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 Tuesday evening regular post at GEI.
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Ebola cases pass 2,000 as crisis escalates — The number of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has doubled in just over two months and has now passed 2,000, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).An estimated 2,008 people have been infected with Ebola in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces since the start of the outbreak in late July 2018, and 1,346 of those individuals have died. The numbers represent a rapid escalation of the crisis since the outbreak passed the 1,000-case mark on 24 March (see ‘Escalating crisis’).“I’m profoundly worried,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, told Nature in May. He attributes the failure to end the outbreak to mistrust of and assaults against Ebola responders – problems that have worsened this year. “The number of cases increases with the frequency of attacks,” he says. The steep increase in cases signals that the spread of Ebola in the DRC is far from under control. “Despite WHO’s extraordinary efforts to contain the outbreak, the transmission trends have moved in the wrong direction in recent weeks,” an independent committee of researchers overseeing the WHO’s response wrote in a report presented at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, on 21 May. Although the committee expressed confidence in the WHO’s leadership, they raised concerns about staff exhaustion and the complexity of tackling an Ebola outbreak amid conflict.
Superbugs in the Anthropocene — Engels would certainly have considered the discovery of antibiotics as one of the greatest of “human victories over nature.” Diseases that had shortened human lives for millennia were defeated. Wounds and infections that had almost always been fatal were cured in hours. The ultimate triumph of medicine – the end of all disease – seemed about to arrive.But now the World Health Organization (WHO) says we face “a problem so serious that it threatens the achievements of modern medicine.”3 England’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sally Davies, calls it “a ticking time bomb not only for the UK but also for the world…arguably as important as climate change.”4 Nature’s revenge – the unforeseen result that cancels the first – is upon us. Miracle drugs are losing their magic. While I was writing this article, the press reported:
- A maternity hospital in Romania shut down because thirty-nine newborns were infected by a drug-resistant superbug. Eleven staff members were found to be carriers.
- In Gaza, the wounds of thousands of Palestinians shot by Israeli soldiers are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and the blockade prevents necessary medical supplies from reaching them.
- In Pakistan in the past two years, over five thousand people have contracted a strain of typhoid fever that is resistant to all recommended antibiotics.
- In an Indian hospital, a new strain of the common bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae, described as both multidrug resistant and hypervirulent, killed more than half of the patients who contracted it.
- Tests found that 56 percent of Staphylococcusbacteria in two Afghan hospitals are resistant to multiple antibiotics.
Scarcely a day passes without more news of people contracting infections or infectious diseases that cannot be cured by the strongest medicines available. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a global health crisis driven by a pharmaceutical and health care system that puts profit before people. In addition to devastating climate change, the Anthropocene may be defined by epidemics that medicine cannot cure.
If We Want Antibiotics to Work, Consumers Have to Put Big Pressure on Factory Farms — On March 1, Denny’s stopped purchasing chicken treated with medically important antibiotics for its U.S. restaurants. Denny’s joins a growing group of major fast food and fast casual chains (McDonald’s, Wendy’s, KFC, Chipotle and others) that have established policies prohibiting the use of medically important antibiotics in chicken. This is not the same as “antibiotic-free” claims, to be clear (“medically important” antibiotics are those used in human medicine; there are other antibiotics only used in animals), but it is a critical change that has been rippling through the food system for the past several years to protect human health. According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is one of the top 10 threats to global public health in 2019. When antibiotic medications are overused or misused, resistant bacteria can spread, causing treatments for common (and often serious) illnesses to become ineffective. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 2 million Americans contract an antibiotic-resistant infection every year and 23,000 will die from it. The use of antibiotics in animal agriculture is a major part of the problem. More than 70 percent of the medically important antibiotics sold in the U.S. are sold for use in food animals. This is not because cows are particularly susceptible to strep throat; the majority of antibiotics used on animal farms are not used as treatment for diagnosed diseases in animals. Rather, most animals raised for food are raised on factory farms, or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). To produce animal products cheaply and on a large scale, animals are packed together, creating crowded, stressful and unsanitary conditions. Such conditions are inherently disease-promoting for animals. To deal with the likelihood of infections and disease associated with poor conditions without actually changing those conditions, antibiotics have become a convenient Band-Aid. As factory farming has become the predominant model for raising animals for food, more farmers have resorted to practices of routinely administering antibiotics (sometimes even delivering drugs to chicks still in the egg) to keep animals “healthy” enough to bring to slaughter. As more antibiotics are used in these conditions, more antibiotic-resistant bacteria are released into the environment.
We need worms — Did you ever wonder why one in six children has a mental health disorder? Did you ever wonder why 20 per cent of women, in the United States at least, have been diagnosed with depression after menopause, and why ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’ has mysteriously emerged? Why should almost half of us be allergic to something? Why should more than four in every 10 children be on medication for a chronic condition? Why do more than one in 10 women have an autoimmune condition? When asking why we get sick, we take the first step in understanding the origins of disease. If we find the answer to that question, we become empowered to prevent disease. I started out in biomedical research asking what and how, but after stumbling into some inexplicable questions that cannot be addressed by the what and the how, I started asking why. Our Western diet is certainly a factor. And our stressful lifestyle. But we and others are coming to a fascinating conclusion: intestinal worms are almost certainly involved. But it’s not the presence of the worms that is hurting us. To the contrary, the almost complete loss of intestinal worms in modern society is, surprisingly, a very significant problem. Intestinal worms, called ‘helminths’, have caused untold human suffering, killing the weak and disabling the strong. Labelled uniformly as disease-causing parasites by biologists, they have inspired fear and hate, leading to major campaigns aimed at their eradication. The Rockefeller Foundation, for example, was originally formed to eliminate hookworm from the southern US. Their genocidal campaign was very successful, and similar campaigns are now underway in developing countries. This fearsome menace has been virtually eradicated in the US and in western Europe, and we hope to accomplish the same in developing countries. Good riddance. But what if we erred? What if our bias against a handful of helminths led us to slaughter billions of innocent and even helpful worms? Indeed, my research and the research of many others tell us that helminths are necessary for our health. A barrage of scientific evidence points toward helminths as being important regulators of immune function. Because of this, our genocidal campaign against intestinal worms apparently has a very nasty backlash that nobody saw coming. But science moves very slowly. All helminths are still labelled as parasites in textbooks, despite the fact that we now know this to be incorrect.
Chlorinated chicken: ‘Dangerous’ practices at major US plant stoke fears of contaminated food in UK after Brexit – Channel 4’s ‘Dispatches’ exposes danger of cross-contamination with deadly bacteria – because of poor standards outlawed by EU membership. An investigation has revealed the risk of food poisoningbecause of “dangerous” practices at a US chicken factory, ahead of trade talks which could force the UK to accept the meat after Brexit.The undercover probe by Channel 4 laid bare the danger of cross-contamination with the deadly bacteria salmonella and campylobacter, because of poor standards outlawed by the EU.As normal in the US, the chicken is washed in chemicals – a practice banned in the UK under EU law because scientists fear it does not remove bacteria and simply masks safety failures. Nevertheless, the US has made clear it will demand the UK accept chemical-washed poultry in any trade deal – and Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, has suggested a ban will be impossible.The expose by the Dispatches programme – ahead of exploratory trade talks between Theresa May and Donald Trump on his state visit – uncovered:
- * Piles of chicken left on conveyor belts for long periods of time, at the risk of cross contamination.
- * Boxes of chicken stacked on top of each other – which could also cause cross-contamination.
- * Workers touching raw chicken with bare hands – while one cleared drains with gloved hands, merely washing the gloves before going back to touching raw chicken.
- * Drains blocked with chicken – while pieces of and innards lay on the floor and water leaked from machinery.
Chicken Farmers Thought Trump Was Going to Help Them. Then His Administration Did the Opposite. Under Obama, top officials had promised to help farmers by tightening regulations on meat processing companies, which for decades had been growing bigger and more powerful. The industry consolidation extended to beef, dairy and pork as well as poultry, but the Obama administration was particularly concerned about the effects on farmers who raise chickens on contract for giants such as Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride. Farmers complained that they had been lured into the business with rosy profit projections only to discover that the processing companies – which they depend on for supplies of chicks and feed – could suddenly change their contract terms to impose additional costs or drop them for any reason. By the time the Obama administration finally pushed through the rules meant to address these problems in December 2016, Donald Trump, a Republican, had won the White House, backed by many farmers who said they had been let down by Obama, a Democrat. Now, some say their expectation that Trump would be different may have been misplaced. Over the last two years, Trump appointees have not only reversed the regulations put in place at the end of Obama’s presidency, they have retreated from enforcing the preexisting rules. The Trump administration dissolved the office charged with policing meat companies for cheating and defrauding farmers. Fines for breaking the rules dropped to $243,850 in 2018, less than 10% of what they were five years earlier.
African Swine Fever Is Spreading Fast and Eliminating It Will Take Decades – The deadly pig virus that jumped from Africa to Europe is now ravaging China’s $128 billion pork industry and spreading to other Asian countries, an unprecedented disaster that has prompted Beijing to slaughter millions of pigs. But stopping African swine fever isn’t so easy. The virus that causes the hemorrhagic disease is highly virulent and tenacious, and spreads in multiple ways. There’s no safe and effective vaccine to prevent infection, nor anything to treat it. The widespread presence in China means it’s now being amplified across a country with 440 million pigs – half the planet’s total – with vast trading networks, permeable land borders and farms with little or no ability to stop animal diseases. The number of pigs China will fatten this year is predicted to fall by 134 million, or 20%, from 2018 – the worst annual slump since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began counting China’s pigs in the mid-1970s. While the pig virus doesn’t harm humans even if they eat tainted pork, the fatality rate in pigs means it could destroy the region’s pork industry. Spain’s experience with the disease suggests that a cull alone won’t be enough to solve the problem. The country implemented strict sanitary measures and industrialized its hog production system but it took 35 years and help from the European Union before the disease was eradicated in 1995. The Italian island of Sardinia has been trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the virus for four decades, and its hog population is a fraction of China’s. One of the reasons why African swine fever is so hard to eradicate is that it’s easy to transmit. In addition to direct contact with an infected pig, the virus can be passed on to animals that eat virus-laden pork or feed, via contaminated clothing or equipment or when a pig drinks water containing even minute quantities of the virus. Studies show that the strain in China closely resembles one that’s been spreading inRussia and other parts of Europe for more than a decade. But scientists still don’t know the route it took to get into the world’s most populous nation. Without knowing how the virus got in, China’s customs officials will have a harder time preventing repeated introductions.The disease is now in Mongolia, Vietnam, North Korea and possibly other neighboring countries that lack the resources to identify and control the disease. That increases the risk that, even if China does manage to control the disease domestically, it could re-enter the country via people or pork products that cross the border.
Florida sugar companies hit with lawsuit to halt the controversial practice of burning sugarcane -The burning starts in October, when sugarcane companies begin to set fire to nearly 400,000 acres on the shores of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, clearing away the leaves to prepare the plants for harvest. When the flames die down, machines roll in to chop down the stalks and shunt them off to nearby mills for processing. For the people who live nearby, the burning means something else. Every year, for eight months, bursts of thick smoke billow from the fields into the air, causing an ash the locals call “black snow” to drift down from the sky. The particles coat their homes, their cars, and their clothes. They’re ingested by children, who develop higher rates of asthma, and by expectant mothers, who are more likely to lose the pregnancy. That’s according to two residents, Clover Coffie and Jennie Thompson, who on Tuesday filed a federal class-action lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida. The plaintiffs are seeking damages from the negative health effects of burning sugar cane fields, a practice that the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports has been going on for decades. The lawsuit accuses U.S. Sugar, Florida Crystals, and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida – three of the country’s largest sugar companies – and 10 other growers and refiners, of negligence, liability for the damages caused by the burning, and trespassing (for the ash that lands on private property). In their complaint, Coffie and Thompson ask the court to force the companies to stop burning, and to set up a medical monitoring program for over 40,000 people – the population of the “affected area,” which comprises three zip codes in Palm Beach County. “They would be monitoring the health of the residents there who have been exposed to pollutants from sugar cane burning in order to identify and begin to treat any health conditions that are created in that population as a result of the sugar cane burning,” said Zach West, an attorney who filed the suit, at a press conference. “We’re also seeking full reimbursement for the depression of property values in that area related to the sugar cane burning. The costs of such a program are going to be enormous.”
GM fungus rapidly kills 99% of malaria mosquitoes, study suggests – BBC – A fungus – genetically enhanced to produce spider toxin – can rapidly kill huge numbers of the mosquitoes that spread malaria, a study suggests. Trials, which took place in Burkina Faso, showed mosquito populations collapsed by 99% within 45 days. The researchers say their aim is not to make the insects extinct but to help stop the spread of malaria. The disease, which is spread when female mosquitoes drink blood, kills more than 400,000 people per year. Worldwide, there are about 219 million cases of malaria each year. The results, published in the journal Science, showed numbers soared when the insects were left alone. But when the spider-toxin fungus was used, there were just 13 mosquitoes left after 45 days “The transgenic fungus quickly collapsed the mosquito population in just two generations,” said Dr Brian Lovett, from the University of Maryland. Tests also showed the fungus was specific to these mosquitoes and did not affect other insects such as bees.
DARPA Can Exterminate Humanity- You Could Feasibly Wipe-Out The Human Race – One of the most dangerous experiments that mankind has ever embarked upon is DARPA’s desire for gene drive technology. Scientists now have the knowledge and the tools they need to create and deliver “Doomsday genes” which can selectively target and exterminate an entire species. According to Sputnik News, and as previously reported by SHTFPlan, the United States highly-secretive and advanced military research body DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) announced that it will invest tens of millions of dollars into genetic extinction research. While the official aim of this research is said to be fighting harmful insects, like mosquitos which carry Malaria, there are significantly darker implications and speculations surrounding the possible use of such a tool. Joe Joseph of The Daily Sheeple said a quick Google search would give you enough information to let you know how horrific this kind of technology can be.“…and you’ll find it fascinating just at how unbelievable a weapon this could be, how unintentionally mistakes can be made that can cause irreversible damage… irreparable damage… to the human race. And I mean, FAST!” Joseph said.“A gene drive… if let’s just say there’s a mistake, you could feasibly wipe out the human race in a very very short period of time. It’s an unbelievable tool at the disposal of madmen.” Emails released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), suggest that the U.S.’s uber-secretive military body, DARPA, has become the world’s largest funder of this “gene drive” research. Silvia Ribeiro, Latin America director of the ETC Group, an international organization dedicated to the conservation and sustainable advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human rights, said: “When it is developed under an umbrella of military research, you get a clear notion that there can be a dual purpose of this research.” Jim Thomas, a co-director of the ETC group which obtained the emails, said the US military’s influence in furthering this technology would strengthen the case for a moratorium. “The dual-use nature of altering and eradicating entire populations is as much a threat to peace and food security as it is a threat to ecosystems,” he said. “Militarization of gene drive funding may even contravene the Enmod convention against hostile uses of environmental modification technologies.” Humanity is known for making mistakes, but we can’t come back from an extinction of our own making..
‘Forever chemicals’ found in seafood, meats and chocolate cake, FDA says – Significant levels of chemicals linked to an array of health problems have been found in seafood, meats and chocolate cake sold in stores to US consumers, the Food and Drug Administration has found.The levels in nearly half of the meat and fish tested by researchers were at least double the federal advisory level for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS,a group of more than 4,700 synthetic chemicals used for a variety of industrial purposes.Meanwhile, the FDA report found much higher levels in the chocolate cake, the Associated Press reported, with PFAS levels of more than 250 times the federal guidelines.PFAS have been in production since the second world war and are most widely used to make non-stick cookware, food packaging, carpets, couches, pizza boxes and firefighting foam. The ubiquity of PFAS means they are found in virtually all Americans’ blood, as well as in the drinking water of about 16 million people in the US.Public health groups have criticized the Trump administration for not acting more quickly to phase out the use of PFAS, with high levels of the chemicals on US military bases causing heightened concern and lawsuits in parts of the country.Exposure to high levels of PFAS has been linked to cancers, liver problems, low birth weight and other issues. The compounds have been dubbed “forever chemicals” because they take thousands of years to degrade, and because some accumulate in people’s bodies. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) earlier established a non-binding health threshold of 70 parts per trillion for two phased-out forms of the contaminant in drinking water. The EPA has said it would consider setting mandatory limits instead after the toxicology report and after federally mandated PFAS testing of water systems found contamination. The administration has called dealing with PFAS a “potential public relations nightmare” and a “national priority”.
PFAS Chemicals Contaminate U.S. Food Supply, FDA Confirms – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found per- and polyfluoroalykyl substances, or PFAS, infoods including grocery store meat, fish and chocolate cake, The Associated Press reported Monday.The findings were first obtained by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and published by the Environmental Working Group, then confirmed by the FDA Monday, CNN reported.The FDA tests found PFAS in chocolate cake at levels more than 250 times the only federal safety guidelines that exist, for some types of PFAS in drinking water, according to The Associated Press.”What this calls for is additional research to determine how widespread this contamination is and how high the levels are,” Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Linda Birnbaum told The Associated Press. “We have to look at total human exposure – not just what’s in the water or what’s in the food … or not just dust. We need to look at the sum totals of what the exposures are.”CNN explained why PFAS contamination is so concerning:PFAS is a family of nearly 5,000 synthetic chemicals that are extremely persistent in the environment and in our bodies. These chemicals all share signature elemental bonds of fluorine and carbon, which are extremely strong and difficult to break down in the environment or in our bodies. These chemicals can easily migrate into the air, dust, food, soil and water and can accumulate in the body. They’ve been linked to adverse health impacts including liver damage, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, high cholesterol, obesity, hormone suppression and cancer.They were invented by DuPont in 1938, initially for non-stick cookware. But they are now used by a variety of industries to repel grease and water in items from packaging to carpets to outdoor gear, and they are also an important ingredient in firefighting foam, which is often used by the Defense Department to fight jet fires, The Associated Press reported.
A trail of toxicity: the US military bases making people sick – As the only community urban farm left in the sprawling city, Venetucci Farm is a beloved institution in Colorado Springs, educating thousands of children about agriculture, sustainability and healthy eating and known above all for its annual pumpkin giveaways. But now the pumpkins are bought elsewhere. The produce is no longer available for public consumption because farming activities have stopped. In 2016, irrigation water was found to be contaminated with elevated levels of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs).The foundation that runs the farm has joined forces with a local water district to sue the US Air Force, alleging that toxic chemicals used in firefighting foam at a nearby base have tainted the water, perhaps for decades, prompting health worries and causing economic losses.Similar concerns have been raised about dozens of other bases across the country. But the problem is not limited to areas close to military installations.PFCs and related human-made chemicals, more generally known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), have been virtually unregulated since at least the 1950s. As well as at industrial sites, airports and bases, PFAS have long been used in household products thanks to their grease- and stain-resistant properties. They are everywhere: from fast-food packaging to carpets and furniture, water-repellent clothing and non-stick cookware such as Teflon. The extraordinary resilience that led to them being dubbed “forever chemicals” no longer seems such a boon. As more becomes known about their widespread presence in the environment and the potential health risks, activists are urging state and federal regulators take action to increase oversight and even ban PFAS outright.A 2007 study estimated that PFAS are in the blood of 98% of Americans, whilelast year an analysis by the not-for-profit Environmental Working Group found that more than 1,500 drinking water systems nationwide could be contaminated by PFAS, affecting as many as 110 million people. Studies suggest that certain PFAS may affect the growth, learning and behaviour of infants and older children; lower a woman’s chance of getting pregnant; interfere with the body’s natural hormones; increase cholesterol levels; affect the immune system; and increase the risk of kidney and testicular cancer and thyroid problems.
People Eat 50,000+ Microplastics Every Year, New Study Finds — A new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology found that the average person swallows about 50,000 pieces of plastic per year and inhales about the same amount. Microplastics – bits of plastic invisible to the human eye – are in our food, drinks, air, and increasingly in our stomachs and lungs. But if eating 50,000 pieces of plastic per year isn’t alarming enough, the true number is likely much higher. The researchers only looked at a small number of foods and drinks. And, drinking bottled water drastically increases the amount of microplastics you consume, The Guardian reports. “Individuals who meet their recommended water intake through only bottled sources may be ingesting an additional 90,000 microplastics annually, compared to 4,000 microplastics for those who consume only tap water,” the study reads. While you may try to reduce your plastic intake by not drinking from plastic bottles or eschewing plastic cutlery, you can’t avoid it all together. The study authors note that microplastics are ubiquitous across ecosystems. The researchers reviewed 26 previous studies that analyzed the amounts of microplastic particles in fish, shellfish, added sugars, salts, alcohol, tap or bottled water, and air. They then extrapolated U.S. dietary guidelines to calculate how many particle people would eat annually. The studies available only allowed the researchers to look at a small percentage of foods. “We don’t know a huge amount. There are some major data gaps that need to get filled,” said Kieran Cox, at the University of Victoria in Canada, who led the research, as The Guardian reported.Foods like bread, processed products, meat, dairy and vegetables, may well contain just as much plastic, he said to The Guardian. “It is really highly likely there is going to be large amounts of plastic particles in these. You could be heading into the hundreds of thousands.”
More Microplastics in Deep Sea Than Great Pacific Garbage Patch — Microplastics have infiltrated the earth’s largest ecosystem: the deep ocean. Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) used small drone submarines to take sea-water samples from the ocean surface all the way down to the floor, at 3,200 feet. They found that there were actually more microplastics 1,000 feet below sea level than there are in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, USA Today reported. The findings come as people around the world prepare to celebrate World Oceans Day Saturday and gives new insight into how plastics impact the entire marine environment. Microplastics In The Ocean Are A Mega Problem: Plastic Pollution Runs Deep In Monterey Bay – YouTube “We didn’t think there would be four times as much plastic floating at depth than at the surface,” Monterey Bay Aquarium Chief Scientist Kyle Van Houtan told USA Today. But that is what the researchers found when they compared their samples. The samples were taken off the California coast in Monterey Bay, where the continent suddenly plummets, making it easier for researchers to investigate a part of the ocean whose plastic content has not been studied in depth, NPR reported. “The deep ocean is the largest ecosystem on the planet,” Van Houtan told NPR, “and we don’t know anything about the plastic in the deep ocean.”The research, published in Scientific Reports Thursday, begins to fill in that knowledge gap. It found that the highest concentration of microplastics was between 600 and 2,000 feet below sea level. The maximum concentration discovered was 16 particles per cubic meter of water, four particles per cubic meter more than are found in the garbage patch.
There’s an Ugly Side to the Makeup Aisle, and It’s Killing the Planet -Health and beauty products are meant to be aesthetically pleasing.It’s a category in which packaging is as important as ingredients when it comes to standing out in a galaxy of cute little containers. It’s also an industry with a built-in advantage, since looking younger, smelling nicer or simply not having bad breath tends to sell itself. Mix in the omnipresence of its advertising, and you have one of the more reliable sectors for growth.But all of that packaging and all of that growth makes for a pretty big pile of consumer waste.Every year, 120 billion units of cosmetics packaging are produced, and mostly for one-time use. Empty containers are often too small for recycling, and mixed-material items end up going straight to a landfill. Meanwhile, many of the beauty products purchased often sit unused, gathering dust and eventually ending up as trash – replaced with fresh items from the store. According to the LCA Centre, a Netherlands-based group that studies the environmental impact of packaging, some 70% of carbon emissions attributable to the industry could be eliminated if people simply used refillable containers.
France moves to ban destruction of unsold consumer goods –Luxury fashion brand Burberry created a maelstrom last year when it was found to be incinerating its own unsold merchandise. The company admitted it was destroying €32 million (US$36m) in goods annually to “protect intellectual property and prevent illegal counterfeiting by ensuring the supply chain remains intact.” Destroying goods is not an uncommon practice in the fashion industry and among online retailers such as Amazon, but in light of growing environmental concerns, such actions appear shockingly out of touch with responsible resource use. I wrote at the time,“There are accounts of H&M and Nike slashing unsold merchandise to prevent it from entering the counterfeit market, of luxury watchmaker Richemont destroying merchandise, and fashion brand Céline destroying ‘all the old inventory so there was no physical reminder of what had come before.'” Now in France, the government is stepping in. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the country will be implementing a ban on destroying unsold or returned consumer products. The prime minister’s office reported that over €650 million (US$733m) in goods are thrown away or destroyed every year in France. Said Philippe, “It is a waste that shocks, that is shocking to common sense. It’s a scandal.” The ban would apply to non-food products, including clothes, hygiene products, cosmetics, and electric items. Companies would have to hand over their products for reuse or recycling. The French cabinet will discuss the measure in July, and it is projected to come into force by 2023 at the latest.
Shipment of trash finally on way back to Canada from the Philippines – A shipment of waste that has become a source of diplomatic stress between the Manila and Ontario is heading back to Canada six years after the containerised cargo arrived on Philippine shores. “Finally, the containers of garbage transported from Canada and stored at the Subic Bay Freeport for several years now have been pulled out as of today, May 31, 2019,” Wilma Eisma, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chair announced before noon on Friday. A total of 69 containers filled with all sorts of garbage were loaded onto the Liberian-flagged container ship MV Bavaria for a several days voyage to North America. The ship was commissioned by Canada to take back the shipment to its point of origin.“This is one proud moment for all Filipinos,” Eisma said. The containerised trash, composing of all sort of refuse from plastic bags to household waste and soiled diapers, were part of a total 103 containers brought to Manila and Subic in Central Philippines between 2013 and 2014. The importer, Chronic Plastics of Ontario and its Filipino counterparts had labelled the shipment as “recyclable materials” to get it past customs, but as it turned out, the cargo contained garbage and possible toxic waste. Through the years, some of the wastes had been disposed off in landfills. The shipment of trash has been a source of strain in relations between Ontario and Manila. The cargo had reached the Philippines during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, but it took up the term of term of President Rodrigo Duterte, to resolve the issue.
China is refusing to take ‘foreign garbage’ from the US, so these these 6 cities are burning or throwing away your recycling – If you throw your plastic bottles in the recycling bin, it may feel like you’ve done your part to conserve the environment. That effort could quickly be undone depending on where you live. As recycling becomes more expensive for local governments, many cities have resorted to incinerating recyclable goods or disposing of them in landfills. To understand how cities got to this point, it’s helpful to trace the path of recycling in the US. Prior to 2018, most of the country’s recycled waste was shipped to China, where it was converted into new uses like shoes, gadgets, and plastic products. That all changed on January 1, 2018, when China officially banned the import of “foreign garbage,” a category that includes 24 types of recyclable and solid waste. Though China previously sorted through waste to separate out recyclable materials, officials determined that there was too much trash mixed in to make it worth their while. Now Malaysia, whichbecame a prime dumping ground for the world’s plastic in the wake of China’s ban, faces a similar issue. In May, the nation announced that it would send 3,000 metric tons of plastic waste (or over 6.6 million pounds) back to exporting countries such as the US. “If you ship to Malaysia, we will return it back without mercy,” Malaysia’s environment minister, Yeo Bee Yin,told Reuters. This leaves US recycling companies without even fewer places to send their heaps of cardboard and plastic. The New York Times reports that recycling companies have started charging cities up to four times more to accept recyclable goods. Today, dozens of US cities – including a few major ones – are treating their recyclable items as trash. Take a look at the places where your recycling isn’t actually getting recycled.
As Developing Countries Reject Plastic Waste Exports, Wealthy Nations Seek Solutions – Less than two years after China banned most imports of scrap material from abroad, many of its neighbors are following suit. On May 28, 2019, Malaysia’s environment minister announced that the country was sending 3,000 metric tons of contaminated plastic wastes back to their countries of origin, including the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. Along with the Philippines, which is sending 2,400 tons of illegally exported trash back to Canada, Malaysia’s stance highlights how controversial the global trade in plastic scrap has become. Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are all halting flows of plastics that once went to China but were diverted elsewhere after China started refusing it. They are finding support from many nations that are concerned about waste dumping and marine plastic pollution. At a meeting in Geneva in May 2019, 186 countries agreed to dramatically restrict international trade in scrap plastics to prevent plastics dumping. The new plastics restriction allows less-wealthy countries to exercise their sovereign right not to accept materials they are ill-equipped to handle. This narrows options for wealthy countries that used to send much of their plastic and paper scrap abroad, and is a small but symbolic step toward curbing plastic waste. The Basel Convention, which governs the international waste trade, was adopted in 1989 in response to egregious cases of hazardous waste dumping on communities in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia. The new provision, proposed by Norway with broad international support, takes a more aggressive approach. It moves plastic scrap from one category – wastes that can be traded unless directly contaminated – to another group of materials that are not deemed hazardous per se, but are subject to the same trade controls as those classified as hazardous. Now these plastics can be shipped overseas for disposal or recycling only with the express consent of the importing country. The United States signed the treaty in 1989, but never ratified it and is not bound by the treaty’s terms. However, Basel Convention member countries cannot accept any restricted waste imports from the United States unless they have reached a bilateral or regional agreement that meets Basel’s environmental provisions. The U.S. already has such an agreement with fellow OECD member countries.
Trash rivers: these 10 rivers are responsible for most plastic that flows out to the seas – Cheap, durable and multifunctional, plastic is one of humanity’s most successful inventions. From the 1950s to 2015, we’ve produced 8.3 billion metric tons of the stuff. By now, it’s everywhere. It’s also non-biodegradable. And that’s devastating the environment. Only 9% of all plastic waste has been recycled, and another 12% has been incinerated. That means that almost 80% – nearly 6.3 billion tons – has turned into waste with no half-life to speak of: condemned to an eternity as landfill, litter or ocean-clogging junk.Every year, plastic kills around 1 million seabirds, 100,000 sea mammals and inestimable numbers of fish. The volume of plastic trash in the world’s oceans is currently estimated to be around 150 million tons. No less than eight million tons are added to that every year – that’s one truckload every minute. Between 0.5 and 2.75 million tons come from rivers alone.Large rivers are particularly efficient conveyors of plastic waste to the oceans, especially in countries lacking a well-developed waste management infrastructure. Up to 95% of river-borne plastic comes from just 10 rivers, scientists at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig, Germany have found. The scientists analysed data on both microplastic debris (<5mm) such as beads and fibres, as well as microplastic objects (plastic bottles, bags, etc.) from 79 sampling sites on 57 of the world’s largest rivers, singling out the 10 mapped out here as the biggest culprits, due to “mismanagement of plastic waste in their watersheds”.As this map shows, eight of the rivers are in Asia.
Mass die-off of puffins recorded in the Bering Sea — A mass die-off of seabirds in the Bering Sea may be partially attributable to climate change, according to a new study publishing May 29 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Timothy Jones of the citizen science program COASST at University of Washington, Lauren Divine from the Aleut Community of St Paul Island Ecosystem Conservation Office, and colleagues. The birds appeared to have died from the effects of starvation. Tufted puffins breeding in the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska, feed on fish and marine invertebrates, which in turn feed on ocean plankton. Elevation of sea temperatures has led to major changes in ocean ecosystems, and has been linked to previous mass mortality events in marine birds. Beginning in 2014, increased atmospheric temperatures and decreased winter sea ice led to declines in energy-rich prey species in the Bering Sea, as well as a shift of some species more northward, diminishing puffin food resources in the southern portion of the sea. In the current study, Jones and colleagues documented a four-month-long die-off of puffins and a second species, the Crested auklet, on St. Paul Island, one of the Pribilof Islands in the southern Bering Sea, about 300 miles east of the mainland. Beginning in October 2016, tribal and community members recovered over 350 severely emaciated carcasses, mostly adults in the process of molting, a known nutritional stressor during the avian life cycle. A reduction in food resources before entering molt may have prevented many birds from surviving, the authors suggest.
Hundreds of Birds Died During Test of a 5G Antenna In The Netherlands – A few months ago, more than 300 birds fell dead throughout the city of The Hague (Netherlands), and although initially the real causes were kept a secret, the magnitude of what happened was so great that a half revealed the truth… As reported by the Healthnut News website, a new 5G antenna, placed in the area for the purpose of a test, killed hundreds of birds. The technicians in charge of the project sought to determine how large the antenna’s reach was and whether its use would cause damage around the station. However, it caused much more than they had anticipated. As soon as the antenna was activated, the birds began to fall dead from the trees. In addition, some ducks that were swimming in a nearby place also reacted strangely, placing their heads under the water to escape the radiation and others flew trying to get away from the area… A statement said : If all suffered heart failure with a healthy body, no signs of virus, no bacterial infection, healthy blood, no poisons were found, etc., the only reasonable explanation is that the new 5G microwave technology has a great negative effect on all the hearts of birds! “… According to a publication on Facebook of John Kuhles: The birds were victims of an experiment, conducted in The Hague, where RF radiation was tested with a maximum frequency of 7.40 GHz. However, this information is not confirmed. So far it is unknown if new tests have been carried out with 5G transmission masts; however, other strange events have occurred that could suggest it, such as what happened to some cows in Loppersum where a 5G antenna was also tested. Previously in Switzerland, other 5G tests could have caused a whole group of cows to be thrown into a ravine…
The Opioid Crisis Is Killing Trees Too – Green fir boughs, bright under the morning sky, were strewn across the highway. Sawdust had been crushed into the ridges of a roadside snowbank, leaving an ocher stain. Clarke, a provincial natural-resources officer, stopped his truck, got out, and tromped up and over the snowbank into the forest, followed by his supervisor, Denise Blid.Hidden behind a row of trees lay the scene Clarke and Blid had expected: a small clearing punctuated by a single large stump. The stump, nearly three feet across, had, until very recently, been the foundation of an old-growth coastal Douglas fir, a tree that Clarke calculated had stood more than 120 feet tall. Sometime during the previous few days, the tree had been illegally felled, and the wide end of its trunk abandoned. This was unusual – poachers usually take the “butt end” of a tree first, since it has the most wood – and Clarke speculated that the culprits would soon be back to pick it up. He photographed the trunk like a crime scene, measuring its dimensions and using an iPad to enter them into a database. He then followed a deep groove in the snow to the spot where the narrow end of the trunk had likely been cut into pieces for easier transport. The only remaining clue was a set of vertical cuts in the snow, left by the poachers’ chain saws. “Literally, this is what we’re finding every day,” said Blid. “This blatant illegal cutting has always been around, but it is really exploding,” Clarke says while guiding his truck through the island’s back roads. “Lately, I’ve just been run off my heels with this issue … I honestly can’t keep up – there’s just so much of it.” Timber poaching in much of British Columbia is driven by incontrovertible human needs – the need for shelter, food, and, in some cases, the next hit of the painkiller that has taken hold of one’s brain. “I don’t think [poaching] is going to slow down if timber value goes down,” says Clarke. “Those greater socioeconomic issues – those aren’t going away anytime soon, and with that, I don’t think the timber theft is going away.”
NOAA Is Investigating 70 Gray Whale Deaths Along the West Coast – So far this year, 70 gray whales have washed up on beaches along the west coast from California to Alaska, enough that last Friday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared an “unusual mortality event” and launched an investigation into why the whales are dying. Reuters reports that thus far 37 dead whales have been found in California, three in Oregon, 25 in Washington, five in Alaska and an additional five along the coast of British Columbia. The Associated Press reports that many living whales are appearing in unusual places they usually don’t visit during migration, like Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay, likely searching for food, which puts them in even more danger. Four whales found in California were struck by ships near San Francisco.Each spring, the whales migrate about 5,000 miles from their birthing grounds in Mexico to their feeding grounds in Alaska. The whales only feed while in Arctic waters, feasting on small crustaceans called amphipods. They have to fuel up enough to survive their entire 10,000-mile round trip migration route, reports Kate Williams at The Oregonian..If they don’t pack on the blubber while in Alaska, they won’t have enough energy to complete their journey down south and back again. That seems to be the case with the majority of whales examined so far. Most of the deceased animals are emaciated with very little body fat. It’s likely that the 70 whales are are just a fraction of the whales that have died on the migratory journey so far this spring, since most whales actually sink to the ocean floor when they die.
Michigan attorney general seizes cell phone of former governor Snyder in probe of Flint water crisis – The Michigan State Attorney General’s Office confirmed Monday that it had obtained search warrants to seize cell phones, laptop computers and iPads of former Governor Rick Snyder and dozens of other state officials as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the Flint water crisis.In addition to those belonging to Snyder, the devices of 65 other current or former officials were acquired by the prosecution team under the newly-elected Democratic administration of Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The officials whose state-owned devices are being seized include former senior adviser Richard Baird, Lt. Governor Brian Calley, Chief of Staff Dick Posthumus and former cabinet members Nick Lyon of the Department of Health and Human Services and Dan Wyant, who headed the Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the agency responsible for drinking water safety. These measures do not guarantee that criminal charges will be laid against the culpable individuals. Neither Snyder nor any other top official has been charged to date in connection with a criminal conspiracy that led to the deaths of dozens of people and poisoned the water supply of a city of 100,000 residents, mostly moderate and low-income workers. The longer-term health effects of lead poisoning on thousands of residents of the former center of General Motors car production, including children, remain unknown. Certain things, however, are known. The toxic water was responsible for an outbreak of Legionnaires Disease that sickened possibly hundreds and killed from 13 to more than 100 people. Almost 300 miscarriages resulted and the fertility rate in the city fell by 12 percent. The economic devastation to working class families, including the collapse of home values, massive health bills and expenses related to relying on bottled water continues to mount five years after the state and city switched the water supply to the heavily polluted Flint River.
Texas struggles to keep pace as thirst for water intensifies –About 1,000 people arrive in Texas each day, drawn by jobs, newly built homes and other opportunities. But in a state where prolonged drought is a regular occurrence, officials are struggling to ensure they can sate everyone’s thirst. Water experts are trying to determine how “resilient” the state’s water infrastructure is in keeping safe drinking water flowing through the taps. There are indications that the system is more fragile than once thought: After Hurricane Harvey in 2017, more than 200 public water systems shut down or warned customers to boil their tap water. Months later, 3,700 Texans still lacked access to safe drinking water. Before that storm, 30 towns in 2013 were within six months of running out of water as a drought continued to grip the state. “The state is growing so fast that we’re constantly playing catch-up when it comes to building resilient water supplies,” said Robert Mace, executive director of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University. “The question is: When the bad times come will there be enough water for everybody?” As the planet warms and weather patterns turn more extreme, droughts – as well as floods – in the state generally have worsened. Meanwhile, the state population is expected to double by 2050 to more than 50 million people. Some Texas cities are seen as models in planning years in advance to keep supplies flowing to customers. But the big-ticket projects in Texas and greater push for long-term planning – the state every five years updates its water strategy based on a 50-year outlook – smack head-on against infrastructure defined by aging water lines, outdated treatment plants and smaller utilities focused on their own interests rather than regional ones.
Extreme weather has made half of America look like Tornado Alley – WaPo – Tornadoes have been popping up every day in the U.S. as if coming off an assembly line. They’re part of an explosion of extreme weather events, including record flooding, record cold and record heat. Wednesday brought more of the same, with tornado watches in the Midwest and Atlantic seaboard and 37 million Americans facing an “enhanced” risk of severe weather, according to the National Weather Service.All of which raises the question: Is this climate change, or just an unusually bad year?For years, scientists have warned that climate change caused by human activity – primarily the burning of fossil fuels and the spike in atmospheric greenhouse gases – would make extreme weather events more likely. But tornadoes have never fit neatly into the climate change narrative. They’re eccentric and quirky. Until this year, the U.S. was in something of a tornado drought.Twisters seem to follow a boom-and-bust cycle. There weren’t many tornadoes in 2018. So far this century, two years – 2008 and 2011 – jump off the charts, each with more than 2,000 reported tornadoes. This year, there have been nearly 1,000. The immediate driver of the violent weather is the jet stream, the powerful winds at high altitudes that sweep west to east across North America. The jet stream since May 14 has created conditions ripe for twisters. Seven deaths have been reported so far in the tornado assault of May. That’s a low death toll compared to some tornado seasons, but the steady, percussive nature of the storms – the daily pounding – has been anomalous. “Every day, somewhere in the United States is getting pummeled by tornadoes and hail,” said Victor Gensini, a professor of meteorology at Northern Illinois University. There’s plenty of water in the mix, too. The Mississippi River is projected to reach 14 feet above flood stage in St. Louis, the second-highest on record. The river has been above flood stage at Vicksburg, Miss., since Feb. 17, the longest stretch of flooding since 1927, the year of the famed “Great Flood.” And the Arkansas River is rising rapidly and poised to approach record flood stages in Tulsa and other cities. There’s been too much rain and not enough places to put it. Meanwhile it’s been so cold and wet in California that the ski resort of Mammoth has seen more than two feet of snow this month and may stay open until August. In the usually broiling desert city of Phoenix on Memorial Day, the thermometer topped out at a pleasant 79 degrees, which is 19 degrees below average. The Deep South would love to be so lucky: Temperatures have hit 100 in many cities, breaking records.
Mississippi River flood is longest-lasting in over 90 years, since ‘Great Flood’ of 1927 – Flooding in at least 8 states along portions of the Mississippi River – due torelentless, record-breaking spring rainfall – is the longest-lasting since the “Great Flood” of 1927, the National Weather Service said. The 1927 flood, which Weatherwise magazine called “perhaps the most underrated weather disaster of the century,” remains the benchmark flood event for the nation’s biggest river. Anytime a modern flood can be mentioned in the same breath as the Great Flood is newsworthy: During that historic flood, hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes as millions of acres of land and towns went underwater. At one point in 1927, along the Tennessee border, the Mississippi rose an astonishing 56.5 feet above flood stage, and in Arkansas, the river ballooned to 80 miles wide, according to the book Extreme Weather by Christopher Burt. While the scale of this year’s flood may not match the 1927 catastrophe, in terms of longevity, this year’s flood rivals that one: For example, In Vicksburg, Mississippi, the river went above flood stage on Feb. 17, and has remained in flood ever since. The weather service said this is the longest continuous stretch above flood stage since 1927. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Mississippi first rose above flood stage in early January, and has been above that level ever since, the National Weather Service said. If this record-long stretch extends well into June, it would break the record from 1927, according to the Weather Channel. And farther north, the Mississippi River at the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois saw its longest stretch above major flood stage ever recorded, even surpassing that of 1927. A large portion of the downtown of Davenport, Iowa, was also swamped by the flooding. Davenport’s public works department has spent more than $1 million on fighting floods this spring and that figure is expected to rise as the city prepares to hold back future deluges, officials said. All of this year’s flooding is due to both early spring snowmelt and seemingly endless rain: Since the start of 2019, much of the lower Ohio and lower Mississippi River Valleys have picked up more than 2 feet of rain. A few spots have even received over 40 inches of rain, the Weather Channel said.
May Rainfall Smashed Monthly Records, Leading to Record River Flooding in Parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas – Heavy rainfall over the past few weeks shattered all-time May records, swelling rivers to record levels in parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.So far, nine locations have set new record river levels during this prolonged siege of heavy rain.Hardest hit, so far, is the Arkansas River, where record levels have already been set near Ponca City, Oklahoma,Van Buren/Fort Smith, Dardanelle, Morrilton and Toad Suck Reservoir, Arkansas. The record at Morrilton, Arkansas, had stood since the Great Flood of 1927.For the first time, the U.S. Army Corps fully opened all gates at the Ozark Lock and Dam near the town of Ozark, Arkansas, Tuesday, essentially allowing the swollen river to move freely through the structure.The river also reached its highest level since the 1986 flood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, putting unprecedented stress on the levee system, and crested at its highest level since 1943 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, due to heavy rain upstream in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. Given this forecast, water could also overtop levees in Conway and Faulkner Counties, including the Lollie Levee, affecting areas in the city of Conway, Arkansas, about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock. At least one levee has already been overtopped in Perry County.Next week, the highest crests since 1945 in Little Rock and 1957 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, are possible, though record flooding isn’t expected in either location, according to the National Weather Service.Floodwater had already overtaken Island Harbor Estates and Regional Park in Pine Bluff on Memorial Day. Over 300 river gauges in the United States are reporting levels above flood stage, primarily in the nation’s midsection.
Assessing the U.S. Climate in May 2019 – NOAA – For May, the average contiguous U.S. temperature was 59.5°F, 0.7°F below the 20th century average and ranked in the bottom third of the 125-year record. Despite the cool May, meteorological spring (March – May) had near-average temperatures. The seasonally averaged temperature for the Lower 48 was 50.9°F, 0.1°F below average and ranked in the middle third of the record. The first five months of 2019 were marked by large regional variability in temperature, but when averaged, the contiguous U.S. temperature was 43.4°F, 0.1°F above the 20th century average and also ranked in the middle third of the January – May record. The May precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 4.41 inches, 1.50 inches above average, and ranked second wettest in the 125-year period of record for May as well as second wettest for all months since January 1895. The current record of 4.44 inches occurred in May 2015. Continuing a wet trend, both the spring and year-to-date precipitation totals for the contiguous U.S. were well-above average. The spring precipitation total was 9.85 inches, 1.91 inches above average and the sixth wettest spring on record, while the year-to-date precipitation total was 15.71 inches, 3.32 inches above average and ranked as the wettest year-to-date period for the contiguous U.S. in the 125-year record. Precipitation across the contiguous U.S. that accumulated over the June 2018 – May 2019 12-month period shattered the previous record for any 12-month period with 37.68 inches, 7.73 inches above average. The previous June – May record was 35.47 inches and occurred from June 1982 – May 1983. The previous all-time 12-month record was 36.20 inches and occurred from May 2018 – April 2019.
- Below- to much-below-average temperatures spanned from California, into the Great Lakes and across New England. Five states, from the Southwest to the northern Plains, had a top 10 coldest May on record.
- Above- to much-above-average May temperatures prevailed from the lower Mississippi River Valley into the mid-Atlantic states as well as across the Pacific Northwest. Florida ranked warmest on record for May with North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia ranking second warmest.
Historic flooding devastates US Midwest – Historic flooding continues to devastate large swathes of the Midwestern United States. Reports are beginning to emerge of levees breaching along three major rivers in two states. In Arkansas, the levee at Dardanelle, about 60 miles northwest of Little Rock, breached Friday night when rapid currents from the river ripped out a 40-foot section. The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management reported that crews went door to door to recommend evacuation for about 160 homes. City officials are attempting what they are referring to as a “last ditch effort” to save the south side of the town from the floodwater that is pouring through a breached levee. Mayor Jimmy Witt said Saturday that he does not believe the temporary levee being constructed would be able to stop the water. Instead, officials hope that it will buy time for residents of up to 800 homes to make preparations. “I knew there was flood warning in Fort Smith which I think was the first place to be flooded. I hear the water is over top of the roofs of houses now. For us the evacuation notice came really late Friday night, right before I was about to go to bed. The police knocked on my door to tell us the area was in serious danger and we would need to leave. We were lucky that we had the resources to pack up most of our things. A lot of people in this area will lose everything. What’s worse is that people don’t have anywhere to go.” The second reported breached levee over the weekend was on the Missouri River in the central part of the state of Missouri. There is much less information on the devastation from the second breached levee. However, authorities are reporting that a body of a drowning victim was found at a Missouri lake. The reports of failing levees mean thousands of additional homes could be in danger. Four major rivers, the Illinois, the Missouri, the Arkansas and the Mississippi all remain at risk of spilling over in the coming week. As of Sunday evening, 80 flood gauges running through 10 different states – from North Dakota to Louisiana – were indicating major flooding, the highest possible category. The scale of the damage thus far is difficult to quantify, as many official reports continue to be tallied. However, photos on social media reveal devastating scenes.
3 of 5 Great Lakes are now at record high water levels – All five Great Lakes had water levels that increased through May. Now four of the Great Lakes sit at record high May water levels, using records dating back to 1918. Lake Ontario had to increase a large amount this past month to climb to record levels. Only Lake Michigan fell short of the May record by 0.72″.I want to note how I’m comparing current lake levels to the record. When looking at a record monthly water level, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uses the average monthly water level. In this post I am using the daily water level compared to the average monthly record level. It took until the second half of the month, and in some cases until the last few days of the month for a lake to rise above the record level. The water levels are still on the rise. On all of the charts used here, red is this year’s water level. Blue is the 2018 water level. The highest dashed black line is the monthly lake wide average record level. Lake Superior rose five inches during May, and now sits one inch above the record highest May average water level. Lakes Michigan and Huron have the same water level due to the Straits of Mackinac. Lakes Michigan and Huron both rose nines inches in May. One inch of water on these two lakes represents 800 billion gallons of water. Lakes Michigan-Huron inched to within 0.72″ of the May 1986 level, which is the current monthly average record level. Lake Erie finished May four inches above the all-time May record water level, which was set back in 1986. Lake Erie rose six inches in May to have a daily level climb above the record May level. Lake Ontario rose 18 inches during May, putting its last daily reading in May at 3.48″ above the May 2017 average record water level. Fortunately the Lake Ontario water level is currently forecast to fall four inches in the next month. Lake St. Clair went up three inches in May, and now sits almost four inches higher than the May 1986 record. The official forecast from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has Lake St. Clair staying at this level during June.
How catastrophic flooding could change the course of the Mississippi River – Floodwater rushing toward the rising Mississippi River has forced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make the decision to open the rarely used Morganza Spillway on Thursday, June 6 to divert part of the river’s flow into the Atchafalaya Basin. About 24,000 acres are expected to flood as the water is funneled from the Mississippi River and into the Atchafalaya River. Residents and landowners in the path of the expected floods were alerted about the possibility last week. The Old River Control Structure, known as America’s Achilles’ heel to some, is a floodgate system which regulates the flow of water leaving the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya River, in Vidalia, Louisiana.The Old River Control Structure lies on a rural stretch of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, a few miles east of the tiny town of Simmesport.The system is designed to prevent the Mississippi River from permanently altering course down the Atchafalaya River, bypassing Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but current flooding could put a strain on the system and in a worst-case scenario make it fail, causing the Mississippi River to change course down the Atchafalaya River. “If the Mississippi River changes its course during a major flood, it would be a disaster for shipping and economic impacts in New Orleans and the lower end of waterway,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said. Industries and agricultural interests use the Mississippi River to transport goods upstream and downstream. Grain is hauled downstream, while raw materials are hauled upstream. It is more cost efficient to ship it by barge rather than rail or trucks because tug boats can pull a dozen or more barges up and down the river; but if the flow is too great or water is too shallow the boats can’t haul as much. The US Army Corps of Engineers has the rivers and structures under control now, however some wonder how long that will last.The Mississippi River has been above flood stage in Louisiana for more than four months now at some points, which is the most consecutive days in modern history. During flooding in 1973, the Old River Control Structure almost failed when a hole developed in the structure, causing part of it to collapse. The Army Corps of Engineers dumped rock behind the dam, narrowly preventing it from failing. If the dam failed, the Mississippi River would have most likely changed course that day.
Intense Rainfall Is As Damaging to Crops As Heatwaves and Drought, and Climate Change Is Making It Worse –Intense rainfall is as damaging to the U.S. agricultural sector as heatwaves and excessive droughts, according to a new study published in the journal Global Change Biology that examined more than three decades of crop insurance, climate, soil, and corn yield data.The study, led by scientists at the University of Illinois, found that since 1981, corn yields in the U.S. Midwest were reduced by as much as 34 percent during years with excessive rainfall. Years with drought and heatwaves experienced yield loss of up to 37 percent. Intense rain events can physically damage crops, delay planting and harvesting, restrict root growth, and cause oxygen deficiency and nutrient loss. Between 1989 and 2016, excessive rainfall caused $10 billion in agricultural losses.The findings point to a need for reforms in the U.S. crop insurance industry, the researchers said. Parts of the Midwest have already experienced a 42 percent increase in the heaviest precipitation events since 1958, according to Climate Central. And climate change models predict that much of the region will experience even more frequent and intense precipitation events in the coming decades.“As rainfall becomes more extreme, crop insurance needs to evolve to better meet planting challenges faced by farmers,” Gary Schnitkey, an expert in agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois and co-author of the study,said in a statement.
Flooding and tariffs causing chaos for farmers – Standing next to his mud-splattered red pickup in Central Arkansas, a tired Robert Stobaugh watches an osprey soar over a field of flooded rice. If anything can survive flooding, he says, it’s rice. “But even rice doesn’t like this,” he says, looking at the swamp of rust-brown water in front of him. The fields around Stobaugh’s truck are usually planted with soybeans, corn and rice. This year, because of weeks of heavy rain, most of them still haven’t been seeded. Of the fields that have, Stobaugh says, many look like the field in front of him that has been swallowed by the surging Arkansas River. Farmers up and down the Arkansas River, the Missouri and the Mississippi are experiencing an unusual – unprecedented, some would say – combination of circumstances this year that are putting many in a difficult situation. Weeks and weeks of rain across the Midwest and the Great Plains have kept many farmers from planting crops. Surging rivers have broken levees, flooded fields and brought barge traffic to a halt on some of the nation’s biggest waterways. “Even if I could get a good crop planted and cut, I don’t know how I’d move it,” says Matt Crabtree, a farmer in the Arkansas River Basin and president of the Farmers Cooperative. On top of that, farmers are dealing with the effects of President Trump’s ongoing trade dispute with China and the prospects of a new one with Mexico. “If you just had one individual [issue], farmers would take a loss but it probably wouldn’t be all that bad,” says Jeremy Ross, a soybean agronomist with the University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture. “But then you start adding all these together, and it just starts snowballing, and it just becomes this big huge problem.”
The Wettest, Wildest Planting Season U.S. Farmers Can Remember — There has never been a spring planting season like this one. Rivers topped their banks. Levees were breached. Fields filled with water and mud. And it kept raining. It was raining when U.S. farmers, a year into being squeezed out of the world’s largest soybean market by the trade war with China, were supposed to start putting down crops. It was raining when President Donald Trump risked starting a feud with Mexico, the biggest buyer of U.S. corn, by threatening to slap tariffs on its exports. “You hear words like biblical, unprecedented,” said Sherman Newlin, a corn and soybean farmer in Illinois. “That’s all true.” The storms and rains may soon lift, but the layers of uncertainty just keep adding up. Farmers who have lost access to Chinese soy buyers don’t see relief on the horizon. Other countries may chip away at corn exports. With Brazil reaping a bumper crop while U.S. farmers watched the weather, buyers in Asia were shopping for South American grain. Now there are the fears about Mexico, which bought about $5.5 billion in U.S. grain and soy shipments last year. Tariffs could also upend ratification of the new trade agreement between Mexico, the U.S., and Canada, said Beth Ford, chief executive officer of Land O’Lakes Inc. “Stress is at a tipping point for many in farm country,” she said. “The last thing they need right now is more uncertainty.” The National Grain and Feed Association agreed, saying in a statement that the duties “unquestionably will jeopardize” the accord. “It is fair to say that there has never been a geopolitical situation in modern times like the one we have right now,” Matt Campbell, a risk management consultant at INTL FCStone, said in an email. There has never been weather like this, either. The 12 months that ended with April were the wettest ever for the contiguous U.S. That spurred other firsts: Corn plantings are further behind schedule for this time of year than they have been in records dating to 1980 and analysts are predicting an unheard-of 6 million acres intended for the grain may simply go unsown this year. “Every farmer that I talk to says, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,’ and these are not 20-year-olds,” said Tom Sleight, CEO of the U.S. Grains Council, a trade group. Ripple effects are already hitting businesses reliant on grains, especially corn, the most widely grown U.S. crop. Amid the deluge, prices slumped for cattle heading to feedlots to bulk up on corn, which surged 18% in May, the most in a month since 2015. And the grain rally sent shares tumbling for Tyson Foods Inc. and Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., whose chickens feed on corn. Meanwhile, demand for fertilizer and other crop chemicals has been slammed. Hedge funds who had made massive bets that corn prices would decline drastically cut those positions this week, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
Corn That Won’t Get Planted This Year Could Shatter All U.S. Records – For months, traders debated which crops U.S. farmers would sow this year. That discussion is now turning to how many acres may be left unplanted as relentless rainfall sweeps the Midwest.Rabobank is predicting an unprecedented number of unplanted acres of corn, the most widely grown American crop. A Bloomberg survey of 10 traders and analysts indicates growers could file insurance claims for about 6 million corn acres they haven’t been able to sow, almost double the record in 2013. Analysts predict U.S. 2019 corn acreage loss at 6 million. Corn futures surged more than 20% to a three-year high over the past few weeks on fears farmers wouldn’t be able to get seeds in the ground ahead of crop-insurance deadlines. So-called prevented plant claims reached 3.6 million acres in 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. Field conditions deteriorated over the past few weeks, indicating significant corn acreage loss was a risk, according to Gro Intelligence, a New York-based analysis firm that uses satellites among other data sources. Areas with the biggest risk of acreage loss were in central Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and the region around the borders of South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska.Such insurance claims are considered a last-ditch effort for farmers, who can receive about half of the value of their crop. Analysts in the Bloomberg survey cautioned estimates could still be skewed by the weather and the government’s market facilitation program, a $16 billion aid package to mitigate the impact of trade wars. Soaring corn prices could also prompt farmers to plant the crop without insurance. “The MFP payment is dependent upon acres being planted,” said Karl Setzer, market analyst at Agrivisor in Bloomington, Illinois. Setzer estimated that 4 million to 5 million acres of corn could be left planted. However, “the recent rally in futures will also encourage planting beyond normal dates,” he said. Sara Menker, chief executive officer of Gro Intelligence, said some areas could remain too wet to plant either corn or even soybeans. While the market is mostly focused on corn, traders “should probably care about corn and beans in particular areas, because both could be decimated, even with the window not closing for beans,” she said. The top 25 counties at risk planted 3.7 million acres of corn in 2018, according to Gro Intelligence. In March, the USDA said U.S. farmers intended to plant 92.8 million acres of corn this year. The agency won’t report prevented plant until August.
More weather woes for farmers: ‘There will be a lot of acres not planted’ – “It’s like we are trying to plant on top of a lake!” wrote Nebraska farmer Ed Brummels in a recent Twitter post. The situation does not look to improve for farmers in the U.S. Corn Belt. AccuWeather is predicting the pattern of rounds of showers and thunderstorms to continue, with storms over part of the flood-stricken areas into midweek. Also, the southern half of the Corn Belt is in the path of downpours expected later this week.”If you’re along the Ohio River and you don’t have your corn planted by Wednesday, you may not plant anything additional because you may get three inches of rain between Thursday and Saturday,” said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Jason Nicholls.Corn and soybean planting remain well off pace, according to Monday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Crop Progress compared to the average from 2014-18.The Crop Progress indicated just 67% of corn was planted in 18 key corn-producing states. The 2014-18 average for corn planted by June 2nd is 96%, so planting is off 30.2% in comparison.Corn planting has been at an all-time low percentage for the last three reports and remains behind schedule in 17 of the 18 states monitored.Soybean planting is behind in 16 of the 18 key soybean-producing states, according to the report. So far, just 39% of soybean planting has taken place, compared to the five-year average of 79% by June 2nd, meaning soybean planting is off 50.6%.AccuWeather predicts yields below the USDA estimates for corn (9% lower) and soybeans (4% lower) for the year because of extended wet conditions in key corn- and soybean-producing states.”Worst year I can remember [locally] — we are still trying to get corn (90% done) and beans (65% done),” Nebraska’s Ed Brummels wrote in an email to AccuWeather, having been in the agriculture industry since 1981. “It gets worse as you go north and east of me in Nebraska. South Dakota is a disaster … I do remember 1983 was bad — but not sure if it was this bad,” he added. “There will be a lot of acres not planted.” Many U.S. farmers face an impending decision regarding their planting plans. Historical data shows that corn yield could drop roughly 22% if corn is planted on or beyond June 4. “I think there will be very little corn planted after this week,” said AccuWeather’s Jason Nicholls. “I wouldn’t say zero, but it’s relatively minor. This is the week they have to get the corn planted but the weather just doesn’t look that great.”
‘Horrible scenes:’ More rain threatens areas swamped by record floods in central, southern US –More unwelcome rain is forecast this week in much of the central and southern U.S., falling upon areas already swamped by record-breaking floods. “Many locations from the central and southern Plains into the Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley could see 1 to 3 inches of rain in the week ahead,” the Weather Channel warned, with “locally up to 5 inches of rain possible in some areas.” To make matters worse, rain from a developing tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico could bring additional rainfall to the region: “Tropical moisture from the western Gulf of Mexico may begin impacting parts of south Texas on Tuesday,” the National Weather Service said. The weather system, which would be named Tropical Storm Barry if its winds reach 39 mph, is now sitting in the Gulf just east of Mexico. According to the National Hurricane Center, the “system is expected to move slowly northwestward toward the northeastern coast of Mexico and could become a tropical cyclone before it moves inland in a day or two.” Regardless of whether it becomes a tropical storm, moisture from the system “will spread north and eastward,” the weather service said, “with heavy to excessive rainfall a concern especially across regions with current and ongoing moderate to major flooding.” Heavy rainfall from the system is also likely to spread over southeastern Texas and Louisiana through Thursday, the hurricane center warned. Along the Arkansas River in Arkansas, communities were preparing for more record-breaking crests. Officials ordered mandatory evacuations for about 500 homes that sit within the levee system in Jefferson County, just southwest of Little Rock. “Just horrible scenes down in Jefferson County and Pine Bluff, Arkansas,” tweeted Brian Emfinger of KATV-TV in Little Rock, on Sunday.
Arkansas governor requests disaster declaration for flooding (AP) – Arkansas’ governor has asked President Donald Trump to declare a major disaster for eight counties that have been hit by historic flooding along the Arkansas River.Gov. Asa Hutchinson asked Trump in a letter dated Thursday to declare a disaster for Conway, Crawford, Faulkner, Jefferson, Perry, Pulaski, Sebastian and Yell counties. Hutchinson wrote that preliminary assessments estimate more than $27 million is needed for temporary housing, repair, replacement housing and other needs in those counties.Hutchinson’s office said an estimated $8.5 million is needed for debris removal and emergency protective measures for state and local governments, and that the state expected additional infrastructure losses to exceed $100 million. More than 857 homes suffered major damage or were destroyed in the counties. The request is for individual and public assistance.
The Economic Cost Of Devastating Hurricanes And Other Extreme Weather Events Is Even Worse Than We Thought – June marks the official start of hurricane season. If recent history is any guide, it will prove to be another destructive year thanks to the worsening impact of climate change. But beyond more intense hurricanes and explosive wildfires, the warming climate has been blamed for causing a sharp uptick in all types of extreme weather events across the country, such as severe flooding across the U.S. this spring and extensive drought in the Southwest in recent years.Late last year, the media blared that these and other consequences of climate change could cut U.S. GDP by 10% by the end of the century – “more than double the losses of the Great Depression,” asThe New York Times intoned. That figure was drawn from a single figure in the U.S. government’s Fourth National Climate Assessment. (Disclosure: I reviewed that report and was the vice chair on the third one, released in 2014.) If that sounds scary, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that that figure was drawn incorrectly from a significant misreading of the report – which actually offered a range of a loss of GDP from as low as 6% to as high as 14% by 2090. The bad news, however, is that a more meaningful assessment of the costs of climate change – using basic economic principles I teach to undergrads – is a hell of a lot scarier.
Do We Face A Global Food Disaster? – According to the latest May 20 report of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the US Department of Agriculture, corn and soybean crops are well behind the planting growth levels normal this time of the planting season. They report that only 49% of all planned corn acreage in the US has been planted compared with 78% at this time a year ago. Of that only 19% has yet emerged from the ground compared to 47% in May 2018. In terms of soybeans, barely 19% of crops have yet been planted compared with 53% a year before. Rice acreage planted is down to 73% compared to 92% a year ago in the six US rice-growing states. Of course, should weather dramatically improve the final harvest numbers could improve. It is simply too early to predict. The USA is by a wide margin the world largest soybean producer with 34 percent of the world’s soybean production and 42% of world exports prior to the China trade battles. The US is also the world largest corn or maize producer, almost double China, the number two. A serious harvest failure in these two crops could significantly affect world food prices, leaving aside the unfortunate fact that almost all US soybeans and corn are GMO crops. A major factor in the disruption of the US Midwest growing season is the fact that the past 12 months have seen the greatest precipitation levels since the US Government began keeping statistics in 1895, according to the US NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. While the Midwest USA farm-belt is waterlogged, other regions of the globe suffer drought, most notably, Australia, a major grain producer. For the first time since 2007 Australia is being forced to import wheat, mainly from Canada. Last year drought caused a 20% crop harvest reduction. The Government has issued a bulk import permit to deal with the situation. Current wheat harvest estimates are for only 16 million metric tons, half of what it was two seasons ago. Australia is in recent years the number five world wheat export nation. Adding to the shortfall of grains, The Philippines is experiencing a major drought since February 2018, which is devastating the current rice crop. Although the country is not one of the world top rice producers – India, Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan comprise a total of some 70% all rice export – it has significant political impact on the troubled country. Another country being hit by severe drought is North Korea. There rainfall so far this year is lowest since 1982. State media reports that a “severe drought has been lingering in all parts” of the country. The average precipitation since January is only 42.3% of the average annual precipitation of 5 inches. This comes as the country experiences significant food shortages.
Global Warming Is Messing with the Jet Stream. That Means More Extreme Weather. Greenhouse gases are increasingly disrupting the jet stream, a powerful river of winds that steers weather systems in the Northern Hemisphere. That’s causing more frequent summer droughts, floods and wildfires, a new study says. The findings suggest that summers like 2018, when the jet stream drove extreme weather on an unprecedented scale across the Northern Hemisphere, will be 50 percent more frequent by the end of the century if emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate pollutants from industry, agriculture and the burning of fossil fuels continue at a high rate. In a worst-case scenario, there could be a near-tripling of such extreme jet stream events, but other factors, like aerosol emissions, are a wild card, according to the research, published today in the journal Science Advances. The study identifies how the faster warming of the Arctic twists the jet stream into an extreme pattern that leads to persistent heat and drought extremes in some regions, with flooding in other areas. The researchers said they were surprised by how big a role other pollutants play in the jet stream’s behavior, especially aerosols – microscopic solid or liquid particles from industry, agriculture, volcanoes and plants. Aerosols have a cooling effect that partially counteracts the jet stream changes caused by greenhouse gases, “Those emissions are expected to decrease rapidly in the mid-latitude regions in the next 10 to 30 years” because of phasing out of pollution to protect people from breathing unhealthy air. In recent decades, aerosol pollution has actually been slowing down the global warming process across the Northern Hemisphere’s mid-latitude industrial regions. If aerosol emissions drop rapidly, as projected, these regions would warm faster. That would change the temperature contrast between the Arctic and mid-latitudes, which would dampen the warming effect of greenhouse gases on the jet stream. By how much depends on the rate, location and timing of the reductions, and the offset would end by mid-century, when man-made aerosols are expected to be mostly gone and no longer reflecting incoming solar radiation, said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist and study lead author Michael Mann.
India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius Temperatures passed 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in northern India as an unrelenting heatwave triggered warnings of water shortages and heatstroke. The thermometer hit 50.6 degrees Celsius (123 Fahrenheit) in the Rajasthan desert city of Churu on Saturday, the weather department said. All of Rajasthan suffered in severe heat with several cities hitting maximum temperatures above 47 Celsius. In May 2016, Phalodi in Rajasthan recorded India’s highest-ever temperature of 51 Celsius (123.8 Fahrenheit). The Indian Meteorological Department said severe heat could stay for up to a week across Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh states. Several deaths from heatstroke have already been recorded. A red alert severe heat warning has been issued in the capital New Delhi as temperatures passed 46 Celsius, and residents were advised not to go out during the hottest hours of the day. Even in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, where many wealthy Indians go to escape the summer heat, temperatures reached 44.9 Celsius in Una. Several major cities, led by Chennai, have reported fears of water shortages as lakes and rivers start to dry up. In the western state of Maharashtra, farmers struggled to find water for thirsty animals and crops. “We have to source water tankers from nearby villages as water reserves, lakes and rivers have dried up,” said Rajesh Chandrakant, a resident of Beed, one of the worst-hit districts. “Farmers only get water every three days for their livestock.” “There is no drinking water available for days on end and we get one tanker every three days for the entire village,” “We are scared for our lives and livelihood,” he added. The Hindustan Times newspaper said many Beed residents had stopped washing and cleaning clothes due to the water shortage. More than 40 percent of India faces drought this year, experts from Gandhinagar city’s Indian Institute of Technology, warned last month. The annual monsoon – which normally brings much needed rain to South Asia – is running a week behind schedule and is only expected to hit India’s southern tip on June 6, the weather department said. And private forecaster Skymet has said there will be less rain than average this year.
Day Zero in India Looming For Millions – In early 2018, a three-year drought pushed Cape Town, South Africa, within weeks of experiencing “Day Zero” – the day when the city would run out of water and the taps be shut off. Fortunately, extreme water conservation efforts and the arrival of timely rains pushed “Day Zero” back indefinitely. But in India, “Day Zero” has already arrived for over 100 million people, thanks to excessive groundwater pumping, an inefficient and wasteful water supply system and years of deficient rains. “Day Zero” is expected to arrive for millions more in India by 2020, when groundwater supplies are predicted to run out for 100 million people in the northern half of India. “Large parts of India have already been living with ‘Day Zero’ for a while now,” said Mridula Ramesh in a 2018 interview with Reuters. Mridula is author of the 2018 book, The Climate Solution: India’s Climate Change Crisis and What We Can Do About It. “Much of it is because of bad management. Most cities lose between a third and a fifth of their water from pilferage or leakage through antiquated pipes, and we don’t treat and reuse wastewater enough,” she said. Over 12% of India’s population–163 million people of 1.3 billion–live under “Day Zero” conditions, with no access to clean water near their home, according to a 2018 WaterAid report. That is the most of any country in the world. With the taps dry, people are forced to dig ever-deeper wells or buy water. The number of people in India experiencing “Day Zero” is set to grow significantly by 2020, according to a startling report released in 2018 by Niti Ayog, India’s federal think tank. “Supply gaps are causing city dwellers to depend on privately extracted ground water, bringing down local water tables,” the report says. “In fact, by 2020, 21 major cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru (formerly called Bangalore), and Hyderabad, are expected to reach zero groundwater levels, affecting access for 100 million people.” Loss of groundwater supplies will force people in the affected cities to rely on rainwater harvesting and water piped from rivers–sources that are inadequate to meet the demand. Groundwater supplies 40% of India’s water needs, including more than 60% of irrigated agriculture and 85% of domestic water use. India accounts for 12% of global groundwater use.
Canada: Alberta wildfires force evacuations, threaten air quality – More than 11,000 residents of northern Alberta towns have been temporarily evacuated over the past few weeks by the police and armed forces due to out-of-control wildfires. These include the Town of High Level, the Dene Tha’ First Nation communities of Bushe River, Meander River and Chateh, the Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement, Wabasca, and the Bigstone Cree Nation. On Tuesday an 8-hour evacuation alert for the Town of Slave Lake, much of which was destroyed by a wildfire in 2011, was downgraded to 12 hours. However, officials say that the fire near the town, which currently covers an area three time the size of Edmonton, could continue to burn for several months. In terms of square hectares, wildfires across the province consumed – just in the month of May – four times the average yearly Alberta fire season burn of 500,000 hectares. Alberta’s newly elected United Conservative Party (UCP) government and Premier Jason Kenney are adamantly insisting that there is no connection between the wildfires and climate change. Yet, the scope of the fires at this stage of the wildfire season is unprecedented. Moreover, in Alberta, neighbouring British Columbia, and internationally there has been a significant spike in the number and intensity of wildfires, which scientists attribute at least in part to hotter, dryer weather, increased winds and other changes in weather patterns.
California utility PG&E warns power may be shut off due to extreme fire risk – Pacific Gas & Electric Co., California’s largest electric utility, warned Friday afternoon it might cut power this weekend to tens of thousands of customers in its service area due to extreme fire risk. It follows the California Public Utilities Commission last week approving expanded blackouts in high fire-risk areas to reduce wildfire danger. Proactively shutting down power is part of wildfire mitigation plans filed recently by several major utilities. PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection in late January after being hit with a flood of lawsuits from devastating wildfires in Northern California in recent years. The utility tweeted Friday afternoon it was “actively monitoring weather conditions” and might cut power “within the next 18 to 36 hours in areas of the North Bay and the Sierra foothills where extreme fire risks exist.” Those are some of the same regions that have experienced catastrophic wildfires in recent years. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for Friday evening through Sunday afternoon in portions of Northern California, meaning there is an increased chance of wildfires due to strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures. The state is bracing for perhaps another severe wildfire season after catastrophic 2017 and 2018 blazes that killed more than 120 people. California has a history of power lines sometimes sparking wildfires, including during high wind conditions when trees and their branches can knock down lines.
Little legal recourse for astronomers concerned about Starlink – Despite complaints by individual astronomers and astronomical organizations, legal experts say there is little they can do under existing federal law and regulations to halt the deployment of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. SpaceX launched the first set of 60 Starlink satellites May 23. The next evening, amateur astronomers noticed them passing in a closely-bunched train, bright enough to be easily seen by the naked eye. The satellites have subsequently spread out in the sky and raised their altitude, becoming harder to see but occasionally flaring to brighter magnitudes. The initial appearance has alarmed many professional astronomers, who are concerned that the full Starlink constellation – SpaceX has licenses from the Federal Communications Commission for up to about 12,000 satellites – could interfere with groundbased astronomy. In some scenarios, hundreds of satellites could be visible in the sky at any given time, making it more likely one will cross the field of view of a telescope and disrupt an observation. “The rapid increase in the number of satellite groups poses an emerging threat to the natural nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies,” said the International Dark-Sky Association, a group devoted primarily to addressing terrestrial light pollution threats to astronomy, in a May 29 statement. The International Astronomical Union (IAU), an organization best known for overseeing nomenclature for celestial bodies, also weighed in, noting the potential for satellite constellations such as Starlink to interfere with both optical and radio astronomy.
Space weather affects your daily life. It’s time to start paying attention. MIT Technology Review – Holed up in a cramped room of her house, Tamitha Skov gets set in front of a makeshift green screen, which has been cobbled together from two green bed sheets. She cues up a script on her computer and hits Record. Staring down the lens, she says, “We finally quieted down from multiple solar storms that brought us aurora pretty much all over the world last week, and the two regions responsible have rotated to the sun’s backside. What does that mean for you? Those stories and more in the news this week.” S Skov could be one of the thousands of on-air weather forecasters who take to the airwaves each day. But instead of sharing rainfall and temperature forecasts, Skov – a.k.a. the Space Weather Woman – is one of the few who explain space weather. Hers is a relatively new field. She details things like solar wind, solar flares, geomagnetic storms, and coronal mass ejections – streams of charged particles and magnetic fields that originate in our star’s outer atmosphere. Space weather can create spectacular auroras. But it can also disrupt and disable satellites that provide services like GPS. It can affect electrical grids, or even threaten astronauts onboard the International Space Station with dangerous levels of radiation. A number of centers around the globe, like theSpace Weather Prediction Center in Colorado, are set up to measure and predict these storms. Using both space-based and ground tools, researchers take pictures and measurements of the sun, and warn governments and companies when dangerous space weather might be approaching. A government, for example, might then respond by shutting down satellites or electrical grids. Such reports are dense, so Skov simplifies them for non-experts – a task she’s been doing for five years, uploading the reports to her YouTube channel. Her viewers include groups that rely heavily on satellites, or people who need to know about natural events that arise from space weather – farmers, for example, or members of the US military, aurora photographers, pilots, drone operators, meteorologists, ham radio operators. Though these small communities follow her work religiously, Skov wants to break space weather out of its niche. “My ultimate goal is to create the field of space weather broadcasting so that it’s on the nightly news, right alongside your terrestrial weather,” she says.
Study: Enhanced Seismic Activity Observed in Alaska Due To Climate Change — With news breaking that Alaska just had its warmest March to May on record with a statewide average temperature of 32.6°F, 8.6°F above the long-term average – the previous warmest spring in Alaska was in 2016, one must ask how this performs in relation to seismicity. First we learn that according to the University of Alaska Fairbanks 2018 Year in Review, the year recorded the most earthquakes to date. Alaska Earthquake Center: We recorded more than 55,000 earthquakes in Alaska last year. We would give you an exact figure, but we’re still counting. That’s a record, and not by a little. The previous high was 42,989 in 2017, which eclipsed 2014’s record of 40,686. However, there was nothing extraordinary about 2017 seismically. The record was mainly due to the addition of 157 new USArray stations from 2014-2016, which helped us to detect far more earthquakes in previously uninstrumented parts of the state, especially in the north and west. Permafrost in Siberia and Alaska has started to thaw for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago, has caused by the recent rise in temperature over the past six decades. The melting rate of glaciers has become significantly higher, causing a noticeable rise (0.19meters) in the sea level globally. Climate change can trigger catastrophes such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and landslides due to melting glaciers and rising in sea level. The melting of glaciers driven by global warming warns us of a seismically turbulent future. When glaciers melt, the massive weight on the Earth’s crust reduces and the crust bounces back in what scientists call an “isostatic rebound“. The process can reactivate faults and lift pressure on magma chambers that feed volcanoes, hence increases seismic activity.
This animation shows all recorded earthquakes from 1901 – 2000 – You Tube
‘Single Most Important Stat on the Planet’: Alarm as Atmospheric CO2 Soars to ‘Legit Scary’ Record High – In another alarming signal that the international community is failing to take the kind of ambitious action necessary to avert global climate catastrophe, NOAA released new data Tuesday showing that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels – which environmentalist Bill McKibben described as the “single most important stat on the planet” – reached a “record high” in the month of May.”The measurement is the highest seasonal peak recorded in 61 years of observations on top of Hawaii’s largest volcano and the seventh consecutive year of steep global increases in concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2),” NOAA said in a statement on Tuesday. “The 2019 peak value was 3.5 PPM higher than the 411.2 PPM peak in May 2018 and marks the second-highest annual jump on record.” According to NOAA’s measurements – which were taken at the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory in Hawaii – carbon dioxide levels peaked at an average of 414.7 PPM in May.As The Guardian reported, “Scientists have warned for more than a decade that concentrations of more than 450 PPM risk triggering extreme weather events and temperature rises as high as 2°C, beyond which the effects of global heating are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible.” Reacting to NOAA’s new measurements, McKibben tweeted, “This is legit scary.”
All The World’s Carbon Emissions In One Chart – Two degrees Celsius may not seem like much, but on our planet, it could be the difference between thriving life and a disastrous climate.Over two centuries of burning fossil fuels have added up, and global decision-makers and business leaders are focusing in on carbon emissions as a key issue. This week’s chart uses the most recent data from Global Carbon Atlas to demonstrate where most of the world’s COâ‚‚ emissions come from, sorted by country. In terms of absolute emissions, the heavy hitters are immediately obvious. Large economies such as China, the United States, and India alone account for almost half the world’s emissions. Zoom out a little further, and it’s even clearer that just a handful of countries are responsible for the majority of emissions.Of course, absolute emissions don’t tell the full story. The world is home to over 7.5 billion people, but they aren’t distributed evenly across the globe. How do these carbon emissions shake out on a per capita basis?Here are the 20 countries with the highest emissions per capita:
Climate change doomsday report predicts end of human civilization — In the past week, the world has experienced chaotic weather phenomena, from deathly Indian heatwaves to snow inundating parts of Queensland. Now, the Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Change has issued a report predicting the end of human civilisation as we know it. The report, terrifyingly entitled Existential climate-related security risk, glimpses 30 years into the future to the year 2050 – and the results are grim. Authors David Spratt, a researcher into climate change, and Ian Dunlop, former chairman of the Australian Coal Association and chair of the Australian Greenhouse Office Experts Group on Emissions Trading, propose a scenario in which global emissions and climate threats are ignored, and the trajectory of environmental collapse goes unchecked.Their conclusions spell out a dire warning. Using climate data, Spratt and Dunlop claim the Earth can expect at least a 3C rise in temperatures, which would trigger global decay and destruction of crucial ecosystems, including the Arctic, Amazon rainforests and coral reefs.”More than a billion people may need to be relocated, and in high-end scenarios, the scale of destruction is beyond our capacity to model, with a high likelihood of human civilisation coming to an end,” Spratt and Dunlop warn.By 2050, total ecological collapse would give way to massive social consequences ranging from “increased religious fervour to outright chaos”.The report suggests the catastrophic chain of environmental disasters will climax with widespread pandemics, forced migration from inhabitable locations and a likely nuclear war due to skirmishing for limited resources.”Planetary and human systems (reach) a ‘point of no return’ by mid-century in which the prospect of a largely uninhabitable Earth leads to the breakdown of nations and the international order,” the report predicts. Spratt and Dunlop sum up our disastrous fate with a harrowing thought: “Climate change now represents a near-to-mid-term existential threat to human civilisation.”
‘This Is an Emergency. We Need the Democrats to Act Like It’: Outrage as DNC Says It Won’t Host a 2020 Debate on Climate Crisis — Sparking a torrent of backlash from Democratic White House contenders, environmental organizations, and youth climate leaders, the Democratic National Committee announced Wednesday that it will not host aclimate-specific presidential primary debate and will punish candidates who attend a debate hosted by any other organization. News of the DNC’s decision was made public by 2020 presidential candidate and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who was the first Democratic contender to call for a debate focused solely on the climate crisis.”Today, my team received a call from the Democratic National Committee letting us know that they will not host a climate debate,” Inslee said in a statement. “Further, they explained that if we participated in anyone else’s climate debate, we will not be invited to future debates. This is deeply disappointing.”Inslee said he will pressure the DNC leadership to change its mind, arguing that the climate emergency “merits a full discussion of our plans” rather than the “short exchange of talking points” typical of past presidential debates.”The DNC is silencing the voices of Democratic activists, many of our progressive partner organizations, and nearly half of the Democratic presidential field, who want to debate the existential crisis of our time,” Inslee said. “The next president must make defeating this crisis the top priority of the nation. And I will continue to do everything I humanly can to ensure the climate crisis is at the top of the national agenda.”
$1 Trillion: The Cost Of Climate Change For Corporations – The United States is poised to take a powerful economic hit with the real cost of a disturbed climate beginning to become abundantly clear. Rising sea levels, wildfires, heat waves and extreme weather events are set to cost trillions of dollars over the next couple of decades in crumbling infrastructure, reduced crop yields, health problems and lost labor.According to Bruno Sarda, president of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) North America, climate change is no longer the distant threat it used to be, but a phenomenon that’s adversely impacting whole economies in the here and now.Sarda says that climate change is very much underpriced risk in financial disclosures with boardrooms underestimating its full impact. According to a recent CDP report, companies across the globe expect climate change to cost them a staggering $1 trillion dollars over the next five years. An even more alarming fact: U.S. corporate heads appear to be sleeping behind the wheel more than most, with corporate America more ill-prepared for such an eventuality than others. According to the CDP report, companies in the U.S. are lagging behind their overseas peers with only 65 percent integrating climate risk into their business strategies compared to the global average of 72 percent.
Ocasio-Cortez: $10 trillion needed for effective climate plan – Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that any plan to sufficiently address the climate crisis will need to cost at least $10 trillion.“I think we really need to get to $10 trillion to have a shot,” the progressive firebrand said in response to a question from The Hill in the Capitol.“I know it’s a ton,” she added. “I don’t think anyone wants to spend that amount of money, it’s not a fun number to say, I’m not excited to say we need to spend $10 trillion on climate, but … it’s just the fact of the scenario.”Ocasio-Cortez, who helped popularize a set of principles known as the Green New Deal, said that of all the climate plans from the Democratic presidential candidates, she was most supportive of proposals from Gov.Jay Inslee (Wash.), which surpassed $5 trillion, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), which included a $2 trillion green manufacturing element.She said she was also encouraged that 2020 Democratic front-runner Joe Biden had put out a $5 trillion climate plan, though she criticized the former vice president’s proposal for having less-ambitious goals and timelines than others.All the plans in question could go further, however, she added.“I think the entire field of climate plans still needs to be pushed,” she said. “I think it just needs to be pushed in terms of the scientific scale, that is scientifically supported in what we need to solve this problem.”Ocasio-Cortez, whose backing would be a prize for 2020 Democrats seeking the progressive vote, acknowledged that her climate plan price tag would be derided as unrealistic, but argued that it was in line with the scale of the threat. “It’s not popular, it’s not politically popular. People are going to call it unrealistic, and I just don’t think people understand how bad the problem is,” she said.
Every Senate Dem signs on to Paris bill – except Manchin — Every member of the Senate Democratic caucus is supporting a bill to keep the U.S. in the Paris climate agreement – except Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Joe Manchin. The West Virginia Democrat was the only member of his caucus not to immediately sign on as a co-sponsor on S. 1743, the “International Climate Accountability Act,” which would prohibit the Trump administration from using funds to withdraw from the Paris climate accord and require it to come up with a plan to meet emissions targets. Democrats, led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, formally introduced the bill yesterday as a companion to H.R. 9, the first major climate bill to pass the House in a decade. Like its House counterpart, the Senate bill is purely messaging and has virtually no chance of becoming law as stand-alone legislation. It would force President Trump to renege on his own policy after he announced two years ago that the U.S. would withdraw from the agreement in November 2020, the earliest possible date. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has already pledged to block the measure, which passed the House with the support of every Democrat – and three Republicans – last month (Greenwire, May 2). But Senate Democrats are hoping it helps rally support for the Paris Agreement within their caucus and frames McConnell as the biggest barrier to climate action. “When America speaks, the world listens,” Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member Tom Carper (D-Del.) said in a statement. “We cannot allow an administration controlled by climate science deniers to speak for the American people, the vast majority of whom want our country to act boldly to address climate change.” Right on cue, a variety of green groups and Democratic Party supporters began sending out statements of support for the bill this afternoon. Both the Natural Resources Defense Council and League of Conservation Voters drew a direct comparison between the bill’s 46 Democratic sponsors and McConnell’s move to block climate-related legislation. “Those who oppose this crucial climate action – including Sen. McConnell and his big polluter backers – are condemning our kids, communities and country to runaway climate costs and danger we know we can avoid,” NRDC President Rhea Suh said in a statement. Manchin’s absence is notable, if not surprising. The coal-state senator has softened his tone on energy and climate issues since taking the top Democratic spot on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, but he supported Trump’s decision to pull out of Paris.
Accused of Plagiarism, Biden Campaign Admits Lifting ‘Carbon Capture’ Section of Climate Plan From Fossil Fuel-Backed Group – Almost immediately after releasing a climate plan Tuesday that green groups slammed as woefully inadequatein part due to its embrace of industry-backed proposals such as “carbon capture,” presumptive 2020 Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden faced accusations of plagiarizing language from a number of sources, including a coalition consisting of major fossil fuel companies. Josh Nelson, vice president of the progressive organization CREDO Mobile, was the first to highlight possible instances of plagiarism in Biden’s plan, noting on Twitter that the section “about carbon capture and sequestration includes language that is remarkably similar to items published previously by the Blue Green Alliance and the Carbon Capture Coalition” – two organizations backed by major fossil fuel companies and labor unions. “Membership of the Carbon Capture Coalition, where some of Biden’s language seems to have originated, includes Shell, Peabody Energy, Arch Coal, and Cloud Peak Energy,” wrote Nelson, who tweeted side-by-side screenshots of language from the Carbon Capture Coalition and Biden’s plan. In a paragraph about carbon capture, the former vice president’s plan – which has since been updated with citations – read: “Biden’s goal is to make CCUS a widely available, cost-effective, and rapidly scalable solution to reduce carbon emissions to meet mid-century climate goals.”The line from Biden’s plan, as Business Insider reported, was “almost identical to the ‘our work’ section of the website for the Carbon Capture Coalition’s Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.””Its goal is to make carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS) a widely available, cost-effective, and rapidly scalable solution to reduce carbon emissions to meet mid-century climate goals,” reads the Carbon Capture Coalition’s website.In response to the plagiarism accusations – which spread rapidly on social media and were picked up by a number of media outlets – Biden’s presidential campaign said“citations were inadvertently left out of the final version of the 22-page document.” “As soon as we were made aware of it, we updated to include the proper citations,” the campaign said in a statement.
Philippines Passes Law Requiring Students to Plant 10 Trees Before Graduation– The Filipino congress passed a new law requiring every student to plant 10 trees before they are allowed to graduate from elementary school, high school or college. House Bill 8728, or the “Graduation Legacy for the Environment Act,” is expected to pass the senate for final approval.”With over 12 million students graduating from elementary and nearly five million students graduating from high school and almost 500,000 graduating from college each year, this initiative, if properly implemented, will ensure that at least 175 million new trees would be planted each year. In the course of one generation, no less than 525 billion can be planted under this initiative,” Gary Alejano, one of the bill’s principal author’s, explained in the bill’s explanatory note, as reported by CNN Philippines. “Even with a survival rate of only 10 percent, this would mean an additional 525 million trees would be available for the youth to enjoy, when they assume the mantle of leadership in the future.”To implement the bill, several government agencies will collaborate to establish nurseries, produce and distribute seedlings and provide technical support. The bill also requires an emphasis on indigenous species over imported species, which is key to preserving biodiversity. Indigenous trees also fit the bill’s requirement to plant trees appropriate to the climate and topography, according to CNN Philippines. Lest kids plant trees randomly, the bill also lays out where trees are to be planted, emphasizing government-owned land from rainforests to oceanside mangroves to city streets.
Ninth Circuit Judges Appear Skeptical of Role in Kids Climate Suit vs. U.S. Government – A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday appeared skeptical of the courts’ role in dealing with climate change in the landmark constitutional climate case brought by 21 young people against the U.S. government. But the kids’ attorneys argued in a pivotal hearing that they are only asking the court to apply rights already laid out in the Fifth Amendment.The hearing, held in Portland, Ore., will decide whether the case, Juliana v. United States, continues on toward trial. The suit has been vehemently opposed by the Justice Department since it was filed in 2015, and this hearing could grant the government an extraordinary measure by granting an appeal before the trial even began.Judges Mary H. Murguia and Andrew D. Hurwitz of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Josephine L. Staton of District Court for the Central District of California presided over the hearing and are expected to issue their ruling in the next few months. Hurwitz summed up the issues the court is wrestling with, primarily whether the courts should intervene in a subject ordinarily left to the executive and legislative branches. “I’m sympathetic to the problems you point out,” he said. “But you shouldn’t say this is just an ordinary suit. … You’re asking us to do a lot of new stuff, aren’t you?” Julia Olson, lead attorney for the young plaintiffs, disagreed. “It would be the first time that it would have been done, your Honor, as to this factual context where the government admits the monumental threat to people and to lives and that their acts in promoting fossil fuels and allowing for the extraction and all the affirmative things they do cause the emissions that are a substantial cause of climate change,” Olson said. Hurwitz pushed back on Olson’s assertion, saying it appeared as if the plaintiffs were asking the court to break new ground by allowing the case to continue.“The issue here is whether this branch of government, embodied by the three of us today, has the ability to issue the relief that your clients seek,” said Hurwitz to Olson during her arguments, adding that he doesn’t doubt that Congress and the president could give the plaintiffs the relief they seek.“I don’t think Congress and the president ever will,” said Olson in response.
Trump Administration Lifts Ethanol-Fuel Ban That Was Meant to Cut Smog – – The Trump administration said Friday that it has lifted a summertime ban on the use of E15, a gasoline blend made of 15 percent ethanol. The move is designed to help corn and soybean farmers harmed by President Trump’s decision to impose tariffs. Ethanol, made from corn and other crops, has been mixed into some types of gasoline for years as a way to reduce reliance on oil, among other things. However, burning ethanol-blended fuel in the summertime heat has a side effect of increasing smog – and for that reason the lifting of the ban raised objections from environmentalists. Oil companies also criticized the ending of the summertime ban because a wider use of ethanol will cut into their sales of gasoline. Nevertheless, the change has the potential to reap political benefits for Mr. Trump as he gives the agriculture industry a policy change it has long sought. The formal lifting of the ban follows through on a promise Mr. Trump made to farmers on a trip to Iowa last fall, as he sought to shore up support for Republicans in the Midwest. The ban has been in place since 2011 and Mr. Trump has criticized it as “ridiculous.” “I appreciate President Trump’s steadfast support for our patriotic farmers and for his commitment to expand the sale of E15 and unleash the full potential of American innovation and ingenuity as we continue to demonstrate our rightful place as the world’s leader in agricultural and energy production,” the Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement.
17 of World’s Largest Car Makers Ask Trump for Compromise on Plan to Weaken Fuel Efficiency Standards –Seventeen of the world’s largest automakers want President Donald Trump to find a compromise withCalifornia on his plan to weaken Obama-era tailpipe emissions standards, The New York Times reported. In a letter sent to Trump on Thursday, car companies including Ford, General Motors, Toyota and BMW asked the administration to return to the negotiating table so as to avoid “an extended period of litigation and instability.” They worried the current plans would hurt their profits. Automakers had initially sought a weakening of the standards put in place by former President Barack Obama to address the climate crisis. The standards would have set a fuel efficiency target of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. But the Trump administration draft plan would freeze mileage standards at around 37 miles per gallon and revoke California’s waiver to set its own standards under the Clean Air Act, all but guaranteeing that California and the 13 other states that have adopted its tougher standards would sue. Car makers are then worried about having to design cars for two separate U.S. markets.”What works best for consumers, communities, and the millions of U.S. employees that work in the auto industry is one national standard that is practical, achievable, and consistent across the 50 states,” the companies wrote, according to the Detroit Free Press. “In addition, our customers expect continuous improvements in safety, efficiency, and capability. For these reasons, we support a unified standard that both achieves year-over-year improvements in fuel economy and facilitates the adoption of vehicles with alternative powertrains.”
Energy secretary: US aims to making fossil fuels cleaner (AP) – The Trump administration is committed to making fossil fuels cleaner rather than imposing “draconian” regulations on coal and oil, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Thursday at an energy conference in Salt Lake City.Perry previously said the administration wants to spend a half-billion dollars next year on fossil fuel research and development as demand plummets for coal and surges for natural gas.“Instead of punishing fuels that produce emissions through regulation, we’re seeking to reduce those emissions by innovation,” Perry said at the conference.Fossil fuel emissions have been cited by scientists as a major source of global warming. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently said the world must change how it fuels factories, vehicles and homes to limit future global warming.Perry said the Trump administration has proven it can make energy cleaner, but he provided no details involving coal and other fossil fuels other than the closing of old, inefficient coal-burning power plants and exporting increasing volumes of natural gas, an alternative to coal.Department of Energy spokesman Dirk Vande Beek didn’t immediately return an email and voicemail seeking more details about Perry’s claim. Perry pointed to an overall drop in emissions as proof of progress. Greenhouse gas emissions dropped 13 percent from 2005-2017, according to the most recent report from the Environmental Protection Agency.Lindsay Beebe of the Sierra Club in Utah said trying to make fossil fuels cleaner is misspent energy.“I don’t know that it’s possible right now, but what is ready right now are renewables. Wind, solar and geothermal are commercially viable and at scale,” Beebe said.
Michael Bloomberg Promises $500 Million to Help End Coal – The New York Times – Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, said on Friday he would donate $500 million to a new campaign to close every coal-fired power plant in the United States and halt the growth of natural gas. The new campaign, called Beyond Carbon, is designed to help eliminate coal by focusing on state and local governments. The effort will bypass Washington, where Mr. Bloomberg has said national action appears unlikely because of a divided Congress and apresident who denies the established science of climate change. “We’re in a race against time with climate change, and yet there is virtually no hope of bold federal action on this issue for at least another two years,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement before the announcement, which he made in a commencement address at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Mother Nature is not waiting on our political calendar, and neither can we.” President Trump has made reviving what he has called “clean, beautiful coal” a cornerstone of his energy agenda. A spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg said most of the money would be spent over the next three years, though the time frame could be extended. It will fund lobbying efforts by environmental groups – in state legislatures, City Councils and public utility commissions – that aim to close coal plants and replace them with wind, solar and other renewable power. Part of the cash also will go toward efforts to elect local lawmakers who prioritize clean energy. The campaign will be based on the need to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change, but will also emphasize the economic benefits of switching to clean energy. More than 280 coal plants, about 40 percent of the United States coal fleet, have either closed or announced plans to close since 2010. This new campaign aims to shut down the remaining 241 plants in the country by 2030. The plan comes as global warming is taking a more prominent role inthe 2020 Democratic presidential race. Like the Green New Dealclimate proposal, Mr. Bloomberg’s plan is expected to increase the pressure on politicians who say they prioritize climate change to stake out more specific policy positions.
India Is Now Investing More in Solar Than Coal — India needs power.. And now, for the first time, India’s 2018 investment in solar power outpaced coal, according to a report by theInternational Energy Agency. India is home to the world’s second largest population and uses more and more power as it grows in size and wealth. It’s also the third largest national contributor to greenhouse gasses, after China and the U.S. So what happens in India matters on a global scale, making its recent investments in renewable energy noteworthy.According to the report, India’s switch to renewables is due to a combination of policy and the rapidly decreasing costs of bringing solar power online, the Independent reports.”There has been a very big step change in terms of the shift in investments in India in just the past three years,” Michael Waldron, an author of the report, told Inside Climate News. “But, there are a number of risks around whether this shift can be continued and be sustained over time.”It’s not all rosy in India’s future. Coal is still king and India’s investment in it remains strong. In fact, 74 percent of the country’s energy use last year came from coal-fired plants and its spending on coal does continue to increase, according to The Independent. How the future will look remains murky. Oil giant BP predicts that demand for coal will nearly double over the next 20 years. In contrast, the International Energy Agency reports that coal fired energy will decline from 74 percent to 57 percent of the country’s energy use. The IEA also says that more aggressive policies could reduce coal power to as little as 7 percent of India’s energy source by 2040, according to Inside Climate News. India’s aggressive investments in renewables have it well positioned to meet and possibly exceed its Paris climate agreement commitments to bring 175 gigawatts of renewable energy online by 2022, The Independent Reports.
‘Gas Is a Loser and It’s Time to Move On’: Report Debunks Myth That Natural Gas Can Help Fight Climate Crisis – “The mythology around gas being a ‘cleaner’ fossil fuel that can support the transition to clean energy goes back at least three decades,” reads the new Oil Change International (OCI) report, “Oil and gas corporations have championed and invested in this myth as a way to delay the transition away from fossil fuels,” OCI’s report states. OCI’s analysis (pdf) notes that despite the overwhelming evidence against the view that natural gas can serve as a clean and temporary replacement for coal, “a number of politicians and decision-makers continue to repeat the myth of gas as a climate solution.” The evidence of the deeply harmful consequences of reliance on natural gas, according to OCI, goes far beyond the leakage of methane, a greenhouse gas that is considered to be 87 times more potent than carbon dioxide. OCI’s report – titled “Burning the ‘Gas Bridge’ Myth: Why Gas is Not Clean, Cheap, or Necessary” (pdf) – details five reasons why natural gas cannot be part of any solution that aims to confront the climate crisis with the ambition that the latest science says is necessary to avert catastrophic warming:
- Gas Breaks the Carbon Budget: The economically recoverable oil, gas, and coal in the world’s currently producing and under-construction extraction projects would take the world far beyond safe climate limits. Further development of untapped gas reserves, including new shale wells, is inconsistent with the climate goals in the Paris Agreement. Even if global coal use were phased out overnight, already-developed reserves of oil and gas would push the world above 1.5°C of warming. There’s simply no room for more gas.
- Coal-to-Gas Switching Doesn’t Cut It: Climate goals require the energy sector to be decarbonized by mid-century. This means that both coal and gas must be phased out. Replacing coal plants with new gas plants will not cut emissions by nearly enough, even if methane leakage is kept to a minimum. Current plans for gas production growth drastically overshoot climate safe models and are a bridge to climate disaster.
- Low-Cost Renewables Can Displace Coal and Gas: The dramatic and ongoing cost declines for wind and solar disrupt the business model for gas in the power sector. Wind and solar are already cheaper to build and operate than coal and gas in most markets. Cost is clearly not a prohibitive factor to adding renewable generation capacity, whether to replace fossil fuel capacity or to meet rising demand.
- Gas Is Not Essential for Grid Reliability: Wind and solar require balancing, but gas is not the only, nor the best, resource available for doing so. Battery storage is fast becoming competitive with gas plants designed for this purpose (known as “peakers”). Wind and solar plants that are coupled with battery storage are also becoming a competitive “dispatchable” source of energy. Managing high levels of wind and solar on the grid requires optimizing a wide range of technologies and solutions, including battery storage, demand response, and transmission. There is no reason to favor gas as the primary solution.
- New Gas Infrastructure Locks In Emissions: Multibillion-dollar gas infrastructure built today is designed to operate for decades to come. Given the barriers to closing down infrastructure ahead of its expected economic lifespan, it is critical to stop building new infrastructure, the full lifetime emissions of which will not fit within Paris-aligned carbon budgets.
Study: Heavy metals in N Carolina lake bottom extensive(AP) – A Duke University scientist says a toxic stew of coal ash has spilled repeatedly and apparently unnoticed from storage pits at a Wilmington power plant into an adjoining lake, and flooding from Hurricane Florence was only the latest example. Duke geochemistry and water quality professor Avner Vengosh says in the research published last week that the lead, cobalt and other heavy metals detected in the lake’s sediment equal or exceed the pollution from the country’s worst coal-ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee, in 2008. Vengosh’s peer-reviewed findings highlight the risk of thousands of tons of coal ash stored near waterways across the hurricane-threatened Southeastern United States. The country’s largest electricity company owns the lake and the ash. Duke energy spokesman Bill Norton says the lake was designed as a buffer between storage basins and the nearby Cape Fear River. State environmental officials report no significant pollution in the river since Florence.
Opinion split over ‘new’ coal ash chemical at Belews Creek – Environmental activists and Duke Energy are at odds again over coal ash issues at Belews Creek Steam Station and several other coal-fired power plants in North Carolina. At Belews Creek northwest of Greensboro in Stokes County, recent groundwater testing found the potentially harmful metal mercury above governmental safety levels in one test well. The utility already had reported problem levels of six other pollutants linked to coal ash in previous groundwater tests at Belews Creek. The utility also recently reported additional, potentially harmful chemicals in groundwater testing near coal ash storage basins at plants near Roxboro, Lumberton and Lake Norman in Catawba County. “Duke Energy’s coal ash is injecting a witches brew of toxic pollutants into North Carolina’s waters,” said Frank Holleman of the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill that publicized the overages. “And now Duke Energy admits that the nasty flow is even worse than previously reported.” But Duke Energy spokesman Bill Norton countered that the findings were insignificant in groundwater that is confined to company property with zero likelihood of threatening nearby drinking water or anybody’s health. The uproar is part of “an organized effort by critics using fear to advance an extreme agenda that would do more harm than good,” Norton said. “This is highly localized water right next to our ash basins,” Norton said of the findings that drew SELC’s condemnation. “At the sites singled out by SELC, this groundwater moves only a few feet per year.
Coal miners’ union urges silica regulation to curb black lung – (Reuters) – The head of the national coal miners’ union on Thursday urged the Trump administration to impose regulation on silica dust in mines, which researchers believe is responsible for a resurgence of black lung disease in central Appalachia. FILE PHOTO: Flames and steam rise from the Suncoke Jewell cokemaking plant, which burns coal to make coke, in Oakwood, Virginia, U.S., May 19, 2018. Picture taken May 19, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder The demand from United Mineworkers of America president Cecil Roberts comes as President Donald Trump tries to pump up U.S. coal production, mainly by rolling back regulations he deems burdensome to the industry. “We are seeing the most serious levels of black lung, mainly caused by silica and there are no silica standards out there,” Roberts told Reuters on the sidelines of a black lung disease conference in West Virginia. “We desperately need more.” Government research and reports from black lung disease clinics in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky show the incidence of black lung rebounding despite improved safety measures adopted decades ago that had almost eradicated the progressive respiratory disease.
Coal Processing Chemical May Harm Fetuses, Federal Study Finds – The coal processing chemical that spilled into West Virginia’s Elk River in 2014, cutting off drinking water for thousands of local residents, may harm the development of fetuses, according to a newly released federal study on test animals. Rat pups, which scientists use as surrogates for people, were born deformed when their mothers were exposed to high doses of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM), the National Toxicology Program (NTP) said in a study released June 3.Time-mated female rats (n=10/dose level) were administered 0, 150, 300, 600, or 900 mg MCHM/kg body weight per day in corn oil by gavage (2 mL/kg) from GD 6 to GD 20. Control females (0 mg/kg) received corn oil vehicle. All dams in the 900 mg/kg group were euthanized on GD 8 due to clinical observations indicating overt toxicity (ataxia, cold to touch, clear ocular discharge, excessive salivation, lethargy/hypoactivity, and/or piloerection); three dams from the 600 mg/kg group displayed similar clinical observations and were removed from study. Body weight gain from GD 6 to 21 in the 600 mg/kg group was 44% lower than that of the vehicle control and was associated with a 13% reduction in feed consumption during the same interval. No signs of maternal toxicity were observed in the 150 or 300 mg/kg dose groups. Dams administered 600 mg/kg displayed higher post-implantation loss (53%) and lower gravid uterine weight. MCHM exposure did not affect the number of live fetuses per litter or fetal sex ratio. However, fetal weights were 12% and 39% lower in the 300 and 600 mg/kg exposure groups, respectively. There were no external malformations or variations attributed to MCHM exposure.
West Virginia coal industry data shows excessive pollution: green groups –(Reuters) – Several West Virginia coal mines, including some owned by the governor’s family, have released many times the allowable amounts of pollutants into nearby waterways in recent years without being penalized by regulators, according to environmental groups citing state data. The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Sierra Club and others on Tuesday sent “notice of intent to sue” letters to nine companies operating about 15 coal facilities in the state, including Bluestone Resources, owned by the family of Governor Jim Justice, and coal magnate Robert Murray’s Murray Energy, for what they said were “egregious violations” of federal laws. The letters cited routine reports that the mines had submitted to state regulators dating back to 2016 showing frequent exceedances of toxic releases into nearby waterways. Murray’s data from its Harrison County coal mine, for example, showed it has discharged as much as 220 times the allowable 30-day average limit of aluminum into the Ohio and West Fork rivers in September 2018. Bluestone’s Red Fox mine discharged twice as much selenium and 10 times as much aluminum as it is permitted into the Tug Fork River in February 2019 and September 2018, according to the reports cited in the letters, which were reviewed by Reuters. Reuters verified that the data cited in the letters had been submitted by the companies to state regulators, and were posted in a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency database. The environmental groups said the companies had violated the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) and that there was no evidence that state or federal authorities had penalized them or sought to bring the facilities back into compliance.
W.Va. Environmental Groups Take Steps to Sue Coal, Chloride Facilities for Pollution – West Virginia Public Broadcasting – The Sierra Club and a coalition of West Virginia-based environmental groups took the first step Tuesday toward taking legal action against companies operating 15 coal facilities and one chloride plant in West Virginia and Pennsylvania for violating the Clean Water Act and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.The nine companies, which include Murray Energy, Bluestone Coal and Consol, operate coal mines, coal preparation and processing facilities, a power plant and a chloride plant across West Virginia.Environmental groups said they sent “notice of intent to sue” letters with the companies, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and United States Environmental Protection Agency. The notices allege self-reported data, by the facilities to state and federal regulators, show an ongoing pattern of pollution discharges that violate federal permits. According to the letters by environmental groups, in some cases these levels are hundreds of times above what is legally allowed.For example, the groups allege one facility, the Harrison County Coal Mine, operated by Murray Energy, is discharging 220 times its permitted limit of aluminum.A spokesperson for Murray Energy said as of Tuesday afternoon it had not yet received the letter and does not comment on threatened or pending litigation.The “notice of intent” letters give operators 60-days notice. Environmental groups said if they fix the problems, or if state or federal environmental regulators take action, they would not file in court. If not, the advocacy groups said they will pursue legal action in federal court. Representatives for the other companies named in the letters, which include Southern Land, LLC, Lexington Coal Co, American Bituminous Power Partners, Mepco Inc., Black Castle Mining Company and Eagle Natrium LLC, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Illinois coal ash a statewide groundwater threat – No one region of Illinois is safe from contamination of groundwater from coal ash.It is a statewide crisis, environmentalists say.“At every ash dump in Illinois where groundwater has been tested, toxic coal ash pollutants are leaking into groundwater,” said Colleen Smith, legislative director for the Illinois Environmental Council. “However, contamination levels across the state are disproportional – a few communities are at much higher risk than others.”The problem prompted the Illinois legislature on May 27 to pass the Coal Ash Pollution Prevention Act requiring and regulating the cleanup of coal ash. It now heads to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. The Environmental Integrity Project says Illinois has 16 sites where coal ash has contaminated the groundwater. Across the sites, 14 different coal ash contaminants are in the groundwater. Coal ash cleanup is an important challenge because drinking contaminated groundwater can have serious health effects. Illinois has 22 sites where coal ash pollutants have leached into groundwater, according to a 2018 report by Earth Justice, the Environmental Integrity Project, Prairie Rivers Network and the Sierra Club. The report reveals that toxic pollutants at these sites include arsenic, cobalt and lithium which can cause cancer, heart disease, reproductive failure and stroke and can inflict lasting brain damage on children, according to the report. Prairie Rivers Network mapped all 24 major power plants with coal ash impoundments in Illinois. The map includes the number of lined or unlined ponds and impoundments at each site, reported volume of ash, contaminants and waters the pollution is discharged into. Waukegan Station, like almost all of the other sites, has ponds that are unlined, meaning that little or nothing is stopping the toxic pollution in those ash ponds from leaking into groundwater.
EIA tool compares individual power plants’ generation, cooling water use, and emissions — EIA’s electric power sector surveys collect plant-level information on several attributes of U.S. power plants, including cooling water use and emissions data. EIA has made enhancements to the Electricity Data Browser to simplify access to information about plant-level cooling water use and estimates of emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and carbon dioxide (CO2). These data are now available on the beta version of the Electricity Data Browser. The browser now includes annual plant-level CO2, SO2, and NOx emissions estimates for power plants that burn combustible fuels. For example, Florida Power and Light’s West County Energy Center, located near Juno Beach, Florida, is one of the largest fossil-fueled generators of electricity in the United States. In 2017, the West County Energy Center generated 20.5 million megawatthours (MWh) of electricity, as well as 7.7 million tons of CO2, 37 tons of SO2, and 485 tons of NOx. EIA collects cooling water data for plants with a combustible-fueled thermoelectric generating capacity of 100 megawatts (MW) or more. Thermoelectric power plants include units fueled by natural gas, coal, nuclear, and oil, as well as renewable sources, such as biomass and solar thermal plants, which also require cooling. In 2017, 63% of all U.S. electricity generation was produced by thermoelectric units (excluding geothermal units), 54% of which had a capacity of 100 MW or more. The updated browser provides water withdrawal, discharge, consumption, and water-use intensity information for all cooling systems at each reporting plant. For example, the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens, Alabama, one of the largest nuclear power plants in the United States, generated 27.8 million MWh of electricity in 2017 and withdrew more than one million gallons of water from the nearby Tennessee River to use in its cooling system. According to the Tennessee Valley Authority, the federal public power corporation that operates the Browns Ferry plant, about 99% of the water withdrawn from the river is discharged back into it. The updated browser also allows users to generate side-by-side comparisons of the location, generation, energy consumption, and water usage of different plants, or of the water usage by the cooling systems within a plant. Monthly, quarterly, and annual data are available for 2014 through 2017; EIA expects to publish preliminary 2018 data in June 2019.
Coal emissions can concentrate radioactivity – Particles left behind when coal burns can be just as radioactive as nuclear waste. Coal byproducts from Muskingum River Power Plant, a now-defunct coal power plant in Ohio, might have contained forms of these radioactive particles. It is one of 10 coal plants in Ohio to contribute pollutants above safe levels to groundwater, according to the Environmental Integrity Project. But what is unique about this plant is the type of pollutants that came from it.When coal burns at power plants, it produces residual waste, or coal ash, including a fine silicon powder called fly ash. A 2015 Duke University-led study found radioactive contaminants, such as byproducts of uranium and thorium, can be highly concentrated in this ash.Radioactive particles were detected in groundwater surrounding Muskingum River Power Plant in Beverly, Ohio. The American Electric Power plant closed in May 2015 after a plan to switch plant operations to natural gas fell through. Rising costs and the passing of environmental regulations were listed as the cause of the closure. A 2019 report from the Environmental Integrity Project found radium, a radioactive element found in coal, had contaminated groundwater above safe levels at four of the ten monitored coal plants in Ohio. A total of 48 sites across the country had radium-contaminated groundwater. According to the EPA’s groundwater and drinking water regulations, long-term exposure to radium, gross alpha particles and gross beta particles can cause cancer.The facility is on the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of potential damage cases. In the duration of its operation, it threatened groundwater and surface water at levels that could harm human health. American Electric Power sold the plant to Commercial Liability Partners in 2015. Responsibility for the plant and its cleanup lies with the new owner, said Scott Blake, a spokesperson for American Electric Power.
Ohio’s Nuclear Bailout Plan Balloons to Embrace Coal (while Killing Renewable Energy Rules) – While other states are embracing renewable energy, Ohio is heading in the opposite direction. A bill passed this week by the Ohio House would subsidize nuclear and coal power while cutting state support for renewable energy and energy efficiency, with the utilities’ customers footing the bill.Advocates and analysts are trying to make sense of a plan that seems to defy political and economic logic: It would support uneconomical power plants by increasing costs for businesses and homeowners, both with new charges on their bills and through the cancellation of programs that help them save money on energy.The measure now heads to the Ohio Senate, and the idea of a nuclear bailout has the support of Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. If it becomes law, it would mean Ohio is decisively turning away from policies that aid the transition to renewable energy, said Kit Kennedy, senior director of the climate and clean energy program for the Natural Resources Defense Council.”Ohio is moving in an unprecedented and troubling direction with this bill, which is quite dramatically different from how other states are handling similar issues,” she said. The state’s renewable energy and energy efficiency standards, already weakened once since becoming law in 2008, have been under continual attack from Republican lawmakers who say they oppose mandates and subsidies. Yet that’s what they now want to offer coal and nuclear. Clean energy advocates are pinning their hopes on the idea that the Ohio Senate, which, like the House, is controlled by Republicans, will change the bill. DeWine indicated that the bill is a “work in progress,” telling Gongwer News Service on Thursday that he wants to find a way to support nuclear and allow wind and solar to grow. Ohio would be the fifth state to subsidize nuclear power plants that otherwise might close for financial reasons, following Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey and New York. The difference is that the other four passed nuclear aid as part of a package that included support for renewable energy, part of a larger strategy to promote carbon-free electricity generation.
Bill that would rescue nuclear plants drawing protests across northern Ohio –Toledo Blade – Ohio House Bill 6 – the highly controversial legislation that critics describe as a billion dollar bailout of FirstEnergy Solutions’ Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear power plants – drew 30 protesters late Monday afternoon to Madison Avenue and North Summit Street. The event was held in the shadow of Edison Plaza. Toledo Edison was Davis-Besse’s original owner. There were plenty of honks of support from passing motorists as demonstrators held signs and waved along Summit for about two hours. “Their true intent is bad for Ohio,” the event organizer, Joe DeMare, a member of the Wood County Green Party and a Bowling Green City Council candidate, said about FirstEnergy Solutions and its parent company, FirstEnergy Corp. The bill, which the Ohio House passed last week by a 53-43 vote, would require consumers to pay monthly surcharges on their electric bills through 2026. It calls for $198 million to be generated annually from those charges to reward plants that emit no carbon dioxide into the air while operating – namely, Davis-Besse and Perry. Nearly all in support were Republicans and most of those opposed were Democrats. The bill now moves to the Ohio Senate, and, if approved there as expected, goes to Gov. Mike DeWine. House Bill 6 is the latest of several so-called bailout bills the nuclear industry has pushed in multiple states in hopes of staving off premature closures of more plants having trouble competing during an era of record-low natural gas prices brought on by the modern era of fracturing shale, or “fracking.”
Costs of FirstEnergy nuclear bailout bill could exceed out-of-pocket subsidies A bill to subsidize FirstEnergy Solutions’ two Ohio nuclear plants could cost customers even more than the hundreds of millions of dollars in direct charges proposed to prop up those plus two older coal plants.A new analysis from grid operator PJM concludes that keeping FirstEnergy’s nuclear plants open could also cost ratepayers as much as $16 million a year in lost savings by discouraging cheaper gas generation from coming online.Asim Haque, PJM’s executive director for strategic policy and external affairs,testified about the new analysis before the Ohio Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee on Wednesday.“PJM’s findings for consumer savings from power plant competition confirm that a competitive generation market is better for millions of Ohio consumers than charging them for bailouts and subsidies under House Bill 6,” said J.P. Blackwood, a spokesperson for the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel.House Bill 6 passed in the Ohio House of Representatives by a vote of 53-43 on May 29. Under the current version, all retail consumers in the state would pay 50 cents per month for the first year and then $1 per month for the next six years to subsidize FirstEnergy Solutions’ Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy Solutions and other FirstEnergy generation subsidiaries are currently in bankruptcy. The bill would also subsidize 1950s-era coal plants and gut Ohio’s clean energy standards. PJM looked at three scenarios for Ohio consumers through 2023. The first “base case” projects that the two Ohio plants and a FirstEnergy Solutions nuclear plant in Pennsylvania will all close as currently planned, and that all expected new natural gas generation plants come online. That scenario should produce $1.6 billion in annual savings across the wholesale market “due to the significant entry of new, efficient resources,” PJM’s report said. The second scenario assumed that all new gas generation plants would still come online and that the Davis-Besse and Perry plants would be “price takers,” bumping up the supply of generation in the market. In theory, that could drive energy prices lower and save Ohioans an additional $95 million for the year 2023. “This decrease, however, does not factor in any subsidy payments that the nuclear units would receive,” Haque said in his testimony. PJM’s third scenario assumes the extra supply in the market would discourage half of additional gas generation coming online by 2023. In that case, “Ohioans would save less than the base case in an amount of $16 million in the year 2023,” Haque said. Again, subsidy payments for FirstEnergy Solutions nuclear plants weren’t factored in. In other words, market prices under that scenario would be higher than they would otherwise be if the plants closed, PJM found. So costs to Ohio consumers would be more than the amount shelled out for the subsidies themselves.
Are Ohio’s two nuclear power plants profitable? Depends who you ask – cleveland.com – An Ohio Senate panel spent much of Tuesday morning hearing arguments between consultants paid by supporters and foes of bailing out two nuclear power plants over a seemingly straightforward question: are the two nuclear plants profitable or not? Paul Sotkiewicz, a Florida-based energy economics analyst, laid out to the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee the findings of his recent study (commissioned by oil and gas group API-Ohio) that the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants in Northern Ohio will make owner FirstEnergy Solutions hundreds of millions of dollars in profits during the next 10 years.But Ray Giffords, a Colorado-based expert hired by FirstEnergy Solutions,rebutted that by saying Sotkiewicz’s findings were flawed and relied on “cherry-picked” data. Giffords argued that data supports his client’s assertion that the plants are financially troubled and will have to close soon without the subsidies proposed in House Bill 6.Their arguments quickly delved into a number of complex, technical issues, such as whether the plants get revenue from capacity market auctions and which electricity-market “hub” should be used to measure electricity prices. Giffords accused Sotkiewicz of selectively using data to reach the conclusions sought by the natural-gas industry; Sotkiewicz shot back that he only had a limited amount of data to go on because FirstEnergy Solutions won’t fully open its books. FirstEnergy Solutions is a FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiary that is going through bankruptcy proceedings as part of an effort to become a separate company.
Nuclear Power Dying A Slow Death – Even as investment in solar and wind is surging, nuclear power has been the main source of carbon-free electricity for decades. “However, in advanced economies, nuclear power has begun to fade, with plants closing and little new investment made, just when the world requires more low-carbon electricity,” the International Energy Agency warned in a new report that takes stock of the nuclear industry. The IEA says that achieving the goals laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement “is already a huge challenge,” but without nuclear power it will be vastly more difficult. In 2018, nuclear power accounted for 10 percent of global electricity supply. But in the years ahead, nuclear is set to decline without help. In the U.S., nuclear power’s share of the electricity mix could fall from 20 percent to 8 percent by 2040. One of the main reasons why nuclear power is in decline is that the vast majority of the plants online were built decades ago. Most are now aging and nearing the end of their original intended operating lives. As a result, nuclear plants, particularly in advanced economies, are beginning to shut down. Adding to the industry’s woes in the U.S., nuclear has suffered from a decade of cheap shale gas. Meanwhile, the rise of renewable energy everywhere has significantly undercut the case for new nuclear. But two major events have struck a devastating blow to the nuclear industry from which it never really recovered. The 1986 nuclear explosion at Chernobyl ground nuclear construction to a halt worldwide. The Chernobyl incident nearly killed the industry, and choked off new investment for years. After dozens of reactors were constructed in the U.S. in the 1970s-1980s, very few moved forward following Chernobyl. The handful of projects that did receive a greenlight came in the next wave of investment in the 2000s, when electricity prices were rising, concerns about climate change emerged, and memories of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island began to fade. But the “nuclear renaissance,” as the resurging interest in the early 21st century has been dubbed, was just about killed off before it started. In 2011 an earthquake and tsunami struck the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant in Japan, causing an explosion and meltdown. Japan closed more than 50 of its nuclear reactors, which not coincidentally led to a spike in global LNG prices and also pushed up demand for oil and coal. Meanwhile, the Fukushima disaster reverberated around the world. In Europe, and in Germany in particular, the disaster accelerated plans to shut down reactors. Again, without nuclear, Japan and Germany had to rely on more fossil fuels, despite the rapid increase of renewable energy.
Nuclear whistleblower managers say TVA fired them to silence workers – The Tennessee Valley Authority has fired some of its nuclear employee whistleblowing program managers in a move their attorney says is intentionally designed to quell safety complaints and silence workers. Attorney Billie P. Garde is urging the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to stop TVA from implementing its new “chain-of-command” whistleblowing program without review by the commission and the public. In a letter filed Tuesday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Garde reveals TVA fired four managers from its Nuclear Employee Concerns Program, or Nuclear ECP, earlier this month. A fifth, she says, was forced to retire. TVA then announced it was scrapping the independent whistleblowing program in favor of a “better” one. TVA says in a statement to the Knoxville News Sentinel that the utility isn’t trying to silence workers’ safety concerns or retaliate against the fired whistleblowing program managers. “The primary goal of TVA Nuclear’s Employee Concerns program is to reinforce a healthy Nuclear Safety Culture by providing employees with one of several avenues for reporting issues involving nuclear safety, quality or technical impacts to the safe operation of our plants,” spokesman William Scott Gureck wrote in an email. Garde says the move is a sham. “(The change) completely eviscerated its employee concerns program by publicly removing every single member of the ECP staff, announcing fundamental changes to the program structure itself that undermines the entire concept of an independent alternative avenue, and destroying whatever shred of program credibility was left,” Garde wrote.
Feds offer to speed cleanup of SC’s deadly nuclear waste. – The U.S. Department of Energy is proposing to ship what has long been considered some of the world’s most deadly nuclear waste from South Carolina to burial grounds in the western United States under a plan to reclassify some of the atomic refuse as less dangerous. According to plans, the energy department would classify some of the Savannah River Site’s high-level waste as low-level waste, a type of atomic refuse that is considered less toxic. That, in turn, would allow the material to be shipped to low-level nuclear waste disposal sites in the deserts of Utah and Texas. “We want to look at taking the waste stream in South Carolina and reclassifying it and moving it out of state,’’ said Paul Dabbar, the energy department’s undersecretary for science. As it stands, the country does not have a high-level waste burial ground, meaning SRS must keep the deadly waste at the Aiken area weapons complex indefinitely. The DOE’s plan for reclassifying and shipping waste from SRS is part of a larger proposal to change the definition of nuclear waste at weapons complexes in other parts of the country. The agency says it has historically considered much of the waste that resulted from Cold War weapons production to be high-level. Now, it will consider how radioactive the material is, the DOE said. In addition to the Savannah River Site, nuclear weapons sites in Washington and Idaho that also have high level waste could benefit from the department’s plan to change the definition of nuclear waste, the agency said. Reclassifying waste would speed cleanup at the Savannah River Site, the agency said. The 310-square-mile weapons complex has tons of atomic refuse left over from Cold War weapons production. Much of that waste is held in about four-dozen aging tanks, some of which have cracked. A handful of tanks have been emptied, but most still contain waste.
Groups appeal licensing of Carlsbad-area Holtec nuclear waste facility – A group of environmentalist organizations appealed a decision by the federal government to move forward with licensing a nuclear waste storage facility in southeast New Mexico, citing fears that it could impact local communities and the environment. Holtec International planned to build a consolidated interim storage (CIS) facility to temporarily hold spent nuclear fuel rods at the surface while a permanent, deep geological repository is developed. Opponents challenged the project’s safety in both transporting and storing the nuclear waste and worried it could become a permanent facility. The only potential repository to hold the waste indefinitely was in Yucca Mountain, Nevada, but state lawmakers opposed the project and its budget was cut by former President Barrack Obama. In May, the federal Atomic Safety and Licensing Board – overseen by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) – denied multiple contentions from the opposition and their calls for more hearings.The Board found that the groups had standing in the process, but that their contentions were unsubstantial. The opposition filed its appeals to that decision on Monday. Diane Curran, lawyer for Beyond Nuclear – a Maryland-based environmentalist group leading the opposition – questioned the legality of the denial and of Holtec’s application.“The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board’s decision is legally erroneous, because there are no exceptions to the clear mandates of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and Administrative Procedure Act. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must make its decisions in accordance with the law,” Curran said. “Beyond Nuclear therefore seeks reversal of the licensing board, and also respectfully requests the Commission to order immediate denial of Holtec’s license application to the extent that it violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.”
High Radiation Levels Found in Giant Clams Near U.S. Nuclear Dump Site on Marshall Islands – New research found high levels of radiation in giant clams near a 42-year old nuclear waste site in the Central Pacific. The findings have scientists concerned that pollution from the site is leaving the enclosed structure and leaking into the ocean and the food chain, according to the Los Angeles Times. The radioactive clams were found near Runit Dome, which locals call “The Tomb,” on the Enewatik Atoll on the Marshall Islands. The clams are a local delicacy and popular in China, which has had a voracious appetite for them in recent years, according to the Los Angeles Times. Yet, the findings suggest that either radiation is oozing out of Runit Dome or the waste from past weapons testing was not adequately cleaned up.From 1946 to 1958, the U.S. carried out 67 nuclear weapons tests at Bikini and Enewetak atolls, including the 1954 “Bravo” hydrogen bomb, the most powerful detonated by the U.S. It was about 1,000 times bigger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II, according to Aljazeera.Radioactive ash fell more than 7,000 square miles from the test site and it blanketed the nearby islands. Children played in the white, powdery substance and ate it like it was snow, Marshall Islands health minister would later testify, according to the Atomic Heritage Foundation.In 1977, the U.S. tipped soil and ash from the explosions into a crater on Runit Island and topped it with an 18-inch thick concrete dome. However, it was supposed to be a temporary fix and the bottom of the crater was never properly insulated, according to CBS News. After decades of exposure to the elements, cracks in the concrete are evident, raising concerns that a fierce tropical cyclone could breach the structure. Recently, the UN Secretary General António Guterres addressed concerns over the legacy of nuclear testing. “The consequences of these have been quite dramatic, in relation to health, in relation to the poisoning of waters in some areas,” he said in Fiji, CBS News reported. “I’ve just been with the president of the Marshall Islands (Hilda Heine), who is very worried because there is a risk of leaking of radioactive materials that are contained in a kind of coffin in the area.”
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