Energy and Environment News Roundup – 7.3.14
A daily roundup of the most important energy, environment, and climate news from around the world.
COAL
Port wants to load coal between ships in middle of Great Barrier Reef (via The Guardian)
Study: Mountaintop removal reduces fish population (via Charleston Gazette)
Vanishing coal jobs weigh on U.S.-backed pension plans (via Bloomberg)
Manchin Ex-Im bill proposes rolling back coal restrictions (via The Hill)
Wyoming sticks by coal despite upheaval (via Wall Street Journal)
RENEWABLES
India plans world’s largest floating solar power project at 50MW (via CleanTechnica)
Australia’s $10 billion clean-energy bank to announce solar deals (via Bloomberg)
Holland: Pioneering sustainable district heating innovations (via Energy Collective)
China’s second-biggest hydropower plant completed (via Reuters)
Desertec’s second wind (via Recharge)
EPA qualifies new biogas, electricity pathways for cellulosic biofuel requirement under RFS (via Green Car Congress)
Will offshore wind pick up speed? (via Huffington Post)
The rise of residential solar PV customers (via Renewable Energy World)
Distributed wind energy: The new cash crop (via Renewable Energy World)
Interior Department to auction site off Maryland for offshore wind (via Bloomberg)
NATURAL GAS/FRACKING
New York State fracking ruling leaves shale industry weary (via Christian Science Monitor)
CLIMATE
Researchers say costs of climate change being massively underestimated (via CleanTechnica)
Climate-driven wildfires consume forest service budget (via Bloomberg)
New storm surge maps debut with TS Arthur (via Climate Central)
Why New York City might need canals to survive (via Fast Company)
Sea-level rise cuts across political divide in Norfolk, Virginia (via World Resources Institute)
OIL
Oil prices decline, despite bullish oil inventory data (via Houston Chronicle/AP)
BP says we have 53.3 years of oil left (via Autoblog)
EMISSIONS
Glasgow University could ditch £19 million in fossil fuel assets (via RTCC)
EPA moves to slash methane at landfills, oil wells (via Climate Central)
EPA adds hearings on power plan carbon regulations (via The Hill)
Four carbon-pricing pitfalls to avoid (via Sightline Daily)
ENVIRONMENT
The disaster we’ve wrought on the world’s oceans may be irrevocable (via Newsweek)
UN green fund to seek cash in November; poor nations want $15 billion (via Reuters)
UK take from environmental taxes reaches £43 billion in 2013 (via BusinessGreen)
The costly lobbying war over America’s dying honeybees (via National Journal)
As their yards go brown, Californians pocket the green (via Greenwire)
California drought: America’s golden state runs dry and its farmers are struggling to survive (via The Independent)
POLITICS
Iraq violence has restarted Bernie Sanders’ gas-price fight with Wall Street
Australian prime minister attempts to undermine global climate action (via EcoWatch)
League of Conservation Voters beefs up with hiring of climate veteran (via National Journal)
OPINION
How climate change could foil China’s smog-fighting efforts (via New York Times)
Peak coal: Why the industry’s days are numbered (via GreenBiz)
Three signs clean tech is booming in 2014 (via Greentech Media)
Is divestment at catholic universities a climate game changer? (via Huffington Post)
America needs to raise the gas tax – and then get rid of it (via Washington Post)
David Crane’s green vision for carbon-belching NRG Energy (via Forbes)