The Town of Ramapo NY approved $2M in funding for Councilman Daniel Friedman’ GREEN (Get Ramapo Energy Efficient Now).  The program will cut energy use of Town-operated facilities, saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

Said Friedman “These funds will go toward the purchase of state-of-the-art technology that will not only reduce the amount of energy needed to power our over two-dozen facilities, but will actually create excess energy that I will work to sell back to the grid for a phenomenal benefit to taxpayers.” Read more »

Bussinessweek Reports: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper reached agreements with China to facilitate uranium exports and air travel as part of efforts to deepen ties.

Harper and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced a pact that will give Canadian uranium producers more access to China’s civilian nuclear power industry, according to a joint statement released by Harper’s office. Canada is home to the world’s largest uranium producer, Cameco Corp. Read more »

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to approve Southern Co.’s request to build two nuclear reactors in the southern state of Georgia.

If approved, the $14 billion reactors could begin operating as soon as 2016 and 2017.

The NRC last approved construction of a nuclear plant in 1978, a year before a partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania raised fears of a radiation release and brought new reactor orders nearly to a halt. Read more »

Mark Wittington Writers: President Barack Obama has suffered the second embarrassment over oil imports within the space of a week. Brazil, whose offshore deposits of oil were sought by the Obama administration, has signed contracts with China for the product.

According to the Washington Times, Brazilian offshore crude may number about 38 billion barrels. Obama went to Brazil last month to put in a bid for the oil, offering loans and other support to develop the oil in an “environmentally responsible matter,” The Hill reported at the time. Republicans criticized that initiative, pointing out Obama has placed roadblocks in the way of domestic development of oil and gas reserves.

  Brazil’s decision comes on the heels of Obama’s refusal to permit the building of the Keystone XL pipeline to bring oil from Canada’s tar sands in Alberta to Texas oil refineries, according to the Los Angeles Times. The decision was criticized by Republicans as well as union officials who point out that 20,000 jobs the pipeline would bring would therefore not be created.

National Post Reports: In recent days, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver have complained that foreign-financed “radical” opponents of the plan have hijacked the Northern Gateway debate and threaten to slow down the hearings…

Just because certain people in the United States would like to see Canada be one giant national park for the northern half of North America, I don’t think that’s part of what our review process is all about. Our process is there to determine what the needs and desires of Canadians are,” Said Harper.

Harper said he is concerned that the review is now subject to “extraordinary delay, and they’re increasingly vulnerable to foreign money coming in for the sole purpose of delaying the process.

Harper added that he doesn’t object to foreigners expressing their opinion. “But I don’t want them to be able to hijack the process so that we don’t make a decision that’s timely or in the interests of Canadians.”

Late last year, the U.S. government delayed a regulatory decision on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would have shipped Alberta oil to the southern U.S.

This development has, in government circles, highlighted the need to diversify in other energy markets, such as Asia.

“I think what’s happened around the Keystone is a wakeup call, the degree to which we are dependent or possibly held hostage to decisions in the United States, and especially decisions that may be made for very bad political reasons,” said Harper. “What I think I’d make clear is that I believe selling our energy products to Asia is in the country’s national interest.”

AJC urged President Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline construction as a vital step for strengthening energy security, particularly crucial following recent threats by Iran to block a major oil supply channel.
“As if to emphasize the need for urgent action, just this week, in direct response to pending U.S. economic sanctions, Iran threatened to blockade the Strait of Hormuz—a move that, if carried out, would have profound economic and strategic consequences,” AJC Executive Director David Harris wrote in a letter to President Obama.
The latest sanctions were introduced after the International Atomic Energy Agency warned in its latest report that Iran is progressing toward nuclear weapons capability. In response, Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil flows.

“As AJC wrote earlier to Secretary Clinton, we have long recognized the link between energy security and national security—and believe the United States must pursue a comprehensive, multifaceted energy policy targeted at substantially reducing dependence on oil from hostile or unstable foreign sources,” Harris wrote. “The Keystone project will be a critical part of that broad-ranging approach.”

The administration has until late February to make a decision on whether to approve the Keystone project, according to a provision of a bill that President Obama signed into law on December 23, setting a 60-day deadline for the administration to rule on the project.

AJC continues to recognize the need to ensure that the 1,700-miles pipeline be environmentally sound. But the global advocacy organization points out that according to a State Department assessment, a set of 57 additional safety requirements issued for the pipeline would, if met, provide “a degree of safety over any other typically constructed domestic oil pipeline system under current code.”

(Read More at the American Jewish Committee)

CNBC Reports: The typical American household will have spent $4,155 filling up this year, a record. That is 8.4 percent of what the median family takes in, the highest share since 1981.

Gas averaged more than $3.50 a gallon this year, another unfortunate record. And next year isn’t likely to bring relief.

In the past, high gas prices in the United States have gone hand-in-hand with economic good times, making them less damaging to family finances. Now prices are high despite slow economic growth and weak demand.

That’s because demand for crude oil is rising globally, especially in the developing nations of Asia and Latin America. But it puts the squeeze on the U.S., where unemployment is high and many people who have jobs aren’t getting raises.

The trap has caught Michael Reed of Charlotte, N.C. He hasn’t been able to find work since he lost his computer-support job in 2009. Now high gas prices are claiming more of what he has left. He and his wife won’t exchange gifts this Christmas.

“I try to drive as little as possible so it doesn’t take such a chunk out of my wallet,” he says.

In 1981, when the economy was sliding into recession and oil prices were high because of Middle East turmoil, gas ate up 8.8 percent of the typical family budget, says Fred Rozell of the Oil Price Information Service.

Over the past decade, gas has taken up 5.7 percent of the family budget. If families had spent only 5.7 percent this year, they would have saved $1,300.