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
Jeff Sterba
Biography provided by participant
Sterba heads PNM Resources, the parent company of PNM, TNMP, and First Choice Power. He first joined PNM in 1977, left in 1998 to become executive vice president of USEC, a global energy company in Maryland, but returned to PNM in 2000. He has served as chair of Edison Electric Institute, the national association of shareholder owned utilities, and as chair of the Electric Power Research Institute, a non-profit center for energy and environment research.
Under his leadership, PNM Resources was a founding member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a national coalition of businesses and environmental organizations seeking federal action to cap and reduce carbon emissions. Sterba is also a member of the Business Environmental Leadership Council for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Recent Responses