1. CLIMATE:
Gas switch seen paying mitigation dividend for power, not for cars
A report published today challenges the conventional wisdom that using natural gas over other fossil fuels will pay widespread dividends in the battle against global warming. The new report by Environmental Defense Fund scientist Ramón Alvarez says generating more electricity from natural gas could have the immediate effect of reducing heat-trapping emissions of greenhouse gases but would have the opposite effect in transportation, exacerbating global warming for decades or even centuries to come.