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.'"
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Bob Bendick
Biography provided by participant
Bob Bendick is the Director of U.S. Government Relations of The Nature Conservancy. Prior to taking his current position, he was Vice-President and Managing Director of the ten-state Southern U.S. Region of the Conservancy. He has been with The Nature Conservancy since 1995, first as Florida Chapter Director and, then, also as director of previous southeastern U.S. groups of state chapters.
Before coming to the Conservancy, he was Deputy Commissioner for Natural Resources of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (1990-1995) and Director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (1982-1990). From 1992-1994 he chaired the Northern Forest Lands Council established by Congress to make recommendations on the future of forest lands across northern New York and New England. He has a graduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning and is a member of the Society of American Foresters and the American Institute of Certified Planners.
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