The Daily Climate

Energy

DOE slashes gas estimate for Marcellus Shale.

Federal government analysts on Monday slashed their estimate of the natural gas reserves in the Marcellus Shale formation, and at least one major producer announced plans to cut in half its expenditures on new gas leases in the wake of dropping prices. Charleston Gazette 24 Jan

EIA: U.S. using less foreign oil, carbon emissions flatlining.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration just released its Annual Energy Outlook 2012 report, and three things stick out: The United States is dramatically curbing its oil imports, carbon emissions are flatlining and we have less shale gas than once thought. Washington Post 24 Jan

DOE report projects greater coal production drop.

Coal production in Central Appalachia may not decline as sharply over the next five years as previously projected, but the long-term forecast looks even worse, according to a new U.S. Department of Energy report. Charleston Gazette 24 Jan

U.S. cuts estimate for Marcellus shale gas reserves by 66%.

The U.S. Energy Department cut its estimate for natural gas reserves in the Marcellus shale formation by 66 percent, citing improved data on drilling and production. About 141 trillion cubic feet of gas can be recovered from the Marcellus shale using current technology. Bloomberg News 24 Jan

Economics

Industry scours lesser-known fields in search for next big play.

With record-low U.S. natural gas prices worrying oil and gas companies that have invested heavily in breakthrough shale plays, the industry is sending drilling to tight oil prospects and resources rich in natural gas liquids -- better investments as crude prices linger near $100 per barrel. Greenwire 21 Jan

TransCanada may be 'dead money' after U.S. spurns Keystone.

TransCanada Corp. may lag behind other energy companies as it seeks growth prospects following President Obama’s rejection of its Keystone XL oil-sands pipeline. The question: How does the company convince investors there is growth on the horizon? Business Week 20 Jan

Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies 'could provide half of global carbon target'.

Eliminating subsidies for coal, gas and oil could save as much as Germany's annual greenhouse gas emissions each year by 2015, according to one of the world's leading energy experts. The Guardian 20 Jan

Fossil fuels are sub-prime assets, Bank of England warned.

The huge reserves of coal, oil and gas are "sub-prime" assets that pose a systemic risk to economic stability, a high-profile coalition of investors, politicians and scientists has warned Bank of England. The Guardian 19 Jan

Other News

Livestock identified as having biggest impact on global warming - even more than carbon monoxide.

London Daily Mail 24 Jan

Whack to estimate for natural gas.

Wall Street Journal 24 Jan

Sun's changes unlikely to slow global warming, scientists say.

Press Association 24 Jan

Wood heat heats up as homeowners give boot to oil.

Associated Press 23 Jan

Reducing emissions with platinum requires creating emissions.

Asahi Shimbun 22 Jan

Warming and Wyoming rock.

Billings Gazette 22 Jan

Climate change: Coal plants dominate list of big emitters of greenhouse gases.

Chicago Tribune 21 Jan

Biofuel research suffers from gaps.

Chemical & Engineering News 21 Jan

Gatwick Airport expansion plan sparks air pollution fear in Sevenoaks.

Seven Oaks Chronicle 21 Jan

Cornell scientists split over shale gas.

Associated Press 21 Jan

Fracked: The debate over shale gas deepens.

Time Magazine 20 Jan

Editorials

Climate change should have effect on politics.

Azaleas are budding and daffodils can be found in full bloom along rural roads around West Alabama. Is that proof of global warming? Hardly, but that doesn’t mean evidence of sustained, rapid climate change isn’t mounting. Tuscaloosa News 02 Feb

Climate data chills global warming alarmism.

The Earth's temperature hasn't increased significantly in about 15 years. Yet governments around the world used the threatened overheating as an excuse to regulate, tax and subsidize in order to curb greenhouse gases. Orange County Register 02 Feb

Taking the long view on the world's energy supplies.

Now researchers are warning that energy sources we normally think of as innocuous could affect the planet's climate too. If we start to extract immense amounts of power from the wind, for instance, it will have an impact on how warmth and water move around the planet, and thus on temperatures and rainfall. New Scientist 31 Jan

Chamber of Commerce crazy for climate.

Far away, the citizens of Crazy conjure how consequences exist only for the-yet-unborn so what-me-worry and isn’t life grand? Far away? Naw. Straight from the land of Crazy—a vast supply of energy that we can frack into our cars and burn on up into the atmosphere. No regard for impact on climate change, none. Sacramento News and Review 26 Jan

No reason to rush decision on pipeline.

It will take far more than the short 60-day limit Congress irresponsibly imposed for deciding whether some version of the project can be done without inflicting unacceptable and irreversible damage to the environmnent. Philadelphia Inquirer 20 Jan

Environmental disaster.

President Barack Obama's decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast is a monumental blunder, one that will not only ship jobs from the United States to China, but will significantly increase air pollution while doing nothing to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels. San Diego North County Times 20 Jan

A good call on the pipeline.

President Obama has properly rejected, at least for now, the Keystone XL oil pipeline that would run from Canada to the Gulf Coast. He rebuffed the demand of House Republicans that the controversial project be decided in haste under an election-year deadline. New York Times 19 Jan

Time to warm up to this study, if we want to stay cooler.

A study conducted by NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) has some good news for India, particularly about how to improve crop production and reduce premature death caused due to black carbon and methane emission. Mumbai Daily News and Analysis 16 Jan

Opinion

Once, men abused slaves. Now we abuse fossil fuels.

Pointing out the similarities (and differences) between slavery and the use of fossil fuels can help us engage with climate change in a new way. The Guardian 03 Feb

Avoiding a yo-yo future.

It’s official. In mid-January, NASA reported that nine of the 10 warmest years ever recorded have occurred in the 21st century, making the past decade the warmest yet. We know why this is happening: It's us. Global warming is my fault, and yours. Vancouver Sun 03 Feb

Wall Street Journal's climate change stance is suspect.

The Wall Street Journal is taking a lot of heat for an op-ed published on Jan. 27 that reassures its readers that there’s no need to panic over global warming. Newark Star-Ledger 01 Feb

Climate change 'heretics' rebuff carbon dangers.

A candidate for public office in any contemporary democracy may have to consider what, if anything, to do about "global warming". Candidates should understand that the oft-repeated claim that nearly all scientists demand that something dramatic be done to stop global warming is not true. Sydney Australian 31 Jan

When the Earth refuses to warm.

Global warming: Been there, done that. Forward-looking folks are adjusting their fretting machinery now to something called Cycle 25. Button up your overcoats. Ice is on the way. Washington Times 31 Jan

Save us from the politics of science.

It's bad enough when politicians and true believers distort scientific findings for their own purposes. But when scientists do it, we've reached a dangerous point in intellectual discourse.Such is the case with the widespread belief that evidence of global warming is incontrovertible. Chicago Tribune 31 Jan

Coal-fired pollution hurts children, the elderly.

Recently released data highlight just how dirty PPL’s Colstrip plant is. When it comes to carbon dioxide pollution, PPL’s Colstrip plant is the dirtiest coal-burning power plant in the West. And CO2 is just the start. Add SO2, NO2, and water pollution. Billings Gazette 28 Jan

No need to panic about global warming.

The oft-repeated claim that nearly all scientists demand that something dramatic be done to stop global warming is not true. In fact, a large and growing number of distinguished scientists and engineers do not agree that drastic actions on global warming are needed. Wall Street Journal 27 Jan

New meteorological theory argues that the world's forests are rainmakers.

First published in 2007 by two Russian physicists, Victor Gorshkov and Anastassia Makarieva, the still little-known biotic pump theory postulates that forests are the driving force behind precipitation over land masses. Mongabay 03 Feb

Marching in near lock-step.

A stunning new archive of the oxygen isotopic composition of tropical precipitation recorded in the deposits of a Peruvian cave is helping to elucidate how climate change—both past and future—in one region of the globe may drive climate changes in far-flung regions. Science 03 Feb

Big trees in trouble.

New research suggests that tropical forests could shrink over time, triggering a positive feedback that could destabilize the climate. As older trees die, forests would release some of their stored carbon into the atmosphere, prompting a vicious cycle of further warming, forest shrinkage and carbon emissions. New Scientist 02 Feb

Better forest data lends confidence to carbon markets.

A study published in Nature Climate Change this week measured both the biomass of different types of tropical forests and the emissions lost via deforestation, providing more accurate data than was previously available, according to lead author Alessandro Baccini. Forbes 01 Feb

Climate change drying out forests in western Canada.

Research shows northern forests in the three prairie provinces are drying up and shrinking from drought caused by climate change, while the eastern boreal forest is holding its own. A paper published Monday suggests the forests are already emitting more greenhouse gases than they absorb. Canadian Press 31 Jan

The Little Ice Age explained?

An all-natural version, some seven hundred years ago, of what some scientists now propose as a form of geoengineering. Climate Central 31 Jan

Tropical vegetation stores more carbon than thought.

The first ever "wall-to-wall" map of carbon storage of tropical vegetation in Africa, Asia and South America has shown that 21 percent more carbon is stored than was previously estimated, according to scientists from m Woods Hole, Boston University, and the University of Maryland. New Delhi Times of India 31 Jan

Power paradox: Clean might not be green forever.

It is clear that continuing to rely on fossil fuels will have catastrophic results, because of the dramatic warming effect of carbon dioxide. But alternative power sources will affect the climate too. New Scientist 30 Jan

Japan emissions rising after atomic crisis: Report.

Japanese manufacturer's greenhouse gas emissions are rising after the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, hurting the country's carbon reduction goals, a report said Sunday. Agence France-Presse 30 Jan

EPA rejects palm oil-based biofuels as renewable fuel.

Palm-oil based bio-diesel does not meet the standard of the federal government's renewable fuels program due to high greenhouse gas emissions, and thus should not be developed, says an Environmental Protection Agency regulatory filing from Jan. 27. Epoch Times 30 Jan

Industry, professors at odds on gas carbon footprint.

Professors from Cornell University believe methane released by natural gas drilling activities may be worse for the environment than burning coal, but gas industry officials disagree. Wheeling Intelligencer 30 Jan

U.S. energy supply and demand.

Domestic production of oil, natural gas, and renewable energy in 2035 will exceed today’s levels, but coal use for electricity generation will decline, according to a study released last week by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), which is part of the Department of Energy. Chemical & Engineering News 30 Jan

Mapping greenhouse gases.

A new interactive tool from the Environmental Protection Agency gives the public the ability to analyze greenhouse gas emissions from more than 6,700 power plants, chemical plants, refineries, and other facilities. Chemical & Engineering News 30 Jan

City cuts its greenhouse gas emissions.

The City of North Vancouver's efforts to grapple with climate change are starting to pay off, achieving an 11% drop in emissions. Vancouver North Shore News 29 Jan

GOP wants Sen. Baucus to go rogue on Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

Republicans are pressing Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to buck his leadership and use his authority in the payroll tax conference to green-light the Keystone oil sands pipeline. The Hill 29 Jan

Coal export terminal opposed in Bellingham, WA.

With a musical kickoff from bandZandt singing "No Coal Trains," local activists launched their "Coal-Free Bellingham" campaign for a citizen initiative to outlaw coal trains through a city ordinance. Bellingham Herald 29 Jan

Coal fuels a fight in Oregon.

Northwest residents are pulled between a desire for jobs and environmental concerns. Wall Street Journal 28 Jan

American coal: A burning issue.

nugefishes/Flickr

By some measures, coal is still going strong. It provides more of America’s electricity than any other fuel. Production has fallen off since 2008, but it remains high, as do prices, for which thank the developing world’s appetite. But if the raw numbers look good, the trends tell a different story. Economist 28 Jan

Deepwater Gulf, not shale, will drive long-term expansion of U.S. crude production -- EIA chief.

The deepwater Gulf of Mexico will likely be more important to long-term U.S. oil production than shale formations, the chief of the Department of Energy's statistics branch said today. Greenwire 28 Jan

Energy firms set sights on 'super fracking'.

As regulators and environmentalists study whether hydraulic fracturing can damage the environment, industry scientists are studying ways to create longer, deeper cracks in the earth to release more oil and natural gas. Bloomberg News 28 Jan

EPA pushes to reduce impacts of huge West Virginia mountaintop mine project.

Michigan Radio/Flickr

The Obama administration has again questioned a huge mountaintop removal mine associated with the King Coal Highway - "among the largest single mining projects ever proposed in Appalachia" - and is pressuring state regulators and CONSOL Energy to reduce the mine's potential impacts. Charleston Gazette 27 Jan

FirstEnergy closing 6 coal-fired power plants.

FirstEnergy Corp. said Thursday that new environmental regulations led to a decision to shut down six older, coal-fired power plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland, affecting more than 500 employees. Associated Press 27 Jan

Pictures: Scavenging for charcoal in Manila.

The vicious energy poverty cycle is clearly visible in Manila, where many children are held out of school by their families to make charcoal and researchers have identified more than 35 diseases in garbage-scavenging areas, including cholera, dysentery, malaria, skin disorders, tuberculosis, and typhoid. Their plight is why the United Nations has declared 2012 the "Year of Sustainable Energy for All." National Geographic News 26 Jan

Has petroleum production peaked, ending the era of easy oil?

A new analysis concludes that easily extracted oil peaked in 2005, suggesting that dirtier fossil fuels will be burned and energy prices will rise. Scientific American 26 Jan

Report: Energy development threatens biodiversity.

Along with the significant pollution — including greenhouse gases — associated with use of fossil fuels, the push to extract more oil and gas is also a driver in the great wave of species extinctions currently sweeping the planet. Summit County Citizens Voice 26 Jan

Shale gas a bridge to more global warming.

Hundreds of thousands of shale gas wells are being "fracked" in the United States and Canada, allowing large amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, to escape into the atmosphere, new studies have shown. Inter Press Service 25 Jan

In Brazil, protection of Amazon rainforest takes a step back.

Brazil has made great strides in recent years in slowing Amazon deforestation and showing the world it was serious about protecting the mammoth rain forest. But since Dilma Rousseff was elected president in late 2010, there have been signs of a shift in the government’s attitude toward the Amazon. New York Times 25 Jan

U.S. CO2 emissions to stay below 2005 levels as coal use shrinks.

U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions will be 7 percent lower than their 2005 level of nearly 6 billion metric tons in 2020 as coal's share of electricity production continues a steady descent over the next two decades, according to new government data. Reuters 25 Jan