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NOAA satellites are degrading

Reuters reported on Monday that without adequate funding for maintenance, we can expect NOAA-run observation satellites to be dropping like flies from orbit -- 58% of them by 2010, and pretty much the rest save five scrappy ones by 2020. And although the high-tech Ragnarok was foretold as far ago as last March, still no mission "go / no go" from the White House on what do about it.

Perhaps their rationale for decision-stalling is related to their lunar base idea -- just put a huge magnifying lens on the moon and we can see the changing earth better than ever! Just watch out for that sun glare though. We wouldn't want to burn something.

Gross

If The Mustache’s uncritical embrace of "clean coal" made you want to puke, I advise you avoid at all costs the letter to the editor sent in response by James […]

School board official defends the decision

Remember the story about how the Federal Way school board put a "moratorium" on showings of An Inconvenient Truth? David Larsen, the now-extremely-embattled vice president of the Federal Way school […]

Bush knocks down rumors of climate shift

Lest there remain any hope smoldering in wannabe-centrist hearts about Bush’s change of course on global warming, White House press flack Tony Snow put it decisively to rest yesterday, saying: […]

Embrace Me, You Irreplaceable You

Unions, conservationists join forces to protect sporting rights Need more proof that green is gaining steam? Voila: a brand-new partnership between a Republican-leaning conservation group and 20 labor unions that […]

That Doesn’t Even Make Fence

Border fence construction may bypass environmental laws It’s hard to think of a worse idea than building a 700-mile border fence between the U.S. and Mexico, but here’s a shot: […]

No One Anticipated the Breach of the Royalties

U.S. Interior Department knew about drilling loophole for years We’re beginning to detect a pattern among Bush administration responses to huge fusterclucks. It seems U.S. Interior Department officials who said […]

Rising tortilla prices in Mexico point to a usual suspect

For decades, the price of corn tortillas -- a staple for many families -- was subsidized by the Mexican government. The tortilla subsidy was eliminated in 1999, just as cheap, subsidized corn imported from the U.S. started to flood into Mexico, putting downward pressure on Mexican prices for the grain. Consumers continued to enjoy low prices for tortillas, but Mexican farmers struggled to compete.

That situation has changed dramatically over the last several months. According to an article by Marla Dickerson in the L.A. Times, prices for tortillas have risen by more than 60% in some parts of Mexico in recent weeks. Several factors appear to be responsible for the price rise -- including, allegedly, price gouging by the food giant GRUMA, which commands an estimated 70% share of the market for tortillas and cornmeal in Mexico. But rising demand for yellow corn from U.S. ethanol plants has also been blamed, even though a different (white) variety of corn is used for making tortillas. The following day, in another L.A. Times article, Dickerson reported that Mexican corn produces are rejoicing at the high prices they now receive for their product.

A special series on the biz angles

Reuters is pumping out stories from its "biofuels summit," looking into all the biz angles of the story from the U.S., Asia, and Europe. In a previous life, I woulda been editing this stuff ... and Tom Philpott reporting it. It's straight news, so I leave the sage commentary to you Gristies.

Biofuel processing? Part 2: methanol

As a method of processing biomass into liquid fuel, methanol tends to be less discussed than its more glamorous cousin ethanol. But it is much more efficient, and can accept just about any biological input besides.