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  • Just after right-wing conservatives worked to successfully block a Senate measure last week that would bring carbon trading to the U.S., their foes in the radical environmental movement launched a cyber protest to try to do the same thing in Europe.

    It was a strange if accidental joining of hands across the climate divide, with left and right making common cause over discontent with market-driven carbon trading schemes.

    On Friday — one day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-N.V.) said he lacked the votes to pass a bill with climate policies — activists from Climate Justice Action (CJA) and hacker groups "cyberjacked" the website of the European Climate Exchange (ECX), replacing it with an anti-carbon trading missive and calls for "wider, systemic changes."

    The site, which gets around 10,000 hits per month, according to Alexa, provides real-time carbon pricing and volume data. It was offline for much of Saturday.

    "Climate for Sale, Guaranteed Profit," a banner splashed across the site said instead.

    "The cap and trade system ... generates outrageous profits for big industry polluters, investors in fraudulent offset projects, opportunist traders and new 'marketplaces' such as the European Climate Exchange," it continued.

  • The EPA has slowed down the approval process of a permit for a new Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline that a few months ago looked like a shoo-in for a State Department rubber stamp by the fall.

    The EPA gave the State department's draft environmental impact statement for the 2000 mile pipeline that will cut across the nation's heartland the worst rating possible, noting that if differences between the agencies can't be resolved, the matter could get referred to the White House for resolution.

    In response, the State department announced yesterday it intended to add 90 days to the process of making a decision on the pipeline permit to allow the final environmental impact statement to be reviewed by other federal agencies. Observers think that means there will be no decision until sometime next year. 

    Last year, a similar pipeline received approval with far less scrutiny. Is environmental security rising to become a matter of primary national interest in the wake of the Gulf oil disaster?

  • WASHINGTON—One of the keys to sealing a global climate deal is a financial lifeline to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change. The price tag is reckoned in tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars. Just where will that astronomical amount of money come from?

    One California Democrat thinks he has the answer. It comes in the shape of a minuscule tax -- five one-thousandths of one percent -- imposed on financial market transactions made by big time traders.

    U.S. Rep Pete Stark, has introduced a bill that would levy the tiny tax on trades of stocks, bonds, foreign exchange, futures and options involving large-scale traders who make more than $10,000 in transactions per year.

    “Every day, there are $4 trillion worth of currency transactions,” Stark, a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said via a news release. “The vast majority of these are speculative – banks trying to make a buck by out-guessing the system. This speculation contributed to the last Wall Street crisis and makes our financial system less stable.” 

    Revenues from the tax would cover expenses for worldwide climate change mitigation. This includes daunting tasks such as moving homes away from coastlines, transforming agricultural practices and reconfiguring infrastructure.

    Pursuing a global climate deal and making Wall Street pay for it might not be perceived as smart election-year politics. But Stark, the longest serving Congressman from California, is running for his 20th term this fall. He represents the East Bay region of the San Francisco area and faces token Republican opposition from Forest Baker on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Jacoba Charles

 

Reporting from Texas to Florida

Grand Concerns

On the 100th day after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, the people of Grand Island are angry. At least, the two dozen who showed up to a meeting with the local BP representative on Thursday night are angry. Voices were raised, and one woman cried.

“People are scared,” said Mayor David Camardelle. “They think BP is going to pull out. They don’t know how they are going to pay the rent.”

Today's Climate

July 30, 2010

EPA Says Michigan Spill Appears Contained (Reuters) 

Oil spilled from a pipeline in Michigan does not present a threat to the Great Lakes and the spill has been contained on a river about 50 miles inland from Lake Michigan, federal officials said on Thursday.

Company at Center of Mich. Oil Cited for Problems (AP)

Enbridge, the Canadian company at the center of the oil spill in Michigan, has a history of pipeline problems, including leaks, an explosion and dozens of regulatory violations.

Reid Eyes Likely Wednesday Test Vote on Disputed Oil Spill Bill (The Hill)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is setting up what's likely to be the only vote on Democratic oil spill response and energy legislation Wednesday before it is shelved until at least September. 

U.S. House Set To Vote On Offshore-Drilling Overhaul (Wall Street Journal) 

The U.S. House is set to vote Friday on remaking the entire offshore drilling system, setting up a fight over how far the government should go in removing support for the industry and instituting new safeguards following the Gulf oil spill.

BP Runs Final Well Casing (Upstream)

BP has begun to lay the final casing string in the first relief well and could move up planned kill operations, the head of the U.S. response said Thursday. 

BP Lawsuits Over Oil Spill Take Center Stage (Reuters)

More than 2,000 miles from the Gulf of Mexico shoreline, a panel of U.S. judges heard arguments from lawyers on Thursday on how piles of oil spill-related lawsuits against BP should be merged.

W.Va. Senators Unveil Mine Safety Bill (The Hill)

West Virginia Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D) and Carte Goodwin (D) on Thursday introduced legislation designed to protect the nation's miners from the very companies they work for.

Canadian Oil Sands Profits Jump Amid Green Battle (Reuters)

Four of Canada's biggest oil sands companies posted higher profits on Thursday, on stronger oil prices, as controversy builds over the environmental costs of tapping North America's biggest crude reserves. 

Safety Fears Raised at French Reactor (New York Times) 

Anti-nuclear activists are seeking to halt construction of France's latest nuclear plant at Flamanville, on the Normandy coast, arguing that changes introduced to solve problems with the reactor's fuel pellet cladding have invalidated the plant's original building permit.

UN Ends Kyoto CO2 Offset Drought Ahead of Key Meeting (Reuters)

The UN climate secretariat on Thursday issued 228,400 Kyoto Protocol carbon offsets to three Asian clean energy projects, ending a two-week issuance drought but failing to reassure concerned investors.

First Solar Earnings: A Mixed Bag (Earth2Tech)

First Solar, the solar stock bellwether, announced quarterly earnings with sales that topped expectations and a raised earnings guidance for the year, but at the same time saw a drop in profits for the quarter and a lowered revenue guidance for the year. 

Heat Damage to Russia Crop Past Worst, Official Says (Reuters) 

Russia's worst drought for decades is set to drag on for at least the next 7 days in some areas but further serious damage to grain crops is not expected, a senior government weather forecaster said on Thursday.

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