Environmental
NAM: Carbon Tax Would Wallop Our Economy
February 26, 2013 2:19 pm | News | CommentsThe report, titled Economic Outcomes of a U.S. Carbon Tax, found that levying such a tax would impact millions of jobs and result in higher prices for natural gas, electricity, gasoline and other energy commodities. Manufacturing output in energy-intensive sectors could drop by as much as 15.0 percent and in non-energy-intensive sectors by as much as 7.7 percent.
Sustainability And The Supply Chain: How To Reduce Cost And Save The Environment
February 25, 2013 2:06 pm | by Yves Leclerc, West Monroe Partners | Articles | CommentsUnlike building a green or LEED-certified living space, creating both a green and sustainable supply chain is not a one and done project and must be part of the organization short and long term strategy. It is a long-term promise of social responsibility in managing the supply chain at all levels.
Analysis: Choices Loom For Obama On Climate Change
February 20, 2013 8:14 am | by Dina Cappiello, Associated Press | News | CommentsIn his fifth State of the Union address before Congress, Obama sounded like he did in his first, urging lawmakers to limit gases blamed for global warming "for the sake of our children and our future." Those words followed his inaugural address, in which he said: "We will respond to the threat of climate change."
EU Lawmakers Want To Beef Up Cap-And-Trade
February 19, 2013 12:02 pm | News | CommentsEuropean lawmakers are proposing to tighten the bloc's cap-and-trade system to make carbon dioxide pollution more expensive. The European Parliament's environment committee voted in favor of a change Tuesday that would allow the EU Commission, the bloc's executive arm, to tighten the supply of pollution rights.
Climate Contradiction: Less Snow, More Blizzards
February 19, 2013 8:27 am | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsWith scant snowfall and barren ski slopes in parts of the Midwest and Northeast the past couple of years, some scientists have pointed to global warming as the culprit. Then when a whopper of a blizzard smacked the Northeast with more than 2 feet of snow in some places earlier this month, some of the same people again blamed global warming.
Groups Want Broad Probe Of Tainted Texas Water
February 12, 2013 1:34 pm | by Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Associated Press | News | CommentsMore than 80 environmental groups on Monday demanded a broad investigation into whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency behaved improperly when it abruptly dropped enforcement actions against a gas driller it had accused of contaminating water in Texas.
Corn Shortage Idles 20 Ethanol Plants
February 11, 2013 7:54 am | by Jim Salter, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol industry trade group, provided data to The Associated Press showing that 20 of the nation's 211 ethanol plants have ceased production over the past year, including five in January. Most remain open, with workers spending time performing maintenance-type tasks.
Solar Industry Grapples With Hazardous Wastes
February 11, 2013 7:47 am | by Jason Dearen, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe fossil fuels used to transport that waste, experts say, is not typically considered in calculating solar's carbon footprint, giving scientists and consumers who use the measurement to gauge a product's impact on global warming the impression that solar is cleaner than it is.
States Announce Deal To Cut Greenhouse Gasses
February 8, 2013 8:13 am | by Bob Salsberg, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe new rules announced by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative would lower the cap on carbon dioxide emissions from the current 165 million tons to 91 million tons in 2014 — a 45 percent reduction from 2005 levels. The cap would be lowered an additional 2.5 percent per year from 2015-2020.
Nevada Gold Mines To Pay $618,000 For Pollution
February 7, 2013 10:51 am | by Scott Sonner, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe three agreed to pay a total of $278,000 in fines and spend an additional $340,000 on an environmentally beneficial project as part of a settlement for allegedly under estimating reports of their toxic release inventory required under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, EPA officials said.
Ohio Company Accused Of Dumping Wastewater
February 7, 2013 10:00 am | News | CommentsDocuments obtained by a newspaper show employees of a northeast Ohio company were directed to dump up to 20,000 gallons of gas drilling wastewater down a storm drain. The (Youngstown) Vindicator reports that two state regulatory agencies are conducting an investigation into how and why the wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, was dumped in the Youngstown storm drain last week.
EPA: Decline In Carbon Pollution From Power Plants
February 6, 2013 8:32 am | by Matthew Daly, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe report, released Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency, said power plants remain the largest stationary source of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that trigger global warming. Power plants were responsible for 2.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2011.
Energy Industry Develops Nontoxic Fracking Fluids
February 4, 2013 7:51 am | by Kevin Begos, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe oil and gas industry is trying to ease environmental concerns by developing nontoxic fluids for the drilling process known as fracking, but it's not clear whether the new product will be widely embraced by drilling companies. Houston-based energy giant Halliburton Inc. has developed a product called CleanStim, which uses only food-industry ingredients.
China's Love Affair With Cars Chokes Air In Cities
January 31, 2013 11:08 am | by Louise Watt, Associated Press | News | CommentsAs the Chinese middle-class expanded dramatically over the last 20 years, cars became the new symbol of prosperity. With the economy continuing to grow, the love affair with cars will only bloom more, and is already posing a challenge for dealing with the hazardous air pollution in urban China with widespread impact on health, productivity and quality of life.
China: 14 Guilty Of Pollution Protest Violence
January 31, 2013 11:04 am | by Didi Tang, Associated Press | News | CommentsFourteen people pleaded guilty to encouraging a riot in eastern China last year in which the local Communist Party chief was stripped half-naked in a mass protest that ultimately forced the local government to scrap a wastewater treatment project.
Ethanol Industry Turns To Plant Residue, Scraps
January 31, 2013 10:29 am | by David Pitt, Associated Press | News | CommentsAfter decades of talk, the ethanol industry is building multimillion dollar refineries in several states that will use corn plant residue, wood scraps and even garbage to produce the fuel additive. The breakthrough comes at a key time for the industry, after the drought heightened criticism about the vast amount of corn used to brew up ethanol rather than be transformed into animal feed or other foods.
America Makes, The World Breathes
January 30, 2013 2:26 pm | by Drew Greenblatt, President, Marlin Steel Wire Products LLC | Articles | CommentsWe noticed the severe conditions on our trip to China. The smog in Shanghai was stunning. Amid President Obama’s emphasis this week on reaffirming a commitment to combat climate change, it might sound counter-intuitive but bringing back more manufacturing to the United States would help.
New Research Indentifies Major Climate Threat To Global Supply Chains
January 29, 2013 8:49 am | by CDP & Accenture | Articles | CommentsSeventy percent of companies believe that climate change has the potential to significantly affect their revenue, a risk which is intensified by a chasm between the sustainable business practices of multinational corporations and their suppliers, according to research published today by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Accenture.
Smog Cancels Flights In Beijing
January 29, 2013 8:13 am | by Louise Watt, Associated Press | News | CommentsThick, off-the-scale smog shrouded eastern China for the second time in about two weeks Tuesday, forcing airlines to cancel flights because of poor visibility and prompting Beijing to temporarily shut factories and curtail fleets of government cars.
Ohio Honda Plant Installs Wind Turbines
January 28, 2013 12:02 pm | News | CommentsThe Honda transmission plant in western Ohio will be among the first U.S. automotive manufacturing facilities to get a substantial amount of electricity from wind turbines on the property. The turbines, built by Juhl Wind Inc. of Pipestone, Minn., will sit atop two 260-foot towers. Each will have blades 160 feet long that will drive generators capable of producing about 10,000-megawatt hours annually.
Ford, Nissan, Daimler Collaborate On Hydrogen Cars
January 28, 2013 9:39 am | by Joel Hans, Managing Editor, Manufacturing.net | News | CommentsAutomakers Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Have announced a three-way agreement to push the commercialization of fuel cell electric (FCEV) technology. The coalition aims to launch the first affordable, mass-market FCEVs on a global scale as early as 2017.
Court: EPA Overestimates Biofuels Production
January 28, 2013 7:46 am | by Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press | News | CommentsA federal appeals court has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency is overestimating the amount of fuel that can be produced from grasses, wood and other nonfood plants in an effort to promote a fledgling biofuels industry. At issue is a 2007 renewable fuels law that requires a certain amount of those types of fuels, called cellulosic biofuels, to be mixed in with gasoline each year.
Monsanto Settlement With W.Va. Residents Approved
January 25, 2013 1:11 pm | News | CommentsA judge gave final approval Friday to a settlement between chemical manufacturer Monsanto Co. and thousands of West Virginia residents over pollution claims. Circuit Judge Derek Swope in Putnam County approved the settlement in a 385-page order.
PC VUE Monitors U.S. Wind Farms
January 25, 2013 12:54 pm | by PC VUE SCADA | Articles | CommentsIn a room that looks a like NASA Mission Control, systems analysts oversee every turbine at every wind farm throughout the U.S. They monitor the performance and efficiency of every turbine, and they keep an eye on approaching storms to warn technicians of the danger in the field.
Appeals Court Rejects EPA Bid On Pollution Case
January 25, 2013 7:56 am | by Matthew Daly, Associated Press | News | CommentsA three-judge judge panel ruled in August that the Environmental Protection Agency's cross-state air pollution rule exceeded EPA's authority. The EPA had said the rule would reduce power-plant pollution that contributes to unhealthy air in neighboring states.
