Latest news with #DavidBookbinder
Mint
24-04-2025
- Science
- Mint
A sunscreen for Earth? Assess the risks first
More than a dozen private companies around the world are looking to profit from extreme measures to combat global warming—filling the sky with sunlight-blocking particles, brightening clouds or changing the chemistry of the oceans. We live in precarious times when it's not hard to find the technology and money to change the Earth's climate. The problem is that nobody knows how to control the unintended consequences. Some scientists who've studied and modelled the complexity of Earth's oceans and atmosphere say any 'geo-engineering' scheme big enough to affect the climate could put people at risk of dramatic changes in the weather, crop failures, damage to the ozone layer, international conflict and other irreversible problems. Environmental lawyer David Bookbinder is more afraid of geo-engineering than he is of climate change. 'The consequences of geo-engineering could happen a lot faster and with much less warning," he said. 'And could provoke a really bad geopolitical crisis." The world got an early warning about this Wild West situation in 2022 when a small startup called Make Sunsets caused a scandal by launching a small balloon-borne experiment over Mexico to spray sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere. Now, it's joined by richer, more serious players, including an Israel-based company called Stardust, which is researching a plan to dim the skies with a particle of undisclosed chemistry. In theory, sulphur dioxide or similar chemicals can cool the planet by forming suspended particles of sulphuric acid that act to scatter sunlight. When I wrote about the Make Sunsets incident, the company's founder said he thought it could profit by selling carbon credits under the belief that its actions would offset emissions. They won't. Such a particle release does nothing but mask the effect of the carbon build-up in the atmosphere. If those releases are abruptly stopped, the temperature could rise suddenly in what's been called 'termination shock." Bookbinder said that presidents, governors or even private individuals might be authorized to make such decisions. 'Right now, anyone can… There are literally no rules." He warned that if a cooling scheme initiated in one country coincided with floods, droughts or crop failures in another, the affected country might retaliate without direct evidence that the geo-engineering caused the problem. One justification for geo-engineering comes from the 2015 Paris Agreement, which included an imperative to keep warming below 1.5° Celsius. We've already surpassed that mark. Preventing us from reaching even more dangerous temperatures will require more than just stopping carbon emissions. We might need to find a way to pull carbon out of the atmosphere on a global scale. That was the stated goal of California businessman Russ George back in 2012 when he released iron into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of British Columbia. The iron, in theory, would fertilize algae, which would absorb carbon. There was never any documented scientific evidence that it helped. Now, several companies, such as Canadian startup Planetary Technologies and US startup Vesta, are beginning to dump chemicals into the oceans in an attempt to increase the pH level of the water. This should, in theory, trigger more carbon uptake from the atmosphere. Planetary Technologies has found a way to make money by selling carbon credits. With for-profit organizations already releasing chemicals into the oceans, it's important for scientists with no financial stake in this industry to collect data, said geo-chemist Adam Subhas of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. The American Geophysical Union believes monetary gains should not be prioritized in small-scale research either. There's a catch, according to Stanford's Jacobson. Small-scale experiments won't detect damage that might ensue if the projects were scaled up enough to actually affect global warming. In his view, we aren't coming close to realizing the world's potential to switch our energy needs to renewable resources. He convincingly argues that it makes no sense to resort to exotic and dangerous solutions when we haven't fully exploited what we know is safe and clean. Right now, some of these companies have sunk millions of dollars in investor money, giving them incentives to convince the public and politicians that their particular brand of geo-engineering is necessary to save the world. What we need instead is more scientific data and some rules to protect us all from rash decisions and their unintended consequences. ©Bloomberg The author is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering science.
Reuters
19-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
US Army Corps lists 600 "emergency" projects to bypass environmental review
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The Army Corps of Engineers has identified over 600 energy and other infrastructure projects identified as national emergency priorities, enabling them to be fast-tracked through the environmental review process, according to new data posted on its website. The Army Corps posted the list of projects - without sending a public notice - last week that were marked as eligible for emergency permitting under the federal Clean Water Act, meaning they can speed through an environmental review that would enable them to be built through wetlands. President Donald Trump had ordered the Army Corps to issue permits enabling the filling of wetlands and dredging or building in waterways as part of the "National Energy Emergency" he declared on a day-one executive order. The Army Corps was not immediately available for comment. Among the 688 permit applications the Army Corps marked as eligible for 'energy emergency' were many fossil-fuel related projects, such as pipelines. They included Enbridge's controversial Line 5 oil pipeline under Lake Michigan, natural gas power plants, transmission lines, mining and other infrastructure projects. Of the applications, the largest number – 141 – are in West Virginia, with 60 in Pennsylvania, 57 in Texas, 42 in Florida, 41 in Ohio, among many others in other states, according to the Environmental Integrity Project, which is tracking the permits. The fast-tracking of these projects will trigger legal fights, with environmental groups warning they are flouting federal laws. 'This end-run around the normal environmental review process is not only harmful for our waters, but is illegal under the Corps' own emergency permitting regulations,' said David Bookbinder, Director of Law and Policy at The EIP.
New York Times
19-02-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump Administration Moves to Fast-Track Hundreds of Fossil Fuel Projects
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has created a new class of 'emergency' permits for fossil fuel projects, raising the possibility that pipelines, mines, power plants and other facilities could be fast-tracked for approval as part of President Trump's demand to increase oil, gas and coal production. The move could reduce the opportunities for the public and local officials to weigh in on the effects of proposed projects. It may even short-circuit the National Environmental Policy Act, a 55-year-old law that requires federal agencies to analyze the environmental effects of major projects before they are built. That process can take months or even years, depending on the project's complexity. 'The Trump administration appears to be gearing up to use false claims of an 'energy emergency' to fast-track and rubber-stamp federal approvals for projects across the country that will be destructive to America's wetlands, waterways and communities,' said David Bookbinder, the director of law and policy at the Environmental Integrity Project, a watchdog group. Any individual, company or federal or state agency that wants to build a project in navigable waters of the United States, or discharge anything into those waters or wetlands, needs a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. For decades, the Corps granted emergency permits to quickly repair roads, shipping channels and other facilities that have been destroyed by a hurricane or other calamity. In those cases, lives and property were at stake. But in recent days, the agency has made hundreds of energy projects eligible for expedited decisions, citing an executive order signed by Mr. Trump that declared that the United States faced an energy emergency. Mr. Trump directed the agency to draw up a list of key projects and ordered it to 'use, to the fullest extent possible and consistent with applicable law, the emergency Army Corps permitting provisions to facilitate the nation's energy supply.' The United States is producing more oil than any other nation in history, and is also the world's biggest exporter of natural gas. But Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to make it even easier and cheaper for companies to produce more fossil fuels, the burning of which is dangerously heating the planet. Mr. Trump said he would expedite permits for anyone investing more than $1 billion in energy projects or other infrastructure in the United States and slash the red tape that has long stymied big construction projects. Projects that are now getting priority from the Army Corps include some disputed oil and gas facilities. One has to do with Line 5, an oil and gas pipeline that crosses 645 miles of Wisconsin and Michigan, and calls for boring a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Another is a gas liquefaction and export facility in Louisiana being built by Venture Capital L.L.C., which would be adjacent to a proposed gas export terminal that would be the largest in the United States. A third is a proposed deepwater crude oil export terminal off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. The list also includes solar energy projects and the construction of transmission lines across waterways. The Army Corps did not explain how the projects had been selected or how the new 'energy emergency' permitting category would allow projects to move ahead more quickly. 'The Department of Defense will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the executive orders issued by the president, ensuring that they are carried out with the utmost professionalism, efficiency, and in alignment with national security objectives,' Doug Garman, a spokesman for the agency, said in a statement. Lawyers familiar with the process said that based on previous emergency permit applications, the agency could reduce or even eliminate opportunities for the public to comment on certain projects or reduce the amount of time that engineers at the agency have to analyze environmental threats posed by a project and propose changes. Mr. Bookbinder noted that Army Corps policies define an 'emergency' as a situation that could result in an unacceptable hazard to life, a significant loss of property or an immediate, unforeseen and significant economic hardship. 'This end run around the normal environmental review process is not only harmful for our waters, but is illegal under the Corps' own emergency permitting regulations,' he said. Others disagreed. Ann D. Navaro, a partner at Bracewell, a law firm that advises energy clients, said the Corps had the discretion to determine what would be covered under its emergency regulations, as well as to try to make the permitting process more efficient. 'I expect the regulated community will welcome any procedures the Corps will develop that would make the processing of energy permits more efficient,' she said. The fact that a project is listed for emergency permit consideration does not automatically mean it will be granted, but nationwide the Corps denies fewer than 1 percent of applications, according to the agency. Line 5 is a 72-year-old pipeline that runs from Wisconsin to Canada and transports up to 540,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids a day, crossing Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. There have been growing concerns about the risk of leaks from the pipeline, which has been damaged by strikes from ships, particularly in the environmentally sensitive area in the Straits of Mackinac. Enbridge, the Canadian company that owns the pipeline, wants to replace a section of Line 5 with a concrete tunnel running four miles under the Mackinac Straits. It has said that would make the project safer. The state of Michigan wants to shut down the pipeline, saying that a 1953 easement for the pipeline's operation violated the state's public trust doctrine. It is locked in a court battle with Enbridge. Ryan Duffy, a spokesman for Enbridge, noted in a statement that the company had applied for a permit from the Corps for the concrete tunnel in April 2020. 'After nearly five years, the project still awaits action by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on an environmental-impact statement and a permitting decision,' he said. Opponents of Line 5 argue that running a hazardous liquids pipeline through a confined underground tunnel has not been tried elsewhere and risks explosions. They want to the Corps to conduct a thorough environmental review. 'If this is pushed through on an emergency permit, the implications of an oil spill if there's an explosion or something during tunnel construction is that over 700 miles of Great Lakes shoreline could be at risk,' said Sean McBrearty, the Michigan policy director for Clean Water Action, an environmental group. In Louisiana, Matt Rota is the senior policy director for Healthy Gulf, an environmental group that is opposed to a proposed deepwater oil and gas terminal known as Blue Marlin in the Gulf of Mexico, which Mr. Trump has renamed the Gulf of America. Mr. Rota said the development could destroy more than 100 acres of wetlands. 'Even though we don't know exactly what this expedited process is going to look like, one can assume that means we are going to be fast-tracking environmental reviews,' Mr. Rota said, adding, 'That is unacceptable for a coast in Louisiana that loses a football field of wetlands every hour.' Energy Transfer, the company behind the project, did not respond to request for comment. Some of the projects that the Corps has flagged as needed because of an energy emergency do not appear to address energy at all. They include a proposed housing development called West Coyote Hills in Orange County, Calif., to be built on what was once a Chevron oil field. Then there's the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Its project before the Corps does involve energy — a proposed geothermal system to heat and cool the museum's expansion. The Corps did not explain why that project is considered necessary because of a national emergency. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame did not respond to a request for comment.
