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Andy Stevenson's Blog

Issues: Solving Global Warming

Americans are Dying to Support our Fossil Fuel Habit

October 26, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
airpollution, capandtrade, climateandenergy2009, coalfiredpowerplants, costofinaction, hiddencosts, kerryboxer, nationalacademyofsciences, nationalsecurity

A new report from the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) reveals that our energy bills are $120bln higher than they appear due to the "hidden costs" associated with the air pollution created by burning fossil fuels. The...

Senate’s Climate Bill Puts Green Collar on Carbon

October 5, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
ACES, carbonmarkets, carbontrading, energyandclimate2009, energyspeculation, energytrading, greenpricecollar, kerryboxer, pricecollar

Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer have introduced a "green" price collar on carbon under their draft climate bill that should be applauded by emitters and environmentalists alike. A green price collar that will; 1) maintain the integrity of the...

Climate Bill Could Dramatically Increase US Energy Security

September 18, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
API, cap2.0, climateandenergy2009, CO2, coalfiredpowerplants, coaltoliquids, energysecurity, EOR, markettransformation, nationalsecurity, newtgingrich, oilconsumption, oilshales, tarsands, waxmanmarkey

One of the key findings from a new NRDC climate policy study is that policies to support CO2 capture and sequestration at power plants and industrial facilities could also help recover almost 37 billion barrels of stranded domestic oil by 2050. This increase...

Strong Regulation to Keep Carbon Markets Program Viable

September 15, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
carbonmarkets, carbonregulation, carbontax, carbontrading, climateandenergy2009, josephmason, marketmanipulation

In a recent WSJ article entitled "Cap and Trade: Recipe for Disaster", Louisiana State University economist Joseph Mason outlines his concerns that special interests have already taken control of the European carbon markets and that the US carbon markets are...

API Climate Study Fails to Demonstrate Need to Increase Refiner Allocations

August 26, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
americanpetroleuminstitute, API, carbonrisk, climateandenergy2009, complimentarystandards, markettransformation, oilrefiners, waxmanmarkey

An American Petroleum Institute study released this past week makes three rather deceptive claims about the impacts of climate change policy on the oil refinery industry in the US. The first claim is that legislation to cap carbon emissions will cause a large...

Sage Words on Climate: Buffett and the Butterfly Effect

August 23, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
capandtrade, carbondeficit, climateandenergy2009, climatechange, greenbackemissions, warrenbuffet, waxmanmarkey

In an NYT op-ed column this past week titled "The Greenback Effect," Warren Buffett voiced his concern that unchecked government spending by Congress is "spewing a potentially damaging substance into our economy" known as "greenback emissions". According to Mr. Buffett...

Energy Reforms Critical for Assuring Carbon Markets

August 12, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
carbonregulation, carbontrading, CFTC, energyandclimate2009, energytrading, feinsteinsnowe, financialregulation, markettransformation, positionlimits, waxmanmarkey

A new report to be released later this month by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is expected to reveal that contrary to their previous findings, speculators were in fact to blame for generating a "significant" amount of the...

A Price Collar Won't Protect the Carbon Cap

July 28, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Green Enterprise , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
capandtrade, carbonregulation, carbonrisk, carbontrading, cleanenergy, climateandenergy2009, feinsteinsnowe, financialregulation, pricecollar, waxmanmarkey

A brief Politico article last week titled "Time for a Price Collar on Carbon" argued that a price ceiling should be included in the Senate version of climate legislation as a way to better ensure the bill's passage. While the...

5 Reasons Why Trading Allowances Will Help Meet Our Climate Objectives

July 21, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
ACES, capandtrade, carbonregulation, carbonrisk, carbontrading, climateandenergy2009, feinsteinsnowe, financialregulation, waxmanmarkey

While the Senate does appear to support the scientific and environmental need to put a cap on our carbon emissions, some Senators remain fearful that the “trading” portion of the cap and trade bill will just be creating another derivatives...

Palin's Alaska State of Mind on Energy Taxes the Rest of Us

July 14, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
capandtrade, CCS, climateandenergy2009, EOR, newtgingrich, oiladdiction, oilconsumption, sarahpalin, waxmanmarkey

The soon to be former Governor Sarah Palin's "plan" to keep America addicted to fossil fuels and to abandon the President's cap and trade program for carbon pollution is not only a disastrous climate policy, it is even worse as...

Feinstein-Snowe Carbon Bill Creates Gold Standard for Derivatives Regulation

July 13, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
carbonregulation, carbontrading, climateandenergy2009, derivativesregulation, feinsteinsnowe, financialregulation, timgeithner, waxmanmarkey

While Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner's testimony on Friday shed little new light on how the administration plans to regulate the financial derivatives markets, a bill introduced in the Senate earlier in the week by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Olympia...

The Senate's Role in Getting Carbon Market Regulation Right

July 7, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
ACES, carbonregulation, carbonrisk, carbontrading, energyandclimate2009, marketmanipulation, markettransformation, overthecountertrading, waxmanmarkey

As the Senate begins to weigh in on the climate debate with its own version of climate bill, the issue of carbon market oversight still remains a major concern to many members. The final bill that passed through the House...

10 Reasons to Vote to Pass the Landmark ACES Climate Bill

June 25, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Curbing Pollution , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
ACES, capandinvest, capandtrade, carbontrading, cleanenergy, climate, climateandenergy2009, coalprices, costofinaction, peakcoal, waxmanmarkey

The House of Representatives is expected to make a landmark decision on our energy and climate future as early as tomorrow. The 1,200 page American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act will establish a cap and trade system for greenhouse...

Counting Up to a Climate Disaster

June 19, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
carboncounter, carbonregulation, carbonrisk, cleanenergy, climateandenergy2009, climatechange, costofinaction, dbam, knowthenumber, markettransformation, mit, simplesteps

At 70 feet across, Deutsche Bank Asset Management's new "carbon counter" billboard is advertised as the world's first real-time calculator of global greenhouse gas emissions. This billboard, together with its web-based counterpart, were created as a way to not only bring...

The Saudi Arabia of Coal No More, the US Sees Beginnings of Peak “Cheap” Coal

June 9, 2009

Posted by Andy Stevenson in Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
carbonregulation, carbonrisk, cleanenergy, coalfiredpowerplants, coalprices, liquidcoal, markettransformation, peakcoal

The coal lobby can't catch a break these days. First utilities reduce coal demand in favor of increasing purchases of cheap natural gas, then the EPA  proposes its endangerment finding on carbon dioxide pollution, then mountaintop removal gets called into account...