[TheClimate.Vote] September 12, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Richard Pauli richard at theclimate.vote
Wed Sep 12 09:41:44 EDT 2018 

/September 12, 2018/

[Pay no attention to that glowing 3-eyed fish]
*Hurricane Florence Forecast to Hit Near Brunswick Nuclear Power Plant 
in North Carolina 
<https://www.theepochtimes.com/hurricane-florence-forecast-to-hit-near-brunswick-nuclear-power-plant-in-north-carolina_2657817.html>*
BY JACK PHILLIPS - September 11, 2018
Hurricane Florence is predicted to make landfall near the Brunswick 
Nuclear Generating Station power plant located on the southern coast of 
North Carolina.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center, in its 11 a.m. update on Sept. 11, 
is forecasting that Florence, a Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds, 
could make landfall north of the border of North Carolina and South 
Carolina on Friday morning, Sept. 14.
The power plant, located just south of Wilmington, is located right 
along the coast of North Carolina, and it is located right in the middle 
of where Florence is forecast to hit. The BBC reported: "The Brunswick 
Nuclear Plant in Southport, North Carolina, is just a few miles from 
where Florence is expected to make landfall."...
- - - -
Earlier Hurricane Reports on Brunswick
"Class I" buildings at the Brunswick Power Plant "are designed to 
withstand 300-mph tornado winds," according to a 2004 report from the 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (pdf). "The nominal plant grade 
results in 2 feet of water depth surrounding the plant during maximum 
surge conditions, and all of the safety-related structures are 
waterproofed to an elevation of 22 feet," the report said...
- - - -
"All the nuclear power plants affected by Hurricane Matthew weathered 
the storm well and were well-prepared for the high winds and heavy 
rains," Joe Pollock, the U.S. Nuclear Energy Institute vice president of 
nuclear operations, told World Nuclear News in October 2016 after 
Matthews impact. "These facilities have proven their ability to 
withstand hurricanes and provide electricity to homes and businesses as 
soon as off-site power is restored and the electricity grid can 
accommodate the power," he added.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/hurricane-florence-forecast-to-hit-near-brunswick-nuclear-power-plant-in-north-carolina_2657817.html
- - - -
[only 12 to 18 feet above sea level]*
Hurricane Florence to Stress Test Brunswick Nuclear Power Plant 
<http://climatestate.com/2018/09/11/hurricane-florence-may-stress-test-brunswick-nuclear-power-plant/>*
"Are Coastal Nuclear Power Plants Ready for Sea-Level Rise?" 
<https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/are-coastal-nuclear-power-plants-ready-for-sea-level-rise/> 
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/are-coastal-nuclear-power-plants-ready-for-sea-level-rise/
Brunswick Nuclear Generating Station 
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Nuclear_Generating_Station> 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Nuclear_Generating_Station
- - - -
[look at 33.955992 degrees  -78.005509 degrees in Google Earth ]
GeoHack - Brunswick Nuclear Generating Station 
<https://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Brunswick_Nuclear_Generating_Station&params=33_57_30_N_78_0_37_W_region:US-NC_type:landmark>
https://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Brunswick_Nuclear_Generating_Station&params=33_57_30_N_78_0_37_W_region:US-NC_type:landmark
- -- -
http://climatestate.com/2018/09/11/hurricane-florence-may-stress-test-brunswick-nuclear-power-plant/


[BBC report]
*'Climate change moving faster than we are,' says UN Secretary General 
<https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45471410>*
By Matt McGrath - Environment correspondent
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that if the world doesn't 
change course by 2020, we run the risk of runaway climate change.
Mr Guterres said he was alarmed by the paralysis of world leaders on 
what he called the "defining issue" of our time.
He wants heads of government to come to New York for a special climate 
conference next September.
The call comes amid growing concerns over the slow pace of UN negotiations.
Mr Guterres painted a grim picture of the impacts of climate change that 
he says have been felt all over the world this year, with heatwaves, 
wildfires, storms and floods leaving a trail of destruction.
Corals are dying, he said, the oceans are becoming more acidic, and 
there are growing conflicts over dwindling resources.
Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are at their highest 
level in three million years.
Despite the fact that the world agreed on a plan to tackle climate 
change in Paris in 2015, Mr Guterres said the world is way off track to 
achieve the modest goals of the pact...
- - - -
Many observers believe that the influence of US President Donald Trump's 
decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement and his general scepticism 
towards climate change and multilateralism has soured the atmosphere in 
the UN talks.
"The US attempts to slow down this process should come as no surprise," 
said Jesse Bragg from the non-governmental organisation, Corporate 
Accountability.
"It has a long history of watering down and undermining multilateral 
agreements. But, in leading the charge to block practically every 
discussion on finance for the Paris guidelines, the US administration is 
threatening the future of the agreement and multilateralism itself."...
"We are careering towards the edge of the abyss," Mr Guterres said. "Our 
fate is in our own hands."
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45471410
- - - -
*U.N. Chief Warns of a Dangerous Tipping Point on Climate Change 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/climate/united-nations-climate-change.html>*
"Break the Paralysis"
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/climate/united-nations-climate-change.html


[Wall Street Journal gathers up some predictions]
*Could Oil Demand Peak in Just Five Years? 
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/debate-heats-up-over-when-era-of-oil-will-end-1536620460>*
Recent forecasts point to oil growth ending far earlier than many in the 
industry expect
By Sarah Kent - Sept. 10, 2018
LONDON--The Era of Oil is coming to a close but experts and corporate 
analysts disagree about just when that will happen.
The time left before global demand for crude peaks is increasingly 
tightening, according to new projections from industry analysts. Two 
reports published this week point to an end of oil’s growth within the 
next five years, far earlier than many in the industry are expecting.
Though most forecasts of oil’s demise project a long tail, the estimates 
put increased pressure on big oil companies to clarify how they intend 
to confront a looming energy transition.
Demand for fossil fuels will peak around 2023, as increasingly 
cost-competitive solar and wind are buoyed by supportive government 
policies to displace growth in oil, coal and natural gas, according to 
an analysis by London-based think tank the Carbon Tracker Initiative.
“It’s not a scenario; it’s just obvious,” said Kingsmill Bond, new 
energy strategist and author of the Carbon Tracker report.
Norwegian risk-management company DNV GL takes a similar view in an 
analysis released in London on Monday. It predicts oil demand will max 
out in five years’ time, making way for renewables to dominate an 
increasingly electrified and efficient energy system.
“The transition is undeniable,” said DNV CEO Remi Eriksen...
*PEAK PIQUE*
Within the oil industry, the amount of time left before demand peaks is 
the subject of hot debate

    *Carbon Tracker:* fossil fuel demand to peak in 2023
    *DNV:* 2023
    *IEA:* demand continues to grow out to 2040
    *Equinor:* around 2030
    *Shell:* as soon as 2025, as late as 2040
    *BP:* 2035-40
    *Exxon:* demand continues to grow out to 2040
    *Chevron:* no peak in the near or intermediate future
    *Wood Mackenzie*: mid-2030s
    Source: The Companies

https://www.wsj.com/articles/debate-heats-up-over-when-era-of-oil-will-end-1536620460


[United Nations Environment Programme]
*Climate change hits nature's delicate interdependencies 
<https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/climate-change-hits-natures-delicate-interdependencies>*
Changing weather patterns are disrupting hard-wired animal and plant 
reproduction systems with unpredictable consequences for biodiversity.
In the northern hemisphere, climate change is causing spring to arrive 
earlier. We know this from reliable climate records dating back to 1880 
and in some cases earlier than that. Herbarium records are turning out 
to be a huge source of important plant data.
Plants and animals have adapted to relatively stable climate conditions 
over hundreds of years, even millennia. If average temperatures rise by 
half a degree Celsius in 100 years - the blink of an eye in evolutionary 
terms - many species may struggle to adapt in time.
Several recent phenology studies - the study of how plant and animal 
life cycles are influenced by seasonal variations in climate - have been 
exploring this issue and their findings are casting a light on the 
interlinkage between climate change and the animal world...
- - - -
Insects may fare worse in adapting
Insects are the most diverse group of animals on Earth, but there is 
little information about their fate in a changing climate. Some research 
suggests they may fare worse than other species: a recent study found 
that for vertebrates and plants, the number of species losing more than 
half their geographic range by 2100 is halved when warming is limited to 
1.5C, compared with projected losses at 2C. For insects, the number is 
reduced by two-thirds.
Such evidence highlights that climate change affects the geographic 
ranges of species and biodiversity in ways we don't yet understand.
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/climate-change-hits-natures-delicate-interdependencies
- - -
[related research]
*The projected effect on insects, vertebrates, and plants of limiting 
global warming to 1.5C rather than 2C 
<http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6390/791>*
Abstract
In the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the United Nations is pursuing 
efforts to limit global warming to 1.5C, whereas earlier aspirations 
focused on a 2C limit. With current pledges, corresponding to ~3.2C 
warming, climatically determined geographic range losses of >50% are 
projected in ~49% of insects, 44% of plants, and 26% of vertebrates. At 
2C, this falls to 18% of insects, 16% of plants, and 8% of vertebrates 
and at 1.5C, to 6% of insects, 8% of plants, and 4% of vertebrates. When 
warming is limited to 1.5C as compared with 2C, numbers of species 
projected to lose >50% of their range are reduced by about 66% in 
insects and about 50% in plants and vertebrates.
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6390/791


[villain declares]
*Trump Administration Wants to Make It Easier to Release Methane Into 
Air <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/climate/methane-emissions-epa.html>*
By Coral Davenport
Sept. 10, 2018
WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration, taking its third major step this 
year to roll back federal efforts to fight climate change, is preparing 
to make it significantly easier for energy companies to release methane 
into the atmosphere.
Methane, which is among the most powerful greenhouse gases, routinely 
leaks from oil and gas wells, and energy companies have long said that 
the rules requiring them to test for emissions were costly and burdensome.
The Environmental Protection Agency, perhaps as soon as this week, plans 
to make public a proposal to weaken an Obama-era requirement that 
companies monitor and repair methane leaks, according to documents 
reviewed by The New York Times. In a related move, the Interior 
Department is also expected in coming days to release its final version 
of a draft rule, proposed in February, that essentially repeals a 
restriction on the intentional venting and "flaring," or burning, of 
methane from drilling operations.
The new rules follow two regulatory rollbacks this year that, taken 
together, represent the foundation of the United States' effort to rein 
in global warming. In July, the E.P.A. proposed weakening a rule on 
carbon dioxide pollution from vehicle tailpipes. And in August, the 
agency proposed replacing the rule on carbon dioxide pollution from 
coal-fired power plants with a weaker one that would allow far more 
global-warming emissions to flow unchecked from the nation's smokestacks...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/climate/methane-emissions-epa.html


[Exxon asks for SCOTUS]
*Exxon Appeals to Supreme Court to Stop Massachusetts Climate Probe 
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/09/11/exxon-massachusetts-climate-probe/>*
By Karen Savage
ExxonMobil has filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in a last-ditch 
effort to stop an investigation by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura 
Healey into possible climate change fraud by the oil giant.
Exxon, headquartered in Texas, contends that it does not directly sell 
gasoline in Massachusetts, so Healey should not have jurisdiction to 
investigate. In appealing to the Supreme Court on Monday, it said a 
Massachusetts court's decision to allow Healey's investigation to 
continue involves a "breathtaking assertion of personal jurisdiction of 
a nonresident defendant."

In fighting the investigation, Exxon has argued that it does not 
directly sell its products in Massachusetts because they are sold 
through franchises. The company also says it does not control 
advertisements aired by its franchisees, so the Massachusetts court 
wrongly relied upon those ads to establish personal jurisdiction. It 
further argues that because the advertisements don't discuss climate 
change, they "could not provide the requisite connection to requests for 
decades' worth of documents regarding climate change."

Healey began her investigation in March 2016, issuing Exxon a 
subpoena-like request for documents in order to help her determine 
whether the company violated Massachusetts consumer protection laws by 
misleading consumers on the impacts of its products on climate change. 
She also wants to know if the corporation deceived Massachusetts 
shareholders by failing to divulge potential climate change-related 
risks to their investments.
Exxon immediately pushed back, suing Healey in a Massachusetts court, 
claiming she lacked jurisdiction and alleging that her investigation was 
politically motivated.
Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Heidi E. Brieger dismissed Exxon's 
suit in January 2017, ruling that "zealously" pursuing defendants does 
not make Healey's actions improper and ordering Exxon to turn over the 
requested documents. Brieger's decision was upheld earlier this year by 
the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

In a separate suit, Exxon also sued Healey in Texas, alleging that her 
investigation requests were an abuse of her political position and a 
violation of the company's constitutional rights. That suit also named 
then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who had also launched 
an investigation into possible climate fraud by Exxon. The case was 
eventually moved to New York, where it was dismissed with prejudice in 
March by U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni, who called Exxon's 
allegations that investigations are politically motivated a "wild 
stretch of logic."

Healey is seeking transcripts of investor calls, evidence of internal 
discussions regarding the filing of Securities and Exchange Commission 
reports, documentation and research to back up public statements by 
former Exxon chief executive Rex Tillerson, and evidence to substantiate 
or refute claims made in several Exxon reports.

She is also asking Exxon to turn over internal scientific research, 
information related to public relations and media communication plans, 
as well as copies of communication with organizations such as ALEC, the 
American Petroleum Institute, the Heartland Institute, the George C. 
Marshall Institute, the Heritage Foundation and others.
A spokesperson for Healey's office declined to comment on the ongoing 
litigation, but said the investigation continues.
Exxon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Supreme Court is not obligated to accept the case. Generally, the 
court reviews only between 100 and 150 of the more than 7,000 cases it 
is asked to review each year.
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/09/11/exxon-massachusetts-climate-probe/


*This Day in Climate History - September 12, 2007 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/12/AR2007091202391.htm> 
- from D.R. Tucker*
September 12, 2007: US District Judge William Sessions III issues a 
240-page decision upholding Vermont's right to regulate greenhouse gas 
emissions from vehicles.

    The decision follows a Supreme Court ruling in April that the
    Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act by
    declining to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. It
    also comes as automakers are confronted with growing public demand
    and governmental pressure to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.
    This fall, Congress is to take up vehicle fuel-efficiency
    legislation that could bring about the biggest change in
    fuel-economy laws since the 1970s.

    General Motors of Detroit and DaimlerChrysler of Stuttgart, Germany,
    along with the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and a group of
    Vermont car dealers, had sued Vermont to block rules calling for a
    30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles by
    2016. In his ruling, Sessions wrote that he "remained unconvinced"
    about automakers' claims that they could not make cars and trucks
    with cleaner emissions.

    Sessions pointed out automakers' "intensive efforts" in innovations
    including hybrid technology, clean diesel engines and alternative
    fuels such as ethanol, to increase fuel efficiency and reduce
    emissions. "History suggests that the ingenuity of the industry,
    once put in gear, responds admirably to most technological
    challenges," he wrote...
    ...
    David Doniger, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense
    Council, said yesterday that the auto industry should reevaluate its
    legal strategy of fighting the global-warming rules, given
    yesterday's setback.

    "This should finally be the wake-up call that car companies can't
    ignore global warming," said Doniger, who helped argue the Vermont
    case. "Up until now, there's been a lot of green talk at auto shows.
    But they are fighting tooth and nail in the courts to block any real
    standards, and today they lost."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/12/AR2007091202391.html


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