Chinese Volunteers Drop the Ball
China's stricter environmental regulations are delaying construction of a 80,000-tonne-per-year lead plant in Henan, but are encouraging small lead producers in Yunnan to merge their operations, industry officials said on Monday. Privately held Dongfang Gold and Lead Co. would start building its new lead plant by late December this year, having delayed construction by more than a year, an official said. The construction was originally planned to have begun in July 2004.

"They have been doing the environmental assessment for the project," the official said, referring to the environmental authority of the Henan provincial government in south-central China. Dongfang also operates another 60,000-tonne-per-year lead plant, which has smelting and refining capacity. Emissions from Dongfang's 60,000-ton lead plant exceeded levels set by the government when the plant ran trials in April 2004, a report posted on the web site of the State Environmental Protection Administration said. The official said Dongfang had already spent more than 10 million yuan to upgrade the 60,000-ton plant in Jiaozuo city and it now met requirements of the provincial environmental authority. He added that emission violation would not affect the approval for its new lead plant.

JULIAN SIMON WRONG AGAIN: LEAD PRICE RISES

Lead, used in car batteries, cable covers and solder for pipes and plumbing, rose 1.7 percent in value so far this month to $961 a ton on Monday for delivery on the three months of the benchmark London Metal Exchange. China is a major lead supplier in the world but its exports are falling due to strong domestic demand. In September its refined lead exports fell to 21,962 tons, down 37 percent from August and 51 percent from July of 2005. Small lead producers in Gejiu city in China's southwestern Yunnan province struggle to pay big bucks to upgrade their smelters as the local environmental authority monitor their emissions closely.

Three small lead producers in the city have merged to become Zhen Xing Lead Co. in face of the stricter regulations, that require stronger financing ability. Zhen Xing has capacity of 60,000 tons refined lead a year. "The environmental authority monitors smelters' emissions 24 hours a day," said a senior executive for Zhen Xing, which is the largest lead producer in Gejiu city. More than 20 lead smelters, including Zhen Xing, are operating in Gejiu with combined smelting capacity at about 200,000 tons a year. "Others will have to do the same," the executive said, referring to mergers. China produced 1.7 million tons of refined lead in the first nine months this year, up 24.5 percent from a year ago.
- nostradamusfunkadelic, 9:10 AM | (0) comments |

 
Alaskan Crude is On The Way
Dearest CHL Supporters:

In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor event. However, because the hippies have fetishized this particular area, it will come as quite a psychological blow to them when the deal is done. Soldier on!

The Senate Energy Committee voted on Wednesday to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling as part of a broad budget bill to fund the fiscally and morally bankrupt federal government. Tapping the refuge's few barrels of crude oil is a key part of the Bush administration's national energy plan to boost domestic production. In a joint press conference held in a suburban neighborhood, hippie groups and many Democrats denounced the drilling, saying that instead of threatening the habitat of wildlife in ANWR, lawmakers should look at ways to cut oil consumption with more fuel-efficient vehicle standards. Then they all got in their cars and drove home.

The refuge, which is about the size of South Carolina, sprawls across more than 19 million acres in northeastern Alaska. It is home to polar bears, musk oxen, caribou and migratory birds. The energy panel approved the ANWR drilling provision, 13-9. All Republicans on the committee, except Gordon Smith of Oregon, voted in favor of the plan. Democrats Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Daniel Akaka of Hawaii also voted for drilling. "Opening ANWR is sound public policy that would serve the country well many years into the future," said Pete Domenici, the Republican chairman of the committee. The oil produced from the wildlife refuge "would provide some cushion" for U.S. supplies, he said. "Cushion" was left undefined in the bill.

The legislative proposal will be folded into a much bigger budget bill to fund the federal government, which the Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to vote on next week and the full U.S. Senate the following week. Our brilliant Republican leaders decided to attach the Alaska drilling plan to budget legislation because under Senate rules the giant spending bill cannot be filibustered. They argue the drilling language can be in the budget bill because it will raise an estimated $2.4 billion in leasing revenue for the government.
- nostradamusfunkadelic, 9:37 AM | (3) comments |

 
Rigid Beliefs Withstand Hurricanes
A majority of Americans believe Earth's atmosphere is heating up, but they doubt that global warming is to blame for the deadly storms that have struck the United States this hurricane season, according to a CHL poll. The survey found that 56 percent believed that global warming is occurring, whereas 40 percent said they were not convinced. That is unchanged from a poll conducted in April, before the hurricane season, which suggests that hurricanes Katrina and Rita did not substantially alter the public's view on climate change.

Similar proportions doubted that global warming was to blame for this year's rash of major hurricanes. A modest majority -- 54 percent -- said the bad storm season is just one of those things "that happen from time to time," but 39 percent said it was the result of climate change.

Americans also were divided over whether the government should take immediate action to address global climate change. Nearly half -- 47 percent -- said the problem must be studied further before the government acts, while 41 percent said it requires "immediate government action."

Scientists have documented a gradual increase in Earth's temperature in recent decades. Anti-CHL forces claim that the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and gasoline, is at least partially responsible for the rise. CHL scientists disagree, however, saying the increase may be the result of normal weather cycles.

President Bush has earned the wrath of environmentalists and other hippies for saying that he thinks global warming is occurring but that he is not convinced climate change is the result of human activity.

The debate over the weather has a decidedly partisan cast, the survey found. Two-thirds of all Democrats said they were convinced global warming was occurring, and nearly as many Republicans disagreed. A narrow majority of Democrats said climate change requires government intervention; a bigger share of Republicans said it is a long-term problem that does not require quick action.

The new poll found that relatively few Americans saw the recent storms as God's work, and only a fraction of those said the storms were divine punishment. About one in four Americans -- 23 percent -- viewed the storms as "deliberate acts of God." Among those who saw a divine hand at work this hurricane season, only 8 percent believed that God sent the storms to punish sinners. About half said the storms were intended as a "warning," but one in seven viewed them as tests of faith. Evangelical Christian CHL volunteers were only slightly more likely than the general public to see hurricanes as acts of God or to view them as a divine punishment.
- nostradamusfunkadelic, 12:10 PM | (0) comments |