Yes, this is the 500th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views. Previously known as the Green Diary Rescue, the spotlight usually appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is the May 20 Green Spotlight. More than 26,930 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
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Zinke Hides from Greens & Trump Hides Lobbyists, but There’s No Hiding Industry Influence at EPA: “Not only is Trump hiring lobbyists despite his own ban on doing so, but now the administration is trying to keep those decisions secret so the public doesn’t even know what swamp creatures have been hired. The Office of Government Ethics requested the information (something Obama made public automatically) and the Trump administration has responded with a letter that amounts to: Nah. Fortunately, there are always other ways to suss out industry influence, and if this administration is anything, it’s not subtle. This unabashed industrial influence is highlighted by Hiroko Tabuchi and (again) Eric Lipton in a Saturday NYT story updating the tight relationship between Devon Energy and Scott Pruitt. Less than a week after Pruitt’s swearing in as head of the EPA, Devon sent the EPA a letter saying that it was reconsidering settling a case to pay a six-figure fine and install pollution reduction equipment. Instead, it wanted to reopen negotiations, pay a measly $25,000 and scrap plans to clean up its act.”
A Siegel writes—When it comes to boxed vs bottled water, choose the tap ...”The reality is, humanity has a bottled water problem. Seriously, people, who in their EFFing mind thinks that moving water from Fiji in a glass bottle to your restaurant table has anything to do with a sustainable future? So, let's be clear, bottled water is a disaster in its scope and reach (even as there are legitimate spaces for its work/use: think for a moment Flint, Michigan ...) -- damaging the environment, diverting meaningful resources from productive use, etc […] In other words, if you MUST buy a packaged water product, sure, "Boxed Water is Better" is almost always true, but really question the need to shovel out your limited financial resources for packaged water as opposed to simply turning on the tap and paying 1/100th or 1/1000th the price (financially and environmentally) for that glass of ‘water, cool, clear water’.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - eagles and sealions on a sunny day: “Our latest trip out to Whale Rocks was the first sunny day we’ve seen in months. Yay! The ducks have departed and gulls are settling into their nesting colonies, but there was activity at the Rocks this day, and much of it was of youngsters and their elders. I love getting a peek into their social dynamics, even if it’s just a few minutes as we putt putt around the rock. Most of the year Bald Eagles use the rocks to perch and survey the surrounding waters. Once in a while I see them actively fishing, but mostly it’s the thousand-yard gaze off to sea. This time an adult eagle cruised in, and the juvenile eagle already there took issue with the newcomer. I snapped a series of photos of their encounter...”
owktree writes—Daily Bucket: W is For...”Welcome to the twenty-third entry in our Backyard Science “Alphabet” series. Today’s Bucket is brought to you by the letter ‘W’.”
owktree writes—Daily Bucket: Clouds and Water: Photo Diary.
Attack Gardener writes—The Daily Bucket - A Visit from Dinosaurs! “My Darling Spouse and I pride ourselves on our critter-friendly acre of suburbia. We maintain three bird-feeding stations, multiple bird houses, a small pond and one little bird bath on our plot of land. Many of my old garden beds have reverted to weeds and vines, providing lots of small animal habitat and it is not uncommon for us to receive wild visitors, mostly of the bunny and squirrel varieties.Lately, however, we have been visited by much larger than average wanderers. A squad of turkeys has claimed our backyard as their personal pavilion and promenade. Two males and two females so far, but we expect a passel of pullets in the next few months. The females have been rather shy and stay in the tall grass, only giving us the occasional glimpse of their heads or backs as they wander in search of bugs and stray sunflower seeds. The males, on the other hand, have been downright sociable, coming right up to the house and grubbling directly under the bird feeders for seeds and peanuts. One even uses the sidewalk as a place to parade his magnificence in front of the females (who don’t really seem to be paying attention, in my opinion.) Of course, he chose to do that after my camera battery died.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
A Siegel writes—CENSORED: Team Trump takes climate out of science statement: “The US Geological Service issued a press release last Friday on an article/study about the threats sea-level rise create for US coasts, In Next Decades, Frequency of Coastal Flooding Will Double Globally. Global climate change drives sea-level rise, increasing the frequency of coastal flooding. Those words did not appear in the above-linked USGS press release — though they were in the press release’s draft. ‘It’s a crime against the American people,’ Neil Frazer, a geophysics professor at University of Hawaii at Manoa and one of the study’s co-authors, said of the line’s removal and of other efforts to limit scientific communication from federal agencies. ‘Because scientists have known for at least 50 years that anthropogenic climate change is a reality.’ He added: ‘The suppression of this information is a scandal.’”
Meteor Blades writes—Study: Sea level rising 3x as fast since 1990 as figured before. Meanwhile, feds censor climate info: “Calculations in a new study show that sea level is rising three times as fast as it was before 1990. Previously, the rise before then had been considered to be higher than the new calculations. The scientists concluded in their reassessment that the rise since 1990 has been dramatically underestimated. This isn’t likely to be the last word on the subject. But the fine-tuning of measurements in the new study will no doubt spark critics to claim that the change from previous calculations proves scientists don’t know what they’re talking about. Although most of these “skeptics” have given up claiming global warming is a flat-out hoax, they haven’t stopped challenging fundamental assumptions held to by an overwhelming percentage of climate scientists. [...] Their paper, just out in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, isn’t the first to find that the rate of rising seas is itself increasing — but it finds a bigger rate of increase than in past studies. The new paper concludes that before 1990, oceans were rising at about 1.1 millimeters per year, or just 0.43 inches per decade. From 1993 through 2012, though, it finds that they rose at 3.1 millimeters per year, or 1.22 inches per decade.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Dan Bacher writes—The Dark Heart of California Water Politics: Big Ag & Big Oil Regulatory Capture: “When I was at the March for Science in Sacramento a month ago, a friend asked to get me on video and talk about what is the crux of water issues in California, what is the overriding, central issue behind the different water battles. That’s one that includes the Delta Tunnels, the failure of the state and federal agencies to address environmentalists’ concerns with the safety of the Oroville Dam and spillways, the salmon and other fish collapses and the pollution of our drinking water by agribusiness, municipal and oil waste. I told her the problem is that California is portrayed as the green leader, but the reality is much different. The state has some good environmental laws that protect our rivers, lakes, streams and ocean waters, but they’re enforced very poorly. These laws includes the California Endangered Species Act, California Environmental Water Quality Act, California Coastal Act, Marine Life Protection Act and a host of others. Why? It’s because from top to bottom, the regulators are captured, from the Department of Conservation to marine protection panels. This is a presentation that I recently developed from her idea.”
Dan Bacher writes—Tribal and Commercial Fishing Communities Host Event in Eureka in Response to Salmon Crisis: Commercial and Tribal Fishermen are coming together to host a seafood dinner and concert with Irie Rockers and Digging Dirt this Saturday, May 27. They hope to draw attention to this year’s salmon fisheries disaster and local action to save salmon. Speakers and artists from the Yurok, Karuk and Winnemem Wintu Tribes, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and Ancestral Guard will talk about community action to protect salmon, and a seafood dinner will be served. Many of these speakers will have just returned from testifying at a disaster relief hearing in Sacramento. Raft and fishing trips, events tickets, resorts stays and more will be auctioned. ‘We want to engage the North Coast in efforts to protect salmon and the salmon ways of life. Action from tribes, fishermen, and other citizens is the only reason corporate agriculture and dams have not already killed off the salmon,’ said Regina Chichizola, from Save the Klamath Trinity Salmon. ‘Now we are facing a renewed push to build new dams, diversions, and pipelines at the exact moment that salmon need clean water to recover from the last five years of poor water management.’”
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
Mary Anne Hitt writes—Ten of the Worst Cuts in Trump’s Budget: “This budget’s severe cuts single out our clean air and water and our attempts to fight climate disruption. It’s a lot to dig through, so I narrowed it down to some of the worst of the worst. 1.Trump’s budget takes an axe to the Environmental Protection Agency - and not just to its core programs. This budget hacks away at grants to states, cutting them by 45 percent,. These grants provide essential financial assistance to states and tribes to help them develop and implement environmental programs like pollution clean-up. Trump’s budget also indiscriminately eliminates more than 50 EPA programs, including Energy Star, America’s favorite program for saving money through energy efficiency; the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, which conducts research on how chemicals affect our bodies; and infrastructure assistance to Alaska Native Villages, which provides sanitation services for rural communities in Alaska. [...] 7. The budget is devastating for environmental justice programs and initiatives. It proposes eliminating EPA’s environmental justice division, as well as the agency’s lead pollution reduction and radon detection programs. These communities that are disproportionately affected by pollution rely on strong enforcement of environmental protections by EPA, and as one former EPA official put it, “[More cuts] won’t just drastically reduce EPA enforcement, it will bring it to a halt.”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels
DWG writes—Exxon loses in court and must turn over documents to NY AG Schneiderman: “Exxon must now submit to a document proctological exam conducted by NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. From Reuters: May 23 A New York state appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Exxon Mobil Corp should be compelled to turn over records in an investigation into how much the company knew about global warming as it continued to publicly downplay the effects it was expected to have on the fossil fuel industry. Exxon has been battling subpoenas from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is probing the company for fraud in its public statements about climate change. The appeals court upheld a lower court's decision, rejecting Exxon's argument that the court did not properly consider which state's laws on turning over evidence in an investigation should apply in the case. The investigation is taking place in New York, but Exxon's headquarters are in Texas. This is a big deal.”
Plan9pub writes—Trump wants to sell off half the strategic oil reserve: “From Bloomberg: The White House plan to trim the national debt includes selling off half of the nation’s emergency oil stockpile and the entire backup gasoline supply, part of a broad series of changes proposed by President Donald Trump to the federal government’s role in energy markets. Trump’s first complete budget proposal, released Tuesday, would raise $500 million in fiscal year 2018 -- and as much $16.6 billion over the next decade -- by drawing down the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Gosh, how many different ways is this stupid and fiscally irresponsible? 1) You don’t buy high and sell low. Oil/gas prices are at record lows and this reserve was stockpiled when prices were much, much higher. This is Business Econ 101 and you would think a ‘business man’ would know that, but I guess this would explain all of Trump’s bankruptcies.”
Fever Dream writes—Trump proposes selling off half of the U.S. strategic oil reserves: “The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds over 687 million barrels of oil, meant to be quickly available in case of emergencies, military needs, and to deter other oil-producing nations from manipulating the market. That seems like a lot of oil, but just for perspective...half of the U.S. reserve would meet about 3.5 days of the current global demand for oil, and about 17.5 days of the current U.S. demand for oil. Setting aside the fact that selling half (or all of it) wouldn’t even begin to make a dent in the deficit, I can’t help but wonder… Given that oil prices are historically low these days, it seems like an interesting time to sell off U.S. oil reserves, thus making us more dependent on OPEC. At current oil prices, the two greatest beneficiaries of such a sale would be Russia and Saudi Arabia.”
REGULATIONS & PROTECTIONS
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Update on the Swamp: Scott “Short-Timer” Pruitt and a “Walking Conflict of Interest” at DOI: “InsideEPA reports that sources within the agency think Pruitt could be using his gig as a stepping stone to a higher-profile elected position, like senator or governor. This would line up with what an unnamed “insider” told James Delingpole back in March (right around the time David Schnare resigned in a huff…) about Pruitt’s lack of commitment to Trump’s agenda. According to the story, EPA staffers are starting to think of Pruitt as a “short-timer” who won’t be around for all that long. Given the gossip that Trump doesn’t appreciate anyone else using his brand to promote themselves, combined with his increasingly foul mood and propensity to randomly fire people, we’re entertaining a fleeting hope that Pruitt gets the boot. But even a Pruitt ousting wouldn’t solve our problems.. Last week’s confirmation hearing for the number two position at the Department of Interior showed that as the administration continues to staff up, they’re just going deeper into the swamp.”
Hunter writes—Polluters are expecting big savings from Scott Pruitt's EPA: “The Republican plan to give your kids cancer gets the expected reception from grateful polluters, now pulling back from past environmental promises because they know a Scott Pruitt-led EPA will have their backs. Devon Energy, which runs the windswept site, had been prepared to install a sophisticated system to detect and reduce leaks of dangerous gases. It had also discussed paying a six-figure penalty to settle claims by the Obama administration that it was illegally emitting 80 tons each year of hazardous chemicals, like benzene, a known carcinogen. But something changed in February just five days after Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general with close ties to Devon, was sworn in as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Devon, in a letter dated Feb. 22 and obtained by The New York Times, said it was ‘re-evaluating its settlement posture.’ It no longer intended to move ahead with the extensive emissions-control system, second-guessing the E.P.A.’s estimates on the size of the violation, and it was now willing to pay closer to $25,000 to end the three-year-old federal investigation. If the choice is between giving the neighbors cancer, for a cost of $25,000 every so often, or not giving the neighbors cancer, for a cost of considerably more, every patriotic fossil fuel company always gravitates towards the same decision. Eventually, someone will pay the costs of that pollution.”
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS, OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
richholtzin writes—Dead Horse SP, Death Valley NP, and Domínguez, Escalante, and Lowry Ruins: “This is the eighth diary installment of The Dkos Road Tour Series. See explanation at the close of this diary. I trust you will find the information enjoyable and educational. Our destinations today will take us, first, to Southeast Utah, then to Central California, and from there to Southwest Colorado. [...] DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK. Location/Geography: Southeast-Central Utah. Grand Count. Closet City or Town: Moab. Covers a few square miles at the edge of a plateau just north of the Island in the Sky (Canyonlands) sector. Area: 5,200 acres (21 square miles/54 km²). Altitude: about 6,000 feet (1,828 m). [...] Just north of Moab, on Hwy. 191, is Dead Horse Point SP. A dazzling panoramic view from the summit where the dark-stained facade Wingate Sandstone frames the scenery on all sides. The main overlook at the park offers a 270º vista over side canyons and the Colorado River some 1,900 feet (579 m) below. Eroded ridges, buttes, pinnacles and sheer cliffs with Moab's prominent La Sal Mountains enhances the backdrop. Several branches of Shafer Canyon show up, which is located in Canyonlands Island in the Sky district. An impressive series of goosenecks (meanders) adds to the inspirational view.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
enhydra lutris writes—The Svalbard seed bank started flooding: “We built a seed bank to preserve food crop seeds against all disasters and catastrophes and buried it in the the world's biggest deep freeze, the Arctic permafrost. It is buried inside a mountain on Spitsbergen, and global warming has produced such unimaginable temperatures there that meltwater flooded into the entrance tunnel.”
SkepticalRaptor writes—Anti-GMO, anti-vaccine activists – exactly the same: “I naively once thought that anti-GMO activists only occasionally crossed paths with the anti-vaccine ones. Sure, on the Venn diagram of anti-science beliefs, anti-GMO anti-vaccine activists overlapped quite a bit, but I just thought they were separate species. Maybe they once were, but there appears to be a substantial amount of convergent evolution between the separate species of anti-science activists. It’s hard to distinguish the two these days, as I regularly see one or the other type of activists just lump GMOs and vaccines together as one evil against all children. Anti-GMO and anti-vaccine zealots may have started independently for different reasons. These days, however, they have converged into one group, the anti-GMO anti-vaccine militants, which utilize almost the exact same methodology: • Ignore, attack or belittle the scientific consensus. • Cherry picking badly designed and poorly analyzed published to support their pre-conceived conclusions rather than examining the body of evidence and see what conclusions one can reach from it. • Creating ridiculous straw men based on conspiracy theories and misinformation.”
MISCELLANY
Drumpfed writes—Trump winning at destroying America's environment: “There is a more permanent destruction afoot. When a coal seam is exploited it is now usually done not with a labor intensive underground mining operation but with machine driven surface mining. Methods like strip mining leach soils permanently. Nutrients wash into rivers and into the sea. On the way they destroy aquatic life. It remains to be seen how much of America will be destroyed by Trump’s pledge to mine more coal. But he is quietly and effectively helping polluters everywhere. Here is a partial list of permanent scars Trump is now ‘winning’ for America. [...]”