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 24,300 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
No region in the world stands to suffer climate change more than the countries of the Caribbean written by Pakalolo: The Caribbean region is known for its natural beauty and its unique culture and charm. Seventy per cent of the population lives in coastal cities, and the region is characterized by delicate terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems along with a high biological diversity outside urban areas. The two dozen island nations of the Caribbean, and the 40 million people who call the Caribbean home, will be confronted with extreme storms and hurricanes now and in the future, more frequent and prolonged droughts, dangerous sea-level rise that will wash away their roads, homes, hospitals, power plants, hotels, and ports in every single island . Extreme heat will have dire consequences for humans and wildlife alike, fresh water resources will become less reliable, new diseases moving to islands where they were never known before. There will be more food insecurity and more acidic oceans that will kill corals, damage reef fish stocks and negatively impact the tourist industry which is the lifeblood of the Caribbean economy. This will devastate the region causing both private incomes and public tax revenues that support infrastructure, education and social services to suffer horribly.
The Daily Bucket--Obnoxious Invasive Species in The Malheur Wildlife Refuge Form an Ungodly Alliance written by 6412093: “An ugly, greedy, uninvited non-native species is fouling the waters at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge and is undoing years of habitat improvements at the Refuge. The common carp (Cyprinus carpio) is also causing big problems. [...] The Common (European) Carp is native to eastern Europe and Asia, where many folk love to eat them. But carp have been carelessly introduced to over 50 countries almost everywhere in the world, including into the US in the early 1800s and the Refuge in the 1920s. [...] These invasive carp, sometimes called “the feral pigs of the waterways,” have degraded the Malheur Wildlife Refuge to the point it provides only 5-10% of its potential habitat for waterfowl. A 1982 Study found that from 1942 to 1980, average annual waterfowl production at the Refuge fell from over 111,000 to just over 33,000.”
Ha Ha. Flint Poisoners Send 1800 Threats to Cut Off Water Service. Oh Wait, It's Not Funny at All written by jpmassar: “It's something you expect from a mindless bureaucracy and yet, and yet...IT’S ONE OF THE MOST INSANE THINGS EVER. ARE THESE PEOPLE FUCKING OUT OF THEIR MINDS?? You're really going to charge people for poisoned water??? According to Finance Director Jody Lundquist, the 1,800 shutoff notices will be making their way to Flint residents sometime this week. "We are applying shutoff notices in a fair and systematic way in which those billed on the first cycle will be issued notices first. We do understand that this situation has been out of the ordinary and could be confusing to some of our customers and therefore want to help them as best we can," Lundquist said… If there were any justice in this world, if the world weren't run by a combination of psychopaths and egomaniacs, wouldn't Snyder be personally paying every single water bill for Flint residents for the duration of the lead-contaminated water?”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Daily Bucket: The Naples Preserve written by Lenny Flank: “The Naples Preserve in the city of Naples FL is a little wildlife refuge right in the middle of town. Its primary purpose is the conservation of Gopher Tortoises, which are an endangered species in Florida. Here are some photos from an afternoon in the Preserve. Back in 2007, a population of Gopher Tortoises was discovered in a plot of undeveloped land that was scheduled for clearing and construction. Since the Gopher Tortoise is a protected species, it was decided to remove the turtles from the area and relocate them to another location. The City of Naples purchased a plot of undeveloped land inside the city, about eight city blocks in area, and relocated a total of ten tortoises there. The entire area became a wildlife refuge. Since it was right in the middle of town, along two major roadways, the entire area was enclosed by a low fence to prevent the tortoises from being hit by cars. Over the years, other people who found tortoises in their backyards or saw them crossing roads, brought them to the Preserve (an illegal act, by the way). At first the Preserve reluctantly took them in, and by 2010 there were about thirty adult tortoises in the enclosure. And of course the tortoises did what tortoises naturally do, so now there are an estimated 150 tortoises of all ages, from new hatchlings to ten-year-olds, as well as the original fullgrown adults.”
Eye to Eye with a Humpback Whale written by LannyAlanSinkin: “In the late 1990s, the United States Navy came to Hawai’i to test their Low Frequency Active Sonar on the Humpback Whales during their breeding and birthing season in the waters off our Island of Hawai’i. The island erupted in protest that included boats putting people into the water around the Navy broadcasting vessel. That Human presence prevented broadcasting because the sonar was so powerful it might seriously injure or kill the people close to the broadcast. When the testing did commence away from the protesters, I began receiving numerous reports from whale watch boat captains and shore observers that the Whales were fleeing from the test area. The permit for the testing issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) required suspension of the broadcasts, if there was an abnormal absence of Whales from the test area. Based on the reports I had received, I sent a letter to NOAA calling for suspension. When NOAA failed to act, I filed suit against the testing as a violation of the permit and various federal statutes. [...] While I was unable to stop the Navy from attacking the Whales, our activism and litigation did help to bring the Natural Resources Defense Council into the fray. They have continued to challenge such destructive Navy programs since that time.”
American River Steelhead Run Is Up From Last Year, But Still Below Good Years written by Dan Bacher: “The number of steelhead showing now at Nimbus Fish Hatchery continues to be much better than last year, in spite of continuing low releases of 500 cfs from Nimbus Dam. If the El Nino storms continue, expect to see a lot more steelhead move into the river when the flows go up. Last season hatchery workers counted only 154 steelhead trapped at the facility from December through mid-March. In contrast, the hatchery has trapped a total of 320 adult steelhead to date. ‘We also released two wild girls and one wild boy,’ said Gary Novak, Nimbus Fish Hatchery manager. ‘There are lots of steelhead in the hatchery now. We’re seeing about 80 fish in the trap every Tuesday before we spawn,’ stated Novak.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
GOP Fiddles While Earth Burns written by
stonehenge: “According to a new
poll, at least 70% of Americans believe that global warming is real and supported by scientific evidence. Realizing that denying global warming is not a viable campaign issue, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are combining half-hearted denial with an anti-action, economic argument. Reaching an enforceable climate control treaty is the ultimate goal to arrest global warming and climate change. Without such a treat, Republicans and their paymasters will continue to oppose climate change action, all while the Earth burns.”
Irony, thy name is WSJ: On Carbon and Renewable Bubbles written by
ClimateDenierRoundup: “
Science tells us that to limit global warming to the 2°C target that was agreed upon by basically every nation on Earth last month in Paris, we must refrain from burning 80% of our coal, 50% of our gas, and 30% of our oil reserves. This concept has been called the “carbon bubble,” indicating the over-valuation of fossil fuel firms who account for those unburnable reserves in their value. In order to meet that 2°C goal, it stands to reason that we must invest heavily in renewable energy. Defying this logic,
Wall Street Journal ran a piece suggesting that it’s not fossil fuels, but renewable energy that faces a bubble. This continues a long tradition of the Journal suggesting that the carbon bubble is a ‘
myth’ and that there’s a ‘
carbon regulation bubble.’”
ENERGY
Nuclear, Coal, Oil and Gas
The Look of a Badly Oiled Planet written by Michael Klare via TomDispatch: “Many reasons have been given for the Saudis' resistance to production cutbacks, including a desire to punish Iran and Russia for their support of the Assad regime in Syria. In the view of many industry analysts, the Saudis see themselves as better positioned than their rivals for weathering a long-term price decline because of their lower costs of production and their large cushion of foreign reserves. The most likely explanation, though, and the one advanced by the Saudis themselves is that they are seeking to maintain a price environment in which U.S. shale producers and other tough-oil operators will be driven out of the market. ‘There is no doubt about it, the price fall of the last several months has deterred investors away from expensive oil including U.S. shale, deep offshore, and heavy oils,’ a top Saudi official told the Financial Times last spring. Despite the Saudis' best efforts, the larger U.S. producers have, for the most part, adjusted to the low-price environment, cutting costs and shedding unprofitable operations, even as many smaller firms have filed for bankruptcy. As a result, U.S. crude production, at about 9.2 million barrels per day, is actually slightly higher than it was a year ago.”
Open thread for night owls: No. 2 coal company files bankruptcy—will taxpayers pay for clean-up? written by Meteor Blades: “Faced with heavy debt, tougher pollution control, lower coal prices, competition from natural gas and lowered demand from China, Arch Coal, the nation’s second-largest coal company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday. The move was expected after Arch failed to make a debt payment December 15 last year. Three other coal companies—Patriot Coal Corp., Alpha Natural Resources Inc., and Walter Energy Inc.—all filed for bankruptcy in 2015. Peabody Energy Corp., the world’s largest private-sector coal producer, could be next. A share of Peabody fell to a record low of $5.25 Monday. On February 23, the share price was $123.45. Coal prices are expected to fall further in 2016. Amanda Jahshan, Wildlife Energy Conservation Fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council, writes: Let's hope that Arch employees and their families don't endure the same fate as those of Patriot coal, which was spun off by Peabody largely as a way to get rid of 'legacy' obligations like pensions.”
2nd Largest US Coal Company Files for Bankruptcy written by ericlewis0: “From Think Progress: Arch Coal, one of the United States’ largest coal companies, filed for bankruptcy on Monday in the hopes of eliminating more than $4.5 billion in long-term debt, according to a press release issued by the company. The news comes as several of Arch’s competitors — Patriot Coal, Walter Energy, and Alpha Natural Resources — have also filed for bankruptcy. Arch Coal is the second largest supplier of coal in the United States behind Peabody Energy, and its mines represent 13 percent of America’s coal supply. Good riddance. Arch Coal has been trying for years to build enormous coal export terminals that could revive their dwindling business. They are co-owners of one such project in Washington State - the Millennium Bulk Terminals - which would be the largest in the world if it ever got built. Today’s bankruptcy filing makes breaking ground on this planet killer that much less likely.”
The Keystone NAFTA lawsuit, more Oklahoma frackquakes, an 11-year low for oil, global rig counts, etc. written by rjsigmund: “[A]fter all of our warnings about the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions of the TPP, we should have seen this coming: on Wednesday, TransCanada announced that it is filing a series of claims under those same provisions of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) against the United States for our denial of their application to build the Keystone XL pipeline, arguing that the denial was arbitrary, politically motivated, and unjustified...the first part of Transcanada's action is against Obama, arguing that his decision to kill the pipeline exceeded his power under the Constitution...then, under the NAFTA's ISDS provisions, Transcanada will be seeking $15 billion in compensation for the trouble we've put them through over the past 7 years... they will not, however, be seeking damages for the profits they might have earned had the pipeline been built, something they could have done under ISDS provisions, and something they still might do after the TPP passes...whatever they get, it’ll come out of our tax dollars…”
Immediate action: vote NO on H.R. 3662 – Iran. Vote on its Rule, H. RES. 583, just passed 233-173 written by e2247: “Debate on House Floor right now: H.R. 1644 “STREAM Act” benefiting big coal (House Reports: 114-277) because just passed was the overriding Rule, H.RES.583. —Contact U.S. Rep’s. to vote against H.R. 1644 & express your approval or disapproval for prior vote on H.RES.583 ~~~~~ Oppose H.R. 1644 because it only delays protection of Appalachian communities from destructive effects of mountaintop removal mining; simply the next salvo in a 5-year-long political attack the current Majority has been waging on the Stream Protection Rule, a rule that was just released in July 2015 and has not been the subject of any committee hearings since then.”
Emissions Controls & Carbon Pricing
Porter Ranch Is Only Tip of the Iceberg Exposing Catastrophic Impacts of Natural Gas written by EARTHWORKS: “Natural gas is not cleaner than coal. But thanks to boatloads of advertising and campaign contributions, oil and gas lobbyists has convinced many politicians, including President Obama, that replacing coal with natural gas is a viable way to stave off catastrophic climate change. But it isn’t. The now-famous Aliso Canyon methane leak, its impacts on thousands of residents of near Porter Ranch and its damage to the climate is just the latest and most public example showing that we need to keep natural gas in the ground, not burn it. The oil and gas industry’s argument for natural gas boils down to this: to generate electricity, burning natural gas is cleaner than burning coal. While that is true, it’s only part of the story. But it’s the only part industry tells because it’s the only part they like. Unfortunately for all of us, though, natural gas is far more than just a replacement utility-scale fossil fuel.”
Renewables, Efficiency & Conservation
Mark Davis, a SOTU guest tonight, is helping D.C.'s low-income residents get solar power written by Meteor Blades: “Along with 22 other citizens who have done something special, former Washington Bullets player Mark Davis will join First Lady Michelle Obama in the guest box tonight as President Barack Obama delivers his final State of the Union address. Davis wasn’t invited because of his basketball career, but for the role he is playing in Washington, D.C., in getting solar-powered electricity onto the rooftops of some of the district’s poorest households. The 6’ 8” high school and college hoopster played twice for the Bullets, in Chicago and in Europe. When he returned to the States, he started his own title company. Then seven years ago, he was spurred by Obama’s election to start WDC Solar, which he still runs. His goals: Make solar affordable to everyone, create good jobs and train people to do them, improve air quality, and confront the realities of climate change.”
We Don’t Need No Education: Oil Group Misleads On Clean Job Potential written by ClimateDenierRoundup: “So when Steve Everley posted to the Energy in Depth site about how a study from Stanford’s Mark Jacobson shows that millions of jobs will be lost in the transition to 100% clean energy (when in fact the study shows millions of jobs will be created), no reporter ought to have been fooled by the obviously biased take from an obviously biased source. Daily Caller’s Michael Bastasch, however, bought it hook line and sinker. Bastasch dutifully recites Everley’s false claim, which study author Jacobson described in a tweetas a ‘flat out lie.’ We took the apparently too-hard-for-Bastasch step of contacting Dr. Jacobson, who quickly cleared up the issue. Dr. Jacobson said via email: ‘The paper is clear that the shift to renewables would create 3.9 million 40-year construction jobs (3.9 million people working 40 years on construction) in addition to nearly 2 million permanent operation jobs. Everley refuses to report the 3.9 million construction jobs as 40 year jobs and refuses to acknowledge that over a 40-year period, there will be a net of 2 million more 40-year jobs.’”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Nestlé's water operations in California getting a review, 25 years after their permit expired written by Walter Einenkel: “Nestlé has been abusing water privileges in California for decades. The water-bottler has been pumping water out of a California national forest for 25 years on an expired permit. Finally, some movement as Nestlé’s pipeline in San Bernadino is being reviewed. In December, national forest service spokesman John Heil said his agency ‘has begun the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) review to analyze the effects of re-issuing a special use permit for Nestle.” Established in 1970, NEPA requires the federal government to use all practical means to create and maintain conditions “under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony.’ One way to accomplish that is to not allow a multi-billion dollar company to run roughshod over a state during a historic drought. With the exposure of Nestlé’s malfeasance has come activism and that activism has brought about the beginnings of some change.”
Which 4 Dems Just Voted to Allow Mining Companies to Pollute Streams? written by Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees: “Yesterday, the House Republicans passed the so-named Supporting Transparent Regulatory and Environmental Actions in Mining (STREAM) Act. Is it about government transparency? Of course not. What it is about, though, is preventing the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement from issuing any rules related to the disposal of surface mining waste near streams. This bill would prevent the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) from issuing any rules related to the disposal of surface mining waste near streams, a clear attempt to delay the implementation of the Administration’s Stream Protection Rule which was released in proposed form in July 2015. [...] 4 Democrats joined the GOP in voting to allow mining companies to pollute water unchecked: Sanford Bishop (GA-02); Jim Costa (CA-16); Henry Cuellar (TX-28); Collin Peterson (MN-07).”
TRADE AND ECO-RELATED FOREIGN POLICY
TPP Fight Deadline to Act is close -- newest KXL battle is a case study as to why TPP should fail written by e2247: “Call to Vote "NO" on TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership trade.President Obama’s wise decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline could end up costing U.S. taxpayers many billions of dollars in fines and legal costs because TransCanada, foreign oil company building the pipeline, has challenged a POTUS decision using the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) process in NAFTA – giving an unaccountable panel of international lawyers the power to award the oil company billions in damages for the pipeline not being built without any appeal or review by American courts. And the lawsuit remedies TransCanada seeks may preclude future presidents an ability to deny similar pipeline permits!”
TPP Public Comments - 2 more days! Take time out to comment now written by Don midwest: “Have you heard on the corporate media that public comments on TPP can be posted through Wednesday January 13? Easier question, have you heard much at all about TPP in recent months? About 6 months ago it looked like TPP was unstoppable. The push back around the world and here in the US, the Bernie movement and a wide variety of groups have come out strongly against these ‘trade’ agreements The corporate coup d’etat has already gone too far and there is no need to make it worst through these ‘trade’ agreements.”
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS & OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
I Don't Like The Idea Of a Private National Park written by ban nock: “Formerly most attempts to privatize public land have pretty much restricted themselves to trying to steal Bureau of Land Management or National Forest land from the American people. Pointedly privatizers always proclaim they’ve no intentions on Parks or Monuments. No More. Now there is an effort to create a private national park in Montana called The American Prairie Reserve, assisted by some people with an ominous back story. I first saw an op-ed in The New York Times. I read a little and clicked onward. Later I ran across a very recommended comment. Mr. Geddes (the writer of the NYT op-ed) is a former employee of the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC ) and the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE), both right-wing, all-government-is-bad think tanks. These ideologues want to privatize all of America's resources, including our public lands and parks. Ironically, many of these PERC and FREE individuals work for the state while railing against it.”
Bundy's militia trying to take over Federal Lands - by selling them and destroying Ancestral Ruins written by likeIwassaying: “These cases of militia like / Republican state representative lobbying for the Western States to take over taxpayer funded and federally maintained lands — are becoming all too frequent and all to disturbing as to the probable outcomes of such lethal stunts. And, it’s not just the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s it’s also Western States’ Representatives — forming lobbyist groups and trotting the message out there to ranchers and county representatives; stoking the fervor and fear. In the end, we’ll end up the United States of privatized resources and no more public owned lands, but, plenty of mining, oil drilling, deforestation, drought and meat manufacturing. The New York Times looks at Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory's efforts to secure state control over millions of acres of Western public lands currently managed by the feds.”
OR standoff crew depart from federal building to use federal equipment to destroy federal fence written by Jen Hayden: “Ammon and Ryan Bundy left the comfort of the federal buildings they are occupying and headed out with equipment owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to destroy a fence separating federal land from private property. The Bundy brothers say they are opening the federal land for nearby ranchers to let their privately owned cattle graze. The Bundy brothers had a convoy of media following them as they tore down an 80 ft section of fence. Anna King (@AnnaKingN3 on Twitter) from the Northwest News Network was tweeting the action.”
PETA Vegan Snacks at Oregon Refuge Standoff and Plight of the Animals written by caldemgal: “While reading various accounts of the Bundy family takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, I noted that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had dropped by to hand out vegan snacks to Ammon Bundy and his band of criminals. I thought—wow—now there's a disconnect! Those of us who live in the Virgin Valley with the Bundys and their extreme religious and governmental ideology know all about their disrespect for animal life. Why would PETA show support by responding to their plea for snacks? So I contacted PETA to find out why it would feed seditionists committed to destroying a 100+ year federal sanctuary that protects fragile wildlife.”
White people, here's some more Federal real estate in Oregon that you can take over* written by Cartoon Peril.
If the Feds won't take action, maybe we should written by walk2live: “What would the armed campers occupying Malheur National Wildlife Refuge do if a bunch of birders decided to just camp on the property — right next to the occupied buildings? No guns... just binoculars. If they asked the birders to leave, the reply would be a simple “no thanks, you’ll have to arrest me”. They could spend their time spotting & blogging about the few winter birds that happen by. What exactly would they do? Start shooting peaceful birders? These people are nuts, but they’re not that nuts. What would the feds do? Arrest the birders, but leave the armed militants? What kind of message would that send? They’re not doing anything to stop anyone… so why would they stop some peaceful campers? ”
A Voice from the Wilderness - The Oregon Backstory, Federal Mandatory Sentences written by Altogether: “Yet again the insanity of Federal mandatory sentencing guidelines shows itself. Trying to prosecute the Hammonds using an Anti-Terrorism Act? A bit of overreach Mr Prosecutor? These laws need to change. Their Congressman Greg Walden tells the tale.”
BYPRODUCTS, TRASH, TOXIC & RADIOACTIVE WASTE
Trenton Central High: School of Fraught written by GregWright: “Marvis Christie, 48, and her son, Yusef, 18, were at Trenton Central High School to pick up some paperwork. They asked a secretary for the documents. She stood up to retrieve the papers, but before going into the file room Marvis and Yusef watched her put on a protective mask. After securing the mask, the secretary made her way into the file room. ‘They had files from way back when, like transcripts. It was a safe, like a vault that was secure, where everybody’s files were,’ said Marvis. ‘There was just white stuff coming out of the paint. This bubbly, acidic-looking stuff coming down the walls in the room where she had to wear the mask.’ ‘You can imagine all the mold in there,’ said Yusef. ‘And asbestos,’ added his mother. This was in 2014 – just one year before the demolition of Trenton Central High School’s Chambers Street campus had begun. While the school employees wore masks over their faces to enter certain rooms, about 1,800 students still filled the halls and classrooms.”
Michigan governor calls in the National Guard and FEMA to help with the water crisis in Flint written by Jen Hayden: “Governor Rick Snyder is finally getting serious about the water crisis in Flint: Snyder today issued an Executive Order activating the Michigan National Guard to assist with distributing supplies at the five water resource sites established in Flint. [...] Members of the National Guard are expected to start arriving in Flint as early as Wednesday to assist with response efforts and plan to increase to over 30 personnel by Friday. The support of the National Guard will enable American Red Cross volunteers, who have been staffing the water resource sites since Jan. 9, to join the efforts of the water resource teams going door to door in Flint neighborhoods to distribute bottled water, water filters, replacement cartridges and testing kits.”
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder hopes to solve Flint crisis by including the people who caused it written by Vann R. Newkirk II: “In the wake of calls for his arrest after lead poisoning struck thousands in the city of Flint, Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder utilized his executive powers today to create an interagency coordinating committee to help solve the crisis. The committee will serve a number of roles; including coordinating communication on the crisis at the local, state, and federal levels, creating an action plan, and creating policy recommendations based on expert reports and informing the public. In a tragedy marked by terrible communication at all levels and unforgivable (and fireable) policy lapses, this seems like at least a step in the right direction. There’s only one problem: the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is part of the committee. The same Department that has undergone multiple resignations after reporting found mass discrepancies and at least a staggering negligence in almost every decision that led to the crisis. Does that sound like a recipe for success?”
Hey Flint! It is safe to wash written by freshwater dan: “I read this bit in the Detroit Metro Times, and was sure that this had to be snark. No one could be that tone deaf, right? Apparently the above poster was first uploaded to the MDHHS website on December 4, 2015.”
Michigan police confirm break-in at the City Hall office where the Flint water documents are stored written by Jen Hayden: “There has been a break-in at the Flint, Michigan office where documents related to the lead poisoned water are being stored. And it wasn’t just any office—it was an office in the mayor's suite: Flint police previously reported a break-in at City Hall, 1101 S. Saginaw St. over the holiday break, but information released Monday, Jan. 11, confirmed the break-in happened at a vacant executive office in the mayor's suite that contained documents related to the city's water system. ‘The office that was broken into is where some water files are kept,’ Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said. ‘However, at this point it's hard to tell if any files were taken. The only thing we know for sure was stolen is a TV.’ Were other offices robbed? No.”
Gov. Snyder still can't get the Flint water situation right! written by vzfk3s: “The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the Michigan State Police are going to go door to door in Flint to pass out free bottled water to residents. The story does not say how MSP is going to haul the water, my guess is the state is going to have to rent some trucks.I am 100% behind the state helping, but if I was the Governor I would call the Michigan National Guard to handle this, they already have the trucks and the MSP already has enough to do as is.”
Berkeley votes to sue Monsanto for PCB contamination written by Walter Einenkel: “California, like many places in the United States, has pollution problems. The Bay Area’s waterways have some of the worst plastic pollution around. Monsanto used to produce chemicals, once used far and wide to lubricate machinery, in inks, paints, caulking, and more—called PCBs. PCBs are most likely straight-up cancer-causing poison. Over the decades, many places around our country have found outrageous levels of PCB contamination in their waters. Places like New York are embroiled in controversies surrounding PCB contaminators who prefer to have tax breaks than actually pay to clean up the polluted mess they made. Well, the city of Berkeley, in the Bay Area of northern California, is joining the growing list of municipalities that need big companies, like Monsanto, to help pay for the cleanup. The City Council voted 6-0 in closed session Jan. 5, with members Jesse Arreguin, Max Anderson, and Linda Maio absent, to file the complaint in San Jose's Northern District Court alleging the company and its descendant firms are responsible for the contamination.”
ECO-ACTION & ECO JUSTICE
Open thread for night owls: Oil-train protestors will employ 'necessity defense' at trial written by Meteor Blades: “In September 2014, five individuals — now known as the Delta 5 — blockaded a train transporting Bakken shale oil at the Delta rail yard in Everett, Washington. This action was taken to oppose the known risks of the explosive Bakken oil and the risks that fossil fuels pose to the climate. [...] After stopping the train for eight hours, the five protesters were removed and arrested and charged with Criminal Trespass and Blocking or Delaying a Train. The Delta 5 plan to use the “necessity defense” to defend their actions.”
Hundreds of Porter ranch residents rally to demand shutdown of SoCalGas facility written by Dan Bacher: “Hundreds of residents of Porter Ranch in Los Angeles County rallied Saturday before a South Coast Air Quality Management District hearing to demand an immediate shutdown of the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility as a noxious gas blowout detected 79 days ago continued unabated in their community, reported Alexandra Nagy, Southern California Organizer for Food & Water Watch. The disaster is considered by many to be the worst of its kind since the BP Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. This gas blowout has displaced 12,000 Porter Ranch residents from their homes since October 23. Residents testified that an AQMD-stipulated Order of Abatement negotiated with SoCalGas over the massive leak at its Aliso Canyon Storage Facility falls short of what is necessary to protect residents’ health and property, and the climate, from this ongoing disaster and from future leaks. Residents urged the Hearing Board to amend the Order for Abatement to include the shutdown of the facility. The AQMD decided to extend the hearing to January 16, according to Nagy in a news release.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
Factory Farm Lobbyists Must Not Be Allowed to Silence NC Citizens written by Paul Bland for Public Justice: “The North Carolina legislature wants to punish anyone who blows the whistle on illegal or cruel acts on factory farms, nursing homes, daycare centers ... or just about anywhere else. In fact, North Carolina’s law, a version of ‘Ag-Gag; laws passed in other states across the country, is sweeping in who it tries to gag, and where. It’s a blatantly unconstitutional move by legislators who have been bought and paid for by corporate lobbysists, and we’re asking a federal court to throw the law out. These laws have largely been the result of lobbying by huge factory farms, and the factory farming industry has a secret. When most people hear the word ‘farm,’ they picture a small business, owned by a middle class family, with happy cows scattered across green fields on rolling hillsides. They picture a farmer on a tractor in the sun tilling fields that have been in his family for generations; a kid waking up early to check the coop for eggs; or someone tossing a bucket of slop to gleeful pigs reminiscent of Babe.”
The Blood of the Earth: Agriculture, Land Rights and Haitian History written by Bev Bell: “Yesterday, January 12, on the sixth anniversary of the 7.0 earthquake, Haitians mourned the countless lives lost. Among the many aftershocks they face is disaster capitalism, in which the Haitian elite and foreign corporations - backed by the US government, World Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank - are grabbing lands for extraction and mega-development projects. Ricot Jean-Pierre, social worker and program director of the Platform to Advocate Alternative Development in Haiti (PAPDA), tells how inequitable control of land has devastated the vast majority throughout Haitian history, from enslavement to today.”
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
House GOP Votes to Bail out VW and Other Corporate Criminals written by Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees: “On Friday, the House passed the so-called Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act. And as is often the case, the bill actually has nothing to do with fairness, except for making the court system less fair. In particular, the bill would prohibit federal courts from certifying any class action unless the party pursuing the class action demonstrates “that each proposed class member suffered the same type and scope of injury as the named class representative or representatives.” This would make most class action lawsuits virtually impossible. Lawyers have called it the ‘VW Bailout Bill’: In the Volkswagen case, for example, ‘it could mean the same model car, the same defeat device, the same emissions system, the same consumer harm,’ Mura says. ‘When really Volkswagen engaged in the same course of conduct on all their vehicles.’ Defense attorneys could claim that a class representative who released fewer emissions because they drove fewer miles than their colleagues, or drove in harsher weather, or with lower tire pressure, should be excluded from the case. That could either whittle down classes to limit damages or disqualify them from certification.”
Which 6 House Dems Voted to Create an Unelected, Unaccountable Commission to Gut Regulations?written by Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees: “Last Thursday, the House passed two bills designed to hamstring the regulatory process. First up was the Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act of 2015. The GOP claims that their “sunshine” bill is about transparency, but the only transparent thing is their motivation: helping big business to avoid regulations. Here’s what the bill would do: This bill would require the federal government to provide advance public notice before discussions regarding consent decrees or settlement agreements. This change would significantly delay the federal rulemaking process which could potentially endanger Americans by delaying rules designed to protect their health and safety.”
MISCELLANY
The Daily Bucket - landslides keep sliding (an Olympic Peninsula case study) written by OceanDiver: “Landslides in the wilderness aren’t generally dangerous to people unless you happen to be out there and underneath at that moment. They are horrifically destructive to life and property in developed areas (a kossack many of us birders knew died tragically and too young that way in Alaska last year). In winter especially we hear about houses and roads giving way, usually because of unstable ground saturated by rain, liquefying and pouring downhill. You may know of some in your area. After a slide, heavy machinery cleans it up, clearing away debris so the area, road or railroad tracks can be used again. In the wilderness nature works on landslides instead. [...] Two years ago I happened upon a big landslide on Third Beach that was just days old, based on its features (I Bucketed about it here). I’ve been going back each year since then to see how this part of the beach has fared, expecting signs of the landslide to wash away. To my surprise, the hillside is still sliding. Follow me through my documentation to see what I’ve learned about landslides onto a beach like this.”
5 Things You Should Know About Carbon written by FredTedTucker: “4 — Excess Carbon In The Oceans Is Harmful. We often forget about the oceans but they play a huge role in the global carbon cycle. Also, marine life is a very important part of the food chain. Millions of people rely on the oceans for protein. The increase in carbon is now changing the acidity of the oceans. Ocean plants absorb carbon just like forests and field grasses do. But, any of the CO2 that is not fixed dissolves into the seawater, altering the chemistry of the waters. The result is ocean acidification. Over the past 250 years, ocean acidity has increased by 30 percent as oceans absorbed around 530 billion tons of carbon dioxide. (That’s the equivalent of 500 years of CO2 emissions produced in the U.S. at current levels.) The change in pH has troubled researchers in the recent years, as they predict ocean acidity will more than double by 2100 if fossil fuels are burned at today’s rate. The polar regions will be the first to undergo the most dramatic changes, and scientists forecast that the Southern Ocean has the potential to become corrosive with radically lowered pH levels by 2050.”
Worse Than Isis. Mosul dam foundation dissolving. Half a million Iraqis could die State Dept. Warns written by FishOutofWater: “Only a madman would build a dam on a foundation of rock salt. That man would be Saddam Hussein. The dam would be Mosul Dam, Iraq’s largest. The rock salt would be gypsum, a salt of calcium and sulfate which is less soluble than sodium chloride (table salt) but dangerously soluble for the foundation of a dam. Mosul, a city of 2 million people below the dam could be hit by a 66 foot (20 meters) wall of water. The state department warns that half a million people could die and a million left homeless when the dam fails. Mosul dam has required constant high maintenance since it was built, but occupation by ISIS disrupted the ongoing injection of grout to seal channels continuously forming in the dam’s foundation. Engineers have found extensive evidence of the connection of new channels formed by rock dissolution to ancient natural channels in limestone. The clay that was plugging those ancient channels may be washing away as the water flowing under high pressure erodes it and pushes open the channels. The Mosul dam may be beyond repair. Dam failure could bring catastrophe beyond comprehension.”