The UK’s Guardian reported last year:

Shell and BP have been warned by investors that their involvement in unconventional energy production such as Canada’s oil sands could turn out to be the industry’s equivalent of the sub-prime lending that poisoned the banking sector and triggered the current financial crisis.

The criticism came as a report was released yesterday warning of the potential financial risks of tar sands, and members of the UK Social Investment Forum met in London to consider a Co-op Investments campaign on halting oil industry involvement in the carbon-intensive oil projects.

The report is available here. The story quotes Mark Hoskin, senior partner at the ethical investment advisers Holden & Partners, with this amazing (and depressing) factoid:

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Following her late-night Senate confirmation on Thursday, incoming Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson issued a memorandum to all EPA staff Friday laying out her mission:

With his election and with my appointment, President Obama has dramatically changed the face of American environmentalism. With your help, we can now change the face of the environment as well.

In her memo, Jackson said, “I will uphold the values of scientific integrity, rule of law and transparency every day.” Her pledges for action indict the record of the Bush administration EPA:

– “scientific judgments . . . suppressed, misrepresented or distorted by political agendas”
– “policy decisions should not be disguised as scientific findings”
– “EPA cannot misinterpret or ignore the language Congress has used”
– “EPA cannot turn a blind eye to the court’s decision or procrastinate in complying”
– “we are not doing an adequate job of assessing and managing the risks of chemicals”

Jackson also called on her staff “to connect with those who have been historically underrepresented in EPA decision making,” from the minorities and poor to small businesses and towns.

She also signaled that the clock for Congress to act on climate legislation will soon start ticking: “As Congress does its work, we will move ahead to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision recognizing EPA’s obligation to address climate change under the Clean Air Act.”

The only notable omission from the memorandum was a call for the EPA to restore its independence from the White House. Under Bush, the Environmental Protection Agency effectively became a servant of White House Office of Management and Budget officials, who corrupted the EPA’s work with the help of compliant EPA administrator Stephen Johnson. EPA must regain its authority as the independent watchdog of our nation’s environmental health.

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The NY Times had a strong editorial this week on the painful reality that trumps the industry greenwashing — coal ain’t clean:

A month of negative news for the Tennessee Valley Authority could lead to positive changes in national policy, including federal regulation of toxic coal wastes and new legal constraints on coal-fired power plants. More broadly, the authority’s recent travails may help persuade the public that coal is nowhere near as “clean” as a high-priced industry advertising campaign makes it out to be.

Hear! Hear! (see The day ‘clean coal’ died). The whole piece is worth reading:

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