An interesting proposal to turn the soon to be replaced Bay Bridge into a floating apartment and park complex. Really great idea even if it doesn’t come to pass it should make us consider what we can do with older pieces of infrastructure. Photo via BLDGBLOG: The Bay Line.
The New Republic’s Energy and Environment blog has an article today about Ken Salazar, the new interior secretary, and his effort to repeal one of the last-minute Bush administration laws. In the closing months of the Bush administration they passed a bill that would open up large tracts of Bureau of Land Management land in Utah. The problem is that Salazar has simply stalled the opening of these lands for drilling, which is currently a legal practice. From the article:
Unfortunately, there’s an underlying problem that still needs fixing. In offering the leases for sale in December, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was simply acting in accordance with the new resource-management plans for its lands in Utah. These plans, which the Bush administration rushed to complete before the end of last October, leave about 80 percent of the BLM’s 11 million acres in Utah open to energy development. If the BLM continues to manage its Utah lands according to these guidelines, which are supposed to last for 20 years, then this week’s environmental victory will only be a temporary one. Conservation groups are challenging the management plans in court, and their lawsuits may well be successful. But the Obama administration needs to start drafting replacement plans that take into consideration the sensitive nature of Utah’s red-rock country by putting more of it off-limits to drilling.
I would love to see the Obama administration expand federal protection through not only Utah but much of the other semi-protected federal lands in other states. Traveling through Southern Utah during my Freshman year here at Whitman was simply amazing and truly created a new sense of environmentalism in me. I only wish that the lands stay pristine so that others can have the same experience that I was fortunate enough to have.
Link via Utah Drilling Stopped. But For How Long? – Environment and Energy .
TNR’s Environment and Energy blog has a list of links concerning some recent news about the environment. Check it out at the link below:
Quick Hits: So *That’s* Where The Trees Went Edition – Environment and Energy
Having just finished Bjorn Lomborg’s highly controversial book “Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalists Guide to Global Warming” I thought I would post some of my thoughts and reactions to it here. By no means do I endorse nor entirely believe everything that Lomborg discusses in this book, but I do think that he has many interesting ideas that are worth consideration and should not just be dismissed.
I also found a portion of his book toward the back to be a pretty fair summation of the issues involved. On page 131 Lomborg writes that:
Global warming will definitely not be costless. As we have seen, it will cause more heat deaths, it will increase sea levels, and it will plausibly cause more intense hurricanes and more flooding. It will give rise to more malaria, starvation, and poverty. This is an important message to convey.
Equally, doing something about global warming will not be costless. Switching from coal to gas or to renewables comes at a price. Restricting transportation will make the economy less efficient. Cutting back on hot showers, plane trips, and car use will leave you less well-off. It will also reduce the number of people being saved from cold, it will increase the number of water stressed, and it will allow fewer to get rich enough to avoid malaria, starvation, and poverty. This is also an important message to convey.
Overall, I found his book to be interesting. I wasn’t solely convinced, but nor did I find myself completely writing off his opinions and views. When read simply as a competing viewpoint it can be interesting and thought provoking. Fire away in the comments if you have opinions, views, etc.