Ford Motor Company is rolling out a small fleet
of hydrogen powered shuttle buses in the US and Canada.
The company says its one small step toward a future
without oil. Dustin Dwyer reports:
Transcript
Ford Motor Company is rolling out a small fleet
of hydrogen powered shuttle buses in the US and Canada.
The company says its one small step toward a future
without oil. Dustin Dwyer reports:
Ford will have a total of 30 hydrogen powered shuttle buses spread around North America, from Florida to
Vancouver, British Columbia.
Most test projects with hydrogen vehicles these days involve a fuel cell. But Ford is using hydrogen to
power a mostly conventional internal combustion engine.
Ford says that means there’s less research to be done, and the buses could be mass produced
earlier.
But Ford’s John Lapetz says the problem is still: where would you fill it up?
“Realistically, you gotta look at the infrastructure to refuel these kind of vehicles, you gotta look at the public policies that go around those kinds
of things, because you’re talking about not a significant change in the vehicle, but a significant change in
the way the vehicle is received in the community.”
Another problem is cost. Ford says each of its hydrogen buses now cost 250 thousand dollars.
Transforming black crude oil into gasoline has
always been a notoriously dirty process. But oil
refineries are expanding so they can use a new source
of oil. That could make the process even dirtier.
Shawn Allee explains why this is happening
and what environmentalists are doing about it:
Transcript
Transforming black crude oil into gasoline has
always been a notoriously dirty process. But oil
refineries are expanding so they can use a new source
of oil. That could make the process even dirtier.
Shawn Allee explains why this is happening
and what environmentalists are doing about it:
Refineries are expanding because they’ve struck oil… and it’s not
far away….
Roxanne Potvin: “Oh Canada, our home in native land …”
That’s right, it’s from Canada.
“Phil here, can I help you? Hey, I’m doing good, how are you?”
Phil Flynn analyzes energy markets for Alaron Trading. Flynn
says Canada’s secret is oil pulled from tar sands.
“If you look at the oil sands that are in Canada, some experts
estimate there’s more oil in the oil sands than there is under
Saudi Arabia. And to be honest with you is, the reason why we
haven’t tapped it earlier is, it’s been a very expensive process to
do.”
But technology’s made tar sand oil competitive with lighter crude
from the Mideast and elsewhere.
Flynn says there’s a downside to Canadian tar sand oil. It’s
heavier, it’s dirtier, and it creates more refinery pollution. But he
says the market wants it anyway.
“You know, we want abundant supplies. We want to be able to
pull up at the pump, pay a dollar fifty a gallon and drive home
happily. But guess what, it doesn’t work that way in the real world.
Believe me, if the prices get high enough, even the environmentalists
will be more open to more negotiations.”
Actually, Flynn’s wrong on that – environmentalists are not willing
negotiate on new refinery pollution. Last year, green groups in
Chicago and Northwest Indiana were outraged by plans to
expand a BP refinery on Lake Michigan.
That BP plant will use new Canadian crude.
A new permit allowed it to dump more ammonia and suspended
solids – in other words… more pollution into Lake Michigan.
Environmentalists and politicians argued with regulators, then they
hit the airwaves …
“This is a clean water alert. BP Amoco has announced plans to
expand an Indiana refinery to process thick
crude oil – already one of the worst polluters …”
“I think that really tapped public sentiment that we’re going in the
wrong direction.”
Howard Learner directs the Environmental Law and Policy
Center.
Learner considers last year’s effort a success.
“Ultimately, BP was forced to back off, and BP is now committed
to no net increase in water pollution.”
That fight against BP’s refinery expansion plan in Indiana was not
isolated. Michigan activists fought a similar refinery expansion
plan in Detroit. Eventually, Marathon Oil agreed to keep water
and air pollution near present levels at that refinery.
Now, groups across the Midwest want to repeat these
performances. Altogether, they’re taking on expansions at ten refineries, from
South Dakota to Ohio, plus another in Ontario.
Learner says each could increase water and air pollution.
“So with these oil refineries having such a major environmental
footprint in our region, we want to make sure that they’re doing the
absolute best, state of the art, pollution control technology at the
beginning rather than later having to come back and say
oh wait a minute, we somehow missed the boat here, we gotta
get it fixed up. That’s not gonna fly.”
Learner says there does not have to be a trade-off between more
pollution and higher gas prices.
“Companies like BP, ConocoPhillips, MurphyOil, and Marathon are
making billions of dollars in profits. They can take and invest
some of those profits, not on doing their plants in ways that increase pollution, but in
ways that reduce pollution.”
But can we cut pollution and keep gas prices level?
Some economists doubt it.
Lynne Kiesling teaches at Northwestern University.
“Regardless of your perception of corporate profits there is a
fundamental trade-off between environmental quality and
increasing our refinery production.”
Kiesling says, when refineries invest in pollution control,
consumers ultimately foot the bill.
And she says drivers are to blame – over time, we buy more
gasoline – even when prices rise. So… oil companies are just trying to meet
our demand with new, dirtier oil.
Environmental groups have preached about getting out of our
cars for years – but they’ve been losing that battle.
They say all they can do now, is to fight the air and water pollution
that comes with dirtier oil.
An advocate predicts more cities and consumers
will begin to demand more fair trade products. Those
are goods imported from overseas that come from businesses
that pay workers a decent wage and operate in a more
environmentally-friendly way. Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
An advocate predicts more cities and consumers
will begin to demand more fair trade products. Those
are goods imported from overseas that come from businesses
that pay workers a decent wage and operate in a more
environmentally-friendly way. Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Something certified as fair trade means it was grown or produced in a foreign
country in an environmentally sustainable way, by workers NOT employed in
sweatshops. Paul Rice heads a major US certification group Transfair. He says
fair trade is catching on with consumers who don’t mind paying more for better
quality:
“That trading up phenomenon is already there, and I think what fair trade does is
help people think more about quality in more than just the taste of the product,
but also the impact of the product. I think what people are starting to think about who grows my food, right?”
Rice acknowledges only about twenty percent of US residents are drinking fair
trade coffee or buying other products, but he says the movement is finding its
way into more mainstream stores. Rice predicts more communities will soon pass resolutions promoting fair trade.
The price of natural gas spiked last fall after Hurricane Katrina knocked out production in the Gulf. But prices have come down substantially since then, and the amount of natural gas in storage is growing. The GLRC’s Erin Toner explains what that could mean for consumers:
Transcript
The price of natural gas spiked last fall after Hurricane Katrina knocked out production
in the Gulf. But prices have come down substantially since then, and the amount of
natural gas in storage is growing. The GLRC’s Erin Toner explains what that could mean
for consumers.
During the summer, natural gas is put into storage for the coming winter.
Because last winter was relatively warm, the amount of gas in storage has grown
to its highest level since the government began collecting data in 1994.
Jim Kendell is director of the Natural Gas Division at the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
He says the buildup of gas in storage will likely mean lower energy bills this winter:
“Unless we have a really hot summer this summer, or unless we have some more hurricanes.”
Kendell says barring those extremes, consumer prices for natural gas in the winter
shouldn’t rise too much from where they are now, meaning prices could be down 20 percent
over last year.
Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk, Ohio Governor Bob Taft, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. This was right taken after they signed the agreement. (Photo by Shawn Allee)
In the spring of 2004, President Bush created a task force to develop a comprehensive Great Lakes restoration plan. The group recently released its final recommendations. But members already disagree about the future of their proposal. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Shawn Allee reports:
Transcript
In April 2004, President George Bush created a task force to develop a
comprehensive Great Lakes restoration plan. The group recently
released its recommendations, but members already disagree about the
future of their proposal. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Shawn
Allee reports:
Efforts to improve the Great Lakes face a major hurdle. Local, state and
federal programs overlap and sometimes duplicate one another. That
wastes a lot of time and money. President Bush wanted to change this. So, he
created a task force called the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration. For the
first time, cities, states, federal agencies, and Indian tribes would agree to
specific goals and how to reach them. By most accounts they succeeded.
Here’s Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.
“I can’t overstate what a major step forward this is for the Great Lakes.
For the first time, we’re all the same page with a common vision.”
The parties agreed to eight major goals. Among other things, they want
to restore wetlands along Great Lakes shorelines, they want to clean up
heavy metals that pollute lakebeds, and they want to keep sewage away
from public beaches. The cost for all this would stand at billions of
dollars, and that price tag caused a major rift.
Bush administration officials agreed to spend 300 million additional
dollars per year. That’s just a fraction of what states and environmental
groups hoped for.
Derek Stack is with Great Lakes United, an advocacy group. He says
states want to participate, but sometimes they can’t.
“I think a lot of the states simply don’t have the dollars necessary to pull
it off.”
Tribes, cities and states are being careful with their criticism. They want
to keep the door open for the administration to change its mind.
“To be fair to the federal administration, the states are saying we don’t
have federal money, and the feds are pointing out that we don’t exactly
have state money either, but the states have committed themselves to the
plan. So, now that they know what they’ve committed themselves to, the
budget building can begin. It’s hard to build a budget if you don’t have a
plan.”
Some critics are more strident, though. Illinois Congressman Rahm
Emmanuel says the administration needs this clear message. Federal
leadership requires federal money.
“There’s either action or inaction. This is the ninth report in five years,
and I hope it’s the last report. Now, there’s nothing that can’t be cured when
it comes to the Great Lakes that resources can’t take care of.”
Great Lakes advocates and state governments will be watching the next
few months closely.
Cameron Davis directs the Alliance for the Great Lakes. He says he’s
reserving judgment until the President releases a budget proposal.
“That budget will be released the first week of February, and if it has 300
million dollars in new funding, then we’ll know that the administration’s
serious. If it doesn’t we need to ask Congress to step in.”
Some legislators say that deadline might be too soon to judge the
ultimate success of the restoration plan.
Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk says other federal cleanup efforts came
after several reports and years of waiting. Congressman Kirk says the
prospects for the restoration plan are good. The Great Lakes region has
the strength of eight states standing behind it.
“When you look at the success of the Chesapeake Bay, and then the success
of protecting the Everglades, you see, once you come together with a
common vision, what a unified part of state delegation or in the case of
Florida, what an entire state delegation can do.”
On the other hand, it might be hard to keep eight state governments
focused on a common purpose.
There’s another wrinkle in the restoration plan as well. Canada lies on the other
side of the Great Lakes, and any comprehensive plan will require its
cooperation as well.
Hurricane Katrina may be able to do what years of squabbling, negotiations and trade panel rulings have failed to do…lift the duties on imports of Canadian softwood lumber to the U.S. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk explains:
Transcript
Hurricane Katrina may be able to do what years of squabbling, negotiations, and trade panel rulings have failed to do: lift the duties on imports of Canadian softwood lumber to the U.S. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk explains:
There are concerns in the U.S. that the huge job of rebuilding New Orleans in the wake of the hurricane could lead to spikes in the cost of construction materials.
The U.S. Treasury Department says it will monitor the situation, and if it’s in the best public interest, then it could drop the tariffs on Canadian lumber. Jamie Lim is with the Ontario Forest Industries Association. Lim says it would be the best move for all.
“Katrina was a natural disaster, but the illegal tariffs that have been put on lumber over the last twenty years is a man-made disaster, and it’s U.S. consumers who’ve been paying the price.”
Canada provides up to a third of the softwood lumber used in construction in the U.S., but for the past four years, Canadian producers have been paying more than twenty-five percent in tariffs and punitive duties.
That’s estimated to have increased the average cost of a house by about a thousand dollars.
Some say that the use of air-friendly gas blends causes prices to increase. (Photo by Pam Roth)
The new energy legislation passed by Congress
includes an item that supporters claim will ease spikes in gasoline prices. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Transcript
The new energy legislation signed by the President includes an item that supporters claim will ease spikes in gasoline prices. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
Critics claim the system of using special gasoline blends to reduce air
pollution has led to sizable price hikes when production problems reduce
supplies of the so-called boutique fuels.
The energy legislation would allow the temporary lifting of cleaner fuel mandates during supply disruptions. The EPA would also limit the number of boutique fuels and look for ways to
make the blends more widely available.
Wisconsin Republican House Member Paul Ryan says the new plan will bring stability.
“So we can standardize our gasoline blends, maintain our clean air standards, but stabilize the supply of gasoline.”
Ryan admits it may take several years for motorists to see any savings. Democrats worried about air pollution and oil companies concerned about additional regulations have traditionally blocked changes in the fuel supply system, but with gas prices around two fifty a gallon, the federal
government is taking action.
Some researchers say that car makers risk future profits if they continue to make fuel-inefficient vehicles. (Photo by Gustavo
Schonarth)
For the last several years, American car makers have seen their profits falling. Now, a new report says the Big Three will take even steeper hits to their bottom lines if the trend in higher gas prices continues. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has this report:
Transcript
For the last several years, American car makers have seen their profits
falling. Now, a new report says the Big Three will take even steeper hits
to their bottom line if the trend in higher gas prices continues. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has this report:
The authors of the report looked at potential impacts to the U.S. car
industry if gas prices go up. They found that if they go up, profits will
fall, and more jobs will be lost.
Walter McManus is with the University of Michigan Transportation Research
Institute. He co-authored the report and says it should serve as a wake up
call to American car makers.
“It shows them that it is costing them a lot more to sell the fuel-inefficient vehicles than fuel-efficient vehicles, that they are putting
jobs at risk and putting their profits at risk because they are unwilling to
accept that the world has changed.”
Representatives from the auto industry say they already offer many fuel-efficient models, but that overall, American consumers rank fuel economy
lower than things such as power, cargo space, and safety ratings.
General Motors has been watching its SUV sales take a turn for the worse. In their first fiscal quarter, the company lost 1.3 billion dollars. And now GM says it’ll have to cut 25,000 jobs in the next three years to stay profitable. But some GM workers hope the automaker’s move toward greener vehicles will put it back in the black. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Brian Bull reports:
Transcript
General Motors has been watching its SUV sales take a
turn for the worse. In their first fiscal quarter, the company
lost 1.3 billion dollars. And now GM says it’ll have to cut
25 thousand jobs in the next three years to stay profitable. But some
G-M workers hope the automaker’s move toward greener vehicles will put
it back in the black. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Brian Bull
reports:
Compared to its competitors, GM has been slow to develop
gasoline-electric hybrid automobiles. In the past, GM officials
have said they’re concentrating on creating hydrogen powered fuel
cells for their vehicles.
But with consumers quickly moving away
from big, gas-guzzling SUVs, GM’s strategy seems to be shifting. Ron
Pohlman works at GM’s Janesville, Wisconsin plant.
“We’re building a new vehicle here in Janesville. It’s a
new version of the Tahoe and Suburban. It’ll have the hybrid engine
in 2007. Then we can have three plants building this vehicle and if
people buy it, we’ll be fine.”
Last year, more than eighty thousand hybrid cars were sold in the U.S.
That only makes up less than one percent of all vehicles sold.
Still, industry watchers say, as long as gas prices keep rising, so will
hybrid sales.
The new energy billing program has members monitoring not only how much energy they use, but when they use it as well. (Photo by Aaron
McMahon)
Most power companies charge customers a single, flat rate for electricity. But one group of volunteers is experimenting with a new system. They say people might save money by changing how they’re charged for power. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Shawn Allee has this report:
Transcript
Most power companies charge customers a single, flat rate for electricity. But one group of volunteers is experimenting with a new system. They say people might save money by changing how they’re charged for power. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Shawn Allee has this report;
Two years ago, the Illinois-based Community Energy Cooperative, struck a
deal with Com-Ed, the local power company. Instead of getting charged a single rate, members pay more when the energy supply is tight, like on a hot summer’s day.
In exchange, they get a break when there’s less demand. Co-op manager Kathryn Thowlin says a website warns members when power prices rise.
“They can see when it’s the most expensive, when its least expensive.
So somebody who really wants to fine-tune their energy use based on price has
some really easy-to-use tools to do that.”
Thowlin says it’s paid off: consumers have saved about 11 percent on their
power bills.
The experiment is the most comprehensive of its kind offered to residential
customers. Environmentalists say the program works best when consumers cut their
overall demand, not just shift when they use power.
