The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an interpretive release on Wednesday in an attempt to offer guidance to public companies regarding the need to  disclose the impact of environmental legislation and regulation on their businesses.

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The first decade of the 21st century is on track to become the warmest on record, according to the UN weather agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
NASA also revealed that 2009 was the second warmest year since temperature records began in 1880. It joins the other warmest years of 1998, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The hottest was 2005.
Effects of the warming can be seen all over the globe.

Although White House spokesman Robert Gibbs stated that most Americans believe that global warming is not “in dispute anymore,” Rasmussen Reports’ latest poll contradicts him. The new poll reveals that:
Fifty-two percent (52%) of Americans believe that there continues to be “significant disagreement within the scientific community over global warming”; and
“Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Americans say it’s at least somewhat likely that some scientists have falsified research data to support their own theories and beliefs about global warming. Thirty-five percent (35%) say it’s Very Likely. Just 26% say it’s not very or …

Anna Getty, author of the new book I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas, discusses how to make the holiday season more eco-friendly with tips, craft ideas and recipes, in an interview with Jacki Lyden of NPR.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120925917
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amitbelani/80577637/
KJC

Last month, the BBC raised the question “What happended to global warming?” And, yesterday Der Spiegel, published an article noting more climatologists are acknowledging that that average global temperatures have not risen over the last 10 years.
“Even though the temperature standstill probably has no effect on the long-term warming trend, it does raise doubts about the predictive value of climate models, and it is also a political issue. For months, climate change skeptics have been gloating over the findings on their Internet forums. This has prompted many a climatologist to …

It’s funny how things work sometimes.
A-Power, the Chinese wind-turbine maker and its American partner, U.S.Renewable Energy Group announced yesterday that they will build a wind-turbine plant in the U.S. capable of producing 1,100 megawatts of wind turbines a year and employing more than 1,000 U.S. workers, according to the WSJ .
This announcement comes on the heels of Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) asking the Obama administration to block any stimulus money for a Chinese wind farm planned for Texas because it would provide plenty of Chinese jobs and few jobs for Americans.
The new turbine plant …

The International Energy Agency (IEA) reduced its long-term forecast for global oil demand as the financial crisis continues to squeeze markets and countries increase their pursuit of alternative energy sources.
The news comes as global energy consumption is set to fall in 2009 for the first time since 1981 and CO2 emissions could shrink by as much as 3 percent - the steepest decline in the last 40 years.
According to the revised forecast contained in the IEA’s recently released annual World Energy Outlook, global oil consumption is now expected to expand 1 percent …

The Department of Energy awarded  $338 million to geothermal energy projects Thursday.
In making the awards, Secretary Chu stated “The United States is blessed with vast geothermal energy resources, which hold enormous potential to heat our homes and power our economy.”
Russell Gold of the WSJ noted that the “usual geothermal suspects” fared well under the new DOE awards.  Ormat Technologies and AltaRock Energy (which we wrote about here ) are two high profile geothermal beneficiaries.
Other big names companies sharing in the DOE grant money include: GE, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Baker …

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rejected a Westinghouse-Toshiba nuclear reactor design because of concerns with its shield building.
The shield building protects the reactor from severe events including tornadoes and earthquakes. In a report issued last Thursday, the NRC stated that Westinghouse “has not demonstrated that certain structural components of the revised AP1000 shield building can withstand design basis loads.” The AP1000 is the leading design among reactors in the U.S.
The NRC is seeking modifications and new testing to demonstrate the shield’s performance and safety.
In a press release, Westinghouse has …

On his blog, Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration, predicts that any attempt by the EPA to regulate CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) will result in a flood of litigation by the fossil-fuel industries that will continue for years.
Reich notes that the Obama administration has attempted to use the specter of EPA regulation as a threat to move cap & trade legislation through the Congress before the Copenhagen meeting. Since that is now highly unlikely, Mr. Reich advises the administration to put the …