Greenhouse Gas

US carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal, oil and natural gas fell 6.3 percent in 2009 and are expected to increase by just 1.5 percent this year, Bloomberg reports in a story on the latest forecast by the Energy Information Administration.

American Municipal Power Inc., an Ohio-based wholesale electricity provider that supplies power to several Michigan communities, abandoned plans for a new coal-fired power plant last week after learning that the cost of emissions control technology increased the price of the project by 37 percent.
Marc Gerken, AMP President/CEO said in a statement:

Biofuel is receiving lots of attention as a renewable energy source that could reduce use of greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels. But the climate bill proposed in the U.S. House does not account for the carbon cost of cutting down trees and could actually make climate change worse by encouraging deforestation, National Public Radio reports.
Tim [...]

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Tuesday outlined a new set of proposed rules for automobile fuel efficiency and emissions. The new rules follow an announcement in May that the administration had reached a deal with automakers and state governments to create a unified national standard.
“This action will give our auto companies some long-overdue clarity, [...]

In what environmentalists are calling a major blow to the development of new coal power plants, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Appeals Board has overturned the permit for a coal plant in Utah because the agency did not require that the company take steps to limit carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the plant.

Before the Michigan House of Representatives could put pen to paper on the new energy bill that passed the House last Thursday (and that was heavily lobbied for by state utilities), The Monroe Evening News reported that Detroit Edison had already applied for a permit for a second possible nuclear plant in Monroe County along [...]