Clean Start: January 9, 2012

Welcome back to Clean Start, ThinkProgress Green’s morning round-up of the latest in climate and clean energy. Here is what we’re reading.

Ending an era of oil exploration in California nearly 120 years ago, Los Angeles will seal its abandoned oil wells to create a 45-unit affordable housing project. [LA Times]

Ball State University in Indiana is pursuing a different kind of approach to heating and cooling its campus. The school is under construction for the largest geothermal system in the country, which will replace the university’s coal-fired boilers. [Atlantic Cities]

Shipping containers from the cargo vessel stranded off New Zealand’s coast in October finally broke into two this weekend. Four containers have washed ashore, with approximately 47 remaining at sea. [WSJ]

Fox News attempted to rebut Democrats’ allegations about Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital with a bizarre comparison to President Obama and Solyndra: “You go after Romney for laying off people, correct?” Chris Wallace said. “Let me ask you about that. Is the President responsible for laying off the people of Solyndra?” [Talking Points Memo]

While car commuters will enjoy better tax benefits this year, more than 2.7 million commuters taking public transportation will pay an additional $550 in taxes, which hardly encourages environmental behavior. [NYT Opinion]

In Mexico, 600,000 households suffered from drought, freezing weather, and floods in 2011. The extreme, unusual weather destroyed property and crops. An estimated 1,650 villages and 2.6 million people have had to go without drinking water. [AP]

The U.S. is the first country to impose catch limits for every fish species it manages, a rare bipartisan coalition including environmentalists and Republicans working to end overfishing.
[Washington Post]

And finally, how would the GOP candidates’ scapegoating of the environment sound coming from sock puppets? The Sierra Club’s Voter Education Fund fights back against misinformation about the environment with a video series about the GOP field, a Real Republicans primary project. [Sierra Club]