Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666
This is a collection of interesting news articles about the environment and related topics published last week. This is usually a Tuesday evening regular post at GEI (but can be posted at other times).
Please share this article – Go to very top of page, right hand side, for social media buttons.
Note: Because of the high volume of news regarding the coronavirus outbreak, that news has been published separately:
CDC: Seasonal Flu Activity Slowing – Seasonal flu activity is slowing, and that will help with the rapidly increasing COVID-19 pandemic. From the CDC: Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report Laboratory confirmed flu activity as reported by clinical laboratories continued to decrease; however, influenza-like illness activity increased. Influenza severity indicators remain moderate to low overall, but hospitalization rates differ by age group, with high rates among children and young adults.…Nationally, the percent of specimens testing positive for influenza at clinical laboratories continued to decrease while ILI activity increased for the second week in a row after declining for three weeks. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, more people may be seeking care for respiratory illness than usual at this time. Note that ILI (influenza-like illness) activity is increasing due to COVID-19.
Sushi Parasite Has Increased 283x in Nearly 40 Years – The population of a marine parasite that sometimes worms its way into sushi has increased by 283 times in the last nearly 40 years, a University of Washington (UW)-led study has found.The study, published in Global Change Biology Thursday, reviewed the literature and found a significant rise in the abundance of the parasite Anisakis, or “herring worm.” This isn’t especially concerning for humans, who experience the worm as a nasty bout of food poisoning that then resolves, but it could have serious consequences for marine mammals, who play host to the parasites for years. “One of the important implications of this study is that now we know there is this massive, rising health risk to marine mammals,” study coauthor and UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences assistant professor Chelsea Wood said in the UW press release. “It’s not often considered that parasites might be the reason that some marine mammal populations are failing to bounce back. I hope this study encourages people to look at intestinal parasites as a potential cap on the population growth of endangered and threatened marine mammals.”
BPA and babies: Controversial chemical and substitutes pollute the womb –Bisphenol A and its substitute chemicals – pervasive in food and beverage containers, canned goods and store receipts – are showing up in mothers’ wombs at “unexpectedly high levels,” according to a new study published in the journalEnvironmental Science and Technology. The study builds on previous evidence that BPA and its common replacement BPS can pass through a mother’s placenta and is the first to show the same for a range of other replacements, suggesting that fetuses are being exposed to a cocktail of chemicals linked to behavioral and reproductive disorders, among other health problems. “We are very clearly seeing these compounds going straight to the baby at totally unacceptable concentrations,” Terrence Collins, a green chemist at Carnegie Mellon University, who was not involved in the study, told EHN.The study, published in March, looked for 15 different bisphenols – including a BPA, BPS and other popular substitutes – in 60 pairs of maternal plasma, cord plasma and placenta samples from pregnant women in South China. Four bisphenols were frequently detected in all three samples: BPA, BPS, BPAF and BPE.BPSIP, a relatively new compound commonly used in thermal paper for store receipts, appeared at high levels in all maternal plasma samples. The researchers note that BPSIP “exhibits a similar estrogenic potency and greater reproductive toxicity than BPA.””This is another shriek from nature, ‘Stop throwing BPA, or things like it, at me,'” added Collins. The study is concerning as BPA is a known endocrine disruptor, meaning it is capable of scrambling hormone signals, and has been linked to cancer, diabetes and infertility. In-utero BPA exposure has been shown to derail the normal growth of the brain and other organs and manifest later in life as early puberty or an increase in anxiety-related behaviors or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Some replacements have been tied to similar issues including obesity and reproductive problems. The new study linked BPAF concentrations in cord plasma with both premature birth and low birth weight.
Monarchs Covered 53 Percent Less Area in Mexico this Winter – While wintering in Mexico, monarch butterflies occupied 53 percent less area this year than last year. The butterfly colonies covered 2.83 hectares of forest in Michoacfln and the state of Mexico in the winter of 2019 – 2020 and 6.05 hectares in the winter of 2018 – 2019, the country’s National Commission for Protected Natural Areas announced last week (March 12).“The current reduction in the population of [monarchs] is not alarming, but we must remain vigilant that it is not a trend in the coming years,” Jorge Rickards the general director of World Wildlife Fund Mexico, says in the announcement. He explains that in most winters the butterflies form colonies across roughly three hectares; last year’s expanded occupied area was “atypical” because the insects had better weather conditions to reproduce in the spring of 2018 compared with the spring of 2019.Rickards also notes that the total number of monarchs appears to be “stable,” as the butterflies clustered together in larger groups, or hangers, than before. Because of this clustering, officials count the butterflies by area rather than individually, according to the Associated Press. Not everyone is convinced by the claims. The usual coverage area of three hectares has only been consistent since 2010, when there was a drop in forest occupation but little rebound in numbers over the following years, according to a graphic developed by the Center for Biological Diversity (see below). Scientists calculate that the butterflies must cover an overwintering area of six hectares to avoid extinction in North America. This year’s numbers fall way short of that. “Scientists were expecting the count to be down slightly, but this level of decrease is heartbreaking,” Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the center, says in a statement.
North America Has Lost More Than 1 in 4 Birds in Last 50 Years, New Study Says – Audubon — Almost anywhere you go, you can find birds. But while birds remain everywhere, people are actually seeing far fewer of them than just 50 years ago, according to a new study. It estimates that North America is home to nearly three billion fewer birds today compared to 1970 – that’s more than 1 in 4 birds that have disappeared from the landscape in a mere half a century. “This was an astounding result, even to us,” says lead author and Cornell Lab of Ornithology conservation scientist Ken Rosenberg. The study, published today in the journal Science, marks the first time experts have tried to estimate sheer numbers of avian losses in the Western Hemisphere. Typically, conservation studies focus on a specific species, habitat, region, or type of threat. By taking a higher-level view, the study highlights that many birds we still consider common, ranging from Baltimore Orioles to Dark-eyed Juncos to Barn Swallows, are actually posting heavy population losses over time. Altogether, the research team – which included collaborators at the American Bird Conservancy, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, U.S. Geological Survey, the Canadian Wildlife Service, and other institutions – analyzed the breeding population of 529 species by pooling data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey, Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service waterfowl surveys, and 10 other datasets. They also analyzed more recent data collected by weather radar technology that can track large groups of birds as they migrate to estimate their numbers. The weather radars indicated a 14 percent decrease in nocturnal spring-migrating birds in the last decade alone, helping the authors to verify the longer-term survey trends – especially for those breeding in remote northern habitats that aren’t as well monitored. Using models that incorporated all the data, they estimated the net number of birds lost over time, across various habitats and bird groupings.
An Emerging Threat to Conservation: Fear of Nature –Increasingly, research has shown that as species and ecosystems vanish, it also chips away at our ability to preserve what remains – because we no longer understand what we’re losing.You probably see it all the time. The neighbor who puts pesticides on his lawn rather than deal with pesky bees. The kid who squirms and runs at the sight of a harmless garter snake slithering through the grass. The politician who votes against wildlife protection because she’s never seen a wolf in the wild. The corporation that wants to bulldoze the habitat of a rare frog, but frogs are gross, so who cares, right?At best this can be termed “the extinction of experience,” where our cultural and natural histories fade from our memories and therefore our reality.At its worst it becomes something even more concerning: “biophobia,” the fear of living things and a complete aversion to nature.This isn’t the fiction of living in a cold, empty dystopia. Sadly it’s becoming a way of life for too many people – especially children.A recent study in Japan paints a striking portrait of this problem. A survey of more than 5,300 school children in the Tochigi Prefecture examined their perception of local invertebrates – 14 insect species and one spider. The results? A collective “ew.” Most of the students saw the species as things to dislike, fear or abhor, or even as sources of danger. The less experience the students had with nature, the more negative their feelings. The results were published earlier this year in the in the journal Biological Conservation.
Amazon Rainforest Reaches Point of No Return – “Just when I thought the destruction couldn’t get any worse, it has,” says Antonio Donato Nobre, one of Brazil’s leading scientists who has studied the Amazon – its unique flora and fauna, and its influence on both the local and global climate – for more than 40 years. “In terms of the Earth’s climate, we have gone beyond the point of no return. There’s no doubt about this.” For decades, he has fought against deforestation. There have been considerable ups and downs in that time, but he points out that Brazil was once a world-leader in controlling deforestation. “Using satellite data, we monitored and we controlled. From 2005 to 2012, Brazil managed to reduce up to 83% of deforestation.”Then the law on land use was relaxed, and deforestation increased dramatically – by as much as 200 percent between 2017 and 2018.It’s all become much worse since Jair Bolsonaro became Brazilian president at the beginning of last year, Nobre says.”There are some dangerous people in office,” he says. “The Minister of Environment is a convicted criminal.The Minister of Foreign Affairs is a climate sceptic.”Nobre argues that Bolsonaro doesn’t care about the Amazon and has contempt for environmentalists.His administration is encouraging the land grabbers who illegally take over protected or indigenous tribal land, which they then sell on to cattle ranchers and soybean conglomerates.For indigenous tribes, life has become more dangerous. “They are being murdered, their land is being invaded,” Nobre says.In August last year, the world watched as large areas of the Amazon region – a vital carbon sink sucking up and recycling global greenhouse gases – went up in flames. Nobre says the land grabbers had organised what they called a “day of fires” in August last year to honour Bolsonaro. “Thousands of people organized, through WhatsApp, to make something visible from space,” he says. “They hired people on motorbikes with gasoline jugs to set fire to any land they could.” The impact on the Amazon is catastrophic, Nobre says. “Half of the Amazon rainforest to the east is gone – it’s losing the battle, going in the direction of a savanna.
The Pros and Cons of Planting Trees To Address Global Warming – It seems like such a simple, straightforward, empowering idea: plant trees – a lot of trees – all over the world, and watch the planet’s temperature fall. Who doesn’t love a tree or two, even far more – the right tree in the right place? – in a warming world? Nary a soul, one suspects, whether of conventional “tree hugger” category or rabid climate science detractor. Earlier this year, the one-trillion tree campaign was big news at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Salesforce founder Businessman Marc Benioff announced at the meeting that his company will “support and mobilize the conservation and restoration of 100 million trees over the next decade.”Back in Washington, D.C., President Trump and Republican lawmakers said they too support the international campaign – although Arkansas Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman came under fire for proposing a “Trillion Trees Act” that would pair a commitment to planting trees witha planto increase logging on public lands. Numerous other Republican representatives are endorsing the trees effort. Over the past few weeks, chatter has picked up that planting trees is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to combating climate change. Trees are a good thing, but:
- We also need to protect existing forests – the Amazon, for example.
- We need to ramp up wind, solar, and geothermal energy.
- We need to burn less fossil fuel.
- We need to eat more of the right foods and less of the wrong ones and, above all else, eat sustainably.
- We need higher vehicle-mileage standards and more electric cars.
- We need to get our act together so we can better adapt to rising seas, more droughts and wildfires, and unpredictable swings in weather.
Air pollution clears in northern Italy after coronavirus lockdown – video – Air pollution over northern Italy fell after the government introduced a nationwide lockdown to fight the coronavirus, satellite imagery showed on Friday, in a new example of the pandemic’s potential impact on emissions.
Court Requires EPA to Protect Communities Against Worst-Case Chemical Spills –On Thursday, a federal district court required the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue long-overdue protections against worst-case scenario spills of hazardous materials, like in the case of extreme storms, fires, or flooding. The decision approved a negotiated consent decree between the EPA and a coalition of community and environmental organizations, including NRDC, the Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA), and Clean Water Action.”This is a victory for the millions of people who live in fear of experiencing catastrophic chemical spills in their own backyards,” says Kaitlin Morrison, an NRDC attorney.The EPA had failed to issue the protections for nearly 30 years, despite Congress’s 1990 amendments to the Clean Water Act mandating it to do so. The coalition sued the agency in March 2019 to force action. With today’s legal victory, the agency must now issue proposed rules within two years and then finalize those rules two and a half years after that.An estimated 2,500 U.S. chemical facilities, such as aboveground storage tanks holding hazardous substances, are subject only to worst-case spill-planning requirements at the state level – which, if they exist at all, are vulnerable to rollbacks. Fenceline communities – or communities living closest to chemical production and storage facilities – where most residents are low-income or people of color, are most at risk. In 2017, that risk became abundantly clear when Hurricane Harvey hit Houston. The city’s density of chemical facilities and susceptibility to flooding led to the release of harmful chemicals through numerous spills, leaks, and explosions – causing some first responders to be hospitalized.
Lego bricks in the ocean could take 1,300 years to degrade A Lego brick could survive in the ocean for as many as 1,300 years, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Plymouth analysed bricks that had washed up on the coastlines of southwest England. They confirmed the ages of individual pieces and weighed them, then compared the result with that of equivalent unused pieces. The study, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, estimated that the bricks could endure for between 100 and 1,300 years. Dr Andrew Turner, associate professor in environmental sciences, said: “Lego is one of the most popular children’s toys in history and part of its appeal has always been its durability. “It is specifically designed to be played with and handled, so it may not be especially surprising that despite potentially being in the sea for decades, it isn’t significantly worn down. “However, the full extent of its durability was even a surprise to us. “The pieces we tested had smoothed and discoloured, with some of the structures having fractured and fragmented, suggesting that as well as pieces remaining intact, they might also break down into microplastics. “It once again emphasises the importance of people disposing of used items properly to ensure they do not pose potential problems for the environment.”
What winter? Earth just had its second-warmest December-February on record –The months of December, January and February – which meteorologists define as winter here in the Northern Hemisphere – were the second-warmest on record, federal scientists announced Friday. Only the El Niño-fueled winter of 2015-16 was warmer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. El Niño, a natural warming of sea water in the tropical Pacific Ocean, acts to boost global temperatures.Global temperature records for the Earth go back to 1880. Some of the most extreme warmth was in Russia, which smashed its record for warmest winter. Temperatures there were as much as a whopping 12 degrees above average, according to the country’s weather service. According to a statistical analysis done by NOAA scientists, the year 2020 is “very likely to rank among the five-warmest years on record,” NOAA said.NASA, which also tracks global temperatures, also said that the winter of 2019-20 was the second-warmest on record.The warm winter comes on the heels of the second warmest year on record (2019) and the fact that the 2010s was the warmest decade ever recorded. Thanks to human-caused global warming, “this period is now the warmest in the history of modern civilization,” according to the National Climate Assessment. “Human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century,” the assessment said.
Spring flood forecast: Floods may affect 128 million in 23 states – While a soggy spring is forecast across the eastern half of the country this year, almost the entire nation should bask in unusual warmth from April through June. Overall, federal forecasters predict widespread flooding this spring in 23 states from the northern Plains all the way south to the Gulf Coast. The most significant flood potential is expected in parts of North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. The forecast was released Thursday by flood experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In total, about 128 million people should see some level of flooding this spring, according to Ed Clark, the director of NOAA’s National Water Center. He said that 1.2 million people live where “major” flooding is possible, mainly in the Upper Midwest and northern Plains. Major flooding means extensive inundation of structures and roads, which will lead to “significant evacuations of people … to higher elevations.” Although the flooding should reach major to moderate levels in many areas, forecasters do not expect the flooding to be as severe or prolonged overall as the historic floods in 2019. NOAA said that with soil moisture already at high levels across much of the central U.S. – and many rivers running high in the central and eastern U.S. – any heavy local rainfall could trigger flooding in these high-risk areas. “We’ve already seen flooding in the Southeast due to heavy rain in February and March,” said Mary Erickson, deputy director of the National Weather Service on a conference call with reporters Thursday morning. “Any heavy rainfall could trigger additional flooding,” she said. Erickson warned that flooding is an underrated killer and is responsible for nearly 100 deaths per year in the U.S., about half of which are in vehicles.
Greenland and Antarctica are now melting six times faster than in the 1990s, accelerating sea-level rise – Greenland and Antarctica have lost 6.4 trillion tons of ice in the past three decades; unabated, this rate of melting could cause flooding that affects hundreds of millions of people by the end of the century, NASA said in a statement. Satellite observations showed that the regions are losing ice six times faster than they were in the 1990s, according to a new study. If the current melting trend continues, the regions will be on track to match the “worst-case” scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of an extra 6.7 inches of sea level rise by 2100. “That’s not a good news story,” study lead author Andrew Shepherd from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, told the BBC. Scientists said that the two ice sheets together lost 81 billion tons per year in the 1990s, compared with 475 billion tons of ice per year in the 2010’s – a whopping sixfold increase. “Today, the ice sheets contribute about a third of all sea-level rise, whereas in the 1990s, their contribution was actually pretty small at about 5%,” Shepherd told the BBC. “This has important implications for the future, for coastal flooding and erosion. The resulting meltwater boosted global sea levels by 0.7 inch. Of this total sea-level rise, 60% resulted from Greenland’s ice loss and 40% resulted from Antarctica’s. The findings were published by an international team of 89 polar scientists from 50 organizations, and are the most comprehensive assessment to date of the changing ice sheets, NASA said.
Greenland Lost 600 Billion Tons of Ice Last Summer, Raising Sea Levels, NASA Study Finds – Greenland experienced an unusually warm summer in 2019, which caused the world’s largest island to lose 600 billion tons of ice and raised sea levels by 0.2 of an inch, according to a NASA study released yesterday. That amount of ice loss more than doubled Greenland’s 2002-2019 annual average. The data comes from the joint U.S.-German space mission known as Grace-FO, a pair of satellites that circle the globe and sense the variations in mass that correspond to Earth’s gravity field, according to the BBC. The satellites are particularly adept at sensing tiny changes in the Earth’s gravitational field caused by ice gain or loss. They have proven themselves useful in detecting groundwater storage around the globe, according to the Washington Post. The study also looked at Antarctica, noting that it continues to lose its ice mass, particularly in the Amundsen Sea Embayment and the Antarctic Peninsula on the western part of the continent, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We knew this past summer had been particularly warm in Greenland, melting every corner of the ice sheet,” lead author Isabella Velicogna said in a statement. “But the numbers really are enormous.” The study was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. It tracked ice loss in Greenland dating back to 2002, using information from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) satellites, which went out of commission in 2017, and the new Grace-FO satellites, which launched in 2018. The FO stands for Follow On, as The Washington Post reported. The satellites revealed that from 2002 to 2019, Greenland lost 4,550 billion tons of ice, for an average of 261 billion tons every year, according to The Washington Post. 2012 and 2019 were the two largest melt years in that time frame, the BBC reported.
Greenland’s melting ice raised global sea level by 2.2mm in two months – Last year’s summer was so warm that it helped trigger the loss of 600bn tons of ice from Greenland – enough to raise global sea levels by 2.2mm in just two months, new research has found. The analysis of satellite data has revealed the astounding loss of ice in just a few months of abnormally high temperatures around the northern pole. Last year was the hottest on record for the Arctic, with the annual minimum extent of sea ice in the region its second-lowest on record. Unlike the retreat of sea ice, the loss of land-based glaciers directly causes the seas to rise, imperiling coastal cities and towns around the world. Scientists have calculated that Greenland’s enormous ice sheet lost an average of 268bn tons of ice between 2002 and 2019 – less than half of what was shed last summer. By contrast, Los Angeles county, which has more than 10 million residents, consumes 1bn tons of water a year. “We knew this past summer had been particularly warm in Greenland, melting every corner of the ice sheet, but the numbers are enormous,” said Isabella Velicogna, a professor of Earth system science at University of California Irvine and lead author of the new study, which drew upon measurements taken by Nasa’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) satellite mission and its upgraded successor, Grace Follow-On. Glaciers are melting away around the world due to global heating caused by the human-induced climate crisis. Ice is reflective of sunlight so as it retreats the dark surfaces underneath absorb yet more heat, causing a further acceleration in melting. Ice is being lost from Greenland seven times faster than it was in the 1990s, scientists revealed last year, pushing up previous estimates of global sea level rise and putting 400 million people at risk of flooding every year by the end of the century. More recent research has found that Antarctica, the largest ice sheet on Earth, is also losing mass at a galloping rate, although the latest University of California and Nasa works reveals a nuanced picture. “In Antarctica, the mass loss in the west proceeds unabated, which is very bad news for sea level rise,” Velicogna said. “But we also observe a mass gain in the Atlantic sector of east Antarctica caused by an increase in snowfall, which helps mitigate the enormous increase in mass loss that we’ve seen in the last two decades in other parts of the continent.”
Two Asteroids Could Come Close Enough To Earth This Week To Create Airbursts – NASA is currently tracking an asteroid that the agency believes could pass close enough by our planet to cause an “airburst.” The asteroid, known as 2020 EF, is being tracked by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CENOS). Still, despite the close proximity of the asteroid, experts believe that it is no threat to the planet because it is too small to survive contact with Earth’s atmosphere, and will likely break into many small pieces if it does come that close to the surface of the earth.The asteroid is only about 98 feet in diameter and is traveling extremely fast, with an incredible speed of 10,000 mph.Researchers have classified 2020 EF as an Aten asteroid, which is a group of asteroids whose orbits naturally come close to the Earth, and in some cases even come into contact with the earth. This asteroid is expected to pass by earth on March 18 at 11:15 p.m. EST.The excitement does not stop there though, another asteroid, called 2020 DP4, which is much larger and traveling much faster than 2020 EF, will come just a few days later, on March 22nd at 2:36 p.m EST. 2020 DP4 is estimated to be bout 180 feet wide and traveling at a velocity rate of 18,000 mph according to CNEOS. In both cases, experts believe that we will be safe from the asteroids, although some parts of the world could experience and air burst.
Long Phased-Out Refrigeration and Insulation Chemicals Still Widely in Use and Warming the Climate – Starting decades ago, international governments phased out a class of chemical refrigerants that harmed the ozone layer and fueled global warming. Now, a new study indicates that the remaining volume of these chemicals, and the emissions they continue to release into the atmosphere, is far larger than previously thought.The findings point to a lost opportunity to cut greenhouse gas emissions on a par with the annual emissions from all passenger vehicles in the United States, but also highlight a low-cost pathway to curb future warming, researchers say.The study, published Tuesday in Nature Communications, looks at “banked” volumes of three leading chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) chemicals whose production is banned but remain in use today in older refrigeration and cooling systems and in foam insulation. CFCs were phased out of production in developed countries by 1996, and in developing countries by 2010, under the Montreal Protocol because of the leading role they played in creating the so-called “ozone hole” in the atmosphere.Emissions from these remaining CFC sources were equivalent to 25 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from 2000 to 2020, the study concludes. Averaged over 20 years, that equals the emissions of 270 million automobiles per year according to the EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalency calculator, more than all registered U.S. passenger vehicles. “If we don’t deal with these banks, they are going to be emitted and contribute to delaying ozone hole recovery and contribute to future warming,” Megan Jeramaz Lickley, a researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences and lead author of the study said.
Coronavirus Lockdown Linked to Falling Air Pollution Levels in Italy – As the coronavirus spreads, so do startling satellite images showing a dramatic decrease in air pollution over quarantined areas.Satellite data shared in early March showed a steep decline in nitrogen dioxide levels over China between January and February as the epidemic’s epicenter of Wuhan went into lockdown. Now, images shared by the European Space Agency (ESA) suggest that a similar thing happened in Italy, which has reported the second highest number of cases after China.”The decline in nitrogen dioxide emissions over the Po Valley in northern Italy is particularly evident,” ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission manager Claus Zehner said. “Although there could be slight variations in the data due to cloud cover and changing weather, we are very confident that the reduction in emissions that we can see, coincides with the lockdown in Italy causing less traffic and industrial activity.”The ESA published an animation Friday based on data from its Copernicus Sentinel-5p satellite that shows fluctuations in nitrogen dioxide pollution over Europe between Jan. 1 and March 11. The decline in emissions over Italy coincided with lockdown measures announced by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte March 9 that prohibited public gatherings and non-essential travel. This followed a decision the day before to lockdown the country’s North, The New York Times reported. The North has been the region hardest hit by the virus and where the pollution decline has been most evident. Nitrogen dioxide emissions are largely driven by cars, power plants and industry. While they are not a major contributor to the climate crisis, they do tend to correlate with greenhouse gas emissions, The Washington Post explained. Because Italy has made significant strides in reducing its emissions and powers itself mostly with natural gas and renewable energy, experts think the decline is down to a decrease in driving.
Don’t let coronavirus stall climate action, warns architect of Paris deal – (Reuters) – Governments must not let the coronavirus pandemic derail action on climate change, an architect of the landmark Paris agreement warned on Wednesday, saying the vulnerabilities laid bare by the virus could serve to spur a more concerted response. Laurence Tubiana, a former French diplomat who was instrumental in brokering the 2015 accord aimed at averting catastrophic global warming, said the disruption caused by the coronavirus was a wake-up call. “In a way, it’s a lesson: viruses don’t respect borders, climate change doesn’t respect borders,” Tubiana, who continues to closely track climate diplomacy, told an online briefing. “If we do not manage the climate crisis it will be the same.” Tubiana was speaking amid mounting concerns that the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus could tempt governments to shy away from the massive effort to cut carbon emissions needed to stabilise the Earth’s climate system.
Democrats call for pollution reduction requirements in any aid for airlines, cruises -A group of eight Democratic senators says that any possible aid for airlines and cruises that are dealing with the fallout from the coronavirus should include requirements that these industries act in a way that is more environmentally friendly. “Given the poor environmental records of some companies in these industries, we believe that any such financial assistance should be paired with requirements that companies act in a more responsible fashion,” the senators wrote in their Wednesday letter to House and Senate leadership. “Air travel currently accounts for approximately 2.5 percent of total carbon dioxide emissions globally, and commercial aviation emissions are expected to triple by 2050. The foreign-flagged cruise industry has a checkered environmental record and most passenger liners burn heavy fuel oil, one of the dirtiest fuels,” they added. Providing financial assistance to airlines has been discussed in Congress, and President Trump has expressed support for giving a boost to both the airline and cruise industries. The Democrats on Wednesday described this as an opportunity to help the environment. “Given the large carbon footprint of commercial aviation, requiring reductions in carbon emissions would represent a major step in curbing our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Requiring reductions in carbon pollution from foreign-flagged cruise ships, as well as reductions in other air pollutants and increased penalties for illegal dumping, would result in cleaner air and a healthier ocean,” they wrote. “If we give the airline and cruise industries assistance without requiring them to be better environmental stewards, we would miss a major opportunity to combat climate change and ocean dumping,” they added. The letter was signed by Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Tina Smith (Minn.) and Cory Booker (N.J.). Some of these lawmakers have previously expressed support for making this assistance conditional. “Carbon offsets should be a condition for any such bailouts,” Whitehouse tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “Airlines that want public support should live public values.”
Trump Administration Continues to Attack the Environmental Projections First Put Into Place by the Nixon Administration – Linda Beale – Under Trump, we have a complete disregard for the environment, a view that harks back to the times when rich owners of factories, mines, or corporate farms exploited and polluted land, waters, and people in their greed for profits. The Trump Administration labels environmentalists with the same type of derogatory terms that Trump uses for all of his “enemies” – i.e., almost everybody in the country that isn’t loyal to the bully-in chief because they recognize his shallow, egotistical, narcissistic lack of knowledge and caring about the well-being of the country or its citizens – even while he claims with his typical bravado and fluff that his administration makes “the very cleanest air and cleanest water on the planet” a top priority. Meanwhile, Trump is busy rolling back as many environmental protections as possible. See, e.g., Emma Newburger, Trump is rolling back over 80 environmental regulations. Here are five big changes you might have missed in 2019, CNBC (Dec 24, 2019) (rollbacks including fewer protections for endangered species). Trump and other people of wealth think they can live in a cocoon of luxury that doesn’t suffer damage when the earth’s species die out from pesticides and pollution, when the earth’s climate changes to create fires and storms hostile to life, when the earth’s waters are no longer clear and drinkable by plants, animals (and humans), when the earth’s land is destroyed by overlumbering, fracking, the rapacious thirst of oil drillers, and the careless destruction of mountains of surface mining. They are wrong, but they may not recognize it until too late. Trump’s stupidity is thinking that he who doesn’t read, hasn’t studied, and doesn’t care about science or life generally is suited to make decisions about wilderness or any of the myriad environmental issues facing us. He leads rallies where people become mesmerized by being part of a raving crowd, with little recognition themselves of the way the ultra rich are taking advantage of them in their daily lives. He knows nothing, and cares even less about what he doesn’t know. Yet his administration continues to move to change environmental policy to favor big corporate interests and disfavor local decision-making.
Energy regulators disagree on whether to delay actions amid coronavirus One commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has proposed delaying certain regulatory actions amid the global coronavirus outbreak. The commission’s chairman, however, is cool to the idea. The organization’s one Democratic commissioner, Richard Glick, said in a Thursday statement that while FERC is required by law to carry out certain actions, it should pause others to allow the industry to focus on its response the virus. “I believe we should refrain from acting to allow parties who are otherwise dealing with the pandemic to avoid putting resources toward seeking rehearing of a Commission order,” Glick said. Chairman Neil Chatterjee, however, said Thursday on a call with reporters that in some cases it might be good to be flexible but that in general “the last thing the industry needs right now is delays.” He added that delays would be unfair for those waiting on the commission to act. FERC regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil. The energy industry has been particularly affected by the coronavirus, with oil prices plummeting this week to the lowest level since 2003. On Thursday, Chatterjee also laid out the commission’s own plan for its employees to deal with the virus. He said in a statement that most of the commission’s employees are teleworking and that its headquarters will be closed to visitors until further notice. All of its technical work through May will either be done through conference calls or web-conferencing or it will be postponed. The commissioner was also questioned on recent complaints by senators who believe FERC is becoming too partisan. The issue was heightened by the recent confirmation of James Danly, whose spot now puts Republicans in a 3-1 majority. “Filling the Republican seat while leaving the Democratic seat vacant is not in keeping with the longstanding practice of this committee or the need to keep the commission bipartisan,” said Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee ranking member Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) after voting to advance the nomination.
U.S. clean energy sector seeks subsidy help to confront slowdown – (Reuters) – Wind and solar energy companies on Thursday called on Congress to pass tax incentives that would help the sector avoid project delays and keep financing flowing amid a pandemic that has choked off supply chains and slowed construction. In a letter to House and Senate leadership, seven clean energy trade groups asked lawmakers to extend deadlines that would allow their projects to qualify for generous wind and solar federal tax credits despite delays caused by the spread of the coronavirus across the globe. The American Wind Energy Association, which signed the letter, said disruptions caused by the spread of the virus could put 35,000 jobs at risk and jeopardize $43 billion in investment. “The clean energy sector is one of the nation’s most important economic drivers. But that growth is placed at risk by a range of COVID-19 related impacts,” the groups, including AWEA, the American Council on Renewable Energy, Business Network for Offshore Wind, Energy Storage Association, National Hydropower Association, Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance and Solar Energy Industries Association, said in the letter. Solar projects currently qualify for a tax credit of 26 percent that is scheduled to fall to 22 percent next year. If firms start construction or spend 5% of a project’s capital cost by the end of this year they are eligible for the 2020 credit. Wind projects can claim a tax credit worth 1.5 cents for every killowatt-hour of electricity produced if they break ground before Jan. 1, 2021. The industry wants those deadlines extended, and for the credits to be available for so-called direct pay, meaning they could be converted to cash. Renewable energy tax credits allow developers to deduct a percentage of their projects’ costs over several years. They typically sell those benefits into the “tax equity” market, which allows companies with big tax burdens to cut those liabilities.
China Takes Axe To Alternative Energy Funding, Slashing Subsidies For Solar And Wind – China is going to cut its budget for new solar power plants in half this year and plans on completely ending handouts for offshore wind farms, according to Caixin. It is the latest in a string of moves by the Chinese government to cut support for renewable energy. The attitude has shifted in recent years as manufacturing costs have dropped. The government now seems focused on getting renewable energy to stand on its own. On Tuesday, China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) announced it had cut this year’s subsidies for new solar power projects by 50% to 1.5 billion yuan ($215.8 million). “Of the total, it has earmarked 1 billion yuan for large solar projects, which will be divvied out through auctions. The remainder will be used for residential solar systems,” Caixin reports. China is also doing away with subsidies for new offshore wind farms this year and is ending subsidies for new onshore projects in 20201. Shi Jingli, a professor at a research institute under China’s top economic planner said: “Cutting subsidies for new renewable energy projects is a reasonable measure to allocate funds more wisely. The generous subsidies given to offshore wind farms over the past few years have weighed on the central government’s finances and caused severe deficits in subsidy funding.”Jingli continued: “Considering the damage that the coronavirus outbreak has done to businesses, the NEA has extended the application period for the auctions until mid-June. It has also given solar and wind farm operators an additional month to apply to connect their projects to the country’s power grid, which is necessary for a power plant to start selling electricity.” Meanwhile, new installations of solar power capacity plunged 40% last year after the country installed 26.81 gigawatts of new capacity. Numerous other projects underway have already hit major delays due to the coronavirus outbreak and supply chain disruptions.
China’s Rethink on Car Pollution May Signal a Retreat on Climate — Beijing’s move toward relaxing emissions standards will ratchet up concern that policymakers around the world may scale back their climate goals as they seek to rescue their economies from the ravages of the coronavirus. The Chinese government is said to be debating whether to ease restrictions on the amount of harmful particles that vehicles emit from their tailpipes – a measure known as particle number, or PN. The move would help automakers battling an unprecedented slump as the pandemic slows economic activity. It could be just one of the steps by the government in Beijing to shore up key sectors. That stimulus is likely to come at a cost to efforts to protect the environment, since officials could give priority to the health of industries that have an outsized impact on greenhouse gas pollution, especially construction, transport and infrastructure. That combined with signs that green issues are slipping down the European Union’s agenda would reduce momentum on the issue from two main on main forces driving work on climate change. Although China’s measure to minimize virus spreading did cut carbon emissions and air pollution dramatically in February, that silver lining turned out to be temporary. In early March, satellite data show that nitrogen dioxide levels rose across China’s industrial heartland, an indication the country’s economy is recovering. There have been signs that China might go back to its playbook of stimulating its economy by investing in polluting industries as it did following the 2008 financial crisis. Tens of trillions of yuan of investment has been planned for major projects across China the year, including irrigation, toll roads, gas pipelines and nuclear power plants. National Development and Reform Commission, China’s macroeconomic management agency, requested recently that measures should be taken to “minimize the impact from the epidemic outbreak on the major projects and make sure that the investment (to the projects) is not interrupted.”
Exxon Loses Jurisdiction Fight in Massachusetts Climate Suit – Exxon Mobil Corp. suffered a setback in a climate change case when a federal judge ruled that a consumer protection lawsuit filed by Massachusetts should go back to state court. U.S. District Judge William G. Young in Boston on Tuesday ordered the litigation back to Suffolk County Superior Court, where Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey sued in October. The state accused the energy giant of hiding its early knowledge of climate change from the public and misleading investors about the future financial impact of global warming. The judge rejected Exxon’s argument that the case should stay in U.S. district court because the claims touch on important federal issues, and said case law backs Healey’s argument that it belongs in state court. “This is a significant case,” Young said at the end of a hearing conducted over the phone. “This is not a case where the issue is in any substantial doubt,” he said, adding that he’s bound by “the great weight of case law.” In a Dec. 26 filing, Healey called Exxon’s characterization of the case “self-serving and distorted,” saying the case is really about consumer protection, not claims of environmental violations that could be pre-empted by federal law. Read More: Massachusetts Wants Exxon Climate Case Back in State Court Exxon didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the ruling. The lawsuit is one of many targeting Exxon and other energy companies over their public statements about climate change over the years, though it stands out by alleging violations of state consumer protection and investor protection laws. Most of the other cases focus on so-called public nuisance claims, some of which have been dismissed and are on appeal.
Keeping the Lights On: US Utility Sector Braces for Coronavirus Impact – Every industry in the world faces dangers and disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. Not all of those industries are tasked with keeping the lights on. U.S. power utilities and generators face an array of risks in the weeks ahead, from energy “demand destruction” as economies slow to tightening debt conditions that could ripple through the commodity markets. So far, North American utilities have not yet seen the sort of power demand reductions that occurred during China’s massive lockdown or those now hitting European countries. But they’re likely to start seeing similar impacts soon, according to a Tuesday update from the Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and Energy Transition teams. Italy, as one example, saw an 8.1 percent week-on-week decrease in energy demand after the country ordered its citizens to stay at home and forced the closure of all nonessential businesses, as the chart below illustrates. Depressed demand from commercial and industrial consumers is an obvious source of concern for American electricity companies, particularly in power markets such as Texas’ ERCOT where falling oil and natural-gas prices could cripple those industries. Texas is by far the largest U.S. wind market and the No. 2 market for solar behind California, fueled in part by the state’s voracious C&I power demand. In contrast to C&I, residential electricity demand is “relatively more stable under economic distress,” WoodMac’s report said. “The key question is how long the situation lingers,” said Dan Shreve, WoodMac’s head of global wind energy research. “A months-long economic slowdown will likely induce a minor recession and will probably lead to a minor reduction in power demand.”
ComEd CEO: Exelon expects to have pandemic plan in place through the summer – Exelon and its subsidiaries expect to operate under the pandemic preparedness plan through the end of summer, Commonwealth Edison CEO Joe Dominguez told Utility Dive on Tuesday. President Donald Trump also said on Monday the new outbreak could stretch into August, matching the Exelon utilities’ pandemic response plan. ComEd, serving Chicago and much of northern Illinois, has been responding to the spread of the novel coronavirus ahead of its fellow subsidiaries. “Chicago was one of the first areas in the country to identify the new cases,” putting ComEd at the forefront of utilities that had to react, Dominguez said. Exelon subsidiaries are “all moving on the same continuum, but not necessarily at the same speed … we just go to that a little sooner.” ComEd is not currently facing reliability impacts, said Dominguez, but scheduling delays due to the coronavirus will delay policy work in the state legislature. This diminishes the chances for a passage of a clean energy bill that would empower state regulators to exit the PJM Interconnection, as the Illinois legislature is expected to adjourn at the end of May. “The load profile of the United States is shifting right now,” Scott Aaronson, vice president of security and business continuity at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), told Utility Dive. “What that looks like remains to be seen.” ComEd is watching how the virus and the response to the virus affect load, “as we see businesses shut down,” according to Dominguez. The coronavirus is “not a major structural change to energy consumption patterns. I don’t think we’re thinking of redesigning [when nuclear and other resources are run] around an event that has that kind of time limitations,” he said. One potential concern for ComEd and other utilities in the country, however, is losing staff. “Massive absentee rates” would likely lead to reduced or scattered shifts, he said, as greater absenteeism “could impact restoration time in the case of storm” or other outages. Dominguez is “most concerned of an operational failure,” or the potential for critical infrastructure needs repairs and not having the “workforce to restore it.”
Ohio utilities commission order might stretch limits of emergency power -The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has gotten out in front of the coronavirus epidemic with emergency orders aimed at protecting consumers from utility shut-offs. But a provision for individual action by just the chair or vice-chair could test the limits of the commission’s authority.The PUCO’s first emergency order on the coronavirus pandemic came on March 12, three days after Gov. Mike DeWine’s executive order declaring a state of emergency in Ohio.“Last week the PUCO took action to be sure utilities are not disconnecting customers for nonpayment during the state of emergency,” said commission spokesperson Matt Schilling. A follow-up order on March 13 expanded the emergency directives to include situations where customers may need reconnections of utility service.As of March 17, American Electric Power, Dayton Power and Light, FirstEnergy, and Duke’s utilities were all suspending disconnections at least temporarily, according to information compiled by the Energy and Policy Institute. In most cases, usage charges will continue to accrue.Other parts of the March 12 PUCO order dealt with procedure changes during the public health emergency. Among them is a provision that makes Chair Sam Randazzo or deputy chair Beth Trombold “individually empowered to act and make decisions on behalf of the full Commission that are necessary to address and mitigate the impacts of that emergency.” The provision kicks in if either of them judges that it is “not practical or feasible to convene a quorum of commissioners. “Schilling did not elaborate on what those conditions might be or whether there is any precedent for convening commission meetings via phone or a webinar/webcast set-up. “The Commission speaks through its orders,” he said. On Friday, March 20, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chair Sam Randazzo briefly commented on the single-commissioner delegation provision at the commission’s March 20 meeting. “We have delegated the authority to myself and Commissioner Trombold to act in the event that we can’t get together. But that’s not our preferred course of action,” he said. “So we are going to continue to try and have at least three commissioners when we need to issue a decision, like the one we’re going to issue today.”
Ohio bans door-to-door energy sales over coronavirus concerns, following Illinois, Pennsylvania — The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio met in special session this week to issue an order prohibiting competitive gas and electricity supply companies from sending sales staff door-to-door during the declared coronavirus emergency. The order came one day after a formal request filed by the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel recommending that the PUCO “immediately and indefinitely halt energy marketers’ door-to-door sales so as to protect Ohioans from the coronavirus.” The filing noted that the Pennsylvania PUC had approved a similar measure on Monday. The Illinois Commerce Commission adopted a similar order Wednesday. PUCO’s order limits the ban to the duration of Ohio’s coronavirus emergency declared March 9 by Gov. Mike DeWine. “Marketing practices involving in-person contact like door-to-door and in-store marketing by … suppliers present unnecessary risk of spreading COVID-19 to all individuals, particularly with respect to at-risk populations,” the order reads. The consumers’ counsel proposal argued not only that door-to-door sales now pose a “health risk” but also that “policing the tactics” of some of the marketing companies is difficult. “With schools and potentially businesses closing for the next three weeks (and maybe much longer), there will be even more Ohioans at home and subject to what are now health risks of door-to-door sales,” attorneys for the consumers’ counsel wrote. “Responsible marketers would already be suspending their door-to-door sales. But, as is clear from several recent mis-marketing cases, the PUCO cannot allow the marketing industry to self-regulate.” The Retail Energy Supply Association had no immediate comment. But Dublin, Ohio-based IGS Energy, an independent gas and power supplier, noted that it had suspended in-person sales before regulators began banning the practice. “IGS Energy recognizes that the health and safety of our employees and the general public is paramount during this uncertain time. It is for that reason that we proactively suspended our door-to-door and in-person sales activities prior to the issuance of the Commission’s order,” wrote Michael Nugent, senior regulatory counsel, in an email exchange. “We will continue to monitor this situation and work proactively to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.” Samuel Randazzo, chair of the PUCO, said before the commission voted to approve the order that the consumers’ counsel should have just called the agency.
US solar installations shot up last year, but coronavirus could have an impact going forward – The U.S. solar market installed 13.3 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in 2019, a 23% rise compared to the year before, new figures show. According to a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, solar represented almost 40% of new electricity generating capacity added in the U.S. last year. The cumulative operating photovoltaic capacity – the running total – in the U.S. now stands at more than 76 GW. “Photovoltaic” refers to a way of directly converting light from the sun into electricity. Looking ahead, Wood Mackenzie is forecasting annual growth of 47% for this year, with almost 20 GW of installations. Potential headwinds loom on the horizon, however. The SEIA said it was “closely monitoring changes to the industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of the release of this publication, the full impacts of the coronavirus outbreak on the solar industry are still developing.” The SEIA added that the “dynamic nature of the outbreak” meant it was “too early to incorporate any changes into our outlooks with enough certainty.” “Even as tariffs have slowed our growth, we’ve always said that the solar industry is resilient, and this report demonstrates that,” Abigail Ross Hopper, the SEIA’s president and CEO, said in a statement Tuesday. “We know anecdotally that the COVID-19 pandemic is starting to impact delivery schedules and that it could affect demand for solar as well as our ability to meet project completion deadlines based partly on new labor shortages.”
Maine Supreme Court upholds PUC approval of energy corridor – The state supreme court has rejected a challenge of utility regulators’ approval of a 145-mile (230-kilometer) power transmission corridor that would serve as a conduit for hydropower from Canada. NextEra Energy Resources appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court after the Public Utilities Commission granted its approval to the $1 billion New England Clean Energy Connect. In its unanimous ruling, the panel brushed aside NextEra’s complaint that the PUC made a number of errors on its decision. “The commission followed the proper procedure and there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the findings it made. In short, the commission reasonably interpreted and applied the relevant statutory mandates in arriving at its decision,” the court wrote Tuesday. A message left for NextEra wasn’t immediately returned Wednesday. Central Maine Power’s New England Clean Energy Connect would allow up to 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to reach the regional power grid to meet Massachusetts’ green energy goals. Under the proposal, most of the transmission line would follow an established utility corridor, but a new path would be cut through 53 miles (85 kilometers) of wilderness that the power company owns.
Missouri Supreme Court upholds decision by court of appeals on Grain Belt Express – The Missouri Supreme Court upheld the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District’s 2019 decision reaffirming a PSC decision that approved a certificate of need and necessity for the Grain Belt Express Project (GBX). This Supreme Court action ends a long effort by project opponents to overturn the PSC decision on the Grain Belt Express. This is the project that has a route through north Missouri. The Project benefits 350,000 Missourians in rural communities across the state with low-cost, reliable energy. This decision sends a strong signal to the state legislature that time after time, it has been upheld that indeed the GBX project has the constitutional basis to proceed with a wind energy transmission line in Missouri. Duncan Kincheloe, MPUA President, and General Manager said, “The Missouri Supreme Court decision was welcome news for nearly forty communities across our state. We look forward to seeing this project proceed so that customers of our consumer-owned utilities can realize the cost savings this project provides.” Over the last two sessions, bills have been filed in both the Missouri House and Senate that would effectively kill the project, despite it benefitting 39 Missouri communities whose local utility has contracted to receive power transmission from the energy project.
PANDEMIC: Coal industry asks Trump, Congress for coronavirus bailout — Friday, March 20, 2020 — Coal has joined the list of industries asking for a federal bailout as the coronavirus pandemic batters a sector already in crisis.
Some Georgia Coal Ash Efforts Survive Legislative Midpoint – Several bills relating to the regulation of coal ash in Georgia made it through crossover day in the Georgia legislature and may still become law. But those bills did not include the high profile “lined storage bills” supported by the people of Juliette who live next door to one of the largest coal-burning power plants in the country.One effort still alive for the rest of the session would guarantee that once capped over and no longer open to the air, coal ash ponds would be more aggressively monitored for leakage than they had been previously. That bill was sponsored and backed by Republicans. Another change would make it more expensive for out of state utilities to ship their coal ash to Georgia landfills by changing the fee structure for that dumping, the aim being a disincentive to trucking in out of state coal ash at all. The bills that failed to move would have dramatically ramped up coal ash regulation here. Those bills, one in the house and one in the senate, would have required coal ash ponds be lined along the bottom to seal the heavy metal laden material from ground water. There are five ash ponds in Georgia in contact with ground water aquifers. Those efforts were acutely important to the people of the town of Juliette in Monroe County where residents share years of health anxiety related to the coal ash pond at Georgia Power’s Plant Scherer. Recent water testing there suggests that well water is contaminated beyond what some consider healthy limits, though it is not settled that the contamination comes from coal ash. Pam Wolff is the moderator of a Juliette Facebook group that is the hub for community conversation around the issue and was part of a trip to the Capitol where residents lobbied for lined storage. “I’m very disappointed because just when you think that you got the people that need to be on board, on board, they do a backflip on you,” Wolff said. In return, House Representative Dale Washburn, R-Macon, helped push through a $500,000 budget bump to the Georgia EPD to help pay for third party well testing in Juliette to either confirm or refute findings of heavy metals in local well water by the environmental group the Altamaha Riverkeeper. It isn’t clear if EPD, the same agency which has the authority to approve Georgia Power’s plans to leave coal ash capped in place, will perform that third party testing or if the agency would seek out another party for the work. Community organizer Pam Wolff, who has spent the last year and a half immersing herself in the world of coal ash and drinking water, does not want EPD to do the testing. “If you really dig into it and do research, you’ll know that the Georgia EPD is not going to be that third party, non-biased party that we need involved,” Wolff said.
Judge gives 1st approval to $520 million Santee Cooper suit – Courts around South Carolina are at a near standstill as the state takes precautions to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, but a judge gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a $520 million deal that would settle a ratepayer class action lawsuit against Santee Cooper, the state-owned electric utility. The preliminary approval in the near-deserted Richland County courthouse by special state Judge Jean Toal sets the stage for final approval of what was described in Tuesday’s court hearing in superlatives – the largest cash settlement in one of the most complex lawsuits in South Carolina history. Unsaid was another superlative – that this settlement arose out of what could be the biggest business scandal in South Carolina history – the epic $9 billion failure by two once-respected electric utilities, SCANA and Santee Cooper, to build two nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer site in Fairfield County. The Securities and Exchange Commission has pending civil fraud charges against two former SCANA top executives.
Area nuclear plants say the power will keep flowing – It’s widely known Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman and Palisades Power Plant in Covert have plans in case of earthquakes and other natural disasters. They also have plans for pandemics, such as the current spread of coronavirus, or COVID-19. Bill Downey, Cook plant spokesman, and Val Gent, Palisades spokeswoman, said both plants are on the same page as neighbors and industry peers. Cook has about 1,100 full-time employees and Palisades has about 600 that they want to keep safe, but also keep producing safe and reliable energy for the hundreds and thousands of other people that are stuck in their homes. “Cook plant’s longstanding and long-practiced emergency preparedness plans, combined with AEP and Indiana Michigan Power’s documented pandemic protocols, position us well to manage safe and reliable operation through the duration of the COVID-19 situation,” Downey said. Gent said Palisades remains safe, secure and stable, and there is currently no impact on the delivery of energy. “We are confident our business continuity plan, which is specifically designed for these types of situations, will ensure the reliable delivery of electricity, as we respond appropriately to any potential risks,” she said. The plants are employing steps such as social distancing, including travel restrictions, meeting reductions, and tele-commuting for employees not considered essential for daily operation.
.
