agency, in real dollars, to its funding levels in the late 1990s under the Clinton administration.
The nation's ability to monitor severe weather, freshwater shortages, declining fish populations, increased soil erosion and the likelihood of "substantial changes" in the Earth's climate all depend on restoring NASA's Earth science budget, the science academy warned.
"We are still riding high on the hog, based on planning and budgets from the late 1990s and the first part of this decade," Anthes said. "The worry is that when these satellites and instruments gradually age and are no longer viable, there will be nothing to replace them."
The National Academy plan has been broadly endorsed by the scientific community.
"This is a blueprint for a program that will bring immense returns for modest costs," the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science said in April. "The Congress and the administration ought to implement it."
The plan has also gained a toehold among key congressional Democrats, as witnessed by the House appropriations bill, which would add $180 million over the White House budget request to NASA's Earth science efforts.
But it is unclear how the bill will fare as it heads to the full Appropriations Committee, whose members include lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who strongly support space exploration. The legislation would bar NASA from funding any programs related exclusively to the Mars effort.
"I don't think NASA should be doing any Earth observation. That should be done by NOAA," said Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), an appropriator whose district includes the Kennedy Space Center -- and a vocal proponent of space exploration.
Weldon said he would favor increases in the Earth science budget "to the degree it gets more support for space exploration.
"I'm not against increasing Earth science," he said. "But we're a nation of pioneers -- and space exploration has clearly shown benefits over the years, from Velcro to CT scanning machines to MRIs to pacemakers."
There are also questions about how the White House will receive the CJS spending bill, given President Bush's threat to veto appropriations bills that exceed his fiscal 2008 requests. The House approved an overall CJS mark of $53.6 billion, or $2.4 billion above the White House request.
Koizumi, the AAAS budget analyst, predicted the House spending bill "will make a difference at the margin ... but it's not enough money to really reverse the trends."
Over the years, "appropriators have tried to fence off money with NASA and have mostly not been successful," Koizumi added. "But something always happens, like the Columbia shuttle disaster, where NASA needs to transfer [money between its accounts]. And the transfers are always in one direction -- from research accounts to big-ticket spacecraft accounts."
Across the Capitol, the chairwoman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that handles NASA's budget has pledged to increase the agency's budget by $1 billion.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said she and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) are "firmly committed" to the increase, which they introduced as a budget amendment last year. The plan would help repay NASA's $2 billion bill for repairing the space shuttle fleet after the Columbia explosion.
While it is not clear how that would affect Earth science programs, Mikulski has praised the National Academy report.
"At a time when we are facing possibly significant threats to our planet Earth -- like global warming and severe weather -- we need sound science to inform our policy decisions," she said in March. "We need NASA to provide that science."
In the end, "this is just not the time to reduce the number of Earth observations," said Anthes, who said funding recommended by the NAS report works out to $2 per American per year.
"That's not even enough to buy a good cup of coffee," Anthes added. "We're looking at spending millions of dollars to mitigate climate change. If we don't know if those actions are doing any good or not, the money could be completely wasted. We need to be able to monitor as we move forward."
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Environmentalists and the lead plaintiff in the Indian Trust Fund lawsuit against the Interior Department want to see former Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles jailed for lying to Congress in the Jack Abramoff investigation.
Sending Griles to jail will send a message to government officials and the public that such actions will not be tolerated in the future, Friends of the Earth and Elouise Cobell said in separate letters to Judge Ellen Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Huvelle is set to sentence Griles on Tuesday afternoon.
"Hopefully, your actions and words will now send a message that he will not forget," Cobell wrote. "It is time for government officials to be held accountable."
Huvelle should require Griles to cooperate with DOJ, or impose the maximum of five years in jail and a $250,000 fine if he refuses, wrote Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth. "Doing so would send a needed signal that corruption at the highest levels of the Department and by other public officials will not be tolerated."
The Justice Department is asking a 10-month split sentence, including jail time and a $25,000 fine. Griles is seeking three months' home confinement, a $15,000 fine and 500 hours of community service, half of which would be as an executive with Wonderful Outdoor World (WOW). WOW is run by the American Recreation Coalition in association with Interior, the Forest Service and corporations including the Walt Disney Co. (Greenwire, June 15).
"The number of investigations into possible corruption at the Department and the failure of Mr. Griles to be forthcoming about his activities underscores the need to ensure that the full truth come out, both with respect to the Abramoff investigation and any other potential matters," Blackwelder wrote.
Ninety-one of Griles' supporters asked Huvelle for leniency, including former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, two Reagan-era Interior secretaries, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R), Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.), coal industry executives and former Wyoming GOP Senate nominee Tom Sansonetti.
As deputy secretary, Griles was heavily involved in the trust fund lawsuit -- now Cobell v. Kempthorne -- in 2001 and 2002. While several of the letters sent to Huvelle on Griles' behalf praise his actions in the case, Cobell said Griles stood in the way of resolving the now 11-year-old case. "His legacy is one of prolonging the litigation and doing little to address the underlying trust problems," Cobell wrote.
Huvelle entered the Cobell and Blackwelder letters into the record this week, along with a third letter identified to the public as written only by "Citizen," reacting to Griles' request to work as an executive with Wonderful Outdoor World. "Mr. Griles should serve behind bars, and any public service should be of a menial nature that benefits all of the public -- not an organization that supports his particular beliefs," the letter states.
In a filing earlier this week, Griles' attorneys say the connection between the former deputy director and Abramoff is overblown.
"Mr. Griles had an open door policy for anyone who wanted to raise an issue with him and he was responsive to many people," his attorneys wrote. "Nonetheless, the DOJ characterizes every instance of Mr. Griles' returning a call to Mr. Abramoff or referring him to another official as a 'favor' and seeks to create a nefarious overtone that is absurd and divorced from reality" (Greenwire, June 20).
Click here to view the Cobell letter.
Click here to view the Friends of the Earth letter.
Click here to view the "citizen" letter.
Wyoming state Sen. John Barrasso (R) will fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat caused by the death earlier this month of Sen. Craig Thomas (R), Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) announced today.
State law required Freudenthal to choose from three nominees chosen by the Wyoming Republican Party. The other two candidates were Tom Sansonetti, a former U.S. assistant attorney general for environment and natural resources, and former state Treasurer Cynthia Lummis.
"There are many factors that went into this decision, and it was the sum of these factors that led me to this choice," Freudenthal said in a statement. "While I don't intend to indulge the speculation on why I made this decision, I will say that I hope I made the right choice."
Sansonetti made news in recent days by asking a federal judge for leniency in sentencing of J. Steven Griles, the former Interior deputy secretary who admitted lying to the Senate regarding his role in the Jack Abramoff investigation.
Barrasso, 54, is an orthopedic surgeon active on healthcare issues and has a weekly newspaper column providing medical advice, according to the Jackson Hole Star-Tribune. He lost the 1996 GOP primary for the Senate seat now held by Sen. Mike Enzi (R).
"I believe in limited government, lower taxes, less spending, traditional family values, local control and a strong national defense," he said in his application to the Republican State Central Committee. Barrasso also cited his "A" rating from the National Rifle Association.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said yesterday at a campaign event in Florida that he has no business connections to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and that Citgo, the U.S. arm of Venezuela's national oil company, is "an American company."
Earlier this year, Texas state records revealed that Giuliani's law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, is a registered lobbyist for a subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela SA. The firm registered as a Citgo lobbyist in April 2005, less than a month after Giuliani joined and became a name partner. Citgo renewed the contract for $5,000 per month in 2006 and 2007. Citgo is owned by PDV America Inc., a subsidiary of PDVSA.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has an openly hostile relationship with President Bush, describing him as a "devil" and "madman" (Greenwire, March 14).
"My firm did represent Citgo, they never represented Venezuela. They represented an American company that employs thousands and thousands of people in America. They did it honorably, they did it well. I don't believe they represent them any longer," Giuliani said at the event. "But they did represent them. And the entity they represented was an American company who has employed -- directly and indirectly -- maybe a hundred thousand people. And they represented them honorably and they represented them well."
Giuliani was asked why he kept referring to Citgo as an American company, but the questions were cut off. "The mayor does not say it is an American-owned company. He calls it an American company, which is accurate," a Giuliani campaign aide later said (Marc Santora, New York Times, June 21). -- RJD
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The Senate adopted several climate-related amendments last night before passing a major energy bill that would boost auto efficiency standards and require a roughly five-fold increase in the use of biofuels.
The final amendment package that cleared the Senate without objection includes provisions that call for research into abrupt climate change and curbing emissions from the power plant that serves Capitol Hill.
Senators voted 65-27 for the final bill, with 20 Republicans siding with Democrats to pass the measure. Four Democrats opposed it. Beyond the vehicle mileage and biofuels increases, The bill would also create new laws against gasoline "price gouging," boost appliance and lighting efficiency, further carbon sequestration testing, and seek to stimulate production of advanced technology cars.
Last night's passage came only after a close 62-32 vote to invoke cloture and cut off debate, which requires 60 votes to succeed. An agreement on the fuel economy plan earlier in the day helped clear the way, with the Senate now on record in favor of increasing corporate average fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 (see related story).
The underlying bill would create an expanded ethanol mandate to reach 36 billion gallons by 2022, 21 billion of which must be met with "advanced" biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol. The current renewable fuels standard targets 7.5 billion gallons in 2012.
Democrats were forced to drop two major proposals during the debate. They could not muster enough support for requiring utilities to provide 15 percent of their electric power from renewable sources by 2020, and the plan never came up for a vote. And senators did not agree to cloture on an energy tax package that would have created $28.5 billion in incentives for renewable power, biofuels, plug-in hybrids, clean coal and other technologies.
The incentives would have been funded through new taxes on oil companies. The tax plan failed 57-36, as 60 votes were needed to move forward. The vote provided a major victory for oil producers who lobbied against it and argued the measure would stymie investment in domestic oil and gas production.
Immediately after last night's vote, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said he would continue seeking to move an energy tax plan. "I voted yes tonight on the energy bill, but the job is only partway done," he said in a prepared statement.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) yesterday told reporters he hopes to revive the tax plans and the renewable electricity standard at some point, though it is not clear how he would approach either. He took to the Senate floor before last night's cloture vote to assuage GOP concerns that Democrats are maneuvering to add the tax package in conference with the House.
"If anyone is concerned about some trick to put this energy tax package in the bill in conference, they need to tell me how to do it, because I don't know how," said Reid, noting it takes multiple cloture votes just to get to conference.
The White House has said it would consider a veto over two provisions. One is language that would create civil and criminal penalties for price gouging during emergencies declared by the president. The other is the "NOPEC" provision -- which was adopted as an amendment -- that authorizes the Justice Department to bring antitrust actions against OPEC nations in U.S. courts.
Beyond big-ticket items like CAFE and price gouging, the bill addresses a host of other issues. A major goal is conserving electric power through tougher appliance efficiency standards and several other steps.
Various provisions would codify consensus standards for appliances including residential gas, oil and electric boilers; boost programs for increased use of efficient lighting technologies; reauthorize weatherization assistance programs; mandate a reduction in energy consumption at federal buildings; and increase federal renewable energy purchases.
On the transportation side, the bill includes loan guarantees for plants that make fuel efficient vehicles and their parts. It would also provide grants to automakers to help pay for retooling plants for the manufacture of advanced technology vehicles.
Elsewhere, the bill would require an inventory of potential U.S. areas for storing CO2 in deep underground geologic features and other natural basins, and it would authorize the Energy Department to conduct at least seven large-scale tests for carbon sequestration.
The Senate agreed to over two dozen other amendments shortly before passing the bill. Included among them: A plan to better coordinate planned industry refinery outages to prevent supply constraints, and a modified sulfur removal standard to ensure projects using western coal can receive federal "clean coal" program funding.
Another amendment would create and authorize funding for a national research program into wave and other emerging ocean energy sources. Still another would authorize "transitional assistance" payments to farmers who begin producing crops for cellulosic ethanol.
Other amendments aim to develop and demonstrate "smart grid" technologies to reduce power demand; increase federal support for helping small businesses increase energy efficiency; and assess offshore wind potential in the eastern United States.
Environmentalists say they will keep pressing for a renewable electricity standard in both chambers. Marchant Wentworth of the Union of Concerned Scientists yesterday said he expects an attempt to add a renewable mandate when the full House Energy and Commerce Committee marks up energy legislation next week.
He also said he expects Reid and Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) will continue seeking a vehicle for a renewable standard. "We still anticipate some kind of action in the Senate," he said. "This is supported by a majority of the Senate. We want an up-or-down vote."
Senate Democrats opted not to spend their time on the floor debating a pair of controversial climate change measures, including an amendment from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) that would have established a mandatory greenhouse gas registry.
Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho) threatened to filibuster Klobuchar's proposal, forcing her to find 60 votes to get it included in the resolution. And while Klobuchar said she was building support for her amendment, the Senate parliamentarian ruled it did not belong in the energy bill.
Klobuchar did get some relief on the issue when Senate appropriators agreed yesterday to include $2 million in U.S. EPA's fiscal 2008 spending bill requiring the agency to develop a registry rule by the end of next year. "It shows this will have another life," she said.
Democrats also did not push for a vote on a Sense of the Senate resolution from Sens. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) urging President Bush to take a more active role in international climate change negotiations. Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a Democratic presidential candidate, told Greenwire last week he thought he had the votes to attach his resolution to the energy bill.
But Inhofe objected to Biden's resolution, forcing Reid to decide against prolonging the energy debate to take up this and other issues.
"Events have unfolded that make it obsolete," said one aide to the Oklahoma Republican, referring to the Group of Eight statement and Bush's plan to host a summit of the world's 15 largest polluters in the fall. Inhofe had prepared an alternative resolution that focused more heavily on the role of emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil.
The Senate accepted by unanimous consent several provisions aimed at addressing climate change.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) included an amendment that would authorize $50 million over five years to the Commerce Department for research into abrupt climate change.
Collins amendment deals with concerns over fast-moving changes to the Earth's climate resulting from the ongoing buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Specifically, she has mentioned the "redistribution of atmospheric moisture and rainfall, with substantial impact on the world's food supplies."
Under Collins' amendment, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would develop markers for identifying past instances of abrupt climate change. NOAA also would be tasked with testing its abrupt climate change models with other global measurements.
The Senate in 2001 and 2003 included Collins' abrupt climate change measure in energy legislation, but the provision did not survive in the final product President Bush signed into law in 2005. Inhofe previously had opposed the language but gave his consent this time. "More knowledge is always better," the Inhofe aide said today.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, added a number of items to the energy bill dealing with green buildings, carbon sequestration and renewable energy.
One amendment would authorize $3 million for a two-year carbon capture demonstration project at the Capitol Hill Power Plant. The facility currently burns coal to produce steam and chilled water to heat and cool the Capitol, Library of Congress, Supreme Court and more than a dozen other buildings.
The Senate also accepted an amendment that would require placement of a $30 million photovoltaic system at the Energy Department headquarters on Independence Avenue in Washington. The "solar net" system was selected in 2000 through a competition to promote energy efficiency technology but was never funded.
And the Senate agreed to an amendment that would create an Office of High-Performance Buildings in the General Service Administration. The new office would coordinate research and development into improving lighting, insulation, fixtures, windows and other features at federal buildings.
Sponsors of the amendment, including Boxer and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), said it that would help to cut heat-trapping pollution from buildings, which produce some 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
The "High-Performance Green Buildings Act" also calls on EPA to coordinate voluntary guidelines that improve energy use and air quality in public schools.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also added to the energy bill an amendment that requires a national assessment of carbon sequestration and methane and nitrous oxide emissions from terrestrial ecosystems.
A version of this story appears in today's E&E Daily.
The Senate approved a compromise agreement yesterday on corporate average fuel economy (CAFE), adding the provision to the sprawling energy bill in a voice vote with little debate.
The compromise fuel economy plan was cobbled together in recent days by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in a bid to end a CAFE battle. The full Senate passed the underlying energy bill, 65-27.
The quick, quiet end to the battle over fuel efficiency surprised supporters of the legislation who said they had expected to spend most of the evening arguing over the issue on the Senate floor.
"You just never know," Feinstein said after the voice vote. "You work year after year after year for something, and you find yourself cut out any number of times, and you don't succeed any number of times, and all of a sudden it just happens."
The compromise plan keeps in place the Senate bill's provision to raise CAFE standards for cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. But the amendment drops the mandated 4 percent per year increase from 2021 to 2030, instead directing the Transportation Department to establish the "maximum feasible" standard.
The current CAFE standard is 27.5 mpg for cars and 22.5 mpg for trucks.
The Senate provision would apply to all automobiles weighing under 10,000 pounds, though heavy-duty trucks would be exempt from the mandated increase and subject to the maximum feasible standard.
The amendment also drops a mandate that 50 percent of all new cars be flex-fuel by 2012, instead directing the Department of Transportation to develop a plan to make sure that 50 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States by 2015 are alternative fuel vehicles, which includes flex-fuel, hybrids and fuel cells.
The Michigan senators -- Democrats Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow -- did not endorse the CAFE proposal. And both voted against the overall energy bill later in the evening.
Several Republicans who were viewed as key swing votes on the debate signed on as supporters to the new CAFE plan -- among them Sens. Trent Lott (Miss.), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Elizabeth Dole (N.C.), Larry Craig (Idaho) and John Sununu (N.H.). This suggests a competing proposal by Levin and Stabenow had little chance of winning a floor vote.
The congressional CAFE fight is far from over. The Senate plan could run into substantial opposition if it gets to a conference with the House. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) earlier this week pulled CAFE from his committee's portion of the summer energy package, adding it and several other controversial issues to the climate change bill later in the year.
A draft proposal introduced by Dingell earlier this month contained a mandated CAFE increase that was more modest than the Senate's.
Yet proponents of a CAFE increase are holding out hope that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will press ahead with a CAFE increase despite Dingell's opposition.
When asked yesterday whether she would amend the House energy bill to include CAFE, Pelosi said, "We're watching to see what the Senate bill is. Right now we're taking it one day at a time."
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) -- a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and one of the House's most vocal advocates for a CAFE increase -- said he intends to press the House to adopt the Senate plan as part of the summer energy package.
"There is clear support for the 35 mile-per-gallon goal, and I intend to proceed with a strategy to ensure that the House matches the Senate's action and includes a strong fuel economy provision in our summer energy package," Markey said in a statement.
President Bush called on utilities to begin building as many as 30 new nuclear plants by 2010 in order to keep pace with the country's soaring electricity demand and combat global warming.
"It's time for the country to start building nuclear power plants again," Bush told an audience of about 250 at the recently restarted Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Huntsville, Ala., operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Bush predicted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would get 20 applications from utilities to build up to 30 new reactors. No new licenses have been filed at the NRC since 1973 (Reuters/PlanetArk, June 22).
"If you're interested in cleaning up the air, then you ought to be an advocate for nuclear power," Bush said. He also noted the need for the United States to invest money in technologies to recycle nuclear waste (Faulk/Dean, Birmingham News, June 22).
But nuclear power critics pointed out the irony in Bush choosing to announce his support for it at Browns Ferry. In the mid-1970s, the plant was the site of the second-most-severe nuclear accident in U.S. history.
"The Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant has a dubious history and can hardly be held up as a model for the industry," said Michele Boyd, legislative director of Public Citizen's energy program. "Instead of representing the future of nuclear power, it stands as the premier example of why we stopped ordering new reactors in the first place" (Henry J. Pulizzi, Wall Street Journal online, June 21). -- KB
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced yesterday that two power companies will pay $84 million to settle claims of market manipulation during California's 2000-01 energy crisis.
The two companies -- PacifiCorp and a unit of El Paso Corp. -- agreed to the fines to settle all outstanding claims against them for manipulating California and the Pacific Northwest power markets during the crisis, which included rolling blackouts and record prices for power and natural gas.
FERC commissioners approved a $56-million settlement from the El Paso unit. PacifiCorp will pay $27.9 million.
"These settlements put us another step closer to finally resolving the lingering issues from the Western energy crisis and returning money to consumers," Commission Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher said.
The California attorney general's office, Public Utilities Commission and other state agencies and offices agreed to the settlement, according to FERC (Los Angeles Times, June 22). -- EB
Officials representing northern Iraq's Kurdistan region announced yesterday they reached an agreement with the Iraqi government on a draft plan for the distribution of oil, an oil ministry official told Reuters.
While giving no details of the plan, the official said that the draft had been approved, adding that the parliament could still change it (Steve Negus, Financial Times [subscription required], June 22).
The Kurds have taken issue with the drafting of an Iraqi oil law that essentially cedes control of all of the country's oil assets to a national company. Because they have enjoyed a high degree of independence in the north since 1991, the Kurds want maximum control of their regional oil resources (Greenwire, May 3).
BP's Russian joint venture TNK-BP announced today that that it will sell Gazprom its stake in a natural gas field in East Siberia.
The company said in a statement that it will sell Gazprom its 62.89 percent stake in the Kovykta field and half its stake in the East Siberian Gas Co. for between $700 million and $900 million (Clark/Kim, Bloomberg, June 22).
The sale is part of a broader agreement between Gazprom and TNK-BP to jointly invest in major long-term energy projects.
"We will initially be looking for projects of at least $3 billion, but the potential for further growth could be very significant," BP chief executive Tony Hayward said in a statement, adding the agreement "lays the ground for powerful co-operation between BP, TNK-BP and Gazprom" (Reuters, June 22).
The economy's adaptation to the doubling of oil prices during the past three years is starting to revive demand and could push energy prices even higher, oil industry experts warn.
Oil prices are likely to continue rising through the second half of the year unless either OPEC starts putting more supplies into the market or refineries boost production.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see prices at new highs" this year, said Roger Diwan, an analyst at PFC Energy, a Washington industry-consulting group. "It just needs a trigger to go to $79 a barrel," he said, explaining that the trigger could be anything from a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico to escalated violence in the Middle East.
World oil demand is rising at twice the rate as last year, when the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon caused oil prices to reach their peak in 2006. "The difference this year is that you are reaching $70 a barrel on fundamentals" of oil supply and demand, said Jan Stuart, energy economist at UBS Securities LLC. "Demand is growing faster. Supply is not keeping up. Inventories are trending lower, not higher" (Bhushan Bahree, Wall Street Journal [subscription required], June 22). -- EB
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The transport of goods by rail rather than by truck is an increasingly attractive option for long distance U.S. shippers because of current high oil prices, analysts said this week.
Investors such as Warren Buffett and Carl Ichan are buying up railroad shares, betting that higher oil prices and surging Asian imports along with congested highways will boost long-term rail demand.
Rail shipment volumes reached a record last year, boosting shares and earnings at the four biggest operators, Union Pacific Corp., Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. From January to May, as the price of oil climbed 37 percent, shares in Union Pacific gained 24 percent and shares in CSX rose 26 percent.
In 2005, trucks carried 69 percent of domestic U.S. freight, up 3 percent from 1994, according to the American Trucking Associations. Meanwhile, railroads lost 13 percent of their shipments two years ago.
"We expect the rails, after 40 years of ceding volumes to the highway, to take back market share over the next 10 years," Bear Stearns & Co. analyst Edward Wolfe wrote in a May report to investors.
Shipping by truck consumes four times as much fuel as shipping by train does, and shipping rates for trucks are about five times higher than for trains, according to TCI Fund Management LLP partner Snehal Amin. "There's no question that trucking is less competitive now than it was three or four years ago," he said. "Unless oil prices are going to fall, and fall substantially, they're not going to be more competitive" (Angela Greiling Keane, Bloomberg, June 21). -- RJD
Chrysler Group will introduce hybrid and diesel engines in newly streamlined cars and trucks, the company announced yesterday.
The designs include a "mild-hybrid" vehicle with a lower-cost battery pack that would kick in at stops, which product development chief Frank Klegon said would result in a 25 percent overall gain in fuel economy.
The U.S. market's fourth-largest automaker said it would offer a diesel version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee expected to meet tougher emissions standards in states like California. And the company may also introduce a four-cylinder diesel engine common in Europe that would be 30 percent more efficient than gasoline models.
Klegon predicted that such alternatives could eventually constitute 30 percent of the U.S. light vehicle market, about 10 times their current level (Kevin Krolicki, Reuters, June 22).
Chrysler's 2008 models will also include a family of V-6 engines with the ability to run on only three cylinders when less power is needed, with 6 to 8 percent fuel savings (AP/ St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 22).
Its 5.7-liter Hemi and 4.7-liter V-8 engines will also be upgraded for better gas mileage. Chrysler, which has lagged behind its U.S. and Japanese competitors, was sold for $7.4 billion to Cerberus Capital Management last month (Greenwire, May 14). -- LBD
Illinois-based Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., the nation's largest corn ethanol producer, is planning on entering the Brazilian sugar cane ethanol production market soon by making one or more investments in the country's production infrastructure, company executives said this week.
ADM is exploring the construction of sugar cane mills and ethanol plants in Brazil from scratch as well as acquiring sugar cane companies. ADM Senior Vice President of Strategy Steve Mills said that the company may also buy Cosan SA, Brazil's largest ethanol producer in which ADM already owns a small stake.
Sugar cane ethanol is "a key component" of ADM's short-term strategy, Mills said. "We're devoting a lot of time and energy to this area. We're not talking about something 10 years down the road. It's on the front burner," he said. "At the right price and the right opportunity, we've got the wherewithal to make a significant investment."
The U.S. Senate voted this week to extend the 54 cent-per-gallon import tariff on foreign-produced ethanol until 2010. ADM is supportive of the tariff and its potential investment in Brazil "doesn't necessarily signal we're changing policy," Mills said (Etter/Regalado, Wall Street Journal [subscription required], June 22).
U.K. government incentives that would fund domestic biofuels producers based on the amount of carbon dioxide their fuels prevented being released will kick in in 2010, the government announced yesterday.
Argent Energy CEO Andy Hunter said he supported the government timeframe for carbon and sustainability schemes, but Renewable Energy Association head Clare Wenner said her group had questions about the "certainty of clear timeframes."
"Carbon incentives can only be effective when they are based on real data obtained through practical experience. Many are fearful that the aggressive timescales suggested by the government today will simply present an incentive for inaccurate and erroneous reporting," Wenner said. "This would be an environmental own-goal."
The U.K. Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation measure already mandates that five percent of all vehicular fuels must come from biofuels by 2010, which the government expects to yield 1 million tons in CO2 savings per year.
There is also a government-mandated 2011 deadline requiring biofuels producers to only receive incentives if business sustainability targets are met (Reuters/PlanetArk, June 22). -- RJD
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A leading carbon-capture technology will be tested next year on a refinery in Mongstad, Norway.
The chilled ammonia facility is designed to capture at least 80,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually from flue gases generated by the Statoil refinery's cracker unit or from a new combined-cycle heat and power plant being constructed on the plant site.
If the test goes well, Statoil plans to use the technology in a much larger unit capable of capturing more than 2 million tons of CO2 annually, making it one of the largest refinery applications of the chilled ammonia technology in the world.
Philippe Joubert, president of Alstom Power Systems, which designed the CO2-capture technology, said in a statement the Statoil project "represents our mutual commitment to both the [chilled ammonia] technology and society at large."
In a second announcement yesterday, Alstom said it had reached agreement with the Swedish firm E.ON to launch a 5-megawatt, CO2-capture demonstration project at the gas-fired utility's Kalshamn Power Plant in southern Sweden.
The announcements reflect Paris-based Alstom's growing global footprint in the emerging CO2-capture and sequestration business (Greenwire, May 15).
Earlier this year, Alstom and U.S. utility giant American Electric Power announced they would jointly pursue CO2 capture pilot projects at two AEP coal-fired power plants in West Virginia and Oklahoma.
Construction of the first AEP pilot project -- on a 30-megawatt unit at the 1,300-megawatt Mountaineer Plant in New Haven, W.Va. -- will follow preliminary tests on a 5-megawatt unit at We Energies' Pleasant Prairie power plant in Wisconsin.
Along with coal-fired electric power plants, refineries are among the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, followed by chemical plants, iron and steel mills, and paper mills, according to the Environmental Roadmapping Initiative, a project of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Bob Hilton, an executive with Alstom Power Environmental Control Systems, based in Knoxville, Tenn., said Alstom chose the Norwegian refinery for its first major test of the technology on cracker flue gases due to its history of collaboration with Statoil and other European industry partners.
He said the company will seek out similar partnerships with U.S. refiners as opportunities become available.
The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure yesterday that would make the state the second in the nation to have a greenhouse gas emission reduction law.
The "Global Warming Response Act" passed both the state House and Senate with overwhelming support. It would mandate a reduction in emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and an 80 percent cut by 2050.
The bill is under review by Gov. Jon Corzine (D), who is expected to sign it into law.
A spokeswoman for the governor said he "likes the bill" but needed to look it over. The measure closely mirrors an executive order Corzine issued in January (Michael Rispoli, Cherry Hill [N.J.] Courier-Post).
Supporters of the bill said they realized New Jersey's emissions cuts would only make a small difference on a global level but said the state's initiative could inspire others to follow in its footsteps. California has already enacted an emission reduction bill.
"In the absence of leadership on the federal level, the burden of reducing greenhouse gases has now fallen upon the states," said Lilo Stainton, spokeswoman for Corzine. "This legislation ... will make New Jersey a national leader in combating global warming."
The bill faced opposition from some climate skeptics, notably Assemblyman Michael J. Doherty (R).
"The Earth has warmed up and cooled down hundreds of times ... The debate is not over," Doherty said.
Some energy companies also questioned how a move to renewables might affect customer's gas prices, and said New Jersey should not move ahead of the rest of the nation on the issue (Nussbaum/Young, Bergen [N.J.] Record).
It remains unclear what measures the state will take to combat global warming. Although the bill sets reduction goals, it does not specify how they will be met. It instructs the Environmental Protection Department to work with other state agencies over the next year in order to devise ways to meet the 2020 emission reduction goals (Anthony DePalma, New York Times). (All cites June 22.) -- KB
Cities in 36 states are promoting green technology, primarily by using clean vehicles and installing energy-efficient streetlights and traffic signals, according to a survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors released today.
The conference surveyed 134 cities and found a variety of measures being taken to combat global warming.
"The survey shows that there are no cookie-cutter solutions," said Trenton, N.J., Mayor Douglas Palmer, president of the mayors' conference. "Cities, no matter what size, are coming up with innovative ways to reduce energy."
But more than half of the cities surveyed shied away from requiring energy efficient homes and businesses.
Three-quarters were replacing vehicles with hybrids or using biofuels like ethanol, and six in 10 require that new city government buildings be energy efficient. Four in 10 are requiring developers to build green.
About two-thirds are using renewable energy such as solar or wind. Albuquerque, N.M., saved more than $2 million on its $36 million utilities bill by using green technology.
One prohibiting factor is often funding, particularly for smaller cities.
The conference is pushing Congress to create a grant program for cities' green projects in order to solve the problem (Marisol Bello, USA Today, June 22). -- KB
The California Air Resources Board voted in favor of three rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions yesterday, but critics lambasted the measures as weak.
The board voted in favor of three "early action" greenhouse gas measures designed to take effect by 2010. One measure banned the sale of canned air conditioner fluid, which contains high concentrations of the greenhouse gas FHC 134a.
The other two measures involve mandating the development of alternative fuels and requiring the capture of methane from landfills. Collectively, the measures are expected to reduce an estimated 13 to 28 tons of greenhouse gases per year.
The measures are all mandated under the state's global warming solutions bill, A.B. 32, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) last fall (Greenwire, June 21).
The board voted 6-3 in favor of the measures. Dissenting members, including the chairman, attacked the measures as being hollow gestures to address the state's emissions.
"When the Senate confirmed members of the Air Resources Board, we asked for a commitment from them to take bold actions on reducing greenhouse gas emissions," state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D) said in a statement. "Unfortunately, today they flunked the test."
Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor, said "nobody has shown more leadership in getting this state prepared to meet emissions reductions targets than Gov. Schwarzenegger."
Many accused the governor-appointed board of not supporting Schwarzenegger's campaign to combat climate change.
"What's the message or the signal that this board sends if the best we can do is three early action measures in the next couple of years?" asked Tim Carmichael of the Coalition for Clean Air during a six-hour public hearing on the issue. "This runs completely against what the rest of the world says we need to do, and the sense of urgency we should have" (Mark Martin, San Francisco Chronicle, June 22). -- EB
The effects of rising sea levels due to climate change could cost North Carolina billions of dollars in property damage and land loss over the coming decade, economists found in a study released Wednesday.
By 2080, 14 of the 17 beaches from Brunswick to Carteret counties on the southern coast of the state could erode away, costing the local economy $3.9 billion in lost recreation revenues. For just four of the state's 20 coastal counties -- Dare, Carteret, New Hanover and Bertie -- the damage caused by higher sea levels could reach $6.9 billion.
"Coastal North Carolina has been identified as one of the United States' most vulnerable regions to climate change," said report co-author Ben Poulter, who works with the Department of Global Change and Natural Systems at the Potsdam Institute in Germany.
The report, compiled for the National Commission on Energy Policy, also found that each hurricane could cause at least $157 million in damage for the state by 2080 (AP/Charlotte Observer, June 20).
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s (R) position on combating climate change and developing alternative fuels could hinder the state's coal and oil shale industries, state lawmakers said Wednesday.
Last month, Huntsman was joined by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in Utah as he signed the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative, which calls for an overall reduction of regional GHG emissions through trading of emissions credits beginning in 2012.
But state Rep. Michael Noel (R) told fellow lawmakers that the initiative uses bad science. "That's not data-based. That's not factual-based. And there's enough unknowns out there on this whole issue of man-caused global warming," Noel said to members of the state Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee.
State Rep. Roger Barrus (R) said Huntsman's signing of the initiative conflicts with the governor's Blue Ribbon Council on Climate Change, which is supposed to report to Huntsman and make policy recommendations. "We're concerned that the governor's getting out ahead of what the BRCCC may be recommending by signing onto an initiative about climate change" or a portfolio concerning renewable energy, he said.
He added that the pledge could interfere with the state's pursuit of oil shale development.
Members of the committee criticized the Western Governors Association in its call for the Energy Policy Act of 2007 to require a 120-day public comment period for oil shale development on federal lands. Huntsman was elected vice chairman of the association last week (Joe Bauman, Salt Lake Deseret Morning News, June 21). -- EB
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The National Park Service asked Congress to allow snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, despite pledging to the public and stakeholders it would keep an open mind as it writes a new winter use plan.
A rider ensuring that snowmobiles can roam Yellowstone this winter free from litigation threats was included in the fiscal 2008 Interior spending bill the Senate Appropriations Committee approved yesterday. The $27.2 billion measure would boost spending for the Interior Department, U.S. EPA and Forest Service. It also includes a provision that would allow the removal of deer and elk from California's Santa Rosa Island and allow the phase-out of hunting there by 2011.
The Yellowstone rider would require the park to operate under a temporary winter use plan installed in 2004 that allows up to 720 snowmobiles per day to enter the park. While the temporary plan has been in effect, only about 250 machines have entered per day.
While the provision was included in the past three Interior bills at the behest of former Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), the National Park Service asked Congress to include the language this year, according to the office of Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). NPS submitted a similar request to the House Appropriations Committee, which did not include the provision.
Yellowstone is currently finalizing its environmental impact statement (EIS) for its fourth snowmobile plan since 2000, and the Park Service had pledged to have a final EIS, record of decision and final winter use rule in place before the start of the winter season this December. NPS has resisted extending comment periods for the public and state and local cooperators due to the tight time schedule.
Because the winter use planning process is so controversial and expensive -- NPS has spent $10 million since 2000 --- the agency made a concerted effort to reach out to stakeholders, including environmental groups and motorized recreation advocates who challenged previous rules in court, noted Tim Stevens, Yellowstone program manager at the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group.
"The Park Service has made very strong efforts to make a very big tent with this plan," Stevens said. "It really undercuts that trust and relationship that we've built."
The draft plan would also allow a maximum of 720 snowmobiles in the park, using best available technology and requiring commercial guides. Up to 140 snowmobiles would be allowed in neighboring Grand Teton National Park, without commercial guides. The preferred alternative would also cap the number of multipassenger snowcoaches at 78 and close the Sylvan Pass area to all motorized oversnow travel, a provision opposed by local officials (Greenwire, March 27).
But environmentalists and several former NPS directors oppose the plan, saying the agency should eliminate snowmobiles entirely in favor of snowcoaches. This week, EPA said the draft plan does not go far enough to protect the park's human health, wildlife, air or quiet spaces, and would cause a five-fold increase in carbon monoxide emissions and a 17-fold increase in hydrocarbon emissions in the park (Greenwire, June 20).
NPS reported last year that snowmobiles continue to exceed noise standards in areas such as Old Faithful, and another Park Service report found that new 4-stroke snowmobiles are "much dirtier than light-duty cars and trucks." The same report said peak concentrations of carbon monoxide in winter, with 250 snowmobiles per day, were higher than summertime, when the park has 60 times the amount of traffic.
"I'm frankly perplexed why the Park Service would do this," Stevens added. "It is sad to see the agency lobbying against its own science and the law and public opinion."
The current draft plan is the fourth formal winter use rule in seven years for Yellowstone and Grand Teton. The Clinton administration proposed an outright ban on snowmobiles in 2000, while the Bush administration countered with a plan that would have allowed over a thousand machines in the park daily.
Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said the request was made to ensure consistency this winter, regardless of what the final plan looks like.
"Inclusion of similar language this year in the Senate bill under consideration is a reflection of the continued desire of both Congress and the National Park Service to provide stability, consistency, and a transition period regarding winter use in the parks this year as well," Nash said.
The Appropriations bill marks the latest attempt by California Democrats to ensure the ability of Channel Islands National Park to phase out hunting on Santa Rosa Island and remove the remaining deer and elk by the end of 2011, in accordance with a settlement agreement.
It would strike a controversial rider inserted by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), then-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, in the Defense Department authorization bill last fall. The law prohibits NPS from acting to "exterminate or nearly exterminate the deer and elk" populations.
Hunter's rider does not specifically allow hunting past 2011, but it followed a yearlong effort by the congressman that included a proposal to transfer the entire island to the Pentagon for use as a hunting refuge for disabled veterans.
"Santa Rosa Island is one of California's most unique natural habitats," Feinstein said. "But currently, large portions of the island are closed off to the public because of privately organized deer and elk hunts."
Feinstein, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) have sponsored stand-alone bills to repeal the rider.
The National Park Service purchased Santa Rosa Island from Vail & Vickers Ltd. in 1986 for $30 million, but the agency says the current hunting operation cuts off public access to 90 percent of the island off the Ventura County coast for four to five months out of the year. NPS wants to remove the deer and elk to benefit native plants and animals and open the entire island to hiking, camping and sightseeing on a year-round basis.
The Senate and House Interior spending bills also include $9.3 million the Bush administration requested to replace the 700-foot pier on Santa Rosa Island.
Vail & Vickers has indicated it wants to somehow find a way to maintain the deer and elk herds on Santa Rosa Island after 2011 but does not want to extend its commercial hunting concession.
Hunter is also committed to public access to Santa Rosa Island but does not believe the deer and elk need to be killed, his spokesman said last night. "It's unfortunate the senators are so committed to destroying these animals and depriving our wounded and disabled veterans the opportunity to enjoy Santa Rosa Island for a couple weeks out of the year," said Joe Kasper.
Click here to view the Yellowsone rider.
Indonesia will try to reduce forest fires this year by 40 to 50 percent, Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said today during a meeting of Southeast Asian environment ministers on Sumatra Island.
Most of the fires on the islands are lit deliberately by farmers or by timber and plantation companies. Last year, haze from fires on Sumatra and Borneo islands spread across a large area of Southeast Asia for months.
Indonesia earmarked $78 million for this year's efforts to teach farmers to avoid slash-and-burn practices and provide them with farming equipment that will help prevent forest fires.
Also at this week's meeting, Singapore submitted a plan to Indonesia that covers fire prevention and suppression, legislation and enforcement suggestions and regional and international cooperation pledges to fight haze.
Indonesian fire services reduced the number of dry season hotspots this year by 58 percent from the previous year, the government said.
"Forest fires also happen in Hollywood, Malibu in the United States and in Sydney, it's a natural phenomenon. We have to be realistic. What we can do is prevent the repeat of last year's scale," Witoelar said (Ahmad Pathoni, Reuters, June 20).
PT Keang Nam Development Indonesia Financial Director Adelin Lis went on trial in Indonesia yesterday to answer allegations that he violated corruption and forestry laws in relation to an illegal logging case in Mandailing Natal regency.
Prosecution lawyers in the Medan District Court trial are accusing Adelin of illegal logging and illegally collecting timber products in areas outside his company's concession from 2000 to 2005, causing the state of North Sumatra $2 million in losses.
Adelin was arrested in China last year. Keang Nam is one of dozens of other timber companies operating in Indonesia that are accused of widespread illegal logging across North Sumatra (Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta Post, June 21). -- RJD
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(All cites June 21 unless noted.)
ALASKA: A Fowler and Gas proposal to drill for coal bed methane in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough was much better received by nearby landowners and the public than the 2003 drilling plan by Evergreen Resources (AP/Anchorage Daily News, June 20).
COLORADO: The U.S. Bureau of Land Management proposed limiting access for vehicles such as ATVs and motorcycles along a 75-mile stretch of the Arkansas River Corridor, which would effectively cut 51 miles of the 232 miles open to motorized vehicles (Simona Gallegos, Denver Post, June 20).
Xcel Energy agreed Tuesday to pay $64.4 million to settle a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service over whether it could deduct costs of corporate-owned life insurance on employees from taxable income. Officials said the profit deduction would cause the company to lose 5 cents per share (Gargi Chakrabarty, Denver Rocky Mountain News, June 20).
IOWA: Wild parsnip, an invasive weed native to Eurasia, is spreading across Iowa's highways and the Midwest. The yellow-flowering plant can cause rashes, blisters, burning and itching (Amy Lorentzen, AP/San Francisco Chronicle online).
MARYLAND: Across Maryland, more children were tested for lead in 2006 than in 2005 and fewer showed elevated levels in their bloodstreams, the state Environment Department said Wednesday. The increase in testing is partially due to a Baltimore ordinance passed in 2000 that made the tests mandatory for children at 12 months and 24 months in the city (Rona Kobell, Baltimore Sun).
PENNSYLVANIA: The Community Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit group located in Chambersburg, is working with towns throughout Washington county to grant legal standing to ecosystems by giving municipalities powers of local control. Several townships have prohibited waste dumping and one tried to ban mining (Mike Cronin, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 19).
UTAH: The Energy Department awarded a $98.4 million contract Wednesday to Energy Solutions to begin removing 16 million tons of uranium tailings and contaminated soil from the banks of the Colorado River near Moab (Robert Gehrke, Salt Lake Tribune).
WASHINGTON: For the first time in more than 40 years, bluebirds are nesting on San Juan Island, according to a sighting by the president of the San Juan Islands Audubon Society on Sunday (Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times).
WYOMING: National Park Service Director Mary Bomar signed a waiver stopping entrance fees at Yosemite National Park from being raised from $20 to $25 in conjunction with other top-tier parks after community members said the hike would further reduce dwindling park visitation numbers (Thomas Pardee, Modesto Bee). -- KB
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AUSTRALIA: A bill introduced in Western Australia's state parliament Wednesday would make it a crime to build or operate a nuclear power plant in the state. Meant to ensure no nuclear power comes to the state, companies would face a A$500,000 fine for violating the ban, according to Energy Minister Francis Logan (AAP/PerthNow.com, June 20).
CHILE: Chilean officials are asking geologists to investigate why a large lake in southern Chile has disappeared, leaving behind a 98-foot-deep crater at the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park. Officials from the National Forests Corp. of Chile documented cracks in the the bottom of the crater when they discovered the dried lake during a routine visit last month. Ice floes that used to feed into the lake now sit at the bottom of the crater, suggesting the lake's water disappeared very quickly (Agence France-Presse, June 21).
GHANA: Tullow Oil announced Monday that it has made a significant oil discovery in the West Cape Three Points area off the coast of Ghana. Esimates show there could be reserves of 600 million barrels at the site, far more than the 250 million barrels forecast by earlier assessments (Toby Shelley, Financial Times [subscription required], June 18).
INDIA: India's asbestos lobby is partially funding a study by the country's chemicals and fertilizers industry to examine the possible side effects of exposure to white asbestos. The study is being conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Health (Nitin Sethi, Times of India, June 21). -- EB
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