A round-up of recent climate and energy news. Please post other stories below.
Smaller Crops Forecast by U.S. After Planting Delays, Heat Wave
Corn, soybean and spring-wheat harvests in the U.S., the world’s largest exporter, will be smaller than the government forecast last month after a damaging heat wave that may signal higher costs for food and biofuel.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its corn-crop estimate by 4.1 percent, reduced the soybean forecast by 5.2 percent, and said spring-wheat production will be 5.2 percent below what it predicted in July. The harvests for all three crops would be less than expected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Parts of the Midwest, the main growing region, were the hottest since 1955 last month. Smaller supplies of corn may increase costs for ethanol refiners such as Poet LLC, Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Valero Energy Corp. and meat producers Tyson Foods Inc. and Smithfield Foods Inc., which buy the grain for feed. The price of corn, the biggest U.S. crop, jumped 68 percent in the past year before today.
White House faces Senate, industry pressure on smog rule
A group of Senate Democrats is pressing the White House to “stand strong” against immense industry pressure to weaken or scuttle smog standards that have been repeatedly delayed.
In a letter to President Obama Thursday, seven Democrats and two independents that caucus with the party express “disappointment” at administration delays in issuing Environmental Protection Agency ozone standards.
The letter urges the administration to issue a standard consistent with the 60 to 70 parts-per-billion level recommended by EPA’s formal science advisers.
“We write to express our disappointment at the Administration’s continued delay in setting a health-protective ozone air quality standard. We urge you to follow the requirements of the Clean Air Act, the peer-reviewed science, and the federal Clean Air Science Advisory Committee (CASAC), and set a strong standard as soon as possible,” states the letter from senators including Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and other Northeastern members.
Bachmann knocks Pawlenty on cap-and-trade at Iowa debate
Rep. Michele Bachmann wants to tether Tim Pawlenty to his past support for cap-and-trade policies to curb climate change, even though Pawlenty has fled from the position during the GOP presidential campaign.
The two Minnesotans traded blows at Thursday night’s GOP debate in Iowa ahead of that state’s critical straw poll on Saturday (The Hill’s Cameron Joseph has much more from the Iowa debate here).
Bachmann listed Pawlenty’s support for cap-and-trade – a policy that has become politically toxic in GOP circles – among several positions he staked out as governor that Bachmann said have made Pawlenty’s record consistent with President Obama’s views.
“I would say Governor, when you were governor in Minnesota, you implemented cap-and-trade in our state,” Bachmann said, while casting herself as a fighter against cap-and-trade and several other Democratic policies.
EPA yanks tree-killing herbicide Imprelis off market
DuPont announced that it is conducting “broad scientific and stewardship reviews” after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pulled its herbicide Imprelis off the market Thursday.
In its Stop Sale, Use, or Removal Order, the EPA said that DuPont had test data that showed its herbicide Imprelis was harmful to Norway spruce, balsam fir and other trees when it was given EPA approval last August.
Despite that test data, DuPont “does not warn or caution about potential damage to trees,” the EPA said. There was nothing in the labeling or instructions that indicated that it could hurt certain species of trees, the EPA said.
Conocophillips ups estimate of China oil spill
ConocoPhillips China, a subsidiary of the Houston-based oil company ConocoPhillips , said on Friday that as much as 2,500 barrels of oil and mud leaked from an oilfield in China’s northern Bohai Bay.
A recent survey at the C platform of Penglai 19-3 oil field identified more oil-based drilling mud on the sea floor than originally estimated, the company said on its website (www.conocophillips.com.cn), adding that it expected to complete a cleanup by the end of this month.
Last month, ConocoPhillips estimated around 1,500 barrels (240 cubic metres) of oil and oil-based drilling fluids had been released into the sea and that an order to shut down the platforms would result in a temporary output reduction of about 17,000 barrels of oil per day.
USDA announces $100 million for Florida wetland restoration
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $100 million in financial assistance for Florida wetland restoration today, the largest amount of funding the state has received through the Wetland Restoration Project in a single year.
The funds will go toward acquiring easements from eligible landowners in four Florida counties, Glades, Hendry, Highlands and Okeechobee — maintaining that land as agriculture and open space. The easements will form a conservation corridor from the Kissimmee River to Everglades National Park, and “assist with wetland restoration on nearly 24,000 acres of agricultural land in the Northern Everglades Watershed,” according to a release sent out today.
The effort aims to reduce the amount of surface water leaving the land, and should ultimately lessen the concentration of nutrients reaching Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. Nutrients in Florida waterways are a major problem, and contribute to toxic algae growth and massive fish kills. The Everglades suffers from methylmercury poisoning.
$29.1 million tab from Michigan oil spill
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it spent more than $20 million in cleanup operations from an Enbridge oil spill last year in Michigan.
More than a year after an oil spill near Marshall, Mich., the EPA said it was still working on remediation efforts in Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River. The EPA said its response prevented the spill from reaching Lake Michigan.
“The EPA has incurred $29.1 million in cleanup costs, which Enbridge will be required to reimburse,” the agency said in a statement.
Line 6B of the Lakehead oil pipeline ruptured last July near Marshall, Mich. The EPA said it estimated more than 23,000 barrels of heavy oil from Alberta tar sands spilled from the pipeline.
The nature of oil from tar sand deposits causes some of it to sink to the bottom of the river, where it has soaked about 6 inches of sediment along the river bottom.
The EPA recovered about 18,000 barrels of oil that was on the surface. EPA officials said it was unclear how the remaining oil would affect the environment because there is no other spill with which to compare the Enbridge leak.
Poll: Majority of public opposes mountaintop-removal mining
The majority of the public opposes a controversial mining practice in which companies blow up parts of mountains in order to gain access to valuable coal seams underneath, a new CNN poll says.
The poll, conducted by CNN and Opinion Research Corp., finds that 57 percent of the public is opposed to mountaintop-removal mining. Thirty-six percent of those polled support the practice and 7 percent are neutral, according to CNN.
Mountaintop-removal mining, a technique used in Appalachian coal-mining operations, has come under fire from environmental groups and others, who have raised red flags about its effects on public health and nearby waterways and streams.
Below are old comments from the earlier Facebook commenting system:
Crop yield is similar to climate change and economics. The change are small and linear at first, with periodic blips. Then one day, all the food suddenly disappears to floods, droughts, pests, and fungi.
This is coming at a time when the population is climbing to 9 billion and food production needs to increase by 50%. Crops already use 70% of our freshwater.
5 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 1:04pm
Colorado Bob · Top Commenter
Poland Faces Its Worst Grain Harvest in More Than a Decade, Minister Says.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-12/poland-faces-worst-grain-harvest-in-more-than-decade-because-of-heavy-rain.html
3 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 11:17am
Colorado Bob · Top Commenter
Farmers in Scotland and the north-east of England are facing yet another wet harvest, with torrential rain causing flooding over the past week.
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2011/08/12/128358/Torrential-rain-hits-harvest-effort.htm
3 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 11:26am
Colorado Bob · Top Commenter
Japan heatwave kills four, sends 900 to hospital.
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Japan_heatwave_kills_four_sends_900_to_hospital_999.html
2 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 12:01pm
Paul Magnus · Top Commenter
http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/home-garden/earth-you/53689/our-extreme-future-predicting.asp
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 3:38pm
Paul Magnus · Top Commenter
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/11/offshore-wind-farms-good-wildlife
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 5:57pm
Colorado Bob · Top Commenter
Polar Scientist Charts Melting Caused by Climate Change.
Michael Gooseff follows water to the end of the earth. The Pennsylvania State University hydrologist works in remote regions of the Arctic and Antarctic,……..At the annual convention of the Ecological Society of America in Austin, Texas this week he posed this question: “How are those polar systems responding to climate change?”.
The answer is based on his on-going research into how water crosses landscapes and what happens to it above and below ground.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/environment/Polar-Scientist-Charts-Melting-Caused-by-Climate-Change-127591558.html
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 2:27pm
Paul Magnus · Top Commenter
something going down?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/08/12/nb-irving-oil-production-1126.html
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 3:35pm
Natural Hazards Risk Atlas 2011: Nations Most Exposed To Natural Disasters (PHOTOS).
huff
The United States may have to grapple with the highest overall costs for natural disasters, but other emerging nations face other social and economic risks, according to a new report.
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 4:22pm
Paul Magnus · Top Commenter
US takes no 1 spot
Like · Reply · August 12 at 4:22pm
Paul Magnus · Top Commenter
There is a definite despondence developing around the democratic arena. Just have a look at the Huff home page… need some leadership. Need to start tackling GW…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 3:46pm
Paul Magnus · Top Commenter
were on for another Nuke accident some time soon…unfortunately….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/12/nuclear-regulatory-commission_n_923098.html
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 4:01pm
Paul Magnus · Top Commenter
Houston, we have a problem…our oil pipes are jamming….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/12/shell-oil-leak-north-sea
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 13 at 3:27am
Paul Magnus · Top Commenter
Things are looking iffy in the North Sea…. why are they shutting 4 major sites dow for 7+ months? Regular maintenance… mmm.
“Shell also said it had restarted its North Sea Brent Alpha and Bravo fields on Thursday after a seven-month shutdown, while two other fields remained shut.”
Like · Reply · August 13 at 1:48pm
Paul Magnus · Top Commenter
Obama Talks ‘Jobs Of The Future’ In Key State.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/obama-jobs-michigan-fundraising_n_924133.html?ir=Green
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 4:18pm
Paul Magnus · Top Commenter
I refuse to buy in to GW just because its hot, Steve Colbert…
http://colbertreport.thecomedynetwork.ca/#player-area
Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 12 at 4:09pm
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
