At Climate Progress, Stephen Lacey writes Republicans Set To Repeal Light Bulb Efficiency Standard That Would Save Consumers $12 Billion A Year:
In a move that could be called anything but conservative, Republican lawmakers are set to bring a bill to the House floor next week that will repeal state and municipal rights to set efficiency standards for light bulbs. The bill would unravel a piece of federal legislation that was strongly supported by light bulb manufacturers and has spurred innovation in the lighting industry.
The bill, sponsored by Texas Republican Joe Barton, would strip away any “federal, state or local requirement or standard regarding energy efficient lighting” that uses light bulbs containing mercury. In other words, all compact fluorescent bulbs.
Remember, in May, Barton, denied there was any “medical negative” from mercury emitted from coal power plants. Now he fancies himself a protector of the public from a vastly smaller source of potential mercury poisoning. The reality: There is an extremely small amount of mercury in CFL bulbs. Even after more than 8 hours of exposure to a broken bulb, mercury levels are equal to eating a 6 oz can of tuna.
But that’s not what this is really about.
Barton’s bill targets the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which increases the efficiency of incandescent light bulbs by 27% through 2014. It was a completely non-controversial bill that had bi-partisan support, was strongly supported by light bulb manufacturers (and still is) and was signed into law by George W. Bush.
“When this bill was passed, it was passed by people who knew how to make light bulbs,” says Randall Moorhead, vice president of government affairs at Philips, a leading light bulb producer. “Everyone supported it. And since then, it’s created more choice for consumers – we have two incandescent bulbs on the market that weren’t there before.” …
If just a third of the 4.4 billion medium screw-based light sockets around the country were replaced with new, efficient incandescent light bulbs, one third with compact fluorescents and one third with LED bulbs, the annual savings could be more than $12 billion a year, says Moorhead.
The Green Diary Rescue has been rescued after a brief hiatus. It appears regularly on Saturdays. Inclusion of a particular diary in the GDR does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it.
Haole in Hawaii gave us an nice intermission between meta fights in Hawaii Underwater - A Photo Diary:
Air, Water and Soil Pollution
Pragmatus captured an amazing image in Biblical Plague of Dust Swallows Wicked City of Phoenix
FishOutofWater was first on the Daily Kos scene with a thorough look at the Oil spill on Yellowstone River: Exxon Pipeline Ruptures: "A 12 inch Exxon pipeline ruptured under the Yellowstone River downstream from the national park, covering the flooding river with long slicks of oil."
Montana Cowgirl followed up with In Wake of Oil Spill, Republicans Say Exxon Should "Stick It" to Montana Town: "As oil spills into Montana's once pristine Yellowstone River, which flows out of Yellowstone National Park, the Chair of the Montana Republican Party writes in the Missoulian today that ExxonMobil--the company responsible for the oil spill near Billings--"should stick it to Missoula," Montana's second largest community."
And Karen Hedwig Backman pointed out that things could be worse (and may be) in Exxon/Valdez ... Exxon/Yellowstone ...: "Congress is preparing to vote on legislation to speed up the permit for the massive Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, which would carry up to 20 times the amount of oil per day as the Yellowstone pipeline and cross this same river on its route through six heartland states. "
Mary Anne Hitt was delighted that New EPA Air Pollution Standard Protects Public Health: "Today the Environmental Protection Agency announced a safeguard that will improve the lives of millions of Americans. The Cross State Air Pollution Rule will protect families and communities from the dangerous air pollution spewed out by coal-fired power plants. If you have a child with asthma or a loved one at risk of a heart attack, you can breathe easier today, because these new protections will decrease the chances they will end up in the emergency room. Specifically, the new protections will reduce power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, dangerous pollutants that form soot and smog and contribute to poor air quality days and respiratory illnesses affecting millions of Americans. "
That was also the topic tackled by Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune in American Public: 1, Polluters: 0: " This week, The New York Times ran a profile on EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who some people think has the toughest job in the Obama administration. I was struck by how the article described her as being 'behind enemy lines with only science, the law and a small band of loyal lieutenants to support her.' What an odd perspective. From that viewpoint, Jackson appears to be a solitary, lonely warrior, and there's hardly anyone to be found in all of America who really cares about clean air, clean water, and public health besides a 'small band' of do-gooders inside the EPA. Of course, the opposite is true: A supermajority of the American public -- across party lines -- believes that we need to do more to stand up to polluters. "
Agriculture, Gardening & Food
NourishingthePlanet took a look at World Population Day: Agriculture Offers Huge Opportunities for a Planet of 7 Billion: "This year, the world’s population will hit 7 billion, according to the United Nations. Reaching this unprecedented level of population density has prompted the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) to launch a '7 Billion Actions' campaign to promote individuals and organizations that are using successful new techniques for tackling global development challenges. By sharing these innovations in an open forum, the campaign aims to foster communication and collaboration as our world becomes more populated and increasingly interdependent."
The Anomaly reported on the work of some activists in When Food Kills: Coalition Demands Less Antibiotics on Farms: "A broad-based global coalition of consumer groups is demanding a reduction in the amount of antibiotics used on industrial farms, which are being blamed for a rise in superbugs … We are fast ' whereby antibiotic-resistant superbugs dominate the landscape, reports Independent columnist Johann Hari."
soothsayer99 filled in for beach babe from fl to writeMacca's Meatless Mondays...You Don't Know What You Got...: "As in all things excessive, the United States leads the way, and does so blindly driven by corporate greed and lack of consumer awareness/food options. We love our fast and 'cheap' meat and consume about eight ounces a day, roughly twice the global average. And, although we represent only 5 percent of the world’s population, we slaughter more than 10 billion animals a year, more than 15 percent of the world’s total."
Dem Beans wrote a book review of Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit: "Do you have tomatoes in your garden this summer? There's a reason that so many home gardeners stick heirloom tomatoes in their gardens or in pots on the patio: corporate-farmed tomatoes are grainy, tasteless and almost bereft of nutritional value. Food writer Barry Estabrook explains the decline of this noble fruit by focusing on winter-grown Florida tomatoes in his new book. The story he tells is astonishing. Some may remember Estabrook when he wrote an explosive piece in Gourmet magazine outlining the human slavery that has taken place in Florida's tomato industry."
blue jersey mom filled in for Frankenoid to write the latest installment of Saturday Morning Garden Blogging: Growing Taro: "Aloha, garden bloggers. Pehea 'oukou? (How are all of you?) Since dad and I recently returned from fieldwork in Hawai'i, I thought that I would post some pictures of gardening in Maui. Maui is known as the Valley Isle, and the traditional land units or ahupua'a extended from the seashore up to the mountains. This gave Hawaiian farmers access of the resources of the mountains, the seashore, and everything in between. While we were excavating at Moku'ula, we had an opportunity to spend a day working with our Hawaiian colleague, Kawewehe Pundyke, who is working to restore the taro lo'i or fields in the Iao Valley, one of the most beautiful parts of Maui. "
Animals
lineatus went all patriotic in Dawn Chorus: All-American Birds: "On this holiday weekend, it's pure Americana here at Dawn Chorus. Certainly birds are not concerned with borders. We welcome foreigners with feathers much more readily than those without—Canada Goose and Mexican Chickadee have a lot easier time crossing the borders than their human counterparts. But there are some birds who are undeniably and without question American."
American White Pelicans want to look their best for the holiday. :
decembersue had a lovely time with some Wild Horses: "Last month I had the privilege of spending some time in eastern Wyoming and the Black Hills area of South Dakota for a long-planned family trip. Aside from the lovely landscapes and geological wonders we found the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, a nonprofit which has over the years taken in a number of BLM horses that might have otherwise ended up in slaughterhouses or neglected situations."
Climate Change
Lefty Coaster blasted a Fox Nation headline claims "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduce Global Warming": "That is an outright distortion of the study's conclusions that particulate pollution (mainly sulfur particulate pollution) is masking the effects of Climate Change by blocking sunlight in the upper atmosphere. The study that is the source for the distorted Fox Nation headline never makes any conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions reduce global warming. The study points to particulate pollution from sulfur particles coming mostly from new coal fired power plants, that are reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the earth as masking the effects of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are having on climate climate change. The Reuters article Fox Nation used as a source makes no such claim about GHGs reducing Global Warming, Fox Nation makes that claim about GHGs all by itself without any supporting facts from the study or the Reuters article."
billlaurelMD laid out some details from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's State of The Climate: 2010 Report: "Globally, the mean annual temperature was about 0.6°C (1.1°F) above the 1901-2000 mean value in 2010. This virtually tied 2010 (within the analysis error) with 2005 for warmest year in the National Climatic Data Center's records from 1880 to the present day. The graphic showing the trend over that period is below."
NCDC global mean annual temperature 1880-2010
FishOutofWater looked at what's happening this year in Epic Arctic Meltdown: "The beach-like boundary with open water at 89° north shows the thinness of the ice. Polar sea ice melt ponds are common in July but open water is not. Source: NOAA PMEL
This photograph from the north pole webcam shows a very large melt pond in the foreground caused by high pressure, warm winds and episodes of bright sunshine. Open water, an uncommon feature in north pole webcam pictures, has opened up over the past week in In the middle distance. In the distance topography is provided by an ice ridge that has been present since the webcam was installed."
Steven D explained Why Traditional Economists Don't Know Jack Re: the Misunderestimated Costs of Climate Change: "The truth is that asking economists to consider the true costs of warming the globe by 2.0°C or 3.5°C versus the cost of preventing such increases is unlikely to be very useful. Traditional economists simply cannot accurately predict that far ahead in the future. Heck, they can't even agree on the causes of, or the solutions for, our current economic crisis. The reason such economists are the wrong people to consult regarding the policies governments should adopt to combat climate change is not that hard to explain."
Hugh Jim Bissell took a few pokes atSkeptics of Global Climate Change Who Gathered At a Fake Conference.: "The environmental scientists who get paid by the coal and petroleum industries to say that global climate change is a hoax will criticize as biased the science done by the environmental scientists who get paid through public funding, even though everyone knows that the scientists paid by the coal and environmental industries have an agenda."
Energy
Heather TaylorMiesle NRDC Action Fund went after a key House committee chairman in Rep. Upton attacks strawmen: "Rep. Upton has been heavily criticized for catering to special interests (especially to those donors who have made substantial contributions to his campaign). It's also been shown that he is using bad information, misleading his constituents, and flip flopping on his previous positions. Instead of addressing this criticism head on and providing leadership on policies that would help his constituents, he's written an emotional OpEd that accuses environmental groups of being 'divisive, shrill, disingenuous and inaccurate.'"
JonRynn informed us that natural gas is not the fuel of the future: "Natural gas is being touted as a fuel of the future, a way to bridge the gap between a dirty energy and clean energy economy. But according to numerous articles and a report from David Hughes at the Post-Carbon Institute, what we may have is another bridge to nowhere (page numbers in this post refer to Hughes’ study). Fracking, the rapidly expanding technique for pulling natural gas out of the ground, may be worse for global warming than coal, ultimately very expensive, and not productive enough to make much of a difference in natural gas supply anyway."
Ellinorianne reported that France Votes to Ban "Fracking": "France voted to ban 'fracking' for natural gas and oil Country wide. There are caveats of course and France is know for having alternatives with their high dependence on Nuclear energy, but even so, they banned fracking and they've put with it heavy fines and consequences. And oil companies in France are not happy at all."
She also let us know about a new study showing Fracking Wastewater Bad for Trees and Other Living Things: "Well, now we have some further evidence to show that Fracking also does harm to trees and plants because of the waste water that is used in the fracking process. Fracking Wastewater Poisonous To Plants & Trees: US Forest Service"
Brainwrap wrote what he considered to be FANTASTIC Solar Energy News!! THIS is how you get business types to invest in alt energy!: "If I'm understanding how the arrangement works correctly, it basically amounts to the school renting out their roof space to the utility, which isn't being used for anything else anyway, after all. In return, they're paid for the space with an upfront payment and ongoing credit for their own electrical use...without ever having to spend a dime on the upfront cost of installation or infrastructure themselves, which is always the biggest hurdle for people/businesses to deal with when considering solar panels."
HoundDog also had some good news on this front his his diary, Solar Photovoltaic Generating Capacity Averaging 65% Compound Annual Growth Rate for Last 5 Years: GTM Research predicts we’ll have 50 GW of module global production capacity by the end of the year reports Stephen Lacey of Think Progress in Solar is Ready Now: ‘Ferocious Cost Reductions’ Make Solar PV Competitive.
The Troubadour had a special item for Fourth of July in Independence [from oil] Day: Israeli Firm Building World's Largest Solar Plant in California!: "The future of green energy production in California is happening RIGHT NOW, and this is what it looks like: That's a thermal tower, one of three being built by BrightSource Energy in California's Mojave Desert — thermal towers which will be surrounded by 347,000 heliostat mirrors capable of producing 392 megawatts of power."
barath discussed some details about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in You and I own some Oil: "Price volatility is a key problem in that it makes it difficult for alternative energy to get a toehold. That is, every time oil (and generally fossil fuel) prices spike, alternatives are seen as relatively cheap and investment begins; once West Texas Intermediate hits $80-90/bbl and other fossil fuels hit their equivalents, alternatives like solar and wind (and, unfortunately, tar sands) start looking cheap. A year or three later when those high oil prices help cause a new recession, oil prices fall again, and pending alternative energy projects get canceled as they appear unlikely to make a profit. This high-frequency noise makes it hard to discern the long-term price signal being sent: oil prices are rising steadily."
davidwalters gave us an update on who is building new commercial power reactors in Nuclear New Builds Roundup: " Just when we thought that would be it for nuclear energy, some whole countries are not listening... Here we present a simple round up gleaned from the news of nations not interested in turning back nuclear energy, but to the contrary, are expanding it. This is not argue one way or another but a simple statement of facts."
Athenian had an optimistic view in Nuclear Power: You're doing it wrong!: "Nuclear power generation, as it is practiced today, is: inefficient, dirty, dangerous and water-dependent. It does not have to be that way. A few weeks back there was a diary by The Anomaly that seemed intriguing but I did not quite get it (there are technical details there which I will not repeat here, so go take a look). Then a few days ago I came across the same subject in a TEDx talk by a guy who used to be a rocket scientist and has taken up the cause of Thorium based nuclear power in the form of Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR.) The few minutes of the talk were interesting, to say the least, so I sought out more. I admit that I was hooked."
jamess had some objections to the whole idea of more nukes in If Nuclear Power were such a Great Bet -- would Entergy have to Sue, to Keep Running?: "Incredible. The State of Vermont decided they want to get rid of their outdated and dangerous Nuclear Power Plant, and go switch to Renewals ... And the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) says 'Unh, unh, ahh! ... Not So Fast Vermonters. We've got powerful friends in DC ... And besides these past expiration-date Plants are Safe. Just Trust Us.'"
And likewise in his diary, The Extraordinary Hidden Costs of Boiling Water, Cheaply: "Certainly the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must make sure that Nuclear companies have enough assets, enough insurance, to cover any damage that would happen if God-forbid, such a Fukushima-type event happened here? (Say during one of those every-other-year 100-year floods, or something ...)You might think so -- but you would be wrong."
And in another, Some Lessons Learned about an Infallible Industry: "Lesson One: Some Nuclear Plants have 'dangerous design flaws' -- despite what we always been told to the contrary."
Joieau wrote that Fukushima Facts Reveal Ongoing Dangers in Japan, U.S.: "The Atlantic Wire reports today that despite months of lies and obfuscations from TEPCO and government officials about the true conditions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reservation, some facts are finding their way out via whistleblowers that are helping to fill in the blanks. Investigative journalists Jake Adelstein and David McNeill teamed up to print a picture of massive damage and explosions at unit-1 caused by the 9.0 earthquake, well before the tsunami it spawned came over the seawall to wash away the emergency generators."
TomP was glad to hear EPA Orders Clean Up or Close Down to 27 Old Coal-Fired Power Plants: "'In an effort to curb air pollution in downwind states, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday ordered utilities to either clean up or shut down older coal-fired power plants in 27 states in the eastern half of the U.S. ' Control of the EPA by Democrats and enforcement of the law will save lives. It matters, even if we wish the EPA would go much further."
WePartyPatriots was unhappy to report that aKorean-Owned Power Co. Undercuts Biomass Plant in New Hampshire, Costs the State 1,200 Jobs: "A crushing blow was dealt to New Hampshire's North Country this week when months of negotiations were undercut at the eleventh hour by a Korean-owned power company's demands for $13 million in cash payments. Whitefield Power and Light, owned by Korea East-West, has been singled out as the lone independent power producer (IPP) unwilling to complete a deal that would have allowed construction to begin on the Berlin Station Biomass Plant. The point of contention during the talks was a deal struck between the Berlin plant and Power Service New Hampshire (PSNH) that would have allowed PSNH to purchase power from the Berlin station "
RLMiller warned that all is not as it seems in When is an end to ethanol subsidies not an end to ethanol subsidies?: " The good news: The three Senators' deal eliminates the $2 billion (through the end of this year) VEETC tax credit. Our tax dollars won't be used to pay ethanol blenders 45 cents per gallon. Of the $2 billion saved, $1.3 billion goes to deficit reduction. The bad news: the deal involves paying ethanol blenders more money to develop infrastructure (ethanol pumping stations and the like) and gives a tax credit to small producers of ethanol."
Webster Hubble Telescope ran into difficulties at another blog, so he tried out his observations here in The trouble with oil depletion analysis: "I dislike this curve fitting without modeling because it weakens potentially strong arguments one can make against the skeptics and the 'Drill, Baby, Drill' crowd. It is really similar to the weather versus climate argument, the knife can cut both ways if you just watch the trends."
Green Essays, Green Philosophy, Green Poetry & Green Humor
In another installment of Living Simply, cordgrass discussed Zero Waste in the news: "Usually my zero waste diaries are about zero waste in the home, but I wanted to feature an exciting zero waste news story coming out of Texas, of all places. It got a surprising amount of publicity and I was very encouraged. Bulk-only grocery store in TX. In.gredients plans to become the country's very first 'package-free, zero waste grocery store.' GOOD describes the store in this fitting and awesome way: 'It's as if the specialty bulk food section rebelled and took over the rest of a traditional grocery store.'"
HoundDog pointed us to a satire from The Onion, Coal Lobby Warns Wind Farms May Blow Earth Off Orbit: "Check out this funny spoof video of a new ad from the coal industry lobby warning America of the dangers of wind power. The danger that all the fans from windfarms will blow the earth off of our orbit into the sun. The video also reveals an ad for a new horror documentary entitled 'Terminal Gust.'"
ban nock discussed The Balance of Nature Fallacy: "The balance of nature is the fallacy that nature will seek equilibrium and balance itself out if left to it’s own devices. The Balance of Nature fallacy is pernicious and hard to root out. It appeals to our desire to make sense of our world, and unfortunately for us, when applied to Climate Change it might well be deadly."
LaFeminista lamented theSquabbling Over The Riches Of Environmental Devastation: "Canada better watch out as desertification spreads across the US and the center of Canada becomes the food basket of the new world. When fresh clean water becomes more precious than gold, who will grab the great lakes in the interest of national security? At the moment the fiasco of international wrangling is who can get their pinkies in the pie first. I dread to think what they will get up to when it's about their polling numbers. But aw heck, I'm such a spoil sport; let's except the damage is done and go slake our thirst on the oil that helped fuel climate change in the first place....then we can think about the consequences.... There's black gold in that thar pristine wilderness.... and it's ours! "
barath added to his discussion on the end of growth in We have an Energy ceiling, not a Debt ceiling: "The economy can’t grow with oil prices this high, and they're not going to come down for a sustained period of time again (relative to purchasing power). This is a fundamental, geological limit, one that I wrote about in previous diaries — Why we need optimistic pessimism: the End of Growth and Life After the End of Economic Growth. Sec. Chu knows this — he used to give talks about it before he joined the administration. The Department of Energy put out a great study, the Hirsch Report, in 2005 that the Bush administration tried to squash because they didn’t like its findings. "
Green Policy, Green Activism & Politicians
snappydogs had a good laugh, in a serious way, at Inhofe Being Attacked by the Environment: "Nutrient Pollution is one of the top sources of water quality impairment in the United States... It is what causes Hypoxic conditions in the Gulf of Mexico, dissolved oxygen sags in streams and lakes leading to fish kills, and that oh so nice carpet of greenish slime that you can sometimes see on lakes in the middle of the summer. 'Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) joked last week that he was "attacked by the environment" following an illness he believes was caused by toxic algae bloom. The 76-year-old ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, a frequent critic of environmentalists, fell ill after taking a dip near his home on Grand Lake early last week.' "
The Natural World & The Great Outdoors
Mother Mags had some tough words for the usual spoilers in "It's time for the cows and chainsaws": "That's Andy Groseta, incoming president of the Arizona Cattle Growers Association, providing a solution to the monster wildfires that have plagued his state, culminating this season in the Willow Fire, the largest in Arizona's history. Damn right: allow cattle to mosey through public lands and they'll devour the undergrowth that fuels fires. Of course, they'll also erode the shit out of the land, causing floods, exacerbating habitat destruction, and intensifying global warming, but they'll chew up a lot of nasty grass. Then couple the cattle with chainsaws: not only will clear-cutting provide more space for cows, and they need a lot, but there won't be any trees to burn! Brilliant! A two-fer! "
Julie Waters told us about her how wonderful she found Bosque Del Apache: "I love Vermont. It's one of my favorite places in New England. It's even one of my favorite places in the country. But there are other places with colors and patterns we pretty much never see here and from time to time it's worth a visit. New Mexico is one such place, and specifically Bosque Del Apache."
The Daily Bucket series
bwren: mystery stuff: "This is a small Madrona snag that toppled last winter after standing dead for a number of years. It's on a west facing slope that has seen a number of large trees fail in the past year. This summer may be the first it's ever been in bright dappled afternoon sun."
CitizenScientist: NWR Edition: "I spent much of the AM today kayaking through Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in southern Delaware. I really wish I had photos of everything that I saw (tons of birds, plants, amphibians, etc.), but my camera didn't want to cooperate (I blame the humidity)."
enhydra lutris: Miscellany Edition: "On 6/29, just before I left, I belatedly noticed that my Clevelandia Sage was in full bloom and perhaps a bit past. On 7/6, when I returned, I noticed the same with respect to my Buddleia. My grapes, however are still tiny proto-grapes, with none in the cluster exceeding 3/16 inch and few reaching that size."
RunawayRose: abbr.: "Thistles, yellow sweet clover, and milkweed are partly blooming, partly gone to seed. In honor of my recent re-read of Lois Bujold's Sharing Knife series, I went and smelled the milkweed flowers (very sweet) and observed a few green-and-gold caterpillars on one."
Oceans, Wetland & Water Resources
verasoie pondered a new discovery's possibility as a Boon for green technology? Deep sea mud as source of "rare earth" elements: "A new publication in the journal Nature Geoscience, by a Japanese group, is reporting that a previously unknown source of 'rare earth' elements, crucial in the development of high tech electronics (i.e., flat screen TVs, smartphones, etc.) and electric/hybrid vehicles components (e.g., rechargeable batteries), has been discovered in the deep sea mud of the Pacific Ocean (near Hawai'i and Tahiti, amongst other places)."
AZ Independent looked beyond the rare earths in Mining on the High Seas - an introduction to conversation: "What I'd like to write about is how discoveries of sought after resources are occurring in 'unclaimed' territory, the laws affecting the extraction of such resources, and progressive ideas for managing these resources. What's in the Oceans? So we already know about the huge rare-earth find. What other discoveries have been made? China has already signaled a willingness to explore thermal vents for copper, nickel, and other metals."
Round-ups, Wrap-ups, Live Blogs & Summaries
Gulf Watchers #534 by Yasuragi: Tony's Testy Testimony:
Gulf Watchers #535 by peraspera: BP assassinates characters of dead workers: ""
Transportation
(Right: National Line) In the latest installment of Sunday Train, BruceMcF took an in-depth look at Steel Interstates, Fast Freight, and Brawny Recovery: "A critical element of the Steel Interstate system is that the Steel Interstates will be built primarily on privately owned right of way. Indeed, one reason why I would not insist on my maps being the 'right' maps is that the intention here is to operate in cooperation with the private rail operators. After all, if the system is to be successful in eliminating 7% or more of our oil consumption, and therefore 10% or more of our oil imports, it will be because the private freight operators have successfully won that business. So it would be the responsibility of the Line Development Banks to enter into negotiations with the owners of the various corridors that can be used to connect the markets they are charged with connecting."
apollogonzales gave the background on what the TRAIN Act on Collision Course with Environment: "The 'TRAIN' Act is essentially designed to make a train wreck out of a specific list of life-saving public health protections provided by the Clean Air Act. It would do this by requiring a committee of cabinet secretaries to analyze, and thus potentially delay, long-overdue safeguards that provide vital public health protections. Delays in implementing protections would lead to tens of thousands of premature deaths every year. Rules that would be subjected to this redundant re-analysis and red tape include proposed standards for ozone, which could save up to 12,000 lives and result in as many as 420,000 fewer lost days of work and 2.1 million fewer school absences per year."
Et Cetera
NNadir went literally deep in a discussion of How Radioactive Is the Ocean?: "I will say this: The ocean is saturated with respect to uranium, meaning that if uranium were removed from seawater say to run power plants, something the Japanese have examined in some detail — it would continually be recharged by weathering of granite, assuming rivers actually flow to the sea, something that actually happens with less and less frequency in modern times."
rebel ga gave some good advice in case the little biters bug you in I Hate Mosquitos! Hope This Helps Everyone!: "Have you heard about the large cattail punk rods that grow in wetland areas. They look like two foot incense sticks, You dry them out and light them. They burn and smolder. A natural way to keep the mosquitos away. The kids next door to me used to gather them. But maybe you can find them at a farmer's market too."