Environmental News For The Week Ending 09 May 2019

Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666

This is a collection of interesting news articles about the environment and related topics published last week. This is usually a Tuesday evening regular post at GEI (but can be posted at other times).

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Note: Because of the high volume of news regarding the coronavirus outbreak, that news has been published separately:

09 May 2021 – Coronavirus Disease Weekly News 09May 2021

09 May 2021 – Coronavirus Economic Weekly News 09May 2021

Major coronavirus metrics continue to head lower in the US, and now also globally. New cases in the US during the week ending May 8th were down 18.6% from new cases during the week ending May 1st, and are now down 83.3% from the January peak; this week also saw fewer new cases than any week since September. This week’s US deaths attributed to Covid were 6.8% lower than the prior week’s, and down 80.5% from the January high; US Covid deaths are now at the lowest rate since since the second week of July.

New cases globally during this past week were down 4.7% from the prior week (and down 5.2% from the peak of 2 weeks ago), while global Covid deaths worldwide were 4.3% lower than the prior week, at which time they had peaked; Covid deaths were still 1% higher than two weeks ago. India now accounts for slightly more than half of all new Covid cases; if we remove India’s 6% increase in new cases from the global totals, new cases elsewhere were down 13.2% from a week ago.

Earlier this week i stumbled on to the CDC page which lists the primary Covid mutants infecting the various states and regions of the US; it is replete with table and graphics, so if you’re at all interested you should take a look. As of April 10th, B.1.1.7, the Kent, UK strain, had already accounted for 60% of all US infections, with that strain having the largest penetration in the Great Lakes states, which you might recall were among those states leading a modest surge in new cases at the time. At the same time, B 1.526, known in the media as the New York strain, was accounting for 22.6% of the cases in southern New England, the other area of the country involved in that early Spring surge.

Meanwhile, B 1.427 and B1.429, variants of the so called California strain, accounted for 38.4% of all cases in California, 27.7% of all cases in Arizona, and 23.7% of all cases in Colorado. To the best of my knowledge, vaccines currently in use are effective against all of those mutant strains. What we’ll have to watch is the P1 strain from Brazil, which is at least partly vaccine and antibody resistant; that accounted for 3.7% of US cases during the March 28th to April 10th period and, ominously, 14.8% of all cases in Illinois at that time. However, as of this time, i haven’t seen any indication that it is yet affecting the Illinois state data.

Some of the COVID-19 graphics presented in the articles linked at the beginning of this post have been updated below.

Summary data graphics:

Below is a copy of today’s graph of new US cases from WorldOMeters so you can get a visuallization of what the growth and decline of this thing looks like (data through May 4):

New cases globally may have started to decline. (See Johns Hopkins graph below.) This graphic shows the daily global new cases since the start of the pandemic up through 11 May.

Globally deaths also may be starting to decline. (See Johns Hopkins graph below.) This graphic shows the daily global deaths since the start of the pandemic up through 11 May.

Here’s the week’s environment and energy news:

New study finds air pollution may cloud older white men’s thinking and memory – Nearly 1,000 older white men in the Greater Boston area may be evidence of the lasting damage air pollution can cause on the mind, according to the results of a new study. “This work confirms that there is a link between air pollution and how well the ageing brain works,” Andrea Baccarelli, a senior author on the study and professor at Columbia University, told The Guardian. “These shorter-term effects are reversible: when air pollution clears, our brain reboots and starts working back to its original level. However, multiple occurrences of these higher exposures cause permanent damage.” The study compared multiple cognitive test scores with local levels of airborne particles that are smaller than 2.5 micrometres across, known as PM2.5s, which can be discharged from road vehicles and other industrial polluters. Those who were exposed to higher levels of the pollutants scored worse – even when the levels were below national thresholds and recommendations from the World Health Organization. There may be reason to hope that this damage is preventable, according to the authors, who noted that short-term rises in pollution made less of an impact on the scores of men taking aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Still, long term exposure to air pollution reveals yet another consequence of climate change. “Our findings do not suggest yet that all older people should be on anti-inflammatory drugs, because these are medications with side-effects we cannot take lightly,” Baccarelli told The Guardian. “More holistically, reducing inflammation through a healthy diet, such as more fruit, vegetables, and fibre, or having regular physical exercise, can go a long way not only to make us generally healthier but also to make us more resilient against environmental threats such as air pollution.”

Kentucky school buses are hazardous to kids’ health, must be replaced (an op ed by students) Imagine if our public schools were responsible for poisoning elementary school students on a regular basis. How would the community react if each day, giant metal contraptions spewing toxic fumes were placed directly outside the buildings where our children attend school. Imagine if this occurred as hundreds of 8-year olds emerged from the school building upon dismissal. Then imagine if half of those kids were then placed inside these contraptions, still inhaling toxic fumes, for an hour while they are transported home. This is the reality for hundreds of thousands of Kentucky public school students still subjected to the harmful environmental, health and cognitive effects of the iconic yellow school bus. Kentucky public schools’ 9,526 school buses transport approximately 360,000 students daily. Ninety-seven percent of those buses are powered by diesel and produce toxic exhaust that is harmful to students, educators and our communities. Exposure to air pollution similar to diesel exhaust has been linked to long-term chronic health conditions like asthma and hypertension and is especially harmful to elementary school students, whose faster breathing rates and developing lungs make them more susceptible to respiratory illness. These toxins’ impact is most acute for students in urban and rural communities who spend the longest amount of timeon the bus inhaling toxic fumes.In addition to the physical health detriments of diesel emissions, many students also experience measurable cognitive decline. Long- and short-term exposure to toxic air pollution like diesel fuel emissions negatively impacts cognitive functioning and increases one’s risk of dementia. A recent Georgia study found that the cognitive and attendance benefits of reducing school bus emissions improves academic performance. The academic performance boost in English was the equivalent of going from a first-year rookie educator to one with five years of experience.

Pesticides Threaten the ‘Foundations of the Web of Life,’ New Soil Study Warns – – Researchers at the University of Maryland as well as the advocacy groups Friends of the Earth U.S. and the Center for Biological Diversity were behind what they say is “the largest, most comprehensive review of the impacts of agricultural pesticides on soil organisms ever conducted.” The study’s authors warn the analyzed pesticides pose a grave danger to invertebrates that are essential for biodiversity, healthy soil, and carbon sequestration to fight the climate emergency – and U.S. regulators aren’t focused on these threats.”Below the surface of fields covered with monoculture crops of corn and soybeans, pesticides are destroying the very foundations of the web of life,” said study co-author Nathan Donley, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “Study after study indicates the unchecked use of pesticides across hundreds of millions of acres each year is poisoning the organisms critical to maintaining healthy soils,” Donley added. “Yet our regulators have been ignoring the harm to these important ecosystems for decades.” As the paper details, the researchers reviewed nearly 400 studies “on the effects of pesticides on non-target invertebrates that have egg, larval, or immature development in the soil,” including ants, beetles, ground-nesting bees, and earthworms. They looked at 275 unique species, taxa, or combined taxa of soil organisms and 284 different pesticide active ingredients or unique mixtures. “We found that 70.5% of tested parameters showed negative effects,” the paper says, “whereas 1.4% and 28.1% of tested parameters showed positive or no significant effects from pesticide exposure, respectively.” Donley told The Guardian that “the level of harm we’re seeing is much greater than I thought it would be. Soils are incredibly important. But how pesticides can harm soil invertebrates gets a lot less coverage than pollinators, mammals, and birds – it’s incredibly important that changes.”

Locust swarms from Middle East may reach Turkey, expert warns – Swarms of locusts that invaded the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria, may reach Turkey next if the country does not take action, an expert warned on April 30, 2021. As of May 3, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said unusually strong southerly winds carried mature adult swarms to the Middle East countries and nearly reached Turkey. Professor Ali Satar, head of the zoology department of Dicle University in southeastern Turkey’s DiyarbakÄ±r, told Demiroren News Agency (DHA) that it is important to take sufficient action against locusts due to changes in weather events. Strong southerly winds in April carried groups of mature adults and small swarms from Saudi Arabia to Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria, said FAO. The swarms nearly reached Turkey, while others turned up in the Sinai Peninsula. The spread of locusts to Iraq and Syria surprised experts as the normal route starts from Saudi Arabia and includes Iran, Pakistan, India, and China. Considering the unprecedented route, locust swarms could reach Turkey. “We do not think that desert locusts will come to Turkey. But of course, there is a small possibility. Desert locusts can reach millions at a time,” he said. “The herd of locusts in Syria is said to be small. But we must always be alert.”

Bugging out: EU approves beetle larvae as food — More insects are on their way to dinner plates in Europe under an agreement between EU countries to label them “innovative food” that is safe to eat, the European Commission said Tuesday. The endorsement means the 27-nation bloc is close to adopting an EU law allowing residents and visitors to tuck into a dish featuring dried yellow mealworm, the larva of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor. “The use of insects as an alternate source of protein is not new and insects are regularly eaten in many parts of the world,” the commission noted, announcing the decision. It added that yellow mealworm must be labelled clearly as such when used in a food product, not least to alert people who might be allergic. The insect can be used to make burgers, protein shakes and biscuits. The commission said there are currently 11 other applications for insects to become “novel food” in the EU and they will be considered by the European Food Safety Authority. The decision on yellow mealworms is expected to be formally adopted in coming weeks, the commission said. While it noted that this is the first time an insect was being authorised as food in the EU, the commission did say that insects had previously been available for consumption in some member states. But that was before a 2018 update to the EU regulation on novel foods that requires whole insects to be subject to approval. Researchers have for years observed the high protein value of yellow mealworms, which contain required fat and amino acids. The larva can grow quickly in a variety of substances including brewer’s yeast, wheat bran, corn starch and potato flour. They have already long been found in food markets in Southeast Asian countries.

Mysterious situation in Coconut Grove as thousands of expensive fish suddenly die outside several homes – – A real fishy mystery in Coconut Grove after thousands of pricy koi fish have turned up dead over the past couple weeks in several homes. The impacted homeowners are devastated, and heart broken. We’re not talking about a couple of fish or even hundreds of fish, we’re talking about thousands of fish that, all of a sudden, have turned up dead. The scary thing is that the issue has been repeating itself at different homes here Coconut Grove over the past several weeks, and everyone wants to know why. “They just all don’t die at once like that,” Jen Wheeler is the owner of Pond Doctors. She services fish ponds all over South Florida. In the past two weeks she’s responded to five homes, four in this same Coconut Grove neighborhood, that have all experienced similar devastating fish kills. Thousands of fish have turned up dead from one day to the next, all in the same area. “To have them suddenly pass away for some unknown reason is really scary because you also start to think what else is this affecting,” Wheeler said. “Other than the fish that we are in love with.” It’s more than fish, too. Birds, plants and even mammals have been turning up dead; at least two wild racoons have also died, all in the same neighborhood. “It came up right up the driveway and turned on its side,” Marks said. “It looked like it might be playful, but it was convulsing and just died.” Wheeler said the oxygen levels in all the ponds she serviced was normal. “To have so many animals affected by this, something is going on,” she said. She even called the only mosquito company authorized by Miami-Dade County to control infestations, and the issue wasn’t them either. “They had not been spraying aerially since 2017 and had not used their trucks anywhere where we’re having problems,” Wheeler said. Dead fish also turned up at the pond at Miami’s Simpson Park. The common denominator is that all the ponds source their water from wells connected to the aquifer. “We’re still trying to figure out what’s in the ground water and what is causing it,” Wheeler said.

California Public Health Crisis Looms With 600 Communities Facing Water-System Failures –A familiar scene has returned to California: drought. Two counties are currently under emergency declarations, and the rest of the state could follow. It was only four years ago when a winter of torrential rain finally wrestled the state out of its last major drought, which had dragged on for five years and left thousands of domestic wells coughing up dust. That drinking-water crisis made national headlines and helped shine a light on another long-simmering water crisis in California: More than 300 communities have chronically unsafe drinking water containing contaminants that can come with serious health consequences, including cancer. The areas hardest hit are mostly small, agricultural communities in the San Joaquin and Salinas valleys, which are predominantly Latino and are often also places classified by the state as “disadvantaged.” Unsafe water in these communities adds to a list of health and economic burdens made worse by the ongoing pandemic. The causes of the state’s drinking water woes are varied – and worrisome. Nitrate, mostly from farms and dairies, is the costliest water contaminant, the study found. Nitrates are especially dangerous for infants, and can cause lethargy, dizziness and even death. Other groundwater contaminants include bacteria from leaking septic systems and uranium, which can cause kidney damage. Several other contaminants have been linked to cancers, including the industrial pollutant chromium-6, the pesticide 1,2,3-trichloropropane, and human-made and naturally-occurring sources of arsenic. Contamination is also widespread. The study looked at 2,779 public water systems across the state and evaluated their water quality, affordability, accessibility, and technical and financial capacity. It found that 326 public water systems qualified as “human right to water communities” – the ones where water systems are consistently failing to provide affordable, safe drinking water. For anyone tracking this issue (or living in these communities), that part wasn’t news. But the report also found that another 617 public water systems are at risk of failing. Virtually every county in the state had at least one system on this list, but those with the highest numbers were in rural areas with large numbers of smaller water systems, including Tulare, Fresno, Monterey and Kern counties.

Nearly 10% of all wild California condors are wreaking havoc on one person’s home – Nearly 20 California condors decided to wreak havok on a woman’s home in the town of Tehachapi, about 115 miles north of Los Angeles. Since the weekend, the endangered birds have “trashed her deck,” according to the woman’s daughter Seana Quintero, who has been tweeting about it. This includes tipping over a large plant and chair, tearing her spa cover, knocking over other items like lawn decorations, and pooping all over the place. The homeowner has tried shooing them away with a broom, but that doesn’t faze the birds. When they’re not “hanging out on her roof and railings messing with stuff,” they stare “ominously” at her from nearby trees. Only about 200 California condors exist in the wild, according toSFChronicle, with 10% of them now squatting at the Tehachapi home. “She’s definitely frustrated,” Quintero told the Chronicle, speaking about her mom, “but also is in awe of this and knows what an unusual experience this is.” From AP: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs a program to save the species from extinction, responded on Twitter. The agency noted that the house is in historic condor habitat, and suggested that Mickols try harmless hazing like shouting and clapping or spraying water.California condors almost vanished in the 1980s before the few remaining birds were captured and placed in zoos for captive breeding. A few hundred birds are now in the wild.

Trump weakened an iconic law that protects birds. Biden just moved to restore it. – Months after the Trump administration weakened the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, allowing industry and individuals to unintentionally kill any number of birds, the Biden administration proposed a new rule Thursday that would revoke that change. The proposal announced by the Interior Department would restore protections under the 102-year-old law that governed incidental take, or accidental killings of birds by people and organizations such as oil and gas companies that fail to take proper precautions to not harm the animals. “The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is a bedrock environmental law that is critical to protecting migratory birds and restoring declining bird populations,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “Today’s actions will serve to better align Interior with its mission and ensure that our decisions are guided by the best-available science.” Days before President Donald Trump left the White House, Interior finalized a rule on Jan. 7 that it had sought to enact for four years. Based on a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service solicitor’s opinion, the department said accidents resulting in bird deaths are not prohibited by the act. For example, it said, a person who destroys a structure such as a barn full of baby owls in nests is not liable for killing them. It ordered wildlife police to ignore what had been a crime. Even catastrophic events such as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana that destroyed or injured up to 1 million birds could not be punished. In the past, “the department has pursued MBTA claims against companies responsible for oil spills that incidentally killed or injured migratory birds. That avenue is no longer available,” the Trump administration said. Oil companies were the greatest beneficiaries of the Trump interpretation, according to an analysis by the Audubon Society. They were responsible for 90 percent of incidental takes prosecuted under the act, resulting in fines of $6,500 per violation. Two disastrous oil spills, Deepwater Horizon in 2010 and the Exxon Valdez oil tanker wreck off Alaska in 1989, accounted for 97 percent of the fines, according to the Audubon Society.

45,000 apply for 12 spots to shoot Grand Canyon bison –More than 45,000 people applied for the chance to shoot bison at the Grand Canyon, as part of an initiative by the National Park Service (NPS) to the limit the population of the animal, whose growing numbers are negatively impacting resources in the area. The agency invited skilled shooters to enter a lottery to win one of a dozen spots to kill bison at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The NPS authorized the removal of bison at the Grand Canyon because according to the agency, the fast growing population has been grazing and trampling on water, vegetation, soils and archaeological sites. Additionally, the animals are harming visitor experience and wilderness character, the agency says. Potential volunteers had 48 hours to enter the lottery, from Monday to Tuesday. According to The Associated Press, the NPS received 45,040 applications. About 15 percent of the applicants were Arizona residents, and one-third were from Texas, California, Colorado and Utah, the AP reported, citing Larry Phoenix, a regional supervisor for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. The department will choose 25 applicants through the lottery, screen them and then send finalists to the NPS. The first dozen finalists who send a packet of requested information to the park service will win a spot for the rare opportunity, according to the wire service, citing Grand Canyon spokeswoman Kaitlyn Thomas.

Biden administration details plans to conserve 30% of US land and water by 2030 — The Biden administration on Thursday outlined in a new report how it aims to achieve its goal of conserving achieve its goal of conserving 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. Developed by the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Commerce, as well as the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the report lays out initial recommendations for a decade-long initiative — described as the “America the Beautiful” campaign — to encourage local conservation efforts. “The President’s challenge is a call to action to support locally led conservation and restoration efforts of all kinds and all over America, wherever communities wish to safeguard the lands and waters they know and love,” the agencies’ top officials write in the report. “Doing so will not only protect our lands and waters but also boost our economy and support jobs nationwide.” Thursday’s announcement follows President Joe Biden’s climate executive order issued in late January, which instructed the federal agencies to submit a report to the National Climate Task Force with recommendations for achieving the goal of “conserving at least 30% of our lands and waters by 2030.” Much of the report focuses on promoting local and voluntary conservation efforts. The 30 by 30 goal “reflects the need to support conservation and restoration efforts across all lands and waters, not solely on public lands, including by incentivizing voluntary stewardship efforts on private lands and by supporting the efforts and visions of States and Tribal Nations,” the agencies write. The report also acknowledges that there were “divergent perspectives” from some stakeholders, including over how to define “conservation” and how to measure the success of these efforts. “There is no single database that could capture the texture and nuance of the economic and social values of every restoration or conservation action,” the report later explains, noting that in listening sessions, “the question of what should ‘count’ came up regularly.” In light of these concerns, the report recommends two main mechanisms for measuring conservation progress — one in the form of a new interagency working group to track conservation information and develop metrics for success, and the other in the publication of annual “America the Beautiful” updates.

Chemical Impact: Microplastic pollution more complex than we think, says new research — Microplastic pollution has been building up in the Great Lakes for at least four decades, but our understanding of its impact on fish and other aquatic creatures is only just catching up. Now new research from the University of Toronto shows the harm to wildlife is due to a wide range of factors that is not generally considered in toxicology testing – the plastics’ size, shape and chemical makeup. In particular, it shows larval fathead minnows exposed to microplastics collected from Lake Ontario developed almost six times more deformities compared to when they were exposed ‘pristine’ pre-consumer microplastics. This suggests microplastics in the lake soak up contaminants in the water and that it is these chemicals that are causing deformities. The study’s authors argue researchers and policymakers need to stop seeing microplastics as a single contaminant, but rather understand they are multiple contaminants in one tiny package. Plastic particles are generally considered microplastics when they are 5 millimeters (0.2 inch) or smaller. They are often the result of the breakdown of water bottles, plastic bags or other things that started out larger. Clothing made of fleece or nylon can also shed microplastic fibers when washed, and those go down the drain and into the environment. According to the United States Geological Survey, there are 112,000 particles of microplastics per square mile of Great Lakes water.Kennedy Bucci, the University of Toronto PhD student who led the study, says the most significant failing of most microplastic testing is that it doesn’t examine the impact of chemicals that hitch a ride on the particles after they end up in the water. Microplastics act like a chemical sponge, soaking up contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals. For example, researchers have found pesticides and other toxic compounds in plastics floating in water, and those plastics have in turn been found in the bellies of fish in the Great Lakes. “But most lab testing is done with pre-consumer microplastics,” said Bucci. “They’re easy to buy – they come in the mail.” These pre-consumer microplastics are usually polyethylene or polypropylene and are used to make products such as shopping bags, food wrap, detergent bottles and even auto parts. While lab testing of pre-consumer microplastics has helped raise flags, results have offered conflicting evidence. Some show harmful effects to fish – liver stress, changes to gene expression and decreased metabolism – while others show no effect. “The inconsistencies between studies in terms of whether or not an effect is detected are likely the consequence of ignoring the complexity and context of microplastics as an environmental contaminant,”

We’re All Ingesting Microplastics at Home; Here’s How to Reduce Your Risk -Australians are eating and inhaling significant numbers of tiny plastics at home, our new research shows.These “microplastics,” which are derived from petrochemicals extracted from oil and gas products, are settling in dust around the house.Some of these particles are toxic to humans – they can carry carcinogenic or mutagenic chemicals, meaning they potentially cause cancer and/or damage our DNA.We still don’t know the true impact of these microplastics on human health. But the good news is, having hard floors, using more natural fibers in clothing, furnishings and homewares, along with vacuuming at least weekly can reduce your exposure.Microplastics are plastic particles less than five millimeters across. They come from a range of household and everyday items such as the clothes we wear, home furnishings, and food and beverage packaging.We know microplastics are pervasive outdoors, reaching remote and inaccessible locations such as theArctic, the Mariana Trench (the world’s deepest ocean trench), and the Italian Alps.Our study demonstrates it’s an inescapable reality that we’re living in a sea of microplastics – they’re in our food and drinks, our oceans, and our homes.We found 39% of the deposited dust particles were microplastics; 42% were natural fibers such as cotton, hair and wool; and 18% were transformed natural-based fibers such as viscose and cellophane. The remaining 1% were film and fragments consisting of various materials.Between 22 and 6,169 microfibers were deposited as dust per square meter, each day.Homes with carpet as the main floor covering had nearly double the number of petrochemical-based fibers (including polyethylene, polyamide and polyacrylic) than homes without carpeted floors.Conversely, polyvinyl fibers (synthetic fibers made of vinyl chloride) were two times more prevalent in homes without carpet. This is because the coating applied to hard flooring degrades over time, producing polyvinyl fibers in house dust.Microplastics can carry a range of contaminants such as trace metals and some potentially harmful organic chemicals.These chemicals can leach from the plastic surface once in the body, increasing the potential for toxic effects. Microplastics can have carcinogenic properties, meaning they potentially cause cancer. They can also be mutagenic, meaning they can damage DNA.However, even though some of the microplastics measured in our study are composed of potentiallycarcinogenic and/or mutagenic compounds, the actual risk to human health is unclear.

April was sunniest on record – but also one of the coldest, says Met Office — Last month saw Scotland breaking its sunshine record for the second consecutive year with 211.5 hours, according to provisional Met Office figures.The total is 57 per cent higher than the long-term average but it was more than 70 per higher in the Glasgow area and parts of the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.It compares to 204.6 hours in 2020, which had been the highest since records began in 1919.However, average minimum temperatures last month were among the five lowest for April since those records began in 1884.Across the UK, it was the lowest for April since 1922 and the third lowest on record.The Met Office said average daily maximum temperatures were also below normal, but not by as much as the minimum temperatures.It said April saw the highest level of air frost for 60 years amid conditions more typical for December to February. As gardeners will have noticed to their frustration, there were also a record high number of ground frosts across the UK, with 22 days in April compared to an average of 12 days.Mike Kendon, senior scientist at the Met Office’s national climate information centre, said: “April has been an incredibly notable month in terms of the statistics.”Despite temperatures remaining stubbornly low in many areas, long days of sunshine was the norm and well ahead of averages, especially in northern England, Wales and Scotland.”A long, prolonged spell of dry and settled conditions was only interrupted by a wet few days in western Scotland in the first half of the month.”Cold nights have been the norm across the UK, especially in northern England and Scotland, with the lowest reading coming in at – 9.4C at Tulloch Bridge on April 12.”Areas of high pressure have become established over or around the UK, feeding in cold conditions and creating clear nights, allowing any heat to escape. “The high pressure has tended to prevent April shower activity that we might more typically expect to see at this time of year.

UK records coldest April since 1922 and frostiest since 1960 –The Met Office has confirmed that last month was the UK’s coldest April since 1922. The chilly weather was accompanied by air and ground frosts, making the country record its frostiest April since 1960 when precise record-keeping began. Despite the cold and frosts, much of the country also basked in their sunniest April on record. April 2021 had the UK’s lowest average minimum temperatures in 99 years. Frots and clear conditions combined for a chilly month, said the Met Ofice. Since records began in 1884, April 2021 had the third-lowest average UK minimum temperature for the month, early provisional figures from the National Climate Information Center (NCIC) shows. Average daily maximum temperatures fell below normal, but not by as much as the minimum. The country also saw its frostiest April last month with an average of 13 days of air frosts. This had topped the 11-day average set in April 1970. Last month’s number of air frosts is more common for December, January, or February, as the average number of air frosts for April is only five days. The average number of ground frosts in April 2021 was 22 days, which was also a record-high, compared to the average of 12 days.

Unseasonal May snow falls in South Korea for the first time in 22 years – (video) Up to 18.5 cm (7.3 inches) of snow fell in parts of Gangwon Province, South Korea, from Saturday evening to Sunday morning, May 1 to 2, 2021. It was the first time in 22 years that it has snowed in South Korea in the month of May. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) reported that up to 18.5 cm (7.3 inches) of snow blanketed Gangwon over the weekend, which was unusual for the month of May when summer weather conditions are usually seen across the country. Areas surrounding the Taebaek mountain range saw light to heavy snow, while other cities and counties saw rain from Saturday night to early Sunday morning. Guryongryeong registered more than 18 cm (7 inches) of snow. Rainfall amount reached 61.6 mm (2.4 inches) for Jinbuyeong, 58.5 mm (2.3 inches) for Misiryeong, 49 mm (1.9 inches) for Sokcho, 38 mm (1.5 inches) for Yangyang, and 29 mm (1.1 inches) for Gangneung. According to local media, it was the first time in 22 years that it has snowed in South Korea in May.

Violent storm hits China’s Jiangsu Province, claiming lives of 11 people and leaving 102 injured – A violent storm swept through east China’s Jiangsu Province late Friday, April 30, 2021, claiming the lives of at least 11 people and leaving more than 100 injured. 9 people were missing as of Saturday, May 1.The worst affected were the cities of Nantong (population of 8 million), Huaian, Taizhou, and Suqian.Extremely strong winds of up to 165 km/h (102 mph) swept through the region destroying homes and cars, and downing trees and powerlines. The storm was accompanied by hail with a diameter of up to 3 cm (1.2 inches).By 20:00 LT on May 1, the extreme weather has affected 13 688 people in several cities in Jiangsu, causing a direct economic loss of over 16.4 million yuan (2.5 million USD).At least 1 700 ha (4 200 acres) of crops were damaged as well as 6 000 homes.According to local authorities, at least 11 people were killed and 102 injured — either thrown into the Yangtze River or hit by falling trees, electricity poles, or debris. Jiangsu party secretary Lou Qinjian said a fishing boat with 11 people on board capsized. Two of them were rescued, but 9 others remain missing.More than 3 000 residents were evacuated.The storm also affected nearby cities such as Shaoxing and Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province.China’s meteorological agency warned residents more extreme weather is expected in the days ahead.

Very heavy to extremely heavy rain expected across South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya – Very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is expected in parts of South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya through May 11, according to ICPAC and national meteorological services in the region. Stakeholders are requested to alert their networks and take appropriate measures to safeguard lives and livelihoods. Very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall over 200 mm (7.9 inches) — top 5 to 1% on record — is expected in parts of central South Sudan (Al Wahdah, northern Jonglei, eastern Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Western Bahr el Ghazal), southern and eastern Ethiopia (Dire Dawa, Harar Jijiga and Degehabur), parts of central Somalia (Madug and Galguduug), and western Kenya (Nakuru, Kericho, Bomet and Narok). Moderate to heavy rainfall between 50 – 200 mm (2 – 7.9 inches) is expected in western Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, much of Uganda, South Sudan, much of Ethiopia, central and northern Somalia, and parts of southern Sudan. Light rainfall of less than 30 mm (1.2 inches) is expected in southern Sudan, parts of eastern Uganda, much of Tanzania, parts of eastern Kenya, south-western and north-eastern Somalia.

Severe flooding hits Yemen, leaving at least 13 people dead – (videos) At least 13 people have been killed after heavy seasonal rain hit Yemen on Saturday, May 1, 2021, resulting in fatalities and damage. The authorities are warning residents to stay away from flood ducts in affected areas and take necessary precautions.Yemeni security officials confirmed 13 fatalities in the Governorates of Sanaa, Ibb, Shabwa, and Hodeida.Aden, Taiz, and Hadramout Governorates have also been affected. Floodwaters there have damaged a number of houses, roads, and vehicles.”Today we were exposed to heavy rain, the houses collapsed, our belongings were lost, the bed was also damaged,” said Muhammad Salem, a man living in the Aden camp.Residents of a camp in the Yemeni city of Aden are struggling to save what’s left of their belongings after the country’s cities were battered by floods, causing the death of at least 13 people including two children.Moderate to locally heavy rain is forecast over western and central-eastern Yemen on Monday and Tuesday, May 3 and 4.The rainy season in Yemen lasts from April through August.

Widespread flooding hits Afghanistan, leaving 22 people dead, 10 missing – At least 22 people have lost their lives as widespread flooding hit Afghanistan over the past couple of days, the country’s disaster management authority (ANDMA) reported Tuesday, May 4, 2021. More than 200 homes have been damaged or destroyed, as well as wide swaths of farmland. 10 people are still missing.Heavy rains from Sunday, May 2, caused flooding that affected several provinces of the country, including Badakhshan, Daikundi, Bamyan, Khost, Samangan, Baghlan, Maidan Wardak, Ghor, and Herat. Preliminary reports show that at least 44 homes have been destroyed and 197 have been damaged. Wide swaths of orchards and farmlands have also been affected.ANDMA reported at least 22 fatalities, all of them in the province of Herat, while 10 people are missing in nine provinces. Hundreds of livestock have also been killed in the floods.The disaster management has started relief efforts in the affected areas, while search and operations are ongoing to locate the missing victims.The Afghan Meteorological Department expects severe weather until Wednesday, May 5. Warnings for heavy rain, thunderstorm, and flash floods remain in place, particularly for the northern and central provinces.

Severe floods hit Algeria, leaving substantial infrastructural damage and 7 people dead –Widespread floods and flash floods triggered by heavy rain hit Algeria on May 2 and 3, 2021, leaving at least 7 people dead and substantial infrastructural damage. In Beni-Slimane municipality, Medea Province, floods damaged a medical building, destroyed or damaged dozens of vehicles, and left 4 people dead on May 3. Severe floods hit Batna Province on May 2, cutting several roads and sweeping away two people in Amdoukal municipality. One person was killed in M’sila Province, municipality of Daira di Magra. In Ain Kadra municipality, Civil Protection rescued numerous residents. On May 5 and 6, moderate to heavy rain is forecast over most parts of central and northern Algeria.

Large landslide partially blocks Medellin River in NW Colombia – A large landslide occurred at the La Granja landfill site in La Primavera, Antioquia in Colombia on May 3, 2021, partially blocking the Medellin River. The general director of the Administrative Department of Risk Management of Antioquia (DAGRAN) said a team visited the area and made several recommendations to both the property owners and the municipality to mitigate the risk. At this time, the river continues its course and DAGRAN is working on setting up 24/7 monitoring until it returns to normal. The trigger for the landslide appears to have been a spell of heavy rainfall, although erosion of the toe by the channel cannot be eliminated, Dr. Dave Petley of The Landslide Blog said in an analysis. The landslide appears to be a slump — not at all unusual in landfill materials — fortunately without a high level of mobilization. DAGRAN has recorded 56 landslide events since the rainy season began in March. In the same period of 2020, it recorded just four such events. “I wonder if this is associated with the current La Nina conditions,” Petley said. Severe weather events are expected to continue with greater intensity in the month of May, Colombian Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) said.

Siberia Is on Fire – and It’s Only May –It looks like wildfires in Siberia are starting up again – and some fires that never went out after last summer are starting to poke their heads out of the snow. Last week, authorities put Novobirsk’s 1.7 million residents under what’s known as a “black sky” air quality warning as smoke from nearby wildfires blanketed the city. In late April, the Siberian Times reported that 27 houses were destroyed in the city of Kemerovo and 50 in Russia’s third-largest city of Novosibirsk, with more destruction in other surrounding districts. As summer approaches, fires in Siberia like these are showing no signs of slowing down – and are sparking in even colder areas north. Images gathered by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on Sunday and posted to Twitter by the EU’s Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space account show a group of wildfires clustered near Oymyakon, a rural area known for being one of the coldest places on Earth. Other satellite images grabbed from Copernicus Sentinel data show fire hotspots igniting among snow-capped landscapes.You can probably guess that Siberia – especially regions around the Arctic Circle – really isn’t supposed to burn this much. But temperatures in Siberia broke all sorts of records last summer, and scientific analyses have found that the heat in the area was made 600 times (!) more likely due to climate change. The fires that burned in the Arctic last year released a record amount of carbon dioxide that was equivalent to the entire annual emissions of Spain, creating a dangerous feedback loop. Balmy temperatures in the region continued into the winter: The island of Svalbard in Norway’s Arctic region hit its highest-ever temperature for November last year, registering 49 degrees Fahrenheit (9.4 degrees Celsius), which would be warm for November even where I am in New York. Temperatures in the high Arctic averaged 11.9 degrees Fahrenheit (6.6 degrees Celsius) above normal this winter, according to data collected by NASA. (In NASA’s case, it defines normal as the period from 1951 to 1980.)A number of fires in recent years have ignited and spread in areas with peat, a carbon-rich soil that can release its stores into the atmosphere when burned. All this new peat-based fire activity is linked to some very weird phenomena – namely what’s known as zombie fires. Peat fires can continue to smoulder underground for long periods of time, using up the carbon in the soil until they can reach the surface again. Experts have speculated that these fires could reignite into bigger blazes in warmer months.

California’s Wildfire Season Is Off to an Early Start — For the first time since 2014, parts of Northern California are seeing a May “red flag” fire warning due to dry and windy conditions. “It’s crazy, May and a red-flag warning,” Craig Clements, San Jose State University Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center director, told The Mercury News. The warning coverage area extends from Redding in the north to Modesto in the south, and includes portions of the Central Valley and the state capital of Sacramento. The warning also extends to the eastern edges of the Bay Area, The Mercury News reported. The warning, first announced Sunday, is expected to last through 5 p.m. PT Tuesday afternoon. “Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly,” National Weather Service (NWS) Sacramento cautioned. “Outdoor burning is not recommended.” Temperatures on Monday and Tuesday are also predicted to be 15 degrees above average in the Bay Area and Northern California, SFGate reported. In fact, the area has already experienced some blazes. A wildfire broke out in Big Basin Redwoods State Park on Sunday around noon. Firefighters were able to contain it to 6.7 acres by Sunday night. Small fires also ignited in the Bay Area’s Solano County and Pittsburg, The Mercury News reported. Fire season in California usually starts in summer and extends through the fall, according to The Guardian. However, the climate crisis has upended weather patterns in the state, which is now suffering from droughtconditions. Much of California, including the north, is experiencing its driest wet season in more than 40 years; Sacramento experienced its driest on record in April, NWS said. The dry conditions exacerbate fires for two reasons, according to The Mercury News. There is no water to put out early flames, and dry weather speeds up the process of curing. Curing occurs when vegetation dries out to the point where its moisture content is impacted by the dryness of the atmosphere, not the soil.

Giant sequoia still smoldering from 2020 California wildfire (AP) – A giant sequoia has been found smoldering and smoking in a part of Sequoia National Park that burned in one of California’s huge wildfires last year, the National Park Service said Wednesday. “The fact areas are still smoldering and smoking from the 2020 Castle Fire demonstrates how dry the park is,” said Leif Mathiesen, assistant fire management officer for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in central California. “With the low amount of snowfall and rain this year, there may be additional discoveries as spring transitions into summer.” The smoldering tree was found recently by scientists and fire crews surveying the effects of the blaze, which was ignited by lightning last August and spread over more than 270 square miles (699 square kilometers) of the Sierra Nevada. It took five months to fully contain. Most of California is deep in drought, with severe to extreme conditions in the mountain range that provides about a third of the state’s water. On April 1, when the Sierra Nevada snowpack is normally at its peak, its water content was just 59% of average, according to the state Department of Water Resources. The dryness could set the stage for a repeat of last year, when wildfires, many of them ignited by thousands of dry lightning strikes, burned a record 6,562 square miles (16,996 square kilometers) in the nation’s most populated state. With drought conditions dire across the American West, AccuWeather predicted an above-average 2021 wildfire season in a forecast released Wednesday. According to AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dave Samuhel, fires are projected to burn 14,844 square miles (38,445 square kilometers) of land across the Western U.S. “Unfortunately, in a nutshell, it looks like it’s going to be another busy season,” he said in a statement. “We’re seeing a lot of drought. Almost half of the country is experiencing drought, and the bulk of that is to the West.” A possible exception could be Southern California, where lack of rain has stunted spring growth that would eventually dry out and can become fuel for fires. “Since it was a dry winter there, that means there wasn’t a lot of new grass that grew,” Samuhel said. “So that could reduce the wildfire threat a little bit, at least in that area.”

New NOAA climate ‘normals’ warmer than ever — The average temperatures in the contiguous U.S. over the past three decades, or “climate normals,” reached a record high, according to aWashington Post analysis of data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.From 1991 to 2020, the 30-year average was 53.28 degrees Fahrenheit for the 48 contiguous U.S. states, a record high. The country has warmed 1.7 degrees, roughly the same as the global rate, since 1901-1930, the first three-decade period for which climate normals were recorded.NOAA data indicated climate normals increased 0.46 degrees from the 30-year period between 1981 and 2010 to the period between 1991 and 2020. This is the second-highest increase on record for the country, after the 0.5-degree increase between 1971 and 2000, and 1981 and 2010, according to the Post.Normals are used for a variety of applications, including utility rate-setting, agricultural planning and in some cases simply for forecasters to compare specific dates to their historical averages.”What we’re trying to do with climate normals is to put today’s weather in a proper context so we understand whether we’re above normal or below normal and also we’re trying to understand today’s climate so people know what to expect,” Michael Palecki, who manages NOAA updates to the data, told the Post.During the same three-decade period, precipitation also increased, according to the data, going from a national average of 30.97 inches from 1981-2010 to 31.31 inches from 1991-2020. Much of that increase was specifically in the eastern U.S., while the overall trend was dryer in the southwestern U.S. “‘It varies’ is the main message of the maps showing how the normal annual precipitation across the country has changed. Precipitation – regardless of human-caused climate change – varies a lot from place to place across the United States,” Rebecca Lindsay wrote at Climate.gov in April. “Few places exhibit a precipitation trend that is either steadily wetter or steadily drier than the 20th-century average. Instead, drier areas and wetter areas shift back and forth without an obvious pattern.”

Tornado outbreak leaves trail of damage across Mississippi – Nearly 100,000 Mississippi residents were under a tornado emergency on Sunday night, including the city of Tupelo, as a confirmed large and destructive tornado tore through the region. Left in the wake of the night’s weather was damage strewn across three communities, inflicting destruction on buildings and downing power lines. Drone footage captured by Brian Emfinger of Live Storms Media gave unparalleled footage of the massive twister working its way over Yazoo City, Mississippi. The power of the tornado’s inflow cut the connection between the drone and Emfinger’s control, as he lost the device shortly after recording the powerful scene.Shortly before 10 p.m. CDT, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a dire warning for the city of Tupelo, calling the situation particularly dangerous and life threatening as a confirmed tornado charged toward the city.A tornado emergency can be issued when a large, destructive tornado has been on the ground for an extended period of time and is approaching a populated area.”At 9:52 p.m. CDT, a confirmed large and destructive tornado was observed over Tupelo, moving northeast at 45 mph. TORNADO EMERGENCY for Tupelo. This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. TAKE COVER NOW,” the NWS warning said. Local law enforcement has reported extensive residential damage around the Elvis Presley Museum Area in Tupelo, along with downed trees and power lines. Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Presley.Around the Highway 151 area of town, local media reported a roof was torn off an apartment building.The city of Tupelo’s Mayor’s Office released a statement on Facebook on Sunday night, stating that damage had been reported throughout the city.”Emergency crews are currently assessing the degree of damage. Please do not get out and drive. It is dangerous–there are reports that power lines are down on the roads. We will update you as soon as we know the extent of damage. Prayers that all are safe, and please keep our crews and first responders in your prayers also,” thestatement said.Forecasters noticed a “debris ball” signature on radar as the storm charged toward Tupelo, indicating debris being picked up by a strong tornado and lofted high into the atmosphere. Screen captures of a Mississippi Department of Transportation camera alongInterstate 22 at Veterans Memorial Bridge showed what appeared to be a large tornado illuminated only by a flash of lightning, or possibly a power flash.

Tornado outbreak: Destructive tornadoes sweep through Mississippi, U.S. – (videos) Several destructive tornadoes swept through Mississippi late Sunday night (LT), May 2, 2021, damaging buildings and downing trees and power lines. A tornado emergency was declared for Tupelo and surrounding areas, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. According to NWS Storm Prediction Center, the country saw 22 tornadoes on May 2, 18 of them in Mississippi. A destructive tornado hit the city of Tupelo, whose officials confirmed the damage and urged residents not to get out and drive. “Emergency crews are currently assessing the degree of damage. Please do not get out and drive. It is dangerous – there are reports that power lines are down in the roads. We will update you as soon as we know the extent of the damage. Prayers that all are safe, and please keep our crews and first responders in your prayers also,” the City of Tupelo Mayor’s Office said. Tupelo Middle School sustained some damage, as well as houses and business, the AP reported. At least 2 other cities reported destruction during yesterday’s severe weather outbreak. “The town of Calhoun City was hit hard tonight,” Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office said. “Light poles have been snapped off. Trees in a few homes. Trees on vehicles. Damage to several businesses. Fortunately, we have had no reports at this time of injuries. We are asking that you PLEASE STAY OFF THE ROADS AT THIS TIME. Emergency personnel are working feverishly to open the roads as quickly as possible.” The third affected city is Yazoo, about 270 km (170 miles) SW of Tupelo and 195 km (120 miles) SW of Calhoun. City officials confirmed numerous damaged structures, without any injuries. A cyclic supercell produced damaging tornadoes from Yazoo to Durant. 4 of these tornadoes were captured in this video recorded by Alec Scholten: Another tornado was reported in Fayette and recorded by the Live Storms Media crew:

Natural disasters’ increase triggers for violence against women and girls – ‘Natural disasters,’ sparked by climate change and other natural hazards, increase the triggers for violence against women and girls by boosting the means, opportunity, and underlying drivers, finds a review of the available evidence, published in the online journalBMJ Global Health.As these disasters are increasing in frequency, severity, and duration worldwide, this consequence must now be formally recognised in public health, violence prevention, and disaster management strategies, urge the researchers.Over the past two decades, 7348 disasters precipitated by natural hazards were recorded. This is nearly double the number recorded between 1980 and 1999. And between 2008 and 2017, most (84%) of all recorded disasters were related to climate issues.The researchers base their conclusions on a systematic review of the available published evidence, looking at the association between disasters from natural hazards and violence against women and girls.Of 37 relevant studies, 20 were quantitative, 16 qualitative (interviews;case studies) and 1 was a mixed-methods design. They assessed exposure to disasters caused by different natural hazard types, including droughts, floods, and hurricanes.The violence was primarily physical, psychological and sexual. Some studies also looked at murder, controlling or aggressive behaviour, forced early marriage and financial violence.More than a third (37%) of perpetrators were current or former partners, 15% relatives, 12% strangers, 11% authority figures, 8% friends/neighbours and 16.5% unspecified or other types of perpetrators.Eight of the 20 quantitative studies found that natural disasters were associated with increased violence against women and girls, and four others found positive associations with particular types of violence.

Biden Promises to ‘Build Back Better.’ Some Climate Experts See Trouble. – NY Times –Critics say the administration hasn’t defined a clear climate resilience strategy and has been slow to fill key jobs to coordinate that work. When President Biden arrived in Lake Charles, La., on Thursday to push for spending trillions of dollars on infrastructure nationwide, plywood still covered windows broken from back-to-back hurricanes that devastated the city last summer. “I promise you, we’re going to build back better,” Mr. Biden said, talking about the need to act as climate change continues. “Better able to withstand storms that are becoming more severe and more frequent than ever.” Just weeks from the start of hurricane season, climate experts warn that Mr. Biden’s administration has yet to take steps that would turn his pledge to “build back better” into reality. They cite its failure to reinstitute a rule on building in flood zones that former President Donald J. Trump scrapped, its lack of an overarching climate resilience strategy and the fact that it has yet to hire senior staff to manage and coordinate that work. “You can’t simply say, we’re going to have resilient infrastructure, without having a plan and definition for what that means,” said Alice Hill, who oversaw climate resilience during the Obama administration. The concerns raised about Mr. Biden’s actions so far highlight the difference between two distinct areas of climate action. In addition to cutting the emissions of planet-warming gases, experts are increasingly urging the federal government to help prepare communities for the effects of that warming, such as worsening storms and rising seas. Those policies, which experts call climate adaptation, can be unpopular: They can include tougher and more expensive building standards in areas exposed to flooding or hurricanes; allowing fewer homes to be built in those places to begin with; or even encouraging people to leave. The difficulty of talking about those steps is exactly why Mr. Biden’s administration needs to make them part of its climate agenda, said Robert Freudenberg, vice president for energy and environment at the Regional Plan Association, a planning group in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. But so far, tackling climate adaptation and resilience are not atop the agenda, Mr. Freudenberg said.

Huge lava fountains at Fagradalsfjall, biggest since the eruption start, Iceland – Video — -New fissure openings have formed several times since the eruption at Fagradalsfjall, Iceland began on March 19, 2021. On May 2, the activity at the volcano changed, producing huge lava fountains — the biggest since the eruption started. The video was captured by Sigfus Steindorsson around 02:00 local time on May 2.Lava fountains were seen reaching about 300 m (985 feet) above ground lasting from 3 to 10 minutes.The Icelandic Met Office (IMO) confirmed considerable changes in volcanic activity, starting at around 01:00 LT on May 2.”It’s not clear what causes these changes in volcanic activity, but it cannot be ruled out that there have been changes in magma flow, the chemical composition of magma/gas or that there have been changes in the feed system,” IMO said. “In light of this changed activity, the size of the danger area at the eruption sites is being reassessed.”

Size of hazard area in Fagradalsfjall under re-evaluation after change in volcanic activity, Iceland – (videos) Authorities in Iceland are re-evaluating the size of the hazard area at the eruption site in Fagradalsfjall after a significant change in activity detected on May 2. The eruption in Fagradalsfjall continues through one main crater — the fifth fissure that opened in the area on April 13. The volcano started erupting on March 19, 2021, after a long period of intense seismicity. The volcanic activity was characterized by continuous lava fountains since April 27, but the activity changed at around midnight UTC on May 2 and has since been showing pulsating behavior. Here’s a view of the volcanic eruption in Iceland from early this morning.pic.twitter.com/rOH8rkRePZ These pulses have intermittent active periods of 8 – 12 minutes, with 1 – 2 minutes of rest periods in between. The active pulses start with a strong fountain activity, with fountains reaching up to 100 – 150 m (330 – 500 feet) above ground level, and some even higher — up to 300 m (985 feet). These pulses are very apparent in the seismic tremor from seismic stations in a wide area around the eruption site. On Sunday morning, just after 06:00 UTC, the wind direction changed to slow easterly, and a few hours later smoke was detected in the southwest slopes of Geldingadalir. Possibly, hot pyroxene from the eruptive crater has been carried by the wind to the southwest of the lava field for about 300 m (985 feet) distance and started a brush fire. The Icelandic Met Office said it is not clear at this time what is causing these changes in volcanic activity, but changes in magma flow, the chemical composition of magma/gas, or possibly changes in the volcanic conduit cannot be ruled out. Considering these changes in activity, the size of the hazard area at the eruption site is being re-evaluated, IMO said.

Unusually high lava fountains beyond 460 m (1 500 feet) at Fagradalsfjall, Iceland – Powerful jets of lava have been observed at the Fagradalsfjall eruption site on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula, with some reaching unusual heights beyond 460 m (1 500 feet) at 05:40 UTC on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) reported. On Wednesday, IMO noted a slight change in the seismic tremor measurements at Fagradalsfjall shortly before 04:30 UTC. Until then, the rhythm had been the same, roughly 10 minutes between magma jets. However, in the morning, about half an hour passed between powerful magma jet eruptions. At 05:40 UTC, IMO reported an “unusually high magma jet” that went beyond the perspective on the RUV webcam and “seems to have risen above 460 m (1 500 feet).” Due to the powerful lava fountains and materials ejected from a great distance, authorities defined new danger zones. Incandescent materials were spewed southwest of the crater, starting a fire and emitting smoke. The activity on the volcano is characterized by intermittent episodes of pulsating lava fountains from the central vent, following periods of calm effusion of lava.

High level of activity continues at Pacaya volcano, Guatemala— High level of activity– including strong eruptions, ash emissions, and a new lava flow– continue at Pacaya volcano in Guatemala, the National Coordination System for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) reports. This new phase of increased activity came less than a week after authorities declared the last eruptive phase over, which spanned February 5 to April 23. Lava flows from the new fissure vent on the northwestern flank of Pacaya’s McKenney crater that begun around April 29 remain active and have reached the flatter areas at the base of the cone. CONRED has been observing explosions of incandescent material from the volcano, and lava flows from the fissure continue its path to the west with a length of 2 100 m (6 900 feet). Incandescent blocks continue to occur throughout the flow, especially where the slope is greater, the National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology, and Hydrology (INSIVUMEH) eported. Seismic networks register internal tremors around the volcano due to the movement of magma, as well as periods of degassing in the crater. “CONRED, [along with] the Volcano Prevention Unit, Immediate Response Teams -ERI- and Departmental and Regional Delegates, maintains attention to the Pacaya volcano, to develop the corresponding actions for the activity that it presents,” the national disaster agency wrote.

Multiple lahars observed at St. Vincent, public advised to be vigilant and exercise caution –The National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is advising the public to be vigilant and exercise caution in areas close to valleys, rivers, streams, low-lying areas, and areas prone to flooding and landslides. Multiple lahars have already been observed on Monday, May 3. The country’s Meteorological Services says pockets of light to moderate showers are expected through early Tuesday morning (LT), May 4. The stations at Jennings Valley, South Rivers, and Majorca recorded over 25 mm (1 inch) of rainfall over a 6 hour period on May 3, and soils are still saturated from the heavy rainfall event on Thursday, April 29, 2021. More showers may result in flooding and landslides, NEMO said. There is also a heavy accumulation of volcanic ash especially in valleys close to the La Soufriere Volcano which can result in Lahars or mudflows in rainy conditions. Residents are urged to be on the alert for possible impacts resulting from rain-soaked ash. In addition, residents especially in the Yellow, Orange and Red Zones should avoid areas within the vicinity of rivers due to destructive mudflows (lahars). Motorists are also asked to exercise caution on the roads due to slippery road conditions that can occur when ash mixes with rainwater. NEMO said it will not be issuing passes for the Red Volcano Hazard Zones due to the potential dangers that mudflows pose.In 24 hours to 22:00 UTC on May 3, only a few long-period, hybrid and volcano-tectonic earthquakes were recorded and there was no further seismic tremor. The seismic network recorded signals from multiple lahars for a period of about six hours starting around 09:00 LT (13:00 UTC). These lahars most likely took place in the valleys around La Soufriere. The most intense lahars occurred between 11:00 and 12:00 LT (15:00 – 16:00 UTC). Measurements of the sulfur dioxide flux at the volcano were carried out with the help of the coastguard off the west coast of St. Vincent on May 2. Measurements yielded an average SO2 flux of 1 036 tons per day. The volcano continues to be in a state of unrest. Explosions with accompanying ashfall, of similar or larger magnitude to those that have already occurred, can take place with little or no warning. The volcano remains at Alert Level RED.

Caribbean Volcano Eruptions Send Sulfur Gases as Far as India — Satellite data show an unseasonal surge in sulfur dioxide across North India after emissions from a volcanic eruption in the Caribbean reached the South Asian nation last month.The colorless gas was emitted from several explosive blasts that rocked La Soufriere and the Caribbean island of St. Vincent starting April 9. It can mix with water to form sulfuric acid that forms acid rain.After about a week of explosive eruptions, satellite measurements show La Soufrierehas delivered about 0.4-0.6 teragrams of sulfur dioxide to the upper atmosphere, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory website. That is more than satellites have ever measured from any other Caribbean volcano.Of the 45 currently erupting volcanoes on Earth, La Soufriere is among those that worry volcanologists the most. “The current thinking is that a volcano needs to inject at least 5 teragrams of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere to have measurable climate impacts,” Michigan Technological University volcanologist Simon Carn told NASA.

A Massive Methane Reservoir Is Lurking Beneath the Sea -Methane bubbles regularly reach the surface of the Laptev Sea in the East Siberian Arctic Ocean (ESAO), each of them a small blow to our efforts to mitigate climate change. The source of the methane used to be a mystery, but a joint Swedish-Russian-U.S. investigation recently discovered that an ancient gas reservoir is responsible for the bubbly leaks.Methane in the Laptev Sea is stored in reservoirs below the sea’s submarine permafrost or in the form ofmethane hydrates – solid ice-like structures that trap the gas inside. It is also produced by microbes in the thawing permafrost itself. Not all of these sources are created equal: Whereas microbial methane is released in a slow, gradual process, disintegrating hydrates and reservoirs can lead to sudden, eruptive releases.Methane is escaping as the Laptev’s submarine permafrost is thawed by the relative warmth of overlying seawater. With an even stronger greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide, methane releases into the atmosphere could substantially amplify global warming.”To anticipate how these methane releases will develop over the coming decades or centuries, we need to understand what reservoirs of methane the releases are coming from,” said firjan Gustafsson, leader of the research group that conducted the investigation. Julia Steinbach, a researcher at Stockholm University and lead author of the new research, was instrumental in devising the triple-isotope-based method for finding methane sources. Stable isotopes detect the origin of the molecules, and radioactive isotopes help to find their age. Using this novel approach, the team discovered that the source of the methane was an old reservoir, deep below the permafrost. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in March.”The big finding was that we really have something that’s coming out from a deep pool,” said Steinbach. As the permafrost thaws, it opens up new pathways that allow methane to pass through.According to Gustafsson, this is worrying, as the pool likely contains more methane than is currently in the atmosphere. “There is, unfortunately, a risk that this methane release might increase, so it will eventually have a sizable effect on the climate,” he said.

Changes in the Gulf Stream due to climate change will have severe consequences for weather in Europe and North America by end of the century — Human-induced climate change has caused a substantial reduction in the Gulf Stream’s rate of flow, according to a new study by a team of scientists from Ireland, Britain and Germany published in the journal Nature Geoscience. Furthermore, the researchers predict that should this trend continue, which is likely under current conditions, the degradation of the Gulf Stream will reach a “tipping point” beyond which the change will become irreversible, producing major, negative impacts to weather patterns along the North Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America. The results of this study support previous modeling that predicted the slowing that has now been documented. The North Atlantic Gulf Stream, also known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), begins near Florida, flows northward along the east coast of North America, then swings eastward toward Europe, subsequently diverging into a number of separate currents. It is one of the world’s major ocean currents which have a major influence on global climate. In particular, the Gulf Stream acts as a moderating influence on the weather patterns of eastern North America and western Europe. Without it, weather patterns in these areas would be more extreme, including a greater range of temperatures and precipitation, and a marked increase in severe storms, possibly deflecting winter storm tracks over Europe. It would also accelerate sea level rise in both areas. The moderating effect of the Gulf Stream on weather patterns along the northern hemisphere’s Atlantic coasts is caused by the huge amount of warm water – more than 5.2 billion gallons (20 million cubic meters) per second – it pumps into the North Atlantic, counteracting the colder water from the Arctic region to the north. The researchers predict that the tipping point could be reached by the year 2100, beyond which the Gulf Stream would be substantially degraded or halted altogether. Once that happens, the change would likely be irreversible, regardless of any efforts to moderate climate change.

Ocean Plastic Pollution Flows From More Rivers Than Previously Thought –Plastic pollution is entering the ocean from more sources than previously thought.A new study published in Science Advances Friday found that 80 percent of the plastic that enters the world’s oceans via rivers comes from more than 1,000 waterways. That’s as much as 100 times the number of rivers previously estimated, study leader the Ocean Cleanup explained.”[T]he problem is actually much more vast than we used to think,” Ocean Cleanup founder Boyan Slat toldBBC News. “It’s not 10 rivers, it’s 1,000.”The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit launched by Slat with the goal of using technology to remove 90 percent of the plastic waste floating in the ocean. As part of that goal, the organization funded three years of research into how and how many rivers were significantly contributing to plastic pollution. Their findings upended some previous assumptions, as National Geographic explained. In 2017, two studies concluded that 90 percent of the plastic that enters the ocean via rivers was contributed by a small fraction of the world’s rivers – 10 in one study and 20 in another. Further, these rivers were large rivers that traveled a long way, such as Egypt’s Nile or China’s Yangtze. However, the new study has found that the biggest culprits are actually smaller rivers in urban areas. The 16-mile Pasig River in the Philippines is now considered a greater contributor to ocean plastics than the Yangtze, which flows 3,915 miles and was formerly ranked the most plastic-polluted river.The new insights are based on an increased amount of data and new modeling. “One big difference from a few years ago is we don’t consider rivers mere conveyor belts of plastics,” lead author Lourens J.J. Meijer told National Geographic. “If you put plastic into the river hundreds of kilometers from the mouth, it doesn’t mean that that plastic will end up in the ocean.”

US Space Command Closely Tracking Large Chinese Rocket’s Out-Of-Control Fall To Earth – The Pentagon and US Space Command are said to be tracking a large Chinese rocket which is set to reenter Earth’s atmosphere at some point this coming weekend, likely “around May 8th” according to the latest DoD statement. Crucially, the concern is that the falling rocket’s debris could land on inhabited places and pose a danger to people below, given that it is among the largest ever launces to make an uncontrolled and high speed re-entry into earth’s atmosphere. It’s also the Chinese Long March 5B rocket’s size – at 30 meters in length and weighing 22 tons – that poses the likelihood that an immense amount of debris could fall down to Earth’s surface as opposed to be being burned up upon re-entry, as is typical with smaller rockets.US Defense Department spokesman Mike Howard issued to following details in a Tuesday statement:The rocket’s “exact entry point into the Earth’s atmosphere” can’t be pinpointed until within hours of reentry, Howard said, but the 18th Space Control Squadron will provide daily updates on the rocket’s location through the Space Track website. The rocket was used by the Chinese to launch part of their space station last week. While most space debris objects burn up in the atmosphere, the rocket’s size – 22 tons – has prompted concern that large parts could reenter and cause damage if they hit inhabited areas.This is something which, though very rare, has happened in the recent past. In May of 2020 a Chinese Long March 5B made a similarly uncontrolled re-entry which resulted in debris raining down on inhabited areas of the Ivory Coast.

Antarctic Ice Sheet melting to lift sea level higher than thought, study says – Global sea-level rise associated with the possible collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been significantly underestimated in previous studies, meaning the sea level in a warming world will be greater than anticipated, according to a new study from Harvard researchers.The report, published in Science Advances, features new calculations for what researchers refer to as a water-expulsion mechanism. This occurs when the solid bedrock the West Antarctic Ice Sheet sits on rebounds upward as the ice melts and the total weight of the ice sheet decreases. The bedrock sits below sea level, so when it lifts it pushes water from the surrounding area into the ocean, adding to global sea-level rise.The new predictions show that in the case of a total collapse of the ice sheet, global sea-level rise estimates would be amplified by an additional meter, about 3 feet, within the next 1,000 years.”The magnitude of the effect shocked us,” said Linda Pan, a Ph.D. student in Earth and planetary science in GSAS who co-led the study with fellow graduate student Evelyn Powell. “Previous studies that had considered the mechanism dismissed it as inconsequential.””If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed, the most widely cited estimate of the resulting global mean sea-level rise that would result is 3.2 meters,” said Powell. “What we’ve shown is that the water-expulsion mechanism will add an additional meter, or 30 percent, to the total.” This is not a story about impact that will be felt in hundreds of years. One of the simulations Pan and Powell performed indicated that by the end of this century, global sea-level rise caused by melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would increase 20 percent by the water expulsion mechanism. “Every published projection of sea-level rise due to melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that has been based on climate modeling, whether the projection extends to the end of this century or longer into the future, is going to have to be revised upward because of their work,” “Every single one.”

Melting Antarctic could push seas to ‘catastrophic’ levels (Thomson Reuters) – Antarctic melting could cause a “dramatic” rise in sea levels if countries fail to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), posing a serious threat to low-lying and coastal regions, researchers said on Wednesday. If the upper temperature goal set in the Paris Agreement is exceeded, the melting Antarctic ice sheet could cause annual average sea-level rise of 0.07 inches (0.18 cm) globally in 2060 and beyond, said the study published in the journal Nature. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, more than 190 countries agreed to hold global average temperature rise to “well below” 2C above pre-industrial times and strive for a limit of 1.5C. Warming of 3C – a scenario that is more consistent with current policies – would push sea levels up by a “catastrophic” 0.2 inches per year globally after 2060 due to Antarctic melting, the study added. Researchers used a model based on satellite observations, climate data and machine learning to predict the region’s ice loss under different global policies to curb greenhouse gas emissions. “Ice-sheet collapse is irreversible over thousands of years, and if the Antarctic ice sheet becomes unstable, it could continue to retreat for centuries,” said co-author Daniel M. Gilford of the Rutgers Earth System Science & Policy Lab. “That’s regardless of whether emissions mitigation strategies such as removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are employed,” he added in a statement. Low-lying nations like Bangladesh, which already suffers from extreme storms and floods, are most vulnerable to the impacts of rising temperatures and sea levels, said Atiq Rahman, head of the nonprofit Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies. In Bangladesh’s flat southern area, “a little increase in sea level transfers into a much bigger linear or horizontal increase of land cover by saltwater,” explained Rahman, who was not involved in the study. “Gradually, those who are now in (areas of) brackish water, which is saltwater plus fresh water, (their land) will become saline and their agricultural productivity will decrease.” The result will be higher displacement, with people forced to move to urban areas already struggling to accommodate growing populations, where many will lead a poorer quality of life away from their families, Rahman said. Coastal communities are seeking to cope through simple measures like growing vegetables in pots away from saltwater, he noted. “People are trying to adapt, but adaptation has limits,” he added. A study published by the American Geophysical Union, an international scientific group, last month predicted that rising seas could trigger waves of migration across Bangladesh, affecting more than 1.3 million people by 2050.

Carbon Hits Record 50 Euros on Tighter Pollution Rules – The cost of pollution in Europe has surged more than 50% this year, signaling that the region’s tougher climate policies are starting to make a difference. Futures in the region’s carbon market, the world’s biggest, exceeded 50 euros ($60) per metric ton for the first time on Tuesday. Rising prices make it more expensive to release carbon dioxide into the air and force industry to look for cleaner ways to stoke their furnaces and keep the lights on. And the rally has further to go, according to Ulf Ek, chief investment officer at London hedge fund Northlander Commodity Advisors LLP. He expects futures to trade as high as 75 euros by the end of the year. “The 50 euro-mark has some significance since it has been a target price for some investors for a number of years by now,” Ek said by email. “Fundamentally, we believe prices can go higher than that, but also expect some tough political discussions on our way to 100+ prices which may turn sentiment at some point.” The permits rose as much as 1.3% on Tuesday to trade as high as 50.05 euros on ICE Futures Europe, before trading little changed from Monday. Options traders are anticipating even higher prices. Calls to buy European Union emission permits at 60 euros per ton, or about 20% above the prevailing market rate, now have the highest open interest on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. Last spring, carbon futures slumped with the rest of the global economy as the pandemic struck, trading below 15 euros in late March 2020 as the lockdowns crimped industrial activity. But as leaders in Brussels moved to make the economic recovery a green one, it became clear that any disruption in the carbon market would be temporary. In July, futures surged above 30 euros for the first time in more than a decade, just days before the EU passed its 500 billion-euro Green Deal. At the same time, financial players have continued to buy the permits, seeing an arbitrage opportunity between the current price and higher levels needed to achieve the climate plans.

The world needs to dramatically cut methane emissions to avoid worst of climate change, UN says – A landmark United Nations report has declared that drastically cutting emissions of methane, a key component of natural gas, is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global climate change. The report, published Thursday by the Climate and Clear Coalition and the U.N. Environment Programme, represents a shift in the worldwide conversation on how to best address the climate crisis, which has focused on longer-term carbon dioxide reduction. Methane is 84 times more potent than carbon and doesn’t last as long in the atmosphere before it breaks down. This makes it a critical target for reducing global warming more quickly while simultaneously working to reduce other greenhouse gases. More than half of global methane emissions come from oil and gas extraction in the fossil fuel industry, landfills and wastewater from the waste sector, and livestock emissions from manure and enteric fermentation in the agricultural sector. The world could slash methane emissions by up to 45% this decade, or 180 million tons a year, according to the U.N.’s Global Methane Assessment. Such a target will avoid nearly 0.3 degrees Celsius of warming by 2045 and help limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a goal of the Paris climate accord. The report comes after methane emissions surged to record highs last year despite worldwide lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic, according to research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Methane emissions are also rising faster than ever since record-keeping began in the 1980s. “Cutting methane is the strongest lever we have to slow climate change over the next 25 years and complements necessary efforts to reduce carbon dioxide,” Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme, said in a statement. “The benefits to society, economies, and the environment are numerous and far outweigh the cost,” Andersen said. “We need international cooperation to urgently reduce methane emissions as much as possible this decade.” The fossil fuel industry has the greatest potential for reducing global emissions at little or negative cost by repairing leaks from oil and gas infrastructure, the report said. It added that companies that prevent leaks and capture methane could profit while curbing methane release.

Reducing Methane Is Crucial for Protecting Climate and Health, and It Can Pay for Itself – Yet Emissions Are Still Rising Fast, A New UN Report Warns — Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, is a larger climate problem than the world anticipates, and cutting its emissions will be crucial to slow global warming, a new United Nations report warns. The greenhouse gas is many times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the planet, and its concentration in the atmosphere is increasing faster than at any time since record keeping began in the 1980s.Methane is much more than a climate problem, though, and this is where the report gets interesting. As methane emissions are reduced, the world reaps several benefits quickly, for health as well as the climate. In most cases, the benefits of taking action far outweigh the cost – in fact many of them make money.The report’s lead author Drew Shindell, a climate scientist and physicist, explained the findings and the urgency:The top takeaway is that methane is going up very quickly, and it needs to drop by nearly half by 2030 to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) if we hope to stay on the lowest-cost path. That means we have a rapid U-turn to make.The good news is that we have a lot to gain by cutting these emissions.Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, but it’s also a precursor of surface ozone, which is a toxic air pollutant. So, reducing methane improves the quality of the air we breathe at the same time that it reduces climate change, and the results are almost immediate.A lot of steps to reduce methane also save money, because methane is intrinsically valuable. If you capture methane from a landfill, you have a source of income right there. Capture it from leaking pipelines, and it pays for itself, because that’s the whole point of these pipelines – they transport methane as natural gas.With the technology already available today, the world could cut methane emissions from fossil fuels, agriculture and rotting waste by 45% within a decade. That would avoid 0.3 degrees Celsius (0.5 F) of warming, which might not sound like much, but it’s one-fifth of the Paris climate agreement budget of 1.5 C.So, you get climate benefits, you get public health benefits and it’s also a financial win for the companies capturing the methane. It’s not like this is rocket science. A large part of the methane being released is from natural gaspipelines and storage, oil and gas pumping and landfills – and those are all problems we know how to fix.

EPA Proposes Phase Down of Commonly Used Climate Super-Pollutants –As the Biden administration faces pressure to step up its climate action, the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced its first rule to tackle the global emergency – a proposal to reduce planet-heating chemicals commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning by 85% over the next 15 years.The EPA’s proposed rule on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – which are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide – comes in response to the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act, which Congress passed in December as part of a Covid-19 relief and spending package.The proposal, which follows President Joe Biden’s recent pledge to halve U.S. emissions by 2030 and hisLeaders Summit on Climate last month, was welcomed by David Doniger, senior strategic director in the Climate & Clean Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).”This rapid move by the Biden EPA to start phasing down these extremely potent climate pollutants will deliver enormous public health and climate benefits to all Americans,” Doniger said. “EPA is wasting no time implementing bipartisan legislation that won support ranging from NRDC and other environmental and public health advocates to industry and the Chamber of Commerce.””Replacing HFCs is a critical and totally doable first step to head off the worst of the climate crisis, and we have safer alternatives ready to go that will save industry money in the bargain,” he added. “The global HFC phasedown will avoid adding almost another degree Fahrenheit to our overheated world this century.”Acknowledging that HFCs contribute to the climate emergency, “which threatens society with costly health and environmental impacts,” the EPA estimates that “the cumulative benefits of this action is $283.9 billion from 2022 through 2050, and that the proposal will yield cumulative compliance savings for industry.”The agency’s statement also said that the total emission reductions for that time period are projected to amount to the equivalent of 4.7 billion metric tons of CO2, or nearly three years of U.S. power sector emissions at 2019 levels. Under the proposal, set to be finalized later this year, EPA “would set the HFC production and consumption baseline levels from which reductions will be made, establish an initial methodology for allocating HFC allowances for 2022 and 2023, and create a robust, agile, and innovative compliance and enforcement system,” the statement explained.

China emitted more greenhouse gasses than US, developed world combined in 2019: analysis –China’s 2019 greenhouse gas emissions exceeded those of the U.S. and other major developed nations combined, according to a report by research firm The Rhodium Group released Thursday. The report put China’s proportion of worldwide emissions at 27 percent in 2019, followed by the U.S. with 11 percent, India with 6.6 percent and the European Union with 6.4 percent. While China’s emissions must be viewed in the context of its population, per capita emissions have also nearly tripled over the past two decades to 10.1 tons, according to the report. Despite the increase, Chinese per capita emissions remain well below that of the U.S., which has the world’s highest per capita level with 17.6 tons per capita. “While final global data for 2020 is not yet available, we expect China’s per capita emissions exceeded the OECD [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] average in 2020, as China’s net [greenhouse gas] emissions grew around 1.7% while emissions from almost all other nations declined sharply in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report states. Another complicating factor is that China has been a major emitter for a much shorter period than OECD nations in particular, which have collectively admitted four times more cumulative carbon dioxide than China since 1750. “This overstates the relative role of OECD emissions in the more than 1 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures that has occurred since before the industrial revolution because a large share of annual CO2 emissions is absorbed in the earth’s carbon cycle in the decades after release,” the report states. “But China still has a way to go before surpassing the OECD on a cumulative contribution basis.”

China’s push to cut carbon emissions boosts risks for part of the country – China’s bond defaults are increasingly concentrated in a part of the country whose growth could face greater pressure from tough new restrictions on carbon emissions, according to analysis from Nomura. Fifteen regions in the northern half of China, including Beijing and Inner Mongolia, accounted for 63.4% of the number of national bond defaults last year, up from 51.5% in 2019, according to Nomura’s estimates published in an April 27 report. It’s the latest sign of growing economic disparity within the country, where GDP and population growth in the north already lags that of the south. Now, China’s pledge to to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 means production restrictions are coming for the northern region’s economy. “The new environmental campaign has the potential to hit North China – where a majority of steel, aluminum, and other raw materials are produced and processed – especially hard,” the Nomura analysts wrote. “Since most of those steel and aluminum plants are in low-tier (less developed) cities, the public financials of these cities will likely be disproportionately impacted, adding to credit default risks,” they said. Historical factors North China is home to many state-owned enterprises and heavy industries. That meant the region was disproportionately affected beginning in the late 1980s, when China began to reduce the role of state-owned enterprises in the economy, causing many workers to lose their jobs. Meanwhile, South China has more export hubs like the provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu. The region counts Shanghai and Shenzhen among its major cities, and was an early beneficiary of China’s move to allow more foreign and privately-run businesses into the relatively closed domestic market. Historical factors, as well as overcapacity built up following the 2008 financial crisis, have contributed to further weakness in the north, the Nomura analysts said. They estimate North China contributed to just 35.2% of national nominal GDP last year, with per capita GDP just about three-fourths of that in South China.

Critics say Michigan climate report relies too heavily on carbon capture | Energy News Network –Michigan environmental groups say a recent report meant to help inform the state’s plan for reaching net-zero emissions relies on unproven technology and a flawed analysis to dismiss the feasibility of hitting 100% renewable energy.Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recently convened Michigan Council on Climate Solutions is aiming to develop a plan by December that will help chart the state’s course to net-zero. The council is an advisory board Whitmer created during a series of late 2020 executive orders and includes 14 governor-appointed members. During the council’s late February opening presentation, consulting group World Resource Institute presented four “pathways” to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and net-negative emissions beyond that. The report suggested the best option was to aim for an energy system powered by between 63% and 81% renewables by 2050, and rely on carbon capture programs to close much of the remaining gap. The target is much lower than the 100% renewables target for which many state environmental groups are calling. They also oppose the inclusion of carbon capture, which they allege doesn’t reduce emissions and allows industry to continue polluting communities around companies’ factories. “If we truly care about ending systemic oppression of [environmental justice] communities, we cannot afford to be unambitious,” said Juan Jhong Chung, policy associate with the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, which represents about 50 environmental groups statewide. The report calls for “aggressive” carbon dioxide removal strategies that move beyond forest and soil sequestration programs like that which Michigan recently announced for a small section of state forest. Those include direct air capture and storage, a method that would use technology and machinery that can pull carbon dioxide out of the air and store it in the ground or construction materials.It also calls for an increase in biogas, which involves generating energy by burning wood or organic matter, then capturing and storing carbon emitted during the process, or capturing gas off of landfills and similar waste.

BlackRock ESG Hypocrisy Exposed: Firm Backs Palm Oil Producer With History Of Abuses —BlackRock made a big stink about Warren Buffett’s resistance to a pair of shareholder proposals to mandate ESG and diversity reporting standards across Berkshire Hathaway’s vast business holdings. Buffett ultimately prevailed, as he has in past years, but the backlash this year was more vocal, with a team of Reuters reporters writing that Buffett’s ESG “snub” “risks alienating Wall Street.”While some insist that ESG is the way of the future, others contend that it’s more of a fad. Some purveyors of tradeable carbon credits have been accused of selling “worthless” offsets, revealing that the system is actually pretty complicated,and auditing whether these credits are actually behaving as advertised could be a resource-intense endeavor.But while BlackRock makes a fuss about reporting standards that, more likely than not, would have little real-world impact, a report published Wednesday by the Financial Times laid bare the ETF giant’s hypocrisy when it comes to enforcing its new ESG “standards”.The world’s biggest asset manager, with nearly $9 trillion in assets, has been accused of being inconsistent for supporting a shareholder protest against Procter & Gamble’s sourcing of palm oil from an Indonesian company called Astra Agro Lestari, a subsidiary of the Astra International conglomerate based in Indonesia. The company has been accused of stealing land from local farmers, and other ESG abuses. The company’s product enters the US supply chain via a relationship with Singapore-based Wilmar International, which P&G has since asked to investigate its suppliers.But as it happens, BlackRock owns a stake both in Astra International, as well as a small direct stake in its subsidiary. And what has BlackRock done to push reform? Nothing substantial, activists conclude.Rights groups and sustainable investment advocates have now turned their attention to BlackRock, which is a significant shareholder in Astra International. According to Bloomberg data, the US fund group is Astra International’s third-largest investor, with a holding worth almost $350m. It also has a small direct holding in Astra Agro Lestari.

Biden business allies are helping the White House coax the private sector into backing climate agenda – President Joe Biden’s allies in the business community have been helping the White House try to coax the private sector into supporting the administration’s climate change agenda. Several business leaders who are working with the White House told CNBC that the effort is a major divergence from what they saw during the Trump administration. For instance, executives say they are less worried about a tweet from the president if they try to make a push for new climate policies. Former President Donald Trump was known to target corporations that appeared to oppose him on key issues. “There’s no longer the fear of the tweet, which I think was a legitimate fear from a lot of the business leaders in trying to speak out on these issues,” Hugh Welsh, president of DSM North America, which is a member of the group CEO Climate Dialogue, told CNBC on Monday. Unlike Trump, Biden has proposed an aggressive climate change policy. Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris climate agreement in 2017 and lifted Obama-era regulations on methane gas, among other actions that could end up hurting the environment. Biden brought the U.S. back into the Paris climate agreement on his Inauguration Day. Biden has also made addressing climate change a key part of his $2 trillion infrastructure plan. Biden’s proposal pushes for a $174 billion investment in the electric vehicle market. It’s all part of the president’s goal to get the country to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Tom Steyer, a billionaire who ran for president during the Democratic primary, is among several business leaders who have been actively engaging the White House and administration leaders on their climate proposals. Steyer has been speaking with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and White House climate advisor Gina McCarthy on the need to work with the private sector on what will likely be one of the president’s most expensive initiatives, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Steyer spent millions to defeat Trump and has invested in climate change initiatives. He has a net worth of $1.4 billion, according to Forbes. He was also a speaker at Morgan Stanley’s annual climate conference, this person noted. Steyer told executives and investors at the meeting that they shouldn’t invest in fossil fuel companies, as a way to combat climate change. This person declined to be named in order to discuss private matters. Representatives for Morgan Stanley did not respond to requests for comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment before publication. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the CEO Climate Dialogue have also been engaging the White House on climate initiatives. The Chamber opposes Biden’s plan to raise corporate taxes, but it backs an infrastructure overhaul. The CEO Climate Dialogue has almost two dozen members including companies from Wall Street and the energy sector. The goal of the organization is to promote the use of the private sector and a more market-based approach to securing net-zero emissions by 2050.

Granholm backs wind and solar in Biden bid to decarbonize electricity –Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm backed wind and solar energy as likely to give the biggest “bang for your buck” as part of the Biden administration’s bid to decarbonize the electric sector during a House hearing Thursday. During an Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, which was slated to examine the Biden administration’s proposal for the Energy Department’s budget, Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) what would be the most cost-effective clean energy technology and if the department planned to prioritize specific energy sources. “You love all of your children, all of your renewable energy and clean energy technologies, but I do think in terms of the biggest bang for your buck, I think research will demonstrate that it still is in solar and wind,” Granholm responded. “Our focus will be both on doing the research that’s necessary but also now on deploying,” she added, specifically citing the department’s loan office that helps fund various types of energy technology. President Biden has said that he wants the electric-sector to be free of carbon emissions by 2035, and in his infrastructure plan, said he hopes to do so by setting a clean electricity standard that’ll mandate such a transition. During the hearing, Granholm also expressed openness to subsidizing nuclear energy plants. “We’re not going to be able to achieve our climate goals if our nuclear power plants shut down, we have to find ways to keep them operating,” she said. “This question of some direct subsidy or some way to support these plants to stay open, that’s still an open question, but I know that this administration would be eager to work with Congress on it,” the official added. Asked about alternatives to a controversial nuclear waste repository in Nevada called Yucca Mountain, Granholm said that the department was “moving forward” to developing an approach to find a consent-based interim storage facility. “The possible steps…include requests for information, engaging with stakeholders and tribal governments, establishing a funding mechanism for interested communities, organizations, maybe tribal governments to explore the concept,” she said, adding that the department hopes to announce next steps “in the coming months.”

John Kerry and Climate Hypocrisy – With the World Economic Forum and Bill Gates attempting to push the world into a “carbon-free future” and with John Kerry being appointed by the Biden Administration as its Special Presidential Envoy for Climate under the Department of State, recent information released as part of the process of serving as a cabinet-level member of the White House staff is particularly pertinent. Now, let’s look at Kerry’s financial disclosure. Here are the pages that include oil and natural gas production companies: As well, Kerry holds shares in energy distribution companies including Edison International, Entergy Corp, Exelon, Eversource Energy, NRG Energy, WEC Energy Group, XCEL Energy all of which either distribute natural gas to their customers or use hydrocarbons to produce the energy that they sell to their customers According to his Public Financial Disclosure report which lists his stock sales dated electronically on April 11, 2021, Kerry did sell at least some of his holdings in hydrocarbon-based companies, however, that is a moot point since no one will know whether her would have continued to hold these shares had he not been appointed as Biden’s climate czarWe also have to keep in mind that John Kerry uses a private jet, a Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV twin-jet Serial Number 1261 as shown onthis FAA Registry for Tail Number N57HJ: The jet is owned by Flying Squirrel LLC, Teresa Heinz-Kerry’s company. The address for Flying Squirrel also matches that of the Heinz Family Foundation, located at 625 Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as shown here: According to the Daily Mail, this is what Kerry had to say about his use of a private jet when asked about using it to fly to Iceland in 2019 to accept the Arctic Circle Prize as shown here:’If you offset your carbon – it’s the only choice for somebody like me who is traveling the world to win this battle. What I’m doing, almost full time, is working to win the battle on climate change, and in the end, if I offset and contribute my life to do this, I’m not going to be put on the defensive.”Poor fellow indeed. Forced to fly in a private jet for our own good. How sad for him.

When Big Green Meets Big Money: The Nature Conservancy Caught Greenwashing Corporate Pollution — People have had second thoughts about the effectiveness (and even the goals) of a number of “Big Green” organizations for a while. Some are remarkably good – 350.org seems to be one of the best, and the national Sierra Club has also conducted itself rather well for a fair stretch of years. On the other side of the coin sit groups like World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). As you can see from the quote above, the WWF is fully aligned with the goals of corporate America, meaning the goals of predatory capitalism. Corporate-aligned, and to a large extent mainstream-Party-aligned environmental and climate groups, too often show the same priorities as the mainstream Party itself – corporate donors first, organizational loyalty second, and public-benefiting policy eighth and last. The Nature Conservancy is an older organization – the original group was founded in 1915 – and it has changed its mission and its stripes several times over the years. You can read about thathistory here. Today most people think of The Nature Conservancy as a “green” (environmentally friendly) organization that purchases land in order to protect it from despoilage. As a result of its many purchases, The Nature Conservancy has been called the “largest environmental non-profit organization by assets and revenue in the Americas,” and perhaps in the world, with assets topping $7 billion in land and other real estate holdings. The Nature Conservancy is, by any measure, rich beyond the dreams of any other “eco-friendly” liberal non-profit. It’s also not what it seems or presents itself as being. The Nature Conservancy has ties to many large companies, including those in the oil, gas, mining, chemical and agricultural industries.[35] As of 2016, its board of directors included the retired chairman of Duke Energy, and executives from Merck, HP, Googleand several financial industry groups.[36] It also has a Business Council which it describes as a consultative forum that includes Bank of America, BP America, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, Duke Energy, General Mills, Royal Dutch Shell, andStarbucks.[37] The organization faced criticism in 2010 from supporters for its refusal to cut ties with BP after the Gulf oil spill.[38][39] Writer and activist Naomi Klein has strongly criticized The Nature Conservancy for earning money from an oil well on land it controls in Texas and for its continued engagement with fossil fuel companies.[40][41] . More recently comes this, from Bloomberg Green in a report entitled “These Trees Are Not What They Seem: How the Nature Conservancy, the world’s biggest environmental group, became a dealer of meaningless carbon offsets“: JPMorgan, Disney, and BlackRock tout these projects as an important mechanism forslashing their own large carbon footprints. By funding the preservation of carbon-absorbing forests, the companies say, they’re offsetting the carbon-producing impact of their global operations. But in all of those cases, the land was never threatened; the trees were already part of well-preserved forests. Rather than dramatically change their operations – JPMorgan executives continue to jet around the globe, Disney’s cruise ships still burn oil, and BlackRock’s office buildings gobble up electricity – the corporations are working with the Nature Conservancy, the world’s largest environmental group, to employ far-fetched logic to help absolve them of their climate sins. By taking credit for saving well-protected land, these companies are reducing nowhere near the pollution that they claim. [emphasis added] JPMorgan, Disney and BlackRock are certainly getting their money’s worth for their engagement with TNC. The Conservancy defends its carbon-offset projects, saying that all adhere to peer-reviewed methodologies developed by independent registries and that each project is validated by third-party auditors. “We have absolutely no motivation to not achieve real climate solutions,” says Lynn Scarlett, chief external affairs officer at the Conservancy.

Biden’s Road to Clean Energy Runs Through West Virginia’s Manchin, Capito – West Virginia lawmakers occupy key perches on Capitol Hill as President Joe Biden introduces a sweeping infrastructure and climate package – the $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan – and pledges to revitalize coal country. Senator Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat, is a crucial swing vote in the 50-50 Senate and chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Senator Shelley Capito is the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee and an architect of the GOP’s own infrastructure proposal, a $568 billion counteroffer to Biden’s. In the House, West Virginia members sit on the infrastructure-adjacent Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees.West Virginia is the second-largest producer of coal in the U.S., behind Wyoming, but historically it has employed the lion’s share of industry workers. Although the number of coal miners nationwide has dwindled to the tens of thousands, in West Virginia they can earn an annual salary of up to about $90,000, money that has helped drive local economies. Even as coal production has shrunk and natural gas has accelerated, the industry in the state is still potent. Coal generated $14 billion in total economic activity in 2019, according to a March study from the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics.”For the last century we’ve done all the heavy jobs, the dirty jobs,” says Manchin. “We’ve helped build this country by the energy we’ve produced.”Acknowledging the shift from fossil fuels, the United Mine Workers of America recently rolled out a road map to “enhance opportunities for miners, their families, and their communities.” It calls for support for coal-fired carbon capture and storage, to keep existing jobs; tax incentives for renewable-energy manufacturing, to create new ones; wage replacement and training for dislocated miners; and other measures.But there’s skepticism that the transition can benefit coal country. “We believe that the Second Coming of the Lord is gonna get here before a just transition makes it our way,” United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts Jr. said in April during a virtual press event he led with Manchin.Capito says Biden’s clean-energy plans pose the risk of West Virginians losing out and that she’s determined not to let constituents “get dropped on their heads again.” She worries it will be a repeat of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which would have led to “basically just an abrupt closure” of fossil fuel activities “with a pretty callous regard as to what’s happened to people.”Although Biden won only 30% of votes in deep-red West Virginia, his jobs plan holds the potential for investment in infrastructure and manufacturing, especially now that the Senate has lifted its ban on earmarks. West Virginia has a notable history in that respect: The name of the late Senator Robert Byrd, the long-serving Democrat and Appropriations Committee chairman, is affixed to numerous bridges, roads, and buildings around the state.

Gridlocked: These policies might put Biden’s transmission infrastructure plans on hold — “Our grids are vulnerable to storms, hacks, catastrophic failures – with tragic results, as we saw in Texas and elsewhere during the winter storms,” Biden said in his first speech to a joint session of Congress last week. He highlighted his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, which he said “will create jobs that lay thousands of miles of transmission lines needed to build a resilient and fully clean grid.” The speech came just days after his administration announced $8.25 billion in new Energy Department loans to finance “innovative” transmission projects, including those that would transport renewable energy generated in the West or that are owned by tribal nations and Alaska Native corporations. There’s just one hitch to this ambitious plan to expand the country’s grid: It is difficult to build electric transmission projects as quickly as necessary under current U.S. policies. A new report by the nonprofit Americans for a Clean Energy Grid identifies 22 high-voltage transmission projects that are “shovel-ready,” meaning they are mostly or completely sited and permitted. The transmission lines would create an estimated 600,000 jobs and interconnect 60,000 megawatts of new renewable energy capacity, boosting the country’s wind and solar generation by nearly 50 percent. But while developers say they are prepared to begin construction, many of the 22 projects are being held up by financing and administrative barriers that, the report said, could be addressed if decision makers enact more “workable” policies. The report proposes changes such as streamlined project siting and permitting, a tax credit for transmission projects, and direct investment by the federal government in new transmission lines.Some of these “shovel-ready” projects have been in the works for a decade or more, going through years of siting processes and environmental reviews, said Rob Gramlich, one of the report’s authors and the founder of Grid Strategies, a clean energy transmission consulting firm. This decade-long pace, he said, is nowhere near fast enough to reach the country’s clean energy goals. Under current policies, Gramlich expects only half of the 22 projects identified in the report to come to fruition at all.

A Growing Summertime Risk for Cities: Power Failures During Heat Waves – – The growing risk of overlapping heat waves and power failures poses a severe threat that major American cities are not prepared for, new research suggests.Power failures have increased by more than 60 percent since 2015, even as climate change has made heat waves worse, according to the new research published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Using computer models to study three large U.S. cities, the authors estimated that a combined blackout and heat wave would expose at least two-thirds of residents in those cities to heat exhaustion or heat stroke.And although each of the cities in the study has dedicated public cooling centers for people who need relief from the heat, those centers could accommodate no more than 2 percent of a given city’s population, the authors found, leaving an overwhelming majority of residents in danger.”A widespread blackout during an intense heat wave may be the deadliest climate-related event we can imagine,” said Brian Stone Jr., a professor at the School of City & Regional Planning at Georgia Institute of Technology and the lead author of the study. Yet such a scenario is “increasingly likely,” he said.The findings come just months after a winter storm knocked out power for millions of people in Texas, causing more than 150 deathsand demonstrating how easily severe weather can overwhelm electrical grids and other infrastructure.But as much as winter storms and extreme cold remain a threat, the greater risk to human health as temperatures rise is from extreme heat.Heat is already the most dangerous type of severe-weather event, by one estimate killing some 12,000 Americans each year. And climate change is making heat waves more frequent and severe. The changing climate also seems to be making power failures more common. From 2015 to 2020, the number of blackouts annually in the United States doubled, Dr. Stone said. And those blackouts were more likely to occur during the summer, suggesting they were being driven in part by high temperatures, which increase demand on the electrical grid as people turn up their air-conditioners.

Growth in solar power sparks a land rush – Bill Lanford’s mailbox for the past year has been filling up with offers and solicitations to lease part of his family farm. The offers don’t come from housing developers though. Instead they come from alternative energy companies that are scrambling to secure suitable properties for solar farms. He eventually struck a deal with Eden Renewables, a Troy-based developer with a track record of building projects. Lanford is experiencing the latest version of a long American tradition with a high-tech twist. Like the Sooners who raced to settle the best farmland in Oklahoma in the 1800s, and the 49ers who scrambled up the mountains of the Sierra Nevada during the Gold Rush, builders of solar farms are racing to grab the best spots for their planned projects. Upstate New York is especially attractive to these developers for several reasons. The need for green power is immense in the population-dense New York metropolitan area. Upstate has the open spaces for solar farms. And the state’s push for 70 percent green energy by the end of this decade means there is a variety of subsidies for solar development. Solar companies and land leasing companies are using drones, Google maps and old fashioned shoe leather to ferret out buildable solar spots. But this land rush has sparked questions in some communities that are being impacted. “It’s the Wild West,” said Lynne Bruning, a Duanesburg resident who tried unsuccessfully to question or halt a solar farm next door to her home. Still, for some landowners the solar push has been a blessing that will allow them to keep their farms in the family.

NMFS reports right whales increasing use of New England offshore wind areas – Endangered northern right whales that have been arriving earlier in spring and staying longer around Cape Cod have also expanded their presence south and west of Nantucket Shoals, into areas planned for large-scale development of offshore wind power, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Scientists from the NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center conducting surveillance flights spotted 57 fight whales March 30 off southeast New England, in and around wind energy areas that have been leased to developers by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. NMFS officials said those whales included three mother-calf pairs – results from what experts have called the most successful calving season in years for the highly endangered species, with 17 young reported and nine mother-calf pairs sighted in Northeast waters in recent weeks. The entire population was last estimated to number around 366 animals. Right whales typically appear in Cape Cod Bay during the spring, but in recent years they have been showing up sooner and lingering longer, according to a summary released April 15 by NMFS. A small portion of the whale population, mostly pregnant females, migrates to waters off Georgia and northern Florida for the winter calving season, according to marine mammal researcher Tim Cole who leads the NEFSC whale survey team. They track the rest of the population, “and have found them so far this year in large numbers on Nantucket Shoals south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and in Cape Cod Bay,” said Cole. Right whales follow their food sources during the season and have been seen surface feeding around Cape Cod, according to the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and the Provincetown, Mass., based nonprofit Coastal Research Center which jointly conduct survey flights. Their findings led Massachusetts officials to extend a 10-knot speed limit on small craft in Cape Cod Bay and fishing trap gear restrictions through mid-May. With a series of right whale deaths in Canadian and U.S. waters during 2017, NMFS declared an “unusual mortality event” that has tallied 34 dead and 15 seriously injured right whales. Ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement are the biggest threats and NMFS is implementing new lobster trap gear rules in U.S. waters to meet a May 31 federal court deadline.

Maine fishing interests seek total ban on offshore wind energy – More than 60 commercial fishermen and their supporters testified Tuesday in favor of a bill that would block any attempt to develop offshore wind projects anywhere along the Maine coast. The bill would prohibit any state agency from permitting or approving any offshore wind energy project regardless of its location. It was introduced by Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, a commercial fisherman, and co-sponsored by eight other Republican lawmakers. The testimony on L.D. 101 from lobstermen, their families and town officials from fishing communities drew a clear line in the sand: Any offshore wind development, they told told lawmakers on the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, would threaten the very survival of their iconic industry and way of life. In his testimony, Faulkingham said offshore wind was the worst kind of green energy, and went on to list examples that, in some instances, conflated fact and opinion. He said offshore wind was three-to-five times more expensive than market prices, which may have been a reference to a single state-approved contract for the power from a demonstration project off Monhegan. He said offshore wind farms would cover 850 square miles, four times larger than Casco Bay, an apparent reference to a megawatt target set by an ocean energy task force in 2009. He said offshore wind would enrich foreign corporations with taxpayer money, without noting that the private partnership behind the Monhegan project is investing $100 million on top of $47 million in federal grants. And he called nuclear power and Canadian hydro better options, ignoring the steep opposition and multibillion-dollar cost overruns associated with nuclear power and the ongoing fight over building a transmission line through western Maine from Quebec.

Will Okla. disrupt Biden’s 100% clean energy goal? — Thursday, May 6, 2021 — Reaching President Biden’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035 would require a massive shift away from fossil fuels across the U.S. – including in red states. As Oklahoma shows, that may not be easy. The state’s natural gas devotion is setting up a potential clash with the White House and environmental groups as Biden eyes climate action through a flurry of executive orders and his $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan. But while Oklahoma’s approach to electricity isn’t aimed at meeting the Biden administration’s decarbonization goals, state leaders are still betting they can foster renewables and slash emissions while keeping the lights on. Just don’t expect Oklahomans to stop relying on natural gas for power anytime soon. Oklahoma depends mostly on a blend of generation fueled by natural gas and wind, and it’s part of a multistate grid managed by the Southwest Power Pool. While Texas was hammered by long outages in February as power supplies fell short of demand in a cold blast, residents in Oklahoma generally saw short interruptions in electric service tied to controlled outages during that extreme period. But Oklahoma did see extraordinary gas costs estimated at $3 billion to $4.5 billion, according to Wagner. He said the state is investigating why gas prices rose during the storm, and it is turning to low-interest financing to help smooth out some potential bill impacts on residents over time. Oklahoma leaders don’t want a big price spike to happen again, but they also don’t want to give up on natural gas. Wagner, a former senior adviser to the administrator at EPA, described Oklahoma as a “pioneer” in energy and said hydrogen development may be another area for future growth. He said hydrogen and gas are complementary in terms of production and power generation. For now, Oklahoma can point to carbon-cutting accomplishments from its evolving generation mix. That includes a roughly 34% drop in CO2 emissions from the state’s power sector from 2005 to 2018, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration cited by Wagner’s office. EIA often reports that Oklahoma has among the lowest average residential power prices in the country, but it had some of the highest electricity prices in February. Johnson Bridgwater, director of the Oklahoma Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the February freeze showed natural gas wasn’t reliable or affordable. “We have been brainwashed in Oklahoma,” Bridgwater said. “We have drunk the Kool-Aid of fossil fuels.”

Deaths linked to soot from gas, biomass overtake coal — Wednesday, May 5, 2021 —Coal-fired power generation and its notoriously dirty emissions are rapidly declining, but the potential health gains from cleaner air are being stymied by biomass burning and combustion sources, Harvard University researchers found in a new study. The study, published online today in the journal Environmental Research Letters, examines the number of early deaths linked to soot from power plants, boilers and other stationary combustion sources from 2008 through 2017. As coal-fired electricity plants steadily retired during that time, the share of premature deaths linked to soot from sources like natural gas-fired power plants, wood stoves and industrial boilers that burn wood pellets climbed to an estimated 70% or so of the total, the paper found. And in California, Virginia and at least 17 other states, the number of early deaths linked to gas-fired emissions outpaced those attributable to coal in 2017, according to the findings. “When you swap one combustion fuel for another, that is not the pathway to a healthy energy system,” said Jonathan Buonocore, a research scientist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the study’s lead author, during a phone interview yesterday. The paper suggests that increased reliance on solar power and other zero-emission energy sources is needed to avoid changes that will later become “regrettable assets.” Their findings also raise questions about an industry-backed campaign on Capitol Hill to spur the use of wood pellets and other forms of biomass by treating them as neutral in terms of their contribution to greenhouse gas releases. The current annual appropriations act, for example, instructs EPA and the Agriculture Department to pursue policies that “reflect the carbon-neutrality of forest bioenergy and recognize biomass as a renewable energy source.” But aside from greenhouse gases, biomass-related emissions from those sources have “fairly large” effects on human health, Buonocore said. “In order to continue the decrease in air pollution-related health impacts, now would be a good time to start paying attention to those types of sources,” he said. Supporting the research was the Rocky Mountain Institute, which advocates for a zero-carbon global energy system and the Login5 Foundation.

Cleaner ‘Bridge’ Fuels Are Killing Up To 46,000 Americans Per Year, Study Shows –Burning natural gas and wood instead of coal was supposed to be a bridge to a safer future, where heat and electricity came from sources that didn’t generate as much pollution. But new research suggests the alternative fuels are less of a bridge and more of a staircase. A new Harvard University study found that, in at least 19 states plus Washington, D.C., burning gas now kills more people than coal because of exposure to a deadly type of fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 that lingers in the air and lodges in lung tissue. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found 47,000 to 69,000 premature deaths each year that could be attributed to emissions from things like buildings, power generators and industrial boilers. Of that, fumes from gas, wood and biomass were responsible for between 29,000 and 46,000 deaths. “If you swap out one combustion fuel for another, that’s not a pathway toward a healthy energy system,” said Harvard research scientist Jonathan Buonocore, paper’s lead author. “This is showing that even with the transition from coal to gas, there are remaining impacts.” The findings do highlight the benefits of eliminating coal. In 2008, when coal produced nearly half the nation’s electricity, emissions from the power sector caused between 59,000 and 66,000 premature deaths. By 2017, that fell to 10,000 to 12,000 deaths. Along with fewer deaths came drops in U.S. output of climate-changing carbon, since gas produces roughly half the CO2 of coal. But other recent studies have cast doubt over those climate benefits. U.S. output of carbon dioxide, the primary gas causing climate change, fell 10% between 2000 to 2018 as the electricity sector’s emissions dropped 23%, mostly thanks to coal plants retiring. But if the new fleet of gas plants built over the past decade last as long and are fired up as often as the coal units they replaced, the projected emissions for the U.S. power sector over those generators’ lifespan will decrease climate-changing pollutants by just 12%, a study published last year in the journal AGU Advances found. Add to that the higher-end estimates of how much methane, a potent heat-trapping gas and the main ingredient in natural gas, leaks during production and burning, and even those reductions are effectively eliminated, the study indicated. In response to growing climate concerns and cheaper renewables, utilities are now publicly considering phasing out gas plants before their expiration dates.

Senate Republicans threaten to cut state parks funding over ‘clean cars’ rule –Minnesota’s state parks could shut down in July if the Walz administration does not bow to demands by Senate Republicans to drop plans for new “clean cars” emissions standards.Along with parks, much of the environmental arm of state government would shut down over the impasse, which flared up during a conference committee meeting Tuesday on the Senate’s proposed omnibus environment budget.If passed, the Senate’s version of the omnibus environment bill would slash tens of millions of dollars in environmental funding on a variety of projects, from combating chronic wasting disease in deer and the decline in pollinators to cleaning up forever chemicals in water supplies.Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, told the committee it is the only budget he will consider, and that he will not pass anything at all unless the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) rule-making on clean cars is stopped.”We are an outlier,” Ingebrigtsen told the committee. “We’re the only ones in the Midwest that’s moving forward with this. It’s very maddening for me and I think it is for a lot of folks.”He and Rep. Josh Heintzeman, R-Nisswa, accused the MPCA of being unwilling to compromise on the controversial emissions-cutting program. The agency should have brought it to the Legislature, The new rule, similar to one in California and more than a dozen other states, aims to help drive down heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions from transportation by requiring automakers to increase deliveries of electric vehicles to Minnesota for sale. DFL Gov. Tim Walz directed the MPCA to develop the rule as part of his emphasis on addressing climate change and the need to cut global warming gases.Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, reiterated the ultimatum for clarity: “So, if there’s not a repeal of the authority for the Clean Car rule-making coming out of this conference committee, then the budgets for BWSR [the Minnesota Board of Water & Soil Resources], the Minnesota Zoo, the LCCR [Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources], the Conservation Corps, the Science Museum … the MPCA and the DNR [Department of Natural Resources] will not happen, unless we accede to the Senate position, is that correct Senator Ingebrigtsen?””That’s exactly correct,” Ingebrigtsen replied. “I think we can move forward, but it’s going to have to be with that understanding.”

1 in 5 electric vehicle owners in California switched back to gas because charging their cars is a hassle, new research shows In roughly three minutes, you can fill the gas tank of a Ford Mustang and have enough range to go about 300 miles with its V8 engine. But for the electric Mustang Mach-E, an hour plugged into a household outlet gave Bloomberg automotive analyst Kevin Tynan just three miles of range. “Overnight, we’re looking at 36 miles of range,” he told Insider. “Before I gave it back to Ford, because I wanted to give it back full, I drove it to the office and plugged in at the charger we have there.” Standard home outlets generally put out about 120 volts of power at what electric vehicle aficionados call “Level 1” charging, while the high-powered specialty connections offer 240 volts of power and are known as “Level 2.” By comparison, Tesla’s “Superchargers,” which can fully charge its cars in a little over an hour, offer 480 volts of direct current. That difference is night and day, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Energy by University of California Davis researchers Scott Hardman and Gil Tal that surveyed Californians who purchased an electric vehicle between 2012 and 2018. Roughly one in five plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) owners switched back to owning gas-powered cars, in large part because charging the batteries was a pain in the … trunk, the researchers found. Of those who switched, over 70% lacked access to Level 2 charging at home, and slightly fewer than that lacked Level 2 connections at their workplace. “If you don’t have a Level 2, it’s almost impossible,” said Tynan, who has tested a wide range of makes and models of PEVs over the years for his research. Even with the faster charging, a Chevy Bolt he tested still needed nearly six hours to top its range back up to 300 miles from nearly empty – something that takes him just minutes at the pump with his family SUV. Public charging stations may look like the electric version of the gas station, but nearly two-thirds of PEV drivers in the survey said they didn’t use them. Exactly why they didn’t use the public stalls was not specified.

Electric Car-Charging Business Is Doing Everything But Profiting – President Joe Biden’s plan to wean U.S. drivers off fossil fuels requires massive investment in public charging stations to power the electric-car revolution. So far, none of the companies that deploy the equipment has figured out how to make a profit.The dilemma boils down to demand, and there’s a certain chicken-and-egg quality to it. Most electric-vehicle drivers charge their cars at home, so manypublic charging stations get little use. But lots of people still driving gasoline-powered cars won’t consider going electric until they see charging stations widely deployed, for fear that they will run out of juice on the road.Speculators are piling into the industry, convinced that boom times are around the corner, while short sellers and other skeptics warn that some of these companies will go belly-up long before they figure out how to make money. Biden’s plan to spend $15 billion to help create 500,000 more public stations by 2030 is feeding the optimism, with investors flocking to EV charging companies since his election. The risk is that the early movers will get badly burned, potentially souring capital markets on the industry for years to come.”It’s definitely going to require years of investment before they get any return,” said Chris Nelder, who has studied the economics of charging for the RMI energy research institute.Nelder is sure that electric-vehicle charging will eventually be profitable. But when that tipping point will arrive is one of the biggest questions hanging over charging companies.A decade into its existence, the industry is still hunting for a winning business model. Two of the more established names, Blink Charging Co. andBeam Global, made less than $10 million in revenue last year. That didn’t stop investors from sending Blink shares up more than 500% after Biden’s November win, and while it has come well off its peak the company’s market valuation is still north of $1.6 billion. Beam jumped more than 300%, though it has lost about half its value this year.Fueling cars and trucks has always been a low-margin business, with gasoline stations making much of their money from selling snacks, coffee and cigarettes. The business is even tougher when it comes to EVs. Unless they live in dense cities like New York or San Francisco, drivers do the vast majority of charging at home — their garage is their gas station. They use public chargers infrequently, with most vehicles offering more than enough range to complete daily errands without a topoff. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 80% of EV charging happens at home.

$73 Billion Clean Bus Plan Unveiled by Senators Brown, Schumer -As scientific studies continue to show the necessity of sweeping societal reforms to reduce planet-heating emissions, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined with Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chair Sherrod Brown on Tuesday to unveil a plan – backed by green groups and union leaders – that would invest $73 billion in electrifying public transit.”Today, there are approximately 70,000 mass transit buses and 85,000 cutaway vehicles and transit vans in America. Approximately 2% of those buses are zero-emission vehicles,” according to a summary documentfrom the senators. “The federal government can and should be in the business of aiding transit agencies in shifting their bus fleets to zero emissions.”The Clean Transit for America Plan from Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Brown (D-Ohio) is intended to not only combat the climate emergency and improve air quality with zero-emission fleets, but also establish a workforce training program that will create well-paying union jobs. Schumer said he intends to ensure it is included in the American Jobs Plan, part of President Joe Biden’s recently introduced infrastructure proposal.”To reduce the carbon in our atmosphere and address the climate crisis, we must transform our transit system,” declared the Senate majority leader. “The Clean Transit for America proposal will replace dirty, diesel-spewing buses, create new American jobs, help save the planet, and protect public health, particularly in our country’s most vulnerable communities.” Brown asserted that “Americans deserve world-class public transportation that is delivered with modern, zero-emission buses built by American workers,” and their plan “is the kind of transformative investment we need in public transit that will put Americans to work, connects people with opportunity, and invests in the communities that have been left on their own by Washington and Wall Street for too long.”

Midwest farmers look to plow through Biden’s electric-vehicle push – President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan outlines his vision for a low-emissions future based on massive investments in electric cars. The biofuels industry wants Biden to bankroll them, too. Corn growers and producers of ethanol – the corn-based renewable fuel that has long enjoyed special status as a government-mandated ingredient in gasoline – would get only a tiny slice of the funds proposed in the infrastructure package, despite Biden’s assurances that he views them as key to reducing dependence on fossil fuels. So now they’re turning to their traditional allies in Congress to get themselves written in.”To not see [biofuels] listed as part of an infrastructure piece, I’m hoping is just an oversight and a misunderstanding – because I know that there’s support for it,” said Rep. Cindy Axne, the only Democrat in Iowa’s congressional delegation. As co-chair of the Congressional Biofuels Caucus, she introduced legislation, H.R. 1542 (117), in March to expand access to higher blends.The pushback illustrates the political challenge facing Biden as vehicle technology changes and environmental concerns mount. The biofuels industry is influential among both Democratic and Republican lawmakers from farm states.Ethanol production supports more than 300,000 jobs concentrated in rural areas and added about $43 billion to U.S. economic output in 2019, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, a lobby group for ethanol producers. Reminders of its political importance come every four years, as presidential candidates in both parties fawn over ethanol during the primary campaigns ahead of the crucial Iowa caucuses.”In the long run, ethanol’s a dead-end fuel,” said Scott Faber, head of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group. In the interim, Faber said, ethanol is still useful while the transportation sector is dependent on gasoline and other liquid fuel.

American drivers are saving the corn ethanol industry – for now –In late April, 2020, as the pandemic descended on the US, demand for gasoline crashed to historic lows. Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), the agricultural commodities giant, decided to idle two of the country’s biggest plants producing corn-based ethanol mixed into oil-based fuels to reduce their carbon intensity. ADM’s chief biofuels rival, POET Inc., also shut down several plants. Overall, the bio-fuel accounts for about 10% of every gallon of gas pumped in the US.A year later, American drivers are back at the gas pump, and ethanol plants are back online. ADM re-opened its plants in early April; POET’s plants re-opened in August 2020 but only hit full production capacity in April. Then, just as ethanol’s road ahead was beginning to look clear, another unanticipated obstacle emerged: the spot price of its key ingredient corn surged to its highest levels in a decade in May.Between April 1 and May 4, the price of corn jumped 28% to $7.30 per bushel, the biggest monthly gain in a decade. The resurgence of ethanol refining is only part of the reason (30%-40% of US corn ends up as ethanol). An even bigger reason is that corn imports by China are now hitting record highs as the country’s economy recovers from the pandemic.US farmers, the world’s top corn exporters, won’t begin to harvest until August, and global supplies are already short as as a result of drought conditions in Brazil and Argentina. The price is likely to stay elevated at least through the fall. If summer heatwaves depress the Midwest harvest, said Naomi Blohm, a senior market adviser at Total Farm Marketing, a consulting firm in Wisconsin, prices could climb higher still.For US farmers, it’s a windfall, Blohm said, especially because the pandemic wiped out two key markets – ethanol and Chinese imports – after a relatively rich harvest in 2019 left them with billions of bushels gathering dust in silos.”Farmers were on the verge of the crappiest price in fifteen years,” she said. “But this is crazy money, ridiculous wonderful money.” Corn prices north of $6 per bushel would not normally be good news for ethanol producers, however, Blohm said. But this year, the outlook for fuel demand seems to be strong enough to outweigh that concern. “Most plants’ profit margins are still positive and certainly better than a year ago,” said Nicholas Paulson, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois. “We’re seeing ethanol prices that are able to cover the high cost of corn.”

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Automakers: States ‘unlikely to reach’ 2035 gas-free goal — Wednesday, May 5, 2021 — The auto industry’s largest trade group challenged 11 governors who are calling for a national phase-out of gasoline cars to put clean vehicles on their own roads first.

Electric vehicles and renewables will need a dramatic rise in mineral supply, IEA warns – The supply of critical minerals crucial for technologies such as wind turbines and electric vehicles will have to be ramped up over the next decades if the planet’s climate targets are to be met, according to the International Energy Agency. A new report from the Paris-based organization, published Wednesday and entitled “The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions,” focuses on the importance of nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper and rare earth elements. In a statement accompanying the report’s release, the IEA outlined how much the need for these materials could increase going forward. “Demand outlooks and supply vulnerabilities vary widely by mineral,” it said, “but the energy sector’s overall needs for critical minerals could increase by as much as six times by 2040, depending on how rapidly governments act to reduce emissions.” In a sign of how the shift to renewable energy installations will increase the pressure on critical mineral supplies, the IEA said an onshore wind plant needed “nine times more mineral resources than a similarly sized gas-fired power plant.” Around the world, governments are laying out targets to cut emissions and increase renewable energy installations, with a number aiming to use wind and solar energy as a crucial tool in their pivot away from fossil fuels. The reality on the ground shows that for many countries, any such move will be a significant challenge requiring a huge amount of change. Despite the size of the task, slowly but surely, some shifts are taking place. At the end of April, for instance, the U.S. Department of Energy said it had awarded $19 million of funding to 13 projects focused on the production of rare earth elements and critical minerals. The projects will be located in what the DOE described as “traditionally fossil fuel-producing communities.” Rare earth elements and critical minerals, it added, were “vital to the manufacturing of batteries, magnets, and other components important to the clean energy economy.” With demand for these materials only set to increase, there will be a number of hurdles to overcome. For its part, the IEA highlighted a number of potential challenges. These include supply chains described as being “complex and sometimes opaque”; the high concentration of materials in a small number of countries; tougher environmental and social standards being expected of producers; and a drop in the quality of available deposits. “Today, the data shows a looming mismatch between the world’s strengthened climate ambitions and the availability of critical minerals that are essential to realising those ambitions,” Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, said in a statement. “The challenges are not insurmountable, but governments must give clear signals about how they plan to turn their climate pledges into action,”

World faces ‘looming mismatch’ between energy transition and critical mineral supply: IEA –Progress on the world’s rising climate action ambitions could be undermined by a shortage of some of the critical minerals used in clean-energy technologies including wind turbines, solar farms and electric vehicles (EVs), unless governments act now to head-off a “looming mismatch” in supply and demand, according to a far-reaching report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).The special report, which trained a spotlight on the “central importance” of minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare-earths in a “secure and rapid transformation of the global energy sector”, found that while the “challenges are not insurmountable, governments must give clear signals about how they plan to turn their climate pledges into action” to avoid future market pinchpoints.’Resilience and hope’: renewables roar ahead with new record build-out: Irena “Today, the data shows a looming mismatch between the world’s strengthened climate ambitions and the availability of critical minerals that are essential to realising those ambitions,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol, in a statement in advance of the launch ofThe Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions.”By acting now and acting together, [international governments] can significantly reduce the risks of price volatility and supply disruptions.”Left unaddressed, these potential vulnerabilities could make global progress towards a clean-energy future slower and more costly – and therefore hamper international efforts to tackle climate change.”Demand outlooks and supply vulnerabilities “vary widely” by mineral, but the energy sector’s overall appetite for critical minerals could grow six-fold by 2040, according to the IEA, “depending on how rapidly governments act to reduce emissions”.”Not only is this a massive increase in absolute terms, but as the costs of technologies fall, mineral inputs will account for an increasingly important part of the value of key components, making their overall costs more vulnerable to potential mineral price swings,” said Birol.He added: “This is what energy security looks like in the 21st century”, adding the IEA was “fully committed” to helping governments make sure “these hazards don’t derail the global drive to accelerate energy transitions”.The report, part of the IEA’s World Energy Outlook series, stressed that the mineral demands of a renewables-power e nergy would “differ profoundly” from one run on fossil fuels, noting that an onshore wind plant needs “nine times more mineral resources than a similarly sized gas-fired power plant”, while EVs requires six times the quantities of minerals used in internal combustion engine-driven car.

Leaked docs: Gas industry secretly fights electrification — Monday, May 3, 2021 In public, Eversource Energy likes to tout its carbon neutrality goals and its investments in offshore wind. But officials from New England’s largest utility struck a different tone during an industry presentation in mid-March. Instead of advocating for lower emissions, company officials outlined a defensive strategy for preserving the use of natural gas for years to come. Natural gas is “in for [the] fight of it’s life,” said one slide presented at the meeting and obtained by E&E News. It also called for a lobbying campaign, saying that “everyone needs to contact legislators in favor of NG.” Another slide asked how the industry could “take advantage of power outage fear” to bolster gas’s fortunes.Eversource is identified in the presentation materials as the co-leader of a national “Consortium to Combat Electrification,” run out of the Energy Solutions Center, a trade group based in Washington. The slides identified 14 other utilities involved in the effort and said the group’s mission was to “create effective, customizable marketing materials to fight the electrification/anti-natural gas movement.” The presentation comes amid a rising tide of policies aimed at banning natural gas in buildings. Eversource executives sought to distance themselves from the messages conveyed in the presentation, saying they don’t reflect the views of the utility’s leadership. Yet the company’s private assessment, delivered to industry insiders, underscores the challenge facing gas providers as state and federal policymakers set their sights on net-zero emissions targets. More than 40 cities in California have taken steps to restrict gas use in new buildings. Seattle followed suit in February. Massachusetts looks like the next battleground. The state recently enacted a climate law to eliminate greenhouse gases by 2050. When Massachusetts regulators mapped out a path to zero emissions late last year, they concluded that swapping out oil- and gas-fueled furnaces, boilers and water heaters for electric alternatives constituted the most cost-effective strategy. That represents a potential threat to companies like Eversource, which last year paid $1.1 billion to acquire the Massachusetts-based assets of Columbia Gas, a subsidiary of NiSource Inc.

Drax to build three new pellet plants in Arkansas –Drax Group will begin constructing the first of three new ‘satellite’ pellet plants in Arkansas. The three plants are together expected to produce around 120,000 tonnes of sustainable biomass pellets annually from sawmill residues, supporting the company’s plans to increase self-supply to its power station in Yorkshire, UK. Drax will begin construction of the first plant later this month near a West Fraser sawmill in Grant County, with commissioning expected in October. The firm will begin construction on two more plants in other locations in the coming months. In total, Drax will invest $40 million (euro 33 million) in the state, creating around 30 new direct jobs and many more indirect jobs across three Arkansas communities. Will Gardiner, Drax Group CEO, said: “By building these new pellet plants Drax is bringing jobs and opportunities to rural communities in Arkansas, boosting the state’s post-COVID economic recovery. “Through this investment, Arkansas will play an important role in combating climate change, supporting Drax to increase the amount of sustainable biomass we produce as part of our plans to pioneer bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). “By using sustainable biomass, we have displaced coal-fired power generation, reduced carbon emissions and provided renewable electricity for millions of homes and businesses in the UK.”

Louisiana To Develop A $700M Renewable Diesel Plant -Governor Edwards announced plans for a $700 million renewable diesel refinery in Caldwell Parish this past week. He, along with CEO Paul Schubert of Strategic Biofuels LLC, made an announcement that the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Louisiana Green Fuels, will develop the plant near Columbia, LA. The plant will be on a 171-acre site at the Port of Columbia and produce up to 32 million gallons of renewable fuels annually.Louisiana Green Fuels will do this through established refinery processes with wood waste as the feedstock. It’s completing feasibility and financing phases for the project with the anticipation of a final investment decision by late 2022.Louisiana Green Fuels will make a capital investment of at least $700 million through the project. Along with the cash, 76 new direct jobs will be created. These jobs will have an annual salary of over $68,000 along with benefits. Louisiana Economic Development (LED) estimated that the project will result in an additional 412 new indirect jobs – totaling almost 500 new jobs in Caldwell Parish. The building phase is planned to take at least 30 months and will generate another 450 construction jobs. “Louisiana Green Fuels is an example of how our state can merge traditional and emerging forms of energy in exciting ways to address climate change,” said Governor Edwards. “The company has engaged Justiss Oil of Jena to drill a sequestration test well that will confirm the integrity of carbon storage a mile below the earth’s surface. This project would boost our state’s forestry sector by harvesting timber byproducts in a sustainable fashion, and the refinery’s renewable diesel output would be accomplished in a carbon-negative fashion. That means this refinery would achieve better than net-zero emissions – it would actually remove more carbon from the environment than it produces.”

Gas-Loving Texans Pile Into Home Solar, Batteries After Freeze – When blackouts hit Houston last February, Rob and Robin Dickehuth’s home became a port in the storm for neighbors, thanks to a $35,000 solar and battery system that kept windows aglow and devices fully charged. “We were pretty much the only home on the block with light,” Rob said. “I think this was a hard lesson for a lot of people in Texas.” Three months after the energy crisis that left millions without power, heat and water for days, demand for back-up electricity systems like the Dickehuth’s is skyrocketing. Freedom Solar, which installs home solar and storage, has seen sales of Tesla Powerwall batteries jump 16-fold, while Greater Texas Solar saw a 25% jump in sales after the freeze. “During the freeze, people lost faith in the grid and they lost faith in low electricity prices,” said Freedom Solar Chief Executive Officer Bret Biggart. “How do you hedge against that type of uncertainty? With solar and battery technology.” The clamor for solar and storage strikes an odd chord in fossil fuel-loving Texas, where politicians were quick to blame the blackouts on the intermittency of renewables. Even as it became clear that shuttered gas plants and fuel shortages drove the outages, lawmakers have continued to target wind and solar in their efforts to reform the state’s power system. But Texans looking for insurance against the next crisis are decidedly apolitical when it comes to keeping the lights on. “It speaks to the fact that people don’t have confidence in the state,” said Adrian Shelley, director of consumer advocate Public Citizen’s Texas office. “That’s a very Texan way of looking at the problem – I’m going to build my own grid.” Greater Texas Solar is capitalizing on that by promoting a solar and battery storage system that’s backed up with propane-fired generators – a uniquely Texan solution. During a power failure, part of the electricity created by the propane generator can also be used to charge the battery system for later use. Those with the system can run on “island mode” for days, if needed, said co-owner Bill Skinner. “It’s fairly new to have batteries and generators paired together,” said Skinner. “They’re trying to merge all these technologies together to create independence from the grid. And that’s what everyone is after — autonomy.”

80% Of U.S. Coal Plants Are Uneconomic As Renewables Costs Drop – As much as 80 percent of the coal-fired power plants in the United States are already uneconomic compared to new wind and solar projects, energy and climate policy think tank Energy Innovation said in new research this week.The combined costs for fuel, maintenance, and other costs at most operating coal power plants in the U.S are higher than the all-in costs of new solar and wind projects because of the cost declines of wind and solar generation, Energy Innovation said.The think tank’s report, The Coal Cost Crossover 2.0, compares the economics of each U.S. coal-fired power plant against the expected economics of potential new wind and solar plants nearby, using publicly available data.”Out of the 235 plants in the U.S. coal fleet, 182 plants, or 80 percent, are uneconomic or already retiring,” Energy Innovation said.The key findings of the report show that of existing U.S. coal capacity, 72 percent is either more costly to operate than new nearby wind and solar or is slated to retire by 2025. Of the existing U.S. coal-fired plants, 80 percent are more costly to operate than new nearby wind and solar plants or are slated to retire by 2025.Coal-fired power generation has been on a decline for a decade, as cheap natural gas from the U.S. shale plays first started competing with coal for power plants, and then falling wind and solar costs started to make new renewable energy projects more competitive than coal. Renewables – mostly solar and wind – are set to account for more than two-thirds of the new electricity generation capacity that the United States will install in 2021, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a forecast early this year. At the same time, due to higher natural gas production and increased natural gas-powered generation, coal-fired electricity generation capacity continues to retire in the United States.

As deaths from burning coal decline, natural gas now a leading hazard, study shows – Pollution from natural gas is now responsible for more deaths and greater health costs than coal in Illinois, according to a new study highlighting another hazard of burning fossil fuels that are scrambling the planet’s climate. Researchers at Harvard University found that a shift away from coal during the past decade saved thousands of lives and dramatically reduced health impacts from breathing particulate matter, commonly known as soot. But the numbers declined only slightly for gas, another fossil fuel that by 2017 accounted for the greatest health risks. About half the deaths from soot exposure that year can be attributed to the state’s reliance on gas to heat homes and businesses, the study found. Coal is more deadly only when used to generate electricity. The alarming findings raise questions about whether Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed transition to a zero-carbon economy would move fast enough in phasing out the use of gas – not only to blunt the impacts of climate change but also to ensure Illinoisans breathe clean air. Chicago appears to be locked into a gas-dependent future. Peoples Gas is charging its customers $7.7 billion during the next two decades to replace aging distribution lines throughout the city, even though an accelerating shift to renewable energy could make the project obsolete before it’s completed. “What the Harvard researchers found shows we need to stop burning things,” said Brady Anne Seals, manager of the carbon-free buildings program at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit research group that helped finance the pollution study. “We don’t have the luxury of time any more to meet our climate goals. Then there are these health impacts people are feeling right now.”Soot is considered one of the most harmful forms of air pollution, in particular tiny particles invisible to the human eye that can lodge deep in the lungs and penetrate the bloodstream. Breathing even small amounts can inflame the lungs and trigger asthma attacks, researchers have found. Multiple studies link soot exposure with heart attacks and premature death.

Northern Appalachia Q1 coal production rises 15.3% from Q4: MSHA | S&P Global Platts Northern Appalachia coal production in the first quarter jumped to 24.31 million st, up 15.3% from 21.09 million st in Q4 and 12.1% from 21.7 million st produced in the year-ago quarter, US Mines Safety and Health Administration data showed May 5. But the latest quarter was down 4.7% from the five-year average for the corresponding quarter. Roughly 98% of the production, or 23.83 million st, was bituminous coal, while the remaining 487,656 st was anthracite. In Q4, bituminous coal made up 97.4%, and anthracite production was 555,989 st, while in Q1 2020, bituminous output was at 96.9%, and the remaining 662,113 st was anthracite. Underground mine production was at 22.77 million st in Q1, up from 19.59 million st in Q4 and 19.77 million st in the year-ago quarter. Consol Energy’s Bailey underground mine in Greene County, Pennsylvania, was the largest mine in the region, with Q1 output totaling 3.78 million st, up from 3.05 million st in Q4 and 2.8 million st in the year-ago quarter. After the Bailey mine was American Consolidated Natural Resources’ (formerly Murray Energy) Marshall County underground mine in West Virginia, which produced 2.78 million st in Q1, up from 2.15 million st in Q4 and 2.16 million st in Q1 2020. Rounding out the top three was Consol’s Enlow Fork mine, which produced 2 million st, up from 1.64 million st in Q4, but down from 2.37 million st in the year-ago quarter. Of the top 20 producing mines, 16 saw quarterly increases in Q1, with Bailey and Marshall County seeing the largest increases. Just seven of the top 20 mines saw a year-on-year decrease, but Enlow Fork was the only one of the top 10 mines with a decline. ACNR remains the largest NAPP coal producer Six companies – ACNR, Consol, Alliance, Iron Senergy, Arch Resources, and Rosebud Mining – each produced more than 1 million st of coal in Q1 and combined to produce 22.17 million st, up from 19.15 million st in Q4 and 18.86 million st in the year-ago quarter. ACNR, the largest underground miner in the US, produced 8.6 million st in Q1, up from 7.1 million st in Q4 and 6.76 million st in the year-ago quarter. The company’s six mines each ranked in the top 12 NAPP mines in Q1. Consol produced a quarterly record 7.02 million st of NAPP coal in Q1, up from 5.88 million st in Q4 and 5.97 million st in the year-ago quarter. Surface production in Northern Appalachia was at 1.54 million st in Q1, up from 1.5 million st in Q4, but down from 1.93 million st in the year-ago quarter. Robindale Energy was the largest surface mine producer in the region, with output of 190,505 st in Q1, up from 179,050 st in Q4, but down from 200,847 st a year ago.

Bechtel reaches construction milestone at Southern Company’s $25B Vogtle nuclear plant – Bechtel achieved a major construction milestone at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Georgia, last week when it set into place a passive containment cooling water tank. This, according to Bechtel, is the last major lift at the two-unit nuclear power plant, which is operated by Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary of Southern Co. Brian Reilly, project director for Bechtel, said setting the tank in place represents the topping out of Unit 4’s shield building. The passive containment cooling water tank measures 35 feet tall and has an 85-foot outer diameter. The tank module, which includes outfitting and rigging, weighs 360 tons. The Vogtle plants’ Units 3 and 4 are the only two nuclear power plants under construction in the U.S. Bechtel said it has had more than 7,000 workers on the jobsite, which, counting the permanent jobs that have been created, makes Vogtle the largest jobs-producing construction project in the state of Georgia. Bechtel has performed either the construction or engineering for more than 80% of the nuclear plants in the U.S. DVI, a Dominion Energy subsidiary and industry leader in advanced VVO, enables utilities to enhance DER hosting capacity, energy efficiency and demand response.Bechtel said the first of 1,485 major unit modules arrived on the Vogtle site in 2011, while the last reached the project in 2019. All modules were manufactured offsite and arrived at the project ready to be assembled into larger modules that make up each of the two units. The modules included plant components like floor and wall sections, as well as the supporting structures that surround the containment buildings and reactor vessels. The Westinghouse AP1000 units the company is using are the first to be built in the U.S. Bechtel said the AP1000 plant’s passive safety systems require no operator actions to mitigate potential emergency situations, because they use only natural forces such as gravity, natural circulation and compressed gas to achieve their safety function. No pumps, fans, diesels, chillers or other active machinery are used, except for a few simple valves that automatically align and actuate the passive safety systems.The tank will hold approximately 750,000 gallons of cooling water ready to flow down into the containment vessel in an emergency to help cool the reactor, even if external power is lost. The water can also be directed to top off the spent fuel pool, while the tank itself can be refilled from water stored elsewhere on site.

FEATURE: US nuclear power plant retirement risk fluctuates with policy, power prices | S&P Global Platts – With a nuclear power plant prematurely retired in New York April 30 and the fate of two other plants in Illinois hanging in balance, the complexion of the US nuclear power fleet is in flux at a time when CO2 emissions reduction is high on the national agenda. Currently, just more than 8 GW of nuclear capacity is slated for retirement, with S&P Global Platts Analytics assessing roughly 5 GW of nuclear capacity at high risk of retirement before license expiration. Assuming the high risk and announced retirements were to be replaced by natural gas-fired generation with an average heat rate of 7,000 Btu/kWh, an incremental 1.9 Bcf/d of power burn would result from replacing these retired generators, equivalent to about 39 million mt/year of CO2 emissions, or 2% of 2016 levels, according to Platts Analytics. The analysts track nuclear plant retirement risk based on power market conditions, operating license status, policy changes and other factors. Specifically, plants are categorized from high to low risk, factoring in which units could potentially benefit from state-funded financial support or measures that price carbon emissions.The 1,041-MW Indian Point Unit 3 in Buchanan, New York, about 20 miles north of New York City, shut down permanently on April 30 after succumbing to political and economic pressure. Governor Andrew Cuomo and environmental groups including Riverkeeper fought for years to shut the plant on safety grounds, arguing an accident so close to the global financial industry in the city would be catastrophic, among other concerns. “Since my time as Attorney General, I have been deeply concerned with the safety of the Indian Point nuclear power facility,” Cuomo said in an April 29 statement, adding the plant does not belong “in close proximity to the most densely populated area in the country.” The plant’s owner, Entergy, said Indian Point was struggling financially amid lower wholesale power prices, largely due to abundant shale gas that has led natural gas prices to average around $2/MMBtu for an extended period.

NRC backs Dominion Energy’s application to extend Surry’s two nuclear reactor units by 20 years –e staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has backed Dominion Energy’s application to extend operations at its Surry Power Station by 20 years, into the 2050s. The move means that Dominion’s nuclear power plant in Surry County has been certified for an 80-year lifespan. The Surry plant, on the south bank of the James River about 17 miles northwest of Newport News, saw its first reactor open in December 1972 and its second in May 1973. The NRC said in a statement that Surry Unit 1’s renewed license will expire May 25, 2052, and the renewed license for unit 2 will expire on Jan. 29, 2053. “Extending Surry’s operations is critical to Dominion Energy meeting the Virginia Clean Economy Act’s requirements for zero-carbon electricity by 2045,” Dan Stoddard, Dominion Energy’s chief nuclear officer, said in a statement. “It also positions Virginia for continued economic growth and will help the Commonwealth remain a leader in the production of clean energy in the mid-Atlantic and South,” Stoddard said. “It supports more than 900 high-paying jobs at the station and produces additional economic and tax benefits.” The Virginia Clean Economy Act, which Gov. Ralph Northam signed in 2020, seeks to emphasize energy from renewable sources like wind and solar. It requires that by 2045, all of the energy sold by the state’s electric utilities not be carbon-based. Last Friday, the State Corporation Commission approved nine new solar farms that Dominion said will total nearly 500 megawatts, or “enough to power 125,000 homes at peak output with renewable energy.” Dominion says the two Surry nuclear units are “capable of producing clean electricity for 419,000 homes.” It had submitted the renewal application for the Surry reactors in October 2018. Last year Dominion applied for a renewal of licenses at its two nuclear reactor units at the North Anna nuclear plant in Louisa County, and the NRC review is continuing. Together, the Surry and North Anna plants produce nearly a third of the electricity for Dominion’s 2.7 million customers in Virginia and North Carolina, the company said.

New York Nuclear Closure Could Increase Gas Use, But Likely Not In New England — Natural gas use is expected to increase in New York after the closure Friday of the state’s largest nuclear plant. But it probably won’t trickle out to New England, according to a regional industry leader. New York and New England’s power grids can share electricity with each other, depending on supply and demand. They use a similar fuel mix, with very little coal and oil and an increasing amount of wind and other renewables; New York is especially dependent on hydropower. But both regions run largely on gas and nuclear power, meaning that when a nuclear plant closes, it’s usually backfilled with gas. That happened in New England after the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant retired in 2014, and climate activists expect the same in New York with the Indian Point nuclear plant now offline. That mix is likely to change again in the coming years as New York works to bring huge amounts of offshore wind power online. But in the short term, it’s unlikely to affect the power that gets exported northward, according to Dan Dolan, the head of the New England Power Generators’ Association. He says gas already tends to supply the relatively small amount of power New England gets from New York every day. New England states, including New Hampshire, are hoping to see their own boom in offshore wind power within the decade – potentially decreasing gas dependence further. The region has two remaining nuclear plants: Seabrook in New Hampshire and Millstone in Connecticut. Millstone’s two reactors are licensed to run through 2035 and 2045, and Seabrook’s license was recently extended through 2050. In the next nine years, President Joe Biden aims to permit enough offshore wind energy in the U.S. to equal the capacity of 25 new Seabrook reactors.

U.S. eyes nuclear reactor tax credit to meet climate goals -sources (Reuters) – The White House has signaled privately to lawmakers and stakeholders in recent weeks that it supports taxpayer subsidies to keep nuclear facilities from closing and making it harder to meet U.S. climate goals, three sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters. New subsidies, in the form of “production tax credits,” would likely be swept into President Joe Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar legislative effort to invest in infrastructure and jobs, the sources said. Wind and solar power producers already get these tax rebates based on levels of energy they generate. Biden wants the U.S. power industry to be emissions free by 2035. He is asking Congress to extend or create tax credits aimed at wind, solar and battery manufacturing as part of his $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan. The United States leads the world with more than 90 nuclear reactors, the country’s top source of emissions-free power generation. Yet aging plants have been closing due to rising security costs and competition from plentiful natural gas, wind and solar power, which are becoming less pricey. “There’s a deepening understanding within the administration that it needs nuclear to meet its zero-emission goals,” said a source engaged in the talks and familiar with the White House thinking. The White House had no comment. New York state’s Indian Point nuclear power plant, owned by Entergy Corp, closed its last reactor on April 30. In Illinois, Exelon Corp has said it might close four reactors at two plants by November, if the state does not implement subsidies. Nuclear plants provide thousands of union jobs that pay some of the highest salaries in the energy business. Biden’s allies in building trades unions have lobbied for the production tax credits. The credits also have the support of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from the energy-rich state of West Virginia, two of the sources said. He holds outsized power in the evenly divided Senate because he can block his party’s agenda. Preliminary plans for a federal nuclear power production tax credit in deregulated markets bar companies from double-dipping in states that offer similar assistance, according to one of the sources. Companies also would have to prove financial hardship, the source said. .

Nuclear On Verge Of ESG Inclusion: White House To Subsidize Existing Nuclear Power Plants – In a move that may infuriate environmentalists and delight investors in uranium stocks (who already saw a surge in their portfolios on Monday following our weekend report “This Is A Game-Changer For Uranium Stocks“) Reuters reports that the White House has privately signaled to lawmakers and stakeholders in recent weeks (so as not to reveal to the broader public) that it supports taxpayer subsidies to keep existing nuclear facilities from closing, bending to the reality that it needs these plants to meet its deliriously aggressively climate goals (which were dissected recently by Bloomberg in “The U.S. Will Need a Lot of Land for a Zero-Carbon Economy“).The new subsidies in the form of “production tax credits,” would likely be swept into President Joe Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar legislative effort to invest in the nation’s infrastructure and jobs, the Reuters sources said. More importantly being on par with other more “green” sources of energy, it likely means that it is now just a matter of time before even the most rabid members of the ESG crew are forced to admit nuclear to their cool crowd. Wind and solar power producers already get these tax rebates based on levels of energy they generate.As revealed last month, Biden wants the US power industry to be emissions free by 2035, a schedule which is unachievable without the benefit of nuclear power which as shown below has among the lowest land area footprints.

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Environmental News For The Week Ending 09 May 2019

If Everyone Sees It, Is It Still A Bubble?

Huawei’s Ability To Eavesdrop On Dutch Mobile Users Is A Wake-Up Call For The Telecoms Industry

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