Ted Turner is out once again, ready to lead the world. The media mogul sat down in an exclusive one-on-one with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer earlier this month and spoke about his ongoing interests in renewable energy and green jobs.
Since stepping back from his role in the wheelhouse at Time Warner in 2003, the cable news pioneer has devoted himself to projects he believes in, investing as though the future of the world depended on it – and it just might.
President Obama chose the White House Rose Garden as the spot to sign an executive order establishing the first-ever vehicle emissions standards for big rigs and other heavy trucks beginning in the 2014 model year. The emissions directive also calls on the automotive industry to promote development of plug-in hybrids electric cars and other vehicles that utilize biofuels and natural gas.
“The disaster in the Gulf only underscores that even as we pursue domestic production to reduce our reliance on imported oil, our long-term security depends on the development of alternative sources of fuel and new transportation technologies,” the president said.
It was exactly one year ago that Mr. Obama, flanked by car company CEOs, announced the first Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and light trucks that took into account greenhouse gas emissions as a factor. Hailed as a revolutionary step by environmentalists, that move ordered a 30 percent increase in fuel efficiency by 2016, totaling a 35.5 miles per gallon average for both cars and light trucks. Friday’s directive ordered federal agencies to begin development of even more stringent standards for 2017 and beyond.
The key executives of the companies responsible for the titanic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico were raked over the coals by members of Congress this week and managed to skillfully dance away and blame each other when the grilling got too hot.
Called to account before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer (D) of California, were BP America President Lamar McKay; Steven Newman, CEO of well driller Transocean limited; and Halliburton chief health, safety and environmental officer Tim Probert.
In their testimony, all three men appeared simultaneously to accept responsibility for what happened then shift the blame to the other parties. All relied heavily on the fact that critical details regarding the precise cause of the accident are not yet available. Indeed, when asked by several senators about whether certain industry standards for building ocean-based oil rigs were followed, the witnesses indicated several times that they didn’t know the answer or would have to wait for the outcome of what they promised will be a thorough investigation of the disaster.
In France it is known as la Marée Noir, the “Black Tide.” The waves of oil that are rushing to choke the shorelines of Louisiana are well-known to the residents of the Galician coast of Spain and the shores of southwestern France where I used to live.
It was there in 2002 that the giant oil tanker Prestige broke apart in rough seas, a nightmare that would bring death to more than 20,000 birds and other wildlife, a nightmare that would spell destruction to the fishing and tourism industries for years afterward.
Living near Bordeaux at the time, I witnessed the results of the disaster first hand. For those concerned about the effects of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, past tanker calamities such as the Prestige and the 1989 wreck of the Exxon Valdez are instructive; they help us understand the magnitude of the damage such accidents can have on a region’s habitat, and the dangerous consequences of insufficient government regulation and political wrangling.
The Obama Administration surprised many key supporters in the environmental movement at the end of March by endorsing a plan to include expanded off-shore oil and gas drilling as part of its proposals for energy legislation. Now, a very visible oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has created a 600 square-mile slick, leaving disappointed members of the president’s base wondering if there might be room for a change of heart.
The president’s plan would open millions of acres of ocean for drilling and would end a moratorium that has protected the waters off the southern Atlantic coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and parts of Alaska for decades. Reversing an anti-drilling policy position championed by Mr. Obama during the 2008 campaign, the move has been widely viewed as an attempt to secure Republican votes for a broader energy plan that includes significant provisions for addressing climate change.