In the Pipeline: 1/3/12

Keep in mind, CSAPR was the “solid” rule.  What do you figure the courts are going to do with the utility MACT, the boiler MACT, and the GHG rules?  It is pretty much the beginning of the end for EPA’s run of lawlessness The Hill (1/2/12) reports: A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency must delay implementation of pending regulations aimed at limiting harmful power plant pollution that crosses state lines…The ruling prevents EPA from implementing the cross-state air pollution rule — which would put new limits on sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from power plant smokestacks in 27 Eastern states — on Jan. 1, as scheduled…EPA said the power plant emissions travel across state lines, threatening the health of thousands of people.

What do strippers and the Arizona housing market have in common? North Dakota U.S.A Today (1/3/12) reports: “It boils down to the weather and taking advantage of the market,” says real estate agent Rocky Parra of HomeSmart Realty in Gilbert, Ariz., a Phoenix suburb…He and wife Beverly, a native of Minot, N.D., have sold eight homes to North Dakotans in recent months. Parra is heading to North Dakota this month to meet with possible buyers…”A lot of people have struck it rich,” he says. “Oil companies are coming in and buying businesses and land. They’re selling up there at the peak and buying down here at the bottom.”…Some want second homes. Others move outright…Blaine Bjella, 41, still owns three auto body and truck accessories businesses in his native Williston, N.D., the hub of the state’s oil bonanza, which has pushed the state’s unemployment rate to the lowest level in the nation (3.4%).

This guy completely gets it.  Oil and gas are important.  And peak oil is ridiculous Foreign Policy (1/2/12) reports: Bad year for petro-tyrants: Did today’s trouble for petrocrats truly originate with Muhamad al-Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit-and-vegetable seller whose self-imolation a year ago preceded the Arab Spring? I don’t think so. Before Tunisia and Egypt, before the crumbling of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet collapse, before the rise of Benazir Bhutto, and before even the fall of Chun Doo-Hwan and the birth of South Korean democracy — there was Corazon Aquino’s People Power revolution in the Philippines. At this moment 26 years ago, yellow-clad Aquino supporters with their ubiquitous “L” signs, made with outstretched thumb and forefinger (in photo above, re-enacted earlier this year in a Manila celebration), seemed quaintly outmatched by then-dictator Ferdinand Marcos as they prepared for a snap presidential election. Yet, just two weeks after a fraudulent count gave Marcos the victory, a pair of military men defected, setting off the massive crowds of EDSA, Marcos’ ignominious flight out of the country aboard a U.S. aircraft, and his exile in Hawaii. The remarkable string of democratic breakouts in the quarter-century since — regardless of their imperfection in action — began on EDSA, with the Laban hand signs, and Freddie Aguilar’s haunting renditions of “Bayan Ko.”

So, in addition to being wrong, and hanging around with Ms. Delassandro (that’s Nancy Pelosi), he is a bit of a chicken CBS (1/2/12) reports: Newt Gingrich says he has killed a chapter on climate change in a post-election book of essays about the environment. But the intended author of the chapter, who supports the scientific consensus that humans contribute to climate change, says that’s news to her…Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech, confirmed in an email interview that she had been asked to write a chapter on climate change for the speaker’s book. She said was approached by former Palm Beach Zoo CEO Terry Maple, Gingrich’s co-editor, at an annual meeting of Republicans for Environmental Protection. Asked to confirm her chapter was dropped, she replied, “I had not heard that.”

Call it Bad Karma — Fisker issues a recall on their luxury electric car vehicles out of fear they might catch fire Business Green (1/2/12) reports: Fisker Automotive says it has fixed “a majority” of its 2012 Karma plug-in hybrid sports cars, just two weeks after the company that makes its battery packs identified a potential fire hazard…All 239 of the models manufactured to date were recalled when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warned improperly installed hose clamps in the car’s battery pack could cause coolant to leak and result in electrical shorts… While Fisker insists no incidents have been reported by customers or retailers, a company statement issued yesterday said many cars are back in service after having brand new battery packs fitted or repairs carried out to the hose clamp assembly…Remaining customers have been contacted for appointments to fix the $103,000 cars, it added.