June 21st, 2012

When will it be possible for the US to be powered mainly by clean, renewable energy?
This simple question, which could tell us so much about our national economic and health prospects, has been treated by many vested interests as nearly unanswerable. The fossil fuel and power industries, our federal and state governments have stressed, at various times and places, that it is ever-so hard to predict when the US could achieve a fully realized clean energy future.

Their characterization of the clean energy landscape as amorphous and unknowable has a basis in reality. The energy revolution faces many obstacles. There’s the fact that the US has three electricity grids (East, West and Texas grids) that will need updating to accept renewables. Accomplish that and you still have to deal with multiple government bodies that must move slinky-like in the same direction. That would be the federal government, the 50 state governments, the dizzying array of local, county and utility boards and entities. Permitting new energy already can be a nightmare even when all parties are trying to facilitate it.

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August 20th, 2011

MONEY has released it list of cities with the cleanest air. In these cities, the air quality is rated highly, and pollution levels are below the U.S. average.

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June 22nd, 2011

Frances Beinecke, president, NRDC

The U.S. House has just returned from recess, and the Tea Party Republicans want to make it their first order of business to resume their assault on the environment. House Republican leaders and their Tea Party colleagues are working to block any effort to update the protections that keep our air and water clean.

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April 6th, 2011

Clean air. Is it good for the economy or a drag on the economy?

That is the fair, but complex question under consideration in Congress this week, as several lawmakers try to conscript the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon pollution under the Clean Air Act. Their attacks on the EPA have come in the form of separate bills and as riders to the overall budget bill which must be passed in some form to keep the government operating. (Presumably the riders would skate through, though these riders are more like flares, which everyone can see coming.)

Those fighting the EPA’s plan to regulate carbon pollution — ok let’s just say it out loud Greenhouse Gas Emissions — say that it amounts to over-regulation, will cost businesses dearly and cut into their ability to hire employees. At its most frenzied, this argument seems to pit the EPA against the well-being of the U.S. domestic economy. It’s a worthy point for debate. But it’s been entirely overblown. And the flip side, the harm that can come from ignoring air pollution has been ignored. Is it possible that air pollution, which hurts people and communities could be the real enemy of businesses also?

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December 15th, 2008

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

You’ve heard the saying, “it’s easy being green.” Maybe sometimes. But not always, and not if you’re the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) agency, which finds itself tangling with a green dilemma.

DART, which serves Dallas and 11 other cities in the region, has been planning to replace its aging bus fleet with 537 shiny new buses. It’s a great opportunity to go green with the entire fleet.

But after taking bids this fall and updating the research, the agency members are locked in debate over what type of buses are “cleaner” and which ones make the most sense environmentally and economically. The answer is not readily apparent. Like potential car buyers on the threshold of a dealership showroom, the bus-buying members of DART find themselves puzzling over the new technologies and old perceptions.

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September 10th, 2008

By Shermakaye Bass

Republican presidential candidate Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has historically opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), has been uncharacteristically taciturn on the energy issue since he chose pro-drilling Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Green-energy proponents find that ominous.

“With the pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his running mate, John McCain’s race towards the Bush administration’s failed energy policy is now complete,” Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope said recently. “… No one is closer to the the oil industry than Governor Palin. Along with her support for drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge and off our coasts, she also opposes a windfall profit tax on the richest oil companies. …She has been dismissive of alternative energy, saying ‘alternative-energy solutions are far from imminent and would require more than 10 years to develop’, when in reality it is the oil she would like to drill that would take a decade to bring to market.”

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) in Washington, D.C., showed a similar concern over Palin.

“Obviously, it’s a very disappointing pick for a (presidential) candidate who at one time made a priority of getting us away from the old fossil fuels of the past – Sen. McCain,” said David Sandretti, the League’s communications director.

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August 1st, 2008

By Barbara Kessler California is at it again. The state stickler for clean air, which tried to regulate car emissions but was blocked by the federal EPA in late 2007, is now asking the feds to regulate pollution from aircraft, ships and off-road vehicles. CA attorney Jerry Brown said that California, joined by other states [...]

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