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:
- 17 Jan 2021 – Coronavirus Disease Weekly News 17January 2021
17 Jan 2021 – Coronavirus Economic Weekly News 17January 2021
Some of the COVID-19 graphics presented in the above articles have been updated below.
Summary:
New US Covid infections for the week ending January 16th were 8.5% below those of the week ending January 9th, so it appears that the incidence of new cases mat have peaked and is turning down, at least for the time being. One caveat to that, though, is that we don’t know how many of the prior week’s cases were from reports that had been delayed over the holidays. For a check on that, we can compare new cases from the week ending January 16th to those from the week ending December 19th, two weeks which should have been unaffected by holiday reporting issues; that comparison shows a 3.3% increase in new cases, or a new case growth at a rate of less than 1% a week. And since we should be past the post-holiday surge by now, there’s no reason to think that new cases will begin to rise again soon, at least not until one of the more contagious mutant strains becomes dominant here. In the UK, that appears to have taken around three months, which might give us enough time to get a significant part of the population vaccinated and slow the next surge down. But reports indicate that one of the 2 mutant Covid strains circulating in Ohio became dominant in the Columbus area in just three weeks. If that’s an accurate assessment, we’ll barely have time to catch our breath before it will be off and running again.
We did have a new one day record for Covid deaths last week, when nearly 4,500 deaths were reported on Tuesday (Jan. 12). With that, total Covid deaths for the week were 5.0% higher than the prior week, and 26.6% higher than those during the week ending December 19th. The good news is that with new Covid cases leveling off, Covid deaths should be leveling off soon too. The bad news is that US Covid deaths will be plateauing at a level roughly equal to US deaths from heart trouble and cancer combined.
Below is a copy of today’s graph of new US cases from WorldOMeters so you can get a visuallization of what the growth of this thing looks like.
New cases globally continued to increase. (See Johns Hopkins graph below.) This graphic shows the daily global new cases since the start of the pandemic up through 19 January.
Calculated Risk continues to track US testing. The decline in positive test results over July and August ended in September. The test results continue to vary widely with no apparent overall pattern other than generally upward trend in positive results since the first part of October. The January 19 graphic:
Here’s this week’s other environmental news, with stories emanating from Ohio’s nuclear bribery scandal are at the end:
Life-Saving Drinking Water Disinfectants Have a ‘Dark Side’ – The culprit chemicals tainting taps from Cocoa, Florida, to the Finger Lakes of New York to a correctional facility in Only, Tennessee, are, in fact, less recognized yet more ubiquitous: disinfection by-products. “Take a glass of water. You may or may not have pesticides, pharmaceuticals, PFAS and lead in it. Usually not,” says Susan Richardson, a professor of biochemistry at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. “But there’s always something that is in your drinking water, and that’s disinfection by-products.” Aptly named, the chemicals form in water when disinfectants that are widely used to kill pathogens in municipal drinking water facilities react with organic compounds. These compounds may be present in the water as a result of natural processes such as the decay of leaves and animal matter, as well as human activities that may release solvents, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and industrial chemicals. Exposure to disinfection by-products through drinking, bathing or swimming has been linked to potential increased risks oflow birthweight babies, birth defects, miscarriages and cancer. “Disinfection is hugely important. We’ve got to kill those pathogens,” says Richardson. “We had millions of people dying from waterborne illnesses before we started disinfecting water in the 1800s.” Cholera and typhoid fever were once deadly and pervasive threats. Still today, when concentrations of disinfectants fall too low, drinking water can become a breeding ground for dangerous pathogens such asLegionella, E. coli, even cholera. “It’s a trade-off between inactivating pathogens that are going to make people sick today versus the long-term, low-level risk of chemicals in the water,” says Christy Remucal, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Striking a balance may be even more challenging today as waters become increasingly compromised due to population growth, wastewater intrusion, energy exploration, climate change – and now the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Richardson. During the pandemic, many places have increased use of chlorine for disinfection in indoor and outdoor settings and during wastewater treatment, resulting in the potential for higher levels of disinfection by-products. Authors of a study published in October warn that this “upsurge and overuse of chlorine-based disinfectants” may pose a threat to human health “by impacting water quality.” Concentrations of harmful chemicals have also likely increased in buildings left vacant during Covid-19 shutdowns. The longer that water sits in pipes, explains Richardson, the longer it has to react with disinfectants and form more by-products.
Ex-Michigan governor to be charged over Flint water crisis: report – Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) on Tuesday was informed that he and other top former state officials including the Michigan health director will face charges resulting from an investigation into the Flint water crisis, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.Defense attorneys were informed by the state attorney general’s office to expect an initial court appearance soon, the AP reported, citing two people familiar with the prosecution. The two sources familiar with the matter spoke to the wire service on the condition on anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the charges.The specific charges Snyder and his former top officials will face were not named. A spokesperson for the state AG told the AP that state officials “will share more [information about the charges] as soon as we’re in a position to do so.”The Hill has reached out to both the Michigan attorney general’s office. Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D), whose district includes parts of Detroit, tweeted her approval of the news Tuesday afternoon, writing: “The justice train is coming through.”Snyder’s administration was heavily criticized over the water crisis, which exposed thousands of Flint residents including young children to water with dangerously high levels of lead. Lead is an element that can cause brain damage and other defects with high exposure.The water supply issue was linked to an outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease which sickened dozens in the area.
Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Among Officials to Be Charged in Flint Water Crisis – Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and other state officials face new charges over the Flint water crisis, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday.Snyder governed Michigan in 2014, when a state-appointed special manager of Flint, Michigan, switched the majority Black city’s water supply to the Flint River. The river’s highly corrosive water was not treated, enabling it to leach lead from aging pipes that contaminated the water system. Bacteria in the water was also blamed for an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that sickened at least 90 and killed 12. “The very fact that people are being held accountable is an amazing feat,” LeeAnne Walters, a Flint mother of four who is credited with exposing the contamination, told The Associated Press. “But when people’s lives have been lost and children have been severely hurt, it doesn’t seem like enough.” A source told The Detroit News Tuesday that Snyder, top aide Rich Baird and former health director Nick Lyon would face criminal charges. Former Flint public works director Howard Croft will likely be charged as well, his lawyer confirmed. Indictments of up to 10 people could be announced as soon as Thursday. But the attorney general’s office has said it is not ready to release more information. “It’s an ongoing investigation,” Courtney Covington, the attorney general’s office spokeswoman, told The Detroit News. “The team is working diligently, though and we do hope to have an announcement on the status of that investigation soon.” The new charges would be part of an investigation into the Flint water crisis instigated by prosecutors working for Attorney General Dana Nessel. A previous investigation launched by former Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette had already charged Lyon, among others, but Nessel’s office decided to drop all previous charges in 2019 and start over, arguing that there were major problems with the initial investigation. Snyder’s lawyer spoke out against any potential charges, arguing they were politically motivated. However, there is already some evidence Snyder knew more about the crisis than he claimed. In mid-January 2016, he told reporters he had just learned about the Legionnaires’ outbreak, The Associated Press reported. But his urban affairs adviser Harvey Hollins later told a judge that Snyder had been informed on Christmas Eve 2015. Flint politicians and activists spoke out in favor of Snyder’s conviction. “It’s just wonderful. It’s finally here. It’s hitting me right now,” former Flint Mayor Karen Weaver told The Detroit News. “It’s about time. All evidence pointed to him that he knew, that he knew what was going on. It was a cover-up for 18 long months that something was going on with Flint and the water.” The criminal investigation is separate from a $600 million settlement that the state of Michigan reached with victims in August 2020.
White House intervened to weaken EPA guidance on ‘forever chemicals’ Documents reviewed by The Hill show the White House intervened as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was weighing a strict ban on imports of products that contain a cancer-linked compound, substantially weakening the guidance. The guidance in question sought to limit potential exposure to a group of chemicals abbreviated as PFAS, used as a nonstick coating on products ranging from raincoats to carpets to cookware. They’ve been dubbed “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment and the human body. But as EPA worked to limit the importation of any product with PFAS inside or out, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) stepped in and significantly watered down the guidance in December, barring importation of only those products with a PFAS coating on the outside. “It appears that OMB aggressively edited the guidance document to make it less protective of human health and the environment and to minimize the scope of a rule that’s intended to protect people from a very toxic class of chemicals,” said Eve Gartner, managing attorney of the toxic exposure and health program at Earthjustice. “It’s troubling that OMB is using its review authority to undermine the protectiveness of a rule that’s designed to protect consumers.” Though widely used, PFAS has been linked with cancer and other ailments and has spurred a push by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to limit use of some variations of the chemical. With the White House’s changes, companies can still import products that have components covered with PFAS on the inside without alerting the EPA. Environmental health advocates say that’s not good enough. “Products disintegrate over time, so if you have something with PFAS on the inside then you may be exposed overtime. As it dissolves it gets into household dust, eventually it gets thrown away in a landfill and can leach PFAS and get into the environment that way,” said Melanie Benesch, a legislative attorney with the Environmental Working Group, which tracks PFAS contamination in the U.S. It’s not clear why the White House stepped in to weaken the guidance. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within OMB typically reviews major regulations before they are finalized, but does not typically review guidance documents. An executive order from President Trump, however, allows the process. “This is an illustration of the harms of allowing OIRA to review the guidance because it allowed OIRA to inject political considerations that override the science and what career agency staff at EPA thinks is the best policy,” said Amit Narang, a regulatory advocate with Public Citizen.
‘Transparency’ and the New EPA Pollution Rule: Ripe for CRA Overturn by the New Congress – Jerri-Lynn Scofield — Second only to its record on seating federal judges, one of the greatest services the Trump administration has rendered to its corporate clientele, is in gutting and rolling back Environemental Protection Agency (EPA) protections. Last week, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced the new “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” rule via ZOOM to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank, as reported by Science in Trump’s new rule restricting EPA’s use of certain science could have short life: “What this new rule will do, undoubtedly, is provide the transparency needed to allow the public the opportunity to check our work,” Wheeler says. “Transparency is a defense of, not an attack on, important work done by our career scientists here at EPA, along with their colleagues at research institutions.” Wheeler took a victory canter the Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page, taking credit for implementing a key conservative priority in Why We’re Ending the EPA’s Reliance on Secret Science: But the work of the Environmental Protection Agency-to protect human health and the environment-shouldn’t be exempt from public scrutiny. This is why we are promulgating a rule to make the agency’s scientific processes more transparent. Part of transparency is making sure the public knows what the agency bases its decisions on. When agencies defer to experts in private without review from citizens, distinctions get flattened and the testing and deliberation of science is precluded. Although Wheeler’s rhetoric may sound sensible, it is highly misleading. The rule was enacted over the strenuous opposition of most of the scientific community. As per Science: Health scientists have warned that the new EPA policy, which has been under development for years and takes effect today, will interfere with current and future research if it stays in place. It would require EPA scientists and rulemakers in many cases to discount studies in which the underlying data aren’t available for outside scrutiny. Although a study could be exempted from the requirement, that would require the approval of the EPA administrator. As the WSJ reports in EPA to Give Preference to Scientific Studies That Disclose Data: The policy change, in the works since the start of the Trump administration, has been opposed by public-health experts, scientists and former staff who say it could undermine the agency’s effectiveness. Many public-health studies rely on information about individual patient health that is required to be kept confidential, which may now exclude groundbreaking health findings from EPA consideration, these critics say. I must hand it to Wheeler’s EPA for what is a textbook example of chutzpah: adopting a new rule that would discard reams and reams of scientific evidence on the grounds of improving transparency. Yet rather than represent any long-lasting shift in US policy, the scientists will have the last laugh. Rather than shutting down the use of settled and valid scientific studies, this episode may instead signal that the apogee of an anti-science approach to EPA rule-making. Last week Democratic candidates won both run-off elections for Senate seats to represent , Georgia’s voters, giving their party control of that chamber in the new Congress. The Democratic majority may therefore invoke the Congressional Review Act (CR) and overturn via a simple majority vote this instance of ‘midnight’ rule making – as the Trump administration did sixteen times times 4 years ago (see Trump EPA Poised to Weaken Obama Methane Rule, Despite Possibility of Later CRA Overturn).
E-Waste Management Is Not Keeping Pace With Consumer Electronics –It’s hard to imagine navigating modern life without a mobile phone in hand. Computers, tablets and smartphones have transformed how we communicate, work, learn, share news and entertain ourselves. They became even more essential when the COVID-19 pandemic moved classes, meetings and social connections online.But few people realize that our reliance on electronics comes with steep environmental costs, from mining minerals to disposing of used devices. Consumers can’t resist faster products with more storage and better cameras, but constant upgrades have created a growing global waste challenge. In 2019 alone, people discarded 53 million metric tons of electronic waste. In our work as sustainability researchers, we study how consumer behavior and technological innovations influence the products that people buy, how long they keep them and how these items are reused or recycled. We mapped sales of electronic products from the 1950s to the present, using data from industry reports, government sources and consumer surveys. Then we disassembled almost 100 devices, from obsolete VCRs to today’s smartphones and fitness trackers, to weigh and measure the materials they contained.We created a computer model to analyze the data, producing one of the most detailed accounts of U.S. electronic product consumption and discards currently available. Our research shows that while e-waste is rising globally, it’s declining in the U.S. New products are lighter and more compact than past offerings. Smartphones and laptops have edged out desktop computers. Televisions with thin, flat screens have displaced bulkier cathode-ray tubes, and streaming services are doing the job that once required standalone MP3, DVD and Blu-ray players. U.S. households now produce about 10% less electronic waste by weight than they did at their peak in 2015. The bad news is that only about 35% of U.S. e-waste is recycled. Consumers often don’t know where to recycle discarded products. If electronic devices decompose in landfills, hazardous compounds can leach into groundwater, including lead used in older circuit boards, mercury found in early LCD screens and flame retardants in plastics. This process poses health risks to people and wildlife. There’s a clear need to recycle e-waste, both to protect public health and to recover valuable metals. Electronics contain rare minerals and precious metals mined in socially and ecologically vulnerable parts of the world. Reuse and recycling can reduce demand for “conflict minerals” and create new jobs and revenue streams. But it’s not a simple process. Disassembling electronics for repair or material recovery is expensive and labor-intensive. Some recycling companies have illegally stockpiled or abandoned e-waste. One Denver warehouse was called “an environmental disaster” when 8,000 tons of lead-filled tubes from old TVs were discovered there in 2013. The U.S. exports up to 40% of its e-waste. Some goes to regions such as Southeast Asia that have little environmental oversight and few measures to protect workers who repair or recycle electronics.
Why Plastic Pollution Is a Producer Responsibility – We’re all culprits in the plastic pollution crisis – and that’s by design. I was reminded of this recently when I ordered a set of carbon filters for my countertop compost bin. (Like most people, I don’t care for smelly kitchens.) The package arrived in a layered-plastic bubble envelope. Inside I found another clear plastic bag encasing the filters. Finally, adding insult to injury, each filter was wrapped individually in plastic. That made at least three layers of plastic for each filter. Frustratingly, in an effort to reduce waste, I had created more. And I’m not alone. A recent landmark study confirmed that the United States is the most plastic-polluting country in the world. Every 16 hours Americans throw away enough plastic to fill a football stadium.Adding to my frustration was a sense of helplessness. There was no way I could have known or changed the fact that these products were shrouded in layer upon layer of disposable plastic packaging.I know millions of Americans feel the same way. We want to reduce our waste, particularly our use of disposable plastic, but we’re rarely given the opportunity. Even when sustainable products are minimally packaged or designed for reuse, they often must be purchased online (delivered in more packaging, often disposable) or at specialty stores (rarities). Countless times I’ve wished that I could have avoided buying things that created so much trash.But what if, in demanding better of ourselves, we’re missing the point? The companies that design our products and packaging to be disposable not only created this system but are rewarded by it. Waste equals profit through cost avoidance.Disposable products are cheap for industry, but costly to the rest of us. As taxpayers we have to pay for trash collection and recycling. As citizens we’re exposed to pollutants from excessive manufacturing andmicroplastics shed from disposable products into our drinking water and food. Meanwhile our oceans and waterways are being bombarded with millions of tons of plastic every year, killing wildlife and spreading disease.
Parasite Spread to Humans by Pet Cats Linked to Brain Cancer –About 40 million people in the United States are estimated to have a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii living in their brains, according to CDC data. The parasite, which is infamously spread to people from their pet cats, was not previously known to cause notable medical issues for humans – but now, ominously, new research links the parasite to an increased risk of brain cancer. Toxoplasmosis, or the disease caused by the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, seems to coincide with an increased risk of the brain cancer glioma, according to American Cancer Society research published Monday in The International Journal of Cancer. The study probed two existing data sources – an American Cancer Society study and the Norwegian Cancer Registry’s Janus Serum Bank – to compare the prevalence of glioma and T gondii antibodies in patients’ blood samples. They found a pretty clear link between the two, though the new study can’t by any means determine whether one causes or increases the risk of the other. To that point, this study certainly doesn’t demonstrate that cat ownership comes with an increased risk of cancer. Rather, it seems likely that the two conditions are linked somehow, or that one might somehow make patients more vulnerable to the other. There are some imperfections with the study, too. For instance, the data suggests that a small number of toxoplasmosis patients seemed to have a lower risk of developing glioma, or that there was no link at all for them. However, the overall trend of the data was skewed much more heavily toward a correlation between the parasite and brain cancer. There could also be confounding variables. For instance, maybe people with toxoplasmosis are more likely to also be exposed to other things that can cause cancer. In other words, it’s still hard to determine the extent of this correlation. The scientists pulled data from pretty small groups of people, all things considered, but the new study does pave the way for bigger and more comprehensive research into the trend. So further research is needed to pin down the relationship between cats and cancer.
Dog food recall expands: More than 70 dogs have died and 80 pets sick after eating Sportsmix pet food – Midwestern Pet Foods, Inc. has expanded its recall of some of its products after reports that the food is linked to multiple dog deaths and may contain potentially unsafe levels of aflatoxin, a byproduct of mold. The Food and Drug Administration said in a statement that it has been “aware of more than 70 dogs that have died and more than 80 that are sick after eating Sportmix pet food.”Aflatoxin is a toxin that can grow on corn and other grains used as ingredients in pet food, according to the FDA. At high levels, aflatoxin can cause illness and death in pets. Midwestern Pet Foods first announced a voluntary recall on Dec. 30 and expanded it this week. The FDA said in December it was aware of 28 deaths and eight illnesses in dogs that ate the recalled product.”There have been reports of illnesses and deaths in dogs associated with certain lots of products. No human illnesses have been reported,” the company said in a recall notice. “Out of an abundance of caution, we have expanded this recall to cover all corn products containing pet foods with expiration dates prior to 07/09/22.”Pets experiencing aflatoxin poisoning may have the following symptoms: sluggishness, loss of appetite, vomiting, jaundice (a yellowish tint to the skin, eyes or gums due to liver damage) and diarrhea. The expanded recall includes “additional corn-containing lot codes of Sportmix, Pro Pac Originals, Splash, Sportstrail, and Nunn Better dry dog and cat foods” that were produced in its Oklahoma manufacturing plant.
UK Allows Emergency Use of Bee-Killing Pesticide –The UK government is facing backlash after it approved the emergency use of a pesticide thought to kill bees.In 2018, the EU widened a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides because of their impact on bees and otherpollinators. At the time, the UK government pledged to keep the ban in place after leaving the EU, The Guardian pointed out. But on Friday, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)approved the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam for emergency use on sugar beets in 2021.”We are very upset,” Buglife CEO Matt Shardlow said in a statement, “this is an environmentally regressive decision by Defra.”The decision was made in response to requests from the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) and British Sugar to give sugar beets extra protection from a virus causing an ailment called virus yellows disease, The Guardian explained.”Virus yellows disease is having an unprecedented impact on Britain’s sugar beet crop, with some growers experiencing yield losses of up to 80%, and this authorisation is desperately needed to fight this disease. It will be crucial in ensuring that Britain’s sugar beet growers continue to have viable farm businesses,” NFU chairman Michael Sly told The Guardian.Other countries still currently in the EU have also allowed emergency use of the product, including Belgium, Denmark and Spain.But environmental advocates argue that any use of the pesticide is too risky at a time when insect populations are in peril. A 2020 study found that land-based insects had declined 50 percent in the last 75 years. The UK alone lost a third of its bees in the last decade, according to The Independent. The decline of UK bees since 2007 coincided with the introduction of thiamethoxam, according to The Guardian. Studies have shown that the pesticide can weaken bees’ immune systems and harm the brains of young bees, making it harder for them to fly.”Insects perform vital roles such as pollination of crops and wildflowers, and nutrient recycling, but so many have suffered drastic declines. Evidence suggests we’ve lost at least 50% of insects since 1970, and 41% of all insect species are now ‘threatened with extinction'”, the Wildlife Trust said in a Twitter thread responding to the news.
Government to let farmers use bee-killing pesticide banned in EU – A bee-killing pesticide so poisonous that it is banned by the EU may be used on sugar beet in England, the government has announced.The decision to allow temporary use of the pesticide prompted fury fromnature-lovers and environmentalists, who accused ministers of bowing to pressure from farmers.They said during the biodiversity crisis, when at least half the world’sinsects have disappeared, the government should be doing everything it could to save bees, not allow them to be killed. Environment secretary George Eustice has agreed to let a product containing the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam to treat sugar beet seed this year in an effort to protect the crop from a virus.Last year a virus significantly reduced sugar beet yields, and similar conditions this year would be likely to present similar dangers, Mr Eustice’s department said.Setting out conditions for the “limited and controlled” use of the pesticide, officials said the minister had agreed an emergency authorisation of it for up to 120 days. British Sugar and the National Farmers Union had applied to the government to be allowed to use it.But the Wildlife Trusts said neonicotinoids pose a significant environmental risk, particularly to bees and other pollinators. A third of the UK bee population is thought to have vanished in a decade, yet up to three-quarters of crop species are pollinated by bees, studies show. A 2017 study of 33 oilseed rape sites in the UK, Germany and Hungary found a link between higher levels of neonicotinoid residues and lower bee reproduction, with fewer queens in bumblebee hives and fewer egg cells in solitary bee nests.The following year, the EU agreed a ban on all outdoor uses of three neonicotinoid insecticides to protect bees.Evidence suggests the pesticides harm bee brain development, weaken immune systems and can leave bees unable to fly. A 2019 report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation said there was a “rapidly growing body of evidence” that “strongly suggests that the existing levels of environmental contamination” by neonicotinoids were causing “large-scale adverse effects on bees and other beneficial insects”.
World’s Largest Insect Protein Farm Signals Future Of Food Supply -The frontier of the agriculture industry is about to take a big step closer to going mainstream. Chicago-based food processing company Archer Daniels Midland and InnovaFeed, a French firm that makes insect protein for animal feed, plan to begin building what will be the world’s largest insect protein facility in 2021 in the city of Decatur in central Illinois. The partnership between ADM, a $28 billion giant, and the startup InnovaFeed amounts to a vote of confidence in a nascent industry that could one day play a key role in the global agriculture sector. “I’m in awe. If they can pull this off, it will be magnificent,” said Jeffrey Tomberlin, a professor and entomologist at Texas A&M University who has done pioneering research on insect protein. “This facility will be several times bigger than anything else in the world,” Tomberlin said. ADM and InnovaFeed plan to grow and harvest billions of an extraordinary insect called black soldier fly, whose larvae consume prodigious quantities of organic material and convert it into nutrient-rich protein that can then be sold as animal feed. ADM and InnovaFeed aim to produce up to 60,000 metric tons of animal feed protein per year, plus 20,000 metric tons of oils for poultry and swine rations and 400,000 tons of fertilizer.
Scientists Sound Alarm About Insect Apocalypse – A collection of new scientific papers authored by 56 experts from around the world reiterates rising concerns about bug declines and urges people and governments to take urgent action to address a biodiversity crisisdubbed the “insect apocalypse.””The Global Decline of Insects in the Anthropocene Special Feature,” which includes an introduction and 11 papers, was published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences alongside a relatednews article. “Nature is under siege,” the scientists warn. “Insects are suffering from ‘death by a thousand cuts.'”The set of studies-resulting from a symposium in St. Louis-comes as the body of research on insect declines has grown in recent years, leading to major assessments published in February 2019 and April 2020, as well as a roadmap released last January by 73 scientists detailing how to battle the “bugpocalypse.”As the new package and below graphic explain, human stressors that experts have tied to bug declines include agricultural practices; chemical, light, and sound pollution; invasive species; land-use changes; nitrification; pesticides; and urbanization. Emphasizing the consequences of such declines, University of Connecticut entomologist David Wagner, the package’s lead author, told the Associated Press that insects “are absolutely the fabric by which Mother Nature and the tree of life are built.”According to Wagner, many insect populations are dropping about 1-2% per year. As he put it to The Guardian: “You’re losing 10-20% of your animals over a single decade and that is just absolutely frightening. You’re tearing apart the tapestry of life.” While most causes of declines are well known, “there’s one really big unknown and that’s climate change-that’s the one that really scares me the most,” he said, warning the crisis could be causing “extinctions at a rate that we haven’t seen before.”
FAO warns desert locusts continue to migrate in East Africa – Immature locust swarms continue to migrate southwards from different breeding areas in eastern Africa, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Monday. In its desert locust situation update, the FAO cited the migration of immature swarms from eastern Ethiopia and central Somalia to southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. It also showed that a few immature swarms recently reached Mwanga district in northeast Tanzania. “In Kenya, immature swarms continue to arrive and spread throughout the north. So far, swarms are present in the four counties of Wajir, Garissa, Marsabit and, most recently, Isiolo,” said the FAO. “Breeding continues, and hopper bands are present in the southeast [Kenya] near Taita Taveta and along the coast.” In Ethiopia, according to the FAO, immature swarms have concentrated along the eastern side of the Harar Highlands in the Oromia region on their way to southern areas of the country, including southern parts of the Rift Valley region. The situation update also indicated that there are cross-border movements of locusts in areas around the northwest of Somalia and along the southern border with Kenya. The UN agency called on all countries to maintain the necessary survey and control operations to reduce migration and breeding. It also warned that dry conditions in some areas where the swarms are arriving could facilitate their spread throughout southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya.
Locust invasion reaches Kenya, leaving devastation in its wake — Locusts by the millions are nibbling their way across a large part of Africa in the worst outbreak some places have seen in 70 years. Reseachers say the explosion in population is another effect of a changing climate. The swarms of desert locusts hang like shimmering dark clouds on the horizon as they strip the countryside in what are already some of the world’s most vulnerable countries, including Somalia. The whirring insects have destroyed hundreds of square kilometres of vegetation and forced people in some areas to wade through them. “A typical desert locust swarm can contain up to 150 million locusts per square kilometre,” says East African regional body the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. “Swarms migrate with the wind and can cover 100 to 150 kilometres in a day. An average swarm can destroy as much food crops in a day as is sufficient to feed 2,500 people.” “These things came to us from Ethiopia and are destroying everything along the way, including our farm,” said Esther Ndanu, in the Kenyan village of Ngomeni. “We want the government to move very quickly to bring the plane to spray them with the medicine that can kill them, otherwise they will destroy everything.” Local official Johnson Mutua Kanandu said: “I am seeing a catastrophe.” An “extremely dangerous increase” in locust swarm activity has been reported in Kenya, East Africa’s economic centre, regional authorities reported last week. One swarm measured 60km by 40km in the country’s north-east, the development authority said. Kenya has not had a locust outbreak such as this in 70 years, Rosanne Marchesich, emergency response leader with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, said on Wednesday. “It’s the worst that we’ve seen in Ethiopia and in Somalia in 25 years,” Ms Marchesich said.
Environmentalists fight move to reduce beetle’s protections (AP) – An environmental group said Tuesday that it plans to sue the U.S. government over a decision to reclassify a large scavenging beetle as threatened instead of endangered. The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity said it will sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services over its move last fall to list the American burying beetle as threatened. It had been considered an endangered species since 1989, and the location of its habitat in Plains states created issues for the Keystone XL oil pipeline and other oil and gas projects. “Far from having recovered, this striking orange-and-black beetle is facing dire threats from climate change and habitat destruction,” said attorney Kristine Akland with the center. Akland said the rule change was a result of pressure from the oil and gas industry. Federal officials have said that conservation efforts over the past three decades have helped the beetle’s population recover, and it can now be found in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota and on Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts. At the time the beetle was termed endangered, it was found only in small populations in eastern Oklahoma and Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island. Fish and Wildlife Services spokeswoman Lesli Gray said the agency “used the best available science in its decision to downlist the American burying beetle.” She declined to comment about the threatened lawsuit because officials haven’t had a chance to review it. . Over the years, the oil and gas industry has borne significant costs to protect the beetle and other endangered species. The large, black, nocturnal beetles are scavengers that eat decaying animals. They lay their eggs beside a small carcass that they bury, then feed their larvae from that carcass. The presence of the beetle in Nebraska’s Sandhills region – along with landowner concerns – prompted TC Energy to reroute its Keystone XL pipeline through part of the state. And last year, questions about the potential impact on endangered species, including the beetle and a fish called the pallid sturgeon, led a federal judge to cancel a key permit that would have allowed the pipeline to cross hundreds of rivers and streams along the route.
Peat Bogs: Restoring Them Could Slow Climate Change – and Revive a Forgotten World – Bogs, mires, fens and marshes – just their names seem to conjure myth and mystery. Though today, our interest in these waterlogged landscapes tends to be more prosaic. Because of a lack of oxygen, they can build up vast quantities of organic matter that doesn’t decompose properly. This is known as peat. Peatlands could contain as much as 644 gigatons of carbon – one-fifth of all the carbon stored in soil on Earth. Not bad for a habitat that stakes a claim to just 3% of the planet’s land surface.Peatlands were once widespread throughout the UK, but many have been dug up, drained, burned, built on and converted to cropland, so their place in history has been forgotten. But while most of the debate around using natural habitats to draw down carbon from the atmosphere concerns planting trees and reforestation, some ecologists argue that a far better solution lies in restoring the peatlands that people have spent centuries draining and destroying. Today, sites that were entirely stripped of peat are common throughout the UK. Where peatlands once dwarfed entire landscapes, there are large stretches where no peat bogs exist.All this exploitation released carbon dioxide, stored for thousands of years, to the atmosphere. Scientists have calculated that peat digging on Thorne Moors near Doncaster caused about 16.6 million tonnes of carbon to leak to the atmosphere from the 16th century onwards. That’s more than the annual output of 15 coal-fired power stations today. Peat digging around the world could have influenced the global climate before the industrial revolution. Putting all of that carbon back will be a challenge, as many former bogs are farmed. Peat-rich soils in the lowland bread basket of the UK supply the bulk of its domestically grown crops – and continue to haemorrhage carbon to the atmosphere. These arable farms on converted temperate peatlands are estimated to release 41 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare per year. And agriculture experts believe the fertility of these soils is being exhausted, with fewer than 50 harvests left in the peat-fen countryside across much of lowland England. With so much demand on the land, from growing food, to building houses and generating energy, it’s tempting to ask why we should make room for peatlands. But peatlands once provided all of these things and more. Recasting them as an ally in the fight against climate change only scratches the surface of their future usefulness.
Reindeer deaths linked to increasingly erratic Arctic weather – During winter in the Arctic, reindeer eat lichens and plants they find beneath the snow. But erratic winter weather can make it hard for them to get to their food.”We might get a snowfall in October, but then it will rain, and then it will freeze, and then it might snow again, and then it might rain again, and then freeze again, and … then the lichen and other winter fodder will be encased in ice,” says Bruce Forbes of the University of Lapland in Finland.This alternating rain and snow is not unusual. But he says that as the climate warms, “what’s new is the intensity of the rain, the extent of the area over which it rains heavily, and then the thickness and impenetrability of the ice crust.”If the ice is very thick, reindeer cannot break through it to reach their food, so they can starve. “We’re talking tens of thousands of animals starving in individual events,” Forbes says. Many Indigenous herders in the Arctic depend on reindeer for their livelihoods, so the losses are devastating for the animals and human communities, too.
Florida Manatee Is Found With ‘Trump’ Written on Its Back — A manatee found in a Florida river on Sunday had the word “Trump” written in algae on its back.The incident, first reported by the Citrus County Chronicle on Monday, prompted a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) investigation and outrage from conservationists and animal lovers. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) is even offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.”Manatees aren’t billboards, and people shouldn’t be messing with these sensitive and imperiled animals for any reason,” CBD Florida Director Jaclyn Lopez said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. “However this political graffiti was put on this manatee, it’s a crime to interfere with these creatures, which are protected under multiple federal laws.”The Florida manatee is a subspecies of the West Indian manatee, which was classified as an endangered species in 1973, according to The Washington Post, although their status has since been lowered to threatened. Currently, manatees are protected federally under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and on the state level under the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act of 1978, The New York Times reported. Harassing a manatee carries a federal penalty of up to $50,000 and a year in jail, and a state penalty of up to $500 and 60 days in jail.The affected manatee was first discovered in the Homosassa River in Citrus County by Hailey Warrington, a family boat charter operator, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported. Warrington said she saw the manatee while on a boat tour and took photos and a video to report the incident.”This is just disturbing. One hundred percent disturbing,” Warrington told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. “It’s something we don’t see very often. When we do see it, it hurts our heart.”The USFWS said that the letters appear to have been etched in algae and that the animal was not seriously harmed. Warrington claimed that while the etching reached the skin, it did not appear to leave a wound. The animal seemed healthy, but stressed.
Ocean acidification is transforming California mussel shells –The large mollusk known as the California mussel makes its home in the rocky shoreline along the Pacific Coast from Mexico to Alaska. Considered a “foundational” animal, Mytilus californianus provides homes for hundreds of other species and offers a rich food source for species ranging from spiny lobsters to humans.As the waters off our coasts change due to human influences, scientists at the University of California San Diego are finding that the composition of California mussel shells is weakening as it becomes more tolerant of acidic conditions.Comparing new data with samples collected in the 1950s, UC San Diego Division of Biological Sciences graduate student Elizabeth Bullard and Professor Kaustuv Roy found that ocean acidification is transforming the composition of California mussel shells from mostly the mineral aragonite to the mineral calcite. The results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Aragonite is much stronger than calcite and makes for a better shell to protect against predators and wave energy, two things that are expected to increase with warming waters. Calcite, on the other hand, is much weaker but does not dissolve as easily as aragonite–making a better shell material if the waters are acidifying. Experts had expected aragonite, the stronger of the two substances, to emerge as the dominant mussel shell mineral due to its preference to form in warmer waters. Instead, the new study has shown that the weaker but more stable calcite mineral is now the dominant shell substance, a response linked to increases in ocean water acidity. “We found that these mussels are indeed secreting more calcite today than they were 60 years ago,” said Bullard. “Lower pH eats away the shells these animals are able to create, so it’s considered a major problem for marine organisms. There are 303 species that are associated with the California mussel, so if we lose the mussel we lose other species, some of which are really important to things like our fisheries and recreation.”
Wildfire smoke to blame for up to half of soot pollution in parts of western US: research – Wildfire smoke has resulted in as much as half of the soot pollution in parts of the western U.S., according to a study that was published Tuesday. Researchers determined that more than half of the concentrations of the pollutant in some areas came from wildfires in recent years and that their smoke made up 25 percent of soot pollution across the entire U.S.Using satellite-based fire and smoke data, the researchers also determined that pollution from fires had increased substantially over the course of a decade. The amount of area burned by wildfires has been rising, and other studies have linked the increase, at least in part, to climate change. Recent research has also linked exposure to various types of pollution to worse COVID-19 outcomes. Experts also told The Hill last year that wildfires that had been occurring could exacerbate the effects of the disease for a variety of reasons.The new findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America journal. Meanwhile, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently said that in 2020, the U.S. saw 22 climate and weather-related disasters that caused more than $1 billion in damage. These disasters included the wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington state that burned for weeks, claiming several lives and worsening air quality.
Report: Minnesota air quality good – but not for everyone – A new report says Minnesota’s air quality is good overall, but isn’t the same in all parts of the state. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is required to report to the Legislature every two years on how clean the state’s air is. The most recent report, sent to the Legislature on Jan. 1, says Minnesota is meeting federal standards for air pollution.But it also says people in some areas experience pollution levels high enough to affect the health of children, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. “In areas that have, you know, lower economic opportunity or communities of color, we’re not seeing the same air quality that we see in wealthier areas or whiter communities as well,” said Craig McDonnell, assistant commissioner for air policy at the MPCA. “So the air quality kind of depends on where you’re at.” Traffic is one of the main drivers of air pollution, and McDonnell said neighborhoods near freeways or in high-traffic areas often have higher levels of pollutants, such as ozone and fine particulate matter. With the retirement of coal-fired power plants, emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels have declined, McDonnell said. However, pollution is still being driven by multiple factors, he said, including industrial plants and neighborhood sources. “Think about somebody mowing their lawn or having a fire in the winter,” McDonnell said. “That’s still a source of air pollution as well.” In recent years, Minnesota has seen more poor air quality days due to smoke from wildfires in other states – a problem likely to worsen with climate change, and become more difficult to predict, said Kari Palmer, MPCA’s air assessment manager. The report also noted that Minnesota is not on pace to meet its goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mercury.
Overnight Energy: EPA rule exempts many polluting industries from future air regulations – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday finalized a rule that would allow future greenhouse gas limits only on power plants, sidestepping oversight over the oil and gas industry, iron and steel manufacturers and other polluting industries. The new rule from the EPA argues that only sectors whose pollution accounts for more than 3 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are “considered to contribute significantly to dangerous air pollution.” The rule is a direct response to a 2017 executive order from President Trump that asked agencies to “immediately review existing regulations that potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources.” David Doniger, senior strategic director of the Climate and Clean Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defence Council, called the EPA’s new 3 percent figure arbitrary, given that the Clean Air Act called on the agency to regulate any industry that contributes significantly to dangerous air pollution. “Well surprise, surprise. The only industry above that is the power sector, and power way above that, but even next biggest one, which is oil and gas and their methane leakage, falls blow that threshold, so all other industries would get a free pass on the principle section of the Clean Air Act that allows you to regulation greenhouse gasses,” he said. “It’s a get out of the Clean Air Act free pass to every industry whose greenhouse gas emissions are smaller than the power sector,” he added. According to the calculations from the EPA, the oil and gas sector contributes between 2.5 percent and 3 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But because the industry is responsible for methane emissions, its greenhouse gas contributions can be especially dangerous, given that the gas is 80 times more potent than carbon over a 20-year period. Oil refiners, boiler makers, cement manufacturers, iron and steel producers and landfills would also not face additional greenhouse gas regulations. “EPA’s new significance framework lays out how the agency will determine when stationary sources of greenhouse gases trigger a requirement” to set new standards, EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a release announcing the rule. The rule won’t take effect for 60 days after it is published in the federal register, meaning it is likely to be blocked by the incoming Biden administration, which has pledged to sign an executive order on Day 1 freezing the implementation of any “midnight rules” that have not yet taken effect. But if left to stand, the rule would make a significant dent in the Biden administration’s ability to meet its stated goal of getting the U.S. on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050. [http://.thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/533828-epa-rule-exempts-many-polluting-industries-from-future-air]Read more about the rule here.
Aerosols from pollution, desert storms, and forest fires may intensify thunderstorms – Observations of Earth’s atmosphere show that thunderstorms are often stronger in the presence of high concentrations of aerosols-airborne particles too small to see with the naked eye.For instance, lightning flashes are more frequent along shipping routes, where freighters emit particulates into the air, compared to the surrounding ocean. And the most intense thunderstorms in the tropics brew up over land, where aerosols are elevated by both natural sources and human activities.While scientists have observed a link between aerosols and thunderstorms for decades, the reason for this association is not well-understood.Now MIT scientists have discovered a new mechanism by which aerosols may intensify thunderstorms in tropical regions. Using idealized simulations of cloud dynamics, the researchers found that high concentrations of aerosols can enhance thunderstorm activity by increasing the humidity in the air surrounding clouds.This new mechanism between aerosols and clouds, which the team has dubbed the “humidity-entrainment” mechanism, could be incorporated into weather and climate models to help predict how a region’s thunderstorm activity might vary with changing aerosollevels.”It’s possible that, by cleaning up pollution, places might experience fewer storms,” says Tim Cronin, assistant professor of atmospheric science at MIT. “Overall, this provides a way that humans may have a footprint on the climate that we haven’t really appreciated much in the past.” Cronin and his co-author Tristan Abbott, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, have published their results today in the journal Science.
Increase in Lightning Strikes Expected to Ignite More Wildfires –As the planet’s temperature warms, the frequency of lightning strikes is expected to grow with it,Environmental Journal reported.Currently, lightning strikes the earth’s surface nearly eight million times a day. This number is expected to dramatically increase as global temperatures rise, according to a study published by Science. The U.S., for example, could experience a 50 percent increase in the number of lightning strikes by the end of the century, if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed.”The distribution of lightning is directly linked to the Earth’s climate,” Nathan Neal, a marketing director at Biral, wrote. “The daily and seasonal heating of the continental landmasses results in large temperature fluctuations, which influences atmospheric stability and the development of thunderstorms.”But lightning is more than just a symptom of climate change. It also directly impacts the global climate, Eos reported. When lightning strikes, it produces nitrogen oxides, a strong greenhouse gas.In the fastest-warming part of the planet, the Arctic has reported an increase in lightning over the past decade. A recent study suggests that the number of annual summertime lightning strikes above a latitude of 65 deg North rose from around 35,000 in 2010 to nearly 250,000 in 2020, Nature reported.These results are a “symptom of global climate change,” Robert Holzworth, an atmospheric physicist at the University of Washington in Seattle and leader of the study, said in reference to the Arctic’s two-year record for the largest area of land burnt by wildfires, some of which were ignited by lightning.The Arctic is not alone in experiencing an increase in lightning strikes and resulting wildfires. In August, 20,203 lightning strikes were recorded in California within just four days. Part of what CalFire called the “fire siege,” the four-day event recorded more than half of the month’s typical lightning total. More than 700 new wildfires followed, burning an area larger than the state of Delaware, The Washington Post reported.
Research confirms increase in river flooding and droughts in U.S., Canada – The number of “extreme streamflow” events observed in river systems have increased significantly across the United States and Canada over the last century, according to a study from Dartmouth College.In regions where water runoff from snowmelt is a main contributor to river streamflow, the study found a rise in extreme events, such as flooding.In drought-prone regions in the western and southeastern U.S., the study found that the frequency of extreme low-flow events has also become more common, particularly during summer and fall.The research, published in Science Advances, analyzed records dating back to 1910 to confirm the effects of recent changes in precipitation levels on river systems.”Floods and droughts are extremely expensive and often life-threatening events,” said Evan Dethier, a postdoctoral researcher at Dartmouth and the lead author of the paper. “It’s really important that we have good estimates of how likely extreme events are to occur and whether that likelihood is changing.”Although changes in precipitation and extreme streamflows have been observed in the past, there has been no research consensus on whether droughts and floods have actually increased in frequency.Past research efforts have mostly focused on annual peak flows, potentially missing important seasonal changes to extreme low-flow events that can be pulled from daily streamflow records. Those efforts have also been hampered by the mixing of data from regions that have different precipitation patterns and natural seasonal cycles. According to the research paper: The results demonstrate that “increases in the frequency of both high- and low-flow extreme streamflow events are, in fact, widespread.” “Previous attempts to analyze regional pattern in streamflow were usually based on fixed geographical regions that were largely unsuccessful,” The Dartmouth study combined 541 rivers in the U.S. and Canada into 15 hydrological regions organized by seasonal streamflow characteristics, such as whether streams flood due to tropical storms or rain falling on melting snow. This grouping allowed for more sensitive detection of trends in extreme flow events on both an annual and seasonal basis.
Drought-Stricken Colorado River Basin Could See Additional 20% Drop in Water Flow by 2050 — Colorado is no stranger to drought. The current one is closing in on 20 years, and a rainy or snowy season here and there won’t change the trajectory. This is what climate change has brought. “Aridification” is what Bradley Udall formally calls the situation in the western U.S. But perhaps more accurately, he calls it hot drought – heat-induced lack of water due to climate change. That was the core of research released in 2017 by Udall, a senior climate and water scientist at Colorado State University’s Colorado Water Center, and Jonathan Overpeck at the University of Michigan.Their revelation was that the heat from climate change was propelling drought. “Previous comparable droughts were caused by a lack of precipitation, not high temperatures,” the study said. And all the factors at play were having compounding effects on each other that made the situation even worse. Those impacts were being felt most acutely on the biggest water system in the West – the Colorado River Basin. Without a dramatic and fast reversal in greenhouse gas emissions to slow climate change, Udall and Overpeck said, the additional loss of flow in the basin could be more than 20% by mid-century and 35% at the century’s end – worse than currently assumed.”I always say climate change is water change,” says Udall, whose father was Arizona congressman Morris (Mo) Udall, an iconic environmental activist. “It means too much water, not enough water, water at the wrong time. It means reduced water quality. You get all of these things together as the earth warms up.” In Colorado it’s all pretty much coming true. The drought is the second worst 20-year period in the past 1,200 years, according to Udall. This summer/fall alone had some of the hottest spells on record and the worst wildfire season ever. On the other hand, 2013 brought catastrophic floods to the Front Range. “I got 17 inches of water in my house here in four days. It’s all part of the same change,” Udall says. It’s forced Colorado to start facing the reality that its perpetual struggle for water can no longer be written off as cyclical weather that will all balance-out over short periods of time. It’s climate change at work, and it requires long-term planning and likely fundamental changes to the paradigm of how the state gets, uses, and preserves its water.The state and individual municipalities are beginning to address their new reality with policies that range from the obvious – conservation, just using less water, to the more innovative – considering using beaver dams to restore mountain wetlands and generally remediating the landscape to better handle water. But all those actions and more must face the political reality of the longstanding way water-sharing is handled in the basin. It pits state against state, rural against urban, agriculture against, well, everyone.
Record broken for number of billion-dollar US weather and climate disasters in 2020 –U.S. weather and climate disasters hit an all-time high in 2020 with 22 separate catastrophes that cost more than $1 billion each. The previous record for most billion-dollar weather and climate disasters was 16, which occurred in 2011 and 2017, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announcement on Friday. Among the events from this record-breaking year were the fires in California, the western drought, 10 severe storms, three tornadoes and seven hurricanes. These events left 262 people dead in addition to their severe economic impacts. Overall, there was $95 billion in damage, the fourth most costly year since 1980.”2020 is the sixth consecutive year (2015-2020) in which 10 or more billion-dollar weather and climate disaster events have impacted the United States,” the report says. The events in 2020 that cost the most were Hurricane Laura, at $19 billion; the wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington coming in at $16.5 billion; and the August derecho in Iowa and Illinois, which cost $11 billion. The record for most damages financially since 1980 is from 2017 when 16 weather disasters totaled $321.8 billion. “The number and cost of weather and climate disasters are increasing in the United States due to a combination of increased exposure (i.e., more assets at risk), vulnerability (i.e., how much damage a hazard of given intensity – wind speed, or flood depth, for example – causes at a location), and the fact that climate change is playing an increasing role in the increasing the frequency of some types of extremes that lead to billion-dollar disasters,” NOAA climatologist Adam Smith told The Hill. Since 1980, there have been a total of 285 events that have cost more than $1 billion. These events combined have cost the United States $1.877 trillion in damage.
Category 5 atmospheric river brings flooding rain and strong winds to Oregon and Washington, U.S. (videos) An exceptional atmospheric river rated Category 5 (AR 5) is soaking the Pacific Northwest, bringing flooding rain and strong winds in parts of coastal Oregon and Washington, where up to 8 600 customers were left without power on Tuesday, January 12, 2021. Threats of flooding, mudslides, and avalanches continue into Wednesday morning, January 13, before the moisture flow heads offshore and dissipates. In Oregon, Portland General Electric reported more than 5 000 customers lost electricity on Tuesday night, while 3 600 were without power in Multnomah County during the severe weather’s onslaught. The atmospheric river was classified as Category 5 (on a scale of 1 – 5) by the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes. “Rain gauges have reported 6-hour rainfall totals between 38 and 51 mm (1.5 and 2 inches) across the higher terrain,” wrote the National Weather Service (NWS) in Portland. The minimum security facility at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville also lost power and was running on a generator, according to a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Corrections. A high wind warning was in place through midnight on the north Oregon coast, including Astoria, Cannon Beach, Tillamook, Netarts, and Pacific City. KGW chief meteorologist Matt Zaffino forecasts isolated amounts of rain in areas such as the North Coast Range and Mount Saint Helens into Wednesday morning before heavy rain ends “as the Northwest shifts to mainly dry weather through the weekend.” In parts of Washington County, road closures were reported due to flooding including in Beaverton. Floodwaters also engulfed Highway 101 in Seaside.The Willapa Hills in Washington and areas of north Oregon received around 102 mm (4 inches) of rain as of early Tuesday, Seattle 43 mm (1.7 inches), with nearly 76 mm (3 inches) in Olympia. “With already saturated soils and rain continuing, slopes are unstable and will remain so for the next few days,” warned NWS in Seattle. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, about half of all rivers in western Washington were flowing above or much above normal.
Deadly windstorm rolls through Pacific Northwest, more than 600 000 customers without power (videos) A powerful windstorm hit the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday, January 13, 2021, leaving at least two people dead and more than half a million people without electricity. The storm left a trail of damage, caused a landslide that shut down a highway, and produced a historic wind gust of 114 km/h (71 mph) at Spokane International Airport. More than 430 000 customers lost electrical service elsewhere in Washington state and Oregon, officials said. A wind gust of 114 km/h (71 mph) was recorded at the Spokane International Airport, making it as powerful as the historic 2015 storm. One woman lost her life on Wednesday morning after a tree collapsed on her car at the 27th Avenue and Post Street, the Spokane police reported. Another fatality was confirmed in North Idaho, where a man was killed on Highway 97 after a tree came off the hillside adjacent to the highway and hit his vehicle. The victim succumbed to his injuries. The fire department personnel rescued a woman from her home on 3rd Avenue after she was trapped by a downed tree. The victim sustained chest injuries and was taken to the hospital. As of Thursday, January 14, at least 136 808 are still without power in Washington, 34 838 in Idaho, 21 556 in Oregon, and 16 57 in Montana, according to poweroutage.us. The storm left a trail of damage as many trees blocked roads and houses. The City of Spoken said some trees have been entirely uprooted and could have affected underground utilities. Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward said Comstock Park lost about 50 trees and the scene “looked like a war zone.”
Record rains hit southern Thailand, leaving 3 dead and more than 58 000 households affected by floods — (videos) Heavy rains affecting southern Thailand over the past 7 days caused severe floods and landslides, leaving at least 3 people dead and more than 58 000 households affected. Heavy rain was influenced by the strong northeastern monsoon and an area of low pressure off the coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Thousands of people living in Songkhla, Yala, and Narathiwat were forced to evacuate their homes after continuous heavy rains caused severe flash floods.Heavy rains in Yala caused the Sai Buri River to burst its banks, flooding homes, and farmland. The director of Yala’s Irrigation Project Office, Chusak Sutthi, said the total amount of rainfall to January 9 has broken the record set 10 years ago.In just 24 hours to January 5, Yala recorded 141.9 mm (5.58 inches) of rain and Narathiwat 71.7 mm (2.82 inches). According to Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), as many as 58 497 households are affected across over 30 districts, with 907 people displaced. Heavy downpours were the result of a strong northeastern monsoon, which is covering the mainland and the Gulf of Thailand, and a low pressure system above Malaysia, according to DDPM.
Worst flooding in 50 years leaves 6 dead, 50 000 displaced in Malaysia – At least six people lost their lives and more than 50 000 were displaced after monsoon rains hit Malaysia’s east coast, triggering the area’s worst flooding in half a century, authorities reported Saturday, January 9, 2021.Heavy rains continued to slam the region, causing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. While flooding hits the area during the rainy season every year, residents in the affected areas described this year’s inundation as the worst in decades.Many roads have been shut, including the main expressway that connects the east coast states.The worst affected state is Pahang, where around 27 000 people have been displaced in the past days, the social welfare department said. People in the area complained that narrow and trash-filled drains contributed to the disaster. In one village cut off by waters, people had to ride an excavator as they abandoned their homes, while others were left to swim through deep waters. “We are very concerned for the safety and wellbeing of more than 50 000 people who have been evacuated and swamped by these terrible floods in the middle of a worsening COVID-19 pandemic,” said Malaysian Red Crescent Honorary Secretary General Haji Hakim Hamzah. “These floods are getting worse by the hour, turning large areas into inland seas,” Hamzah added.
At least 12 killed, 18 injured as two large landslides hit Java, Indonesia -At least 12 people have been killed and 18 others injured after two landslides caused by heavy rain hit West Java Province, Indonesia on Saturday, January 9, 2021. The death toll is preliminary as of Sunday morning, January 10.The landslides took place in West Java’s Cihanjuang village, about 150 km (95 miles) southeast of capital Jakarta at 16:00 LT (09:00 UTC) and 19:30 LT (12:30 UTC). The second landslide was much bigger than the first one and it caused more fatalities than the first one.Raditya Jati, a spokesman for the Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) said, the first landslide was triggered by high rainfall and unstable soil conditions.”The subsequent landslide occurred while officers were still evacuating victims around the first landslide area,” Jati said. Among the casualties were the head of a local disaster relief agency and army captain who were helping rescue survivors of the first landslide that hit on Saturday afternoon, January 9.
Severe floods and landslides damage more than 10 000 homes in West Java, death toll rises to 21 with 19 missing, Indonesia – (several videos) Severe weather in West Java, Indonesia, has triggered severe flooding that damaged more than 10 000 homes, according to the disaster management agency BNPB. Rescue efforts continue as of January 13, 2021, to retrieve missing people after landslides hit Sumedang District on January 9. 21 deaths have been confirmed, while 19 others remain missing.Heavy rains on January 10 caused the Citarum River to overflow, affecting the districts of Soreang, Dayeuhkolot, Baleendah, and Bojongsoang.Floodwater was more than 1 m (3 feet) in some areas. According to the BNPB, up to 10 572 homes, 28 schools, and 46 places of worship sustained damages.About 20 409 families or 66 400 people have been affected. Evacuations were reported, but figures were yet to be available.Meanwhile, rescue efforts continue on Wednesday to locate people that went missing after landslides hit Cihanjuang Village in Cimanggung, Sumedang on January 9.Search and rescue efforts were often hindered by the severe weather and torrential rains that potentially trigger another mudslide, said Bandung’s Search and Rescue Agency (SAR) head, Deden Ridwansyah.As of Wednesday, January 13, authorities confirmed 21 deaths, while 19 remain missing. The final death toll is subject to change, SAR noted.
Winter storm brings heaviest snowfall in decades to areas of Texas – A winter storm unloaded more snow in Texas than some areas have received in decades at the end of the weekend, with wintry scenes reaching Louisiana and Mississippi by Sunday night. The snow stretched all the way from the northernmost parts of Colorado beginning Saturday, to eastern Texas by Sunday. The swath of heaviest snow, with 6-9 inches of accumulation in 24 hours, stretched from near Lubbock to Abilene and just west of Waco, Texas. Waco, Texas, received 4.4 inches of snow on Sunday, making it the highest snowfall total the city has received since 1982 and the 10th highest 24-hour snowfall total on record, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The snowfall on Sunday also smashed the daily record set back in 1973 of 1.1 inches. Snow-covered, slippery roadways were reported throughout the region, including along some of the major highways such as interstates 20 and 35. AccuWeather National News Reporter Bill Wadell interviewed some residents of Stephenville, Texas, who told him they haven’t seen this much snow in years. Some residents were seen using the hood of a car as a sled for multiple people. Stephenville reported 8 inches of snow by Sunday evening.Winter storm warnings stretched from New Mexico and Texas to Louisiana, southern Arkansas and Mississippi at the height of the storm over the weekend.The worst of the storm stayed to the south of Dallas, where a rain and snow mix throughout Sunday led to only a trace of snow accumulating.Farther south, however, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott posted a video on Twittershowing snow covering the grounds of the Governor’s Mansion in the capital city of Austin. The city officially reported 1.3 inches at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, but just north of town, 3-5 inches of snow was reported.
Powerful winter storm hits southern U.S., leaving more than 150 000 customers without power – A powerful winter storm swept through Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi on Sunday, January 10, 2021, leaving more than 150 000 customers without power. Parts of Texas registered up to 23 cm (9 inches) of snow, causing power outages, making travel difficult, and forcing some schools and government offices to close. Generally, around 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 inches) fell across portions of Burleson, Brazos, Madison, and Houston counties, NWS said. A trace to 5 cm (2 inches) fell in portions Washington, Grimes, Walker, and Trinity counties. A wintry mixture of rain, sleet, and snow was reported as far south as the city of Houston. Lubbock received 19.3 cm (7.60 inches) of snow yesterday, breaking old daily snowfall record of 11.4 cm (4.50 inches) set back in 1936. However, some parts places such as Denver City and Lamesa registered 22.8 cm (9 inches), Welch got 21.6 cm (8.5 inches) and Hobbs 20 cm (8 inches). The storm moved into Louisiana and Mississippi later on Sunday, dropping up to 10 cm (4 inches) of snow and prompting the Louisiana State Police to warn people to stay off the roads if possible. State government offices in 29 Louisiana parishes will be closed Monday, January 11, including in Caddo Parish. In Mississippi, more than a dozen school districts were closed, delayed, or scheduled for virtual learning on January 11. At the height of the storm, more than 150 000 customers in Texas and Louisiana were without power. As of 12:00 UTC on January 11, 103 800 customers are still without power in Texas and 46 800 in Louisiana.
Intense cold waves bring rare snowfall to Taiwan – — (videos) An intense cold wave is affecting parts of Taiwan over the past couple of days, with temperatures dropping below 10 degC (50 degF) and rare snow and freezing temperatures at higher elevations. In just 17 hours to Friday morning, January 8, 2021, local authorities reported 18 sudden deaths. While the cause is most likely cold weather, officials said an investigation is still in progress. This is the second blast of very cold air and snow to hit the country since the end of December 2020. The third wave is expected on Monday, January 11. Taiwan’s mountainous areas were the first to feel the effects, with temperatures down to the freezing point and rare snowfall. While the highest elevations of the country have at least some snow each winter, some places saw their first snow in several years on Friday.
Historic cold wave and heavy snow hit South Korea – A cold snap has gripped South Korea, bringing more than 0.3 m (1 foot) of snow and prompting a cold warning in Seoul for the first time in 57 years on Thursday, January 7, 2021.Heavy snowfall paralyzed roads in Seoul, leaving residents stranded in an hour.”The snow suddenly came and hit so fast and hard,” resident Dominic Phua told The Strait Times, adding that he saw a biker covered in snow, vehicles skidding, and two buses with a car stuck between them.More than 0.3 m (1 foot) of snow fell in many areas, including mountainous regions on Jeju.Cold wave alerts are in place everywhere, with a cold wave warning issued in the capital for the first time in 57 years. It was the first cold wave warning since the country introduced alert systems in 1964.Subway trains experienced breakdowns, while some doors got stuck in the freezing cold. Prime Minister Chung Sye-Kyun issued an emergency order to speed up snow clearing. More than 8 000 vehicles and some 17 000 personnel were deployed to clear the snow. According to the Korea Meteorological Agency (KMA), Seoul plunged to -16.1 degC (3 degF) on Thursday morning, with a wind chill of -25.3 degC (-13.5 degF). KMA said frigid temperatures were caused by cold air flowing down from Siberia.
Powerful winter storm slams Japan with record snow, claims 10 lives and strands more than 1 200 vehicles A powerful winter storm is affecting Japan since Thursday, January 7, 2021, dropping record-breaking snow, stranding more than 1 200 vehicles, and claiming the lives of at least 10 people in snow-related incidents on January 9 and 10. Heavy snowfall fell across wide areas of the country, forcing some prefectures to request the Ground Self-Defense Force’s help in rescue operations. Hokuriku region received a record amount of snowfall on Friday, January 8, some of it falling in a matter of hours. In 3 hours, parts of Hokuriku registered at least 15 cm (5.9 inches) of snow. In just 12 hours, Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, received 59 cm (1.9 feet), Toyama 48 cm (1.5 feet) — the highest ever for the capital of the prefecture. As of 09:00 LT on January 8, the snow cover in Himi was 6 times more than in an average year and 5.5 times more in Asahi, The Asahi Shimbun reported. According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, 10 people died in snow-related incidents in Hokkaido, and Tohoku and Hokuriku areas on Saturday and Sunday, January 9 and 10, where the storm dropped up to 120 cm (3.9 feet) of snow since Saturday. Four people died after falling from their roofs while cleaning them, one died in a snowblower accident, and 2 were found dead in their cars, one of them was partially buried in snow. Officials are urging people not to go up onto their roofs alone, or if they do, tie a rope around their waist and fasten it securely to a sturdy part of the roof.
Hong Kong records its coldest temperature since 1988, large scale crop damage reported – Hong Kong has registered its coldest temperature since 1988 as the mercury in Ta Kwu Ling hit 0.9 degC (33.6 degF) on Wednesday morning, January 13, 2021.According to The Standard, temperatures plummeted below the freezing point in some parts of New Territories on Wednesday morning. Ta Kwu Ling recorded 0.9 degC (33.6 degF) — its lowest temperature since 1988 when records there began. Farmers in Sheung Shui reported large scale damages as the frost covered many crops.Hong Kong Observatory said a phenomenon called radiative cooling is behind the piercing cold. Temperatures are expected to get warmer in the next few days, before a reverse at the beginning of the following week.Radiation cooling is the maximum cooling of the ground which happens under clear skies, dry conditions, and light winds. During winter, a huge temperature difference sometimes occurs between the urban area and the New Territories.The winter monsoon will slightly moderate in the next couple of days, bringing warmer temperatures from Thursday to Saturday, January 14 to 6. Cold temperatures will still be felt in the morning over inland areas.Another surge of winter monsoon will impact Hong Kong early next week, bringing cool temperatures and some rain in the middle and latter parts of next week.
Dal Lake freezes, Srinagar records coldest night in 30 years as severe cold wave grips Kashmir, India – Kashmir’s Dal Lake froze on Thursday, January 14, 2021, while capital Srinagar recorded its coldest night in 30 years as a severe cold wave gripped the valley. The summer capital registered a low of -8.4 degC (16.9 degF), the coldest since 1991 when temperatures dropped to -11.8 degC (10.8 degF), according to the local weather department. In 1995, the minimum temperature was -11.3 degC (11.7 degF). The lowest recorded minimum temperature in Srinagar was -14.4 degC (6 degF) set in 1893. Pahalgam, which serves as the base camp for the annual Amarnath Yatra in southern Kashmir, registered a minimum temperature of -11.1 degC (12 degF). The resort was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir. In Gulmarg, the minimum temperature was -7 degC (19.4 degF). The rest of the valley is reeling from severe cold. As a result, a major part of Dal Lake froze, as well as several other water bodies.A thick layer of ice has settled over several roads elsewhere in the valley, creating difficult driving conditions.
Freezing temperatures in Saudi Arabia’s Asir for the first time since 1971 – (videos) Freezing temperatures and snowfall have been reported in Saudi Arabia’s Asir Province on January 10, 2021, leaving urban areas, mountains, and deserts covered in snow.The temperatures in the region dropped below -2 degC (28.4 degF) for the first time in 50 years, according to local media.Saudi Arabia’s meteorology office urged residents to keep warm and avoid venturing to isolated places.Asir is located in the SW part of Saudi Arabia, on the border with Yemen.January is Asir’s coldest month, with an average temperature of 15 degC (59 degF) — low 8 degC (46 F), high 22 degC (72 degF).
Slow recovery after worst snowstorm since 1971 hits Spain – A moist, low-pressure weather system over the Atlantic ocean collided with a cold air mass sitting over western Europe on January 7 and 8, 2021, resulting in heavy rainfall and flash floods in southern parts of Spain, and the heaviest snowfall in central, northern, and eastern parts of the country since 1971. The storm — named Filomena by Spain’s Meteorological Agency (AEMET) — left hundreds of roads impassable and at least 3 people dead.Capital Madrid was engulfed with rare, widespread accumulations between 20 and 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) on Friday, January 8, resulting in severe traffic disruption. Some areas in central, northern, and eastern Spain recorded up to 50 cm (20 inches) of snow. Nearly 700 roads and highways were impassable across the country, forcing thousands of people to spend the night in their vehicles and prompting rescue operations for a number of drivers suffering the early onset of hypothermia.In total, more than 2 500 trapped drivers were rescued by emergency workers.Madrid Barajas International Airport had all incoming and outgoing flights suspended, leaving hundreds of passengers waiting for the weather to clear up. The country’s State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) declared it the largest snowfall in the region since 1971. In southern parts of the country, torrential rains led to flash floods. Heavy rainfall, strong winds, and rough seas with huge waves forced the evacuation of 65 people from a ferry that ran aground while trying to approach a dock on the Gran Canaria island. The recovery was slow over the weekend due to lack of salt and snowplows but many residents armed with picks and shovels joined municipal workers and soldiers to remove snow from the streets. On Monday, January 11, they managed to clear main roads and fallen tree branches, but most pavements, smaller roads, and residential areas were still impassable. Some supermarkets ran out of fresh produce, but most trains and flights had resumed operations on Monday, Reuters reported. While convoys of trucks stranded in the snow since Friday started arriving on Monday, the Spanish supermarket association urged customers to behave responsibly in the wake of a complicated situation.
Central Spain records temperatures of -25C after snowstorm – BBC News – People in central Spain are struggling as a deep freeze follows the weekend’s heavy snow, leading to treacherous conditions. Officials have warned the elderly to stay at home. At least seven people have died due to the weather – the two latest victims were homeless people in Barcelona. The temperature plunged to -25C (-13F) in Molina de Aragon and Teruel, in mountains east of Madrid – Spain’s coldest night for at least 20 years. Deep snow left by Storm Filomena has turned to ice, disrupting transport. There has been an extraordinary quantity of snow and ice for Spain, where winters are usually quite mild. Molina de Aragon, where the coldest overnight temperature was recorded, is 197km (122 miles) north-east of Madrid. It lived up to its nickname, “the Spanish Siberia”. “We’re going to have this cold for a few more days, but we all pull together,” local woman Yoli Asensio told the BBC’s Guy Hedgecoe. “Day-to-day life is difficult,” she added. “There’s so much snow about, the access to homes and roads is blocked. Some older people have had falls.” Besides the two deaths in Barcelona, at least five others are known to have died due to the cold: two in Madrid, two in Malaga and one in Zaragoza. In pictures: Europe’s unusual January weather The overnight temperature in Madrid itself fell to -16C, and on Monday the capital’s hospitals – already under great pressure because of Covid-19 – struggled to cope with patients who had slipped on the ice, breaking bones. Medical sources told El Mundo daily that there were 1,200 fracture cases on Monday in the Madrid region’s hospitals, caused by accidents on the ice – an average of 50 an hour.
At least 37 people killed, hundreds injured as M6.2 earthquake hits West Sulawesi, Indonesia (videos) At least 42 people have been killed and more than 600 injured after a shallow M6.2 earthquake hit West Sulawesi, Indonesia at 18:28 UTC on January 14, 2021 (01:28 LT, January 15). Many people are still trapped under the rubble and rescue workers fear the death toll will continue rising. The quake was preceded by M5.7 at 06:35 UTC. According to Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, the epicenter was located 6 km (3.7 miles) NE of Majene city (population 37 715). At least 8 people died, 637 were injured and 15 000 displaced in Majene, according to the country’s National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB). Strong shaking in the city lasted up to 7 seconds, damaging 300 houses. In the neighboring Mamuju (population 15 000), an additional 34 deaths were reported. Severe damage was reported in both cities, including badly damaged military command offices, hotels, and government buildings. Safaruddin Sanusi, head of West Sulawesi’s Communications and Information Department, told CNN that nearly half of the buildings in Mamuju have been destroyed. Three of Mamuju’s largest hospitals were badly damaged and one collapsed — Mitra Manakara, with patients and staff still trapped under the rubble. “The hospital is flattened — it collapsed,” one of the rescuers said. BNPB said a series of earthquakes in the past 24 hours had caused at least three landslides and electricity had been cut.Rescuers are still searching for survivors, hampered by a lack of heavy equipment and lack of communication among rescue teams. The full extent of the damage is still emerging. Authorities warned residents that the area could be hit by strong aftershocks and to avoid the beachfront in case of a tsunami. “The aftershocks could be as strong, or stronger, than this morning’s quake,” Dwikorita Karnawati, chief of the meteorological agency, said. “There is potential for a tsunami from subsequent aftershocks… Don’t wait for a tsunami first because they can happen very quickly,” she added.
Indonesia Earthquake Kills Dozens and Destroys Hospital – At least 42 people are confirmed dead and more than 600 injured after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi early Friday morning.The earthquake and subsequent aftershocks also damaged more than 300 homes and two hotels, and destroyed a hospital and the regional governor’s office, leaving people trapped under rubble and forcing around 15,000 to flee their homes, Reuters reported. The global pandemic complicates matters, likely making it harder to provide aid.”[T]his (disaster) was one of our fears and now we are putting all of that planning and protocols into place,” Jan Gelfand, head of the International Federation of Red Cross in Indonesia, told Reuters.The earthquake struck at 1:28 a.m. Jakarta time at a depth of 6.2 miles, Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said, according to CNN. The quake hit 3.7 miles northeast of the city of Majene, killing at least eight people, injuring 637 and damaging 300 homes. It also impacted the nearby area of Mamuju, where the death toll has reached 34 so far. Nearly half of the structures there have also been destroyed, Safaruddin Sanusi, the head of West Sulawesi’s Communications and Information Department, told CNN.Sanusi said rescue workers’ priority involved finding people in collapsed buildings. Unfortunately, the death toll will likely rise as this work continues.”I’m afraid to say how many fatalities,” Ardiansyah, a West Sulawesi emergency response official, told The New York Times. “We are still evacuating and erecting shelters. Many people are buried under the ruins.”Among the collapsed or damaged buildings were four of Mamuju’s largest hospitals, Sanusi told CNN.”Mitra Manakara [Hospital] is flattened by this earthquake, while three others, Mamuju Central Hospital, Bhayangkara Hospital and Regional Hospital are also in [a] bad situation,” he said.At Mitra Manakara Hospital, eight people died and around 60 were safely evacuated, BBC News reported.”It happened so quickly, around 10 seconds,” local police spokesman Syamsu Ridwan told the BBC.The earthquake also triggered three landslides, cut power and damaged bridges, Reuters reported.Indonesia is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a hotbed for seismic activity. In 2018, a 7.5 earthquake and 18-foot tsunami also devastated the island of Sulawesi. The final death toll surpassed 2,000, according to BBC News. Friday’s earthquake did not trigger a tsunami, but officials warned that aftershocks still could.
Bright fireball explodes over Norway, ground impact recorded south of Loten – A bright fireball exploded over Norway at 23:21 UTC on January 4, 2021 (00:21 LT, January 5), producing a loud bang that was heard by many people, particularly those in Ullensaker. Norwegian Seismic Array (NORSAR) said ground impact was recorded at 23:24 UTC, 15 to 20 km (9 – 12.4 miles) S of their measuring station at Loten. On Tuesday, residents in Norway reported a bright fireball with a loud bang as the object entered the atmosphere. The sound was heard by people in the municipality of Ullensaker. According to the Norwegian meteor network, the object traveled at a speed of 50 000 km/h (31 000 mph). The meteor penetrated very far into the atmosphere and gave a fairly powerful bang, an indicator that meteorites have fallen to the ground, said Steinar Midtskogen with the meteor network. “The signal came from a southern direction and coincides with reports of sound heard by people in Ullensaker municipality,” NORSAR wrote in a press release. The agency noted that the meteorite possibly weighed up to 2 kg (2.2 lbs). However, researchers said it may be a challenge to find the meteorite. “It would have been fun to find it, but it requires first and foremost luck to find a meteor deep in the forest,” said Tormod Kvaerna with NORSTAR. “We are talking about very small rocks, and if they end up somewhere out in the woods and there is snow, then it is almost hopeless to find now,” Midtskogen added. “There is an area of several square kilometers that must be searched. I reckon that there may be some smaller meteorites here at a few hundred grams maybe, so it will be a bit like the needle in the haystack. We are talking about stones the size of an apple or smaller.”
Covid Took a Bite From U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2020 – The New York Times – America’s greenhouse gas emissions from energy and industry plummeted more than 10 percent in 2020, reaching their lowest levels in at least three decades as the coronavirus pandemic slammed the brakes on the nation’s economy, according to an estimate published Tuesday by the Rhodium Group.The steep drop, however, was the result of extraordinary circumstances and experts warned that the country still faced enormous challenges in getting its planet-warming pollution under control. In the years ahead, United States emissions are widely expected to bounce back once the pandemic recedes and the economy rumbles back to life – unless policymakers take stronger action to clean up the country’s power plants, factories, cars and trucks. “The most significant reductions last year were around transportation, which remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels,” said Kate Larsen, a director at Rhodium Group, a research and consulting firm. “But as vaccines become more prevalent, and depending on how quickly people feel comfortable enough to drive and fly again, we’d expect emissions to rebound unless there are major policy changes put in place.” Before the pandemic hit, America’s emissions had been slowly but steadily declining since 2005, in large part because utilities that generate electricity have been shifting away from coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, in favor of cheaper and cleaner natural gas, wind and solar power. Over the past decade, utilities have retired hundreds of coal-burning power plants despite President Trump’s efforts to revive the industry.Then, the coronavirus arrived. As governors placed their states under lockdown last spring and Americans sheltered in place,emissions started plunging across parts of the economy that had rarely seen sustained drops before.Transportation, the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gases, saw a 14.7 percent decline in emissions in 2020 as millions of people stopped driving to work and airlines canceled flights. While travel started picking up again in the latter half of the year as states relaxed their lockdowns, Americans drove 15 percent fewer miles over all last year than they did in 2019 and the demand for jet fuel fell by more than one-third.Emissions from heavy industry, such as steel and cement, dropped 7 percent in 2020 as automakers and other manufacturers churned out fewer goods amid the economic slump. America’s buildings, which produce carbon dioxide when they burn oil or natural gas for heat, saw emissions fall 6.2 percent, driven by both lockdowns and warmer-than-average weather.In the electricity sector, emissions plunged by 10.3 percent in 2020, driven by a sharp decline in coal burning. As electricity demand sagged nationwide, utilities ran their coal plants far less often because coal has become the most expensive fuel in many parts of the country. Instead, they used more natural gas – which produces less carbon dioxide than coal, but still generates significant heat-trapping methane – and drew more heavily on emissions-free wind and solar power.
Atmospheric CO2 in 2021 will reach level 50% higher than before industrial era, says Met Office – Atmospheric CO2 will hit a level this year that is 50 per cent higher than before the start of the industrial revolution, the Met Office has forecast. The grim milestone will come as humans continue to drive emissions through fossil fuel burning and deforestation, scientists say. The Met Office forecasts that CO2 levels in the atmosphere will exceed 417 parts per million (ppm) for several weeks from April to June at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii this year. This is 50 per cent higher than CO2 levels in the late 18th century, when the industrial era began. At this time, CO2 levels in the atmosphere were about 278 ppm, according to the Met Office. Prof Richard Betts, who leads the Met Office’s annual CO2 forecast, told The Independent: “CO2 levels did touch above [417 ppm] at Mauna Loa for a few individual days last year but this is the first time they’ll do it for a few weeks. “It wasn’t until 1986 that CO2 levels were around 25 per cent higher, compared to the pre-industrial. So that took about 200 years to happen. And now we’ve done the next 25 per cent in a little over 30 years. That shows how much the CO2 rise is accelerating.”
Researchers find wildfire smoke is more cooling on climate than computer models assume – A study of biomass burning aerosols led by University of Wyoming researchers revealed that smoke from wildfires has more of a cooling effect on the atmosphere than computer models assume.”The study addresses the impact of wildfires on global climate, and we extensively used the NCAR-Wyoming supercomputer (Cheyenne),” says Shane Murphy, a UW associate professor of atmospheric science. “Also, the paper used observations from UW and other teams around the world to compare to the climate model results. The main conclusion of the work is that wildfire smoke is more cooling than current models assume.” .The composition, size and mixing state of biomass burning aerosols determine the optical properties of smoke plumes in the atmosphere which, in turn, are a major factor in dictating how these aerosols perturb the energy balance in the atmosphere.”We found that many of the most advanced climate models simulate biomass burning aerosols or smoke that is darker, or more light absorbing, than what we see in observations,” says Brown, of Juneau, Alaska. “This has implications for the climate predictions made by these models.”Observations and models used in the study covered a wide temporal range. Africa, South America and Southeastern Asia, in addition to boreal fire regions, were chosen because these are the largest contributors to biomass burning smoke emissions in the world, Brown says.The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) in Cheyenne was used for all of the data processing and the model sensitivity simulations, Brown says. Some of the other model data used for comparison in this study were generated elsewhere. “When we compare global observations of wildfire smoke to simulated wildfire smoke from a collection of climate models, the vast majority of the models have smoke that is more light absorbing than the observations,” Brown explains. “This means that more energy from the sun is going toward warming the atmosphere in these models, as opposed to what we see in these field campaigns and laboratory studies, which report less absorbing smoke that has more of a cooling effect by scattering light away from the Earth and back to space.” How absorbing these aerosols are in the atmosphere depends on the type of fuel that is burning, as well as the climate of the fire region. Generally, hot, dry grassland fires in Africa and Australia tend to have much darker smoke, which is more absorbing, while cooler, wetter boreal forest fires in North America and Northern Asia tend to have much brighter smoke, which is less absorbing.
NOAA Names 2020 Second-Hottest Year on Record; NASA Says It Tied for Hottest Ever — Earth had its second-warmest year on record in 2020, just 0.02 degrees Celsius (0.04A degF) behind the record set in 2016, and 0.98 degrees Celsius (1.76A degF) above the 20th-century average, NOAA reported January 14. NASA and the European Copernicus Climate Change Service rated 2020 as tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record (NASA rates the margin of error at .05 degrees C); the Japan Meteorological Agency rated 2020 as the warmest year on record. Minor differences in rankings often occur among various research groups, the result of different ways they handle data-sparse regions such as the Arctic. Global ocean temperatures in 2020 were the third-warmest on record, global land temperatures the warmest on record. Global satellite-measured temperatures in 2020 for the lowest eight kilometers of the atmosphere were the second-warmest or warmest in the 42-year record, according to the University of Alabama, Huntsville and Remote Sensing Solutions, respectively. The Northern Hemisphere had its warmest year on record in 2020 and the Southern Hemisphere its fifth-warmest. By continent, here are the 2020 temperature rankings: As detailed in a January 12 post at this site by Bob Henson, 2020 for the U.S. was the fifth-warmest year in history going back to 1895. Ten states had their second-warmest year on record and four had their third-warmest year. None of the contiguous 48 states was below-average in temperature in 2020.The remarkable global warmth of 2020 means that the seven warmest years on record since 1880 were the most recent seven years aeuro ” 2014 through 2020. The near-record global warmth in 2020 is all the more striking since it occurred during the minimum of the weakest solar cycle in more than 100 years and during a year without a strong El NiAplus/minus o. Record-warm global temperatures typically occur during strong El NiAplus/minus o events and when the solar cycle is near its maximum. The warmth of 2020 is a testament to how significantly human-caused global warming is heating the planet. Despite the presence of a prominent La NiAplus/minus a event that began in August, the total heat content of the world’s oceans in 2020 was the warmest in recorded human history, according to a January 13, 2021 paper by Cheng et al., Upper Ocean Temperatures Hit Record High in 2020, published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. In the uppermost 2,000 meters of the oceans, there were 211 to 234 zettajoules more heat in 2020 than the 1981-2010 average, and 2020 had 1 to 20 zettajoules more ocean heat content than in 2019 (a zettajoule is one sextillion joules aeuro ” ten to the 21st power). For comparison, in 2010, humans used a total of 0.5 zettajoules of energy.
Administration official apparently leads series of papers casting doubt on climate change – A Trump administration apparently led a group of researchers in writing papers casting doubt on the scientific evidence for climate change. David Legates, an administration official with a history of questioning humans’ influence on global warming, appears to have written an introduction to a series of papers aimed at casting doubt on the scientific consensus that climate change is occurring and caused by human activity. Roy Spencer, a climate-change skeptic research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, said on his website that Legates asked him and others to write “brochures that supported the general view that there is no climate crisis or climate emergency.”Spencer, on his website, also said that Legates “hopes to be able to get these posted on the White House website by January 20…but there is no guarantee given recent events.”The papers bear a White House logo and say they are copyrighted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).The OSTP did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment, but distanced itself from the missives to other news outlets. Office spokesperson Kristina Baum told The Washington Post that “These papers were not created at the direction of The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy nor were they cleared or approved by OSTP leadership.”Two sources told The New York Times that officials with the White House Personnel Office asked Legates to put together research for President Trump for an internal project. The brochures, which were also posted on the website of a group called, the Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences, attempt to downplay the significance of climate change or humans’ impacts on it. One paper aims to link climate change to sun cycles (according to NASA, recent warming is too great to be caused by the sun). Another argues that the last 126 years in which climate has been measured is only a “tiny slice of time”
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker vetoes climate bill that sets carbon emissions targets – Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker vetoed a bill Thursday night that would update the state’s carbon emissions goals, seeking to make the state “net neutral” by 2050. The Republican governor, like Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano, says he’s committed to getting the state’s carbon emissions to fall by 100% of 1990 levels over the next three decades. But he and legislative leaders ultimately disagreed on how to get there. In a letter to lawmakers, Baker said he vetoed the bill in part because it would slow housing production, running contrary to the goals of the “housing choice” proposal within the economic development bill he signed into law Thursday. He also said the bill lacked tools local and state officials need to protect cities and towns against present-day natural disasters that can be traced back to climate change. “While my administration wholeheartedly supports the environmental justice goals of this bill, intent without the tools to address those issues are empty promises,” Baker wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “The bill does not have language or funding to address the ongoing impacts of climate change faced by those communities.” Because the bill passed a day before the two-year legislative session ended, Baker did not have time to send amendments back to lawmakers and strike a compromise. His options were to sign the bill, veto it or let it die unsigned after 10 days in what’s known as a “pocket veto.” On the 10th day, Baker chose to veto the bill. “Had this bill been presented to me with more time while the Legislature was still in session, I would have returned it with amendments to address the concerns set out in this letter,” he wrote. Mariano already said he plans to refile the climate conference report. Sarah Finlaw, the governor’s press secretary, said the governor looks forward to working with the Legislature once the bill is refiled. Sen. Mike Barrett, one of the key negotiators of the bill that passed in early January, said he was perplexed by the governor’s reasoning. He said the bill is written in a way that gives the state flexibility in addressing concerns the energy stretch code may have on housing construction. The Baker administration was consulted on the bill over several months of discussions behind closed doors. State officials never raised concerns about the five-year emissions goals, targets for transportation or building sectors or other issues Baker alluded to, Barrett said.
CLIMATE: Federal regulator nixes bank fossil fuel pledges — Thursday, January 14, 2021 — A top federal banking regulator today finalized new standards against pledges by major banks to halt investment in the fossil fuel industry.The rule, scurried through the regulatory process just days before the Biden administration takes office, would require banks to provide “fair access” to financial services to companies regardless of industry.The plan from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency targets major financial institutions – including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America – that have promised not to fund drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge amid pressure from environmental groups.”When a large bank decides to cut off access to charities or even embassies serving dangerous parts of the world or companies conducting legal businesses in the United States that support local jobs and the national economy, they need to show their work and the legitimate business reasons for doing so,” acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks said in a statement.The final regulation, yet to be published in the Federal Register and scheduled to take effect April 1, has massive implications for banks, but its future is unclear.Brooks announced today that he is stepping down from his post, handing the acting comptroller title to current Chief Operating Officer Blake Paulson.And while the OCC is an independent regulator, President-elect Joe Biden will appoint the next comptroller, and Democrats in Congress could repeal the rule with the Congressional Review Act.Prominent Democrats in both houses have already blasted the rule during the public comment process, arguing that it “runs counter to the overwhelming sentiment among economists and financial experts that financial institutions need to do more to avoid climate-related financial risks, not less” (E&E Daily, Jan. 6).”Short-term, the next comptroller or this Congress will have tools at their disposal to swiftly rescind the rule and make it a moot point,” said Gregg Gelzinis, a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.”But I think longer-term, and it suggests that a future financial regulator of the same ideology of Brooks and with the same worldview may aggressively misuse financial regulatory tools in the same fashion,” he added.
Analysis: Senate shift paves way for straight-talking U.S. climate reforms | Reuters – Democratic Senate seat wins in the state of Georgia have given U.S. President-elect Joe Biden a “green light to move forward” on some key shifts in national climate policy, such as much greener pandemic stimulus spending, U.S. policy analysts said. With Democrats now in control of the Senate, “it’s a huge, huge difference”, Nigel Purvis, CEO of the Washington-based Climate Advisers policy group, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “This almost doubles what he can do – he has a whole additional range of tools and levers at his disposal,” said Purvis, who has worked with three former U.S. administrations on climate policy. Biden has proposed a $2-trillion, climate-smart economic stimulus plan, for instance, which he would not have been able to get through if the Georgia election had turned out differently. “Now he has a real chance,” Purvis added. Biden’s thin Senate majority means he is unlikely to be able to pass a single comprehensive climate change bill, which would require the approval of 60% of senators. But many measures related to raising or spending money – including stimulus funding for things like electric vehicle infrastructure, or incentives for farmers to sequester more carbon – can win approval with a simple majority.
The Senate’s New Point Man on Climate Has Been the Democrats’ Most Fossil Fuel-Friendly Senator – As the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, Sen. Joe Manchin will be a key factor in any number of controversial legislative matters, from health care to immigration. But after a presidential campaign that was animated more than any other by concerns about global warming, Manchin could not find himself perched in a more significant-some might say ironic-position. The senator who famously shot a bullet through a copy of Congress’ last major climate bill in a 2010 political advertisement is now well-positioned to determine how much of President-elect Joe Biden’s $2 trillion climate and jobs program becomes law.Manchin has made a career out of defending his state’s coal industry, and he promotes a regional petrochemical buildout. But now, due to Democrats’ success in two Senate runoff races in Georgia on Jan. 5, Manchin is in line to become chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which has great influence in setting national energy policy, and, as a result, climate policy.Manchin is no ideologue. People who have followed his career closely note that he’s moved to where he no longer supports blowing up mountains to mine for coal and accepts mainstream climate science. He likes to make deals, has friends who care about the climate in both parties, and says he wants to bring Democrats and Republicans together around a cleaner energy future.Still, his ascendance could be the latest political reality check for Americans who have for years wanted Congress to adopt major legislation to tackle the climate crisis, but so far have been left waiting.”Usually, discussions of climate change are dominated by people on the East and West coasts of this country,” said Ted Boettner, a West Virginia-based senior researcher with the Ohio River Valley Institute, a think tank with a focus on clean energy and social equity. “But they are going to have to drive through Sen. Manchin to get anything done.”
Frank Pallone and Joe Manchin: Gatekeepers of the Biden energy agenda – With the Georgia runoff elections settled and Democrats poised to take control of both Houses of Congress, a path exists to achieve President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to work toward 100% clean electricity nationwide by 2035 and invest $2 trillion into the energy transition.The path is not an entirely smooth one, however. Democrats will lack a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Without bipartisan support, legislation still can be slowed or blocked entirely by Republicans.Then there is the nontrivial matter of who chairs two pivotal congressional committees. The two lawmakers who will be key if Biden’s energy goals are to be achieved are the expected chairs of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee: Representative Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV).The committees serve as gatekeepers to passing any meaningful renewable energy policy and both committee chairs are Democrats, like Biden. But legislative success isn’t a simple matter of party alignment.To understand what the future of energy and climate policy will look like, it’s critical to understand these two chairs first as representatives of their states. Joe Manchin is West Virginia’s Democratic senator, serving alongside Republican Shelley Moore Capito. Manchin has been frequently described as the senate’s most conservative Democrat. West Virginia’s historic role as a major coal mining state means that Manchin’s career has often been aligned with the coal industry. For example, he long retained financial ties to a coal brokerage that he helped run before being elected to the Senate; is the fourth-largest recipient of coal mining donations in the U.S. Senate to date, according to Open Secrets; and famously fired a rifle at cap-and-trade bill as part of a campaign commercial. Policy-wise, Manchin has taken an unequivocal stance against ending the current filibuster, opposed the Green New Deal and has been historically in favor of an “all-of-the-above energy policy,” with specific focus on developing technologies aimed at trapping carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel burning before it enters the atmosphere. In 2019, he said, “While I appreciate the renewed conversation around climate change that the Green New Deal and its supporters have sparked, I think we need to focus on real solutions that recognize the role fossil fuels will continue to play.” Manchin was also the only Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee who failed to sign on to a letter calling on Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) appointee and former professional fossil fuel advocate Bernard McNamee to recuse himself from any rule makings where one resource would be pitted against another. Manchin’s appointment to ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee was described by 350.org as “completely at odds with any plan for real climate action.”
Federal Omnibus Includes Long-Sought Wood Heat Tax Credit For Homeowners | New Hampshire Public Radio – Homeowners who install modern wood heating systems can now get a new tax credit, under the federal omnibus bill passed late last year. New Hampshire’s Congressional delegation supported the measure, which the state’s timber industry has wanted for years. The credit applies to home heating systems such as stoves and boilers that run on cordwood, wood chips or wood pellets, with a federal rating of at least 75% efficiency.These systems can cost thousands – or tens of thousands – of dollars up front, but are cleaner and cheaper than fossil fuels over time.With the new credit, homeowners who install one of these systems can take 26% of the installation cost off their tax liability for 2021. The credit steps down to 22% in 2022 and 2023. Charlie Niebling runs a timber consulting firm, Innovative Natural Resource Solutions, in Concord. He has lobbied for the new credit for more than a decade and argues that wood heat is an important alternative to imported fossil fuels, grown and processed here in New Hampshire.”Our message to Congress for years has been…don’t pick winners and losers,” he said. “[Wood heat] deserves the same recognition in the federal tax code that solar and wind do.”Niebling says years of similar tax credits have increased competition and brought down prices for these other renewables, while wood heat remains more expensive and under-utilized.”We’re hopeful that this new credit in 2021 will jumpstart consumer interest once again, during an era of relatively low oil and propane costs.” Heating is a main driver of emissions and high energy costs in New Hampshire, where both wood stoves and oil heat are more commonly used than in most other states.Wood creates more emissions than zero-carbon energy sources when burned, including particulates that can have harmful health effects. Winter use of wood stoves sometimes prompts air quality alerts in certain parts of New Hampshire.But wood is also considered renewable, since trees can be replanted – and it burns more cleanly than fossil fuels like heating oil, especially in the efficient systems that this tax credit covers. New Hampshire currently offers a state-level rebate of 40% or up to $10,000 for wood boiler installations of at least 80% efficiency. Niebling said the new federal credit could help more low-income and rural homeowners upgrade from less healthy, older wood stoves and pricier oil heat, especially where natural gas or all-electric heat alternatives aren’t readily available.
CLIMATE: Democrats look to pass environmental justice package — Thursday, January 14, 2021 — Climate change and environmental justice will be early priorities for the new Biden administration and Democratic Congress, House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chairwoman Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) said yesterday.
CLIMATE: Trump EPA aims to tie Biden’s hands with rulemaking surprise — Tuesday, January 12, 2021 — EPA has finalized a rule that leaves untouched an Obama-era requirement that new coal plants partially capture their carbon dioxide emissions – walking away from its proposal more than two years ago to scrap that mandate in favor of laxer standards.Instead, the rule, which was posted on the Federal Register website this morning and will be published officially tomorrow, seeks to erect fresh barriers to a future administration’s promulgating rules for sectors like oil refineries or steel manufacturing under a key section of the Clean Air Act.EPA’s gambit, played eight days before the start of the Biden administration, classifies any industrial sector as not a significant contributor of a greenhouse gas pollutant unless it is responsible for fully 3% of total U.S. emissions.”This means that if a source category collectively emits 3% or less of the total U.S. GHG emissions, it will be considered to be insignificant,” asserts EPA in the rule. It goes on to propose a process for the agency to determine whether even sectors that emit more than 3% of U.S. emissions are significant contributors.E&E News first reported on the rulemaking change last week (E&E News PM, Jan. 8).EPA acknowledges that fossil fuel-based power plants meet the 3% threshold, as they are responsible for more than 25% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. It pushes off a decision about the fate of the 2015 new power plant rule requiring new coal units to employ partial carbon capture and storage to “a separate future action” – though a Biden EPA is unlikely to kill the Obama-era rule.But other sectors that the Obama administration either regulated for their effect on climate change or proposed for future regulations in successive annual Unified Agendas – a menu that included oil and gas production, refineries and industrial boilers – are dismissed preemptively in EPA’s new action because they are each individually responsible for less than 3% of U.S. emissions.Motor vehicles are regulated under a different Clean Air Act section and thus are not addressed in this rulemaking.
Youth Climate Movement Demands Immediate Action After ‘Empty Promises,’ Announces Next Global Strike – Fridays for Future, the youth-led global group inspired by Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, announced Wednesday that its next international day of climate strikes will occur on March 19 of this year with a demand for “immediate, concrete, and ambitious action” directed at world leaders who have in recent years talked seriously about the urgent need to address the planetary emergency but stalled dangerously by failing to make those words a reality. “No more empty promises,” said the group in its announcement for global strikes that will take place on every continent, led by students and their allies who believe that the rapidly heating world is an existential threat to life as humanity has come to know it and the insufficient and voluntary emission reduction targets like the ones at the center of the Paris agreement – which nations are not even on track to meet – are worthless unless here-and-now policies are put into action immediately to bring carbon and other greenhouse gas pollution under control. “If we don’t act now, we won’t even have the chance to deliver on those 2030, 2050 targets that world leaders keep on talking about,” said Mitzi Jonelle Tan from the Philippines, one of the group’s organizers. “What we need now are not empty promises, but annual binding carbon targets and immediate cuts in emissions in all sectors of our economy.” As part of the organizing effort, the group has posted a worldwide map of planned actions and a sign-up formfor those wishing to register or create an event. As part of the organizing effort, the group has posted a worldwide map of planned actions and a sign-up formfor those wishing to register or create an event. According to the group’s announcement for the strike: Those in power continue to only deliver vague and empty promises for far off dates that are much too late. What we need are not meaningless goals for 2050 or net-zero targets full of loopholes, but concrete and immediate action in-line with science. Our carbon budget is running out. The climate crisis is already here and will only get worse, so if we are to avoid the worst case scenarios, annual, short-term climate binding targets that factor in justice and equity have to be prioritized by the people in charge. “When your house is on fire,” said Thunberg on Wednesday, “you don’t wait for 10, 20 years before you call the fire department; you act as soon and as much as you possibly can.”
The Energy 202: Nonviolent climate activists reconsider protest tactics in Capitol after mob attack – The Washington Post – Nonviolent protests have always been a staple of climate activism on Capitol Hill. Now the attack on Congress by a pro-Trump mob is forcing environmental activists to reconsider what tactics they will continue to use. The days of hounding lawmakers by disrupting their committee hearings and staging peaceful sit-ins at theirs offices are on pause, at least for the moment, as security tightens in Washington after Trump supporters violently assaulted the Capitol Building on the day Congress was set to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s election win. “That’s a good question. We’re definitely reflecting right now on what that looks like,” Garrett Blad, a spokesman for the Sunrise Movement. The youth-led climate advocacy organization made a name for itself by peacefully occupying the offices of Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) in 2018 after the midterm election, demanding an ambitious climate agenda from the new Democratic majority in the House. The riot a week ago is darkening what is otherwise a bright time for environmentalists. The prospects of more ambitious climate legislation have gone up after Democrats secured a razor-thin majority in the Senate with the Georgia runoff election on Jan. 5.Climate activists, though, say they are not deterred. They note the need to stop global warming is as urgent as ever, insisting they still will find a way of making their voices heard. “We’re planning to still push our elected officials,” Blad added. “Sometimes, if that looks like going to their offices, that’s what we are still prepared to do. I do not have a clear answer on what we’re prepared to do in D.C. specifically, but elsewhere, we are moving forward with mobilizations to get this agenda passed.” Members of Friends of the Earth Action, another environmental lobbying group, have made a habit over the past four years of interrupting congressional testimony from President Trump’s two Environmental Protection Agency chiefs, Scott Pruitt and Andrew Wheeler, by chanting and holding up signs. Those actions often resulted in Capitol Police escorting them out of hearing rooms and, in some cases, being arrested. But Drew Hudson, a senior national organizer for the group, said they are careful not to push things too far. “When we do these kind of things, we think carefully through, what are the things that are safe and that are legal? What are the things that may break a rule … but that will still make our point? And then we want to make sure that when we’re doing that, it’s not in a threatening way.” What they and other activists will be able to do in the future will depend on how tight security at the Capitol remains after inauguration. “We hope that it won’t change much about our ability to interact with Congress,” Hudson said.
‘The numbers don’t lie’: The green movement remains overwhelmingly white, report finds –A report released Wednesday by Green 2.0, an independent advocacy campaign that tracks racial and gender diversity within the environmental movement, found that while strides have been made in recent years, it has been at an incremental pace that begs for “improvement at all levels,” said Andres Jimenez, the campaign’s executive director.New data from about 40 of the largest nonprofit environmental organizations in the country and the top 40 foundations and grant providers show that, on average, these groups added six people of color and eight women to their full-time staff from 2017 to 2020, added two people of color and two women to their senior staff in that time, and one person of color and one woman to their boards since 2017. Diversity advocates acknowledge that such large legacy groups, which have staffing numbers in the hundreds and budgets worth millions of dollars, may be in the best position to bring attention to issues such as protecting national parks and endangered species. But those groups have not historically been in tune with problems facing inner cities and communities of color, places that are disproportionately burdened by pollution, according to the federal government’s research. The latest numbers demonstrate a noticeable shift, but still highlight that the organizations and foundations remain overwhelmingly white – even as many of those groups released statements last year calling for racial justice and recognizing how despite their progressive ideals, they failed to react to systemic disparities that people of color have been subjected to in the United States. Some organizations reported having no people of color in senior levels, including Oceana, an ocean conservation nonprofit, and the BlueGreen Alliance, which works with labor unions to promote clean jobs and infrastructure. Oceana’s international board does include people of color, but the group said it did not report the board’s specific racial makeup to the Green 2.0 report because not all of the members are American.
Apple, Hyundai set to agree electric car tie-up, says Korea IT News (Reuters) – Hyundai Motor and Apple Inc plan to sign a partnership deal on autonomous electric cars by March and start production around 2024 in the United States, local newspaper Korea IT News reported on Sunday. The report follows a statement on Friday from Hyundai Motor that it was in early talks with Apple after another local media outlet said the companies aimed to launch a self-driving electric car in 2027, sending Hyundai shares up nearly 20%. Hyundai Motor declined to comment on the report on Sunday, and reiterated Friday’s comments that it has received requests for potential cooperation from various companies on developing autonomous EVs. Apple had no immediate comment. An updated version of the IT news report removed details, including production location and capacity and the timeframe for signing the agreement and launching the pilot vehicles. The previous version said the companies planned to build the cars at Kia Motors’ factory in Georgia, or invest jointly in a new factory in the United States to produce 100,000 vehicles around 2024. The full annual capacity of the proposed plant would be 400,000 vehicles.
Renewables account for most new U.S. electricity generating capacity in 2021 – Today in Energy – According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest inventory of electricity generators, developers and power plant owners plan for 39.7 gigawatts (GW) of new electricity generating capacity to start commercial operation in 2021. Solar will account for the largest share of new capacity at 39%, followed by wind at 31%. About 3% of the new capacity will come from the new nuclear reactor at the Vogtle power plant in Georgia.
- Solar photovoltaics. Developers and plant owners expect the addition of utility-scale solar capacity to set a new record by adding 15.4 GW of capacity to the grid in 2021. This new capacity will surpass last year’s nearly 12 GW increase, based on reported additions through October (6.0 GW) and scheduled additions for the last two months of 2020 (5.7 GW). More than half of the new utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity is planned for four states: Texas (28%), Nevada (9%), California (9%), and North Carolina (7%). EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook forecasts an additional 4.1 GW of small-scale solar PV capacity to enter service by the end of 2021.
- Wind. Another 12.2 GW of wind capacity is scheduled to come online in 2021. Last year, 21 GW of wind came online, based on reported additions through October (6.0 GW) and planned additions in November and December (14.9 GW). Texas and Oklahoma account for more than half of the 2021 wind capacity additions. The largest wind project coming online in 2021 will be the 999-megawatt (MW) Traverse wind farm in Oklahoma. The 12-MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project, located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, is also scheduled to start commercial operation in early 2021.
- Natural gas. For 2021, planned natural gas capacity additions are reported at 6.6 GW. Combined-cycle generators account for 3.9 GW, and combustion-turbine generators account for 2.6 GW. More than 70% of these planned additions are in Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
- Battery storage. EIA expects the capacity of utility-scale battery storage to more than quadruple; 4.3 GW of battery power capacity additions are slated to come online by the end of 2021. The rapid growth of renewables, such as wind and solar, is a major driver in the expansion of battery capacity because battery storage systems are increasingly paired with renewables. The world’s largest solar-powered battery (409 MW) is under construction at Manatee Solar Energy Center in Florida; the battery is scheduled to be operational by late 2021.
The utility-scale values in this article refer to net summer capacity reported to EIA by developers and power plant owners-respondents to EIA’s annual and monthly electric generator surveys. In the annual survey, EIA asks respondents to provide planned online dates for generators coming online in the next five years. The monthly survey tracks the status of generators coming online in the coming year based on reported in-service dates.
Plans for Berkeley County solar facility keeps WV’s solar energy momentum going –Another solar power boost is slated for West Virginia, a year after state lawmakers passed legislation to encourage solar energy development. Berkeley County Council announced Thursday that a renewable energy development company plans to install a $100 million solar electricity production facility at the former Dupont Potomac River Works explosives manufacturing facility. It will be one of the Mountain State’s first utility-scale solar projects, along with a solar farm planned for Raleigh County. Bedington Energy Facility, LLC, a Delaware subsidiary of Colorado-based Torch Clean Energy, plans to invest $100 million to build a 100-megawatt solar facility on 750 acres of land at a site that was designated to be a brownfield “unsuitable for most commercial and industrial uses,” according to a Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreement between Berkeley County Council and Bedington Energy Facility. The PILOT agreement exempts the company from personal property tax payment for a 15-year period, after which the company will assume ownership of machinery equipment on the site from the Berkeley County Development Authority. In lieu of taxes, the company is to pay $1,850 per megawatt of production capacity, with an annual minimum payment of $100,000. The company offered to pay $450,000 to Berkeley County for “quality of life” purposes, including parks and public spaces, public safety and health assets, and cultural and historical initiatives. At no cost to the Berkeley County Board of Education, the company also agreed to install at least one solar photovoltaic array at one or more public schools totaling a minimum of 100 kilowatts within two years of operating the facility. A Torch Clean Energy project manager told Berkeley County Council at its meeting Thursday that annual school district energy cost savings would total $15,000 to $20,000. Bedington Energy Facility is still required to pay property taxes. The company estimated that the project will generate more than $20 million in taxes and create a renewable energy infrastructure capable of attracting major technology companies. The project is estimated to create 150 to 200 construction jobs during construction, according to the county.
New cash crop: Industrial-solar-farm boom hits Hoosier backlash – Across Indiana’s rural landscape, a new cash crop is emerging: solar energy. Thousands of acres of farmland are being developed or eyed for massive solar farms that would install hundreds of thousands of solar panels as far as the eye can see. And not everyone is pleased. One of the nation’s largest solar complexes is planned for Pulaski County in northern Indiana. The $1 billion development would encompass 4,500 acres and generate enough electricity to power 80,000 homes, more power than all the existing solar systems in the state combined. In all, at least 15 Indiana solar farms of 1,000 acres or more are slated to go online by 2024, with several more encompassing hundreds of acres also in the works. But amid the tranquil fields of corn and soybeans, ferocious battles are raging over some of the enormous projects. Neighbor is often pitted against neighbor, which sometimes results in lawsuits and conflict-of-interest allegations against local government officials. It’s a clash over whether rural solar farms are a way to help save the environment and boost the rural economy or an unnecessary money grab that threaten prime farmland and food production with an unsightly array of solar clutter. A powerful combination of factors is coming together to push industrial-size solar development to the fore: At least four Indiana electric utilities have announced plans to close coal-fired plants soon and are looking for renewable-energy sources to replace that capacity. Indianapolis Power & Light Co. is among them, with plans to retire two of its four coal-burning units in Petersburg by 2023. Several large companies are demanding more solar energy as they pledge to become carbon-neutral in the next 20 to 30 years to show their commitment to battling the climate crisis. Amazon, with its six warehouses across Indiana, has committed to going carbon-neutral by 2040. Some solar companies were scrambling to take advantage of federal tax credits that were scheduled to be phased down next year. However, the COVID relief package passed by Congress this week extends the 26% tax deduction for solar installation construction costs for two more years before the phase-out begins. Solar companies pay anywhere from $800 to $1,100 per acre per year to lease farmland in Indiana. That compares with the $200 an acre many landowners receive to rent their land to farmers.Still, opposition is rising among some farmers and landowners as they fight to protect prime farmland for crop production and worry about solar farms’ long-term effects on home values, topsoil, drainage and water quality throughout a solar array’s 35-year lifespan.
In the Maine woods, preparations signal imminent start of CMP power line project – Obscured by a swirling snow squall, an amphibious off-road transporter with 5-foot-high tires maneuvered Friday along the Maine ITS 89 snowmobile trail at the base of Coburn Mountain. At a junction, two workers from Northern Clearing, a Wisconsin-based right-of-way contractor, stepped into the wind and 11-degree cold and secured a sign and pink flagging tape to a small tree. The sign was one of hundreds being erected in remote stretches of northwestern Maine between the Canadian border and The Forks. They will guide crews – likely starting next week – to where they will begin clearing sections of a 53-mile-long corridor through the forest for Central Maine Power’s $1 billion hydroelectric power corridor project, called New England Clean Energy Connect. After three years of dispute and debate, and despite ongoing court challenges and a pending voter referendum, work is finally set to begin to create a 54-foot-wide path for hydroelectricity from Quebec that ultimately will be earmarked for customers in Massachusetts. For residents and businesses along Route 201 from Jackman to Bingham, there has been an increasing awareness that construction was imminent. Pete Dostie owns the Hawks Nest Lodge, an outdoor adventure business perched next to the highway and Kennebec River in West Forks. Dostie said he spoke last week with workers and a foreman for the cutting operation. The workers said they were told that snow plowing of access roads for corridor clearing would begin Tuesday, from Route 201 to Coburn Mountain. Dostie conveyed that information Friday in a sworn statement filed in Somerset and Kennebec Superior Court. His affidavit is meant to supplement a motion by project opponents aimed at delaying a permit granted last May by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. A lawyer for the opponents wrote that Dostie’s statement shows “the imminence of construction and immediate and irreparable harm are now alarmingly real – next week Tuesday come the bulldozers, and the trees will be gone.”
Cross-Sound power cable out of order since summer – The Cross-Sound Cable, a 24-mile undersea power line from Long Island to Connecticut, has been out of commission since July, utility and cable officials acknowledged Tuesday. The cable, which was first put into operation in 2003 after a major regional blackout, could be back in service by Friday, according to an official of the Cross-Sound Cable Company. The cable runs from Shoreham near the site of the mothballed nuclear power plant, to New Haven, Connecticut. Equipment problems on the Connecticut side of the cable were said to be the problem. PSEG Long Island, which operates the Long Island electric grid under a contract to LIPA, declined to answer questions about the outage. “You’d have to talk to the [Cross-Sound Cable] as it is their cable,” PSEG spokeswoman Ashley Chauvin said. A person who answered Cross-Sound Cable Co.’s phone confirmed the line has been out of service since July due to “equipment failure.” He said repairs were “finishing up this week” and the “latest plan is to try to energize again on Friday.” The New York Independent System Operator, which oversees state energy markets, confirmed the line has been out, due to an “external force,” with published data showing the line has had zero output since Nov. 8. LIPA in a statement confirmed the cable has had “intermittent service since the summer.” But LIPA said that because of the line’s relatively small size and relatively higher winter prices from the New England power market to which it connects, the Cross-Sound Cable outage “does not have a significant impact on power pricing or usage of on-Island plants.” LIPA has access to around 5,800 megawatts of power. Long Island’s winter load use today is expected to reach 2,684 megawatts at the peak around 4 p.m.
TVA plans outage to repair substation authorities say was vandalized last week in Clinton, Kentucky – Gibson Electric says the Tennessee Valley Authority has planned a power outage for Wednesday night that will affect customers served by the Clinton, Kentucky, substation. A TVA crew will be making repairs after someone damaged that substation Thursday night, causing a lengthy power outage that affected people in and around Clinton, Fulton, Berkley, Oakton, Arlington, Fulgham and near the U.S. 51 corridor from Fulton to Arlington. The Hickman County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that the outage was caused by someone who shot holes in equipment at the substation. The sheriff’s office said it is assisting TVA police in an investigation into the incident. While the sheriff’s office said they believe the damage was caused intentionally, both it and Gibson Electric are characterizing the incident as an act of vandalism.The spokeswoman says TVA personnel made temporary repairs after last week’s outage, but additional repairs have to be made to avoid equipment failure and the potential of a much larger outage. “While we would prefer for the outage to be scheduled in milder temperatures, the repairs cannot wait,” she says in an email to Local 6.
Data centers are energy hogs. Could they help power the grid? -Data centers – cavernous warehouses filled with computers and cables that keep websites and apps running around the clock – are the beating heart of the internet. They are also huge consumers of energy, and as the world spends more time online, environmentalists are growing increasingly concerned about their climate impact. But Google is now trying to rehabilitate the data center’s image, by turning one of its giant server farms into a big battery. Last month, Google announced that it would be installing batteries to replace some of the diesel generators that provide backup power at its data center in Saint-Ghislain, Belgium – a first for the company. The move is more than a routine upgrade from old, dirty equipment to new, cleaner technology. When Google isn’t using the batteries, it plans to supply some of their energy to the local electric grid. If the experiment is successful, data centers equipped with batteries that store renewably generated power could one day become “critical components in carbon-free energy systems,” Joe Kava, vice president of global data centers at Google, wrote in a blog post. Data centers account for about 1 percent of global electricity usage, a figure that could rise as data-intensive activities like video streaming and cloud gaming become more popular and as more people around the world gain access to the internet. When data centers are powered with fossil fuel energy like coal and natural gas, these facilities can have a serious climate impact. As environmental groups started calling out Big Tech for all of this unseen pollution, image-conscious companies like Google and Microsoft began making an effort to clean up their data centers’ power supplies.
FPL shuts down its last coal-fired plant in Florida and converting another to natural gas –Florida Power & Light’s last coal-fired plant in that state has officially closed. The formal retirement of Indiantown Cogeneration Plant (pictured) came as the clock struck midnight on Dec. 31. FPL acquired the plant three years earlier for the sole purpose of shutting it down. FPL is owned by NextEra Energy Inc. Another NextEra utility, Gulf Power, also ceased coal-fired generation at its Plant Crist in Excambia County. NextEra acquired Gulf Power from Southern Co. for about $5.7 billion. Plant Crist is going to be converted from coal-fired to natural gas-fired generation, cutting carbon emissions by about 40 percent. “By making smart, consistent, long-term investments in cleaner, state-of-the art energy centers, we have lowered our oil use by 99 percent and use it only as a secondary fuel source. By eliminating our use of coal and effectively eliminating our use of oil, our customers now receive energy that is better for our environment, and is reliable and much more affordable.” In recent years, FPL has bought out old contracts and purchased existing coal-fired power plants for the sole purpose of shutting them down – saving customers money and eliminating carbon dioxide emissions. At the same time, the company has constructed universal solar energy centers, leading one of the largest solar expansions in the country as part of its bold plan to install 30 million solar panels by 2030. Last month, five new solar energy centers, consisting of 1.4 million solar panels, began providing customers with zero-emissions energy.
Minnesota Power shutting, converting final two coal plants by 2035 – – Minnesota Power will shutter and convert its last two coal-power plants by 2035 as it moves toward a promised 100% carbon-free energy mix by 2050. The Duluth-based utility, which serves a broad swath of northeastern and central Minnesota, announced the timeline Tuesday ahead of the company filing a detailed 15-year plan with state regulators in February. “We’re no longer just dreaming of a carbon-free future,” said Bethany Owen, CEO of parent company Allete Inc. “We believe Minnesota Power is ready to reach this goal.” By the end of the decade Minnesota Power intends to shut down the Boswell Energy Center Unit 3, a 335-megawatt coal-fired plant in Cohasset. The utility plans to add 400 megawatts of solar and wind energy by 2030 to replace it. The company also said it will be working with the community and the workers affected by the plant shutdown. Minnesota Power is one of the largest employers in Itasca County – Boswell employs 165 – and a major taxpayer. “We’re really focused on ensuring that transition is thoughtfully done,” Owen said. Since the company first signaled it would move away from coal, community leaders have been working to attract new jobs and industries to the region. How well those efforts perform could have a major impact on the area’s economy. By 2035, Minnesota Power intends to transition the 468-megawatt Boswell Unit 4 off coal, which could mean a switch to natural gas, biomass or other sources as advances in technology allow. With closures planned for all of the state’s other coal plants by 2030, Unit 4 will likely be the last coal-power plant in Minnesota by the time it is converted.
Twenty people from 2019 Bow power plant protest to face sentencing Thursday – Twenty members of a climate group that wants to shut down the power plant in Bow will be in court Thursday for sentencing, 16 months after their arrest, but plan to ask for a jury trial. The protesters were arrested September 28, 2019, as part of a campaign by a group called No Coal No Gas that is targeting the Merrimack Generation Station in Bow, the only major coal-fired power plant in New England that has not scheduled a date to shut down. The group, who are all charged with misdemeanor trespass, are scheduled to appear online before Concord District Court Judge Edwin Kelly on Thursday, between 12:45 and 5 p.m. The group of defendants plan to “declare their intention to exercise their right to a trial by a jury of their peers,” they said. They argue that court rules give them the right to a Superior Court trial, with the District Court sentence vacated pending appeal. “In addition to submitting a written statement, each defendant will have five minutes to offer a personal allocution to the judge,” the group noted. A total of 67 people were arrested at the protest around the front gate of the Bow facility. The others have accepted plea agreements in which they accepted a finding of guilty to trespass but the court cases will be removed from the record next month, according to Jay O’Hara with the Climate Disobedience Center. Two other cases, one in New Hampshire and one in Massachusetts, are proceeding that involve protests by No Coal No Gas, both for allegedly attempting to block shipments of coal by train to the power plant. These protests are part of a wider climate action by the group since coal-fired plants are the biggest contributors to greenhouses gases among electricity-producing plants. Coal once fueled the majority of New England’s electricity but has almost disappeared. Merrimack Station, at 480 megawatts, and Bridgeport Harbor in Connecticut, at 400 megawatts, are the the only major plants left and Bridgeport Harbor is slated to shut this year, to be replaced by a plant that burns natural gas. A megawatt can power between 700 and 1,000 homes.
Drainage of coal ash plant in Dougherty County set to start in February – Georgia Power Co. officials gave an update on Thursday on the draining of coal ash ponds and release of treated water into the Flint River in Dougherty County. The state’s largest utility company will begin the process at the site in Dougherty County at the decommissioned Plant Mitchell in February. The plant was in operation from 1948-2016, with coal- and gas-powered generators at the site. The company will remove some two million tons of coal ash from the site that will be recycled through the production of Portland cement and other construction products. “When we announced the closing of all of our ash ponds in 2015, the years have been dedicated to planning how we could do that safely,” Scott Hendricks, the company’s water and natural resources permitting manager, said during a Thursday online meeting. The virtual tour of the site was held remotely due to the current spike in novel coronavirus cases and was attended by media and elected officials, including Dougherty County Commissioner Anthony Jones and state Rep. Joe Campbell, R-Camilla. The three ponds in Dougherty County eventually will be filled in and the site planted with grass. During the drainage/dewatering process, three third-party contractors will provide engineering and monitoring services to ensure the water is safe to be returned to the river, Hendricks said. Solids will be separated for recycling during the process. During the drainage process, water will go through a filtering system to remove contaminants and toxic substances to the permitted levels, the company said. Monitoring during the process will detect any water that has not been treated properly, and the system has a shut-down mechanism to prevent transfer into the river. An alarm will notify operators, and any suspect water will be returned to the ponds for additional treatment. Water quality both upstream and downstream of the plant will be monitored by third-party vendors. In all, Georgia Power will remove water from 29 coal ash ponds across the state. Each location required a site-specific plan for cleanup.
Will Blackjewel leave Kentuckians to clean up its coal mines? –There is a community in Eastern Kentucky where a road routinely floods, where water from wells smells foul and stains clothes, thick mud often coats yards and there are cracks in the foundations of several homes. Residents in Harlan County say the damage is linked to mining by a company called Blackjewel, which blasted open the earth to uncover coal and then allegedly didn’t properly reclaim the sites. Now, Blackjewel’s parent company, Revelation Energy, is in the final stages of a case in bankruptcy court, looking to terminate the permits on its more than 500 surface mines.That raises a concern that the state could get stuck cleaning up the damage from the mines Blackjewel once controlled in Harlan County and elsewhere. The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and several citizen groups have complained during the bankruptcy that Revelation already has fallen short on required reclamation at mines. The cabinet raised the issue of flooding on Camp Creek Road at Wallins Creek in September. Judge Benjamin A. Kahn ordered Revelation to fix the problem, but it still hasn’t, according to Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley. Mosley said the county had to install a bridge after heavy rain washed trees and silt from a Blackjewel mine into drainage tiles and blocked them.The resulting flooding eroded the road and washed out a waterline. Flooding also has pushed in the underpinning under mobile homes along the creek. The county spent $30,000 to $40,000 to clean up mud and debris, install drainage tiles and fix the water line, Mosley said. ReThe road isn’t the only spot at Wallins Creek where effects of Blackjewel’s mining linger long after the company laid off all its employees and stopped mining in mid-2019. Elvis Sowders spends weekends repairing cracks in his house at Wallins Creek, damage he believes was caused by blasting at a nearby mine once operated by Blackjewel. Sowders told state regulators there were cracks in the foundation and drywall of the house where he lives, and that the floor was not level. At his sister-in-law’s house on the hill above Sowder’s, there were cracks in the foundation and damage to the chimney, according to accounts from Sowder and family members. Sowders said he has spent about $40,000 on repairs to the two homes.
Appalachian coal mine reclamation bonding issues highlighted in new report – What will become of abandoned coal mines throughout Appalachia as more and more coal companies go bankrupt?A report released by a coalition of groups in Central Appalachia Thursday suggests answers to that question that could benefit the region while acknowledging how steep the challenge will be.The report, developed by the Reclaiming Appalachia Coalition, a regional collaboration aiming to redevelop communities across the region through mine reclamation projects, highlights the daunting reclamation bonding issues that West Virginia and other states face.Enacted in 1977, the federal Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act allows states to regulate their own surface coal mining and reclamation operations while the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement maintains some oversight to keep state programs in compliance with the law, which requires coal mining permit applicants to post a reclamation bond to ensure that regulatory authorities have enough funding to reclaim the site.But actual reclamation costs may exceed bond amounts, and Thursday’s report says the cost of reclaiming at least 490,000 acres of mined land in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and Tennessee may amount to $6 billion, far more than the $2.5 billion the report says those states have in available bonds based on a review of state and federal data.A recent trend in bankruptcies among coal companies raises the concerning possibility that much of that land will remain unreclaimed if companies forfeit their bonds.”We have not yet seen a large company abandon many mines, but we are likely about to. Many state bonding programs were not designed to withstand widespread forfeiture resulting from multiple bankruptcies or even the bankruptcy of a single large company,” states the report. More than 50 coal companies have gone bankrupt over the past decade.
Bankrupt coal firm fails to find buyer for West Coast export terminal – Wyoming’s long-held dream of exporting Powder River Basin coal from a West Coast terminal was recently dashed when the project’s owner filed for bankruptcy and failed to find an interested buyer. Lighthouse Resources Inc. petitioned for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 3. The company owns the Decker coal mine in Montana, just north of Wyoming’s border, and over 75 employees lost their jobs last month. Roughly a decade ago, Lighthouse Resources hatched an ambitious plan to construct the West Coast coal export terminal. The port on the Columbia River in Longview, Washington, would be able to receive about 16 trainloads of high-grade Powder River Basin coal on a daily basis, destined for markets in Asia, the company promised. So, when Lighthouse Resources filed for bankruptcy late last year, it intended to find a new buyer for the project, according to court documents. But over the past two months no bidder materialized. Therefore, Lighthouse Resources petitioned the court on Friday to reject its land lease. A company called Northwest Alloys has been leasing the property to Lighthouse Resources. The coal operator also wants out of its contract with the property owner. Lighthouse Resources declined to comment. But in court documents, attorneys for the bankrupt company said keeping up with the facility’s costs – where it owns “buildings, improvements, equipment, rolling stock, and vehicles” – was no longer feasible. “The high carrying cost and exigencies associated with the Millennium Facility necessitated moving forward with the sale of the Millennium Facility with speed,” attorneys explained. “Without a stalking horse bid for the Millennium Facility identified … the Debtors (Lighthouse Resources) could no longer justify the continued cash outlay to the estates related to operations at the Millennium Facility.” Northwest Alloys appears not to be interested in the rights to the coal terminal project either. If the judge accepts Friday’s motion filed by Lighthouse Resources, several contracts related to the operation of the coal port would be rendered moot.
Amid production woes, US coal deaths at historic low in 2020 (AP) – Five miners died in U.S. coal mines in 2020, an all-time low mark for an industry in a year that saw continuing declines in production as electric providers move away from burning coal. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, which tracks the deaths, said Wednesday there were 29 total deaths in all the nation’s mines, a sixth-straight year that total mine fatalities were kept below 30. The previous low in yearly coal deaths was eight in 2016, and there were 12 last year. Workplace deaths in coal mines have remained low since 2014, the first year annual deaths were less than 20. Since then, the totals have exceeded 12 only twice. A century ago in 1920, the nation had more than 2,200 coal deaths, before machines replaced manpower underground. Kentucky and West Virginia each had two coal mining deaths in 2020, and there was one in Pennsylvania. The death of a coal miner on the job in Pennsylvania in February was attributed to natural causes and did not count as a mining-related accident. Coal production has declined steadily over the last decade, as dozens of coal-fired power plants have shuttered. There are no new coal power plants being built in the U.S.
Deep freeze draws coal back into global power mix – Key northern hemisphere energy consumers have ramped up their coal consumption in recent weeks amid freezing weather and an LNG supply crunch. Electricity demand in China, Japan and South Korea has all soared and northeast Asian coal-fired power generation in December-January is likely to hit a multi-year high as governments turn to the solid fuel to keep the lights on amid the cold spell. European thermal coal usage also looks likely to be higher on the year as less competitive gas prices and below-average temperatures more than offset the impact of fresh Covid-19 related lockdowns. The demand rise is primarily weather-driven. Beijing on 7 January recorded its lowest temperature since 1966, while the temperature was on average 5.9 degC below the 10-year seasonal norm between 1-11 January, according to meteorologist Speedwell Weather. South Korea and Japan have also been hit by colder-than-usual conditions and heavy snowfall, and the temperature in Seoul and Tokyo was a respective 5.9 degC and 1.7 degC below average on 1-11 January. But the situation has been exacerbated by policy decisions. China’s informal ban on Australian coal imports has resulted in a sharp drop-off in coal supply, particularly as domestic mining firms have struggled to sufficiently ramp up production to meet the shortfall. Chinese buyers have turned to alternative origins of supply including South Africa and Colombia, but these volumes are unlikely to arrive in time or in sufficient quantities to meet short-term demand requirements. Colombian producer Drummond loaded 164,210t for China in December – the firm’s first cargo for China since July – but the vessel is unlikely to arrive before next month. Fellow producer Cerrejon is also said to have sold cargoes to China, but the producer only resumed exports in December following a three-month strike. In Japan, power prices this week hit record highs above Yen200/kWh. This is perhaps unsurprising given just three of its nine operational nuclear reactors are on line. January nuclear capacity is less than half of January 2020’s level, as units are off line for maintenance, counter-terrorism upgrades and owing to legal injunctions. In South Korea, the government may be forced to ease some of the winter restrictions on coal use – a policy intended to curb fine dust emissions – to cope with the demand surge. Nuclear availability is higher on the year, but the scale of the demand crunch was shown by a South Korean buyer paying $25/mn Btu for a first-half February cargo on 7 January. And this week, a deal for a 11-15 February delivery to northeast Asia was done at $39.30/mn Btu. By contrast, Argus’ LNG des northeast Asia front-month assessment averaged $4.69/mn Btu in January last year. In Europe, combined coal-fired power generation across Germany, Spain, the UK and France increased by 11pc on the year to 6.1TWh in December. And demand has risen further in early January, albeit from a low base, with Madrid hit by a deluge of snow and amid low regional wind generation.
Polar Vortex: Cold, Calm Arctic Weather Set to Rattle Europe Energy Markets – Europe is girding for an extended blast of freezing conditions with temperatures set to drop below zero in many parts by the end of this week. A sub-zero blast that has already blanketed Madrid in a rare snowfall is set to worsen with a weather phenomenon known as a sudden stratospheric warming. The event can disrupt the polar vortex, the winds that usually keep cold air contained in the far north, and allow freezing weather to head south. It threatens a re-run of “the beast from the east” of two years ago, when a deadly Siberian cold blast lashed Europe, forcing evacuations, stranding trains and snarling traffic. It couldn’t come at a worse time for the region’s heating and power systems, with calm conditions expected to stifle Europe’s wind generation and nuclear plant outages adding to the strain from the cold. Chilly conditions in Europe Jan. 17-22 will push the number of heating degree days for that period 11% above the 10-year average, according to weather forecaster Maxar Technologies Inc. The measure of when temperatures are below a level needed to warm buildings is expected to climb to 92 days next week, compared to a 10-year seasonal average of 82.7. The cold arctic air flow into Europe in January has led to a surge in power demand and has lowered gas storage levels sending prices to the highest for two years. “It is uncertain how long the cold spell will last and it depends on a number of factors, but at the very least it will last for a week and at the most it could last into the start of February,” Swedish forecaster Klart said on its website. When margins tighten and renewable output is low, it means more expensive thermal plants will be needed to boost supply. This pushes up prices on the day-ahead and intraday power markets. It also exposes the markets to risk of price spikes when units are unexpectedly turned off, forcing system operators to activate reserve power plants or ask industry to cut consumption to keep the grid stable. German day-ahead power prices hit the highest level in two years on Friday with temperatures in Berlin dropping close to freezing. The coming cold snap could boost prices further with temperatures expected to dip as low as -6.9 degrees Celsius by Sunday in the German capital and to a minumum of -15 degrees Celsius in Helsinki on Friday.
China’s ban on Australian coal forces trade flows to realign: Russell (Reuters) – China’s effective ban on imports of Australian coal is forcing a realignment of flows between the world’s two biggest importers and two largest exporters. Indonesia and Australia dominate the global seaborne coal trade, with the Southeast Asian nation tops in thermal coal, used mainly in power plants, while Australia is the biggest shipper of coking coal, used to make steel, and the number two in thermal coal. China is the world’s biggest coal importer, while India ranks second. China’s major coal supplier was Australia, but this ended in the second half of last year after Beijing’s unofficial ban on imports from Australia, believed to be in retaliation for Canberra’s call for an international probe of the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. While Indonesia was China’s second-biggest supplier, it has now seen demand surge as imports from Australia dropped to nearly zero. For India, the situation has reversed, with Indonesia in danger of losing its status as the South Asian nation’s top supplier to Australia, a country that in the past has shipped only relatively modest volumes of coking coal to India. The shift in coal flows can be clearly seen in the December data compiled by Refinitiv. China’s imports from Australia were a mere 447,523 tonnes, the lowest since Refinitiv started compiling vessel-tracking and port data in January 2015, and down massively from the 2020 high of 9.64 million tonnes in June. Even those modest volumes from Australia might not be available for end users since the Refinitiv data only measures cargoes that have been discharged, meaning its possible the shipments have yet to clear customs. However, China’s imports from Indonesia soared to 12.19 million tonnes in December, easily eclipsing the prior record of 10.47 million in April 2019, and up almost threefold from the 4.3 million recorded in November. India’s imports from Australia were 6.24 million tonnes in December, up from 5.06 million in November and 5.48 million in October, with all three recent months beating the prior record high of 4.81 million from December 2019. India’s imports from Indonesia were 5.65 million tonnes in December, below the volume from Australia, and down from 5.82 million in November and 6.75 million in October. The December figure is also well below the record for India’s imports from Indonesia, 10.58 million tonnes in April 2019. It’s worth noting that the majority of Australia’s coal exports to India are coking coal, but the vessel-tracking data suggest increasing volumes of thermal coal as well, perhaps as a result of Australian miners seeking new markets to replace lost shipments to China.
COVID-19 Is Delaying Project Milestones At Plant Vogtle – Georgia Power is putting off some of this year’s milestones in the construction schedule for the nuclear expansion at Plant Vogtle, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. The Atlanta-based utility expects to adjust the dates for fuel loading at Unit 3, one of two nuclear reactors being added at the plant south of Augusta, and for the start of “hot functional testing,” which measures the safety and operability of the reactors, Georgia Power announced Monday. Georgia Power has made significant changes to work practices at the project since the coronavirus pandemic struck Georgia last March. The company laid off 20% of the project workforce last April, and the site has seen a significant increase in cases of the virus since October consistent with the broader national and regional increase. However, Georgia Power still expects to bring Unit 3 into service this November, followed a year later by Unit 4, the second reactor. The state Public Service Commission approved the project back in 2009 at an estimated cost of $14 billion and a schedule that called for completing the work in 2016 and 2017. However, the project has been plagued by a series of cost overruns and scheduling delays brought on in part by the bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric, the original prime contractor. The project’s critics are predicting that further delays and overruns will occur, based on testimony last fall from engineers monitoring the work.
Glitch shuts down a nuclear plant in Callaway County – A glitch during refueling and maintenance has shut down Ameren Missouri’s nuclear plant in Callaway County. The utility reports the glitch is a non-nuclear operating issue related to the plant’s generator. Ameren Missouri said the plant will stay offline while it investigates the cause and develops a plan to make sure the plant can safely return to normal. They said they don’t expect the shutdown to cause any disruption to customer service.
Illinois hires outside firm to verify Exelon’s claim that nuclear plants are losing money – The Pritzker administration has hired an outside firm to scrutinize Exelon’s claims that some of its Illinois nuclear plants are losing money. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency early this month finalized a $215,000 emergency contract with Cambridge, Mass.-based Synapse Energy Economics. The firm, which has done work in the past for consumer advocates like the Illinois attorney general’s office and the Citizens Utility Board, will report back on the financial condition of the nukes by April 1. It’s tasked with auditing the company’s plants, assessing costs and revenues given now and projecting over the next five years, according to the emergency purchase statement. Among the qualifications the Pritzker administration specified for the role was that the firm chosen could not have done work for Exelon in the past. That disqualified a fair number of bidders. The move comes as Exelon for the second time in four years has said it would shutter nukes in Illinois unless they’re subsidized by the state. In August, the company announced it would close the Dresden and Byron reactors this coming fall without government action. Gov. J.B. Pritzker and lawmakers will have to decide this spring what, if anything, to do to keep those plants open. Exelon’s nukes are responsible for more than half the electricity generated in the state and are valuable due to their carbon-free emissions. In addition, they support thousands of well-paid union jobs and are critical sources of tax revenue in the localities that host them. Pritzker wants passage of comprehensive energy legislation to put Illinois on a course for a carbon-free power industry. Exelon frequently has emphasized that the state’s environmental goals will be extraordinarily difficult to realize if nuclear plants are retired before their useful lives are up. “With Exelon’s (closure) announcement . . . the state has concerns that the generation gap will be filled by dirty energy, namely fossil fuels,” according to the purchase statement. “In order to advance the state’s clean energy goals, IEPA and the governor’s office are assessing how and over what period of time to meet clean energy targets, which requires understanding the schedule of statewide plant closures, including Exelon’s plants.”
Cleveland City Council members might subpoena FirstEnergy, citing efforts to undermine CPP – cleveland.com – Cleveland City Council might subpoena leaders of FirstEnergy to testify about so-called dark money that investigators have linked to the utility and that ended up in a campaign against Cleveland Public Power. During a briefing Monday, some council members called for the unusual step of issuing a subpoena because court filings identify FirstEnergy as “Company A” that bankrolled the effort to undermine city-owned CPP. “The player that I want to focus on is Company A,” Councilman Blaine Griffin said. “Company A clearly is trying to influence Cleveland. … We need to, in addition to looking at this dark money, we really need to illuminate Company A.” Council launched an investigation in August to determine whether any parties accused in a statehouse corruption scandal related to legislative bailouts for two nuclear plants and two coal plants also sought to harm CPP. The effort followed indictments handed down by federal investigators that said FirstEnergy and its affiliates funneled $60 million in bribes to Larry Householder, then speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, and four others in order to pass the $1.3 billion bailouts. Tax filings and federal court documents indicate that FirstEnergy funneled money through a non-profit to Consumers Against Deceptive Fees, a group that billed itself as an advocate for Cleveland utility customers by questioning rates. No one from FirstEnergy is charged with any crimes. In a statement released following the indictments, the company acknowledged it received subpoenas in connection with the investigation and that it intended to fully cooperate. City Council President Kevin Kelley has noted that CPP is a competitor to FirstEnergy in Cleveland and that he wanted to investigate whether the utility had funded lobbying efforts against the city utility. The investigation is needed, he said, to reveal if there was outside interference — even if there was nothing illegal about it. Among the proposals pitched by Consumers for Excessive Fees were restrictions on what the city could charge customers for electric power the utility bought and a block on Cleveland’s ability to negotiate with commercial customers.
Public deserves to know who is backing dark money campaigns such as one that targeted CPP, advocates say – cleveland.com – Advocates for consumers and for good government told a Cleveland City Council panel Tuesday it was important to fully expose FirstEnergy Corp.’s use of dark money contributions in a campaign against Cleveland Public Power. The public eserves to know who is funding organizations such as Consumers Against Excessive Fees so it knows who is really lobbying them. “We all should be able to follow the money,” Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, told council’s Utilities Committee. “You can urge the state legislature to act,” Turcer said. “More importantly, you can update your own campaign finance law to ensure the transparency of the funding of political advertisements surrounding the mayoral and city council races.” Turcer urged the city to consider requiring disclosures on lobbying and campaign materials that list who is distributing the message and the top donors. That would immediately inform residents who is behind the distribution of pamphlets and fliers, such as those Consumers Against Excessive Fees distributed in Cleveland. Similar efforts have been made in New York City and San Francisco, she said. Tax filings and federal court documents indicate that FirstEnergy funneled money through a nonprofit to Consumers Against Deceptive Fees, which billed itself as an advocate for Cleveland utility customers by questioning rates. FirstEnergy competes with city-owned Cleveland Public Power for customers. FirstEnergy has about 60,000 customers in the city. Cleveland Public Power has about 70,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers. Tax records show that the nonprofit Partners for Progress contributed $200,000 to Consumers Against Deceptive Fees in 2019. In tax records, Partners for Progress stated its sole source of funding was FirstEnergy.
FirstEnergy’s fight to undercut Cleveland Public Power exposes a dark-money group with ties to House Bill 6 – cleveland.com — The latest plan to undercut Cleveland Public Power began in early 2018, when a Cincinnati fixer incorporated a nonprofit that was financed by FirstEnergy Corp. and aided by attorneys and lobbyists, authorities say.The nonprofit, Consumers Against Deceptive Fees, gained speed with the help of a consultant who had worked behind the scenes on several local political campaigns in recent years, including those of Mayor Frank Jackson and members of Cleveland City Council.Those associated with Consumers Against Deceptive Fees claimed a moral goal, to educate East Side residents about CPP’s rates, which the group said were among the highest in the state. City officials said the nonprofit was nothing more than an attempt by FirstEnergy to gut a competitor.The nonprofit has been drawn into the House Bill 6 scandal in recent weeks, as $200,000 of FirstEnergy funds were funneled to the group through an account at the heart of the largest bribery case in state history, records show. City Council’s Finance Committee vowed Monday to find out more about the group’s funding and FirstEnergy’s role in it.How the group formed and the people behind it offer a glimpse into how corporations use nonprofits to shield the movement of political money in Ohio and their widespread influence in the state, something critics fear will be a corrupting factor for years to come.”This was clandestine, and it was dastardly,” said Cleveland City Councilman Michael Polensek. “Who is to say it won’t happen again?”The group, like others touched by the Statehouse bribery scandal, has gone silent. It dissolved in November, and those affiliated with it have declined to discuss it or have not returned multiple phone calls seeking comment.A review of state records, tax filings and campaign finance reports, as well as dozens of interviews, shows a nonprofit called Partners for Progress obtained $20 million from FirstEnergy in 2019.The FBI referred to Partners for Progress as a “pass-through,” which held the company’s funds before they went to then-Speaker of the Ohio House Larry Householder. From that account, $200,000 went to Consumers Against Deceptive Fees, tax records show.However, the group that ostensibly sought to help Cleveland residents consisted mostly of people who lived outside the city. It gained help from those affiliated with the law firm of Roetzel & Andress, which represents FirstEnergy, according to incorporation records and interviews.
Ohio regulators set to officially pause nuclear bailout fees created through tainted energy bill – – State regulators have ordered a pause on the $170 million in annual new fees created through the controversial House Bill 6, following a judge’s recent ruling in a lawsuit brought by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and officials in Cincinnati and Columbus. The Ohio Air Quality Development Authority will formally suspend the charges, $150 million of which would bail out two financially troubled Ohio nuclear plants owned by a former FirstEnergy subsidiary, during a scheduled meeting on Tuesday, the agency’s executive director wrote in a recent letter to officials with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. As part of the same official process, the PUCO on Dec. 30 acted to prevent the new fee from going into effect while the legal challenge continues. Both agencies cited a Dec. 21 ruling from a Franklin County judge who, ruling on the lawsuit from Yost and two Ohio cities, ordered the fees be blocked from going into effect. The fees, worth more than $1 billion to the nuclear plants, were to have appeared on Ohioans’ power bills starting on Jan. 1.But the pause could remain in place at least until a March 5 hearing in the Franklin County case, according to a PUCO spokesman. Yost and the local officials sued over the law after federal investigators said it was the product of an elaborate corruption scheme financed by FirstEnergy and its affiliates that led to the arrest of former House Speaker Larry Householder and others last July. Prosecutors have said in exchange for $61 million, spent to help Householder become speaker and on a political campaign supporting the law, Householder agreed to push the bill through the legislature. FirstEnergy, based in Akron, hasn’t been charged or officially accused of wrongdoing. Householder has pleaded not guilty to a federal corruption charge, but two associates who helped pass House Bill 6, Jeff Longstreth and Juan Cespedes, have pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme. The fees will remain blocked even though the Ohio Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a different HB6 legal challenge filed by the Ohio Manufacturers Association, a business group. The Supreme Court previously ordered the fees paused while it considered OMA’s arguments. DeWine and state legislative leaders have called for House Bill 6 to be repealed or at least, revisited. But state lawmakers failed to do so during their lame duck session in December, since House members were unable to agree on what specific action to take. The law’s future remains unclear, with legislators expected to reconvene in the coming weeks. Numerous HB6-related state and federal investigations, including from the FBI and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, are ongoing, as are numerous lawsuits.
Former top Ohio utility regulator was involved with writing tainted nuclear bill, emails show – — While serving as Ohio’s top utilities regulator, former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo worked to amend a controversial nuclear bailout bill to hurt renewable energy projects while helping a former client that had just lost a major court case, recently released emails show. Records released by the Ohio House last month show Randazzo in emails to House staff suggested wording revisions to an early version of House Bill 6, which now is at the center of a federal corruption probe, along with other minor later changes to the bill language.But they also show Randazzo helped develop new language for the bill to make it harder for wind energy projects to get exceptions to “setback” rules requiring a certain amount of distance between windmills and adjoining properties. The language, drafted as an amendment that didn’t make it into the final bill, would have benefitted Randazzo’s former client, a group of Huron County property owners who were fighting state approval for a wind farm. Randazzo had filed the case with the Ohio Supreme Court, and had withdrawn from the case six months before when Gov. Mike DeWine hired him as Ohio’s top utility regulator. Renewable energy advocates, who long have criticized Randazzo, say his involvement with House Bill 6 was inappropriate, given his role approving energy projects and setting utility rates. They’ve also questioned his impartiality in light of FirstEnergy’s disclosure that Akron power company paid $4 million to someone matching Randazzo’s description shortly before DeWine hired him. Randazzo as PUCO chairman subsequently issued rulings that benefitted FirstEnergy, including one in November 2019 that rescinded a requirement that FirstEnergy undergo a comprehensive review of its electricity rates in 2024. The company was a driving force behind House Bill 6, which otherwise bailed out two Ohio nuclear plants owned by a former FirstEnergy subsidiary. Randazzo resigned from his job leading the PUCO in late November, the same week the FBI searched his house in Columbus, and the day after FirstEnergydisclosed the $4 million payment, which prompted the company to fire its then-CEO and two other senior executives. “It is clear from these emails that Sam Randazzo, while employed as the top energy regulator in the state of Ohio, assisted in writing components of House Bill 6, and specifically pieces of that legislation that would impede development of wind energy and damage the renewable portfolio standard,” said Miranda Leppla, vice president of energy policy for the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund. “It is absolutely inappropriate for someone charged with being an independent arbiter of energy policy for the state of Ohio to be involved in drafting legislation that picks winners and losers in the types of generation operating in our state. His job as chair of the PUCO was to implement the law–not create it.”
Gov. Mike DeWine vetoes bill to reopen county fairs, signs anti-protest measure -Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday vetoed legislation seeking to override his administration’s state health order banning most county fair activities because of the coronavirus crisis.The governor signed three other bills, including one designed to toughen penalties for demonstrators who trespass or commit other crimes while protesting at energy pipelines or other “critical infrastructure.” DeWine, a Greene County Republican, wrote in his veto message of Senate Bill 375 that the health order issued last July that bans most county fair activities was a “difficult” but “necessary” decision. [ … ] The governor also signed Senate Bill 33, which increases penalties for trespassing and other crimes at oil refineries, power stations, natural gas pipelines, and other projects in the state.More than a dozen states have passed similar bills since 2018, as environmental and climate demonstrations have centered on energy facilities. The bill is modeled on language drawn up by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council.The bill makes it a third-degree felony to commit criminal mischief, criminal trespass, aggravated trespass, making false alarms, or telecommunications harassment if the crime involved a “critical infrastructure facility.”It creates the new offense of “improper organizational involvement with a critical infrastructure facility,” which bans groups from coordinating or compensating people to commit the crimes listed above. Violators will face a $100,000 fine. SB33 also allows owners of “critical infrastructure facilities” to file civil lawsuits against people who damaged their facility, even if those people have not been criminally charged. Organizations who directed or compensated people to take such action could be held liable as well. Critics, however, argue the measure deters free speech and helps silence civil protests.DeWine also signed Senate Bill 140, which will allow people to carry concealed switchblades, razors and other knives and cutting instruments, so long as they’re not used as weapons. It also repeals Ohio’s ban on manufacture and sale of “switchblade,” “spring blade” and “gravity” knives. Each of the three bills signed by DeWine takes effect in 90 days.
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