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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>August 15, 2020</b></font></i></p>
[NPR report]<br>
<b>California Issues First Rolling Blackouts Since 2001, As Heat
Wave Bakes Western U.S.</b><br>
California electrical providers instituted rolling blackouts Friday
night - the first since 2001-as an intense and prolonged heat wave
settled over much of the Western U.S.<br>
<br>
Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have experienced
brief power outages through the evening, after the body that manages
most of the state's electrical utilities declared a Stage 3
emergency to help reduce stress on the larger grid.<br>
<br>
Electrical demand surged through the day as temperatures topped the
triple digits in many parts of the state and people cranked up fans
and air conditioning units to try and stay cool.<br>
<br>
The emergency order was rescinded before midnight and power was
fully restored to all affected households, the California
Independent System Operator said in a tweet...<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/15/902781690/california-issues-first-rolling-blackouts-since-2001-as-heat-wave-bakes-western">https://www.npr.org/2020/08/15/902781690/california-issues-first-rolling-blackouts-since-2001-as-heat-wave-bakes-western</a>-
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[Pew Research says]<br>
<b>Climate change isn't a top issue for 2020 voters</b><br>
Climate isn't top of mind for the electorate in the 2020
presidential race, but Pew Research Center polling also signals how
the topic is likely to surface in the months ahead.<br>
<br>
Why it matters: Joe Biden has tethered his proposed low-carbon
energy and infrastructure investments to his wider economic recovery
message.<br>
<br>
The Trump campaign is arguing that Biden's climate plans will hinder
the oil-and-gas industry in states including Pennsylvania and Texas.<br>
By the numbers: The poll unsurprisingly also shows some deep
partisan splits.<br>
<br>
68% of Biden supporters in the poll said climate would be very
important to their vote in the presidential race, compared to 11% of
Trump supporters.<br>
The economy is more important, especially to Republicans, with 72%
of Biden supporters and 88% of Trump backers calling it key to their
decision.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.axios.com/climate-change-top-2020-issues-voters-president-da0dbf3f-9f53-48ed-87ec-9f28b699e531.html">https://www.axios.com/climate-change-top-2020-issues-voters-president-da0dbf3f-9f53-48ed-87ec-9f28b699e531.html</a><br>
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[Washington and Oregon too]<br>
<b>Wildfire Season Is Off To A Roaring Start In California And
Colorado</b><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/14/902581715/wildfire-season-is-off-to-a-roaring-start-in-california-and-colorado">https://www.npr.org/2020/08/14/902581715/wildfire-season-is-off-to-a-roaring-start-in-california-and-colorado</a><br>
<br>
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<br>
[world record]<br>
<b>If you thought July was hot, you were right: It was one of
Earth's hottest months ever recorded</b><br>
Record-hot July temperatures spread across parts of southeastern
Asia, northern South America and North America. In the U.S., several
states either set or tied their hottest month on record, including
Virginia (tied), Maryland, Pennsylvania (tied), Delaware, New
Jersey, Connecticut (tied) and New Hampshire.<br>
<br>
What's more, the Northern Hemisphere saw its hottest July ever -
surpassing its previous record high set just last year, NOAA said.<br>
<br>
"The unprecedented summer heat waves, droughts, wildfires and floods
we continue to witness are all a consequence of the record warmth,"
Mann said...<br>
- - <br>
"The year 2020 is very likely to rank among the five warmest years
on record," NOAA said.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/13/july-2020-record-heat-one-hottest-months-ever-recorded/3366762001/">https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/13/july-2020-record-heat-one-hottest-months-ever-recorded/3366762001/</a><br>
<br>
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<br>
[Methane is 40 times worse than co2]<br>
<b>Trump Eliminates Major Methane Rule, Even as Leaks Are Worsening</b><br>
The weakening of Obama-era efforts to fight climate change amounts
to a gift to many oil companies. Researchers warn that the decision
ignores science...<br>
- -<br>
However, numerous recent studies show the opposite: that methane
emissions from drilling sites in the United States are far more
extensive than the E.P.A.'s official numbers. Overall, methane
levels are in fact climbing steadily nationwide, according to the
research, and have reached record highs globally in part because of
leaks from fossil fuel production.<br>
<br>
"Over the past few years there has been an explosion of new research
on this, and the literature has coalesced -- 80 percent of papers
show that methane from oil and gas leaks is two to three times
higher than the E.P.A.'s estimates," said Robert Howarth, an earth
systems scientist at Cornell University, who last year published a
study estimating that North American gas production was responsible
for about a third of the global increase in methane emissions over
the past decade.<br>
<br>
"It's crazy to roll back this rule," said Dr. Howarth. "Twenty-five
percent of the human-caused warming over the past 20 years is due to
methane. Methane is going up. We need it to go down."...<br>
- - <br>
According to the E.P.A.'s annual inventory of United States
greenhouse emissions, oil and gas wells emitted about 7 million tons
of the heat-trapping gas annually between 2014 and 2018. The more
recent studies, however, show the real number could be up to twice
that.<br>
<br>
A scientific study published last month found that the United States
fossil fuel industry in 2017 emitted about 13 million tons of
methane, the heat-trapping equivalent of a year's worth of carbon
dioxide pollution from all the nation's coal-fired power plants. A
2018 study in the journal Science also concluded that, in 2015, the
United States oil and gas industry was leaking about 13 million tons
of methane annually.<br>
<br>
"In many oil and gas fields, we're finding emissions to be
considerably higher than what E.P.A. says they are," said Rob
Jackson, an earth scientist at Stanford University who co-authored
the July study. Methane emissions, he said, are "not stabilizing.
They're certainly not going down."...<br>
- -<br>
"This rule helps smaller oil and gas companies, the ones operating
on the edge of financial viability," said Dr. Jackson, the Stanford
scientist. "But it's also saying that science doesn't matter. It's
prioritizing very short-term economic gain over longer-term economic
health and human health."<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/climate/trump-methane.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/13/climate/trump-methane.html</a><br>
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<br>
[Digging back into the internet news archive sixteen years ago]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
August 15, 2004 </b></font><br>
<p>August 15, 2004: In the New York Times, Al Gore reviews Ross
Gelbspan's "Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal,
Journalists, and Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis -- and
What We Can Do to Avert Disaster," the follow-up to his seminal
1997 book "The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the
Prescription."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/books/hot-enough-for-us.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm">http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/books/hot-enough-for-us.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm</a><br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.amazon.com/Boiling-Point-Politicians-Journalists-Crisis--And/dp/0465027628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936832&sr=8-1&keywords=boiling+point+ross+gelbspan">http://www.amazon.com/Boiling-Point-Politicians-Journalists-Crisis--And/dp/0465027628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936832&sr=8-1&keywords=boiling+point+ross+gelbspan</a><br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Heat-Is-On-Prescription/dp/0738200255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936855&sr=8-1&keywords=the+heat+is+on+ross+gelbspan">http://www.amazon.com/The-Heat-Is-On-Prescription/dp/0738200255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387936855&sr=8-1&keywords=the+heat+is+on+ross+gelbspan</a><br>
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