From The Center for American Progress Action Fund on Friday, 6/27/08:
 
ENERGY -- U.S. GOVERNMENT FREEZES SOLAR ENERGY PROJECTS: Today, the price of a barrel of oil rose past $140 a barrel for the first time. Yet the U.S. government has quietly shut down all new solar energy projects on public land, citing the need for research on their environmental impact. The research could delay new projects by two years. The decision to freeze new proposals "has caused widespread concern in the alternative-energy industry, as fledgling solar companies must wait to see if they can realize their hopes of harnessing power from swaths of sun-baked public land, just as the demand for viable alternative energy is accelerating." According to a new analysis by McKinsey, solar electricity will soon sell for roughly the same price as fossil electricity. In fact, California, Texas, and New York are expected to reach grid parity by 2020. The government's freeze is expected to halt "projects that have the potential to power more than 20 million homes." 


GLOBAL WARMING -- COURT REFUSES TO SET DEADLINE ON EPA ENDANGERMENT RULING: Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously denied a petition to order the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make a finding "whether greenhouse gases and global warming threaten public health and welfare." The petition had been filed by officials of 18 states exactly a year after the Supreme Court issued its decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, ordering the EPA to issue an endangerment finding and issue emissions regulations. The New York Times revealed that the Bush administration has resorted to extraordinarily absurd methods to stonewall the process, including an incident last December. For example, White House officials refused to open the e-mail from the EPA that concluded "climate change endangers the public" and recommended regulating greenhouse emissions. Yesterday's ruling underscores that "the Bush administration has not done anything, will not do anything, and has stood in the way of anyone else doing anything," said David Bookbinder, chief climate counsel for the Sierra Club. Meanwhile, as the EU reached a landmark deal to cap airline emissions and reduce the threat of climate change, the EPA is preparing to issue a report that "will seek comments only on 'whether' it poses such a danger."


THINK FAST

Polar scientists say that "for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year." The scientists "believe the chances of a totally ice-free North Pole this summer are greater than 50:50 because the normally thick ice formed over many years at the Pole has been blown away and replaced by huge swathes of thinner ice formed over a single year." 

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