Sep 16,2012

UP Links 16 September 2012

+ Brandon Fuller

It happens dozens of times a year, undermining water quality, closing beaches and endangering aquatic life: Hit by major rainfall, New York’s sewers release raw sewage and polluted storm water into New York Harbor. These “overflow events” account for an estimated 27 billion gallons of pollutants annually in the city’s waters…Perhaps the most unusual of technologies to avoid overflows are the inflatable dams that have recently been installed…at two locations in Brooklyn…Once inflated, they block the flow of rain water and sewage and turn the sewer mains into a wastewater storage site; if the water gets too high, threatening to back up into homes or streets, sensors deflate the dam to release some water.

Tyler Cowen on World Hunger

Today, about 40 percent of America’s field corn goes into biofuels, thanks to a subsidy and regulatory policy dating from 2005. With virtual unanimity, experts condemn these subsidies as driving up food prices, damaging land use and costing the taxpayers money. Once the energy costs of producing the biofuels are taken into account, it doesn’t even appear that this policy helps slow climate change. It has become a form of crony capitalism, at great global expense.

Will Indian FDI Reform Survive This Time?

None of the moves that the government approved Thursday and Friday – a rise in diesel prices, a decision to revive foreign direct investment in supermarkets, foreign carriers being permitted to invest in Indian airlines, expanded investment in broadcast – came as a surprise in and of themselves. They’ve all been called for years by economists and industry…But the barrage of reforms, and the fact that the government finally found the consensus and the boldness to push these, will be a great surprise to the many investors, economists (and journalists) who had given up on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as having the political fight left in him to make the moves that everyone said he has wanted for years.

Library Cards as Identification in LA

The city of Los Angeles is considering a plan to turn its library system’s cards into stand-in identification for the city’s undocumented immigrants. The idea is to provide a quasi-legal identifier that will make it possible for immigrants to open things like bank accounts via vendors partnering with the city. L.A. City Councilmember Richard Alarcon, who proposed the so-called City Services Cards, says they will help the city’s immigrants become more financially secure.

Using Environmental Regulation to Block Green Development

Seattle is proud to be the capital of what some call Ecotopia. But local advocates of sustainable cities—densely packed urban landscapes with a mix of residential, commercial, industrial, and retail uses—are battling with Seattle’s neighborhood activists who, ironically, are using environmental regulations to stop construction of green-friendly buildings that would dramatically reduce energy use.