Monday, June 13, 2005
Pollution...
UGLY TACTIC
Cheat-Seeking Missles carried a post this past week about "activists" that are planting endangered plant species on property in order to prevent development. Laer has some fun with the story reporting the incident, and it is funny, but this is so totally outrageous that I can't appreciate the humor.
While we're talking about development, this story really gets to me.
THIS STORY IS AMAZING
WAY TO GO JUDGE
I usually like this current administration, but I am glad they got slapped down this time. (subscription required)
HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK
From the NYTimes no less.
Cheat-Seeking Missles carried a post this past week about "activists" that are planting endangered plant species on property in order to prevent development. Laer has some fun with the story reporting the incident, and it is funny, but this is so totally outrageous that I can't appreciate the humor.
While we're talking about development, this story really gets to me.
Coral mining, landscaping and other instances of human development in Sri Lanka helped last December's devastating tsunami sweep even further inland than it might have, causing intense destruction, scientists said Thursday.Let me get this straight -- development too close to the coast increases damage from natural disasters, development inland threatens endangered species,...Obviously the best thing to do is just kill ourselves and leave the planet to the animals.
THIS STORY IS AMAZING
By century's end, much of southern Louisiana may sink into the Gulf of Mexico. The Texas coastline, including Galveston, could soon follow.When I first checked into this story, I was expecting something about how the melting polar icecaps were raising sea level...yada, yada, yada. Instead I got a completely legitimate story on a natural geological phenomena and the difficulties of measuring it. Sometimes, it's worth pointing out when the press gets it right.
That's the sobering - and controversial - conclusion of a new report published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that finds the northern Gulf of Mexico is sinking much faster than geologists thought.
The report centers on the humble benchmark, a small metal disk bolted to the ground, that provides a standard elevation above sea level for land surveying and mapping as well as determining flood-prone areas.
But there's one problem with benchmarks: They don't give reliable elevation readings if they're sinking along with everything else.
WAY TO GO JUDGE
I usually like this current administration, but I am glad they got slapped down this time. (subscription required)
The utilities fought back with some success in court, and in 2003 the Bush administration clarified the NSR rules, essentially restoring the pre-Clinton interpretation. But in an all-too-typical piece of policy dissonance, the administration decided to continue pursuing Clinton-era enforcement actions against the utilities lest it provoke the ire of environmentalists."NSR" refers to "New Source Review" for power plants, and the fight was over it's application to existing plants, Clinton had tried to broaden the definition of "new," kind of like he tried to redefine "is" and "sex." I am saddened at this administration that they did not have the courage of their convictions, but I am angry that environmentalists are so shrill that the administration felt that kind of pressure.
As Judge Virginia Hopkins noted in her ruling in favor of Alabama Power Co., "This leaves the anomaly of utilities, like APC, being prosecuted for conduct that, if engaged in now, would not be prosecuted. Put another way, this action is a sport, which is not exactly what one would expect to find in a national regulatory enforcement program." She rejected the government's entire case, including requests for fines and compliance.
HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK
From the NYTimes no less.
Oil is now so expensive that when it is blended with ethanol, a gasoline additive, to make high-octane fuel, the price of the blend is now often lower than that of regular gasoline."Simply a matter of supply and demand?!" -- Puhleeze - the problem with alternative fuels and technologies all along has been price, there has never been any question in my mind that once they became economically viable, they would be adopted. Hybrid cars may get there, but right now if people do the math, as opposed to knee-jerk react to pump prices, the higher costs cannot be justified. There is nothing simple about this -- this is exactly how it is supposed to work -- the miracle of the free market strikes again.
As a result, some service stations, particularly those in the corn belt states that produce ethanol, are selling gasoline with ethanol for 7 cents to 10 cents less per gallon than regular gas.
Some analysts said the trend demonstrated ethanol's potential as a fuel source, though others said it was simply a matter of supply and demand and timing.
The pricing phenomenon is limited to regions where the gasoline additive is produced, because the cost to ship ethanol - which must be sent by highway or rail tanker instead of through petroleum pipelines, where it has the potential to be contaminated - is high.
