As the 2015 Paris Climate Summit approaches it appears that some positive steps will be taken in the fight against climate change, but one of the most important steps will again fail to be realized. Voices from governments, industry, academia, and activism have called for a price on carbon to help drive deep cuts in…
Continue reading →Under the new rules for the Clean Power Plan the EPA is now mandating the use of Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) technology on all new coal power plants, but CCS is not given the kind of subsidies and support that are lavished on wind and solar. This lack of policy parity makes it very…
Continue reading →My response to anti-gas critics. As a New Yorker, a voter, and a landowner in the Marcellus Shale, I believe that New York’s fracking ban as well as knee-jerk opposition to every proposed natural gas pipeline project is bad for New York. Anti-gas opposition is based on a constant drum-beat of worst case scenario fear…
Continue reading →Laying out realities of pipeline Albany Times-Tribune By Dennis Higgins, Commentary Thursday, August 13, 2015 In his recent op-ed, technology consultant Edward Dodge accuses Yoko Ono of failing to see the value of the Constitution Pipeline and fracked gas. Dodge claims Ono’s concerns amount to fear-mongering. However, peer-reviewed scientific reports — including studies cited by the state Department of Health in…
Continue reading →Anti-gas activists continue their campaign to halt construction of the much needed Northeast Energy Direct pipeline intended to bring natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania into Massachusetts and neighboring states. Despite the fact that residents of New England pay some of the highest prices for natural gas and electricity in the country, pipeline…
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Anti-gas activist Yoko Ono recently ran a full page ad in the New York Times urging opposition to the Constitution Pipeline. The Constitution Pipeline is a proposed 120 mile natural gas line that will bring Marcellus Shale gas from Pennsylvania up to a distribution point in New York that will allow the gas to be…
Continue reading →It has been very instructive to watch the reactions environmental groups have presented in response to the recent EPA study on the impacts of hydrofracking. While the natural gas industry has hailed the EPA’s findings as vindication, environmental groups who usually march in step with the EPA were stung by the study as it undermines…
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I have been working on this blog post for a while, it has been a challenge to sum up my thoughts, especially since my views have shifted so radically in the last few years. Folks who know me are aware that I have been researching and writing about clean energy technologies for a few years…
Continue reading →A recent scientific study exploring possible water contamination in a group of Pennsylvania water wells resulting from shale gas development has generated plenty of scary headlines for opponents of fracking. But the study is not the smoking gun that activists have made it out to be, since the report clearly states that hydraulic fracturing was not the cause of…
Continue reading →Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) has been identified as crucial in the efforts to reign in CO2 emissions that are causing climate change by leading agencies such as the UN IPCC, the International Energy Agency and the World Bank. But CCS, the process of physically capturing CO2 emissions from industrial systems like power plants, pressurizing…
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