Politics
- The National Memo » U.S. Will Be Stronger, Healthier Because Of Court’s Ruling
- The Opinionated Liberal: What Romney Will Take Away From You on Day One
The SCOTUS Ruling on the ACA
- The Associated Press: Some Dems still skittish on health care; GOP riled
- Bobby Jindal, ‘Obamacare,’ and the red state vow of poverty : The Reid Report
- Mitch McConnell On 30 Million Uninsured: ‘That Is Not The Issue’ (VIDEO)
- Democurmudgeon: Sky is Falling “Obamacare,” the End of America!
Republicans just love the private sector health care system we have right now, with premium hikes and all the exclusions, so why not ram total privatization down everyone’s throat?
Who would have thought giving people health care was so horrific? The following radical right wingers, that’s who…Breaking News from Newsmax.com:Dick Morris: Court Decision Hurts Obama, Helps RomneyMike Reagan: Ruling Keeps US on Path to SocialismBill McCollum: War Against Obamacare ‘Has Just Begun’Ken Cuccinelli: ‘Dark Day for American Liberty’Newt Gingrich: Obamacare Repeal ‘Defining Issue of Fall Campaign’ - —
Climate, Climate Politics, and Energy
- Fracking can be done ‘safely’ | Planet3.0
The conclusion of a review by the Royal Society in the UK, is that fracking can be done ‘safely’, provided ”best practices are implemented and robustly enforced through regulation.”
Unfortunately the Royal Society did not examine the more interesting questions of what fracking means for the climate, hence the scare quotes in the title of this post.
There are two distinct issues here, the first is the direct effect of fugitive emissions from fracking operations. Quantifying how much methane is not captured by the gas companies and is instead directly emitted into the atmosphere is difficult but the it is not likely to be zero. This is important because methane is much more potent a GHG than CO2 thus even small leaks can have significant effects on the climate.
The second is what having a large, cheap supply of natural gas means for the energy sector. Will it replace coal or undercut renewables like solar and wind out of the market? Answering this question is essential in determining what if any role natural gas can play in climate mitigation polices.
By avoiding these more interesting and difficult questions the Royal Society has, unfortunately, done very little to help us understand the costs and benefits of fracking.