Summary
Bad news in today’s edition, some 11 states have failed to write sulfur dioxide pollution plans says the EPA (in the Carbon section). Also, an Australian study shows that CEOs survive environmental controversies unscathed. Finally, some visionary words, those uttered in 1968 by David M. Gates, an ecologist who sounded early warnings that fossil fuels, fertilizers and pesticides, who just died at 94.
Quote of the day
“We will go down in history known as an elegant technological society which underwent biological disintegration for lack of ecological understanding.”
David M. Gates, an ecologist who sounded early warnings that fossil fuels, fertilizers and pesticides posed a potentially fatal threat to the global environment, in the New York Times’ story David M. Gates Dies at 94; Sounded Early Alarm on Environmental Perils
Lead stories
Getting off scot-free: how CEOs survive environmental controversies unscathed
By Alison Moodie – The Guardian
Volkswagen announced on Wednesday that its top US boss, Michael Horn, would be leaving the company “effective immediately”, six months after the car giant’s global CEO resigned as the emissions cheating scandal became public.
http://bit.ly/1RHViP1
***LB: Also in this story “A CEO losing his or her job following an environmental controversy is more the exception than the rule, according to a new study by researchers at Australia’s University of Adelaide.”
How one German region is bucking the rightwing trend by going green
By Philip Oltermann – The Guardian
Rightwing populists are on the rise across America and Europe, and, with anti-refugee party Alternative für Deutschland expected to sweep into three state parliaments on Sunday, Germany is no longer an exception.
http://bit.ly/24YyR1K
David M. Gates Dies at 94; Sounded Early Alarm on Environmental Perils
By Sam Roberts – The New York Times
David M. Gates, an ecologist who sounded early warnings that fossil fuels, fertilizers and pesticides posed a potentially fatal threat to the global environment, died on March 4 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
http://nyti.ms/1RYhzLd
Events
The Wall Street Green Trading Summit
Columbia University Club, New York
March 14, 2016
http://jlne.ws/doFbLA
Northeast RECs Regional Thought Leader Round Table
March 23, 2016
Environmental Markets Association
Office of Dentons, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York
http://jlne.ws/1mg7iOT
Navigating the American Carbon World (NACW) 2016
Climate Action Reserve
May 4-6, 2016
San Diego, California
http://goo.gl/Ah5s1I
CARBON EXPO 2016
Global Carbon Market Fair and Conference
May 25-27, 2016
Cologne
http://jlne.ws/1mg8bqR
Cleantech Innovate Scotland
June 9, 2016
http://jlne.ws/1mg6nOG
Carbon
EPA: 11 states have failed to write sulfur dioxide pollution plans
By Devin Henry – The Hill
Eleven states have failed to submit plans to reduce sulfur dioxide air pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this week.
http://bit.ly/24Yz2dx
***LB: Also in this story “Parts of Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia have not yet reduced their sulfur dioxide emissions enough to meet federal limits, and those states have yet to tell the EPA how they intend to do so, the agency said. “
Natural gas / coal
China coal protests highlight overcapacity tensions
By Lucy Hornby – Financial Times
Thousands of Chinese coal miners have taken to the streets in a city near the Siberian border to protest against unpaid wages, in the first direct challenge to Beijing’s plan for orderly downsizing and job cuts in the state-owned coal sector.
http://on.ft.com/1QQTK9e
Feds block Oregon natural gas export terminal
By Timothy Cama – The Hill
Federal officials denied a permit Friday for a proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal, a rare rebuke of a gas project by the federal government.
http://bit.ly/24Yz4SC
Power
EDF chief executive warns France over Hinkley costs
By Terry Macalister – The Guardian
The boss of the French state-owned company behind the UK’s first new nuclear power station for 20 years has threatened to pull the plug on the £18bn project without further backing from François Hollande’s government.
http://bit.ly/1TG4XvH
Solar, Wind Power Game Changers
By Arnie Gundersen – Fairwinds Associates
Historians will look back at 2015 as the turning point for producing electricity during the 21st century. The data is in: building new nuclear power plants is too expensive and takes too long.
http://bit.ly/1XnR2bz
Nevada Solar Power Business Struggles To Keep The Lights On
By Jeff Brady – NPR (Audio)
Nevada’s home solar business is in turmoil as the state’s Public Utilities Commission starts to phase out incentives for homeowners who install rooftop solar panels.
http://n.pr/1QWabh6
In Rhode Island, National Grid creates a solar-power shopping site
By David Brooks – Granite Geek
This spring, National Grid will launch a new online marketplace that allows customers in Rhode Island to shop for solar and receive an incentive for improving energy efficiency at the same time.
http://bit.ly/1XnRVRn
Clean tech
Honda Aims for Fuel-Cell Car at Hybrid Price as GM Lends Scale
By Yuki Hagiwara – Bloomberg News
Honda Motor Co., beginning sales of its Clarity Fuel Cell sedan in Japan, said joint work with General Motors Co. will help bring hydrogen-powered vehicle costs down to the level of hybrids within the next decade.
http://bloom.bg/1QWaCI4
Water
Bolivia’s water people are left high and dry
By Andres Schipani – Financial Times
Vicente Valero wears a poncho that tells the story of his ethnic group, the Uru-Murato, in multicoloured stripes.
http://on.ft.com/1Ua22va