Mylan recalls painkiller pills made by Qualitest

Dec 20 (Reuters) - Generic drug maker Mylan Inc said on Thursday it is recalling three lots of hydrocone bitartrate, the generic name for Vicodin, and acetaminophen tablets because of concerns that a small number of tablets were too large and therefore too strong.

The drugs were made for Mylan by Qualitest, a unit of Endo Health Solutions Inc, which recalled 101 lots of the pills earlier this month on concerns over the oversized drugs.

The increased acetaminophen content could cause damage to the liver, particularly if the patient is already taking acetaminophen, has liver dysfunction, or consumes more than 3 alcoholic beverages a day, the Food and Drug Administration said on Dec. 6 when Qualitest started the recall.

The recall affects only pills labeled as having 10 milligrams of hydrocodone bitartrate and 500 milligrams of acetaminophen, the generic ingredient in Tylenol.

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Obama praises Hagel as a ‘patriot’

President Obama defended former Sen. Chuck Hagel's (R-Neb.) record on Sunday, rebuffing attacks on the potential nominee for Defense secretary.

Asked whether there was anything that easily disqualified Hagel from becoming secretary of Defense, the president said "not that I see."

"I've served with Chuck Hagel.  I know him.  He is a patriot," Obama said in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "He is somebody who has done extraordinary work both in the United States Senate, somebody who served this country with valor in Vietnam.  And is somebody who's currently serving on my intelligence advisory board and doing an outstanding job."

Hagel, who is believed to be Obama's top choice to replace Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, has recently received criticism for comments he made 14 years ago in opposition to the nomination of James Hormel, who is gay, to serve as ambassador to Luxemborg. The Log Cabin Republicans, a group representing gay Republicans, recently published a full page ad in The New York Times urging Obama to not nominate Hagel for the Pentagon's top post. 

Critics have also attacked Hagel on his stances on Iran and Israel. Foreign policy hawks say Hagel would not take the necessary steps to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. A number of conservative groups have also questioned Hagel's views on Israel, citing the former senator's comments about the "Jewish lobby" trying to influence legislators. 

Obama added that he has not made a decision yet on whom to nominate to succeed Panetta.

Obama noted, though, that Hagel had apologized for his comments on Hormel. 

"I think it's a testimony to what has been a positive change over the last decade in terms of people's attitudes about gays and lesbians serving our country," Obama added. "And that's something that I'm very proud to have led.  And I think that anybody who serves in my administration understands my attitude and position on those issues."

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Remembering Environmentalist Becky Tarbotton, 1973-2012

by Tina Gerhardt, via The Progressive

“We need to remember that the work of our time is bigger than climate change. We need to be setting our sights higher and deeper. What we’re really talking about, if we’re honest with ourselves, is transforming everything about the way we live on this planet. We don’t always know exactly what it is that creates social change. It takes everything from science all the way to faith, and it’s that fertile place right in the middle where really exceptional campaigning happens - and that is where I strive to be.”

– Rebecca Tarbotton

Leading environmentalist and human rights activist, Rebecca “Becky” Tarbotton, executive director of the San Francisco-based organization Rainforest Action Network (RAN), died in a swimming accident north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Wednesday, December 26, 2012. She was vacationing with her husband and close friends.

She was swimming in the open ocean, encountered some rough waves and inhaled water. Although she was rescued and brought ashore, she could not be revived. According to the police report, she died of asphyxiation.

Nell Greenberg, communications director for RAN, said, “Becky was an emerging star who was galvanizing an ever-growing movement of people demanding environmental and social change.”

Tarbotton was an environmentalist and human rights activist. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on July 30, 1973, she completed her B.A. in Geography at McGill University and a M.A. in Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia.

Her work began with indigenous communities in far northern Canada. She subsequently lived in Ladakh, India, for eight years, working for the International Society for Ecology and Culture.

Tarbotton took the helm of RAN in 2010, the first woman to do so in the organization’s 27-year history. She led campaigns to preserve rainforests and protect indigenous rights, pushing to the fore the nexus of fossil fuel use, forest degradation and global warming.

Michael Brune, former executive director of RAN and now executive director of the Sierra Club, said, “Becky was a force against deforestation and corporate greed. She was a rising star. We need more women to be leading environmental, and losing a leader and friend like Becky is especially painful.”

Her most recent success was brokering a deal with Walt Disney that would eliminate their use of paper produced from the logging of endangered forests.

Bill McKibben of 350.org said, “She was a fighter with a spring in her step and a bit of fire in her eye.”

“Becky was a leader’s leader. She could walk into the White House and cause a corporate titan to reevaluate his perspective, and then moments later sit down with leaders from other movements and convince them to follow her lead,” Ben Jealous, executive director of the NAACP and a close friend, said. “If we had more heroes like her, America and the world would be a much better place.”

She is survived by her husband, Mateo Williford; her brothers Jesse Tarbotton and Cameron Tarbotton, and her mother, Mary Tarbotton, of Vancouver, BC. Her ashes will be scattered off of Hornby Island in British Columbia where her family owns a cabin and where she spent much time with family and friends.

Public memorial services will be held in San Francisco and in Vancouver. Dates are still to be determined.

For those who would like to send condolences to her family, please send them to the RAN office, 425 Bush Street, Ste 300, San Francisco, CA 94108.

Tina Gerhardt is an independent journalist and academic who covers international climate negotiations, domestic energy policy and related direct actions. Her work has appeared in Alternet, Grist, The Nation, The Progressive and the Washington Monthly. This piece was originally published at The Progressive and was reprinted with permission from the author.

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U.S. food, animal health groups petition FDA on ractopamine

* Action comes after Russia rejects feed additive in meat

* Groups want FDA to study long-term impacts, restrict use

Dec 20 (Reuters) - Food safety and animal welfare groups on Thursday filed a legal petition against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seeking limits on an animal feed additive that is the subject of concerns about human and animal health.

Russia said earlier this month that it was requiring meat it imports to be tested and certified free of the feed additive ractopamine, a move jeopardizing the more than $500 million a year in exports of U.S. beef and pork to that country.

U.S. trade authorities have taken a stand against Russia's sudden decision to require that meat imports be documented as free of ractopamine and have urged Russia to suspend such measures.

Ractopamine is fed to animals to accelerate growth and make their meat leaner, but countries such as China have banned its use amid concerns the additive may be harmful to the animals and that traces of the drug could persist in meat products.

In their petition to the FDA, the Center for Food Safety and the Animal Legal Defense Fund called for an immediate reduction in the allowable levels of ractopamine and asked FDA to study the long-term effect of human consumption and the impacts on animals associated with ractopamine.

"FDA's approval for ractopamine relied primarily on safety studies conducted by the drug-maker, Elanco," the groups said in a statement. "A review of available evidence collected from FDA and the European Food Safety Authority calls FDA's approvals into question."

The groups said that ractopamine is fed to an estimated 60 to 80 percent of U.S. pigs, and has resulted in more reports of sickened or dead pigs than any other livestock drug on the market. Ractopamine effects may include toxicity and other exposure risks, such as behavioral changes and cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, reproductive, and endocrine problems, the groups said.

About 160 countries ban or restrict ractopamine, including all the nations of the European Union, China, Taiwan, and Russia, the groups said.

The FDA had no immediate comment.

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Modest Steps Could Add Up To Big Success For Clean Energy In 2013

by Noah Ginsberg, via the American Council on Renewable Energy

Looking back at 2012, one thing is certain in the sea of the year’s uncertainty; renewable energy experienced significant growth.

The U.S. solar industry grew at a rate of 13.2%.  A global oversupply of solar panels lowered prices for American consumers, resulting in higher demand and greater profits for solar installation companies. SolarCity’s IPO proved to be successful despite claims that its stock would immediately plummet. And even with excessive political attacks by opponents of renewable energy – over $250 million spent in the 2012 election – the industry has gained strong public support across the country.  Industries such as wind, biofuels, geothermal, hydropower, electric transportation, and solar have achieved success in 2012 but the next step in supporting growth is creating a more stable policy landscape.

Creating a stable policy landscape should start with an extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC), which expires at the end of 2012. The PTC has been very effective in bringing wind energy and other renewable energy sources to scale, unlocking billions of dollars in private investment for wind energy. It encouraged the development of almost 4 GW of wind energy in the first ten months of 2012 alone. The PTC has also contributed to a 38% drop in project development costs for wind farms in the past four years. In order to continue the strong trajectory the industry is on, an extension of the PTC for 2013 and beyond is needed, albeit with an appropriate timeline for a phaseout.

Adopting legislation to qualify renewables as Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) would also attract additional capital into renewable energy development. According to Secretary Chu of the Department of Energy, if MLP legislation is signed into law and renewable energy is considered a “qualified” energy source under MLP legislation, there will be a significant increase in investments in renewable energy development. Furthermore, it will create a stable financial landscape for both small and large-scale investors who wish to enter the market. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware has proposed MLP legislation for renewable energy and his legislation may see bipartisan support in the early months of 2013.

Every year, critics of renewable energy get louder even as the prices of electricity generated from renewable sources decrease. Although 2012 was an election year and political attacks were targeted at renewable energy, the industry braved the storm. The business case for renewable energy has gotten stronger in 2012 and will continue to do so – even if there are some bumps on the horizon.

Now more than ever, the potential, production, and capacity for renewable energy are enormous, but with sound energy policy the potential is exponentially greater. Political gridlock is looming in 2013. The year may not start the way anybody wants it to, but it still has the potential to end on a very high note for American renewable energy.

Noah Ginsberg is a Communications Associate for ACORE. This piece was originally published at ACORE and was reprinted with permission.

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Sen. Graham vows to oppose new federal assault weapons ban

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) pledged Sunday to oppose legislation to reinstate the federal assault weapons ban.

"I think the assault weapons ban didn't work then. It's not going to work now, and I will oppose it," Graham said on "Fox News Sunday."

Graham's opposition comes as a number of legislators prepare to push new measures to reduce gun violence in response to a shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. that claimed the lives of 27, including 20 children. 

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) plans to introduce a new federal assault weapons ban in the next Congress. And on Sunday, President Obama said he wanted to sign into law new gun-control measures in 2013. 

Graham said the last assault weapons ban, which lasted for ten years, was ineffective.

"Well, we had the assault weapons ban from 1994 to 2004 and the conclusion was, it did not change crime by banning assault weapons in an appreciable way, and last year with the lowest murder rate in the history of the United States, people buying more guns, murder rates have gone down -- you are talking about preventing mass murder by mentally unstable persons," Graham said. "You can't take every sharp object out of the reach of people like this."

Graham suggested he supported a proposal by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to post armed guards in schools to prevent shooting massacres similar to Sandy Hook. 

"I own an AR-15 and I have done nothing wrong by owning the gun. If you had armed security, with better rules of engagement, that, to me, is a better way to deal with the situation," Graham said. "And the best way is to identify these people before they act and do something about it."

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Senate Panel Faults State Department And Pentagon In Benghazi Attack Report

A bipartisan Senate Homeland Security report to be released today has found that the State and Defense Departments share blame for the security failures that resulted in the death of 5 Americans after an attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya back in September.

An independent review earlier this month faulted the State Department for failing to adequately respond to security requests prior to the attacks and called for restoring diplomatic security funding Republicans previously cut. While State Department officials have previously accepted responsibility for inadequate security in Benghazi, the new Senate report expands blame to the Pentagon, the Hill reports:

The report also blames the Pentagon, finding that the Defense Department (DOD) had failed to place adequate resources in the region to respond “in the event of a crisis.”

“Although DOD attempted to quickly mobilize its resources, it did not have assets or personnel close enough to reach Benghazi in a timely fashion,” the report concludes.

The Senate report also criticizes the Obama administration’s mixed messages in the aftermath of the Benghazi assault, claiming the White House was “inconsistent” about whether it constituted a terror attack. The inconsistency “contributed to the confusion in the public discourse” about the attacks, wrote Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME).

“We’re going to solve this,” President Obama said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. “We’re not going to pretend that this was not a problem. This was a huge problem. And we’re going to implement every single recommendation that’s been put forward.”

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Open Thread Plus Cartoon Of The Week

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Editor’s Choice: Five Important U.S. Energy Stories Of 2012

The presidential and congressional elections dominated the American news cycle in 2012. And although climate change took a backseat during the campaign, energy played a surprisingly prominent role.

The news cycle was dominated by energy: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made fossil fuel extraction his number one priority; fossil fuel interests spent hundreds of millions of dollars to promote oil, coal, and gas during the election; and President Obama busily defended his promotion of renewable energy after getting attacked by the fossil fuel lobby.

Looking back at 2012, here are some of the most important energy stories of the year:

AP Fact Check: In 36 Years Of Data, Not A Shred Of Evidence That Drilling Reduces Gas Prices

In March, the Associated Press analyzed more than 30 years of gas price and domestic drilling data. It found absolutely no correlation between increased domestic drilling and lower prices for consumers. Why? Because oil is a global market and U.S. production represents a small portion of global demand.

This was a particularly important story in 2012. Throughout the election season, the fossil fuel lobby and proponents of “drill-baby-drill” pushed a plan for unchecked fossil fuel development, falsely claiming it would lower gas prices. Experience proved otherwise. Even though the U.S. is producing more oil than at any point since the mid 1990's, gas prices have remained “stubbornly high.”

Big Polluters Spend $270 Million In Final Months Of 2012 Elections

Fossil fuel interests spent unprecedented amounts of money this election season. In the last two months of the campaign, groups promoting fossil fuels spent $270 million on television ads to influence the presidential, House, and Senate races. From April to November, these groups spent $265.9 million on the presidential campaign alone, according to a Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis.

But the lavish spending didn’t work. Despite spending record amounts of money, polluter groups failed to change the presidency, failed to change the balance of power in Congress, and failed to give Republicans the important coal states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Environmental Groups Celebrate A Political Victory: ‘Knock, Baby, Knock’ Beat ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’

Judging by pure spending, the 2012 election wasn’t looking good for environmentalists. Polluter groups outspent environmental groups 4-1, making it seem like the momentum was on their side. But the results showed otherwise: Four out of the “flat earth five” climate deniers in the House lost their races; Seven of eight Senate candidates supported by environmental groups won their races, thus preventing Republicans from taking the Senate and cutting off the drumbeat of anti-environmental legislation in the House; 11 of the 12 “Climate Heroes” promoted by environmentalists won their races; and the President kept his job.

While gridlock will likely define Obama’s second term, environmental advocates said the 2012 elections proved their strength: “We went head to head with the likes of Crossroads and Karl Rove,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife, after the elections.

Shell’s Woes In The Arctic Underscore Challenges In The Region

The Arctic is shedding ice at an alarming rate due to global warming. The response? Oil companies want to use the opportunity to look for more offshore oil and gas that will only accelerate warming. In 2012, Shell became the first company to drill exploratory wells in U.S. Arctic waters, raising concerns about the local and global environmental impact. (For more on this, check out the great documentary produced by the Center for American Progress oceans team).

Shell’s troubles throughout the year proved just how tough it is to drill in the region. From crushing its oil containment unit “like a beer can” to losing control of its drilling rig, the company faced numerous challenges. And major organizations responded. In April, insurance giant Lloyd’s of London warned that responding to an oil spill in a region that is “highly sensitive to damage” would present “multiple obstacles, which together constitute a unique and hard-to-manage risk“; German bank WestLB announced it would not finance offshore oil or gas drilling in the Arctic, saying the “risks and costs are simply too high”; and Total SA, the fourth largest publicly traded oil and gas company in the world, said drilling in the region could be a “disaster.”

Renewable Electricity Nearly Doubles Under Obama

President Obama was attacked hard in 2012 for his promotion of renewable energy, green jobs, and environmental regulations. Many opponents claimed that stimulus investments in renewables didn’t work. But the figures told otherwise.

According to figures from the Energy Information Administration, non-hydro renewable electricity generation has nearly doubled since Obama took office, reaching 5.75 percent of net electricity. In 2008, before Obama entered the White House, non-hydro resources like solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass represented just over 3 percent of generation. While political uncertainty has made 2013 prospects for renewables uncertain, the U.S. has still maintained a strong role in the global market. Since 2004, one trillion dollars have been invested in the global clean energy sector, with a large portion of that coming from the American private and public sectors.

This is just a small selection of the many important stories throughout the year. Tell us what your top energy stories are below.

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Weekly Address: Congress Must Protect the Middle Class from Income Tax Hike

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Hello Everybody. For the past couple months, I’ve been working with people in both parties – with the help of business leaders and ordinary Americans – to come together around a plan to grow the economy and shrink our deficits.

It’s a balanced plan – one that would protect the middle class, cut spending in a responsible way, and ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more.  And I’ll keep working with anybody who’s serious about getting a comprehensive plan like this done – because it’s the right thing to do for our economic growth.

But we’re now at the point where, in just a couple days, the law says that every American’s tax rates are going up. Every American’s paycheck will get a lot smaller. And that would be the wrong thing to do for our economy. It would hurt middle-class families, and it would hurt the businesses that depend on your spending. 

And Congress can prevent it from happening, if they act now. Leaders in Congress are working on a way to prevent this tax hike on the middle class, and I believe we may be able to reach an agreement that can pass both houses in time.

But if an agreement isn’t reached in time, then I’ll urge the Senate to hold an up-or-down vote on a basic package that protects the middle class from an income tax hike, extends vital unemployment insurance for Americans looking for a job, and lays the groundwork for future progress on more economic growth and deficit reduction. 

I believe such a proposal could pass both houses with bipartisan majorities – as long as these leaders allow it to come to a vote. If they still want to vote no, and let this tax hike hit the middle class, that’s their prerogative – but they should let everyone vote. That’s the way this is supposed to work. 

We just can’t afford a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy. The economy is growing, but keeping it that way means that the folks you sent to Washington have to do their jobs. The housing market is healing, but that could stall if folks are seeing smaller paychecks.  The unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since 2008, but already, families and businesses are starting to hold back because of the dysfunction they see in Washington. 

You meet your deadlines and your responsibilities every day. The folks you sent here to serve should do the same. We cannot let Washington politics get in the way of America’s progress. We’ve got to do what it takes to protect the middle class, grow this economy, and move our country forward.

Thanks, everybody.

President Obama urges Congress to meet its deadlines and responsibilities, protect the middle class from an income tax hike, and lay the groundwork for future progress on more economic growth and deficit reduction.

Take a look at the videos that have been viewed the most.

At a press conference following a meeting with Senate and House leaders, the President said that he is optimistic an agreement that can pass both houses will be reached in time.

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The Year In Solar Power: Prices Crash, Sales Soar, Industry Restructures, Saudis Leap In, CSP Suffers

Financial Innovation and Collaboration Takes the Solar Cake

If you ask Tom Kimbis what he thinks was one of the most important developments of 2012 for solar energy, he may tell you something you didn’t quite expect to hear. Kimbis, VP of External Affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), says that much of the credit for what’s being seen as a landmark year for downstream solar growth belongs not to technical innovations, but financial innovations — the kind that are making it increasingly possible for people everywhere to be able to afford solar without having to take out a second mortgage on their homes.

“Innovation can take place throughout the entire value chain,” Kimbis said. “We’ve seen phenomenal innovation with the various leasing and third party ownership models that have driven the markets in the U.S. forward more than the increase in cell efficiency.”

According to the U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, which was released by SEIA and GTM Research, 2012 has seen total installed solar capacity in the United States reach 1,992 MW. This far exceeds the annual total capacity reached in 2011, which was 1,885 MW — a not inconsiderable accomplishment, considering that 2012 isn’t even over yet. There were 684 MW of solar capacity installation in the third quarter of 2012 alone, and in that same time frame the residential PV sector installed over 118 MW of capacity.

Kimbis credits the biggest quarterly growth yet for U.S. residential PV to an increase in third party solar leasing options for consumers, which he likens to financial options that car buyers have — where instead of having to pay cash, leasing or financing options help make ownership a possibility. “Overcoming that first cost issue is what the third party ownership’s all about,” Kimbis said.

Upstream financial collaborations also led to the green lighting of numerous global projects in 2012, including the Letsatsi and Lesedi solar farms in South Africa. Both were made possible by dollars from U.S. developer SolarReserve and two local companies, Intikon Energy and Kensani Capital. In Peru, OPIC came together with Latin America’s development bank CAF and investment firm Conduit Capital Partners for the funding of two solar projects that will result in a combined solar capacity of 40 MW.

Oversupply Goes Up, PV Cost Goes Down

Despite a boom in solar demand in the United States in 2012 and a growth rate which SEIA estimates will be at about 70 percent over last year (compared to 14 percent global market growth), the reality of global PV panel oversupply remains an issue of concern.

In 2012, that oversupply led to a showdown between Chinese solar manufacturers and the United States Department of Commerce. Chinese manufacturers were accused of dumping their oversupply into the U.S. market at such low prices that they injured the ability of US-based solar manufacturers to compete fairly. This ultimately led to a decision by the International Trade Administration to levy tariffs to levy tariffs on the importation of solar modules using cells manufactured in China. In the final ruling, it was announced that the tariffs would range from 24 percent to 36 percent.

Alas, the old adage about every cloud having a silver lining may be very true, especially if you look at it from a global perspective. In 2012, oversupply led to low cost, which in turn drove an increased global expansion in development among wealthy and developing nations alike, all eager to capitalize on the low cost of materials.

Marc Norman, lawyer for Chadbourne & Parke LLP and director of the Emirates Solar Industry Association (ESIA), called this a possible case of “creative destruction” that’s given developing countries an opportunity to enter the solar game.

Norman said that the low cost of solar PV could enable developing countries in particular to benefit from solar technology without even being connected to the power grid. “Solar technology can be applied off-grid,” Norman said. “For example, in rural areas where there’s a lack of infrastructure. There’s a golden opportunity for more bottom-up market evolution, as opposed to a more traditional top-down approach.”

Kimbis agrees, noting the inherent irony: “Falling pricing is a double edged sword. It’s great for deployment, it’s great for the consumer, and it’s caused greater amounts of solar installation. On the other hand, falling prices have yielded smaller margins for manufacturers, making it tougher to survive in a very competitive climate.”

Industry Jobs and Widespread Bankruptcies

In the United States, 2012 showed evidence that growth in the solar industry occurred at a much faster rate than other industries. According to The Solar Foundation’s National Solar Jobs Census report, U.S. employment in the solar industry grew at a rate of 13.2 percent and the sector added 13,872 jobs in 2012, while Bureau of Labor statistics indicated that solar accounted for 1 out of every 230 jobs created.

This information may seem to fly in the face of the numerous solar company bankruptcies and consolidations that have taken place globally in the last year, but according to Kimbis, that’s par for the course in an emerging industry.

“It’s just like any other industry,” Kimbis said. “Competition is extreme. This is something that the industry has known about for awhile; companies have been bracing for global competition for the last several years. It’s a story which has repeated itself through everything from personal computing, to telecom, to the automobile industry.”

Job outlook, while encouraging within the United States, was not so rosy in China in 2012. In November, it was reported that Suntech Power Holdings (which is the world’s biggest maker of solar panels) would be shedding some 1,500 jobs in China to reduce operating costs and ratchet down on solar cell capacity.

Saudi Arabia: The Dark Horse

When discussing landmark events in solar, it’s impossible to ignore what took place in Saudi Arabia earlier in 2012. In May, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (also known as K.A.CARE) established the goal to develop 54,000 MW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Why is an oil-rich nation like Saudi Arabia concerned with adopting renewable energy? Quite simply, to limit the local consumption of oil so that exports can be increased. With low cost access to oil and unchecked usage, it’s believed that Saudi Arabia could find itself entirely out of the oil exportation business by 2030.

Under K.A.CARE’s proposed plan, 41,000 MW of the total 54,000 MW capacity will come whole from solar: 16,000 MW from photovoltaic (PV) projects and 25,000 from solar thermal projects. As a first phase, 700 MW of utility-scale projects are set to be undertaken by the end of 2013.

Norman calls the K.A.CARE program “a massive game changer for the global renewable energy industry, and particularly solar” and says that it could also have a beneficial impact on the local job market in Saudi. Unemployment is estimated at around 10 percent in the Kingdom. “The government sees this as an opportunity to create a global center of excellence for renewables, in addition to job creation.”

Norman explains that Saudi Arabia will require a certain percentage of local content on all renewables projects; this is seen as a means to stimulate the local job market.

2012’s Impact on CSP

With the low cost of solar PV panels, some may wonder what impact 2012 had on the solar thermal market, of which concentrated solar power (CSP) is a big part. Did CSP suffer due to the comparatively low cost of solar PV? It depends on who you ask, really.

The answer to that question, according to Norman, is obvious. “As a result of the reduction in PV prices, CSP has taken a hit in the last few years,” Norman said. “But they also have an advantage that can’t be overlooked, and that’s storage. Some developers have devised CSP plants that can store energy. That’s something that PV technology can’t measure up to at present.”

Not everyone sees 2012 as having been a good year for CSP. Jigar Shah, partner at Inerjys Ventures, predicted the death of CSP as far back as 2007 and calls it a technology that’s officially punched the big ticket. “I think in 2012, CSP basically died,” Shah said. “Siemens shut down their CSP plant. Areva is building one unit in Morocco,  but they shut down CSP plants in Australia and a few other places. BrightSource wasn’t able to go public, so they’ve got an existing utility contract they’re honoring with an existing DOE loan guarantee — and I don’t think anyone believes that they’re going to get a second contract. CSP is dead.”

While the aforementioned U.S. Solar Market Insight Report mentioned several large scale CSP projects underway in the United States, it was reported that the third quarter of 2012 saw no new capacity installed in that segment.

Additional Solar Highlights from Around the World in 2012

In June, Chile brought its largest PV plant online. Although modest in comparison with the scope of other global projects, the 1 MW Calama Solar 3 was an important step that has since resulted in increased interest among developers and investors. There were other notable Latin American solar developments in 2012, including two Peruvian solar farms (the already operational Tacna solar farm and the still in production Panamericana solar farm) whose combined generating capacity will reach 40 MW.In Germany, a 145 MW solar park in Neuhardenberg, Brandenberg, was constructed in a record-breaking five weeks. The solar park was finished just under the wire to beat the expiration of subsidies for PV installations greater than 10 MW in size. The construction of Neuhardenberg solar park, which is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2012, helped push Germany’s total installed solar capacity for the year to over 7,000 MW.8minuteenergy Renewables, a solar PV developer located in southern California, received the financial stamp of approval in November to proceed with construction on a project that, once in operation, will be the largest PV farm in the world. The Mount Signal solar farm, which is being constructed in Imperial Valley, will generate 800 MW (DC) of utility-scale energy.The Charanka Solar Park in Gujarat, India, is home to numerous independent solar power stations, occupying approximately 2000-hectares of land. While many the park’s solar stations remain in production, 2012 saw its combined total output capacity reach nearly 700 MW.In an effort to shore up their enormous oversupply of solar panels, China decided in 2012 to underwrite a $1.6B loan — through the China Development Bank (CDB), which is seen as the engine behind the country’s economic development — to essentially create downstream demand within its borders. The loan was given to Shanghai-headquartered Sky Solar, which earlier in 2012 broke ground on two PV projects in China: one 800-MW project in the Xinjiang Province, and another 50 MW plant in the Qinghai Province.

Vince Font is a professional freelance writer specializing in the fields of renewable energy, high tech, travel, and entertainment. Read his blog at www.vincefont.com or follow him on Twitter @vincefont. This piece was originally published at Renewable Energy World and was reprinted with permission.

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Weekly Address: Congress Must Protect the Middle Class from Income Tax Hike

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Hello Everybody. For the past couple months, I’ve been working with people in both parties – with the help of business leaders and ordinary Americans – to come together around a plan to grow the economy and shrink our deficits.

It’s a balanced plan – one that would protect the middle class, cut spending in a responsible way, and ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more.  And I’ll keep working with anybody who’s serious about getting a comprehensive plan like this done – because it’s the right thing to do for our economic growth.

But we’re now at the point where, in just a couple days, the law says that every American’s tax rates are going up. Every American’s paycheck will get a lot smaller. And that would be the wrong thing to do for our economy. It would hurt middle-class families, and it would hurt the businesses that depend on your spending. 

And Congress can prevent it from happening, if they act now. Leaders in Congress are working on a way to prevent this tax hike on the middle class, and I believe we may be able to reach an agreement that can pass both houses in time.

But if an agreement isn’t reached in time, then I’ll urge the Senate to hold an up-or-down vote on a basic package that protects the middle class from an income tax hike, extends vital unemployment insurance for Americans looking for a job, and lays the groundwork for future progress on more economic growth and deficit reduction. 

I believe such a proposal could pass both houses with bipartisan majorities – as long as these leaders allow it to come to a vote. If they still want to vote no, and let this tax hike hit the middle class, that’s their prerogative – but they should let everyone vote. That’s the way this is supposed to work. 

We just can’t afford a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy. The economy is growing, but keeping it that way means that the folks you sent to Washington have to do their jobs. The housing market is healing, but that could stall if folks are seeing smaller paychecks.  The unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since 2008, but already, families and businesses are starting to hold back because of the dysfunction they see in Washington. 

You meet your deadlines and your responsibilities every day. The folks you sent here to serve should do the same. We cannot let Washington politics get in the way of America’s progress. We’ve got to do what it takes to protect the middle class, grow this economy, and move our country forward.

Thanks, everybody.

President Obama urges Congress to meet its deadlines and responsibilities, protect the middle class from an income tax hike, and lay the groundwork for future progress on more economic growth and deficit reduction.

At a press conference following a meeting with Senate and House leaders, the President said that he is optimistic an agreement that can pass both houses will be reached in time.

A new release of White House visitor records brings the grand total of records that this White House has released to more than 2.8 million.

view all related blog posts

View the original article here

GOP Senators Want To Take Debt Ceiling Hostage In Order To Raise Retirement Age

Two Republican senators want to use the threat of an economic meltdown to raise the retirement age and cut Medicare. Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced a plan today that would raise the federal debt limit by $1 trillion in exchange for $1 trillion in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, as The Hill reported:

The Corker-Alexander dollar-for-dollar plan has several components.

It would structurally reform Medicare by creating competing private options giving seniors greater choice of healthcare plans. It would not, however, cap Medicare spending.

The plan would also give states more flexibility to manage Medicaid programs and prevent states from “gaming the federal share of the program with state tax charges.”

It would gradually raise the Social Security retirement age and use the “chained CPI” formula to calculate cost-of-living adjustments, curbing the growing cost of benefits.

In exchange, it would direct the debt limit be increased by the same amount as the savings generated from entitlement reform.

The U.S. will hit its debt limit on or around December 31st. The Treasury Department estimates that, using extraordinary measures, it could avoid default for another two months or so. Allowing the U.S. to default on its debt via not raising the debt ceiling could cause a complete financial meltdown. The 2011 debt ceiling debacle — during which House Republicans nearly pushed the country into a default due to their intransigence on taxes — cost the country about $19 billion in higher interest payments and at least one million jobs.

Corker and Alexander are threatening more economic chaos in order to achieve one of the most regressive potential policy changes. Though lawmakers point to America’s increasing life expectancy in order to justify raising the retirement age, life expectancy is only increasing for wealthier workers in non-physical jobs. As the Center for Economic and Policy Research put it, “there has been a sharp rise in inequality in life expectancy by income over the last three decades that mirrors the growth in inequality in income.”

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Statement by the President

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

5:52 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. For the past couple of months, I’ve been working with leaders of both parties to try and forge an agreement that would grow our economy and shrink the deficit -- a balanced plan that would cut spending in a responsible way but also ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more, and, above all, protect our middle class and everybody who is striving to get into the middle class.

I still want to get this done. It’s the right thing to do for our families, for our businesses, and for our entire economy. But the hour for immediate action is here.  It is now. 

We’re now at the point where, in just four days, every American’s tax rates are scheduled to go up by law. Every American’s paycheck will get considerably smaller.  And that would be the wrong thing to do for our economy, it would be bad for middle-class families, and it would be bad for businesses that depend on family spending. Fortunately, Congress can prevent it from happening if they act right now.

I just had a good and constructive discussion here at the White House with Senate and House leadership about how to prevent this tax hike on the middle class, and I’m optimistic we may still be able to reach an agreement that can pass both houses in time. Senators Reid and McConnell are working on such an agreement as we speak.

But if an agreement isn’t reached in time between Senator Reid and Senator McConnell, then I will urge Senator Reid to bring to the floor a basic package for an up-or-down vote –- one that protects the middle class from an income tax hike, extends the vital lifeline of unemployment insurance to two million Americans looking for a job, and lays the groundwork for future cooperation on more economic growth and deficit reduction. 

I believe such a proposal could pass both houses with bipartisan majorities as long as those leaders allow it to actually come to a vote.  If members of the House or the Senate want to vote no, they can –- but we should let everybody vote. That’s the way this is supposed to work.  If you can get a majority in the House and you can get a majority in the Senate, then we should be able to pass a bill. 

So the American people are watching what we do here. Obviously, their patience is already thin. This is déjà vu all over again. America wonders why it is that in this town, for some reason, you can't get stuff done in an organized timetable; why everything always has to wait until the last minute. Well, we're now at the last minute, and the American people are not going to have any patience for a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy. Not right now. 

The economy is growing, but sustaining that trend is going to require elected officials to do their jobs. The housing market is recovering, but that could be impacted if folks are seeing smaller paychecks. The unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since 2008, but already you're seeing businesses and consumers starting to hold back because of the dysfunction that they see in Washington. 

Economists, business leaders all think that we’re poised to grow in 2013 –- as long as politics in Washington don’t get in the way of America’s progress. 

So we've got to get this done. I just want to repeat -- we had a constructive meeting today.  Senators Reid and McConnell are discussing a potential agreement where we can get a bipartisan bill out of the Senate, over to the House and done in a timely fashion so that we've met the December 31st deadline. But given how things have been working in this town, we always have to wait and see until it actually happens. The one thing that the American people should not have to wait and see is some sort of action.  

So if we don’t see an agreement between the two leaders in the Senate, I expect a bill to go on the floor -- and I've asked Senator Reid to do this -- put a bill on the floor that makes sure that taxes on middle-class families don’t go up, that unemployment insurance is still available for two million people, and that lays the groundwork, then, for additional deficit reduction and economic growth steps that we can take in the New Year. 

But let's not miss this deadline.  That’s the bare minimum that we should be able to get done, and it shouldn’t be that hard since Democrats and Republicans both say they don’t want to see taxes go up on middle-class families. 

I just have to repeat -- outside of Washington, nobody understands how it is that this seems to be a repeat pattern over and over again.  Ordinary folks, they do their jobs. They meet deadlines. They sit down and they discuss things, and then things happen. If there are disagreements, they sort through the disagreements. The notion that our elected leadership can't do the same thing is mind-boggling to them. It needs to stop. 

So I'm modestly optimistic that an agreement can be achieved. Nobody is going to get 100 percent of what they want, but let's make sure that middle-class families and the American economy -- and, in fact, the world economy -- aren't adversely impacted because people can't do their jobs. 

Thank you very much, everybody.

END                5:57 P.M. EST

President Obama urges Congress to meet its deadlines and responsibilities, protect the middle class from an income tax hike, and lay the groundwork for future progress on more economic growth and deficit reduction.

At a press conference following a meeting with Senate and House leaders, the President said that he is optimistic an agreement that can pass both houses will be reached in time.

A new release of White House visitor records brings the grand total of records that this White House has released to more than 2.8 million.

view all related blog posts

View the original article here

New York Times Pushes Obama On Climate: ‘He Needs To Do A Great Deal More Than…Foster A Conversation’

Many were disappointed after President Obama’s first post-election press conference when he talked about the urgency of climate change — and then immediately swept aside specifics for action in his second term.

Days after, White House press secretary Jay Carney shot down the prospects for a carbon tax by saying the Administration would “never propose” such a policy.

There doesn’t seem to be much urgency coming out of the White House.

In response, The New York Times is calling out the President for his plan to address climate change with a “conversation”:

Since his re-election, Mr. Obama has agreed to foster a “conversation” on climate change and an “education process” about long-term steps to address it. He needs to do a good deal more than that. Intellectually, Mr. Obama grasps the problem as well as anyone. The question is whether he will bring the powers of the presidency to bear on the problem.

Enlisting market forces in the fight against global warming by putting a price on carbon — through cap-and-trade or a direct tax — seems out of the question for this Congress. But there are weapons at Mr. Obama’s disposal that do not require Congressional approval and could go a long way to reducing emissions and reasserting America’s global leadership.

One imperative is to make sure that natural gas — which this nation has in abundance and which emits only half the carbon as coal — can be extracted without risk to drinking water or the atmosphere. This may require national legislation to replace the often porous state regulations. Another imperative is to invest not only in familiar alternative energy sources like wind and solar power, but also in basic research, next-generation nuclear plants and experimental technologies that could smooth the path to a low-carbon economy.

Mr. Obama’s most promising near-term strategy may be to invoke the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority under the Clean Air Act to limit emissions from stationary sources, chiefly power plants.

Indeed, the Administration deserves credit for passing numerous critical executive policies promoting vehicle efficiency, mercury standards, building efficiency standards, and renewable energy. And with Congress unable to act on climate policy, the importance of EPA regulations for global warming pollution is even greater in Obama’s second term. However, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in on her way out, opening up some uncertainty about leadership at the agency: The New York Times explains:

Any such regulations are likely to be strongly opposed by industry and will require real persistence on the administration’s part. If Mr. Obama takes this approach, he will certainly need a determined leader at E.P.A. to devise and carry out the rules. Lisa Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator who on Thursday announced her resignation after four productive years in one of the federal government’s most thankless jobs, was just such a leader.

She suffered setbacks — most notably the White House’s regrettable decision to overrule her science-based proposal to update national health standards for ozone, or smog. But she accomplished much, including tougher standards for power plant emissions of mercury and other air toxics, new health standards for soot, and, most important, her agency’s finding that carbon dioxide and five other gases that contribute to global warming constituted a danger to public health and could thus be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

The New York Times piece fails to point out one of the most critical — and often ignored — pieces of climate policy. Creating new standards for power plants and building renewable energy is only one piece of the equation. In order to truly address carbon pollution, we must keep large amounts of coal, oil, and gas in the ground. According to the International Energy Agency, nearly two-thirds of known fossil fuel reserves must stay underground in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. While the Obama Administration has done more than any other administration in history to promote alternative forms of energy, it has also shown a willingness to aggressively promote unchecked fossil fuel extraction.

In a recent Time Magazine interview, President Obama said that climate would be one of his top three priorities in his second term. So far, there aren’t many strong signals that the Administration has a coherent plan to actually back up those claims.

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Banks Paid Nearly $11 Billion In Fines In 2012

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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Hobby Lobby To Deny Contraception To Employees, Ignoring Court Order

Craft store chain Hobby Lobby announced on Friday that it will ignore the ruling of U.S. courts and refuse to provide copay-free birth control access to its employees. It will do so despite whatever costs it may incur, even if they are higher than the cost of birth control itself.

Upon learning that Obamacare required employers and insurance companies to provide birth control with no cost to employees, Hobby Lobby sued, saying that, despite the secular nature of the business, the company’s owner’s religious objections should be taken into consideration. When a court denied that line of reasoning, Hobby Lobby took its grievances to the Supreme Court and asked for an injunction. The highest court in the land denied that request, telling Hobby Lobby that it must allow its employees access to birth control as it seeks further litigation.

But Hobby Lobby is saying no.

The store plans to ignore the provision anyway, opting to pay a fine instead of provide birth control, including the morning after pill commonly known as Plan B, which the owner feels goes against his personal religious values:

With Wednesday’s rejection of an emergency stay of that federal health care law by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Hobby Lobby and sister company Mardel could be subject to fines of up to $1.3 million a day beginning Tuesday.

“They’re not going to comply with the mandate,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel of The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the company. “They’re not going to offer coverage for abortion-inducing drugs in the insurance plan.”

As for the potential fines, Duncan said, “We’re just going to have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”

This ignores two obvious points — first, that Plan B is not an ‘abortion-inducing’ drug, as Hobby Lobby claims, and second, that the company may well end up paying more to avoid covering contraception than they would simply providing access. It also takes a twisted view on the ‘Freedom of Religion’ argument; the company is actually forcing its owner’s religious beliefs on all employees, no matter their personal religious views.

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What You Need To Know About The Impending East Coast Port Strike

Unless a deal is reached with management, some 14,000 East Coast port workers plan to go on strike on Sunday, affecting ports from Boston to Miami. Here’s what you need to know about the impending strike:

1) Management wants to cut workers’ pay. The largest sticking point in the negotiations between the port workers and a coalition of companies known as the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) is a payment to workers for each container they unload. Instituted in the 1960s, the payments are meant as compensation for the mechanization of America’s ports, which allows one worker today to do what used to take three workers. As the New York Times explained, “The companies want to freeze those payments for current longshoremen and eliminate them for future hires.” The companies also want to cut future raises for workers to below the rate of inflation.

2) Port workers are highly skilled. The companies claim that workers are paid too much, rendering east coast ports uncompetitive. But the workers — whose numbers have dropped from 35,000 to 3,500 due to automation — are highly trained and “cannot be easily replaced.” They also do not work consistent hours. According to the union, “longshore labor cost amounts to between 3% and 4% of the shipper’s total cost.”

3) The economic impact could be significant…or not. As Brad Plumer explained in the Washington Post, it’s hard to figure out the economic impact of port closures. Estimates place the impact of a 2002 West Coast port closure at $1 billion per day, but the cost may have actually been far less than that.

4) Businesses are using political pressure to entice workers to cave. Business leaders and right-wing governors are urging the White House to invoke special powers to end the strike, should workers walk out. President Obama, for his part, urged the two sides to forge an agreement “as quickly as possible.”

The strike would be the first at East Coast ports since 1977.

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Opponents Of Filibuster Reform Offer Nothingburger Proposal

For weeks, Democratic senators have been crafting a filibuster reform package that, if it resembles the reforms embraced by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), will include reforms that prevent the minority from imposing hours of needless delay every time a new nominee is confirmed, and which will also include the so-called “talking filibuster” that requires supporters of a filibuster to speak on the floor in order to maintain it.

Opponents of reform have now offered a counterproposal — and, according to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), it essentially amounts to doing nothing:

Alexander, emerging from a bipartisan meeting of reform opponents held this morning in Kyl’s office, said that the proposal would limit the use of the filibuster in some cases, such as on a motion to proceed to debate, and also include provisions allowing for amendments for the minority.

“We have so many new members of the Senate, about half of the senators have never seen the Senate work properly because they’ve only been here five or six years,” Alexander said. “So we’re trying to get back to the days when the motion to proceed wasn’t used to block so many bills and when the majority leader allowed senators to offer almost any amendment. Most of that has to be established by practice, by good behavior, rather than by changing the rules.”

By limiting filibusters on motions to proceed, this proposal will restrict the minority from effectively filibustering the same bill twice, but it does nothing to prevent the minority from filibustering any bill they can filibuster now. It also does nothing to prevent widespread obstruction of judicial and other nominees. And it does nothing to discourage senators from filibustering routine bills or uncontroversial nominees simply to delay or to gain leverage. If this counterproposal passes in lieu of the more meaningful proposals endorsed by Sen. Reid and others, it will mean that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will remain the king of the Senate, and senators in the majority will still need to beg his permission in order to accomplish anything.

And any senator who votes in favor of this counterproposal and against the more substantial proposals on the table is voting to give McConnell that power.

View the original article here

What Could Have Been: The Most Important Bills Blocked By Republicans In 2012

1. A minimum wage increase.

House Democrats proposed legislation in June that would have raised the national minimum wage to $10 an hour, but Republicans blocked it. The minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour, even though it would need to be raised to $9.92 to match the borrowing power it had in 1968. If it was indexed to inflation, it would be $10.40 today.

2. Campaign finance transparency.

The DISCLOSE Act of 2012, repeatedly blocked by Congressional Republicans, would have allowed voters to know who was funding the attack ads that flooded the airways from secretive groups like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS.

3. The Buffett Rule.

Senate Republicans in April filibustered the Buffet Rule, which would have set a minimum tax on millionaires. Huge majorities of Americans consistently support the rule, which would raise tens of billions of dollars per year from Americans who have seen their incomes explode while their tax rates plummeted.

4. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

ENDA, which would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, has languished in Congress for decades, and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) “hasn’t thought much” about bringing it to a vote.

5. U.N. treaty to protect the equal rights of the disabled.

Republicans blocked ratification of the United Nations treaty to protect the rights of disabled people around the world, falsely claiming it would undermine parents of disabled children. In fact, the treaty would require other nations to revise their laws to resemble the Americans With Disabilities Act and had overwhelming support from veterans and disabilities groups. It failed by 5 votes.

6. The Paycheck Fairness Act.

It’s about to be 2013, and women are still getting paid less than men for the same job. This year the Paycheck Fairness Act came up for a vote again (previous efforts to pass the law have been unsuccessful), but the Senate GOP still couldn’t get it together to pass the legislation. Republicans oppose the measure, saying it helps trial lawyers instead of women. But the country’s female doctors, lawyers, and CEOs might be inclined to disagree.

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Kidnappings, Pirates, Halliburton, Fracking, And Me.

by RL Miller

The London-based Control Risks holds itself out as “an independent global risk consultancy specializing in helping organizations manage political, integrity, and security risks in complex and hostile environments.” Or, in practical terms, it provides anti-piracy services, handles kidnappings and other crises, and writes white papers analyzing terrorism risks in various countries.

One suspects that this expertise doesn’t come cheap. Clients buy discretion for large sums of cash, but SourceWatch notes “a long history of working with the energy sector, covering ground in Algeria, Angola, Congo, Nigeria, Russia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Sudan and Yemen.”  And now it’s advising unnamed, but presumably energy-oriented and rich, businesses how to handle fracking activists.

Because a worried upstate New York farmer has a lot in common with a Somali pirate.

The splash page on “The Global Anti-Fracking Movement: What it wants, how it operates, and what’s next” is here. You’re supposed to be able to download the report only by giving an email address to receive more briefings, and if you’re a senior executive in the oil and gas industry you can get the report and a complimentary personal briefing. For those of us who are not senior executives in the oil and gas industry and who don’t want want to give our email address to a shadowy international business that may count Halliburton and Bechtel among its clients, here is the entire report (pdf format).

The report views American environmental activists through the same hostile lens as it uses on kidnappers of Exxon executives. It is shocked to report that “A notable feature of the anti-fracking movement – shared with other social movements such as Occupy – is the extensive use of online social media to disseminate information, organise and mobilise.” (p.8)

The white paper carefully separates those who call for an outright ban from those seeking tighter regulation: “the majority of the anti-fracking movement simply wants tighter environmental regulation of unconventional gas development. With tighter regulation, enforcement and accountability, a sizeable swathe of the anti-fracking movement – from grassroots activists with single-issue grievances to influential environmental NGOs such as the UA’s Natural Resources defense Council (NRDC) – is prepared to drop its objection to hydraulic fracturing.” (p.5) And it goes on to discuss, without actually suggesting that big green groups concerned about climate should co-opt local people concerned about their food and water supply, wink, nudge (p.9):

International environmental NGOs also play a key global networking role. For example, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund) each mount anti-fracking advocacy campaigns and support local anti-fracking groups. yet in contrast with grassroots activists, focused primarily on local social, economic and environmental impacts, international environmental NGOs situate unconventional gas extraction largely within their efforts on climate change.The intervention of international NGOs has inevitably pulled the anti-fracking movement – at the global level – towards the climate change agenda, meaning that purely climate change-focused groups, such as 350.org, have obtained a prominent position. This
has occasionally resulted in friction within the anti-fracking movement, to the extent that some climate change-focused NGOs – though not the three listed above – view unconventional gas as a low carbon alternative to coal. Not only do such groups ignore
pressing local impact concerns, they may also be more amenable to tighter regulation as opposed to an outright ban.

Control Risks’ final suggestions for handling those pesky activists: “acknowledge grievances,” “engage local communities,” “reduce impacts,” and “create more winners” (pay people).  But nothing about actually listening to the activists, cleaning up wastewater, disclosing toxic fluids, or actually reducing carbon emissions. California is next in line for a fracking boom, if the clients of Control Risks have their way the federal Bureau of Land Management’s first auction of fracking leases sold 18,000 acres in ten minutes flat. The divide-and-conquer strategy is just beginning; most large green groups have stayed silent on the woefully insufficient draft regulations recently proposed, Very Serious Editorials opine that full disclosure of fracking fluids is somehow sufficient, bills being introduced echo the call for regulation rather than a moratorium, and efforts within the California Democratic Party to call for a moratorium are being watered down.

As for me, I’m not going to kidnap or terrorize the pro-fracking folk. I just don’t want them doing to the vineyards and suburbs of California what has been done to the farms of Pennsylvania and New York.

RL Miller is an attorney and environment blogger with Climate Hawks. This piece was originally published at Daily Kos and was reprinted with permission by the author.

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Olympia Snowe: Norquist Pledge Could Send Nation Over The Fiscal Cliff

On Friday morning, outgoing Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) attributed the GOP’s reluctance to reach a balanced deal that could avert the so-called fiscal cliff to Grover Norquist’s pledge, which prevents Republicans from supporting a tax increase. President Obama has called on lawmakers to pass a package that maintains the Bush tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year, though Republicans have thus far ignored his call and unsuccessfully attempted to advance a much more modest measure that preserved tax breaks for incomes under a million dollars.

Appearing on CNN’s Starting Point, Snowe — who backs a deal that would maintain current tax rates for families earning $400,000 and less — called on Republicans and Democrats to compromise, but noted that the no-tax pledge may be holding them back:

ALI VELSHI (HOST): Talk to me about this. I certainly don’t want to demonize people who ideologically believe taxes shouldn’t go up on anyone or don’t want taxes to go up because they think it’s damaging to the economy. I think there are a lot of Americans who are quite prepared to demonize people who will not change their view or cast a vote because it offends Grover Norquist. What role do the pledges play in our inability to compromise?

SNOWE: Well, I’m certain it does play a role. I’ve never signed these pledges because my obligation to the people who elected me and that’s the way it should be for each member of Congress, because times change. The circumstances change, you have to address the issue at hand. It is important to have extending the tax cuts for especially the middle income but secondly to put spending cuts on the table.

Watch it:

With four days left until the end of the year, President Obama will host the congressional leaders in the Oval Office today in hopes of reaching a compromise. The House and Senate are back in session, but House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) refuses to take an up or down vote on a Senate-passed bill extending tax cuts to Americans earning less than $250,000 and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is now demanding spending cuts to pay for an extension to the federal unemployment insurance program that expires at the end of the year. The Washington Post reports that McConnell “for the first time was engaged directly in talks with the White House. He signaled an interest in cutting a deal.”

Yet Norquist is still urging lawmakers to stand by his hardline position, tweeting, “We had an election Boehner was elected speaker. Now lame duck obama should get over it (Also 30 GOP governors).”

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Statement from the President on the Passing of General Norman Schwarzkopf

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For Immediate Release December 27, 2012 Statement from the President on the Passing of General Norman Schwarzkopf

 

With the passing of General Norman Schwarzkopf, we've lost an American original. From his decorated service in Vietnam to the historic liberation of Kuwait and his leadership of United States Central Command, General Schwarzkopf stood tall for the country and Army he loved. Our prayers are with the Schwarzkopf family, who tonight can know that his legacy will endure in a nation that is more secure because of his patriotic service. 

Blog posts on this issue December 28, 2012 10:17 AM ESTYear in Review: White House Office Hours

From @VP Biden to Let's Move!, college affordability with Education Secretary @ArneDuncan to the Affordable Care Act, Office Hours gave Administration officials a chance to interact with Americans on important policy issues in 2012.

December 28, 2012 12:00 AM ESTWest Wing Week: 12/28/12 or "Best of the West (Wing Week)"

Welcome to the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

December 27, 2012 12:54 PM ESTYear in Review: Don't Double My Rate

As 2012 comes to a close, we’re looking back at some of the year’s policy milestones, including legislation President Obama signed this summer that stopped student loan interest rates from doubling for more than 7 million students.

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