This is the 506th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) usually appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is the June 10 Green Spotlight. More than 27,265 environmentally oriented stories have been rescued to appear in this series since 2006. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
terrypinder writes—Okay so I just have to rant: “Let’s take a trip to Austin, whose voters more or less told Uber and Lyft to shape up or get the frek out. Uber and Lyft chose to dismiss the very reasonable requests of the city and its electorate, and packed up and left. waaaaa snowflakes. My gods did the tech bros WAIL, as if their children had been ripped from their very bosoms and sold at market. How on earth would they get around during SXSW? What on earth would they do? How could they LLIIIVVVVEEEEE? IT WAS THE APOCALYPSE TO THEM. Austin, of course, has a transit system. I got to experience the bus system at Netroots Nations in 2008. It wasn’t bad and I liked it. I also got to experience the traffic inbound from the airport. That was bad. I understand they’ve now added a streetcar/trolley/light-rail/tram-train which was under construction when we were there. Austin of course has traditional taxis. Most of its adult population owns at least one car. So it’s not like the tech bros were stranded. And barring they, they could use their fucking feet, these amazing things we evolved to fucking use. Bipedal locomotion. Imagine that. Yes, I walked around Austin too, even though it was 100 bloody degrees. But never let a tech bro think they don’t have the magic solution (subways, high speed rail transport, mars, taxis, et cetera) to EVERYTHING that ails us. Enter the Lyft Shuttle.”
A Siegel writes—House Science Democrats hold (real) Climate Science/Economics Hearing (zero GOP presence): “This morning, House Democratic Representatives are holding a climate hearing that demonstrates the nature and quality of what real science oversight would like if the US government were run by people living in reality. The hearing announcement lays out the quality and seriousness of the witnesses. Everyone of them worth listening to with real attention: thoughtful, informed, calmly eloquent. The hearing announcement lays out the quality and seriousness of the witnesses. Everyone of them worth listening to with real attention: thoughtful, informed, calmly eloquent.”
Lefty Coaster writes— Al Franken warns us Pence's instincts are every bit as extreme as Trump's are: “Senator Al Franken is warning Democrats to beware of a big problem with removing the 45th president from office: it would produce a 46th president named Mike Pence. Here’s what Franken said in an interview published yesterday: But he warned that the outcome of impeachment would not be the answer to Democratic dreams. ‘Pence ran the transition and some of the very worst nominees, I felt — [EPA chief Scott] Pruitt, [Education Secretary Betsy] DeVos, [HHS Secretary Tom] Price, [Budget director Mick] Mulvaney — were Pence selections, clearly, I think,’ Franken told IBT. ‘He’s ideological, I consider him a zealot, and I think that in terms of a lot of domestic policy certainly would be worse than Trump.’ Franken went on to allow that Pence might be less dangerous than Trump in the foreign-policy arena. But still, the weighing of the pros and cons between the president and vice-president is a bit of a first, at least among Democrats with the stature of the junior senator from Minnesota.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - eaglet update: “Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest. June 20, 2017. As you recall, I discovered the nest so recently the eaglet there is pretty big already. When I swing by to check on it every few days I wonder whether it will have flown the nest. For a week I saw nothing up there, or possibly a dark hump just above the edge, and no adults at all. However last week was incessantly rainy, and I thought perhaps it was just hunkered down. Indeed it was still there! A couple of days ago the sky cleared in the afternoon, and while it was very windy, I was thrilled to see activity up there! Eagles don’t seem to mind wind. For the first time I saw both adults, as you see in the title photo. We drove slowly along the road looking for the eaglet from another angle.”
Kestrel writes—Dawn Chorus: Raptor Roundup & Open Thread: “How about a little raptor action this morning? While searching for some factual data about birds of prey, I came across this terrific resource called Science Trek produced by Idaho Public Television. It’s just chock full of interesting information about raptors. I learned some new things I didn’t know before. I’m including the link (idahoptv.org/...) and encourage you to read the whole thing, but I’m borrowing heavily and verbatim from it here. (The photos are mine, however.) Facts: What Makes a Bird a Raptor? All raptors have a hooked beak, excellent eyesight, sharp talons, and strong legs and feet. Check out what makes a bird a raptor and other nesting habits of raptors! A raptor's beak is one feature used to set them apart from other birds. All raptors have the same beak design, curved at the tip with sharp cutting edges to tear apart prey that will easily fit into the mouth. The beaks have evolved over time based on the type of prey eaten. For example, the American kestrel has a small beak for eating small prey, like mice and insects. Eagles have powerful, heavy beaks for tearing large pieces of meat, but snail kites have a highly specialized long, curved beak for probing inside snail shells.”
Garrett writes—What, If Anything, Is a Bird? “In his essay musing on what, if anything, a zebra might be, the paleontologist Steve Gould asserts that there is no such thing as a fish. A lungfish is closer to any bird or mammal, than it is to a trout. If grouping is to be cladistic, then fish do not exist. Some of our most common and comforting groups no longer exist if classifications must be based on cladograms…. I regret to report that there is surely no such thing as a fish. About 20,000 species of vertebrates have scales and fins and live in water, but they do not form a coherent cladistic group. Some — the lungfishes and the coelacanth in particular — are genealogically close to the creatures that crawled out on land to become amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. In a cladistic ordering of trout, lungfish, and any bird or mammal, the lungfish must form a sister group with the sparrow or elephant, leaving the trout in its stream. The characters that form our vernacular concept of "fish" are all shared primitive and do not therefore specify cladistic groups. What, If Anything, Is a Zebra?, Stephen Gould. In their essay musing more generally on what, if anything, a ‘natural kind’ might be, the philosophers Alexander Bird and Emma Tobin assert that there is no such thing as a reptile. A crocodile is closer to any bird, than it is to a lizard. Even if natural divisions in types of organisms exist, the division into reptiles is not one.”
owktree writes—Daily Bucket: Mirror Alphabet - "Z": “Good morning. The Alphabet Series lives on! Our twist now is to focus on things whose name *ends* with a particular letter. And we will also work backwards and start with ‘Z’. (Time once again to make our weekly attempt… to take over the Bucket!) Brain: What is Troz? Pinky: Why it's ‘Zort’ in the mirror! Troz!”
owktree writes—Daily Bucket: Waters Flowing: “Just a reminder of how much of a role flowing water plays in our lives. And man has played a role in modifying these flows — for both good and bad effects. Hopefully we have learned some lessons by now.”
PHScott writes—The Daily Bucket: From the Image Library - June: “Well there is nothing spectacular going on in my backyard this month so I thought I would go back in time, back into the Image Library, and compare to what I see now.”
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket--Who is the Baby Daddy? “Early every Spring, the Western Chorus Frogs migrates back to their birth place. If you can only hop 6 inches at a time, that’s a 600-foot, 1200-hop, grinding journey.Khaki Frog was the first frog this season to appear in the two ponds and connecting creek in the Frog Mitigation Area. He quickly commanded the high ground at pond’s edge. He croaked (ribbeted) the loudest. If another frog approached closer than one foot, he would vigorously hop over, and either mate with them or fight them. Every evening, I found more fertilized egg sacs near his waters. [...] Now, the froglets in Upper Pear Pond are abruptly appearing, just eight weeks later. Froglets are tadpoles who’ve begun to sport legs.”
ARodinFan writes—Endangered Species - How Many Will Survive Trump's Ignorant Leadership: “I saw a Bald Eagle yesterday, it flew right over our car about 30’ off the ground as we were headed to see a Saturday movie matinee (Wonder Woman ). I still take note every time I see these birds. It’s not an unusual sight anymore here in central Missouri, in any month of the year. Eagles have nested along the Missouri River less than a mile from our house during the 12 years that we have lived along the river and we see them frequently, from the back porch, on the drive to work in Jefferson CIty, the state capitol. I regularly see eagles roost in a tree just a few hundred feet from the Capitol building. Today there are about 14,000 pairs of nesting birds in the lower 48 and eagles are among the most visible successes of the EPA and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) — so much so that they are no longer listed as endangered.”
Walter Einenkel writes—You can hunt Yellowstone grizzly bears again as Trump administration lifts protections: “For over 40 years there have been federal protections on Yellowstone grizzly bears. Trump’s new Interior secretary Ryan Zinke says that it’s been so successful it’s time we end that crap and let some shooting start! Grizzlies in all continental U.S. states except Alaska have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1975, when just 136 bears roamed in and around Yellowstone. There are now an estimated 700 grizzlies in the area that includes northwestern Wyoming, southwestern Montana and eastern Idaho, leading the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conclude that the population has recovered. ‘This achievement stands as one of America's great conservation successes,’ Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a statement. Let’s sell some grizzly hunting licenses!”
Angmar writes—The Daily Bucket: Summer Solstice 2017: Photo Diary.
CA148 NEWS writes—Lincoln Memorial, Parasite Infested Duck Killing Cauldron, and Foul Smelling Fish Kills: “After Memorial Day I went to Washington DC for a visit to the Vietnam Memorial. On the way I walked past the Constitution Gardens and the Reflecting Pool. Last week the Reflecting Pool had to be drained after 80 ducklings were found dead. About 80 ducklings have been found dead in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool since May 20, the National Park Service said Friday. Necropsies performed by the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center determined the cause of death was a parasite known to grow in snails living in the pool, the NPS said. [...] Last summer Constitution Gardens Pool had a string of fish kills. This year already it looks like a stagnant back water.”
Dan Bacher writes—Two Formerly Overfished West Coast Rockfish Stocks Are Now Rebuilt: “There is some good news on West Coast fisheries, in spite of the lowest expected return of Klamath River fall-run Chinook salmon this year. The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) reported on June 19 that two key West Coast ground fish stocks that were formerly overfished, bocaccio and dark-blotched rockfish, have been rebuilt.The imposition of the Rockfish Conservation Zone closure along the continental shelf, more restrictive bag limits and seasons, and favorable environmental conditions for groundfish have combined to produce increasingly robust groundfish populations along the West Coast. ‘The successful rebuilding of these species reflects the support and sacrifice of West Coast ports and fishermen who recognized the difficult actions and fishing cutbacks necessary to restore the stocks,’ according to a PFMC press release. ‘The rebuilding of bocaccio and darkblotched rockfish will lead to increased harvest opportunities beginning in 2019.’ ”
CLIMATE CHAOS
Surface melt became widespread over West Antarctica in January 2016.
Agelbert writes—Climate Central: Scientists Saw a Nearly Unheard of Antarctic Meltdown: “By Brian Kahn. Antarctica is unfreezing. In the past few months alone, researchers have chronicled a seasonal waterfall, widespread networks of rivers and melt ponds and an iceberg the size of Delaware on the brink of breaking away from the thawing landscape. A new study published in Nature Communications only adds to the disturbing trend of change afoot in Antarctica. Researchers have documented rain on a continent more known for snow and widespread surface melt in West Antarctica last summer, one of the most unstable parts of a continent that’s already being eaten away by warm waters below the ice. The findings, published Thursday, indicate that last year’s super El Niño played a large role in driving the meltdown, but researchers are concerned that overlaying natural climate patterns onto the long-term warming driven by carbon pollution could put Antarctica’s ice in an even more precarious position.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Stream Members Following Profile Deniers Need to Slow Down on Pause Study Praise: “We regret to inform you that a fresh round of pause-posts have cropped up in the Daily Caller and Breitbart. As per usual, they (deliberately) confuse a slowdown in the rate of warming’s acceleration with temperatures flatlining, and conflate model fine-tuning with model failure. For those interested in the details of denier misrepresentation of this new study by Santer, Mann and a bunch of other big names in climate science, see HotWhopper. Straightforward and technical coverage is available at Carbon Brief. But for those as tired as we are of this overblown issue, here’s the gist of it. Santer et al look at why the rate of warming slowed after 2000, and suggest it’s a combination of natural variability and underestimation by models of the frequency of cooling forces. This underestimation isn’t an issue of climate sensitivity, but of things like a string of climate-cooling volcano eruptions in the early 21st century, a cooler than expected sun, and how much climate-cooling aerosol pollution would be in the air. These unexpected and unpredictable climate-cooling factors, coinciding with some natural variability that happened to swing towards lower temperatures, meant that models projected a little more warming than we saw. Not much, but enough that it’s worth the time of legitimate scientists to undertake a study like this to continue sharpening models. [...] Can deniers use this study to claim models have failed? Sure. Would that be dishonest? Of course. Will that stop them? Hasn’t before.”
Walter Einenkel writes—Energy Secretary Rick Perry says CO2 emissions aren't the main cause of global warming: “Like everything else connected to the Republican Party and Donald Trump, the new Secretary of the Department of Energy fills us all with depressing thoughts and feelings. Inside Climate News has more unsurprising but equally depressing Rick Perry news—he’s a non-climate-denying climate denier! Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Monday he does not believe carbon dioxide emissions are the main driver of the earth's record-setting warming, a core finding of climate science. Instead, Perry said, the driver is most likely ‘the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.’ [...] But Perry went further in his response to CNBC host Joe Kernen—who has expressed his own skepticism about climate science in the past—when asked whether he viewed carbon dioxide as the main "control knob" for climate. ‘No. Most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in,’ Perry, a former Texas governor, said.”
Walter Einenkel writes—Alabama teacher's high school reading list includes 'global warming hoax' book and other madness: “A former candidate for Alabama lieutenant governor Gene Ponder is in hot water after his “summer reading list” for his Spanish Fort High School class got passed around online. [...] Spanish Fort High teacher Gene Ponder’s summer reading list for his class included a number of texts from a majority of conservative and right-leaning authors including Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Ron Paul, Thomas Sowell, Chuck Colson and Ronald Reagan. Some of the titles of the books included “Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama’s Attacks on Our Borders, Economy and Security,” “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto,” “48 Liberal Lies About American History,” “Guilty: Liberal ‘Victims’ and Their Assault on America,” “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder,” and “The Land of Fair Play: American Civics from a Christian Perspective,” to name a few.Also on that list: Climate of Corruption: Politics & Power Behind the Global Warming Hoax and Race & Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination. In the latter book, author Walter Williams, who has always been a free market proponent, also argues that it should be okey dokey for private businesses to discriminate against black people.”
GlobalProgressiveHub writes—Trump, Paris, Steve Bannon, And The Problem With 'America First': “President Trump’s decision to eventually withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change has done exactly what he fears most -- made the U.S. a laughing stock around the world. Trump has ceded leadership on this issue to the European Union and China, damaged U.S. credibility, and abandoned a growing clean energy economy that can no longer be ignored. Now that the dust has settled from that decision, there’s an additional component to this story that hasn’t received much attention: The raison d'être of the Trump administration is to spurn collective action and multilateralism, and the biggest influence of that mindset flows largely from President Trump’s strategic advisor Stephen K. Bannon. In effect, Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is one battle lost in that larger ideological struggle about America’s role in the world.”
Agelbert writes—Climate Change, Blue Water Cargo Shipping and Predicted Ocean Wave Activity - Part 1 of 3: “In this three-part article I explain what the scientific community defines as the "Business as Usual" scenario in regard to atmospheric pollutants fueling Global Warming. A brief review of the existential threat to marine life that this scenario represents will follow. Subsequently, I discuss global shipping. I provide a summary of the tremendous importance of blue water (deep ocean) cargo shipping to global civilization. You will be surprised at how vital to global civilization blue water cargo shipping is. All the military vessels, all the pleasure yachts and even all the fishing fleets are insignificant in tonnage compared to that of ocean going cargo and tanker vessels. I then leave the subject of shipping and the types of cargo vessels, which I return to at the end, to provide the reader with a graphic climate history of the Northern Hemisphere, from the last Glacial Maximum to the present, followed by the, scientifically based, predicted sea level and land vegetation changes in the ‘Business as Usual’ scenario within the next 83 years.”
Agelbert writes—Climate Change, Blue Water Cargo Shipping and Predicted Ocean Wave Activity: Part Two of Three Parts: “On top of the disaster for civilization that a rise in seal level of 6 meters (over 19 FEET!) represents from the loss of coastal arable land, coastal cities, shipping ports and airports, there is the problem of wave activity. Which brings us back to shipping and the ocean surface. Of particular concern to ocean shipping in a ΔT = plus 2C (and greater) atmosphere are the following facts about waves. WHY? Because that world will have more energy, both in the oceans and in the atmosphere. That world will have, not just greater average wind speeds, particularly over unobstructed surfaces like the oceans, but a greater duration of higher wind velocities (speed in a relatively constant direction) over thousands of miles. High wind velocity and duration over hundreds or thousands of miles is a recipe for giant waves.”
Idontknowwhy writes—Scientists say Va. Island that voted for Trump is threatened by sea level rise. Response - insane: “Trump calls up the mayor and says ‘Your island has been there for hundreds of years, and I believe it will be for hundreds more”. However, studies show that sea level rise is affecting Tangier at an alarming rate. A graphic from the the Army Corps of Engineers shows what the island will look like in the next century if nothing is done. In fact, Tangier is losing up to 16 feet of shoreline per year. On an island that's only 1.3 square miles, that's significant. As reported by CNN. The mayor of the Trump voters responds: ‘The sea level rise, I just don't see it,’ Eskridge said. "The reason we're focused on erosion is because we can see it. Erosion will take us away long before sea level rise will.’ [...] Eskridge told Trump that he hoped the President would cut down the time on studies and maybe help with funding a sea wall. Perhaps they can get the Atlantic ocean, or maybe Mother earth, to pay for this wall.”
Lawditory52 writes—Donald Trump's Decision to Withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Accords is Unprincipled: “President Trump's decision to repudiate the Paris Accord on Climate Change is unprincipled because he is doing it out of his hatred of former President Obama, which fuels his rabid desire to undo all of Obama's legislative and diplomatic achievements, rather than whether the agreement is beneficial to the health and WEALTH of the nation. Leaving this agreement threatens our health and our economy, which is exactly why major American companies, including our largest oil company, EXXON-MOBIL, asked President Trump to affirm the United States' involvement in the Agreement and assume the leadership of the fight to stave off the life-threatening affects of Climate change.”
Agelbert writes—Globe has third warmest May on record: “The map above comes from Climate.gov Data Snapshots map collection. It is based on the official NOAA global temperature product, but uses a little more interpolation to estimate temperatures in areas with missing data. The data for the graph came from NCEI's Climate at a Glance web analysis tool.”
Extreme Weather & Natural Phenomena
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Dan Bacher writes—Why is the Delta Independent Science Board defending the flawed California WaterFix EIR/EIS? “Bob Wright, the senior counsel for Friends of the River, on June 14 sent an email to the Delta Independence Science Board members criticizing the ‘content and tone’ of their public review draft for ‘defending the Final EIR/EIS’ for the Delta Tunnels/California WaterFix project ‘instead of addressing such serious deficiencies as the complete failure of the EIR/EIS to include any alternatives finally beginning to restore through-Delta flows by reducing exports.’ He also criticized them for using language essentially ‘blaming court decisions enforcing our laws for the length and other problems with some environmental impact statements and reports,’ language that plays into the hands of efforts by the Trump administration and Congress to weaken environmental laws protecting fish, water and the environment. He urged them to delete or ‘drastically modify’ that language.”
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
Laura Clawson writes—Donald Trump does not want you to know what he's really doing, from golf to environmental policy: “Whether the question is ‘Did Donald Trump play golf last weekend’ or ‘What policy changes is the Environmental Protection Agency planning,’ don’t expect answers from the Trump regime. Trump has gone from campaign promises of draining the swamp and transparency to stocking the swamp with alligators under cover of darkness—and he has a partner in secrecy in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is keeping the Senate Republican plan to strip health care from millions of Americans as closely guarded as Trump’s tax returns. Even some Republicans admit to being frustrated.”
Walter Einenkel writes—Here's Trump telling rally that the border wall will pay for itself—with solar panels: “If you hadn’t heard, unpopular President Donald Trump is doing what he does best— holding racist revival meetings in conservative strongholds while his Republican Party rips away any and all safety nets or protections that the people at these rallies have. To chants of “build the wall,” Donald blew some more racist fairy dust up the asses of the crazy ignoramuses at this rally: You know people don't realize we're already spending a lot of money and design but I'll give you an idea that nobody has heard about yet and I'm not sure, but I'm a builder. That's what I love to do. That's probably what I do best. I'm a builder and we're thinking of something that's unique. We're talking about the southern border, lots of Sun, lots of heat. We're thinking about building the wall as a solar wall so it creates energy and pays for itself; and this way Mexico will have to pay much less money and that's good, right. It’s hard to even criticize this—it’s just a made-up bullshit thing.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—The Solar Wall Is As Good An Idea As Attempting to Intimidate the FBI Director: “At his campaign rally on Wednesday night, Trump continued his bad fibbing habit, by one count telling his audience a total of 18 lies during a one-hour speech. Although he told the crowd it wasn’t a campaign rally, the event was ‘advertised, sponsored and organized by his campaign committee.’ One of the most obvious falsehoods: calling the Paris Agreement ‘binding.’ It might behoove some interns to check the White House transcripts. Not even a month ago, the president described the Agreement as ‘non-binding’ during his withdrawal announcement.”
Ursulafaw writes—Mike Pence's Track Record On The Environment Is Even Worse Than You Suspected: “EcoWatch recently published a piece, "Four Things to know about Mike Pence's Environmental Record: ”1. His environmental score as congressman: Zero [...] 2. As governor, he sided with polluters [...] 3. He's a foe of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [...] 4. He rejects accepted climate science.”
ENERGY
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Is Energy Dominance an Energy Policy? No: “As the Trump administration struggles to define its energy policy in a way that doesn’t make it obvious that the government is now filled with fossil fuel lobbyists, they’ve apparently hit on a new phrase sure to appeal to his chest-thumping, alt-right base: Energy Dominance. E&E takes a look at the rise of the new term. Per E&E, Perry and Zinke have been the most recent to adopt the ‘dominance’ vocabulary, which was first introduced by Trump in his big energy speech in May of last year. While the oil industry doesn’t seem keen to use the term (though it no doubt appreciates the sentiment), environmental economist Maximilian Auffhammer straight up laughs at it when talking to E&E, ‘because [the phrase] doesn’t make any sense.’ [...] So with all due respect to Auffhammer, ‘energy dominance’ does mean something--at least to Trump’s sycophantic followers. And we can already see what this means in practice: gutting the public health protections that inconvenience dirty energy.”
Hunter writes—Our new secretary of the Energy is completely addled when it comes to basic climate science: “Up until this last experiment in American governance, it was widely expected that the secretary of Energy, a position responsible for our nation's nuclear weapons and reactor research, among other duties, would be a person with at least basic competency in the sciences. Past secretaries have included nuclear physicists, Nobel Prize winners, chemical engineers, and Navy admirals. The new hire is known primarily for pledging to eliminate the department despite forgetting what it was. His own grasp of the sciences is just baffling. Energy Secretary Rick Perry told CNBC Monday morning that he doesn’t believe carbon dioxide is primarily responsible for global warming, contradicting the overwhelming scientific consensus on the causes of climate change.
When asked by interviewer Joe Kernan whether CO2 is the ‘primary’ driver of changing temperatures, Perry responded, ‘No, most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.’ This is an amazing level of gibberish, but coming from the freakin' secretary of Energy it's ... well, what do you even say?”
Nuclear
Fossil Fuels
Mark Sumner writes—The nation's first 'clean coal' power plant ... won't burn coal: “Though Donald Trump throws the term around with abandon, the number of “clean coal” power plants in America today is exactly zero. These entirely theoretical plants, in which carbon dioxide is captured and either piped underground or used for some other industrial process, have a long history, including the FutureGen project launched by George W. Bush in 2003. Originally estimated at $1.65 billion, FutureGen was supposed to test, not just carbon capture, but a whole suite of technologies designed to make burning coal less environmentally harmful and more efficient. The project dragged on for more than a dozen years, but despite the government offering to kick in $1 billion, costs eventually climbed out of sight and the plant never broke ground Meanwhile, in Mississippi, the Kemper County Energy Facility was a good deal less ambitious. Though it was budgeted at $2.4 billion when it began construction in 2010, Kemper avoided much of the gee-whiz technology slated for the failed FutureGen and instead made the idea of capturing and storing CO2 its primary party trick. Now, with the project running three years behind schedule and costs having ballooned to over $7.3 billion, the nation’s first ‘clean coal power plant’ appears to be adding another very special feature.”
Chris Reeves writes—John Oliver's jokes are more stressful than death of employees, says Robert Murray in Lawsuit: “In a lawsuit filed in federal court this morning, Robert E. Murray makes clear that in his entire career, nothing has been as stressful as dealing with the attacks on his ownership like the jokes & puns by John Oliver. www.washingtonpost.com/… ’Nothing has ever stressed him more than this vicious and untruthful attack,’ it says, adding that Oliver’s segment was an attempt to advance ‘biases against the coal industry’ and ‘disdain for the coal-related policies of the Trump Administration.’ This may be troubling news to employees of Murray’s coal enterprise, who find their struggles aren’t nearly as stressful as the jokes of a media personality. www.nytimes.com/... Six men were trapped inside the mine. Three more died 10 days later in the collapse of a rescue tunnel.”
Emissions Controls & Carbon Taxes
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—CEI Touts Tol’s Tally of CO2 Benefits Despite Its Carbon Tax Endorsement: “We’ll turn now to something that’s not getting near as much attention, but might become the administration’s next rally flag. Koch-funded CEI’s Marlo Lewis Jr. writes about a new “study” (that’s clearly labeled as a working paper, pdf here) that finds the private benefits of carbon outweigh its social cost. Let’s ignore for now the fact that this paper was written by Richard Tol, so its numbers might be all wrong and carbon costs conveniently turned to benefits by gremlins, and just point out that its premise is, if not deeply flawed, deeply stupid. Tol counts the price of energy as a value of its worth to the person using it. He then compares this “worth” for 66 different countries and the industry and residential sectors of the coal, oil, gas and power industries to the social cost of carbon. In other words, the money that can be made by private interests from selling fossil fuels is greater than the cost of the public to clean up the mess left behind. Which seems obvious, on its face. Of course companies make money selling fossil fuels, and of course people find value in having electricity and automobiles powered by them. Was this ever really a question that needed answering?”
unbrokenchain writes—Good news? Oil giants support carbon tax: “A group of major businesses, including Johnson & Johnson, General Motors, and fossil fuel giants ExxonMobil, BP, and Shell, announced Tuesday they have joined a Republican-led council that proposes to put a $40 tax on carbon emissions. The companies, along with a list of high profile business people and two environmental groups, are part of the Climate Leadership Council, whose platform was written by former cabinet members James Baker and George Shultz. thinkprogress.org/... The main hurdle to this is the fact that Republican base voters hate anything that we like, even though their own kids will suffer the same horrible future overheated world.”
Renewables, Efficiency & Conservation
gmoke writes—High Renewables, Low Intermittency, No Problem: ”Germany and Denmark get much higher percentages of their electricity from renewables than the USA does but have about 10 times fewer outages per year. Tell me again how intermittency is an insurmountable problem in transitioning to renewable energy. Source www.greentechmedia.com/… Please remember these findings as Rick Perry’s Department of Energy prepares to release their study of this issue.”
Smeagel4T writes—
Oh, the Irony! Solar Panels used in Gas Production: “Frankly, and dripping in unintended irony, this
article just speaks for itself.
A California company is offering an emissions free way to power remote oil and gas well site equipment. Trojan Battery Co., LLC, has launched a new line of maintenance-free, deep-cycle absorbent glass mat (AGM) batteries specifically designed for solar and other renewable energy applications. ‘As we continue to see strong customer interest and demand in powering remote oil and gas well site equipment using solar-based energy systems, Trojan’s new line of true deep-cycle Solar AGM batteries has been designed from the ground up and optimized for these types of solar and photovoltaic applications and the need for frequent cycling in harsh environments,’ Gustavo Beuses, oil and gas manager for Trojan Battery, said in a statement.”
REGULATIONS & PROTECTIONS
Walter Einenkel writes—Independent reviews contradict Trump administration's reasons for budget cuts to the EPA programs: “The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and the Science To Achieve Results (STAR) programs were created in order to promote energy research at the earliest stages by giving out grants to those searching for more efficient and greener energy technologies. The Trump administration, along with new EPA secretary Scott Pruitt, have been trying to starve the environmental agency by cutting its budget into oblivion. In order to present this brand of dark magic to the world, Republicans argue that government is bureaucracy and bureaucracy is inefficient. Of course, this “fact” is based solely on people’s memories of the worst experiences they’ve had with underfunded and overworked government programs that are mostly underfunded by … Republicans. In its official FY18 budget, released Tuesday, the Trump administration proposed the termination of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a bipartisan initiative that funds research into cutting-edge energy technology. The decision to eliminate ARPA-E was ‘in line with administration policies,’ according to the budget request.”
Mark Sumner writes—EPA completes purge of scientists from its scientific advisory board: “Scott Pruitt had already moved to replace much of the scientific review boards at the EPA with industry lobbyists. The Environmental Protection Agency has dismissed at least five members of a major scientific review board, the latest signal of what critics call a campaign by the Trump administration to shrink the agency’s regulatory reach by reducing the role of academic research.
And with that minor test run over, Pruitt has moved on to a wholesale purge of scientists from his supposedly scientific agency. The Environmental Protection Agency has given notice to dozens of scientists that they will not be renewed in their roles in advising the agency, continuing a scientific shake-up that has already triggered resignations and charges from some researchers that the administration is politicizing the agency. With climate change data hidden or destroyed, Pruitt directly working to raise funds for Republicans, and actions that go beyond accepting climate change to denying basic science, it’s no doubt inconvenient to have people around who know what the hell they’re doing.”
Mark Sumner writes—Donald Trump is keeping a campaign promise—He's destroying the EPA: “When Donald Trump says he’s keeping a campaign promise, whether it’s on health care or Cuba or jobs, jobs, jobs, you can be as certain that he’s lying about the followthrough as he is about anything else. But there is an area where Trump is being just as awful as he promised. During the campaign, Donald Trump promised to ‘get rid of’ the Environmental Protection Agency ‘in almost every form’ and leave it in ‘little tidbits.’ He’s begun to make good on that pledge during his first few months in office by putting climate change deniers in charge, bringing Obama-era regulations to a standstill and asking Congress to slash the agency’s budget by a third. With Scott Pruitt at the helm, climate change data has been scrubbed from the EPA’s website and the science advisory board has been replaced by a cadre of industry lobbyists, eager to turn the EPA into Trump’s very own Ministry of Truth. As Trump brags about the number of regulations he’s already destroyed, it’s worth remembering that every single one of those regulations was there for a reason. No one sat down and said, “You know, we really need to have a rule against this thing that never happens.” They addressed known problems.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Koch Operatives Using Grenfell Tower Tragedy to Advance Anti-Green/Anti-Reg Narrative: “The Grenfell Tower fire is a tragedy that should not be something we have to address. It is not something Carbon Brief should have to fact check. But here we are. As Carbon Brief explains, The Daily Mail and other conservative outlets have pushed a theory that the fire was due to insulation installed primarily to meet green goals for reducing energy use. This is false. Per Carbon Brief, savings on utility bills was the primary reason for the insulation upgrades, not pro-environment regulations. But even the dozens of lives lost aren’t enough to stop some using tragedy to advance the Koch’s anti-regulatory agenda. Enter Megan McArdle, a Bloomberg View columnist who thought it’d be a good idea to ‘”well yeah but” a literal towering inferno.’ McArdle’s subhead reveals why people are aghast at the heartlessness of her piece: ‘Perhaps safety rules could have saved some residents. But at what cost to others' lives? There's always a trade-off.’”
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS, OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
Anne Petermann writes—Portugal's Eucalyptus Wildfires: A Result of a Timber Industry Run Amok: “The wildfires in Portugal over the last week have been called “the worst such disaster in recent history.” Dozens of people burnt to death in their cars while trying to escape the inferno.
But this horrific tragedy was human-made. One-quarter of Portugal’s forested landscape (more than 812,000 hectares or 2 million acres) has been replaced by explosively flammable, water-sucking non-native eucalyptus plantations. The same plantations now being proposed for development across the US South using freeze-tolerant genetically engineered eucalyptus trees. This proposal is being fought by a large international coalition of groups that have already collected more than 200,000 signatures opposing this USDA scheme.”
TOXINS, RADIOACTIVE AND HAZARDOUS WASTE, TRASH
Pakalolo writes—Thailand Embraces Green Technology That Decomposes Plastic Bags in Weeks: “Regular, petroleum-based plastic bags used by grocery and other stores doesn't biodegrade. Much of the 260 million tons of plastic the world generates every year winds up in the oceans. This plastic stew threatens mainly marine life, but land mammals can also succumb to this toxic waste. As a result, hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales, and other marine mammals, and more than 1 million seabirds die each year from ocean pollution and ingestion or entanglement in marine debris. [...] Adam Peterson writes in Innovative Design. Thanks to both innovation and investment—and a little help from the local flora—Thailand is embracing green technology in some unexpected ways. Like many developing countries, Thailand is facing a dilemma: how to address growing energy needs and consumption without sacrificing economic growth. To that end, Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) is looking to bio-based solutions, taking advantage of a thriving agriculture industry by reusing the waste it produces—and in the process, potentially creating a green-tech sector other nations can emulate. The EEC was set up by the Thai government to orchestrate investments in such futuristic industries as next-generation cars, agriculture and biotechnology, robotics, biofuels and biochemical, among others. [...] To replace potentially harmful one-use products like plastic bags and food containers, the EEC is turning to bioplastics and materials derived from local plant products like cassava starch or bamboo scraps from chopstick factories to manufacture new options that decompose completely after a few weeks.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
eeff writes—Scores of farm workers, activists march on Ben & Jerry’s: “Scores of dairy farm workers and activists marched Saturday to a Ben & Jerry’s factory to push for better pay and living conditions on farms that provide milk for the ice cream maker that takes pride in its social activism. Protesters said Ben & Jerry’s agreed two years ago to participate in the so-called Milk with Dignity program, but the company and worker representatives have yet to reach an agreement. ‘We can’t wait any more. We are going to pressure them and see what happens,’ said Victor Diaz, a Mexican immigrant now working on a farm in Vergennes.’ Funny how activism works sometimes!”
Walter Einenkel writes—GMO giant ordered to pay farmers $218 million after corn they engineered became unmarketable: “Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are hotly debated for a variety of reasons. But with the need to create larger and more robust crops always at a premium, GMOs are big business. Syngenta is one such company based in Switzerland. Today a Kansas federal jury awarded about $218 million to a group of farmers that sued Syngenta over a newly engineered corn seed. Syngenta vowed to appeal the verdict favoring four Kansas farmers representing roughly 7,300 growers from that state in what served as the first test case of tens of thousands of U.S. lawsuits assailing Syngenta’s decision to introduce its Viptera seed strain to the U.S. market before China approved it for imports. [...] Syngenta’s argument was that they sold the specific genetic strain of corn before the Chinese market exploded and as such, didn’t mislead anybody. Today’s decision in Kansas says that this jury didn’t buy what Syngenta was selling. But don’t cry for Syngenta. According to the AP, they’re still big business and only going to get bigger.”
SkepticalRaptor writes—Does glyphosate cause cancer? The IARC didn't have all the evidence: “In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reviewed research data regarding Monsanto’s glyphosate weed killer, also known as RoundUp. The IARC, at that time, concluded that glyphosate causes cancer. The IARC, one of the intergovernmental agencies within the World Health Organization, is widely respected for their research into the causes of cancer. And with respect to glyphosate, the IARC concluded that: There was limited evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of glyphosate. Case-control studies of occupational exposure in the USA, Canada, and Sweden reported increased risks for non-Hodgkin lymphoma that persisted after adjustment for other pesticides. [...] When I looked at their conclusions from a couple of years ago, I argued that there was significant evidence that glyphosate was not correlated or causal to any of the 200 or so cancers. And I wasn’t alone in that assessment.”
robctwo writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blog V.13.25: cracked ribs: “Sunday June 11 walking along spraying the boundary when my right foot slipped and I did the body slam on right ribs in back. X-ray showed one cracked rib, one probable. Lots of pain, but hey, I am getting used to agony. Real slow-down on yard work. Most things are in the ground and growing along.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Xaxnar writes—Remember, turn out for Amtrak tomorrow if you can, and call your representatives: “I posted Tuesday about the Trump Budget with massive cuts to Amtrak ICYMI. Here’s another view of the American Carnage Trump plans to wreak:”
MISCELLANY
Pakalolo writes—Rockslide in Greenland caused the deadly tsunami in the settlement of Nuugaatsiaq: “On June 17, 2017 a rockslide ( nearly 4 million tons of earth went crashing into the sea) occurred in Karrat Fjord, Greenland and the deadly tsunami it produced caused 4 deaths and 9 injuries (23 were reported missing but were believed to be hunting at the time of the tsunami). The village itself was severely damaged when chunks of ice slammed into the sea side community [...] Greenland has been rapidly warming due to humanity’s burning of fossil fuels causing climate change feedback loops. It is clearly to soon for a lot of data at this point, but perhaps permafrost and/or the lack of buttressing around the fjord caused the cliff to slide? See More Rocks blog writes: To tell whether the island’s glacial cap will melt away any time soon, researchers are poring over old pictures and drawings for clues to its past behaviour. With Arctic temperatures rising faster than anywhere else on Earth, Greenland is now losing about 200 billion tonnes of ice per year and raising ocean levels around the globe. Projections suggest that melting from the island might swell sea levels by 30 centimetres by the end of this century. If all Greenland’s ice melted — a possibility over the next few centuries − it would push up sea level by more than 6 metres, enough to flood coastal megacities such as New York and Miami. But the projections carry large uncertainties, in part because researchers lack basic information about Greenland’s past.”
WCWatch writes—Mural on side of 7-11 in CA destroyed because its environmental message was ugly: ” ‘Wow, all that hard work for nothing,’ said San Diego artist Brian Hebets when he heard that his prominent public mural in Imperial Beach had been painted over into a blank wall. ‘I heard it was receiving negative vibes down there and it was only a matter of time before this would happen.’ ‘It's sad to see such a beautiful and impactful piece of art be painted over.’ The mural's depiction of trash in the ocean led to complaints and ultimately to its removal from the side of a convenience store at 197 Palm Ave. ‘We painted over the mural to create an opportunity to create a new one,’ said 7-Eleven spokesperson Dea Pennington. Customer complaints and requests from city officials were the factors in the decision by the franchise owner of the 7-Eleven, Harjinder Singh, to pay to have it painted over, he said.”
GreenpowerCA writes—This Week in the Environment 6.22.17: Cities & States Give Environmental Power to the People: “Welcome back, dear reader, to Greenpower’s This Week in the Environment, our aggregation of the top environmental stories from the past seven days. Thanks, as always, is due to our Ph.D environmental scientist, Jon Conway, for scouring the net to find the most timely tidbits. [...] 3. Oil firms could waste trillions if climate targets reached Reuter. With the near-worldwide push toward renewable energy and sustainability, it sure seems like bad business to keep planning for a fossil fuel future. In fact, new research suggests that upwards of $2 trillion may be lost in useless oil, gas, and coal development as the rest of the planet leaves carbon-based energy behind. With any luck, the short-sighted, exploitative, Earth-last business practices typified and championed by the global fossil fuel industry will die and be buried, just like the fuels they built themselves on.”
Karen Hedwig Backman writes—Koch Industries: Poisoners-in-Chief of Air, Water and Earth: “Charles Koch primarily, Ruler-in-Chief and Poisoner-in-Chief of Koch Industries, polluters of land, sea and air and starter of toxic fires: Under the nearly five-decade reign of CEO Charles Koch, the company has paid out record civil and criminal environmental penalties. And in 1999, a jury handed down to Koch's pipeline company what was then the largest wrongful-death judgment of its type in U.S. history, resulting from the explosion of a defective pipeline that incinerated a pair of Texas teenagers. The volume of Koch Industries' toxic output is staggering. According to the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute, only three companies rank among the top 30 polluters of America's air, water and climate: ExxonMobil, American Electric Power and Koch Industries. Thanks in part to its 2005 purchase of paper-mill giant Georgia-Pacific, Koch Industries dumps more pollutants into the nation's waterways than General Electric and International Paper combined.”