Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666
This is a collection of interesting news articles about the environment and related topics published last week. This is usually a Tuesday evening regular post at GEI (but can be posted at other times).
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Note: Because of the high volume of news regarding the coronavirus outbreak, that news has been published separately:
- 09 Aug 2020 – Coronavirus Disease Weekly News 09August 2020
09 Aug 2020 – Coronavirus Economic Weekly News 09August 2020
Summary:
New coronavirus cases in the US were down another 10% this week, and the US virus death toll was down by about the same, so my projection that deaths would continue rising another two or three weeks was clearly off the mark. If deaths don’t spike back up, the current wave of the virus will result in a US death toll of about 2% of those who test positive. That contrasts with the 8% to 10% of those who tested positive who were dying early on. It is hard to say how much of that is due to improvement of care, or simply the big increase in the number who are now being tested and being confirmed positive -it could also be demographics; as more young people have been catching the disease in this recent wave, and their cases tend to be less severe.
The “economic’ news includes a thread of articles on the failed virus relief negotiations in Congress and Trump’s subsequent executive orders to enacts parts of the package anyhow, several articles on Friday’s jobs report, and another batch of articles on school’s plans for this fall, which just scratches the surface, because they’re probably discussing what to do in every school district in America.
CDC links red onions to salmonella outbreak across the U.S., Canada – Nearly 400 people in 34 states have fallen ill from a salmonella outbreak linked to red onions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. At least 396 people have been infected with salmonella, a bacteria that can cause diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps, from six hours to six days after exposure, according to the CDC. The first cases were reported on July 10, affecting three states. Since then, the list of states has increased to 34. So far, 59 people have been hospitalized. Red onions are suspected as the likely cause of infection, tracing back to Thomas International of Bakersfield, California. On Saturday, the company recalled red, yellow, white and sweet yellow onions shipped after May 1. On Aug. 1, Thomson International issued a voluntary recall of the onions sold under brand names including Thomson Premium, Hartley’s Best, Imperial Fresh, Kroger and Food Lion. The Food and Drug Administration is investigating the outbreak along with the CDC. No specific source of contamination or contaminated shipment has yet been identified, according to the FDA. Although the outbreak is linked to red onions, the CDC recommends avoiding white, yellow and sweet onions from Thomson International. Consumers can check the packaging or sticker on the produce. If they’re from Thomson or it’s not possible to determine where they came from, throw the onions away, the CDC advises. If any foods have been prepared with onions that may have come from Thomson, do not eat them. Most people recover without treatment, but severe cases can require hospitalization and antibiotics
Toilet to table: Michigan farmers feed crops with ‘toxic brew’ of human and industrial waste -Each day, tons of human excrement flows from southeast Michigan’s toilets to its sewer system, mixing with industrial waste from Zug Island, Ford’s auto plants, Detroit Receiving Hospital, and every factory, industry, home, and commercial building in the region.Once it reaches the Great Lakes Water Authority’s (GLWA) treatment plants, water is pulled from the mix, sanitized, and discharged into the Detroit River. What’s left behind at the treatment plants is sewage sludge – a highly toxic, semi-solid blend of human feces and every pollutant that was discharged into the sewers.Despite the fact that it teems with potentially dangerous chemicals, the sludge is then spread on farmland.Nutrients in human excrement, like phosphorus and nitrogen, help plants grow, so sewerage departments across the country lightly treat sludge and repackage it as a fertilizer called “biosolids” that are given away or sold for cheap to farmers.Biosolids are a “valuable resource” that has been “shown to produce significant improvements in crop growth and yield,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which approved the practice in the mid-1990s. By 2018, more than 50% of the approximately 130 million wet tons of sludge the nation produced annually was applied to farmland.But the practice is increasingly controversial. Public health advocates say any amount of the approximately 90,000 synthetic chemicals in existence, from VOCs to BPAs to PCBs, can be represented in sludge. It can also be packed with superbugs, parasites, worms, hormones, viruses, and bacteria that aren’t killed in the treatment process. Studies show the pollutants are carried to farmland, taken up by crops, and can end up on dinner plates. That’s fueling a growing number of biosolid-linked public-health crises that are making people sick, polluting drinking water, and pitting farmer against farmer. But the powerful waste-management industry and regulators are resistant to prohibition. Sludge is an expensive byproduct that’s difficult to dispose of, and selling it to farmers is a cheap solution to the problem.
Livestock owners in Ohio warned to be on guard after Asian Longhorned tick found – Columbus Dispatch – An invasive tick has been found in southern Ohio that has the capacity to harm cattle. The Asian Longhorned tick is not established yet but experts warn the arthropod can spread disease and rapidly reproduce. A female tick can asexually reproduce up to 2,000 eggs. It has the capacity to wipe out livestock, cause anemia and transmit diseases. The Asian Longhorned tick can wage a campaign of destruction even though it’s only the size of a sesame seed. So far, only one of its kind has been documented in Ohio. But experts warn: One is all it takes to become established in a new habitat. The female Asian Longhorned tick has the ability to reproduce without males. She can produce up to 2,000 eggs by herself, said Risa Pesapane, assistant professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State University’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. The Ohio tick was confirmed after a stray 7-year-old male beagle was found in late May along a road in Gallia County in southern Ohio as part of Pesapane’s study. Her study partners with Gigi’s, a nonprofit that brings dogs from shelters to their campus in Canal Winchester, where veterinarians administer care to them. “We’re using the dogs to get a better idea of the health of the dogs in the area as well as what ticks are out there. And then that can be extrapolated to other studies like public health studies,” said Dr. Colleen Shocking, a veterinarian who is also the director of education, outreach, and the parvovirus treatment center at Gigi’s. “Our role is we pull (ticks) off. We also pull some blood from the dogs, which doesn’t hurt them at all. We do that anyway to check for tick diseases.”
Ohio animal rights advocate faces 42 counts of abuse charges – An Ohio animal rights advocate and former director of a local Humane Society is facing 42 felony indictment charges connected to alleged animal abuse and the deaths of at least 18 dogs. Steffen Baldwin, 39, was arrested this week after U.S. Marshals posed as potential customers in California, more than three years after he fled an investigation in Ohio, The Ohio Dispatch reported. He waived his extradition and was returned to the state. Baldwin currently faces dozens of felony indictments, including cruelty to companion animals, grand theft, bribery, telecommunications fraud, tampering with evidence and impersonating a peace officer. Baldwin was the leader of the Union County Humane Society in Marysville, acted as a Humane agent who investigated cases of pet and livestock abuse, and founded his own nonprofit agency. The Dispatch reported that he appeared to be an animal lover who seemed especially passionate about helping dogs deemed difficult or dangerous. He was described as charming and confident, traits that made him appear trustworthy to pet owners. However, police believe that persona was a ruse. Authorities allege that he convinced pet owners that he would rehabilitate their dogs or find them new homes but was actually taking the money for personal use while euthanizing the animals without consent. An investigation was launched after Litsa and Angelo Kargakos told police that they paid Baldin $1,000 in September 2016 to train and find a new home for their pitbull, Remi. However, a police report states that Remi was euthanized just three months later. Baldwin assured the couple that Remi was “doing well,” but then filed a false report with Union County officials claiming Remi was a dangerous animal. The Kargakoses eventually tracked down the veterinarian who performed the procedure after becoming suspicious, The Dispatch reported. Remi was reportedly in perfect health when he was put down.
Democratic Bill Banning Toxic Pesticides Applauded as ‘Much-Needed’ Step to Protect Kids and Planet – Democrats in the House and Senate on Tuesday introduced sweeping legislation that would ban some of the most toxic pesticides currently in use in the U.S. and institute stronger protections for farmworkers and communities that have been exposed to damaging chemicals by the agriculture industry.The Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticide Act of 2020, sponsored by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), was applauded by environmentalists as a “bold and much-needed” step in the right direction.”The pesticide industry and chemical agriculture have for far too long been able to abuse legal loopholes allowing for the use of toxic pesticides that have not been adequately tested to make sure they are safe for people and the environment,” said Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group. “The Udall-Neguse plan will rein in this largely unchecked explosion of pesticide use by agriculture and give the EPA much stronger authority to protect the public.” According to a summary of the bill released by Neguse’s office, the legislation would ban:
- Organophosphate insecticides, which are designed to target the neurological system and have been linked to neurodevelopmental damage in children;
- Neonicotinoid insecticides, which have contributed to pollinator collapse around the world; and
- Paraquat, which is one of the most acutely toxic herbicides in the world.
If passed, the bill would end the use of chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide linked to brain damage in children. Last July, as Common Dreams reported, President Donald Trump‘s Environmental Protection Agency rejected a petition by environmental and public health groups to ban chlorpyrifos despite evidence of the pesticide’s neurotoxic effects.
Trump Signs Great American Outdoors Act Into Law – The Great American Outdoors Act is now the law of the land. President Donald Trump signed the bill, which passed the Senate and House with bipartisan support, on Tuesday. It is considered a major U.S. conservation milestone.”You cannot overstate the importance of this bill and what it will mean for national parks, public lands and communities across the country,” National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) President and CEO Theresa Pierno said when it passed the House in July. “This is the largest investment our country has made in our national parks and public lands in more than 50 years, and it comes not a moment too soon.” The bill is important because it secured permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for $900 million a year, EcoWatch previously reported. This fund uses oil and gas revenue to finance national parks and historic sites, along with local and state parks and recreation areas. The bill also earmarked $6.5 billion over the next five years to address the maintenance backlog currently burdening the National Park System, NPCA pointed out.Trump claimed the bill signing as a major environmental legacy for himself and the Republicans.”From an environmental standpoint and from just the beauty of our country standpoint, there hasn’t been anything like this since Teddy Roosevelt, I suspect,” he said at the signing ceremony, The New York Times reported. “At some point, they’ll have to start thinking about the Republican Party and all of the incredible things we’ve done on conservation and many other fronts.”
Don’t Blame Cats for Killing Wildlife – Shaky Logic Is Creating a Moral Panic – A number of conservationists claim cats are a zombie apocalypse for biodiversity that need to be removed from the outdoors by “any means necessary” – coded language for shooting, trapping and poisoning. Various media outlets have portrayed cats as murderous superpredators. Australia has even declared an official “war” against cats.Moral panics emerge when people perceive an existential threat to themselves, society or the environment. When in the grip of a moral panic, the ability to think clearly and act responsibly is compromised. While the moral panic over cats arises from valid concerns over threats to native species, it obscures the real driver: humanity’s exploitative treatment of the natural world. Crucially, errors of scientific reasoning also underwrite this false crisis. As an interdisciplinary team of scientists and ethicists studying animals in conservation, we examined this claim and found it wanting. It is true that like any other predator, cats can suppress the populations of their prey. Yet the extent of this effect is ecologically complex. In our most recent publication in the journal Conservation Biology, we examine an error of reasoning that props up the moral panic over cats.The potential impact of cats differs between urban environments, small islands and remote deserts. Whenhumans denude regions of vegetation, small animals are particularly at risk from cats because they have no shelter in which to hide.Small animals are similarly vulnerable when humans kill apex predators that normally would suppress cat densities and activity. For instance, in the U.S., cats are a favorite meal for urban coyotes, who moderate feline impact; and in Australia, dingoes hunt wild cats, which relieves pressure on native small animals.Add in contrary evidence and the case against cats gets even shakier. For instance, in some ecological contexts, cats contribute to the conservation of endangered birds, by preying on rats and mice. There are alsodocumented cases of coexistence between cats and native prey species. The fact is, cats play different predatory roles in different natural and humanized landscapes. Scientists cannot assume that because cats are a problem for some wildlife in some places, they are a problem in every place.
As forests disappear in India, leopards have learnt to live and prey among human habitats – Unpacking patterns of leopard attacks on livestock and landscape features in the Indian Himalayas offers clues to potential human-leopard conflict hotspots, a study has said amid increasing encounters of wildlife with humans. Rapid deforestation and human-impacts on their habitats force these large carnivores to venture into unlikely landscapes outside protected areas for prey and cover, said scientists at Wildlife Institute of India. Research by the team is unraveling how landscape features such as abandoned farmlands, tea gardens, and distance from protected areas, increase the probability of leopards attacking livestock in North Bengal in the Eastern Himalayas and Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand in the Western Himalayas. The team has studied patterns of leopard predation and analysed landscape features to map conflict hotspots in the study sites where wildlife managers, conservationists, and communities can work together to devise and reframe strategies to reduce livestock depredation by leopards within the Indian Himalayan region. Such measures will help reduce retaliation by local communities and ensure the survival of leopards outside protected reserves, the study claims. “We investigated 857 attacks on livestock in Eastern Himalayas and 375 attacks in the Western Himalayas by leopards, between 2015 and 2018. We realised that leopards behave and adapt differently compared to other large carnivores. What we know of other large carnivores doesn’t really apply to leopards,” said Dipanjan Naha of Wildlife Institute of India’s Department of Endangered Species Management. Leopards are stalk-and-ambush predators frequenting the fringes of protected areas. Diverse landscapes, like settlements, grazing lands, interspersed with moderate forests, might offer them better chances of catching prey compared to dense closed habitats, the authors said. Whether it is the sugarcane fields of Maharashtra, the tea gardens in North Bengal, an abandoned rubber factory at Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh – leopards can survive in small, splintered vegetation patches as long as they have enough cover to hide. Livestock and free-ranging domestic dogs comprise the primary prey for leopards in these modified realms outside of protected areas.
Trump Administration Rule Proposal Would Further Undermine Endangered Species Act -Environmental groups on Friday condemned the announcement of a new rule proposed by President Donald Trump that would further weaken the Endangered Species Act by making it easier to destroy habitats vulnerable species rely on for survival.”President Trump is back for another whack at another key environmental law,” said Oceana senior federal policy director Lara Levison.At issue is a planned rule change to the Endangered Species Act, or ESA, from the Department of Fish and Wildlife that would redefine “habitat” as “areas with existing attributes that have the capacity to support individuals of the species,” precluding the restoration and repair of historical habitats that could, with time, support endangered species.”The Trump administration won’t be satisfied until it removes all protections for the natural world, including clean air and water, land, and now even habitat for our most vulnerable wildlife,” Noah Greenwald, the endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.As the Center for Biological Diversity explained:The definition stems from a 2018 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that said the Service needed to define the term habitat in relation to the highly endangered dusky gopher frog. The frog survives in one ephemeral pond in Mississippi. Recognizing that to secure the frog would require recovering it in additional areas, the Service designated an area in Louisiana that had the ephemeral ponds the frog requires. However, this area would need forest restoration to provide high-quality habitat.Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, the landowner, and Pacific Legal Foundation, a private-property advocacy group, challenged the designation, resulting in today’s definition and the frog losing habitat protection in Louisiana. “This will have real life-and-death consequences for some of our nation’s most vulnerable species,” said Greenwald.Oceana’s Levison concurred with Greenwald’s bleak assessment.”The president’s newly proposed rules will make it even harder to save species from extinction,” she said. “The ESA protects threatened and endangered species like sea turtles and the North Atlantic right whale, as well as the habitats they depend on, but the draft rule released today reduces these protections.”Cathy Liss, president of the Animal Welfare Institute, called on the president and the administration to do the right thing for the planet by saving “an effective and popular law that serves as the last line of defense for rare species facing extinction.””At a time of unprecedented wildlife extinction and habitat destruction, we should be working to strengthen – not weaken – the Endangered Species Act,” said Liss.
Much Of Maine’s Lobster Fishery Loses International ‘Sustainably Fished’ Designation – Much of Maine’s lobster fishery is losing, at least temporarily, an internationally-recognized rating as a “sustainably fished” resource. The suspension comes in the wake of a federal judge’s ruling that the risk posed by lobster-trap ropes to endangered North Atlantic right whales violates federal law. The MSC label certifies that a seafood product is wild, traceable and sustainable. Some Maine businesses, such as Luke’s Lobster, actively use it in their marketing. Since 2013, the London-based Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has been awarding its blue seal-of-approval to lobsters caught and handled by a consortium of Maine lobstermen, processors and dealers who are members of the Maine Certified Sustainable Lobster Association. The MSC label certifies that a seafood product is wild, traceable and sustainable, and some Maine businesses, such as Luke’s Lobster, actively use it in their marketing. MSC spokesperson Jackie Marks says that, in most respects, Maine’s lobstermen are exemplary stewards of the lobster population, thanks to conservation practices that date back more than a century.”They’re practices have been pretty solid. And they are seen as an iconic American fishery that has been doing well.”But scientists and conservationists say that the ropes and buoys Maine lobstermen use to haul their traps pose a risk of deadly entanglements for the roughly 400 North Atlantic right whales left on the planet. In April, a federal judge ruled that federal regulators violated the Endangered Species act by authorizing the American lobster fishery. That ruling, Marks says, put the Maine fishery out of compliance with one of the MSC certification standards – that a fishery not harm what she calls “non-target” threatened or endangered species, such as the right whales. “Making sure that other non-target species are healthy and the ecosystem itself is healthy,” says Marks.
Toxic Chemicals From Fossil Fuels Are Poisoning East Coast Dolphins and Whales, Study Finds – A new study gives a first look at the presence and potential effects of plastics and new forms of synthetic chemicals in stranded dolphins and whales along the coast of the southeastern U.S. New toxins and chemicals entering the market are bombarding the ocean and its inhabitants on an unprecedented scale, according to the research that was published Wednesday in Frontiers in Marine Science, as CNN reported. Large ocean mammals that washed up ashore between 2012 and 2018 are similar to a canary in a coal mine, according to Courthouse News, since these animals retain chemical deposits in their blubber and offer a window into the health of the larger ocean ecosystem. The animals tested comprised toothed whales, which include dolphins, porpoises and other whales like the melon-headed whale and the Cuvier’s beaked whale, according to CNN. “Marine mammals are ecosystem sentinels that reflected anthropogenic threats through their health – which has implications for human health as well,” says lead author assistant professor Annie Page-Karjian of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, in a statement. The stranded animals included 11 different species, providing the first evidence for two rarer species: white-beaked dolphin and Gervais’ beaked whales, according to Frontiers in Marine Science. The stranded animals represented males and females, young and old, which allowed the scientists to look at differences between the groups. The results showed that species such as bottlenose dolphins had higher amounts of lead and mercury in their system than pygmy sperm whales. Female bottlenose dolphins had higher levels of arsenic than their male counterparts. Dolphins stranded in Florida displayed higher concentrations of lead, mercury and selenium and lower iron levels than those stranded in North Carolina, according to Courthouse News. These toxic chemicals mostly enter the ecosystem from the burning of fossil fuels and mining, said Alistair Dove, vice president of research and conservation at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, to CNN. Dove was not involved in the study.
Heavy rain hammers South Korea, leaving 6 dead, 7 missing (AP) – Torrential rain pounded most of South Korea over the weekend, leaving six people dead and seven others missing, officials said Sunday. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said the heavy rainfall triggered landslides in dozens of places, flooded residential areas and roads, and damaged some riverside structures. Much of the damage occurred in the Seoul metropolitan area and the central region. The ministry said the six dead people were either buried by mud or destroyed building parts following landslides or swept away by swollen waters. Ministry officials said one died on Saturday and the other five on Sunday, all in the Seoul metropolitan area or the central region. The torrential rain also left six people injured and 360 others homeless, the ministry said. The Seoul area and the central region are expected to continue to receive heavy rain until Monday morning.
Isaias makes landfall and threatens tornadoes, ferocious winds and flooding up the East Coast – CNN – Isaias slammed into the East Coast overnight, causing rapid flooding, water rescues and the threat of New York’s strongest winds since Superstorm Sandy in 2012.Isaias hurled sustained winds of 85 mph and became a Category 1 hurricane before reaching land around 11:10 p.m. ET near Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, the National Hurricane Center said.It was downgraded to a tropical storm Tuesday morning, with maximum sustained winds down to 70 mph. But that doesn’t mean the danger is over. Tropical storm warnings extend from North Carolina all the way to the Maine/Canada border, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said. Tropical storm conditions will last through Tuesday and into the overnight hours. In addition to torrential rain, major storm surges and the threat of tornadoes, “this is going to be a power problem,” CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said. By mid-Tuesday morning, Isaias had knocked out power to more than 500,000 electricity customers, Myers said. That means well over a million people are left in the dark. And with the coronavirus pandemic still raging across the country, recovery from this storm could be made much more difficult. Flooding, fires and 65-mph winds Howling wind and water washing across in “one to two foot swells” closed a bridge Monday night in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, the Sunset Beach Police said on Facebook. Streets in Holden Beach became rivers as water quickly rose, Jessi Viox told CNN. “Getting ready for Round 2,” Viox said. “The eye has moved around us, and now here comes the back end.” Brunswick County, North Carolina, reported “numerous calls” for water rescues, structural fires, structural collapses and people trapped in flooding houses,” Oak Island Water Rescue said on Facebook. Before Isaias even made landfall, the top of the Apache Pier Pavilion was seen lifting off in the wind. And multiple structures in Ocean Isle Beach were reported to be ablaze, according to the Horry County Fire Rescue in South Carolina.
Hurricane Isaias makes landfall in North Carolina | CBC News Tropical Storm Isaias spawned tornadoes and dumped rain during an inland march up the U.S. East Coast on Tuesday after making landfall as a hurricane along the North Carolina coast, where it piled boats against the docks and caused floods and fires that displaced dozens of people. At least one person was killed when one of its twisters hit a mobile home park. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper told ABC’s Good Morning America that one person was killed and others were injured when a tornado hit a mobile home park in Bertie County, about 300 kilometres northeast of where Isaias made landfall. Bertie County officials said on Facebook that the tornado touched down in Windsor. The hurricane had touched down just after 11 p.m. local time near Ocean Island, N.C., on Monday with maximum sustained winds of 136 km/h. The storm now has maximum sustained winds of 117 km/h. But forecasters said hurricane-force gusts were likely in the Chesapeake Bay region, and tropical storm conditions were expected across New England Tuesday night. “Potentially life-threatening urban flooding is possible in D.C., Baltimore and elsewhere along and just west of the I-95 corridor today,” the National Hurricane Center also warned. Forecasters had warned tornadoes were possible, and two were later confirmed, near Kilmarnock, Va., and Vienna, Md. Heavy rains were predicted, with falling trees causing power outages as Isaias moves north. More than 650,000 customers lost electricity, most of them in North Carolina and Virginia, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks utility reports. Isaias toggled between tropical storm and hurricane strength throughout its path to the U.S. coast, killing two people in the Caribbean and trashing the Bahamas before brushing past Florida. Some coastal communities in North Carolina and Virginia woke to significant damage, mostly east and north of where the hurricane’s eye struck land. In Southport, N.C., the storm surge and wind gusts left dozens of boats piled up against the docks, and many decks facing out on the water were smashed by the surge. On North Carolina’s Oak Island, deputies had to rescue five adults and three children after the storm hit, causing damage along the beachfront and knocking electricity and sewer facilities offline, authorities said. The storm set off flooding and sparked five home fires in Ocean Isle Beach, Mayor Debbie Smith told WECT-TV. About 128 kilometres north of Ocean Isle Beach, 30 people were displaced due to a fire at a condominium complex in Surf City, news outlets reported. In Suffolk, Va., near the coast, multiple homes were damaged by falling trees, and city officials received reports of a possible tornado. A fire station downtown sustained damage including broken windows. A photo posted by city officials showed a pile of bricks lying next to a damaged business. As the storm neared the shore, a gauge on a pier in Myrtle Beach recorded its third-highest water level since it was set up in 1976. Only Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016 pushed more salt water inland.
One killed by downed tree as Isaias leaves path of tornadoes, outages, floods in Maryland – Baltimore Sun – A driver was killed in St. Mary’s County as Tropical Storm Isaias swept swiftly through Maryland Tuesday morning, spawning tornadoes, causing more than 60,000 power outages and flooding multiple areas as it dumped as much as 9 inches of rain in parts of the state. Isaias (pronounced ees-ah-EE-ahs) struck Southern Maryland in the morning, with a tornado touching down in Callaway in St. Mary’s County shortly before 7 a.m., and traveled north and northeasterly before exiting the state by early afternoon. But before then, its winds of up to 70 mph and intense downpours sent trees crashing onto cars and homes, overturned several tractor-trailers and closed about three dozen roads. The driver was killed in Mechanicsville after a large tree fell on their car around 9:30 a.m., according to Cpl. Julie Yingling, a spokeswoman for the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office. There were no other passengers in the car, which had been traveling southbound on Three Notch Road near Charlotte Hall School Road when it was struck, Yingling said. It took rescuers several hours to extract the driver whose name was being withheld pending notification of relatives, she said. Trained weather spotters reported 9 inches of rain in St. Mary’s County, where a family in Leonardtown had to be extricated by rescue crews after trees fell on their home, according to the Maryland Emergency Management Agency. Rainfall totals in the Baltimore area ranged from roughly 2.5 to 5 inches, with the highest totals recorded in the southernmost areas near the Chesapeake Bay, said National Weather Service meteorologist Austin Mansfield. Power went out in the Department of Public Works facility on Back River Neck Road in Baltimore County, as well as two closed schools, said Jay Ringgold, spokesman for the county’s emergency services operations. Among the areas inundated were North East in Cecil County, where residents became trapped in their houses as fast-moving currents inundated some streets.
Hurricane Isaias brings tornadoes, fires, flooding, widespread power outages to East Coast – CBS News – Isaias spawned tornadoes and dumped rain along the U.S. East Coast on Tuesday after making landfall as a hurricane in North Carolina, where it smashed boats together and caused floods and fires that displaced dozens of people. At least six people were killed. About 12 hours after coming ashore, the storm was still sustaining near-hurricane-strength top winds of 70 mph late Tuesday morning, and its forward march accelerated to 35 mph. “Potentially life-threatening urban flooding is possible in D.C., Baltimore and elsewhere along and just west of the I-95 corridor today,” the National Hurricane Center warned. The storm crossed over land as a hurricane just after 11 p.m. with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.Isaias (pronounced ees-ah-EE-ahs) had been upgraded again from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane Monday evening. Its maximum sustained winds dropped after it hit land to minimum-hurricane-speed of 75 mph with higher gusts. And by 3 a.m., it was back down to a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. At 8 a.m., Isaias had sustained winds of 70 mph was moving north/northeast at 33 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Isaias was bringing dangerous winds and heavy rain to eastern Virginia early Tuesday. The storm surge and wind damage actually matched what the hurricane center predicted, leaving dozens of boats piled up against the docks, and many decks facing out on the water were smashed.Two people were killed and several others were unaccounted for after a tornado destroyed 10 mobile homes in Windsor, North Carolina, according to officials in Bertie County. Bertie County Emergency Management Director Mitch Cooper said, “We want to emphasize that this is not a recovery mission, and rescues are still taking place which is why it is increasingly important to steer clear of the area. The storm could continue to bring down trees and cause power outages as it moves north along the mid-Atlantic and New England coastline, said Robbie Berg, a hurricane center forecaster. “We don’t think there is going to be a whole lot of weakening, we still think there’s going to be very strong and gusty winds that will affect much of the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast over the next day or two,”,” Berg said. Rainfall will continue to be a big issue, he added. More than 500,000 homes and businesses lost electricity, most of them in North Carolina and Virginia, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks utility reports.
Tropical Storm Isaias causing tornadoes, flash flooding and power outages in Philly region – Tropical Storm Isaias arrived in the Philadelphia region Tuesday with an impressive show of force. Torrential rains and strong winds have resulted in flash floods and power outages throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey. Tornados have been spotted in several locations too. Tropical storm conditions were forecasted to continue until Tuesday evening, as some showers were anticipated late into the night. The forecast called for as much as six inches of rain throughout on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. The heaviest rain was expected along the I-95 corridor. Wind gusts were expected to reach as high as 73 mph. A flash flood watch was in place until midnight Wednesday and a tornado watch was in effect until 4 p.m. on Tuesday. A tropical storm warning remained in place until further notice. A coastal flood advisory was in effect until 8 p.m., with up to six inches of flooding expected in low-lying areas along the Jersey Shore and tidal waterways. The warning included the Delaware River, from the Delaware Bay to the Commodore Barry Bridge area. Flooding across Philly forced the city to close down several roads, including Kelly Drive between the Art Museum and Falls Bridge. Cobbs Creek Parkway between 70th Street and Baltimore Avenue. Philly police and fire personnel helped rescue drivers stranded in flooded streets. A flood warning for the Schuylkill River is in effect until Wednesday night or whenever the warning is cancelled. More than 583,000 customers are without power, according to outage maps provided by PECO, PSE&G and Atlantic City Electric.
Tropical Storm Isaias turns deadly in NYC as trees come down across the 5 boroughs; damage across NY, NJ and CT – (WABC) — The torrential rains and strong winds from fast-moving Tropical Isaias dealt such a wallop that millions were left without power in the Tri-State area and governors had to put into place emergency orders to speed up the recovery. Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a State of Emergency for downstate New York on Wednesday to enable the state to provide additional levels to support to local governments throughout the clean-up and recovery process. Nearly 2.5 million people lost power in the region. Con Edison said the number of power outages from Isaias was the second-largest in the company’s history. Only Superstorm Sandy in 2012 caused more. A 60-year-old man was killed when he was crushed by a tree that fell on his car in Briarwood, Queens. There were more than 3,100 reports of downed trees in Queens, many of which knocked out power and damaged homes. One crashed through the roof of a home and fell on a child’s bedroom. She was just a few feet away and wasn’t hurt. In Brooklyn, a woman was struck in the head by a falling tree branch outside the Tilden Houses in Brownsville just after 2 p.m. She was taken to Brookdale Hospital in critical condition. There was also a partial building collapse involving the second and third floors of a building at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and North 6th Street. An unknown number of residents were evacuated. There were no reports of injuries.
Isaias Aftermath- 2 Million Still Without Power Across Northeast; At Least 12 Tornados Confirmed – Tropical Storm Isaias is long gone, but there’s widespread damage along the East Coast and more than 2 million homes in the Northeast without power. According to PowerOutage.US, 2.2 million of the 6.4 million affected electric customers remain without power in the aftermath of Isaias. PowerOutage.US said utility workers from across the nation have responded to East Coast states to aid in the recovery effort to restore power. So far, 65% of affected customers have seen their lights turned back on. From the Carolinas to the Delmarva Peninsula to New Jersey to New York City, Isaias unleashed tropical storm conditions earlier this week. For those who are curious, here’s the full track map of the storm: At one point, nearly 100 tornado warnings were issued across ten states as the storm raced up the East Coast. Isaias spawned at least a dozen confirmed twisters. Here’s some video of the damage:
Massive power outage briefly knocks out northern New York City, then Queens goes – A massive power outage struck Friday morning in the upper part of Manhattan, knocking out not only lights but also cellphone service, and a short time later power went out in a large chunk of Queens as well. At one point it was pitch black as far as the eye could see along Broadway north of 73rd Street on both the east and west sides of Manhattan. Power came back on after around 20 minutes for parts of the Upper West Side, though some spotty outage reports lingered thereafter. “We are investigating a problem on our transmission system that caused three networks in Manhattan to lose their electric supply at about 5:13 this morning. The supply has been restored to those networks on the Upper West Side, Harlem and the Upper East Side,” Con Ed said in a statement. About 90 minutes later, though, power went out in the Middle Village section of Queens, and two hours later it was still largely out. Con Ed’s outage map showed about 140,000 customers without power in Manhattan as of 6 a.m., but that was down to 140 by 10 a.m. – and all power in the borough was projected to be restored by 12 p.m., the utility said. The same map then showed about 27,000 customers out in Queens as of 8:30 a.m., potentially linked in part to the new outage. Mayor Bill de Blasio said overnight weather conditions appeared to cause the early morning outage, and that by his 10 a.m. briefing all customers from Friday’s outage had their power restored.
Thousands in NJ wait for power as storm outages enter fifth day – Utility crews from multiple states continued to reconnect North Jersey residents to the power grid Saturday while more responders and residents deal with downed trees, power lines and further damage left in the wake of Tropical Storm Isaias. Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted Friday night that 240,000 customer outages were still reported in New Jersey, a number that has decreased from a peak 1.4 million on Tuesday, 977,000 on Wednesday and 447,524 on Thursday.On Saturday, nearly 65,000 customers were still without power in New Jersey. Here are the North Jersey county power-outage numbers as of about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, according to PSE&G, Orange & Rockland utility company, Atlantic City Electric and Jersey Central Power and Light:
- Morris County: 21,866
- Bergen County: 24,439
- Passaic County: 6,576
- Essex County: 11,916
Morris County has consistently had some of the most outages even as the number of customers without power has dropped and has been one of the hardest-hit areas, according to JCP&L. Parsippany Mayor Michael Soriano on Saturday said he was frustrated by JCP&L’s progress in Morris County’s largest municipality, and called on the utility to “reimburse residents for everything they’ve lost this week.” “I am particularly disturbed by several instances of neighborhoods getting power back for a few hours, only to lose it again shortly thereafter,” Soriano wrote in a social media post. “Many residents have told me they went out to buy much-needed food, and were forced to throw it out within a few hours. Some had to throw away their medicine.”
Report: Climate Change Raises Flood Risks For Superfund Sites In N.H., Elsewhere – New Hampshire Public Radio – A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists says hundreds of coastal Superfund sites – including several in New Hampshire – face new risks of flooding due to climate change.The analysis looked at federal toxic waste sites within 25 miles of the East and Gulf Coasts, and found that New Jersey, Florida and New York have the most sites at risk of extreme flooding. Many are concentrated along the I-95 corridor. In New Hampshire, the analysis covers not just the former Pease Air BaseSuperfund in Portsmouth and Coakley Landfill Superfund in Greenland and North Hampton, but also sites on the inner Seacoast. The report says even if greenhouse gas emissions drop sharply in the coming decades, at least 800 of these coastal Superfunds will soon be at risk for extreme flooding due to storms and tides.This kind of flooding has spread toxic waste around Superfunds and active industrial sites, in places like Houston after Hurricane Harvey.The Concerned Scientists report also says people of color and those earning lower incomes are more likely to live near these sites. This follows another recent studyfrom the Chicago-based Shriver Center on Poverty Law that said about 70% of all Superfund sites are within one mile of a public housing complex. Sites further inland are not exempt from the risk, according the Concerned Scientists report and other flood data. The recently released FloodFactor mapping tool from the nonprofit First Street Foundation shows risks from potential creek and river flooding near or on some non-coastal Superfund sites in New Hampshire.These include the Beede Waste Oil site in Plaistow, the Collins and Aikman Plantsite in Farmington, the Keefe Environmental Services site in Exeter and theFletcher’s Paint Works and Savage Municipal Water sites on either side of downtown Milford, near the floodplain of the Souhegan River. The FloodFactor tool also shows that the Chlor-Alkali Site, on the Androscoggin River near downtown Berlin, has about a 20% chance of flooding in the next 30 years. The Environmental Protection Agency is currently taking public comment on a new cleanup plan for that site. New Hampshire has nearly two dozen listed or proposed Superfund sites total.
Hurricane, Fire, Covid-19: Disasters Expose the Hard Reality of Climate Change – NYTimes – Twin emergencies on two coasts this week – Hurricane Isaias and the Apple Fire – offer a preview of life in a warming world and the steady danger of overlapping disasters.A low-grade hurricane that is slowly scraping along the East Coast. A wildfire in California that has led to evacuation orders for 8,000 people. And in both places, as well as everywhere between, apandemic that keeps worsening.The daily morning briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, usually a dry document full of acronyms and statistics, has begun to resemble the setup for a disaster movie. But rather than a freak occurrence, experts say that the pair of hazards bracketing the country this week offers a preview of life under climate change: a relentless grind of overlapping disasters, major or minor.The coronavirus pandemic has further exposed flaws in the nation’s defenses, including weak construction standards in vulnerable areas, underfunded government agencies, and racial and income disparities that put some communities at greater risk. Experts argue that the country must fundamentally rethink how it prepares for similar disasters as the effects of global warming accelerate.“State and local governments already stretched with Covid responses must now stretch even further,” said Lisa Anne Hamilton, adaptation program director at the Georgetown Climate Center in Washington. Better planning and preparation are crucial, she added, as the frequency and intensity of disasters increase.Hurricane Isaias made landfall in the Carolinas on Monday evening, its 75 mile-an-hour winds driving a storm surge as great as five feet. By Tuesday afternoon, downgraded to a tropical storm, Isaias had pushed north to the Mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast. Flash flooding was reported in Pennsylvania, and damaging winds left more than 1.2 million people in New Jersey and New York without power. The storm also spawned tornadoes, including one that killed two people in North Carolina. Isaias makes nine named storms in the Atlantic so far this year, something that has never before happened this early in the hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Isaias has captured much of the public’s attention, but it’s far from the only natural disaster facing the country. In Southern California, firefighters were struggling Tuesday to contain a wildfire in the San Bernardino Mountains 80 miles east of Los Angeles. It had spread rapidly in the rugged terrain after first being reported on Friday. Called the Apple Fire, it has burned 27,000 acres so far, though it remains much smaller than other recent fires in the state. The largest, the Mendocino Complex Fire in 2018, burned nearly half a million acres. The disastrous Camp Fire of 2018, which burned 150,000 acres and killed 85 people, barely makes the Top 20 list.
Amazon Rainforest Fires in Brazil Surge in July – The number of forest fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest increased 28% in July in comparison to last year, the country’s National Institute for Space Research reported Saturday. Brazil holds around 60% of the Amazon basin region and environmentalists say this area is vital to containing the impact of climate change. The state agency recorded 6,803 fires in the Amazon last month, compared to 5,318 in the same month of 2019. Environmentalists were alarmed by the figure, particularly because August traditionally marks the beginning of the fire season in the region. Many now fear that a repeat of the large surge in fires that devastated the area last August could occur this year again. “More than 1,000 fires in a single day is a 15-year record and shows the government’s strategy of media-spectacle operations is not working on the ground,” Greenpeace spokesman Romulo Batista said in a statement. The fires have been largely set to clear land illegally for farming, ranching and mining. Activists accuse Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of encouraging the deforestation, as he has been in favor of opening up the rainforest to agriculture and industry. The first six months of 2020 were already the worst on record for deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, with 3,069 square kilometers (1,185 square miles) cleared, according to INPE data, an area larger than the nation of Luxembourg. On July 16, the Brazilian government banned burning in the Pantanal wetlands and the Amazon forest for four months. President Bolsonaro also issued an order in May for the military to coordinate environmental actions in the Amazon. But experts say the fire numbers indicate the government’s response has not been effective. The deforestation index also remained high this year until July, compared to the last couple of years, according to Carlos Nobre, a researcher at the Advanced Studies Institute in the State University of Sao Paulo. Experts also say that this year’s dry season will be even more prone to fires than last year. U.S. space agency NASA warned last month that warmer ocean surface temperatures in the North Atlantic have creating the conditions for a more extreme drought in the Amazon. “Human-set fires used for agriculture and land clearing more prone to growing out of control and spreading,” NASA warned. “Conditions are ripe.”
Apple Fire Forces 7,800 to Seek Shelter in Coronavirus-Ravaged California – Southern California‘s first major wildfire this year has devoured more than 20,000 acres since Friday and forced thousands to flee their homes in the midst of a pandemic.The Apple Fire sparked around 5 p.m. on Friday in Cherry Valley in Riverside County, The San Bernardino Sun reported. Dry air and vegetation fanned the flames, and it is now 20,516 acres and only five percent contained, according to the most recent update from the U.S. Forest Service.”The fuels are there, and they’re ripe,” Daron Wyatt, a spokesman for area incident commanders, told The San Bernardino Sun. The blaze has forced around 7,800 people to flee their homes, the Riverside County Fire Department said,according to CNN. But the evacuations have been complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. California has the most cases of any state in the nation and, as of Friday, had broken its daily death record four times in a little over a week, The Guardian reported.How do you evacuate 7,800 people in a pandemic? A question I was hoping we wouldn’t have to answer but wildfire & h… https://t.co/XnzBcZ9K9 Evacuation centers have been set up at hotels and at Beaumont High School, with measures like temperature checks, mask wearing and social distancing in place, Riverside County Fire Department spokesperson Rob Roseen told CNN. But evacuees are still wary of seeking shelter in the school.”Folks not taking advantage of it over concerns about COVID-19, we have measures in place. We planned for this months ahead,” Capt. Fernando Herrera of Cal Fire told CBS Los Angeles. Instead, the Red Cross has been helping evacuees find hotel rooms, according to LAIst, and families like the Mejias have stopped by the high school asking for their assistance in booking these rooms. “You have a number of different groups of people looking for the same set of limited resources,” Ellsworth told LAIst.As of Sunday afternoon, the Red Cross had only helped fewer than 40 people. So far, no one has been injured in the blaze, but one home and two outbuildings were destroyed, CNN reported.
Wildfires Can Poison Drinking Water – Here’s How Communities Can Be Better Prepared – In recent years wildfires have entered urban areas, causing breathtaking destruction.The 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise and Butte County, California was the deadliest and most destructive fire in California’s history. It took 86 lives and destroyed more than 18,000 structures in a matter of hours.Almost two years later, only a fraction of the area’s 40,000-plus population has returned. This disaster followed the 2017 Tubbs Fire, which killed 22 people inCalifornia’s Sonoma and Napa counties.After both fires, drinking water tests revealed a plethora of acutely toxic and carcinogenic pollutants. Water inside homes was not safe to use, or even to treat. Water pipes buried underground and inside of buildings were extensively contaminated. As we conclude in a recently published study of burned areas, communities need to upgrade building codes to keep wildfires from causing this kind of widespread contamination of drinking water systems. Both the Tubbs and Camp fires destroyed fire hydrants, water pipes and meter boxes. Water leaks and ruptured hydrants were common. The Camp Fire inferno spread at a speed of one football field per second, chasing everyone – including water system operators – out of town. After the fires passed, testing ultimately revealed widespread hazardous drinking water contamination. Evidence suggests that the toxic chemicals originated from a combination of burning vegetation, structures and plastic materials.Firefighting can accelerate the spread of contamination. As emergency workers draw hydrant water, they spread contaminated water through the water pipe network.Metal, concrete and plastic pipes can become contaminated. Many plastics take up these chemicals like sponges. As clean water later passes through the pipes, the toxic substances leach out, rendering the water unsafe.In the Tubbs and Camp fires, chemicals in the air may have also been sucked into hydrants as water pipes lost pressure. Some water system plastics decomposed and leached chemicals directly into water. Toxic chemicals then spread throughout pipe networks and into buildings.
Beirut blast: Dozens dead and thousands injured, health minister says – BBC News – A large blast in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, has killed at least 70 people and injured more than 4,000 others, the health minister says. Videos show smoke billowing from a fire, then a mushroom cloud following the blast at the city’s port. Officials are blaming highly explosive materials stored in a warehouse for six years. President Michel Aoun tweeted it was “unacceptable” that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was stored unsafely. An investigation is under way to find the exact trigger for the explosion. Lebanon’s Supreme Defence Council said those responsible would face the “maximum punishment” possible. Hospitals are said to be overwhelmed and many buildings have been destroyed. President Aoun declared a three-day mourning period, and said the government would release 100 billion lira (£50.5m; $66m) of emergency funds. A BBC journalist at the scene reported dead bodies and severe damage, enough to put the port of Beirut out of action. Prime Minister Hassan Diab called it a catastrophe and said those responsible must be held to account. He spoke of a “dangerous warehouse” which had been there since 2014, but said he would not pre-empt the investigation. Local media showed people trapped beneath rubble. A witness described the first explosion as deafening, and video footage showed wrecked cars and blast-damaged buildings. “All the buildings around here have collapsed. I’m walking through glass and debris everywhere, in the dark,” The blast was heard 240km (150 miles) away on the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean.
Beirut Explosion Caused by Fire Kills Dozens, Injures Thousands – WSJ – Dozens of people were confirmed dead and thousands more injured after a massive explosion caused by a warehouse fire rocked Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut.The warehouse held highly explosive material, said an official with Lebanon’s army who added that the blast was likely caused by a fire and wasn’t an attack. President Trump, however, on Tuesday evening called it a “terrible attack” and said U.S. military leaders believe the explosion was caused by “a bomb of some kind.”The explosive material, which Lebanese officials identified as ammonium nitrate, had been kept at the warehouse for the past six years, according to Prime Minister Hassan Diab. “All those responsible for this catastrophe will pay the price,” Mr. Diab said. At least 50 people were killed and 2,750 wounded because of the explosion, Lebanon’s health minister said.The explosion, which produced a giant orange mushroom cloud over the city, was yet another trauma for Beirut residents who have survived wars and numerous bombings in the past. They now face the challenge of rebuilding at a time of strained resources due to the coronavirus pandemic. The explosion destroyed one of Lebanon’s most important international ports and severely damaged Beirut’s cosmopolitan city center, with its neighborhoods of restaurants and concrete apartment buildings, and its iconic corniche on the Mediterranean. The city’s core neighborhoods, home to countless cafes, bars, and artist studios, are at the heart of Beirut’s role as a regional cultural hub with global aspirations.The shock wave and vast plume of smoke quickly transformed the city center into a surreal scene blanketed in dust and debris as stunned residents fled their homes and rushed the wounded to hospitals. Vehicles carried injured people, their arms and legs hanging limp from car windows. Dust hung in the air.The blast damaged the facades of apartment blocks nearby, shattered windows and tore balconies and doors asunder. It blanketed the streets with dust and broken glass. Bloody and injured people were trying to reach hospitals and wave down ambulances, which struggled to navigate streets filled with debris and wrecked cars. The explosion left a swath of destruction at Beirut’s port, one of Lebanon’s vital economic arteries. Video footage reviewed by The Wall Street Journal showed a swath of rubble, piles of metal and burning fires at the port.
Up To 300,000 Left Homeless In Beirut After Blast Collapsed Walls Miles Away – After Tuesday’s deadly blast in Beirut which Lebanon’s PM linked to 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate which had unsafely sat in storage on the port going back to 2013, the governor of Beirut has estimated the damage is so pervasive throughout the city as to have left hundreds of thousands homeless. Within a one mile radius, entire sides of residential buildings were ripped off. Getty Images. During a press conference the governor of Lebanon Marwan Abboud described while fighting back tears during a live press briefing that the two explosions that left 100 dead and over 4,000 injured unleashed at least three billion dollars in damage, devastating up to half the city. “I took a tour of Beirut, the damage can amount to between three and five billion dollars,” Abboud estimated. And he said that it’s likely up to 300,000 residents of the city were left homeless, given in many cases entire walls of buildings were ripped out by the seismic blast shockwave. Regional media reported of his comments: “Almost half of Beirut is destroyed or damaged,” he estimated, with 250,000 to 300,000 people finding themselves homeless. “Maybe more,” Abboud added while discussion the billions in damage, which also crucially took out the entirety of the city’s economically vital port. The blast force is being widely estimated in international reports as being one-fifth the size of Hiroshima. Lebanon’s president has declared a two week state of emergency and has put port authority officials under house arrest while pending an investigation.
Beirut reels from huge blast as death toll climbs to at least 135 – (Reuters) – Lebanese rescue teams pulled out bodies and hunted for missing people on Wednesday from the wreckage caused by a massive warehouse explosion that sent a devastating blast wave across Beirut, killing at least 135. Prime Minister Hassan Diab declared three days of mourning from Thursday as early investigations blamed negligence for the explosion at Beirut port, which has left tens of people missing and injured more than 5,000 others. Up to a quarter of a million people were left without homes fit to live in, officials said, after shockwaves smashed building facades, sucked furniture out into streets and shattered windows miles inland. The death toll was expected to rise from the blast, which officials blamed on a huge stockpile of highly explosive material stored for years in unsafe conditions at the port. The explosion was the most powerful ever in Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war that ended three decades ago and reeling from an economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus infections. The blast rattled buildings on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, about 100 miles (160 km) away. “No words can describe the horror that has hit Beirut last night, turning it into a disaster-stricken city,” President Michel Aoun said in an address to the nation during an emergency cabinet session. Aoun said 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, was stored for six years at the port after it was seized. The government was “determined to investigate and expose what happened as soon as possible, to hold the responsible and the negligent accountable,” he said. An official source familiar with preliminary investigations blamed the incident on “inaction and negligence”, saying “nothing was done” by committees and judges involved in the matter to order the removal of hazardous material. The cabinet ordered port officials involved in storing or guarding the material to be put under house arrest, ministerial sources told Reuters.
Initial investigations point to negligence as cause of Beirut blast, source says – (Reuters) – Initial investigations into the Beirut port blast indicate years of inaction and negligence over the storage of highly explosive material caused the explosion that killed more than 100 people, an official source familiar with the findings said. The prime minister and presidency have said that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, had been stored for six years at the port without safety measures. “It is negligence,” the official source told Reuters, adding that the issue on storing the material safely had come before several committees and judges and “nothing was done” to order the material be removed or disposed of, The source said a fire had started at port warehouse 9 on Tuesday and spread to warehouse 12, where the ammonium nitrate was stored. Another source close to a port employee said a team that inspected the material six months ago warned it could “blow up all of Beirut” if not removed. Tuesday’s explosion was the most powerful ever suffered by Beirut, a city still scarred by civil war three decades ago and reeling from a deep financial crisis rooted in decades of corruption and economic mismanagement. The head of Beirut port and the head of customs both said on Wednesday that several letters were sent to the judiciary asking for the dangerous material be removed, but no action was taken. Port General Manager Hassan Koraytem told OTV the material had been put in a warehouse on a court order, adding that they knew then the material was dangerous but “not to this degree”. “We requested that it be re-exported but that did not happen. We leave it to the experts and those concerned to determine why,”
Heat wave in Europe sets temperature records in Spain; London sees UK’s third hottest day – San Sebastian on Spain’s northern coast saw temperatures of 107 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday — the hottest temperature there since records began in 1955, the national weather agency said. The city of Palma, on Spain’s Mediterranean island of Mallorca, set a local record of 105 degrees on Tuesday. On Friday, temperatures reached 100.04 degrees at Heathrow Airport west of London The U.K.’s Met Office said it was the hottest day of 2020 and third-hottest on record for the country. The city council in Brighton, on England’s south coast, appealed for visitors to stay away, saying it was “concerned about the number of people in the city.” In Italy, more than a dozen Italian cities were put on alert as temperatures peaked around 104 degrees on Friday and Saturday. Forecasters said the heat wave was fueled by hot air coming northward from Africa. Many said the searing heat made it more difficult to wear face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “Your breath gets very warm – your glasses, there are lots of problems,” Ana Gonzalez told Reuters. “But you put it all aside when you think that it’s protection and there’s no choice about wearing it. You forget about the face mask and that’s it. It’s the only way.”
Italian resort evacuates due to glacier melting – An Italian valley resort near the Alps was forced to evacuate Friday over fears that a massive glacier could collapse and impact those in its path. Valerio Segor, the region’s director of natural risk management, said Friday the evacuation could not be delayed as 75 people left the Ferret Valley, CNN reported. “The measure could not be postponed following a survey of the glacier of Planpincieux that shows a section of 500,000 square meters of ice that could rapidly detach from the rock,” Segor said. The mayor of a nearby town, Courmayeur, closed the road leading to Ferret Valley but said other portions of Mont Blanc remain safe. Fabrizio Troilo from the Montagna Sicura (Secure Mountain) Foundation said the glacier located in the Mont Blanc massif has been surveilled since 2012 due to concerns of a fracture that could cause the football field-sized wall of ice to fall off. The glacier is described as “temperate,” meaning water flows between the mountain and the mass of ice. Troilo said by observing the ice mass using photographic monitoring, he found the glacier moves over one meter a day. Sporadic temperatures in the region have raised alerts for the foundation. In July and early August, hot temperatures were followed by snowy weather and colder temperatures in higher altitudes, causing a break between the mountain and the ice. The potential for glacier collapse became a significant possibility in April, though Troilo said the past 15 days had shown a “very rapid evolution” that could lead to a complete fracture.
There’s a Heatwave at the Arctic ‘Doomsday Vault’ – What better place to build a Doomsday Vault than the remote, snow-covered islands of Norway’s Arctic Svalbard? Sitting around 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole, the facility is buried in permafrost to protect the precious seed samples housed there. But a freak heatwave is causing the region’s ice to melt. Following several days of near record-breaking hot weather in July, Svalbard temperatures topped out at 21.7℃, the country’s meteorological institute reported. This is the hottest ever recorded here, exceeding the previous record of 21.3℃ set over 40 years earlier and a stark contrast to the region’s average of between 5-7℃ for this time of year. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault – also known as the Doomsday Vault – is a gigantic bunker, sitting deep inside a mountain surrounded by snowy wastelands. The facility stores close to 900,000 seed samples from around the world and acts as a sort of back-up plan for agriculture, should disaster render parts of the planet unlivable or the world suffer a catastrophe, such as nuclear war or extreme climate change.It’s been described as an “insurance policy for food security.”Inside the vault, temperatures are kept below minus 18℃, cold enough to keep the seed samples safe for at least 200 years, even without backup power. But climate change is causing problems for the vault.In 2016, which was the warmest year on record according to NASA, soaring temperatures caused meltwater to breach the vault’s entrance tunnel. While no seeds were damaged, the floodwater left an expensive repair bill and tarnished the vault’s reputation as impregnable to natural or manmade disasters. Warming in the islands has been underway for some time. Figures for 2017 show average temperatures are between 3-5℃ hotter than in 1971, according to the Climate in Svalbard 2100 report, with the largest increases affecting the inner fjords. Between 2071 and 2100, average temperatures throughout the archipelago will increase by between 7-10℃, the report predicts, shortening the snow season and causing loss of near-surface permafrost. What’s happening in Svalbard is symptomatic of wider changes impacting the Arctic expanse, which is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Parts of the Canadian Arctic are thawing 70 years earlier than predicted, scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks found, a sign that climate change could be happening faster than first thought.Arctic continuous permafrost ground temperatures increased by 0.39℃ between 2008 and 2016. A similar trend was found in Antarctica, with increases of 0.29℃ over the same period. As warmer-than-average summers destabilize permafrost, much of which has lain frozen for millennia, methane and other gases trapped in the ice could be released at scale, accelerating climate change. In turn, warmer temperatures would lead to further permafrost loss.
Canada’s last intact Arctic ice shelf has collapsed – The last fully intact ice shelf in Canada has collapsed into the Arctic Ocean. It took just a couple of days for the shelf to lose nearly half of its area,scientists said Friday, sending large ice islands out into the ocean. The 4,000-year-old Milne Ice Shelf, located at the edge of Ellesmere Island in the northern territory of Nunavut, collapsed at the end of last month, researchersannounced this week. It lost 43% of its area in just two days.”Above normal air temperatures, offshore winds and open water in front of the ice shelf are all part of the recipe for ice shelf break up,” The Canadian Ice Service said. “This drastic decline in ice shelves is clearly related to climate change,” Luke Copland, a glaciologist at the University of Ottawa, said in a statement. “This summer has been up to 5°C warmer than the average over the period from 1981 to 2010, and the region has been warming at two to three times the global rate. The Milne and other ice shelves in Canada are simply not viable any longer and will disappear in the coming decades.” Arctic sea ice melt has dire consequences. Not only does melting ice sometimes lead to rising sea levels, it also poses a major threat to endangered species, including polar bears, which rely on the ice for their habitats.
Two Canadian Ice Caps Disappear Completely – Three years ago, scientists predicted it would happen. Now, new NASA satellite imagery confirms it’s true: two ice caps in Canada’s Nunavut province have disappeared completely, providing more visual evidence of the rapid warming happening near the poles, as CTV News in Canada reported. According to Gizmodo, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said last week that the St. Patrick Bay ice caps in the northeastern Ellesmere Island are nowhere to be seen on satellite imagery. The revelation that the ice caps have disappeared came sooner than scientists had expected. “I can’t say I was terribly surprised because we knew they were going, but it has happened really fast,” Mark Serreze, director of NSIDC in Colorado, told CNN. Serreze co-authored a paper in 2017 estimating the ice caps would be gone within five years. “When I first visited those ice caps, they seemed like such a permanent fixture of the landscape,” said Serreze, in a statement. “To watch them die in less than 40 years just blows me away.” The very hot temperatures in the summer of 2015 reduced the longevity of the St. Patrick’s Bay ice caps. “You could really see they got hit. But that heat has really just not stopped. It’s just getting too warm,” Serreze told CNN. This year has been especially tough on the region. Recent months have been plagued by heatwaves and wildfires across the Arctic, as Gizmodo reported. The extreme heat likely contributed to the melting of the ice caps. Research has found that summers in the region haven’t been this warm in 115,000 years. According to CNN, the nearby glaciers that sit at a higher elevation have been shrinking significantly as well. “I’ll make another prediction that they’re gone in a decade,” Serreze said to CNN. “There’s something called ‘Arctic amplification,’ which refers to the observation – not the theory – that the Arctic is warming up at a much faster rate than the rest of the globe, anywhere from two to four times faster,” Serreze said. Hotter heat waves and cold waves that are not as cold as they were in the past are contributing factors. “We are starting to see all these things come together.” Serreze told CNN, adding that the disappearance of the St. Patrick’s Bay ice caps is “an exclamation point of what’s happening in the Arctic.”
The Worst-Case Scenario for Global Warming Tracks Closely With Actual Emissions – When scientists in the early 2000s developed a set of standardized scenarios to show how accumulating greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere will affect the climate, they were trying to create a framework for understanding how human decisions will affect the trajectory of global warming. The scenarios help define the possible effects on climate change – how we can limit the worst impacts by curbing greenhouse gas emissions quickly, or suffer the horrific outcome of unchecked fossil fuel burning.The scientists probably didn’t think their work would trigger a sometimes polarized discussion in their ranks about the language of climate science, but that’s exactly what happened, and for the last several months, the debate has intensified. Some scientists say the worst-case, high emissions scenario isn’t likely because it overestimates the amount of fossil fuels that will be burned in the next few decades.But a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argues that the high-end projection for greenhouse gas concentrations is still the most realistic for planning purposes through at least 2050, because it comes closest to capturing the effects “of both historical emissions and anticipated outcomes of current global climate policies, tracking within 1 percent of actual emissions.”The scenarios, called Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), roughly show how much warmer the world will be by 2100, depending on how much more fossil fuel is burned, and how the climate responds. The best-case scenario (RCP 2.6) is the basis for the Paris climate agreement and would lead to warming of about 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.8 Celsius) by 2100. In that scenario, about 10 percent of the world’s coral reefs could survive, and 20 percent of Alpine glaciers would remain.The worst-case pathway (RCP 8.5) would result in warming of more than 8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.3 Celsius) by 2100, probably killing nearly all the world’s reefs and definitely pushing vast areas of polar ice sheets to melt, raising sea level by as much as 3 feet by 2100. Even though it’s unlikely that coal burning will increase as envisioned in the worst-case pathway, cumulative greenhouse gas concentrations are still racing upward toward a level that will cause extremely dangerous heating, said Phil Duffy, who co-authored the paper with two other scientists at the Woods Hole Research Center.”For near-term time horizons, we think it’s actually the best choice because it matches cumulative emissions. What happened over the last 15 years has been about exactly right compared to what was projected by RCP 8.5,” Duffy said. “For those reasons, it’s still a plausible scenario.”That holds especially true for medium-term planning through 2050, Duffy said, explaining that the study grew out of some work his research institution was doing with the McKinsey Global Institute exploring the socioeconomic consequences of global warming out to about 2040 or 2050.
Physicists: 90% Chance of Human Society Collapsing Within Decades – Deforestation coupled with the rampant destruction of natural resources will soon have devastating effects on the future of society as we know it, according to two theoretical physicists who study complex systems and have concluded that greed has put us on a path to irreversible collapse within the next two to four decades, asVICE reported.The research by the two physicists, one from Chile and the other from the UK, was published last week in Nature Scientific Reports. The researchers used advance statistical modeling to look at how a growing human population can cope with the loss of resources, mainly due to deforestation. After crunching the numbers, the scientists came up with a fairly bleak assessment of society’s chance of surviving the climate crisis.”Based on the current resource consumption rates and best estimate of technological rate growth our study shows that we have very low probability, less than 10 percent in most optimistic estimate, to survive without facing a catastrophic collapse,” the authors write in the study abstract.From all the issues that the climate crisis raises like rising sea levels, increases in extreme weather, drought, flooding, and crop failures, scientists zeroed in on deforestation since it is more measurable right now. They argue that forest density, or its current scarcity, is considered the cataclysmic canary in the coal mine, according to the report, as The New York Post reported.”Many factors due to human activity are considered as possibly responsible for the observed changes: among these water and air contamination (mostly greenhouse effect) and deforestation are the most cited. While the extent of human contribution to the greenhouse effect and temperature changes is still a matter of discussion, the deforestation is an undeniable fact,” the authors write.The authors note that the current rate of deforestation would mean that all forestswould disappear within 100-200 years. “Clearly it is unrealistic to imagine that the human society would start to be affected by the deforestation only when the last tree would be cut down,” the authors write, as the Daily Mail reported.The trajectory of such rapid resource use to supply a rapidly growing human population would result in the loss of planetary life-support systems necessary for human survival, including carbon storage, oxygen production, soil conservation and water cycle regulation, according to the Daily Mail.In the absence of these critical services, “it is highly unlikely to imagine the survival of many species, including ours, on Earth without [forests]” the study points out. “The progressive degradation of the environment due to deforestation would heavily affect human society and consequently the human collapse would start much earlier,” they write, as VICE reported.
Meet the young people pushing Maine forward on climate change | Energy News Network – For Sirohi Kumar, climate justice is intrinsically linked to racial justice. The effects of any widespread crisis are exacerbated in marginalized groups, she said, “and I think that holds true for every issue,” whether climate change, racism or public health. Kumar, 16, is among a group of young people in Maine who are simultaneously pushing state leaders to move more aggressively on climate policy and educating adults, including some allies, about the disproportionate impact people of color face from climate change.The Energy News Network recently spoke with Kumar and four of her peers about that mission. Maine can’t wait until 2050 to phase out fossil fuels and carbon emissions, they say, and too many adults aren’t listening to that message. Here are their stories.
Covid-19 lockdown will have ‘negligible’ impact on climate crisis – study — The draconian coronavirus lockdowns across the world have led to sharp drops in carbon emissions, but this will have “negligible” impact on the climate crisis, with global heating cut by just 0.01C by 2030, a study has found.But the analysis also shows that putting the huge sums of post-Covid-19 government funding into a green recovery and shunning fossil fuels will give the world a good chance of keeping the rise in global temperatures below 1.5C. The scientists said we are now at a “make or break” moment in keeping under the limit – as compared with pre-industrial levels – agreed by the world’s governments to avoid the worst effects of global heating. The research is primarily based on newly available Google and Apple mobility data. This gives near-real-time information on travel and work patterns and therefore gives an idea of the level of emissions. The data covered 123 countries that together are responsible for 99% of fossil fuel emissions. The researchers found that global CO2 emissions dropped by more than 25% in April 2020, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 30%. These falls show that rapid changes in people’s behaviour can make big differences to emissions in the short term, but the scientists said such lockdowns are impossible to maintain. Therefore, economy-wide changes are needed for a transformation to a zero-emissions economy, such as greening transport, buildings and industry with renewable energy, hydrogen or by capturing and burying CO2.“The direct effect of the pandemic-driven [lockdown] will be negligible,” said the researchers, whose analysis was led by Prof Piers Forster at the University of Leeds. “In contrast, with an economic recovery tilted towards green stimulus and reductions in fossil fuel investments, it is possible to avoid future warming of 0.3C by 2050.”The global average temperature in 2019 was 1.1C above the long-term average and even with current emissions-cutting pledges a further rise of 0.6C is expected by 2050. “It is now make or break for the 1.5C target,” said Forster. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to really change the direction of society. We do not have to go back to where we were, because times of crisis are also the time to change.”
Pa. produces a lot of greenhouse gases, but its Republican-led legislature isn’t acting on climate change – even as scientists say the clock is ticking – Heavy rain pounded parts of Pennsylvania over the summer of 2018. Some flash floods turned deadly. Many took a toll on property, roads and bridges. Water rushed through Chanceford Township, York County so fast, pavement floated up and away like pieces of paper, said Township Supervisor David Warner. “Luckily nobody died,” Two years later, Warner said, six bridges are still closed, causing a headache for ambulance crews and farmers moving equipment. Scientists say climate change can’t be blamed for a single weather event. But Pennsylvania’s Climate Action Plan says in the coming decades, the state is expected to experience higher temperatures, changes in precipitation, and more frequent extreme events – like flash floods – because of climate change. However, like some of those flooded roads in Chanceford Township, climate change isn’t getting much attention in the state capitol. That’s even though nearly 70 percent of Pennsylvanians in polls say they’re seeing the effects of climate change now, and about the same percentage say they want lawmakers to do more about it. The scientific consensus is that human activity is driving climate change. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns of dire consequences for our way of life if emissions aren’t cut significantly in the next decade.Democratic Governor Tom Wolf has taken executive actions. He’s calling for an 80 percent reduction in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, compared to 2005 levels, and is trying to join 10 other states in an effort to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.But he’s also supported fossil fuel and petrochemical industries that contribute to those very emissions and make Pennsylvania the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled legislature has challenged Wolf’s authority to take executive actions. And instead of addressing climate change, it has supported fossil fuel development.
Pa. DEP pushes greenhouse gas pact – Pennsylvania would receive $300 million in 2022 from the sale of emissions credits and reduce its emissions of climate changing carbon dioxide by more than 180 million tons over the next decade if it joins the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Residents would also realize billions of dollars in health care savings due to cleaner air resulting from the state’s participation in the initiative, a consortium of 10 Mid-Atlantic and New England states formed to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, DEP officials said Thursday. “Climate change is the defining issue of the 21st century, and we are already seeing impacts with stronger storms, flooding and higher temperatures,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “This alone won’t solve climate change, but it’s one step we can take to protect our homes, jobs and the environment.” The DEP estimates that from 2022 to 2030, participating in RGGI would reduce health care costs for Pennsylvanians by $2.8 billion to $6.3 billion, lead to an increase in Gross State Product of nearly $2 billion, and create more than 27,000 jobs. By 2050, it would produce a cumulative increase in disposable personal income of $3.7 billion, the DEP modeling predicts. Money from the sale of the emissions credits could be used to support communities impacted by air pollution and for energy efficiency programs, support of clean and renewable energy projects and greenhouse gas abatement. Spending could be targeted to help communities of color and workers in coal mining communities. The state’s effort to join the initiative has been pushed by Gov. Tom Wolf as a cost-effective way to reduce the commonwealth’s carbon footprint and generate economic growth, but it has received little support from Pennsylvania’s Republican controlled legislature, where opposition to joining RGGI has been vocal and legislation has been introduced to restrict the DEP’s ability to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.
Environmental Advocates Call for Ban on SUV Ads – To meet its climate targets, the UK should ban advertisements for gas-guzzling SUVs, according to a report from a British think tank that wants to make SUVs the new smoking, as the BBC reported.The UK has set the ambitious target of net zero emissions by 2050, but that will be difficult to achieve if the public’s appetite for large, private cars does not subside.The report, called Upselling Smoke, from New Weather Institute and climate charity Possible, says that SUV advertising should be compared to tobacco advertising, blaming the vehicles for creating a “more dangerous and toxic urban environment.”It says that if the UK is to meet its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050, drivers must be discouraged from buying large, heavily polluting vehicles, as the Edinburgh News reported. The New Weather Institute’s report notes that the size, weight and drag of SUVs means they have a larger carbon footprint than your average car. Despite their enormous carbon footprint, car manufacturers spend millions to increase their share of the UK market. The marketing campaigns are working, too. Just last year, more than 150,000 new cars sold were over 4.8 meters long, which is too large to fit in a standard parking space, according to The Guardian. That’s a stark contrast to fully electric vehicles, which were only 2 percent of new cars sold. Globally, SUVs account for 60 percent of the increase in the global car fleet since 2010, according to the report. The New Weather Institute used the 4.8 meters length as its benchmark, arguing that a smoking-style ban should be in place for any vehicle longer than that, since those vehicles emit more than 160g/km of CO2, as the Edinburgh News reported. “The UK Government’s plan for reaching net zero emissions relies on British drivers quickly switching away from buying traditional petrol and diesel cars to cleaner electric vehicles instead,” the report reads, according to the Edinburgh News. Andrew Simms, co-director of the New Weather Institute, said, according to the BBC: “We ended tobacco advertising when we understood the threat from smoking to public health. “Now that we know the human health and climate damage done by car pollution, it’s time to stop adverts making the problem worse. In a pandemic-prone world, people need clean air and more space on town and city streets.” He added that advertisements that promote the biggest and worst emitting SUVs were in effect “upselling pollution.”The report noted that the car industry advertises SUVs as being safer because of their size, but in the long run their pollution creates a far more toxic and dangerous environment for both drivers and pedestrians that will harm public health.
GM to invest in EV maker Lordstown Motors –Electric-truck maker Lordstown Motors is becoming a publicly traded company in a deal that will add $675 million to its coffers and boost its valuation to $1.6 billion, the company announced Monday. This transaction includes a $500 million fully committed private investment in public equity (PIPE), which includes $75 million of investments by General Motors, Lordstown Motors said. The company, which bought GM’s former massive Lordstown Assembly plant in Ohio last year, said it is merging with Delaware-based DiamondPeak Holdings Corp. DiamondPeak is a special purpose acquisition company and this merger will result in Lordstown Motors becoming a publicly listed company. The combined company will be called Lordstown Motors Corp. and is expected to be listed on the NASDAQ, trading under the new ticker symbol, “RIDE.” The transaction is expect to close in September or October, a Lordstown Motors spokesman said. During a morning call with analysts that offered prepared remarks only, with no question and answer session, DiamondPeak CEO David Hamamoto said his team evaluated many investment options, but “Lordstown stood out as a differentiated high-growth company” that has a “transformation product and business plan.” DiamondPeak was attracted to Lordstown Motors management team’s “vast” experience, its strategic relationships in the industry and the fact that it is “one of the first electric vehicle manufacturers to acquire a plant that is production ready,” Hamamoto said. Also during the call, Burns added that owning GM’s former plant gives Lordstown Motors an edge. “We have full ownership and control over the production of our vehicles,” Burns told analysts. “Given its location in the Mahoning Valley, that location gives us access to a deep pool of talent including a trained manufacturing workforce.”
US: Snake River dams will not be removed to save salmon – (AP) – The U.S. government announced Friday that four huge dams on the Snake River in Washington state will not be removed to help endangered salmon migrate to the ocean. The decision thwarts the desires of environmental groups that fought for two decades to breach the structures. The Final Environmental Impact Statement was issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration, and sought to balance the needs of salmon and other interests. The plan calls for spilling more water over the dams at strategic times to help fish migrate faster to and from the ocean, a tactic that has already been in use. Environmental groups panned the Trump administration plan as inadequate to save salmon, an iconic Northwest species. They contend the dams must go if salmon are to survive. “This plan is not going to work,″ said Joseph Bogaard, director of Save Our Wild Salmon. “The federal failure to remove the dams despite clear supporting science is a disaster for our endangered salmon and orcas,” said Sophia Ressler of the Center for Biological Diversity. Scientists warn that southern resident orcas are starving to death because of a dearth of chinook salmon that are their primary food source. The Pacific Northwest population of orcas – also called killer whales – was placed on the endangered species list in 2005.
Maine court to hear arguments about bid to stop hydro plan –(AP) – Maine’s highest court is scheduled to hear arguments on Wednesday about the future of a citizens’ campaign to block a much-debated hydropower project. The arguments concern the New England Clean Energy Connect, which calls for construction of a 145-mile (233-kilometer) high-voltage power line from Mount Beattie Township on the Canadian border to the regional power grid in Lewiston, Maine. The Maine Public Utilities Commission granted the project a key certificate it needed to move forward, but petitioners gathered enough signatures to put the approval up for a statewide vote. Central Maine Power has proposed the transmission line. Avangrid Networks, CMP’s parent, sued the state of Maine with a claim the citizens’ initiative was unconstitutional and the vote should be barred. Opponents of the project have long claimed it would harm Maine wilderness. Supporters have said it would help stabilize electricity rates and support sustainable energy development.
Why floating turbines are so important to Maine’s offshore wind prospects – The ocean waters off the state’s coasts are too deep for conventional offshore wind, so researchers are innovating. Maine’s best hope for tapping into its offshore wind potential took a major step forward this week when developers announced a $100 million investment in a floating turbine project that’s been in the works for more than decade. The development keeps the New England state on the cutting edge globally for a technology that’s more complicated to build than anchored offshore turbines but a necessity for Maine’s deep ocean waters. “We really can’t have offshore wind without floating,” said Habib Dagher, executive director of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center. Dagher and other researchers at the university have been working since 2008 to develop a floating hull stable enough to hold a wind turbine. They tested a one-eighth scale prototype in 2013. The University of Maine announced Wednesday that a full-size floating wind turbine is expected to be complete in 2023 with the backing of its new private partners. New England Aqua Ventus, LLC, a joint venture between Diamond Offshore Wind and RWE Renewables, will own and manage the project from permitting and construction through deployment and operations. The university will license its floating hull intellectual property to NEAV. The project is planned to include the hull as well as a 10-12 megawatt commercial turbine, which hasn’t yet been selected. Diamond is a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Corporation, and RWE is one of the world’s largest offshore wind developers.
North Dakota Oil Workers Are Learning to Tend Wind Turbines – and That’s a Big Deal – McKibben – Jay Johnson has one of the jobs that might, with luck, come to define our era. At Lake Region State College, in Devils Lake, North Dakota, he trains former oil workers for new careers maintaining giant wind turbines. The skills necessary for operating the derricks that frack for crude in the Bakken shale, he says, translate pretty directly into the skills required for operating the machines that convert the stiff winds of the high prairies into electricity. That is good news, not only because it’s going to take lots of people to move the world from oil and gas to solar and wind but because people who work in hydrocarbons are going to need new jobs now that the demand for hydrocarbons is dropping. “It’s impossible to overstate the stillness” in the oil fields now, Johnson says. “Nothing is happening, zero work, and it sure is scary.” But not in the wind industry. Renewables are now finding capital faster than fossil fuels, which means, for instance, that a single utility, Xcel, adds enough capacity annually across the Upper Midwest to power a million homes each year. Johnson was originally a newspaper reporter, but he left that foundering industry and became a wind tech. He’s been teaching since 2009, instructing students on everything from how to climb two-hundred-foot ladders (the school has a training turbine) to how to use drones for inspections. “Most of the job is general maintenance,” Johnson says, “when you get up to the top of the tower and get into what we call the nacelle – it’s basically a large gearbox and the generator and some control equipment. It weighs eighty thousand to a hundred thousand pounds. So, there’s a lot of changing oil filters, and lots of inspections, and, to everyone’s chagrin, there’s a lot of cleaning. You use a lot of Simple Green and a lot of paper towels.” He added, “There’s a lot of bolt torquing, too. You have to insure everything is nice and tight. Torquing and lubrication. And if it stops working, there’s troubleshooting to figure out why it’s not. That can be one of the more satisfying parts.”
Tall wind turbines in Botetourt will pose no hazard to aircraft, FAA determines | Roanoke Business News – Making tall turbines 130 feet taller will not endanger passing aircraft, the Federal Aviation Administration has determined. In a step forward for a proposed wind farm in Botetourt County, the FAA found this week that turbines reaching as far as 680 feet into the sky from the top of a mountain would “not constitute a hazard to air navigation.” It was the second time the agency has determined that the renewable energy project, to be located in a remote and rural spot about 17 miles from the nearest airport, would not pose a threat. In 2016, it cleared plans to build up to 25 turbines, each one as tall as 550 feet. But construction never started as the developer, Apex Clean Energy of Charlottesville, spent the next three years looking for a customer to buy its power. By the time a deal was reached with Virginia and Dominion Energy, which will purchase the power and then sell it to the state, new technology allowed fewer – although taller – turbines to produce the same electrical output. Apex then redrew its plans to include up to 22 turbines as tall as 680 feet atop North Mountain, which required a new round of permits.
Let Project Icebreaker break the ice – Imagine this: thousands of wind turbines situated in our Great Lakes, out of sight from treasured coastal vistas but close enough to be economically viable. Technology and site placement mitigate risk to birds, and turbine masts hold strong against ice shoves, storms and waves. The vast clean energy potential offered by winds blowing across the Great Lakes is unlocked for millions of energy customers in the Midwest. If it sounds too good to be true, it is – at least for now. The first demonstration wind installation to be constructed in the Great Lakes was recently dealt a potentially fatal blow, leaving the future of Great Lakes offshore wind hanging in the balance. Project Icebreaker Wind (Icebreaker), which is being developed by Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo), will consist of six 3.45 MW turbines located eight miles north of Cleveland in the waters of Lake Erie. If built, Icebreaker would generate enough electricity to power 7,500 Ohio homes but, more significantly, would demonstrate that offshore wind in the Great Lakes is viable from both an economic and engineering standpoint. There is pain in going first. Icebreaker has undergone more than a decade of site development, public engagement and government review, and has raised opposition regarding the project’s potential to impact birds flying along a migratory route which crosses Lake Erie. Some birding groups fear that if Icebreaker is successful, larger utility-scale offshore wind will follow in its footsteps, resulting in a much larger ecological impact than Icebreaker poses alone. The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) – the last of more than a dozen agencies whose approval Icebreaker required – recently issued an opinion approving the project’s construction, but with an unexpected restriction. The opinion included several conditions designed to mitigate risk to migratory birds, most of which were previously negotiated and agreed upon – except one. In a surprise move, OPSB added a condition requiring the project’s six turbines to stop spinning (known as “feathering”) from dusk to dawn from March 1 to Nov. 1, until more data can be collected regarding the project’s impact, if any, on nocturnal migratory birds. OPSB should remove the feathering condition from Icebreaker’s construction permit The feathering condition flies in the face of the OPSB’s own findings throughout its years-long permitting review process. In its final opinion, OPSB not only acknowledged that it had sufficient evidence to determine the project’s impact on nocturnal migratory birds, but concluded that “most birds, when migrating south in the fall and north in the spring, will fly above the rotorswept zone of the turbines.” OPSB also noted that Icebreaker’s offshore location would result in minimal overall impact to avian species, particularly when compared to installed onshore wind projects in the Great Lakes region.
Australian electric market operator sees no need for new gas in renewable energy transition – Australia’s federal government, urged on by the gas lobby, has sought to make a big deal about the need to promote gas as a transition fuel for the switch from coal to renewables and storage.It’s [a] view that has been hotly contested by environmentalists, who say gas is not much cleaner than coal because of its methane emission, who point out that it is really expensive, and now again by the engineers responsible for keeping the lights on, who cite both the reasons above and who say there are likely cheaper, smarter and cleaner alternatives.The Australian Energy Market Operator, in its 2020 Integrated System Plan – a 20 year blueprint to ready Australia for what it describes as the world’s “fastest energy transition” recognises that gas can provide the synchronous generation needed to balance variable renewable supply, i.e. wind and solar, and be a potential complement to storage.Under no scenario does the amount of gas burned for electricity in Australia’s main grid increase over the coming decade. It is more likely to fall significantly. Ultimately, however, it will come down to price, and while current costs favour existing gas plants, the case for new gas generators is less likely because the cost of battery storage is falling rapidly, and gas may not pass muster when it comes to considering the all-important carbon budgets.Gas currently has two roles in the electricity grid – as a provider of baseload and intermediate generation, with more flexibility than coal, and as a source of “peaking” generation that can rapidly respond to sudden changes in supply and demand. But AEMO’s forecasts suggest a fall in gas capacity, even in the central “business as usual” scenario.The outlook for the former is not good, simply because gas is expensive to extract, and even at the prices promised by the gas lobby – on condition that they receive big new subsidies from the government – won’t be able to compete with wind and solar for bulk generation. Many of these plants are old and are due to retire. They won’t be replaced like for like. Some young generators will remain in case of wind and solar “droughts”.That leaves its role as a “fast-start dispatchable” source where the need for something makes price less important. “Gas has a cost advantage over batteries at current gas and battery costs,” [the AEMO ISP notes.] “However, in the 2030s when significant investment in new dispatchable capacity is needed, this advantage could shift to batteries, especially to provide dispatchable supply during 2 and 4-hour periods. Based on the cost assumptions in the ISP, new batteries are more cost-effective than gas in the 2030s. Future climate policies may also impact the investment case for new gas.”
AP Exclusive: Rare wildflower could jeopardize lithium mine (AP) – A botanist hired by a company planning to mine one of the most promising deposits of lithium in the world believes a rare desert wildflower at the Nevada site should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, a move that could jeopardize the project, new documents show. The unusually candid disclosure is included in more than 500 pages of emails obtained by conservationists and reviewed by The Associated Press regarding Ioneer Ltd.’s plans to dig near the only population of Tiehm’s buckwheat known to exist on earth. Six months of communications between government scientists, Ioneer’s representatives and University of Nevada, Reno researchers studying the plant also show the director of UNR’s work – financed by Ioneer – repeatedly pushed back against company pressure to prematurely publicize early success of efforts to grow buckwheat seedlings in a campus greenhouse for replanting in the wild. “I’m not used to such a focus on in-progress research,” Beth Leger, a biology professor who also heads UNR’s Museum of Natural History, wrote in April. “I feel like maybe one very important thing isn’t clear, and that’s that these plants could die at any stage of this experiment.” The experiment is part of Ioneer’s strategy intended to help avert a federal listing of the plant that could scuttle the mine. The Center for Biological Diversity, which petitioned last year to list the plant under the Endangered Species Act, obtained the documents under a Nevada public records request. It’s public information because of UNR’s research contract. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced it’s received enough scientific information to warrant a full-year review of the buckwheat’s status 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Reno to determine whether it should be federally protected. The emails include an April exchange with a Fish and Wildlife official who shared concerns expressed by the head of Nevada’s own state listing review about Ioneer’s transplanting strategy.
SoCalGas sues California over climate change policy – LATimes – Southern California Gas Co. is taking its battle with state officials over climate change policy to court, arguing in a new lawsuit that the California Energy Commission has failed to promote natural gas as required by state law.The lawsuit, filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court, is the latest attempt by SoCalGas to shield itself against efforts to phase out gas, a planet-warming fossil fuel used for heating, cooking and power generation. The company, which maintains its headquarters in Los Angeles and is owned by Sempra Energy of San Diego, took in $4.5 billion in operating revenue last year.A separate lawsuit was filed last week against the state’s Air Resources Board by the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, whose two “charter members” are SoCalGas and Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which joined the gas company in its lawsuit against the Energy Commission. This lawsuit seeks to overturn the newly approved “advanced clean trucks” rule, which is aimed at putting 300,000 zero-emission trucks on the road by 2035.The legal actions are part of a growing effort by leading players in the natural gas industry to defend themselves as public support increases for aggressive policies to wind down the burning of fossil fuels, not just in California but across the country. Some clean energy advocates once embraced gas as a “bridge fuel” that could help economies transition from more polluting fuels, particularly coal, to renewables such as solar and wind power. But climate emissions from gas are now rising faster than coal emissions are falling, according to the Global Carbon Project. Scientists have increasingly found that continued reliance on gas is incompatible with avoiding the worst effects of climate change, including more devastating wildfires, storms and heat waves. “What you have coming up is a really big year for deciding the fate of gas in California,” . “And I think this is SoCalGas really starting to feel the pressure.”
Southerners who can’t afford bills could have power disconnected in the heat of summer – As the South sees record-breaking heat waves and rising COVID-19 cases, and as Republicans in Congress move to end unemployment benefits, Southern states and utilities are ending moratoriums on utility disconnections, putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of losing power if they can’t pay their bills on time. Many utilities and some states took some form of action in March, when the coronavirus started spreading throughout the U.S., allowing customers to keep their power and water on despite missing monthly payments. As the pandemic has dragged on, some have extended moratoriums under increasing pressure from activists and residents. The pandemic has caused intense financial strain for people all over the country, making it hard for some to afford rent and utility bills. In Florida, over 600,000 electric customers are behind on their bills. At the end of June, nearly 100,000 customers were two or three months behind on payments to Georgia Power and 130,000 Duke Energy customers in North Carolina were 60 days behind. “The utilities’ action will result in making life appreciably worse for a large section of customers,” said Daniel Tait, research and communication manager for Energy and Policy Institute, which has been tracking the shut-off policies. “Low to moderate income and communities of color are going to be disproportionately burdened by this.” High electricity rates were a growing problem in the South long before the pandemic. Research shows Southeastern states spend the most money on electricity, despite proximity to cheap power sources. Throughout Appalachia, many utility customers say their monthly power bills are hundreds of dollars. In Mississippi, electric cooperative members spend more than 42% of their income on electricity. In North Carolina, about 40% of households experienced unaffordable energy bills before the pandemic, according to the nonprofit Appalachian Voices. Most moratoriums on shut-offs were put in place at the beginning of the pandemic in an effort to help people stay at home and prevent the spread of COVID-19 as economies shut down. Tait said it was the obvious thing to do. “We wanted people to stay home and they can’t stay home if they don’t have electricity or basic services,” said Tait. But that guarantee won’t last much longer, he said. Already, some utilities are starting disconnections, with a second wave expected from late August to early September. The Energy and Policy Institute updates this information regularly. Here’s what state-imposed moratoriums look like in the South:
‘Betrayed’ TVA workers feel buoyed by White House visit, Trump action — Linda McDonald grew up in Bryant, Alabama, listening to the band Alabama singing about the virtues of getting a “job with the TVA” and building a better life for her family. Seven years ago, after earning business and computer science degrees and certification and working in IT positions around town, the analyst landed her dream job with the Tennessee Valley Authority in Chattanooga. Then last month, McDonald learned that her job was being outsourced to a contractor based outside of the United States. “I feel betrayed, disrespected and heartbroken by the company for whom I have sacrificed so much and in whose mission for the people of the Tennessee Valley I had faith,” the mother of two said. “But mostly I am terrified at the prospect of trying to find a job to support me and my family in the middle of a global pandemic.” While millions of other Americans are also losing their jobs as the economy suffers from the coronavirus, McDonald was among a half dozen soon-to-be displaced workers who got to take their concerns and fears to America’s top leaders. Along with other TVA IT workers facing job losses due to outsourcing, McDonald traveled to the White House on Monday to personally tell her tale to President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials. After hearing the worker concerns, Trump vowed to save the workers’ jobs, even if it meant sacrificing some of the jobs of TVA’s top leaders. “Let this serve as a warning to any federally appointed board,” Trump said Monday after he fired the current and former chairman of the TVA board and signed an executive order to limit outsourcing by federal agencies like TVA. “If you betray American workers, then you will hear two simple words: ‘You’re fired.'” As an independent federal corporation, Trump acknowledged that he can’t directly tell TVA what to do. But Trump threatened to remove more of the presidentially-appointed board members if they don’t order management to quit outsourcing U.S. jobs and keep paying the TVA president the highest compensation of any federal employee in America.
President Trump to TVA: If you outsource jobs, ‘you’re fired’ – President Donald Trump took the first steps of a major shakeup of Tennessee Valley Authority leadership Monday over the issue of outsourcing jobs, a move that could ultimately cost CEO Jeff Lyash his job. Trump signed an executive order forbidding federal agencies from outsourcing jobs overseas, a move that was a direct result of TVA’s decision to outsource at least 120 information technology jobs to three software development contractors headquartered outside of the United States.In signing the order, Trump pushed for the TVA Board of Directors to remove Lyash. He called the CEO’s salary – the highest of any federal employee – a disgrace. “So, let this serve as a warning to any federally appointed board. If you betray American workers, then you will hear two simple words, ‘you’re fired. You’re fired,’” Trump said.In addition to his comments about Lyash, Trump also said he had removed the TVA board chairman and another board member. Each of the nine TVA board members are appointed by the president and are Senate-approved. Trump does not have the authority to fire TVA’s CEO; that is a board decision.Chairman James “Skip” Thompson – a Trump appointee – and board member Richard Howorth – appointed by President Barack Obama – have been fired, Trump said.“If the TVA does not move swiftly to reverse their decision to rehire their workers then more board members will be removed. We have the absolute right to remove board members, and the board makes that decision,” he said. “I don’t make the decision.”
Trump fires TVA chair, cites hiring of foreign workers (AP) – President Donald Trump said Monday that he had fired the chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority, criticizing the federally owned corporation for hiring foreign workers. Trump told reporters at the White House that he was formally removing chair Skip Thompson and another member of the board, and he threatened to remove other board members if they continued to hire foreign labor. Thompson was appointed to the post by Trump. The TVA was created in 1933 to provide flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing and economic development to the Tennessee Valley, a region that was hard hit by the Great Depression. The region covers most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky as well as small sections of Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Trump also removed board member Richard Howorth, another presidential appointee. Trump also urged the TVA board to immediately hire a new chief executive officer who “puts the interests of Americans first.” According to the president, the current CEO, Jeff Lyash, earned $8 million a year. “The new CEO must be paid no more than $500,000 a year,” said Trump, who lacks the authority to remove the CEO. “We want the TVA to take action on this immediately. … Let this serve as a warning to any federally appointed board: If you betray American workers, you will hear two words: ‘You’re fired.’”
WHITE HOUSE: Trump nominates TVA board member after firing two — Tuesday, August 4, 2020 — President Trump has named a longtime telecommunications executive to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s board hours after he removed the chairman and another member and threatened to fire the CEO.
TVA backtracks after Trump’s demand that it rehire some of its dismissed tech workers – The Tennessee Valley Authority reversed course Thursday and rehired 102 tech workers just three days after President Trump ousted two of the TVA’s board members and singled out the federally owned utility for outsourcing information technology jobs. TVA chief executive Jeffrey Lyash and acting board chairman John Ryder met Thursday morning with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone. “We were wrong in not fully understanding the impact on our employees, especially during the pandemic,” Lyash said in a statement later. “We are taking immediate actions to address this situation. TVA fully understands and supports the Administration’s commitment to preserving and growing American jobs.” “We expressed that our IT restructuring process was faulty and that we have changed direction so that we can ensure American jobs are protected,” Ryder said in the same statement. Trump had complained that the TVA was replacing Americans with foreign workers. In reality, the number of foreign workers – those on H-1B visas – at the TVA is quite low and the total number of employees it initially let go was also relatively modest. Moreover, like all government agencies, the TVA is required to use contractors who do their jobs only on U.S. soil and only with U.S. citizens or people legally entitled to work in the United States. On Thursday, using updated numbers, TVA spokesman Buddy Eller said 146 employees had been notified in January and last month that they would lose their jobs; of that number, 44 have found new positions inside the company or elsewhere. On Thursday, the TVA said it will keep the remaining 102 workers. The TVA had planned to replace them with contractors from Accenture, Capgemini and CGI, who together have 188 people working at the TVA. Of those people, 13 are H1-B visa holders. Earlier this week, a TVA spokesman had said the contractors provide needed expertise to deal with new technologies.
Vietnam may cancel 17.1GW of planned coal-fired power projects, push renewables and gas – The coming decade could see Vietnam shelve nearly half of its currently planned coal power plant capacity as alternative sources of energy take up growing shares in its power mix, the government-affiliated research body tasked with drawing up the nation’s next power sector roadmap has said. Speaking at an internal consultation earlier this month, the Vietnam Energy Institute revealed the eighth Power Development Plan (PDP8), set to take effect early next year, would stipulate a rapid expansion of renewables and natural gas in the country, suggesting the government could cancel seven planned coal projects and postpone six others until after 2030 or 2035. Together, the 13 plants concerned boast a staggering capacity of 17.1 gigawatts (GW), almost matching the current 18.9 GW of coal power installed. Development scenarios presented at the meeting, seen by Eco-Business, show Vietnam expects wind and solar energy together to comprise the largest share in its capacity mix by as early as 2030. The PDP8 charts a development path for each electricity generation type through to 2030, with a “vision” extending to 2045. With Vietnam’s power demand set to more than double in the coming decade, the plan is critical to the nation’s efforts to rein in carbon emissions and align its development path with the Paris climate goals. “In the next period, [Vietnam] will not strongly develop coal power but only proceed with the development of the projects which are already listed in the PDP7 and revised PDP7,” the country’s vice-minister of industry and trade, Hoang Quoc Vuong, was quoted saying at the meeting by local media. “[We] will no longer develop new projects.” In a statement released last week, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and Vietnam-based environmental group Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID) said amid plummeting clean energy prices, difficulties in obtaining financing and increasingly ambitious climate targets, it was unlikely the 13 projects would be revived, once shelved.
Energy transition prompts Peabody to write down value of largest U.S. coal mine by $1.42 billion – Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis – The largest coal mining company in the United States substantially lowered the value of one of its top-producing thermal coal assets based on low expectations for future coal demand. Peabody Energy Corp. impaired the value of its North Antelope Rochelle coal mine in Wyoming by $1.42 billion in the second quarter. Peabody said it was lowering the expected value of the coal mine, the largest in the United States, because of assumptions regarding lower long-term natural gas prices, the timing of coal plant retirements, and continued growth from renewable generation. “While we still believe coal is essential to a reliable energy grid and that our [Powder River Basin] assets are best positioned to serve that demand … we do expect coal’s long-term share of the U.S. generation mix to remain below prior-year levels,” Peabody CFO Mark Spurbeck said on the company’s Aug. 5 earnings call. Production from the North Antelope mine has dropped drastically in recent years. U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration data shows the company produced about 30.7 million tons of coal in the fourth quarter of 2014, a near-term high for the mine. Quarterly production from North Antelope dropped below 20 million tons for the first time in recent history in the first quarter of 2020, and second-quarter production totaled just 14.0 million tons. Peabody delivered coal from North Antelope to 84 power plants across the U.S. in 2019, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. “This is a clear signal that Powder River Basin coal production isn’t coming back and the multi-year decline that was prevalent before the pandemic will continue long after the virus is gone,” Shannon Anderson, the staff attorney for the Powder River Basin Resource Council, said in an emailed statement about the impairment. “It’s time for Wyoming leaders to think about what comes next for our communities, coal miners, and our revenue streams.” Peabody Energy had $6.54 billion in total assets as of the end of 2019 but reported $4.95 billion in total assets on its balance sheet as of the end of June. Including the impairment, the company booked a $1.54 billion net loss, or $15.78 per share, in the quarter.
Illinois’ Basin Q2 production totals 14 million st, down 45.3% on year: MSHA – Illinois Basin coal production totaled 14 million st in the second quarter, down 27.2% from the previous quarter, Mine Safety and Health Administration information said Aug. 3. Stay up to date with the latest commodity content. Sign up for our free daily Commodities Bulletin. Sign Up From the year-ago quarter, output dropped 45.3%. It was the lowest quarterly output since S&P Global Platts began tracking in 2010. The steep decline in production was driven by both the coronavirus pandemic, which led to mine idlings and closures in addition to employees being laid off or furloughed in the region, and a continued drop in demand for the coal in the domestic and export market. The Illinois-based Lively Grove mine, operated by Prairie State Energy, was the top producer in Q2 with more than 1.7 million st. From the previous quarter, output fell 2.2%, while year on year, it rose 7.5%. Alliance Resource Partners’ River View mine, based in Kentucky, followed with over 1.3 million st, down 52.8% from the previous quarter and down 51.3% from the year-ago quarter. Foresight Energy’s MC#1 mine in Illinois produced just under 1.3 million st in Q2, down 43.9% from Q1 and down 61% from the year-ago period. During the quarter, Foresight’s output totaled 3.1 million st, down 18.8% from Q1 and down 42.8% year on year. Peabody Energy IB production totaled over 2.5 million st, down 22.9% from the previous quarter and down 43.7% from the year-ago period. Alliance production totaled 2.2 million st, down 58.9% from the quarter before and down 70.2% from the year-ago quarter. On a state-by-state basis, Illinois leads the way with 7.1 million st. Output in the state fell 19.1% from Q1 and declined 39.5% from the year-ago quarter. Output out of Indiana totaled 4.4 million st, down 24.5% from the prior quarter and down 46.5% from the year-ago quarter. Peabody’s Bear Run mine led Indiana production with 1.2 million st. Bear Run output declined 24.5% from Q1 and dropped 31.5% from the year-ago quarter. Kentucky production was about 2.6 million st, down 45.5% from the previous quarter and down 55.5% from the year-ago quarter.
Mysterious Drone Swarm Breached Secure Airspace Over Largest Nuclear Power Plant In US – A mysterious incident related to a serious breach of secure airspace over America’s largest nuclear power plant has been unearthed through Freedom of Information Act documents gained from the government.It’s leading to new fears that America’s energy infrastructure is prone to attack and potentially being knocked offline, akin to the drone and missile attack which temporarily halted all Saudi oil exports last year at Aramco’s Abaqaiq oil processing facility. Forbe’s presents the astonishing details as follows:A tiny armada of between four and six unmarked drones flew over the Palo Verde Generating Station nuclear power plant in Arizona on the nights of September 29 and 30, 2019, with plant security proving unable to stop them and authorities still uncertain who was operating them or why. The newly accessed Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) documents had called the incident a “drone-a-palooza” as it involved swarms of inexpensive, likely off-the-shelf drones flying in large numbers over restricted airspace and near sensitive structures of Arizona’s Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant.The documents conclude that it’s still as yet unknown who or what entity sent them or who was operating them during the illegal incursion.”Documents gained under the Freedom of Information Act show how a number of small drones flew around a restricted area at Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant on two successive nights last September,” Forbes writes further. “Security forces watched, but were apparently helpless to act as the drones carried out their incursions before disappearing into the night. Details of the event gives some clues as to just what they were doing, but who sent them remains a mystery.” The FOIA documents underscore the incident was confusing and chaotic for security on the ground, as the security logs suggest: Guards at the high secure facility were without any ability to deter the drones overhead. Subsequent media reports in the wake of the internal security memos going public say that county police were deployed to scour the area for the drone operator or operators but to no avail. The whole unsolved incident highlights that it appears America’s network of nuclear power sites essentially remain defenseless when it comes to drone incursions.
As Fermi 2 emerges from outage, activist group renews fight – DTE Energy’s Fermi 2 nuclear plant is emerging from what appears to be the nation’s longest refueling and maintenance outage of 2020, a type of shutdown that normally lasts about a month but in this case has dragged on for nearly five months. Blame the coronavirus pandemic and other work-related issues. Meanwhile, an activist group has renewed its effort to get the plant’s 20-year license extension nullified. It is appealing last month’s denial by a three-judge hearing tribunal. Located about 30 miles north of Toledo along the western Lake Erie coast in northern Monroe County’s Frenchtown Township, Fermi 2 began to slowly ascend in power earlier this week. Its reactor was listed in online U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission records as being at 19 percent power Tuesday morning. That’s just shy of the roughly 20 percent power level needed to synchronize a nuclear plant to North America’s largest electricity grid, one that serves Ohio, Michigan, 11 other states, and parts of Canada and is operated by Pennsylvania-based PJM Interconnection. A national magazine that covers the nuclear industry said Fermi 2’s outage is the nation’s longest this year. The NRC could neither confirm nor deny that, stating that it doesn’t keep such records handy. The delay was not exclusively because of the coronavirus pandemic, but DTE spokesman Stephen Tait confirmed the virus complicated efforts, starting with an outbreak shortly after the maintenance outage began March 21. “The pandemic caused some delays, including at the beginning of May when we temporarily stopped work so we could provide tests for employees,” he said. “We provided testing to promote the health and well-being of the work force.” Mr. Tait said the plant will undergo a series of checks, safety tests, and other activities during the startup process. DTE twice applied for and received NRC authorization for temporary fitness-for-duty rules to do extensive maintenance during the outage. Such rules are normally in effect to guard against worker fatigue, much like the shift time limits and rest requirements for truck drivers and airline pilots. The latest extension expires Aug. 10.
Three Mile Island decommissioning fight nears end amid lack of local input – State regulators are negotiating a settlement with the owners of Three Mile Island’s Unit 2, the storied nuclear reactor that partially melted down in 1979, amid objections over the proposed sale to a third party that would take over its decommissioning. The Department of Environmental Protection raised a number of concerns over FirstEnergy’s plan to transfer its license for Unit 2 – along with ratepayer-funded money set aside from decommissioning – to the Utah-based EnergySolutions. Last week, the DEP told the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it was reviewing information and asked the federal agency not to rule on matters related to the transfer until after Aug. 10. Jennifer Young, a FirstEnergy spokeswoman, said in a written statement that “details of the settlement agreement are confidential, and I don’t have additional information regarding the settlement to provide at this time.” DEP spokesman Neil Shader said the agency “will reach a decision soon.” Meanwhile, Exelon received the go-ahead to scale back emergency planning in the event of an accident at the plant. State Environmental Secretary Patrick McDonnell raised a number of unanswered questions about the proposed transfer this spring. They included concern that FirstEnergy, whose decommissioning funds are tied to a faltering stock market, won’t leave EnergySolutions with enough money for cleanup; that radiation levels at the old reactor remain largely a mystery; that FirstEnergy hasn’t provided enough detail about what it plans to do with radioactive material; and that the entire process could leave the area with longterm environmental and public health hazards. Regardless of the answers to these concerns, Three Mile Island will house toxic nuclear waste for years and possibly decades due to the absence of a national repository.
Santee Cooper board OKs 4-year electricity rate freeze – Santee Cooper, which provides electricity to about 2 million people in South Carolina, will freeze its electric rates for four years as part of a plan formally approved by the state-owned utility’s board on Friday.The rate freeze is part of a $522 million settlement agreement stemming from a ratepayer lawsuit over the failed V.C. Summer nuclear plant expansion project in Fairfield County.“Specifically, we are freezing base rates and holding fuel costs and other normally adjustable charges to levels provided in our reform plan,” said Mark Bonsall, Santee Cooper’s CEO.As part of the settlement, nearly all of Santee Cooper’s 1.7 million residential, commercial, industrial and other customers also will receive a cash payment or a credit on their bills.Santee Cooper is chipping in $200 million and Dominion Energy is chipping in $320 million to pay for the cash refunds which will go to ratepayers who were customers from 2007 through Jan. 2017. Plaintiff’s lawyers in the lawsuit will administer the refunds.Santee Cooper and SCANA were partners in the nuclear project. In 2018, SCANA was purchased by Dominion Energy.
Roughly 35,000 MW of nuclear capacity in path of Isaias | S&P Global Market Intelligence – Tens of millions of electric utility customers from South Carolina to Maine and roughly 35,000 MW of nuclear plant capacity are in the path of Tropical Storm Isaias, which the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Aug. 3 forecast to intensify into a hurricane as the evening progressed. Various warnings, including hurricane, tropical storm and storm surge, were in effect all along the U.S. East Coast, with landfall expected in northeastern South Carolina or southern North Carolina. From there, according to the 5 p.m. ET forecast from NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, the center of the storm will move inland over eastern North Carolina, then through the Mid-Atlantic states to the northeastern U.S. by the evening of Aug. 4. Many jurisdictions are expected to see 3 to 6 inches of rain, with eastern New York and portions of New England getting 2 to 4 inches, sparking flash flooding concerns. Duke Energy Corp., through its Duke Energy Carolinas LLC and Duke Energy Progress LLC subsidiaries, serves about 4.2 million electric customers in North and South Carolina. Two of the company’s North Carolina nuclear plants, the 1,928-MWBrunswick facility in Brunswick County and 1,009-MW Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant in Wake County are located closest to the path of the storm. Nuclear plant operators may shut down their facilities depending on wind speeds. In the Mid-Atlantic region, Dominion Energy Inc. subsidiary Virginia Electric and Power Co. d/b/a Dominion Energy Virginia’s 1,750-MW Surry plant in Surry County, Va., was in the forecast storm path. Dominion Energy Virginia and affiliate Dominion Energy South Carolina Inc. serve more than 3.3 million electric customers in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Further north, in New Jersey, two nuclear plants, Hope Creek and Salem, were in the storm’s forecast path. Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. owns the 1,190-MW Hope Creek station and co-owns the 2,328-MW Salem station with Exelon Corp.PSEG utility affiliate Public Service Electric and Gas Co. serves about 2.3 million electric customers in New Jersey, while Exelon utilities in the Mid-Atlantic serve more than 4.4 million electric customers.Other Exelon nuclear plants in the storm’s projected path include the 1,768-MW Calvert Cliffs facility in Calvert County, Md., 2,386-MW Limerick facility in Montgomery County, Pa., and 2,627-MW Peach Bottom plant in York County, Pa., co-owned with PSEG.Another PSEG affiliate, PSEG Long Island LLC, operates the electric system of publicly owned Long Island Power Authority, which serves about 1.1 million customers and was forecast to be hit by the storm later on Aug. 4.
Isaias knocks out power forcing shut down of Brunswick Nuclear Plant reactor (WWAY) – When Hurricane Isaias made landfall late Monday night near the North and South Carolina line, it knocked out power to the region including a major line providing power to the nuclear plant near Southport. Karen Williams, a spokesperson for Brunswick Nuclear Plant, told WWAY the line that provides power into the plant was taken out by the storm. This caused a loss of off-site power to the facility. It was declared an unusual event which is considered the lowest level designation mandated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Williams said power to one of the plant’s two reactors was shut down as a precaution. She emphasized there is no impact to the public.She say the facility has robust procedures for bringing the reactor back online. Power should not be impacted to customers because the utility is able to redirect power through the grid from other sources, Williams said.
The UAE becomes the first Arab country to launch its own nuclear energy program – The United Arab Emirates announced over the weekend the successful start up of its Barakah nuclear energy plant, the first in the Arab world and a significant step toward the country’s goal of emissions-free electricity. With the announcement Saturday, the UAE becomes the newest member of an exclusive club of 31 countries running nuclear power operations. It’s also the first new country to launch a nuclear power plant in three decades, the last being China in 1990. The Barakah plant’s Unit 1 is the first of the UAE’s planned four reactors, which when complete are expected to meet 25% of the country’s electricity needs with zero carbon emissions. “We are now another step closer to achieving our goal of supplying up to a quarter of our Nation’s electricity needs and powering its future growth with safe, reliable, and emissions-free electricity.” After “several weeks” of further safety tests, Unit 1, operated by ENEC subsidiary Nawah Energy Co., is expected to connect to the UAE’s electricity grid. Testing is done with the oversight of the UAE’s Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), and comes after a pre-start-up review was completed in January by the World Association of Nuclear Operators. The project, which national authorities describe as a strategic and economic imperative for the UAE, is a culmination of 12 years of work and involved collaboration with external bodies including the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the government of South Korea. The UAE’s FANR granted the operating license for Unit 1 in February, after an extensive inspection process to ensure the plant’s compliance with regulatory requirements. The license is expected to last 60 years. Barakah’s Unit 1 reactor, located in the eastern Gharbiya region of Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf coast, is expected to produce 1,400 megawatts of electricity. The four reactors together will produce 5,600 MW of power and are expected to prevent the release of 21 million tons of carbon emissions annually, officials said. The project’s financing – as part of a joint venture agreement with ENEC and the Korean Electric Power Corp. – totals $24.4 billion. There is no estimated date for the completion of all four reactors, but Hamad al Kaabi, the UAE’s permanent representative to the IAEA, told CNBC in February that the additional three reactors were in “advanced levels of construction.”
ComEd Bribery Scandal Clouds Picture for Exelon’s Illinois Nuclear Plants – Exelon may be forced to close its Illinois nuclear plants if state legislation is not passed to bolster their eroding financial prospects. But subsidiary utility Commonwealth Edison’s involvement in a bribery scandal has complicated this and other key policy efforts in its home state. CEO Chris Crane outlined these challenges during the Chicago-based utility’s second-quarter earnings conference call on Tuesday. Last month, ComEd agreed to pay a $200 million fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors to avoid criminal liability in an alleged bribery scheme involving Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Crane apologized for the company’s failure to prevent the activities described in the agreement, including arranging jobs, contracts and payments for Madigan associates in exchange for assistance with legislation favorable to the utility. “We have taken robust actions to address these [issues],” Crane said. “These new policies and oversight will ensure this will not happen again.” At the same time, Crane noted the company is “in the middle of trying to work through legislative strategy in Illinois” that would offer its nuclear power plants in the state an alternative path to earning capacity market revenue that is seen as a critical component of their future financial viability. Exelon owns the country’s largest nuclear generating fleet and other generation assets; it operates utilities in Illinois, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C. A December decision from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is forcing mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM to impose minimum prices on a wide array of state-supported grid resources. That rule is expected to include Exelon’s Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear power plants, which receive hundreds of millions of dollars per year in zero-emissions credits created by Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act. Exelon is seeking to extend the zero-emissions credits to its Braidwood, Byron and Dresden nuclear plants, which failed to clear PJM’s last capacity auction in 2018 and could face early retirement without additional financial support.
Nuclear bailout tied to bribery scandal was years in making (AP) – A $1 billion bailout for Ohio’s two nuclear plants that’s now entangled in a state bribery scandal had little support when the idea came up three years ago. It was all but dead until the spring of last year, when the new leader of the Ohio House stepped up with a last-ditch attempt to give the plants a financial lifeline. But that’s all on shaky ground again after federal authorities accused the powerful Republican Ohio House speaker and four associates of orchestrating a $60 million bribery scheme involving corporate money secretly funneled to them in exchange for passing the bailout. The question for state lawmakers who are under pressure to repeal the bailout is whether they’re willing to face another divisive debate – this time under the shadow of scandal – in order to find a new way to prop up the financially strapped nuclear plants.Here is a look at how the bailout came about and its prospects going forward.
The politicians in FirstEnergy’s pocket – HEATED –This week, HEATED will be taking a closer look at elected officials who are still taking campaign money from FirstEnergy, the utility at the center of a $61 million anti-climate corruption scheme alleged by the FBI. Want to prevent the climate crisis from spiraling out of control? You might want to start paying more attention to FirstEnergy. FirstEnergy is one of the largest investor-owned electric utilities in the country. With more than $43 billion in assets, it’s also one of America’s largest corporations, ranking 294 on the Fortune 500.But FirstEnergy is also the ninth-largest greenhouse gas polluter in America – which means it contributes more to the ongoing climate crisis than ExxonMobil. It also means the company’s business model currently relies on a practice which climate scientists say is causing catastrophic damage to public health and the economy, and threatening potentially irreversible damage to the planet’s livability. FirstEnergy could use its vast resources to change that practice, and become a profit leader in the transition to a clean energy economy.Instead, however, it appears FirstEnergy has been using its treasure chest to bribe public officials into allowing the company to continue its legacy of climate destruction. The evidence of FirstEnergy’s illicit use of political spending comes in the form ofan FBI criminal complaint.Last month, federal prosecutors accused Ohio House Speaker of the House Larry Householder of accepting $61 million in bribes from FirstEnergy, in exchange for passing one of the worst anti-climate laws in the nation: a $1.6 billion taxpayer bailout of the company’s failing coal and nuclear plants, and the removal of all state incentives to build renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.FirstEnergy’s alleged attempt to buy off Householder constitutes “likely the largest bribery, money-laundering scheme ever perpetrated against the people of the state of Ohio,” said David DeVillers, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio who is prosecuting the case.But the FBI’s complaint is likely just the tip of a rapidly melting iceberg. While FirstEnergy has yet to be officially charged, the company has received subpoenas in the ongoing federal investigation. And experts tracking the case don’t expect FirstEnergy to emerge unscathed. “We are not done with this case,” DeVillers said.
Defendants Plead ‘Not Guilty’ To Racketeering Charges In Corruption Investigation | WKSU — Four major players in Ohio’s capital have pleaded not guilty to federal racketeering charges. They’re accused of being part of a bribery scheme that pushed for the passage and defense of the nuclear power plant bailout. Former House Speaker and current Rep. Larry Householder (R-Glenford) was granted a delay in his federal court arraignment to find a new lawyer. But former Ohio GOP chair Matt Borges, lobbyists Neil Clark and Juan Cespedes, and Householder adviser Jeff Longstreth all pleaded “not guilty.”They’re accused of playing a role in an alleged scheme that funneled money from a utility company believed to be FirstEnergy and its subsidiary to benefit Householder politically and personally. The end goal, according to the investigation, was to pass last year’s nuclear power plant bailout, HB6, which included other legislative priorities for the utility company. Householder’s arraignment will be held in two weeks.
Ohio coal giant Murray Energy is $100K dark money donor ’Company B’ in federal probe – Now-bankrupt Ohio coal giant and House Bill 6 supporter Murray Energy Corp. provided $100,000 in “dark money” involved in the alleged racketeering and bribery scheme that ensnared former House Speaker Larry Householder and four others. The criminal complaint states “Dark Money Group 1,” previously identified by The Dispatch and The Cincinnati Enquirer as the for-profit company Hardworking Ohioans Inc., spent nearly $1.5 million to support Householder’s Republican candidates in the 2018 general election. The complaint outlines “other corporate interests” giving $300,000 to the group atop $670,000 from the FirstEnergy-bankrolled dark-money nonprofit Generation Now and $500,000 directly from FirstEnergy. A bankruptcy filing by Murray Energy Corp. shows the coal company gave $100,000 to Hardworking Ohioans on Oct. 26, 2018, amid its flurry of media buys backing Householder-blessed candidates as he angled to be elected speaker. The complaint states “Company B” wired the same amount on the same day to the group, with a footnote stating: “Company B is an energy company with interests aligned with Company A,” a reference to FirstEnergy. Householder and four others were indicted Thursday following an FBI investigation of what federal authorities describe as a pay-to-play scheme to pass and then defend House Bill 6 and its nuclear power plant bailout from an ultimately failed referendum repeal effort. “Company B” is not charged with a crime. The same Murray Energy bankruptcy filing also shows the company gave $30,000 on April 18, 2018, to the Hardworking Americans Committee of Fenton, Michigan. However, the amount and timing of the payment appear in dispute. Federal campaign-finance reports filed by Hardworking Americans show Murray’s political action committee kicked in $50,000 on April 24. The super PAC spent $523,000 on Householder’s $1 million GOP primary race against Kevin Black, who lost by a 2-to-1 margin to the Perry County farmer on May 8, 2018. Hardworking Ohioans is not required to disclose its spending as a privately held corporation. FCC filings show that the treasurer of Hardworking Ohioans is Chad Hawley, co-founder of The Batchelder Co. with former Republican House Speaker William G. Batchelder. Hawley has not responded to requests for comment.
Murray Energy accused of not disclosing role in HB 6 bribery scandal – Columbus Dispatch – Murray Energy, the eastern Ohio coal-mining giant that has filed for bankruptcy protection, is being accused in a court filing of not being forthcoming about its role in a $61 million bribery and racketeering scandal roiling the Statehouse. Fellow coal company Consol Energy, based in Pennsylvania, charged in the filing that Murray has not provided creditors “with adequate information regarding a recent criminal complaint and media reports of Murray Energy Corporation’s alleged involvement in a racketeering and bribery scheme.” Murray, based in St. Clairsville, filed for bankruptcy protection last October in Columbus, seeking to restructure $2.7 billion in debt. It said then that it had more than $8 billion in actual or potential legacy liabilities including pensions. The Dispatch and The Cincinnati Enquirer reported last week that Murray provided $100,000 in “dark money” involved in the alleged racketeering and bribery scheme that has ensnared former House Speaker Larry Householder and four associates over House Bill 6, the nuclear bailout law that was passed a year ago. Murray Energy lobbied for the legislation and its $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout of a pair of troubled nuclear power plants that Akron-based FirstEnergy passed on to a former subsidiary, Energy Harbor. In 2013, Consol sold to Murray five West Virginia coal mines, transferring the health-care liabilities that went along with them and creating certain leasing arrangements that still exist and give Consol its stake in the bankruptcy proceedings, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. That deal built in protections for miners who retired from those mines, stipulating that should Murray default on its benefit obligations to them, Consol would be responsible for honoring them.
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