Blog Archives

Trump Admin Strips Protections for Alaska's Tongass National Forest

10/28/2020

The Trump administration on Wednesday eliminated federal protections for and opened Alaska's Tongass National Forest, the largest old-growth forest in the United States, to logging and other business operations. The Tongass National Forest in Alaska is one of the world's largest intact temperate rainforests and traps more carbon emissions than any other forest in the United States. File Photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service - UPI

Coal Magnate Robert Murray Fought Mine Safety Regulations, Dead at 80

10/28/2020

Robert Murray, the board chairman of the largest privately owned U.S. coal operator, who long fought federal regulations to reduce black lung disease, died at his home in Ohio less than a week after announcing his retirement. No official cause of death was given. Public reports recently stated Murray had applied for black lung benefits with the U.S. Department of Labor. The application said Murray was heavily dependent on oxygen. - CBS News

All of South Australia's Power from Solar Panels in World First for Major Jurisdiction

10/26/2020

The state once known for not having enough power has become the first major jurisdiction in the world to be powered entirely by solar energy. For just over an hour on Sunday, October 11, 100 per cent of energy demand was met by solar panels alone. "Never before has a jurisdiction the size of South Australia been completely run by solar power, with consumers' rooftop solar systems contributing 77 per cent." Large-scale solar farms, like the ones operating at Tailem Bend and Port Augusta, provided the other 23 per cent. Any excess power generated by gas and wind farms on that day was stored in batteries or exported to Victoria via the inter-connector. - ABC.net

Will the Extraction Industry’s Economic Turmoil Blight Colorado?

10/22/2020

Mark Schell’s family has farmed in Colorado since 1906 and even though he works as a certified public accountant, he hasn't left that way of life behind. About a year ago, Schell bought a 310-acre farm in Mead, Colorado, that he leases to someone else to raise crops. But he was spending more and more time there, trying to get Occidental Petroleum to clean up, or “plug,” old wells the company inherited when it bought Anadarko Petroleum in 2019. “(Occidental) started plugging these in April and then they told me they weren’t going to plug the rest of them...because they don’t have the money,” Schell said. - HCN

An aerial view shows gas wells encroaching on the Roan Plateau near the town of Battlement Mesa, Colorado.

EPA Scientists Said U.S. Should Air Pollution Limit. The Agency’s Head Said No

10/21/2020

Andrew Wheeler, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), today proposed leaving national soot standards unchanged at least through the middle of the next decade as he questioned the reliability of scientific research suggesting that tighter limits are needed to save lives. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty” surrounding that research, Wheeler told reporters on a conference call announcing his decision to leave the 2012 standards on fine particulate matter in place. Wheeler said he considered “the latest scientific evidence and analysis,” as well the recommendations of an EPA advisory panel that favored the status quo despite the conclusions of agency career staff. “We believe that the current standard is protective of public health,” Wheeler said. - AAAS

Astronomers Report That Venus' Atmosphere Contains a Building Block of Protein

10/20/2020

A team of researchers claims they've discovered the amino acid glycine in Venus' atmosphere. (The paper hasn't been peer-reviewed and published in a journal… yet. Caution.) There are ~500 known amino acids, but only 20 are present in the genetic code. Glycine is the simplest. Glycine and other amino acids are some of the building blocks of life, of proteins. They were also some of the first organic molecules to appear on Earth. Glycine is important for the development of proteins and other biological compounds. - Science Alert

Dutch Inventor Cleans World's Most Polluted Rivers in Effort to Save Oceans

10/19/2020

Just 10 rivers are responsible for around 90% of all the ocean's plastic, according to a 2017 study. "...If we focus on the worst rivers, we believe we can really have the fastest and most cost-effective way to close the tap and prevent more plastic from reaching the oceans in the first place." Ocean Cleanup is deploying floating trash collectors or "Interceptors." These solar-powered, autonomous systems use the rivers' currents to guide the trash onto a conveyor belts that carry the waste to awaiting bins. - CNN

Exxon, Oil Rivals Shield Their Carbon Forecasts From Investors

10/19/2020

There’s evidence oil majors do assess the climate consequences of their future plans. Exxon had internal projections, never made public, that showed a 17% rise in carbon-dioxide emissions over the next five years, according to company documents reviewed by Bloomberg. In a statement, Exxon said those projections were “a preliminary, internal assessment of estimated cumulative emission growth through 2025” and that its projections had since changed. - Bloomberg NEF via MSN

Arctic Circle Teens Call for Help to Save their Homes

10/18/2020

Teenagers living in remote Arctic communities say they’re worried about the effects of climate change. Scientists warn that melting ice and warming temperatures show rapid climate change is taking place. Rarely heard young people from multiple countries within the Arctic Circle say their way of life is at risk and governments must act. - BBC

More Than 200 Million Americans Could Have Toxic PFAS In Their Drinking Water

10/16/2020

A peer-reviewed study by scientists at the Environmental Working Group estimates that more than 200 million Americans could have the toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS in their drinking water at a concentration of 1 part per trillion, or ppt, or higher. Independent scientific studies have recommended a safe level for PFAS in drinking water of 1 ppt, a standard that is endorsed by EWG. "We know drinking water is a major source of exposure of these toxic chemicals," said Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., vice president for science investigations at EWG and a co-author of the new study. "This new paper shows that PFAS pollution is affecting even more Americans than we previously estimated. PFAS are likely detectable in all major water supplies in the U.S., almost certainly in all that use surface water." - Phys.Org

Unprecedented Energy Use Since 1950 Has Transformed Our Geologic Footprint

10/16/2020

In the past 70 years, humans have exceeded the energy consumption of the entire preceding 11,700 years—largely through combustion of fossil fuels. This huge increase in energy consumption has then allowed for a dramatic increase in human population, industrial activity, pollution, environmental degradation and climate change. - Phys.Org

We’re Turning the Amazon Into a Savannah

10/11/2020

Over the past 50 years, human intervention has been increasingly disrupting the ecological balance of the Amazon. Climate change has led to an increase in temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius across the basin, and to more frequent severe droughts. The droughts of 2005, 2010 and 2015-16 were among the worst in more than 100 years. Since 1980, there’s been an increase in the duration of dry seasons by three to four weeks in the more degraded areas of the Amazon. Rainforests also increase evaporation and keep surfaces cool. Deforestation could cause temperatures in the basin to increase by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius by 2050. It reduces rainfall, because trees cycle moisture back into the atmosphere. - NYTimes

This Game-Changing Solar Company Recycles Old Panels Into New Ones

10/11/2020

At a recycling plant in Ohio, next to the company’s manufacturing facility, First Solar uses custom technology to disassemble and recycle old panels, recovering 90% of the materials inside. It runs similar recycling systems in Germany and Malaysia. Right now, the holistic lifecycle approach isn’t common among other solar producers. But Wade says that now is the time to think about the problem. “Our aim for solar is to help our customers decouple their economic growth from negative environmental impacts,” he says. “So it is kind of a mandatory point for us to address the renewable-energy-circular-economy nexus today and not 20 years from now.” - Fast Company

How Bad Is Plastic Pollution? Scientists Reveal a Staggering Global Estimate

10/11/2020

How bad is the problem? Our new research provides the first global estimate of microplastics on the seafloor - our research suggests there’s a staggering 8-14 million tonnes of it. This is up to 35 times more than the estimated weight of plastic pollution on the ocean’s surface. - Inverse from Frontiers in Marine Science

Geologists Raise the Speed Limit for How Fast Continental Crust can Form

10/9/2020

Scientists have thought that the Earth's mountain ranges are formed through this process over many millions of years. But MIT geologists have now found that the planet can generate new land far more quickly than previously thought. In a paper published in the journal Geology, the team shows that parts of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California rose up surprisingly fast, over a period of just 1.39 million years—more than twice as fast as expected for the region. The researchers attribute the rapid formation of land to a massive flare-up of magma.- Phys.Org

Millions of Abandoned Oil Wells Are Leaking Methane, a Climate Menace

10/7/2020

The U.S. figures are sobering: More than 3.2 million abandoned oil and gas wells together emitted 281 kilotons of methane in 2018, according to the data, which was included in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent report on April 14 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. That’s the climate-damage equivalent of consuming about 16 million barrels of crude oil, according to an EPA calculation, or about as much as the United States, the world’s biggest oil consumer, uses in a typical day. - Reuters

Cleanup of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Could Cost Texans $117 Billion

10/7/2020

Plugging and cleaning up the open oil and gas wells in Texas could cost companies and taxpayers as much as $117 billion, according to a new report. Carbon Tracker, a nonprofit financial think tank that studies the effects of climate change on financial markets, estimates there are some 3.8 million unplugged oil and gas wells nationally, including more than 783,000 across Texas. As the coronavirus pandemic forces more oil and gas companies into bankruptcy, Carbon Tracker fears more of these unplugged wells could be abandoned, leaving taxpayers on the hook for plugging and cleaning up so-called “orphan wells.” - Oklahoma Minerals

The Stunning Cost Of America's Dependence On Oil

10/5/2020

Though this article is 8 years old. the data still apply. The US has ¼th the population of China and uses more oil. Imagine if our economy ran more on renewable energy produced here at home. - Business Insider

For a 2020 version of some the above data, see Forbes' Top 10 Oil Producers and Consumers.

US Fossil Fuel Giants Set for a $750 Billion Bond Coronavirus Bailout Bonanza

10/4/2020

Fossil fuel companies and coal-powered utilities in the US are set for a potential bonanza under federal government plans for a bond bailout, part of the rescue package for the coronavirus crisis. At least 90 fossil fuel companies, many of them established giants such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and Koch Industries, stand to gain from the Federal Reserve’s coronavirus bond buyback programme, alongside more than 150 utilities including coal-heavy firms such as American Electric Power and Duke Energy, according to a new analysis. - The Guardian

David Attenborough Calls for $500 Billion a Year to Protect Nature

10/4/2020

British broadcaster David Attenborough on Wednesday led a campaign by conservation groups for the world to invest $500 billion a year to halt the destruction of nature, saying the future of the planet was in “grave jeopardy”. Attenborough, whose new film “A Life on Our Planet” documents the dangers posed by climate change and the extinction of species, made his statement as the United Nations convened a one-day summit aimed at galvanising action to protect wildlife. “Our natural world is under greater pressure now than at any time in human history, and the future of the entire planet – on which every single one of us depends – is in grave jeopardy,” Attenborough, 94, said in a news release. - Reuters

Dramatic Plunge in London Air Pollution Since 2016

10/4/2020

London air pollution plunged since Sadiq Khan became mayor, with a 94% reduction in the number of people living in areas with illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide. The number of schools in such areas has fallen by 97%, from 455 in 2016 to 14 in 2019. Experts described the reductions as dramatic and said they showed the air pollution crisis was not intractable. More than 9,000 people in the capital were dying early each year due to dirty air in 2015. The report from the mayor of London, reviewed by scientists, shows that more than 2 million people in the capital lived with polluted air in 2016, but this fell to 119,000 in 2019. The report, which does not include the further falls in pollution seen after the Covid-19 lockdown began in March, shows levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) by roads in central London fell by 44% between early 2017 and early 2020. - The Guardian

Emissions Could Add 15 Inches to Sea Level by 2100, NASA-Led Study Finds

10/2/2020

An international effort that brought together more than 60 ice, ocean, and atmosphere scientists from three dozen international institutions has generated new estimates of how much of an impact Earth’s melting ice sheets could have on global sea levels by 2100. If greenhouse gas emissions continue apace, Greenland and Antarctica’s ice sheets could together contribute more than 15 inches (38 centimeters) of global sea level rise – and that’s beyond the amount that has already been set in motion by Earth’s warming climate. - NASA

Once a Boom Town, Now a Ghost Town. Always a Hometown.

10/2/2020

Now a ghost town, Harshaw was one of nine mining camps in the area that saw waves of prospectors come and go in the 19th century. It held some of the Arizona Territory’s highest-grade silver, lead and gold ore, so when the U.S. government passed the General Mining Act in 1872, giving prospectors the right to claim mineral deposits on public land for no more than $5 per acre, investors poured in. A patchwork of mining claims soon covered the region, with 40 operations in Harshaw alone. Within three decades, the Patagonia Mountains had produced 79% of all the ore processed in the territory, with a total value exceeding $2.5 trillion yearly in today’s currency. - HCN

Leaded Soil Endangers Residents in New York Neighborhoods

10/2/2020

- City parks can be a haven for homebound residents looking to escape the quarantine blues this year, but an invisible threat might be lurking just below the surface. A new study describes dangerously high levels of lead in the soil of several parks in New York City. Researchers found that lead levels are highest in areas undergoing rapid growth and redevelopment. “We have over 36,000 people moving into these areas—and lead contamination in the soil,” said study coauthor Brian Pavilonis, a professor at the Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy at the City University of New York (CUNY). “That’s a lot of people who could all be exposed.” - EOS

From Lava to Water: A New Era at Kīlauea

10/2/2020

At Kīlauea Volcano, scientists are using unoccupied aircraft to monitor the new water lake, a possible harbinger of explosive activity, that formed after the volcano’s 2018 eruption. - EOS

<<Previous

Trump Admin Strips Protections for Alaska's Tongass National Forest

Coal Magnate Robert Murray Fought Mine Safety Regulations, Dead at 80

All of South Australia's Power from Solar Panels in World First for Major Jurisdiction

Will the Extraction Industry’s Economic Turmoil Blight Colorado?

EPA Scientists Said U.S. Should Air Pollution Limit. The Agency’s Head Said No

Astronomers Report That Venus' Atmosphere Contains a Building Block of Protein

Dutch Inventor Cleans World's Most Polluted Rivers in Effort to Save Oceans

Exxon, Oil Rivals Shield Their Carbon Forecasts From Investors

Arctic Circle Teens Call for Help to Save their Homes

More Than 200 Million Americans Could Have Toxic PFAS In Their Drinking Water

Unprecedented Energy Use Since 1950 Has Transformed Our Geologic Footprint

We’re Turning the Amazon Into a Savannah

This Game-Changing Solar Company Recycles Old Panels Into New Ones

How Bad Is Plastic Pollution? Scientists Reveal a Staggering Global Estimate

Geologists Raise the Speed Limit for How Fast Continental Crust can Form

Millions of Abandoned Oil Wells Are Leaking Methane, a Climate Menace

Cleanup of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Could Cost Texans $117 Billion

The Stunning Cost Of America's Dependence On Oil

US Fossil Fuel Giants Set for a $750 Billion Bond Coronavirus Bailout Bonanza

David Attenborough Calls for $500 Billion a Year to Protect Nature

Dramatic Plunge in London Air Pollution Since 2016

Emissions Could Add 15 Inches to Sea Level by 2100, NASA-Led Study Finds

Once a Boom Town, Now a Ghost Town. Always a Hometown.

Leaded Soil Endangers Residents in New York Neighborhoods

From Lava to Water: A New Era at Kīlauea

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