Editor's Take: July 24, 2008
colin 30d, flickr
West Leading on Climate
The Western Climate Initiative, an unprecedented agreement between seven states and four provinces, has released their draft recommendations for a pollution-cutting cap-and-trade system that would become the largest such arrangement in North America. Also, survey says: commuters want more transit options, and local agencies agree as they recommend light rail and bike lanes for the Columbia River Crossing.
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Western Leaders Take Charge on Climate
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
07/24/2008
Tired of a lack of leadership at the national level, Western leaders are taking charge on curbing climate change by proposing a plan for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The Western Climate Initiative -- a coalition of seven states, including Washington and four Canadian provinces -- on Wednesday released a draft strategy to "cap and trade" releases of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.
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PG&E Nearing High Tide on Wave Energy
Eureka Times-Standard
07/24/2008
The Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has cleared another hurdle toward developing wave energy projects off the Humboldt and Mendocino county coasts. On Wednesday, the U.S. Minerals Management Service announced that it would go forward with analyzing limited leases for alternative energy projects on the outer continental shelf.
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Christians Taking on Role as Climate Stewards
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
07/24/2008
Like shrinking ice caps, resistance among American Christians to address the effects of global warming is diminishing, creating a once-unlikely connection between the scientific and the spiritual, representatives of national and local religious organizations said Wednesday. Even opposition from evangelicals, the Christian group considered least likely to embrace warnings of climate change, might be lessening.
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Poll: Fix Traffic? Increase Transit Options
Seattle Times
07/24/2008
More than 450 King County residents think traffic congestion is the largest transportation problem facing the county. And they also say expanded public transit is the preferred solution.
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Agencies Favor New Bridge with Light Rail
Business Journal
07/23/2008
All six governmental bodies mulling alternatives to the current Interstate Bridge want a new six-lane structure that contains a light-rail line to Clark College and bicycle and pedestrian paths. The Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council voted 10-3 for a new bridge, cementing the six-lane option as the project's locally preferred alternative.
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2.6 Million Alaskan Acres Open for Oil Exploration
New York Times
07/24/2008
The Interior Department on Wednesday made 2.6 million acres of potentially oil-rich territory in northern Alaska available for energy exploration. At the same time, it deferred for a decade any decision to open 600,000 acres of land north of Teshekpuk Lake that is the summer home of thousands of migrating caribou and millions of waterfowl.
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Minimum Wage Goes Up, But is it Enough?
Olympian
07/24/2008
About 2 million Americans get a raise Thursday as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers. The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law. Next year's boost will bring the federal minimum to $7.25 an hour.
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Americans Must Diet to Save their Economy
New Scientist
07/23/2008
Want to save the US economy? Go on a diet. That's the message ecologists are trying to get across this week. They say the apparently looming energy crisis could be averted if US residents cut their calorie intake.
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Gassing Up With Garbage
New York Times
07/24/2008
After years of false starts, a new industry selling motor fuel made from waste is getting a big push in the United States, with the first commercial sales possible within months. Many companies have announced plans to build plants that would take in material like wood chips, garbage or crop waste and turn out motor fuels. About 28 small plants are in advanced planning, under construction or, in a handful of cases, already up and running in test mode.
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Views: Full Speed Ahead on New Energy
Christian Science Monitor
07/23/2008
T Boone Pickens and Al Gore have proposed bold plans to radically reduce America's addiction to fossil fuels. These two gadflies just might provide enough bite to provoke the next president to swifter action. The debate now is not whether there is a need to drastically reduce the burning of fossil fuels, which is given. It's about the speed and means of change, The questions are "Which way?" and "How fast?"
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