Via Benny Peiser

CLIMATE HYSTERIA DRIVES CALIFORNIA TO THE EDGE OF BANKRUPTCY

California governor angers environmental groups with proposal to ditch green planning rules in order to accelerate job-creating infrastructure projects
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Speaking at press conference this week, Schwarzenegger said that the relaxation of the environmental rules was needed to helkp tackle rising unemployment. "It’s about jobs, jobs, jobs," he said. "That's why I've been adamant about easing environmental regulations and other red tape in order to get the infrastructure going, to get infrastructure projects moving as quickly as possible."

Colby Cosh: Ignatieff sees geopolitical clout in Alberta tar sands - Full Comment

On Jan. 14, Ignatieff was asked about the sands in a town hall meeting in Vancouver. “This is where a chill falls over the room because everybody expects me to say they’re terrible and shut them down,” he said belletristically. “Absolutely not.” He went on to describe an August visit to the sands — which, as even I have conceded in this space, provide a fairly convincing preview of hell. But Ignatieff told his Vancouver audience they were “awe-inspiring.”

Two days later he expanded on this sentiment, telling The Calgary Herald editorial board that what he really saw in that coal-black expanse was a veritable sea of concentrated national sovereignty. “It massively increases Canada’s geopolitical importance, above all, to the United States,” he told the Herald. “They have to be aware of one simple fact, that Canada exports more petroleum to the United States than Saudi Arabia. This is a very important partnership and they should balance their legitimate environmental concerns with an understanding of just how important the oil sands are to the future of the American economy.”

Britain under fire for not committing to renewable energy agency | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Britain's attempts to position itself as a centre for the green power industry suffered a blow today when it emerged that ministers have refused to commit the country to a new international body set up to promote renewable power.
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James Alix Michel, president of the Seychelles, attacked the west for failing to do enough to tackle an issue which could put his own country under water.

While the Seychelles was working hard to become a carbon-neutral country, others were not.

"We find it difficult to understand why countries with far greater resources fail to follow suit," he said. "The time for straddling the fence is over. We can save these (endangered) communities if only we have the will."

But Michel also railed against longhaul aviation taxes, saying they unfairly penalised countries like his own which need longhaul visitors for much of their wealth. Developing countries were already suffering disproportionately from the credit crunch, he said. "When large economies sneeze, small islands don't get a cold but a fever."

Updated: Sell-off forces EU carbon to record lows - 20 Jan 2009 - BusinessGreen

The price of carbon credits in the EU's emissions trading scheme reached a record low for the current phase of the scheme of just €11.60 as many of the large scale emitters covered by the scheme continued to offload their EUA carbon credits.

The price of EUAs has been on a steady slide since the start of the year when they stood just shy of €16 a tonne and market watchers are concerned that the price of carbon is no longer tracking oil prices.