Latest news with #ValerieVolcovici
Time of India
02-07-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Bezos-backed methane tracking satellite is lost in space
By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON: An $88 million satellite backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos that detected oil and gas industry's emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane has been lost in space, the group that operates it told Reuters on Tuesday. MethaneSAT had been collecting emissions data and images from drilling sites, pipelines, and processing facilities around the world since March, but went off course around 10 days ago, the Environmental Defense Fund , which led the initiative, said. Its last known location was over Svalbard in Norway and EDF said it did not expect it to be recovered as it had lost power. "We're seeing this as a setback, not a failure," Amy Middleton, senior vice president at EDF, told Reuters. "We've made so much progress and so much has been learned that if we hadn't taken this risk, we wouldn't have any of these learnings." The launch of MethaneSAT last March was a milestone in a years-long campaign by EDF to hold accountable the more than 120 countries that in 2021 pledged to curb their methane emissions . It also sought to help enforce a further promise from 50 oil and gas companies made at the Dubai COP28 climate summit in December 2023 to eliminate methane and routine gas flaring. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Scientists say capping leaks from oil and gas wells and equipment is therefore one of the fastest ways to start tackling the problem of global warming. While MethaneSAT was not the only project to publish satellite data on methane emissions, its backers said it provided more detail on emissions sources and it partnered with Google to to create a publicly-available global map of emissions. EDF reported the lost satellite to federal agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Space Force on Tuesday, it said. Building and launching the satellite cost $88 million, according to the EDF. The organization had received a $100 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund in 2020 and got other major financial support from Arnold Ventures, the Robertson Foundation and the TED Audacious Project and EDF donors. The project was also partnered with the New Zealand Space Agency. EDF said it had insurance to cover the loss and its engineers were investigating what had happened. It said it would continue to use its resources, including aircraft with methane-detecting spectrometers, to look for methane leaks. Despite the efforts to increase transparency on emissions, methane "super-emitters" have rarely taken action when alerted that they are leaking methane, the United Nations said in a report last year. The pressure on them to do has decreased as the United States under President Donald Trump's second administration has effectively ended a U.S. program to collect greenhouse gas data from major polluters and rescinded Biden-era rules aimed at curbing methane.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US environment agency employees say Trump administration undermining mission
By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Nearly 300 current and recently terminated employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a declaration of dissent on Monday, outlining five major concerns about how the Trump administration's politicization of science and severe job cuts were undermining the agency's mission. The declaration to Administrator Lee Zeldin was sent as another expected round of staff reductions looms and as the agency undergoes a major reorganization, including the dissolution of its office of research and cancelling of billions of dollars in grants. The reorganization will consolidate several key offices, reflecting plans to cut regulatory red tape and promote more fossil fuel energy development, as laid out in President Donald Trump's executive orders. "Today, we stand together in dissent against the current administration's focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise," said the 278 EPA employees who wrote and signed the letter in their personal capacities, including 174 who signed their full names. The declaration is similar to one sent earlier this month by employees of the National Institutes of Health to its director to protest the politicization of research and disruption of scientific progress. The EPA employees said their five main concerns are the partisan rhetoric and misinformation shared in EPA communications; disregard for the agency's own scientific assessments; abandoning environmental justice while slashing funding; dismantling the research office; and creating a culture of fear. "Your decisions and actions will reverberate for generations to come," they said. "EPA under your leadership will not protect communities from hazardous chemicals and unsafe drinking water, but instead will increase risks to public health and safety."
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Senate bill would raise value of tax credit to use captured CO2 to produce more oil
By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. Senate panel proposed making the tax credit for capturing carbon emissions for recovering oil equal to the $85/metric ton tax credit for permanently burying those emissions underground, a boon for oil and gas producers. The finance committee proposed the change to the so-called 45Q tax credit, which was part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, in its draft bill that forms a central part of the sprawling Republican budget package. The House of Representatives version of the bill that passed by one vote last month in that chamber left the credit for enhanced oil recovery projects at $60/metric ton. The change reflects a proposal made by Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, a Republican, to put EOR projects at parity with carbon sequestration that got support from senators from other oil-producing states like North Dakota and Louisiana. Under the IRA, former President Joe Biden's signature climate law, tax credits for permanent removal had a higher value than for EOR because of concerns that carbon capture and direct air capture technologies would encourage oil companies to keep drilling for oil, undermining the fight to limit emissions linked to global warming. Occidental, which has two direct air capture projects in Texas, is planning to permanently remove carbon and store it underground and use CO2 to recover oil, which it says makes the barrels more environmentally friendly. Occidental declined to comment on the Senate change. The Carbon Utilization Research Council, which Occidental chairs, welcomed the decision to put EOR at parity with sequestration. "As production matures with current recovery methods, there is critical need for large-scale injection in formations which will need billions of tons of CO2 captured from industrial sources to sustain oil and gas production with EOR," said Shannon Angielski, executive director of CURC, adding that the barrels of oil produced would be lower carbon intensity. Carbon removal advocacy group Carbon180 said it could risk pulling investment more toward fossil fuel production. "Federal policy should prioritize durable carbon removal projects that can create prosperity for communities across the country — not expanded oil production," said Carbon180 director Erin Burns. Other oil companies involved in carbon capture and DAC include Exxon and Chevron. Sasha Mackler, global policy & advocacy for ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, told Reuters that the company did not lobby for bringing the EOR tax credit to parity with carbon sequestration.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NextEra CEO says renewables needed as bridge to expanding gas power
By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Renewable energy sources like wind and solar power are needed to meet rapidly growing energy demand in the United States amid near-term obstacles to increasing natural gas capacity, said NextEra CEO John Ketchum on Tuesday. The head of the Florida-based power producer said at the Politico Energy Summit that competition and high costs to obtain gas turbines, a construction labor shortage, and the costs associated with tariffs mean that it will take at least seven years to get new gas-fired power plants online. "We need a bridge to get ourselves to 2032 when that gas shows up ... And when that gas shows up, it's going be three times more expensive than it's ever been," Ketchum said. "If we take renewables off the table, we are going to have a real power shortage problem in this country." U.S. House lawmakers narrowly passed a budget reconciliation bill last month that would phase out clean energy tax credits, slash spending on renewables, and claw back other climate-related funds. The House bill, which is now being debated by the Senate, shortens the window for developers to start and complete new clean energy projects to qualify for tax credits, and makes the incentives unworkable, Ketchum said. Ketchum's comments reverse an oft-repeated defense of natural gas in the fossil fuel industry during previous administrations seeking to fight climate change that had framed the fuel as a bridge to a renewables-driven carbon-free energy system. Trump opposes renewable energy subsidies and wants to expand production of oil, gas and coal. He has also declared an "energy emergency" to spur more fuel and electricity production, in part to meet growing demand for power for data centers and artificial intelligence. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NextEra CEO says renewables needed as bridge to expanding gas power
By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Renewable energy sources like wind and solar power are needed to meet rapidly growing energy demand in the United States amid near-term obstacles to increasing natural gas capacity, said NextEra CEO John Ketchum on Tuesday. The head of the Florida-based power producer said at the Politico Energy Summit that competition and high costs to obtain gas turbines, a construction labor shortage, and the costs associated with tariffs mean that it will take at least seven years to get new gas-fired power plants online. "We need a bridge to get ourselves to 2032 when that gas shows up ... And when that gas shows up, it's going be three times more expensive than it's ever been," Ketchum said. "If we take renewables off the table, we are going to have a real power shortage problem in this country." U.S. House lawmakers narrowly passed a budget reconciliation bill last month that would phase out clean energy tax credits, slash spending on renewables, and claw back other climate-related funds. The House bill, which is now being debated by the Senate, shortens the window for developers to start and complete new clean energy projects to qualify for tax credits, and makes the incentives unworkable, Ketchum said. Ketchum's comments reverse an oft-repeated defense of natural gas in the fossil fuel industry during previous administrations seeking to fight climate change that had framed the fuel as a bridge to a renewables-driven carbon-free energy system. Trump opposes renewable energy subsidies and wants to expand production of oil, gas and coal. He has also declared an "energy emergency" to spur more fuel and electricity production, in part to meet growing demand for power for data centers and artificial intelligence. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
