USDA Economic Research Service http://www.usda.gov/documents/USDA_Biofuels_Report_6232010.pdf Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today released a report outlining both the current state of renewable transportation fuels efforts in America and a plan to develop regional strategies to increase the production, marketing and distribution of biofuels. The report provides information on current production and consumption capacities as well as projections … Continue reading »
Posted on June 29, 2010 …
Farm Subsidy Database
Environmental Working Group http://farm.ewg.org/ [From Press Release] The Environmental Working Group releases today the latest update of its widely referenced farm subsidy database. The new database tracks $245.2 billion in farm payments from 1995 -2009. Initially published online in 2004, the EWG farm subsidy database has logged over 200 million searches and gained wide recognition … Continue reading »
Farms Here, Forests There : Tropical Deforestation and U.S. Competitiveness in Agriculture and Timber
David Gardiner & Associates for the National Farmers Union and Avoided Deforestation Partners / by Shari Friedman www.adpartners.org/agriculture [From Press Release] …overseas agriculture and logging operations are expanding production by cutting down the world’s rainforests, allowing them to flood the world market with cheap commodities that undercut American goods. The report estimates that ending deforestation … Continue reading »
Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellites: Agencies Must Act Quickly to Address Risks That Jeopardize the Continuity of Weather and Climate Data
US Government Accountability Office http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10558.pdf In the 8 years since a contract was awarded, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS)—a tri-agency program managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)—has experienced escalating costs, schedule delays, and ineffective interagency management. … Continue reading »
Benchmarking Air Emissions of the 100 Largest Electric Power Producers in the United States – 2008
NRDC http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollution/benchmarking/default.asp The following report compares air pollutant emissions of the 100 largest U.S. electric power producers for 2008, and discusses market trends affecting the electric generating sector, including trends in fuel prices, technology developments, and environmental regulations… Key findings of the Benchmarking project’s 2008 report include: Emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides have … Continue reading »
The G20 Toronto Summit Declaration
G20.org http://www.g20.org/Documents/g20_declaration_en.pdf [From Michael A. Levi's Blog] The G20, in its final communique (PDF), reaffirmed its agreement of last September (PDF) to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies in the “medium term”. Much is being written about how the Obama administration successfully blocked attempts to refer to each country’s efforts as “voluntary”, which, while not … Continue reading »
