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Over the past six years, the United States has reduced its carbon emissions more than any other nation in the world. Efforts to curb so-called man-made climate change had little or nothing to do with it. Government mandated "green" energy didn't cause the reductions. Neither did environmentalist pressure. And the U.S. did not go along with the Kyoto Protocol to radically cut CO2 emissions. Instead, the drop came about through market forces and technological advances, according to a report from the International Energy Agency. Breakthroughs in how natural gas is extracted from underground shale formations were the key factors that...

Tough new sulfur limits for shipping fuel will be phased in across EU waters as part of European Union efforts to free the air of toxic chemicals that shorten thousands of lives. EU environment ministers backed the rules on Monday (29 October), in a final stage of the process before official publication of the law. From 2015, the maximum sulfur content of shipping fuels will be cut by 90% to 0.1% in restricted Sulfur Emission Control Areas, which include some of Europe's busiest waters, versus 1% of mass now. …

OSLO (Reuters) - A 200-year period covering the heyday of both the Roman Empire and China's Han dynasty saw a big rise in greenhouse gases, according to a study that challenges the U.N. view that man-made climate change only began around 1800. A record of the atmosphere trapped in Greenland's ice found the level of heat-trapping methane rose about 2,000 years ago and stayed at that higher level for about two centuries. Methane was probably released during deforestation to clear land for farming and from the use of charcoal as fuel, for instance to smelt metal to make weapons, lead...

The European Commission announced yesterday (2 October) that it intends to introduce an emissions monitoring system in early 2013, in a bid to curb the environmental footprint left by the shipping industry. The Commission said in a statement it would outline “a simple, robust and globally feasible approach towards setting a system for monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions based on fuel consumption”. This was “the necessary starting point” for further action on greenhouse gas emissions, it said, flagging market-based mechanisms. These could include a maritime emissions trading scheme (ETS) or bunker fuel levies. …

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Thursday that would increase the number of cogeneration plants in the U.S. by 50 percent by 2020, a move that would boost U.S. industrial energy efficiency and slash carbon emissions by 150 million tons per year. The order is the administration's latest effort to deploy cleaner and more efficient energy production in the country by working around political resistance to climate change and "green" energy legislation on Capitol Hill. The measure aims to accelerate investments to help manufacturers expand their use of combined heat and power (CHP) facilities,

The Obama administration issued final rules Tuesday that require a major boost in vehicle mileage standards, highlighting a clash with Mitt Romney as the GOP convention gets under way. 

The Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced joint mileage and carbon emissions rules for model years 2017 through 2025 that will eventually force automakers to meet a standard equivalent to 54.5 miles per gallon.

 Administration officials have made the rules a cornerstone of their energy agenda, noting that alongside earlier 2012-2016 rules, the mandate will eventually save consumers an estimated $1.7 trillion in fuel costs and save 12 billion barrels...

Aug 1 (Reuters Point Carbon) - In an effort to dissuade companies in key industries facing new carbon costs from leaving the state, California is considering giving them millions of dollars worth of additional free greenhouse gas allowances, state's air regulator said on Monday. California's cap-and-trade program seeks to emulate tactics used in the European Union and Australia to address emission "leakage" - a term describing the exodus of employers from a state or country in order to sidestep environmental costs. The California Air Resources Board (ARB), the regulator of the forthcoming program, held a workshop in Sacramento on Monday...

Developers targeted 2013 to begin operating a new power plant fueled by the carbon-rich leftover from nearby oil refining in Corpus Christi. The Las Brisas Energy Center will not be ready by then, however, and there are doubts the project will be built at all, making it the latest flash point in a long fight between Texas and the Environmental Protection Agency. The $3 billion project has stalled as the federal government pushes to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming from new power plants. The first-ever rules are expected to bring an end to...

Government agencies, who have a vested interest in justifying what they spend, expanding what they do and making a case for more of both, are hardly disinterested parties. Witness the EPA, that political entity dating to the Nixon Administration, which was created much like opening a Pandora’s box. The unforeseen consequences continue to pour forth to degrees not even Rachel Carson could have imagined. One of the short-comings of the mainstream media is that it swallows then regurgitates so much of what the government has to say about itself without bothering to critically examine, or even to seek out other...

EPA: 2010 U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Increased 3.2 PercentBy Rachel Bogart | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Apr 16, 2012 According to Reuters, the Environmental Protection Agency announced today that greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. increased 3.2 percent in 2010 over the previous year, most likely due to economic growth in the country and electricity demands during the stifling summer. Here are some facts about greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and steps being taken to reduce its emission levels. * Fossil fuel combustion contributes to a major portion of greenhouse gas emissions and in 2010 it contributed about...

The Obama administration has proposed tighter restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions which critics believe will discourage construction of new coal power plants. Several states that rely heavily on the coal industry are challenging the new rules, but a majority of voters nationwide favor them. Most recognize, however, that the new rules will drive up energy costs. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows that 53% favor new environmental regulations that place stricter limits on carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants. Twenty-nine percent (29%) oppose the new regulations, and 18% are not sure about them.

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum has touted himself as the staunch conservative to Republican primary voters, and when it comes to the environment his views are informed by his Christian faith, or rather his interpretation of it. "We were put on this Earth as creatures of God to have dominion over the Earth, to use it wisely and steward it wisely, but for our benefit, not for the Earth's benefit," Santorum told an audience in Colorado last week, according to the Colorado Independent. Santorum has argued that climate change is beyond human control, and any attempts to mitigate it are part...

SANTA FE – The state Environmental Improvement Board voted 5-0 Monday to repeal a controversial cap-and-trade regulation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nullifying a struggling program before it got off the ground. A partnership of seven states originally envisioned to participate in the cap-and-trade program had dwindled to two, board Chairman Deborah Peacock said. “The intent was that all these states would be doing this cap and trading, and everyone’s dropped (out) except for California and New Mexico,” she said. “That, to me, was very significant.” The ruling reversed a 2010 decision of the previous board appointed by then-Gov. Bill...

California continues its leading role as the national laughingstock of regulatory absurdity. This week, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), forged another link in its unbroken chain of disastrous environmental policies. New CARB regulations reflect a decision process heavily influenced by three primary sources: Joseph Stalin, Al Gore and Pee-Wee Herman. Let's look at the latest batch of lunacy from those swell 'crats in Sacramento. As an added bonus, we read from SFGATE, the reliable Left Coast mouthpiece that happily shills for the hard left Democratic mouth breathers. ".... the California Air Resources Board unanimously approved strict vehicle emissions regulations...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California air regulators passed Friday sweeping auto emission standards that include a mandate to have 1.4 million electric and hybrid vehicles on state roads by 2025. The California Air Resources Board unanimously approved the new rules, which require that one-in-seven of new cars sold in the state in 2025 be an electric or other zero-emission vehicle. The plan also mandated a 75-percent reduction in smog-forming pollutants by 2025, and a 34 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over roughly the same time. Automakers worked with the board and federal regulators on the greenhouse gas mandates in...

For the first time, the federal government is regulating big-rigs, RV's, and tractor-trailers in much the same way it's held car makers to rigorous fuel efficiency standards for decades. But a group of California truckers contends the regulations will drive them right out of business -- and has filed suit to block them. The Environmental Protection Agency is ordering large trucks and buses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 percent and overhaul engine design starting with models built in 2014. Most operators will need to spend thousands upgrading their rigs or buying new vehicles,

Europe pledged Wednesday to press on with new charges for airline carbon emissions across its airspace as of January 1, after scoring a key victory over US rivals in the EU's top court. The decision was welcomed as vindication by the European Union, which told US airlines to get ready to obey the law in the same way EU companies respect American regulations. But it was not without collateral damage, with industry sources fearing a possible trade war after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of reprisals ahead of the ruling. A high-ranking source in the aviation sector told...

The Weather: Regulations finalized by the California Air Resources Board establish the nation's first state-run cap-and-trade regime. Despite Solyndra, the state will gather solar panels while it may. The 262 pages of regulations implementing California's 2006 global warming legislation, Assembly Bill 32, approved by CARB last Thursday, will probably reduce employment more than it reduces emissions. The only thing it will cap is economic growth by bleeding a patient that is already hemorrhaging red ink. Signed into law in 2006 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the cap-and-trade regulations are intended to force California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels...

California Air Resources Board due to vote on the adoption of first US mandatory cap-and-trade emissions scheme... the California Air Resources Board was due to vote on Thursday afternoon on the adoption of an emissions trading scheme. "This is the final yes: we are going to move forward with California," said Gary Gero, president of the Climate Action Reserve, a voluntary registry. The decision was seen to be significant because California accounts for about 13% of the world economy, and the state has a history of being the leader on environmental initiatives. "California can drive national action," Gero said. The...

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is one of 11 Republican governors who have signed a letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to withdraw proposed rules that would reduce toxic pollutant emissions from coal-burning power plants. In their letter Oct. 7, the governors claim long-delayed rules limiting emissions of mercury and other toxics -- originally mandated in the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990 -- would cost $11 billion annually, risk millions of jobs, hurt electric power reliability and result in only marginal air quality improvements. "Any new rule must reflect information on how it will impact the economy and include...