In December 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act into law, setting forth federal guidelines for power plants and other industrial facilities in order to control air pollution. This December marks the 35th anniversary of the law -- and an opportunity to reflect on its successes and failures.

Without a doubt, the Clean Air Act has made America a cleaner, healthier place. Despite 35 years of rapid economic expansion, levels of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead and other pollutants have decreased, showing growth and environmental protections aren't mutually exclusive.

Catawba Valley could be off EPA's sanction lists in 2008
LENOIR - The 10 Catawba Valley governments that banded together three years ago to improve air quality have adopted policies that lay out their methods to save energy and reduce emissions.
Caldwell County, which adopted its policy Dec. 19, was the last, said Ron Hancock, a Western Piedmont Council of Governments planner advising the governments on conservation and air-quality issues.
Many of the plan's measures -- installation of low-energy lighting systems and proper insulation in county buildings, for example -- are things the county and its fellow governments have been doing for the past five years, since the state and federal governments began warning them about poor air quality.

This year's surge in gasoline prices was a reminder that America's energy policies have failed to promote the development of alternative fuels with the urgency needed.
Wisconsin has an opportunity to start correcting that failure by jump-starting the use and production of ethanol, an alcohol fuel that in the United States is made chiefly from corn, a home- grown crop.

The state Legislature should take advantage of that opportunity by requiring that most gasoline in Wisconsin be blended with ethanol to produce E10, a fuel that is 10 percent ethanol.

By increasing the demand for ethanol, the E10 proposal has the potential to expand ethanol production in Wisconsin, creating jobs and income. E10 also shows promise for reducing the pump price for consumers, and it can enhance energy security by developing renewable energy to cut our dependence on imported oil.

By now everybody knows climate change is with us. The scientists are saying so. Government departments are saying so. Even big business is saying so. Most nation states are saying so. Even countries like Australia, the world's biggest coal exporter and the US, the world's biggest global warmer, who both refused to be party to the Kyoto Protocol, acknowledge climate change is upon us. Everybody's also acutely aware of the likely scenarios that climate change will bring if it goes unchecked _ more frequent hurricanes, landslides, flooding, drought, glacial retreat, rising sea levels, community displacement, starvation, environmental degradation. So when the 149 signatories to the Kyoto pact sit down in Montreal for the first time on Nov 28 it's to be hoped that they realise the magnitude of the responsibility they have to lead the planet towards some semblance of a solution.

As soaring prices for oil and natural gas drive more Americans toward alternative fuels to stay warm this winter, environmental watchdogs are awakening to the unhealthy effects of the pollution from burning wood in the home.
Scientists have long known that wood smoke contains carbon monoxide and cancer-causing chemicals. But research shows that wood smoke's major ingredient — tiny particles of soot and liquid pollution — worsens heart disease and triggers asthma attacks.
This "particle pollution," also emitted by diesel engines, kills thousands of Americans a year. Alarmed by such findings, and required by federal law to cut particle pollution, officials across the USA are trying to reduce the smoke from the nation's 37 million home chimneys and 10 million wood stoves.

Source U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Washington, D.C.- October 26, 2005 - EPA today recognized 18
organizations for achieving significant energy savings and leading their
fields in responding to the agency's Energy Star Building Challenge.

Those honored for achieving at least 10 percent energy savings included
school districts, a hospital and supermarket, hotel, banking and
commercial real estate companies. They were recognized by EPA
Administrator Stephen L. Johnson who also re-issued the challenge,
emphasizing improved energy efficiency as a solution to rising energy

Ten U.S. companies and institutions will be recognized for exemplary "combined heat and power" (CHP) projects by EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday, Oct. 26. The organizations will be recognized in New York City at the 6th Annual
National CHP Roadmap Workshop, an event sponsored by DOE and the CHP
industry.

Of the 13 recognized projects, each meet EPA criteria for efficiency and
fuel savings and make outstanding contributions to reducing greenhouse
gas emissions from energy generation. CHP is an efficient, clean, and
reliable approach to generating power and thermal energy from a single

Source Newhouse News Service

BY CHUCK McCUTCHEON

WASHINGTON -- If the government is serious about energy conservation, it needs to put its money where its mouth is in talking it up to the public.

That's the view of some activists and lawmakers, who urge President Bush and Congress to launch the comprehensive $90 million public information campaign authorized in the massive energy bill signed into law last summer. Such an effort "is probably the most important step that can be taken to address tight energy markets and the high prices they are causing," the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a non-profit advocacy group, said last month in addressing Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

Source boston.com

By Jeremy Rifkin
PANIC HAS set in. With the price of oil hovering at more than $60 a barrel on world markets and forecasters predicting that we will soon see oil selling for $100 a barrel or more as worldwide oil reserves dwindle, politicians and business leaders are running scared. The global economy is beginning to slow, and there is talk about a new and sustained long-term global recession -- some economists are even talking about a global depression -- that could last for decades.

We are quickly waking up to the fact that the whole world runs by oil. We are an oil civilization. We grow our food with the help of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. Our plastics, pharmaceutical products, and clothes are for the most part derived from oil. Our transport, power, heat, electricity, and light are all dependent on oil.

Source BUSINESS WIRE

PHOENIX. According to a new study by PinnacleOne, one of the nation's leading construction consulting firms, a majority (60%) of public owners in the United States have implemented construction projects with energy efficiency designs in the past year. Yet, less than a third (29%) of the owners currently use or plan to use LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building standards in the coming year. Surprisingly, almost half (49%) of the study participants were unfamiliar with the standards.