Environmental News For The Week Ending 07July 2018

Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666

This is a collection of interesting news articles about the environment and related topics over the last week. This is a Tueday evening regular post at GEI.

Please share this article – Go to very top of page, right hand side, for social media buttons.

Millions of People Exposed to Bisphenols While Shopping Every Day – It seems like such a simple thing, but the act of signing and handling a receipt can increase the amount of hormone disrupting chemicals bisphenol-A (BPA) or bisphenol-S (BPS) inside your body significantly.And this is problematic if you are trying to lose weight, wanting to have calm and intelligent children one day, suffering from anxiety, depression, inflammation or food sensitivities or wanting to avoid cancers. Bisphenols (BPA & BPS) have the ability to hijack your hormonal systems at very small levels, so what are they doing in thermal receipt paper and how are they getting into our bodies? That answer is complicated but here we go! About 9 out of 10 retail stores are using thermal receipt paper that is coated with bisphenol powder and it reacts with heat and friction to create the ink you see. This is incredibly problematic because it’s in powder form and easily gets on to your hands when you are signing and handling receipts. Then within seconds it can get into your bloodstream. This wouldn’t be a big deal if we were talking about something like alcohol, which is inside antibacterial gels, because dose equals the poison. But bisphenols have demonstrated through studies that smaller amounts can cause damage to the hormonal system and therefore that rule doesn’t work to protect the public. In fact, it’s estimated that the amount of bisphenols you are exposed to when handling thermal receipt paper is up to 1000x more potent than the exposure from canned food. For this very reason, the handling of thermal receipt paper is a very relevant public health concern that retailers need to get a handle on to protect their customers and workers. So what are they doing about it? Well, not much. Why? There isn’t enough public pressure yet.

More than 200 people ill from parasite in Del Monte vegetable tray recall – An outbreak of cyclosporiasis has sickened 212 people in four states since May, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Seven of those individuals have been hospitalized. The outbreak is linked to Del Monte vegetable trays with fresh broccoli, cauliflower, celery sticks, carrots and dill dip. A recall of these 6-,12- and 28-ounce trays in clear, plastic clamshell packaging that contain these items was issued on June 15. Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin have all reported illnesses. “The two cases from Michigan reportedly purchased the vegetable tray in Wisconsin and therefore Michigan is not impacted from this outbreak,” a statement from the US Food and Drug Administration said. Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal infection caused by the cyclospora parasite. People are infected by consuming food or water contaminated with the parasite. Federal, state and local health officials are working to identify which food item on the trays is the culprit and the source of the contamination. Symptoms of cyclospora include diarrhea and frequent, sometimes explosive bowel movements, according to the CDC. Those who are infected may also experience loss of appetite, weight loss, stomach cramps or pain, nausea, gas and fatigue. Vomiting, headache, fever, body aches and flu-like symptoms can also occur. The illness can last from a few days to a few months and patients may feel better but then get worse again. Patients can be treated with antibiotics. The earliest reported symptoms in this outbreak began on May 14 and those who are ill range in age from 13 to 79 years old.

Victims blame FDA for food-recall failures – People had been getting sick from eating I.M. Healthy Original Creamy SoyNut Butter for more than two months when Peter Ebb, a 59-year-old Boston lawyer and health enthusiast, went for a run and then ate his usual gluten-free English muffin smeared with soy nut butter. Later that morning – March 6, 2017 – Ebb saw a message from Amazon, which had sold him the nut butter, that the manufacturer had recalled it for contamination by E. coli bacteria. Ebb threw away a protein drink he had made with the soy nut butter, but didn’t worry too much. The Food and Drug Administration warning that was linked to the email was worded very cautiously: Though serious illnesses might result, even potentially leading to death, “most healthy adults can recover completely within a week.” Six days later, Ebb was hospitalized and developed a deadly type of kidney failure. Within days, doctors told his wife to send for their children in case they needed to bid him a last goodbye. He survived, but remains unable to work full time and has trouble climbing the stairs. Now, he’s joining with 18 other victims to file claims against the companies responsible and call attention to the inadequacy of the nation’s recall system. A POLITICO investigation found that the I.M. Healthy SoyNut Butter case – which officials at the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have hailed as an improvement over past failures – was nonetheless emblematic of persistent weaknesses in the nation’s food-safety system, some of which haven’t been corrected for two years after being flagged by the agency’s inspector general. Two months elapsed between the first person sickened by eating I.M. Healthy SoyNut Butter on Jan. 4 and the recall orders that began on March 3 and expanded three more times until March 10. The FDA, working through a national network of labs that identifies outbreaks, pinpointed the contamination on Feb. 22. Victims maintain that the FDA should have ordered a recall on its own authority, given that a few days or even hours can make a difference in a deadly outbreak.

Meat 2.0? Clean meat? Spat shows the power of food wording – If meat is grown in a lab without slaughtering animals, what should it be called?That question has yet to be decided by regulators, but for the moment it’s pitting animal rights advocates and others against cattle ranchers in a war of words.Supporters of the science are embracing “clean meat” to describe meat grown by replicating animal cells. Many in the conventional meat industry are irritated by the term and want to stamp it out before it takes hold.”It implies that traditional beef is dirty,” says Danielle Beck, director of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The spat shows the power of language as a new industry attempts to reshape eating habits. It’s why the $49.5 billion U.S. beef, poultry, pork and lamb industry is mobilizing to claim ownership of the term “meat.”Squabbles over language are erupting across the food business as established definitions for mayonnaise and milk are also challenged by the likes of vegan spreads and almond drinks. What gets to be considered “meat” is a particularly touchy subject as new companies come up with substitutes they say are just like the real thing.

EPA blocks warnings on cancer-causing chemical – The Trump administration is suppressing an Environmental Protection Agency report that warns that most Americans inhale enough formaldehyde vapor in the course of daily life to put them at risk of developing leukemia and other ailments, a current and a former agency official told POLITICO. The warnings are contained in a draft health assessment EPA scientists completed just before Donald Trump became president, according to the officials. They said top advisers to departing Administrator Scott Pruitt are delaying its release as part of a campaign to undermine the agency’s independent research into the health risks of toxic chemicals. “They’re stonewalling every step of the way,” the current official said, accusing political appointees of interfering with the formaldehyde assessment and other reports on toxic chemicals produced by EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System. The current official and former official requested anonymity out of fear for their jobs and the impact that speaking out could have on the IRIS program. Interfering with the formaldehyde study is one of several steps Trump’s EPA has taken to side with the businesses the agency is supposed to regulate and undermine the agency’s approach to science, critics say.

Air Pollution Increases Diabetes Risk at Levels EPA Calls ‘Safe,’ Study Finds – A major study published Friday in The Lancet Planetary Healthhas confirmed a reported link between air pollution and diabetes in a big way, finding that particulate matter exposure can increase risk for the disease even at levels currently deemed safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization, CNN reported. “This is important because many industry lobbying groups argue that current levels are too stringent and should be relaxed. Evidence shows that current levels are still not sufficiently safe and need to be tightened,” study lead author and Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis assistant professor Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly said in a Washington University press release. The study found that air pollution caused 3.2 million new diabetes cases globally in 2016, 14 percent of the year’s total cases, and causes 150,000 new cases in the U.S. every year. Pollution-linked diabetes was also the cause of 8.2 million years of healthy life lost globally in 2016, 14 percent of the total number of healthy years lost due to diabetes that year. In the U.S., 350,000 years of healthy life are lost a year. “This is a very well-done report, very believable, and fits well with this emerging knowledge about the impacts of air pollution on a series of chronic diseases “I think you can very directly link relaxation of air pollution control standards with increased sickness and death,” said Dr. Philip Landrigan, the dean for Global Health at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. The study builds on previous research linking diabetes to air pollution, as well as a growing awareness of the extent of the health risks associated with pollution exposure. “Ten or 15 years ago, we thought that air pollution caused pneumonia, asthma and bronchitis and not much more than that,” Landrigan told CNN. “We now know that air pollution is a very important cause of heart disease and stroke and contributes to chronic lung disease, lung cancer and chronic kidney disease.”

July Fourth brings some of the year’s worst air pollution, thanks to fireworks – Americans’ fervor for Fourth of July fireworks has some unfortunate side effects. But there’s also a more widespread hazard from the yearly outburst of pyrotechnics: It spikes air pollution so sharply it becomes dangerous for everyone to breathe.Independence Day and July 5 consistently have some of the worst air quality of the year. With so many fireworks going off at once, levels of fine-particle pollution – a stew of tiny, lung-damaging specks of toxic soot, smoke and ash known as PM2.5 – surge several times higher than federal health standards across Southern California, air monitoring data show.Pollution levels jump sharply around 8 or 9 p.m. the evening of the Fourth of July, around when it gets dark, reaching their peak late in the night. The unhealthy pall hangs in the still, nighttime air and lingers through the following morning – a kind of hazy hangover from the night’s revelry.In downtown Los Angeles last year, fine particle pollution jumped above 300 micrograms per cubic meter – more than eight times the daily average health standard of 35 – and remained elevated through the following morning.The phenomenon isn’t unique to L.A. A 2015 nationwide study by U.S. government scientists found that on average, concentrations of fine-particle pollution for the 24-hour period beginning at 8 p.m. on the Fourth of July are 42 percent higher than on other days.

Air pollution leading cause of death among children in sub-Saharan Africa –According to a 2015 report by UNICEF, 500,000 children across sub-Saharan Africa died from pneumonia, and researchers found that air pollution was a leading contributor to pneumonia’s prevalence. An overwhelming majority of the deaths included children under the age of five.Several recent studies have expanded upon UNICEF’s findings, including one published last week in the science journal Nature, conducted by a team of researchers at Stanford University and the University of California San Diego, in which scientists found a “[r]obust relationship between air quality and infant mortality in Africa.”The study found that dirty air poses a deadly threat across the African continent, in both urban and rural areas alike. According to researchers, the scale of air pollution is not easily quantifiable due to the lack of air quality monitoring equipment in most regions and urban centers. Notwithstanding, what scientists have discovered is both alarming and extremely dire for public health.“Air pollution is actually a much more important cause of excess mortality in sub-Saharan Africa than previously thought,” said Jennifer Burney, a co-author of the study. OECD researchers found that across Africa, annual deaths brought by ambient particulate matter pollution increased by 36 percent between 1990 and 2013. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), for children in Africa who make it past age five, the effects of persistent air pollution can stunt brain development, trigger asthma and cause strokes and cancers later as adults.

Michigan okays ‘polluter panels’ in blow to environmental efforts across the state – Environmental activists are slamming two controversial bills signed into law Friday by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), arguing that they will give polluting companies the ability to undermine state environmental guidelines. The two bills signed by Snyder will allow for oversight of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), which is meant to serve as a watchdog for environmental issues throughout the state. One law establishes an Environmental Rules Review Committee staffed by governor-appointed voting members representing various sectors including waste management, manufacturing, fossil fuel companies, and agriculture. The committee will oversee the DEQ’s process for establishing rules and presumably wield considerable control over how such efforts proceed.The second law creates the Environmental Permit Review Commission, which will advise on permits and other applications, to be housed within the DEQ. Both laws have been dubbed “polluter panels” bills based on the leeway they give to industries known for poor environmental practices. In a statement, Snyder argued the bills would bolster the DEQ’s ability to “make decisions impacting environmental quality” in addition to helping “transparency”.

Science Propaganda, Poisonism and the Microbiome — The NIH Human Microbiome Project ran until 2013: “The initial phase of the project, HMP1, established in 2008, characterized the microbial communities from 300 healthy individuals, across several different sites on the human body.” How did they identify “healthy individuals” amid this generally toxic environment? The answer is that while there’s still lots of superficially healthy people, there’s no way to ascertain a correspondingly healthy microbiome in the absence of a control group which has consumed a diet equivalent except for the poisons, and who has lived among an intact, non-toxified ecosystem. Of course there is no such control group, nor is it possible to envision what the control cuisine would be, since the mainstream American diet is inherently full of empty calories suffused with explicit poisons and many other dubious additives. And in a place as superficially diverse as America how does one define a “reference” diet in the first place? The project really sought to define an alleged average microbiome amid a toxic environment, then claim that this average comprises a “core healthy microbiome”, to use their own term. That of course is a lie. But it’s typical of establishment science under the corporate science paradigm. Meanwhile the microbiome is being degraded. Industrial foods are neither prebiotic nor probiotic, tend to be sterile, tend to be low in fiber, and are loaded with poisons harmful to beneficial bacteria. Just to give one major example, herbicides like glyphosate, 2,4-D and dicamba are antibiotics which exterminate whole bacterial communities while selectively sparing pathogens such as salmonella and botulins. The industrial environment is loaded with poisons. Antibiotic residues in food and the environment are especially harmful to microbiotia.

USDA Seeks Comment on Biotechnology Regulation Revisions → The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is considering amending its biotechnology regulations to address advances in biotechnology and various issues previously raised by stakeholders, and is seeking comment on a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.Public input is an important first step in this process, and APHIS is seeking comments on potential environmental impacts and issues that should be considered as the Agency drafts the programmatic environmental impact statement (pEIS). The goal of the pEIS will be to address potential changes to the Agency’s biotechnology regulations regarding the importation, interstate movement, and environmental release of certain genetically engineered (GE) organisms (7 CFR part 340).APHIS’ intent in revising its biotechnology regulations is to more effectively protect plant health by focusing on potential risks posed by certain GE organisms rather than the method used to produce the product. As required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), APHIS must evaluate the potential impacts to the environment that may result from its actions. APHIS will thoroughly review and consider all public input submitted during the 30-day comment period on the notice of intent and use the information as it works to complete, and then publish, the draft pEIS and a draft proposed rule. The public and stakeholders will also have ample opportunity to review and comment on each of these proposed documents in support of APHIS’ goal of updating its biotechnology regulations.

Match Made In Hell: Bayer-Monsanto Partnership Signals Death Knell for Humanity — On what plane of reality is it possible that two of the world’s most morally bankrupt corporations, Bayer and Monsanto, can be permitted to join forces in what promises to be the next stage in the takeover of the world’s agricultural and medicinal supplies? Warning, plot spoiler: There is no Mr. Hyde side in this horror story of epic proportions; it’s all Dr. Jekyll. Like a script from a David Lynch creeper, Bayer AG of poison gas fame has finalized its $66 billion (£50bn) purchase of Monsanto, the agrochemical corporation that should be pleading the Fifth in the dock on Guantanamo Bay instead of enjoying what amounts to corporate asylum and immunity from crimes against humanity. Such are the special privileges that come from being an above-the-law transnational corporation.Unsurprisingly, the first thing Bayer did after taking on Monsanto, saddled as it is with the extra baggage of ethic improprieties, was to initiate a rebrand campaign. Like a Hollywood villain falling into a crucible of molten steel only to turn up later in some altered state, Monsanto has been subsumed under the Orwellian-sounding ‘Bayer Crop Science’ division, whose motto is: “Science for a better life.”Yet Bayer itself provides little protective cover for Monsanto considering its own patchy history of corporate malfeasance. Far beyond its widely known business of peddling pain relief for headaches, the German-based company played a significant role in the introduction of poison gas on the battlefields of World War I.

Neonicotinoid Pesticides Have Been Found in Wild Turkeys – Neonicotinoid pesticides have commonly been linked to the plight of honeybees.But a new study from the University of Guelph finds that honeybees aren’t the only non-pest creatures that are coming into contact with the pesticides. Neonicotinoids, sometimes called neonics, are pesticides chemically similar to nicotine, hence their name. There are several different varieties, with the three most common being imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin. They’re exceedingly prevalent in the U.S. and were also used in Europe – at least before they were banned in the EU earlier this year.Neonicotinoids have been repeatedly linked to honeybee colony collapse disorder, and concern for the pollinators is generally stated as a major reason for bans and restrictions. But research on other animals has not been as extensive; a study in 2014 found a correlation between the increase in neonicotinoid use and a decrease in insect-eating birds, but, as we all learned in high school, correlation does not necessarily mean causation. This new study examined carcasses of wild turkeys in southern Ontario and found that nearly 25 percent of them had detectable levels of neonicotinoids in their livers. Wild turkeys are omnivores, eating basically anything they can catch or find, and it’s fairly common for them to eat seeds. Neonicotinoids are generally sold as seeds treated with the brightly colored pesticide, and corn and soy coated seeds were found in some of the birds’ digestive systems.

Bees dying in America’s honeybee hot spot – Bees are having a much harder time finding food in the region known as America’s last honeybee refuge, a new federal study found.The country’s hot spot for commercial beekeeping is the Northern Great Plains of the Dakotas and neighboring areas, where more than 1 million colonies spend their summer feasting on pollen and nectar from nearby wildflowers and other plants.But from 2006 to 2016, more than half the conservation land within a mile of bee colonies was converted into agriculture, usually row crops such as soybeans and corn, said the study’s lead author, Clint Otto of the US Geological Survey. Those crops hold no food for bees.For more than a decade, bees and other pollinators in America have been dwindling in numbers because of a variety of problems, including poor nutrition, pesticides, parasites and disease. And outside experts said this study highlights another problem that affects the health of bees.This area – which Otto called “America’s last honeybee refuge” – lost about 629 square miles of prime bee habitat, according to the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. And bees that have a hard time finding food are less likely to survive the winter, Otto said. They may not be hungry, he said, but they aren’t healthy, either.

These tiny little bugs are a harbinger of wetland health – and they’re disappearing – MPR – A crustacean that’s a key food source in Minnesota’s wetlands is in trouble – and scientists are intensely studying them in the western half of the state, in an effort to save them. Amphipods, half-inch long shrimplike crustaceans, have been in decline for more than 20 years, and scientists say only five percent of wetlands in Minnesota where they could live actually have a healthy population. Amphipods might be small, but they play a major part in the diets of salamanders, fish and migrating waterfowl. Jake Carleen, a technician with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, has been counting their populations in wetlands from Windom to Bemidji. “They are a super-important forage for bluebill [and] scaup, particularly when they come up in the spring. Just packed with protein,” h And the health of Minnesota’s amphipod population has an impact well beyond the state’s borders: The region of the upper midwest and into Canada supports what’s considered the duck factory of North America: Fifty to 70 percent of the continent’s ducks are born and grow here each year. Carleen has sampled more than 100 wetlands this spring. He’s part of a team of researchers in western Minnesota that, over the next couple years, will try to understand why these crucial bugs are disappearing – and how they might bring them back.

Global Frog Pandemic May Become Even Deadlier as Strains Combine — A fungus that has decimated frog populations around the world could get even deadlier, according to new research. The study found that hybridization of different types of the fungus creates strains that can cause greater mortality in frogs. And it warns that deforestation could make this impact worse.The fungus is called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis – Bd for short – and it causes a disease called chytridiomycosis that affects a frog’s ability to absorb water and electrolytes through its skin. Scientists first started to take notice in the 1970s when frog populations in Central and South America started disappearing. By the 1990s Bd had spread around the world, likely aided by the laboratory trade in African clawed frogs and invasions of American bullfrogs. By 2007 it had been implicated in the decline or extinction of some 200 species. Today, biologists consider it one of the biggest threats to amphibians globally. Some research has offered a bit of hope for frogs, with a study published earlier this year in Science finding populations may be able to develop resistance to Bd. But a new study published last week in Scientific Reports adds another hurdle for frogs, finding that hybridization between a native strain of Bd in Brazil and the one that’s caused the global pandemic can lead to greater infection rates and illness strength than either can alone. Scientists believe the Brazilian strain of Bd (Bd-Brazil) evolved along with amphibian populations there and, because of this, is not as harmful to them as the Global Pandemic Lineage (Bd-GPL). But when the team compared infection and illness rates of the two types of Bd and a third hybridized one, they found that the latter had a significantly worse impact on two of the three frog species they examined. The researchers write that this effect may be due to a phenomenon called “hybrid vigor” (also referred to as “heterosis”), by which the sudden surge in genetic diversity caused by hybridization leads to a more dramatic expression of advantageous physical traits.

Hawaii to Approve Landmark Ban on Coral-Damaging Sunscreens — Hawaii Gov. David Ige is expected to sign a bill this week prohibiting the sale of sunscreen that contains chemicals considered harmful to ocean ecosystems, including coral reefs.The Aloha State is the first in the nation to enact such a law.The measure, introduced by Democratic State Sen. Mike Gabbard, bans in Hawaii the sale and distribution of all sunscreen containing oxybenzone or octinoxate, or both, without a prescription from a licensed healthcare provider.Extensive coral bleaching is occurring in Hawaii’s most popular snorkeling spot, Hanauma Bay. While studieshave identified climate change as one of the drivers of the bleaching, scientists also blame the estimated 412 pounds of sunscreen that leaches into the tourist-heavy bay per day. Even a drop of oxybenzone in 4.3 million gallons of water, or six and a half Olympic sized swimming pools worth, is enough to harm corals, the New York Times reported.

GOP Senator Seeks Major Overhaul of Endangered Species Act – Sen. John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, released draft legislation Monday to significantly overhaul the Endangered Species Act (ESA).Under Barrasso’s proposal, individual states would be given key authority over the federal program to conserve threatened and endangered species.”When it comes to the Endangered Species Act, the status quo is not good enough,” the Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman said in a press release. “We must do more than just keep listed species on life support – we need to see them recovered. This draft legislation will increase state and local input and improve transparency in the listing process.”The Endangered Species Act, passed by Congress four decades ago, is the nation’s safety net for fish, plants and wildlife on the brink of extinction. More than 99 percent of species that have been designated for federal protection continue to exist in the wild today, including the bald eagle, grizzly bear, the leatherback sea turtle and the Florida manatee. Many Republicans have long sought to weaken the landmark conservation law, as it can block energy production or other developments on critical habitat for endangered species. The current GOP-controlled 115th Congress has introduced dozens of bills that would strip federal protections for specific threatened species or undermine the ESA, according an analysis from the Center for Biological Diversity. That’s one such bill every six days in 2017 alone. Earthjustice anticipated Barrasso’s legislative proposal more than a year ago. The environmental law nonprofit said that Barrasso has received substantial campaign contributions from extractive industries that wish to mine or drill land that overlaps with wildlife habitat. Citing campaign finance records, from 2011 until 2016, Barrasso received $458,466 in total campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry, plus$241,706 from the mining industry.

Satellite tech offers near real-time view of deforestation (Reuters) – In 2015, satellite images detected a fresh clearing of rainforest in an indigenous reserve deep in the Amazon. Within months, authorities in Peru had evicted the wildcat miners driving the deforestation, a rare victory in a region where a gold rush has laid waste to large swaths of pristine forest. The rapid response was possible thanks to better use of satellite technology that now allows deforestation to be tracked in near real-time, giving governments “unprecedented” opportunities to take action, said Matt Finer, the lead author of a paper on the trend in the latest issue of Science. Instead of years passing before learning about a new deforestation hotspot, authorities can track it in weeks or months, said Finer. “Most tropical countries now cannot say, ‘well we didn’t have the information, or we didn’t have the information on time’,” said Finer, a research specialist at the organization Amazon Conservation, which spotted the 2015 clearing in Peru’s Amarakaeri Communal Reserve. Satellites have gradually been capturing more frequent images of the world’s tropical forests with greater detail. In recent years, researchers at the University of Maryland developed an automated early-warning system to notify authorities of likely forest loss, said Finer. Algorithms can further filter the data by pointing to particularly troublesome patterns, such as the loss of green forest cover inside protected reserves or lines suggesting new roads have been cut through primary rainforest, said Finer.

What’s Worse Than Palm Oil for the Environment? Other Vegetable Oils, IUCN Study Finds — Banning palm oil in favor of other vegetable oils deemed less destructive to the environment could lead to greater biodiversity losses, a new report says. The report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) comes amid mounting debate about the use of palm oil, with the European Union seeking to phase out the use of the ubiquitous commodity in biofuels by 2030, citing environmental and human rights violations in the production of the commodity.But existing vegetable oils that could theoretically replace palm oil would be far more damaging to the environment because they would need more land, according to the IUCN report “Palm Oil and Biodiversity.”The production of palm oil is characterized by its high yield relative to other vegetable oils, meaning more of it can be produced from a given area of farmland than other oil crops. The latter require up to nine times more land than oil palms to produce the same amount of oil.Palm oil is currently produced from just 10 percent of all farmland dedicated to growing oil crops, yet accounts for 35 percent of the global volume of all vegetable oils. “Half of the world’s population uses palm oil in food, and if we ban or boycott it, other, more land-hungry oils will likely take its place,” IUCN director general Inger Andersen said in a press release.

India must ditch rice to feed growing population, scientists warn – India must shift from growing mainly rice and wheat to other crops that are healthier and better for the environment, according to new research. Current estimates suggest the nation will have to feed nearly 400 million more people by 2050 – a significant undertaking given that it already struggles with widespread malnutrition and lack of water. The study conducted by an international team of scientists aims to address two key targets of the Indian government – to improve the nation’s nutrition and promote sustainable water use. Currently, almost a third of India’s population are anaemic, and huge swathes of the country are severely lacking in waster due to heavy extraction for agricultural irrigation and less rain from recent monsoons. Indian diets are largely based on cereal crops, but the scientists suggest that the currently favoured varieties are contributing to the country’s problems. The research team looked at six grains currently grown in India: rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, and pearl and finger millet. Their results, published in the journal Science Advances, revealed that rice is the least water efficient cereal in India, and wheat was playing a significant role in driving water loss due to its high irrigation demands. In addition, they looked at the nutrient value of crops for components like calories, protein, iron and zinc. Their results suggested that replacing the current standard crops with maize, finger millet, pearl millet or sorghum would improve iron production by over a quarter and zinc by around a tenth.

Catastrophic drought threatens Iraq as major dams in surrounding countries cut off water to its great rivers – The rivers of Iraq, above all the Tigris and Euphrates, are drying up. The country is becoming more arid, and desertification is eating into the limited amount of agricultural land. Dams built upriver in Turkey, Syria and Iran since the 1970s have reduced the flow of water that reaches Iraq by as much as half and the situation is about to get worse. “On 1 July, Turkey will start filling the Ilisu dam on the Tigris and this will cause another decline in the inflows to our country of about 50 per cent,” Hassan Janabi, minister of water resources, told The Independent. He says that Iraq used to get 30 billion cubic metres of water a year from the Euphrates, but now “we are happy if we get 16 billion cubic metres”. As Iraq begins to recover from 40 years of wars and emergences, its existence is being threatened by the rapidly falling water levels in the two great rivers on which its people depend. It was on their banks that the first cities were established cities 8,000 years ago and where the flood stories of Gilgamesh and the Bible were first told. Such floods are now a thing of the past – the last was in 1988 – and each year the amount of water taken by Iraq’s neighbours has been rising. This pattern started in the 1970s when Turkey and Syria built dams on the Euphrates for hydroelectric power and vast irrigation works. It is the latter which choke off the water supply to Iraq. The same thing happened a little later to the Tigris, whose major tributaries are being dammed by Iran. Iraqi protests have been ineffectual because Saddam Hussein and successor government in Baghdad were preoccupied by wars and crises that appeared more important at the time. By now it is getting too late to reverse the disastrous impact on Iraq of this massive loss of water. Some smaller rivers like the Karun and Kark that used to flow out of Iran into Iraq, have simply disappeared after the Iranians diverted them. He says: “We used to get five billion cubic metres annually from the Karkhah, and now we get zero.” Iraq was once self-sufficient in food, but now imports 70 per cent of its needs. Locally grown watermelons and tomatoes are for sale beside the road or in the markets, but most of what Iraqis eat comes from Iran or Turkey or is purchased by the government on the world market.

Cloud Theft: Top Iranian General Accuses Israel Of “Stealing Its Rain” – Earlier this week, the Head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization blamed Iran’s drought on “cloud and snow theft,” allegedly engineered by Israel. In a series of comments at the Third National Conference on Non-Proactive Defense in Agriculture on civil defense tactics in agriculture, held in Tehran on Monday, Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali condemned Israel for its severe drought, insisting that the country has fallen victim to the ‘Jewish State stealing its rain.’ He said Iranian academic institutions had confirmed that foreign entities played a significant role in manipulating weather patterns over the country. A scientific study conducted in the country “confirms” the validity behind Jalali’s accusation – mostly directed at Israel, said Iranian Students’ News Agency. “Foreign interference is suspected to have played a role in climate change,” Jalali emphasized. “Israel and another country in the region have joint teams which work to ensure clouds entering Iranian skies are unable to release rain,” a translated report from the Tasnim News Agency quoted Jalali as saying.Jalali went in depth to describe the scientific evidence supporting his claims. He said a recent study carried out over the past four years regarding the climate of high altitudes from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean Sea indicated that all elevations above 2,200 meters (7,217 feet) in these regions, except in Iran, have a dense layer of snow.Twitter users erupted with laughter in both countries this week, after Jalali’s statements on Monday. Here are some of the tweets: […] As a reminder, weather warfare or the use of weather modifications for purposes of causing damage or destruction was prohibited by world governments on May 1977 in Geneva and entered into force on October 1978 via the Environmental Modification Convention (ENMOD). While the technology for weather manipulation has been around for decades, it is anyone’s guess to the validity of Iran’s claims that Israel is stealing its water through weather modification techniques. However, it is important to know that the technology does exist and both countries want to nuke each other.

India’s ‘worst water crisis in history’ leaves millions thirsty – India is “suffering from the worst water crisis in its history”, threatening hundreds of millions of lives and jeopardising economic growth, a government think-tank report said in June. From the northern Himalayas to the sandy, palm-fringed beaches in the south, 600 million people – nearly half India’s population – face acute water shortage, with close to 200,000 dying each year from polluted water. Residents like Devi queue daily with pipes, jerry cans and buckets in hand for water from tankers – a common lifeline for those without a safe, reliable municipal supply – often involving elbowing, pushing and punching. On the rare occasions water does flow from taps, it is often dirty, leading to disease, infection, disability and even death, experts say. “The water was like poison,” said Devi, who still relies on the tanker for drinking water, outside her one-room shanty in the chronically water-stressed Wazirpur area of the capital Delhi. “It is better now, but still it is not completely drinkable. It is alright for bathing and washing the dishes.” Water pollution is a major challenge, the report said, with nearly 70 percent of India’s water contaminated, impacting three in four Indians and contributing to 20 percent of the country’s disease burden. Yet only one-third of its wastewater is currently treated, meaning raw sewage flows into rivers, lakes and ponds – and eventually gets into the groundwater. “Our surface water is contaminated, our groundwater is contaminated. See, everywhere water is being contaminated because we are not managing our solid waste properly,” said the report’s author Avinash Mishra.

Why many women in India refuse water during a heatwave – BBC – The sun is at its peak, the heat in the high 40s Celsius. In an urban slum in India’s capital Delhi, Mona [not her real name] deliberately avoids drinking water. She is fearful it will make her need to urinate. “Sometimes, I drink less water because the spot we use to go to the toilet in the open is filled with notorious boys. I am afraid to go there.” The 13-year-old girl also restricts her food intake and goes to the ‘spot’ just once a day to relieve herself. She goes with a group of other women, either early in the morning or late in the evening. Around 524 million Indians defecate in the open every day according to the UN figures. And for women there is an added layer of vulnerability – sexual assault. Several studies have suggested that women without toilets at home risk sexual violence when travelling to and from public facilities or open fields. Savita, who lives in an urban slum in Delhi, recounts the horror they are forced to encounter every single day. “A number of women face lewd remarks, harassment, and stares from local boys when they go out in the open to defecate. “That’s why we are afraid to go there. Each time, we have to gather other women and request them to accompany us to the jungle,” she reveals.

Red-hot planet: All-time heat records have been set all over the world during the past week — From the normally mild summer climes of Ireland, Scotland and Canada to the scorching Middle East, numerous locations in the Northern Hemisphere have witnessed their hottest weather ever recorded over the past week.Large areas of heat pressure or heat domes scattered around the hemisphere led to the sweltering temperatures. Let’s take a tour around the world of the recent hot-weather milestones. A massive and intense heat dome has consumed the eastern two-thirds of the United States and southeast Canada since late last week. It’s not only been hot but also exceptionally humid. Here are some of the notable all-time records set:

• Denver tied its all-time high-temperature record of 105 degrees on June 28.
• Burlington, Vt., set its all-time warmest low temperature ever recorded of 80 degrees on July 2.
• Montreal recorded its highest temperature in recorded history, dating back 147 years, of 97.9 degrees (36.6 Celsius) on July 2. The city also posted its most extreme midnight combination of heat and humidity.
• Ottawa posted its most extreme combination of heat and humidity on July 1.
• Scotland provisionally set its hottest temperature on record. The U.K. Met Office reported Motherwell, about 12 miles southeast of Glasgow, hit 91.8 degrees (33.2 Celsius) on June 28, passing the previous record of (32.9 Celsius) set in August 2003 at Greycrook. Additionally, Glasgow had its hottest day on record, hitting 89.4 degrees (31.9 Celsius).
• In Ireland, on June 28, Shannon hit 89.6 degrees (32 Celsius), its record.
• In Northern Ireland,
  • Belfast hit 85.1 degrees (29.5 Celsius) on June 28, its record.
  • Castlederg hit 86.2 degrees (30.1 Celsius) on June 29, its record
• Yerevan, Armenia: On July 2, the capital city soared to 107.6 degrees (42 Celsius), a record high for July and tying its record for any month.
• Several locations in southern Russia topped or matched their warmest June temperatures on record on the 28th.

Extreme Heat Event in Northern Siberia and the coastal Arctic Ocean This Week – An extreme heat event for this particular region…with high temperatures of greater than 40 degrees F above recent normals…will impact the coast of the Arctic Ocean (specifically the Laptev Sea and Eastern Siberian Sea) Wednesday-Friday. This will generate maximum daily temperatures as high as 90-95 degrees near the open ocean coast! Yes, you read that correctly. (see temperature maps Needless to say, a true roasting for this area. I’ve looked over the European model and there appears to be general agreement over the intensity and timing of this extreme event. It is absolutely incredible and really one of the most intense heat events I’ve ever seen for so far north. Climate change has sent temps skyrocketing in the far north of the planet over just the past 20 years. While that’s been quite reflected in the rapid rise in wintertime temperatures, it’s increasingly being reflected in summertime temperatures as more and more sea ice disappears earlier in the season, leaving more dark blue ocean to absorb more daytime sunlight. This heating of the ocean surface by low albedo (very low reflectivity…little sunlight being reflected back off into space) causes some heat to be released back to heat the atmosphere above, speeding up warming of the Arctic region. This is known as Arctic Amplification. And one larger-scale hemispheric consequence being actively researched by Dr. Jennifer Francis (YouTube Video Presentation) and on others is that Arctic Amplification is causing an abrupt weakening of the polar jet stream (on timescales of just the past decade or two), the main feature which steers and intensifies weather patterns in the mid-latitudes. The weakening is causing the polar jet to become much wavier, with greater wave “breaks” and blocking patterns where waves sit in the same place for weeks promote extreme weather patterns (extreme cold relative to normal as well as extreme heat, very wet, and drought conditions).

Heat wave kills 19 in Canada — A heatwave in Quebec has killed at least 19 people in the past week as high summer temperatures scorched eastern Canada, health officials said Wednesday. Twelve of the dead were reported in the eastern province’s capital Montreal, said regional public health director Mylene Drouin. The Tribune newspaper said five of the deaths occurred in the past 48 hours in the Eastern Townships, a rural area just east of the city. And late Wednesday two more deaths blamed on the heat were recorded in a Montreal suburb, Radio Canada reported. “My thoughts are with the loved ones of those who have died in Quebec during this heat wave,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter. “The record temperatures are expected to continue in central and eastern Canada, so make sure you know how to protect yourself and your family,” Trudeau said. Drouin said the victims were part of “the very vulnerable population, the elderly or people suffering from chronic or mental illnesses.” Temperatures soared to 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) with a humidity that made it feel closer to 40 degrees, the meteorological service said. The mercury has regularly topped 30 degrees since Friday in southern Quebec, accompanied by stifling humidity levels. A government heat warning is in place for the region, but meteorologists are forecasting a drop in temperatures at the end of the week.

Canada heatwave: more than 30 deaths reported as extreme weather continues – A heatwave rolling through central and eastern Canadahas caused the deaths of more than 30 people, with officials warning that the extreme weather conditions are expected to continue for at least another day.The sweltering combination of heat and humidity, which began on Friday, has been linked by health officials to the deaths of 33 people across southern Quebec.Most of the victims lived alone, had health issues and did not have access to air conditioning, David Kaiser, a physician at Montreal’s public health department, told Reuters. The furnace-like conditions are expected to continue on Thursday, with Environment Canada issuing warnings for southern Quebec, along with parts of Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Montreal reached a high of 34C (93F) degrees on Wednesday, with a humidity index near 40 (104F). On Thursday temperatures are expected to rise slightly to 35C degrees while humidity values will reach between 40 and 45 in the region – a level at which people are warned to avoid exertion.

Detroit water shutoffs to resume in midst of punishing heat wave -The city of Detroit is set to resume water shutoffs after a one week pause over the July 4 holiday in the midst of a brutal heat wave affecting the entire region.Two thousand households in Detroit have had their water service disconnected in the last six weeks, since the Detroit Water and Sewer Department (DWSD) officials announced they were resuming the brutal shutoff policy following the regular winter hiatus.Lack of access to fresh water poses an urgent health threat under conditions where Detroit and large areas of the US and Canada are experiencing a summer heat wave. For low-income residents without air-conditioning, running water is crucial to hydrate and cool off.Regular National Weather Service heat advisories have appeared in Detroit and nationally warning that high temperatures pose an acute danger to children, the elderly and health-compromised individuals. Along with a large swathe of the US, Detroit has experienced days of heat indexes in the 100 degree Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) range. On Monday of this week, Detroit Water and Sewer Department (DWSD) officials announced a one-week pause in shutoffs for the July 4 holiday week. DWSD head Gary Brown claimed that the halt demonstrated that authorities were being “compassionate” for Detroit residents suffering from the heat. However, other reports indicated that the pause was not called because of the heat, but was due to the July 4 holiday falling on a Wednesday. In any event, there is nothing “compassionate” about the city shutoff policy, which is based on satisfying the relentless demands of wealthy holders of water bonds.

Dangerous U.S. Pollution Event From Heat Wave, African Dust, and Fires —An unusually concentrated plume of African dust invaded the U.S. over the weekend, bringing dangerously high levels of fine particulate pollution (PM2.5, particles less than 2.5 microns or 0.0001 inch in diameter). The dust from the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) arrived in Texas on Thursday, and spread northwards and northeastward into the Tennessee Valley over the weekend. The high levels of African dust in combination with human-generated pollution brought the highest PM2.5 levels of the year to 24 of the 37 monitoring locations in Texas over the weekend. Two of six monitoring stations in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area violated the 24-hour PM2.5 standard of 35 μg/m3 over the weekend, as did one of five stations in the San Antonio region and both stations in the Tyler-Longview-Marshall area. These violations were for an AQI in the “Unhealthy For Sensitive Groups” (orange) range. The dust also led to a rare PM2.5 violation in Arkansas on Sunday, at the El Dorado monitor. According to statistics from the American Lung Association, Arkansas did not experience any PM2.5 violations between 2014 – 2016. (Note that it’s referred to as a “violation” when PM2.5 levels exceed the EPA guidelines even if the cause is partially natural, such as from Saharan dust).A PM2.5 episode as widespread and severe as this is a threat to cause hundreds of premature deaths. According to a 2018 study done by the Health Effects Institute (a U.S. non-profit corporation funded by the EPA and the auto industry), PM2.5 pollution in the U.S. caused approximately 87,000 premature deaths per year between 2010 and 2016. Air pollution deaths are calculated using epidemiological studies, which correlate death rates with air pollution levels. Air pollution has been proven to increase the incidence of death due to stroke, heart attack and lung disease. Since these causes of death are also due to other factors – such as lifestyle and family history – we typically refer to air pollution deaths as premature deaths. A premature air pollution-related death typically occurs about twelve years earlier than it otherwise might have, according to Caiazzo et al., 2013.

High heat to send temperatures past 100 degrees across Los Angeles, southwestern US following July 4th – Hotter weather will surge across the southwestern United States late this week and into this weekend, even reaching parts of coastal California. “The same high pressure area that brought record-challenging heat to the eastern two-thirds of the nation from late June through the Fourth of July will gradually re-position itself over the Southwest by week’s end and into the upcoming weekend,” said AccuWeather Meteorologist Kyle Elliott.Temperatures at the peak of the heat will run 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. This results in temperatures at or above 100 F in Los Angeles and near 90 F in San Diego. A few desert locations could reach 120 F on one or both days. High temperatures will challenge records from Los Angeles to San Diego as well as in Las Vegas and Phoenix. Those hoping for relief from the heat at the California beaches will also contend with the hot weather.”Even at the beaches, the lack of a morning marine layer, commonly referred to as ‘June gloom,’ will allow temperatures to range from the 80s to near or just above 90 on one or both days,” Elliott said.”The way the atmosphere is set up, there can be potent Sundowner winds in this pattern,” according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Ken Clark.These winds tend to flow from north to south from Santa Barbara County to Los Angeles County in the mountains and through the north-south passes. The winds ramp up in the evening and last into the nighttime hours as the air cools over the higher elevations and descends to lower elevations, hence the name Sundowner winds. As the air descends, it heats up dramatically. “It is very unusual to have this setup during July, especially to this magnitude,” Clark said. “There is an enhanced risk for wildfire ignition and rapid spread considering the projected strength of the winds and heightened outdoor activity into this weekend.”

29 Wildfires Blaze Across the West, Fueled by Drought and Wind – Twenty-nine uncontained wildfires are blazing in the Western U.S. right now, raising concerns that 2018’s fire season could rival 2017’s record-breaking season for devastation, The New York Times reported Monday.The fast-moving County Fire in Northern California, which started Saturday and has burnt more than 60,000 acres of land as of late Monday, has belched smoke into the skies over San Francisco, Napa, Sonoma and San Mateo counties, National Public Radio (NPR) reported.It has created dramatic images, as Bay Area residents woke up to smoke and ash over the weekend.”The sky is very dark, even in the middle of the day. It’s a little scary,” a Sausalito Shell station employee Sergio Garcia told the Associated Press, according to NPR.For residents of California’s wine country, it is also bringing back memories of the fires that ravaged the area last fall.” A lot of friends and family were texting today and saying they were having some PTSD,” Savannah Kirtlink told the Associated Press, according to NPR. So far the County Fire has forced 300 people from their homes and threatened 700 buildings, ABC News reported. It is only three percent contained and growing, according to NPR, fueled by dry weather and southwesterly wind. “We didn’t really get a lot of rain this year, so the fields dried out quickly,” Captain Mark Bailey told The New York Times. “A big fire like this in early July is the new normal for California.” The County Fire isn’t the only one raging in California. The nearby Pawnee Fire, which began a week before, is still burning, though CalFire told NPR it is 75 percent contained.

Wildfire in Yolo County grows to 32,500 acres, forcing evacuations – On Saturday night, the County fire in the Yolo County countryside roared to life as firefighters ordered evacuations and battled to get a toehold on the 32,500-acre blaze in the face of hot, gusty winds. In California these days, the start – and end – of wildfire season is anyone’s guess. Not long ago fire officials eyed the autumn months as the time large blazes were most likely to ignite, after hot summer months had left brush and woods primed to burn. AdvertisementBut this year, as in recent years, the fires have come early. And they aren’t likely to end any time soon. Already this summer, several hundred firefighters have battled the Pawnee fire in Lake County that started June 23 and, so far, has burned more than 14,000 acres and destroyed 22 structures. On Saturday night, the County fire in the Yolo County countryside roared to life as firefighters ordered evacuations and battled to get a toehold on the 32,500-acre blaze in the face of hot, gusty winds. By Sunday night, the fire was 2% contained. “Fire season doesn’t seem like the right term to use anymore. The new normal for us is nearly a year-round fire season,” said Chris Anthony, a Cal-Fire division chief who was part of the team battling the County fire Sunday. “Twenty-two thousand acres in less than 24 hours at the end of June is not a good sign of things that might come.” The County fire began Saturday afternoon and, by dusk, had spread to a few thousand acres in and around Guinda, a rural community about 50 miles northwest of Sacramento. Fire officials, however, warned that red flag conditions – a perilous mix of low humidity, strong winds and high temperatures – could fuel the fire overnight. By dawn it was clear they had been right to worry. The fire had more than quadrupled in size and by noon had surpassed 20,000 acres, according to Cal-Fire, the agency that coordinates responses to wildfires across the state.

Wildfire in Yolo County California spreads to 60,000 acres; only 5% containment — On Saturday night, the County fire in the Yolo County countryside roared to life as firefighters ordered evacuations and battled to get a toehold on the 32,500-acre blaze in the face of hot, gusty winds. When Marian Flanders and her husband saw thick plumes of smoke from their kitchen window in Yolo County, they divvied up a list of tasks they needed to get done in case they had to escape. That much, they agreed on. A more agonizing choice came Sunday afternoon, when the evacuation zone was expanded to include their Esparto home. She wanted to leave; he wanted to stay behind to save his house and a lifetime of possessions. It was a drama familiar to many Californians, who in recent years have faced a relentless, year-round fire season. Fire officials said this week that red flag conditions – a perilous mix of low humidity, strong winds and high temperatures – could continue to fuel the County fire burning near Flanders’ neighborhood. Flanders broke down in tears and begged. By then, smoke hung in the air like dark orange soup, almost impossible to see through. It looked like the kind of smoke, she said, that could kill you. “Fire of this magnitude is not fightable. It’s not defensible by one person and a couple of hoses.” Eventually, Flanders persuaded Romero to leave. Others in their neighborhood, however, decided to stay. In the day that followed, the wildfire roughly doubled in size, as did the number of firefighters taking it on. By Monday evening, the County fire had ripped through 60,000 acres and 2,115 fire personnel were fighting it. The blaze was 5% contained. On Monday night, an evacuation advisory was expanded to include Berryessa Highlands, Markley Cove Resort and Pleasure Cove Resort. Authorities said residents should be prepared to evacuate in case fire conditions worsen.

More than 2,000 firefighters battle wind-driven wildfire in northern California (Reuters) – A wildfire in Northern California remained unchecked on Tuesday as firefighters battled the blaze that threatened hundreds of homes and other structures, sending thick black smoke across the San Francisco Bay Area. The County Fire, which broke out on Saturday afternoon in rural Yolo County, west of Sacramento, blackened more than 60,000 acres of grass, brush and dense scrub oak. It was only 5 percent contained late on Monday. The fire threatened about 700 homes, a local NBC affiliate reported, as authorities issued evacuation orders and advisories to hundreds of residents. Scott McLean of the California Department of Forestry and Fire protection said on Monday the job of hand crews and bulldozer operators trying to cut containment lines was made more difficult by high winds, which were blowing embers and starting new spot fires.“The potential for growth remains high as crews battle the fire in difficult terrain,” Cal Fire said in an advisory, noting that more than 2,000 firefighters were tackling the blaze.The smoke reached about 75 miles south to San Francisco, leaving films of ash on cars and windows. No casualties have been reported.

Strong Gusts Fuel Fierce Northern California Wildfire (Reuters) – Wind gusts of up to 25 miles (40 km) per hour may hamper firefighters battling a wildfire in Northern California on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said. Efforts to contain the fire, which broke out on Saturday afternoon in rural Yolo County, west of Sacramento, have been complicated by rough terrain. Hundreds of residents have evacuated. The County Fire has blackened more than 72,500 acres (29,340 hectares) of grass, brush and dense scrub oak, the California Fire authority said late on Tuesday. The United States is in the midst of an unusually active fire season, with the risk significantly above normal for many western states, according to federal forecasters. The County Fire was 15 percent contained with more than 2,600 fire personnel battling the flames, the California Fire authority said. “Their efforts have been hampered on the northern end of the fire by steep, inaccessible terrain,” the agency said in an advisory. Temperatures will be in the mid 80s Fahrenheit, the National Weather Service said. The blaze threatened about 980 structures, a local NBC affiliate reported, as authorities issued evacuation orders and advisories to hundreds of residents.In Colorado, firefighters face hot temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds on Wednesday as they battle eight major blazes which have torched over 140,000 acres in the drought-stricken state.

Western wildfires grow larger – Large wildfires grew across the American West on Wednesday, keeping thousands of people out of their homes for the July 4 holiday and forcing some strict bans on fireworks to prevent new fires from igniting in the hot, dry region. The National Interagency Fire Center on Wednesday reported more than 60 large, active blazes across the country, most in the drought-stricken West where holiday festivities could lead to increased fire danger.The third-largest fire in recorded Colorado history kept expanding, chewing through 147 square miles near Fort Garland, about 205 miles southwest of Denver.The Spring Fire has destroyed more than 100 homes, and more than 2,000 have been evacuated. Officials said preventing the flames from spreading toward the small mountain town of Cuchara is a priority. Nearly 1,000 firefighters were working to gain control of the fire in unpredictable winds, but it was only slightly contained since sparking June 27. Some fireworks displays were scheduled to go on in Denver and other large cities, but several mountain communities called off their holiday festivities to avoid any risk of flames. Parts of Colorado and other Western states have been grappling with severe drought that’s made wildfires explosive so far this season.Utah authorities ordered more residents to evacuate as a blaze grew to about 62 square miles near a popular fishing reservoir amid high wind gusts, steep terrain and dry conditions. It wasn’t clear how many more people were told to flee, but several hundred homes and cabins have been evacuated and the orders were extended to a 20-mile area dotted with trees and cabins.

PG&E Plans To Cut Electricity To Some California Residents To Prevent Wildfires – In a move straight out of the Soviet Union handbook, PG&E has warned they may cut electrical power to some California residents during “extreme weather” to help prevent wildfires. This comes after some poorly maintained Pacific Gas and Electric power lines have been determined to have started last year’s deadly wildfires in the Napa Valley wine country area.Cal Fire investigators said Friday that equipment owned and operated by PG&E ignited 12 wildfires that raged in hot, dry weather and high winds across Northern California in October, charring hundreds of square miles in Sonoma County and beyond, destroying thousands of structures and killing 18 people. (source) According to Cal Fire, the 8 of the 12 fires occurred due to lack of maintenance in violation of state regulations.The utility was in violation of state code on eight of those fires, failing to clear brush around its lines and properly maintain its power equipment, according to state fire investigators.Cal Fire found violations in the Norrbom, Partrick, Pythian, Adobe and Pocket fires that burned in Sonoma and Napa counties; the Atlas fire in Napa County; the Sulphur fire in Lake County; and the Blue fire in Humboldt County. (source)Doesn’t it sound like a good idea for PG&E to improve the maintenance of their equipment and lines? But instead, they have a different response. Instead of improving their maintenance, PG&E has made the arbitrary decision to cut electricity to areas they have identified as risky, leaving residents to fend for themselves without power during the most brutally hot days of the year. Here’s a map of the areas that PG&E considers to be “high risk.”

Puerto Rico’s deadly record blackout is almost over –The second-largest blackout on record worldwide is finally just about over. More than nine months after Hurricane Maria struck, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority is reporting that it has restored power to 99.9 percent of its customers:That still leaves 1,942 customers without electricity, mainly in the island’s remote, mountainous center. But every municipality is now receiving power, which is progress. It’s been a long, painful, and bumpy road for recovery workers to reach this point. After Hurricane Maria knocked down 80 percent of Puerto Rico’s transmission lines, restoration efforts were marred by mistakes, poor planning, and potential criminal acts.Along the way, the 3.3 million Americans in Puerto Rico suffered intermittent power, including an island-wide blackout in April. The outage following Hurricane Maria is the worst in US history and the second-largest in the world. (The only event with a greater impact on electricity service was Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, one of the biggest tropical storms to ever make landfall and the deadliest one to hit the Philippines.) The lack of reliable electricity in Puerto Rico also proved exceptionally deadly as vital medical equipment couldn’t be used, drugs like insulin couldn’t be refrigerated, and air conditioners shut off as the island faced a heat wave. Infections from diseases like leptospirosis spread as sanitation systems went offline. The government says it is waiting for results from a study by researchers at George Washington University before it updates the official death toll of 64. But Harvard researchers estimated in June in the New England Journal of Medicine that more than 4,600 people likely died as a result of the storm.

Hawaii Kilauea Volcano Update: USGS Map, Summit Collapses Continue, Lava Flowing From Fissure 8 — People on the Big Island of Hawaii have been dealing with the eruptions and collapse events from the Kilauea volcano for almost two months now. Activity at the summit of the volcano continues with collapse events, and lava is still flowing from the island’s Fissure 8.Friday morning in Hawaii, there was a collapse explosion that sent a plume of volcanic material into the sky and drifting southwest of the summit according to the United States Geological Survey. But the levels of sulfur dioxide, the gas that Kilauea releases, were actually down from where they had been when the volcano first started erupting.The next morning, there was another collapse event. That event occurred after about 15 hours of elevated seismic activity around the summit. It resulted in a steam plume that went about 500 feet in the air, similar to the previous explosion. After the explosive events, the seismicity in the area dropped significantly by about two-thirds. Prior to the events, there were about 30 to 35 earthquakes an hour resulting from the volcanic activity, after the collapse events that dropped to 10 or less for a short period before the activity increased again, according to the USGS. Fissure 8 is still erupting lava and flowing into a channel. The channel does occasionally experience small and temporary overflows, according to the USGS. The spatter cone of the fissure was reaching about 155 feet tall as of Saturday morning. The lava that was coming from the fissure was flowing down to the ocean, where it had filled the entire Kapoho Bay and moved onto the Kapoho Beach Lots, said the USGS.

Lava flows from Bali volcano after new eruption – ABC – The Mount Agung volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali has erupted, ejecting a 2,000-meter-high (6,560-foot-high) column of thick ash and lava down its slopes.The geological agency’s Agung monitoring post said the eruption began just after 9 p.m. Monday and lasted more than 7 minutes. Lava has reached 2 kilometers (1 mile) from the crater.It said the alert level for Agung has not been raised and the exclusion zone around the crater remains at 4 kilometers (2.5 miles).Last week, Bali’s international airport closed for half a day due to volcanic ash from Agung, disrupting travel for tens of thousands.

Two More Government Agencies Axed Climate Change Mentions From Reports and Websites — When the White House website removedall most all references to climate change within minutes of PresidentDonald Trump’s inauguration, it set the tone for the administration’s environmental policy and led to concerns about how accurately government agencies would be allowed to report climate science during his term.Those concerns resurfaced Monday when reports emerged that two different government agencies had removed “climate change” from documents and websites, Pacific Standard reported.The Treasury Department removed mentions of climate change and a section on “climate change resilience” from a draft of a 2017 sustainability report obtained by E&E news.And the Center for Disease Control (CDC) removed references to climate change from its National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) website, going so far as to change the name of one web page from “Climate Change and Occupational Safety and Health” to “Occupational Safety and Health and Climate,” The Washington Post reported. The Treasury Department draft was obtained by E&E News under the Freedom of Information Act. Reporters compared it to the 2016 sustainability report released by the department under the Obama administration and found that it was nearly identical, except when it came to climate change.

‘Watershed Moment for Climate Liability’ as Rhode Island Files Historic Lawsuit Against 21 Big Oil Companies — In what advocates are calling a “watershed moment” for climate litigation, Rhode Island’s Democratic Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced on Monday that the state has filed a lawsuit against 21 major oil companies – including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell – “for knowingly contributing to climate change, and causing catastrophic consequences to Rhode Island, our economy, our communities, our residents, our ecosystems.””This lawsuit marks the first in the country filed on behalf of a state and its citizens against Big Oil,” Kilmartin declared. “For a very long time there has been this perception that they, Big Oil, were too big to take on, but here we are – the smallest state, the Ocean State – taking on the biggest, most powerful corporate polluters in the world, because it’s the right thing to do. They need to be held accountable.” The suit is supported by Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, Reps. Jim Langevin and David Cicilline and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse – all Democrats. Whitehouse, a congressional leader on climate action, commended Kilmartin for “holding some of the world’s most powerful corporations responsible for the damage they’re inflicting on our coastal economy, infrastructure, and way of life.”

Court: Trump administration exceeded authority by delaying emissions penalties | TheHill: Federal appeals judges said Friday that the Trump administration “exceeded its statuary authority” when it moved to indefinitely delay fines for car companies who broke an Obama-era fuel efficiency rule. A judge for the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that the decision by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to delay the rule in July 2017 was “incompatible” with the law.”The purpose of the Act is simply incompatible with the notion of indefinite delay, given that the primary objective was to correct for decades of inaction,” the court wrote in its opinion. The New York City – based court ruled in April that the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) argument that they had jurisdiction to indefinitely delay the rule while working to repeal the regulation was not legal. The three-judge panel of the court said it would issue a fully explained opinion “in due course.” That opinion was released Friday. The judges in their opinion disagreed with the NHTSA’s multiple claims that the DOT had the authority to suspend the penalties, writing: “None of these arguments persuades us.” “NHTSA offers no authority – statutory or otherwise – for the proposition that an agency has authority to delay a rule because it is engaged in a separate process of reconsideration,” the judges wrote. “As the D.C. Circuit 9 recently held, a decision to reconsider a rule does not simultaneously convey authority to indefinitely delay the existing rule pending that reconsideration.”

Electric car buyers claim they were misled by Nissan – Owners of Nissan’s new electric Leaf say they were given misleading information about the car before buying it. They say charging the Leaf can take three times longer than claimed on Nissan’s website. Others are unhappy that the range on a single charge is not as good as the 235 miles (378km) they were promised. Nissan admitted that charging times can vary, but denied there was a problem or that any customers were misled. The Advertising Standards Authority is now considering whether to launch an investigation into the issue.

Pruitt Seeks Biofuels Increase – The Trump administration is proposing to modestly increase the amount of ethanol and other biofuels that the nation’s oil refiners have to blend into the gasoline and diesel they sell.Under the proposal released Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the overall biofuel mandate under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) would be 19.88 billion gallons in 2019, a 3.1 percent increase over the 2018 levels.Only 15 billion gallons of that could be traditional ethanol made from feedstocks like corn and soy, while the rest would have to be other biofuels like cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel.The proposal comes amid efforts by President Trump to balance strong ethanol interests in the country’s heartland and oil and refinery interests, both of whom are lobbying aggressively for changes to how the EPA enforces biofuels rules.EPA head Scott Pruitt focused in his Tuesday statement on the fact that he is on track to get the 2019 mandate final by Nov. 1, the legal deadline, which the Obama administration often missed.”I’ve traveled to numerous states and heard first-hand about the importance of the RFS to farmers and local communities across the country,” Pruitt said in a statement.”Issuing the proposed rule on time meets Congress’s statutory deadlines, which the previous administration failed to do, and provides regulatory certainty to all impacted stakeholders.”

Top EPA ethics official discloses that he has urged additional investigations into Scott Pruitt — The Environmental Protection Agency’s chief ethics officer, who initially had approved a $50-a-night condo rental and other decisions by administrator Scott Pruitt, disclosed this week that he has urged the agency’s inspector general to investigate various allegations that Pruitt misused his government position. Kevin Minoli, who focuses on ensuring that EPA employees abide by federal laws governing conduct, told the Office of Government Ethics in a letter dated Wednesday that he had recommended the new inquiries after “additional potential issues regarding Mr. Pruitt have come to my attention through sources within the EPA and media reports.” The letter, first reported Saturday by the New York Times and obtained independently by The Washington Post, does not spell out the precise actions that triggered Minoli’s concern. But a government official with direct knowledge of the inquiries, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details have not been released publicly, said the referrals involved instances in which Pruitt potentially misused his position, such as having subordinates help with his housing search, inquire about a mattress or secure tickets to the Rose Bowl. Federal standards of conduct bar public officials from accepting free services or gifts from their subordinates, and from using their position for their own financial benefit. The referrals also included a $2,000 payment, first reported by The Post nearly a month ago, that Pruitt’s wife received last year to help with logistics at an annual conference for the New York nonprofit group Concordia, the official said. Pruitt also spoke at the conference and had introduced his wife to the group’s chief executive as part of a broader push to find her employment. “To the best of my knowledge, all of the matters that I have referred are either under consideration for acceptance or under active investigation,” Minoli wrote, adding that he had “provided ‘ready and active assistance’ to the Inspector General and his office.”

Scott Pruitt steps down as EPA head after ethics, management scandals – Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general who relentlessly pursued President Trump’s promises of deregulation at the Environmental Protection Agency, resigned Thursday after controversies over his lavish spending, ethical lapses and management decisions eroded the president’s confidence in one of his most ardent Cabinet members. Pruitt’s reputation as a dogged deregulator and outspoken booster of the president allowed him to weather ethics scandals in recent months, including questions about taxpayer-funded first-class travel, a discounted condominium rental from the wife of a D.C. lobbyist and the installation of a $43,000 soundproof phone booth in his office. But revelations about his behavior continued to mount, including reports that he repeatedly enlisted subordinates to help him search for housing, book personal travel and help search for a six-figure job for his wife. That quest included setting up a call with Chick-fil-A executives in which he discussed his wife’s becoming a franchisee, as well as outreach to a conservative judicial group that eventually hired Marlyn Pruitt. In recent weeks, an exodus of trusted staffers left Pruitt increasingly isolated, and some Republican lawmakers wearied of defending him. Investigators on Capitol Hill had summoned current and former EPA aides for questioning as part of more than a dozen federal inquiries into Pruitt’s spending and management of the agency. On Thursday, the White House informed Pruitt, who was not in the office, that he had to submit his resignation, according to two individuals who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. President Trump did not speak to the administrator directly, according to a third individual, but instead called Pruitt’s top deputy, Andrew Wheeler, to inform him that he would be taking the helm of the agency. Soon after, Trump announced in a two-part tweet that he had accepted Pruitt’s resignation. “Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this,” Trump wrote.

EPA leader Scott Pruitt resigns after scandals engulf his agency — Scott Pruitt’s polarizing tenure as head of the Environmental Protection Agency has come to an end. President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday that he has accepted Pruitt’s resignation. Trump said that the agency’s deputy administrator and former coal industry lobbyist, Andrew Wheeler, will become the acting head of EPA. The departure follows months of scrutiny that gathered momentum following reports that Pruitt had rented a Capitol Hill condominium linked to an energy lobbyist on favorable terms. The revelation exacerbated concerns about the high cost of Pruitt’s travel and security detail and triggered a flood of allegations that Pruitt fostered a culture of workplace retaliation, wasteful spending and self-dealing at EPA. The steady flow of negative news stories prompted multiple government investigators to open several inquiries into Pruitt. His EPA now faces about a dozen probes into its spending, ethics and policy decisions. “It is extremely difficult for me to cease serving you in this role first because I count it as a blessing to be serving you in any capacity, but also because of the transformative work that is occurring,” Pruitt said in his resignation letter posted by Fox News. “However, the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us.”While Pruitt was a key figure in Trump’s campaign to roll back environmental regulations, he increasingly became seen as a liability in an administration that has seen two cabinet members fired over ethical lapses and several more accused of wasting taxpayer dollars. The EPA administrator also reportedly alienated colleagues by positioning himself to take over as U.S. attorney general if the frequently embattled head of the Justice Department, Jeff Sessions, stepped down or was fired. Rather, it was Pruitt who became the latest deputy to exit a cabinet known for its revolving door.

‘Victory for People and the Planet’ as EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Resigns – The White House announced Thursday that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned, following months of mounting scandals regarding his misuse of taxpayer funds for his lavish travel expenses, the extreme secrecy with which he ran the agency, his treatment of his staff, and other ethics controversies. While Pruitt’s management style and ethics-free behavior frequently threatened to distract from his activities as the nation’s top official ostensibly in charge of safeguarding the environment, climate action groups and other green campaigners have repeatedly pointed to his aggressive efforts to undermine the EPA’s stated mission while spearheading the Trump administration’s overall effort to execute a massive giveaway to the fossil fuel industry and other corporate interests.Friends of the Earth (FOE) called Pruitt’s departure a “victory for people and the planet.””Scott Pruitt’s corruption and coziness with industry lobbyists finally caught up with him,” said FOE president Erich Pica. “We’re happy that Pruitt can no longer deceive Americans or destroy our environment. This victory belongs to the hundreds of thousands of activists who fought to protect the Environmental Protection Agency from a corrupt crony set on destroying it from the inside…We must work to remove every member of this administration who has abused their power and put polluter profits over people and the planet.” “Ethics matter,” concluded Rhea Suh, president of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “So does a commitment to the EPA’s central mission. Pruitt failed miserably on both counts.”

Pruitt’s Replacement Andrew Wheeler Will Be ‘Much Smarter’ Threat, Environmentalists Fear – When President Donald Trump announced the resignation of scandal-plagued EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt via tweet on Thursday, he also introduced his successor, current Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who was approved by the Senate in April.”I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!” Trump tweeted.Unfortunately, Wheeler’s staunch dedication to Trump’s deregulatory environmental agenda is expected by both the president and green groups.Wheeler is a former government staffer and coal lobbyist with decades of DC experience, which critics and allies agree could aid him in implementing Trump’s agenda without the distractions posed by Pruitt’ssoundproof phone booth or unorthodox rental arrangements, POLITICO reported. “Wheeler is much smarter and will try to keep his efforts under the radar in implementing Trump’s destructive agenda,” Vice President for Political Affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund Jeremy Symons told POLITICO. “That should scare anyone who breathes.”Wheeler began his DC career at the EPA as a special assistant in the pollution prevention and toxics office, according to his EPA bio. He has now been in DC for more than 20 years, and followed up his EPA post by working for infamous climate change denier and Republican Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, The New York Times reported. Inhofe once even threw a snowball on the Senate floor to assert that global warming wasn’t happening, according to Vox. Wheeler is one of several former Inhofe staffers, known as the “Inhofe mafia,” who have risen to prominent environment or energy positions in the Trump administration or work with influential lobbying firms, according to The New York Times. After leaving government work, Wheeler worked at a law firm that lobbied for the coal industry, NBC reported. His firm’s biggest client was Murray Energy Corp., whose CEO, Robert E. Murray, donated $300,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund and provided Trump with a wishlist of environmental policies he wanted changed to benefit coal plants, The New York Times reported.

Pruitt Resigns as EPA Chief: So What? — Jerri-lynn Scofield – Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt resigned yesterday, after a “torrent of negative stories” – largely focusing on ethical concerns – that proved too much even for Trump, as reported by Politico, in How Scott Pruitt blew it.(For a more complete rundown of such stories, see Columbia Journalism Review account, The never-ending Pruitt beat reaches ‘a tipping point’.)Andrew Wheeler, attorney and former coal industry lobbyist at the law firm of Faegre Baker Daniels, who has been serving as Pruitt’s deputy, will be acting head of the agency until Trump nominates – and the Senate confirms – Pruitt’s replacement. At the risk of seeming flippant, I ask: So what? Will this personnel change derail the Trump EPA deregulatory agenda? Readers might recall that prior to assuming his EPA position, Pruitt had a long record of mounting legal challenges to federal environmental policies, in his previous role as attorney general for the state of Oklahoma. Once installed at the EPA, Pruitt announced many rollbacks of previous agency policies. But just as with his master Trump, Pruitt’s bark to bite ratio was very high, as reported in April by Politico in The Myth of Scott Pruitt’s EPA Rollback: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s spiraling ethics scandals and perilous job status were big news this week, but he also made headlines with his latest assault on President Barack Obama’s environmental legacy. “Pruitt Announces Rollback of Obama-Era Auto Fuel Efficiency Rule,” ABC News reported. “EPA’s Pruitt Kills Obama’s Auto Rules,” the Washington Examiner put it. The New York Times analyzed how the furor over Pruitt’s behavior has overshadowed his triumphs over regulation: “For Scott Pruitt, a Spotlight Shines on His Ethics, Not His EPA Rollbacks.” But Pruitt did not kill or roll back Obama’s strict fuel-efficiency standards; he merely announced his intention to launch a process that could eventually weaken them. In fact, Pruitt has not yet killed or rolled back any significant regulations that were in place when President Donald Trump took office.

Canada’s Ontario government scraps cap-and-trade program (Reuters) – The newly elected Ontario government announced on Tuesday it would end the province’s cap-and-trade program, a policy designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fulfilling one of Premier Doug Ford’s election promises. However, it leaves businesses that bought C$2.8 billion ($2.1 billion) worth of allowances in limbo. Ford’s Progressive Conservative government swept to power last month, ending 15 years of Liberal rule in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and the country’s economic engine, with a promise to cut corporate and personal taxes. The government said it would immediately start an orderly wind-down of all programs funded out of cap-and-trade carbon tax revenues but agreed to honour certain contracts that have already been signed. “Cap-and-trade and carbon tax schemes are no more than government cash grabs that do nothing for the environment, while hitting people in the wallet in order to fund big government programs,” Ford said in a statement. The government says it aims to reduce gasoline prices by 10 cents per litre and lower energy bills, scrapping the plan that forced large companies to buy allowances for their carbon emissions. Citing the auditor general, the government said the program could cost Ontario consumers and businesses C$8 billion, with a minimal impact on the province’s carbon emissions. Michael Berends, managing director at Toronto-based cap-and-trade advisers ClearBlue Markets, said the pace of the government’s move leaves many unanswered questions. “All those entities that have purchased allowances, as they thought they were going to be required, are now wondering what’s the value of allowances and whether they will need them or not,” Berends said. Berends believes the Ontario government’s decision is also going to impact companies that are planning on using their allowances for their obligations towards Quebec and California before the Nov. 1 deadline. Earlier this year, the U.S. state of California and two Canadian provinces – Ontario and Quebec – kicked off a cross-border auction of greenhouse gas emission credits to buy and sell in the cap and trade market in an effort to fight global warming.

The dirty little secret behind ‘clean energy’ wood pellets – It is touted as a smart way for Europe to reach its renewable energy goals. But try telling Lisa Sanchez thousands of miles away in America that burning wood chips is a form of clean energy. The bucolic charm of her rural home in the Piney Woods forest region of east Texas is undercut by the big German Pellets manufacturing plant just beyond the bottom of her garden. The German-owned plant is capable of producing 578,000 tons of wood pellets a year, which are destined to cross the Atlantic to satisfy a vibrant market for the product there., “I started having a lot of respiratory problems, I was getting sick all the time.” From being in excellent health, she added, “I have emergency inhalers, I was on all kinds of things. I have asthma now.” Opening her windows and doors to let in the breeze was an unwise move, she said: the air felt more sooty than fresh. Burning forest biomass – essentially, wood – has been promoted by industry as a cleaner, more renewable energy alternative to coal and gas. American companies such as Enviva have developed a growing export industry for trees diced into wood pellets, with export volumes increasing from almost nothing in the early 2000s to 4.6m tons of pellets in 2015 – almost all of which goes to Europe to displace coal in power plants there. The wood pellets industry claims that it uses tree branches and waste wood, but environmental groups say there is strong evidence that vast swaths of valuable, untouched forest have been felled in states including North Carolina and Florida to feed the growing sector.

PDF: Key World Energy Statistics 2017 – The International Energy Agency (IEA) was established in 1974 to promote energy security and provide authoritative analysis on energy for its member countries and beyond. Energy statistics have always been and remain at the heart of the work of the IEA. They provide a comprehensive view on energy production, transformation and final use, the factors that influence energy choices such as prices and RD&D and the wider impact of energy use on CO2 emissions. Over the years with input from energy statisticians all around the world, the IEA has gained recognition as the world’s most authoritative source for energy statistics. Energy statistics are produced to be used: to monitor changes in energy production and use; inform debate; and provide a wider understanding of energy. In Key World Energy Statistics (KWES), we look to highlight some of the key facts and trends from across the vast number of datasets the IEA produces to enable everyone to know more about energy. As part of the IEA modernisation programme, this year’s edition of KWES has been updated. It contains more information on energy efficiency and renewables, more geographic data – including on the “IEA Family”, created through our “Open Doors” policy – and also more of the fundamental data required to fully understand energy security – the heart of our work. Because energy plays such a vital role in our lives today, I hope that these statistics will not only inform but also help policy makers and others to make wise decisions so that energy is produced and consumed in a secure, affordable, efficient and sustainable manner.

Tesla strikes another mammoth energy storage deal in California – Late last week, California utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) asked the state to approve four lithium-ion battery storage projects. Three of which would be owned and operated by a third party, and one, built by Tesla, would be owned and operated by PG&E itself. One of the projects – spearheaded by energy company Vistra (which recently merged with Dynegy) – could become the world’s first grid-scale, lithium-ion battery installations to store more than a gigawatt-hour of energy. Tesla’s project is also huge. It would deliver 730MWh of energy, but Tesla’s contract with PG&E suggests the utility could opt to increase the size of the battery to 1.1GWh. The Tesla installation is expected to discharge 182.5MW for 4 hours (hence, the 730MWh number). But the contract could be bumped up to a discharge duration of 6 hours, which would result in just under 1.1 GWh of storage owned by PG&E. For comparison, last year Tesla completed the largest lithium-ion battery installation in the world in South Australia. That battery system clocked in at 100MW/129MWh of storage. Storage of this size allows the utility to add more renewable energy because if wind speeds drop or cloud cover hurts solar, a battery can kick in to meet the rest of that load.

Petroleum, natural gas, and coal still dominate U.S. energy consumption – Fossil fuels – petroleum, natural gas, and coal – have accounted for at least 80% of energy consumption in the United States for well over a century. The fossil fuel share of total U.S. energy consumption in 2017 was the lowest share since 1902, at a little more than 80%, as U.S. fossil fuel consumption decreased for the third consecutive year. The decline in fossil fuel consumption in 2017 was driven by slight decreases in coal and natural gas consumption. Coal consumption fell by 2.5% in 2017, following larger annual declines of 13.6% and 8.5% in 2015 and 2016, respectively. U.S. consumption of coal peaked in 2005 and declined nearly 40% since then. Natural gas consumption fell by 1.4% in 2017, a change from recent trends. Unlike coal consumption, which has decreased in 8 of the past 10 years, natural gas consumption has increased in 8 of the past 10 years, and in 2017, was twice that of coal. Natural gas consumption growth has been driven by increased use in the electric power sector. Overall, U.S. consumption of natural gas increased by 24% from 2005 to 2017.Petroleum consumption increased in 2017, but remains 10% lower than its peak consumption level, also set in 2005. Mainly used in the transportation sector, several petroleum-based fuels are also used in homes, businesses, and industries. Petroleum has been the largest source of energy consumption in the United States since surpassing coal in 1950. The renewable share of energy consumption in 2017, which includes hydroelectricity, biomass, and other renewables such as wind and solar, was 11.3%, the highest since the late 1910s, when overall energy consumption was lower and biomass consumption – mainly wood – made up a larger share. The largest growth in renewables over the past decade has been in solar and wind electricity generation.

Coal waste plant in fight in struggle to stay open (AP) – A coal waste plant at risk of shutting down in West Virginia is hoping to stay open through state proceedings.The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the Grant Town Power Plant’s owner, American Bituminous Power Partners, has teetered on the verge of bankruptcy, according to company filings.In May, the state Public Service Commission denied the company’s proposal to increase its electric energy purchase agreement with FirstEnergy company Mon Power from $34.25 per megawatt hour to $40 per megawatt hour, which would have bumped up customer rates, so it could have a better chance at staying open.But the PSC kept the company’s EEPA rate the same to allow American Bituminous an opportunity to continue operating while renegotiating its business structure. Environmental activists have appealed, saying the PSC’s order contained “legal errors.”

S Carolina, federal officials to revisit coal tar in river (AP) – A private utility should reconsider its decision to leave century-old coal tar at the bottom of a South Carolina river because its statements about the cleanup were misleading, state and federal officials said. In a letter last month to South Carolina Electric & Gas, the Army Corps of Engineers said it never concluded that the tar couldn’t be scraped off the bottom of the Congaree River, according to a letter also signed by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. SCE&G suggested covering the coal tar with a fabric held on the river bottom with stones instead after saying the Corps wouldn’t issue a permit to allow the company to dam the river near downtown Columbia so the coal tar could be scraped off the bottom. Environmental officials want to meet with SCE&G and the Corps to discuss plans to deal with the tar again, according to documents obtained by The State newspaper and the Congaree Riverkeeper conservation group, which has threatened to sue if the fabric plan moves forward. The coal tar was deposited in the river in the early 1900s by a plant that used coal to make gas for cooking.

Is the decline of coal a national security problem? – As the Trump administration seeks to resuscitate the moribund American coal industry, it has decided to invoke “national security” as the justification for a plan to subsidize coal-fired power plants.Three things are notable about the administration’s proposal. First, invoking “national security” has become a favored tool for getting around existing regulations, precedents and the Constitution. It’s also handy for labeling one’s opponents as unpatriotic in order to avoid a genuine discussion of the true purpose of a proposed action. Second, the coal industry used to be the one attacking renewable energy sources as too expensive to stand on their own without subsidies. As the cost of renewable energy has continued to plummet, the tables are now turning. Third, the move has united an unlikely coalition in opposition that includes the oil and gas industry, anti-nuclear activists (since nuclear power plants are included in the subsidy plan), environmentalists and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission which is dominated by Trump appointees. It takes amazingly bad policy to get an alliance like this together. In asking whether the U.S. energy supply has become a national security problem, the administration takes on thorny definitional issues. What does the seemingly endlessly elastic term “national security” mean? The term has been used to justify U.S. military intervention in places ranging in size from Grenada to Iraq. It has been used as a justification for wholesale spying on every American with an internet connection or a cellphone. It has essentially become a Swiss Army knife for anything the government wants to do that isn’t quite legal or constitutional or that is at the very least contrary to obvious logic and precedents. Subsidizing coal- and nuclear-generated electricity will hardly enhance U.S. security. Our central energy vulnerability is continuing substantial oil imports that make the country subject to political and military disruptions far away. And the overall threat to the United States and the world is dependence on all forms of the finite energy supply represented by fossil fuels which still supply 80 percent of society’s energy.

Trump plan to save coal-related jobs, power plants will up pollution death toll: study – The Trump administration’s plan to keep money-losing power plants open would save coal mining jobs but at the same time unleash more pollution that would cost lives, according to a new analysis. For every 4.5 coal mining jobs supported by the drafted policy, one American would die from the surge in air pollution tied to generating electricity from the fossil fuel, according to modeling by the independent, nonprofit research group Resources for the Future. The assessment is one of the first broad looks at the potential environmental consequences of the Trump administration’s evolving plan to prop up coal and nuclear power plants that are at risk of closing amid competition from cheap natural gas and renewable electricity. President Donald Trump ordered his energy secretary to take immediate action to stem power plant closures on June 1, and administration officials have been considering a drafted plan to require power purchases from designated at-risk facilities to keep them in operation over the next two years. Even under “conservative assumptions,” the approach “would cause an estimated 353 to 815 additional premature deaths in the United States from power plant sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions,” said the analysis, led by Daniel Shawhan, a visiting fellow with Resources for the Future. Nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide pollution is linked with respiratory infections, asthma and impaired lung function. Federal requirements for pollution controls at coal-fired power plants have been justified partly by the avoidance of premature deaths.

How FERC’s ‘unprecedented’ PJM order could unravel capacity markets — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week ordered changes to PJM’s capacity market rules that regulatory veterans say will reshape the grid operator’s relationship with its state participants and could lead to the unraveling of the capacity market construct altogether. “This is unprecedented federal intervention in state policy,” said Rob Gramlich, an energy consultant and former advisor to former FERC Chair Pat Wood III. “We’ve never seen this kind of federal intrusion in the energy industries.”Friday, FERC rejected two proposals from grid operator PJM to compensate for state energy subsidies in its capacity market, which PJM says are depressing prices for other generators. Neither option – a two-part capacity market or an expanded price floor – would sufficiently mitigate the impact of policies like nuclear subsidies and renewable energy mandates, regulators wrote in a 3-2 decision. Rejection of the two closely watched proposals would have sent PJM back to the drawing board, but the FERC majority went further, outlining a detailed plan to change the grid operator’s capacity market construct to remove some level of subsidized resources altogether. That plan is a novel recasting of the Fixed Resource Requirement (FRR), a rule in PJM that allows utilities to opt out of the capacity market if they can serve power demand with their own generation resources. Under FERC’s proposed Alternative FRR, specific resources like a wind farm or a nuclear plant could also opt out, removing them and their subsidies from the market.

Watch: Greenpeace Crashes ‘Superman Drone’ Into Nuclear Power Plant To Expose Facility’s Dangers – “Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No… it’s a drone dressed up as Superman, exposing how vulnerable French nuclear power plants are.” Greenpeace France on Tuesday crashed a drone dressed as Superman into the Bugey nuclear energy plant, located about 20 miles east of Lyon, to expose how vulnerable that facility is to a terrorist attack and highlight the broader dangers of this type of power generation. The activists told AFP that the drone struck “a storage pool for spent nuclear fuel next to a reactor, one of the most radioactive areas at the site.” “This is a highly symbolic action: it shows that spent fuel pools are very accessible, this time from the air, and therefore extremely vulnerable to attack,” Yannick Rousselet, head of Greenpeace France’s anti-nuclear campaign, said in a statement. Watch: Greenpeace France spokesman Cyril Cornier told Le Parisien, in French, that the action itself did not pose any danger to the plant, its workers, or the public, but insisted that by crashing the flying device into the plant’s “most fragile point,” they had proven beyond any doubt that the security of the facility “is absolutely not assured.” Responding to the action, the French electricity group EDF said that police had intercepted one of two drones piloted by Greenpeace and announced plans to file a formal complaint with authorities. EDF also claimed, “The fuel building is key for security, designed in particular to withstand natural or accidental damage.” Greenpeace EU, on Twitter, called EDF’s response “worrying.” Worrying response from @EDFofficiel to @greenpeacefr‘s action at the Bugey nuclear plant: they said they “intercepted 1 of the 2 drones”.

US Conducts Successful Field Test Of New Nuclear Bomb – The US Air Force completed two more tests of the B61-12 gravity nuclear bomb by dropping a dud (or “non-nuclear test assembly“) from a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada on June 9, as part of the multi-billion dollar project to extend the service life of the bomb, introduced in 1968, by another 20 years. “The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) and the US Air Force completed two non-nuclear system qualification flight tests of the B61-12 gravity bomb on June 9 at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada,” the Department of Energy announced in a statement. “These tests are the first such end-to-end qualification tests on a B-2A Spirit Bomber for the B61-12.” The tests involved releasing a B61-12 non-nuclear test assembly, which includes the NNSA designed bomb assembly and U.S. Air Force acquired tail-kit, from a B-2A Spirit Bomber operated by the 419th Test & Evaluation Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base in California. These tests are the first such end-to-end qualification tests on a B-2A Spirit Bomber for the B61-12. Over the past five decades, the US has used different versions of the B-61 nuclear gravity bomb, which is a core part of the US nuclear triad and has been deployed across the US and NATO bases for five decades. While, over the years, the Pentagon produced numerous modifications to the deadly weapon, B61 variants of 3, 4, 7, and 11 remain in service. The bomb tests are a part of the Pentagon’s $7.6 billion ‘B61-12 Life Extension Program‘, which aims to “refurbish, reuse, or replace all of the bomb’s nuclear and nonâ€nuclear components” and extend the service life of the B61 by at least 20 years. The “first production unit” is scheduled for completion in 2020.