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
David Friedman
Biography provided by participant
David Friedman is the deputy director of the Clean Vehicles Program and is the author or co-author of more than 30 technical papers and reports on advancements in conventional, fuel cell, and hybrid electric vehicles. His work includes: A New Road: The Technology and Potential of Hybrid Vehicles; Building a Better SUV: A Blueprint for Saving Lives, Money, and Gasoline; and Drilling in Detroit: Tapping Automaker Ingenuity to Build Safe and Efficient Automobiles. Mr. Friedman served on report committees on fuel economy, fuel cells, plug-in hybrids, and tire efficiency for National Academies Board on Energy and Environmental Systems and Transportation Research Board. He also served on the Department of Energy's Hydrogen Technical Advisory Committee for five years.
Before joining UCS in 2001, Mr. Friedman worked for the University of California-Davis in the Fuel Cell Vehicle Modeling Program, developing simulation tools to evaluate fuel cell technology for automotive applications. At UC Davis, he also worked on the UC Davis Future Car Team to build a hybrid electric family car that doubled its fuel economy. He previously worked at the Arthur D. Little management consulting firm researching battery, fuel cell, and hybrid electric vehicle technologies, as well as photovoltaics.
Mr. Friedman earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1993. He is currently finishing his doctoral dissertation on transportation technology and policy at UC Davis.
Mr. Friedman has testified before Congress 12 times in the past 10 years and has been cited by the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, and has been interviewed on CNBC, CNN, NPR among other outlets. In 2008, Washingtonian magazine profiled him as one of "30 people changing the environment in Washington."
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