Water Costs Rising Nationwide

Click on Map to EnlargeWater rates have surged in the past dozen years, according to a USA TODAY study of 100 municipalities. Prices at least doubled in more than a quarter of the locations and even tripled in a few. USA TODAY's study of residential water rates over the past 12 years for large and small water agencies nationwide found that monthly costs doubled for more in 29 localities. The unique look at costs for a diverse mix of water suppliers...

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Obama Revokes Chinese Purchase of 4 Oregon Wind Farms

President Barack Obama is revoking a Chinese company's purchase of four wind farm projects in Oregon in the vicinity of a U.S. naval facility's restricted airspace. In an order today, Obama directs Ralls Corporation, a company owned by Chinese nationals, to divest its interest in the wind farms it purchased earlier this year, which are all in the vicinity of air space near the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility Boardman. (AP)THE WHITE HOUSEOffice of the Press SecretaryFor Immediate Release September 28, 2012ORDER- - - - - - -REGARDING THE...

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DOE Invests In University-Led Nuclear Energy Innovation

As part of the Obama Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to deploy every available source of American energy and ensure the U.S. remains competitive globally, the Energy Department announced today more than $13 million in new investments for university-led nuclear innovation projects. The three awards announced today under the Department’s Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP) will support nuclear energy R&D and student investment...

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China's Using Less Metallurgical Coal Hurting USA Coal Jobs

Slowing growth in China is taking a toll on Appalachian coal mines and coal towns, which have one of the world's richest deposits of high-grade coal used to make steel (metallurgical coal).  China's metallurgical coal imports dropped to 2.6 million metric tons in August, from an average of 4.5 million metric tons per month through July. Chinese demand metallurgical coal, whose low-ash and low-sulfur content makes it ideal for steelmaking,...

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Acid Rain Program Adjusts To Court Ruling

When we went to update our password on EPA's Clean Air Market Programs CAMD Business System, the message below was posted:On August 21, 2012 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued its ruling on CSAPR.On December 30, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit stayed the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. Consistent with this decision, EPA will not be taking action to implement the rule pending further order of the court. If market participants wish to use the CAMD Business System to record transfers of...

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Novel Arguments Used To Fight Hydraulic Fracturing

Project Opponents Maintain Hydraulic Fracturing Cumulative Impacts Must Be Considered in NEPA Novel arguments are being made in a closely followed NEPA case in the Northeast. Opponents of a natural gas pipeline proposal known as the “Northeast Upgrade Project” argue that FERC – the agency in charge of reviewing the project’s environmental effects – was required to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to consider the environmental effects of...

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Recycling Aluminum Cans

Approximate 93 billion aluminum beverage cans are made in America every year.  Alcoa and Atlanta-based Novelis, a unit of India's Hindalco Industries Ltd., had been jointly collecting and recycling cans since 2009, when they created a joint venture to centralize collection. Last year, it collected 40 billion cans.But the two aluminum makers have parted ways and are bent on trying to outcollect each other. Novelis withdrew from the venture...

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General Electric Significantly Expands Mining, Oil & Gas

GE Acquisitions Point Way To Resources Oriented FutureGeneral Electric Company wants to more than double the size of its new mining business to $5 billion in revenue by 2016. GE is building new revenue streams to offset its sluggish power-plant business and reduce its reliance on its big lending arm. Expansion into the mining sector would be part of a larger bet by GE on energy and resource-rich countries. The conglomerate expects them to spend heavily...

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Liquefied Natural Gas Exports

The Center supports liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.  Natural gas is a very valuable commodity and the USA has plenty of it due to hydraulic fracturing.  Natural gas produces just half the carbon dioxide emissions as coal.  Since the nuclear power renaissance has stalled, natural gas will be the clean fuel of choice for electricity generation.  Although the price of natural gas is very low right now, exports should...

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Anti Nuclear Activists Meet With NRC

NRC HeadquartersTwo members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission spent part of Saturday afternoon meeting with leaders of groups opposed to nuclear power who also have complaints about the NRC.  Chairman Allison Macfarlane and Commissioner William Magwood met with the half-dozen individuals in the room at NRC headquarters.“I’m really glad to get the opportunity to meet and I look forward to hearing from all of you,” Macfarlane said at the outset...

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Internet Energy Use

Servers In Data Centers Use Lots Of Electricity, Produce Heat, Need to Be CooledData Centers Need Redundant Backup Power, Usually Batteries and Diesel Fuel GeneratorsData CenterMost data centers, by design, consume vast amounts of energy in an incongruously wasteful manner, interviews and documents show. Online companies typically run their facilities at maximum capacity around the clock, whatever the demand. As a result, data centers...

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Droughts Making It Harder To Produce Electricity

Electricity generation is the biggest single user of water in the U.S., according to an analysis by the U.S. Geological Survey, which found that power plants account for nearly half of all water withdrawn from American rivers, lakes and seashores each day—more than 200 million gallons worth. The drought that parched more than 30 states this summer is forcing the power industry to rethink its heavy use of water and adopt technology to use less of...

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Worldwide Fracking Protests Planned

More than 100 protests against the natural gas drilling process known as fracking are scheduled to take place around the world on Saturday. The GlobalFrackdown website and campaign was developed by Food & Water Watch, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that was once part of Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen group. The campaign claims that fracking “has already damaged communities and ruined lives. It pollutes water and makes people sick.” Scientists...

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Coalition Against Nukes Occupies, Rallies & Briefs

CAN Organizes Biggest AntiNuclear Activities In YearsThe Coalition Against Nuclear Power (CAN) wants to immediately decommission the nation’s 23 Mark 1 reactors, which are the same variety that melted down at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011. It wants to then work on a complete phaseout of nuclear energy. CAN sponsored a series of events in the Washington, D.C., area, September 20-22, including the Capitol Hill rally, the Congressional...

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Wind Sector Hurting From Cloud Over Tax Credits

Current U.S. law gives wind-power producers a tax credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, a subsidy that keeps wind energy competitive with other methods of generating electricity. The tax credit is set to expire at the end of the year.  Wind turbine manufacturers are laying off employees and downsizing because of questions about the extension of the tax credit.  Low natural gas prices are also leading electricity producers to turn to that...

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EPA & Manufacturers Agree On Management of Used Electronics

Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched its Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Electronics Challenge, an initiative to make protective electronics refurbishing and recycling practices the industry standard. EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response Lisa Feldt, joined by leaders from Best Buy, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sprint, and Staples, made the announcement at Vintage Tech Recyclers,...

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Hollande Administration Will Not Permit Fracking

Francois HollandeFrench President Francois Hollande says he will not permit hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. France imports 98% of the natural gas it uses each year. Yet according to U.S. Department of Energy data, the country's technically recoverable shale gas is second only to Poland's in Europe, and equal to more than a century's worth of French gas consumption. Those numbers are still tentative, but the short history of shale-gas exploration...

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2nd EPA Administrator Russell E. Train Dies at 92

Russell E. TrainConservationist Russell E. Train, the second head of EPA (1973 and 1977), Monday at 92.  He served as the first chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality from 1970 to 1973, a role that followed a 1969-70 job as under secretary at the Interior Department after President Nixon's election.  EPA was formally established in late 1970. Train passed away at his farm in Bozman, Maryland.After leaving government...

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Charging Rates For Electric Vehicles

Electric car charging providers are wrestling with what, if anything, to charge for charging. As charging companies begin collecting fees, it looks like the most common approach will be to bill customers by length of time spent charging or by a monthly subscription fee, not the amount of electricity dispensed. There are currently about 50,000 electric vehicles on the road in the USA.Coulomb Technologies Inc, a Campbell, Calif., company that has built...

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Gas Tax Not Keeping Up With Highway Construction Needs

The federal tax, at 18.4 cents for gasoline and 24.4 cents for diesel, hasn't changed since 1993. As a result, the tax buys about half the concrete, steel and other materials it did 20 years ago.  Congress could just raise the gas tax. But the tax is already unpopular, and lawmakers have resisted repeated efforts to increase it. In fact, amid high gasoline prices, many politicians have called for cutting the tax to give drivers some relief at...

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D.C. Housing Authority Energy & Water Improvements

The DC Housing Authority is celebrating the completion of a $26 million Energy Capital Improvement (ECI) Program and the start of two new initiatives. With the ECI Program, DCHA has leveraged the energy and water savings generated from the replacement, upgrade and modernization of aging equipment and infrastructure to improve more than 5,400 public housing units at 34 DCHA properties. DCHA has already seen a savings of almost $2.5 million per year...

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EPA Adds 12 Sites To Superfund National Priorities List

Eight Other Sites Proposed To Be AddedThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adding 12 new hazardous waste sites hat pose public health and environmental risks to the National Priorities List (NPL) for cleanup under the Superfund program. EPA is also proposing to add another eight sites to the list. Superfund is the federal program (Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response) that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled...

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