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3 posts from September 2005

September 27, 2005

Regulatory Relief

INDUSTRY CALLS FOR REGULATORY RELIEF: The American Chemistry Council is asking the White House to loosen a host of Federal regulations to help Gerard revitalize chemical plants damaged by Hurricane Katrina. ACC has asked the Bush Administration to temporarily relax a number of clean air and hazardous waste regulations in the Gulf Coast disaster zone so chemical plants can more easily clean up and restart their operations. ACC is also seeking tax changes, including a new credit for companies that retain employees in the storm-ravaged areas. In addition, ACC is urging the government to take a raft of actions to curb consumption of natural gas, a key feedstock for the chemical industry. Jack N. Gerard, president and CEO of ACC, wrote in a September 14th letter to President Bush, "Our facilities report shortages, supply interruptions, and extremely high prices [of natural gas] as a result of the storm." ACC's energy recommendations include providing immediate Federal assistance to natural gas processing plants, lifting restrictions on drilling, and temporarily suspending acid rain and some nitrogen oxide limits so electricity generators can burn more coal and less natural gas. Chemical & Engineering News, 09/26/05, p. 12.

September 18, 2005

Hurricanes & Global Warming?

HURRICANES AND GLOBAL WARMING: The number of tropical cyclones and cyclone days as well as tropical cyclone intensity over the past 35 years was examined in an environment of increasing sea surface temperature, perhaps caused by global warming. A large increase was seen in the number and proportion of hurricanes reaching categories 4 and 5. The largest increase occurred in the North Pacific, Indian, and Southwest Pacific Oceans, and the smallest percentage increase occurred in the North Atlantic Ocean. These increases have taken place while the number of cyclones and cyclone days has decreased in all basins except the North Atlantic during the past decade. Is Katrina a harbinger of still more powerful hurricanes? Science, Vol. 309, No. 5742, 16 September 2005, pp. 1807, 1844-1846.

Kartina

September 10, 2005

Nanocaution?

CONSUMERS ARE NANO-CAUTIOUS: I guess people like to quibble over small things. Only 11% of Americans believe that voluntary standards among companies selling nano-based products are adequate to protect human and environmental safety, a new U.S. survey has found. The most in-depth study to date, the survey polled focus groups involving 177 consumers nationwide and was released on September 8th by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. It found that although individuals don't support a ban on nanotechnology in consumer products, most prefer to know what nanomaterials are in their medicines or ice cream and would like increased premarket testing to ensure that products are safe. Science, Vol 309, No. 5741, 9 Sepember 2005, p. 1659.

 




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