TransCanada Pipeline Foes Allege Bias in U.S. Emails
With the Obama administration about to decide whether to green-light a controversial pipeline to take crude oil from Canada’s oil sands to the United States Gulf Coast, e-mails released Monday paint a picture of a sometimes warm and collaborative relationship between lobbyists for the company building the billion-dollar pipeline and officials in the State Department, the agency that has final say over the pipeline.
Environmental groups said the e-mails were disturbing and evidence of “complicity” between TransCanada, the pipeline company, and American officials tasked with evaluating the pipeline’s environmental impact.
The e-mails, the second batch to be released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the environmental group Friends of the Earth, show a senior State Department official at the United States Embassy in Ottawa procuring invitations to Fourth of July parties for TransCanada officials, sharing information with the company about Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s meetings and cheering on TransCanada in its quest to gain approval of the giant pipeline, which could carry 700,000 barrels a day.
“You see officials who see it as their business not to be an oversight agency but as a facilitator of TransCanada’s plans,” said Damon Moglen, the director of climate and energy project for Friends of the Earth. While the e-mails refer to multiple meetings between TransCanada officials and assistant secretaries of state, he said, such access was denied to environmental groups seeking input. Environmental groups argue that the pipeline, known as the Keystone XL project, would result in unacceptably high emissions and disrupt pristine ecosystems.
Before he was TransCanada’s chief Washington, D.C., lobbyist, Paul Elliott was a top official in Mrs. Clinton’s failed 2008 presidential campaign.
Many of the new e-mails are between Mr. Elliott and Marja Verloop, the counselor for energy and environment at the embassy in Ottawa. On Sept. 10, 2010, in response to an e-mail from Mr. Elliot announcing that Senator Max Baucus was supporting the pipeline, Ms. Verloop wrote: “Go Paul!” In an e-mail to David Jacobson, United States ambassador to Canada, she described TransCanada as “comfortable and on board” with some developments in the review process.
Climate Talks Open in Panama With Calls to Extend Kyoto Accord
Envoys meeting for United Nations climate talks must find a way to extend the world’s only treaty capping greenhouse gases, which is at risk of expiring, environmental groups said as sessions began in Panama City.
The future of the 1997 Kyoto protocol is the most important issue during the Panama talks that opened today, according to Tasneem Essop, international climate-policy advocate for the World Wildlife Fund in South Africa. Progress is needed now if an agreement on extending the pact is to be concluded during negotiations that begin Nov. 28 in Durban, South Africa, Essop said.
“We wouldn’t want Durban or South Africa to be the place where we bury the Kyoto Protocol,” Essop said today at a news conference in Panama City. “We need parties to in fact understand the risks involved in not coming to Durban with clear decisions about the future of the Kyoto Protocol.”
Kyoto’s initial phase, ending next year, binds 35 nations and the European Union to reduce emissions by a collective 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. Japan, Russia and Canada say they won’t take part in a second phase unless the accord is expanded to bind China, which has become the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the U.S., which never ratified the agreement.
A leading Silicon Valley venture capitalist said last week that the US was handing China the opportunity of becoming the leading economy in the world if it loses the “clean tech war”.
“For approximately 2,000 years, China was the preeminent culture, economy and military force in the world,” Claremont Creek managing director Nat Goldhaber said. “The realization is incredibly simple: they want to get back there again.”
Goldhaber compared the example of BrightSource’s Ivanpah project in the Mojave desert, which had been stalled by environmental concerns over a endangered species of tortoise, with China’s 3 Gorges Dam project which saw 1.4 million people relocated.
He told delegates at the Always On Going Green conference in San Francisco: “I have to ask, are we really serious about energy? I would posit at least that we’re not very serious about energy, certainly not compared with the Chinese.”
EU urges roadmap this year on climate action
The European Union urged all nations Sunday to make clear how they will tackle climate change, saying the world needs a roadmap this year on future action even if a treaty appears out of reach.
Negotiators from around the world are meeting through Friday in Panama, hoping to find common ground on the thorniest issues before a closely watched UN climate conference in Durban, South Africa opens on November 28.
The Kyoto Protocol’s obligations for wealthy nations to cut carbon emissions run out at the end of 2012, leading the European Union to propose a temporary new round of commitments under the landmark treaty to avoid any gap.
But chief EU climate negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger said that any new commitments by the Europeans needed to be part of a “broader package,” noting that the bloc accounted for only 11 percent of global emissions.
“I think we need to know… what is this other 89 percent going to commit itself to? This is something where we need to have an answer,” Runge-Metzger told reporters at the talks in Panama City.
“We know of course that Durban is not going to deliver a new legal outcome, a legal treaty. Time is just too short for that,” he said.
“But what we need to produce in Durban is a roadmap towards a global legal framework,” he said.
Gov’t backs 4 more solar loans as deadline looms
The Energy Department on Friday approved four more solar energy loan guarantees worth nearly $5 billion, hours before a controversial loan program was set to expire.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department moved to take away control of a failed solar panel maker from its management and transfer it to a court-appointed trustee.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the department completed deals on four projects, including two that were sold late this week by Arizona-based First Solar ( FSLR – news – people ) Inc., a major solar manufacturer that had been seeking three federal loan guarantees for projects in California. The sales were announced Friday along with the loan guarantees.
The loans were approved under the same program that paid for a $528 million loan to Solyndra LLC, a now-bankrupt solar panel maker that has become a symbol for critics of the Obama administration’s green energy program.
Saudi Arabia Inaugurates First Solar Power Plant, SPA Says
Saudi Arabia inaugurated its first solar power plant as the world’s largest oil exporter seeks to diversify energy sources, state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.
Government-owned utility Saudi Electricity Co. (SECO) and Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., a Japanese energy company partly owned by Saudi Arabian Oil Co., built the plant on Farasan Island off the Red Sea coast, SPA said yesterday. The plant will save 28,000 barrels of diesel fuel normally sent to the island, SPA said, without saying how often the island receives such shipments.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Because of their direct involvement in stopping action on climate change (and attacking green energy):
Koch Brothers Flout Law With Secret Iran Sales
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-02/koch-brothers-flout-law-getting-richer-with-secret-iran-sales.html
It’s a huge article, lots of details for these slimy fellows.
Put them in Jail for crimes against humanity!
Ozone layer hole over Arctic in sudden expansion
Arctic and Antarctic holes of similar size for first time, say scientists, due to combination of wind patterns and intense cold http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/03/arctic-ozone-layer-hole-expands?newsfeed=true
Watts mysteriously fails to explain to his readers that the exceptionally long cold conditions over the Arctic were in the _stratosphere_! Which is of course what we already knew thanks to the deniers’ beloved radiosondes and satellite “thermometers”.
Don’t tell anybody that a cooling stratosphere is actually confirmation of AGW theory.
The logical consequence: lots of confusion and the birth (or reawakening) of a myth.
Oh, and do stop by to marvel at gems like: “are there no natural sources of CFC’s?”
Other whoppers I’ve read elsewhere today:
- CFC’s are heavy, so they can’t reach the higher atmosphere.
- Nobody lives at the poles, so these gases can’t be human.
- The world’s superpowers should stop shooting rockets through the ozone hole, thus breaking it.
I’m NOT kidding.
“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology in which nobody understands anything about science and technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces.” – Carl Sagan
Energy bills and emissions still rising due to gadget addiction, says report
Energy Saving Trust says consumers must be weaned off TVs, laptops, tablet PCs and fridges if emission targets are to be met http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/03/energy-bills-emissions-rising-says-report
The Times article recently about forests jogged my memory. There is a map of these study areas mentioned below.
8 years ago -
http://www.southwestclimatechange.org/impacts/land/drought
This summer :
Wildfire threatening Los Alamos lab is New Mexico’s largest ever
Las Conchas wildfire is now the largest wildfire on record in New Mexico.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0701/Wildfire-threatening-Los-Alamos-lab-is-New-Mexico-s-largest-ever
” study sites in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico lost more than 90 percent of their piñon trees. ”
Las Conchas wildfire , ….. a whole forest of 8 year old standing dead piñon trees.
Singleleaf pinyon is long-lived. Large trees can monopolize site resources over a life span of 350 years or more. Dominant pinyons are often 400 years old and have been known to reach 800 to 1000 years.
http://mojavedesert.net/trees/pinus-monophylla/1.00.html
I’m wondering what archeologists have to say about this, given that these trees are some of the most drought resistant in North America, and the nuts have been widely eaten for thousands of years.
Las Conchas wildfire June 29
http://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Las-Conchas-fire-map-1450-6-29-2011.jpg
1. What is the overall pine bark beetle situation in the Southwest?
Beginning in 2002, several species of pine bark beetles experienced a population explosion. The region-wide drought weakened trees’ normal way of resisting these insects . In 2003, more normal precipitation levels helped reduce tree mortality levels in many ponderosa pine forests, however, piñon pine mortality levels continued to increase. Consequently, millions of trees were killed in Arizona and New Mexico. Mortality in 2004 and 2005 was considerably reduced compared to the previous two years.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/resources/health/beetle/faq.shtml#01
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1110/S00040/obama-double-crosses-the-environmentalists.htm
While noting that Obama “has done some good things on the environment,” including the fuel efficiency standards he pushed through this year, “he has done bad things as well, including opening vast tracts of the West to coal mining and providing much more funding to nuclear and fossil fuel than to green alternatives,” The Nation said.
There’s some suspense as to whether Obama will decide for or against the Keystone XL pipeline route from Canada, until, of course, one looks at his war in Afghanistan and all the blood he is spilling there to secure control of that pipeline route. Any wagers?
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/10/03/334045/emails-bias-for-keystone-xl-pipeline-within-state-department/?replytocom=350263#respond
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan_Oil_Pipeline
Climate Chaos
3yr GW extreme weather cycle?
Ophelia weakens to Category 3 hurricane – Canada – CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca
Forecasters say Ophelia has weakened from a powerful Category 4 hurricane to a still-dangerous Category 3 storm while heading northward toward Newfoundland.
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Climate Chaos Near Trouty, many of the smaller culverts that were installed in the area by the province since Igor have been washed away according to Hedley Johnson, who was the acting emergency co-ordinator for the community after Hurricane Igor struck there last September.
The main road into town, which had been damaged extensively, was paved Thursday. He said the pavement is gone again.
“What took a year to get built, was washed away in hours,” said Johnson.
2 seconds ago · Like
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203791904576607043591131476.html
Flood leaves a trail of ruin.
Bart Everson/flickr
A summer of record flooding along the Missouri River is leaving a band of destruction—broken roads, drowned farmland and condemned houses—through the nation’s midsection. Wall Street Journal
Estimate of Missouri River flooding crop losses: $207 million
Officials say losses just the ‘tip of the iceberg’
Flooding along the Iowa side of the Missouri River this year did at least $207 million in damages to crops and related economic activities in six western Iowa counties that border the river, according to a study commissioned by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation that was released Monday……. Miller emphasized that the study measured losses of economic activity from lost crop sales and didn’t factor in losses to personal property, or the steep cost of rebuilding roads, levees and other infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the months of flooding.
“This is really just the tip of the iceberg on economic losses from the flooding,” Miller said.
http://thegazette.com/2011/10/03/estimate-of-missouri-river-flooding-crop-losses-207-million/
Can hot air be the free fuel of the future?
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/02/tech/innovation/solar-tower-arizona/
Political opposition to geoengineering has begun in the U.K. according to this piece in New Scientist
http://preview.tinyurl.com/44vqnc3
Taiwan -
Statistics from the Central Weather Bureau showed the bureau’s observation station in -Nioudou (牛鬥), Yilan County, had registered the highest rain accumulation, with 1,604mm falling since -Saturday. This was followed by the observation stations in Gulu (古魯) and Dongao (東澳), both in Yilan, with accumulated rainfall reaching 1,578mm and 928mm respectively.
The DGH said Nioudou had received more than 1,000mm on Sunday, but heavy rainfall did not occur on the Suhua Highway until yesterday.
The DGH closed the section between Suao (蘇澳) and Dongao (東澳) on the Suhua Highway at 8am. By 12pm, accumulated rainfall in this section had already surpassed 640mm.
The highest hourly rainfall hit 100mm within two hours after the section was closed. The bureau said rain was expected to ease today, with chances of showers remaining high in northern regions.
Link -
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/10/04/2003514892
Rapid City, SD, yesterday set an all-time daily high temperature for the month of October at 96 F.
From the Rapid City Journal 10-2-11 print edition:
Record Arctic Ozone Hole Raises Fears of Worse to Come
A huge hole that appeared in the Earth’s protective ozone layer above the Arctic in 2011 was the largest recorded in the Northern Hemisphere, triggering worries the event could occur again and be even worse, scientists said in a report on Monday.
October 3, 2011 Scientific American
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=record-arctic-ozone-hole-raise
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Context includes a thirty year trend in increase in stratospheric water vapor, and the effect of water vapor on ozone.
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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 116, D02306, 12 PP., 2011
Stratospheric water vapor trends over Boulder, Colorado: Analysis of the 30 year Boulder record. Dale F. Hurst
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NASA Science Briefs
Reaction of Ozone and Climate to Increasing Stratospheric Water Vapor. By Drew Shindell — May 2001