JLN Environmental/Energy: January 26, 2012

NPR

The practice of hydraulic fracturing — pumping fluid into underground rock to push up natural gas — has its detractors, especially among environmentalists. But it’s becoming clear that whatever its drawbacks, “fracking,” as it’s called, is producing a lot of gas — maybe too much gas.

http://jlne.ws/A8Dej9

Obama Backs Natural-Gas Fracking to Add 600,000 Jobs, Vows Safe Drilling
Bloomberg
President Barack Obama pushed drilling for gas in shale rock and support for cleaner energy sources to boost the economy in his final State of the Union address before facing U.S. voters in November.
http://jlne.ws/wLkw2U

US: ‘Serious’ Questions On Pipeline Bill
AP
A Republican bill that would strip President Barack Obama of his authority to decide on a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline raises serious legal questions, the State Department said Wednesday in objecting to the bill.
http://jlne.ws/wZ4tJV

Opinion: A brighter energy future?
Robert J. Samuelsohn – Washington Post
A week after President Obama denied the application for the Keystone XL pipeline — which would carry oil from Canada’s tar sands deposits in Alberta to U.S. refineries along the Gulf of Mexico — it’s time for an energy reality check. What does the future hold? It may be better than you think. That’s one message from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest “Annual Energy Outlook,” which projects the supply and demand for fuels through 2035.
http://jlne.ws/w87qbr

Updated: The State of the Union, With the Future in Mind
The New York Times Dot Earth blog
It would be impossible to talk about a durable path for the country without talking about pursuing educational excellence, nurturing a culture of innovation and collaboration and building an energy menu that can foster progress through this century without overloading the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. That means mentioning the “C word” (which didn’t make it into last year’s address).
http://jlne.ws/z5lsUU

Obama wants a “clean energy standard.” What does that mean?
Ezra Klein Wonkblog in Washington Post
In his State of the Union address, President Obama noted that a climate bill can’t pass Congress: “The differences in this chamber may be too deep right now.” But he did ask lawmakers for “a clean energy standard that creates a market for innovation.” Is that a close substitute? And could it pass?
http://jlne.ws/yfYOI9

Fracking complicates the climate debate: John Kemp
Reuters
Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have laid to rest concerns about peaking oil and gas supplies for a generation, but they have also made the search for comprehensive policies to restrain greenhouse gas emissions more urgent.
http://jlne.ws/ztvVFN

N2EX welcomes Drax Power Limited
Press Release
N2EX, the UK power market offering, operated by NASDAQ OMX Commodities and Nord Pool Spot, has welcomed its 35th member – major electricity generator Drax Power Limited. Drax, which currently generates 7% of the UK’s electricity, is the most recent of the country’s key power generators to join the N2EX market.
http://jlne.ws/yzhsU4

US

Wind Energy Subsidy May Be Renewed After U.S. Election, Adviser Says
Bloomberg
The U.S. probably will extend incentives for the wind energy industry regardless of whether President Barack Obama or the Republicans win the election in November, a former adviser to the Senate Finance Committee said.
http://jlne.ws/z5v19M

Ceres Plans to Raise as Much as $132 Million in IPO Next Month
Bloomberg
Ceres Inc., a U.S. seed maker, plans to raise as much as $132 million in an initial public offering to expand output of genetically modified crops used in the production of biofuels.
http://jlne.ws/w4kWQQ

Baltimore Business Journal

The city’s Board of Estimates approved Wednesday a non-disclosure agreement with Bloom, best known for its mini “Bloom Box.” The energy-efficient boxes can power buildings from inside rather than from a power grid.

http://jlne.ws/ywsrzp

ClearEdge Power lands world’s largest utility fuel cell deal

Cleantech News

Fuel cell maker ClearEdge Power has scored the mother of all utility deals: a 50 MW, $500 million deal with Austrian utility Güssing Renewable Energy. http://jlne.ws/zf9ev8
**This trumps the Bloom Energy deal in Delaware and Baltimore, combined.

AEP SWEPCO Signs Wind Power Purchase Agreements for 359 Megawatts

PR Newswire

American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) subsidiary Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) has signed long-term power purchase agreements for a total of 358.65 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy from wind projects in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Together with a 49.2-MW agreement signed by the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority, SWEPCO and its affiliates have exceeded the 400-MW renewable energy commitment in a recent settlement of legal issues involving the John W. Turk Jr. Power Plant.

http://jlne.ws/ymsOPR

California tries new court to move ahead on Low Carbon Fuel Standard
Platts
The California Air Resources Board has shifted to a new court in an attempt to win a stay of a decision halting its Low Carbon Fuel Standard, after being denied its motion by a judge Monday, a CARB spokesman said Tuesday.
http://jlne.ws/xgohMU

Editorial: Jennifer M. Granholm: Former Michigan governor supports clean air standards
Mercury News
This month, federal agencies held three public hearings around the country, including one in San Francisco this week, on a proposed rule to increase corporate fuel efficiency (CAFÉ) standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. When finalized in the summer, this strong national standard will save families in California and across the country thousands of dollars at the pump over a vehicle’s lifetime, reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and help to significantly reduce harmful carbon emissions. The standard will strengthen our nation’s security and empower American businesses and workers to compete in the 21st century.
http://jlne.ws/yh4yhz

Stockton: center of clean technology?
Central Valley Business Journal
Quietly, without many of its citizens perhaps noticing, the Central Valley city of Stockton is becoming a hub for clean technology, says Jared Blumenfeld, regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
http://jlne.ws/zMGlcx

Canada

TransCanada, developer of controversial pipeline, boosts lobbying spending

iWatch News

TransCanada, the pipeline company pushing the recently rejected Keystone XL project, spent $410,000 on federal lobbying during the last three months of 2011 – a new quarterly high for the company.

http://jlne.ws/we9J58
**JK – Is that all they spent? No wonder it didn’t pass. DC favors are expensive boys.

Montreal Gazette

Research in gas hydrates — methane reserves trapped in ice under the oceans — has slowed in Canada while other countries are moving ahead quickly with it.” http://jlne.ws/wp3K0x

Harry Tournemille – Energy Boom

Osprey Capital Partners Inc. is securing equity investment capital [pdf] for CORE, which will enable the biofuels company to define a fixed plant cost through an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (ECP) contract with an international oil/gas engineering company.

Europe

Alpiq’s CO2 trading desk under threat as jobs cut
Point Carbon
Carbon trading at Swiss power company Alpiq is at risk of being scaled back after the company announced job cuts in its energy trading business, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/zDI65M

Germany’s Solar Subsidies at Stake as Ministers Clash Over Cuts
Bloomberg
Germany’s solar subsidy program, the subject of dispute between two ministers in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet, will take shape today as lawmakers debate support for developers in Europe’s biggest renewables market.
http://jlne.ws/ybGsjG

RBS to Lend More Than $466 Million to Support ‘Robust’ Renewables
Bloomberg
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said its loans to U.K. renewable-energy projects in 2012 will probably top last year’s 300 million pounds ($466 million) on expectation the industry will withstand slower economic growth.
http://jlne.ws/ylevds

Greece auctions 1 mln EUAs at 7.27 euros each
Point Carbon
Greece sold 1 million EU Allowances for 7.27 euros each on Wednesday in the latest emissions permit auction held by the financially troubled country.
http://jlne.ws/AuOYVw

Ukraine reveals Japanese buyers of its AAUs
Point Carbon
A Ukrainian government report on Wednesday named six Japanese trading companies it sold 14 million Kyoto emission permits to in 2009, the first time the buyers have been identified.
http://jlne.ws/zLfaJ6
**repeats in Asia

Asia

Green groups query ‘drill now, pay later’ scheme
The Age
TAX breaks to fossil fuel companies should be scrapped and the money put towards ocean protection, environmentalists have said, warning that a boom in offshore gas and oil investment will put pressure on Australia’s marine environment.
http://jlne.ws/ytOOkj

Africa/Middle East

Carbon tax warning from heavyweight lobby group

According to Engineering News Online an industry lobby group comprising large mining groups and mineral processing companies such as Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, BHP Billiton, Exxaro, PPC, Rio Tinto and Xstrata is cautioning against the proposed introduction of a carbon tax in South Africa until the country has figured out the costs implications of implementing its renewable-energy heavy power generation plans.

http://bit.ly/vZwEiE

Latin America

Is Brazil Backsliding on Deforestation?
NYTimes.com
Alexei Barrionuovo reports on growing signs that the Brazilian government may be softening its stand against deforestation, including a provisional measure that allows the president to reduce the amount of land set aside for conservation and proposed legislation to change the forest code.
http://jlne.ws/zLcyZW