[TheClimate.Vote] December 1, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/December 1, 2017
/
*Announcement: Moody's: Climate change is forecast to heighten US 
exposure to economic loss placing short- and long-term credit pressure 
on US states and local governments 
<https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-Climate-change-is-forecast-to-heighten-US-exposure-to--PR_376056>*
Global Credit Research - 28 Nov 2017
New York, November 28, 2017 -- The growing effects of climate change, 
including climbing global temperatures, and rising sea levels, are 
forecast to have an increasing economic impact on US state and local 
issuers. This will be a growing negative credit factor for issuers 
without sufficient adaptation and mitigation strategies, Moody's 
Investors Service says in a new report.
The report differentiates between climate trends, which are a 
longer-term shift in the climate over several decades, versus climate 
shock, defined as extreme weather events like natural disasters, floods, 
and droughts which are exacerbated by climate trends. Our credit 
analysis considers the effects of climate change when we believe a 
meaningful credit impact is highly likely to occur and not be mitigated 
by issuer actions, even if this is a number of years in the future.
Climate shocks or extreme weather events have sharp, immediate and 
observable impacts on an issuer's infrastructure, economy and revenue 
base, and environment. As such, we factor these impacts into our 
analysis of an issuer's economy, fiscal position and capital 
infrastructure, as well as management's ability to marshal resources and 
implement strategies to drive recovery...
Extreme weather patterns exacerbated by changing climate trends include 
higher rates of coastal storm damage, more frequent droughts, and severe 
heat waves. These events can also cause economic challenges like smaller 
crop yields, infrastructure damage, higher energy demands, and escalated 
recovery costs.
"While we anticipate states and municipalities will adopt mitigation 
strategies for these events, costs to employ them could also become an 
ongoing credit challenge," Michael Wertz, a Moody's Vice President says. 
"Our analysis of economic strength and diversity, access to liquidity 
and levers to raise additional revenue are also key to our assessment of 
climate risks as is evaluating asset management and governance."...
For issuers, the availability of state and federal resources is an 
important element that broadens the response capabilities of local 
governments and their ability to mitigate credit impacts. As well, all 
municipalities can benefit from the deployment of broader state and 
federal aid, particularly disaster aid from the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency (FEMA) to help with economic recovery.
Moody's analysts weigh the impact of climate risks with states and 
municipalities' preparedness and planning for these changes when we are 
analyzing credit ratings. Analysts for municipal issuers with higher 
exposure to climate risks will also focus on current and future 
mitigation steps and how these steps will impact the issuer's overall 
profile when assigning ratings.
The report "Environmental Risks -- Evaluating the impact of climate 
change on US state and local issuers," is available to Moody's 
subscribers at 
http://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBM_1071949.
https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-Climate-change-is-forecast-to-heighten-US-exposure-to--PR_376056


[1:00:00 - Video - Yale University]
*"Sea-Level Rise: Inconvenient, or Unmanageable?"   Richard B. Alley 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE9Gqy8Yy9w>*
Published on Nov 8, 2017
The warming climate is causing sea level to rise at an accelerating 
rate, and this is expected to continue, depending on human decisions 
about our energy system. Economic analyses generally show that efficient 
response to this challenge will be more favorable than ignoring the 
science and continuing with business as usual. Those analyses often 
assume that we will respond efficiently, and that the rise will be slow, 
small and expected. Recent events raise major questions about our 
efficiency, however, and scientific advances suggest that rapid warming 
could cause larger and faster rise than previously expected, with much 
higher costs. If so, then there is greater value in slowing warming and 
in managing coasts for resilience, and in advancing science rapidly to 
reduce the large uncertainties.
Mrs. Hepsa Ely Silliman Memorial Lectures at Yale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE9Gqy8Yy9w


*Cause of Keystone Pipeline Spill Worries South Dakota Officials as Oil 
Flow Restarts 
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29112017/keystone-pipeline-oil-spill-south-dakota-permit-transcanada-construction-weights>*
TransCanada is running tests on the pipeline after a 210,000-gallon 
spill. State regulators, fearing risk of wider damage, say they could 
still revoke its permit.
A preliminary assessment from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous 
Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) suggests damage that occurred 
during TransCanada Corporation's construction of the pipeline was likely 
the cause of the spill.
TransCanada shut down the pipeline, which transports 590,000 barrels of 
tar sands crude oil and other forms of crude oil per day from Alberta, 
Canada, to U.S. refineries, after a leak was detected on Nov. 16. The 
leak, which spilled an estimated 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, of 
crude oil, was the third major spill from the pipeline in or near South 
Dakota since the pipeline began transporting oil in 2010...
The order states that a weight placed on top of the pipeline to prevent 
"buoyancy concerns"-floating in areas of standing water during 
construction-was likely to blame.
"Preliminary information indicates the failure may have been caused by 
mechanical damage to the pipeline and coating associated with a weight 
installed on the pipeline in 2008," Mayberry wrote...
Hanson's main concern is that if damage was caused by a weight in one 
location, similar damage could have been caused if weights were used 
elsewhere.
"If there is a standard installation procedure for installing the 
weights, that may have created challenges in other locations on the 
pipe," he said.
"Groundwater moves into this area and out of this area. Obviously 
TransCanada recognizes that because they put weights on the pipe," he 
said. "It concerns me as to future leaks and the potential for damaging 
groundwater."
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29112017/keystone-pipeline-oil-spill-south-dakota-permit-transcanada-construction-weights


[Climate and Security]
*BRIEFER: Sea Level Rise and Deterritorialized States 
<https://climateandsecurity.org/2017/11/30/briefer-sea-level-rise-and-deterritorialized-states/>*
By Collin Douglas, Research Fellow, The Center for Climate and Security
Excerpt: The definition of a state in modern international law has four 
requirements: a permanent population, a government, the ability to 
interact with other states, and most important for this context, a 
defined territory. The prospect of rising seas making low-lying island 
states uninhabitable, or completely submerged, puts the territorial 
requirement in jeopardy. However, there are historical examples of 
flexibility in state control of territory.
https://climateandsecurity.org/2017/11/30/briefer-sea-level-rise-and-deterritorialized-states/


*Exxon's First Amendment Claims in Climate Fraud Case Draw Judge's 
Skepticism 
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/11/30/exxon-climate-fraud-case-schneiderman-healey/>*
By Karen Savage
Exxon's quest to convince a federal judge that two state attorneys 
general are stifling their right to free speech is proving to be no easy 
task.
In a hearing Thursday in New York, U.S. District Court Judge Valerie 
Caproni said the oil giant's rationale involved "wild leaps of logic" in 
claiming New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts 
Attorney General Maura Healey are infringing on the company's First 
Amendment rights by pursuing climate fraud investigations.
The exchange took place during a nearly two-hour hearing on a motion 
filed by the attorneys general seeking to dismiss the case, which was 
first filed by the Exxon in the U.S. District Court for the Northern 
District of Texas in June 2016, but has since been transferred to New York.
The suit alleges that investigations by Healey and Schneiderman into 
possible climate change-related deception are an abuse of their 
political positions and are in violation of the oil giant's First, 
Fourth and Fourteenth amendment rights
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/11/30/exxon-climate-fraud-case-schneiderman-healey/


*Italian Oil Company Passes Last Hurdle to Start Drilling in U.S. Arctic 
Waters 
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29112017/arctic-oil-drilling-ocean-eni-beaufort-sea-trump-federal-permit>*
The Trump administration has issued the first permit to drill in federal 
waters of the U.S. Arctic since Shell's failed attempt ended in 2015.
As soon as December, the Italian oil company Eni could begin drilling 
exploratory wells on a lease that was set to expire at the end of the year.
The approval came after "a thorough and complete review of Eni's well 
design, testing procedures and safety protocol," according to Mark 
Fesmire, the director Alaska region of the Bureau of Safety and 
Environmental Enforcement...
Hilcorp also wants to drill offshore, and Congress could open the 
wildlife refuge to drilling....
The period for public comments on the Hilcorp project was recently 
extended to Dec. 8.
At the same time, the Senate is expected to vote this week on a tax bill 
that includes a provision for opening the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge 
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15112017/anwr-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-oil-drilling-alaska-murkowski> 
to oil drilling.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29112017/arctic-oil-drilling-ocean-eni-beaufort-sea-trump-federal-permit


*In Alaska's Thawing Permafrost, Humanity's 'Library Is on Fire' 
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30112017/alaska-global-warming-archaeology-permafrost-history-artifacts-sea-ice-hunting-whaling-traditions>*
Rising Arctic temperatures are destroying ancient artifacts once 
preserved in the frozen ground and taking a toll on native traditions 
that depend on the sea ice.
The homes, weapons, and even bodies that Jensen digs up are 
extraordinarily well preserved-unlike archaeological sites elsewhere in 
the world, these pieces of history have been locked in ice. But as the 
permafrost thaws, so do these sites, and as erosion eats away at the 
coast, it's washing away the history locked inside it. Once gone, the 
story that these sites can tell, about food webs, migratory patterns, 
and traditional ways of life, will disappear too. Just as Ahsoak is 
working to preserve his community's traditions, Jensen is racing to 
capture this historical record before it's lost-and, perhaps, to find in 
the region's past some answers for its future.
     video https://vimeo.com/242612275 Vanishing 
<https://vimeo.com/242612275>
Archaeologists who work in the Arctic, Jensen says, have a metaphor for 
what is happening. The Library of Alexandria was the most famous site 
for cultural knowledge and history in ancient Egypt, until it burned 
down, taking with it an irreplaceable record. The decomposition and 
disappearance of some of the world's best-preserved sites is much the 
same, she says: "It's like the library is on fire."...
The permafrost that holds artifacts trapped also acts as an 
extraordinary preservative-the key to the region's archaeological value. 
A bone that is thousands of years old, Jensen says, can look "like the 
animal died a few years ago." Because the sites are so well preserved, 
organic matter, such as animal remains, pelts and ancient plants, 
retains extractable DNA that can hold insights about the historical food 
web. Jensen believes this knowledge can be relevant today, as migratory 
routes and habitats shift in response to climate change 
<https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-005-5352-2> and 
industrial development....
Another challenge is even more pressing. Coastal erosion, a perpetual 
feature of life in the Arctic, is accelerating. Climate change produces 
stronger storms, less sea ice leads to bigger waves, and thawing 
permafrost means the ground breaks away more readily. Sometimes, erosion 
leads to new finds: The main site Jensen is working on now, called 
Walakpa, was partially excavated in the late 1960s, but in 2013, when 
part of a bluff fell into the ocean, an ancient house was exposed, 
opening up new research opportunities. But she has to work quickly. In 
the years she's been at Walakpa, Jensen says, 39 feet of the site have 
disappeared. Other sites across the region are simply gone-one storm 
will expose a site, the next can wash it away....
"You can stand there and give people all sorts of data about sea level 
going up and whatnot, but it's really hard for people to envision what 
that means," Jensen says. "The more you can bring people into the 
story-actual once-living people-the more people get it and relate to it. 
And then once they relate to it, they start thinking about, 'Oh that 
could be me, that could be us'."
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30112017/alaska-global-warming-archaeology-permafrost-history-artifacts-sea-ice-hunting-whaling-traditions


*Dominion Energy Clearly Panicking, Lashes Out with Conspiracy Theory, 
"Dark Money" Charge at Virginia Organizing, Anti-Pipeline Groups 
<http://bluevirginia.us/2017/11/dominion-energy-clearly-panicking-lashes-out-with-conspiracy-theory-dark-money-charge-at-virginia-organizing-anti-pipeline-groups>*
http://bluevirginia.us/2017/11/dominion-energy-clearly-panicking-lashes-out-with-conspiracy-theory-dark-money-charge-at-virginia-organizing-anti-pipeline-groups


[Harvard Crimson]
*Climate Change Panel Talks 'Hope and Despair' 
<http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/30/climate-change-panel-debates/>*
Climate change researchers, professors, and journalists debated how best 
to present the severity of climate change to the public Wednesday 
evening at an event hosted by the Harvard University Center for the 
Environment.
The discussion, titled "Hope and Despair: Communicating an Uncertain 
Future," was held in the Geological Lecture Hall. Elizabeth M. 
Wolkovich, an assistant professor in the Department of Organismic and 
Evolutionary Biology, moderated a discussion about how to best motivate 
the public to take action on climate change.
David Wallace-Wells, who is the deputy editor of the New York Magazine 
and wrote the article "The Uninhabitable Earth" this year, advocated the 
use of fear about the planet's future as a way to inspire more people to 
become "climate agents."
"I think that there is real value in scaring people," Wallace-Wells 
said. "When I talk to colleagues it just seems so obvious to me that 
when you think about the relatively well-off Western world, that 
complacency about climate is just a much bigger problem than fatalism 
about climate."..
Nancy Knowlton, chair for Marine Science at the Smithsonian Institution, 
said she thinks it is more effective to be optimistic about humanity's 
ability to stave off disaster....
"I've had many, many students come up to me after talks about optimism 
or the Earth Optimism Summit that we ran in Washington saying 'you know, 
this was incredibly empowering, I now really want to go out and work on 
solving this problem. I almost left the field of conservation because I 
thought there was nothing I could do,'" Knowlton said. "I do feel that 
it is absolutely essential to talk about what's working, why it's 
working, in addition to providing this very scary context."...
While the question of mitigating climate change is a regular topic of 
concern for individuals in scientific circles, Wolkovich said that 
climate change is rarely the highest priority in politics.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/30/climate-change-panel-debates/


*'Larger than normal' iceberg formed by rare rupture of Gray glacier in 
Chile 
<http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/larger-normal-iceberg-formed-by-rare-rupture-gray-glacier-chile-1649377>*
The A large iceberg has broken off the Gray glacier in Chile, 
authorities announced on 28 November. The newly independent ice block 
was visible floating in waters of a glacial lagoon near the southern tip 
of South America.newly formed iceberg could become an obstacle to 
navigation if it disintegrates into smaller pieces.
Antarctic and Greenland glaciers have seen some serious fissures and 
ruptures this past year. Most recently, a giant iceberg four times the 
size of Manhattan broke off from the the Antarctic Pine Island Glacier. 
The ice shelf has also witnessed deep cracks of late.
The Petermann Glacier, Greenland's largest body of ice, has also become 
a cause of concern to researchers who identified a large crack along its 
surface.
This year's biggest iceberg development came in the form of the trillion 
tonne super iceberg that broke off the Larson C glacier in Antarctica. 
The mass is a quarter of the size of Wales.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/larger-normal-iceberg-formed-by-rare-rupture-gray-glacier-chile-1649377


*Rising seas will swallow 14,000 U.S. historic sites: study 
<https://www.voanews.com/a/study-claims-rising-seas-will-swallow-thousands-of-historic-us-sites/4142412.html>*
Sebastien Malo <https://www.reuters.com/journalists/sebastien-malo>
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Almost 14,000 archeological 
sites and national monuments in the United States could be lost by the 
year 2100 as seas rise due to climate change, scientists said on Wednesday.
The findings offer a glimpse into the vast amount of global cultural 
heritage that could be destroyed, the study said. One in 10 
archeological sites that it analyzed on nine southeastern coastal states 
risk inundation.
"The data are sobering: projected sea level rise ... will result in the 
loss of a substantial portion of the record of both pre-Columbian and 
historic period human habitation," the authors said in the journal PLoS ONE.
"(There are) serious concerns over the threat of global climate change 
to the archaeological and historic record."
Scientists predict sea levels are on track to surge by an average of one 
meter globally by 2100.
In the first study on such a scale, researchers combined data on the 
elevation of archeological and historic sites along in the Atlantic and 
Gulf of Mexico coasts with sea-level rise predictions.
"This is only a tiny fraction of what's out there," co-author David 
Anderson, an archeology professor at the University of Tennessee, told 
the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
"The record of human occupation of coastal regions goes back thousands 
of years and we stand to lose a lot of that."
Florida's 17th century Castillo de San Marcos fortress and Fort 
Matanzas, which date back to European colonial struggles for the New 
World, are among the historic national monuments that could disappear.
Other sites are in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
The authors called for a debate about which fragments of human history 
should be salvaged through relocation and documented for posterity.
https://www.voanews.com/a/study-claims-rising-seas-will-swallow-thousands-of-historic-us-sites/4142412.html


*This Day in Climate History December 1, 1987 
<http://www.c-span.org/video/?20-1/Presidential%20%20http://www.c-span.org/video/?20-1/Presidential> 
-  from D.R. Tucker*
December 1, 1987: During a Democratic presidential debate on NBC, Rep. 
Richard Gephardt states that the US must work with the Soviet Union on 
addressing international environmental issues such as the ozone layer 
and greenhouse gas emissions, noting, “The problem we’ve had with these 
issues is not that we don’t know what to talk about; the problem we’ve 
had is that America hasn’t been a leader.”
  (25:10—26:03)
http://www.c-span.org/video/?20-1/Presidential
/
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