Second negative briefs
b. CLIMATOLOGISTS’ SONAR RISKS ECOLOGICAL HARM
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- 2. CURTAILING MILITARY SONAR WON’T SOLVE THE PROBLEM
- SK/N233. SONAR CURTAILMENT: Disad A. U.S. NAVAL USE OF SONAR IS VITAL TO NATIONAL SECURITY
- B. NATIONAL SECURITY OUTWEIGHS ENVIRONMENTAL RISK
- SK/N234. SPACE PROGRAM CUTS Disad A. SPACE PROGRAM FUNDING NOW HAS BIPARTISAN SUPPORT
- B. OCEAN FUNDING WILL DESTROY SPACE FUNDING INCREASES 1. SPACE PROGRAM NEEDS HUGE FUNDING INCREASES
- 2. OCEANS COMPROMISE WILL INTIMIDATE REPUBLICANS
- 3. SPACE SUPPORT WOULD HAVE OTHERWISE PREVAILED
- C. FAILURE TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR SPACE IS DISASTROUS 1. MANKIND RISKS EXTINCTION ON A DYING PLANET a. INSPIRING MANKIND DEMANDS SPACE TRAVEL
- 2. MANKIND RISKS ANNIHILATION ON A DOOMED PLANET a. ASTEROID COLLISION WOULD BE CATACLYSMIC
- SK/N235. WAVE ENERGY: Solvency 1. TECHNOLOGICAL BARRIERS ARE ENORMOUS
- 2. OREGON PROJECT IS BEING ABANDONED
- 3. OREGON HAD THE IDEAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
- 4. ACTIVISTS WILL ERECT LEGAL HURDLES
- 5. COMMERCIALLY VIABLE ENERGY IS MANY YEARS AWAY
- SK/N236. WHALING: Solvency 1. INTERNATIONAL RULINGS WON’T STOP WHALING
- 2. JAPAN WILL ALWAYS CONTINUE TO HUNT WHALES
- SK/N237. WIND ENERGY: Solvency 1. WIND ENERGY IS UNPREDICTABLE UNRELIABLE
- 2. OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY IS NOT COST-EFFECTIVE
- 3. PAST PROJECTIONS OF OFFSHORE WIND HAVE FALLEN FLAT
b. CLIMATOLOGISTS’ SONAR RISKS ECOLOGICAL HARM SK/N232.04) Sandy Bauers, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, May 24, 2014, p. A3, LexisNexis Academic. Scientists led by a Rutgers University geologist say the Jersey Shore is a world-class place to study sea level rise, and they plan to bombard a swath of the seabed off Long Beach Island with sound waves for a month this summer to unlock the secrets of what has happened in the past - and what could happen next. But environmentalists, who might normally support research related to climate change, are aghast at the prospect, saying it might harm whales and other marine mammals, as well as New Jersey's vibrant summer seafood and tourism economy. They also fear it could open the door to more aggressive seismic testing for oil and natural gas. SK/N232.05 Sandy Bauers, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, May 24, 2014, p. A3, LexisNexis Academic. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection also weighed in. John Gray, acting director of the office of the deputy commissioner, said that the entire study area is used by commercial and recreational fishermen. He contended that it was "reasonably foreseeable" that the seismic surveys would lead to "negative consequences to N.J.'s fishing industries." SK/N232.06) Peter DeFazio [Ranking Member, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee], STATES NEWS SERVICE, February 27, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. “The only certainty in this proposal is that seismic exploration will be permitted before we know the full impacts to the marine mammals and fish that coastal economies depend on.” 2. CURTAILING MILITARY SONAR WON’T SOLVE THE PROBLEM SK/N232.07) Lenny Bernstein, THE WASHINGTON POST, October 7, 2013, p. A18, LexisNexis Academic. The noise from an MBES [multi-beam echosounder system] is better compared with an industrial-size version of the fish-finders widely used by recreational anglers, Southall [marine biologist, U. of California at Santa Cruz] said. That is part of the reason his panel's finding is so controversial: the pinging sound is used so widely around the globe, in so many forms, that most involved have considered it relatively harmless. SK/N233. SONAR CURTAILMENT: Disad A. U.S. NAVAL USE OF SONAR IS VITAL TO NATIONAL SECURITY SK/N233.01) PROGRESSIVE MEDIA, March 7, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. Raytheon has secured a $35 million contract from the US Navy to provide the AN/AQS-20A mine hunting sonar systems and equipment. Using advanced sonar technologies, the system will support Navy's critical mine hunting missions and ensures safe access and passage for military and civilian vessels on the world's oceans and waterways. SK/N233.02) PROGRESSIVE MEDIA, March 7, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. The AN/AQS-20A, which is the only mine hunting sonar sensor developed, tested and certified for Remote Multi Mission Vehicle (RMMV) deployment, is a critical element of the US Navy's mine countermeasure capability. SK/N233.03) Phil Gast, CNN WIRE, May 12, 2012, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. -- Newer threats, such as pirate skiffs chasing freighters and desperate regimes mining harbors, have intensified the U.S. Navy's need to handle an array of "real-world" scenarios. Meeting the challenges requires robust training on the use of sonar and explosives and the testing of gear that will protect shipping and counter traditional naval forces. B. NATIONAL SECURITY OUTWEIGHS ENVIRONMENTAL RISK SK/N233.04) Phil Gast, CNN WIRE, May 12, 2012, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. In 2008, for example, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted sanctions placed on the Navy over its underwater sonar testing. Environmental interests, said Chief Justice John Roberts for the majority, "are plainly outweighed by the Navy's need to conduct realistic training exercises to ensure that it is able to neutralize the threat posed by enemy submarines." SK/N234. SPACE PROGRAM CUTS Disad A. SPACE PROGRAM FUNDING NOW HAS BIPARTISAN SUPPORT SK/N234.01) Greg Gordon, MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU, June 9, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. With bipartisan support, the House of Representatives on Monday passed a bill authorizing $17.6 billion in fiscal 2014 spending for U.S. space programs, roughly matching President Barack Obama's budget request and underscoring the nation's commitment to sending American astronauts into deep space. "We are committed to once more launching American astronauts, on American rockets, from American soil," Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi, the chairman of the Space Subcommittee of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said on the House floor before passage. The bill, he said, "will serve as a pathway to Mars." SK/N234.02) Greg Gordon, MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU, June 9, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. The subcommittee's ranking Democrat, Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards, said that the [U.S. space program] bill "is indeed a bipartisan effort." "It didn't start out that way," she said. "The nation should be glad it ended up that way." The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has yet to pass its version of a NASA reauthorization bill. SK/N234.03) MENA REPORT, June 9, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. The U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives sanctioned the $17.9 billion 2015 budget for NASA. The budget would ensure continuity of NASA's two pet projects-- the Orion Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle and the Space Launch System (SLS). The SLS project would replace the retired Space Shuttle and would carry astronauts and heavy space loads to near-Earth destinations such as asteroids, the Moon, Mars, and most of the Earth's Lagrangian points while the Orion Crew Capsule would serve as a virtual space taxi that would carry up to four astronauts to their near-Earth destinations and return them as well. SK/N234.04) STATES NEWS SERVICE, June 9, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. The House of Representatives today approved the NASA Authorization Act of 2014 (H.R. 4412) with strong bipartisan support by a vote of 401 - 2. The bill reaffirms Congress's commitment to space exploration, both human and robotic, and makes clear that human spaceflight to Mars is NASA's primary goal. B. OCEAN FUNDING WILL DESTROY SPACE FUNDING INCREASES 1. SPACE PROGRAM NEEDS HUGE FUNDING INCREASES SK/N234.05) STATES NEWS SERVICE, June 4, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Progress in human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit will be measured in decades and hundreds of billions of dollars. Although the report does not make any particular budget recommendations, it notes that there are no viable pathways to Mars under the current flat or even an inflation-adjusted budget. The analysis does show that increasing NASA's human spaceflight budget by 5 percent per year, for example, would enable pathways with viable mission frequency and greatly reduce technical, cost, and schedule risks. SK/N234.06) Pete Spotts, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, June 4, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. Presidents and future members of Congress would need to agree to increase NASA's budget for human spaceflight, currently $8 billion or 0.2 percent of all federal outlays, at roughly double the rate of inflation for decades. Flat funding or increases that only match inflation will be fiscal roads to nowhere, the panel [National Research Council’s Committee on Human Spaceflight] holds. SK/N234.07) Pete Spotts, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, June 4, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. If the US government wants to send humans to explore Mars within the next few decades, it's time to fish or cut bait. That's the Dutch-uncle message underlying a report released Wednesday from the National Research Council's Committee on Human Spaceflight. SK/N234.08) STATES NEWS SERVICE, June 4, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. "The United States has been a leader in human space exploration for more than five decades, and our efforts in low Earth orbit with our partners are approaching maturity with the completion of the International Space Station. We as a nation must decide now how to embark on human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit in a sustainable fashion," said Jonathan Lunine, director of the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research at Cornell University and co-chair of the committee that wrote the report. 2. OCEANS COMPROMISE WILL INTIMIDATE REPUBLICANS SK/N234.09) Francine Kiefer, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, June 9, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. With the tea party pushing candidates rightward during primary season, compromise remains a dirty word for most Republicans - at least until the general election. SK/N234.10) Francine Kiefer, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, June 9, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. Perhaps surprisingly amid intensely partisan times in Washington, several high-profile candidates for Senate are trying to make inroads with voters by touting their bipartisan credentials. In Georgia, upstart Michelle Nunn, a Democrat and daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, says voters tell her "they are tired of the dysfunction, the finger-pointing, and the name-calling." She wants to do something about it. In Virginia, incumbent Sen. Mark Warner, also a Democrat, is running on a record of reaching across the aisle. "Every piece of major legislation I've worked on, I've got a Republican partner," he recently said on a campaign swing through the state. 3. SPACE SUPPORT WOULD HAVE OTHERWISE PREVAILED SK/N234.11) Pete Spotts, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, June 4, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. The [National Research Council’s Committee on Human Spaceflight] report acknowledges that asking politicians to maintain adequate funding and to keep their tendency to tinker with NASA at bay for 20 or 30 years sounds "fanciful." But the authors argue that it's no less fanciful than a tendency for some spaceflight advocates to invoke "a magical rationale" for embarking on a trip to Mars "that ignites then sustains a public demand that has never existed in the first place." C. FAILURE TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR SPACE IS DISASTROUS 1. MANKIND RISKS EXTINCTION ON A DYING PLANET a. INSPIRING MANKIND DEMANDS SPACE TRAVEL SK/N234.12) STATES NEWS SERVICE, June 4, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. "Human space exploration remains vital to the national interest for inspirational and aspirational reasons that appeal to a broad range of U.S. citizens," said Purdue University president, former Governor of Indiana, and committee co-chair Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. b. INHABITING OTHER PLANETS MUST BE THE GOAL SK/N234.13) STATES NEWS SERVICE, June 4, 2014, pNA, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Arguing for a continuation of the nation's human space exploration program, a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council concludes that the expense of human spaceflight and the dangers to the astronauts involved can be justified only by the goal of putting humans on other worlds. The report recommends that the nation pursue a disciplined "pathway" approach that encompasses executing a specific sequence of intermediate accomplishments and destinations leading to the "horizon goal" of putting humans on Mars. The success of this approach would require a steadfast commitment to a consensus goal, international collaboration, and a budget that increases by more than the rate of inflation. c. MARS IS POTENTIALLY HABITABLE SK/N234.14) Rebecca Boyle, POPULAR SCIENCE, June 2014, p. 60, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. The recipe for creating a habitable planet turns out to be surprisingly simple: Just add water--and atmospheric gases. Mars has both, relics from four billion years ago when the planet was warm and wet. "When it comes to Mars, and only Mars, the notion of terraforming is no longer in the realm of science fiction," says NASA astrobiologist Chris McKay. Humans could warm the planet and restore a thick atmosphere in a matter of decades, but producing breathable levels of oxygen would take 100,000 years with today's best technology: plants. New inventions could, in theory, speed that along too. "Living off the land is going to be essential for long-term human explorers beyond Earth," says Laurie Leshin, a geochemist on the Mars Curiosity team. d. EUROPA IS POTENTIALLY HABITABLE SK/N234.15) Pete Spotts, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, March 5, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. In its fiscal 2015 budget, NASA has included a small deposit on a possible mission to one of the solar system's potentially most habitable spots: Jupiter's ice-sheathed moon Europa. The agency is asking Congress for $15 million to officially begin identifying affordable concepts for a Europa mission, noted Elizabeth Robinson, NASA's chief financial officer, at a briefing on Tuesday. SK/N234.16) Pete Spotts, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, March 5, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. At the moment, the agency [NASA] has no official cost estimate for such a mission [Europa] and a launch date no more specific than sometime in the mid-2020s. But a 2012 study commissioned by NASA highlighted three approaches that carried price tags ranging from $1.8 billion to $3 billion. Of those, the study team identified a $2.1 billion mission as the one that would return the most science for the best price. It consisted of a spacecraft performing multiple flybys of Europa. While $15 million may seem like chump change against a potential price tag of $2 billion, give or take, putting the figure in the budget "is significant, it means we're getting serious," says James Green, who heads NASA's planetary science division. e. HUMAN SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON ESCAPE HATCH SK/N234.17) Dennis Overbye, THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 31, 2011, p. A1, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Custom Newspapers. Moreover, as astronomers keep reminding us, humanity will eventually lose Earth as its home, whether because of global warming or the ultimate plague or a killer asteroid or the Sun's inevitable demise. Before then, if we want the universe to remember us or even know we were here, we need to get away. SK/N234.18) Paul Johnson [author of A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE], THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR, February 2010, p. 40, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. In the long term, it is desirable that the human race, faced with the prospect of extinction on Earth, should prepare an escape route for itself to another inhabitable planet. In order to do this we must explore the universe far more thoroughly and exhaustively than we have done up till now, and equally important, develop the concept of mass space travel and colonization schemes. Mankind has done this before, notably in the 15th century, when the threat of plague and starvation in Europe led to the successful crossing of the Atlantic and colonization in the Americas. We need to repeat the imaginative effort of the late medieval Spanish, Portuguese, and Genoans in navigation, technology, and courage, but on an infinitely greater scale. This would be a worthy cause for the united resources of the human race to combine in furthering--the colonization of the universe. SK/N234.19) Dean Davis [Senior Principal Aerospace Scientist/Engineer, Boeing Phantom Works], AD ASTRA, Spring 2009, p. 14, WILSON WEB. Ultimately, the survival of mankind, while difficult to quantify, may be the most important reason for establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon. Should a cataclysmic event occur on Earth and destroy all life, such as a massive asteroid or comet impact, it would be vital to our survival to be able to transport ourselves to other worlds. SK/N234.20) FOREIGN POLICY, July-August 2009, p. S1, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. "I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I'm an optimist. We will reach out to the stars."--Stephen Hawking 2. MANKIND RISKS ANNIHILATION ON A DOOMED PLANET a. ASTEROID COLLISION WOULD BE CATACLYSMIC SK/N234.21) Ben Austin [contributing editor, HARPER’S MAGAZINE], POPULAR SCIENCE, March 2011, p. 46, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Moreover, at least a third of the thousand mile-wide asteroids that hurtle across our orbital path will eventually crash into us, at a rate of about one every 300,000 years. Indeed, in 1989 a far smaller asteroid, the impact of which would still have been equivalent in force to 1,000 nuclear bombs, crossed our orbit just six hours after Earth had passed. A recent report by the Lifeboat Foundation, whose hundreds of researchers track a dozen different existential risks to humanity, likens that one-in-300,000 chance of a catastrophic strike to a game of Russian roulette: "If we keep pulling the trigger long enough we'll blow our head off, and there's no guarantee it won't be the next pull." SK/N234.22) Ben Austin [contributing editor, HARPER’S MAGAZINE], POPULAR SCIENCE, March 2011, p. 46, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. None of the threats we face are especially far-fetched. Climate change is already a major factor in human affairs, for instance, and our planet has undergone at least one previous mass extinction as a result of asteroid impact. "The dinosaurs died out because they were too stupid to build an adequate spacefaring civilization," says Tihamer Toth-Fejel, a research engineer at the Advanced Information Systems division of defense contractor General Dynamics and one of 85 members of the Lifeboat Foundation's space-settlement board. "So far, the difference between us and them is barely measurable." b. ASTEROID TRACKING RESEARCH IS VITAL SK/N234.23) Dan Nakaso, ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS (Minnesota), June 7, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. After a previously undetected, 65-foot-wide asteroid exploded over Russia in February 2013, unleashing the force of 500,000 tons of TNT, NASA launched a series of contests for smart folks around the globe to come up with ways to keep an eye on asteroids that could threaten Earth. NASA estimates that only 1 percent of the millions of asteroids hurtling around our solar system have been found. SK/N234.24) Ray Villard [Space Telescope Center Institute], ASTRONOMY, March 2014, p. 22, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Now, NASA is planning to do its own hijacking--not of a spacecraft mind you, but of a 1,000-ton asteroid. The rock won't be landing at a secret Earth base either, but will be placed in a parking orbit around the Moon. More than a memento of deep space, it will be the first solar system body other than the Moon that humans will visit. From it, astronauts will collect primeval material undisturbed since the solar system's formation 4.5 billion years ago. c. ASTEROID DEFLECTION IS ACHIEVABLE SK/N234.25) Ray Villard [Space Telescope Center Institute], ASTRONOMY, March 2014, p. 22, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Scientists also might use a robot to anchor a rocket engine to an asteroid and provide thrust to deflect it away from Earth. Another deflection technique calls for hitting an asteroid with a projectile to change its course. Yet scientists have only educated guesses as to how much momentum such a missile could transfer to the asteroid. A captured asteroid in lunar orbit could serve as a target for such impact experiments. SK/N234.26) Ray Villard [Space Telescope Center Institute], ASTRONOMY, March 2014, p. 22, GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Ultimately, scientists might decide to embed a nuclear device inside the asteroid. NASA then would refuel the transfer vehicle, tow the asteroid back into an orbit around the Sun, and blow the rock to smithereens. We'd witness firsthand what it would take to demolish an Earth-threatening asteroid. SK/N235. WAVE ENERGY: Solvency 1. TECHNOLOGICAL BARRIERS ARE ENORMOUS SK/N235.01) Llewellyn King, PROVIDENCE JOURNAL (Rhode Island), June 22, 2014, p. COMM-1, LexisNexis Academic. Yet, so far, the problems have been technological rather than governmental. The sea is a great resource, but it is a hostile environment for mechanical and electrical equipment. At present, the nascent ocean energy industry is still sorting through a galaxy of devices for making electricity from ocean kinetic power. SK/N235.02) THE ECONOMIST, June 7, 2014, p. 65(US), GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. If building wind farms at sea is difficult and expensive, installing turbines beneath the waves is far more so. Currents batter them; salt corrodes them. 2. OREGON PROJECT IS BEING ABANDONED SK/N235.03) Joshua Hunt & Diane Cardwell, THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 28, 2014, p. B3, LexisNexis Academic. At the Port of Portland sits a 260-ton buoy filled with technology that can turn the movement of the ocean into electricity to power 100 homes. It rolled off an assembly line to great fanfare two years ago and received the nation's first commercial license to operate. It was to be the start of the closely watched follow-up to a failed attempt in the 1990s to harness the power of the Pacific Ocean, in which one of the first test-buoy generators quickly sank. But this time, the buoy did not even get that chance. Its maker, Ocean Power Technologies, quietly abandoned the project this month without ever deploying its machine off the coast. SK/N235.04) Joshua Hunt & Diane Cardwell, THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 28, 2014, p. B3, LexisNexis Academic. Despite receiving at least $8.7 million in federal and state grants, Ocean Power told regulators that it could not raise enough money to cover higher-than-expected costs and would instead pursue a similar project in Australia, backed by a $62 million commitment from that country's government. The shuttering of the ambitious project -- which, as the nation's first grid-connected commercial-scale wave park, was to have 10 buoys supplying power to about 1,000 homes -- is the latest setback for the nascent wave energy sector in the United States, which remains in the experimental stage. SK/N235.05) Joshua Hunt & Diane Cardwell, THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 28, 2014, p. B3, LexisNexis Academic. Although some renewable energy technologies -- conventional hydropower, solar and wind -- have reached commercial viability and can compete in some markets with fossil fuels, the emerging water-based approaches called marine hydrokinetic technologies are far from meeting that mark. 3. OREGON HAD THE IDEAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS SK/N235.06) Joshua Hunt & Diane Cardwell, THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 28, 2014, p. B3, LexisNexis Academic. “The question of which technology is best is still wide open,” said Belinda Batten, a professor of mechanical engineering at Oregon State University. Ocean Power's buoy in Oregon relies on what Ms. Batten said was now older, first-generation technology. The device absorbs energy created from the up-and-down movement of the ocean, while some devices that use newer technology also gather energy from the waves' various other movements. Ocean Power's departure is particularly frustrating for supporters in Oregon, with its ideal coastal waters and hospitable political climate. 4. ACTIVISTS WILL ERECT LEGAL HURDLES SK/N235.07) Llewellyn King, PROVIDENCE JOURNAL (Rhode Island), June 22, 2014, p. COMM-1, LexisNexis Academic. In the United States there are complex legal hurdles from activists, who worry that beaches could be impaired and their recreational value diminished, to the fascinating challenge of who in government is responsible for licensing this new use of the ocean [to generate electricity]. 5. COMMERCIALLY VIABLE ENERGY IS MANY YEARS AWAY SK/N235.08) Joshua Hunt & Diane Cardwell, THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 28, 2014, p. B3, LexisNexis Academic. Indeed, wave energy has at least a decade before it can compete with fossil fuels and other renewables in major markets, said Bill Staby, chief executive of Resolute Marine Energy, a start-up that is working on a demonstration project in a remote village in Alaska. “Scale is not working in our favor yet,” he said, comparing the current state of wave energy with that of wind when different technologies were being tested before the industry settled on the current three-blade, horizontal axis structure in use now. SK/N236. WHALING: Solvency 1. INTERNATIONAL RULINGS WON’T STOP WHALING SK/N236.01) Justin McCurry Osaka, THE GUARDIAN (London, England), April 1, 2014, p. 14, LexisNexis Academic. The [International Court of Justice] ruling, though, leaves room for Japan to revamp its whaling programme to meet international treaty requirements for scientific whaling. And it does not mean the end to all whaling. Japan also hunts a much smaller number of whales in the northern Pacific, while Norway and Iceland continue to kill whales for their commercial value, in defiance of the IWC ban. SK/N236.02) Justin McCurry Osaka, THE GUARDIAN (London, England), April 1, 2014, p. 14, LexisNexis Academic. The court [International Court of Justice] decision is unlikely to have much impact on the Japanese public, whose appetite for whale meat has declined dramatically since the immediate postwar period. In recent years, stocks of whale meat have remained unsold, with almost 4,600 tonnes stored in port freezers at the end of 2012, according to Japanese government statistics. 2. JAPAN WILL ALWAYS CONTINUE TO HUNT WHALES SK/N236.03) Justin McCurry, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, June 11, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. Japan agreed to abide by the ruling and canceled the 2014-15 Antarctic hunt. Its much smaller scientific whaling program in the northwest Pacific continues, while the killing of smaller whale species in coastal waters is not covered by the IWC ban. But Japan's whaling lobby has regrouped. A revised program could be submitted to the IWC as early as the end of the year, ahead of the body's next meeting in May 2015, according to Morishita. Some believe it will reflect criticism that the Antarctic hunt involves killing too many whales. "I feel like now that [ICJ's] decision is actually good for Japan," Morishita said. "[The] assumption of the court is that Japan could, maybe, look at the new research plan and that it's OK for Japan to propose a new plan which involves the killing of whales as long as that is meeting or that take account of the reasoning and conditions of the ICJ decision." SK/N236.04) Justin McCurry, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, June 11, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. The effort has won the support of high-profile politicians, notably Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Their aim: an eventual return to sustainable commercial whaling. "While respecting international law and scientific facts, it is necessary to continue the scientific whaling to get data needed on stocks in order to properly manage cetacean resources, so that it is then possible to look into restarting commercial whaling," Abe told members of parliament this week. "I will step up efforts further to gain the understanding of the international community.” SK/N237. WIND ENERGY: Solvency 1. WIND ENERGY IS UNPREDICTABLE & UNRELIABLE SK/N237.01) THE ECONOMIST, June 7, 2014, p. 65(US), GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Solar panels and wind farms produce electricity only when the weather allows, leading to unpredictable dips in supply that must be filled by burning fossil fuels. 2. OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY IS NOT COST-EFFECTIVE SK/N237.02) THE ECONOMIST, January 4, 2014, p. 41(US), GALE CENGAGE LEARNING, Expanded Academic ASAP. Unfortunately, offshore wind power is staggeringly expensive. Dieter Helm, an economist at Oxford University, describes it as "among the most expensive ways of marginally reducing carbon emissions known to man". SK/N237.03) Ralph Vartabedian, LOS ANGELES TIMES, February 6, 2014, p. AA2, LexisNexis Academic. Boren [Bureau of Ocean Energy Management] and other wind experts say the economic feasibility of generating power offshore still needs to be determined. Only three wind turbines operate on floating platforms, including one in Portugal that Principle built for research. 3. PAST PROJECTIONS OF OFFSHORE WIND HAVE FALLEN FLAT SK/N237.04) PROGRESSIVE MEDIA, June 26, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. With three projects expected to begin construction over the next 18 months, the long-awaited birth of the US offshore wind sector is almost upon us. But how ready is the nation to support this fledgling industry? Jack Wittels speaks with Kevin Pearce of Arcadia Windpower and Chris Elkinton of DNV GL about the country's infrastructure and the lessons to be learnt from Europe. Having waited in the wings for so long, the US offshore sector has acquired an almost mythical status. As far back as 2010, a government report trumpeted that more than 4,000GW of potential energy lay waiting off the country's coasts - a figure approximately four times the current capacity of the US electric grid. But, four years later, a commercially operated offshore wind turbine has still yet to generate a single kilowatt-hour. SK/N237.05) PROGRESSIVE MEDIA, June 26, 2014, pNA, LexisNexis Academic. Of course, this is not the first time the US's offshore sector has seemed close to opening a wind farm. Back in 2007, Bluewater Wind secured the first US power purchase agreement (PPA) for a project off the coast of Delaware, only for it to be put on hold in 2012. Several other requests for proposals (RFPs) for PPAs were also made for other developments around the same period. Download 0.49 Mb. Share with your friends:
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