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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W. David Montgomery
Biography provided by participant
W. David Montgomery is an internationally recognized expert on economic issues associated with climate change policy, and his work on these topics has been published frequently in peer-reviewed journals. He was a principal lead author of the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Working Group III, and the author of a number of studies of climate change policy over the past 20 years. His testimony on climate change issues has been requested on numerous occasions by the U.S. Congress. While at Charles River Associates, Dr. Montgomery directed the development of a set of integrated economic models that set the standard for analysis of the international, national, and industry impacts of proposed emission limits, including the MRN and MRN-NEEM models. He and his colleagues have played a leading role in IPCC studies and expert workshops assessing economic impacts on developing countries.
Dr. Montgomery's current research deals with the design of R&D policy and the relationship between institutional change and strategies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. He has led a number of strategic assessments for clients in the private sector, advising them on how future climate policies and other environmental regulations could affect their asset value, investment decisions, and strategic direction. His recent work includes studies of California's policies to limit greenhouse emissions and of energy and climate legislation in the U.S. Congress.
Prior to entering consulting, Dr. Montgomery held a number of senior positions in the United States Government. He was assistant director of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office and deputy assistant secretary for policy in the U.S. Department of Energy, and he headed the energy modeling and forecasting activities at the Energy Information Administration. He taught economics at the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University, and he was a senior fellow at Resources for the Future. Dr. Montgomery holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and was a Fulbright Scholar at Cambridge University. He received the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists' 2005 award for a "Publication of Enduring Quality" for his pioneering work on emission trading.
In addition to economic studies of climate change policy, Dr. Montgomery has testified as an expert witness in litigation involving energy markets, including a number of utility mergers, antitrust and price manipulation cases, international arbitration, and environmental damages. In addition to climate change research, his recent work includes studies on potential effects of gasoline price-gouging legislation, the effects of windfall profits taxes and other proposed tax changes on oil and gas markets, the impacts of cap and trade legislation on energy markets, and the design of low carbon fuel standards.
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