Energy & Environment: Environmental Science, Energy Policy, Living Green & More - The Washington Post

Shad catch limited in move to restore depleted fishery

Darryl Fears — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 23:46:29 GMT

If things were this bad in the late 1770s, George Washington’s starving Continental Army might never have made it out of Valley Forge.

The shad, according to one account, came charging up the Schuylkill River to spawn and ran headlong into soldiers who leapt into the water, herded them into nets and wolfed them down.

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IG casts doubt on DOE contract work by ex-congresswoman Wilson

Steven Mufson — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 22:30:00 GMT

Four contractors managing the Energy Department’s national laboratories charged the agency $450,000 for consulting fees paid to a former Republican congresswoman from New Mexico, but the contractors could not document her work, according to a report by the department’s inspector general.

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Fish and Wildlife proposes endangered listing for captive chimpanzees

Darryl Fears — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:34:00 GMT

The federal government moved Tuesday to declare all chimpanzees endangered, an act that would provide stronger protections and potentially end nearly a century of using great apes as test subjects for invasive medical research.

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At Energy Department, nepotism is ‘open and widely accepted,’ report says

Josh Hicks — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:16:55 GMT

A form of nepotism prohibited within federal agencies has become “open and widely accepted” at the Energy Department, according to a federal watchdog report.

Energy Department inspector general Gregory H. Friedman said in the report last week that one of the agency’s senior managers advocated for three of his college-age children to be hired for department internships last year.

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Carbon dioxide emissions rose 1.4 percent in 2012, IEA report says

Steven Mufson — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 09:00:00 GMT

Global emissions of carbon dioxide from energy use rose 1.4 percent to 31.6 gigatons in 2012, setting a record and putting the planet on course for temperature increases well above international climate goals, the International Energy Agency said in a report scheduled to be issued Monday.

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Utilities and solar advocates square off over the future

Lenny Bernstein — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 03:03:00 GMT

It’s a sight that would bring joy to anyone who has ever paid an electric bill: that little wheel on the meter outside your home literally spinning backwards, signaling a reduction in your payment and the distribution of excess electricity to your neighbors.

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Christie, Paul offer models for how GOP can compete in blue states

Dan Balz — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 18:54:19 GMT

So much has been made of the demographic obstacles facing Republicans in their quest to win the White House that it has been easy to overlook the other huge hurdle in their path: geography. But two prospective GOP presidential candidates — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul— seem determined to change that.

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San Onofre nuclear power plant to shut down

Steven Mufson — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 18:17:00 GMT

In a new setback for the U.S. nuclear power industry, Edison International said Friday that it would permanently close two reactors at its San Onofre plant in California, ending a contentious battle over whether the units could be repaired and operated safely after a Jan. 31, 2012, steam leak revealed cracks in the steam generator system.

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Gray wolf to lose endangered species protection as numbers rise

Lenny Bernstein — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 18:00:00 GMT

The federal government took steps Friday to remove endangered species protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states, contending that the population of the apex predator has recovered from decades of hunting that drove it to virtual extinction.

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Workers turned EPA warehouse in Landover into personal rec rooms, audit finds

Lenny Bernstein — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:10:00 GMT

In a huge Environmental Protection Agency warehouse in Landover, enterprising workers made sure that they had all the comforts of home. They created personal rec rooms with televisions, radios, chairs and couches. On the walls were photos, calendars and pinups. For entertainment, they had books, magazines and videos. If they got hungry, they could grab something from a refrigerator and pop it into a microwave.

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Washington Post to phase in a paid online subscription model

Steven Mufson — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:00:00 GMT

The Washington Post will phase in a paid online subscription model for Web content starting June 12, charging some readers $9.99 a month for access to more than 20 articles a month on desktop and mobile devices.

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Turtle conservation groups reassess after guardian is killed on Costa Rican beach

Lenny Bernstein, Darryl Fears — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 23:36:31 GMT

Jairo Mora Sandoval knew his work was dangerous. The 26-year-old Costa Rican, who was paid to protect endangered leatherback sea turtles and their eggs on a Caribbean beach in the tiny Central American nation, had been threatened many times — probably by poachers, possibly by drug traffickers. Both kinds of criminals share a keen interest with conservationists in the 11-mile stretch of public sand just outside the city of Limon, in the country’s poorest province.

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17-year cicadas create a buzz in some Va. neighborhoods

Darryl Fears — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 21:29:18 GMT

There was stuff going on in the bushes next to Frank Lynch’s house that he didn’t really want to know about.

But when a pair of mating cicadas, stuck bumper to bumper, plopped on his porch , Lynch and his wife, Debbie, couldn’t ignore them.

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Monsanto shares fall as South Korea joins pause in wheat imports

Steven Mufson — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 00:07:00 GMT

Investors drove down the price of Monsanto shares by 4 percent on Friday as South Korea joined Japan in suspending imports of U.S. wheat after an unapproved strain of genetically modified wheat was discovered in a field in eastern Oregon.

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Unapproved genetically modified wheat from Monsanto found in Oregon field

Steven Mufson — Fri, 31 May 2013 00:38:00 GMT

Japan, the largest market for U.S. wheat exports, suspended imports from the United States and canceled a major purchase of white wheat on Thursday after the recent discovery of unapproved genetically modified wheat in an 80-acre field in Oregon.

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Kevin Gentzel appointed as Washington Post’s chief revenue officer

Steven Mufson — Thu, 30 May 2013 00:59:15 GMT

The Washington Post has named Kevin Gentzel, a former ad chief and publisher at Forbes Media, as its chief revenue officer.

Gentzel will oversee all Washington Post print and digital advertising and will report to Post president and general manager Stephen P. Hills. Eight sales and marketing executives will report to Gentzel.

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French oil giant Total to pay $398 million to settle U.S. bribery charges with Iran connection

Steven Mufson — Thu, 30 May 2013 00:11:00 GMT

The French oil giant Total agreed to pay $398 million to the U.S. government to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying $60 million in bribes in 1995 to intermediaries of an Iranian government official who then used his influence to help the company obtain valuable contracts to develop oil and gas fields in Iran.

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Tesla’s stock soars; operator of charging stations for electric cars tanks

Steven Mufson — Tue, 28 May 2013 23:07:19 GMT

Shares of electric carmaker Tesla Motors zipped past $110 on Tuesday, but the ailing operator of charging networks for electric vehicles called Project Better Place went to its final resting place as it filed for liquidation in an Israeli court.

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Gasoline prices spike in Midwest

Steven Mufson — Mon, 27 May 2013 21:02:00 GMT

Gasoline prices have smashed records in much of the upper Midwest as refinery outages, low inventories and continuing high crude oil prices have combined to inflict pain at fuel pumps on the eve of the summer driving season.

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Scientists wage war on pervasive stink bugs

Darryl Fears — Mon, 27 May 2013 01:51:00 GMT

It was an absolutely false claim, but totally believable.

Early this year, a few news organizations reported that the brown marmorated stink bug was at the top of an Agriculture Department most-unwanted list, the nation’s No. 1 invasive species of interest, the most wanted fugitive among bugs.

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Garcia-Ruiz named Washington Post managing editor

Steven Mufson — Fri, 24 May 2013 21:20:00 GMT

Emilio Garcia-Ruiz was named The Washington Post’s managing editor for digital, video and presentation departments on Friday, and he said he would try to “help find a way out of the industry’s predicament.”

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Frog, toad and salamander populations plummeting, U.S. survey finds

Darryl Fears — Wed, 22 May 2013 23:46:00 GMT

Frogs, toads and salamanders continue to vanish from the American landscape at an alarming pace, with seven species — including Colorado’s boreal toad and Nevada’s yellow-legged frog — facing 50 percent drops in their numbers within seven years if the current rate of decline continues, according to new government research.

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Environmental Defense Fund scolded by other green organizations on ‘fracking’

Lenny Bernstein — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:38:56 GMT

In an unusually public dispute, about 70 environmental groups Wednesday scolded one of their larger brethren, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), for joining with a group of energy companies that support hydraulic fracturing.

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Children survive Oklahoma tornado in elementary school bathroom

Lenny Bernstein — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:14:00 GMT

It was the regular tornado drill, the one Alexander Ghassimi and other children in Moore, Okla., learn in school: Get to an interior hallway, get down, cover up. Then a teacher who had been watching the progress of Monday’s storm outside Plaza Towers Elementary School came tearing down the hall, yelling to move as many children as possible into the girls’ bathroom, and 11-year-old Alexander knew this was no ordinary tornado.

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Solar industry groups seek pact to settle trade disputes

Steven Mufson — Tue, 21 May 2013 01:13:24 GMT

An international group of solar industry trade associations meeting in Shanghai last week has issued a joint declaration appealing to China, the European Union and the United States to avert a trade war and negotiate a settlement to disputes over solar panels, according to one person who attended the meeting.

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