---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Oil Companies Face Unlimited Liability in Bill Passed by House
2010-07-31 04:00:31.0 GMT
(For more on the Gulf spill, see SPILL <GO>.)
By Jim Efstathiou Jr.
July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Oil companies drilling in U.S.
waters would face unlimited liability and BP Plc would be barred
from new offshore leases under legislation passed by the House
three months after the worst spill in U.S. history.
House Democrats on a 209-193 vote yesterday pushed through
the overhaul of drilling safety and environmental rules over
Republican opposition. The bill also puts into law the Obama
administration's elimination of the Minerals Management Service,
the Interior Department agency cited for lax oversight.
Gulf Coast lawmakers and oil-industry officials say lifting
the liability cap will hurt companies, and Republicans say the
measure would make the U.S. more dependent on imports. The
Senate may act on its version of oil-spill legislation next
week.
"The House bill passed today will kill jobs, threaten our
fragile economic recovery and place our energy security at
risk," Jack Gerard, president of the Washington-based American
Petroleum Institute, said in a statement after yesterday's vote.
"The unlimited liability provisions will drive the vast
majority of American companies out of U.S. waters because they
will not be able to obtain insurance coverage."
The bill includes an amendment, adopted 216-195, that would
set aside President Barack Obama's suspension of deep-water
drilling as rigs meet new safety standards. Republicans said the
measure didn't go far enough to eliminate the ban. The House
also passed legislation that would shield oil-rig workers who
report health or safety concerns from retaliation by their
employers.
'Cozy Relationships'
The Gulf disaster began April 20 when the Deepwater Horizon
drilling rig, which BP leased from Transocean Ltd., exploded and
caught fire, causing it to sink and killing 11 workers. The well
gushed from 35,000 barrels to 60,000 barrels of oil a day before
it was stopped on July 15.
"While we may not know the exact cause of the incident, we
clearly know what contributed to it," Representative Nick
Rahall, the West Virginia Democrat who sponsored the bill, said
yesterday. "A culture of cozy relationships that had regulators
interviewing for jobs on the same rigs they were supposed to be
inspecting. Drilling plans that were rubber-stamped in a matter
of minutes with only the most cursory environmental reviews."
In hearings and in debate on the House floor, Republicans
accused Democrats of taking advantage of the Gulf crisis to pass
provisions unrelated to the spill. Two Republicans voted for the
measure.
'Far Beyond' Drilling
"This bill is supposed to be about the Gulf oil spill, yet
it goes far, far beyond offshore drilling," said Representative
Doc Hastings, a Washington Republican. The legislation would
impose a $22 billion tax on Americans and raise spending by $30
billion, Hastings said.
The administration has said the pause in deep-water
drilling is needed until it's determined that companies can
operate safely and contain and clean up accidents.
The moratorium may be adjusted to allow some new wells to
go forward before it is scheduled to end Nov. 30, Michael
Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,
Regulation and Enforcement, said this month at a hearing in New
Orleans. Bromwich has scheduled public hearings beginning Aug. 4
in New Orleans to determine what additional safety measures are
needed.
The amendment, sponsored by Representative Charles
Melancon, a Louisiana Democrat, would lift the July 12
suspension for companies that meet requirements set by Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar.
'Sounds Good'
While the proposal "sounds good," it ultimately gives new
authority to Salazar to continue the drilling ban, said Steve
Scalise, a Louisiana Republican who opposes the drilling pause.
BP objected this week to language disqualifying from new
offshore leases companies with safety violations greater than
five times the industry average in the past seven years, or that
have had more than 10 fatalities at exploration and production
facilities in the same period.
The provision "would harm the ongoing effort to increase
America's energy independence," David Nagel, executive vice
president of BP America, said in a July 28 letter to House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, and House
Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio.
Representative George Miller, a California Democrat who
drafted the provision, said BP wouldn't qualify for new leases
based on its past violations.
'Americans' Expectations'
"BP does not fit Americans' expectations of how a
responsible company should act," Miller said in a statement.
Under the House bill, companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp.,
Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. would have to prove they
can bring leaking wells under control and clean up any spills
when seeking new leases.
House Republicans say scrapping liability limits would shut
down smaller, independent drillers that can't insure themselves
against potential spill costs. A Senate version also would lift
the limits.
Other amendments would impose civil penalties on chief
executive officers who give false information about a company's
ability to prevent a spill, and require manufacturers to
disclose the chemical formulas of dispersants used to fight oil
spills.
The bill is H.R. 3534.
For Related News and Information:
More on the Gulf of Mexico spill: SPILL <GO>
Top oil, energy news: OTOP <GO>, ETOP <GO>
Nymex crude oil futures curve: CLA <Cmdty> CCRV <GO>
BP results by region: BP/ LN <Equity> FA GEO CHART <GO>
BP income statement chart: BP/ LN <Equity> FA IS CHART
<GO>
--Editors: Steve Geimann, Larry Liebert
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jim Efstathiou Jr. in New York at +1-212-617-1647 or
jefstathiou@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
LLiebert@bloomberg.net.
2010/07/31
Fwd: Merkel Ally Seehofer Opposes Reactor Closure Deadline, BZ Says
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Merkel Ally Seehofer Opposes Reactor Closure Deadline, BZ Says
2010-07-31 15:34:53.971 GMT
By Holger Elfes
July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Horst Seehofer, head of Chancellor
Angela Merkel's coalition partner CSU, doesn't want to set a
deadline for the closure of Germany's nuclear plants, Berliner
Zeitung said, citing an interview.
Nuclear power stations should be allowed to run for as long
as they remain safe, Seehofer said, according to the newspaper.
For Related News and Information:
Today's top power stories: PTOP <GO>
German government stories: NI GEGOV <GO>
German power prices: ELGE <GO>
Economic stories on Germany: NI GEECO <GO>
For German economic statistics: ECST GE <GO>
For German economic growth forecasts: NSN L4GTGL0YHQ0X <GO>
--Editor: Steve Rhinds.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Holger Elfes in Dusseldorf at +49-69 9204-1395 or
helfes@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Celeste Perri at +31-20-589-8505 or
cperri@bloomberg.net.
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Merkel Ally Seehofer Opposes Reactor Closure Deadline, BZ Says
2010-07-31 15:34:53.971 GMT
By Holger Elfes
July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Horst Seehofer, head of Chancellor
Angela Merkel's coalition partner CSU, doesn't want to set a
deadline for the closure of Germany's nuclear plants, Berliner
Zeitung said, citing an interview.
Nuclear power stations should be allowed to run for as long
as they remain safe, Seehofer said, according to the newspaper.
For Related News and Information:
Today's top power stories: PTOP <GO>
German government stories: NI GEGOV <GO>
German power prices: ELGE <GO>
Economic stories on Germany: NI GEECO <GO>
For German economic statistics: ECST GE <GO>
For German economic growth forecasts: NSN L4GTGL0YHQ0X <GO>
--Editor: Steve Rhinds.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Holger Elfes in Dusseldorf at +49-69 9204-1395 or
helfes@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Celeste Perri at +31-20-589-8505 or
cperri@bloomberg.net.
2010/07/30
(WPT) For Fixing the Climate, Lessons From Health Care
The bill
quietly breathed its last on, fittingly, a sweltering July day.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
For Fixing the Climate, Lessons From Health Care Energy Reform's Failure Looks Awfully Familiar For Energy Reformers, Echoes of
2010-07-30 23:20:01.173 GMT
For Fixing the Climate, Lessons From Health Care Energy Reform's
Failure Looks Awfully Familiar For Energy Reformers, Echoes of
1993
By Josh Freed and Matt Bennett
Aug. 1 (Washington Post) -- With the United States mired in
a job-killing recession, a Democratic president asks a Democratic
Congress to pass sweeping reform of a major sector of the
economy. "We can no longer afford to continue to ignore what is
wrong," he explains. "We must fix this system, and it has to
begin with congressional action." The public, however, rejects
this plea. The proposal dies in Congress, and recriminations
begin. Chastened and disappointed, advocates regroup and seek a
new path forward.
This is the story of President Bill Clinton's effort to pass
health-care reform in 1993. But it also describes this year's
attempt by President Obama and congressional Democrats to pass
sweeping energy reform. The energy bill, with its centerpiece
cap-and-trade policy, would have set a limit on greenhouse gas
emissions throughout the economy and offered incentives for
cleaner energy. That effort ended late last month when Senate
Democratic leaders acknowledged what insiders already knew --
they had come up fewer than 10 votes short.
It was a devastating setback for all of us who have worked
on this issue. Just as many progressives believed they'd elected
a president who would bring them health-care reform in 1993,
energy advocates felt that Obama would bring us immediate efforts
to tackle climate change. When world leaders failed to achieve a
breakthrough in climate talks in Copenhagen last December, we
focused all of our efforts on Congress. Ironically, we had to
wait until the new version of health-care reform cleared the
decks.
But as the health-care debate extended into the new year and
Sen. Scott Brown was elected in Massachusetts, giving Republicans
another vote, the chances for energy reform diminished. Sure,
there had been some hints of progress. For instance, advocates
worked with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to muscle a
cap-and-trade bill through the House last year. But it was clear
that this was going to require some work in the Senate. When the
financial reform bill cut in line after health care, the
prospects of a tired and depleted Senate turning to climate
change seemed slim.
When legislation dies, it is often with a whimper, not a
bang. The final months of the cap-and-trade debate saw the air
seep slowly from the balloon -- strategy meetings we attended
that once drew dozens were attracting just a handful. The bill
quietly breathed its last on, fittingly, a sweltering July day.
It wasn't the first defeat. Cap-and-trade had fallen short
in three previous sessions of Congress. But this one seemed
different. George W. Bush was gone; Democrats controlled
Congress. And reform proponents had made enormous strides.
Once-hostile businesses, such as big utilities and oil companies,
were on board. Environmental groups had come together behind a
smart, well-funded public education campaign. Democrats in
Congress across the spectrum, from Rep. Rick Boucher (Va.) to
Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), were cutting deals and making progress.
The finish line was finally in sight.
But we didn't get across. And the anger is real. One
environmental group staffer told us they contorted themselves to
accommodate everyone, and got left knotted up and empty-handed.
Others are grumbling that, after spending $100 million to build
public support for energy reform, they were left at the altar by
Congress and the administration. And no one is madder than some
House Democrats in conservative places such as Virginia, Ohio and
Missouri who cast a tough vote for a cap-and-trade bill that
didn't even make it to the floor of the Senate.
Most of the anger is properly directed at Republicans, who,
but for a few brave House members, put their party ahead of their
country's economic, security and environmental interests. But
fury at the other side has never stopped progressives from
circling up a firing squad.
All of this is depressingly familiar to those of us who were
around for the Clinton health-care fight. In both cases,
advocates badly misread the public mood. When the health-care
debate began in 1993, 64 percent of Americans supported the idea
of covering the uninsured; similarly, polls this year indicated
broad support for action to address climate change. But what the
public supports and what it wants can be very different. Most
people in 1993 had insurance; what they wanted were reduced costs
and stable coverage. They turned against health-care reform when
opponents convinced them that they wouldn't get either and that
the benefits would flow elsewhere.
Similarly, while people generally support energy reform,
their focus isn't really on what the world will look and feel
like in 2050. But unlike with health-care reform, the Earth
cannot wait 17 more years for us to match our arguments to the
public mood. Just last week, scientists determined that the past
decade was the Earth's warmest on record. If we proceed with
business as usual, there is scientific consensus that global
warming will tip into an unstoppable spiral that will have a
devastating impact on the planet.
For most Americans, however, the distant threat of global
warming is not enough to prompt action. In the teeth of a
recession, it is clear that advocates have to focus public
attention on the economic benefits of shifting to clean energy,
as well as the risks of doing nothing. The global race is on,
and, just as the tech boom of the 1990s did for the United
States, clean energy will create good jobs and huge economic
growth for the winner. The question is who that will be.
Right now, it is not us. China, South Korea, Germany, Spain
and France are already transitioning to clean energy, investing
billions in research and creating robust domestic markets. On the
very day that the Senate bill was declared dead, China announced
that it is making $740 billion in new clean-energy investments,
according to China Daily, the state-run English-language
newspaper. China also announced that it is imposing a domestic
price on carbon.
Such moves are not motivated by environmental altruism. The
market for clean-energy technology is expected to double to $2.7
trillion by 2020, and it is estimated that the clean-energy
sector will employ 20 million people by 2030. If we don't act
now, we're going to be buying clean-energy products from China
rather than building them here and selling them to the rest of
the world. In fact, we already are. America has a trade deficit
in clean-energy technology.
For the United States to get back in the lead in this energy
race, we must put a price on carbon, though with a mechanism that
is less complex than what cap-and-trade has become. This price
can generate the revenue that the United States desperately needs
to heavily invest in clean-energy innovation. With the right
incentives, we can develop clean-energy technologies that are as
affordable as coal and oil, creating jobs and new industries.
Reform advocates long ago began to understand the power of
this message. Prominent activists -- including Al Gore -- started
talking less about saving the planet and more about spurring
economic growth, improving national security and ending pollution
disasters such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
So why did we come up short?
Partly, it was lousy timing. Reform opponents were able to
argue that any increase in energy costs, no matter how small,
would be an unsustainable burden during a period of extreme
economic distress. But we also handed them some ammunition. As
the bill got bigger and more complex, opponents were able to
distort the cap-and-trade idea to argue that it was a giveaway to
unpopular businesses.
Both Clinton's health-care reform experience and today's
cap-and-trade defeat contain lessons for the next energy reform
effort. They were each based on good ideas and sound policies,
but they became too opaque and filled with special pleadings to
sustain public support. They made complexity a virtue to try to
mask relatively modest cost increases for the middle class, and
neither did an adequate job of explaining the benefits to average
Americans. And both withered under fierce opposition.
Obama passed health-care reform by pivoting away from talk
of universal coverage and convincing enough of the public that
the bill would address fundamental middle-class concerns and
bring stability and security to those who already had insurance.
True, health-care reform barely limped over the finish line. But
that is how big change happens. In 2011, energy reform advocates
should take a page from the health-care playbook and make the
same kind of changes if we are to achieve similar results.
Josh Freed is the director of the Clean Energy Program at
Third Way, and Matt Bennett is a vice president and co-founder of
Third Way.
-0- Jul/30/2010 23:20 GMT
quietly breathed its last on, fittingly, a sweltering July day.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
For Fixing the Climate, Lessons From Health Care Energy Reform's Failure Looks Awfully Familiar For Energy Reformers, Echoes of
2010-07-30 23:20:01.173 GMT
For Fixing the Climate, Lessons From Health Care Energy Reform's
Failure Looks Awfully Familiar For Energy Reformers, Echoes of
1993
By Josh Freed and Matt Bennett
Aug. 1 (Washington Post) -- With the United States mired in
a job-killing recession, a Democratic president asks a Democratic
Congress to pass sweeping reform of a major sector of the
economy. "We can no longer afford to continue to ignore what is
wrong," he explains. "We must fix this system, and it has to
begin with congressional action." The public, however, rejects
this plea. The proposal dies in Congress, and recriminations
begin. Chastened and disappointed, advocates regroup and seek a
new path forward.
This is the story of President Bill Clinton's effort to pass
health-care reform in 1993. But it also describes this year's
attempt by President Obama and congressional Democrats to pass
sweeping energy reform. The energy bill, with its centerpiece
cap-and-trade policy, would have set a limit on greenhouse gas
emissions throughout the economy and offered incentives for
cleaner energy. That effort ended late last month when Senate
Democratic leaders acknowledged what insiders already knew --
they had come up fewer than 10 votes short.
It was a devastating setback for all of us who have worked
on this issue. Just as many progressives believed they'd elected
a president who would bring them health-care reform in 1993,
energy advocates felt that Obama would bring us immediate efforts
to tackle climate change. When world leaders failed to achieve a
breakthrough in climate talks in Copenhagen last December, we
focused all of our efforts on Congress. Ironically, we had to
wait until the new version of health-care reform cleared the
decks.
But as the health-care debate extended into the new year and
Sen. Scott Brown was elected in Massachusetts, giving Republicans
another vote, the chances for energy reform diminished. Sure,
there had been some hints of progress. For instance, advocates
worked with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to muscle a
cap-and-trade bill through the House last year. But it was clear
that this was going to require some work in the Senate. When the
financial reform bill cut in line after health care, the
prospects of a tired and depleted Senate turning to climate
change seemed slim.
When legislation dies, it is often with a whimper, not a
bang. The final months of the cap-and-trade debate saw the air
seep slowly from the balloon -- strategy meetings we attended
that once drew dozens were attracting just a handful. The bill
quietly breathed its last on, fittingly, a sweltering July day.
It wasn't the first defeat. Cap-and-trade had fallen short
in three previous sessions of Congress. But this one seemed
different. George W. Bush was gone; Democrats controlled
Congress. And reform proponents had made enormous strides.
Once-hostile businesses, such as big utilities and oil companies,
were on board. Environmental groups had come together behind a
smart, well-funded public education campaign. Democrats in
Congress across the spectrum, from Rep. Rick Boucher (Va.) to
Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), were cutting deals and making progress.
The finish line was finally in sight.
But we didn't get across. And the anger is real. One
environmental group staffer told us they contorted themselves to
accommodate everyone, and got left knotted up and empty-handed.
Others are grumbling that, after spending $100 million to build
public support for energy reform, they were left at the altar by
Congress and the administration. And no one is madder than some
House Democrats in conservative places such as Virginia, Ohio and
Missouri who cast a tough vote for a cap-and-trade bill that
didn't even make it to the floor of the Senate.
Most of the anger is properly directed at Republicans, who,
but for a few brave House members, put their party ahead of their
country's economic, security and environmental interests. But
fury at the other side has never stopped progressives from
circling up a firing squad.
All of this is depressingly familiar to those of us who were
around for the Clinton health-care fight. In both cases,
advocates badly misread the public mood. When the health-care
debate began in 1993, 64 percent of Americans supported the idea
of covering the uninsured; similarly, polls this year indicated
broad support for action to address climate change. But what the
public supports and what it wants can be very different. Most
people in 1993 had insurance; what they wanted were reduced costs
and stable coverage. They turned against health-care reform when
opponents convinced them that they wouldn't get either and that
the benefits would flow elsewhere.
Similarly, while people generally support energy reform,
their focus isn't really on what the world will look and feel
like in 2050. But unlike with health-care reform, the Earth
cannot wait 17 more years for us to match our arguments to the
public mood. Just last week, scientists determined that the past
decade was the Earth's warmest on record. If we proceed with
business as usual, there is scientific consensus that global
warming will tip into an unstoppable spiral that will have a
devastating impact on the planet.
For most Americans, however, the distant threat of global
warming is not enough to prompt action. In the teeth of a
recession, it is clear that advocates have to focus public
attention on the economic benefits of shifting to clean energy,
as well as the risks of doing nothing. The global race is on,
and, just as the tech boom of the 1990s did for the United
States, clean energy will create good jobs and huge economic
growth for the winner. The question is who that will be.
Right now, it is not us. China, South Korea, Germany, Spain
and France are already transitioning to clean energy, investing
billions in research and creating robust domestic markets. On the
very day that the Senate bill was declared dead, China announced
that it is making $740 billion in new clean-energy investments,
according to China Daily, the state-run English-language
newspaper. China also announced that it is imposing a domestic
price on carbon.
Such moves are not motivated by environmental altruism. The
market for clean-energy technology is expected to double to $2.7
trillion by 2020, and it is estimated that the clean-energy
sector will employ 20 million people by 2030. If we don't act
now, we're going to be buying clean-energy products from China
rather than building them here and selling them to the rest of
the world. In fact, we already are. America has a trade deficit
in clean-energy technology.
For the United States to get back in the lead in this energy
race, we must put a price on carbon, though with a mechanism that
is less complex than what cap-and-trade has become. This price
can generate the revenue that the United States desperately needs
to heavily invest in clean-energy innovation. With the right
incentives, we can develop clean-energy technologies that are as
affordable as coal and oil, creating jobs and new industries.
Reform advocates long ago began to understand the power of
this message. Prominent activists -- including Al Gore -- started
talking less about saving the planet and more about spurring
economic growth, improving national security and ending pollution
disasters such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
So why did we come up short?
Partly, it was lousy timing. Reform opponents were able to
argue that any increase in energy costs, no matter how small,
would be an unsustainable burden during a period of extreme
economic distress. But we also handed them some ammunition. As
the bill got bigger and more complex, opponents were able to
distort the cap-and-trade idea to argue that it was a giveaway to
unpopular businesses.
Both Clinton's health-care reform experience and today's
cap-and-trade defeat contain lessons for the next energy reform
effort. They were each based on good ideas and sound policies,
but they became too opaque and filled with special pleadings to
sustain public support. They made complexity a virtue to try to
mask relatively modest cost increases for the middle class, and
neither did an adequate job of explaining the benefits to average
Americans. And both withered under fierce opposition.
Obama passed health-care reform by pivoting away from talk
of universal coverage and convincing enough of the public that
the bill would address fundamental middle-class concerns and
bring stability and security to those who already had insurance.
True, health-care reform barely limped over the finish line. But
that is how big change happens. In 2011, energy reform advocates
should take a page from the health-care playbook and make the
same kind of changes if we are to achieve similar results.
Josh Freed is the director of the Clean Energy Program at
Third Way, and Matt Bennett is a vice president and co-founder of
Third Way.
-0- Jul/30/2010 23:20 GMT
(BN) UN Board Lifts Suspension of TUEV SUED as CO2-Credit Certifier
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
UN Board Lifts Suspension of TUEV SUED as CO2-Credit Certifier
2010-07-30 21:30:04.726 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations board that
oversees a global emissions-trading program lifted a suspension
of a unit of TUEV SUED AG that certifies projects that produce
greenhouse-gas credits, according to an e-mailed statement from
the Clean Development Executive Board secretariat.
The suspension, caused by incomplete implementation of the
accreditation standard of March 2009, was put in place on March
26. The board also lifted a suspension of KEMCO, another
certification firm.
For Related News and Information:
UN emissions-trading stories TNI ENVMARKET UN <GO>
Today's top environment news GREEN <GO>
--Editor: Dan Stets
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at (44)-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at (44)-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
UN Board Lifts Suspension of TUEV SUED as CO2-Credit Certifier
2010-07-30 21:30:04.726 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations board that
oversees a global emissions-trading program lifted a suspension
of a unit of TUEV SUED AG that certifies projects that produce
greenhouse-gas credits, according to an e-mailed statement from
the Clean Development Executive Board secretariat.
The suspension, caused by incomplete implementation of the
accreditation standard of March 2009, was put in place on March
26. The board also lifted a suspension of KEMCO, another
certification firm.
For Related News and Information:
UN emissions-trading stories TNI ENVMARKET UN <GO>
Today's top environment news GREEN <GO>
--Editor: Dan Stets
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at (44)-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at (44)-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
(BN) UN Emissions Board Says No New Factories Will Get HFC
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
UN Emissions Board Says No New Factories Will Get HFC Credits
2010-07-30 23:27:05.536 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- No new chemical factories will
receive tradable emission credits from facilities that destroy a
type of gas linked to climate change amid concerns over
improperly obtained credits, United Nations-overseen regulators
said.
The regulators called for more investigation into the
supply of offsets from factories that combust the gas
hydrofluorocarbon-23, or HFC-23, at a meeting today in Bonn,
Germany. Credits from the destruction of HFC-23, which has a
global warming potential 11,700 times that of carbon dioxide,
make up about half of all credits produced so far in the second-
biggest carbon market, the Clean Development Mechanism.
CDM Watch, the environmental lobby group based in Bonn,
repeated claims today that some chemical factories were boosting
production of HFC-23 to improperly obtain credits, according to
an e-mailed statement.
"No new factories can qualify and the amount of credits
that a project can earn is tied to historical production levels
and established waste-to-product ratios, safeguards intended to
prevent production increase simply to earn credits," the CDM
executive board, which oversees the UN market, said today in an
e-mailed statement.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
--Editor: Greg Chang.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
UN Emissions Board Says No New Factories Will Get HFC Credits
2010-07-30 23:27:05.536 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- No new chemical factories will
receive tradable emission credits from facilities that destroy a
type of gas linked to climate change amid concerns over
improperly obtained credits, United Nations-overseen regulators
said.
The regulators called for more investigation into the
supply of offsets from factories that combust the gas
hydrofluorocarbon-23, or HFC-23, at a meeting today in Bonn,
Germany. Credits from the destruction of HFC-23, which has a
global warming potential 11,700 times that of carbon dioxide,
make up about half of all credits produced so far in the second-
biggest carbon market, the Clean Development Mechanism.
CDM Watch, the environmental lobby group based in Bonn,
repeated claims today that some chemical factories were boosting
production of HFC-23 to improperly obtain credits, according to
an e-mailed statement.
"No new factories can qualify and the amount of credits
that a project can earn is tied to historical production levels
and established waste-to-product ratios, safeguards intended to
prevent production increase simply to earn credits," the CDM
executive board, which oversees the UN market, said today in an
e-mailed statement.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
--Editor: Greg Chang.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
Fwd: EU Carbon Rises on German Power; UN Considers HFC Offset Supply
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EU Carbon Rises on German Power; UN Considers HFC Offset Supply
2010-07-30 16:35:52.272 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon-dioxide
allowances, used in the world's biggest emissions market, rose
to the highest level in eight days as German power gained.
United Nations-overseen regulators meeting in Bonn,
Germany, called for more investigation into the supply of
offsets from plants that destroy HFC-23 emissions. Those
facilities are the most productive projects in the second-
biggest carbon market, the Clean Development Mechanism.
EU permits for December increased 13 cents, or 0.9 percent,
to 14.15 euros ($18.49) a metric ton on London's European
Climate Exchange as of 5:12 p.m., which would be the highest
close since July 22. They have risen 13 percent this year. UN
Certified Emission Reduction credits for December gained 1.1
percent to 11.95 euros a ton.
German baseload power for next year, a European benchmark,
gained 20 cents, or 0.4 percent, to 50.70 euros a megawatt-hour,
according to broker prices on Bloomberg. The contract jumped 2
percent yesterday. Higher power prices can boost the incentive
to sell forward, increasing demand for emission permits.
The CDM executive board, which oversees the UN market, is
deciding how to regulate projects that destroy
hydrofluorocarbon-23, a potent greenhouse gas that's a byproduct
of chemical-refrigerant making. Greenhouse-gas credits from HFC-
23 projects make up about half the supply of offsets in the UN
program. UN CERs can be used for compliance in the EU market.
"We can't conclude on this now," Lex de Jonge, chairman
of the UN panel that approves methodologies to cut greenhouse
gases, told the board yesterday. "We need some more work to be
done."
CDM Watch
CDM Watch, the environmental lobby group based in Bonn,
criticized the board for continuing to issue emission credits to
projects that curb HFC-23 gases.
Board members from Japan, China and India insisted the
methodology for credit creation under the Clean Development
Mechanism be allowed, the group said today in an e-mailed
statement.
"We should consider suspending the methodology while we
sort this out," Martin Hession, a board member from the U.K.,
said yesterday at the meeting. The regulators, gathering this
week until today, usually publish a report at the end of each
meeting.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Raj Rajendran
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EU Carbon Rises on German Power; UN Considers HFC Offset Supply
2010-07-30 16:35:52.272 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon-dioxide
allowances, used in the world's biggest emissions market, rose
to the highest level in eight days as German power gained.
United Nations-overseen regulators meeting in Bonn,
Germany, called for more investigation into the supply of
offsets from plants that destroy HFC-23 emissions. Those
facilities are the most productive projects in the second-
biggest carbon market, the Clean Development Mechanism.
EU permits for December increased 13 cents, or 0.9 percent,
to 14.15 euros ($18.49) a metric ton on London's European
Climate Exchange as of 5:12 p.m., which would be the highest
close since July 22. They have risen 13 percent this year. UN
Certified Emission Reduction credits for December gained 1.1
percent to 11.95 euros a ton.
German baseload power for next year, a European benchmark,
gained 20 cents, or 0.4 percent, to 50.70 euros a megawatt-hour,
according to broker prices on Bloomberg. The contract jumped 2
percent yesterday. Higher power prices can boost the incentive
to sell forward, increasing demand for emission permits.
The CDM executive board, which oversees the UN market, is
deciding how to regulate projects that destroy
hydrofluorocarbon-23, a potent greenhouse gas that's a byproduct
of chemical-refrigerant making. Greenhouse-gas credits from HFC-
23 projects make up about half the supply of offsets in the UN
program. UN CERs can be used for compliance in the EU market.
"We can't conclude on this now," Lex de Jonge, chairman
of the UN panel that approves methodologies to cut greenhouse
gases, told the board yesterday. "We need some more work to be
done."
CDM Watch
CDM Watch, the environmental lobby group based in Bonn,
criticized the board for continuing to issue emission credits to
projects that curb HFC-23 gases.
Board members from Japan, China and India insisted the
methodology for credit creation under the Clean Development
Mechanism be allowed, the group said today in an e-mailed
statement.
"We should consider suspending the methodology while we
sort this out," Martin Hession, a board member from the U.K.,
said yesterday at the meeting. The regulators, gathering this
week until today, usually publish a report at the end of each
meeting.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Raj Rajendran
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
EU Carbon Rises After German Power Gains Most in Two Months
co2 market now turning down a bit
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EU Carbon Rises After German Power Gains Most in Two Months
2010-07-30 07:31:53.606 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon-dioxide
allowances rose to their highest level in a week after German
power yesterday gained the most since May 24.
EU permits for December increased as much as 14 cents, or 1
percent, to 14.16 euros ($18.50) a metric ton on London's
European Climate Exchange, the highest price since July 23. They
were at 14.13 euros at 8:27 a.m. local time and have risen 13
percent in the year to date.
German baseload power for next year, a European benchmark,
gained 25 cents, or 0.5 percent, to 50.75 euros a megawatt-hour,
according to broker prices on Bloomberg. The contract jumped 2
percent yesterday. Higher power prices can boost the incentive
to sell forward, increasing demand for emission permits. The EU
carbon market is the world's biggest.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Raj Rajendran
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EU Carbon Rises After German Power Gains Most in Two Months
2010-07-30 07:31:53.606 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon-dioxide
allowances rose to their highest level in a week after German
power yesterday gained the most since May 24.
EU permits for December increased as much as 14 cents, or 1
percent, to 14.16 euros ($18.50) a metric ton on London's
European Climate Exchange, the highest price since July 23. They
were at 14.13 euros at 8:27 a.m. local time and have risen 13
percent in the year to date.
German baseload power for next year, a European benchmark,
gained 25 cents, or 0.5 percent, to 50.75 euros a megawatt-hour,
according to broker prices on Bloomberg. The contract jumped 2
percent yesterday. Higher power prices can boost the incentive
to sell forward, increasing demand for emission permits. The EU
carbon market is the world's biggest.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Raj Rajendran
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
2010/07/29
(BN) Li Ka-shing’s Group in $9.1 Billion Bid to Buy EDF’s
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Li Ka-shing's Group in $9.1 Billion Bid to Buy EDF's U.K. Unit
2010-07-30 05:20:46.427 GMT
By John Duce
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- A group led by Hong Kong
billionaire Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings
Ltd. has offered to buy Electricite de France SA's U.K. power
networks unit for 5.8 billion pounds ($9.1 billion).
Cheung Kong Infrastructure, subsidiary Hongkong Electric
Holdings Ltd. and the Li Ka-shing Foundation have jointly bid to
buy the assets, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock
exchange today. The offer is subject to formal approval by
the seller and the Commission of the European Union, it said.
The utilities and roads company said in May it is on EDF's
shortlist of bidders for three U.K. networks. Cheung Kong
Infrastructure has invested in gas, water and road assets in
Australia, Canada and the U.K. to counter slowing growth in Hong
Kong's power market. The company said last year it has a HK$10
billion ($1.3 billion) "war chest" for acquisitions and is in
talks to buy more than 10 projects in North America and Europe.
"The company is looking for sizeable assets overseas with
good returns," said Gary Chiu, an analyst at HSBC Securities
Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. "The U.K. has a good regulatory
environment and stable earnings."
The Financial Times had earlier reported Cheung Kong
Infrastructure had won the deal.
Li, 82, is Hong Kong's richest man and was estimated to be
worth $16.2 billion by a Forbes magazine survey in March 2009.
He is dubbed "Superman" by Hong Kong's media because of
his track record for investing and correctly predicted in 2007
that China's stock market was in a "bubble."
Trading Halt
Cheung Kong Infrastructure had earlier asked for trading in
its shares to be halted today ahead of an announcement of a
"price sensitive" transaction. The stock has fallen 2.2
percent this year compared with a 4.4 percent decline in the
benchmark Hang Seng Index.
EDF's U.K. assets have a value of about 4 billion pounds,
Cheung Kong Infrastructure Chief Operating Officer Andrew Hunter
said on March 4, adding that's not necessarily the size of the
company's bid.
The company yesterday reported a 48 percent drop in first-
half net income HK$2.03 billion after making a one-off gain last
year selling assets.
Paris-based EDF, Europe's biggest power producer, got at
least two preliminary bids from the Hong Kong company and a
group led by Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd., a person familiar
with the matter said July 16. Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Plc
were advising EDF on the sale.
EDF Assets
Macquarie partnered Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
and the Canadian Pension Plan. The group was advised by
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Lexicon Partners and Macquarie Capital
Advisers. Cheung Kong Infrastructure was advised by RBS
Corporate Finance, a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.
EDF Chief Executive Officer Henri Proglio wanted to sell
the network to help reduce debt after the nuclear power utility
expanded into the U.K. with the purchase of British Energy Group
Plc in 2008. The company needs to invest billions of euros at
home to maintain France's 58 atomic reactors.
EDF's U.K. network serves about 7.8 million people in
London and southeast England. It includes about 170,000
kilometers (105,633 miles) of underground cables and overhead
power lines, as well as 66,300 substations, according to the
company's website. EDF valued the regulated part of network at
about 4 billion euros ($5.1 billion) at the end of 2008.
Cheung Kong Infrastructure's assets overseas include a
stake in the U.K. energy company Northern Gas Networks Ltd. In
April, the company agreed to pay 211.7 million pounds for a
stake in the U.K. electricity producer Seabank Power Ltd. from
BG Group Plc.
About two-thirds of Cheung Kong Infrastructure's revenue
was generated by its overseas businesses last year, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg.
Story link: {NSN L6CDXN6MBOQP <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
Top stories on China: TOP CHINA <GO>
China Energy Data: ENST CHINA <GO>
--Editors: Amit Prakash.
To contact the reporter on this story:
John Duce in Hong Kong at +852-2977-2237 or
Jduce1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or aprakash1@bloomberg.net
Li Ka-shing's Group in $9.1 Billion Bid to Buy EDF's U.K. Unit
2010-07-30 05:20:46.427 GMT
By John Duce
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- A group led by Hong Kong
billionaire Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings
Ltd. has offered to buy Electricite de France SA's U.K. power
networks unit for 5.8 billion pounds ($9.1 billion).
Cheung Kong Infrastructure, subsidiary Hongkong Electric
Holdings Ltd. and the Li Ka-shing Foundation have jointly bid to
buy the assets, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock
exchange today. The offer is subject to formal approval by
the seller and the Commission of the European Union, it said.
The utilities and roads company said in May it is on EDF's
shortlist of bidders for three U.K. networks. Cheung Kong
Infrastructure has invested in gas, water and road assets in
Australia, Canada and the U.K. to counter slowing growth in Hong
Kong's power market. The company said last year it has a HK$10
billion ($1.3 billion) "war chest" for acquisitions and is in
talks to buy more than 10 projects in North America and Europe.
"The company is looking for sizeable assets overseas with
good returns," said Gary Chiu, an analyst at HSBC Securities
Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. "The U.K. has a good regulatory
environment and stable earnings."
The Financial Times had earlier reported Cheung Kong
Infrastructure had won the deal.
Li, 82, is Hong Kong's richest man and was estimated to be
worth $16.2 billion by a Forbes magazine survey in March 2009.
He is dubbed "Superman" by Hong Kong's media because of
his track record for investing and correctly predicted in 2007
that China's stock market was in a "bubble."
Trading Halt
Cheung Kong Infrastructure had earlier asked for trading in
its shares to be halted today ahead of an announcement of a
"price sensitive" transaction. The stock has fallen 2.2
percent this year compared with a 4.4 percent decline in the
benchmark Hang Seng Index.
EDF's U.K. assets have a value of about 4 billion pounds,
Cheung Kong Infrastructure Chief Operating Officer Andrew Hunter
said on March 4, adding that's not necessarily the size of the
company's bid.
The company yesterday reported a 48 percent drop in first-
half net income HK$2.03 billion after making a one-off gain last
year selling assets.
Paris-based EDF, Europe's biggest power producer, got at
least two preliminary bids from the Hong Kong company and a
group led by Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd., a person familiar
with the matter said July 16. Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Plc
were advising EDF on the sale.
EDF Assets
Macquarie partnered Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
and the Canadian Pension Plan. The group was advised by
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Lexicon Partners and Macquarie Capital
Advisers. Cheung Kong Infrastructure was advised by RBS
Corporate Finance, a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.
EDF Chief Executive Officer Henri Proglio wanted to sell
the network to help reduce debt after the nuclear power utility
expanded into the U.K. with the purchase of British Energy Group
Plc in 2008. The company needs to invest billions of euros at
home to maintain France's 58 atomic reactors.
EDF's U.K. network serves about 7.8 million people in
London and southeast England. It includes about 170,000
kilometers (105,633 miles) of underground cables and overhead
power lines, as well as 66,300 substations, according to the
company's website. EDF valued the regulated part of network at
about 4 billion euros ($5.1 billion) at the end of 2008.
Cheung Kong Infrastructure's assets overseas include a
stake in the U.K. energy company Northern Gas Networks Ltd. In
April, the company agreed to pay 211.7 million pounds for a
stake in the U.K. electricity producer Seabank Power Ltd. from
BG Group Plc.
About two-thirds of Cheung Kong Infrastructure's revenue
was generated by its overseas businesses last year, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg.
Story link: {NSN L6CDXN6MBOQP <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
Top stories on China: TOP CHINA <GO>
China Energy Data: ENST CHINA <GO>
--Editors: Amit Prakash.
To contact the reporter on this story:
John Duce in Hong Kong at +852-2977-2237 or
Jduce1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or aprakash1@bloomberg.net
(BN) U.K. Natural Gas Rises Third Day on Lower Supply;
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
U.K. Natural Gas Rises Third Day on Lower Supply; Power Gains
2010-07-29 16:21:13.630 GMT
By Ben Farey
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. natural-gas contracts rose for
a third day as demand increased and the network manager forecast
lower supply. Power followed gas higher.
Demand for gas in the 24-hour period through 6 a.m.
tomorrow will be 223 million cubic meters, about 1 million more
than normal for the time of year, according to National Grid
Plc. Earlier today demand of 233 was forecast. The nation's
pipelines will hold 334 million cubic meters of gas at 6 a.m.
tomorrow, 2 million less than at the start of today.
Gas for next-month delivery gained 1.88 pence, or 4.6
percent, to 42.6 pence a therm at 5:10 p.m. in London, according
to broker data compiled by Bloomberg. That's equal to $6.64 a
million British thermal units. A therm is 100,000 Btus.
Gas for today was little changed at 43 pence a therm.
Deliveries through the BBL pipeline from the Netherlands
dropped by more than 50 percent to a rate of about 10 million
cubic meters a day. Flows from the Isle of Grain and Dragon LNG
terminals also declined.
Transitgas AG said it expects to reopen its natural-gas
pipeline across Switzerland to Italy Aug. 9 after closing it
last week as thunderstorms increased the risk of damage to the
link from landslides.
"If the meteorological conditions allow, we expect to
restore the natural gas transport on Aug. 9, 2010," Transitgas
said on its website today. The pipeline shut on July 23.
Norwegian Gas
Supply to the U.K. from Norway has increased as gas is
diverted to Britain that would normally be transported to Italy.
Data from Snam Rete Gas SpA, Italy's gas-pipeline operator,
show the Transitgas pipeline imported 59 million cubic meters of
gas into Italy on July 22.
Baseload power for delivery next month gained 1.9 percent
to 39.75 pounds a megawatt-hour. Baseload electricity is
delivered around the clock. Almost half of Britain's power
stations are fuelled with natural gas.
Winter gas, to be delivered in the six months through
March, gained 1.8 pence to 50.8 pence a therm. Baseload power
for winter delivery advanced 1.65 percent to 46.15 pounds a
megawatt-hour.
Bloomberg compiles prices from brokers including ICAP Plc,
GFI Group Inc. and Spectron Group Ltd.
For Related News and Information:
Top Gas story page: TGAS <GO>
U.K. Gas prices: UGAS <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Raj Rajendran
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ben Farey in London at +44-20-7673-2369 or
bfarey@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss on +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
U.K. Natural Gas Rises Third Day on Lower Supply; Power Gains
2010-07-29 16:21:13.630 GMT
By Ben Farey
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. natural-gas contracts rose for
a third day as demand increased and the network manager forecast
lower supply. Power followed gas higher.
Demand for gas in the 24-hour period through 6 a.m.
tomorrow will be 223 million cubic meters, about 1 million more
than normal for the time of year, according to National Grid
Plc. Earlier today demand of 233 was forecast. The nation's
pipelines will hold 334 million cubic meters of gas at 6 a.m.
tomorrow, 2 million less than at the start of today.
Gas for next-month delivery gained 1.88 pence, or 4.6
percent, to 42.6 pence a therm at 5:10 p.m. in London, according
to broker data compiled by Bloomberg. That's equal to $6.64 a
million British thermal units. A therm is 100,000 Btus.
Gas for today was little changed at 43 pence a therm.
Deliveries through the BBL pipeline from the Netherlands
dropped by more than 50 percent to a rate of about 10 million
cubic meters a day. Flows from the Isle of Grain and Dragon LNG
terminals also declined.
Transitgas AG said it expects to reopen its natural-gas
pipeline across Switzerland to Italy Aug. 9 after closing it
last week as thunderstorms increased the risk of damage to the
link from landslides.
"If the meteorological conditions allow, we expect to
restore the natural gas transport on Aug. 9, 2010," Transitgas
said on its website today. The pipeline shut on July 23.
Norwegian Gas
Supply to the U.K. from Norway has increased as gas is
diverted to Britain that would normally be transported to Italy.
Data from Snam Rete Gas SpA, Italy's gas-pipeline operator,
show the Transitgas pipeline imported 59 million cubic meters of
gas into Italy on July 22.
Baseload power for delivery next month gained 1.9 percent
to 39.75 pounds a megawatt-hour. Baseload electricity is
delivered around the clock. Almost half of Britain's power
stations are fuelled with natural gas.
Winter gas, to be delivered in the six months through
March, gained 1.8 pence to 50.8 pence a therm. Baseload power
for winter delivery advanced 1.65 percent to 46.15 pounds a
megawatt-hour.
Bloomberg compiles prices from brokers including ICAP Plc,
GFI Group Inc. and Spectron Group Ltd.
For Related News and Information:
Top Gas story page: TGAS <GO>
U.K. Gas prices: UGAS <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Raj Rajendran
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ben Farey in London at +44-20-7673-2369 or
bfarey@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss on +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
(BN) UN CER Issuance to Jump in August, IDEAcarbon Says (Update1)
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
UN CER Issuance to Jump in August, IDEAcarbon Says (Update1)
2010-07-29 14:26:04.401 GMT
(Adds HFC credits in fourth paragraph.)
By Mathew Carr
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change secretariat will probably issue
about 18 million Certified Emission Reduction credits from
tomorrow through Aug. 26, according to IDEAcarbon.
The UN will hand out 2.4 million metric tons of CERs next
week, London-based IDEAcarbon analyst Alessandro Vitelli
estimated today in an e-mail and by phone. IDEAcarbon rates
emission-reduction projects. The UN has issued 365,000 tons of
CERs so far this month, according to its website.
Should the Clean Development Mechanism Executive Board
decide to halt issuances from projects that curb
hydrofluorocarbon-23 gas, issuances in the period may be about 8
million tons, Vitelli said.
The board, backed by the Bonn, Germany-based secretariat,
regulates the CDM, the second-biggest greenhouse gas market
after the European Union carbon dioxide program. Regulators are
seeking to streamline procedures to boost the productivity of
the system, incentivizing reductions and cutting delays.
For Related News and Information:
European power-market stories TNI EUROPE PWRMARKET <GO>
Today's top power, energy news PTOP <GO>, ETOP <GO>
For top environmental news GREEN <GO>
Carbon market events calendar ECAL <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Jonas Bergman.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
UN CER Issuance to Jump in August, IDEAcarbon Says (Update1)
2010-07-29 14:26:04.401 GMT
(Adds HFC credits in fourth paragraph.)
By Mathew Carr
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change secretariat will probably issue
about 18 million Certified Emission Reduction credits from
tomorrow through Aug. 26, according to IDEAcarbon.
The UN will hand out 2.4 million metric tons of CERs next
week, London-based IDEAcarbon analyst Alessandro Vitelli
estimated today in an e-mail and by phone. IDEAcarbon rates
emission-reduction projects. The UN has issued 365,000 tons of
CERs so far this month, according to its website.
Should the Clean Development Mechanism Executive Board
decide to halt issuances from projects that curb
hydrofluorocarbon-23 gas, issuances in the period may be about 8
million tons, Vitelli said.
The board, backed by the Bonn, Germany-based secretariat,
regulates the CDM, the second-biggest greenhouse gas market
after the European Union carbon dioxide program. Regulators are
seeking to streamline procedures to boost the productivity of
the system, incentivizing reductions and cutting delays.
For Related News and Information:
European power-market stories TNI EUROPE PWRMARKET <GO>
Today's top power, energy news PTOP <GO>, ETOP <GO>
For top environmental news GREEN <GO>
Carbon market events calendar ECAL <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Jonas Bergman.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
?(NYT) Cap and Trade Is Dead. Long Live Cap and Trade.
comments my way on this folks
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Cap and Trade Is Dead. Long Live Cap and Trade.
2010-07-28 22:19:45.216 GMT
By FELICITY BARRINGER
July 28 (New York Times) -- Hard on the heels of the Senate
Democratic leadership's decision to put aside climate legislation
intended to cap carbon dioxide emissions, another carbon-capping
precinct was heard from this week.
On Tuesday, representatives of some of the Western Climate
Initiative, a group of seven states and four Canadian provinces,
unveiled a rough blueprint for a cap-and-trade program that would
begin operating in 2012.
A subgroup -- California, New Mexico, Ontario, Quebec and
British Columbia -- intends to move first in limiting carbon
dioxide emissions. Each is writing its own rules, but all are
working from the same template, with a shared understanding of
how to count emissions accurately and a shared value for the
allowances that emitters will be awarded in each jurisdiction.
And to prevent a utility in, say, New Mexico from buying
electricity from a coal plant in Texas to skirt the cost of
compliance with the emissions limits (in policyspeak, this is
called leakage), the emissions associated with imports of
electricity are included in the total cap for a given state or
province.
But there is one significant difference between the
emissions profile of this core group and that of the United
States as a whole. Whereas the electric power industry, with its
huge fleet of coal-fired power plants, is the biggest single
source of carbon dioxide emissions in the country over all, in
California and the three provinces, the transportation sector -
think passenger cars - creates the preponderance of emissions.
Yet planners anticipate that emissions related to
transportation fuels and fuels for home heating or commercial use
will not fall under the emissions cap until 2015, three years
into the program.
And a more tangible threat to the system is on the horizon.
Proposition 23, on the California ballot this fall, is intended
to derail the state's signature climate-change law. And
California accounts for one-third of the full Western Climate
Initiative's total emissions.
Finally, even as the Western states and Canadian provinces
announced that they can act regardless of what the United States
Congress does, the value of the emissions allowances being traded
under the auspices of a different coalition -- the Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a coalition of 10 states in New
England and the mid-Atlantic -- are dropping in the absence of a
federal law that could bolster their value.
Point Carbon, a ThomsonReuters publication that follows the
carbon market, reported on Friday that activity in the RGGI
(pronounced Reggie) market had come to a near standstill. "Fading
hopes for passage of a federal climate bill that would give value
to RGGI allowances" has also deterred financial speculators from
participating in what the creators had hoped would be an
inspiration for a nationwide carbon market, it said.
Based on their statement on Tuesday, the architects of the
Western Climate Initiative still hope to produce a model market
that could join with the smaller market on the East Coast, which
covers only the electrical sector. That is, if California is
still a leader in the group after the November election.
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
-0- Jul/28/2010 22:19 GMT
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Cap and Trade Is Dead. Long Live Cap and Trade.
2010-07-28 22:19:45.216 GMT
By FELICITY BARRINGER
July 28 (New York Times) -- Hard on the heels of the Senate
Democratic leadership's decision to put aside climate legislation
intended to cap carbon dioxide emissions, another carbon-capping
precinct was heard from this week.
On Tuesday, representatives of some of the Western Climate
Initiative, a group of seven states and four Canadian provinces,
unveiled a rough blueprint for a cap-and-trade program that would
begin operating in 2012.
A subgroup -- California, New Mexico, Ontario, Quebec and
British Columbia -- intends to move first in limiting carbon
dioxide emissions. Each is writing its own rules, but all are
working from the same template, with a shared understanding of
how to count emissions accurately and a shared value for the
allowances that emitters will be awarded in each jurisdiction.
And to prevent a utility in, say, New Mexico from buying
electricity from a coal plant in Texas to skirt the cost of
compliance with the emissions limits (in policyspeak, this is
called leakage), the emissions associated with imports of
electricity are included in the total cap for a given state or
province.
But there is one significant difference between the
emissions profile of this core group and that of the United
States as a whole. Whereas the electric power industry, with its
huge fleet of coal-fired power plants, is the biggest single
source of carbon dioxide emissions in the country over all, in
California and the three provinces, the transportation sector -
think passenger cars - creates the preponderance of emissions.
Yet planners anticipate that emissions related to
transportation fuels and fuels for home heating or commercial use
will not fall under the emissions cap until 2015, three years
into the program.
And a more tangible threat to the system is on the horizon.
Proposition 23, on the California ballot this fall, is intended
to derail the state's signature climate-change law. And
California accounts for one-third of the full Western Climate
Initiative's total emissions.
Finally, even as the Western states and Canadian provinces
announced that they can act regardless of what the United States
Congress does, the value of the emissions allowances being traded
under the auspices of a different coalition -- the Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a coalition of 10 states in New
England and the mid-Atlantic -- are dropping in the absence of a
federal law that could bolster their value.
Point Carbon, a ThomsonReuters publication that follows the
carbon market, reported on Friday that activity in the RGGI
(pronounced Reggie) market had come to a near standstill. "Fading
hopes for passage of a federal climate bill that would give value
to RGGI allowances" has also deterred financial speculators from
participating in what the creators had hoped would be an
inspiration for a nationwide carbon market, it said.
Based on their statement on Tuesday, the architects of the
Western Climate Initiative still hope to produce a model market
that could join with the smaller market on the East Coast, which
covers only the electrical sector. That is, if California is
still a leader in the group after the November election.
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
-0- Jul/28/2010 22:19 GMT
(BN) Energy Bill Threatens Hydraulic-Fracture Drilling,
yest
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Energy Bill Threatens Hydraulic-Fracture Drilling, Inhofe Says
2010-07-28 15:32:48.20 GMT
By Simon Lomax
July 28 (Bloomberg) --An energy bill released by Democrats
yesterday would put unreasonable chemical disclosure
requirements on companies that use hydraulic fracturing to drill
for natural gas, Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican,
said.
The measure would move drilling that is regulated by U.S.
states "under federal jurisdiction" and could bring it halt,
Inhofe told reporters today in Washington.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}
To contact the reporter on this story:
Simon Lomax in Washington at +1-202-654-4305 or
slomax@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at +1-212-617-4403 or
dstets@bloomberg.net
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Energy Bill Threatens Hydraulic-Fracture Drilling, Inhofe Says
2010-07-28 15:32:48.20 GMT
By Simon Lomax
July 28 (Bloomberg) --An energy bill released by Democrats
yesterday would put unreasonable chemical disclosure
requirements on companies that use hydraulic fracturing to drill
for natural gas, Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican,
said.
The measure would move drilling that is regulated by U.S.
states "under federal jurisdiction" and could bring it halt,
Inhofe told reporters today in Washington.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}
To contact the reporter on this story:
Simon Lomax in Washington at +1-202-654-4305 or
slomax@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at +1-212-617-4403 or
dstets@bloomberg.net
(BN) ‘Unmistakable’ Evidence Shows World Getting Warmer, NOAA Says
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
'Unmistakable' Evidence Shows World Getting Warmer, NOAA Says
2010-07-28 20:36:42.450 GMT
By Brian K. Sullivan
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Scientific evidence that the world
is getting warmer is "unmistakable," according to a report by
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration drawing on
research from 48 countries, including Russia and China.
The past decade was the warmest on record and the past 50
years have been getting hotter, the researchers said, citing 10
main indicators, including surface and ocean temperatures, the
amount of sea ice and glaciers and levels of humidity.
"The records come from many institutions worldwide," Jane
Lubchenco, NOAA administrator and undersecretary of Commerce for
oceans and atmosphere, said in a statement. "These
independently produced lines of evidence all point to the same
conclusion: Our planet is warming."
Globally, air temperature near the surface in the past 10
years was 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 Celsius) warmer than the
1960s and about 0.4 degree warmer than the 1990s, according to
the report.
The warming has lead to shrinking glaciers, more heat waves
and heavier rainfall as moisture in the atmosphere increases,
the researchers said.
"The temperature of 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 50
years may seem small, but it has already altered our planet,"
said Deke Arndt, co-editor of the report, called "State of the
Climate in 2009." "And there is now evidence that over 90
percent of warming over the past 50 years has gone into our
oceans."
Conditions Examined
The researchers took into account the temperature of the
atmosphere, the heat content of oceans, sea level, sea surface
temperatures and snow cover. They also examined 27 other
indicators, including green house gas concentrations in the
atmosphere, precipitation levels and salinity of the oceans.
The amount of humidity has risen, while glaciers, sea ice
and snow cover have all shrunk, the report concluded.
"The scientific evidence that our world is warming is
unmistakable," according to the statement.
Arndt said he is alarmed by the amount of heat energy being
absorbed by the ocean, 93.4 percent of all warming. Water holds
heat better than air, so warmth will linger longer.
"It builds the momentum in the system," Arndt said.
Evidence of ocean warming has been detected as deep as
6,000 feet below the surface, according to NOAA.
Watching Cold
The authors of the report said people shouldn't draw
conclusions that all is well from periods of cool weather.
"A warming climate will still have cold spells, though
they will become less frequent and less intense," according to
another NOAA statement. "For example, in the winter of 2009-
2010, a warm air mass moved into Canada and pushed cold air
south. Canadians experienced a mild winter, but the mid-Atlantic
coast of the United States was extremely cold and snowy."
While snow records were set in the U.S. from Dallas to New
York, the rest of the Northern Hemisphere had "one of the
warmest winters on record," the agency said.
More than 300 authors from 48 countries contributed to the
report, according to a NOAA statement.
The data came from more than 7,000 weather stations,
according to the report. The editors for the report come from
the National Climatic Data Center, and the American
Meteorological Society provides scientific reviewers and
publishes it.
The report was released weeks after U.K. scientists at the
center of an international debate over the quality of climate-
change research were mostly cleared of wrongdoing by
investigators except for having avoided disclosing data to the
public.
Climate Criticism
Hundreds of e-mails stolen from the University of East
Anglia's computers in November sparked criticism from global-
warming skeptics including U.S. Senator James Inhofe, a
Republican from Oklahoma, who said they provided evidence of
data being manipulated.
Some skeptics have said temperature measurements could have
been skewed by weather stations being set up in more urban
areas, and contend an accurate picture of the Earth's warming
can't be measured.
Arndt said in a telephone interview the new report shows
many indicators are backing up temperature measurements.
"It was quite striking to see that many voices singing in
a single chorus," he said.
For Related News and Information:
Top environment, renewable energy page: GREEN <GO>
More climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Most-read environment stories: MNI ENV >GO>
Green markets: EMIT <GO>
Most-read weather news MNI WEA <GO>
Energy news page: ETOP <GO>
Oil top news: OTOP <GO>
--With assistance from Alex Morales in London. Editors:
Charlotte Porter, Dan Stets
To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at +1-617-210-4631 or
bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at +1-212-617-4403 or dstets@bloomberg.net
'Unmistakable' Evidence Shows World Getting Warmer, NOAA Says
2010-07-28 20:36:42.450 GMT
By Brian K. Sullivan
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Scientific evidence that the world
is getting warmer is "unmistakable," according to a report by
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration drawing on
research from 48 countries, including Russia and China.
The past decade was the warmest on record and the past 50
years have been getting hotter, the researchers said, citing 10
main indicators, including surface and ocean temperatures, the
amount of sea ice and glaciers and levels of humidity.
"The records come from many institutions worldwide," Jane
Lubchenco, NOAA administrator and undersecretary of Commerce for
oceans and atmosphere, said in a statement. "These
independently produced lines of evidence all point to the same
conclusion: Our planet is warming."
Globally, air temperature near the surface in the past 10
years was 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 Celsius) warmer than the
1960s and about 0.4 degree warmer than the 1990s, according to
the report.
The warming has lead to shrinking glaciers, more heat waves
and heavier rainfall as moisture in the atmosphere increases,
the researchers said.
"The temperature of 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 50
years may seem small, but it has already altered our planet,"
said Deke Arndt, co-editor of the report, called "State of the
Climate in 2009." "And there is now evidence that over 90
percent of warming over the past 50 years has gone into our
oceans."
Conditions Examined
The researchers took into account the temperature of the
atmosphere, the heat content of oceans, sea level, sea surface
temperatures and snow cover. They also examined 27 other
indicators, including green house gas concentrations in the
atmosphere, precipitation levels and salinity of the oceans.
The amount of humidity has risen, while glaciers, sea ice
and snow cover have all shrunk, the report concluded.
"The scientific evidence that our world is warming is
unmistakable," according to the statement.
Arndt said he is alarmed by the amount of heat energy being
absorbed by the ocean, 93.4 percent of all warming. Water holds
heat better than air, so warmth will linger longer.
"It builds the momentum in the system," Arndt said.
Evidence of ocean warming has been detected as deep as
6,000 feet below the surface, according to NOAA.
Watching Cold
The authors of the report said people shouldn't draw
conclusions that all is well from periods of cool weather.
"A warming climate will still have cold spells, though
they will become less frequent and less intense," according to
another NOAA statement. "For example, in the winter of 2009-
2010, a warm air mass moved into Canada and pushed cold air
south. Canadians experienced a mild winter, but the mid-Atlantic
coast of the United States was extremely cold and snowy."
While snow records were set in the U.S. from Dallas to New
York, the rest of the Northern Hemisphere had "one of the
warmest winters on record," the agency said.
More than 300 authors from 48 countries contributed to the
report, according to a NOAA statement.
The data came from more than 7,000 weather stations,
according to the report. The editors for the report come from
the National Climatic Data Center, and the American
Meteorological Society provides scientific reviewers and
publishes it.
The report was released weeks after U.K. scientists at the
center of an international debate over the quality of climate-
change research were mostly cleared of wrongdoing by
investigators except for having avoided disclosing data to the
public.
Climate Criticism
Hundreds of e-mails stolen from the University of East
Anglia's computers in November sparked criticism from global-
warming skeptics including U.S. Senator James Inhofe, a
Republican from Oklahoma, who said they provided evidence of
data being manipulated.
Some skeptics have said temperature measurements could have
been skewed by weather stations being set up in more urban
areas, and contend an accurate picture of the Earth's warming
can't be measured.
Arndt said in a telephone interview the new report shows
many indicators are backing up temperature measurements.
"It was quite striking to see that many voices singing in
a single chorus," he said.
For Related News and Information:
Top environment, renewable energy page: GREEN <GO>
More climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Most-read environment stories: MNI ENV >GO>
Green markets: EMIT <GO>
Most-read weather news MNI WEA <GO>
Energy news page: ETOP <GO>
Oil top news: OTOP <GO>
--With assistance from Alex Morales in London. Editors:
Charlotte Porter, Dan Stets
To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at +1-617-210-4631 or
bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at +1-212-617-4403 or dstets@bloomberg.net
(BN) Pickens, Home Depot Win in Senate’s Energy Measure
yest
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Pickens, Home Depot Win in Senate's Energy Measure (Update1)
2010-07-28 19:51:34.223 GMT
(Adds wind-power data in final paragraph.)
By Jim Efstathiou Jr.
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire
energy hedge-fund manager, and Home Depot Inc., the largest U.S.
home-improvement retailer, are winners in energy legislation
that fails to help solar-panel and wind-turbine makers.
The measure proposed yesterday by Senate Democrats would give
Pickens victory in his lobbying campaign for more use of natural
gas, providing $3.8 billion in rebates for cars and trucks
powered by the fuel. Home Depot would benefit from provisions to
channel $5 billion in rebates to homeowners who upgrade to more
efficient appliances or add insulation that reduces energy use.
The provisions were the main survivors among proposals to
reshape U.S. energy use under the measure that would also set
tougher rules for offshore drilling after BP Plc's Gulf of
Mexico oil spill, the worst in U.S. history. Absent from the
measure were limits on carbon dioxide or requirements that
utilities add solar and wind power to their portfolios.
"Boone's been in the natural-gas business all his life,"
Monty Humble, former senior vice president for Mesa Power LLP, a
company founded by Pickens in 2007 to build wind farms, said in
an interview. "As early as 1988, he advocated the use of
natural gas in vehicles. This is consistent with what he was
advocating."
Pickens couldn't immediately be reached for comment. In
April, Humble joined Alston & Bird LLP's legislative and public
policy group in Washington.
Awash in Gas
The U.S. is "awash" in natural gas, thanks to new
drilling techniques that make gas locked in shale formations
cheaper to recover, Pickens told the House Ways and Means
Committee on April 14.
"We are going to look like fools if we don't use natural
gas for transportation," Pickens told the panel. "The only way
we can solve the OPEC oil threat is by replacing their
expensive, dirty fuel with cleaner, cheaper American natural
gas."
In October 2009, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a
Nevada Democrat who drafted the Senate oil-spill response bill,
called Pickens "a good friend and a real visionary."
The Senate bill would offer rebates to people who buy gas-
powered cars or trucks or convert conventional vehicles to gas.
It also would give grants of as much as $50,000 to companies
that put natural gas refueling stations into service between
2011 and 2015.
A House version of the bill doesn't include the natural gas
or energy efficiency provisions. Both measures could be brought
to the floor as soon as this week.
Rebates for Insulation
The Senate bill would offer rebates of as much as $8,000 to
homeowners who retrofit with energy-efficient insulation,
windows and heating and cooling equipment. The Home Star program
to cut energy use from appliances and air conditioners would
create as many as 168,000 jobs over the next two years,
according to the Alliance to Save Energy, a Washington-based
group the promotes energy efficiency.
"While we are disappointed at the limited scope of the
overall bill introduced today, Home Star is a creative solution
to the energy and economic problems facing our country,"
alliance president Kateri Callahan said in a statement.
The Home Star program would extend federal tax credits from
last year's stimulus bill that expire at the end of 2010,
according to Stephen Holmes, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Home
Depot.
Popular at Home Depot
"The previous incentive programs have been extremely
popular with our customers," Holmes said in an interview.
"Homeowners get cost savings on energy bills, tax rebates and
environmental benefits, and it would create more jobs for
contractors."
Pleas from environmental groups and renewable energy
manufacturers that the Senate bill include limits on emissions
that contribute to global warming or a renewable energy
requirement for utilities were rejected after Reid said there
weren't enough votes for the climate provisions.
"The U.S. wind industry is in distress," Denise Bode,
chief executive officer of the Washington-based American Wind
Energy Association, said in a statement. A renewable standard
"is a critical component to ensure the U.S. wind industry
thrives."
U.S. wind-power additions in the first six months of 2010
fell 70 percent from a year earlier, according to Bode.
Developers added 1,239 megawatts in the first half, down from
4,000 megawatts in the same period of 2009.
For Related News and Information:
Top oil, energy news: OTOP <GO>, ETOP <GO>
Nymex crude oil futures curve: CLA <Cmdty> CCRV <GO>
BP results by region: BP/ LN <Equity> FA GEO CHART <GO>
Natural-gas markets: NATG <GO>
Carbon market analysis: CARX <GO>
--Editors: Larry Liebert, Steve Geimann
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jim Efstathiou Jr. in New York at +1-212-617-1647 or
jefstathiou@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
LLiebert@bloomberg.net.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Pickens, Home Depot Win in Senate's Energy Measure (Update1)
2010-07-28 19:51:34.223 GMT
(Adds wind-power data in final paragraph.)
By Jim Efstathiou Jr.
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire
energy hedge-fund manager, and Home Depot Inc., the largest U.S.
home-improvement retailer, are winners in energy legislation
that fails to help solar-panel and wind-turbine makers.
The measure proposed yesterday by Senate Democrats would give
Pickens victory in his lobbying campaign for more use of natural
gas, providing $3.8 billion in rebates for cars and trucks
powered by the fuel. Home Depot would benefit from provisions to
channel $5 billion in rebates to homeowners who upgrade to more
efficient appliances or add insulation that reduces energy use.
The provisions were the main survivors among proposals to
reshape U.S. energy use under the measure that would also set
tougher rules for offshore drilling after BP Plc's Gulf of
Mexico oil spill, the worst in U.S. history. Absent from the
measure were limits on carbon dioxide or requirements that
utilities add solar and wind power to their portfolios.
"Boone's been in the natural-gas business all his life,"
Monty Humble, former senior vice president for Mesa Power LLP, a
company founded by Pickens in 2007 to build wind farms, said in
an interview. "As early as 1988, he advocated the use of
natural gas in vehicles. This is consistent with what he was
advocating."
Pickens couldn't immediately be reached for comment. In
April, Humble joined Alston & Bird LLP's legislative and public
policy group in Washington.
Awash in Gas
The U.S. is "awash" in natural gas, thanks to new
drilling techniques that make gas locked in shale formations
cheaper to recover, Pickens told the House Ways and Means
Committee on April 14.
"We are going to look like fools if we don't use natural
gas for transportation," Pickens told the panel. "The only way
we can solve the OPEC oil threat is by replacing their
expensive, dirty fuel with cleaner, cheaper American natural
gas."
In October 2009, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a
Nevada Democrat who drafted the Senate oil-spill response bill,
called Pickens "a good friend and a real visionary."
The Senate bill would offer rebates to people who buy gas-
powered cars or trucks or convert conventional vehicles to gas.
It also would give grants of as much as $50,000 to companies
that put natural gas refueling stations into service between
2011 and 2015.
A House version of the bill doesn't include the natural gas
or energy efficiency provisions. Both measures could be brought
to the floor as soon as this week.
Rebates for Insulation
The Senate bill would offer rebates of as much as $8,000 to
homeowners who retrofit with energy-efficient insulation,
windows and heating and cooling equipment. The Home Star program
to cut energy use from appliances and air conditioners would
create as many as 168,000 jobs over the next two years,
according to the Alliance to Save Energy, a Washington-based
group the promotes energy efficiency.
"While we are disappointed at the limited scope of the
overall bill introduced today, Home Star is a creative solution
to the energy and economic problems facing our country,"
alliance president Kateri Callahan said in a statement.
The Home Star program would extend federal tax credits from
last year's stimulus bill that expire at the end of 2010,
according to Stephen Holmes, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Home
Depot.
Popular at Home Depot
"The previous incentive programs have been extremely
popular with our customers," Holmes said in an interview.
"Homeowners get cost savings on energy bills, tax rebates and
environmental benefits, and it would create more jobs for
contractors."
Pleas from environmental groups and renewable energy
manufacturers that the Senate bill include limits on emissions
that contribute to global warming or a renewable energy
requirement for utilities were rejected after Reid said there
weren't enough votes for the climate provisions.
"The U.S. wind industry is in distress," Denise Bode,
chief executive officer of the Washington-based American Wind
Energy Association, said in a statement. A renewable standard
"is a critical component to ensure the U.S. wind industry
thrives."
U.S. wind-power additions in the first six months of 2010
fell 70 percent from a year earlier, according to Bode.
Developers added 1,239 megawatts in the first half, down from
4,000 megawatts in the same period of 2009.
For Related News and Information:
Top oil, energy news: OTOP <GO>, ETOP <GO>
Nymex crude oil futures curve: CLA <Cmdty> CCRV <GO>
BP results by region: BP/ LN <Equity> FA GEO CHART <GO>
Natural-gas markets: NATG <GO>
Carbon market analysis: CARX <GO>
--Editors: Larry Liebert, Steve Geimann
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jim Efstathiou Jr. in New York at +1-212-617-1647 or
jefstathiou@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
LLiebert@bloomberg.net.
?(BN) UN Carbon Board Defers Some Requests for New Credits
so cers not moving much today/past three days...might that change if issuance fires up? what if issuance stays dead next week? comments my way, cheers
------------------------------------------------------------
Mathew Carr, emissions markets, energy reporter. London Bloomberg News ph +44 207 073 3531 yahoo ID carr_mathew
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
UN Carbon Board Defers Some Requests for New Credits (Update1)
2010-07-29 12:14:44.882 GMT
(Adds volume in sixth paragraph, price in seventh.)
By Mathew Carr
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations-overseen regulators
of the world's second-biggest carbon market deferred assessment
of some requests for new credits from projects in developing
nations for two months, as it introduces new procedures.
A group of requests that have been flagged as possibly
requiring a review won't be considered at the meeting of the
Clean Development Mechanism Executive Board in Bonn, Germany,
ending tomorrow and will instead be considered in September, CDM
spokesman David Abbass said in an e-mail.
The board is seeking to boost the productivity of the
program to incentivize projects that curb emissions blamed for
climate change. So-called issuance of new credits, known as
offsets because they help make up for emissions from developed
nations, may this month fall to almost zero, the lowest since
2005, as the board changes its procedures.
"At each meeting, the board typically looks at cases in
which three members have requested a review -- the so-called
request for review cases," Abbass said.
The delay in consideration of these cases this week
"relates to the board's work to develop new procedures for
review of requests for registration and issuance," he said.
Should the board adopt new review procedures at this meeting,
then the cases since a meeting ended May 28 "would be handled
using those new procedures," he said.
Requests for Review
Twenty issuance requests totaling 3.8 million metric tons
of credits that will potentially be put up for review are listed
on the website of the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change.
Those credits would be worth about 45 million euros ($59
million) at today's benchmark price of 11.75 euros a ton for
Certified Emission Reductions on the European Climate Exchange
in London. There are 44 separate requests for a total 18.2
million tons, according to the UNFCCC.
The Carbon Markets and Investors Association, a global
trade group, said July 27 rules governing registration and
issuance of credits may worsen delays rather than shorten them.
The London-based group said in an e-mail that at least one
project was rejected because of "spelling and punctuation
errors, which are irrelevant."
The lack of issuance is causing "a lot of concern among
the membership," Miles Austin, the association's director, said
yesterday by phone.
There may be some issuance today, Abbass said. The board
may consider this week some projects that were already under
review, and requests without problems may proceed automatically
to receive offsets, he said.
The 1997 Kyoto treaty, which places greenhouse-gas limits
on 36 industrialized nations including Japan, Germany and
Russia, spawned the world's two biggest carbon-trading markets.
Developing nations want it extended to keep pressure on richer
nations, which produce most of the heat-trapping gas in the
atmosphere. The European Union wants the U.S. and China in a
deal to even out the burden of environmental law on industries.
For Related News and Information:
Emissions-trading prices EMIT <GO>
Power-market stories NI PWRMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy, environment news ETOP <GO>, GREEN <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Bruce Stanley
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in Copenhagen via +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
------------------------------------------------------------
Mathew Carr, emissions markets, energy reporter. London Bloomberg News ph +44 207 073 3531 yahoo ID carr_mathew
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
UN Carbon Board Defers Some Requests for New Credits (Update1)
2010-07-29 12:14:44.882 GMT
(Adds volume in sixth paragraph, price in seventh.)
By Mathew Carr
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations-overseen regulators
of the world's second-biggest carbon market deferred assessment
of some requests for new credits from projects in developing
nations for two months, as it introduces new procedures.
A group of requests that have been flagged as possibly
requiring a review won't be considered at the meeting of the
Clean Development Mechanism Executive Board in Bonn, Germany,
ending tomorrow and will instead be considered in September, CDM
spokesman David Abbass said in an e-mail.
The board is seeking to boost the productivity of the
program to incentivize projects that curb emissions blamed for
climate change. So-called issuance of new credits, known as
offsets because they help make up for emissions from developed
nations, may this month fall to almost zero, the lowest since
2005, as the board changes its procedures.
"At each meeting, the board typically looks at cases in
which three members have requested a review -- the so-called
request for review cases," Abbass said.
The delay in consideration of these cases this week
"relates to the board's work to develop new procedures for
review of requests for registration and issuance," he said.
Should the board adopt new review procedures at this meeting,
then the cases since a meeting ended May 28 "would be handled
using those new procedures," he said.
Requests for Review
Twenty issuance requests totaling 3.8 million metric tons
of credits that will potentially be put up for review are listed
on the website of the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change.
Those credits would be worth about 45 million euros ($59
million) at today's benchmark price of 11.75 euros a ton for
Certified Emission Reductions on the European Climate Exchange
in London. There are 44 separate requests for a total 18.2
million tons, according to the UNFCCC.
The Carbon Markets and Investors Association, a global
trade group, said July 27 rules governing registration and
issuance of credits may worsen delays rather than shorten them.
The London-based group said in an e-mail that at least one
project was rejected because of "spelling and punctuation
errors, which are irrelevant."
The lack of issuance is causing "a lot of concern among
the membership," Miles Austin, the association's director, said
yesterday by phone.
There may be some issuance today, Abbass said. The board
may consider this week some projects that were already under
review, and requests without problems may proceed automatically
to receive offsets, he said.
The 1997 Kyoto treaty, which places greenhouse-gas limits
on 36 industrialized nations including Japan, Germany and
Russia, spawned the world's two biggest carbon-trading markets.
Developing nations want it extended to keep pressure on richer
nations, which produce most of the heat-trapping gas in the
atmosphere. The European Union wants the U.S. and China in a
deal to even out the burden of environmental law on industries.
For Related News and Information:
Emissions-trading prices EMIT <GO>
Power-market stories NI PWRMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy, environment news ETOP <GO>, GREEN <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Bruce Stanley
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in Copenhagen via +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
yest/ Estonia Sells CO2 Credits to Spain, Sumitomo Mitsui,
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Estonia Sells CO2 Credits to Spain, Sumitomo Mitsui, BNS Says
2010-07-28 15:33:27.664 GMT
By Milda Seputyte
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Estonia plans to sell 44 million
euros ($57 million) in carbon-dioxide emission credits to Spain,
the Baltic News Service reported, citing the government.
The Baltic nation also plans to sell 0.5 million metric
tons of Assigned Amount Units, or AAUs, to Sumitomo Mitsui
Banking Corp., the news agency reported.
For Related News and Information:
Climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
EU emissions-trading stories: TNI ECREDITS EU <GO>
Stories on Estonia: NI ESTONIA BN <GO>
Eastern Europe: EEUT <GO>
--Editor: Jonas Bergman
To contact the reporter on this story:
Milda Seputyte in Vilnius at +370 5 269-0046
mseputyte@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Willy Morris at +44-20-7673-2254 or
wmorris@bloomberg.net
Estonia Sells CO2 Credits to Spain, Sumitomo Mitsui, BNS Says
2010-07-28 15:33:27.664 GMT
By Milda Seputyte
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Estonia plans to sell 44 million
euros ($57 million) in carbon-dioxide emission credits to Spain,
the Baltic News Service reported, citing the government.
The Baltic nation also plans to sell 0.5 million metric
tons of Assigned Amount Units, or AAUs, to Sumitomo Mitsui
Banking Corp., the news agency reported.
For Related News and Information:
Climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
EU emissions-trading stories: TNI ECREDITS EU <GO>
Stories on Estonia: NI ESTONIA BN <GO>
Eastern Europe: EEUT <GO>
--Editor: Jonas Bergman
To contact the reporter on this story:
Milda Seputyte in Vilnius at +370 5 269-0046
mseputyte@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Willy Morris at +44-20-7673-2254 or
wmorris@bloomberg.net
(BN) Natural-Gas Squeeze Means Mideast Fuel Switch: Energy
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Natural-Gas Squeeze Means Mideast Fuel Switch: Energy Markets
2010-07-29 08:22:08.133 GMT
By Anthony DiPaola and Ann Koh
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Persian Gulf petrochemical producers
are turning to naphtha as a feedstock for the first time amid
growing power-plant demand for natural gas.
Abu Dhabi plans to build the Middle East's first plant that
will only use naphtha to make plastics. Saudi Arabia may develop
similar units as part of two refinery ventures, according to
state-run Saudi Aramco, France's Total SA and Sumitomo Chemical
Co. of Japan, the partners in the projects.
While naphtha, a product of refining crude oil, is used to
make petrochemicals around the world, countries in the Middle
East have traditionally preferred cheaper home-produced natural
gas. Now, new power plants are competing for those gas supplies,
stoking demand for alternatives. That's being exacerbated as the
United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia expand petrochemicals
production to cut dependence on crude exports.
"They are running short of gas, especially in the U.A.E
and in Saudi Arabia, where they require gas for power generation
as well," said Siamak Adibi, head of the Middle East gas team
at Facts Global Energy Inc. in Singapore. "The more available
alternative would be naphtha for future projects."
Rising demand for naphtha may end a slump in refining
profits. The difference in price between naphtha and Dubai crude
oil, or crack spread, may rise to $2 a barrel by 2013 from an
average of $1.03 this year, according to Jit-Yang Lim, the
Singapore-based head of price analysis at Facts Global.
Market Glut
The spread, a measure of returns from naphtha production
relative to Dubai crude, dropped to minus $5.32 a barrel July
15, the biggest deficit since Oct. 15, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. The profit was as high as $13.87 a barrel
on May 15, 2007.
Petrochemical producers are taking advantage of a glut of
naphtha on global markets, according to Sriharsha Pappu, a
petrochemicals analyst at HSBC Holdings Plc in Dubai.
India's net exports rose 12 percent to 8.18 million metric
tons in the year ended March 2010, according to the government's
Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
Naphtha, distilled from crude or gas condensate, can be
blended with gasoline for auto fuel or used to make chemicals
for plastic bags to toys and washing-machine casings. It's fed
into a cracker, which breaks it down to create the chemicals.
The Middle East already has some mixed-feed crackers that can
use naphtha along with other products.
Excess supply has allowed buyers in Japan and Korea to cut
the costs of obtaining cargoes. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is
currently offering to sell naphtha for a year starting October
at premiums of between $11.50 and $12.50 a ton over benchmark
prices, two traders with knowledge of the talks said yesterday.
It set premiums for its July term contract at $22 to $24 a ton
during negotiations in May.
'Naphtha Necessity'
Middle East energy use may rise 60 percent in the next 20
years, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency.
Kuwait began importing LNG from suppliers such as Royal Dutch
Shell Plc in 2009. State-run Qatar Petroleum sells gas to the
U.A.E. and Oman through the Dolphin Energy Ltd. pipeline, which
Abu Dhabi built with Total and Occidental Petroleum Corp.
Naphtha supply will increase this decade as the Middle
East, India and China expand refineries, said Utpal Sheth, a
Dubai-based analyst at Chemical Market Associates Inc.
Abu Dhabi is more than doubling capacity at its 400,000
barrel-a-day Ruwais plant to 9.6 million tons a year in 2015,
according to company data. State-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.
is offering naphtha to Asian buyers in October for the first
time, three traders with knowledge of discussions said July 21.
Raising the use of naphtha is "a necessity if you want to
grow in petrochemicals," Sheth said.
For Related News and Information:
For more Energy Markets Columns, see: NI NRGM <GO>
Main Middle East News: TOP GULF <GO>
For a map of Aramco refineries: BMAP 17321 <GO>
Oil market news: NI OILMARKET <GO>
Top energy and oil stories: ETOP <GO> and OTOP <GO>
Energy assets search menu NRGA <GO>
--Editors: Raj Rajendran, Stephen Voss
To contact the reporters on this story:
Ann Koh in Singapore at +65-6212-1509 or
akoh15@bloomberg.net;
Anthony DiPaola in Abu Dhabi at +971-4-364-1033 or
adipaola@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net;
Clyde Russell at +65-6311-2423 or
crussell7@bloomberg.net
Natural-Gas Squeeze Means Mideast Fuel Switch: Energy Markets
2010-07-29 08:22:08.133 GMT
By Anthony DiPaola and Ann Koh
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Persian Gulf petrochemical producers
are turning to naphtha as a feedstock for the first time amid
growing power-plant demand for natural gas.
Abu Dhabi plans to build the Middle East's first plant that
will only use naphtha to make plastics. Saudi Arabia may develop
similar units as part of two refinery ventures, according to
state-run Saudi Aramco, France's Total SA and Sumitomo Chemical
Co. of Japan, the partners in the projects.
While naphtha, a product of refining crude oil, is used to
make petrochemicals around the world, countries in the Middle
East have traditionally preferred cheaper home-produced natural
gas. Now, new power plants are competing for those gas supplies,
stoking demand for alternatives. That's being exacerbated as the
United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia expand petrochemicals
production to cut dependence on crude exports.
"They are running short of gas, especially in the U.A.E
and in Saudi Arabia, where they require gas for power generation
as well," said Siamak Adibi, head of the Middle East gas team
at Facts Global Energy Inc. in Singapore. "The more available
alternative would be naphtha for future projects."
Rising demand for naphtha may end a slump in refining
profits. The difference in price between naphtha and Dubai crude
oil, or crack spread, may rise to $2 a barrel by 2013 from an
average of $1.03 this year, according to Jit-Yang Lim, the
Singapore-based head of price analysis at Facts Global.
Market Glut
The spread, a measure of returns from naphtha production
relative to Dubai crude, dropped to minus $5.32 a barrel July
15, the biggest deficit since Oct. 15, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg. The profit was as high as $13.87 a barrel
on May 15, 2007.
Petrochemical producers are taking advantage of a glut of
naphtha on global markets, according to Sriharsha Pappu, a
petrochemicals analyst at HSBC Holdings Plc in Dubai.
India's net exports rose 12 percent to 8.18 million metric
tons in the year ended March 2010, according to the government's
Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
Naphtha, distilled from crude or gas condensate, can be
blended with gasoline for auto fuel or used to make chemicals
for plastic bags to toys and washing-machine casings. It's fed
into a cracker, which breaks it down to create the chemicals.
The Middle East already has some mixed-feed crackers that can
use naphtha along with other products.
Excess supply has allowed buyers in Japan and Korea to cut
the costs of obtaining cargoes. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is
currently offering to sell naphtha for a year starting October
at premiums of between $11.50 and $12.50 a ton over benchmark
prices, two traders with knowledge of the talks said yesterday.
It set premiums for its July term contract at $22 to $24 a ton
during negotiations in May.
'Naphtha Necessity'
Middle East energy use may rise 60 percent in the next 20
years, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency.
Kuwait began importing LNG from suppliers such as Royal Dutch
Shell Plc in 2009. State-run Qatar Petroleum sells gas to the
U.A.E. and Oman through the Dolphin Energy Ltd. pipeline, which
Abu Dhabi built with Total and Occidental Petroleum Corp.
Naphtha supply will increase this decade as the Middle
East, India and China expand refineries, said Utpal Sheth, a
Dubai-based analyst at Chemical Market Associates Inc.
Abu Dhabi is more than doubling capacity at its 400,000
barrel-a-day Ruwais plant to 9.6 million tons a year in 2015,
according to company data. State-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.
is offering naphtha to Asian buyers in October for the first
time, three traders with knowledge of discussions said July 21.
Raising the use of naphtha is "a necessity if you want to
grow in petrochemicals," Sheth said.
For Related News and Information:
For more Energy Markets Columns, see: NI NRGM <GO>
Main Middle East News: TOP GULF <GO>
For a map of Aramco refineries: BMAP 17321 <GO>
Oil market news: NI OILMARKET <GO>
Top energy and oil stories: ETOP <GO> and OTOP <GO>
Energy assets search menu NRGA <GO>
--Editors: Raj Rajendran, Stephen Voss
To contact the reporters on this story:
Ann Koh in Singapore at +65-6212-1509 or
akoh15@bloomberg.net;
Anthony DiPaola in Abu Dhabi at +971-4-364-1033 or
adipaola@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net;
Clyde Russell at +65-6311-2423 or
crussell7@bloomberg.net
2010/07/28
[toread] Time to embrace carbon trading opportunity | City A.M. (http://www.cityam.com/news-and-analysis/stuart-fraser/time-embrace-carbon-trading-opportunity)
Time to embrace carbon trading opportunity
REDUCING carbon emissions is a long-standing objective within the European Union for obvious reasons. But, given the current economic climate, policy makers are now stressing the need for the UK to move to a low carbon economy not only to protect the environment but also to foster long-term, sustainable growth to help our country recover from the global financial crisis.
The City's carbon market is a fundamental part of this transition, as it transmits the price signals that allow informed investment decisions to be made. Following a series of specific policy decisions in the 1990s and the subsequent establishment of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) in 2005, the EU, and in particular the UK, has been the driving force behind the establishment and evolution of a market-based approach to reducing all greenhouse gases.
And it should come as no surprise that London – the financial capital of Europe and a global centre with a reputation for embracing innovative financial products – is home to the largest emissions trading exchange in the world. With an annual global turnover of $144bn (£93.3bn; 2009 figures), the carbon trading market is now firmly established and is growing rapidly. Even during the recent financial crisis, it defied the odds and exhibited strong growth throughout 2009 with the number of units traded worldwide increasing by 80 per cent.
Understandably, given that it was originally seen as principally a compliance mechanism rather than a standard commodities exchange, there are a number of issues surrounding the infrastructure underpinning the European Emissions Trading Scheme – a lack of legal certainty as to the status of emissions units, operational risks in accessing registries and performing transfers and limited facilities for Deliver Versus Payment (DVP) settlement of emissions units – that must be resolved as it continues to grow in both size and value.
With significant changes due to be introduced in 2012, in particular the introduction of a common European auction system and a single registry, it is imperative that we get a handle on these issues sooner rather than later so that the European Carbon Market adheres to the best practice recommendations that guide other financial securities markets.
That is why the City of London Corporation has today published the Post-Trade Infrastructure for Carbon Emissions Trading report, authored by Bourse Consult. The report provides vital recommendations for future infrastructure development in order to help policy makers and industry insiders at both a domestic and European level provide certainty and stability as this emerging and rapidly growing market continues to mature.
It is only right that the City should take the lead in developing the post-trade infrastructure – ideally at an EU level, but at a domestic level if necessary – needed to support a modern, efficient and open carbon emissions market in the UK, in Europe and across the world. In so doing, we will help the UK financial services industry prove its worth not only as a generator of revenue but as a force for good within our wider society.
Stuart Fraser is the policy chairman at the City of London Corporation.
[toread] Hackers shut down EU carbon-trading website | Environment | guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/26/eu-carbon-trading-website-hacked)
Hackers shut down EU carbon-trading website | Environment
Anti-carbon trading activists shut down the website of the European Climate Exchange (ECX), over the weekend, replacing the site with a spoof page lampooning the industry.
The website of the London-based carbon credit trading platform was hacked at close to midnight on Friday and showed the spoof homepage for around 22 hours. It then took technical staff another day to restore the official homepage.
Instead of its normal rolling ticker data listing bids for carbon credit futures, the ECX website blared: "Super promo – climate on sale: Guaranteed profit!"
Explaining the "carbon trade scam", the spoof site decried how the EU's flagship environmental policy is "susceptible to corporate lobbying," offers industry "licences to pollute so they can continue business-as-usual," and "generates outrageous profits for big industry polluters, investor s in fraudulent offset projects [and] opportunist traders."
On Saturday, shortly after the ECX website went down, activists announced their handiwork on a number of environmental discussion groups, saying: "In a public act of digital direct action, the ECX website was taken offline and replaced with our message in an effort to try to raise awareness about carbon trading as a dangerous false solution to the climate crisis."
One of the activists responsible, from the online activist group, Decocidio, told the Guardian: "We feel the EU Emissions Trading Scheme is not well understood by the general public or even within the environmental movement. It is a major fraud touted by the mainstream media, politics, industry and lobbyists as the main solution." The group is part of Earth First, a radical environmental protest organisation.
"Attempting to cause as much inconvenience, economical loss and image damage as possible, we deliberately tried to maximise the virtual damage," said the hacker, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A spokeswoman for the European Climate Exchange, Kelly Loeffler, said: "We have no comment relating to the incident as there is nothing to report publicly."
The exchange was also targeted by activists from Climate Camp last summer. They dubbed it a "climate change casino".
Damien Morris, of Sandbag, a self-described "critical friend" of the EU ETS said: "It's very unfortunate that this so rt of infighting over emissions trading has developed within the environmental movement, especially on the radical end," he said. "There seems to be a large grassroots following and public presence of these sorts of ideas, but not at the more technical and realistic, solutions-focussed part of the movement."
"There is certainly a place for criticism of the ETS, but the problem with those who disagree with carbon trading is that they oppose it in principle, not in practice. It's a good idea when done properly. There are many problems with the ETS, but there is a clear pathway as to how it can be made more effective and robust."
2010/07/27
Yest EU Carbon Rebounds From Three-Month Low as German Power Rises
Stopped? other reasons for the jump late yest?
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EU Carbon Rebounds From Three-Month Low as German Power Rises
2010-07-27 17:33:52.480 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Carbon allowances in the European
Union emissions-trading system, the world's biggest, rebounded
from their lowest price in more than three months as German
power advanced.
EU permits for December 2010 rose 19 cents, or 1.4 percent,
to 13.72 euros ($17.84) a metric ton on London's European
Climate Exchange as of 5:47 p.m. They were earlier at 13.34
euros, the lowest price since April 7.
German baseload power for next year, a European benchmark,
gained 10 cents, or 0.2 percent, to 49.25 euros a megawatt-hour,
according to broker prices on Bloomberg. It earlier fell as much
as 0.4 percent.
Higher power prices can boost the incentive to sell
electricity forward, stimulating demand for emission permits.
Rising carbon prices may force some traders to buy permits to
close short positions as those bets become less and less
profitable. Risk managers in utilities, manufacturers and banks
generally set limits on losses that traders can make.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
--Editor: Mike Anderson.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EU Carbon Rebounds From Three-Month Low as German Power Rises
2010-07-27 17:33:52.480 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Carbon allowances in the European
Union emissions-trading system, the world's biggest, rebounded
from their lowest price in more than three months as German
power advanced.
EU permits for December 2010 rose 19 cents, or 1.4 percent,
to 13.72 euros ($17.84) a metric ton on London's European
Climate Exchange as of 5:47 p.m. They were earlier at 13.34
euros, the lowest price since April 7.
German baseload power for next year, a European benchmark,
gained 10 cents, or 0.2 percent, to 49.25 euros a megawatt-hour,
according to broker prices on Bloomberg. It earlier fell as much
as 0.4 percent.
Higher power prices can boost the incentive to sell
electricity forward, stimulating demand for emission permits.
Rising carbon prices may force some traders to buy permits to
close short positions as those bets become less and less
profitable. Risk managers in utilities, manufacturers and banks
generally set limits on losses that traders can make.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
--Editor: Mike Anderson.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
Fwd: CO2 Investors Seek Clarity as ‘Spelling Error’ Delays Project
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
CO2 Investors Seek Clarity as 'Spelling Error' Delays Project
2010-07-27 17:38:10.123 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Investors in projects to curb
greenhouse gases in poorer nations are asking United Nations-
overseen regulators in Bonn whether new rules will delay the
creation of tradable credits.
The Carbon Markets and Investors Association, a global
trade group, said rules governing registration and issuance of
credits may worsen delays rather than shorten them. The London-
based group claimed in an e-mail today that at least one project
was rejected because of "spelling and punctuation errors, which
are irrelevant." A UN spokesman said he would comment shortly
in an e-mail response.
The statement asked the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change secretariat in Bonn to clarify whether rule changes
made after an application is submitted apply retroactively.
Credits from the UN-overseen Clean Development Mechanism, the
world's second-biggest greenhouse gas market, can
be used for compliance in the European program, the biggest.
The CDM Executive Board is meeting this week in Bonn.
"It is likely that the changes which have been implemented
will not improve the issue of efficiency and timely
consideration of registration and issuance requests," Miles
Austin, the association's director, said in the statement.
"Instead, we feel the new processes could have the opposite
effect and add further delays to the already lengthy approvals
process and based on what very well could be an editorial
mistake."
The 1997 Kyoto treaty, which places greenhouse-gas limits
on 36 industrialized nations including Japan, Germany and
Russia, spawned the world's two biggest carbon-trading markets.
Developing nations want it extended to keep pressure on richer
nations, which produce most of the heat-trapping gas in the
atmosphere. The European Union wants the U.S. and China in a
deal to even out the burden of environmental law on industries.
For Related News and Information:
Emissions-trading prices EMIT <GO>
Power-market stories NI PWRMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy, environment news ETOP <GO>, GREEN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in Copenhagen via +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
CO2 Investors Seek Clarity as 'Spelling Error' Delays Project
2010-07-27 17:38:10.123 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Investors in projects to curb
greenhouse gases in poorer nations are asking United Nations-
overseen regulators in Bonn whether new rules will delay the
creation of tradable credits.
The Carbon Markets and Investors Association, a global
trade group, said rules governing registration and issuance of
credits may worsen delays rather than shorten them. The London-
based group claimed in an e-mail today that at least one project
was rejected because of "spelling and punctuation errors, which
are irrelevant." A UN spokesman said he would comment shortly
in an e-mail response.
The statement asked the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change secretariat in Bonn to clarify whether rule changes
made after an application is submitted apply retroactively.
Credits from the UN-overseen Clean Development Mechanism, the
world's second-biggest greenhouse gas market, can
be used for compliance in the European program, the biggest.
The CDM Executive Board is meeting this week in Bonn.
"It is likely that the changes which have been implemented
will not improve the issue of efficiency and timely
consideration of registration and issuance requests," Miles
Austin, the association's director, said in the statement.
"Instead, we feel the new processes could have the opposite
effect and add further delays to the already lengthy approvals
process and based on what very well could be an editorial
mistake."
The 1997 Kyoto treaty, which places greenhouse-gas limits
on 36 industrialized nations including Japan, Germany and
Russia, spawned the world's two biggest carbon-trading markets.
Developing nations want it extended to keep pressure on richer
nations, which produce most of the heat-trapping gas in the
atmosphere. The European Union wants the U.S. and China in a
deal to even out the burden of environmental law on industries.
For Related News and Information:
Emissions-trading prices EMIT <GO>
Power-market stories NI PWRMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy, environment news ETOP <GO>, GREEN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in Copenhagen via +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
? Climate Bill May Still Pass This Year, White House’s Gibbs Says
Can work the other way folks?
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Climate Bill May Still Pass This Year, White House's Gibbs Says
2010-07-27 23:57:01.617 GMT
(For more on the Gulf oil spill, see {SPILL <GO>.})
By Kim Chipman
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Climate-change measures scrapped by
the Senate may still be passed this year, according to White
House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
A bill capping carbon-dioxide emissions blamed for global
warming isn't "essentially dead for the year," Gibbs said
today in his briefing for reporters. Scaled-back energy
legislation may be passed by the Senate and then changed during
negotiations with the House of Representatives for a final bill,
he said.
The House passed legislation limiting carbon pollution last
year while a similar measure lagged in the Senate. Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has said there
aren't enough votes for climate provisions to be included in an
energy bill aimed at setting tougher safety rules for oil and
gas drillers.
President Barack Obama said today that he will keep
pressing for climate-change legislation
The Senate's current bill is an "important step in the
right direction," Obama said after meeting with congressional
leaders. "But I want to emphasize it's only the first step, and
I intend to keep pushing for broader reform, including climate
legislation."
For Related News and Information:
More on the Gulf of Mexico spill: SPILL <GO>
Top oil, energy news: OTOP <GO>, ETOP <GO>
Nymex crude oil futures curve: CLA <Cmdty> CCRV <GO>
BP results by region: BP/ LN <Equity> FA GEO CHART <GO>
BP income statement chart: BP/ LN <Equity> FA IS CHART <GO>
--Editors: Larry Liebert, Elizabeth Wollman
To contact the reporter on this story:
Kim Chipman in Washington at +1-202-624-1927 or
Kchipman@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
LLiebert@bloomberg.net.
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Climate Bill May Still Pass This Year, White House's Gibbs Says
2010-07-27 23:57:01.617 GMT
(For more on the Gulf oil spill, see {SPILL <GO>.})
By Kim Chipman
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Climate-change measures scrapped by
the Senate may still be passed this year, according to White
House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
A bill capping carbon-dioxide emissions blamed for global
warming isn't "essentially dead for the year," Gibbs said
today in his briefing for reporters. Scaled-back energy
legislation may be passed by the Senate and then changed during
negotiations with the House of Representatives for a final bill,
he said.
The House passed legislation limiting carbon pollution last
year while a similar measure lagged in the Senate. Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has said there
aren't enough votes for climate provisions to be included in an
energy bill aimed at setting tougher safety rules for oil and
gas drillers.
President Barack Obama said today that he will keep
pressing for climate-change legislation
The Senate's current bill is an "important step in the
right direction," Obama said after meeting with congressional
leaders. "But I want to emphasize it's only the first step, and
I intend to keep pushing for broader reform, including climate
legislation."
For Related News and Information:
More on the Gulf of Mexico spill: SPILL <GO>
Top oil, energy news: OTOP <GO>, ETOP <GO>
Nymex crude oil futures curve: CLA <Cmdty> CCRV <GO>
BP results by region: BP/ LN <Equity> FA GEO CHART <GO>
BP income statement chart: BP/ LN <Equity> FA IS CHART <GO>
--Editors: Larry Liebert, Elizabeth Wollman
To contact the reporter on this story:
Kim Chipman in Washington at +1-202-624-1927 or
Kchipman@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
LLiebert@bloomberg.net.
Fwd: + Congress Moves to Restrict Drilling Without Curbing Carbon
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Congress Moves to Restrict Drilling Without Curbing Carbon
2010-07-28 04:00:01.2 GMT
(For more on the Gulf oil spill, see {SPILL <GO>.})
By Jim Efstathiou Jr. and Simon Lomax
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Congressional Democrats proposed
tougher rules for offshore drilling in response to the worst oil
spill in U.S. history, while spurning calls to place a price on
carbon emissions.
House and Senate leaders presented legislation yesterday
rewriting oil and natural-gas drilling rules more than three
months after a rig leased by BP Plc exploded in the Gulf of
Mexico. The bills would strengthen safety and environmental
standards for exploration in federal waters, give Congress
direct oversight of offshore energy production, and require
companies that cause spills to pay all damages.
Pleas from environmental groups and some companies that the
Senate bill include limits on emissions that contribute to
global warming were rejected after Majority Leader Harry Reid, a
Nevada Democrat, said there weren't enough votes for the climate
provisions. The House passed a cap-and-trade bill last year that
would set limits on carbon dioxide linked to global warming and
create a market in pollution allowances.
"We're extremely disappointed that Big Oil and their
allies in the Senate have for now blocked comprehensive clean-
energy legislation," Gene Karpinski, president of the League of
Conservation Voters, said in an interview. "Our job is to make
sure that voters understand which candidates stood with big oil
and which candidates stood for clean-energy jobs, reducing our
dependence on oil and cutting pollution."
Obama's Response
President Barack Obama, who has endorsed cap-and-trade
legislation while not insisting that senators act on it, said
yesterday that the Senate measure is "an important step in the
right direction."
"But I want to emphasize it's only the first step, and I
intend to keep pushing for broader reform, including climate
legislation," Obama said after meeting with congressional
leaders.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters he
doesn't think climate-change provisions are "essentially dead
for the year" because they could be restored later in House-
Senate negotiations.
The House and Senate may take up their oil-spill measures
before members leave for their August recess, lawmakers said.
The American Petroleum Institute, an oil industry group,
objected to what made it into the legislation, saying lawmakers
were acting before the cause of the Gulf disaster is known and
imposing penalties that would raise energy prices and kill jobs.
Congressional Democrats called the bill a necessary
response to the spill that began April 20 after an explosion on
the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig leased by BP.
'Protecting the Environment'
"We address safety provisions for offshore drilling by
including independent certifications of critical equipment,"
Representative Nick Rahall, a Democrat from West Virginia who
heads the House Natural Resources Committee, said on a
conference call with reporters. "We provide stiffer penalties
for safety violations."
The Senate measure was stripped of disputed energy
provisions aimed at curbing climate change and setting standards
for the use of renewable energy in a bid to draw support from
moderate Democrats and Republicans, according to Kevin Book, a
managing director at ClearView Energy Partners LLC, a
Washington-based policy analysis firm.
A late addition under which regulators could force
companies to post cash up front to cover legal liabilities from
a spill, as well as the release of a Republican alternative,
make it unlikely that the Senate will pass the measure before
the August break, Book said.
Landrieu on Royalties
The Republican alternative released last week would allow
states to share in drilling-royalty fees. Senator Mary Landrieu,
a Louisiana Democrat, said she may not support the Democratic
bill unless Gulf Coast states are given a share of offshore
drilling revenue.
"It's very unlikely that I can vote for anything related
to the oil spill without making sure the Gulf Coast is
adequately compensated," Landrieu told reporters in Washington
yesterday.
The House bill isn't yet scheduled for debate on the floor,
according to a spokeswoman for Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a
Maryland Democrat. The House breaks for its August recess on
July 30.
The Senate bill would boost the fee for the federal oil-
spill trust to about 49 cents per barrel, up from 8 cents,
according to a summary released by aides to Reid. The increase
would pay for the cost of the bill, estimated at $15 billion.
The measure provides rebates for cars and trucks that run on
natural gas and for renovations that make houses more energy-
efficient.
Petroleum Institute
Jack Gerard, president of the Washington-based American
Petroleum Institute, said Congress and Obama are overreaching.
Obama has ordered a suspension of deepwater drilling during
inquiries into the BP disaster. Democrats have also proposed
rescinding tax breaks for oil and gas producers.
"There are some proposals that can push the limits or
greatly discourage our ability to produce the energy we need,"
Gerard said on a conference call with reporters.
The House and Senate versions would eliminate the $75
million cap on liability for companies that cause oil spills and
toughen drilling safety standards. When seeking new offshore
leases, companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell
Plc and Chevron Corp. would have to prove they can bring leaking
wells under control and clean up any spills.
Barring BP
The House bill would bar BP from operating new drilling
leases in U.S. waters, based on its prior safety record. In a
departure from Senate proposals, it would also bar companies
with leases signed in the late 1990s that don't require royalty
payments to the government from bidding on new tracts if they
decline to renegotiate and pay fees on the earlier contracts.
Both the House and Senate versions would place into law the
Obama administration's decision to scrap the Minerals Management
Service, the Interior Department agency responsible for energy
production on federal leases, and replace it with new agencies
to ensure that revenue collection is kept separate from oil and
gas leasing, environmental protection and safety decisions.
Company executives would have to certify that equipment
such as blowout preventers, devices meant to stop a gusher, are
working. The blowout preventer failed on BP's Macondo well,
5,000 feet below the surface.
The House measure was offered as an amendment to H.R. 3534.
The Senate version hadn't yet been formally introduced.
For Related News and Information:
More on the Gulf of Mexico spill: SPILL <GO>
Top oil, energy news: OTOP <GO>, ETOP <GO>
Nymex crude oil futures curve: CLA <Cmdty> CCRV <GO>
BP results by region: BP/ LN <Equity> FA GEO CHART <GO>
BP income statement chart: BP/ LN <Equity> FA IS CHART
<GO>
--Editors: Larry Liebert, Romaine Bostick
To contact the reporters on this story:
Jim Efstathiou Jr. in Washington at +1-212-617-1647 or
jefstathiou@bloomberg.net;
Simon Lomax in Washington at +1-202-654-4305 or
slomax@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
LLiebert@bloomberg.net.
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Congress Moves to Restrict Drilling Without Curbing Carbon
2010-07-28 04:00:01.2 GMT
(For more on the Gulf oil spill, see {SPILL <GO>.})
By Jim Efstathiou Jr. and Simon Lomax
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Congressional Democrats proposed
tougher rules for offshore drilling in response to the worst oil
spill in U.S. history, while spurning calls to place a price on
carbon emissions.
House and Senate leaders presented legislation yesterday
rewriting oil and natural-gas drilling rules more than three
months after a rig leased by BP Plc exploded in the Gulf of
Mexico. The bills would strengthen safety and environmental
standards for exploration in federal waters, give Congress
direct oversight of offshore energy production, and require
companies that cause spills to pay all damages.
Pleas from environmental groups and some companies that the
Senate bill include limits on emissions that contribute to
global warming were rejected after Majority Leader Harry Reid, a
Nevada Democrat, said there weren't enough votes for the climate
provisions. The House passed a cap-and-trade bill last year that
would set limits on carbon dioxide linked to global warming and
create a market in pollution allowances.
"We're extremely disappointed that Big Oil and their
allies in the Senate have for now blocked comprehensive clean-
energy legislation," Gene Karpinski, president of the League of
Conservation Voters, said in an interview. "Our job is to make
sure that voters understand which candidates stood with big oil
and which candidates stood for clean-energy jobs, reducing our
dependence on oil and cutting pollution."
Obama's Response
President Barack Obama, who has endorsed cap-and-trade
legislation while not insisting that senators act on it, said
yesterday that the Senate measure is "an important step in the
right direction."
"But I want to emphasize it's only the first step, and I
intend to keep pushing for broader reform, including climate
legislation," Obama said after meeting with congressional
leaders.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters he
doesn't think climate-change provisions are "essentially dead
for the year" because they could be restored later in House-
Senate negotiations.
The House and Senate may take up their oil-spill measures
before members leave for their August recess, lawmakers said.
The American Petroleum Institute, an oil industry group,
objected to what made it into the legislation, saying lawmakers
were acting before the cause of the Gulf disaster is known and
imposing penalties that would raise energy prices and kill jobs.
Congressional Democrats called the bill a necessary
response to the spill that began April 20 after an explosion on
the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig leased by BP.
'Protecting the Environment'
"We address safety provisions for offshore drilling by
including independent certifications of critical equipment,"
Representative Nick Rahall, a Democrat from West Virginia who
heads the House Natural Resources Committee, said on a
conference call with reporters. "We provide stiffer penalties
for safety violations."
The Senate measure was stripped of disputed energy
provisions aimed at curbing climate change and setting standards
for the use of renewable energy in a bid to draw support from
moderate Democrats and Republicans, according to Kevin Book, a
managing director at ClearView Energy Partners LLC, a
Washington-based policy analysis firm.
A late addition under which regulators could force
companies to post cash up front to cover legal liabilities from
a spill, as well as the release of a Republican alternative,
make it unlikely that the Senate will pass the measure before
the August break, Book said.
Landrieu on Royalties
The Republican alternative released last week would allow
states to share in drilling-royalty fees. Senator Mary Landrieu,
a Louisiana Democrat, said she may not support the Democratic
bill unless Gulf Coast states are given a share of offshore
drilling revenue.
"It's very unlikely that I can vote for anything related
to the oil spill without making sure the Gulf Coast is
adequately compensated," Landrieu told reporters in Washington
yesterday.
The House bill isn't yet scheduled for debate on the floor,
according to a spokeswoman for Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a
Maryland Democrat. The House breaks for its August recess on
July 30.
The Senate bill would boost the fee for the federal oil-
spill trust to about 49 cents per barrel, up from 8 cents,
according to a summary released by aides to Reid. The increase
would pay for the cost of the bill, estimated at $15 billion.
The measure provides rebates for cars and trucks that run on
natural gas and for renovations that make houses more energy-
efficient.
Petroleum Institute
Jack Gerard, president of the Washington-based American
Petroleum Institute, said Congress and Obama are overreaching.
Obama has ordered a suspension of deepwater drilling during
inquiries into the BP disaster. Democrats have also proposed
rescinding tax breaks for oil and gas producers.
"There are some proposals that can push the limits or
greatly discourage our ability to produce the energy we need,"
Gerard said on a conference call with reporters.
The House and Senate versions would eliminate the $75
million cap on liability for companies that cause oil spills and
toughen drilling safety standards. When seeking new offshore
leases, companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell
Plc and Chevron Corp. would have to prove they can bring leaking
wells under control and clean up any spills.
Barring BP
The House bill would bar BP from operating new drilling
leases in U.S. waters, based on its prior safety record. In a
departure from Senate proposals, it would also bar companies
with leases signed in the late 1990s that don't require royalty
payments to the government from bidding on new tracts if they
decline to renegotiate and pay fees on the earlier contracts.
Both the House and Senate versions would place into law the
Obama administration's decision to scrap the Minerals Management
Service, the Interior Department agency responsible for energy
production on federal leases, and replace it with new agencies
to ensure that revenue collection is kept separate from oil and
gas leasing, environmental protection and safety decisions.
Company executives would have to certify that equipment
such as blowout preventers, devices meant to stop a gusher, are
working. The blowout preventer failed on BP's Macondo well,
5,000 feet below the surface.
The House measure was offered as an amendment to H.R. 3534.
The Senate version hadn't yet been formally introduced.
For Related News and Information:
More on the Gulf of Mexico spill: SPILL <GO>
Top oil, energy news: OTOP <GO>, ETOP <GO>
Nymex crude oil futures curve: CLA <Cmdty> CCRV <GO>
BP results by region: BP/ LN <Equity> FA GEO CHART <GO>
BP income statement chart: BP/ LN <Equity> FA IS CHART
<GO>
--Editors: Larry Liebert, Romaine Bostick
To contact the reporters on this story:
Jim Efstathiou Jr. in Washington at +1-212-617-1647 or
jefstathiou@bloomberg.net;
Simon Lomax in Washington at +1-202-654-4305 or
slomax@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
LLiebert@bloomberg.net.
Fwd: China’s Environment Accidents Double on Growth Toll (Update1)
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
China's Environment Accidents Double on Growth Toll (Update1)
2010-07-28 05:11:00.81 GMT
(Updates with number of accidents in second paragraph.)
By Bloomberg News
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world's largest polluter,
said the number of environmental accidents rose 98 percent in
the first six months of the year, as demand for energy and
minerals lead to poisoned rivers and oil spills.
"Fast economic development is leading to increasing
conflicts with the capacity of the environment to absorb"
demands, the environmental protection ministry said in a faxed
statement in response to Bloomberg questions. There were about
102 accidents in the first half, compared with 171 for the whole
of last year, according to figures derived from the ministry's
data.
An acid leak at Zijin Mining Group Co.'s copper and gold
mine this month poisoned enough fish in the Ting River to feed
72,000 for a year, and Dalian's beaches and port were shuttered
by an oil spill at the nation's largest crude terminal. The
accidents underscore the toll from two decades of growth
averaging 10.1 percent that made China the world's third-largest
economy and biggest metal and energy consumer.
"Both incidents are not standalone issues, and they serve
as a reminder that if China doesn't address the environmental
issues when the economy is growing fast, it might become a
destabilizing factor in the society," Ma Jun, founder of the
Institute of Public Environmental Affairs, a researcher, said by
phone from Beijing. "The Chinese public is increasingly aware
and vocal about the heavy metal pollution brought on by
refineries and smelters."
The oil spill at Dalian, 10 times the amount in the last
incident in Shaanxi province in December, was the biggest in
Chinese waters according to Greenpeace. Zijin's leakage of waste
in Fujian province was the worst incident in the Chinese gold
industry in two years.
Air Quality
China overtook the U.S. as the world's biggest energy user
last year, according to the International Energy Agency on July
19, though the Chinese government has disputed the data. Air
quality deteriorated for the first time in five years in the
first six months, the nation's environment ministry said July 26.
"Local governments are trying to develop their economies
and the thinking is 'get rich first, worry about the pollution
later,'" Yang Ailun, head of the climate change unit for
Greenpeace, said in Beijing. "The central government is very
aware that the current economic model is unsustainable."
The ministry has started a nationwide investigation of
drinking water and mine tailing ponds this year, the statement
said.
High Violations
"China is in a state of development when there's a high
rate of violations," the environment ministry said. There were
at least 10 incidents a month in the first half, it said.
The nation also has the world's worst coal-mine safety
record, with an average of seven deaths each day in accidents
last year. The government is closing small unsafe mines to
reduce the incidents.
Before the accidents at Zijin and Dalian port, the
environmental ministry listed PetroChina Co.'s Songhua River
toxic spill in 2005, Sichuan Chemical Co.'s waste leaks into the
Tuojiang River and Shaoguan Smelting Plant's illegal discharge
of cadmium as among the worst cases in the past six years.
The government has been building a database on violations,
and has been identifying a "large number of culprits," the
environmental ministry said in the statement.
Small Penalties
Still, the penalties for companies may be "too small,"
said Tony Zheng, president of Shanghai Good Hope Equity
Investment Management Co. "The fines won't deal a fatal blow to
a big Chinese companies. It's unlike in the U.S."
Zijin said it may pay 5 million yuan ($737,500), or 0.2
percent of last year's net income, in compensation for fish
poisoned. PetroChina, the nation's largest oil producer, was
fined 1 million yuan, out of a net income of 133 billion yuan in
2005, for the accident that affected the drinking water of three
million people. That contrasts with the $20 billion that
President Barack Obama has demanded from BP Plc for the worst
oil spill in U.S. history.
New environmental rules may push up steelmakers' costs by
at least 10 percent, according to the China Metallurgical
Industry Planning and Research Institute, a government adviser.
The nation passed the U.S. to become the world's biggest
emitter of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels in 2006,
according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Almost 6 million
sources of emissions were identified in China's first pollution
census released this year.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories: TOP<GO>
Metal Stories METT <GO>
--Helen Yuan, Feiwen Rong and Diao Ying, with assistance from
John Duce, Penny Peng and Miao Han. Editors: Tan Hwee Ann,
Andrew Hobbs.
To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story:
Helen Yuan in Shanghai at +86-21-6104-7012 or
hyuan@bloomberg.net;
Feiwen Rong in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7563 or
frong2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew Hobbs at +61-2-9777-8642 or
ahobbs4@bloomberg.net.
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
China's Environment Accidents Double on Growth Toll (Update1)
2010-07-28 05:11:00.81 GMT
(Updates with number of accidents in second paragraph.)
By Bloomberg News
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world's largest polluter,
said the number of environmental accidents rose 98 percent in
the first six months of the year, as demand for energy and
minerals lead to poisoned rivers and oil spills.
"Fast economic development is leading to increasing
conflicts with the capacity of the environment to absorb"
demands, the environmental protection ministry said in a faxed
statement in response to Bloomberg questions. There were about
102 accidents in the first half, compared with 171 for the whole
of last year, according to figures derived from the ministry's
data.
An acid leak at Zijin Mining Group Co.'s copper and gold
mine this month poisoned enough fish in the Ting River to feed
72,000 for a year, and Dalian's beaches and port were shuttered
by an oil spill at the nation's largest crude terminal. The
accidents underscore the toll from two decades of growth
averaging 10.1 percent that made China the world's third-largest
economy and biggest metal and energy consumer.
"Both incidents are not standalone issues, and they serve
as a reminder that if China doesn't address the environmental
issues when the economy is growing fast, it might become a
destabilizing factor in the society," Ma Jun, founder of the
Institute of Public Environmental Affairs, a researcher, said by
phone from Beijing. "The Chinese public is increasingly aware
and vocal about the heavy metal pollution brought on by
refineries and smelters."
The oil spill at Dalian, 10 times the amount in the last
incident in Shaanxi province in December, was the biggest in
Chinese waters according to Greenpeace. Zijin's leakage of waste
in Fujian province was the worst incident in the Chinese gold
industry in two years.
Air Quality
China overtook the U.S. as the world's biggest energy user
last year, according to the International Energy Agency on July
19, though the Chinese government has disputed the data. Air
quality deteriorated for the first time in five years in the
first six months, the nation's environment ministry said July 26.
"Local governments are trying to develop their economies
and the thinking is 'get rich first, worry about the pollution
later,'" Yang Ailun, head of the climate change unit for
Greenpeace, said in Beijing. "The central government is very
aware that the current economic model is unsustainable."
The ministry has started a nationwide investigation of
drinking water and mine tailing ponds this year, the statement
said.
High Violations
"China is in a state of development when there's a high
rate of violations," the environment ministry said. There were
at least 10 incidents a month in the first half, it said.
The nation also has the world's worst coal-mine safety
record, with an average of seven deaths each day in accidents
last year. The government is closing small unsafe mines to
reduce the incidents.
Before the accidents at Zijin and Dalian port, the
environmental ministry listed PetroChina Co.'s Songhua River
toxic spill in 2005, Sichuan Chemical Co.'s waste leaks into the
Tuojiang River and Shaoguan Smelting Plant's illegal discharge
of cadmium as among the worst cases in the past six years.
The government has been building a database on violations,
and has been identifying a "large number of culprits," the
environmental ministry said in the statement.
Small Penalties
Still, the penalties for companies may be "too small,"
said Tony Zheng, president of Shanghai Good Hope Equity
Investment Management Co. "The fines won't deal a fatal blow to
a big Chinese companies. It's unlike in the U.S."
Zijin said it may pay 5 million yuan ($737,500), or 0.2
percent of last year's net income, in compensation for fish
poisoned. PetroChina, the nation's largest oil producer, was
fined 1 million yuan, out of a net income of 133 billion yuan in
2005, for the accident that affected the drinking water of three
million people. That contrasts with the $20 billion that
President Barack Obama has demanded from BP Plc for the worst
oil spill in U.S. history.
New environmental rules may push up steelmakers' costs by
at least 10 percent, according to the China Metallurgical
Industry Planning and Research Institute, a government adviser.
The nation passed the U.S. to become the world's biggest
emitter of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels in 2006,
according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Almost 6 million
sources of emissions were identified in China's first pollution
census released this year.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories: TOP<GO>
Metal Stories METT <GO>
--Helen Yuan, Feiwen Rong and Diao Ying, with assistance from
John Duce, Penny Peng and Miao Han. Editors: Tan Hwee Ann,
Andrew Hobbs.
To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story:
Helen Yuan in Shanghai at +86-21-6104-7012 or
hyuan@bloomberg.net;
Feiwen Rong in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7563 or
frong2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew Hobbs at +61-2-9777-8642 or
ahobbs4@bloomberg.net.
what's the cause of this EUA end of day jump folks?
------------------------------------------------------------
Mathew Carr, emissions markets, energy reporter. London Bloomberg News ph +44 207 073 3531 yahoo ID carr_mathew
update/EDF Buys Chinese Carbon Developer Energy Systems
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EDF Buys Chinese Carbon Developer Energy Systems International
2010-07-27 11:12:32.555 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Electricite de France SA, the
world's largest utility, bought China's Energy Systems
International Ltd. in a deal that provides access to a low-cost
source of emission-reduction credits.
The trading unit of Paris-based EDF, which didn't disclose
the purchase price, is buying a developer of offset credits that
can be used for compliance in the European Union's cap-and-trade
program, the world's biggest. Utilities are seeking to produce
credits from Asia before a forecast surge in prices later this
decade, according to analysts including Trevor Sikorski at the
investment bank of Barclays Plc.
"This is a significant transaction for EDF Trading, as it
will enable us to expand our presence in the carbon market as
well as provide a strong platform for further development in
China", John Rittenhouse, chief executive officer of EDF
Trading Ltd., said today in an e-mailed statement.
Energy Systems, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and
Amsterdam, had 56 emission-reduction projects approved by China
as of May 20, with 30 registered by the United Nations-overseen
Clean Development Mechanism Executive Board, according to a
statement on its website.
The company's projects have 1.4 million metric tons of
credits issued, with 37.5 million tons expected through 2012,
according to the Bloomberg CDM database, which lists 51 projects
for Energy Systems.
"EDF Trading is very knowledgeable in the carbon market
and it has its own portfolio so it surely knows what it is
doing," Laurent Segalen, managing director, commodities
trading, at Nomura International Plc, said today by e-mail.
Energy Systems will be a lot more valuable for EDF should
countries introduce climate-protection laws that create demand
around the world for credits beyond 2012, Segalen said.
CER Prices
UN Certified Emission Reduction credits for December fell
1.5 percent to 11.40 euros ($14.82) a ton as of 11 a.m. in
London on the European Climate Exchange. They have risen 3.8
percent this year. Sikorski of Barclays Capital forecast last
month they will rise to 20 euros a ton as early as 2013.
London-based Barclays agreed in June to buy Tricorona,
another carbon developer, in a takeover valued at about 1.1
billion kronor ($150 million). JPMorgan Chase & Co. last year
bought carbon business EcoSecurities for about $200 million.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Stephen Cunningham.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
EDF Buys Chinese Carbon Developer Energy Systems International
2010-07-27 11:12:32.555 GMT
By Mathew Carr
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Electricite de France SA, the
world's largest utility, bought China's Energy Systems
International Ltd. in a deal that provides access to a low-cost
source of emission-reduction credits.
The trading unit of Paris-based EDF, which didn't disclose
the purchase price, is buying a developer of offset credits that
can be used for compliance in the European Union's cap-and-trade
program, the world's biggest. Utilities are seeking to produce
credits from Asia before a forecast surge in prices later this
decade, according to analysts including Trevor Sikorski at the
investment bank of Barclays Plc.
"This is a significant transaction for EDF Trading, as it
will enable us to expand our presence in the carbon market as
well as provide a strong platform for further development in
China", John Rittenhouse, chief executive officer of EDF
Trading Ltd., said today in an e-mailed statement.
Energy Systems, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and
Amsterdam, had 56 emission-reduction projects approved by China
as of May 20, with 30 registered by the United Nations-overseen
Clean Development Mechanism Executive Board, according to a
statement on its website.
The company's projects have 1.4 million metric tons of
credits issued, with 37.5 million tons expected through 2012,
according to the Bloomberg CDM database, which lists 51 projects
for Energy Systems.
"EDF Trading is very knowledgeable in the carbon market
and it has its own portfolio so it surely knows what it is
doing," Laurent Segalen, managing director, commodities
trading, at Nomura International Plc, said today by e-mail.
Energy Systems will be a lot more valuable for EDF should
countries introduce climate-protection laws that create demand
around the world for credits beyond 2012, Segalen said.
CER Prices
UN Certified Emission Reduction credits for December fell
1.5 percent to 11.40 euros ($14.82) a ton as of 11 a.m. in
London on the European Climate Exchange. They have risen 3.8
percent this year. Sikorski of Barclays Capital forecast last
month they will rise to 20 euros a ton as early as 2013.
London-based Barclays agreed in June to buy Tricorona,
another carbon developer, in a takeover valued at about 1.1
billion kronor ($150 million). JPMorgan Chase & Co. last year
bought carbon business EcoSecurities for about $200 million.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Stephen Cunningham.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
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