Month: August 2020

Water Serves Length and Breadth of $1.9 Trillion Texas Economy

Circle of Blue discusses how Water Serves Length and Breadth of $1.9 Trillion Texas Economy. Growth in Wet Years, Economic Distress in Dry Ones. One big change in conserving water in Texas is the transition from thirsty fossil fuel electrical generation to renewable energy, which use scant amounts of water. Texas is a national leader in renewable energy.

As a location for understanding the value of water, and a lesson in the consequences of scarcity, the five miles of Cypress Creek that flow through this active Hill Country town distill the essence of the role that water plays in the Texas economy.

Though it has miles of dry channel upstream, the creek’s permanent flow starts at Jacob’s Well, a famed Hays County artesian spring. From the dark blue hole that looks like an eye, Cypress Creek flows clear and steady downstream for about five miles before it meets the Blanco River. Along the way it encounters a popular swimming area known as Blue Hole, slips by a number of residences, and glides through Wimberley’s scenic center of shops, restaurants, and hotels.

New drilling-mud spill is Sunoco’s 10th at Lebanon County’s Snitz Creek since the Mariner East pipeline project began

NPR discusses a new drilling-mud spill is Sunoco’s 10th at Lebanon County’s Snitz Creek since the Mariner East pipeline project began. DEP issues another violation as Mariner East struggles to cope with fragile limestone geology.

Another spill of drilling mud into Lebanon County’s Snitz Creek on Thursday brings to 10 the number of “inadvertent returns” at that site during construction of the Mariner East natural gas liquids pipelines, and to more than 150 statewide since the controversial project began in early 2017.

Turbid water appeared in the creek on Thursday shortly after Sunoco restarted its attempts to drill beneath the creek to create a pathway for its Mariner East 2X 16-inch pipeline, the operator, Sunoco/Energy Transfer confirmed in a note to West Cornwall Township supervisor David Lloyd.

The incident was the latest to hit the pipeline at a location where fragile limestone geology has allowed drilling mud to contaminate the creek, halting operations and in some cases prompting a notice of violation from the Department of Environmental Protection.

When the river dries, a struggle to stay afloat

Santa Fe New Mexican discusses when the river dries, a struggle to stay afloat.

Longtime farmer Glen Duggins is pumping more groundwater this summer to irrigate the crops he grows on his small farm along the Rio Grande than he can recall doing in many years.

A severe, prolonged drought is reducing the river’s flows to the lowest levels in decades, affecting cities’ drinking water supplies and compelling farmers to adjust how they water their fields.

Duggins grows chile peppers, alfalfa and corn on his 400-acre farm in Lemitar, a tiny community north of Socorro. He already faces the prospect of restaurants buying fewer goods from him during the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, when their operations have been limited by the state’s public heath orders. Now he’s also seeing higher costs to produce his crops due to pumping.

But he is fortunate, he said, because many farmers in the Middle Rio Grande Valley don’t have water pumps and must shut down when the river gets low.

Report: FEMA chief refuses to say whether human activity is responsible for climate change

Axios discusses why the FEMA chief refuses to say whether human activity is responsible for climate change.

FEMA administrator Peter Gaynor repeatedly declined to answer on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday whether he believes human activity is responsible for climate change, instead saying, “I’m going to leave all that up to the scientists.”

Why it matters: It is an overwhelming scientific consensus that greenhouse gases emitted by human activity are a driving factor of climate change. While President Trump has frequently denied this consensus, his own administration has published reports concluding there is no credible explanation for modern-day global warming other than the burning of fossil fuels.

The big picture: Gaynor leads the agency responsible for responding to extreme weather events, which scientists say are being exacerbated and made more frequent by climate change. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned earlier this month of the potential for an “extremely active” hurricane season in the Atlantic.

Study: What Happens When Wildfire Smoke Meets Coronavirus? Here’s What Scientists Know

CPR News discusses What Happens When Wildfire Smoke Meets Coronavirus? Here’s What Scientists Know.

In 45 years of combating forest fires, Wayne Patterson, the public information officer for the Grizzly Creek Fire burning near Glenwood Springs, has earned a keen sense of what smoke does to his body.

One immediate effect is a sore throat and some sniffles. Over the years, Patterson said he has learned to tell when the smoke causes his symptoms, rather than a cold or the flu.

But he also suspects inhaling smoke one day can lead to illness the next.

“Clearly, the smoke makes you more susceptible to those kinds of things, colds and bronchitis and all that,” he said.

That conclusion comes from a study published last month in the journal Environment International. For the research, Erin Landguth, an associate professor at the University of Montana, compared air quality data from Montana communities with records for thousands of recorded flu cases between 2009 and 2018. The research found communities tended to have thre

California Burns, the Gulf Coast Soaks, but the RNC Sticks Head Deeper Into Sand | Opinion

Michael Mann, in a Newsweek opinion piece, discusses how California Burns, the Gulf Coast Soaks, but the RNC Sticks Head Deeper Into Sand.

As fires have raged through California this week, a major hurricane underwent record intensification in the Gulf of Mexico, slamming into Texas and Louisiana. These events are symptomatic of the exacerbating effects of climate change. Yet this all seemed to be of very little concern at this week’s Republican National Convention (RNC).

The willful ignorance of the climate crisis exhibited by one of our two major political parties is jarring, and it was on full display this week. It might almost seem like a joke. But it’s not funny. It’s a tragedy. And it’s not an accident. It’s a deliberate strategy.

Electric car sales are booming in Europe

Politico discusses how electric car sales surge amid pandemic in Europe. Battery-powered car sales are booming in Western Europe and Scandinavia while lagging in the south and east.

When it comes to clean cars, Europe is heading for a two-speed market.

The pandemic has led to a collapse in sales of diesel and gasoline cars, but electric vehicles have popped — something that’s especially evident in the wealthier western half of the Continent. Now, the European Commission is trying to figure out a way to make sure the rich don’t leave the poor in the dust on clean mobility.

One idea discussed by Commission officials could see the EU match any national e-car purchase premium programs as part of the coronavirus rescue effort, according to an EU official and a representative from the car industry. As capitals prepare to submit plans to access the €750 billion EU recovery fund, that could encourage those with low e-car penetration rates to set up stimulus programs.

WHAT INTERIOR DEPARTMENT’S VICTORIES AND DEFEATS MEAN FOR THE OIL INDUSTRY

Allegheny Front discusses the impact of the US DOI on the O&G industry. It took 40 years but this week the Trump administration announced that it would open up 1.5 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. The administration argues the decision will lead to jobs and generate billions of dollars in revenue, but opponents warn that opening the area to drilling will have a devastating effect on the region – which is a critical habitat for polar bears, migrating caribou and other wildlife.

Major investment firm dumps Exxon, Chevron and Rio Tinto stock

The Guardian discusses why a major investment firm dumps Exxon, Chevron and Rio Tinto stock. Storebrand says corporate lobbying to undermine climate solutions is ‘unacceptable’.

A Nordic hedge fund worth more than $90bn (£68.6bn) has dumped its stocks in some of the world’s biggest oil companies and miners responsible for lobbying against climate action.

Storebrand, a Norwegian asset manager, divested from miner Rio Tinto as well as US oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron as part of a new climate policy targeting companies that use their political clout to block green policies.

The investor is one of many major financial institutions divesting from polluting industries, but is understood to be the first to dump shares in companies which use their influence to slow the pace of climate action.

Jan Erik Saugestad, the chief executive of Storebrand, said corporate lobbying activity designed to undermine solutions to “the greatest risks facing humanity” is “simply unacceptable”.

Local Economies Have Been Decimated by the Coronavirus—But This Is Just a Preview of What Climate Change Could Do

Time discusses how Local Economies Have Been Decimated by the Coronavirus—But This Is Just a Preview of What Climate Change Could Do.

This summer has been a cruel one in the American Sunbelt. In our hospitals, pain, fear and death abound because of COVID-19. Outside, a mass of restive, unemployed workers face down deadly heat waves, swiftly rising sea levels and the peak of hurricane season.

But even if the viral hardship feels wanton, it doesn’t have to be without purpose. In South Florida, Phoenix and the Rio Grande Valley – all of which have battled surging COVID cases – citizens are being offered a vision of their climate-changed future through the pathogen’s devastation. Which means we have a chance to adapt now and avoid the worst of what’s to come.

That’s because the economic ravages of the coronavirus are surprisingly similar to what these three regions can expect to suffer if humans continue to pump carbon dioxide into earth’s atmosphere with reckless abandon. The playbook for mitigating those negative effects is similar as well.