This is the 497th 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 May 6 Green Spotlight. More than 26,885 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—Trump’s Paris Disagreement Comes Down to The Loyalest Vs the Oilist: “Set your clocks! We’re roughly 24 hours away from the much-anticipated White House meeting to decide the fate of the US’s participation in the Paris Agreement. While Trump’s children, secretary of state, and national security and economic advisors are reportedly advocating that he not blow it all up, Steve Bannon and Scott Pruitt have apparently gained a last minute upper-hand with some shady legal analysis. Now, if Trump actually looked at the agreement’s merits, he’d know Syria and Nicaragua are the only countries not party to the agreement. The US pulling out would be out of step with not just the major global players, but almost every country on the globe, including petrostates like Saudi Arabia. And Trump would understand that if we leave, we can’t pressure countries he might not trust (let’s say China, for example) to keep up their end of the bargain. And perhaps some savvy diplomat can let Trump know that if he breaks America’s promise on Paris, global powers will be much less trusting when negotiating the sorts of labor deals Trump claims to care about.”
Besame writes—Daily Bucket: flower moon celebration: “Spring flowers sing to the flower full moon happening tomorrow, Wednesday, at 2:43 pm Pacific time in the Northern Hemisphere. Here’s a fast Bucket with a few flowers from me to entice you to share your flowers in the comments. This spring even cities had amazing floral shows in vacant lots. [...] A short distance away from the vacant lot, Chico’s Doe Mill Meadowfoam Preserve sprawls across a few acres that represent the plant’s typical habitat of vernal pools and Swales embedded in valley grassland. First collected in 1914 near Shippee (between Oroville and Chico) that habitat is now converted to agriculture. Now, 21 population areas are known, from Table Mountain south of Chico, to a few miles north of Chico. The reason I say this meadowfoam pleases herself is she has floral adaptations that allow both cross-pollination by insects and self-pollination if insect pollination is unsuccessful. Some of the flowers don’t open enough to permit insects to enter. Plus, a few plants in each population area are male sterile — no pollen is produced and these (obviously) rely on insects to bring in the boy stuff.
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - first seastar inventory 2017: “Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest. A few days ago I went out for my first count of seastars of the year. I have to wait until well into spring to do this — I need a low tide during daylight hours and a day that isn’t stormy since I use a kayak to access the rocky shoreline seastars inhabit. I chose an ebbing tide approaching its lowest point; I’ve found that’s optimal because the seastars crawl high on the rocks during high tide for food and are still galloping downward as the tide goes out … and that’s a long way for a seastar when there’s an especially big tidal range, over 10 feet on this day. Seastars, like all echinoderms, will die if they dry out. Summer season is a triple whammy for them: not only are there more daylight hours, with warm temperatures, but the lowest tides occur during the daytime in the Pacific Northwest. Seastar Wasting Syndrome is a periodic disease of Echinoderms that hit North American west coast populations with unprecedented virulence beginning in late 2013. While epidemics have run through echinoderms before, this one has been catastrophic, wiping out over 90% of seastars overall, and in some places completely. Some species have been hit harder than others. I’ve been doing inventories since 2014 at sites I can reach easily near my home in the Salish Sea, and since I count at the same sites regularly, I’ve been able to get a good longitudinal picture of the progression of this epidemic locally.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - flowers and more flowers: “My flowers today are what’s blooming currently in the prairie on the bluff I’ve taken Bucketeers to before: Iceberg Point, a part of the San Juan Islands National Monument on the island where I live. I am so grateful this piece of BLM land was protected by President Obama in 2014, and fervently hope our current administration doesn’t turn its eyes in this direction to reverse that protection. Blue Camas is in full bloom right now, about two weeks late due to our unusually cool wet spring, but opening up all over. In general wildflowers on the bluff are blooming late this year. [...] Blue Camas was a favored food source for local Straits Salish Indians hereabouts, as it was for many tribes in the West. In fact it was so valuable, land was cultivated intensely to raise camas bulbs for thousands of years, even used as a trade item. Families had particular areas they managed, and their rights to the spot were handed down to the following generations.”
Kestrel writes—Dawn Chorus: The Hummers Are Here! “It’s late spring with summer just around the corner and that means one thing — the hummingbirds are back! Are you seeing hummers in your yard or out and about? I sure am. Because I live in California, we have Anna’s hummers year round, but they’re especially active starting now. I have four hummingbird feeders in various locations around my front yard, back yard and patio. On Monday, I was returning a refilled feeder to its spot hanging from a branch on a backyard tree when a hummer approached me. It had flown to the branch where the feeder should be (they learn and map them) only to see me approaching with the missing feeder. Before I could hang it, the hummer landed and started drinking while I held the feeder in my outstretched arm! I had to wait for it to finish before I could reach up and hang the feeder back on the branch! This has never happened to me before.”
owktree writes—Daily Bucket: U is For...”Welcome to the twenty-first entry in our Backyard Science ‘Alphabet’ series. Today’s Bucket is brought to you by the letter ‘U’.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Bradley & Barre & Kochs are Scary, But Look as their Garden GrowsA new study confirms the idea that you can inoculate an audience against further lies by teaching them about misinformation. By explaining false balance to an audience, like the history of tobacco’s “fake experts,” the audience is less likely to fall for the various tricks deniers will use to turn the public against real experts. For a great (and timely) example of fake experts, we have the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s letter urging Trump to abandon the Paris agreement. It’s signed by representatives of forty free-market groups, which to the untrained eye might appear to be credible experts. But to those savvy in the ways of fossil-fuel front groups, these are no different than the ‘20,679 Physicians say “Luckies are less irritating” ‘ example from when Big Tobacco misled the public. In fact, the inoculation study used this example to show how fake experts have long been used to convince the public to act against its own best interest. Far from being unbiased and independent experts, the group of forty signatories may as well have signed ‘Sincerely, The Kochs.’ But the Kochs aren’t the only ones who deserve our attention, since there are other big names at play in this world like Trump funders and string pullers, the Mercers.”
Mark Sumner writes—Trump EPA to replace scientific review boards with climate deniers and industry lobbyists: “There’s disregard for honesty, integrity, and public health. There’s blatant disregard for honesty, integrity, and public health. There’s a giant middle-finger to honesty, integrity, and public health. And there’s this: 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. That’s step one. Step two is to replace knowledgeable scientific advisers by scouring obscure sources for climate change deniers. ‘We want to expand the pool of applicants” for the scientific board, [EPA spokesman J. P. Freire] said, “to as broad a range as possible, to include universities that aren’t typically represented and issues that aren’t typically represented.’”
saugatojas writes—President Macron has a message for U.S. climate scientists: “Summary of the video: speaking better English that the US President can manage, Macron invites US climate scientists to come and work in France. We will support your research financially and develop new industries to put your findings into practice. Ben Franklin, nous voilà! A strong message on the importance of countering climamtic change. And apart from that, shrewd domestic political positioning. The French have a self-image of being dedicated to rational arguments supported by a passion for liberty. Macron plays this theme beautifully here. Macron's invitation to 'you guys' in the USA
crawdadfan writes—Macron to U.S. Climate Scientists: Come to France. You're Welcome Here.
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
Michael Kal writes—Senator's Sanders, Merkley and Schatz Join Forces On New Environmental Legislation. Schatz says: “In the face of all of his doubters, and in a space race he was losing to the Soviet Union, JFK pledged to do something we could only dream of at the time — land a man on the moon. We don’t do this anymore in America. We don’t go big, we don’t go bold. Even on issues that demand big and bold action. But I believe we should rekindle this fire in our spirit. And ensure that America leads on the biggest issue facing the planet -- climate change. I’ve signed onto to a bill with Senators Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders that does just that. It will transition the United States to 100% clean, renewable energy by 2050. This is a landmark piece of legislation — and I’m proud to be a part of it. Will you add your name next to mine as a co-sponsor? Big oil, gas, and every other dirty energy lobby will attack us. They will say, ‘How can we do this? We don’t have the technology or the ability.’ My response to them -- how can we not?”
poopdogcomedy writes—NM-Sen: Heinrich (D) Slams Trump & Scott Pruitt For Removing Scientific Review Board From EPA: “Received this e-mail today from U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich’s (D. NM) re-election campaign: When I saw this headline, I was shocked by the lengths the Trump Administration will go to reject science and drastically reduce the protections of our air and water.
They not only want to remove members of a major scientific review board, but they want to replace those objective members with lobbyists from the industries the EPA regulates! We must reject this radical change and tell the Trump Administration to leave science to the scientists, not the lobbyists. President Trump is already pushing outrageous environmental changes to let these industries off the hook. From deep budget cuts to removing scientific studies from public view to now altering review boards, the deep-seated contempt for science and protections to keep our communities clean is astounding.”
ENERGY
Nuclear
Dan Bacher writes—Emergency declared and evacuation ordered at Hanford nuclear reservation! “The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Richland Operations Office today at 8:26 am activated the Hanford Emergency Operations Center, after declaring an alert at the 200 East Area of the Hanford Nuclear Facility in Washington State over a possible tunnel collapse. ‘One of two tunnels used to store highly radioactively contaminated waste at the defunct Purex processing plant may have collapsed,’ the Tri-City Herald reported. The Hanford facility is considered the country’s most toxic site. ‘Hanford, a 580-square-mile site in Eastern Washington, near Richland, Wash., produced plutonium from World War II through the Cold War. Parts of the site remain heavily contaminated with radioactive and hazardous chemical waste,’ the Herald reported. ‘There are concerns about subsidence in the soil covering railroad tunnels near a former chemical processing facility. The tunnels contain contaminated materials,’ according to the DOE.”
Mark Sumner writes—Possible tunnel collapse at Hanford Nuclear Site—no radioactivity release reported: “Workers have been evacuated from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation on Columbia River in Washington State. The emergency seems to have started near the PUREX facility, used for extracting plutonium from spent fuel rods. PUREX was last operated in 1988, but radioactive waste from the processing is still stored on site. The tunnel in question may itself contain items that were used when the plant was operating and which remain contaminated. The building has been vacant for nearly twenty years, but it remains highly contaminated. Its walls are surrounded by razor wire and barbed wire fences. Several rail cars used to transport the irradiated fuel rods from the Hanford nuclear reactors to the processing canyons are temporarily buried inside a tunnel near PUREX as a result of becoming contaminated. Those rail cars aren’t just contaminated, they are still loaded with material left over from processing. That tunnel containing the rail cars may be the focus of the current emergency.”
Fossil Fuels
Walter Einenkel writes—Four states sue Trump's Interior secretary over coal leases on public land: “Unpopular President Donald Trump’s selection for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was happy to have a new gig as Montana’s citizens mobilize against the Republican Party. Like everybody in the Trump administration, Zinke has been able to quickly throw a monkey wrench into the actual workings of the department he heads, recently ’freezing’ over 200 Land Management advisory boards while he plucks his eyebrows. Reuters is reporting that state prosecutors in New Mexico, New York, California and Washington are now suing Zinke and the Department of Interior over new coal extraction leases the department has given out on public lands. State prosecutors for California, New Mexico, New York and Washington are arguing new coal extraction would exacerbate global warming and violate the federal government's statutory duty to use public lands ‘in a manner that will protect the quality of scientific, scenic, historical, ecological, environmental, air and atmospheric, water resource, and archaeological values,’ according to the filings.”
Emissions Controls & Carbon Taxes
A Siegel writes—Three GOP Senators put taxpayers, citizens, common sense before Party: Methane vote: “Amid these very tense and troubled times — with the Arctic potentially passing a climate tipping point and U.S. Democracy at (hopefully not past) a tipping point — it is valuable to recognize and even celebrate hopeful signs. Today, in something that surprised many, three GOP Senators (Collins, McCain, and Graham) voted with Senate Democrats to turn back a Republican Party priority to rip off the taxpayers and worsen our pollution situation. [...] The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is a rather dastardly piece of law which has been rarely used prior to the Trump-ista Kakistocracy*. The CRA, in essence, is that Congress can reject an Administration regulation … and, in doing so, makes it essentially impossible for future regulation to be imposed in that arena. The Republicans have been going hog wild with the CRA, primarily on Obama Administration environmental-related regulations, in ways that will worsen our ability to tackle energy, environmental, health, fiscal, and climate challenges. The Methane rule that this vote relates to, in short, tackles the reality that oil and natural gas exploiters have been allowing significant releases of methane in their projects on Federal land.”
durrati writes—3 Repub. Senators Join Dems to Kill Trump's Attempt to Revoke Obama's Methane Flaring Rule: “Senators Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins and John McCain joined Democrats in killing drumpf and Big Oil’s attempt to dismantle President Obama’s rule to revoke a rule to limit leaks and flaring of methane from oil and gas production on federal lands. By a 51-49 vote the Senate told drumpf to go fuck himself. ‘The surprise vote outcome came after Republican leaders scrambled for weeks to secure the 51 votes necessary to pass the Congressional Review Act resolution, which would revoke the rule and prevent any similar regulations from being introduced. Getting the Trump administration to repeal the BLM methane rule had been a top priority of the oil and gas industry, but not all Republicans supported the measure because it would make it difficult to regulate methane waste in the future’.”
MTmofo writes—Senate votes to retain Obama's methane emissions on federal land rule: “In a surprise win for environmentalists, the U.S. Senate voted 51-49 on Wednesday against repealing an Obama administration rule limiting methane pollution on federal lands. Under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), lawmakers can overturn the rules of a previous administration within about 60 days of their enactment. The CRA was used little before the Trump Administration. But so far this year, Congress has voted 13 times to overturn various Obama rules, including those related to stream protection, internet privacy, and shooting hibernating bears. Wednesday’s vote, however, rejected the repeal of an Obama-era rule requiring gas drillers to limit leaks, venting, and burning methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from wells drilled on public lands. The Bureau of Land Management estimated that drillers now waste enough methane gas to supply 6.2 million homes a year, and cost taxpayers $46 to $204 million a year in lost royalties.”
Pipelines & Other Fossil Fuel Transportation
Ivy Main writes—Sierra Club seeks state Affiliates Act review before Dominion commits to Atlantic Coast Pipeline: “Today the Sierra Club filed a petition with the Virginia State Corporation Commission seeking a Declaratory Judgment that Dominion Virginia Power’s arrangement to obtain gas capacity in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is subject to Commission approval under the Virginia Affiliates Act. That law requires a public service corporation to get the approval of the Commission before it enters into a ‘contract or arrangement’ with an affiliated company. The Affiliates Act applies, according to the Sierra Club, because Dominion Virginia Power’s parent corporation, Dominion Resources, is a partner in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline joint venture, and Dominion Virginia Power’s (DVP) fuel procurement subsidiary, Virginia Power Services Energy Corporation (VPSE), contracted for capacity on the pipeline. Put more simply, a utility—Dominion Virginia Power-- and two of its corporate affiliates have negotiated a business deal, and the Affiliates Act directs the Commission to carefully review that deal to ensure that consumers don’t get the short end of the stick. If the Commission grants Sierra Club’s petition, DVP will have to submit its agreement with Atlantic Coast to the Commission for formal review and approval. Sierra Club and other interested parties will then have a chance to weigh in on whether the agreement will actually benefit consumers.”
REGULATIONS & PROTECTIONS
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Pruitt Brings Regulatory Capture to a Whole New Level: Regulatory Surrender: “Let’s start with a little vocabulary lesson. ‘Regulatory capture’ is when a regulated industry finds ways to influence the agency that regulates it, so as to give it preferential treatment and protect the industry’s own profits. In the past, this has been a relatively subtle and complicated process involving the sort of cloak and dagger efforts that avoid detection and funding-web-connections that can make critics sound a little tin foil-y. Not any more. These days, the EPA is openly welcoming regulatory capture, and admitting publicly that it’s giving polluters a louder voice at the expense of independent experts and stakeholders. How do we know this? Well, they said it on the record. After coverage in PoliticoPro and E&E of the EPA’s recent decision to relieve a raft of scientific advisors from their position on a review board, an EPA spokesman told the New York Times that ‘the administrator believes we should have people on this board who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community.’ In other words, the EPA is getting rid of people who speak on behalf polluted communities and intend to bring in more of the perspective of the people causing it. (And it’s not just the EPA: the Interior is suspending over 200 advisory panels while Zinke reviews them.)”
Dan Bacher writes—Trump Nominates Westlands Lobbyist for Deputy Interior Secretary: “On April 28, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate David Bernhardt of Virginia, a former lobbyist for the politically powerful Westlands Water District, for Deputy Secretary of the Interior. Interior is the agency in charge of managing and conserving public land and natural resources, including rivers and lakes, in the United States. Bernhardt will serve under Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, who recently came to Sacramento to meet with California Governor Jerry Brown to discuss water infrastructure, the Delta Tunnels, public lands and other issues. [...] Bernhardt has for many years served as a lobbyist and litigator for the Westlands Water District, the largest federal water contractor in the nation and a strong advocate of the construction of the Delta Tunnels and the weakening of environmental laws protecting Sacramento River salmon, Central Valley steelhead and other imperiled fish populations.”
mspicata writes—Ryan Zinke suspends over 200 advisory boards: “While we’re bitching at Scott Pruitt, let’s not miss the news from the Interior Department: Separately, Zinke has postponed all outside committees as he reviews their composition and work. The review will effectively freeze the work of the Bureau of Land Management’s 30 resource advisory committees, along with other panels focused on a range of issues, from one assessing the threat of invasive species to the science technical advisory panel for Alaska’s North Slope.”
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS, OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
Firegirl writes—Worldwide Domination of our National Parks: “Why did Bears Ears make everyone invested in Potash, mining, rare earths or other chemicals upset? Because the largest remnants of that old Western Interior Seaway, left lots of stuff, including Potash behind and the opportunity to mine them would substantially increase the portfolio’s of oligarch’s around the world and KOCH Brothers and their business. Trump and his administration are completing another step in the KOCH Agenda to take everything they can for themselves, Canada, Russia, India and more. They are doing nothing more than Making America Less Great Again (MALGA) and destroying the country that we love.”
Rich Holtzin writes—Chaco Canyon Historical Park, Chimney Rock NM, Comb Ridge and Comb Wash, Utah: “Location/Geography: Northwest New Mexico. San Juan and McKinley counties. Closet City or Town: Farmington; Aztec. Area: about 34,000 acres (53 square miles/137 km²). Chaco Canyon lies entirely within the San Juan Basin and is surrounded by the Chuska Mountains in the west, the San Juan Mountains to the north, and the San Pedro Mountains in the east.[...] Spotlight: A thoroughly engaging and enigmatic archaeological ruins unlike no other! Like a solemn shrine, Chaco is considered one of the most significant archaeological and archaeoastronomy settings in North America if not the world. To some Puebloans, particularly the Hopi, Chaco’s ceremonial function for the Ancestral Puebloans remains a guarded secret. Analysis of pottery shards found here show Chaco’s structures were used between the 900s and 1200s. Solar/lunar alignment of structures typifies its telling cosmological utility to the inhabitants, including contemporary Puebloans. Arid land-turned-fertile due to water conservation. Casa Grande, Casa Malpaís, and Chimney Rock all have something in common with Chaco: a place where observers predicted the changing seasons. Focus: human history, archeology, archaeoastronomy and the Great Drought of the 1300s.”
Meteor Blades writes—Utah Sen. sticks with centuries-old contempt: TELLING Indians rather than LISTENING to them: “The designation of Bears Ears as a national monument—which environmental advocates, including many American Indians, fought for decades to get protected—was a victory that some on the Trump regime would like to see overturned, or at least weakened. Pr*sident Trump has called for a review all national monuments larger than 100,000 acres created since 1996, labeling their protections a ‘massive federal land grab.’ And he’s charged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke with the task of seeing whether some or all of some 40 monuments can be reversed or at least shrunken. Enter Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch. Standing alongside Zinke in his trip to the state to check out Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Hatch claimed Indians who supported Bears Ears were ‘manipulated’ into their stance and the ‘far left’ is determined to do even more.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
DWG writes—Iowa Republicans about to kill off prestigious sustainable agriculture research center: “If you have ever taken a serious interest in sustainable agriculture practices, then you have encountered the work of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University was created to identify and develop new ways to farm profitably while conserving natural resources as well as reducing negative environmental and social impacts. The Center's work focuses on four initiatives: ecology, marketing and food systems, policy, and cross-cutting. Funding comes from state appropriations and from fees on nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides, as established by the 1987 Iowa Groundwater Protection Act. The Leopold Center costs the taxpayers of Iowa next to nothing: $400,000 a year is its current state funding level. But, of course, Republicans in the Legislature decided to eliminate its funding, in the interest of reducing budget shortfalls created by Republican tax cuts and falling farm revenues.”