Although it’s twilight for the Bush Administration, the president and his cronies aren’t savoring their final hours by propping up their cowboy boots tipping back their gallon hats while they toast each other to all of the havoc their policies have wreaked on the world. No, they’re still busy and there’s a lot of dirty, ugly stuff the Bush Administration is ramming through in its final days. We can’t lose our focus on stopping some of their final nasty 11^th hour regulations and rollbacks that will be a final Bush imprint on our air, water, public lands, wildlife and consumer policies. The Administration is being extra clever by trying to get these regulations in place by November 22^nd, which would make it even more difficult for the Obama Administration to undo them. I’ve already written about a couple of these lovely proposals, but there are 90 total, so here are some highlights along with organizations fighting these new regulations. Takepart today with the organizations listed with each item to stop Bush’s final onslaught.

1. Grand Canyon. Yes, one of our nation’s treasured goals is under assault as the current Administration has allowed uranium mining within three miles of the park. Takepart with Environmental Working Group
2. Mountaintop Mining Removal. If mining wasn’t already a highly polluting exercise to retrieve an energy source, the Bush Administration seems to want to up the ante to make it an even greater source of pollution by giving waivers to mining companies to directly dump their mountaintop waste directly into nearby rivers and streams. Takepart with the Sierra Club.
3. Power plants. Again, the Bush Administration seems to just love these pollution emitters and wants energy companies to dictate our air standards. Their proposals would allow for plants to be built near national parks and wilderness areas. And, they would like to establish a loophole so that older plants will not be required to add pollution-control technology if they increase their emissions (as currently required under the Clean Air Act). Takepart with NRDC.
4. Logging. As I already wrote, Bush and his cronies want to open up protected areas in western Oregon to logging. Takepart with the Wilderness Society.
5. Endangered Species Act. The Administration would remove the required approval by scientists about the impact of a policy or law on an endangered species. Takepart today with the National Wildlife Federation.
6. Truck Drivers. A dangerous new regulation would allow them to drive 10% more without a break, placing themselves and other vehicles on the road at increased risk. Takepart with OMB Watch.
7. Endangered Species Act. This historic Act could be weakened if the Administration allows for changes to the normal approval process by not requiring the executive branch to consult with an independent agency to determine whether a project could endanger a species. Takepart today with the National Wildlife Federation.
8. Individuals with Disabilities. Bush is proposing to water down the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act by weakening accessibility standards and reducing access enforcement. This would amount to discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Takepart with United Cerebal Palsy.
9. Medicaid benefits to be reduced. The amount of out-patient hospital services provided to low-income people through Medicaid’s would be cut. Takepart with OMB Watch.
10. Family Planning. The Administration is threatening to cut funding to health facilities and organizations that refuse to hire people who refuse to provide birth control. The proposal could define some types of birth control as abortion. takepart with the National Women’s Law Center.

(photo by Storm Crypt)

Spremberg, Germany is a stone’s throw from the Czech border, and used to have the unfortunate moniker of “stinky town” due to the high levels of pollution.   Kinda gross, I know.   But the city is trying to turn that around in an unprecedented way: by operating the first ever coal-based power plant that is designed to capture and store the carbon dioxide produced.

Technology Review tells us that a Swedish firm, Vattenfall, is behind the conversion of this formerly-polluting power plant.   The process is semi-confusing, so bear with this somewhat long block quote from the article.   I mean, Technology Review is published by M.I.T., so should I really try to paraphrase?  The odds of me getting it right are slim to nil.

Vattenfall’s small 30-megawatt plant burns the lignite in air from which nitrogen has been removed. Combustion in the resulting oxygen-rich atmosphere produces a waste stream of carbon dioxide and water vapor, three-quarters of which is recycled back into the boiler.

By repeating this process, known as oxyfuel, it is possible to greatly concentrate the carbon dioxide. After particles and sulfur have been removed, and water vapor has been condensed out, the waste gas can be 98 percent carbon dioxide, according to Vattenfall.

This waste gas, for the time being, will trucked 150 away from the city and injected 3,000 meters (approximately a billion miles) underground.

Read the rest of this entry »

The World Bank’s stated goal is to provide economic assistance to developing nations so these countries may rise above poverty. While this noble goal may not always be congruent with battling global warming, last year World Bank President Robert Zoellick stated the bank would “significantly step up our assistance” in combating climate change. However, Bloomberg News (via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) tells us that “the development institution is increasing its financing of fossil-fuel projects around the globe.”

One such project is the Tata Ultra Mega power plant in India, which just sounds massive. Once fully operational in 2012, the plant will be one of the top 50 greenhouse gas emitters in the world. And the World Bank is giving a lot of support.

The $4.14 billion, coal-powered Ultra Mega plant will emit more carbon dioxide annually than the nation of Tunisia, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The World Bank in April agreed to provide $450 million in loans and guarantees for the project and also may buy a $50 million stake in it.

The logic, for the World Bank, is simple. To recoup the money they invest as quickly as possible, so they can lend more money, the Bank needs to invest in short-term things, such as power plants, not renewable energy.

Read the rest of this entry »

So I’m in Phoenix now for the Tom Waits concert, and I figured I’d poke around the internet to see what environmentalism they’ve gotten themselves into in the state next to mine. Lo and behold, an article in azcentral.com tells us it looks like Arizona is planning on building one of the world’s largest solar energy plants, ready to open in 2011.

The plant will be strong enough to power 70,000 homes. Which seems like a whole lot. In conjunction with a slightly smaller plant announced in December, it seems like Arizona is attempting to become the solar capital of the world.   Or at least the Southwest.

And I can attest to the fact that they have some solar power to be captured here. It’s 108 degrees right now. Which is hotter than Baghdad today. That’s a true story.

Read the rest of this entry »

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Brigitte Bardot Fine: Top 5 Bardotisms That Got Hot Sex Symbol In Hot Water

Obama Pound: In Historic Moment, White People Exposed To Fist Bump For First Time

* * *
Nicole Hughes:

Get a Job: Top 10 Guides to Finding the Perfect Eco Career

Schwarzenegger Declares Drought in California

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

Barcelona Fines Citizens for Using Drinking Water in Pools and Gardens

Coal Power Plants Waste Two-Thirds of Energy Input

* * *

Jon Popham:

Megabus Expanding to the East Coast

Egyptian Blogger Freed from Prison

* * *

Giulia Rozzi:

Diamonds In The Rough: A Ugandan Hip Hop Revolution

Cluster Bomb Ban

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

Interview with Nina Davenport, Director of Operation Filmmaker

KidZui : Internet for Kids (and Those Young at Heart)

The laws of thermodynamics tell us that everything we do expends energy. Conversion efficiency, as it’s called, can never be 100 percent, which is why there’s no such thing as a perpetual motion machine. However, nowhere in those laws does it say that conversion efficiency must be as low as 36 percent. Which is the efficiency rate of power plants.

At present time, two-thirds of all energy that enters a power plant is lost before it creates the electricity we use.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Kerry Trueman

Kansas gave the coal industry a black eye last month when it became the first state to reject a proposed coal-fired power plant “solely because of health risks associated with carbon dioxide emissions,” according to Reuters.

Environmentalists were thrilled by the decision, hoping it would set a precedent and inspire more states to scuttle plans for new coal-fired power plants, which are some of the world’s most prodigious producers of greenhouse gases.

But a pro-coal coalition of business, political and industrial leaders are seeking to have the decision reversed, via lawsuits and a newly formed “Astroturf” (i.e., fake grassroots) group called Kansans For Affordable Energy. The head of the group, Bob Kreutzer, told Reuters, “Everybody agrees that motherhood, apple pie and caring about the environment are fantastic”but we’ve got to make sure we always have electricity and that is why we need big power plants.”

And if that argument doesn’t sway you, perhaps an ad suggesting that Roderick L. Bremby, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary who rejected the coal plants, is somehow in cahoots with Vladmir Putin, Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will do the trick. As Dave Roberts noted over at Grist, “Nothing like a little overt xenophobia to liven up the energy debate.”