Annual electricity power generation in Germany as percentage of total consumption
See NBBooks post here.
Many environmentally related posts appearing at Daily Kos each week don't attract the attention they deserve. To help get more eyeballs, Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) normally appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The most recent Wednesday Spotlight can be seen here. More than 21,960 environmentally oriented diaries have been rescued for inclusion in this weekly collection since 2006. Inclusion of a diary in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
New nuclear reactors still not making the grade—by
Enformable: "It is one thing to talk about the need for nuclear power in the United States—it is another thing to understand the strategies required to ensure that nuclear maintains its current status quo. The nuclear industry faces serious challenges which must be overcome if it is to maintain its current share of the market. According to the nuclear industry, to maintain its current share of electrical generation in the United States, 50 new 1,000 MW reactors need to be built by 2030.[i] This goal is highly unlikely to be reached, and the much acclaimed 'Nuclear Renaissance' has peaked and is already on the decline. The biggest problems facing the nuclear industry hasn’t been opposition from anti-nuclear or environmental groups, an unrefined regulatory process, or a lack of financial relief, as much as it has been the inability to produce critical components on-time from manufacturers. The construction of future reactor sites must be able to prevail over delays and cost overruns which are tormenting current projects. These problems didn’t appear overnight, they were the result of a series of conscious legislative and business actions stretching back over thirty years."
Good News on Global CO2 Emissions—by Magnifico: "'Global emissions of carbon dioxide from the energy sector stalled in 2014, marking the first time in 40 years in which there was a halt or reduction in emissions of the greenhouse gas that was not tied to an economic downturn,' the International Energy Agency reported today in press release. The 2014 global emissions of carbon dioxide remained at 32.3 gigatons, unchanged from 2013. 'This gives me even more hope that humankind will be able to work together to combat climate change, the most important threat facing us today,' IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol said. The global economy grew 3 percent in 2014, The Financial Times reported. This past year's halt to growing carbon dioxide emissions came about because of global efforts. But Birol warned that governments must strengthen these policies in the Paris agreement if the world is to avoid a potentially dangerous 2C [3.6 degrees Fahrenheit] of warming."
More green news and views can be found below the orange fuel spill.
Climate Chaos
Is Big Oil Finally Entering a Climate Change World?—by Michael Klare via TomDispatch: "Many reasons have been provided for the dramatic plunge in the price of oil to about $60 per barrel (nearly half of what it was a year ago): slowing demand due to global economic stagnation; overproduction at shale fields in the United States; the decision of the Saudis and other Middle Eastern OPEC producers to maintain output at current levels (presumably to punish higher-cost producers in the U.S. and elsewhere); and the increased value of the dollar relative to other currencies. There is, however, one reason that’s not being discussed, and yet it could be the most important of all: the complete collapse of Big Oil’s production-maximizing business model. Until last fall, when the price decline gathered momentum, the oil giants were operating at full throttle, pumping out more petroleum every day. They did so, of course, in part to profit from the high prices. For most of the previous six years, Brent crude, the international benchmark for crude oil, had been selling at $100 or higher. But Big Oil was also operating according to a business model that assumed an ever-increasing demand for its products, however costly they might be to produce and refine. This meant that no fossil fuel reserves, no potential source of supply—no matter how remote or hard to reach, how far offshore or deeply buried, how encased in rock—was deemed untouchable in the mad scramble to increase output and profits."
John Kerry Gets It on Climate Change: "There is No Planet B"—by Steven D: "One problem I had with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State was that I never had the feeling she was committed to making an effort to move climate change off the back burner. John Kerry has his flaws, but he has consistently pushed the administration to make climate change a priority. In a recent statement leading up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, Kerry adopted the one of the principal slogans from the People's Climate March in addressing the need to take action now on climate, while attacking the 'immorality' of climate deniers.
Sec. of State John Kerry accused climate deniers of gambling with the well-being of future generations in a speech Thursday to the Atlantic Council. 'It is just plain immoral,' Kerry said. 'And it is a risk that no one should take. We need to face reality. There is no planet B.'"
Koch brothers won't cooperate with climate research probe—by Walter Einenkel: "Koch Industries will not reveal any information pertaining to how they fund or do not fund climate change research. This is according to a letter that Koch Brothers' minion lawyer Mark V. Holden. The letter is a response to an inquiry sent out by Senators Ed Markey, Barbara Boxer, and Sheldon Whitehouse, to 100 companies with fossil fuel interests. In it the senators ask for the last 10 years of financial records pertaining to research in the field of climate change science. In Holden's letter he invokes the Koch Industries' First Amendment rights: To the extent to that your letter touches on matters that implicate the First Amendment, I am sure you recognize Koch's right to participate in the debate of important public policy issues and its right of free association. These rights have been recognized by the United States Supreme Court."
Merchants of Doubt: Nicotine is Not Addictive = Climate Change Is Not Real—by Pakalolo: "'Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the "body of fact" that exists in the minds of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy.' The Climate Reality Project has produced an online video that effectively connects the lies of the tobacco companies to the lies of the Koch brothers and other conservative advocates to downplay and deny climate change. I remember being gassed as a child just like you see at 2:07. I think of those experiences frequently. I have made it this far, but I do wonder how many children of that time died of chemicals they had inhaled while quite young."
Bjorn Brings his Bad Advice to Bangladesh—by ClimateDenierRoundup: "In one of Bjorn Lomborg's most shameful escapades yet, he went to Bangladesh to tell citizens they shouldn't worry about climate change. After all, says Bjorn, Bangladeshis can just do like the Dutch, who have shown that 'you can handle sea level rise fairly, easily and cheaply.' Right, because something that a small, developed European country does is applicable to a poor, crowded country. Has Bjorn ever seen a map of Bangladesh? Its massive spread is not exactly conducive to building sea walls, and sea walls are certainly not easily afforded by a country where per capita income is $3,167 (compared to $47,365 in the Netherlands). The interviewer makes a comment that goes straight to the heart of Lomborg's schtick. After Lomborg says, '[T]his is not by any means the end of Bangladesh,' the interviewer says, 'So, the United States and other developed countries can say that "climate change is not an immediate threat and for that reason, we are not going to compensate Bangladesh for our carbon emission."' Pretty much! We don't know why anyone thinks Lomborg's message is anything but an attempt to grant polluters a few more years of unrestrained emissions."
climate change v military policy—by Greg form Vermont: "We need to look ahead and prepare for the changes that are happening everywhere in the United States. Drought in California, the melting of Alaskan permafrost, the rise in sea level threatening Florida, these are the real and provable threats we now face. Instead, the Republican party, and energy state Democrats refuse to even have the discussion. I would posit that America's global military presence not only distracts us from our real challenges, but actually makes things worse. In the first case, most of our military interventions in recent years have sought to maintain access to middle east oil. Without our insatiable need for it, the Saudi Wahhabis wouldn't have the means to support ISIL. Our money indirectly helped create Al Quaeda. At the same time, our military consumes an unimaginable about of fuel. How much does an F-16 sortie contribute to global warming. What is the carbon footprint of and aircraft carrier group? Finally, our Government spends about a third of all our national budget on military preparedness. If even a fraction of that was spent finding ways to cope with the coming changes, we would all be more secure."
Extreme Weather & Natural Phenomena
"Possibly The Worst Cyclone In Pacific History" Meets Climate Change in Vanuatu—by Dartagnan: "The news is devastating from the tiny island nation of Vanuatu. Cyclone Pam, possibly the worst cyclone in the Pacific's history, slammed directly into the tiny South Pacific archipelago Vanuatu early Saturday, killing at least eight people and leaving thousands homeless, according to reports from aid organizations. The sheer size of the devastation is only beginning to trickle out because almost all power and communications have been cut to much of Vanuatu, a string of 65 islands located about a quarter of the way from Australia to Hawaii. The damage from the Category 5 storm, described as 'much bigger than expected' is already being characterized as enormous, with the death toll expected to rise dramatically."
Large areas of Europe, Russia and the US will experience persistant heat extremes during summer—by Pakalolo: "'When the great air streams in the sky above us get disturbed by climate change, this can have severe effects on the ground,' says lead-author Dim Coumou. 'While you might expect reduced storm activity to be something good, it turns out that this reduction leads to a greater persistence of weather systems in the Northern hemisphere mid-latitudes. In summer, storms transport moist and cool air from the oceans to the continents bringing relief after periods of oppressive heat. Slack periods, in contrast, make warm weather conditions endure, resulting in the buildup of heat and drought.' This troubling new information from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows that climate change will continue to weaken summer circulation patterns causing more intense heat waves. 'Unabated climate change will probably further weaken summer circulation patterns which could thus aggravate the risk of heat waves,' says co-author Jascha Lehmann 'Remarkably, climate simulations for the next decades, the CMIP5, show the same link that we found in observations. So the warm temperature extremes we've experienced in recent years might be just a beginning.'"
Critters & the Great Outdoors
The Daily Bucket - drifting, sunny day—by OceanDiver: "March 2015. Salish Sea, PNW. I'm back in the kayak after a few weeks with a shoulder injury. Haven't strength yet to do much paddling, but at least I could drift by the shore the other day. Calm wind, quiet, a nice spring day. [...] I was so still, not paddling, an otter seemed surprised to see me there. I heard a splash and turned around. It looked at me for a few moments, then dived and surfaced a ways further down the shore."
Hundreds of starving sea lions wash ashore on California beaches—by
FaithGardner: "In California, starving sea lions have been washing ashore this year in an unprecedented numbers—over 1,450 and counting. According to animal rescuers, there were 1,100 last month alone. This is five times the expected number of sea lion rescues and rescuers are having a hard time keeping up. [...]
What's causing this?
Experts suspect that unusually warm waters are driving fish and other food away from the coastal islands where sea lions breed and wean their young. As the mothers spend time away from the islands hunting for food, hundreds of starving pups are swimming away from home and flopping ashore from San Diego to San Francisco."
The Daily Bucket: A Vulture Has His Lunch—by Lenny Flank: "A few days ago, I had lunch at one of the local shopping malls, and walking back across the parking lot I happened to see a Turkey Vulture having his lunch too. But he was just finishing his lunch too, so I only had time for one shot before he flapped off."
Watching his manners.
CNN fail - 'save the bees' .... because - Money!—by
bluedogsd: "Here's the first paragraph of this article about "saving the bees."
Through pollination, bees help produce many of our specialty crops like almonds, berries, fruits and vegetables. It's estimated that bees are responsible for about one in every three bites of food in the United States. That's a crop value of $15 billion to $18 billion. Ya think that they might mention something about any theories about why this is happening? Ya think that they might mention that although none of these are proven that scientists are looking at any or all of the following as possible reasons for the destruction of these animals that are so critical for our crops?"
The Daily Bucket: Fishing at the Beach—by
matching mole: "Yesterday Ms Mole and I drove St. George Island, further to our west to enjoy a walk on the beach. It was warm (high around 73 on the water, low 80s inland), overcast early and clearing later in the afternoon. The water is still chilly (low to mid 60s) and was quite clear. St George Island is close to the mouth of the Apalachicola River and the water is often tannic/slightly murky. We went to the end of open access road (there is a permit only dirt road that goes to the far east end of the island), parked and walked east. Within ten minutes we had passed the last set of people and had the entire beach to ourselves. On the beach at St. George we were pleased to note a diversity of shore birds. There weren't huge numbers but all the common winter beach species were present (willet, sanderling, dunlin, black-bellied plover, ruddy-turnstone) and seen several times. I also saw a couple of short-billed (presumably) dowitchers which, in my experience, are unusual to see on the beach except during migration."
Tarpon Springs FL: A Photo Diary—by Lenny Flank: "The little village of Tarpon Springs, Florida, became famous as a center of the commercial sponge-fishing industry in the 30s and 40s. Today, it is a quaint little tourist town. Tarpon Springs, about 30 miles north of St Pete/Tampa, was founded in the 1880's, just after the railroads connected peninsular Florida to the rest of the US, as a vacation spot for wealthy northeasterners. In the 1890s, local fishermen began collecting sponges from the reefs offshore and selling them as bathroom equipment. In 1905, a Greek fisherman introduced the idea of diving for sponges instead of hooking them from the surface, and the industry expanded. Soon a large colony of Greeks moved to the area from the Aegean Islands, where they had been sponge-diving for centuries. Tarpon Springs became the center of a multi-million dollar industry that supplied much of the sponges used in American homes. In the 1950s, the sponge industry was crippled by a disease outbreak on the Florida reefs, and in the 60s and 70s artificial sponges replaced natural ones. As a result, most of the sponge boats turned to commercial fishing and shrimping in the Gulf of Mexico, and others turned the former sponge docks into a tourist attraction."
Energy
Shale oil bust entering phase two—by gjohnsit: "The number of oil rigs in production have tumbled 14 straight weeks, the biggest and longest drop since the mid-80's. Drillers idled 56 oil rigs (excluding gas rigs), dropping the total to 866, Baker Hughes reported on Friday, March 13. The oil rig count is down 46 percent since October, an unprecedented retreat. While that translates directly into job losses in the oil patches, that isn't the real problem. The real problem is that the shutting down of production isn't happening fast enough. While shale oil production growth has nearly stalled, it is still growing marginally due to past projects coming online. The shale production bust is coming too late, as the nation faces the real potential of running out of storage space."
Rockin’ the Bakken, 21st Century Style—by
EARTHWORKS: "North Dakota’s Bakken boom, and potential bust, are definitely in the news. Journalists, documentary filmmakers, landowners, andcommunity groups have given it a name and a face. Yet it’s still hard to understand until you put your boots on the ground and watch the oil being drilled, pumped, and trucked to rail stations, 24-7, as it’s moved out of the region. In Western Montana and Wyoming, we hear a steady drumbeat of stories about what the boom has brought—truck fatalities, worker deaths, pipeline spills, exploding trains, illegal dumping of radioactive waste, murders, gangs, and human trafficking ... to name a few. We also hear about the wealth. Shiny pick up trucks line our downtown streets with bumper stickers announcing hard working men and women are 'Rockin’ the Bakken.' We’re also told that desperately needed jobs are being created to provide energy independence for Americans."
Renewables & Conservation
Solar power booms in 2014—by DWG: "Despite the flat-earth fossils in the U.S. House and Senate, solar power is growing by leaps and bounds. The U.S. Solar Market Insight report for 2014 shows installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the U.S. grew 30% over 2013 levels. The trend is nothing short of inspirational. The growth in PV was evident at all scales of deployment, from smaller residential installations to massive utility-scale solar farms. Only natural gas accounted for a larger percentage of new generating capacity than solar, but the gap was only 10%."
Indigenous Nations Rally to Protect Medicine Lake from Industrial Scale Geothermal Desecration—by Dan Bacher: "On Thursday, March 12, 2015 a federal appeals court will hear arguments in an ongoing legal battle to protect the Medicine Lake Highlands from desecration related to proposed large-scale geothermal development. Known to the Pit River people, lead defendants in the case, as 'Saht Tit Lah' the Medicine Lake Highlands are used for healing, religious ceremonies, and tribal gatherings. The Medicine Lake Highlands are held sacred by Pit River, Wintun, Karuk, Shasta and Modoc Nations who for untold generations have used the highlands for spiritual purposes. According to Pit River Tribal Chairman Mickey Gemmill, 'This case might decide the fate of one of our most important places of religious significance and if geothermal development is allowed to occur it will affect countless generations of Native Americans.'"
Keystone XL & Other Fossil Fuel Transportation
Oil still not cleaned up in Montana after spill, but company is going to resume pipeline use anyway—by FaithGardner: "In January, a 12-inch pipeline owned by Bridger Pipeline LLC burst in Montana, spilling 30,000 gallons of oil that leaked into the Yellowstone River and contaminated residents' drinking water with cancer-causing chemicals. No time to clean up messes though, when there's oil to be shipped. A Wyoming company is preparing to resume oil shipments through a pipeline that broke and spewed 30,000 gallons of crude into Montana's Yellowstone River, even as most of the spilled oil remains unrecovered. Cleanup is on hold near the small city of Glendive, where the water supply for 6,000 residents was temporarily contaminated."
Canada moves faster than U.S. to mandate tougher standards for oil tank cars in rail service—by Meteor Blades: "Tank cars in the latest derailments and fires had been upgraded to a new voluntary industry standard. Obviously, not good enough. But, as the Associated Press noted: ... the oil and rail industries want thinner tank walls—half an inch thick, instead of the 9/16ths-inch that regulators propose. The thicker the shell, the less oil a tank car can hold, and with about a half-million carloads of crude hauled by rail in the U.S. and Canada last year, the cost difference could add up. The railroad association and officials from CSX, Norfolk Southern and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe argued against requiring the electronically controlled [brakes] in a meeting with White House officials last week, according to a document posted online by the government. They say the government has underestimated the cost of equipping tank cars with the brakes and overestimated the safety benefits. Railroads complain that electronically controlled brakes would cost them $12 billion to $21 billion. Profit over people. Every time."
DC, State & Local Eco-Politics
William Greider: Is Hillary Ready for Us?—by NBBooks: "Look, these policies, if Clinton follows through on them, if she is elected, are completely inadequate. Climate scientists have recently begun renewing their warnings that we now have less than two years before reaching a tipping point. That's the bad news. The good news is that we HAVE the technology, in hand, needed to stop climate change. The build-out of solar and wind power has already begun, but it has just barely begun. Here, for example, is the situation in Germany, which is much more progressive on this issue than USA - largely, I believe, because they don't have a bunch of petroleum billionaires and companies pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into an obstructionist conservative movement."
Ted Cruz, one of these #@!!&*#^¡ global warming deniers, uses his perch to support disinformation—by Meteor Blades: "Sen. Ted Cruz is obviously keen not to have data from NASA challenging the fossil fuel propagandists who continue to deny the reality of human-caused global warming. It was thus no surprise when the Texan made clear during a hearing of the Senate Space, Science, and Competitiveness Subcommittee Thursday that he is going to be a pain when it comes to the earth science part of the space agency's mission. As a consequence of the Republican takeover of the Senate, he is now the chairman of that committee. And he plans to push for "more space, less earth" at NASA. [...] He said the agency seems to be allocating its resources away from its core mission, which he seems to think should focus exclusively on space exploration. Bolden did not agree, however, pointing out that decreases in the exploration portion of NASA's budget have been undertaken because the agency is seeking to reduce the cost of putting humans into space. What really seems to irk Cruz is that NASA just last year added five new missions to study Earth's climate. And about 10 percent of its current budget goes to Earth science missions. Cruz sees this as an Obama administration perversion of what he believes NASA should be doing."
Republicans, unable to dispute science, redefine it out of existence. (Not The Onion)—by 8ackgr0und N015e: "This week in Not The Onion, Ted Cruz (R-TexAss), finally came out of the closet. Aping his role model, Humpty Dumpty, Cruz has gone beyond declaring words mean whatever he wants them to mean. He redefined science. Unable to dispute the findings of NASA, NOAA, Stanford University, Coke, Pepsi, WalMart, the Navy, the IMF, and every scientific society on the planet without looking as stupid as Inhofe (R-Snowball), Cruz declared Earth Science is not a 'hard science.' I guess the old 'I'm not a scientist' dodge doesn't work, because scientists are out there making all sorts of scientific statements. So what is the Republican response? 'I'm not a scientist—and you're not either!' The newly classified 'non-scientists' at SCIENCE magazine are not amused: The idea that the geosciences aren’t hard science comes as a shock to Margaret Leinen, president of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and a former head of the National Science Foundation’s geosciences directorate."
Stop the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical safety for the 21st Century Act—by enhydra lutris: "Sens. David Vitter and Tom Udall reach bipartisan agreement on new chemical safety bill | NOLA.com: But Andy Igrejas, director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, said the bill is still lacking needed safeguards. 'In its current form it would not make a big dent in the problem of toxic chemical exposure and would even do some harm by restraining state governments,' Igrejas said. 'While Senators Vitter and Udall have made some positive changes, the bill is not up to the important task of protecting public health.'"
Eco-Essays and Eco-Philosophy
My Florida summer without air-conditioning—by VL Baker: "I spent the last summer without turning on our air-conditioning system. It was a deliberate decision and one I didn't feel like writing about until the weather was cool again. It was that hot. As I lifetime environmentalist I've been well aware of our warming planet for a long time. But, I still find myself in shock at how rapidly it's accelerating. And I'm stunned that this has not been taken seriously and now we find ourselves in a crisis situation with the long time survival of our species in jeopardy and some of the worst effects of the warming happening probably in our own lifetimes. I've been advocating for policy solutions by political means for almost my entire life, and over ten years ago when it became apparent that the needed policy changes were not going to happen in time to avert disaster, I made the decision to reduce my carbon footprint as much as possible. It was when GWB was 'elected' that I realized we had perhaps lost our chance to make the changes that would be necessary to stop this crisis."
Birdwatchers And Hunters The Most Environmentally Engaged Citizens—by ban nock: "So says a new study by researchers at Cornell published in this month's issue of Wildlife Management. Like any study they came up with a name and an acronym for what they were studying, they were looking at PEBs or 'pro environmental behaviours'. [...] The study was seeking to better understand comparative involvement in conservation between participatory users of wildlife and those who mostly observe. The researchers found similar amounts of involvement and motivation between the two groups and to an even greater degree where the two groups overlapped (bird watching hunters). The comparisons were made to other outdoor recreationists. Hikers, bikers, etc."
Oceans, Water & Drought
Pit River Tribe and Allies Rally to Protect Medicine Lake—by Dan Bacher: "On March 12, the Pit River Tribe and their Native American and environmental allies optimistically left the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco following oral arguments in their long legal battle to protect the Medicine Lake Highlands from geothermal destruction and desecration. The Pit River people, the lead defendants in the case, are fighting in court to defend the Highlands, known to them as 'Saht Tit Lah,' an area that has been used for healing, religious ceremonies and tribal gatherings for thousands of years."
Brown Administration Hides Truth About Tunnels From Public—by Dan Bacher: "Friends of the River (FOR), Restore the Delta (RTD) and other opponents of Gov. Brown’s rush to build Peripheral Tunnels that would drain the Delta of freshwater and doom sustainable farms, and salmon and other Pacific fisheries, today announced posting on the Friends of the River website of hundreds of suppressed public comments on the Brown Administration’s Draft Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS). These comments, including those from public agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Army Corps of Engineers and even the State’s own Water Resources Control Board, have been suppressed by the Administration. The tunnels opponents also exposed Metropolitan Water District (MWD) funding of a misguided, $600,000 legal attack on Delta farmers’ senior water rights. The attack, discussed only in a closed-door session on Tuesday, will fail, and is a waste of MWD ratepayer money, because it is premised on a 'broken' Department of Water Resources (DWR) model."
Trash, Pollution & Hazardous Waste
Detroit-Area Residents Demand Clean Air—by Mary Anne Hitt: "On Wednesday night I was proud to join hundreds of residents from River Rouge and other Michigan communities in speaking out for cleaner air in Detroit. For decades, the residents of River Rouge and surrounding communities have been living with severe air pollution from nearby coal plants, and together, they came out in force to pack a public hearing and call on the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to put a plan in place that will finally clean up this pollution, and correct a longstanding environmental injustice. Detroit is home to some of the most polluting coal plants in the country, which are major contributors to significant health problems in Wayne County. In fact, the River Rouge coal plant was listed as one of the nation’s top environmental justice offenders by the NAACP in their 'Coal Blooded' report. Exposure to sulfur dioxide pollution—which comes from coal plants—is a known trigger of both short term health emergencies, like asthma attacks, and long term chronic health problems. 'It's not right to let big corporate polluters dirty our air for so long and threaten the health of our families,' said Ebony Elmore, a childcare provider and activist in River Rouge. 'We deserve safe air to breathe. This is a basic human right and MDEQ isn't protecting us.'"
CEI learns FOIA fishing requires patience—by ClimateDenierRoundup : "The free-market focused, Koch-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute is complaining about the EPA's 'glacial pace' in responding to their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for the emails of former EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. No doubt seeking to replay the Climategate strategy of misleading quote-mining, while trying desperately to latch onto the somewhat related news of Hillary Clinton's email controversy, CEI is trying to drum up concern at the usual outlets by portraying the EPA as combatively stonewalling their requests. In a fortunate coincidence, the Center for Effective Government recently released the perfect way to determine the veracity of CEI's attacks on the EPA. The group has put together an Access to Information Scorecard, that graded the 15 most-FOIA'd federal agencies on their performance responding to requests. The EPA came in third, behind only the Department of Justice and Social Security Administration."
Duke Energy fined a record $25 million for coal ash contamination–but no cleanup required—by Walter Einenkel: "North Carolina's Department of Environment and Natural Resources fined Duke Energy $25.1 million in penalty for letting coal ash contamination leach into groundwater for years. The $25.1 million penalty is nearly five times the amount of the previous largest fine from the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and applies to pollution from the Sutton coal power plant near Wilmington, which was decommissioned in 2013. This all comes about a few weeks after prosecutors filed nine misdemeanor charges against the energy giant."
Food, Agriculture & Gardening
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Version 11.3 - Early crocus and a giveaway
—by Merry Light: "It's official. Spring came a month early here in the Colorado River Valley on the Western Slope. As I gathered photos for this posting, I was looking through previous year's photos in May. In previous years, the crocus and iris reticulata bloomed at the end of March according to the dates on my photos. Consistently. That is, until this year! They started popping up in mid-February and, although they have put on quite a show and are still coming on strong, they're definitely a month early. I love the crocus, and they are naturalizing quite nicely. Usually, we look like Boston does - snow piled high everywhere. It's been such a warm winter that I haven't had any snow lingering in the shady corners of the yard that doesn't melt until late March/early April, although some areas around town do still have some ice in the shady spots. It's disappearing fast, though! I hope this is a fluke winter and not a new normal for us. Granted, the weather got busy and dumped a bunch of snow on the higher elevations, so the ski gods were looking favorably on Aspen and Sunlight Ski Area."