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Sunday, February 10, 2008
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Political Wire: "A new Mason-Dixon poll in Maryland finds Sen. Barack Obama way ahead of Sen. Hillary Clinton, 53% to 35%, just two days before Tuesday's primary...In the GOP race, Sen. John McCain leads Mike Huckabee, 54% to 23%."
Political Wire: "NBC News projects Sen. Barack Obama will win the Maine caucuses. Sen. Hillary Clinton was favored to win since many of Obama's core voters -- such as university students and African-Americans -- are not as large a part of the electorate. The loss was also probably expected since Clinton decided to shake up leadership of the campaign tonight."
Wash Park Prophet: "he process leading up to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August is, quite frankly, in disarray. The disqualification of all delegates from Michigan and Florida because those states willfully broke the national party rules was disasterous. The fact that the body that lays down the rules during the campaign is different from the credentials committee that interprets those rules in Denver doesn't help either, because it casts uncertainty on the decisions made now. And, the resentment over the privileged positions given to New Hampshire and Iowa which manifestly do not deserve that spot as they so grossly fail to look like the Democratic party is also a problem. The outsized influence of superdelegates in the race undermines the legitimacy of the primaries and caucuses that do count. And, informed Democrats are growing increasingly displeased with the hodgepodge of methods by which individual states allocate their delegates. There isn't even a consistent standard on whether independents or Republicans can vote in Democratic nomination contests."
The Moderate Voice: "Barack Obama and John McCain may be cruising toward blowout wins in Virginia's presidential primary Tuesday. Among the Democrats, the poll conducted for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and other Virginia newspapers shows Obama leading Hillary Rodham Clinton 53 percent to 37 percent. Among the Republicans McCain is up 55 percent to 27 percent, over his remaining major rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. With 5 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul is a distant third."
Andrew Sullivan: "If the Potomac primaries go his way, and if they do by anything like the margins of last night, the dynamic of the race changes. It becomes a matter of whether a hard-won close victory by Obama can be derailed by the Clintons' super-delegates. It shouldn't and I'm pretty sure it won't. But you'll have to hold both Clintons down and pry the nomination from their vise-like grip before that happens."
Colorado Confidential: "Colorado Superdelegates size up Presidential race."
"2008 pres"
7:22:19 PM 
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Captain's Quarters: "Barack Obama swept the trio of contests in the Democratic primaries yesterday, increasing his momentum and narrowing the delegate gap even further. The Clinton campaign tried to shrug off the losses as "expected", but with the Beltway contests of DC, Virginia, and Maryland coming on Tuesday, Hillary may not see another win for a while."
Josh Marshall: "Late Update: With 98% of the vote counted, it looks pretty clear that Huckabee's going to come in first in Louisiana. In Washington state, the state party site has been lagging so bad we're half wondering if they just can't bring themselves to report a Huck win. Huckabee led for most of the evening. But McCain pulled one point ahead with 78% of caucuses reporting."
"2008 pres"
9:26:29 AM
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Say hello to the new Headwaters Consulting website and weblog. They're into, "Green business and leadership strategies for a changing world.
"colorado water"
9:14:54 AM
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the EPA's 2005 "Clean Air Mercury Rule" because it violates the Clean Air Act according to The Environment News Wire. From the article:
Environmental and public health groups as well as 14 states, one city, and native tribes declared victory as a federal appeals court today vacated two rules issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that failed to set strict limits on mercury emissions from power plants. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the agency's 2005 "Clean Air Mercury Rule," violates the Clean Air Act by evading mandatory cuts in toxic mercury pollution from power plants that burn coal and oil. The EPA now has two years to develop mercury emissions standards for existing power plants. The decision invalidates the EPA's controversial cap-and-trade approach to regulating mercury emissions that would not have taken full effect until well beyond 2020. Cap-and-trade allows power plants to purchase emissions credits from other plants that have cut emissions below targeted levels, rather than installing pollution controls at their own plants. Power plants are sources of mercury, arsenic, lead, other heavy metals, and dioxins. Because these toxic pollutants are all classified as "hazardous," the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to identify their sources and develop the most stringent standards to control emissions from those sources. The court ruled today that the EPA erred when it took power plants off the list of hazardous pollution sources when issuing its Clean Air Mercury Rule. The lawsuit was filed by New Jersey on behalf of the coalition of states.
"2008 pres"
8:44:42 AM
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Here's an editorial in support of HB 08-1161 and HB 08-1165 from The Greeley Tribune "reg". They write:
Time and time again, mining companies have assured their operations would not affect the environment or residents' quality of life. Unfortunately, time and time again, they have failed. Most people probably remember Summitville, the open-pit gold mine in southwestern Colorado. In 1986 the mine opened using cyanide to leach precious metals from ore, pumping the tailings into synthetic-lined leaching ponds that were "guaranteed" not to leak. But almost immediately, a leak was detected. Cyanide and other dangerous trace minerals were released into the Alamosa River system, killing virtually all organisms living in the water. Of course, the mining company abandoned the site, declared bankruptcy and the Environmental Protection Agency was force to take over cleanup under its Superfund program in 1994. The clean up is ongoing and has cost millions. That's why the government must do all it can to protect residents from potentially harmful mining operations. We support two bills currently before the Colorado House that would take a first step toward doing just that.
House Bill 1161 would require that companies such as Powertech clean groundwater to pre-mining quality after it finishes operations. House Bill 1165 would give local governments more control over what sort of mining is allowed in their communities. It is essential that state and local governments have the power to oversee application and operation of mining operations. It must have the power to protect residents. The truth is, we've all paid for bad mining practices in the past through extraordinarily expensive EPA Superfund cleanup efforts, some of which take decades. And their success is still in question. We hope our lawmakers have the foresight to prevent that from happening in Weld County.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.
"colorado water"
8:15:30 AM
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Here's a look at uranium mining in Wyoming from The Greeley Tribune "reg". From the article:
In Wyoming, there are literally hundreds of abandoned open-pit mines as well as 3,000 open exploratory wells that are 6,800 feet deep, White Face said. Both of these prove a hazard to residents all over eastern Wyoming, she said, where Power Resources Inc. runs the state's only uranium leaching mine. A recent meeting between northern Colorado's Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction, who have their own uranium mine worries, and White Face's Defenders of the Black Hills group led to a good dialogue and hopefully a four-state residents' coalition against the mining, White Face said. All the groups are taking a stand against in-situ leaching of uranium, though uranium company officials say it is the most benign way of extracting the uranium ore. Donna Wichers, senior vice president of Uranium One, a company that is applying for permits to run an in-situ uranium mine in northeast Wyoming, said leach mining in Wyoming has been practiced there since the 1970s, and that residents are used to mining's ubiquity in Wyoming since many people rely on the industry for jobs. "People are very familiar with it," Wichers said. "People aren't afraid of it." Moreover, the water that accompanies the uranium deep underground isn't water that people should drink anyway, Wichers said, trying to allay the fears of people who are afraid their wells or groundwater will be polluted by the mining. "The water in the ore body is fairly nasty" to begin with, Wichers said. "So people shouldn't be drinking it anyway." Mark Moxley, with Wyoming's Department of Environmental Quality, agreed that the water near the uranium deposits indeed isn't fit for human consumption, but that it doesn't matter anyway since most people don't live near the mines. "In general, most (mines) in Wyoming are not very controversial," Moxley said, adding that in the past six months, Wyoming has gotten three applications for new uranium mining operations. "Most are out in the middle of nowhere."
Here's an in-depth look at nuclear power from The Denver Post. Read the whole thing. Here's an excerpt:
Thirty years since a U.S. nuclear reactor was last ordered and more than a decade since the last plant opened, the controversial energy source is back on the radars of utilities across the country. Federal regulators received four license applications for seven new nuclear power units in 2007 and expect to receive another 15 applications for 22 units this year. Though none of those units is proposed by Xcel Energy or planned for Colorado, the state's largest utility says it will examine the power source in future resource acquisition filings, which detail how the company will meet consumer electric needs years down the road. Xcel announced plans in December to boost generating capacity at its two nuclear plants in Minnesota. "Nuclear power needs to be a part of the nation's portfolio to meet increasing demand for electricity while reducing carbon emissions," Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz said. "We have no plans at this time in Colorado to pursue additional nuclear power. But we don't discount its use in the future, and we will at least take a look at it in future resource filings."
Several factors are driving the renewed interest in nuclear energy.
Operations, maintenance and fuel costs for nuclear plants have dropped about 30 percent since 1995, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. At the same time, the cost of operating a coal-fired plant has remained relatively flat, while natural-gas prices have surged. "It's become a matter of economics," said Tom Johnson, an assistant professor in the department of environmental and radiological health sciences at Colorado State University. "Nuclear is starting to become a little bit cheaper than coal." Another factor is the nation's focus on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, considered the main cause of global warming. Utilities are facing the threat of a tax on carbon emissions. Unlike coal and natural-gas plants, nuclear plants emit little, if any, greenhouse gas. As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the federal government offers tax credits and loan guarantees for the construction of new nuclear plants. The government also instituted a "Nuclear Power 2010 Program" to streamline the often onerous licensing process and encourage near-term reactor orders. The program also pays for some of the licensing and planning. Still, despite the increase in applications, no new nuclear units have been ordered even as plants have opened around the world at an average rate of four per year since 1996, according to Congressional Research Services, the research arm for Congress.
"2008 pres"
8:08:35 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 2:07:04 PM.
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