US Government Accountability Office http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-297 [From Summary] The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has been on GAO’s high-risk list since March 2006 because of concerns about its long-term financial solvency and related operational issues. Significant management challenges also affect the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) ability to administer NFIP. This report examines (1) the extent … Continue reading »
Posted on June 16, 2011 …
The U.S. Automotive Market and Industry in 2025
Center for Automotive Research http://www.cargroup.org/pdfs/ami.pdf [From a Greenwire story by Jason Plautz, sub. req'd] Higher fuel economy standards would add as much as $9,000 to the cost of a vehicle and may offer no fuel savings over a five-year period, a nonprofit automotive research group said today. A report from the Center for Automotive Research … Continue reading »
Supplement to the AB 32 Scoping Plan Functional Equivalent Document
California EPA, Air Resources Board http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/scopingplan/document/Supplement_to_SP_FED.pdf [From a ClimateWire story by Debra Kahn, sub. req'd] California regulators have revised their analysis of alternatives to cap and trade in the wake of last month’s court decision that found the groundwork for the nation’s first economywide greenhouse gas trading system insufficient… [San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ernest] … Continue reading »
Air Quality: Information on Tall Smokestacks and Their Contribution to Interstate Transport of Air Pollution
US Government Accountability Office http://www.gao.gov/mobile/products/GAO-11-473 [From Summary] Tall smokestacks–stacks of 500 feet or higher, which are primarily used at coal power plants–release air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) high into the atmosphere to help limit the impact of these emissions on local air quality. Tall stacks can also increase the … Continue reading »
Environmental Regulation and Electric Sector Reliability
Bipartisan Policy Center / by Jennifer Macedonia, Joe Kruger, Lourdes Long and Meghan McGuinness http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/library/report/environmental-regulation-and-electric-system-reliability The electric power sector in the United States faces a changing market environment, one that features reduced or flattened demand, low natural gas prices, new environmental regulations, and continued uncertainty about the future regulation of carbon. These new conditions in … Continue reading »
“My Children Have Been Poisoned”: A Public Health Crisis in Four Chinese Provinces
Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2011/06/15/my-children-have-been-poisoned-0 This 75-page report draws on research in heavily lead-contaminated villages in Henan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, and Hunan provinces. The report documents how, despite increasing regulation and sporadic enforcement targeting polluting factories, local authorities are ignoring the urgent and long-term health consequences of a generation of children continuously exposed to life-threatening levels of … Continue reading »
Energy for the Warfighter: Operational Energy Strategy
Department of Defense http://energy.defense.gov/OES_report_to_congress.pdf [From an AOL Energy article] With 80% of convoys transporting fuel, and with the military suffering most of it casualties and deaths on convoys, it’s all about the math. The military has decided that there must be a better way to use energy… Tuesday afternoon, Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn … Continue reading »
EIA Support Letter to Congress
via Scribd.com http://www.scribd.com/doc/57928384/2011-06-14-EIA-Support-Letter-to-Congress [From a FuelFix posting] A collection of 30 current and former energy officials and experts are urging Congress not to cut funding to the data collection and analysis arm of the Department of Energy, saying it could lead to great energy market volatility. In an open letter to members of the Senate … Continue reading »
ToxCastDB and ExpoCastDB: EPA Databases on Chemical Toxicity and Exposure Data Now Available
US EPA ToxCastDB: http://actor.epa.gov/actor/faces/ToxCastDB/Home.jsp ExpoCastDB: http://actor.epa.gov/actor/faces/ExpoCastDB/Home.jsp ACToR: http://actor.epa.gov [From Press Release] …EPA is releasing two databases — the Toxicity Forecaster database (ToxCastDB) and a database of chemical exposure studies (ExpoCastDB) — that scientists and the public can use to access chemical toxicity and exposure data. Improved access supports EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s priorities of … Continue reading »
Impacts of the California Drought from 2007-2009
Pacific Institute / by Juliet Christian-Smith, Morgan Levy and Peter H. Gleick http://www.pacinst.org/reports/california_drought_impacts/ California’s three-year drought, which ended with this season’s cool and wet weather, had complicated and serious impacts that have been poorly understood and reported. Some of the impacts were expected; others were surprising. The Pacific Institute has just completed a nine-month assessment … Continue reading »
