Barbara

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and others are politicizing the almost 18-month shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in Southern California, Edison International CEO Ted Craver said Wednesday. The “favorable economics” for restarting the 2,200 MW plant are diminishing with the passage of time and no action by federal regulators, he told financial analysts in New York City.

Despite ongoing statewide efforts, city and county governments in Colorado and California are coming up with local solutions to safe and sane hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Two jurisdictions are lifting fracking moratoriums.

Santa Barbara, CA-based Hypersolar Inc. has filed a patent application for the production of a carbon-neutral methane gas made using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide (CO2) that the company said “can be used as a direct replacement for traditional natural gas.” HyperSolar is developing a solar-powered nanoparticle system that mimics photosynthesis to separate hydrogen from water; the hydrogen can then be reacted with CO2 to produce methane “without drilling or [hydraulic fracturing],” the company said.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) opened a hearing to mark up climate change legislation Tuesday morning, despite the fact that Republican members, unhappy with Environmental Protection Agency analysis of the bill, boycotted the hearing.

A bipartisan group of senators has called on Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who is expected to release the Senate climate change bill Wednesday, to avoid what they believe was a mistake in the House climate bill — the exclusion of natural gas (see Daily GPI, Aug. 19).

Sen. Barbara Boxer’s (D-CA) decision to push back the introduction of climate change legislation until later this month, combined with the Senate’s intent to focus on health care legislation when its returns this week, is raising some doubts about the fate of a climate change bill this year.

Sen. Barbara Boxer’s (D-CA) decision to push back the introduction of climate change legislation until later this month, combined with the Senate’s intent to focus on health care legislation when its returns after Labor Day, is raising some doubts about the fate of a climate change bill this year.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, last week pushed back her timeline for completing mark-up on climate change legislation to early September.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has pushed back her timeline for completing mark-up on climate change legislation to early September.