Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is the most recent previous Green Spotlight. More than 25,230 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
SChelydra writes—Best opportunity now to Stop Wildlife Crime — & James Agee's haunting last words: “One Sunday afternoon, walking with friends, we came upon an unlocked back door at a boarded-up mansion on the grounds of a federal bird sanctuary. We slipped in and explored, ending up in a very dark basement, where vague heaps and weird shapes gradually resolved into skins, some furry, some scaly. There was a pile of leopard cubs or ocelots, dozens of them, maybe a hundred in all, and one dried-up, dusty, twisted crocodile hide that must have been close to a world record in length. The mansion had briefly served as office space for a federal wildlife agency, and the cellar had apparently served as a mass grave for contraband confiscated from New York City docks and airports. Lord knows how many more piles of skins have accumulated in how many more cellars since then. But even more skins must have found their way to human backs and fireside floors. That was over twenty-five years ago.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Dan Bacher writes—Two Fish & Game Commissioners, Executive Director Appointed: “Governor Jerry Brown on May 6 announced the appointment of two new members of the California Fish and Game Commission - Russell Burns of Napa, a hunter and angler, and Peter Silva of Chula Vista, a water policy official. Burns and Silva replaced Jim Kellogg and Jack Bayliss, who resigned at the end of last year. Kellogg resigned over frustration with the increasingly anti-fish and wildlife conservation direction the Commission was headed in, while Bayliss did not discuss why he resigned. The California Fish and Game Commission became embroiled in a heated controversy over the past couple of months when they broke a promise to anglers to conduct regional reviews of ‘marine protected areas’ created under the privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative every five years.”
Dan Bacher writes—Hoopa Valley Tribe Sues Feds for Violating ESA: “The Hoopa Valley Tribe, located on the Trinity River in northern California, has filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and NOAA Fisheries for violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA), according to a news release from the Tribe. Below is the press release: The Hoopa Valley Tribe has filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and NOAA Fisheries for violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Failure by these federal agencies to reinitiate consultation on the flawed 2013 Klamath Project Biological Opinion (BiOp) will simply add to the millions of sick and dead juvenile salmon already lost due to the Klamath Irrigation Project. High infection prevalence of the deadly salmon parasite Ceratomyxa nova has been directly linked to the Project and its effect upon natural flows in the river. ”
Jen Hayden writes—Yellowstone tourists put bison calf in their car saying it 'looked cold,' herd wouldn't take it back: “Tourists from Yellowstone Park do some really dumb things when it comes to wildlife, but this takes the cake. From East Idaho News: Karen Richardson of Victor, Idaho, was one of several parents chaperoning a group of fifth-graders on a field trip to Yellowstone this week. Richardson says on Monday, as students were being taught at Lamar Buffalo Ranch, a father and son pulled up at the ranger station with a bison calf in their SUV. ‘They were demanding to speak with a ranger,’ Richardson tells EastIdahoNews.com. ‘They were seriously worried that the calf was freezing and dying.’ Park rangers, who were no doubt befuddled, made the foreign tourists show them where they got the calf and returned it to the herd. Unfortunately, the herd rejected the newborn calf when it returned.”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - feeding strategies on a coral reef (West Indies bucket #4): “Plankton means ‘drifters.’ In temperate marine ecosystems plankton are primarily drifting unicellular algae which can get so thick the water is murky. In a coral reef ecosystem the unicellular algae are mostly packaged inside the bodies of the individual coral animals, each inside its coralline home. That’s why tropical waters are so clear compared to temperate waters. But there are drifters on the reef….tiny animals floating in the currents. Many reef fish are plankton-feeders and hunt in schools. The edge of reef drop-offs, where water currents swirl, are prime spots for that. These Creole Wrasses swim in huge schools, ‘pouring’ along the edge up and over formations, snapping up small crustaceans, invertebrate larvae and tiny jellyfish.”
matching mole writes—The Daily Bucket: Ants and Plants: “In the tropics (on land) if you stop for a minute and look around, chances are that the first movement you see will be an ant. Ants are everywhere, on the ground, under objects, inside rotten logs, on the leaves and stems of understory plants, and even way up in the canopy. A lot of ants have mutualistic relationships with plants. Some are pollinators but many actually tend for their host plant, providing protection in exchange for food. A mutualism is an ecological interaction between two species such that both species do better in the presence of the other than they would on their own. Mutualisms are incredibly important; most terrestrial ecosystems benefit from the interactions of plants and fungi associated with their roots, coral reefs depend on the interaction of the coral animals and algae that live inside of them.”
matching mole writes—Dawn Chorus: Anhingas on the Wakulla River: “These pictures are from early April at Wakulla Springs State Park, just south of Tallahassee. It is spring and an ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Anhinga’s thoughts turn to, well you know.”
Lenny Flank writes—North Carolina Arboretum, Asheville NC: “While visiting with my longtime cyberfriend David and his wife Katharine, we spent the afternoon at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville.”
Ojibwa writes—Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens: Some Trees: “The Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland, Washington includes some interesting trees.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
Steve Horn writes—"ExxonKnew" Lawyer Has Big Tobacco, NFL Concussion Denial Roots: ”Ted Wells, an attorney hired by ExxonMobil to represent the company against accusations it lied about the climate risks of burning fossil fuels, also represented the tobacco industry in the lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1999 under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, DeSmog has found. Wells also defended the National Football League (NFL) in the infamous ‘Deflategate’ matter as well as in litigation over the far more serious issue of concussions. Wells has represented ExxonMobil since at least December 2015, following New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's announcement that his office would probe Exxon's role in funding climate change denial despite its long-held understanding and pioneering research into climate change.”
Steve Horn writes—Client Alert: Law Firms Tell Fossil Fuel Companies They Could Be Next in "ExxonKnew" Probe: “Some of the country's biggest law firms have recently penned “client alert” memoranda, suggesting to their clients that they closely monitor the ongoing Attorneys General investigations occurring in states nationwide on the potentially fraudulent behavior of ExxonMobil. DeSmog tracked down alerts written by three different firms: Crowell & Moring, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, as well as King & Spalding. All of them have maintained fossil fuel industry clients as well as tobacco industry clients, a DeSmog review has revealed. A previous DeSmog investigation pointed out that Exxon has hired Ted Wells, who represented Philip Morris in Big Tobacco's racketeering lawsuit filed against it by the U.S. Department of Justice, to its legal defense team for the ongoing state AGs' probe.”
jarbarbose writes—The fossil fuel industry lied to us about climate change. In California we're fighting back: “I work at Union of Concerned Scientists and I live in California. I wrote this post for the UCS blog (original post here) but I thought that the Daily Kos community would be interested in it, too -- If you live in California, please consider calling your state senator in support of SB 1161. Last month, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) released a trove of documents revealing that the oil industry has been well aware of the potential climate risks of fossil fuels for decades. The uncovered industry documents show that the petroleum industry was conducting climate research as early as 1957, corroborating evidence that major oil companies had a sophisticated command of climate science by the 1980s. Meanwhile, in California, the Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act (SB 1161), authored by Senator Ben Allen (Santa Monica), has passed through two senate committees and will soon face a vote before the entire California State Senate. This narrowly targeted bill, which focuses on corporate deception relating to climate change science, has garnered support from more than 30 organizations that recognize the threat of climate change and the importance of defending the public from industry foul play.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Texas, Alabama and CEI Defending Exxon With Technicalities: “On Friday, we discussed the WSJ opinion page’s arcane and rhetorical legal argument in support of Exxon. In that vein, the Attorneys General of Texas and Alabama now offer up another defense of Exxon on procedural grounds, reports POLITICO PRO. (The Washington Times also has a story, but is much more general and First Amendment-focused.) In response to the Virgin Islands' subpoena by AG Claude Walker, Exxon filed a lawsuit last month against the firm that the Virgin Islands hired to undertake the litigation, Cohen Millstein. Now AGs Ken Paxton (TX) and Luther Strange (AL) have filed a Plea in Intervention that objects to Walker’s subpoena on the grounds that his use of a private law firm to carry out the investigation is ‘an unconstitutional delegation of prosecutorial power.’ Their basic argument is that since the private law firm is likely working for a contingency fee, they’re not disinterested parties (because they’ll only get paid if the prosecution is successful.) When Exxon first made this claim itself back in April, legal professor Milan Markovic said the move is so unusual and so unlikely to succeed that he doubted even “Exxon thinks it will prevail.” Instead, he suggested that Exxon’s decision could be an attempt to secure a court more sympathetic to its case by bringing the suit to Texas instead of the D.C. Superior Court.”
Mattias writes—Now the work begins - Time to implement the Paris climate agreement: “The climate summit in Paris last year, ended with a success, and in April this year, it was followed up with a strong commitment made by 175 countries, signing the agreement at a ceremony in New York. Negotiators around the table were smiling, and the spirit was high - we can make a difference, we can fight climate Change together! However, Monday this week a new session of UN climate talks kicks off in Bonn, Germany. Negotiators are again meeting up, this time to start the important and rather technical work, to follow up on the agreement from Paris. The fact is that many of the tricky issues, where pushed forward, when the big headlines were to be settled at the summit in Paris. Now Rules and definitions must be agreed, and beautiful words must be turned into action.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Bates’ Embarrassment: Sad and Sloppy Climate Sensitivity Study: “A key number in climate science is the amount of warming we can expect from a doubling of CO2 concentrations, also known as ‘Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity’ (ECS). In 2007, the IPCC AR4 report estimated 2°- 4.5°C of warming. In the most recent report, it estimates a range of 1.5°- 4.5°C, due to the fact that it accommodated some very low-ECS outliers. Those outliers are the result of focusing on temperatures during the faux pause, a misleading approach discussed in a great Scientific American piece by Dr. Michael Mann. Now a new paper by J. Ray Bates claims ECS to only be 1°C, a very low estimate to say the least. He had been trying to get this published for a couple years, with the paper beginning its ‘embarrassing’ life as a comment in response to Andrew Dessler’s 2013 paper in the Journal of Climate. Dessler tested the denier myth that models overestimate warming, and, spoiler alert, ‘no evidence that [climate models] are radically over- or underestimating the climate system’s feedbacks.’”
dcrowe writes—Climate Change: April 2016 Hottest on Record, by Largest Margin Ever: “On Saturday, NASA released figures showing that we just had the hottest April on record. This is the 12th consecutive month to set a monthly temperature record. Until this past October, we'd never seen global average temperatures pass the 20th-century average by more than 1°C--but every single month since has exceeded that margin. This context makes the politics in my state drive me crazy. In the first half of what will without doubt be the hottest year on record, Texas Republicans passed a resolution that denies that climate change is happening, and makes climate science denialism an official plank of the Texas Republican platform for 2016. This kind of behavior is what makes many Texas politicians an embarrassment on the national stage--like my district's current congressman, Rep. Lamar Smith.”
morrna writes—Climate Change and Human Timescales; Can we adapt fast enough? ”In August 2015, a bunch of scientists submitted a comment to Nature Climate Changeabout the need to consider the effects of climate change far into the future — much farther than the usual projections to 2100 or so. Here’s the tl;dr of that article: The effects of current carbon emissions, including atmospheric CO2 levels, global warming, and sea level rise, will be felt for at least 10 000 years. However, the size of these effects depends strongly on how much we emit right now, so the decisions we make globally over the next few decades are enormously consequential. There have been a bunch of articles and think pieces in response to this. The Guardian posted one with a headline about sea level rise lasting ‘twice as long as human history.’ David Roberts at Vox wrote one to muse about the long-term impacts of the upcoming US presidential election as well as the way we discount the future in our present decisions. Both of these are well worth a read, especially if you’d rather not slog through the academic article. All this talk about millennia-long effects and civilization-defining decisions has made me want to pull back and contemplate what is really going on at this moment in history. Why is our decision making so out of touch with the consequences of our actions? Will we ever be able to act on our knowledge of such long term processes intentionally and rationally?”
POPULATION, SUSTAINABILITY & EXTINCTION
Austin Bailey writes—Chinese Indifference Drives Extinction: “The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is considered the world’s rarest marine mammal. This smallest cetacean lives in a highly limited area of the Gulf of California. It is routinely caught in fishing nets, particularly gill nets. Gill nets often set illegally by fishing pirates looking to catch totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi), the largest member of the drum (bass) family Sciaenidae. Both the vaquita and the once heavily over-fished totoaba are Critically Endangered species, supposedly protected by a raft of national and international bans. Bans which are routinely ignored by commercial fishermen and flouted by illegal fishing operations in search of a single organ from the totoaba’s body. In China, the totoaba’s swim bladder is considered a cure for a variety of ailments. So, just as rhinos are killed for their horn powder, the totoaba are killed for something that has no actual medicinal value. However, the bladders routinely sell in China for thousands of dollar per kilogram. The vaquita is being driven to extinction as collateral damage by the illegal fishing for the totoaba.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
CorpFlunky writes—Why you should care that the reefs are dying :( ”Oceans are not like land, but if they were, they’d be like huge deserts with tiny oases and a few fertile river valleys. A few big species swim across oceans, but most thrive in small corners. Coral reefs are like those tiny oases, only 0.1% of the ocean, but holding ¼ of all fish species. Tropical rain forests are known to be diverse, and they include creatures from 9 different Phyla. Coral reefs include 32 phyla, and earth only has 35. A lopsided % of all species live in concentrated clusters around coral reefs, where sun, shelter, nutrients and waves create the perfect environment for the largest variety of marine life.”
Pakalolo writes—The East Siberian Sea is turning blue: “This is so incredibly sad and terrifying. A Blue Ocean event is a positive feedback loop where warming from humans burning of fossil fuel leads to a decrease in sea ice cover which in turn leads to a decrease in reflectivity (albedo) over the ocean, the result of which is further warming and further decreases in the sea ice cover. [...] The Arctic methane time bomb is bigger than scientists once thought and primed to blow, according to a study published today (Nov. 24) in the journal Nature Geoscience. About 17 teragrams of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, escapes each year from a broad, shallow underwater platform called the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, said Natalia Shakova, lead study author and a biogeochemist at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. A teragram is equal to about 1.1 million tons; the world emits about 500 million tons of methane every year from manmade and natural sources. The new measurement more than doubles the team's earlier estimate of Siberian methane release, published in 2010 in the journal Science.”
Muskegon Critic writes—Michigan conservatives make it ILLEGAL for Coastal Muskegon to clean its waterways: “It took Michigan’s conservatives years to acknowledge and address Flint’s lead-in-the-water crisis. But they sure as shit jumped on the Plastic Bag Crisis. It’s all about priorities. Muskegon and Washtenaw counties have been contemplating local regulation on plastic bag waste here in Michigan. And within seconds the same folks who let Flint’s kids endure years of brain and development withering poison from lead tainted water jumped on a statewide ban on banning plastic bags in Michigan. The same Tea Party, Government-Is-Evil folks running the State of Michigan who wanted Michigan to be run like a business….the same folks who ushered in privatized prison food companies who let employees pass weapons and phones to prisoners while feeding them maggot infested meat...gave us poisoned water in Flint. This same group of folks who abdicated their own roles as folks who Govern suddenly and magically found a new purpose when some counties decided to regulated the sale of plastic bags. All of a sudden these lazy Michigan senators had nothing but time to slap down any Michigan community that wanted to regulate the sale of plastic bags.”
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
Dan Bacher writes—Big Oil has spent record $25 million lobbying during 2015-16 legislative session! “Underneath California’s veneer as a ‘green leader’ is a dark and oily reality—the state is the third largest petroleum producer in the nation and the oil industry is California’s largest and most powerful political lobby. In fact, last year’s oil industry “gusher” of lobbying expenses ensured that no environmental bill opposed by Big Oil was able to make out of the Legislature unless it was amended, as in the case of SB 350, the green energy bill. The oil lobby broke its prior spending record, spending $22 million over the past year. The oil industry’s chief lobbying group, the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), headed by Association President Catherine Reheis-Boyd, spent around $11 million alone during this period.”
Mark Sumner writes—Trump would force a rewrite on Paris climate agreement: “Apparently, it’s much easier to negotiate international treaties if you simply don’t have any idea of how diplomacy works. In between getting Mexico to build that wall and China to send all the jobs home, Donald Trump would also call a do-over on the Paris climate change agreement. Except it’s not so much a do-over, as a do-not. Republican presidential contender Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would renegotiate America’s role in the U.N. global climate accord, spelling potential doom for an agreement many view as a last chance to turn the tide on global warming. … ‘I will be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum I will be renegotiating those agreements, at a minimum. And at a maximum I may do something else,"’the New York real estate mogul said in an interview with Reuters. If elected, Trump would not sign on to an agreement that’s regarded as the last, best hope to address an issue threatening the environment, economy, and stability of the world. Remind us again what Donald Trump believes about climate?”
ECO-ACTION & ECO-JUSTICE
RLMiller writes—#HawkPup Breaks Free: “Hello, hoomins. Last time you saw me I was saving the world from climate change at a couple of rallies. This time, my peeps said it’s time to Break Free! so I got really exzited! I got taken for a walk by 2,000 people! it was the best! Bill McKibben, who my hoominz say is a very important person, gave me a back scratch. Then he talked with the people about fossil fuels, which are old dinosaurs, and to make things worser are moved around by bomb trains, which are even scarier than last Forth of July. They are drilling for oil and making REALLY BIG holes in the ground in people’s backyards, and it is making people sick. My hoomins buy strawberries from Oxnard, which has the Best Strawberries In The Known Universe, and then I get up on the counter and knock them to the floor and eat one before I forget that I don’t really like to eat them, I just like to make a big mess because it’s funny! and last winter I went to Oxnard to go to the beach and look adorable while people tried to stop NRG from building a power plant on the beach. True story! They’re still trying.
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS & OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
Jen Hayden writes—Yellowstone tourists ignore warning signs to take 'epic' selfies, risk ruining iconic park spring: “In search of the perfect selfie, four Canadian men are in hot water after ignoring the many, many warning signs at the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park and walking right out to the edge of the spring for their own personal photos. The act was dangerous, illegal and totally selfish. They even took a (now deleted) photo of themselves in front of a warning sign. Located in the Midway Geyser Basin, the Grand Prismatic Spring is one of the park’s most iconic features. It is the largest hot springs in Yellowstone and one of the three largest in the world. Aside from the extremely fragile ecosystem, the waters are a scorching160 degrees Fahrenheit. To the horror of other tourists, these four men decided the rules didn’t apply to them. They ignored the warning signs to walk to the edge for their perfect selfies—endangering their lives and the ecosystem of Grand Prismatic Spring itself. One Wyoming resident, who wishes to stay anonymous, captured the scene on video.”
Jen Hayden writes—Yellowstone officials are fed up with bad behavior, issue federal criminal warrants for selfie bros: “Four Canadian bros who were on a tour of the United States to make travel videos and promote their line of tank tops and shorts outraged other tourists and nature enthusiasts when they were seen doing as they damn well pleased—breaking the law and endangering the fragile ecosystem of the Grand Prismatic Spring, one of Yellowstone’s most iconic features. Their law-breaking search for epic selfies was captured by others visiting the world-renowned hot springs, one of the three largest in the world. It seems the National Park Service and Yellowstone officials have had enough of dangerous and/or illegal behavior from tourists, particularly this early in the travel season. After the video of these men went viral, including their own (now deleted) video that showed them standing next to the sign warning that it was illegal to go off the path, Yellowstone authorities have officially issued federal criminal warrants.”
ENERGY
Nuclear & Fossil Fuels
Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse writes—New climate activism? Buying fed oil/gas leases on public land to #KeepitintheGround: “Last February, environmental activist Terry Tempest Williams used her credit card to buy leasing rights to 1,120 acres of federal public lands near her home with an energy plan of #KeepitintheGround. Months later, the feds have still not figured out how to respond, whether to give her these leases because her actions are unprecedented. This is not like the case of Tim DeChristopher, who protested a similar auction in 2008 where he bid prices up to almost $1.8 million with no intention to pay. Williams was one of the activists protesting leasing public lands to oil and gas companies at the February auction by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). There were different lines for entering the auction, one apparently for protesters and another for bidders. She ended up in the line for people registering as bidders. So, Williams became Bidder #19 and sat in the bidding section while a separate space was provided for the protesters.”
enhydra lutris writes—The Death of "Clean Coal"? “Tired of hearing about "Clean Coal"? The January 2016 issue of Scientific American magazine contained an article titledThe Carbon Capture fallacy. A subtitle stated that all credible plans for reducing global warming relied upon carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) playing a major role, which was deemed to be unlikely. The article generally is based on an analysis of the Kemper County Energy Facility ‘clean coal’ plant under construction by Mississippi Power. The plant converts coal into a cleaner burning gas and then tries to trap the CO2 combustion byproduct. It involves 40,000 tons of steel and 172 miles of pipes,in addition to other hardware and site delvelopment. It is more or less state of the art. A diagram of the process can be found on line here: Diagram. The whole article is on line if you wish to pay about 9 bucks for it, or you can get the magazine at your local library, assuming that you still have one.”
Walter Einenkel writes—For the first time in over 130 years, the UK generated zero energy from coal: “Not since 1882 has the United Kingdom’s reliance on coal for energy dipped to zero. This year it happened not once or twice, but four times. This is not the solution to life’s problems but the historic marking is important. There is not a person alive in the UK today that has not relied on coal energy throughout their life. A big part of changing economic and cultural paradigms is by experiencing the world without those same constructs. Last week, the UK showed a series of dips down to zero in coal/energy use, giving a bright marker to many green activists who have been fighting for cleaner energy consumption for decades.”
Steve Horn writes—"End the Circus": Big Oil Group Plots to Exclude Public from Public Lands Bidding: “At the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC)'s 2016 meeting in Denver, Colorado this week, a representative from a prominent oil and gas lobbying group advocated that auctions of federal lands should happen online ‘eBay’-style — a clear attempt to shut the public out of the bidding process for fossil fuel leases on public lands. Speaking on public lands issues in front of IOGCC's public lands committee, Kathleen Sgamma — Western Energy Alliance's (WEA) vice president of governmental affairs — compared environmental groups' Keep It In The Ground campaign actions atU.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) bids to a “circus.” Sgamma said WEA was in contact with both BLM and Congressional members to push the auctions out of the public sphere and onto the internet. DeSmog, which attended the IOGCC meeting, recorded the presentation and has published it online.”
Renewables, Efficiency & Conservation
Paradise50 writes—Kitchen Table Kibitzing - 5.16.16 - Train Cars filled with cement used to store Solar Energy: “I’m really into green energy. I’d love to have solar panels. I’ve had solar energy companies check out our place so we could get them. Each time I’ve been told it wouldn’t be worth it. The reason is we have a passive solar designed home which uses a minimum of electricity. We have no natural gas here as PG&E simply neglected to put gas lines down our little road which goes to six homes. We typically use roughly $60 of electricity per month in the summer and $90 worth in the winter. I’ve been told straight up that, even with all the rebates (well, they’re over now) it wouldn’t be worth it because what electricity we use is mostly at night and we wouldn’t be saving any money with solar panels. It short, I’ve been told we’d be paying for the things for 20+ years ourselves and not from the savings in our electrical use. What that means is we’d be actually paying for a solar system that would almost entirely be making electricity for PG&E at our expense. The whole solar panel deal is really worth it for folks that spend $250 or more per month on electricity (around here that means folks that have air conditioning. We have no HVAC of any sort).”
Pipelines & Other Oil and Gas Transport
Steve Masover writes—Oakland doesn't need an oil train disaster, thanks but no thanks: “Come 27 June 2016, Oakland, California's city council will vote on an ordinance to ban shipment of coal through the city's port. The text of the ordinance is not yet drafted, and may not ban coal at all: it may instead require mitigations that are unlikely to be achievable, enforceable, and/or effective in protecting the health of people who live near the proposed bulk terminal thatdevelopers hope to use to ship coal mined in Utah and slated for dirty combustion in Asia. The ordinance may or may not also address a ban on or mitigations for shipping crude oil, fuel oil, and gasoline. To call the city's mayor, Libby Schaaf, and the councilmembers' attention to just how crazy-dangerous it would be to permit oil transport through a port surrounded by communities they were elected to protect and serve, No Coal in Oakland activist Michael Kaufman sent to Oakland's elected officials yesterday afternoon a partial list of tanker car spills and pipeline explosions that have occurred over the past three years.”
DaveElder writes—Pipeline Wars 3 — What a Blast! “In my previous post 2 weeks ago, I outlined the stories of 2 particular families who lost property rights to a pipeline. The pipeline companies in both cases wielded the hammer of eminent domain against the families, even though the resulting lines have been designed to function as export conduits, and therefore not designed to serve any public benefit, which is the supposed justification for the use of eminent domain. Both families were forced to grant pipeline companies a right of way, despite strongly opposing the presence of a gas pipeline going through their land. In one case, the pipeline chainsaw gang massacred the maple trees that provided the basis for a family maple syrup business. In a related development that I didn’t mention in the post, a property owner along the proposed right of way faced the possibility of having to sacrifice an established Christmas tree business to pipeline crew chainsaws. Such stories, and much worse, abound along proposed pipeline routes. Not long ago, one homeowner in MI fought and lost, and had to live with a pipeline going into his back yard less than 10 feet from his back door.”
Dan Bacher writes—Grand Jury Indicts Pipeline Company on Criminal Charges in Refugio Oil Spill: “In an announcement welcomed by fishermen, environmentalists and Tribal leaders, a grand jury on May 16 indicted the Plains All-American Pipeline company on 46 criminal charges related to the May 2015 oil spill in Santa Barbara County that fouled over 9 miles of pristine coast. The 46 charges included 4 felony charges and 42 misdemeanor charges. The company was charged with felony violations of state laws regarding the spilling of oil and hazardous substances into state water. The grand jury also indicted a Plains All-American Pipeline employee on 3 criminal charges, according to a statement from Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley. ‘Both the company and James Buchanan, an employee, were charged with misdemeanor violations for failing to provide timely notice of the oil spill to the Office of Emergency Services,’ according to the A.G’s Office. ‘In addition, the company was indicted on three dozen misdemeanor charges linked to the spill’s impact on birds and mammals.’”
ECO-ACTION & ECO JUSTICE
Lefty Coaster writes—Photo Diary: Break Free March Point protests against fossil fuel dependence: ”Last weekend climate activists converged near Anacortes Washington on the two oil refineries and export terminals at March Point to demand substantial changes away from fossil fuels. I joined the the two week wave of protests at carbon producing hotspots across the globe on six continents. Break Free From Fossil Fuels. In the midst of the hottest year in recorded history, tens of thousands of people on 6 continents did something that politicians have not: they took bold, courageous action to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Each action was unique: from the coal fields of Germany, to the oil wells of Nigeria, to defiant actions against new coal power plant in Indonesia and the Philippines -- and many places beyond. Break Free reserved much of the camping site in beautify Deception Pass State Park which became Break Free’s base of operations for the protests at the nearby refineries.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
Mark Sumner writes—Extensive new report shows GMO crops safe, but not always as beneficial as predicted: “The National Academy of Sciences has completed a comprehensive report on GMO crops. The National Academy of Sciences — probably the country's most prestigious scientific group — has reaffirmed its judgment that GMOs are safe to eat … The report tries to answer a long list of questions about GMOs, involving nutrition, environmental effects, effects on the farm economy and monopoly control over seeds. The most basic conclusion: There's no evidence that GMOs are risky to eat. That’s the good news. But the whole purpose in planting GMO crops to begin with is the promise that they’ll outperform crops generated through more traditional means of genetic manipulation, such as selective breeding and hybridization. On that front, the news was less glowing.”
Skeptical Raptor writes—Genetically engineered crops - safe for humans and the environment: “The NAS recently issued a report (you can download a pdf version for free, but you will have to register with the NAS) that clearly concluded that genetically engineered crops are safe for humans and animals to eat. It also claims that GMO crops have not caused increases in cancer, obesity, gastrointestinal illnesses, kidney disease, autism or allergies. More than 50 scientists, researchers, and agricultural industry experts participated in writing the 388-page report. They began work two years ago, and they reviewed more than 900 published studies (and the data for those studies) covering the 20 years since genetically modified crops were first introduced. Think of this study as the highest quality meta-review, studies which are at the very peak of the hierarchy of scientific evidence. This review utilized the expertise of 50 of the top biotechnology scientists in the world, working at probably the most prestigious scientific institution in the world, examining every study ever written about the safety of GMO crops.”
MISCELLANY
Laura Clawson writes—That labor-environmentalist 'rift' isn't so simple ... and Republicans are to blame: “The New York Times headline reads “Rift between labor and environmentalists threatens Democratic turnout plan,” but the reality is more complicated. The rift is as much within the labor movement as it is between labor and environmentalists—as the story attached to the headline shows: The rift developed after some in the labor movement, whose cash flow has dwindled and whose political clout has been increasingly imperiled, announced a partnership last week with a wealthy environmentalist, Tom Steyer, to help bankroll a new fund dedicated to electing Democrats. That joint initiative enraged members of the nation’s biggest construction unions, already on edge about the rising influence of climate-change activists. The building-trades unions view Mr. Steyer’s environmental agenda as a threat to the jobs that can be created through infrastructure projects like new gas pipelines. Got that? Some unions are upset because other unions are partnering with Tom Steyer. This is not a new divide in the labor movement. Unions are not a monolith when it comes to environmental issues. In 2012, the Laborers’ International Union was enraged by the Obama administration rejecting the Keystone pipeline, while several other unions were partnering with the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council. In 2013, the divide came through in an AFL-CIO statement calling for “comprehensive energy policy focused on investing in our nation’s future, creating jobs and addressing the threat of climate change”—but also pipeline investment.”
auapplemac writes—Conflict between unions and environmentalist sows turmoil in 2016 election: “Washington Post story www.washingtonpost.com… about various major unions unhappy with billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer setting up Super PAC for Dems. A letter was sent to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka requesting him to cut ties with Steyer due to Steyer’s opposition to Keystone XL Pipeline and other environmental concerns. The letter came from the heads of multiple building trades organizations who believe that Steyer’s environmental stand hurts jobs.”
Mark Sumner writes—House GOP sacrificing brains of unborn children to score points against the EPA: ”But given any chance, you can bet that the oh-so-concerned about unborn children far right Freedom-caucus dominated House lunatics will find a bat-shit response that completely ignores the real threat. And they did. House Republicans are renaming a bill that fights environmental regulations on pesticides and reframing it to fight the Zika virus. With the national spotlight on Zika, and the GOP under harsh criticism for not taking bold action against the virus, Republicans are using the anti-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation bill to show they care about the Zika fight. Republicans have attached a much-reduced funding package to this bill, with a total of $622M. So they’re offering less than a third of the necessary funds, and attaching it to a move to cripple the Clean Water Act that ensures it won’t pass.”
Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees writes—The House's Zika Vector Control Act Actually Deregulates Pesticides...And These 23 Dems Voted for It: “Yesterday, the House voted on the Zika Vector Control Act. Did House Republicans suddenly decide that they care about investing in public health measures to combat the Zika virus? Of course not. They just rebranded an old bill (the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2014) designed to deregulate pesticide use. [...] The vote was 262 to 159. The bill failed, as it was called up under suspension (2/3 would have been required). 239 Republicans and 23 Democrats voted for it. 159 Democrats voted against it. Who are those 23 Democrats?”