[TheClimate.Vote] August 31, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Thu Aug 31 10:02:45 EDT 2017
/August 31, 2017/
*Blasts, 'chemical reactions' rock storm-crippled chemical plant in
Texas as Harvey flooding persists
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/08/31/harveys-wrath-moves-across-the-louisiana-texas-border-as-water-recedes-in-houston/?utm_term=.74f5cd94b8bc>*
...growing threats that included blasts and “black smoke”
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/08/30/texas-town-under-emergency-evacuation-as-flooded-chemical-plant-nears-explosion/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_harveychemicalplant-955pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&tid=a_inl>
at a crippled chemical plant and the collapse of the drinking water
system in a Texas city.
While local officials described the blasts early Thursday at the plant
in Crosby as "chemical reactions" and not "massive explosions," federal
authorities used dire language to describe the impact of the fumes from
the plant.
The chemical plume in Crosby is "incredibly dangerous," William "Brock"
Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said at
a briefing Thursday morning.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/08/31/harveys-wrath-moves-across-the-louisiana-texas-border-as-water-recedes-in-houston/
.
*'Pops,' followed by smoke and fire, reported at storm-crippled Texas
chemical plant
<CROSBY,+Tex.+%E2%80%94+The+operators+of+a+chemical+plant+left+without+power+by+floodwaters+said+Thursday+that+possible+explosions+have+been+reported+at+the+facility,+and+they+warned+that+more+problems+could+occur+as+rising+temperatures+make+the+highly+flammable+compounds+inside+volatile+and+dangerous.>*
CROSBY, Tex. — The operators of a chemical plant left without power by
floodwaters said Thursday that possible explosions have been reported at
the facility, and they warned that more problems could occur as rising
temperatures make the highly flammable compounds inside volatile and
dangerous....
Local authorities later said there weren’t explosions at the facility,
but rather "a series of pops" followed by smoke and fire. But Arkema
urged residents to stay clear of a temporary evacuation zone set up
Wednesday, and said in its statement that "a threat of additional
explosion remains."
The Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office reported "a series of chemical
reactions" and "intermittent smoke" at the facility, about 25 miles
northeast of Houston. /(confirmed Twitter
https://twitter.com/hcfmo/status/903195602644852737 )/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/08/30/texas-town-under-emergency-evacuation-as-flooded-chemical-plant-nears-explosion/
*First Harvey damage estimates off the charts
<https://www.axios.com/first-harvey-damage-estimates-off-the-charts-2479652394.html>*
Jeff Nesbit -
A preliminary insurance analysis released Tuesday by RMS (which advises
hundreds of insurers and financial institutions on their financial
exposure from natural and human-made disasters and catastrophes) puts
the economic loss from Harvey as high as $90 billion.
Why it matters: Because up to 80 percent of the homes and businesses in
Houston aren't insured for flood damage (either privately or through
federal flood insurance programs), the financial toll could be
catastrophic. "The majority of these losses will be uninsured, given
that private flood insurance is limited," said Michael Young, who heads
RMS' climate risk modeling in the Americas. This will present a
challenge to Congress and the Trump administration when it begins work
on aid for the area.
RMS said Tuesday that hundreds of thousands of individual National Flood
Insurance Program (NFIP) policies will almost certainly be affected by
the devastation in Houston. It could be the largest event ever directed
at the federal flood insurance program managed by FEMA, the agency in
charge of the program, RMS said. The majority of the economic loss is
likely to be in the metropolitan Houston area, where there are more than
7 million properties worth $1.5 trillion.
Harvey has broken all U.S. records for a single extreme-rainfall event,
with cumulative amounts in some regions as high as 51 inches. As a
result, RMS estimates the economic losses caused by a combination of
wind, storm surge and inland flooding could be as high as $70-90
billion. But the losses could be even higher. RMS won't issue its
official insurance loss estimate for several weeks.
https://www.axios.com/first-harvey-damage-estimates-off-the-charts-2479652394.html
https://climatecrocks.com/2017/08/30/daunting-damage-estimates-for-harvey/
*(videos) Harvey Forces New Conversation on Climate
<https://climatecrocks.com/2017/08/30/harvey-forces-new-conversation-on-climate/>*
Did climate change make recent extreme storms worse?
<https://youtu.be/FiB2_pShfkE>
Nature is taking a devastating toll in both the U.S. mainland and in
countries like India, Bangladesh and Nepal, where monsoons rains are
causing floods and hundreds of casualties. Directly attributing these
individual weather events to global warming is a tricky undertaking for
scientists. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on what data
suggests about the connection.
https://youtu.be/FiB2_pShfkE
And it's not just Harvey – severe flooding events are dominating news
across the planet.
Worst monsoon in years kills more than 1,200 across South Asia
<https://youtu.be/uw9p8g4q-sE>
Images from Nepal, India and Bangladesh show the devastation inflicted
on the region.
https://youtu.be/uw9p8g4q-sE
https://climatecrocks.com/2017/08/30/harvey-forces-new-conversation-on-climate/
.
(text + video)
*Ex-NASA Scientist James Hansen: There is a Clear Link Between Climate
Change & Stronger Hurricanes
<https://www.democracynow.org/2017/8/30/ex_nasa_scientist_james_hansen_there#transcript>*
...the location and timing of each storm is, of course, very chaotic;
however, you know, there's even research that shows that the likelihood
of the kind of event where we had here, where things stalled and we had
continued rainfall for several days-the chance of that happening is
actually probably increasing. That's a research topic now. But because
the Arctic is warming faster than the planet, on average, it does affect
the jet stream and the chance of having blocking events, where the
storms stall. So, that is very likely also influenced. The chance of
that happening has been increased by global warming.
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/8/30/ex_nasa_scientist_james_hansen_there#transcript
*Boomtown, Flood Town* <https://www.texastribune.org/boomtown-floodtown/>
Climate change will bring more frequent and fierce rainstorms to cities
like Houston. But unchecked development remains a priority in the
famously un-zoned city, creating short-term economic gains for some
while increasing flood risks for everyone.
They couldn't get in the beds because the beds were wet. They couldn't
go to the bathroom because the water was over the toilet bowl," Hammond
recalled.
"We were in there, well, trapped."
The storm that pummeled Hammond's modest brick home - nicknamed the "Tax
Day" flood because it fell on the deadline to file federal income taxes
- came just 11 months after another, on Memorial Day 2015, that also
crippled the city. Together, the floods killed 16 people, inflicted well
over $1 billion in damage and provoked an unprecedented uproar from
Houstonians, some of whom are now suing the city over chronic flooding
problems. A month after the Tax Day flood, another mega-storm hit the
city, dumping well over a foot of rain on parts of Harris County, home
to Houston, in 24 hours.
https://www.texastribune.org/boomtown-floodtown/
(Interactive graphics) Hell and High Water
<https://projects.propublica.org/houston/>
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the country. It's home to the
nation's largest refining and petrochemical complex, where billions of
gallons of oil and dangerous chemicals are stored. And it's a sitting
duck for the next big hurricane. Learn why Texas isn't ready.
https://projects.propublica.org/houston/
*What Has Hurricane Harvey Taught Donald Trump in Texas?
<https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-did-donald-trump-learn-in-texas>*
It will be hard to persuade Trump and the Republicans that Hurricane
Harvey involves major policy issues that reach beyond the borders of the
storm.
Here the problem is not just Trump, or his tweets, or his seriousness.
The leaders of the Republican Party-along with too many other
Americans-continue to deny what has become obvious: that, although it is
hard to connect climate change to any one storm, climate change has
increased, and will continue to increase, the number of extreme weather
events. As the storm approached, Trump tweeted repeatedly about what a
surprise it was. The only logic by which the devastation of Houston is a
surprise is the logic of reality television, with twists that come out
of nowhere and serve no human purpose but to move the plot along. Such
twists are not meant to provide a basis for changing behavior. As for
whether they will change Donald Trump-we're still waiting.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-did-donald-trump-learn-in-texas
Here is a fully-annotated summary and round-up of all the science:
http://www.climatesignals.org/headlines/events/atlantic-hurricane-season-2017
Naomi Klein:
https://theintercept.com/2017/08/28/harvey-didnt-come-out-of-the-blue-now-is-the-time-to-talk-about-climate-change/
Joe Romm: https://thinkprogress.org/climate-change-made-harvey-worse-09957
*Decades of neglect, inequality, and disenfranchisement mean that all
Houstonians, but especially the poorest and most vulnerable, have been
left utterly undefended.
<https://www.thenation.com/article/houstons-human-catastrophe-started-long-before-the-storm/>*
By Wen Stephenson
...Houston is the belly of the beast when it comes to both fossil-fuel
pollution and Big Oil's political choke hold, only tightening under
Trump. My friend Liana Lopez lives on Houston's east side and organizes
with the local grassroots Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services
(TEJAS) and the national Climate Justice Alliance. Since the storm hit,
TEJAS has reported overpowering chemical odors in the communities near
the Ship Channel, coming from the direction of the refineries. Justified
fears of a long-anticipated toxic disaster run high. Still, as she told
me in an e-mail, "The corporations have been warned for decades by
communities and scientists, through legal and bureaucratic means, that
this type of flooding event was possible. They not only ignored but
fought the requests to upgrade their refineries to address climate
impacts." Now, she points out, "the cost to clean up the chemical spills
in the aftermath of Harvey will not be billed to corporations." The cost
will be borne by taxpayers, an unconscionable corporate handout to the
polluters themselves.
There's no such thing as adaptation to fifty inches of rain-and if we
don't transform our entire energy system, making fossil fuels obsolete,
floods like Harvey brought will come to be seen as unexceptional on a
catastrophically warming planet.
Nor is it likely those same corporations will be required to prepare for
the next record-breaking storm-and the one after that. Under the Obama
administration, the federal government began taking the first baby steps
toward preparing the nation's infrastructure for climate change. Earlier
this month, Trump blew up the Obama order requiring new infrastructure
projects to account for climate impacts such as sea-level rise. Suffice
to say, it is unlikely that Republican-controlled governments in Austin
and Washington will impose new climate-resilience regulations on their
corporate benefactors.
But the truth is, national Democrats have given us little more reason to
believe they're ready and willing to face our climate reality. Because
there's no such thing as adaptation to 50 inches of rain in one
storm-and without a society-wide mobilization to transform our entire
energy system, making fossil fuels obsolete, floods like Harvey brought
will come to be seen as unexceptional on a catastrophically warming
planet. In fact, they already are. As Harvey approached Texas, yet
another epic flood pummeled South Asia, as a ferocious monsoon put a
third of Bangladesh underwater and left more than 1200 people dead
across that country, India, and Nepal, with millions homeless.
https://www.thenation.com/article/houstons-human-catastrophe-started-long-before-the-storm/
*How climate change could turn US real estate prices upside down*
<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/29/hurricane-harvey-climate-change-real-estate-florida>
"The question is whether people are going to be basing their real estate
decisions on climate change futures," said Hugh Gladwin, professor of
anthropology at Florida International University, who says his research
suggests higher-standing areas of Miami are becoming increasingly
gentrified as a result of sea level rise.
"In any coastal area there's extra value in property, [but] climate
change, insofar as it increases risks for those properties from any
specific set of hazards – like flooding and storm surge – will decrease
value."
"Will there be a massive decline in the property values of the flooded
areas in Houston? Common sense would say yes. And if that's combined
with new legislation that's going to require full disclosure, then wow."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/29/hurricane-harvey-climate-change-real-estate-florida
(opinion)
<http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/08/30/25383434/climate-changes-means-socialism-is-inevitable>*Climate
Change Means Socialism Is Inevitable - Slog - The Stranger
<http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/08/30/25383434/climate-changes-means-socialism-is-inevitable>*
Texans are in for a big shock. The market cannot handle this and future
climate change-related catastrophes. Private insurance companies plainly
see the writing on the wall. The storms have been increasing in
frequency and force over the past 6 years and diminishing their
precocious revenues. This summer, they got the governor of Texas, Greg
Abbott, to sign a law that removes penalties for stalling or not
responding to claims. This law goes into effect on September 1. (The
insurance companies are certainly wondering why Harvey could not wait
one week more.) But if you own a home whose roof was destroyed by
Harvey's winds, and JPMorgan or State Farm or Allstate or Farmers
Insurance is your insurer, you have to file the claim by Friday or you
risk not getting paid for the damage....
...Expect the socialism of the Depression years to be called back into
existence to ease the ever increasing political pressure from
climate-related misery and disenchantment. But it won't end there. The
socialism of the Second World War, with its mass mobilization of action
and the displacement and tight management of the market economy has to
be next. But global warming is not something that ends in victory. This
is what made 20th-century American socialism so brief (30 years)-the war
was not long and bad enough. By the 1970s, the class that was decimated
by two wars and a market crash (read Thomas Piketty's Capital in the
Twenty-First Century on this head), the rentiers (those who make money
from financial assets), and whose decimation expanded the American
middle class at a scale never before seen in history, returned to power.
It has been their world since the 1980s.
Climate change, however, is the limit that capitalism cannot transform
into a barrier. There is no getting over or under it. Catastrophe,
rather than euthanasia, will extirpate the rentier class. The very
violence of this extinction (its terrific size and force) is in fact the
source of leftist melancholy. As with the great wars, the destruction of
the rentier class shall be the blood of the poor. A sad socialism is
inevitable.
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/08/30/25383434/climate-changes-means-socialism-is-inevitable
*(video) Kellyanne Conway Scolds Chris Cuomo for Daring to Ask About
Climate Change
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/kellyanne-conway-scolds-chris-cuomo-for-daring-to-ask-about-climate-change>*
With a look of disgust on her face, Conway replied, "Chris, we're trying
to help the people whose lives are literally underwater, and you want to
have a conversation about climate change?" Rolling her eyes, she added,
"I mean, that is - I'm not going to engage in that right now."
When Cuomo said he "assumed" that meant the answer to his question was
no, Conway said, "No, I didn't say that, Chris, you don't need to put
words in my mouth."
Then why, he replied, did she "berate" him for even asking the question,
making it seem as though he didn't care about the victims.
In turn, Conway said she was simply "exposing the irony" of the
conversation and accused Cuomo of playing "amateur climatologist" while
she said she would play "professional helper of those in need."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/kellyanne-conway-scolds-chris-cuomo-for-daring-to-ask-about-climate-change
*(sarcastic Onion headline) <http://www.theonion.com/>*
*ConocoPhillips Employee Clings To Years Of Climate Change Denial
Reports To Stay Afloat Amid Rising Waters*
http://www.theonion.com/
<http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/08/30/the-decline-republican-environmentalism/P6lEmA4exWFamGnkQLOQlL/story.html>*This
Day in Climate History August 31, 2013
<http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/08/30/the-decline-republican-environmentalism/P6lEmA4exWFamGnkQLOQlL/story.html>
- from D.R. Tucker*
August 31, 2013: In the Boston Globe, Paul Sabin documents the shift
from bipartisan concern for the environment to Republican disavowal of
climate science over the course of 25 years.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/08/30/the-decline-republican-environmentalism/P6lEmA4exWFamGnkQLOQlL/story.html
August 31, 2014:
The New York Times reports on the consequences of Charles and David
Koch's takeover of the GOP.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/us/politics/kochs-network-wrestles-with-expectations-for-presidential-primaries.html
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