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
Charles Ebinger
Biography provided by participant
Dr. Charles K. Ebinger is the Director of the Energy Security Initiative at the Brookings Institution. Previously, he was a Senior Advisor at the International Resources Group, where he advised over 50 governments on various aspects of their energy policies. Dr. Ebinger has special expertise in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa and has also worked in the East, Southeast, and Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. He is the author of Energy and Security in South Asia: Cooperation or Conflict? (Brookings Institution Press, September 2011) and co-editor of Business and Nonproliferation: Industry's Role in Safeguarding a Nuclear Renaissance, (Brookings Institution Press, October 2011). Dr. Ebinger is also an Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. He received his B.A. from Williams College and his Masters and Ph.D. degrees from the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
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