Red-tailed hawk takes flight. See Kestrel's
post.
Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The most recent Spotlight can be seen here. More than
23,275 environmentally oriented diaries have been rescued for inclusion in this series since 2006. Inclusion of a diary in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
Welcome to East Liverpool, Ohio, home of one of the world's largest hazardous waste incinerators—by
Samuel Vargo: "Much was promised when one of the world's largest commercial hazardous waste incinerators was being planned, and later, built, in East Liverpool, Ohio's East End. The big parent company that owns and operates the facility, Swiss-based Von Roll, would be like a magnet that would attract other industries with its hazardous waste incinerator operating here. That was the biggest hook: The city would return to its glory days, when it was the world's pottery capital. There were other promises, too, like streets lined with shops, restaurants, boutiques, cafes, and maybe even nightclubs. A little ice cream parlor perched on the northwestern bank of the Ohio River maybe? And the city's police and fire departments would have their coffers stuffed with cash, made possible through the taxable revenues provided by the hazardous waste incinerator, which at the time, was billed as a steam-energy provider that would provide cheap power to any industry or business settling near its belching smokestack. Figuratively, anyhow, these promises meant East Liverpool's streets would be paved with gold. In reality, driving down some of the city's worst streets these days is like negotiating a vehicle down a Third World goat path. A motorist needs to keep a vehicle well under the 25-mile-per-hour speed limit or a flat tire, a broken tie rod, or a busted shock or strut would surely be the result."
Oil bust is about to get real—by gjohnsit: "Oil prices dropping to six-year lows is already serious, but doing it in the middle of the peak season for oil should get everyone's attention. U.S. crude futures have lost 30 percent since the start of June, set for the biggest drop since the West Texas Intermediate crude contract started trading in 1983. That beats the summer plunges during the global financial crisis of 2008, the Asian economic slump in 1998 and the global supply glut of 1986... 'OPEC is basically saying we're not going to cut production, we're going to see who can stand lower prices longest,'' Shilling said. 'Oil is headed for $10 to $20 a barrel.'' Oil was already having a very bad year, but then China did something that took the markets by surprise - they devalued their currency this week. That suddenly made everything very real."
Big Oil spent over $6.2 million lobbying CA officials in year's first six months—by
Dan Bacher: "The oil industry spent $6.2 million to lobby legislators and other state officials in California in the first six months of 2015, according to a report just released by the California Secretary of State's Office. The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), the largest and most powerful corporate lobbying group in Sacramento, alone spent a total of $1,388,203 in the first quarter of the 2015-2016 session and $1,141,037 in the second quarter of the session. That’s a total of $2,529,240 spent on lobbying in six months. (
http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/....) Last year WSPA spent a record $8.9 million on lobbying, double what it spent in the previous year. WSPA spent $4.67 million in 2013. (
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/....). Big Oil is currently spending over $1 million per month to fight legislation and regulations to prevent future oil spills, to protect our drinking water supplies from contamination by fracking waste water, from cleaning up the air, and from protecting marine protected areas from offshore oil drilling."
You can find more excerpts from green diaries below the orange spill.
Climate Chaos
New Antarctic Research ups Sea Level Rise While Pine Island Glacier calves Iceberg B35—by Pakalolo: "The Pine Island Glacier (PIG) in West Antarctica, is a large ice stream that drains the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. It flows west-northwest along the south side of the Hudson Mountains and into the Amundsen Sea. This rapidly melting glacier accounts for 25% of the continents ice loss. The National Ice Center(NIC) has announced that a calving event has recently been observed, and is speeding up PIG'S retreat. The iceberg is now known as Iceberg B35. Climate Central reports on the new research published in the journal The Cryosphere. Though I personally believe that SLR is not what will do us in, as a low lying coastal resident this is distressing news nonetheless. New research published Tuesday in The Cryosphere revises how much West Antarctica could contribute to sea level rise. The findings indicate that West Antarctica could contribute an additional 8 inches of water on top of an estimated of 39 inches of sea level rise projected by the end of this century. Put another way, the region would drop the equivalent of a 19,000 cubic mile ice cube into the world’s oceans. The region will continue adding water to the world’s oceans through at least 2200, representing a major threat to coasts everywhere."
Simulation showing the major glaciers of the Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica over three centuries of sustained retreat.
Climate Change and Infectious Diseases: A direct causal link—by CaptainRelentless: "It really should be no surprise that climate change is a huge threat. Climate change has huge consequences not only on our environment, but also our health and well-being. Yet, sadly, a sizable portion of our society still believe it is not happening and that man made activity is not responsible for its occurrence. Scientific American reports on an August 2014 Pew Research Center poll. 87% of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) scientists believe climate change is caused mostly due to human activity. Only 50% of the public, however, acknowledges that humans have a direct role in rising temperatures. What you probably did not know though is that climate change affects all aspects of our public health, including the transmission of infectious diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been very diligent in monitoring the effects of rising temperatures and the incidence of infectious diseases. Reporting on public health and infectious disease research, the WHO presents a very interesting question: 'If climatic conditions alone change, how would this change the potential transmission of the disease?' Using mathematical models that describe the interaction of climate and biological factors (i.e. vector breeding, survival, biting rates, etc.), they found that this model has has been helpful in predicting how climate affects incidence of malaria and dengue fever."
How Hot Is It Going To Get?—by Allen Insight: "The Climate Hawk movement sprang from the scientific community and we communicate in the language of science. And this has been our gravest error. When scientists talk about global warming, they talk about the increase in the average temperature for the entire Earth. And this global average is a combination of summer, winter, day, and night. And scientists usually talk in Celsius, not Fahrenheit. Their supercomputers forecast Earth’s average temperature increasing from 2 to 12 degrees Celsius depending on the year. To most Americans, this does not sound terribly threatening. And the fossil fuel industry and climate deniers have taken great advantage of this ambiguity. So we need to cut through this ambiguity and be clear about how hot it will get. First, for the American audience, we should communicate mostly in Fahrenheit, not Celsius. Second, we should focus less on describing the average temperature for the entire Earth. People don’t think in average temperatures. "
Scientist James Hansen and granddaughter
Sophie, one of the plaintiffs in a climate lawsuit
against the federal government.
The kids call us out – Filing lawsuits for science-based climate recovery—by
Pacificshift : "We can’t say we are protecting our children’s future unless we are doing what science says we must do to recover climate stability. And we are not. Fortunately, the kids are calling us out and making it impossible to ignore the facts. Twenty-one youths filed an Oregon US District Court lawsuit last Wednesday seeking a court order declaring that the Federal Government is violating the fundamental constitutional rights of youth and future generations by causing dangerous CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. They are asking for a science-based climate recovery plan that commences annual carbon emissions reductions of 6% immediately, and forestry and farming to soak 100 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere. [...] It’s time for everyone who works on climate or cares about it to admit the truth – We can’t say we are protecting our children’s future unless we are doing what science says we must do to recover climate stability. And we are not. So far, everything we are doing or proposing is falling far short. Fortunately, the kids are calling us out and making it impossible to ignore the facts."
Dana Rohrabacher Outdoes Himself on Global-Warming—by caerbannog: "This will be a short diary. I've been involved in a global-warming twitter-discussion with Dana Rohrabacher, the esteemed Vice Chairman of the House Science Committee. I know that trying to educate Rohrabacher about basic climate-science is a fool's errand, but that is not why I've been tweeting him. Rohrabacher's twitter feed is a gold-mine of elementary-school science blunders that might be used to embarrass some of his more sensible constituents into distancing themselves from him, and I've been engaging him in an attempt to add more nuggets to that gold-mine. Rohrabacher recently has been insisting that solar activity, not CO2, is responsible for recent warming, so I asked him on twitter, 'If solar activity is responsible, then why is the stratosphere cooling'?"
Need a quick back-up for your global warming arguments? Check out these animated graphics—by Meteor Blades: "Bloomberg has posted a collection of animated gifs that are worth bookmarking for showing the next person who tells you over family dinner or on your Facebook page that human-generated greenhouse gases aren't the reason for climate change. The versions I've posted here are a bit small for comfortable reading, but the whole collection here is much larger."
Top Islamic religious leaders call for phasing out fossil fuels "no later than" 2050—by Lefty Coaster: "The global consensus for taking urgent action to reduce GHG emissions continues to build as a group of top Islamic religious leaders are calling for fossil fuels to be phased out by the year 2050. [...] Islamic leaders have issued a powerful call to 1.6bn Muslims around the world to work towards phasing out greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and a 100% renewable energy strategy. The grand muftis of Lebanon and Uganda endorsed the Islamic declaration on climate change, along with prominent Islamic scholars and teachers from 20 countries, at a meeting in Istanbul. Their collective statement makes several detailed political demands likely to increase pressure on Gulf states ahead of the Paris climate summit in December."
Critters & the Great Outdoors
Cecil the Lion(fish) must DIE!!!!!!—by YoursT: "This is the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. When that monster storm hit the Gulf coast of the United States, an aquarium fish breeder was inundated, and a bunch of exotic species escaped and managed to get into the Gulf of Mexico. Most were quickly eaten by groupers and sharks and the like, but one, Pterois radiata, also known as the Lionfish, had really nasty spines that hurt like the dickens, so all would be predators learned very quickly to stay away. The Lionfish discovered that they really liked the Gulf of Mexico, and most of the fish that lived there. A happy lionfish can breed once a week, the females can lay as many as 50 thousand eggs every five days. With the babies having spines within a few weeks of hatching....you get the idea. What we've got is a plague of biblical proportions. Remember Cecil the Lion and that dentist who shot him last month? Well, there are lots of people who have bloodlust like that, and spearfishing is the only "safe" way to get those buggers. So you give a bunch of assholes scuba lessons, tell them NOT to go after anything else, and let them have at it!!!!! Now you may say, 'that's cruel!, It'll hurt those poor fish.' That might be true, but it's better than destroying the ecology of the entire Western Atlantic, and yes they actually taste good."
The Daily Bucket: How to Move a Spider Web—by PHScott: "Mid-August 2015. Good Morning! It's a bright and sunny day here in Florida Panhandle. Of course it's August and fixin' to get hot, humid and buggy as all get-out. Get out is what I did yesterday. So walking over to the pick-up yesterday, the one that only leaves the yard a couple times a week, I discovered a Golden Orb Spider with its web across my walkway between the clothesline and shed. It's a great spot for a web since it catches a bit of breeze and hopefully insects. Too bad for the spider because it's my only way to get over to the truck. So with a quick 'I'm sorry' to the spider, I gently grabbed one of the anchor points and swung the web over to the clothesline. Most of the web was intact so I knew the spider was OK for now and if she didn't like it, she would move. Hopefully she wouldn't waste the effort to rebuild across the walkway."
Dawn Chorus: Rapping on Raptors—by Kestrel: "How about a little raptor readin' and writin' this fine Sunday morning? I've got a bunch of photos to share, so why not? Add your own and share what you have to say about raptors -- good, bad, odd, fascinating, scary, whatever. I hope our resident raptor expert, lineatus, is around this morning to join in and maybe answer questions you may have. And speaking of lineatus, let's start off with a photo of her namesake, Buteo lineatus, aka the Red-shouldered Hawk. Birds of prey, also known as raptors, hunt and feed on other animals. The term 'raptor' is derived from the Latin word rapere (meaning to seize or take by force). These birds are characterized by keen vision that allows them to detect prey during flight and powerful talons and beaks. Many species of birds may be considered partly or exclusively predatory. Taken literally, the term 'bird of prey' has a wide meaning that includes many birds that hunt and feed on animals and also birds that eat very small insects. In ornithology, the definition for 'bird of prey' has a narrower meaning: birds that have very good eyesight for finding food, strong feet for holding food, and a strong curved beak for tearing flesh."
Daily Bucket: Some Fellow Visitors at the Zoo—by Lenny Flank: "Last week I spent a day at the Columbus Zoo (which is every bit as great a place as you may have heard). But not all the critters I saw there were in cages: some were also visiting. ... I'm afraid I'm not "up" on my Ohio birdies, so I can't identify any of these. Any IDs are welcome. There were two of these hanging together. [A reader calls them newly fledged cardinals.]"
Energy
Coal, Oil, Gas & Nuclear
Obama administration gives Shell final okay for Arctic drilling. Eco-activists vow continued fight—by Meteor Blades: "The Obama administration gave final approval Monday for Shell Oil to drill for oil and gas in the hard rock of the Arctic ocean floor of the Chukchi Sea. It marked a victory for the company—a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, the world's fourth largest company—which has not drilled an exploratory well in the region since 1991, and a defeat for environmental activists who have fought Shell's efforts for several years. But those activists aren't surrendering. Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, decried the approval: 'Granting Shell the permit to drill in the Arctic was the wrong decision, and this fight is far from over. The people will continue to call on President Obama to protect the Arctic and our environment.' Thousands of activists have made several attempts to block Shell, sometimes literally. In July, 13 activists in Oregon temporarily kept the Fennica icebreaker carrying a key piece of safety equipment from reaching the Pacific Ocean for its return to Alaska. At Friends of the Earth, climate activist Marissa Knodel said Monday: 'When President Obama visits the Arctic this month, he must face the communities he is sacrificing to Shell’s profits.' In May, having signed a letter with 17 other senators opposing Arctic drilling, Sen. Bernie Sanders said: 'At a time when our planet is warming due to climate change, the last thing our environment needs is more drilling. What we need is for Congress and the White House to move toward clean energy such as solar, wind and biomass.' Hillary Clinton tweeted: 'The Arctic is a unique treasure. Given what we know, it's not worth the risk of drilling.'"
North Carolina Open Thread: Off Shore Drilling—by randallt: "Our local Newspaper, the Asheville Citizen Times brings us great news about Wilmington North Carolina's decision to oppose offshore drilling. Wilmington has become the latest city in the Carolinas to oppose offshore drilling for oil. The Wilmington City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose both seismic testing to find oil and natural gas, and the actual drilling for oil off the North Carolina coast. The resolution says offshore drilling threatens both the coastal and river wetlands areas of Wilmington. Multiple media outlets reported that the council chambers were packed with those who oppose drilling. Lindsey Deignan, who spoke in support of the resolution at Tuesday’s meeting, said that the potential for an oil spill could affect the state’s vital fishing and tourism industries. More than two dozen communities in North and South Carolina have voted against offshore drilling."
Ridley's Coal-Fired Revisionist History in WSJ—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "Matt 'King Coal' Ridley has yet another oped in the Wall Street Journal. This time, he makes a shameless attempt at revisionist history. First, he says Rachel Carson's cancer concerns were wrong (a favorite talking point among climate deniers who are also history deniers). Then, he says acid rain wasn't a problem and the ozone hole was fine, only to contradict himself by saying action on those fronts 'proved manageable, so maybe not much harm was done.' He basically admits acid rain and ozone depletion were solved with no ill consequences, but then goes on to say that "climate change is different." Ridley cites the Heritage Foundation to argue that climate action will be 'vastly more expensive,' and then proceeds to rant about GMOs, pesticides, nuclear power, and fracking, blaming environmentalists for their opposition to these issues. Of course, Ridley is ignoring the fact that many environmentalists support some or all of these technologies, and he's also glossing over any legitimate criticisms of their dangers."
Emissions Control
The Current Cost of Carbon—by gmoke: "In April of 2015 at a forum on the British Columbia carbon tax at MIT, I heard Merran Smith of Clean Energy Canada (http://cleanenergycanada.org) say if you add up the GDP of all the individual countries which have some kind of price on carbon, either an emission trading scheme (ETS) or a direct tax, it adds up to 42% of global GDP now and, by the end of 2016 when another five provinces in China come on board, it will be over 50%. (You can hear and see Merran Smith say this at 28:20 into this video of the MIT event at https://www.youtube.com/.... ). Having heard expert after expert say, "We need a price on carbon" in order to address climate change, this struck me. Was Merran Smith correct? Have we already begun to put a price on carbon? Looking a little further, I found a variety of carbon pricing structures - carbon taxes, emissions trading schemes, and even internal prices on carbon from individual businesses. The World Bank 2015 carbon report advance brief (http://documents.worldbank.org/....) puts it a little differently than Clean Energy Canada."
CPP's Hyperbolic Attackers with Hidden Backers—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "The fossil-fuel-funded pushback against the EPA's Clean Power Plan rolls on, with the latest being a claim from the Institute for Energy Research (IER). This group, whose president is a former Koch Industries lobbyist, has been funded by carbon giants Exxon, American Petroleum Institute, and DonorsTrust. So one need not take IER's claim that the Clean Power Plan will kill thousands of people all that seriously. Its logic goes like this: because the plan will raise electricity costs, people will be forced to choose between power and healthcare and will therefore perish. This was uncritically 'reported' on by Bastasch at the Daily Caller, who failed to mention the group's funding. While the Daily Caller's regular promotion of fossil-fuel fronts is to be expected, Media Matters points out that another outlet is similarly complicit in neglecting to disclose funding. The Hill, a popular outlet for Washington DC insiders, has quoted EPA critics at least six times without identifying the financial conflict of interest."
Renewables & Conservation
The Daily Bucket - District Court Helps Eagles—by enhydra lutris: "I missed this when it was fresh and just found it in a rehabbers' site: Court invalidates 30-year 'eagle take' rule: The U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, today ruled that the Department of the Interior violated federal laws when it created a final regulation allowing wind energy and some other companies to obtain 30-year permits to kill protected Bald and Golden Eagles without prosecution by the federal government. The court decision invalidates the rule. American Bird Conservancy (ABC), a plaintiff in the lawsuit, hailed the decision. "We are pleased that the courts agreed with us that improper shortcuts were taken in the development of this rule," said Michael Hutchins, director of ABC's Bird Smart Wind Energy Program. 'The court found that important laws meant to protect our nation's wildlife were not properly followed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, putting Bald and Golden Eagles at greater risk.'"
Google Takes Huge Step Toward Realizing Solar Panels on Every Home—by pierre9045: "Google’s newest tool, Project Sunroof, combines the company’s aerial mapping technology with weather data to users to calculate just how much they’d benefit from investing in solar — and, ideally, to get them started on creating their own solar-powered dream homes. After receiving a custom recommendation for a solar installation size that could cover close to 100 percent of their energy needs and reviewing a simple break-down of different options for how to finance it, users who like what they see can also find information about local solar providers who can actually come and set the whole thing up. The expansive service this project provides can not be overstated. It uses Google Maps technology to figure out how much sunlight your home's rooftop gets in a given year—including factoring in historical weather data and shadows cast by nearby treetops and structures. Based on the calculations, it recommends an amount of solar panel coverage, and whether to lease, take out a loan, or buy them to get the best bang for your buck. To calculate the savings, they also take into account available federal and state tax credits, utility rebates, and other incentives, to bring home the message that for most homeowners, investing in renewable energy is more affordable than they might think."
Fracking
New Fracking Air Pollution Rule Reduces Harmful Pollution—by EARTHWORKS: "Today, the Obama administration released its proposed rule to limit air pollution from fracking and other oil and gas operations. The Methane Pollution Standard is the first limits on methane emissions from new and modified facilities including well pads, compressor station, storage facilities and other infrastructure. We at Earthworks have witnessed the impacts of air pollution from oil and gas drilling for decades. But, it was only when we purchased our FLIR Gasfinder camera a year ago that we were able to see firsthand the methane and volatile organic compounds spewing from nearly every oil and gas site we visited. It was scary for us to see, and it is even scarier for communities to live with. These Clean Air Act rules come at a time when the rush to drill has scarred our landscapes and the hearts of families whose children are suffering from environment-induced asthma, nosebleeds and headaches. Fracking, and the web of infrastructure that comes with it, has reached its spidery fingers into our most vulnerable neighborhoods, far beyond the point of extraction.. The oil and gas industry has left no stone unturned, and neither can we."
Keystone XL & Other Fossil Fuel Transportation
You know what really bothers me about Hillary Clinton?—by VL Baker: "Climate scientist James Hansen says approval of Keystone XL Pipeline is 'game over' for the planet. Hillary is waiting till game is over to reveal where she stands."
Thirty-eight Miles of The Kalamazoo—by renilson: "When the Enbridge pipeline burst in 2010 along the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, it caused an ecological disaster. Now, in 2015, the company has just declared the clean-up complete. But it's not. Litigation remains ongoing. Recent reports about the incident and follow-up inspired me to write this poem.
Underground pipeline -
Canadian heavy crude -
fatigue grown cracks coalesce to blow
eight-hundred thousand gallons
into creek and river - fills
thirty-eight miles of the Kalamazoo. [Two more stanzas follow this one]"
Candidates, DC, State & Local Eco-Politics
Breaking With Obama, Clinton Comes Out Against Arctic Drilling—by Scan: "One day after the Obama administration gave its final approval for offshore drilling in the Arctic, Hillary Clinton has moved to the president's left on this hot-button environmental issue by making clear that it's a bad idea:
As a reminder, anything signed '-H means that it is a direct quote from Hillary herself. Waiting until the day after this decision to make her statement shows a somewhat similar deference to the Obama White House that we're seeing with the Keystone XL debate. However, this is not the first time she has thrown cold water on the Arctic drilling idea."
Addressing climate as a strategy to win the Republican nomination—by Climate Coach: "Does it sound far-fetched? A public opinion survey from the National Resources Defense Council shows even Republican voters support Obama’s Clean Power Plan and efforts to reduce emissions. With 17 candidates facing off for the nomination, one of these candidates might distinguish him or herself by aggressively addressing climate change. All the other candidates would be dismissing climate change and attacking the EPA rules, creating an opening for a candidate defending the rules and reducing emissions, especially since a majority of Republican voters support policies to reduce carbon emissions. The polls were conducted in New Hampshire and South Carolina, two states that play a key role in the presidential nomination process."
Seven 2016 Senate races where Climate Voters could make a difference—by Climate Coach: "Which Senators’ climate-denialism is a political liability for their re-election? Based on their vote on the Schatz Amendment, which asked Senators whether they thought climate change was real and caused by humans, the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication identified a list of vulnerable climate change denying senators. Their research identifies three particularly vulnerable incumbent Senators: [Marco Rubio, Cory Gardner and Dean Heller]. [...]These races are a little far-off. So what can climate voters get going on right now? With that in mind, I've put together a list of seven 2016 Senate races where climate voters could make a difference, today: Nevada (Open); Florida (Open); Wisconsin (Johnson); Ohio (Portman); Pennsylvania (Toomey); North Carolina (Burr); Illinois (Kirk)."
Climate activists getting in the face of Prez candidates—by KBowe: "From denouncing her climate stand in a Hillary town meeting to a priceless punking of Scott Walker, and other direct actions, environmental organization 350action.org is forcing presidential candidates to deal with the issue of global warming on the campaign trail."
Agriculture, Food & Gardening
Science of organic food – are they healthier?—by SkepticalRaptor: "Organic foods have been increasingly popular these days moving from local co-ops and farmer's markets to large retail chains that specialize in organic foods (such as Whole Foods) to general large retail chains who dedicate portions of their produce sections to organic produce. Even dairy and meat sections of most supermarket chains have sections that contain organic products. But what is the underlying science of organic food whatever the source? Is it healthier? Is it worth the additional cost? Is there some indication that farm productivity is higher in organic farms? It's time for a skeptical look at the cost and benefits of organic foods."
Transportation & Infrastructure
Train Infrastructure—by JO 753: "Railroads! Why is it that America can't seem to keep up with the rest of the developed world when it comes to non-tire riding ground vehicles? Our trains are way slower and crash more often than anybody else's. America must be a common punch line amongst European and Eastern railroad engineers! "Remember Li Lee who flunked out of train school? He is head of engineering at Amtrak now! HAHAHA!" Really, its not the fault of American rail engineers, it's mostly politics and money. A good example is 2008 financial collapse."
Oceans, Water & Drought
Out-of-Control Wildfires One More Sign Next President, Bernie or Hillary, Must Focus on Climate—by Steven D: "While the Hillary and Bernie mudslinging goes on, important stories are getting very little coverage, stories that are just as critical to the future of our country and our world as to which candidate is acting worse than the other. For example, out West, climate change, drought and wind are creating a rash of large, out of control wildfires: More than 100 wildfires are burning across the West — destroying dozens of homes, forcing hundreds of people to flee and stretching firefighting budgets to the breaking point. In Washington state, a fire was moving so quickly that authorities weren't sure how many homes were lost, but they feared it was roughly 75."
Tomgram: William deBuys, Entering the Mega-Drought Era in America—by William deBuys via TomDispatch: "To be clear, the current drought may not have been caused by climate change. After all, California has a long history of periodic fierce droughts that arise from entirely natural causes, some of them lasting a decade or more. Even so, at a minimum climate change remains a potent factor in the present disaster. The fundamental difference between California’s current desiccation and its historical antecedents is that present conditions are hotter thanks to climate change, and hotter means drier since evaporation increases with temperature. Moreover, the relationship between the two is non-linear: as temperature creeps up, evaporation gallops. Bottom line: the droughts of the future will be much more brutal -- and destructive -- than those of the past. California is already on average about 1.7° Fahrenheit hotter than a century ago, and its rate of warming is expected to triple in the century ahead. The evaporative response to this increase will powerfully amplify future droughts in unprecedented ways, no matter their causes."
Experts examine whether Delta Tunnels proposal is good for California—by Dan Bacher: "Just a day after confidential documents revealed that the state and tunnels proponents have identified 300 parcels in the Delta they intend to take through eminent domain, a panel of experts today at the State Capitol in Sacramento discussed unanswered questions about the massive Delta Tunnels proposal in an effort to determine whether the proposal is good for California. The experts testified during an informational hearing of the Senate Select Committee on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, chaired by State Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis), according to a press release from Wolk's Office: “After years of analysis, at tremendous expense, there remain unanswered questions about what the Delta Tunnels will cost, whether they will improve water supply reliability in the state, and whether they’ll be good for the Delta ecosystem. There are unanswered questions about whether the tunnels will significantly affect the economy and communities of the Delta, and about alternatives,” said Wolk. 'These are some of the basic questions that all Californians should expect to have answered prior to moving forward with a multi-billion dollar infrastructure proposal, the most expensive and controversial water infrastructure proposal in California history.'"
Mining
Good News: The Animas River In Durango Is Open—by Gary Norton: "The Animas River in Durango was opened on Friday. The level of minerals is back to the levels that existed before the accidental release of mineral and mud tainted water from the Gold King mine. The level of minerals had actually returned to pre-event levels last Friday but since testing wasn't completed until Tuesday and since further testing of additional samples as well as river sediments was thought to be prudent, the river was not opened until yesterday. It is noteworthy that the minerals that flowed into the Animas from the Gold King event are the same minerals that have always existed in the soil and have always flowed into the Animas River. This was the case before mining began in the 1800s but mining activities significantly increased these releases. The problem exists throughout Colorado where there are over 200 hundred draining mines."