[TheClimate.Vote] May 12, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Fri May 12 09:55:03 EDT 2017
/May 12, 2017/
$
https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard/2017/05/heitkamp-manchin-tell-interior-to-suspend-methane-rule-enforcement-087553
*Heitkamp, Manchin tell Interior to suspend methane rule enforcement
<https://www.politicopro.com/energy/whiteboard/2017/05/heitkamp-manchin-tell-interior-to-suspend-methane-rule-enforcement-087553>*
By Ben Lefebvre 05/10/2017 03:40 PM EDT
Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va,) are
recommending that the Department of Interior halt enforcement of an
Obama-era methane emissions rule that the Senate failed to repeal
this morning.
Heitkamp and Manchin surprised some by voting to block the
Congressional Review Act that would have repealed the methane
emissions rule. Republicans had hoped the two senators would join
them in killing the measure, which uses royalty rates to push oil
and gas producers to cut methane emissions from oil wells and pipelines.
But in a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke dated today, the
two senators say they still think the methane rule goes too far.
They write that they agree with President Donald Trump's March
executive order calling for a review of the rule and suggest that
BLM stop enforcing it in the meantime.
"Begin revising the rule by issuing both a rule suspending
enforcement and a replacement rule to correct the inherent flaws in
the current rule," the senators suggest to Zinke as one possible action.
Interior said earlier today that it planned to revise, suspend or
rescind the regulation. Such a process could take years, however,
and environmental groups have said any drastic action from the
department could face legal action.
https://www.*theguardian.com*/world/2017/may/11/finland-voices-concern-over-us-and-russian-climate-change-doubters
Finland voices concern over US and Russian*climate change*doubters
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/11/finland-voices-concern-over-us-and-russian-climate-change-doubters>
The Nordic country takes up the two-year chairmanship of the body,
increasingly a forum where arguments about climate change play out,
at a ministerial meeting on Thursday in Fairbanks, Alaska, where the
US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, will ...
"What is even more worrying is that ice and snow are melting faster
than we estimated, and that will change the composition of the
waters and even the sea level might be rising. If we have two
countries, Russia and the US, not sharing the view that climate
change is happening or is manmade or how much it is manmade, it is
very difficult to proceed."
Mäki-Reinikka said "a month ago Putin said climate change is not man
made" but recent reports of bubbles of methane gas forming in
Siberia, potentially putting more greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere, could mean "a vicious circle of climate change and
global warming will be faster, and the Paris climate change
agreements will need to be stronger".
https://www.*kcet.org*/shows/earth-focus/climate-change-is-already-killing-farm-workers-around-the-world
*Climate Change*Is Already Killing Farm Workers Around The World
<https://www.kcet.org/shows/earth-focus/climate-change-is-already-killing-farm-workers-around-the-world>
Recent studies have shown that there's a direct correlation between
climate change and CKDu. The disease affects farm workers across the
globe, including here in California.
Global warming has led to an overall increase of 1.4° Fahrenheit
since 1880 and is estimated to be responsible for 75 percent of
extreme heat events.
According to a report conducted by UC Davis researchers,
agricultural workers in the USA are 20 times more likely to have a
heat-related illness than workers in other industries. That report
looked at over 200 agricultural workers in the Central Valley of
California, where summer temperatures regularly reach 100°F.
What they found: Heat strain and piece-rate work are associated with
kidney failure in California farm workers. Unlike hourly rate work,
piece-rate rewards higher productivity, and gives workers a strong
financial incentive to skip breaks.
The study authors recommended adjusting payment structures and
decreasing heat exposure. But according to Jason Glaser, founder of
La Isla Foundation, the issue needs to be addressed from a more
holistic perspective.
http://www.*latimes.com*/politics/la-pol-sac-california-climate-policies-20170511-story.html
California set an ambitious goal for fighting*global warming*. Now
comes the hard part
<http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-california-climate-policies-20170511-story.html>
When Stanford University energy economist Danny Cullenward looks at
California's policies on climate change, he sees a potential time bomb.
https://www.*nytimes.com*/2017/05/11/science/climate-change-simulation-miniature-world.html
To Simulate*Climate Change*, Scientists Build Miniature Worlds
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/11/science/climate-change-simulation-miniature-world.html>
Climate change will alter the ecosystems that humanity depends upon
in the coming century. But given the complexity of the living world,
how can you learn what may happen?
Dr. Nagelkerken and his colleagues have tried to create a happy
medium. They filled 12 pools with 475 gallons of seawater apiece and
built simple ocean ecosystems in each one.
They put sand and rocks on the bottom of the pools, along with
artificial sea grass on which algae could grow. They stocked their
small-scale ecosystems, called mesocosms, with local species of
crustaceans and other invertebrates, which grazed on the algae.
For predators, they added a small fish known as the Southern longfin
goby, which feeds on invertebrates.
To test the effects of climate change, Dr. Nagelkerken and his
colleagues manipulated the water in the pools. In three of them, the
researchers raised the temperature 5 degrees — a conservative
projection of how warm water off the coast of South Australia will get.
The scientists also studied the effect of the carbon dioxide that is
raising the planet's temperature.
The gas is dissolving into the oceans, making them more acidic and
potentially causing harm to marine animals and plants. Yet the extra
carbon dioxide can be used by algae to carry out more photosynthesis.
To measure the overall impact, Dr. Nagelkerken and his colleagues
pumped the gas into three of the pools, keeping them at today's
ocean temperature
They found that the sharks hunted more for sea urchins, one of the
species they eat because of higher temperatures.
But they were less successful at detecting prey, most likely because
the altered chemistry of the seawater interfered with their nervous
systems.
Dr. Nagelkerken said these experiments had ominous implications for
ocean ecosystems — as well as for the 3.1 billion people worldwide
who depend on fish for 20 percent or more of their protein.
"As you go further higher up the food web, you get more of a
mismatch between the need for food and the availability of food,"
Dr. Nagelkerken said. And it's the species high in the ocean's food
webs that we fish for.
Just how vulnerable fish will be depends on their individual
ecosystems. Dr. Nagelkerken said he hoped the studies he and his
colleagues are carrying out will prompt other researchers to
replicate them with species and conditions from other parts of the
world.
"These kinds of experiments are essential tools for understanding
change in nature," Dr. O'Connor, the University of British Columbia
ecologist, said.
Dr. Nagelkerken's research, she said, "is not a prediction of the
future, but it is nice proof that we can expect food web
reorganization with continued ocean warming and acidification."
https://www.*desmogblog.com*/2017/05/10/lng-liquefied-natural-gas-alaska-railroad-nepa-violation
*Secretly Approved in Alaska, Will LNG Trains Soon Appear in Rest of US?
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/05/10/lng-liquefied-natural-gas-alaska-railroad-nepa-violation>*
In 2015, a federal rail agency authorized the Alaska Railroad
Corporation to ship its first batch of liquefied natural gas (LNG)
by rail in Alaska, but granted this permission behind closed doors,
according to documents obtained by the Center for Biological
Diversity (CBD) and provided to DeSmog.
The documents, a series of letters and legal memoranda obtained
through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), show that the Federal
Railroad Administration (FRA) may have violated the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by permitting the shipping of LNG, a
highly combustible and flammable material, via rail without any
public notification or comment period. The agency granted the Alaska
Railroad Corporation a legal exemption under 49 C.F.R. § 174.63(a).
That federal statute mandates that a "carrier may not transport a
bulk packaging … containing a hazardous material in
container-on-flatcar (COFC) or trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) service …
unless approved for transportation by" the FRA.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR), a rail industry
lobbying group, has since petitioned the FRA for the ability to ship
LNG tankers by rail (as opposed to containers or trailers on
flatcars), filing the request on January 17, according to documents
on file at Regulations.gov.
"AAR petitions for rulemaking to authorize the transportation of
methane, refrigerated liquid ("LNG"), by rail in … tank cars," reads
the AAR petition. "LNG should be authorized for rail transportation
because it is a safe method of transporting this commodity, LNG
shippers have indicated a desire to use rail to transport it, and
because railroads potentially will need to transport LNG for their
own use as a locomotive fuel."
https://www.*nytimes.com*/2017/05/08/climate/a-parable-from-down-under-for-us-climate-scientists.html
*A Parable From Down Under for U.S. Climate Scientists*
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/climate/a-parable-from-down-under-for-us-climate-scientists.html>
Politics intruded on climate science in Australia. The scientists
fought back, led by John Church, a leading world expert on sea level
rise.
May 8, 2017 By JUSTIN GILLIS
As Dr. Church and I were finishing our coffees, I noted that
President Trump had offered a budget outline for the United States
that, if enacted, would almost certainly require huge cuts in the
basic scientific enterprise of monitoring and analyzing the climate.
Congress will have the last word after Mr. Trump presents a more
detailed outline, so there is no way to know how that fight will
end. But over two weekends in April, tens of thousands of Americans
marched in the streets to defend science and to demand action on
climate change.
That means the citizenry in the United States, just as in Australia,
is alert and watching. You can bet a lot of American scientists are
thinking these days about how they will respond if the government
starts gutting climate research.
"I guess somebody in the United States," Dr. Church said, "has to
step out into the public and do what I did."
https://www.*youtube.com*/watch?v=A84da7lc_Eg
*(video) Atlantic City at High Tide During a Storm
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A84da7lc_Eg>*
New Jersey's working class are forgotten as federal government funds
fixes for wealthier neighbors. More:
http://reports.climatecentral.org/atl...
http://climatenewsnetwork.net/ocean-oxygen-decline-greater-predicted/
*Ocean oxygen decline greater than predicted
<http://climatenewsnetwork.net/ocean-oxygen-decline-greater-predicted/>*
Circulation changes caused by warming waters and melting polar ice
are the most probable explanations for the rapidly falling levels of
oxygen in the ocean.
LONDON, 10 May, 2017 – US scientists who have been warning that
warmer oceans are more likely to be poorer in dissolved oxygen have
now sounded the alarm: ocean oxygen levels are indeed falling, and
seemingly falling faster than the corresponding rise in water
temperature.
That colder water can hold more dissolved gas than warmer water is a
commonplace of physics: it is one reason why polar seas are teeming
with marine life and tropical oceans are blue, clear and often
relatively impoverished.
In 2013, an international consortium of marine scientists warned
that oxygen levels in the oceans could fall by between 1% and 7% by
the century's end. And this could, other scientists predicted, lead
to what they politely called "respiratory stress" for some marine
life...
Now the team have returned to the issue. They report in Geophysical
Research Letters that they looked at data for the last 50 years and
found the oxygen levels started dropping in the 1980s, as ocean
temperatures began to climb – and falling unexpectedly rapidly.
"The trend of oxygen falling is about two to three times faster than
what we predicted from the decrease of solubility associated with
ocean warming," says Takamitsu Ito, of the School of Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who led
the study.
"This is most likely due to the changes in ocean circulation and
mixing associated with the heating of the near-surface waters and
the melting of polar ice."
http://www.*sciencemag.org*/news/2017/05/us-spy-agencies-duck-science-climate-change-still-say-it-s-security-threat
*U.S. spy agencies wimp out on science of climate change, but still say
it’s a security threat
<http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/us-spy-agencies-duck-science-climate-change-still-say-it-s-security-threat>*
U.S. national security is being threatened by improvements in
artificial intelligence and genome editing, as well as the impacts
of climate change, overfishing, and biodiversity loss, concludes the
latest edition of an annual report released today by the U.S.
intelligence community. But the report tries to avoid the
increasingly politicized fight over climate science – without
denying the existence of global warming.
The 2017 Worldwide Threat Assessment,
<https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Newsroom/Testimonies/SSCI%20Unclassified%20SFR%20-%20Final.pdf>
delivered to Congress today by Daniel Coats, the U.S. director of
national intelligence, is a 32-page rundown of global and regional
threats that the nation's spy agencies believe demand attention from
policy makers.
http://*thinkprogress.org*/climate/2008/05/12/172199/mccain-climate-speech/
*This Day in Climate History May 12, 2008
<http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2008/05/12/172199/mccain-climate-speech/>
- from D.R. Tucker*
GOP presidential candidate John McCain lays out his plans to address
climate change in Portland, Oregon. The speech receives a tepid
reaction, as McCain is widely faulted for adopting an energy plan
that would not reduce carbon emissions enough to avoid the worst
impacts of climate change.
http://youtu.be/JZsmQzOT1oo
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2008/05/12/172199/mccain-climate-speech/
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