This is the 539th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) usually appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is the Jan. 10 Green Spotlight. More than 28,250 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
matching mole writes—Dawn Chorus: Bird Science, Migration Edition: “One of the most striking aspects of bird biology is migration. While birds are certainly not the only animals to migrate they are, by far, the most obvious to us. Given the current furor about human movement around the world I thought a discussion of bird migration would be timely. Also I found an interesting, if frustrating paper on the evolution of migration in raptors. First a bit of introduction. It’s important to distinguish between migration and dispersal, terms that are not always used consistently even within biology. In an ecological sense migration refers to a regular movement between areas (i.e. move from A to B and then back to A). Dispersal refers to one time movement from one place to another.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—China’s Climate Efforts Demonstrate Need for Just Transition: “China’s pollution problem has been a popular excuse for deniers and those advocating for inaction on climate. But as the climate community has consistently pointed out, China began aggressively ramping up its environmental efforts in 2013, seeking to prevent a scenario where their massive population is consuming and polluting on par with Americans. Then there’s another common denier attack suggesting that any effort to modernize the energy system with renewables will deprive the poor of any energy at all—an argument termed ‘energy poverty.’ This (coal-sponsored) myth centers on a false choice between coal and renewables, between the age-old economy versus the environment. Now, a trio of recent stories about China’s enormous environmental efforts—and the realistic drawbacks of those efforts—add layers of nuance to the situation.”This is the 539th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) usually appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is the Jan. 10 Green Spotlight. More than 28,{{220}} 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.
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Besame writes—Daily Bucket: Skimpy Squirrel, Chispa, and I share a special moment, a meeting of minds: “Skimpy is a squirrel with distinction and it isn’t just her tail, which has filled in since she first appeared at my home. Nor is it her characteristic sprawl as I’ve known other sprawling squirrels. I’m fairly sure the oddball squirrel whose antics charm me and the parrots is one person — not a series of indistinguishable scamps. I recognize Skimpy by her style and personality now that the tail trait is less obvious. If I open the parrots’ bedroom drapes in the morning and see a squirrel flopped belly down atop the forked lower stem of a shrub as if lounging under a beach umbrella, it’s Skimpy. No one else stretches out and hangs her head off a 2x4 board mysteriously nailed twenty feet up a pine tree trunk, like a diving board. I look at her and think ‘what a character’ and she looks at me and thinks . . . . something, perhaps ‘what a character.’ We both think but from different perspectives (probably).”
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket--The Skunks' Freeway: “A few days ago, I watched a portly skunk canter across the full 100 foot length of my backyard. Then it paused, dug around in my compost pile for a decaying treat, and loped back the way it came. It stopped halfway, munched on the composted goodie, and then continued, disappearing behind the shed in my yard’s corner. I wasn’t happy. At least the loan appraiser wasn’t here to witness the skunk’s aerobic workout and carb loading. The appraiser would be coming by later, and I didn’t want to speculate how he would devalue an infestation of skunks against our property values. I was determined to thwart the skunk ASAP. I raced out the door but slowed when more than a hint of musk drifted by. Not as stinky as an attack, but it was more than a fart.”
Walter Einenkel writes—Scientists: a changing climate is the reason two-thirds of saiga antelopes died in three weeks: “A couple of years ago over a span of three weeks, around 200,000 saiga antelope in Central Kazakhstan died off suddenly. At the time, scientists felt that one of two pathogens Pasteurella and Clostridia—already present in the saiga population—must be a part of the mysterious die-off. Saiga antelopes had had mass-die offs before, but nothing even remotely on the scale of what was being seen. The Atlantic has an update, two years in the making, and the conclusions that scientists have reached concerning what exactly happened to the saiga antelope. Pasteurella multocida normally lives in the saiga’s respiratory tract, but Kock’s team found that the microbe had found its way into the animals’ blood, and invaded their livers, kidneys, and spleens. Wherever it went, it produced toxins that destroyed the local cells, causing massive internal bleeding. Blood pooled around their organs, beneath their skin, and around their lungs. The saigas drowned in their own bodily fluids. But that answer just led to more questions. [...] After putting together a 13-page list of the potential explanations, scientists tested and checked and cross-checked to see what the variable could possibly have been. The conclusion was the warmer and more humid climate that the saigas dying were living in in 2015.”
PHScott writes—The Daily Bucket: Smallest Gopher Tortoise Hole Ever! “Good Morning from the eastern Florida Panhandle! Today's bucket shows off the various places I've explored in these first few weeks of the new year. I've posted many a photo of these spots over the years but there is always something new if you slow down and look. Sharing has also been a great way for me to solidify the learning so here we go. The cover photo was taken at Spring Canyon in western Gadsden county - a Longleaf pine sandhill being to restored to its ancient greatness, or at least as well as can be done nowadays with so many bad things beating up our natural world. Over the last few years I've been helping Ms. Helen hand-clear the encroaching hardwoods coming up the slopes. All that fuel we cut and piled last spring will be burned later this month. And I got to help Helen and Tom put the finishing touches on the new UTV-capable bridge over one of the seepage streams.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
A Siegel writes—See, hear, say no evil: #Climate #science disappearing from USG websites: “Within seconds of the outrageous nightmare scenario being announced as reality, scientists around the world started to mobilize to capture key science information and data from US government websites to maintain knowledge in what some suspected would be a Dark Ages period. Some thought this is absurd, that the Trump-istas just wouldn’t go there. They’ve been going there. By mid 2017, thousands of climate references had disappeared from US government websites.
In the intervening months, the climate zombies have extended their reach and extended the darkness.”
Pakalolo writes—Ocean warming blamed for projected 80 percent decline in Gulf of Alaska cod catches for 2018: “ ‘To have less sea ice you have less habitat for the ice algae to grow on and overall you have less supply of food from ice algae to the eco-system,’ Dr. Tom Brown, marine ecologist at the Scottish Association for Marine Science. Climate change is rapidly and intensively proceeding in the Arctic. Over the past few decades, the mean temperature in the High North has risen twice as fast as the global average. As a result of these warming temperature changes, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council has warned the Alaskan fishing communities to expect a devastating decline in Alaskan Cod populations due to warming ocean waters.”
Walter Einenkel writes—Over a hundred lawmakers call on Trump to add climate change back into our National Security plans: “Climate change is a threat to anyone living on the planet earth. Even if the area you live in is faring better than others, you will feel the impacts of climate change in your ability to receive the resources you take for granted, and if you are in an especially “unaffected” area, you will probably begin seeing a lot more people moving in. National security is not as simple as having more guns than everyone else, it’s a matter of having a strategy to deal with food shortages, huge population upheavals, emergency plans for natural disasters, and updated infrastructure in order to best prepare us for inevitable issues that may come down the pike sooner rather than later. To that end 95 Democratic Congress folks and 11 Republican ones signed off on a letter Thursday, urging the president to reconsider the idiotic position of taking climate change out of our National Security Strategy.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—New News in ExxonKnew Storyline: Exxon Sues Cali Cities, NYC Sues Exxon: “On Monday, ExxonMobil filed request for documents in a Texas court against the California cities who filed suits against the company last September. The oil giant alleges the cities are part of a vast conspiracy designed to rob it of its right to free speech, which by implication refers to its denial of climate change, which is something Exxon’s top brass claim they don’t do anyway. Specifically, per the WSJ, Exxon is pointing to a discrepancy in how the cities described climate risks while trying to sell bonds (in which they didn’t quantify costs) versus how they’re attributing damages to ExxonMobil in this suit. Interestingly, Exxon’s filing doesn’t seem to be making the argument that somehow the Rockefellers are behind these suits, a narrative the company has been pushing hard through oil-industry outlets like Energy In Depth and the Daily Caller. Blaming the Rockefellers has been the Exxon’s approach to handling the investigations from Massachusetts. When we last heard about this in December, Mass AG Healy pointed out that Exxon’s willingness to disclose more climate risk could be an inadvertent admission that they hadn’t previously been forthcoming with investors about climate risk. The suit will pick up again shortly, as Jan 12th is the deadline for Exxon to provide further arguments. We’ll see if they point to the Rockefellers as boogeymen.”
Extreme Weather & Natural Phenomena
GCHoward writes—LA Times: Record-setting heatwave in the middle of winter: “According to the LA Times, SoCal just set a new heat record for the season. It was a chilly 90 degrees in Orange County: Days after Southern California saw the first significant rain in nearly a year, the region fell back into summer-like winter with a heat wave that set new records. Among the places that set new high temperature records for the day: Los Angeles International Airport (86 degrees) and Long Beach (88). Lake Forest in Orange County was the hottest place in the United States on Saturday, registering a high of 90, according to the National Weather Services.”
ybruti writes—Who should pay to protect against climate change? “Contrary to the presidential tweet that only the U.S. would pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against climate change, courts around the world have been considering who should pay and how much. Since 2015, at least 894 climate liability suits have been filed in 24 countries against companies and governments, with 654 in the U.S., 80 in Australia, and 49 in the UK. For example, a Peruvian farmer last year sued a German energy company for its share of the costs to protect his property from a melting glacier. He wants the company to pay 17,000 euros ($20,140) because he says the company is responsible for around 0.5 percent of the greenhouse gases causing global warming. A lower court in Germany dismissed the claim, but a higher court found that the company may perhaps be liable. The case continues to explore whether a company should pay for the effects of climate change in other parts of the world because of its carbon dioxide emissions.”
Angmar writes—The Daily Bucket: A January thaw: Photo diary.
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Dan Bacher writes—Breaking: Public meeting on Trump administration plan to increase water exports to be held in Chico! “On December 29, the Bureau of Reclamation announced it will conduct an environmental analysis of potential modifications to the operation of the Central Valley Project (CVP), in coordination with California’s State Water Project, to ‘maximize water deliveries’ and ‘optimize marketable power generation.’ In other words, the Trump administration wants to increase water exports to San Joaquin Valley agribusiness interests at a time when the Delta smelt are near extinction and winter-run and spring-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, longfin smelt, green sturgeon and other fish species are struggling to survive after decades of massive water deliveries. ‘The CVP is a major water source for agricultural, municipal and industrial, and fish and wildlife demands in California,’ according to Reclamation. ‘State and federal regulatory actions and other agreements have significantly reduced the water available for delivery south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. This project will evaluate alternatives to restore water supply in consideration of all of the authorized purposes of the CVP.’ The proposal to export more water to corporate agribusiness interests couldn’t occur at a worse time, with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reporting the lowest ever number of Delta smelt ever counted during its fall 2017 midwater trawl survey.”
Dan Bacher writes—Breaking: Delta Tunnels Opponents File Motion to Stay California WaterFix Hearing: “In the latest battle in the struggle to stop Governor Jerry Brown’s Delta Tunnels project, project opponents today filed motions to stay the hearing for the project, based on what they alleged were ‘unlawful ex parte communications’ between State Water Board and Department of Water Resources (DWR) personnel that would taint the hearing. San Joaquin County, Sacramento County, City of Stockton, City of Antioch, and Local Agencies of the North Delta jointly prepared and filed one motion today asking the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to stay the hearing on the controversial project at least 90 days. The hearings were scheduled to resume on Thursday, January 18. Osha Meserve, one of the attorneys for the protestants, explained, ‘We’re asking the water board to look at the scope of the exparte communications and the implications of those communications for the water rights hearing. We don’t think part 2 of the hearing should proceed until this critical investigation has been completed, since the entire hearing may have been compromised.’”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels
murfster writes—Trump's "drill baby drill" moment. I think he forgot something: “We all witnessed the merriment of Governors on both coasts when the Trump administration imperiously declared that it was open season on oil drilling up and down every inch of coastline in the United states. And his partial walkback when Florida Governor Rick Scott reminded him that Mar-A-Lago and Trump Doral were in Florida. But we seem to have forgotten a Trumper tantrum in the not too distant past when the shoe was on the other foot. Trump wants oil wells as a permanent offshore feature of the US. This is the same Trump who just a few years ago went to court with Scotland, trying desperately to stop the construction of an off shore windmill farm that would provide clean electric power to Scotland because it might dent the magnificence of the views of his stupid, overpriced resort and golf course. Never mind the fact that it’s kind of difficult to have an accidental offshore electricity spill.”
Michael Brune writes—The Trump Drill Team's Coastal Plan: “No one expected good news from the Trump administration's first proposed plan for offshore drilling, but this? The malicious ambition of the plan that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke released last week proved that the shamelessness of these people can still shock us. How much of our coastline did the plan propose to open up to drilling? Virtually all of it. All of the West Coast. All of the East Coast. All of the Gulf of Mexico. And almost all of Alaska (which must have been some kind of oversight). ‘Under President Trump, we are going to become the strongest energy superpower the world has ever seen,’ Zinke somehow said with a straight face. ‘World's biggest super polluter’ is a more accurate description of this administration's vision. In case you had any lingering doubts, this plan confirmed that Trump and his administration are prepared to do anything for the sake of fossil fuel polluters, and there is nothing they won't put at risk in the process.”
Renewables, Efficiency & Conservation
SouthernLeveller writes—Green Energy News, Week 3: “Part of that renewal is the growth of clean, renewable energy and the transformation (despite Drumpf and Inhofe and their entire ilk) from a carbon-based economy to an economy powered by green energy. Here is my 3rd collection of news stories and updates in this series. First off, Forbes notes that the renewables industry has matured enough that it is grappling with the geopolitical impact of the shift to green energy. The geopolitics of oil has been studied for decades. That we are now even interested in the geopolitics of clean, renewable energy is, itself, a good sign. Sticking momentarily with Forbes, Dominic Dudley, the same reporter who wrote the previous article, also has a piece on a study showing that by 2020, renewable energy will be consistently cheaper than all fossil fuels. At that point, the transition to green energy sources is unstoppable. On the bad news front, in Victoria, Australia may extend the Yallorn coal plant license despite its zero-emissions pledge.”
Pipelines & Other Fossil Fuel Transport
Walter Einenkel writes—The East China Sea is suffering the largest oil tanker spill in over 25 years: “On January 6, an Iranian oil tanker sank in the East China Sea after it crashed into a freighter and then subsequently suffered an explosion on Sunday. The freighter, called the Sanchi, was reportedly carrying 136,000 tons of flammable fuel oil. Sunday’s explosion is adding to an already bad situation, and as the The New York Times reports, turning it into an enormous disaster. The Japanese Coast Guard said the fire on the surface of the sea was extinguished early Monday. The Sanchi disaster appears to be the largest tanker spill since 1991, when an unexplained detonation caused the ABT tanker to leak 260,000 tons of oil off the coast of Angola. Reuters spoke with marine scientist Rick Steiner who explained that the East China Sea is already a polluted body of water that is home to a diverse ecosystem; and this event is looking like it may match the infamous Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.”
REGULATIONS & PROTECTIONS
Meteor Blades writes—'Streamlined' EPA process for evaluating new chemicals and new uses of old ones ignores 2016 law: “Suzy Khimm at ABC reported Wednesday on another example of what critics say is going wrong: the shift in how the potential hazards of new chemicals are assessed as well as the risks of chemicals long in the market being used in new ways. This process under Pruitt is euphemistically called “streamlining,” subterfuge for lopping off protections that have taken years to develop and replacing them with just what the chemical manufacturers desire [...] From its outset nearly half a century ago, the EPA has worked with industries making products or creating byproducts, including waste, that fall under the agency’s regulatory purview. Considerable latitude has been allowed. But” industry-friendly” isn’t good enough for many corporations. They want kow-towing. And Pruitt and his crew are determined to deliver it.”
SUSTAINABILITY & EXTINCTION
PeninsulaProgCHS writes—Tiny Houses To Open in Savannah, GA, Learn How it Was Done Jan. 15: “It’s been two years since hammers began flying on the Tiny House Fit for A King, on Martin Luther King Weekend. Several tiny homes have been completed in the Charleston area since. Some are occupies and other struggle with zoning and permitting problems. The City has passed a 20 million dollar fund to provide affordable housing. At the per unit cost for the veteran’s village in Savannah, that would provide. Funds for 800 tiny houses with bathrooms and microkitchens. While that’s not likely to be exactly what happens here, it does show what might be possible. Leveraging that money with other funds could achieve far more. Other alternatives include a handful of subsidized housing units at high cost which will do little to alleviate our growing affordable housing deficit. We understand that these are frightening, frustrating times, but we shouldn’t surrender the real power we have to make the Charleston area a better place. In the past two years we’ve passed a referendum to fund better public transit, a ballot initiative to fund affordable housing and fought for higher wages.”
Frank Palmer writes—The use of large Cities: “Responding to a column on the diminished utility of small cities, a front-pager wrote that there was no longer a use for large cities, either… This is a response to that question. 1) Carbon efficiency. It had been pointed out that New York State’s rank as the state with the lowest carbon footprint per capita among the states is due entirely to New York City's remarkable energy efficiency. The last time I posted this, a commenter pointed out that there is an influx of more than a million people who work, but do not sleep in New York City. He claimed that their energy consumpption at home should be added to the energy consumption in NYC. (He didn't suggest adding that population to the population considered in the per capita calculation.)
In reality, though, that only shows the remarkably energy efficiency of NYC. The energy used by X people doing their leisure hours and X+Y people working divided by X is significantly less than the ratio of the energy consumed by the American people both working and not divided by the total American population. The author of the diary I’m responding to says that you can get products delivered anywhere, and you they may not charge you personally more for delivery in Podunk than they do in Chicago, but the social cost of an individualized delivery where the truck must drive for blocks between deliveries is much greater than the cost of per delivery in a place where the truck delivers to three recipients at the same stop. [...] 2) Public transit / walking. [...] 3) Ethnic variety. [...] 4) Other variety. [...] 6) Land. [...] 7) Innovation.”
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS, OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
Jen Hayden writes—Most of the National Park Advisory Board abruptly resigned out of frustration and 'profound concern': “Nearly the entire National Park Advisory Board resigned en masse this week out sheer frustration with the Trump administration and especially Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. The board members said Zinke hasn’t met with them once. From the The Washington Post: Three-quarters of the members of a federally chartered board advising the National Park Service abruptly quit Monday night out of frustration that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting last year. The resignation of nine out of 12 National Park System Advisory Board members leaves the federal government without a functioning body to designate national historic or natural landmarks. It also underscores the extent to which federal advisory bodies have become marginalized under the Trump administration. In May 2017, Zinke suspended all outside committees while his staff reviewed their composition and work. In the resignation letter, which can be seen below, departing board chairman and former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles says he and the rest of the advisory board have “profound concerns” about the future of our national parks under the Trump administration.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
mahdalgal writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blog Vol. 14.02 Spring Projects: “Schizophrenic Texas winter is happening in Dallas. Not much is green and nothing is blooming unless it is in the house. [...] To pull myself out of this wintry blue funk, I decided to start Spring planning, and wow, there’s a lot to do. [...] ”The garden has not recovered from the fence build in Nov. 2016. Iris corms that once happily bloomed on the alley side of the fence are now growing underneath it in the shade; volunteer turks cap has gone berserk in the front yard; the sweet olive tree (right side of photo) bloomed in November, not March; the aloe vera and blue agave mostly survived; the deck is a total mess with tools and pots; and virtually everything else needs to be cut back. Where to begin?
TRANSPORT & INFRASTRUCTURE
xaxnar writes—Breaking: Community Group files with STB to stop Ulster County from Demolishing Rail Line: “The potential of the line has been allowed to largely lie fallow under Ulster County’s management. The CMRR was also operating out of Phoenicia, NY along the Esopus, where the plan now calls for rail bikes from the Rail Explorers. A key bridge at Boiceville was washed out by Hurricane Irene, and a section of tracks washed out along the creek. FEMA money was applied for to replace the bridge, but the county never followed up on it. The county has chosen to begin removing rails for the trail at a point which means CMRR riders will end well short of being able to view the Ashokan’s eastern shore, and will not be able to link up with the trail. The county is deliberately limiting the potential of the rail line. It has been framed as the fault of the CMRR, which conflates the CMRR with the corridor to the corridor’s detriment in the public eye. This ignores the fact the the railroad is a cash cow for the county, paying to lease the line and handing over a percentage of ticket sales. [...] The U & D Railway Revitalization Corporation (udrrcorp.com) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit group dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Catskill Rail Corridor. We oppose Ulster Country’s plan to convert a key section of the line to a trail. In the course of our efforts we have found Ulster County has failed to meet critical legal requirements before beginning demolition of the Catskill Mountain Branch rail line along the Ashokan Reservoir. [...] We have filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board for declaratory relief, and are seeking a restraining order to prevent the county from proceeding further until the Surface Transportation Board can rule on these matters.”
Dan Bacher writes—Big Oil opposes Assemblymember Ting's Clean Cars 2040 bill: “Assemblymember Phil Ting’s bill to ban the sale of internal combustion passenger vehicles in California starting in 2040 received a less-than-enthusiastic reception from Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the President of the Western States Petroleum Association and former chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so-called ‘marine protected areas’ in Southern California. In a statement, the former ‘marine guardian’ [… said]: ‘WSPA and its member companies oppose AB 1745, a crude and overly simplistic proposal that will hurt the majority of California families and is also likely to undermine California’s current track of success in climate leadership. Californians need affordable and reliable transportation to commute to and perform jobs that sustain their families and build this state. Now, and for the foreseeable future, the best tool for that job are internal combustion engine vehicles.’”
repentance writes—6 Tesla updates Elon Musk has confirmed on Twitter: “Here are a handful of the updates Musk has made in recent weeks. 1. AUTOMATIC HEATED STEERING WHEEL; 2. Ability to operate ‘pretty much anything’ with voice command; 3. Digital trophy for visiting Tesla charging station set up like an old school movie drive-in; 4. Windshield wipers that don't start until you're in the car; 5. Windshield wipers that automatically adjust based on how hard it's raining; 6. Camera that automatically starts recording if a car is broken into. Source: Twitter and CNBC. These updates are exciting. But Tesla has problems, lawsuits and Model 3 production details.”
MISCELLANY
AuntieB writes—In Celebration Of Long Nights: “I have always been a daughter of the sun. I love the sunlight, and have always taken full advantage of the long days of summer. Being a gardener, I celebrate the return of longer spring days and warmer weather after a long, bleak winter. Once the bustle, charm, and stress of the Yule season is over, a long winter looms here in the Midwest. The cold sharpens and settles in, with random periods of 50 degree weather that make you long for an early spring. But this year I am learning to love the long nights and the beauty of the cold darkness as well. I see more of it, and am growing to appreciate it. I get off work shortly after the sun rises, and the whole, diminutive winter day stretches out before me. I hurry to do the animal chores, both to beat the chill and the march of the short daylight. If the day is extra cold, I bake, being sure to make enough to share with my elderly neighbors. My freezer is full of apples from the neighbor’s trees, raspberries from our canes, and pumpkins that grew on the edge of our field. Friends, an overflowing freezer, and the cold are excuses enough to bake sugary, stodgy treats that I would never eat when there are fresh raspberries on the bushes. But an apple pie, some bread pudding, or rich pumpkin muffins slathered in butter or cream cheese seem like perfect January foods to share.”