U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson Is In India

U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen L.Johnson is leading a U.S. delegation to India to meet with environmental officials on global environmental cooperation because the U.S. and India are important to the health of the global environment. Johnson will visit Mumbai, Hyderabad and New Delhi as he reviews existing U.S. –Indian collaboration. Johnson will address a gathering of public and private sector leaders on collaborative air quality initiatives and new technologies for reducing emissions in the transport and industrial sectors. In the near future EPA, in collaboration with Pune Municipal Corporation and California Air Resources Board, will initiate a diesel bus retrofit project in Pune City.

Johnson will also visit the King Edward Memorial Hospital to highlight ongoing efforts to establish a partnership between New York City and Mumbai on strategies to address childhood asthma in urban mega-cities. Johnson will meet with state officials in Hyderabad before participating in a seminar on green building and climate programs in India. Johnson will conclude his time in Andhra Pradesh with a visit to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board to discuss the challenges of providing clean and safe water in urban environments.

In New Dehli, Johnson and India's Minister of Environment and Forests A. Raja, will renew a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on environmental cooperation between the EPA and theIndian Ministry of Environment and Forests. The MOU, which is renewedevery five years, focuses on management of air and water quality and toxic chemicals and waste, along with environmental leadership. Johnson will conclude his visit to India by discussing EPA's methane gas recovery and mercury programs with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and he will also meet with government officials from the Planning Commission and Ministry of Science and Technology on a venues of collaboration to strengthen environmental protection.

2002 Memorandum Of Understanding on environmental cooperation betweenEPA and the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forest: http://epa.gov/oia/regions/Asia/india/mou.html Background information on the environment track of the economic dialogue between the United States and India: http://www.epa.gov/international/regions/Asia/india/2006_ied.htm

Alternative Ethanol Solutions : Dominican Republic

Ethanol is being promoted as an alternative and additive to gasoline. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandated a 7.5 billion gallon renewable fuels standard by 2012. The Bush Administration wants to quintuple that standard up to 35 billion gallons. The Center plans to examine the environmental and business implications of ethanol.

Joe Downey, an advisor to the Center and a Special Projects consultant, has established Alternative Ethanol Solutions to develop ethanol from sugar cane in the Dominican Republic. He has partnered with Dr. Charles Worrell to pursue building and operating an ethanol facility that can export the product to other countries.

The U.S. imposes a tariff of 54 cents a gallon on imported ethanol from such countries as Brazil, but Caribbean nations and countries in the Central American Free Trade Agreement are exempt from those duties if they make the ethanol from products grown in their own countries. Using Brazilian technology for refining sugar can based ethanol, such countries could become exporters to the United States. Caribbean nations can export a limited amount of ethanol that comes indirectly from Brazil and other countries. Under the Carribean Basin Initiative, countries can take partly processed ethanol from a country like Brazil and carry out the last step in processing before shipping it to the U.S.

The Carribean is allowd to export partly processed ethanol only up to a limit of 7 percent of the US. ethanol consumption. In 2006, the U.S. imported about 600 million gallons of ethanol. According to the Renewable Fuels Association about 200 million gallons came indirectly from Brazil through the Caribbean. The total imports of all kinds of ethanol amounted to approximately 10 percent of American consumption in 2006. (Source: The New York Times, Sat, March 3, 2007)

Interested parties and investors should contact Joe Downey.

Center To Visit Nuclear Facilities in China

The Center for Environment, Commerce & Energy has been invited to meet with government officials and industry representatives in China. Center President Norris McDonald and Center Vice President Derry Bigby will visit a research Pebble Bed Modular Reactor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, an economic development area in Weifang and will tour the Daya Bay nuclear power plant outside of Hong Kong in Guangdong Province. They will spend two weeks in April in the People's Republic of China.

They will be joined by Center China Office Director Zhang Xiaoping. The Center established the China Office in 2006 to promote nuclear power in China. We believe that global warming programs must be pursued in China to be seruous about the issue. We are very serious about global climate change and global warming. We will be recommending a "Great Nuclear Wall" for China that will include an accelerated construction plan.

Chinese Premier Talks About Energy and the Environment

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, right, wants the country to improve energy efficiency and environmental protection. He recently gave a speech to the National People's Congress and pledged more spending on poor residents in rural areas.

The most recent five-year plan calls for a 20 percent reduction in energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product. The National People's Congress is currently in its two-week session.

Department of Energy Ethanol Grants Awarded

The Department of Eenrgy has issued 6 grants totalling $385 million from the Energy Policy Act of 2005 $2 billion loan guarantee program The program aims to promote a $1 per gallon cellulosic ethanol product, which comes from stalks and woody plants instead of corn kernels. It is twice as expensive and harder to get the fuel from this source than from the moist corn. President Bush proposed in his State of the Union Address to increase production to 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels above the EPAct target of 7.5 billion gallons. The firms include:

1. Broin Cos of Sioux Fall, S.D. (teamed with DuPont Co)

2. Abengoa Bioenergy of St. Louis, MO (a Colwich, Kansas site)

3. Alico Inc of LaBelle, Fla

4. BlueFire Ethanol Inc of Irvine, CA (teamed w/ Waste Management-Shelly, Corona, CA site)

5. Iogen Corp of Arlington, VA (teamed with Goldman Sachs Group Inc & Royal Dutch Shell)

6. Range Fuels Inc of Broomfield, Colo

London Wants To Reduce Its Carbon Footprint

London Mayor Ken Livingstone wants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the city by 20 million tons by 2025 via homes, businesses, energy production and transportation.

New Coalition Promotes Ethanol

A 400 member coalition of farm groups, hunters, businessmen and environmentalists have formed a new coalition called the 25X25 Renewable Energy Alliance and they are lobbying to get $64.5 billion in new federal incentives to expand the use of ethanol. The group wants to produce 25% of the nation's energy from farm and ranch products by 2025.

The group wants to protect ethanol from a possible drop in oil prices by having the tax incentives to rise for ethanol-fuel blenders when oil prices drop and when oil prices rise, the tax credits would shrink. This system would be installed when the current 51-cent-per-gallon ethanol subsidy expires in 2010. Group members range from the American Farm Bureau to General Motors and the National Wildlife Federation.

TXU

The proposed $45 billion purchase of TXU Corporation by private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and Texas Pacific Group hit the market like a financial hydrogen bomb. It was so big that it pushed Anna Nicole Smith off the front page for a minute. The cast of characters included William K. Reilly, former EPA Adminstrator under Bush 41, Fred Krupp of Environmental Defense and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The enviros signed off on the deal with a promise that the new outfit would only build 3 coal plants instead of 11. Some people think this is smoke and mirrors, but there was a lot of excitement anyway.

Reilly works for Texas Pacific and he negotiated the deal with the environmental groups. TXU Corp is the largest power company in Texas with 2.4 million electricity customers and 18,300 megawatts of capacity (from 50 generating plants). The enviros agreed to drop their opposition to TXU's coal plant expansion in exchange for the 3 for 11 switch.

China To Build Nuclear Plant Inland

China National Nuclear Corporation, together with China Three Gorges Project Corporation, China Resources Co. Ltd and Hunan Xiangtou Holdings Group Co. Ltd, have agreed to form a joint-venture called Hunan Taohua River Nuclear Power Co. Ltd, to operate a new nuclear project.

China's two major nuclear plants, Daya Bay and Qinshan are situated in the coastal areas. The power plant in Hunan will be the first in China's inland areas.

China wants to build two nuclear power plants of 1,000 megawatts each for the next 15 years in hopes of reaching a combined capacity of 40,000 megawatts by 2020.

Currently, China has just six nuclear power plants, 11 reactors on its east and southeast coasts. (Asian Biz)

China Orders Two More Nuclear Plants

China has given the French state-run company Areva a $5 billion deal to build two nuclear power plants in southern Guangdong Province by 2013.

Beijing awarded contracts for four reactors to the American-based Westinghouse Electric, now owned by Toshiba of Japan in 2006.

China now has a total of 6 plants ordered for construction.

Sir Nicholas Stern Appears Before Senate Energy Committee

The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee held a hearing today to appraise the Stern Review -- a major report on the economic impacts of global warming. Testifying for the first time before Congress is Sir Nicholas Stern, left, head of Britain’s Economic Service, former World Bank chief economist and author of the namesake report.

Background: In 2005, the British government asked Sir Nicholas to undertake this major independent study. Stern assembled a team of top economists, scientists and other specialists. It took one year to gather and analyze the data, and they presented their findings last October. That assessment attracted a remarkable amount of international attention.

Paul Driessen Talks About Global Warming Profits

Driessen, left, is a global warming skeptic and writes:

Scientists who use climate change to explain environmental changes improve their chances of getting research grants from foundations, corporations - and US government programs that budget a whopping $6.5 billion for global warming in 2007. They also increase the likelihood of getting headlines and quotes in news stories: "Climate change threatens extinction of rare frogs, scientist says." Climate disaster skeptics face an uphill battle on grants, headlines and quotes.

Politicians get to grandstand green credentials, cement relationships with activists who can support reelection campaigns and higher aspirations, magically transform $14-billion in alternative energy pork into ethical planetary protection, and promote policies that otherwise would raise serious eyebrows.

Corporate actions that cause even one death are dealt with severely; but praise is heaped on federal mileage standards that cause hundreds of deaths, as cars are downsized and plasticized to save fuel and reduce emissions. High energy prices are denounced at congressional hearings, if due to market forces - but praised if imposed by government "to prevent climate change." Alarmist rhetoric has also redefined corporate social responsibility, created the Climate Action Partnership and launched the emerging Enviro-Industrial Complex.

Environmental activists have turned climate fears into successful fund-raising tools - and a brilliant strategy for achieving their dream of controlling global resource use, technological change and economic development, through laws, treaties, regulations and pressure campaigns. Recent developments promise to supercharge these efforts.

FULL TEXT

Note: The views are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Center.

Dayolight Savings Time Moved Up To March 11

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 moved daylight savings time up from the first Sunday in April to March 11 starting this year to save approximately 100,000 barrels of oil per day by allowing more human activities before dark. (Wash Post)

Tennessee Valley Authority Wants 2 New Nuclear Plants

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will submit applications to build two new nuclear reactors and restart its oldest reactor after a 22-year shutdown at Browns Ferrys. TVA will also decide by August whether to spend up to $2 billion to complete the unfinished Unit 2 reactor at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. The total cost could exceed $7 billion for design and construction. (Wash Post)

Nuclear Plants Do Not Need To Be Protected From Planes

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ruled 5-to-0 that the nation's 103 nuclear power plants do not need to protect themselves from potential attacks by terrorists using airplanes.
The ruling was in response to a 2004 petition by the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a Los Angeles nonprofit group, that said nuclear plants should build shields made of steel I-beams and cabling or take other steps to prevent a release of radiation in case of an air attack. Eight state attorneys general backed the petition. (NRC) (Wash Post)

Senator James Inhofe Starts Blog

He was the Chairman of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee until the Republicans lost the Senate. He does not believe in global warming. Oh, he believes the temperature is rising, but believes it is a normal Earth adjustment - - just part of another climate cycle in the history of the Earth. Now California's Barbara Boxer chairs the committee and will be promoting climate change legislation like there is no tomorrow.

The Inhofe EPW Press Blog

Ford Edge Hybrid Electric Vehicle Should Be The Future

We like the Ford HySeries Edge. We have been promoting this concept for years. It is the future and should be the future because it gets good mileage and does not emit smog or greenhouse gases. In fact, the only emission is harmless water vapor. Unfortunately, it now costs $2 million. Hopefully mass production and government assistance will help bring that price down to $30,000 or lower.

The Ford Edge is a plug-in fuel cell hybrid with a fuel cell and Lithium-ion battery. This is the ideal. The GM Volt has a Lithium-ion battery too, but the other propulsion component is a gasoline engine. We prefer the Edge. The Edge has a fuel cell that recharges the battery while driving. It has a range of 225 miles with fuel cell recharging. It can be recharged at any outlet.

Much work is still needed on the Lithium-ion batteries. They are unstable and can ignite or explode if not manufactured properly and exposed to high temperatures.

The Polar Bear, the Penguin and the Eagle

The Eagle will be taken off of the Endangered Species List. It is well overdue. There are eagles everwhere. There was even a famous eagle melodrama at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement construction site south of Washington, DC. The delisting was first proposed during the Clinton administration but they just didn't want to do it. Probably for political reasons.

Conversely, global warming is threatening the polar bear by destroying its sea ice habitat in the Arctic region. The Bush administration is proposing to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA is administered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) in the Department of Interior. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced the proposal at a press conference in Washington, DC. Probably not good news to the average Arctic seal, but evidently they are not threatened . Although not proposed to be listed as threatened or endangered, the penguin, according to some reports and studies is also threatened by the deicing of the Arctic.

Plug-In Fuel Cell Hybrid Electric Cars

The Lithium-ion car batteries are expensive. Once they are mass produced the price will come down. And Lithium-ion batteries don't like heat. That little problem can be solved too. The GM Volt, right, is a big step in the right direction. The Volt still has a gasoline engine. We would like to replace that with a fuel cell. The Volt will travel 40 miles on the battery before tapping into the gasoline engine. GM killed off its previous electric vehicle. GM has also sold more cars outside the U.S. than in the U.S. in the last two years. Conversely, Toyota is quickly becoming the top car seller in the U.S. Ford barely held them off for the number 2 position behind GM last year. Toyota Motor Company also has plans to build subcompact cars in China.

We believe the true hybrid car revolution will probably happen in China. Amercans are spoiled and want more creature comforts when the average Chinese citizen might be more interested in a vehicle that will simply take him or her to and from work. Chrysler and China's Chery Automobile Company plans to build small cars for sale worldwide. The tiny 'B-cars' are a good model for the plug-in fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles the Center is promoting. Malcolm Bricklin lost out on a deal to partner with Chery Automobile Comapny to build a revelutionary plug-in hybrid. DaimlerChryler beat him out. (Electric Vehicles in China) (Wall Street Journal)

Malcolm Bricklin To Build Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles

We are on the same page with Malcolm Bricklin left. Remember the gull-wing Bricklin? It was the cult classic car of the 1970s. The coolest car on the road. DeLoreon copied the Bricklin. Now he has his eyes on hybrids. He is currently chairman and CEO of Visionary Vehicles and wants to start fresh and mass produce a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. GM, Ford and Daimler Chrysler also want to introduce a dependable plug-in vehicle.

The ideal vehicle would be one under $10,000 that uses a battery (Lithium-ion or Nickel Metal Hydride), a fuel cell and regenerative braking to power the vehicle. It would be very lightweight. The battery technology needs some work because there are problems with Lithium-ion and high temperatures. But that can be solved. Lithium-ion batteries like to be recharged and they are lightweight. Hopefully these vehicles will get up to 300 miles.

U.S. EPA Names Harold Zenick Director of National Lab

Dr. George Gray, Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office ofResearch and Development (ORD), has named Dr. Harold “Hal” Zenick left, Director of National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (HNEERL), which is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The U.S. EPA’s National Health and Environmental Effects Research Lab isthe largest of ORD's laboratories and centers and produces specializedscientific research to help protect human health and safeguard thenatural environment. NHEERL accomplishes this mission by linking thebest available science and data to the Agency’s goals of making soundpolicy decisions and setting appropriate regulatory requirements.

Dr. Zenick he has been with ORD for 22 years, recently as the acting director andpreviously the deputy director of NHEERL. He has also served as the acting ORD deputy assistan t administrator for science in Washington,D.C., and was a branch chief in EPA's Office of Health and Environmental Assessment. Prior to joining ORD, Dr. Zenick spent 13 years in academia with the Department of Environmental Health in the University of Cincinnati Medical School preceded by an appointment at New Mexico Highlands University. Dr. Zenick has a Ph.D. in physiological psychology from the University of Missouri (Columbia). For more information on the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory: http://www.blogger.com/.

Arlington Country Fights Global Warming

Arlington County government plans to spend $6 million to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. They will pay rebates to residents who use clean energy. The county wants to reduce GHG emissions by 10 percent by 2012. They will spend $5 million to improve energy efficiency in public buildings, $400,000 to plant 1,200 trees, buy wind power and give away 2,000 fluorescent light bulbs.

Montgomery County has a similar program called Clean Energy Rewards where they defray up to 40 percent if they purchase renewable energy through PEPCO and Washington Gas. Montgomery County also buys 10 percent of its of its power from wind companies.

Lithium Ion Battery Compared to Nickel Metal Hydride

The lithium ion (Li ion) battery, left graphics, is a rechargeable battery technology introduced in 1991 that provides greater charge per pound than nickel metal hydride. In 1993, Toshiba introduced the first notebook in the U.S. with a Li-ion battery. Since then, it has become the most popular battery technology for notebooks, cellphones and other handheld devices. In contrast to nickel-based batteries that require full discharges to keep the battery healthy, lithium ion batteries are better with frequent, shallow discharges before charging again.

Lithium is the third lightest element, giving a substantial saving in weight compared to batteries using much heavier metals. lithium-ion batteries should be charged early and often. Li-ion batteries should be kept cool. Ideally they are stored in a refrigerator. Aging will take its toll much faster at high temperatures. The high temperatures found in cars cause lithium-ion batteries to degrade rapidly. Lithium-ion batteries should never be depleted to empty (0%). Lithium-ion batteries can easily rupture, ignite, or explode when exposed to high temperatures, or direct sunlight. They should not be stored in a car during hot weather. Short-circuiting a Li-ion battery can cause it to ignite or explode. Never open a Li-ion battery's casing. Li-ion batteries contain safety devices that protect the cells inside from abuse. If damaged, these can also cause the battery to ignite or explode.

Applications of the Nickel Metal (Cadmium) Hidride (NiMH) type battery, top pictures, includes hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius and consumer electronics. NiMH battery technology was invented developed at the end of the 1980's and commercialised first by Matsushita Company. (Wikipedia, Answers)

Russia Plays Hardball with Gazprom Gas Pipeline

Russia is maximizing profits and manipulating foreign policy with its huge natural gas resources and massive gas pipeline system. Russia is leveraging its natural gas power with European Union countries and its former Soviet Union states. Russia has promised its investors maximum profits by raising rates. Gazprom is the world's 4th largest company.

Gazprom bought a majority stake in Shell's Sakhalin 2 liquefied natural gas development in Russia's Far East for7.25 billion. Critiecs say it was a nationalization. Mitsui & Co and Mitsubishi Corp are Shell's partners in Sakhalin 2.

Gazprom has increased prices on countries that it is at odds with, like Georgia (separatist) and Ukrain (pro-Western). It is also increasing prices on its ally Belarus. The price is being raised from $47 per 1,000 cubic meters to $105. Gazprom also wasts a 50 percent ownership stake in Belarus' national gas company, Beltransgaz. Belarus does not want the partnership. (NYT 12/30/06, Wall St Journal 1/2/07)

Russia Will Never Sign the EU Energy Charter Treaty

The European Union (EU) wants access to Asian gas via the Russian state-owned Gazprom pipeline, but Rissua does not want to give such obligatory access because it does not want its own interests compromised. Although the EU does not have any negotiating leverage over the Russians, the automatic access to Gazprom's pipeline would give them access to cheaper Asian gas, particularly from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Why would Russia allow its EU customers to buy cheaper gas from a competitor?

The EU might also be operating under the myth that there is extra capacity to carry Asian gas. Of course, the EU and Russia need to negotiate some sort of provisions for a practical Energy Charter Treaty. Gazprom has the world's largest gas pipeline network.

Russian Railways

Russian Railways (RR) is a state-owned monopoly that accounts for 3.6 percent of Russia's GDP. It had $22.6 billion in sales in 2004 and operates 85,500 kilometers (53,000 miles) of track. RR has the longest stretch of electrified track in the world - 42,300 kilometers (26,000 miles).

Facts about RR: 1) 624,000 freight wagons and 19,600 freight locotives, 2) employs 1.3 million people, 3) owns nearly 1,000 enterprises and 165 subsidiaries, 4) handles 83 percent of all freight (excluding oil that travels by pipeline), 5) carries 1.3 billion passengers a year and accounts for 41 percent of Russia's passenger transport6) passenger services operate at a loss whereas freight is profitable. (Trendline Russia)

Electric Vehicles in China

The Communist Party's Central Committee wants innovation. The Chinese people will want hundreds of millions of vehicles and in order to prevent health-killing air pollution, the need for pollution-free vehicles and renewable energy in China is clear. Mao Zongqiang is one of China抯 leading experts on hydrogen and other alternative fuels at Tsinghua University's Nuclear and New Energy Institute.

Shen-Li High Tech Co. Ltd., a private company in Shanghai, is manufacturing a hydrogen fuel cell demonstration vehicle. It wants to produce hydrogen power for buses, taxis and generators. The company started operation in 1998 and the founder and president is Hu Liqing, 43. His factory is in Shanghai's suburban Longyang Industrial Garden. The company hopes to find a way to economically mass-produce the propulsion systems. The Shen-Li company is considering a partnership with the state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. to produce the cars, the Suzhou company would produce the buses.

A subsidiary of Fosun Pharmaceutical Corp purchased a 36 percent share of Shen-Li in 2006 and the company is now focused on electricity generators, which offer hope for more immediate sales in China and abroad.

Fuyuan Century Fuel Cell Power Co. Ltd. in suburban Beijing, headed by Zhong, 63, is researching ways to make membranes, which are the key and most expensive element in hydrogen fuel cells. DuPont, in the USA, dominates the market for these components. The Beijing city government purchased three hydrogen-powered demonstration buses from DaimlerChrysler for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

A chemical reaction in the fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electric current to power a vehicle and the waste emission is water vapor. Unfortunately, the problem is that producing, storing and distributing the hydrogen costs money and requires an infrastructure of filling stations that does not exist. (Wash Post)

Acid Rain Program Shows Continued Success

The U.S. EPA released its Acid Rain Program 2005 Progress Report, marking the 11th year of one of the most widely regarded and successful environmental programs in U.S. history. Since 1995, the program has significantly reduced acid deposition in the United States by decreasing sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions. Due to rigorous emissions monitoring and allowance tracking, overall compliance with the Acid Rain Program has been consistently high at nearly 100 percent.

There were no units out of compliance in 2005. In 2005, SO2 emissions from electric power generation were more than 5.5 million tons below 1990 levels. NOx emissions were down by about 3 million tons below 1990 levels. The program's emission cuts have reduced acid deposition and improved water quality in U.S. lakes and streams.The emission reductions to date also have resulted in reduced formation of fine particles, improved air quality, and human health related benefits.

A 2005 analysis in the Journal of Environmental Management estimated the value of the program's human health and environmental benefits in the year 2010 to be $122 billion annually (2000$). Most ofthese benefits result from the prevention of air quality-related health impacts, such as premature deaths and work days missed due to illness, but they also include improved visibility in parks and other recreational and ecosystem improvements.

Issued in March 2005, the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) will build upon the Acid Rain Program to further reduce SO2 and NOx emissions. CAIR achieves large reductions of SO2 and NOx emissions across 28 eastern states and the District of Columbia. When fully implemented, CAIR will reduce SO2 emissions in these states by more than 70 percent and NOx emissions by more than 60 percent from 2003 levels.

The Acid Rain Progress report summarizes human health and environmental improvements due to the program. The report also includes sections oncompliance strategies, surface water quality monitoring, environmentaljustice, and EPA's framework for accountability.

Emission & Allowance Data & Maps

The Acid Rain Program 2005 Progress Report

Department of Energy October Short-Term Energy Outlook

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) October Short-Term Energy Outlook Highlights:

* Households heating primarily with electricity can expect a slight price increase this winter and the demand for electricity is likely to continue to grow through 2007.

* Prices for petroleum products and natural gas are projected to increase from their current levels, but are not expected to surpass last winter’s levels.

* Next spring’s gasoline inventories are expected to be lower than last spring’s and colder winter weather would reduce gasoline output.

* The world oil requirement is expected to increase, resulting in an increase in the demand from OPEC. OPEC is not likely to increase crude oil production.

Short-Term Energy Outlook Report

EPA Publishes Updated List for Boutique Fuels

To comply with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, EPA has published a list of "boutique fuels." This list serves as the basis for any future adoption of boutique fuels into State Implementation Plans. A boutique fuel is a unique fuel blend developed by a state or local air pollution agency and approved by EPA as part of a State Implementation Plan to support meeting national air quality standards. The list limits the number and type of different fuels used around the country.

The existence of too many fuel types in a given area may present challenges for production, distribution, and storage during periodic disruptions like refinery shutdowns and weather-related incidents. To address this issue, President Bush directed EPA Administrator StephenJohnson to convene a Boutique Fuels Task Force. A report detailing the findings from this Boutique Fuels Task Force was published in late June.

Butique Fuel List
Boutique Fuel Task Force