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
Mark Bernstein
Biography provided by participant
Before coming to the university, Bernstein spent eight years as a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. His research areas span across a broad range of issues in energy, environment, and water including economic impacts of technologies and policies, efficiency and renewable energy, climate change policy, technology diffusion among others. During California's 2001 electricity crisis, Bernstein advised the speaker of the California State Assembly. At the end of 2005, Mark assisted the Housing Committee of the Mississippi Governors Commission to develop recommendations for ensuring an adequate supply of quality affordable housing in the Gulf Coast region in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Bernstein spent two years as the senior energy policy analyst for the Clinton administration's White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He worked on the administration's climate change technology strategy and helped to create a public-private partnership with the housing industry.
Before working at the White House, Bernstein spent three years in the Washington office of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as principal energy policy analyst. He also was on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and served as Director of the Center for Energy and the Environment. Mark holds a Ph.D. in Energy Management and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters and Bachelors in Mathematics.
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