Green Tories - Canadian Conservatives Care

Iran threatens to stop oil flow via Hormuz strait

2007-01-08T16:33:00.000-06:00

Iran threatens to stop oil flow via Hormuz strait
By JPOST.COM STAFF

A senior Iranian officer warned that if the West continues to threaten Iran's economy over its nuclear program, Teheran will discontinue the flow of oil via the Strait of Hormuz, Israel Radio reported Monday.

According to the officer, 40% of the world's oil is transferred through the strait, and the world is dependent on Iran for a source of energy and a stable economy.

Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, added that Iran cannot allow itself to give up the right to develop its nuclear technology program.

U.S. Senators Introduce BioFuels Security Act

2007-01-06T17:01:00.000-06:00

Senators Introduce BioFuels Security Act
1/4/2007

On the first day of the new Congress, Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Richard G. Lugar (R-IN), Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-DE), Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) and Barack Obama (D-IL) introduced legislation that will increase American drivers' access to ethanol at fuel pumps. Currently, the United States imports more than 60 percent of its oil, and our consumption continues to increase - further subjecting consumers to the whims of the world oil market. Over sixty percent of the world's oil reserves are held in the Middle East, handcuffing our foreign policy.

American drivers can help reverse our oil dependence by filling up with ethanol blends like E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gas) or biodiesel, say the Senators. They say increasing the use of ethanol will reduce our oil consumption and give us an environmentally friendly, domestically produced source of fuel.

Today, Sens. Harkin, Lugar, Biden, Dorgan and Obama offered legislation, titled the BioFuels Security Act, to increase renewable fuels use through higher renewable fuels standards (RFS), greater availability of ethanol pumps and increased production of cars equipped to run on alternative fuel sources.

"For too long, we've depended on importing oil to meet our energy needs," Senator Harkin said. "This legislation lays the roadmap to a long-term ramp-up in domestically produced renewable fuels. I believe if we are to attain national and economic security for our nation, we can and we must achieve these aggressive goals."

"I am pleased to join Senator Tom Harkin in re-introducing the Biofuels Security Act in the 110th Congress. Our nation must take seriously our future energy security, and I am hopeful that this Congress will consider the merits of this aggressive, yet prudent, bi-partisan legislation," Senator Lugar said.

"If it was not clear before, it is now: domestic energy policy is at the center of our foreign policy," said Senator Biden. "For our own security - both nationally and globally -- we have to begin the transition to alternative fuels. We can't do that without upgrading to a better system that combines protection for U.S. automobile manufacturing jobs with increased use of alternative, home-grown fuels. We have no choice but to get smarter with our energy policy."

"We must work towards requiring more use of ethanol and significant long-term investment in renewable fuels to lead to a decrease of our nation's dependence on foreign sources of oil," said Senator Dorgan. "This increase in ethanol production will expand job growth in the U.S."

"The Renewable Fuels Standard is one of the most significant steps taken by Congress to increase ethanol production and decrease our nation's dangerous dependence on foreign oil," Senator Obama said. "We should build off this success by increasing ethanol production, consumer access to renewable fuels, and the production of cars and trucks that can use them. It's time for Congress to realize what farmers in America's heartland have known all along - that we have the capacity and ingenuity to decrease our dependence on foreign oil by growing our own fuel, but what we've been lacking is the political will."

Specifically, the bill:

Proposes a new renewable fuels standard (RFS) that calls for 60 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel to be included in the United States motor vehicle fuel supply annually by the year 2030 by boosting ethanol and biodiesel production to 30 billion gallons annually by 2020, and then doubling that quantity over the following ten years to 60 billion gallons by 2030.

Calls for increasing the number of gasoline stations that carry blends of 85% ethanol (E85). The bill would require large oil companies to install E85 pumps at their stations, increasing by five percentage points annually over the next 10 years, resulting in approximately 50% percent of all major brand gasoline stations nationwide having E85 pumps available within a decade.

Directs automakers to gradually increase flex-fuel vehicle (FFV) production, increasing in ten percentage-point increments annually, until nearly all vehicles sold in the U.S. are FFV's within 10 years. Currently, flex-fuel vehicles -- those able to use both regular gasoline and blends of up to 85 percent ethanol (E85) - make up only about two percent of vehicles on the road.

50 Easy Ways to Go Green

2006-12-27T11:19:00.000-06:00

Easy Ways to Go Green
By Leslie Billera

You can be good to the earth--without giving up things you love. Plus, what those "eco" labels really mean.

At the supermarket

Be picky about produce
Download the "Shoppers' Guide to Pesticides in Produce" at ewg.org. The wallet-size list sorts out the fruits and veggies that tend to be higher in pesticides (like apples and spinach) from produce with a lower count (like bananas and peas).

Choose "certified" coffee
Yuban coffee is Rainforest Alliance Certified (that means it's grown in a way that preserves the ecosystem). A Fair Trade Certified brand is Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. (Both brands are available at many markets.) For more on these certification labels, see the chart.

Support local farms
At eatwellguide.org, you can plug in your zip code and find suppliers of organic and sustainably produced meat, poultry, eggs, and more. If you buy locally, you won't have to rely on farms that ship food nationwide, which helps to decrease our dependence on oil and to cut back on gas emissions.

Tote your own grocery bag
Paper or plastic? Neither! If you're shopping for a small load, bring along a cute sack like the polka-dot tote, above, from Cath Kidston (cathkidston.com). Another practical option: the ACME Workhorse Style 1500 (reusablebags.com), which crunches into a tiny pouch that fits in your purse.

Pay attention to packaging
Every American produces about four and a half pounds of garbage a day. So before you buy something, eyeball the amount of cardboard, plastic, and/or other materials used for the box or wrapping. Wal-Mart is one big retailer that is waking up to the problem: The chain is replacing petroleum-based plastic containers with corn-based packaging for precut fruit, herbs, strawberries, and Brussels sprouts.

Around the house

Save money in the bathroom
Buy water-efficient showerheads. With low-flow models, a family of four can cut water usage by as much as 280 gallons a month-and yet not feel much difference in water pressure. Two we like: Kohler's Master Shower Eco (kohler.com) and Niagara Conservation's Earth Massage (niagaraconservation.com).

Bring home superhero plants
Certain greens can help remove indoor air pollutants like formaldehyde and benzene. Don't have the gardening gene? Golden pothos, English ivy, and peace lilies are all easy-to-grow toxin fighters.

Recycle rechargeables
Cell phones, digital cameras, and camcorders have made these batteries more popular than ever, but in certain states-Florida, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Vermont-it's illegal to throw them away. Wherever you live, you can find a nearby store that will recycle them for you; just go to rbrc.org and type in your zip code.

Adjust fridge and freezer temps
Refrigerators eat up the most electricity in the household. Maximize efficiency by keeping the fridge at 37°F. and the freezer at 0°F.

Lighten up with energy savings
Consider using compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs). They cost a bit more than regular bulbs, but you'll lower your electric bill and pay less in the long run-CFLs last up to ten times longer than traditional ones. (Worried that fluorescents will fill your house with a greenish glow? That's no longer a problem. When we compared a regular bulb with a GE Energy Star Qualified CFL, testers couldn't tell the difference.) You can buy CFLs at most hardware and home stores. To save more on lighting, install dimmer switches and use timers, indoors and out.

Recycle smart
From furniture to electronics, one person's trash is another's treasure-so when you want to dispose of an old item, don't make the dump your first stop. Two sites with alternatives: freecycle.org and earth911.org. The Freecycle Network describes itself as "a place to give or receive what you have and don't need or what you need and don't have-[to keep] stuff out of landfills." The Earth 911 Web site offers community-specific resources, with a focus on recycling. Check out the home page to find out where you can recycle your computer, your cell phone-even used motor oil.

Entertaining

Protect the earth while you picnic
At your next outdoor party, ask people to write their names on disposable cups so they'll use only one (to make it easy, put out markers). If you use disposable dinnerware, buy the kind that won't clog landfills or kill trees. To try: EarthShell plates and bowls (www.earthshell.com). They're made from corn, potatoes, and limestone-and cost less than 6 cents per plate.

Remodeling

Take paint precautions
Most paint emits VOCs (volatile organic compounds), the same kind of chemicals found in gasoline and nail polish. But manufacturers like Sherwin-Williams have developed water-based products that perform well but give off virtually no VOCs. Krylon's H20 paint is the first low-VOC latex spray paint that can be cleaned up with soap and water. Made from 99 percent food-grade ingredients, Anna Sova's Healthy Wall Finish (annasova.com) leaves your rooms smelling vaguely like vanilla. To be at least minimally organic, use a water-based latex paint, not an oil-based alkyd paint-and remember, exterior paints should never be used indoors.

Raise the roof with recycled materials
If your old shingles need replacing, consider a Classic Metal Roofing System (classicroof.com). It's made from recycled aluminum cans but resembles traditional shakes or tiles. Thanks to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, installing this type of material can qualify you for a $500 tax credit.

Choose energy-efficient appliances
Look for the Energy Star label, awarded to fridges, washers, and other products that exceed government efficiency standards by using less water or electricity. For Energy Star appliances that have been tested by GHI, visit goodhousekeeping.com.

Women's personal style

Dress in eco-chic clothing
Lara Miller's Melissa tunic is 100 percent bamboo, yet it's as soft as silk. (For stores, go to laramiller.net.) Linda Loudermilk, an eco-couture designer, uses fabric made from sasawashi (a Japanese leaf), along with bamboo, soya, and other exotic self-sustaining plants(lindaloudermilk.com).

Opt for new undies
Wearing 100 percent organic-cotton panties reduces your exposure to chemical pesticides in a sensitive area. Try Blue Canoe brand (goodhumans.com).

Make up with Mother Nature
Aveda's All-Sensitive Body Formula moisturizing body oil uses organic jojoba. What's more, most of Aveda's packaging is made from recycled material. A makeup line that's entirely organic: Nvey Eco (econveybeauty.com). We particularly like their eyeshadows.

Be clean (and green)
Pangea Organics soaps, which are made with organic and often Fair Trade Certified ingredients, are scented with oils like lavender and lemongrass. They come in a biodegradable carton that will start disintegrating within 48 hours if you plant it in your garden. Available at Whole Foods Markets.

Cooking and eating

Become a flexitarian
Swap out one meat dish a week for a veggie plate. Why? Because raising produce is "cheaper," in terms of energy, than raising animals. Log on to vegweb.com to find tasty, meatless recipes (our favorite: the lentil burgers).

Grill corn in its husk
Instead of stripping off the green leaves, soak the ear whole, then place it right on the barbecue-no aluminum foil required.

Go for the gold- coffee filters, that is
Spare trees by replacing paper filters in your coffeemaker with reusables (usually gold colored).

Get the organic habit
Switch to organic for at least one product that you buy every week.

Put it in park
Avoid drive-through windows, especially if there are long lines.

Compost
Instead of trashing food scraps, toss them into Gardener's Supply Company Kitchen Compost Crock, a ceramic countertop composter that's perfect for first-timers

Break out the bamboo
This plant is a far more sustainable natural resource than wood because it grows very quickly. Try the stylish bamboo bowls and cutting boards from TimberGrass

Home office

Buy a laptop
It uses considerably less power than a desktop computer.

Get off junk mail lists
Register with the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service (dmaconsumers.org) and you'll see a significant reduction in mail after three months.

Double up on printing
Configure your printer so that it prints on both sides of the page. You know those extra pages you get when printing out one simple e-mail? Turn them over and put them back in the printer for reuse.

Invest the green way
Environmentally conscious mutual funds are increasingly available through 401(k) plans, especially if employees express interest. To learn more, log on to socialinvest.org; then talk to your benefits administrator.

For kids

Buy organic for baby
Hanna Andersson makes her children's clothing-including the romper at left-with 100 percent organic cotton grown without harmful chemicals (hannaandersson.com). This garment is also certified to meet the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 requirements, meaning every fabric, button, thread, and zipper is tested for over 100 potentially harmful substances. Another source for organic-cotton baby clothes is Wal-Mart's new George Baby line for sizes up to nine months.

Teach kids to be green
Give your little ones responsibility for your family's recycling and match whatever they make in deposits at the store. They'll learn about money and recycling at the same time.

In your yard

Mow-ercise!
Today's non-gasoline-powered reel lawn mowers are easier to push than the old models. Their eco-benefit: zero emissions (plus, you're getting great exercise). If you prefer a power mower, consider a quiet, battery-operated model from Black & Decker.

Warm up to solar energy
You may not be ready for a totally sun-powered home, but you can get a taste of the technology by using solar-powered lighting in your yard or on your patio. We like Malibu's Solar Floodlight (intermatic.com).

Go native
Plant flowers and shrubs that are well suited to your climate (the staff at your local nursery can help). The benefit: You'll use less fertilizer and pesticides.

Five eco labels you can really trust

--USDA Organic
Seen on: Food products
What it means: Food is produced without antibiotics, genetic engineering, or most synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

--Rainforest Alliance Certified
Seen on: Coffee, chocolate, bananas
What it means: Companies harvesting the food practice soil and water conservation; they also reduce the use of pesticides.

--Fair Trade Certified
Seen on: Coffee, tea, chocolate, fruit, rice, sugar
What it means: Food is grown on small farms; farmers receive a fair price.

--Certified Humane
Seen on: Eggs, meat
What it means: Animals raised for dairy, meat, and poultry products are treated humanely. Growth hormones are prohibited, and animals are raised on a diet without antibiotics.

--Green Seal
Seen on: Napkins, toilet paper, paper towels
What it means: they must meet recycling and bleaching standards.

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.

Schwarzenegger Remakes Himself as Environmentalist

2006-12-23T19:34:00.000-06:00

SACRAMENTO -- Arnold Schwarzenegger is not the type of guy you would necessarily associate with tree hugging. When he bought a Hummer in the early 1990s, it kicked off a nationwide craze for the gas-guzzling behemoths. His lighter-fluid-dowsed action flicks and protein-packed chest bespoke more of American excess than environmentalism, more violence than vegan.

But as governor of California, Schwarzenegger has engaged in a savvy makeover, befitting a Hollywood star. He retooled one of his four Hummers to run on alternative fuels and is quickly fashioning himself into one of the most aggressively pro-environment governors in a state known for leading the nation on that issue.

This year he signed the nation's first environmental law of its kind, committing the state to lowering its greenhouse gas production to 1990 levels by 2020 and setting up an international program that provides manufacturers with incentives to lower carbon emissions, which is supposed to begin by 2012. He has vowed to fight any attempt to drill for oil off California's coast.

And now Schwarzenegger, a Republican, wants to use his star power to turn global warming into an issue in the 2008 presidential election. "There is a whole new movement because of the change of people sent to Washington," Schwarzenegger said in an interview this week, referring to the Democratic Party's impending takeover of Congress. "We want to put the spotlight on this issue in America. It has to become a debate in the presidential election. It has to become an issue."

Schwarzenegger's relationship with the Bush administration and the conservative wing of the Republican Party has been rocky. He has clashed with Bush over stem cell research (Schwarzenegger favors, Bush opposes), dispatching the National Guard to do border enforcement (Bush ordered, Schwarzenegger opposed) and legalizing the purchase of prescription drugs from Canada (Bush opposes, Schwarzenegger favors).

But no other issue divides the governor and the president as much as global warming. Schwarzenegger's embrace of the issue is clearly a gambit on the part of a politician with big ambitions. Analysts say he could run for the Senate in 2010. He cannot run for president because he was not born in the United States.

Schwarzenegger made no bones about his exasperation with the Bush administration's refusal to allow California to become the first state in the nation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. A request in 2005 for that authority has received no response from the Environmental Protection Agency. The question of whether the EPA -- or other agencies -- should regulate greenhouse gases is being considered by the Supreme Court.

"We are going to find a way to do it, no matter what anyone says," Schwarzenegger said. ". . . We have to make moves that protect the health of the people. That's our number one priority.

"We don't want Washington to tell us when we are allowed to be healthy or when we should get cancer," he continued. "We don't want people to die because pollution causes certain illnesses and cancers and so on."

Schwarzenegger argued that in a "Nixon goes to China" way he is uniquely poised to lead on the environmental front. Calling himself a "sane Republican," he said his pro-business philosophy and fiscal conservatism shield him from accusations of being "the tree hugger, the crazy guy out there who wants to live on the moon and talk about the spirits and all this holistic stuff."

"With me they can't do it, because my whole history is different," he said, puffing thoughtfully on a fat cigar in his smoking tent in a courtyard of the state Capitol. "It's unexpected, so therefore you have a better chance to have an impact. . . . All those businesses would never have a better guy than me."

Schwarzenegger asserted that his embrace of the issue has helped prompt other Republicans to change their tune on the environment. Republican presidential hopefuls have reached out to Schwarzenegger's team to talk about global warming, an aide noted.

While other states are also far out ahead of the federal government on global warming, California is the place to lead the country on green issues, he contended. This state "is really in a unique position because we have such an impact on the world," he said.

"You go back to bodybuilding," he added, musing about his roots. "We promoted bodybuilding here, but it went all over the world, and now in every town, no matter where you go in the Middle East or Africa or China, everybody is working out, lifting weights, in the garage, at home or in the bedroom, pulling out equipment from under the bed."

California's two senators, Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, have told officials in Sacramento that they intend to model federal legislation on California's greenhouse gas legislation. Schwarzenegger said he is ready to go to Washington to testify on the issue.

Schwarzenegger also contended that bold American action on global warming -- a makeover that parallels his own -- could do much to improve the nation's international image.

"The war has dragged us down. There's no reason to get political, that's just the way it is," he said. "But you can balance it by being a great leader in the environment."

"The more America shows leadership in that area," he said, "the more we will be loved for that as much as they love us for our hamburgers and for our jeans and for our movies and for our music."

Environmental groups, rarely inclined to support a Republican, have grudgingly given Schwarzenegger decent marks. "Schwarzenegger has really taken the lead on greenhouse gases, more so than almost any American politician," said Frank O'Donnell, president of D.C.-based Clean Air Watch. "His state is the leading edge of many of our problems, but it's also the leading edge of many of their solutions."

In California, Schwarzenegger's pro-environmental position is part of a bipartisan tradition; even Ronald Reagan was known as pro-environment during his years in the statehouse. Since the 1960s, the state, bedeviled by the worst air quality in the United States, has led the nation in tackling pollutants. In 1961, it required the first automotive emissions control technology in the nation, and its regulations continue to be the toughest in the country.

California's standards have helped give birth in the United States to hybrid cars, efficient refrigerators and air conditioners, and the catalytic converter, which, because of California's leadership, will soon be installed on lawn mowers and other equipment using two-stroke engines.

The federal Air Quality Act of 1967 granted California a waiver to set and enforce its own emissions standards for new vehicles. Based on that waiver, California asked the federal government to allow it to begin limiting greenhouse gases from cars. California's status on this front gives it further claim to an environmental leadership role, Schwarzenegger said.

To be sure, there were -- and still are -- huge fights over emissions and, more broadly, coastal preservation. California is home to Richard W. Pombo (R), a congressman who almost succeeded in weakening the Endangered Species Act before he was defeated in November.

Nonetheless, the state's tough regulations have resulted in improvements. Schwarzenegger recalled that, when he first moved to California, his workouts on Muscle Beach in Venice left him with teary eyes.

"They were just burning all the time, and now I've never felt that again. It's just gone. That is unbelievable progress," he said. "It's all because of the Clean Air Act and the catalytic converter. All those kind of things that were done in the '70s which everyone fought about and said that business would go down and everyone was going to move from California and the world was going to be flat again and all this drama. And look what happened? The whole world is doing it."

Because California has embraced conservation like no other big state, its per capita consumption of energy has remained flat over 30 years, while the rest of the country's has increased by 50 percent. And total vehicle emissions of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons have fallen more than 20 percent in 15 years, even though miles driven by state motorists are up by more than 20 percent.

Noting that Silicon Valley investors are devoting billions of dollars to green technology, Schwarzenegger predicted that a new era is dawning for business. He enthused about a recent trip to the Los Angeles Auto Show, where he test-drove an electric race car that went from 0 to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds. "A battery? I mean that's extraordinary. That's faster than a turbo Porsche," he said.

"All of this is going to be a whole new phenomenon," he said, "where people who are smart and entrepreneurial will not fight it but will get into it."

Ambrose, Strahl announce new biofuel regulations

2006-12-21T12:45:00.000-06:00

Ambrose, Strahl announce new biofuel regulations
Updated Wed. Dec. 20 2006 11:03 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has announced a $345 million funding and regulatory package to promote renewable fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol as part of the clean air plan.

Ambrose unveiled plans to require that diesel fuel and heating oil contain 2 per cent renewable biodiesel content by 2012, and that gasoline and diesel fuel contain five per cent renewable content by 2010.

The move is part of the government's bid to improve its environmental image.

She made the announcement alongside Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl in Saskatoon, saying the plan would result in a major reduction in Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

"The regulations that I'm announcing today will have a real impact, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated four megatons annually. Translate that into something we can all relate to and it's like we're moving the equivalent of almost one million vehicles off the roads every year," she said.

Strahl announced funding commitments of $345 million designed to promote bioproducts research and development. He said the government's focus on biofuels will create new economic opportunities for farmers.

He said $200 million would go towards a program under which farmers can obtain part ownership in biodiesel plants expected to sprout in coming years.

However, details were sketchy about how the plan will unfold.

He also announced $145 million over five years towards an agricultural bioproducts innovations program to help farmers move into the future.

Biofuels are a renewable energy source produced from organic materials such as canola, wheat and soy.

Ambrose stressed the renewable fuel legislation will only move forward if the opposition parties support the government's unpopular Clean Air Act.

Barb Isman, president of the Canola Council of Canada, told The Canadian Press the new measures are welcome but will not kickstart the renewables industry unless there are tax changes in the next federal budget to make Canadian farmers competitive with those in the United States and Europe.

CTV's Roger Smith said the announcement could be Ambrose's last as environment minister. Speculation is that she will be moved from her post in a possible cabinet shuffle in January.

With files from The Canadian Press

Bio Fuels Mandated in Canada

2006-12-20T16:26:00.000-06:00

AAFC Online - Newsroom - News Releases

Tories turning 'election' green

2006-12-20T09:21:00.000-06:00

Tories turning 'election' green

Renew US--The Movie

2006-12-18T16:39:00.000-06:00

Renew US--The Movie

New Study Shows Biodiesel Will Add $24 Billion to U.S. Economy

2006-12-05T10:26:00.000-06:00

New Study Shows Biodiesel Will Add $24 Billion to U.S. Economy

Legend has it that nearly 200 years ago, finding impressive apple trees in Defiance, Ohio, Johnny Appleseed established a nursery business in the rural community.

Today, he would still find apple trees, but he would also find a blooming biodiesel plant. American Ag Fuels is growing its annual biodiesel production from 2 million to 5 million gallons. By the time the plant completes the expansion next March, it will have nearly 20 full-time and eight part-time employees, in addition to boosting business for the local contractors who are involved in the construction.

It’s just one example of how the growing biodiesel industry is feeding the U.S. economy through job creation, tax revenues and farm income. “We decided to expand because frankly we’ve had trouble keeping up with demand,” says American Ag Fuels President Steve Lankenau.

The National Biodiesel Board released a new economic study that shows how biodiesel plants are a boon to the U.S. economy as they sprout up across the nation. According to the economic analysis by John M. Urbanchuk of LECG and funded by the soybean checkoff through the United Soybean Board, the aggregate economic benefits of biodiesel include:

America’s biodiesel industry will add $24 billion to the U.S. economy between 2005 and 2015, assuming biodiesel growth reaches 650 million gallons of annual production by 2015.

Biodiesel production will create a projected 39,102 new jobs in all sectors of the economy.

Additional tax revenues from biodiesel production will more than pay for the federal tax incentives provided to the industry. It will keep $13.6 billion in America that would otherwise be spent on foreign oil. This total impact of biodiesel on the economy includes the temporary impacts of construction, the permanent impacts of annual production and the direct value of biodiesel and co-products (glycerin).
A fact sheet on this study can be found at this link.

Pentagon seeks biofuel for military jets

2006-11-30T15:18:00.000-06:00

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, November 30, 2006
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department has launched an effort to reduce the military's reliance on traditional aircraft fuel.

The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has released a tender for the exploration of energy alternatives for the military. Officials said DARPA has sought proposals from companies and universities that would increase fuel efficiency and produce biofuel for military jets from agriculture or aquaculture crops.
"DARPA seeks processes that use limited sources of external energy, that are adaptable to a range or blend of feedstock crop oils, and that produce process by-products that have ancillary manufacturing or industrial value," the agency said.

Officials said commercial alternatives to traditional fuel have not met the higher energy density and wide-operating temperature range required for military aviation uses. They said the Pentagon has designed a program entitled BioFuels to convert crop oil to military aviation fuel, known as JP-8. Those invited to participate in the competition would deliver at least 100 liters of JP-8 surrogate biofuel for initial government laboratory testing.

On July 25, DARPA briefed prospective bidders on the program in Denver Colo. The agency plans to achieve a 60 percent or greater conversion efficiency of crop oil. Officials said the agency envisions increasing the efficiency to 90 percent conversions.

So far, biodiesel fuels have been 25 percent lower in energy density than JP-8. Officials said biodiesel did not flow properly at low temperatures in the atmosphere.

"It is anticipated that the key technology developments needed to obtain the program goal will result from a cross-disciplinary approach spanning the fields of process chemistry and engineering, materials engineering, biotechnology, and propulsion system engineering," the agency said.

Officials said the program would evaluate the processing of crop oils into a JP-8 surrogate biofuel. They said laboratory-scale production would be tested at a Pentagon facility.

Too Little too late for fuel cells

2006-11-30T15:16:00.000-06:00

Critics say too little, too late
canada.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Automakers will roll into the Los Angeles Auto Show with a new lineup of concept cars powered by alternative fuels. But activists complain the companies are still moving too slowly to curb the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and BMW AG will unveil vehicles that run on hydrogen, while other companies, including DaimlerChrysler AG and Volkswagen AG, will show vehicles powered by E85 ethanol, electric-gas hybrid engines, biodiesel, natural gas and low-sulfur diesel fuel.

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The 2008 Buick Enclave is introduced to the media in Pasadena, Calif, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006. Automakers will roll into the Los Angeles Auto Show with a new lineup of concept cars powered by alternative fuels. But activists complain the companies are still moving too slowly to curb North America's dependence on foreign oil.
Photograph by : AP

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AAAAFont: Environmentally friendly cars will be a highlight of the auto show, which gained prominence this year after it was moved from January to November to occur before the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Organizers said 21 new models will make their world debuts at the Los Angeles show, which opens to the public on Friday and runs through Dec. 10.

Many of the alternative-fuel concept cars on display may not become available to the public for years, in part because some fuels such as hydrogen are not readily available.

"Consumers are angry that they don't have greener choices in the showroom, so at least on the concept car front, automakers can say, 'hey, we're working on it,'" said Jason Mark, vehicles director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Automakers are also sending a message to the oil industry and government policymakers that more progress must be made on building the infrastructure needed to deliver alternative fuels.

"It's a little bit of, 'here's our chicken, where's your egg?'" Mark said.

Mark and others also argue that carmakers should make more fuel-efficient cars now by using available technology instead of waiting decades for new systems to prove themselves.

A consumer group called "Jumpstart Ford" plans to demonstrate outside the auto show on Wednesday to say the vehicles on display provide too little, too late.

"While the public is being shown eco-demonstration vehicles at this week's auto show, the automakers' efforts sadly fall far short of the response needed in order to effectively break America's oil addiction," the group said in a prepared statement.

Advances in hydrogen fuel cell technology will be of special interest at the show.

Ford said it will show off a hydrogen-fueled Explorer sport utility vehicle that can travel 350 miles on one tank _ farther than any other fuel-cell vehicle.

The vehicle, a prototype built for the U.S. Department of Energy, has a center-mounted hydrogen tank as well as space for six people and their cargo.

Ford has logged more than 17,000 miles testing the Explorer, including 1,556 miles during one 24-hour period, which Ford called a record for any fuel-cell vehicle.

BMW, meanwhile, is displaying its new Hydrogen 7, powered by a 12-cylinder combustion engine that it touts as "the world's first hydrogen-powered performance sedan."

In the past, travel range was a problem with the hydrogen vehicles due to limited fuel storage. Ford likely overcame that with a large tank in a bigger vehicle, said Simon Ng, director of the alternative energy technology program at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Ford says the Explorer can store 10 kilograms of hydrogen, five times more than the amount carried by a hydrogen-powered Mercedes-Benz in use as a police car at Wayne State, Ng said.

The unveilings in Los Angeles are further steps toward bringing hydrogen vehicles to market, said JoAnn Milliken, acting hydrogen program manager for the U.S. Department of Energy.

"Integrating these new technologies into a system is major progress," she said.

Still, a mass-produced fuel cell vehicle is 10 to 15 years away, Ng said. Major obstacles include the lack of fueling stations and high costs, he said, adding that the Mercedes in use at Wayne State cost more than $1 million to produce.

Energy Department estimates show a mass-produced fuel-cell engine would cost about four times as much as a conventional gasoline engine.

Ng said oil companies won't build fueling stations without the cars being on the road, and the car companies won't build cars without a way to refuel them.

Milliken said the Energy Department is paying for part of demonstration projects to build hydrogen vehicles, and tax credits are offered as incentives for the industry to bring products to market.

"There's likely to be more incentives down the road as we get closer to achieving the targets," she said.

Gaia scientist Lovelock predicts planetary wipeout

2006-11-29T16:28:00.000-06:00

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - The earth has a fever that could boost temperatures by 8 degrees Celsius making large parts of the surface uninhabitable and threatening billions of peoples' lives, a controversial climate scientist said on Tuesday.

James Lovelock, who angered climate scientists with his Gaia theory of a living planet and then alienated environmentalists by backing nuclear power, said a traumatized earth might only be able to support less than a tenth of it's 6 billion people.

"We are not all doomed. An awful lot of people will die, but I don't see the species dying out," he told a news conference. "A hot earth couldn't support much over 500 million."

"Almost all of the systems that have been looked at are in positive feedback ... and soon those effects will be larger than any of the effects of carbon dioxide emissions from industry and so on around the world," he added.

Scientists say that global warming due to carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels for power and transport could boost average temperatures by up to 6C by the end of the century causing floods, famines and violent storms.

But they also say that tough action now to cut carbon emissions could stop atmospheric concentrations of CO2 hitting 450 parts per million -- equivalent to a temperature rise of 2C from pre-industrial levels -- and save the planet.

Lovelock said temperature rises of up to 8C were already built in and while efforts to curb it were morally commendable, they were wasted.

"It is a bit like if your kidneys fail you can go on dialysis -- and who would refuse dialysis if death is the alternative. We should think of it in that context," he said.

"But remember that all they are doing is buying us time, no more. The problems go on," he added.

REFUGE

Lovelock adopted the name Gaia, the Greek mother earth goddess, in the 1960s to apply to his then revolutionary theory that the earth functions as a single, self-sustaining organism. His theory is now widely accepted.

In London to give a lecture on the environment to the Institution of Chemical Engineers, he said the planet had survived dramatic climate change at least seven times.

"In the change from the last Ice Age to now we lost land equivalent to the continent of Africa beneath the sea," he said. "We are facing things just as bad or worse than that during this century."

"There are refuges, plenty of them. 55 million years ago ... life moved up to the Arctic, stayed there during the course of it and then moved back again as things improved. I fear that this is what we may have to do," he added.

Lovelock said the United States, which has rejected the Kyoto Protocol on cutting carbon emissions, wrongly believed there was a technological solution, while booming economies China and India were out of control.

China is building a coal-fired power station a week to feed rampant demand, and India's economy is likewise surging.

If either suddenly decided to stop their carbon-fuelled development to lift their billions of people out of poverty they would face a revolution, yet if they continued, rising CO2 and temperatures would kill off plants and produce famine, he said.

"If climate change goes on course ... I can't see China being able to produce enough food by the middle of the century to support its people. They will have to move somewhere and Siberia is empty and it will be warmer then," he said.

Canada labelled 'fossil' at climate change talks

2006-11-13T16:03:00.000-06:00

Canada took its lumps at the UN climate conference in Kenya Monday, tying with Australia in a "fossil of the day" award while being ranked near the bottom of an environmental group's list for efforts to combat global warming.

Opposition MPs and environmentalists from Canada, meanwhile, struck a common theme at a news conference in Nairobi, saying the federal government's lukewarm position on the Kyoto Protocol doesn't reflect Canadian public opinion.

"The majority of Canadians are firmly and strongly behind living up to our Kyoto obligations," said John Godfrey, the Liberal environment critic.

"We are here because we want the world to know that Canadians are united in their commitment to the Kyoto Protocol," said Emilie Moorehouse of the Sierra Club.

Bloc Québécois environment critic Bernard Bigras quoted federal Environment Minister Rona Ambrose as saying "we are on track to meeting all our obligations under the Kyoto Protocol but not the targets."

"I don't think that's the position parliamentarians expect from the minister of the environment," he said.

A news release from Ambrose's office says the minister will highlight Canada's "first-ever legislative plan to address air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions" after she arrives in Nairobi on Tuesday.

It is apparently a reference to the Clean Air Act, which has been unanimously opposed by opposition parties and is unlikely to become law in its present form.

In an unusual move, the bill is being sent to a parliamentary committee before its second reading because opposition MPs don't support it even in principle.

Environmental group scolds Canada
The fossil award was distributed by the environmental group Climate Action Network to countries deemed to have contributed the least to progress in the climate talks.

And a Bonn-based development group, Germanwatch, placed Canada 51st out of 56 countries that were assessed for their performance and policies on climate change.

"Frankly, it's becoming embarrassing," said Steven Guilbault of Greenpeace.

Sweden, Britain and Denmark won top ranking in the report, while Canada is among the bottom 10.

The only countries ranked below Canada are Kazakhstan, United States, China, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.The only countries ranked below Canada are Kazakhstan, United States, China, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

The report ranks 56 countries that were part of a 1992 climate treaty or that contribute at least one per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the world. The countries make up 90 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

The calculations took into account emissions levels, emissions trends and climate policy.

About one-quarter of the energy consumed in Sweden in 2003 came from renewable sources — more than four times as much as the European Union average of six per cent, according to EU statistics.

The country with the worst ranking was Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter.

Kyoto treaty rejected by U.S., Australia
The United States and Australia are the only major industrialized countries to reject the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which calls for mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases.

Canada, as a signatory to the treaty, promised to reduce emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

However, the Conservative government has said the country cannot meet Kyoto targets for pollution reduction — a position that critics see as a virtual abandonment of the treaty, even though Canada hasn't formally pulled out.

The Conservatives have opted to concentrate on clean air and smog reduction, rather than the wider problem of climate change. Ambrose has set a goal of cutting emissions by 45 to 65 per cent from 2003 levels — by the year 2050

Are we there yet?

2006-11-13T10:20:00.000-06:00

Canada is getting on the ethanol and biodiesel bandwagon. But it's moving slowly, DENISE DEVEAU reports

Ian Cameron and Steve Gray, co-founders of Cameron's Coffee, started out with the best of intentions when they vowed to use only biodiesel fuel blends in their small fleet of company cars. But three years later, ask Mr. Cameron how it turned out and he says with regret, "We're not [using biodiesel] any more. We simply couldn't find enough places to get it."

Even when they tried to get a fuel tank installed at the company's plant in Port Perry, Ont., "we couldn't negotiate the distribution costs," he recalls. "What else could we do?"

Such supply problems are gradually being resolved as governments and advocacy groups push to add renewable fuels to gasoline.

One such group, E3 Fleet, is a consortium of fleet managers that works to promote greener alternatives in the transportation industry. The group's website (found at http://www.e3fleet.com) provides an interactive map to help members find nearby alternative fuel stations. Users simply type in their address and the kind of green fuel they're looking for, and the system shows where to find supply stations in their area.

What the map underscores, however, is the fact that in many parts of the country the supply of green fuels is spotty at best. Product distribution has been inconsistent, and incentives to support the infrastructure have been lacking. Driving market adoption while ensuring supply requires many players, from government and refineries to retailers and auto manufacturers.

The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, among others, is laying the groundwork to raise awareness and lobby government to build a better infrastructure.

The federal government's Renewable Fuels Strategy also promises to kick-start the supply network. It targets an average of 5-per-cent renewable content (either ethanol or biodiesel) in Canadian gasoline and diesel fuel by 2010.

Flexible-fuel vehicles can run on gas that has up to 85-per-cent ethanol content, while a standard combustion engine cannot take any more than 10-per-cent ethanol.

Other countries offer incentives to boost the biofuels industry. Sweden, for example, reduced the registration costs and eliminated parking fees for flex fuel vehicles, reduced excise taxes on green fuels, and set mandates for green fuel requirements at pumping stations.

The demand for the flex-fuel option in cars is growing considerably in Canada, says Phil Petsinis, manager of corporate affairs at General Motors of Canada Ltd.

At least five manufacturers are offering it as an option, he says, and GM has 15 models in which the feature is either optional or standard. "It's seamless to the consumer because it's the internal electronics that make the adjustments. In the future I expect it will be standard on vehicles," he says.

Mr. Petsinis notes that Brazil has had a long-standing policy on ethanol use since the 1970s oil crisis, and the U.S. government is becoming equally supportive. "Half the entire fuel pool in Brazil is provided by ethanol. In the U.S., the government has implemented measures to provide funding support for the infrastructure changes needed to deliver E85 [a fuel blend with 85-per-cent ethanol]," he says.

Mr. Petsinis calls Canada's supply of E85 "quite dismal" but expects to see improvements as more consumers adopt the flex-fuel technology.

"It's all a question of economics and market access," agrees Kory Teneycke, executive director of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association. "The programs that are in place in other countries that have been very successful aren't in place here right now. Success involves government using a combination of carrots and sticks to encourage early adoption."

He doesn't think supply will be the problem. "The market will supply that which is necessary. The question is will it be Canadian supply?" That depends on the return on investment for producing fuels here, he says.

The demand for biodiesel will not be driven by the consumer market; diesel cars represent less than one per cent of vehicles on Canadian roads. But diesel engines are common in the transportation and commercial sectors, and that's where biodiesel is gaining ground.

"Corporations using biodiesel tend to be stationary fleets such as public authorities like the [Toronto Transit Commission], where the vehicles can all fill up at the same place and stay within the same routes," Mr. Teneycke explains. "Long-haul fleets won't use it until supply is everywhere."

That's not to say industry is sitting back and waiting. One of the largest users of biodiesel fuels in the country is Terminal Systems Inc., a container terminal operator in Vancouver. It uses close to 6 million litres of diesel a year to run 300 engines in its vehicles and machinery. In the past year, TSI converted to a 20-per-cent biodiesel blend, says Ken Kristensen, assistant manager at TSI's Deltaport facility.

"We buy our own raw diesel and blend it ourselves with a soy-based biodiesel," Mr. Kristensen says. To encourage usage, TSI is also considering an on-site fuelling facility for trucks arriving at the terminals.

Unless a company has the volumes and buying power of a TSI, generalized availability of renewable fuel sources could take some time, says Dennis Rogoza of Rogoza Consulting Group, an environmental consultancy in Victoria. "Widespread distribution is a problem. It doesn't make economic sense to transport product thousands of kilometres. It's going to be tough unless all the oil companies do it."

So a strategic approach is needed to create economies of scale. "Companies need to generate the volumes to make it affordable," explains Mr. Rogoza. "The municipal governments in the Greater Vancouver Area, for example, were able to form a buying group to create the economies of scale needed to lower the overall price."

Such efforts will need government support, Mr. Rogoza adds. "[Mandates] could transform the market and turn modest usage levels to massive. Look at California. It just signed a law requiring 50-per-cent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. [They said] they could do it, so they made it law."

Boxer pledges shift on global warming policy with new Senate role

2006-11-10T15:13:00.000-06:00

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Sen. Barbara Boxer on Thursday promised major policy shifts on global warming, air quality and toxic-waste cleanup as she prepares to head the U.S. Senate's environmental committee.

''Time is running out, and we need to move forward on this,'' Boxer said of global warming during a conference call with reporters. ''The states are beginning to take steps, and we need to take steps as well.''

Boxer's elevation to chairwoman of the Senate Environmental Public Works Committee comes as the Democrats return to power in the Senate. It also marks a dramatic shift in ideology for the panel.

The California Democrat is one of the Senate's most liberal members and replaces one of the most conservative senators, Republican James Inhofe of Oklahoma. Inhofe had blocked bills seeking to cut the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming, calling the issue ''the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people.''

Environmentalists were overjoyed at the change.

''That's like a tsunami hit the committee,'' said Karen Steuer, who heads government affairs at the National Environmental Trust, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. ''You can't find two members or people more ideologically different.''

Boxer said she intends to introduce legislation to curb greenhouse gases, strengthen environmental laws regarding public health and hold oversight hearings on federal plans to clean up Superfund sites across the country.

On global warming, Boxer said she would model federal legislation after a California law signed this summer by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. That law imposes the first statewide cap on greenhouse gases and seeks to cut California's emissions by 25 percent, dropping them to 1990 levels by 2020.

A top environmental aide at the White House signaled Thursday that the administration would work with Boxer.

In an e-mail to the senator's chief counsel, George Banks, the associate director for international affairs at the Council for Environmental Quality requested a meeting to discuss global warming, Boxer said.

President Bush has opposed a federal mandate to limit greenhouse gas emissions from industry and automobiles, saying such steps should be voluntary. His administration also has ruled that greenhouse emissions are not a pollutant.

''We look forward to working with Congress in bipartisanship on all issues,'' said Kristen Hellmer, a spokeswoman for the Council on Environmental Quality.

She declined to discuss specifics related to the upcoming global warming discussion.

Democrats and environmentalists have criticized Bush for refusing to send the Senate the 1997 Kyoto accord for ratification. It requires 35 industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

California's law and various bills in Congress set more aggressive targets.

AP-WS-11-09-06 1837EST

Earth is in 'Full-Scale Planetary Emergency'

2006-10-26T14:33:00.000-06:00

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico—Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has called for better use of the "space resource" to battle Earth's climate crisis, enlisting entrepreneurial muscle to help solve global issues that threaten the planet's habitability.

Gore said he has long been a fan of faster, cheaper, better approaches that allow the private sector to exploit the space resource "in a responsible and creative, and cost-efficient way."

As an example, Gore spotlighted the competitive and dynamic forces unleashed by the entrepreneurial growth of the Internet.

"We ought to learn that lesson and apply it to space," Gore said. "Because of the environmental climate crisis, we need to speed up the introduction of private companies into the creative exploitation of the space resource."

Gore spoke as part of a Wirefly X Prize Cup Executive Summit 2006 [image], held here Oct. 19, attended by a range of executives, visionaries and space and high-tech leaders.

Serious mistake

Labeling himself as a "recovering politician", the former U.S. Vice President under the Clinton Administration rebuked the recently released space policy by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Gore called the newly issued Bush space policy "a move in the wrong direction" and "a very serious mistake," and urged Summit listeners to analyze the policy "very carefully."

"It has the potential, down the road, to create the kind of fuzzy thinking and chaos in our efforts to exploit the space resource as the fuzzy thinking and chaos that the Iraq policy has created for us in Iraq," Gore explained.

"We need to avoid putting in place a set of policies that end up creating chaos and new obstacles for the creative exploitation of the space resource," he added.

Gore said that the new space policy, in his view, ignores international law and consensus.

"If one nation takes it upon itself to assert its own unilateral definition of what world law should be -- without respect to what the rest of the world thinks about it—that's usually a mistake," Gore told Summit attendees. "Policy matters. Law matters. International law matters."

Humankind's actions

Earth's climate pattern is now being put at risk by humankind's actions, Gore said. "We face what I think should be described as a full-scale planetary emergency."

Hot Topic
Goldilocks and the Greenhouse
What makes Earth habitable? This LiveScience original video explores the science of global warming and explains how, for now, conditions here are just right.

The Controversy

While aware such a phrase sounds shrill to many ears, Gore added that "unfortunately, I believe it is exactly dead-on accurate."

Gore cited increases in carbon dioxide, the thickening of the atmospheric blanket enveloping Earth, rising sea levels and the increased acidification of the world’s oceans that could completely disrupt the marine food chain.

"We have a climate crisis," Gore said. Humans first became aware of this fact while in space, he said, pointing to the 1968 flight of Apollo 8, when astronaut snapped a photograph showing a distant Earth, in all its beauty and fragility, rising beyond the Moon's barren horizon. The image, one of the most famous in history, caused a dramatic change in the consciousness of humankind, Gore said.

It was also the scientific study of near-Earth planetary neighbors—including Mars and Venus—that spurred the start of the earth sciences, Gore said. "It's still shocking to me that we have more detailed information in some fields about Mars and Venus than we have about Earth."

"Getting a perspective that can give us the ability to really understand and then effectively deal with the climate crisis is from the perspective of space," he said. "And government is not doing it, unfortunately. The private sector can."

Earth: like a business in liquidation

Gore said he expects there to be a "complete reexamination and re-imagining of what space policy should be" after the 2008 election.

Earlier this year, NASA removed the mention of Earth from its mission statement to better match up with the current administration's goal of pursuing human spaceflight to the Moon and Mars.

"[Earth] used to be right up there as one of our most important priorities," Gore said. "I think that if there were a change in administrations and party control…maybe even a new Republican President would reexamine that point and others connected to it."

Gore referenced the view of Herman Daly, an expert on ecological economics, who once said that the planet is being operated like a business in liquidation.

Centuries-old technologies, like the internal combustion engine, are "ridiculously inefficient", Gore pointed out. Global energy use, architecture and design, and transportation systems need rethinking.

Use of giant sunshades in space to help counteract global climate change—among several space projects dubbed as "geoengineering"—are not favored by Gore.

"In a word, I think it is nuts," Gore told SPACE.com. "If we don't know enough to stop putting 70 million tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere every day, how in god's name can we know enough to precisely counteract that."

Evacuation route

Pressed on the colonization of space, Gore said that in some future century—maybe sooner—that could be a practical possibility. But he questions the ability of the human race to evacuate the planet, even with ample notice.

"We didn't do a really good job of evacuating the city of New Orleans [due to the onslaught of hurricane]," he said.

There's only one Earth, Gore said. "We don't have a spare…we don't have an operating manual."

Our planet has a rising fever, Gore said. "If the crib catches fire you don't say: ‘Hmmm, how fast is that crib going to burn? Has it ever burned before? Is my baby flame retardant?'"

The former U.S. Vice President said his personal cause is to change the public's mind about "this planet crisis" to make it a top priority. The term "crisis" in Chinese is represented by two symbols together, he advised.

"The first means danger…the second means opportunity," Gore said.

Exxon Mobil Posts $10.49B Profit in 3Q

2006-10-26T14:32:00.000-06:00

NEW YORK (AP) - Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) (XOM) on Thursday said its profit rose to $10.49 billion in the third quarter, making it the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company.

The world's biggest oil company said its net income amounted to $1.77 per share for the July-September period, up from $9.92 billion, or $1.58 per share, a year ago.

The results surpassed the expectations of Wall Street analysts. On average, analysts expected the company to earn $1.59 per share in the quarter.

Revenue fell to $99.59 billion from $100.72 billion from a year ago, which saw then-record oil prices because of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The largest quarterly profit ever was Exxon's $10.71 billion profit in the fourth quarter of 2005

Liberal Hypocrisy - Gore isn't quite as green as he's led the world to believe

2006-08-10T16:22:00.000-06:00

Gore isn't quite as green as he's led the world to believe

By Peter Schweizer
Al Gore has spoken: The world must embrace a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." To do otherwise, he says, will result in a cataclysmic catastrophe. "Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb," warns the website for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. "We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin."

Graciously, Gore tells consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways: Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, use a clothesline, drive a hybrid, use renewable energy, dramatically cut back on consumption. Better still, responsible global citizens can follow Gore's example, because, as he readily points out in his speeches, he lives a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." But if Al Gore is the world's role model for ecology, the planet is doomed.

For someone who says the sky is falling, he does very little. He says he recycles and drives a hybrid. And he claims he uses renewable energy credits to offset the pollution he produces when using a private jet to promote his film. (In reality, Paramount Classics, the film's distributor, pays this.)

Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.

Then there is the troubling matter of his energy use. In the Washington, D.C., area, utility companies offer wind energy as an alternative to traditional energy. In Nashville, similar programs exist. Utility customers must simply pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour, and they can continue living their carbon-neutral lifestyles knowing that they are supporting wind energy. Plenty of businesses and institutions have signed up. Even the Bush administration is using green energy for some federal office buildings, as are thousands of area residents.

But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences. When contacted Wednesday, Gore's office confirmed as much but said the Gores were looking into making the switch at both homes. Talk about inconvenient truths.

Gore is not alone. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has said, "Global warming is happening, and it threatens our very existence." The DNC website applauds the fact that Gore has "tried to move people to act." Yet, astoundingly, Gore's persuasive powers have failed to convince his own party: The DNC has not signed up to pay an additional two pennies a kilowatt hour to go green. For that matter, neither has the Republican National Committee.

Maybe our very existence isn't threatened.

Gore has held these apocalyptic views about the environment for some time. So why, then, didn't Gore dump his family's large stock holdings in Occidental (Oxy) Petroleum? As executor of his family's trust, over the years Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.

Living carbon-neutral apparently doesn't mean living oil-stock free. Nor does it necessarily mean giving up a mining royalty either.

Humanity might be "sitting on a ticking time bomb," but Gore's home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River.

The issue here is not simply Gore's hypocrisy; it's a question of credibility. If he genuinely believes the apocalyptic vision he has put forth and calls for radical changes in the way other people live, why hasn't he made any radical change in his life? Giving up the zinc mine or one of his homes is not asking much, given that he wants the rest of us to radically change our lives.

Peter Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy.

Iran warns oil could reach $200 on sanctions

2006-08-03T11:51:00.000-06:00

Iran warns oil could reach $200 on sanctions
Thu Aug 3, 2006 10:59am ET

Iran's Foreign Relations Vice Minister Manuchehr Mohammadi told Venezuelan state television, "The first consequence of these sanctions would be an increase in the price of oil to around $200 per barrel."

The statement comes after the United Nations on Monday demanded that Iran suspend all nuclear development within a month or face the threat of sanctions. Iran responded that it had a sovereign right to nuclear development.

"Clearly Iran does not want to have sanctions imposed, so they want to convey the idea that the cost of these sanctions would be incredibly high," said Tim Evans, an Energy Analyst with Citigroup Futures Research.

"While we can't rule out $200 oil, I think we can assign it a rather low probability," he said.

Markets appeared to shrug off the comment, with U.S. crude oil falling $1.01 to $74.80 on signs that Tropical Storm Chris would not become a hurricane.

Tension over Iran's nuclear ambitions, which has rattled oil markets in recent weeks, has been overshadowed by the bloody conflict in Lebanon.

"It serves (Iran's) interests to create this kind of concern in the world community about the price of oil," said Mark Routt, a senior analyst with Energy Security Analysis Inc. "But there are elements to suggest it might not reach that level."

He said high prices have lead to an increase in non-OPEC production and turned once prohibitively expensive projects like Canadian tar sands into profitable ventures.

At the same time, Routt said, product demand has been dampened by alternative fuel products like biodiesel and ethanol.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has backed Iran's nuclear program and developed close ties to the Iranian government. Chavez visited Iran last week as part of a two-week world tour meant to boost global alliances.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

OPEC can't bring down prices

2006-07-27T11:30:00.000-06:00

OPEC can't bring down prices: cartel president
Jul 27 8:52 AM US/Eastern

OPEC is unable to do anything to stop surging oil prices, the cartel's president Edmund Daukoru has said.

"There is no shortage in oil supply. The current geopolitical conditions are out of OPEC's hands," the visiting Nigerian petroleum minister was quoted as saying by the Iranian oil news agency Shana Thursday.

Iran's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh nevertheless voiced satisfaction over the current prices.

"The oil prices are currently at a good level, but what would be worrying is the fluctuations," he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

World oil prices rose above 74 dollars per barrel on Thursday, supported by strong demand for motor fuel in the United States, supply disruptions in Nigeria and also by continuing violence in the Middle East.

Exxon Mobil profit tops $10 billion

2006-07-27T11:28:00.000-06:00

By Deepa Babington
Thu Jul 27, 9:17 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM - news), the world's largest public oil company, on Thursday reported quarterly profit surged 35 percent to top $10 billion, driven by yet another quarter of sharply higher oil prices.

In a surprise move, the company boosted its capital spending forecast for the year to $20 billion, citing additional exploration and production opportunities.

The world's largest company by market capitalization also said it would ramp up its already hefty stock buyback program to $7 billion in the third quarter.

Helped by 6 percent growth in oil and gas production and better refining margins, the company's profit easily beat Wall Street expectations, and the market appeared to shrug off the weaker-than-expected revenues.

"It's a $10 billion quarter. How can you argue with that?" said Lysle Brinker, analyst with energy research firm John S. Herold. "It's pretty amazing."

Net income in the second quarter was $10.36 billion, or $1.72 a share, compared to $7.64 billion, or $1.20 a share, in the year earlier quarter. That was above the average forecast by analysts of $1.64 a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Exxon shares were up 90 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $67.47 in pre-market trading.

Credit Suisse analyst Mark Flannery said in a research note the company was able to trump expectations because of the strong performance at its exploration and production unit, helped by solid output growth.

Revenue jumped 12 percent to $99.03 billion, from $88.57 billion a year earlier. That was below analysts' average forecast of $104.26 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Exxon, like its peers, is enjoying another in a string of bumper quarters as crude oil prices hover at historically high levels. Oil prices hit a record high of $78.40 a barrel about two weeks ago, driven by anxiety over supplies from the Middle East.

The company's latest results are sure to reignite calls for windfall profit taxes on Big Oil companies, who have come under attack over the past year for posting record profits as consumers struggle with soaring gasoline prices.

Big Oil Backs Renewable Fuels

2006-07-26T10:48:00.000-06:00

Refiners back renewable fuels

Published: Wednesday, July 26, 2006
OTTAWA -- The Canadian oil refining industry is giving a powerful endorsement to a new renewable fuels strategy promoting government incentives for farmers and producers of ethanol and biodiesel.

Canadian Petroleum Products Institute president Alain Perez said his industry is welcoming calls to expand the role of renewable fuels so that it reaches the government's five-per-cent target for gasoline by 2010.

The newest proposal by the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association was submitted to government officials and members of Parliament in a series of meetings Tuesday.

"In general, we've been working very closely on this," said Perez. "I would say that we fully support maybe 90 to 95 per cent of their report."

The industry position signals an important shift in the energy sector, said Kory Teneycke, executive director of the association.

"We see some of the petroleum companies are actually becoming producers of these fuels which is a very interesting development," said Teneycke.

"I think it's really a case of renewables becoming a mainstream part of the energy mix that we use every day."

The association's proposal forecasts $1.4-billion worth of investments in ethanol and biodiesel facilities in Canada, resulting in 14,000 new jobs, and higher revenues for farmers who could derive the renewable fuels from corn crops. They also predict the measures would result in a 4.2-megatonne reduction in greenhouse gases from transportation fuels.

While the government is expected to deliver its environmental policy in the fall, Perez is urging the Conservatives to give his industry more time before adding biodiesel to the renewable fuel requirement mix, as requested by Teneyke's association.

Perez said there have been some problems with biodiesel in cold weather.

"We cannot sell something that the customers don't want," he said.

The refining companies are also opposed to the association's suggestion the government should remove an exemption on the federal excise tax on gasoline for ethanol-blended fuels in order to finance the tax incentives for ethanol producers.

Perez said he's in favour of new tax credits for renewable fuels, but he warned cheaper ethanol blends would wind up being imported from the U.S. if the government restored the excise tax.

The institute was the first to call for political parties to develop a renewable fuels strategy in December during the last federal election campaign, Perez said.

Crude 'could go to $100-plus'

2006-07-15T12:09:00.000-06:00

Crude 'could go to $100-plus'
Fears of widespread unrest send prices to unprecedented levels
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U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman, right, speaks yesterday in Calgary with Alberta Premier Ralph Klein. Mr. Bodman said energy markets are being driven by fear and sentiment rather than by suppliers or fundamentals. Geoffrey Scotton, The Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, July 15, 2006
CALGARY - World oil prices rose to a new record-high close of $77.03 U.S. per barrel yesterday as Middle East tensions tightened amid a growing backdrop of worries about Iran, North Korea and Nigeria.

Analysts believe crude prices could easily climb into the triple digits if the fighting escalates to include Israel and Iran -- an entirely possible scenario that would make the record-high gasoline costs of late last summer look dirt-cheap by comparison.

"If the Iranians get dragged into it, it could go to $100-plus," said Peter Tertzakian, chief energy economist with ARC Financial Corp. in Calgary.

"Iran produces five per cent of the word's oil supply, but more importantly, if the missiles start flying, they fly over the jugular vein of the world's oil supply, the Strait of Hormuz. That's the key."

Even U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, in Calgary yesterday, said markets are being driven by fear and sentiment rather than by suppliers or fundamentals. U.S. stocks of crude and distillates, including diesel and gas, are above their five-year averages and year-earlier levels.

"The suppliers of oil in the world have really lost control of the markets," said Mr. Bodman. "They have ceded control to the traders."

Oil trading prices actually slipped back yesterday from highs reached late Thursday in overnight trading, which went as high as 78.40 U.S. per barrel, but finished the week-ending session up 33 cents to close above $77 U.S. for the first time.

OPEC, which supplies about 40 per cent of the world's oil, said yesterday there's little the cartel can do, blaming "geopolitical developments, over which OPEC has no influence."

Mounting violence in the Middle East, the source of 30 per cent of the world's oil, once again dominated sentiment. Prices for crude have jumped four per cent this week and are 33-per-cent higher than a year ago as geopolitical hotspots have multiplied steadily.

Israeli army units attacked targets in neighbouring Lebanon for the third straight day yesterday, after Hezbollah guerrillas snatched two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. Iran, already heating up international worries due to its nuclear-weapons research and generally belligerent international tone, warned Israel not to escalate the conflict.

That has raised the spectre that Iran could use its oil clout to back its existing support of Hezbollah and fuelled worries the kidnapped Israeli soldiers could be spirited to Tehran, the Iranian capital. All the while, Hezbollah has fired close to 150 missiles into northern Israel over two days.

"The high level of violence a few hundred miles from the oilfields makes traders nervous," Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts, told Bloomberg News.

Iran is the fourth-largest oil producer in the world, at approximately 3.7 million barrels per day, and controls the second-largest proven conventional oil reserves. However, Iran is just one of a growing list of geopolitical concerns that is weighing on oil markets.

Others include Nigeria, where insurgents have cut oil output by as much as 25 per cent this year from the country that provides the world's largest market -- the U.S. -- with a tenth of its crude imports. Yet another concern is North Korea, which is attempting to develop ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. and which walked out of talks with South Korea earlier this week.

Mr. Tertzakian said it's difficult to believe all of the geopolitical worries that are currently inflating crude prices will be resolved -- and certainly not all at once.

"It's not one issue; it's a series of multiple geopolitical issues that are antagonizing the oil price," said Mr. Tertzakian. "And it's not as if world peace is going to break out."

Meanwhile, the United States is looking to Alberta's oilsands as a secure supply of oil, Mr. Bodman, its top energy official, said yesterday.

He said the province's growing oilsands potential represents a significant and stable source of energy for a market that currently consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day.

The oilsands are one of the world's biggest reserves, second only to Saudi Arabia.

Oil hits record above $76 on Nigeria, Mideast

2006-07-13T09:36:00.000-06:00

By Alex Lawler

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil surged to a record high above $76 a barrel on Thursday on renewed worries over supply from major exporter Nigeria and as conflict between Israel and Lebanon heightened international tensions.

Prices also rose as the Iran nuclear row appeared to be heading to the U.N. Security Council, North Korea walked out of talks with South Korea and crude inventories in top consumer the United States fell more than expected.

"Geopolitical tensions have stepped up -- we are moving on to a new phase in Iran and Israel," said Mike Wittner of investment bank Calyon. "In the end, geopolitical risk is about a current supply disruption getting worse or a new one happening."

U.S. crude traded $1.05 higher at $76 a barrel by 1402 GMT, after hitting a record $76.05. London Brent was up $1.43 at $75.82 after reaching a record $75.88.

In Nigeria, two suspected explosions at a crude pipeline operated by Agip, a unit of Italy's Eni (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), caused oil spills, Nigerian officials said. Eni denied reports of sabotage and extensive oil spills and said damage would be repaired soon.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) has already had to shut down 473,000 barrels per day of Nigerian supply, almost a quarter of output in Africa's top oil supplier, due to attacks by rebels.

Adding to Middle East tensions, Israel struck Beirut airport and blockaded Lebanese ports on Thursday, intensifying reprisals that have killed 47 civilians since Lebanese Hizbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight a day earlier.

Supply breaks and growing Middle East tension mean oil prices may rise further, analysts say. The Middle East pumps about a quarter of world output, although neither Israel nor Lebanon are producers"It's a strong combination of positive fundamentals and heightened geopolitical tensions pushing oil to new highs," said Kevin Norrish of Barclays Capital.

"It's difficult to see why the upward momentum shouldn't continue."

NO SHORTAGE

Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said there was no shortage of crude oil in world markets, blaming geopolitical tensions for the surge to record-high prices.

"The main thing is that we see that there is no shortage in the market at all," he told reporters. "Speculators are using the geopolitical situation to their benefit and we are seeing how the oil prices are reacting."

Qatar is the smallest producer in OPEC. The 11-member group has been powerless to stem oil's rally as rising world demand has used up much of the group's reserve production capacity.

Oil in New York is up 24 percent in 2006 because of supply cuts in Nigeria, the dispute between the West and Tehran over Iran's nuclear program and a flow of investment money into commodities. North Korea's missile tests have added to global tensions.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday the world's fourth-largest oil exporter would not abandon its right to nuclear technology after Tehran's case was referred back to the U.N. Security Council.

And in Asia, North Korea blamed the South for the collapse of their first high-level talks since Pyongyang's missile tests sparked a regional crisis, saying Seoul would "pay a price" for the failure.
Oil prices are also drawing strength from rising demand in the United States in the face of high prices and robust world economic growth.

U.S. crude inventories slid 6 million barrels last week as imports fell, a government report said on Wednesday. The drop was five times larger than the 1.2 million barrels forecast among analysts polled by Reuters.

U.S. motorists, who use over 40 percent of the world's gasoline, bought 1.7 percent more fuel in the past four weeks compared with a year ago. The data covered the Independence Day holiday weekend when annual gasoline demand peaks.

Oil will soar to well over $100, stay high: Rogers

2006-07-06T09:16:00.000-06:00

Oil will soar to well over $100, stay high: Rogers
Thu Jul 6, 2006 5:43am ET

Business News

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices will soar to well over $100 a barrel and stay high as part of a sustained commodities bull run that has another 15 years to run, U.S. celebrity investor Jim Rogers told Reuters in an interview.

One factor that could bring down the price would be a bird flu epidemic, which would send all asset classes plummeting, he said, although oil would probably fall less than other markets.

"We're going to have high oil prices for a very long time. The surprise is going to be how high it goes," Rogers said.

Reiterating earlier comment oil prices would hit at least $100 a barrel, he said: "It will be much more than $100 before the bull market is over".

U.S. light sweet crude hit a new record of $75.40 a barrel on Tuesday.

Oil Hits Historic High

2006-07-06T09:12:00.000-06:00

Oil prices firm after New York strikes record on geopolitical fears
Jul 06 5:28 AM US/Eastern
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World oil prices firmed after hitting a record high in New York the previous day owing to global tensions over North Korea and Iran, and concerns over US motor fuel data.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, hit a historic 75.40 dollars per barrel on Wednesday after news that North Korea had launched up to seven missile tests.

That exceeded the previous intra-day peak of 75.35 dollars, set on April 21 amid simmering concerns over Iran. The contract also struck a historic close on Wednesday of 75.19 dollars.

In trading on Thursday, New York's light sweet crude edged up six cents to 75.25 dollars per barrel in electronic deals before the official opening of the US market.

Meanwhile Brent North Sea crude for August delivery rose 19 cents to 74.17 dollars per barrel in electronic trading.

Brent crude had touched 74.22 dollars per barrel on Wednesday -- not far off the record 74.97 dollars struck on May 2.

Wednesday's performance came as markets for light, sweet crude reopened after the long US Independence Day holiday.

Geopolitical concerns over Iran and North Korea as well as strong gasoline or petrol demand in the United States, the world's biggest energy user, will keep prices firm, dealers said.

"Certainly, I think it's a combination of increasing geopolitical concerns, a still-defiant stance by Iran and the strong gasoline demand (in the United States)," said Mark Pervan, a commodities analyst with Daiwa Securities.

North Korea test-fired seven missiles Wednesday, including a Taepodong-2 long-range missile, in defiance of international appeals.

North Korea will fire a second long-range missile, thought able to reach the United States, once technical problems that brought down the first one this week are fixed, officials in Seoul said Thursday.

Elsewhere, major oil producer Iran's continued defiance of Western pressure over its nuclear energy ambitions remained a key market concern.

Traders were meanwhile awaiting later Thursday an update on US energy stocks -- due one day later than normal due to the Independence Day break -- with all eyes on gasoline or petrol data amid the ongoing peak-demand driving season.

Oil exec says Europe needs biodiesel, not ethanol

2006-06-30T06:32:00.000-06:00

Oil giant says Europe must do more to back biodiesel
Mon Jun 5, 2006 9:00 AM BST
Email This Article | Print This Article | RSS [-] Text [+] By Iain Pocock

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe needs to take additional steps to bolster biodiesel production rather than focus on ethanol in a bid to support its farmers, says oil major Total.

This would run parallel with efforts by oil refiners to raise European diesel production capacity to meet ever increasing demand for the motor fuel.

Ethanol by contrast is a blending component for gasoline, which is already oversupplied in Europe and is exported in large volumes to the U.S. and other overseas markets.

"We don't need ethanol," Jacques Blondy, head of agricultural development at Total told Reuters on the sidelines of a Brussels refining conference organized by Hart Energy. "Even the production in Europe we don't need; the major question for the European Union is biodiesel."

"The European market definitely is, and for a long time will be, a diesel market," he said.

Biofuels are split between biodiesel, largely made from oil seeds such as rapeseed and blended with diesel, and ethanol, made from sugar beet or cereals such as wheat and then blended with gasoline.

Europe is structurally short of diesel and meets its shortfall with imports mainly from Russia and the Middle East.

At the same time, the region produces a surplus of gasoline that it exports mainly to the U.S., but also to other major consuming nations like Nigeria and Iran. Continued...

Local company has big biodiesel plans

2006-06-28T08:53:00.000-06:00

Local company has big biodiesel plans

Angela Hall, Leader-Post
Published: Tuesday, June 27, 2006
A Regina businessman wants to be producing Saskatchewan biodiesel later this year.

Canadian Green Fuels Inc. has equipment on order and is looking for existing space around Regina where production could be established, said Mike Shenher, a local businessman at the helm of the new company.

The business is a private venture backed by a consortium of investors, he said.

"There's some sunflower producers, canola producers and other local business people that don't want to be public at this point, but it's completely private investment."

Shenher said there is no firm cost for the project at this time.

"We're probably looking at (producing) close to two million litres a year initially, just with the equipment that we have on order."

But plans would be to produce significantly more from there, using a variety of oil seeds such as canola and sunflowers, he said. The company also wants to look at utilizing vegetable oil from restaurants. Shenher said the company also plans to "aggressively pursue" venture capital.

"This is just really the tip of the iceberg. We want to get to know what we're doing on a scale where we can feel we can manage it comfortably before we really ramp up the production to the next level."

The federal government has said it wants five-per-cent biofuels content in gasoline and diesel by 2010.

A task force studying biodiesel in Saskatchewan last week recommended separate federal targets for the use of ethanol and biodiesel. For biodiesel, it suggested having a two-per-cent blend by 2010 and a five-per-cent blend by 2015.

Milligan Bio-Tech out of Foam Lake is currently producing biodiesel in the province, counting the City of Saskatoon and the provincial highways department among its customers.

The company has been using a facility in Saskatoon on a contract basis to produce its biodiesel using canola. Zenneth Faye said they're currently producing about 20,000 litres of biodiesel a day.

Plans are in the works for a full commercial plant. That facility, expected to be in production next year, will turn out 15 million litres a year, later moving to 30 million.

"As the markets grow we want to grow. We've been working at this since 1996," said Faye.

He said a number of other ventures have inquired about biodiesel production over the years.

Faye said it's important that anyone wanting to get into production understand the "intricacies of the quality issue."

"It's not easy making the quality that's required and it's expensive to get it tested," he said.

"People that are just starting off fresh are going to have a lot of growing pains. We did," said Faye. "We spent a lot of money in trying to make sure our technology -- which is also homegrown, made here in Saskatchewan through the help of Agriculture Canada and the University (of Saskatchewan) -- has all those kinks worked out of it now."

Oil Rises Above $72 Amid Iran Tensions

2006-06-27T10:51:00.000-06:00

Oil Rises Above $72 Amid Iran Tensions
Jun 27 11:45 AM US/Eastern
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WASHINGTON

Oil prices rose slightly on Tuesday as traders focused on minor shipping delays along the Gulf Coast and Iran's supreme leader rejected the need for nuclear talks with the United States.

Also, rising demand from China _ Asia's largest consumer of fuels _ have lifted oil prices in recent weeks, with crude futures now trading about 19 percent higher than a year ago.

"The market seems to be extending some of the gains from last week," said Man Financial broker Andrew Lebow. "Gasoline has provided a lot of the leadership" for the oil-price increases.

Light sweet crude for August delivery rose 35 cents to $72.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline futures were up nearly 2 cents at $2.197 a gallon.

Brent crude futures on the ICE Futures exchange climbed 54 cents to $71.27 a barrel.

The U.S. Coast Guard says only limited tug and barge traffic had resumed through the Calcasieu Ship Channel, which had been off limits due to the spread of oil from a spill last week at the Citgo Petroleum Corp. facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The closure, which has lasted for six days, has forced four refineries on the Gulf Coast to reduce runs, albeit in tiny amounts.

On Tuesday, Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran does "not need" talks with the United States over its nuclear program because nothing would be gained, state television reported.

Washington has warned Iran that it could face political and economic sanctions before the U.N. Security Council if it doesn't stop its nuclear activities, which the United States and its European allies say is an attempt to produce nuclear weapons. Tehran says the uranium will be used only for a peaceful energy program.

Elsewhere, recent Chinese customs data showed the country's oil demand growth accelerated to 13.5 percent in May, as refiners boosted output and curbed exports ahead of a domestic price increase to meet peak summer demand. The rapid increase in car sales in China _ to 24.1 percent in May from a year earlier _ have also contributed to the rise in gasoline demand, Shum said.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose nearly 2 cents to $2 a gallon, while natural gas futures climbed 8 cents to $6.05 per 1,000 cubic feet.

US court to rule on pivotal case on global warming

2006-06-27T10:48:00.001-06:00

US court to rule on pivotal case on global warming
Jun 26 4:17 PM US/Eastern

The US Supreme Court decided it will weigh whether the federal government must regulate emissions of new cars to combat global warming as demanded by environmental groups and some state and city authorities.

The case could open the way for the high court to deliver a crucial ruling on how the US government enforces environmental laws.

Since 2003, 12 US states, several cities and a dozen environmental groups have waged a legal battle against the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has chosen not to curb greenhouse emissions on new cars.

The EPA maintains that the federal Clean Air Act does not address global climate change and that carbon dioxide is not defined as a pollutant under the law. The administration of President George W. Bush has advocated voluntary controls instead of mandatory limits on emissions.

The plaintiffs in the suit, which include the states of California, Massachusetts and New York, argue that the Clean Air Act obliges the EPA to regulate emissions from cars and power plants such as carbon dioxide and three other gases linked to global warming.

Carbon dioxide and similar emissions are believed to trap heat in the earth's atmosphere, causing global temperatures to rise.

A federal appeals court in Washington ruled in July 2005 that the EPA's policy was justified, saying the agency was not legally required to regulate causes of global warming and that scientific evidence was lacking to support such measures.

In papers filed with the Supreme Court, the US government called the lawsuit "speculative" as it remained unclear if global warming could be traced to emissions from new cars and even if the link was proven, it was not clear that requiring more fuel efficient cars would have a major impact on climate change.

The issue of global warming could be better addressed through international efforts supported by the United States, the government said.

The case will have a "far-reaching" effect on the US approach to global warming, according to the environmental group Sierra Club.

"The Bush administration has continually tried to say that it's not their job to fight global warming. In fact, they have both the legal and moral responsibility to tackle global warming pollution," David Bookbinder, senior attorney for the Sierra Club, said in a statement.

Bush: Climate change is 'serious problem'

2006-06-27T10:48:00.000-06:00

Bush: Climate change is 'serious problem'
Jun 26 2:50 PM US/Eastern

US President George W. Bush said it was time to move past a debate over whether human activity is a significant factor behind global warming and into a discussion of possible remedies.

"I have said consistently that global warming is a serious problem. There's a debate over whether it's manmade or naturally caused," Bush told reporters.

"We ought to get beyond that debate and start implementing the technologies necessary to enable us to achieve a couple of big objectives: One, be good stewards of the environment; two, become less dependent on foreign sources of oil, for economic reasons as for national security reasons," he said.

Bush cited "clean-coal technology," efforts to develop automobiles powered by hydrogen or ethanol, and his push for the United States to develop significant new nuclear energy capabilities.

"The truth of the matter is, if this country wants to get rid of its greenhouse gases, we've got to have the nuclear power industry be vibrant and viable," he said.

Canadian Green Fuels Inc

2006-06-27T10:44:00.000-06:00

Media Advisory June 22, 2006

Michael Shenher President and C.E.O. of Canadian Green Fuels Inc., is pleased to announce that Canadian Green Fuels Inc. and the consortium of investors they have assembled, is in the process of procuring the equipment and facilities to implement the production and distribution of bio-diesel in Southern Saskatchewan.

“We expect to be in production by the end of September 2006”, said Shenher. Canadian Green Fuels Inc. has acquired the production and engineering capabilities to supply approximately 90000 liters per day or 32,000,000 liters per year of the soon to be federally mandated B5 blend bio-diesel. (B5 is the industry reference to a 5% bio-fuel with 95% petroleum blend).

“This is nowhere near enough production to supply southern Saskatchewan, but it is a significant start, and to our knowledge it will be the first commercially operational production and distribution facility in Saskatchewan capable of this volume of production”, Shenher added.

We expect to grow rapidly over the next few short years, to the point where we will supply south Saskatchewan with 150,000,000 liters of bio-diesel per year. It is anticipated that U.S. Government mandates will also, mean significant opportunities south of the border.

The plant is thus far financed exclusively by private investors, with no government or debt financing. The equity we will have in the facility will position us to expand rapidly. The time has come for bio-diesel; even without the mandates, or other supports a business case can be made now for the product, aside from the substantial environmental benefits.

We believe our venture will succeed where others haven’t in past because we will not be representing any single producer group or organization, we are in the bio-diesel business plain and simple. The plant will be a lifeline to local agricultural producers seeking new markets for their products because it will be a multi-feed stock facility capable of processing a variety of oil seeds, including sunflowers, canola, industrial rape, and many more locally grown varieties. In addition, we intend to procure used restaurant oil, and several other exciting possibilities, including alternatives for the by products, which will be announced shortly, that few would believe, are available in Saskatchewan.

For further information call Mike Shenher 306-537-7617

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iran war 'could triple oil price'

2006-06-21T21:35:00.000-06:00

Iran war 'could triple oil price'

Conflict with Iran could jeopardize Middle East oil exports
World oil prices could triple if the West's stand-off over Iran's nuclear programme escalates into conflict, the Saudi Arabian government has warned.
The Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, said such an event could send prices spiralling from their current level of about $70 per barrel.

Iran is the Opec cartel's number two oil producer and analysts fear it could halt exports if the dispute worsens.

Tehran is currently examining proposals aimed at ending the diplomatic impasse.

Strait of Hormuz

"The idea of somebody firing a missile at an installation somewhere will shoot up the price of oil astronomically," Prince Turki told a conference hosted by the United States Energy Association.

He warned that any conflict involving Iran would threaten the Strait of Hormuz, through which most Middle East nations export their oil.

Tankers carry 17 million barrels of oil through the channel every day, according to the International Energy Agency.

US President George W. Bush has refused to rule out a military attack should diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement with Iran fail.

The US Energy Secretary, Sam Bodman, has maintained that the country would be in "good shape" if Iran did put a stop on its oil exports, thanks to America's emergency stockpile of almost 700 million barrels of crude oil.

The threat of a cut in Iranian oil exports has been the main factor driving oil prices higher in recent months, with the price fluctuating either side of $70 per barrel.

How much oil is left ?

2006-06-13T22:36:00.000-06:00

Question of how much oil is left lingers in industry
By Rick Jurgens
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Houston, a city built on cheap oil but now thriving on expensive energy, offers an interesting backdrop for the debate about whether after a century of growth global oil production is nearing a "peak" or has even begun an irreversible decline.

Many prominent energy analysts reject the peak oil thesis. Current data on reserves, investment and output show "a substantial buildup in world oil production for a number of years," Daniel Yergin of Cambridge Energy Research Associates recently told the House Energy Committee. At the worst, the world faces a "plateau in production capacity that might be reached closer to the middle of the century," he added.

But Matthew Simmons, a local investment banker, has emerged as a leading peak oil theorist. Last year, he published "Twilight in the Desert," a 400-page book, soon to be out in paperback, that argues that age and engineering mistakes will prevent Saudi Arabia from continuing to play its long-standing role as the world's energy supplier of last resort.

Simmons' 50th-floor executive suite in the Bank of America building in downtown Houston seems an unlikely setting for an industry dissident. Simmons' credentials as a sometimes energy adviser to President Bush make his dire predictions even more striking.

Simmons bases his argument on a review of decades of published engineering studies that he thinks reveal some heretofore hidden problems in the Saudis' store of oil, which most analysts see as a vast untapped reservoir that can boost global output for decades.

Not so, says the banker. "We need to prepare for the fact that oil prices are still very cheap and they're going to go way up," Simmons says. "We're headed towards peak oil. It's too bad, but that's just where things are."

Others pooh-pooh such worries. A 25-year forecast posted on the Web site of ExxonMobil Corp., the world's largest private oil company, predicts that anticipated steady growth in energy demand will be matched by growth in production driven by new technology. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, in which Saudi Arabia is a mainstay, will lead the way, increasing daily output to 47 million barrels from 30 million barrels, the company says.

And Steve Sawyer, a spokesman for Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company, which has 340 employees in its Houston office, cheerily rejects the notion that anything is wrong in the desert. He said Aramco is "on target" to meet its production goal of 12.5 million barrels a day by 2009 and has "a very enviable record of replacing product."

Peak Oil 2010

2006-06-13T22:27:00.000-06:00

Peak Oil 2010

By Roger Blanchard

The North Sea oil fields as a model for global oil depletion

June 12, 2006
Reprinted from Association for the Study of Peak Oil USA weekly newsletter

I’ve studied the oil supply issue for at least two decades. Over the years I’ve read numerous books that deal with what the books describe as an impending oil supply crisis. Being an analytical chemist, I was troubled that the books provided little, if any, data to support their contentions. I became frustrated enough with the situation that I wrote my own book. What I attempted to do in the book was to dissect the oil production of the world’s significant oil producing countries to illustrate why it is valid to predict that global oil production is likely to peak in approximately 2010.

For the sake of consistency, I have been predicting that global oil production would peak in ~2010 since at least 1995. I also provide scientific reasons to explain why conventional oil is so important to our present society and why it will not be as easy to replace as is generally accepted. Oil supply optimists, such as Michael Lynch and Daniel Yergin, base their optimism for increasing future global oil production on reserves estimates provided in Oil & Gas Journal and World Oil, as well as results from the most recent global oil resource assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). I provide detailed data/information on why reserves figures are essentially worthless and why the USGS assessment is seriously flawed.

To give you a feel for the book, I’ve extracted an excerpt from the chapter "Oil Production in Western Europe". I’ve been particularly interested in oil production from the North/Norwegian Seas for a long time and I wrote a paper in 1999 on North Sea oil production, which can still be found on the Internet ("The Impact of Declining Major North Sea Oil Fields Upon Future North Sea Production"). At the time, I predicted that United Kingdom oil production (crude oil + condensate) would peak in 1999 and Norwegian oil production would peak in 2001 (see table). By comparison, at the time the U.S. Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration (US DOE/EIA) was predicting a peak for the U.K. in ~2006 and for Norway in 2005. As it turned out, U.K. oil production peaked in 1999 and Norwegian production peaked in 2001. In 2005, U.K. oil production was down to 1.649 million b/d (US DOE/EIA), a 38.6% decline from peak, and Norwegian production was down to 2.78 million b/d (NPD), a 15.8% decline from peak.

Oil at 100 dollars a barrel would threaten airlines

2006-06-06T21:58:00.000-06:00

Oil at 100 dollars a barrel would threaten airlines: IATA economist
Jun 06 2:03 PM US/Eastern
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Oil prices of 100 dollars a barrel or more are a possibility that would seriously threaten airlines, IATA chief economist Brian Pearce told AFP.

"It is a possibility. It is a scenario I recognize," Pearce said on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association's annual general assembly.

"It is fear that takes fuel prices up. If there is a disaster in the Middle East and a real shortage of oil, then it is possible."

Crude oil prices have now climbed to around 70 dollars a barrel even though there is no shortage of oil, Pearce noted.

"A 70-dollar barrel has been sustainable so far because airlines cut costs and have considerably gained in efficiency," he said, adding that an increase of 30 dollars more would be tough for the industry to handle.

"There is a danger if we saw another big hike of fuel prices, it could cause an economic slowdown and deprive airlines of strong traffic revenues" which help to offset higher fuel costs.

"It will therefore represent a real danger for the aviation industry."

Since 2004, airlines have increased ticket prices to compensate for higher fuel costs, and the extra charge may have already reduced the number of tickets sold.

"I think it has affected traffic, but the reason we see strong passenger growth is that the economies are booming, which encourages people to travel and therefore overwhelms the negative effect of surcharges," the economist said.

"The challenge will be when the economy slows down, then we'll see the negative effect affecting passenger numbers."

The IATA groups 265 airlines which represent 94 percent of international air traffic.

It has calculated that the fuel bill for the air transport sector will amount to 112.0 billion dollars (87.0 billion euros) this year, or triple the figure in 2002.

Fuel accounts for 26.0 percent of operating costs, the IATA says.

Chill out over global warming

2006-06-05T13:51:00.000-06:00

Chill out over global warming
By David Harsanyi
Denver Post Staff Columnist

You'll often hear the left lecture about the importance of dissent in a free society.

Why not give it a whirl?

Start by challenging global warming hysteria next time you're at a LoDo cocktail party and see what happens.

Admittedly, I possess virtually no expertise in science. That puts me in exactly the same position as most dogmatic environmentalists who want to craft public policy around global warming fears.

The only inconvenient truth about global warming, contends Colorado State University's Bill Gray, is that a genuine debate has never actually taken place. Hundreds of scientists, many of them prominent in the field, agree.

Gray is perhaps the world's foremost hurricane expert. His Tropical Storm Forecast sets the standard. Yet, his criticism of the global warming "hoax" makes him an outcast.

"They've been brainwashing us for 20 years," Gray says. "Starting with the nuclear winter and now with the global warming. This scare will also run its course. In 15-20 years, we'll look back and see what a hoax this was."

Gray directs me to a 1975 Newsweek article that whipped up a different fear: a coming ice age.

"Climatologists," reads the piece, "are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change. ... The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality."

Thank God they did nothing. Imagine how warm we'd be?

Another highly respected climatologist, Roger Pielke Sr. at the University of Colorado, is also skeptical.

Pielke contends there isn't enough intellectual diversity in the debate. He claims a few vocal individuals are quoted "over and over" again, when in fact there are a variety of opinions.

I ask him: How do we fix the public perception that the debate is over?

"Quite frankly," says Pielke, who runs the Climate Science Weblog (climatesci.atmos.colostate.edu), "I think the media is in the ideal position to do that. If the media honestly presented the views out there, which they rarely do, things would change. There aren't just two sides here. There are a range of opinions on this issue. A lot of scientists out there that are very capable of presenting other views are not being heard."

Al Gore (not a scientist) has definitely been heard and heard and heard. His documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," is so important, in fact, that Gore crisscrosses the nation destroying the atmosphere just to tell us about it.
"Let's just say a crowd of baby boomers and yuppies have hijacked this thing," Gray says. "It's about politics. Very few people have experience with some real data. I think that there is so much general lack of knowledge on this. I've been at this over 50 years down in the trenches working, thinking and teaching."

Gray acknowledges that we've had some warming the past 30 years. "I don't question that," he explains. "And humans might have caused a very slight amount of this warming. Very slight. But this warming trend is not going to keep on going. My belief is that three, four years from now, the globe will start to cool again, as it did from the middle '40s to the middle '70s."

Both Gray and Pielke say there are many younger scientists who voice their concerns about global warming hysteria privately but would never jeopardize their careers by speaking up.

"Plenty of young people tell me they don't believe it," he says. "But they won't touch this at all. If they're smart, they'll say: 'I'm going to let this run its course.' It's a sort of mild McCarthyism. I just believe in telling the truth the best I can. I was brought up that way."

So next time you're with some progressive friends, dissent. Tell 'em you're not sold on this global warming stuff.

Back away slowly. You'll probably be called a fascist.

Don't worry, you're not. A true fascist is anyone who wants to take away my air conditioning or force me to ride a bike.

Energy firms plan how to cope as climate alters

2006-06-05T13:45:00.000-06:00

LONDON (Reuters) - Three of Britain's biggest power utilities have joined forces to draw up a strategy to cope with climate change as analysts warn extreme weather poses a growing threat to power stations and grids, the firms said on Monday.

EDF Energy (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), E.ON UK (EONG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and National Grid (NG.L: Quote, Profile, Research) are working with the Met Office, which on Monday published a study on the potential impact of climate change on the energy industry.

The study said utilities will have to cope with shifts in energy consumption as summers get hotter and winters get milder.

Less rain and falling river levels could foul up power station cooling systems, while gas turbines will become less efficient as the weather gets warmer, the study concluded.

"We all need to play our part in adapting to climate change," Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of French-owned EDF Energy, said in a statement.

Power stations built near the coast, including nuclear plants, will become more vulnerable to rising sea levels and storm damage, according to the study, which was conducted by the met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Change and Research.

"It is vital for the future of our society and economy that the energy sector is able to adapt to the effects of climate change and can continue to provide the power we need to maintain our way of life," said Britain's Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks in a statement issued at the launch of the study.

The government is working on a review of long-term energy policy which is due to be published in the summer and is widely expected to back the construction of a new generation of nuclear power stations.

Gore Warns: "...the end of civilisation."

2006-05-29T22:15:00.000-06:00

Gore in Hay climate change plea

Gore said it was not too late to stop the catastrophe
Former US vice-president Al Gore owned up to failing to get his climate change message across as a politician when he appeared at the Hay Festival.
In his first UK speech on the subject, Mr Gore promised to devote himself to the task of warning people about the impending "planetary emergency".

He appealed to the audience to act to halt the growing crisis.

"I will own up to shortcomings in my ability to communicate," said Mr Gore, who ran against President Bush in 2000.

"But I'm not through with this yet and I am devoting myself to it".

Mr Gore was the key note speaker of the 19th Hay Festival on the mid-Wales border.

There are more than enough people here to really change the world.

Al Gore speaking at Hay

Five years ago Bill Clinton spoke at Hay on his many roles in conflict resolution.

But Mr Gore, fresh from an appearance at the Cannes film festival, delivered a starker message that the world was now facing a "danger which could bring the end of civilisation."

A documentary which premiered at Cannes, An Inconvenient Truth, is based on lectures Mr Gore has been delivering about environmental crisis for many years.

He was asked by a member of the Hay Festival audience to run for president again.

But Mr Gore replied: "I honestly believe that the role I can most usefully play is to try to change the minds of the American people...about what this crisis is about."

He said addressing the issues around climate control were "on the agenda in 2000 but was never seen and heard as an issue worthy of the top rank of consideration".

Mr Gore said global warming was seen as an "arcane" issue with more than half the US media denying there was any problem and his opponent "pledged to regulate CO2 - a pledge not broken until after the inauguration".

Gore said he used to be "the next president of the US"

In a passionate speech, Mr Gore said: "We face a challenge in the conversation of democracy that we must be up to in order to save the climate balance on which our civilisation depends."

He said he believed scientists who said that there may be 10 years remaining to avoid "crossing the point of no return".

"Then does that change you? It should, it's happening on our watch," said the former vice-president.

He said he was "carbon neutral" himself and he tried to offset any plane flight or car journey by "purchasing verifiable reductions in CO2 elsewhere".

He said the only way to bring about the change was "a sea change in the public's understanding and opinion".

"The only way that political leaders of all parties will find the courage for the bold actions that are needed."

Mr Gore was given a standing ovation by the audience whom he begged "to make the changes in your own life to make your part of the solution (to the problem)".

He said: "There are more than enough people here to really change the world.

"I hope that many of you will accept and act on that - so much is at stake."

Oil tops $71.50 on Iran concern, ahead of OPEC

2006-05-29T21:26:00.000-06:00

Oil tops $71.50 on Iran concern, ahead of OPEC
Mon May 29, 2006 9:36pm ET
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More Business News... Email This Article | Print This Article | Reprints [-] Text [+] By Neil Chatterjee

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices rose toward $72 on Tuesday, as a dispute between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear programme rumbled on and OPEC delegates said the cartel would keep pumping at near maximum rates to soothe market fears.

U.S. crude for July delivery was trading 38 cents up at $71.75 a barrel by 0053 GMT. London Brent crude traded 32 cents up at $70.91, after both markets were closed on Monday for holidays.

"The gains are a little surprising but people are looking at Iran and waiting for the big OPEC meeting," said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo.

OPEC President Edmund Daukoru told Reuters on Monday the cartel will probably keep output quotas unchanged at its meeting in Caracas on Thursday and keep pumping as much as it can, as it seeks to avoid high prices spurring investment in alternatives.

Despite high production from the cartel, which controls about half of world oil exports, traders are worried that a stand-off between OPEC member Iran and the West could lead to supply disruptions from the world's fourth-biggest exporter.

Iran said on Monday it had no intention of moving all its uranium enrichment work to Russia to allay fears it could use nuclear fuel technology to make atomic bombs.

The U.S. is pushing Europe and Japan to use broad sanctions to financially pressure Iran if diplomacy fails to resolve the nuclear dispute, the Washington Post reported on Monday.

World powers were expected to meet this week in Europe to complete work on a package of incentives and sanctions.

Worries over high prices leading to inflation and slower demand growth have balanced concerns over supply disruptions in recent weeks, taking oil down from a record $75.35 in April. Prices remain 17 percent up this year.

Apparent oil demand in the world's second-largest consumer China climbed 10.8 percent in April from a year earlier, the highest rise since 2004, as a hike in state-set prices encouraged refiners to boost supplies, calculations based on official data showed on Monday.

Car sales in China soared by almost half in the first four months of the year, helping drive a 20 percent rise in demand for gasoline. Fuel price caps have insulated drivers from the full brunt of rising global crude.

U.S. heating oil futures , also used to price diesel, showed strength on Tuesday as traders worry over stricter environmental laws on motor fuels.

Refiners have boosted gasoline yields ahead of peak summer driving demand in the northern hemisphere, leading to rising gasoline inventories in the world's top consumer.

CO2 project may help save the world

2006-05-29T20:41:00.000-06:00

CO2 project may help save the world

Margaret Munro, CanWest News Service

Published: Monday, May 29, 2006

WEYBURN -- Farmers are seeding their fields in the Prairie sunshine and a meadowlark is singing from a nearby power line.

But Dave Craigen of EnCana oil and gas and his visitors are fixated on the elaborate maze of pipes and drill holes 1.5 kilometres underfoot that has turned southeast Saskatchewan into a mecca for people searching for solutions to global warming.

"You name a country and they've been here," Craigen says of EnCana's $1.5-billion Weyburn operation, which is home to the largest carbon-storage project on the planet. The $42-million international project is financed largely by Natural Resources Canada and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Government and industry officials from Japan, Saudi Arabia, France, and the U.S. have trekked here for a first-hand look. Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, who has promised a "made-in-Canada" plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, is expected in June.

Since 2000, more than seven million tonnes of carbon dioxide that would otherwise have wafted into the atmosphere have been injected into the porous rock far beneath the farmers' fields. Plans call for at least 30 million tonnes to eventually be stashed here -- the equivalent of taking about 6.8 million cars off the road for a year. The plan -- and hope -- is that the CO2 will stay locked underground forever.

The Weyburn project and one injecting a million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year under the North Sea are held up internationally as evidence that carbon storage, or sequestration, can work. The team in Weyburn is documenting how the carbon behaves underground and is devising ways to track its migration and minimize leaks. Researchers and policy makers say storing extra carbon underground holds huge potential for a society that shows little sign of kicking its addiction to fossil fuels.

Global consumption of oil, gas and coal continues to climb despite growing concern about carbon dioxide released when the fuels are burned. CO2 is the most notorious of the greenhouse gases believed to be warming the planet -- with potentially disastrous consequences. Levels have risen since the mid-1800s and are expected to almost double by 2050. They could soar even higher as China uses coal to fuel its economic boom, and as governments and oil companies cash in on reserves like the huge, carbon-laden oilsands in northern Alberta.

A report published this month by Natural Resources Canada calls for immediate action on carbon capture, saying as much as a quarter of the CO2 now emitted by Canada's 700 most-polluting industrial plants could eventually be buried. Observers say it's time to pull out the stops on everything from energy conservation to carbon capture and sequestration.

"More and more carbon is spewing into the atmosphere every minute of the day," says David Vincent, of Britain's Carbon Trust, which is working to reduce U.K. emissions. He was in Weyburn recently to check out the underground carbon storage, which he considers "part of the mix."

Unlike Britain, which has no ready place to stash its CO2, geologists say Canada is "blessed" with huge sedimentary basins that have the potential to hold mind-boggling volumes of the gas.
"We'd run out of fossil fuels before we'd run out storage space," says geologist Malcolm Wilson of the University of Regina.

On a global scale, scientists estimate there is room to bury the entire world's CO2 emissions for hundreds of years. Weyburn provides just a glimpse of the ambitious schemes being dreamed up -- a glimpse that worries environmental groups like the Sierra Club of Canada that see carbon capture and storage as a costly technological fix that poses risk of leaks. Proponents counter the risks can be managed and say burying CO2 can buy time until cleaner energy sources are devised to power the planes, vehicles and industries that now depend heavily on fossil fuels. The carbon dioxide buried here is imported from a U.S. gasification plant that produces a steady stream of almost pure CO2. It is captured before it heads up the smoke stack in North Dakota and diverted into a 323-km long pipeline. It snakes its way through a lake and across the border into Saskatchewan, where it emerges from the ground at EnCana's Weyburn operation. The CO2 then heads for a cavernous building where deafening compressors further liquefy the CO2 for injection.

EnCana official Dave Hassan, in charge of the Weyburn operation, likens it to "turning the smokestack upside down."

The reality is more complicated. The liquid CO2 is fed through the maze of piping buried at the 180-square-kilometre operation. Injection wells, housed in igloo-shaped fiberglass sheds, send the CO2 underground where it floods into horizontal channels bored into oil-rich rock. The CO2 seeps into the rocks' pores and acts like a solvent liberating oil. The oil migrates to collection wells and is pulled to the surface by hundreds of pump jacks bobbing up and down on the farmers' fields.

Much of the CO2 stays underground, but about 2,500 tonnes a day return with the emulsion of oil and water roaring up the production wells. The carbon dioxide bubbles out of the mixture like fizz in a can of pop. It is routed to the compressors, turned back into liquid and reinjected far below the fields where cattle graze and wheat and canola grows. The closed loop, which cost about $1.5 billion to build, generates 30,000 barrels of oil a day.

"It's a simple process, just a big simple process," says Craigen.

Injecting CO2 has paid big dividends for EnCana. It has boosted production here to 30,000 barrels of oil a day and extended the life of the Weyburn reservoir by decades. When the wells eventually run dry, it is predicted at least 30 million tonnes of CO2 will be entombed underground. The more than 1,000 wells on the site will be filled in with cement.

Geologists say there is no danger of a catastrophic CO2 release like the one that belched out of Lake Nyos in Cameroon in 1986. The gas, which is heavier than air, settled in a thick layer over the surrounding area, asphyxiating 1,700 people and countless animals as they slept.

"You can't get a Lake Nyos here," says Wilson, noting such deadly releases can only occur with deep, tropical lakes in volcanic regions.

The concern on the Prairies is with CO2 seeping from faulty wells and rock fractures, risks that can be minimized and managed, says Michael Monea, executive director of the Petroleum Technology Research Centre co-ordinating the Weyburn research project.

The researchers say the rocks under the Prairies are like a "layer cake" made of sediments laid down over the eons as glaciers and oceans came and went. Some of the layers are porous and filed with oil -- like the 23-metre-thick reservoir under Weyburn. Others are impenetrable slabs like the five-metre-thick cap rock that keeps the oil in place.

"It's sealed the oil down there for more than 55 million years," says Wilson.

Most enticing for carbon storage are the thick layers of porous rock that hold salt water -- the so-called saline aquifers which Monea says offer the "granddaddy" of storage. Unlike oil fields, aquifers have had few wells drilled into them so pose less risk of leaks. To demonstrate the potential, Monea and his group are proposing a $59-million project to a inject 1,350 tonnes of CO2 a day two kilometres down into a Saskatchewan aquifer.

There is also interest in following EnCana's lead and using CO2 to boost production from oil-bearing rocks. It is estimated CO2 could liberate 3.8 billion extra barrels of oil in Western Canada alone.

To ensure CO2 is injected into secure and suitable reservoirs and wells are sealed to prevent leaks, Monea's group is working out standards for monitoring and verification to oversee the burgeoning storage business.

"The last thing we want is someone messing this up," says Monea.

Grit plan to cut greenhouse emissions a dud: researchers

2006-05-28T17:31:00.000-06:00

Grit plan to cut greenhouse emissions a dud: researchers

By DENNIS BUECKERT

OTTAWA (CP) - The Liberals' $12-billion plan to implement the Kyoto Protocol over seven years would have been largely ineffective, says an as-yet unpublished report by the C.D. Howe Institute.

The report, marked "do not cite or circulate," was written before the current government axed Project Green, as the plan was dubbed, and may have been a factor in the Conservatives' decision to scrap it.

Project Green largely relied on voluntary measures and incentives which have been shown not to work, says the study, which sarcastically calls the package "Project Dream."

"This policy approach will fail dramatically to meet national objectives and yet will entail a substantial cost," says the report, whose lead author is Mark Jaccard of Simon Fraser University.

The study was written in April and obtained by The Canadian Press on the weekend. It is finally expected to be made public this week.

The report says Project Green would have cost $12 billion by 2012, with much of that money being spent outside Canada.

It would have reduced emissions by 175 megatonnes compared with a business-as-usual scenario, far short of the 230 to 300 Mt. reduction required to meet Canada's Kyoto target.

Efforts like the One Tonne Challenge advertising campaign, which urged individuals to reduce their own greenhouse emissions through lifestyle changes, have "negligible effect," says the study.

"The policy approach of Canada since 1990 and continued with Project Green is clearly ineffective in causing the disconnection of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from the economic output that must take place if these emissions are to be reduced and their atmospheric concentrations stabilized at low risk levels."

Canada's domestic emissions remain on a path that would miss its Kyoto target by at least 270 Mt. in 2010, equivalent to almost a 30 per cent emissions gap, the study says.

"Indeed, the policy approach epitomized by Project Green allows emissions to continue to grow at close to their BAU (business-as-usual) rate."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper could use the report to buttress his claims about the ineffectiveness of the Liberal plan, but he probably won't like the alternatives it recommends.

The most effective policy would likely be a gradually rising tax on greenhouse gas emissions, combined with reductions in other taxes to ensure no net tax increase, says the report.

The main Conservative response to climate change so far has been to make transit passes tax deductible, which experts say will have little effect on emissions.

Louise Comeau of the Vancouver-based Sage Climate Project said many of the criticisms in the report are valid but Project Green was not a total wash.

She said a 175 Mt. cut in emissions would have been a start, adding that the plan had always been presented as a work in progress.

Comeau said the real importance of the report is its call for tough regulations and tax changes to prevent greenhouse emissions.

Ottawa's 5% biofuel program backed

2006-05-24T22:15:00.000-06:00

Ottawa's 5% biofuel program backed

Published: Wednesday, May 24, 2006
The provinces and territories agreed to back the federal government's target of five-per-cent biofuels content in gasoline and diesel by 2010 at a ministerial meeting here Tuesday.

But Saskatchewan's request for a more ambitious target of 10 per cent and a guarantee that more than half of the biofuels feedstock would come from Western Canada was put on the back burner.

Federal Environment Minister Rona Ambrose said the first-ever ministers' meeting on renewable fuels was the "first step'' in keeping Prime Minister Stephen Harper's election promise to move to a national biofuels mandate.

"This is a very ambitious timetable that we've set out,'' Ambrose told reporters following the meeting at a Regina hotel. "But we know it's reachable, it's achievable, and we're making a clear commitment to take action today to reach that target by 2010,'' said the MP for Edmonton-Spruce Grove.

Flanked by Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl and Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn, Ambrose said the government's renewable-fuels strategy is three-pronged: to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases; to assist producers to participate in the industry as owners, as well as suppliers; and to boost the renewable-fuels industry in Canada.

She added it was "no accident'' that Saskatchewan was chosen to host the first renewable fuels ministerial meeting since it was the first province to enact legislation to mandate ethanol content in gasoline.

Ambrose admitted that some provinces, like Saskatchewan, would like to see a higher target than five per cent. The province currently mandates an average one per cent ethanol content, which is expected to increase to 7.5 per cent this fall.

"But, from a national framework perspective, it's important that we recognize that there are some regions of the country that don't have the same capacity at this point to reach the five per cent,'' she said.

Ambrose noted the U.S. has set a renewable fuels content target of four per cent by 2012, while the EU has adopted a 5.7-per-cent target by 2010.

Saskatchewan's Deputy Premier Clay Serby, speaking on behalf of the provincial and territorial ministers, praised Ambrose for the "leadership that's going to be provided at the national level'' to bring about a national standard.

"Clearly, we needed to know who is going to be leading the process. We're now sure that Ms. Ambrose and her department will be leading the process.''

But Serby said Saskatchewan still wants to see a 10-per-cent biofuels content target and a commitment to ensure that more than half of the renewable fuels feedstock would come from Western Canada.

"Our discussions are not over. ... This is the very first day of a process of which we have an agreement on today,'' Serby said.

However, a spokesman for the renewable fuels industry said five per cent biofuels content is an "aggressive target,'' given that it represents a 10-fold increase in renewable fuels production. The current level of ethanol and biodiesel production in Canada is less than 300 million litres per year; reaching the five-per-cent target would require about three billion litres per year, according to Kory Teneycke of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association.

"It's a very aggressive growth plan,'' Teneycke said. "It's a big increase.''

Teneycke also applauded the federal government's commitment to encourage producer participation in renewable fuels production.

"You want to know that producers in your local area are going to be growing crops for your facility. One of the best ways to do that is to have them have some skin in the game.''

A representative for one producer group was encouraged by the federal government's decision to proceed with the national mandate.

"When the federal government is fully behind the renewable fuels industry, it's a really a strong indicator for us as an up-and-coming plant (operator),'' said Arnold Cornea, executive director of the South Central Renewable Fuels Inc., a group of RMs in southern Saskatchewan that wants to build two 100-million litre ethanol plants.

But former finance minister and Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale said the Conservative government is being too cautious.

"I think something higher than five per cent is doable. Five per cent is safe, but I think we can stretch that (target) a bit.''

Goodale added there are no details about how producer participation would be encouraged, whether biodiesel standards would favour a canola or soy-based feedstock, or how new, more energy-efficient, renewable fuels technology would be encouraged. "Farmers will need answers soon.''

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2006

Ethanol enigma hangs over industry

2006-05-24T22:11:00.000-06:00

ENERGY

Ethanol enigma hangs over industry
Producers, car makers, consumers set up reinforcing roadblocks
PATRICK BRETHOUR and GREG KEENAN

CALGARY, TORONTO -- MacEwen Petroleum Inc. is caught up in the ethanol enigma.

The Ontario fuels retailer sells 85-per-cent ethanol fuel at just one of its 70 locations, and would love to expand that number -- if only there were enough consumer demand. But that demand largely depends on there being enough vehicles able to handle that fuel, which in turn depends on a large supply of ethanol. Which, in turn, depends on companies such as MacEwen setting up a retail network. "It's the chicken and egg thing," said Marcel Labelle, MacEwen's vice-president of sales and supply.

Almost any light vehicle can burn fuel containing 10-per-cent ethanol -- and hundreds of service stations sell the fuel. But only specialized vehicles can use 85-per-cent ethanol fuel, which if it were in widespread use would significantly reduce oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. For now, only one MacEwen station, in eastern Ottawa, is selling 85-per-cent ethanol -- and largely to just one customer, the federal government. "If there were a market for it, we would be expanding," Mr. Labelle said.

Ottawa is starting to talk with the provinces about how to dramatically increase Canada's consumption of ethanol -- to 5 per cent of total fuel consumption by 2010 -- but any government-legislated mandate is going to run into the daunting economics of the biofuels sector, and the mutually reinforcing roadblocks of producers, consumers, car makers and retailers.

To get around those roadblocks, government will need to do more than simply set a target for the industry to hit, said Canada's largest ethanol producer. "The mandate by itself is not going to be enough. It's still going to require an incentive to break the monopoly on our tanks," said Bliss Baker, a vice-president at Commercial Alcohols Inc.

Petroleum doesn't quite have a monopoly on Canadians' tanks, but ethanol's market share is tiny, sitting at half a per cent, according to the federal government.

Mr. Baker said he welcomes the announcement that Ottawa is moving to increase ethanol consumption. But he also wants the federal government to introduce incentives -- similar to those handed to the oil sands sector a decade ago -- that will reduce the upfront costs of expanding the processing capacity for biofuels. Those incentives allow oil sands companies to write off all of their capital costs in a single year, allowing them to defer corporate taxes.

An earlier round of federal incentives prompted a series of expansions by Commercial Alcohols, Husky Energy Inc. and Suncor Energy Inc. that will nearly triple Canada's output of ethanol by next summer. Even so, output would still fall far short of the 5-per-cent goal, which would require about another 1.4 billion litres in annual capacity based on current overall fuel consumption.

Kory Teneycke, executive director of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, agreed that incentives will be necessary to expand production by such an amount, but added that the prospect of eliminating the "patchwork" of standards that exist across Canada will also play an important role.

In the meantime, the auto industry in Canada and the United States is pushing for a major increase in the use of 85-per-cent ethanol fuel. David Paterson, vice-president of corporate and government affairs for General Motors of Canada Ltd., said the country's largest auto maker has told Ottawa that access to 85-per-cent fuel, or E85, needs to be increased. "We can easily -- and at no cost to consumers -- accelerate the availability of those vehicles," Mr. Paterson said.

GM's new full-sized sport utility vehicles are offered with so-called flex fuel capability that allows them to use E85, as do some pickups and minivans.

A mid-sized Impala sedan driving on E85 -- and assembled in Oshawa, Ont. -- emits fewer greenhouse gases than a Toyota Prius hybrid sedan, Mr. Paterson said.

There are about five million E85 vehicles on the road in North America and the Detroit-based three (GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler) are expected to sell another one million this year, although there is only a handful of service stations for them in Canada and just several hundred in the United States.

By the numbers

650 million

Litres of ethanol Canada is expected to be producing by 2010, triple the amount produced now.

*****

70 per cent

Revenue from an ethanol plant that is spent within a 150-kilometre radius of the plant site.

*****

3,000-6,000

Jobs that would be created over 15 years if ethanol were used in 50 per cent of Canadian gasoline.

Ethanol facts

-Compared with conventional unleaded gasoline, ethanol is a clean-burning fuel source that combusts to form carbon dioxide and water. It can be produced either by petrochemical feedstock or by fermentation.

-Ethanol can be produced from a variety of crops, such as wheat, maize, sugar cane, sugar beet, sorghum, switchgrass, barley, hemp, kenaf, potatoes, cassava and sunflower.

-In 2005, the Indy Racing League announced its cars will run on a 10 per cent ethanol-90 per cent methanol blend fuel, and in 2007, the cars will race on 100 per cent ethanol.

-Brazil, Colombia and the United States have all developed significant bioethanol fuel programs. In 2005, the U.S. production capacity was 15 billion litres annually. The Energy Policy Act requires U.S. fuel ethanol production to increase to 28 billion litres by 2012.

President Bush Calls for Investment in Alternative Fuels

2006-05-21T11:11:00.000-06:00

President Bush Calls for Investment in Alternative Fuels
Commander in Chief says biodiesel is a part of his strategy for energy security
(WASHINGTON) – President Bush today said that the American people deserve alternative
ways to drive their cars to make the country less dependent on foreign sources of oil. His
remarks came as he addressed a summit hosted by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) in
Washington D.C.
“We owe it to the American people to be aggressive in the use of technology so we can diversify
away from the hydrocarbon society,” Bush said.
In the energy policy speech, Bush listed four parts to his strategy to fight rising fuel costs:
• Making sure consumers and taxpayers are treated fairly
• Promoting greater fuel efficiency
• Boosting the gasoline supply at home
• Aggressive long-term investment in alternative fuels
“I think we need to follow suit on what we have been emphasizing, particularly through the
energy bill, and that is to encourage conservation, to expand domestic production, and to develop
alternative sources of energy like ethanol,” Bush said. He added, “I also support biodiesel fuel,
which can substitute for regular diesel in cars, trucks, buses and farm equipment.”
The President then referenced his visit to a biodiesel plant last spring, Virginia Biodiesel, saying
it was “a really interesting process to watch.” It was the first time an American president had
visited a biodiesel plant.
President Bush also said that research and development has brought about new alternative
sources of energy like biodiesel. “So that’s one of the reasons why I signed into law the first
ever federal tax credit for biodiesel producers,” he said. “In other words, we’re interested in
addressing our energy security needs on a variety of fronts. It makes sense for the United States
to have a comprehensive strategy to help us diversify away from oil.”
(more)
Joe Jobe, chief executive officer of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), was on hand for the
President’s speech. “It’s clear from the President’s remarks that biodiesel is a serious part of his
strategy to make America more energy independent,” Jobe said. “Our industry, along with the
ethanol industry, is in a position to make a difference in the daily lives of Americans.”
Jobe helped moderate the RFA Renewable Fuels Summit after the President’s speech. Several
senators and congressmen discussed the role of renewable fuels at the event.
Biodiesel is a renewable diesel fuel that is made from domestic resources such as soybean oil or
other domestic fats and vegetable oils. It can be used in any diesel engine with few or no
modifications, and can be blended with petroleum diesel at any level. Biodiesel significantly cuts
harmful environmental emissions. Today, more than 600 major fleets use biodiesel
commercially, and 700 retail filling stations make it available to the public.
# # #
More information on biodiesel can be found at www.biodiesel.org.

New Holland Becomes First Equipment Maker to Fully Approve B20

2006-05-20T21:47:00.000-06:00

May 17, 2006
New Holland Becomes First Equipment Maker to Fully Approve B20
National Biodiesel Board Applauds Company’s Pioneering Move
(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) – Ed Hegland, a soybean grower in Appleton, Minn., has waited for
this news for years. The maker of his tractor, New Holland, has approved the use of 20 percent
biodiesel (B20) in all of its equipment using New Holland engines. It is the first Original
Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to announce full support of B20 in all of the diesel engines that
it produces.
“I am elated that New Holland has taken this step to show support for biodiesel, a farmer-grown
fuel,” Hegland said. “Their customers asked for it, and they listened. I truly hope others will
follow suit soon.”
The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) applauded New Holland’s decision. “This is what we have
been working toward for years; a major equipment manufacturer announcing full support for use
of high quality B20 in all the diesel engines that they produce,” said Joe Jobe, CEO of NBB.
“Although other OEMs have taken positive steps toward B20, New Holland is the first to
specifically say that they approve the use of B20 in all of their engines. This powerful stand for
renewable energy is helping lead us toward a safer, less dependent nation.”
“Biodiesel is the future,” said Dennis D. Recker, Vice President of New Holland Agricultural
Business in North America. “As the availability of fossil fuels becomes a greater problem, we
need to look at alternatives. But they must also be cleaner, environmentally friendly alternatives.
New Holland is renowned for its innovation and forward-thinking approach, and we are
committed to bringing our customers the latest technology and the benefits it brings.”
NBB’s close work with New Holland and other OEMs was instrumental to the company’s
decision to support B20. During the past several years, NBB and the diesel engine, fuel
injection, and vehicle companies have engaged in extensive biodiesel research and testing
programs to develop an informed, fact-based position on the use of up to a 20 percent biodiesel
blend in diesel applications in the U.S.
(http://www.biodiesel.org/buyingbiodiesel/guide/B20_Fleet_Recommendations.pdf). The effort
was based on actual fleet experience with B20 in the commercial marketplace.
In addition, NBB and all the major vehicle, engine and fuel injection companies are engaged in a
research program for new diesel technology. The program tests B20 and lower blends in the
advanced diesel engine platforms mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
starting with 2007 model year vehicles.
“Our industry’s goal is for B20 approval in all major diesel engines and vehicles, and we are
making great strides towards that,” Jobe said.
All major OEMs support B5 and lower blends, provided they are made with biodiesel meeting
ASTM D 6751. A growing number are recommending the use of BQ-9000 companies. BQ-
9000 is NBB’s biodiesel industry quality program.
“While some companies might not fully recommend use of blends higher than B5 yet, we have
had virtually no problems with high quality B20—the type that would come from BQ-9000
approved companies. Use of blends higher than B5 will not necessarily void existing
warranties,” said Jobe.
Earlier this year, DaimlerChrysler broke new ground when it announced approval of the use of
B20 in its Dodge Ram pickup trucks for government, military and commercial fleet customers.
Use of B20 in fleets is approved effective with the 2007 Model Year.
New Holland has a track record of biodiesel support. In 2003, New Holland was the first large
farm equipment company to join the Biodiesel Alliance that connects the widespread support
base for biodiesel. The Biodiesel Alliance includes agricultural and health groups as well as
businesses. New Holland also awarded use of its tractors to the nation’s two top recruiters of the
Biodiesel Alliance.
Hegland, who also serves as chair of the NBB technical committee, has used various blends of
biodiesel in his ’98 tractor since he first brought it to the farm. “This is a leap forward for the
biodiesel industry, and the timing couldn’t be better,” he said. “Everyone is talking about energy
and how to increase our domestic supply. Biodiesel is one of the best things out there to help us
do that.”
Biodiesel is a renewable diesel fuel that is made from domestic resources such as soybean oil or
other domestic fats and vegetable oils. It can be used in any diesel engine with few or no
modifications, and can be blended with petroleum diesel at any level. Biodiesel significantly
cuts harmful environmental emissions, promotes greater energy independence and boosts our
economy. Today, more than 600 major fleets use biodiesel commercially, and 700 retail filling
stations make it available to the public.
# # #
Additional information about biodiesel is available online at www.biodiesel.org.

Scientists note stunning loss of Arctic ice, snow

2006-05-19T12:44:00.000-06:00

Scientists note stunning loss of Arctic ice, snow
Last Updated Fri, 19 May 2006 13:36:09 EDT
CBC News
Climatologists studying satellite weather maps say they're amazed and alarmed by how quickly spring is coming to the Arctic this year.

INDEPTH: Climate change

Record warm temperatures have significantly reduced ice cover in Canada's Arctic waters and snow cover on land.

"I've never seen it so wide open this time of year," said Environment Canada's David Phillips, referring to the body of water between Baffin Island and mainland Quebec. "It's just blue, blue as the bluest sky."

Phillips said snow cover is also fast disappearing across Nunavut. In Cape Dorset, there is typically 50 centimetres of snow on the ground in May. Now there's just two centimetres. And in Iqaluit, bare ground is exposed everywhere, when there would normally still be 20 centimetres of snow cover.

Phillips, a senior climatologist with the federal weather agency, says temperatures were four to five degrees warmer than usual this past winter. The higher temperatures come on the heels of dramatic losses in sea ice last summer, Phillips says, and so the natural cycle hasn't had a chance to recover.

"There has been no rebounding back," he said. "The ice just hasn't had a chance to bounce back, to grow during the winter, during the cold season of the year.

"Essentially what's happening is there's been so much warm weather, week after week, month after month, season after season, the environment is just not behaving the way it should," said Phillips.

Ice cover has now dropped to a record low for the winter period, attracting the attention of Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo.

Serreze said April is generally the month with the maximum ice cover over the Arctic Ocean, and the loss this year is shocking.

"If we compare this April with all previous Aprils, there's hundreds of thousands of square kilometres less ice," he said.

Climatologists, biologists and people living in the area fear the shifting ice patterns are a sign of even deeper changes that will disrupt age-old cycles of plant and animal life, and even global weather patterns.

Serreze says researchers will be watching ice cover data carefully this summer, and many are already predicting the shrinkage in September will largely surpass last year's record high.

Serreze says sea ice loss has been the greatest along the coasts of Siberia and Alaska. This winter a ship could have travelled northeast from London along Russia's Arctic Ocean coastline and down through the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska to Tokyo, he says.

Meanwhile, Phillips says people in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories can expect the balmy weather to continue through the summer.

Auto makers press Congress on ethanol

2006-05-19T08:56:00.000-06:00

Auto makers press Congress on ethanol
`We want to be a leader in this historic shift'

Big 3 executives arrive in cars with corn stalk trim
May 19, 2006. 01:00 AM
KEN THOMAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON—Leaders of the Big Three North American auto makers pressed the U.S. Congress yesterday to help make ethanol fuels more widely available to motorists, calling it an immediate step toward weaning the nation from foreign oil.

General Motors Corp. chairman and chief executive Rick Wagoner, Ford Motor Co. chairman and CEO Bill Ford, and Tom LaSorda, president and CEO of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group, said they urged congressional leaders to boost the number of gas stations that carry ethanol blends.

The executives also endorsed an initiative to have renewable fuels meet 25 per cent of the nation's transportation energy needs by 2025.

"We want to be a leader in this historic shift," Wagoner said.

Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, described the Illinois Republican's meeting with the auto executives as a ``positive and constructive dialogue" on ways to encourage alternative fuel vehicles and wider availability of ethanol blends. The auto makers also expressed support for pension reform.

Auto industry officials had said the Washington meetings would centre on energy issues such as making ethanol fuels more widely available, the industry's challenges in meeting rising health-care costs, trade issues and the need for more alternative fuel vehicles.

Ford, following a meeting with Senate Democrats, said it was a "great opportunity for the three of us to get together with the leadership and talk about the opportunities we have as a country and as an industry, particularly on fuels, and how we start to wean ourselves from dependence on foreign oil.''

Earlier, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, said, "We recognize that there are problems, and we are going to work as partners with them." He added, "Perhaps, in the last many years, we have not worked together as well as we should have.''

Reid said it was the first of many meetings to develop a better partnership between government and industry.

The Big Three executives arrived in vehicles powered by ethanol, decorated with images of corn stalks, to underscore their commitment to alternative fuels.

Domestic auto makers have ramped up production of flexible fuel vehicles, capable of running on gasoline and fuel blends of up to 85 per cent ethanol.

But one of the obstacles is finding pumps that offer ethanol — industry officials estimate that about 685 of the 165,000 fueling stations across the country offer ethanol blends, less than 1 per cent of the stations.

The auto executives plan to meet in June with U.S. President George W. Bush.

Wagoner also said yesterday he was optimistic bankrupt Delphi Corp. of Troy, Mich., and the United Auto Workers union would resolve their differences at the bargaining table, though GM has stockpiled parts in case of a work stoppage.

OIL

2006-04-20T06:55:00.000-06:00

OIL
Defying all conventional logic, the price is reaching ever higher and motorists are feeling the pain. DEREK DeCLOET explains why, and what you can expect

Blame Iran. Or, if you prefer, point the finger at George W. Bush, environmentalists, hurricane Katrina, avaricious oil companies or "speculators" -- whoever they are.

Motorists will find plenty of culprits, real and imagined, for fuel prices that are approaching the hurricane-season heights of last September. But there's also plenty of oil and gasoline. Unlike the oil shocks of the 1970s, there are no long lineups at gas stations, no embargoes, no shortages to explain crude prices that yesterday touched record levels again, closing at $72.17 (U.S.) a barrel.

While U.S. oil inventories fell by about 800,000 barrels last week, they are still abundant -- close to an eight-year high, according to Toronto-Dominion Bank's economics department. Gasoline supplies are not quite as healthy, but nor are they anywhere close to their historic lows; they're near the five-year average.

Yet the price at the pump, which on Tuesday averaged $1.079 (Canadian) a litre, is about 20 per cent higher than it was at this time last year, and closing in on the $1.26 a litre it reached after Katrina ripped through New Orleans and the Gulf Coast last summer.

Whatever happened to supply and demand?

"What we've found over the past three years is the old relationships between supply, demand, inventory and price haven't been working," said Henry Cohen, a veteran oil analyst and president of Full Cycle Energy Investment Management Ltd., a Toronto money-management firm.

The immediate cause of gasoline sticker shock is oil's quick jump to the $70 range from about $60 (U.S.) a barrel in mid-March. Every $10-a-barrel increase in crude adds between seven and eight cents to the cost of a litre of gasoline, according to MJ Ervin & Associates Inc., a Calgary consultancy that tracks fuel prices.

Much of the increase has been blamed on fear of confrontation with Iran, which produces about 5.5 million barrels of oil a day -- approximately 6.5 per cent of world output.

"The world can't really absorb a removal of Iranian production from the market, if that were to occur. . . . There just isn't the surplus [production] any more for this to happen," Mr. Cohen said.

But so far, the dispute over Iran's nuclear capability is just a war of words, and there is no sign it will turn off the crude taps any time soon. Oil traders of New York, London and Calgary might have as much to do with the rising cost of filling your tank as the unyielding mullahs of Tehran.

Investing in oil has been so lucrative that it's now attracting billions of dollars from sophisticated and novice investors alike, pushing prices up further still. This month, a U.S. asset-management firm launched the first exchange-traded mutual fund linked to the price of oil.

The fund trades on the American Stock Exchange, allowing anyone with a few hundred dollars and a brokerage account to bet directly on oil prices over the Internet.

"That's money that can reverse course pretty quickly," said Derek Burleton, a senior economist at TD Bank. But no one, it seems, can quantify with any precision how much speculative money is being poured into the oil market, nor when it will stop. Barclays Capital, a unit of Barclays PLC, has estimated that institutional money managers are holding between $100-billion and $120-billion in commodities investments, at least double the amount three years ago. That may be conservative.

"There's no doubt there are hundreds of billions of dollars" in financial assets tied to oil, Mr. Cohen said. "You can't have hundreds of billions of dollars without any effect on pricing. You can just see it."

For drivers, there may be some relief on the horizon. At least part of the increase at the pump is driven by temporary factors.

American gasoline inventories fell by 5.45 million barrels last week, according to information from the U.S. Department of Energy. But that's not because motorists are logging that many more miles. It's because about 14 per cent of the capacity in U.S. refineries is shut down for spring maintenance.

Much of that is seasonal; the work is done to get the refineries ready for the summer driving season. Some of it may even be Katrina-related, as facilities that might have closed last fall were kept open to compensate for the lost capacity on the Gulf Coast, and are now catching up on maintenance. And some refineries "really still have not even started up again" after being damaged in the storm, said Steven Kelly, manager of the Calgary office of Purvin & Gertz Inc., an international oil-consulting firm.

Compounding the problem: a change in U.S. environmental regulations that is forcing U.S. gasoline producers to stop using methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, an additive that makes fuel burn cleaner but can pollute groundwater. Refiners in parts of the eastern United States and Texas are moving from MBTE to ethanol this spring, but there is some fear the switchover will be botched and gasoline production will suffer, Mr. Kelly said.

As a result, fuel wholesalers -- the people who supply gas stations -- are paying higher prices this spring for gasoline, just to be sure they have enough to meet their customers' demands if there's a supply problem, said Cathy Hay, a senior associate at MJ Ervin. That won't necessarily continue.

"We do often see prices moderate and stabilize over the summer," she said.

Mr. Burleton of the TD thinks lower prices are on the way. The bank is forecasting a 20-per-cent drop in oil prices later this year, which "is more in line with gasoline prices somewhere in the 80-cent range," he said, as the speculative trading in crude cools off.

One thing that hasn't curbed oil prices yet is a drop in demand. Statistics Canada said gasoline consumption in Canada was "essentially unchanged" last year, which surprises people such as Bill Wheeler. Mr. Wheeler, chairman of a Vancouver money management firm, Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd., has been selling shares of oil companies, in the belief that crude prices are due for a correction.

So far, that's been a bad move, but he is convinced he will be proved right once consumers finally react by driving less or choosing more economical vehicles. He has traded his own SUV, an 11-year-old Ford Explorer, for a Subaru model.

"It's about twice as efficient as the old pig," he said.

BY THE NUMBERS

$72.17 Price, in U.S. dollars, of a barrel of crude at yesterday's close

$1.26 The average price of gas after the hurricanes

20% Amount oil and metals are forecast by TD Bank analysts to fall this year after the frenzy dies down

$69.81 Price of crude late last summer, at the height of supply fears after the Gulf hurricanes

$1.08 The average price of a litre of gas in Canada today

3.4% The unemployment rate in Alberta, which can't find enough oil-patch workers

Addicted to oil

2006-04-20T06:53:00.000-06:00

Addicted to oil

Time for more Ralph buck rebates?
By Neil Waugh

On a day when regular gas prices were dancing with $108.5 a litre, politicians were running for cover –except there wasn’t any.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Winnipeg, basically telling Canadians there’s not much he can do about it, other than “watch carefully.” Basically, suck it up, buttercup.

Sky-high motor fuel prices “are something we’re going to have to get used to,” Harper shrugged. And he predicted “sustained upward pressure” for some time to come.

But unlike his predecessor, this PM’s a realist.

He predicted his proposed 1% cut in the GST will have a “marginal difference at best.”

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein was equally resigned to a long summer of pump price discontent.

“I’ve always said what goes up must come down,” Klein told reporters in Calgary.

What he said next isn’t going to make Alberta Liberal energy critic Hugh MacDonald’s day. Hughie is trying to cash in on the political fallout from high gas prices. He has demanded the Tories scrap the five-cent portion of the provincial fuel tax that isn’t passed onto municipalities.

“The resources of this province belong to all Albertans,” MacDonald blasted. “When prices soar like this, it’s time the government starts sharing.”

Canadian Trucking Alliance CEO David Bradley also slammed both federal and provincial fuel taxes as “archaic and regressive.

“The industry is caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Bradley. Low-sulphur diesel fuel requirements imposed by the feds is only making matters worse, he said.

He also wants the excise tax on diesel dumped.

“Nothing is being contemplated,” Klein said.

But in the next breath, the premier said another round of Ralphbucks rebates is being mulled as Klein’s farewell gift to ordinary Albertans – 72% of whom stuck by him (according to polls) while 45% of PC insiders knifed him at the recent party convention.

“Quite frankly, I favour it,” he said. The projected unbudgeted surplus in the first quarter report expected in late August will determine if another prosperity dividend is do-able.

High gas prices south of the border have also become a hot political issue – especially with one third of the Senate seats up for grabs in this November’s mid-term election.

“(President George W. Bush) is concerned about the impact high gas prices have on families and workers and small businesses,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in a press scrum this week.

He called it “another tax on families,” then repeated Bush’s state of the union speech vow to “break our addiction to oil” and “wean ourselves off foreign crude.”

Except, I suspect Bush considers Alberta crude as American oil.

Meanwhile, the TD Bank’s economics department is predicting more bad news (unless you are an oil company exec) in the pipeline.

“Depending on how the geo-political situation unfolds,” TD’s commodity price report said yesterday, “the activities of speculators could push crude oil prices to new heights in the short run.”

Although the TD crystal ball gazers insist they are “even more steadfast” there will be a 20% “correction” in crude oil prices later this year.

The U.S. Department of Energy is also predicting a pull back.

Even though it’s “not a foregone conclusion,” the Washington bureaucrats did admit in yesterday’s weekly petroleum price report that domestic gas will likely hit $3 US-a-gallon this summer.

“Gasoline production for the most recent period is down 475,000 barrels-a-day,” the report determined. “While gasoline demand is up slightly compared to last year.”

Three hurricane-damaged refineries in the Gulf region remain down. Wholesale gasoline prices are based on the going rate at the end of the pipeline in New York harbour.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers is in full damage control, despite the big oil lobby’s rosy prediction that “we expect $100 billion or more in revenue sustainable until at least 2008.”

“Profitability is healthy but somewhat deceiving,” insisted the recent CAPP report. New oil and gas production is apparently a “hostage to a hyper-inflating cost structure.”

Governments are “benefiting from robust energy growth” as much as the oil suits.

But consumers sure aren’t.

And very soon that’s going to become a huge political problem.

Some 25 per cent of Canadians think global warming will kill the planet: poll

2006-04-17T14:49:00.000-06:00

MONTREAL (CP) - About one-quarter of Canadians believe global warming will lead to the destruction of the planet, a new opinion poll suggests.

The Leger Marketing survey found that 62 per cent of respondents believed global warming can be curbed, while 23 per cent said it will trigger a disaster that will destroy Earth.

Fifteen per cent refused to answer or said they didn't know.

Thirty-one per cent of Quebecers believed in the end-of-the-world scenario, while other regional breakdowns along the same lines were: British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces, 22 per cent; Ontario, 21 per cent; and Alberta, 16 per cent.

Asked whether they were afraid of global warming, 45 per cent of respondents replied No, while 50 per cent said Yes.

The fear quotient ranged from 54 per cent in Quebec to 37 per cent in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

The poll of 1,500 Canadians was conducted March 21-26 and is considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The margins of error for the regional breakdowns are higher.

OPEC can do nothing about high oil price

2006-04-17T13:37:00.000-06:00

Qatar says OPEC can do nothing about high oil price

DOHA (Reuters) - Oil prices are too high and OPEC can do nothing to cool them, Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said on Monday.

"I think oil prices are too high but there is nothing we can do," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the Qatar Economic Forum.

Asked if high prices were harming the global economy, he said: "When they get above $60 I start to worry."

Oil leapt to $70 a barrel for the first time in seven and a half months on Monday, extending strong gains made last week as tension mounted between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Asked if Qatar was concerned about supply disruptions from Iran, Attiyah said: "We are confident that nothing will happen with Iran." Iran pumps around 5 percent of the world's oil.

Oil prices have risen more than 20 percent since mid-February, despite sizeable U.S. crude inventories, as geo-political fears compounded fundamental worries that refiners might struggle to make enough gasoline for the summer driving season.
04/17/06 03:47 © Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Reuters Ltd.

Environmentalists ask opposition to defeat government if Kyoto abandoned

2006-04-13T11:21:00.000-06:00

Environmentalists ask opposition to defeat government if Kyoto abandoned
View Larger Image
New Conservative Environment Minister Rona Ambrose tells reporters that the country will chart its own course on reducing air pollution but isn't bailing out of the Kyoto protocal.
OTTAWA -- Leading environmentalists from across Canada say the opposition parties should defeat the government if it abandons the effort to meet Canada's Kyoto commitments.

Canada can meet its emissions-cutting target under the Kyoto Protocol despite government claims to the contrary, activists from eight environmental groups told a news conference Wednesday. Under the Kyoto treaty, Canada is committed to a six per cent cut in emissions from 1990 levels by 2012. Yet emissions have risen by 30 per cent. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the target is impossible to meet.

"We're calling on opposition parties to stop Mr. Harper's attempt to destroy what we've been working on for the past decade," said Steven Guilbeault of Greenpeace.

"You never know unless you try," said Joy Kennedy of KAIROS - Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. "We're hearing nothing out of this government about what they're doing, nothing whatsoever. There is no plan."

Emma Welford, spokeswoman for Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn, said the government is very close to announcing which of the existing Kyoto initiatives will be cut. She denied that the whole plan will be axed.

In opposition the Conservatives vigorously opposed the Kyoto treaty, but they have modified their position since taking power.

Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has said Canada will stay in the Kyoto framework and is working on a "made-in-Canada" plan to cut greenhouse emissions.

Matthew Bramley of the Pembina Institute said it is still possible to meet the target by taking advantage of Kyoto mechanisms which allows industrialized countries to fund emissions-cutting projects in the developing world.

"No we're not going to meet our Kyoto target purely through domestic action. Governments have allowed too many years to go past, there's been too much inaction, so, yes we do need to buy international credits as part of our package of measures to meet our Kyoto target."

Welford said the government has not made a decision on whether Canada will take part in international emissions trading.

The Bloc Quebecois, NDP and Liberals all support the Kyoto treaty, but they would not likely bring down the government over any Kyoto reversal so soon after the last election.

The Conservatives are keenly aware of the strong public support for Kyoto, especially in Quebec, where they must make gains to win an eventual majority.

Policy analysts in the Environment Department are said to be working feverishly to come up with a plan.

Internationally, the pro-Kyoto forces took a blow last year when British Prime Minister Tony Blair appeared to predict the demise of the treaty.

© The Canadian Press 2006

Oil inches toward record on supply worries

2006-04-11T16:44:00.000-06:00

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices inched closer to a record on Tuesday as supply threats in major producers Iran, Nigeria and Iraq triggered a fresh wave of fund buying.
Continued strong demand growth in the United States and China -- the world's two largest energy consumers -- also added to concerns that the oil industry may struggle to match voracious consumption.

"It is pretty clear that we can break $70 without too much problem," said Deborah White, an analyst at SG CIB in Paris.

U.S. crude futures rose 24 cents to $68.98 a barrel, bringing prices within striking distance of the all-time high $70.85 hit last August after Hurricane Katrina leveled U.S. oil platforms and refineries.

The price of U.S. crude for delivery later this year has already vaulted over the psychological $70 a barrel mark, with dealers anticipating potential supply disruptions and an uptick in demand growth for the summer driving season.

Oil has climbed 13 percent since the start of the year, propelled by concerns over supplies from OPEC producers Iran, Nigeria and Iraq.

Iran is at odds with the West over its atomic program, rebels have knocked out nearly a quarter of Nigeria's output and Iraq's exports are at their lowest since the U.S.-led invasion.

The recent surge in oil prices adds to a rally that began at the start of 2002 with oil at $20 a barrel. Investment money has poured into commodities. Gold hit a 25-year high and silver set a 23-year peak Tuesday.

"The ultimate deterrent for the oil market is when the price becomes too expensive for people to fill their tanks," said Ian Henderson, fund manager at JP Morgan Fleming.

"I think they will continue to carry out their travel plans even with oil prices as high as $100 a barrel."

The world's economies are racing ahead despite energy costs at their highest in real terms for a quarter of a century.

"With the U.S. and global economies still showing strong signs of resilience, expectations for oil demand growth in 2006 and 2007 remain robust," Deutsche Bank said in a research note. "The United States and China account for a substantial proportion of the total world oil growth in 2006 and 2007." London Brent crude settled up 62 cents to $69.37 a barrel.

OPEC SUPPLY WORRIES

Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told Kuwait's KUNA news agency Tuesday that Iran had begun producing enriched uranium -- a direct challenge to the United States and the United Nations' nuclear agency.

President Bush has dismissed reports of plans for military strikes on the world's fourth biggest oil exporter as "wild speculation" but the market remains nervous.

"The market is not really factoring in the true impact of military action but the mere mention of it sends prices higher," said Gerard Burg, economist at the National Australia Bank.

With the loss of Nigerian oil, a high yielder of gasoline, set to encroach on the U.S. summer driving season, traders are nervously eyeing falling fuel supplies, hit by high demand and extensive refinery maintenance to comply with cleaner U.S. fuel standards.

Analysts polled by Reuters predict U.S. gasoline inventories fell last week by an average 2.4 million barrels, extending a 14.1 million-barrel fall in the previous five weeks to March 31, in U.S. government data to be released Wednesday.

Kyoto is pointless, say 60 leading scientists

2006-04-09T14:15:00.000-06:00

Canada's new Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, has been urged by more than 60 leading international climate change experts to review the global warming policies he inherited from his centre-Left predecessor.

In an open letter that includes five British scientists among the signatories, the experts praise his recent commitment to review the controversial Kyoto protocol on reducing emissions harmful to the environment.

Stephen Harper has been urged to review his policies

"Much of the billions of dollars earmarked for implementation of the protocol in Canada will be squandered without a proper assessment of recent developments in climate science," they wrote in the Canadian Financial Post last week.

They emphasised that the study of global climate change is, in Mr Harper's own words, an "emerging science" and added: "If, back in the mid 1990s, we knew what we know today about climate, Kyoto would almost certainly not exist, because we would have concluded it was not necessary." Despite claims to the contrary, there is no consensus among climate scientists on the relative importance of the various causes of global climate change, they wrote.

"'Climate change is real' is a meaningless phrase used repeatedly by activists to convince the public that a climate catastrophe is looming and humanity is the cause. Neither of these fears is justified.

"Global climate changes all the time due to natural causes and the human impact still remains impossible to distinguish from this natural 'noise'."

The letter is the latest effort by climate change sceptics to counter claims that there is a consensus that human activity is causing global warming.

World 'cannot meet oil demand'

2006-04-08T07:31:00.000-06:00

World 'cannot meet oil demand'
By Carl Mortished, International Business Editor

THE world lacks the means to produce enough oil to meet rising projections of demand for fuel over the next decade, according to Christophe de Margerie, head of exploration for Total and heir presumptive to the leadership of the French energy multinational.
The world is mistakenly focusing on oil reserves when the problem is capacity to produce oil, M de Margerie said in an interview with The Times. Forecasters, such as the International Energy Agency (IEA), have failed to consider the speed at which new resources can be brought into production, he believes.

“Numbers like 120 million barrels per day will never be reached, never,” he said.

The IEA predicted in its World Energy Outlook that global demand for crude oil would reach 121 million barrels per day by 2030, of which more than half would be supplied by Opec. The agency predicted that more than $3 trillion (£1.72 trillion) of investment in wells, pipelines and refineries would be needed to raise output to such levels.

However, Total’s exploration chief reckons the output rise is impossible, given available resources and geopolitical constraints on gaining access to reserves in Opec countries.

M de Margerie argued that the resources were simply not available. He said: “Take Qatar. How many projects can you have at the same time? You have more than 100,000 people working on sites. It’s a big city of contractors. Now they have the problem of having to build a new power plant to supply a city of contractors.”

The IEA was mistaken in using recovery factors that failed to consider the timing of new resources coming on stream. M De Margerie said. The world was confusing the issue of reserves with the scale of the problem in producing those reserves. He said: “The oil reserves are there, that is the good news, but what we can bring on today to meet demand is limited by factors other than what scientists see in a lab or think-tanks.”

The Total exploration chief said he was the likely successor to Thierry Desmarest, the current chairman and has been nominated to join the company’s supervisory board.

Ethanol industry touted as cure

2006-04-06T11:46:00.000-06:00

Ethanol industry touted as cure
Gasoline with 5-per-cent renewable matter would ease farm-income crisis, Tories say
BILL CURRY

OTTAWA -- The Conservative government will soon unveil a plan to promote a domestic ethanol industry as a long-term solution to the financial troubles of Canadian farmers.

Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl said yesterday that he and Environment Minister Rona Ambrose are preparing to announce how they will implement a campaign promise to require that all gasoline be made up of at least 5 per cent renewable materials.

Mr. Strahl said his plan is to have farmers who grow corn and other crops from which ethanol is made also be involved in its production, so their incomes are not entirely based on selling low-priced crops. Those in the farm industry say that would mean a U.S.-style co-op system.

"The real answer in the long run is not government subsidies. Farmers don't want subsidies. They don't want handouts. They don't want to farm the mailboxes, as they say," said Mr. Strahl, who was responding to a rally on Parliament Hill by a few thousand farmers who blocked traffic for most of the day with their tractors and transport trucks.

"The solutions that we will bring forward in the days ahead will continue to develop programming and strategies that are going to address things like access to capital and getting farmers more involved in the production chain so they can get more value out of it."

The farmers said it makes little difference whether their crops are sold as food or to produce gas as long as they continue to lose money each year because they cannot compete with U.S. farms. Some farm groups blame U.S. and European farm subsidies for driving down the prices for agricultural products to historic lows. Canadian egg and dairy producers are also protected from foreign competition by the government.

Bob Friesen, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, held a news conference yesterday with other farming leaders, who painted a picture of a shrinking Canadian farm industry where credit-card debts are dividing families and forcing them to sell their farms.

Mr. Friesen said farmers need more than $6-billion to stay in business. Ottawa has promised $2.5-billion over five years, but the farmers say it is not clear whether it is above, or instead of, the billions of dollars in emergency funds received in the past two years.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper responded yesterday to Liberal members of Parliament who urged him to commit more money for farmers.

"In the last [election] campaign, we did commit to increase -- significantly increase -- agricultural funding. We intend to follow through on those commitments. It's a little late for the Liberals to now say they'd like to increase agricultural funding. They had their chance and they've left farmers with the mess we do have today," he said.

Doug Eadie of the Ontario Corn Producers said any push toward more ethanol plants will simply lead Canadian ethanol producers to buy U.S. corn, unless the subsidy issue is addressed to make it financially worthwhile for Canadian farmers.

He said there are only a handful of plants producing ethanol in Canada while the industry booms south of the border as the U.S. seeks to decrease its reliance on oil. The production boom is being tied to an energy bill signed by President George W. Bush that encourages the use of ethanol in gasoline.

The Conservatives promised during the election campaign that they would require all gasoline to be composed of 5-per-cent renewable materials by 2010. Mr. Strahl said yesterday the government will have to act soon to make sure the capacity is in place to meet that target.

"We are going to have to start aggressively this year on a biofuel strategy that will give farmers . . . the crushing plants and the other processing plants in place that should give us enough time by 2010 to meet that target.

"[For] too long they have been the lowest-cost providers, to value-added people who take the money and run, so to speak, and farmers want to be part of this and we are keen to make sure that farmers are part of the biofuel strategy."

Canada set to announce biofuel strategy

2006-04-05T20:51:00.000-06:00

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The Canadian government will soon announce a biofuel strategy that will mandate that all gasoline sold by 2010 must contain 5 percent biofuel, a renewable energy source, Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl said on Wednesday.

"I will be rolling out our biofuel strategy in the days ahead and I'm working with Environment Minister (Rona) Ambrose to ensure that farmers actually benefit from our commitment to 5 percent biofuels," Strahl told a news conference in Ottawa.

Biofuel production will open a new domestic market for grain and oilseed farmers, whose products are the main ingredients of biofuel.

"The reason we have a 2010 deadline, or a 2010 moment, on the biofuel is that it is going to take some time to fill that pipeline," Strahl said.

Strahl wants to ensure there will be time to establish enough processing plants to allow Canada to produce the biofuel to meet the quota rather than be forced to import it.

Natural Deforestation

2006-03-31T13:19:00.000-06:00

Net rate of forest loss in Africa second highest in the world
Continent leads the world in forest fires
31 March 2006, Rome/Maputo – The net rate of forest loss in Africa is the second highest in the world, while the continent leads the globe in the frequency of forest fires, FAO told the African Forestry and Wildlife Commission at its meeting this week (29 March – 1 April) in Maputo, Mozambique.

Globally, Africa suffered a net loss of forests exceeding 4 million hectares per year between 2000 and 2005, according to FAO. This was mainly due to conversion of forest lands to agriculture. Forest cover went from 655.6 million hectares (ha) to 635.4 million ha during this period.

South America is the world region with the highest net loss of forests.

Forest fires are another major concern for Africa, the UN agency said. The continent leads the world in forest fires, mainly due to the traditional practice of using fire for conversion of forest to agriculture or grassland. The frequency of fires is particularly high in northern Angola, the southern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan and the Central African Republic.

Some advances in management, but more to be done

Despite problems, Africa has made strides in terms of improving forest policy and programmes, according to FAO.

More than half of African countries have established new forestry policies and laws over the past 15 years, and two-thirds now have an active national forestry management programme in place.

But implementation and enforcement of these measures remains weak, mainly due to lack of financing and weak national institutions, the UN agency said.

People in Africa depend on forests in a number of ways, and forest resources play an important role in both basic subsistance and poverty alleviation there.

The African Forestry and Wildlife Commission comes together every two years at a meeting organized by FAO.

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Farm-based diesel fuel production

2006-03-30T09:09:00.000-06:00

Biodiesel production begins in Minnesota
by Mark Steil, Minnesota Public Radio
January 7, 2005

The plant began producing biodiesel in December.

The era of farm-based diesel fuel production in Minnesota is underway. The first plant in the state to make what's called biodiesel began operation last month near Redwood Falls. By this summer, it's expected three biodiesel plants will be operating in the state. The activity is pegged to a new state fuel mandate which takes effect in June. It will require nearly all the diesel fuel sold in the state to contain at least 2 percent biodiesel.

Redwood Falls, Minn. — The production of biodiesel is a groundbreaking idea steeped in agricultural tradition. Farmers want to eke every possible product from everything they produce.

Chuck Neece

At the Redwood Falls plant, animal fat is being converted into fuel. The plant is owned by Farmers Union Marketing and Processing Association. The company makes everything from pet food to kitty litter -- its main business is rendering. Livestock are processed into a variety of products, including bone meal and fats.

In the past, the fats were used in livestock feeds. But with the start of biodiesel production, company research director Chuck Neese says most of the fats will be used to make fuel. He says the company already is using the product in its own diesel engines.

"We run 60 Navistar with Cummins diesels. We're running a 5 percent blend in those tractors, and we're also running a 5 percent blend in our own electrical generation," says Neece.

Neese says the heart of the plant's biodiesel production is a simple chemical reaction: Alcohol is mixed with the animal fats. The alcohol acts as a catalyst to separate non-fuel components from the fats. Neese says the final product is a gold-colored liquid, which looks and smells like cooking oil.

"These are an imitator of a diesel fuel," says Neece. "And in fact, from the American Society of Testing Methods, it meets the requirements of a diesel fuel for combustion engines."

Minnesota is the first state in the nation to require the use of biodiesel. The 2 percent mandate mimics the start of another farm-based fuel requirement, ethanol. Since 1997, all gasoline sold in Minnesota must contain at least 10 percent ethanol, a product derived mainly from corn. The law brought a quick increase in the number of ethanol plants in the state, and also boosted the price of corn.

Kurt Markham of the state Agriculture Department thinks the same will happen with biodiesel. He says soybeans will be the principal raw ingredient.

"It should add about 3 to 5 cents a bushel for the Minnesota farmers with the additional demand for biodiesel," says Markham.

The main opponents of the biodiesel mandate have been truckers. Minnesota Trucking Association President John Hausladen says drivers support alternative fuels, but oppose government mandates. He says the Minnesota biodiesel law will take effect during a time of historically high diesel fuel costs.

The inventor of the diesel engine, Rudolf Diesel, ran his first prototype on peanut oil. He believed farm-based products would fuel commercial use of the engine.

"We have just the price of the fuel itself; there's been discussion about a fuel tax increase this legislative session; and then biodiesel, we still believe, will be an added cost on top of that. So, it's a real triple-whammy," says Hausladen.

Minnesota's biodiesel mandate could add 2 cents to a gallon of fuel. However, federal energy aid for biodiesel producers could cancel out that increase. State agriculture officials say if enough federal money comes to Minnesota, it could lower production costs and lead to no biodiesel impact on prices.

Farmers say price considerations are more than offset by the fuel's benefits. They believe biodiesel will improve air quality since it burns cleaner than petroleum fuels, and it could lessen the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

In Redwood Falls, Chuck Neece says producing biodiesel also completes a nice circle. The inventor of the diesel engine, Rudolf Diesel, ran his first prototype on peanut oil. He believed farm-based products would fuel commercial use of the engine. Rudolf Diesel was wrong, but biodiesel is a small step in the direction of his original vision.

Capitalism to the rescue - More on peak oil

2006-03-29T20:56:00.000-06:00

US Army: Peak Oil and the Army's future
By Adam Fenderson and Bart Anderson

“The days of inexpensive, convenient, abundant energy sources are quickly drawing to a close,” according to a recently released US Army strategic report. The report posits that a peak in global oil production looks likely to be imminent, with wide reaching implications for the US Army and society in general.

The report was sent to Energy Bulletin by a reader, and does not appear to be available elsewhere on the internet. However it is marked as unclassified and approved for public release.

[ UPDATE: Since we wrote those words several hours ago we've been informed that a reference to the document now appears on a Google search, including a link to the full PDF on a .mil server. "Somebody must be watching you guys!" writes reader SG. See notes below. -AF]

The report, Energy Trends and Their Implications for U.S. Army Installations (PDF &ndash 1.2mb), was conducted by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is dated September 2005.

Author Eileen Westervelt, PE, CEM, is a mechanical engineer at the Engineer Research and Development Center (US Army Corps of Engineers) in Champaign, Ill. Author Donald Fournier is a senior research specialist at the University of Illinois’ Building Research Council and has worked with the Corps in the past.

Westervelt and Fournier give special credence to the work of independent energy experts, such as the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) and the Oil Depletion Analysis Center (ODAC). They seem to place very little credibility on the more optimistic oil production forecasts of the international energy agencies. They reproduce ASPO graphs and quote ASPO member Jean Laherrere on why the US Geological Survey (USGS) future oil availability estimates are clearly overly optimistic:
The USGS estimate implies a five-fold increase in discovery rate and reserve addition, for which no evidence is presented. Such an improvement in performance is in fact utterly implausible, given the great technological achievements of the industry over the past twenty years, the worldwide search, and the deliberate effort to find the largest remaining prospects.
The authors warn that in order to sustain its mission, “the Army must insulate itself from the economic and logistical energy-related problems coming in the near to mid future. This requires a transition to modern, secure, and efficient energy systems, and to building technologies that are safe and environmental friendly.” The best energy options they conclude are “energy efficiency and renewable sources.” However, "currently, there is no viable substitute for petroleum."

They do not expect that any transition will be easy: “energy consumption is indispensable to our standard of living and a necessity for the Army to carry out its mission. However, current trends are not sustainable. The impact of excessive, unsustainable energy consumption may undermine the very culture and activities it supports. There is no perfect energy source; all are used at a cost.”

The report includes what looks like a solid overview of the pros and cons of all major renewable and non-renewable energy options. They consider problems associated with hydrogen, shale oil, biofuels and tar sands. On nuclear energy they note that "our current throw-away nuclear cycle uses up the world reserve of low-cost uranium in about 20 years." They hold more hope for certain solar technologies and wind turbines, however, "renewables tend to be a more local or regional commodity and except for a few instances, not necessarily a global resource that is traded between nations."

Overall this is surprisingly green sounding advice, and one might think out of left field for one of the most environmentally destructive and energy consuming institutions on the planet. And yet the report does not seem to be at odds with the Army's new Energy Strategy which sets out five major initiatives:
Eliminate energy waste in existing facilities
Increase energy efficiency in new construction and renovations
Reduce dependence on fossil fuels
Conserve water resources
Improve energy security
(See: hqda-energypolicy.pnl.gov/programs/plan.asp)

Westervelt and Fournier assert that changes must be made with urgency. However they express concerns that "we have a large and robust energy system with tremendous inertia, both from a policy perspective and a great resistance to change." In light of this, “the Army needs to present its perspective to higher authorities and be prepared to proceed regardless of the national measures that are taken.”

Westervelt and Fournier suggest "it is time to think strategically about energy and how the Army
should respond to the global and national energy picture. A path of enlightened self-interest is encouraged." As we approach Peak Oil, what is ecologically sound and what is perceived to be to in an institution's practical benefit might tend to converge, at least in some respects - even those of an institution such as the US Army.

Links:
An 8 page summary of the report (PDF – 75kb)
Energy Trends and Their Implications for U.S. Army Installations - full report (PDF – 1.2mb)
A related powerpoint presentation by Donald Fournier( PDF &ndash 1mb)
Sustainable energy demands decisions that look beyond cost (one-page commentary by Westervelt and Fournier in Public Works Digest, p. 16; PDF – 723kb)
A Candidate Army Energy and Water Management Strategy by Westervelt and Fournier (118 pages, PDF &ndash 2mb)

Some extended quotations from the document:

Energy Implications for Army Installations

The days of inexpensive, convenient, abundant energy sources are quickly drawing to a close. Domestic natural gas production peaked in 1973. The proved domestic reserve lifetime for natural gas at current consumption rates is about 8.4 yrs. The proved world reserve lifetime for natural gas is about 40 years, but will follow a traditional rise to a peak and then a rapid decline. Domestic oil production peaked in 1970 and continues to decline. Proved domestic reserve lifetime for oil is about 3.4 yrs. World oil production is at or near its peak and current world demand exceeds the supply. Saudi Arabia is considered the bellwether nation for oil production and has not increased production since April 2003. After peak production, supply no longer meets demand, prices and competition increase. World proved reserve lifetime for oil is about 41 years, most of this at a declining availability. Our current throw-away nuclear cycle will consume the world reserve of low-cost uranium in about 20 years. Unless we dramatically change our consumption practices, the Earth’s finite resources of petroleum and natural gas will become depleted in this century. Coal supplies may last into the next century depending on technology and consumption trends as it starts to replace oil and natural gas.

We must act now to develop the technology and infrastructure necessary to transition to other energy sources. Policy changes, leap ahead technology breakthroughs, cultural changes, and significant investment is requisite for this new energy future. Time is essential to enact these changes. The process should begin now.

Our best options for meeting future energy requirements are energy efficiency and renewable sources. Energy efficiency is the least expensive, most readily available, and environmentally friendly way to stretch our current energy supplies. ... For efficiency and renewables, the intangible and hard to quantify benefits — such as reduced pollution and increased security — yield indisputable economic value.

Many of the issues in the energy arena are outside the control of the Army. Several actions are in the purview of the national government to foster the ability of all groups, including the Army, to optimize their natural resource management. The Army needs to present its perspective to higher authorities and be prepared to proceed regardless of the national measures that are taken.

...

Petroleum

Historically, no other energy source equals oil’s intrinsic qualities of extractability, transportability, versatility, and cost. The qualities that enabled oil to take over from coal as the front-line energy source for the industrialized world in the middle of the 20th century are as relevant today as they were then. Oil’s many advantages provide 1.3 to 2.45 times more economic value per MBtu than coal (Gever, Kaufman et al. 1991). Currently, there is no viable substitute for petroleum.

In summary, the outlook for petroleum is not good. This especially applies to conventional oil, which has been the lowest cost resource. Production peaks for non-OPEC conventional oil are at hand; many nations have already past their peak, or are now producing at peak capacity.

...

Conventional Oil Resources

In general, all nonrenewable resources follow a natural supply curve. Production increases rapidly, slows, reaches a peak, and then declines (at a rapid pace, similar to its initial increase). The major question for petroleum is not whether production will peak, but when. There are many estimates of recoverable petroleum reserves giving rise to many estimates of when peak oil will occur and how high the peak will be. A careful review of all the estimates leads to the conclusion that world oil production may peak within a few short years, after which it will decline (Campbell and Laherrere 1998; Deffeyes 2001; Laherrere 2003). Once peak oil occurs, then the historic patterns of world oil demand and price cycles will cease.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes from BA

The military's commitment to energy policy

A notice in the report says, "The findings of this report are not to be construed as an official Department of the Army position unless so designated by other authorized documents." However, as AF notes, other U.S. Army planning documents seem to share the concern about energy supply. And as USA TODAY reports:
Spurred by a 57% increase in fuel costs, the Pentagon is speeding up its efforts to save energy and develop new sources of power. ...All military bases and facilities have been ordered to cut energy use by 2% per year and pursue alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind.

The recent spate of articles about the military and energy policy bespeaks a more comprehensive outlook than either that of the Democratic or Republican parties, or most environmental organizations. For example, see:
America’s strategic imperative: a “Manhattan Project” for energy (Joint Forces Quarterly)
Toward a Long-Range Energy Security Policy - Parameters (US Army War College).

Energy efficiency

The report only surveys energy sources, and does not cover efficiency or conservation. Nonetheless, the report notes that energy efficiency is "the cheapest, fastest, cleanest source of new energy." (p.58). In other publications, the authors do cover energy efficiency in detail, for example in A Candidate Army Energy and Water Management Strategy (118 pages, PDF &ndash 2mb).

Many of the projects pursued by author Fournier are related to sustainability and energy efficiency (also see article in Green Biz).

Online accessibility

The fact that the document does not seem to be online is puzzling. Searching with Google yielded no results. According to a note on page 4 of the report, the report should be available at http://www.cecer.army.mil/, a URL which seems to be obsolete or inaccessible.

Possibility for an alliance

I'm more sanguine about the role of the military than AF. Within the military and intelligence communities, there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm for unproductive resource wars. See the talks by Ex-CIA directors James R. Schlesinger and James Woolsey as well as the work of Gal Luft at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS).

Is the unlikely alliance described in the following article more widely possible?
You wouldn't have thought it possible: a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency drawing a standing ovation from a room full of left-leaning environmentalists right here in Eugene.

But that's exactly what happened at the University of Oregon's Public Interest Environmental Law Conference Saturday afternoon as R. James Woolsey - the nation's chief "spook" under President Bill Clinton from 1993-1995 - spoke passionately about the need to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil.

"There is a moral dimension to this," Woolsey said. "We should be good custodians of the Earth.

And if that means creating an unlikely alliance between national security hawks, American farmers, Christian evangelicals, liberal do-gooders and tree-hugging environmentalists, Woolsey said, that's just fine with him.

"All these groups are starting to come around on this set of issues," he said...

"Speaker inspires no-oil thinking" in the Eugene Register Guard, March 5, 2006.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Editorial Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATES:

(Mar 16) As noted in the article, this long withheld report, dated September 2005, was released online the same day we wrote this article. Obviously more than a coincidence! We sent out copies of the abbreviated report to several associates including ASPO (PeakOil.net) on March 11th. ASPO published the abbreviated report on their website the next day. It now appears that US Congressman Roscoe Bartlett requested a copy of the full report, perhaps along with others, which we assume stimulated its release. Bartlett gives a great deal of significance to and a very good summary of the report in his excellent recent congressional speech.

After the release of the report I updated the links to it in this article to the government server rather than our own.

(Mar 14) Sohbet Karbuz points out this much earlier discussion of Peak Oil in military circles from 2002:

From Petro to Agro: Seeds of a New Economy, by Robert E. Armstrong
www.ndu.edu/inss/DefHor/DH20/DH_20.htm

He also notes that "The DoD Energy consumption was 961 trillion Btu in 2004. (Annual Energy Review 2004 Table 1.13) and army consumes only 1/10th of it. The Air Force is the biggest consumer."

See also Sohbet's recent article, The US military oil consumption.

-AF

Bio Diesel Fun Fact

2006-03-29T20:42:00.000-06:00

Neat Biodiesel:
Biodiesel that is free from admixture or dilution. 100% biodiesel. Also referred to as B100.

B20 is a blend of biodiesel fuel with petroleum-based diesel where 20% of the volume is biodiesel.

Some organizations promote B20 and even blends as low as B5 as an alternative fuel.

Peak Oil

2006-03-29T18:43:00.000-06:00

Peak oil is now official
Contributed by: Ed Deak

RAISE THE HAMMER
Peak Oil is Now Official

Mexico's supergiant Cantarell oilfield is now in decline. Can the rest of the world make up the shortfall?

By Trevor Shaw
Mar. 18, 2006

A recent Kight Ridder article by Kevin Hall points out that world's number two oilfield, Mexico's supergiant Cantarell, has peaked.

Cantarell is second only to Saudia Arabia's Ghawar oilfield and has been pumping millions of barrels of light crude a day since 1976. According to Carlos Morales, production manager for Mexico's state owned oil company, Pemex, Cantarell's projected output will be 6 percent lower this year at 1.9 million barrels per day and down to 1.43 million barrels by 2008, the level of production in 2000.

A leaked internal memo from inside Pemex said water and gas were seeping into the massive offshore oil field. Cantarell is showing the signs of peaking.

Canterell's Output Levels
Year Output
1994 1.0 mb/d
2000 1.5 mb/d
2004 2.13 mb/d (Peak)
2005 2.0 mb/d
2006 1.9 mb/d (projected)
2008 1.43 mb/d (projected)

To make up the decline of Cantarell, Pemex is spending billions to develop new fields such as Chicontepec. This will prove difficult for a company that lost $3.75 billion in 2005, during a time of record high crude prices.

http://www.raisethehammer.org/index.asp?id=269

Canada Ranks Behind Global Leaders in Renewable Fuels

2006-03-29T15:29:00.000-06:00

Report for The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association Submitted by Agra CEAS Consulting in conjunction with F.O.Licht.
Download the full report in PDF format (306KB)
Ottawa, Ontario (March 28, 2006) — The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association today released a new study by international commodities research firm F.O. Licht that shows Canada lags behind the world leaders in renewable fuels production and consumption.

"This report should be a wake up call for Canada," said Kory Teneycke, Executive Director of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association. "We lag behind the world in an emerging new industry where we have the feedstock and infrastructure to be global leaders."

The F.O. Licht study notes that biofuels consumption in Canada has "been quite low." In 2004, (the latest available comparative figures) total ethanol production and consumption in Canada amounted to approximately 250 million litres, or just "0.7% of the country's total gasoline consumption." Limited industrial biodiesel production in Canada began in late 2005.

The report does however note that in the 2005 federal election both the federal Conservatives and the federal Liberals promised to implement a "Renewable Fuels Standard" (RFS) of 5% by 2010. If the RFS is implemented along with three new provincial biofuel initiatives, this could raise Canada's production of renewable fuels to 1.4 billion litres by 2007 and 3.1 billion litres by 2010 - a twelve fold increase from today.

"Implementing the Renewable Fuels Standard is a unique opportunity for this upcoming session of Parliament. In a minority situation it should have the support of all Parties in the House of Commons," says Tim Haig, Chair of the Board of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association.

Renewable fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, will lower emissions, reduce greenhouse gases, provide a hedge against rising fuel prices, and create sustainable jobs in rural Canada.

Founded in 1994, the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA) is a non-profit organization with a mission to promote renewable fuels for transportation through consumer awareness and government liaison activities. The CRFA membership is comprised of representatives from all levels of the ethanol and biodiesel industry, including: corn and cellulose ethanol producers, biodiesel producers, fuel technology researchers, agricultural associations, and environmental organizations concerned with air quality and greenhouse gases.

Canada is falling behind in the international race to develop alternative fuels

2006-03-29T14:30:00.000-06:00

OTTAWA -- Canada is falling behind in the international race to develop alternative fuels made from plants, says a study commissioned by the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association.
Brazil, the United States, China and the European Union are far ahead of Canada in production of fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, says the report by international commodities research firm F.O. Licht.
In 2004, Brazil produced about 15.4 billion litres of ethanol, the United States 12.9 billion litres, the European Union 526 million litres, and Canada a mere 250 million litres.
"This report should be a wake-up call for Canada," said Kory Teneycke, executive director of the renewable fuels association.
"We lag behind the world in an emerging new industry where we have the feedstock and the infrastructure to be global leaders."
The Conservative election platform includes a promise to require that gasoline and diesel contain at least five per cent renewable fuel by 2010.
That would represent 3.1 billion litres of ethanol and biodiesel a year, more than 12 times what the country produces now.
Biofuels are gaining popularity because they can reduce emissions and smog, provide a hedge against rising oil prices, and create new markets for farmers.
The greatest hope of the industry is cellulose ethanol, made from waste products such as straw and wood chips. It produces a greater benefit than ethanol from corn because the raw materials are plentiful and don't have to be cultivated.