Uruguay Continues Investing In Renewable Energy

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The Uruguayan government recently announced 30 percent of the nation’s electricity would come from wind energy by the end of 2016 in their latest push for more renewable energy.

The government believes it can soon generate enough electricity from wind to the point where it can share power with its neighbors, Argentina and Brazil.

Two-thirds of electricity comes from renewable energy, specifically from hydroelectric power, although the government is turning toward more solar and wind investments.

Gonzalo Casaravilla, head of the state-owned firm known as UTE, told Bloomberg in June that the country aims to be a leader of wind power in Latin America:

Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez And The United States’ Subjugation Of Puerto Rico

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With Eric Holder on his way out the door as Attorney General, many Puerto Ricans are stepping up their calls for President Barack Obama to pardon 71-year-old political prisoner Oscar López Rivera, who has spent the last 33 years behind bars for seditious conspiracy. The holiday season is a common time for Presidents to use their power to grant clemency, but this was not to be in 2014 for the President who has granted the fewest pardons in modern times.

For Puerto Ricans, dismissal of their political demands is emblematic of their subjugation as colonial subjects.

In December, at a concert in San Juan, reggaeton singer René Pérez Joglar of the band Calle 13 brought López’s daughter Clarissa on stage to read a letter pleading for her father’s release. After winning the silver medal in judo in the Central American and Caribbean games in November, Augusto Miranda told the press: “I want to use this forum for all the people of Puerto Rico and the United States. It’s an abuse what they’ve done to Oscar López Rivera, political prisoner. It’s time to give him his freedom.”

Mining The Earth & Fracking The World: Hallelujah, Save The Planet!

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Kate Lanier offers selections from global mining, fracking and energy-related news including:

Chile: “Chile is now emerging as the southern hemisphere’s renewable energy giant, particularly in the mining sector.” They’re “building independent solar, solar thermal, wind and geothermal power plants” which are producing power at prices “competitive with or lower” than conventional producers. Chile’s latest renewable power costs are $80/megawatt hour—compared to $95 for coal.

Russia: Rosneft tried to buy “a Morgan Stanley oil-trading firm,” but the deal went poof! thanks to US authorities whose sanctions “have hurt Rosneft’s ability to finance the operations.” Those sanctions also mean ExxonMobil and other Rosneft partners won’t be developing offshore oil in the Arctic.

Texas: Gas flaring at the Eagle Ford Shale “burned off more than 20 billion cubic feet of natural gas,” producing as many tons of pollution in seven months as were produced in all of 2012. Not all the flaring was state permitted, either. The TX Railroad Commission (I know, I know, but they’re in charge of these things) has sent lots and lots of letters to the companies involved, reminding them they shouldn’t flare without permits, but with the price of oil so low, what’s a company to do?

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