Even if they can be seen from the shoreline, 67% support off-shore wind power, according to a new poll of coastal residents of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia .

If the turbines are out of sight, the level of support goes up to an astounding 82%.

A full 25% of the population of the US lives in the nine Atlantic states from Massachusetts to North Carolina. The potential is staggering.  So it is very fortunate that so many people in the middle of part of the region with such great potential for wind power feel this way.

Off-shore wind power off the Atlantic could take one third of the US population off the fossil grid.

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There is a controversial decision to be made in Maryland soon regarding a nuclear reactor that might be built there. Similar to reactors being built in Finland that British and Finnish regulators are finding problems with, this reactor would be built largely by a French nuclear technocratic elite who are operating in a questionable and risky way.

The project in Maryland is a 4.5 billion dollar deal that is trying to skirt public service regulation. Thanks in part to a regional coalition, the Chesapeake Safe Energy Coalition (CSEC), and their ability to get 650 petition signatures sent to the Public Service Commission (PSC), the nuclear business elite are running into responsible and practical decision-making that will give more public accountability.

An in-depth report of the history of nuclear technology in France that leads into the situation today was completed by international nuclear expert and consultant Mycle Schneider in May of this year. There are many issues put forth in this paper that are discussed in great detail and with appropriate connection to various global issues (i.e. issues regarding political conflict and the environment). Six key points from the report are introduced below:

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Last week, we took a look at San Diego’s revolutionary solar plan, which will allow residents to pay for solar panels through property tax bills over a 20 year period. But don’t pack your bags for Southern California just yet. Annapolis, MD has a similar plan , dubbed the Annapolis (EZ) Energy Zone Program.

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A team of US and Korean scientists have announced a major breakthrough in energy storage that could pave the way to a new generation of ultra-efficient electric cars, mobile phones and laptops.

The prototype capacitor, much more powerful than exisiting batteries, is capable of storing power at the same massive density as a supercapacitor (an incredible 10 billion tiny capacitors in every square centimetre), but releasing it as quickly as the fastest electrostatic capacitors.

Speaking about the invention, Gary Rubloff of the University of Maryland said, “Our primary target [for this technology] is as part of a hybrid battery-capacitor system for electric cars, but there are many [potential] small scale applications, [including] better electrical storage systems for cellphones or laptops.”

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[Creative Commons photo by Mikko Itälahti]

How many spills does this make in the past few months alone? There was the devastating TVA spill in Tennessee, the January spill in Alabama, and now this. Three spills in three months is a pretty terrible track record that underscores our need to move beyond coal as a primary fuel source.

The Maryland Department of the Environment press release said:

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Maryland is the next notable state taking action. Two bills have currently been proposed to ban the use of controversial food dyes in the wake of two British studies (PDF) that show some of the dyes may be linked to hyperactivity and behavior problems in children. One of the bills would mandate labeling on the food packages that contain the dyes, and give industry until 2012 to stop using them. The other bill specifically prohibits schools from purchasing, providing and serving any food item that contains the dyes by 2010.

Learn where you can lookup common foods to see which have these dyes after the jump.

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Rob Gilchrist, a former activist, had spied on 9 different peaceful environment and animal welfare groups over the past 10 years before his girlfriend discovered suspicious emails, New Zealand’s Sunday Star-Times reported in a 3,200-word expose today.

“Protests are part of a healthy democracy,” said Rochelle Rees, Gilchrist’s girlfriend. “The police are supposed to be protecting that but instead they are inhibiting it. It’s foolish of them since stomping on peaceful protest is the best way to make people more extreme and push them underground.”

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The harvest of soft shell and peeler blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay has been declared a commercial fishery failure by the U.S. Government. The federal declaration is an important step in providing economic assistance to the communities reliant upon crab production.

The governors of Maryland and Virginia requested that the Secretary of Commerce determine a disaster in the blue crab fishery and applied for more than $15 million to offset the economic impact of new limits on the bay’s crab harvest. The harvest value of soft shell crabs in Maryland and Virginia has declined by 41 percent from the late 1990s, according to NOAA’s Fisheries Service.

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WestportNow.com reports that citizens attending the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) vote on the ban overwhelmingly supported the measure. The RTM eventually voted 26 to 5 (with one abstention) in favor of the ordinance, and also rejected a proposal that would have made the ban effective only through Sept. 19 of next year.

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So here we go:

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In 2007, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) awarded Gilchrest with a meek environmental score of 60-percent. Low as it may be, consider that most of the GOP fails to even break the 20-percent mark by LCV standards. In fact, Gilchrest - who chairs the House Climate Change Caucus - has been snubbed by the GOP for perpetuating the human impact of climate change. He has also been a strong supporter for clean and renewable energy. So, maybe it comes as no surprise that he has turned and cut this ad for Kratovil:

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While some see the move as partisan-based mutiny, Gilchrest says of his somewhat Lieberman type move, “I love this place we call home,” and “It’s more important to me than partisanship.”

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Look at what’s happening at some of these schools:

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Another bookseller has joined the growing list of bookstores that participate in Eco-Libris bookstores program. This time we’re happy to present you with Novel Places of Clarksburg, MD.

Novel Places started 2 years ago by Patrick Darby, who has almost 30 years experience in book retail. The store started as an antiquarian online store, but recently, new titles and accessories were added. The rekindled Literary Society restarted by Patrick last year is a book group by today’s standards, which help promote the store. Patrick tries to emulate the history of the Society (which dates back to 1833!) by inviting authors to read and talk about their books. The plan is to include unpublished authors to get feedback on their creations.

The books offered by Novel Places can also be found at Mayorga Coffee (23207 Stringtown Road Clarksburg, MD). The online store offers a community forum to discuss issues and books. Patrick says he designed it the way he would want his brick and mortar store to be like - a place where people can come and relax by a fire or in a comfy chair for conversation, reading, and purchasing a good book. And now there’s also going to be there the opportunity to plant a tree with every book you purchased with Eco-Libris. Customers will be receiving our sticker (made of recycled paper) saying “one tree planted for this book” with every new book purchased at Novel Places.

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Whatever the cause (and there’s good reason to blame all three to some degree), most so-called experts these days aren’t expecting oil prices to drop anytime soon. In fact, Newsweek this week features a sobering article titled, “The Coming Energy Wars,” that predicts we’ll soon see oil prices top $200 a barrel. When that happens, the authors warn, we can expect everything about our daily lives to change.

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Under the program, Marriott will donate five percent of a group’s room costs in the group’s name to help protect and preserve the Amazon rainforest. To qualify, groups must book meetings between July 1 of this year and December 31, 2009.

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With gasoline prices in the U.S. breaking new records weekly, for example, law enforcement officials are seeing more cases of cooking grease thefts from fast-food establishments and other restaurants. Why used grease? Because cooking oil can be converted into biodiesel fuel that can be sold at a cool profit.

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The foundation teamed up with RPM Ecosystems, a wholesale native plant nursery in Dryden, New York, to sell year-old trees grown with a root production method (RPM) that helps them grow three times faster than normal … meaning they can sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere three times faster than conventional young trees.

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“These documents paint a picture of an Environmental Protection Agency in crisis. They show the dedicated professional staff of the EPA working hard to do what they are paid to do by the American people - protect our health and our environment. At the same time, we see more and more evidence of Administrator Johnson ignoring the science and the facts, and discarding the advice of his professional staff.”

“I believe this decision will be reversed by the next President or by the courts, but the Administrator can save the taxpayers time and money, and can get us started cleaning up our air if he would simply follow the law, the facts, and the advice of his agency professionals.”

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New Zealand may ban fossil fuels. A bill introduced in the NZ Parliament last week would ban new power plants if they burned fossil fuels. Specifically, the 10-year plan would ban fuel sources with more than 20 percent oil, coal or gas from producing more than 10 megawatts of power. This unprecedented legislation will apply to the forestry sector beginning next month, transport fuels in 2009, industry in 2010 and the agriculture and waste sectors in 2013. One exception allows for a source with more than 20 percent fossil fuels if the remainder is made up of waste. Although the bill has to pass through four debating stages, undergo a study by a committee and signed off by the governor general, the government actually expects the bill to become law in 2008.

Big emitter has big plans. Germany is Europe’s largest emitter of global warming emissions but has big plans to cut them 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. The multi-billion euro idea includes a heavy emphasis on energy efficiency, as well as renewable energy and improved building insulation. But some organizations like Greenpeace point out that Germany can’t cut emissions with the one hand while approving coal plants with the other, as it has been doing. Currently there are 24 plants in the pipeline and if they are built, says Greenpeace, the emissions goal will be impossible to meet.

Little U.S. State Has Big Plans Too. The Maryland Commission on Climate Change has issued a report calling for a 90 percent reduction in global warming emissions below 2006 levels by 2050. Besides investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy, the targets would be met through a cap-and-trade policy in which polluters would buy and sell unused emissions credits. Maryland is also worried about damage to its shorelines from rising sea levels, so another commission recommendation is to require “soft shorelines” or artificial wetlands to be built in some areas instead of rock walls.

Baltimore Sun
Deutsche Welle
International Herald Tribune
Reuters UK

A cap-and-trade system is a market-based solution to cutting CO2 emissions efficiently and with flexibility, resulting in real reductions. First, lawmakers establish a limit or “cap” to the emissions (in this case lowering them to 1990 levels by 2020). Often the caps are aimed at particular sources, like power plants. Next, the amount of emissions that are allowed under the new law are divided up into individual permits. Each utility is allowed to emit a particular amount of pollution according to their number of permits (normally a permit is equal to one ton of pollution).

The permits create a financial incentive for emission cuts by designating a cost to the pollution. A company that has cut emissions sufficiently can sell their extra permits to companies not able or willing to cut emissions enough to meet the requirements. This helps to ensure that companies cut emissions while remaining profitable.

Maryland already has a renewable energy standard that requires 7.5 percent of its energy to come from renewable sources by 2019. It’s also passed the Healthy Air Act, a strong power plant clean-up bill that will cut mercury and CO2 emissions. These laws and the Global Warming Solutions Act are just more examples of the states taking meaningful action on global warming and energy. The federal government will have to work even harder to catch up.

Hugg.com: Global Warming Solutions Act
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Maryland Sierra Club
Union of Concerned Scientists