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Energy News, Analysis & Opinion  (Contact the Editor)
First Quarter 2012
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Geologists Suspect Increased Seismic Activity due to Hydrofracking, see page 6
Colorado says NO to Coporate Control of Energy
The San Luis Valley in Colorado has been in the national spotlight recently as one of the “coolest” hot spots for solar energy generation. Since around 2005, plenty of corporate solar energy developers have lined up to exploit the valley’s cool sun and high generation values for private profit.
    What most don’t realize is that the people who make the San Luis Valley their home have been quietly stoking a different, more democratic, grassroots solar paradigm, going back more than a quarter of a century.
    In the mid 1980’s the Solar Energy Research Institute – now the National Renewable Energy Lab in Boulder, Colo. – credited the San Luis Valley
with inspiring “an explosion in solar energy resulting in perhaps the highest per capita concentration of solar installations in the country.”
    The early San Luis Valley solar innovators knew back then what many are just beginning to discover: Locally owned clean energy is the path to true energy independence and lasting prosperity that benefits real people and communities.
    John Farrell, with the Energy Self-Reliant States Project recently recognized Gainsville, Florida “among the world leaders in solar installed per capita,” beating out Japan, France, China and California with a whopping 36 kW for each of its 125,000 residents.
Continued on page 18 >
Shell accused of Cover Up in Massive Oil Spill
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has rebuked Shell for attempting to cover up the extent of its oil spill in the Niger Delta last December.
    Shell said it had taken the initiative to employ dispersants to contain the leak and that the leak had been contained. But when fishermen and residents in coastal areas of Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom reported dying fish and oil contamination of their waters, Shell insisted that the oil pollution at these locations must have come from a “secondary source.” Shell further stated that even though it was not the originator of this secondary contamination, it had, as a good “corporate citizen,” gone ahead to curb the effects of the disaster		 by further employing dispersants.
    NIMASA’s Patrick Akpobolokemi refuted Shell’s claims, saying it had produced no evidence that there was a “third party spill,” and that NIMASA’s investigation found no third party involved in any spills in the region.
    “Shell has neither behaved properly nor responsibly in this matter,” Akpobolokemi told reporters. “Their response to the spill falls short of national and international standards ... I am sure they have tried to cover up the spill until it became unbearable for them and they had no choice than to make the spill public.”
OBAMA REJECTS KEYSTONE XL! Congress would overturn decision: Pipeline supporters threaten huge political consequences
As a first order of business for the new year, President Obama announced he would reject current plans for the transcontinental Keystone XL oil pipeline, likely delaying a final decision on the controversial project until after the November 2012 presidential election. A new study released by the Congressional Research Service, however, concluded that Congress has the “constitutional right” to legislate permits for cross-border pipelines, a finding that would allow lawmakers to draft legislation that would overturn the president’s decision.

 Amid howls of protest from Republicans, the president lambasted the GOP for trying to pressure him into a “rushed and arbitrary” decision on the environmentally destructive and politically contentious pipeline. The president’s remarks were a clear reference to the GOP’s crusade to force his hand (and ram the pipeline through) by inserting a provision into a payroll tax cut renewal measure requiring him to make a decision on the pipeline by February 21 -- which nearly caused the federal government to shut down last November.
Continued on page 7 >

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