The tide is starting to turn.
The AP is reporting that unions like fracking and the oil and gas industry:
After early complaints that
out-of-state firms got the most jobs, some local construction trade
workers and union members in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia say
they're now benefiting in a big way from the Marcellus and Utica Shale
oil and gas boom.
That vocal
support from blue-collar workers complicates efforts by
environmentalists to limit the drilling process known as fracking.
"The
shale became a lifesaver and a lifeline for a lot of working families,"
said Dennis Martire, the mid-Atlantic regional manager for the
Laborers' International Union, or LIUNA, which represents workers in
numerous construction trades.
The tide is starting to turn.
The AP is reporting that biofuels from corn waste is no better than natural gas (of course, President Obama has already declared the study flawed) and
won't meet standards to be declared a renewable fuel (wow):
Biofuels made from the leftovers
of harvested corn plants are worse than gasoline for global warming in
the short term, a study shows, challenging the Obama administration's
conclusions that they are a much cleaner oil alternative and will help
combat climate change.
A $500,000 study
paid for by the federal government and released Sunday in the
peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change concludes that biofuels made
with corn residue release 7 percent more greenhouse gases in the early
years compared with conventional gasoline.
While
biofuels are better in the long run, the study says they won't meet a
standard set in a 2007 energy law to qualify as renewable fuel.
The
conclusions deal a blow to what are known as cellulosic biofuels, which
have received more than a billion dollars in federal support but have
struggled to meet volume targets mandated by law. About half of the
initial market in cellulosics is expected to be derived from corn
residue.
The
Financial Times is reporting
how President Obama lost his mojo among the BRICS:
When Barack Obama took office, he pledged a new overture
to the world’s emerging powers. Today each of the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China
and South Africa – is at loggerheads with America, or worse. Last month
four of the five abstained in a UN vote condemning the fifth’s
annexation of Crimea. Next month India is likely to elect as its new
leader Narendra Modi,
who says he has “no interest in visiting America other than to attend
the UN in New York.”
As the world’s largest democracy, and America’s
most natural ally among the emerging powers, India’s is a troubling
weathervane. How on earth did Mr Obama lose the BRICS?
Some of it was unavoidable. Early in his first term Mr Obama called
for a “reset” of US relations with Russia. His overture was warmly
received by Dmitry Medvedev, then Russia’s president, who was
considerably less anti-western than his predecessor, Vladimir Putin.
Unfortunately for Mr Obama, Ukraine, Pussy Riot and many others, Mr
Putin repossessed the presidency. The US president can hardly be blamed
for that. Things have gone downhill since then.
The trajectory of US relations with China has also been in the wrong direction.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.