Energy & Environment: Markey Wants Answers on Rare Earths
• Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., "is pressing the Obama administration for information about alleged Chinese restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals used in defense and energy technologies, warning of threats to U.S. interests," The Hill reports.
• "Three months after BP capped its runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico, the state of Louisiana is still building a chain of sand berms off its coast to block and capture oil even as federal officials and many scientists argue that the effort will prove pointless," the New York Times reports.
• An Idaho couple has "sued the state to stop the shipments by Imperial Oil and ConocoPhillips" to an oil sands site in Canada, "arguing that the" truck loads delivered there "would threaten the integrity of Idaho's historic portion of U.S. 12, as well as the safety of communities that depend on it as the main road in and out of the area," the Times also reports. "National environmental groups and climate change activists are supporting their efforts, seeing a broader opportunity to stall development of Canada's oil sands, which they denounce as a dirty source of energy. "
• "Combating climate change has long taken a back seat to coal production in West Virginia, but in the hard-fought House race in this state's 1st district, global warming hasn't even made it onto the bus," The Hill reports. "In interviews on Thursday, both the Democratic and Republican nominees for Congress voiced skepticism of the science behind global warming, and the Republican, David McKinley, flatly called concerns about climate change 'an attack on coal.'"
Contributor
Benjamin Lowe
Biography provided by participant
Benjamin Lowe is the Advocacy Communications Director at the Truman National Security Project, where he manages communications for the Operation Free campaign for clean energy. Previously a political organizer based in San Francisco, Ben has taken part in local, regional, and state-level advocacy and campaign efforts, and staffed successful Bay Area ballot measures in 2008 and 2010.
Lowe has a background in homeland security policy. In 2009, he served on a Mayoral Task Force which studied the likely impacts of oil scarcity on the economy, transportation, and other critical sectors of the City of San Francisco. And while a consultant with ICF International, Ben worked on the National Infrastructure Protection Plan and the Radiological Emergency Preparedness program, which tests and analyzes the safety of America's nuclear energy facilities.
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