by Francesco Femia and Caitlin Werrell, via The Center For Climate and Security

The national Drought Monitor recently declared [abnormally dry conditions or] a drought for almost 80% of the contiguous United States, ranging in intensity [up] to “drought-exceptional.”

Five days ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture followed by declaring disasters in 26 U.S. states. This is the largest national disaster area ever declared.

But while the drought is obviously a serious concern for the U.S. (historically, droughts are the nation’s most costly natural disaster), it also has worrying implications for other countries that are tied to the U.S. through the global food market. Coupled with other recent extreme weather events across the globe, the U.S. drought could have a globally destabilizing influence. And while it is too early to tell exactly why these events are happening, in the way that they are happening, recent reports show that climatic changes are a part of the story.

Record-breaking droughts, and an uncertain climate future

The conditions of this drought are abnormal. The drought happened suddenly - what is called a “flash drought” – because it has occurred over a matter of months, rather than seasons or years. It is associated with record-breaking temperatures, and has been labeled among the worst droughts in U.S. history.

Climate change projections are set to make matters worse. According to NOAA and the Met Office, last year’s drought in Texas was 20 times more likely because of climate change. Furthermore, as temperatures are set to continue increasing, these conditions will become more frequent.

Impact on the global food market

In lieu of the recent drought, the U.S. Department of Agriculture adjusted its prediction for corn yields, the country’s largest export crop, down by 12%. This, and any subsequent adjustments, will likely impact global corn prices, but also meat and dairy prices, as corn is used for animal feed. Meanwhile, beef prices are still high from last year’s drought in Texas.

As a leading exporter of corn and soy, the U.S. is intricately linked to the global food market. Drought and crop failure in the U.S. could spike world food prices and have serious implications for places like Mexico, China, Central America and India, who rely heavily on imports of these crops, as well as animal feed. But this is not the first time that droughts have caused a spike in world food prices.  If this drought does lead to a price spike, it will be the fifth such spike in six years.

The security implications of food price spikes

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Battling severe economic headwinds, Europe’s wind industry has picked up the pace and substantially increased offshore projects developed in the region.

According to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), developers connected 132 turbines to the grid in the first half of this year. Those turbines, which have the cumulative capacity to generate 523 megawatts, represent a 50 percent increase over the first half of 2011.

As EWEA points out, 2012 has turned into a surprisingly good year for offshore wind in Europe:

2012 could turn out to be the best year ever for offshore wind energy in Europe, as a further 160 turbines, totaling 647.4 MW, are built but awaiting grid connection. But this is subject to weather conditions at sea and grid connection delays.

A total of 4,336 MW offshore wind capacity was operating as of 30 June 2012 – up from 3,294 MW in June 2011 – producing electricity for the equivalent of 4 million households.

During the first half of 2012 overall, 13 wind farms were under construction. Once completed these wind farms will account for an additional capacity of 3,762 MW.

In the first six months of this year, the number of financial transactions closed equaled the number closed in all of 2011. As we pointed out last fall, no projects in 2011 had been financed through debt; however, 30 percent of projects closed this year were done so with debt. EWEA attributes the increase in deals to the diversity of commercial banks and public financing agencies engaged in the market.

However, the Danish wind consultancy MAKE Consulting estimates that project financing will need to grow by 50 percent over the next five years in order for European countries like Britain, Germany, and France to meet their offshore wind targets. With European banks continuing to develerage themselves, it’s not clear if the necessary project finance will be available.

Bloomberg News also reported on an upcoming report from MAKE on the slump in sales of offshore turbines that will impact the future pipeline of projects:

Sales of offshore wind turbines collapsed in the first half, a sign the power industry and its financiers are struggling to meet the ambitions of leaders from Angela Merkel in Germany to Britain’s David Cameron.

One unconditional order was made, for 216 megawatts, 75 percent less than in the same period of 2011 and the worst start for a year since at least 2009, according to preliminary data from MAKE Consulting, a Danish wind-energy adviser. Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) of Denmark, the largest manufacturer, won the contract while Germany’s Siemens AG (SIE) was among those shut out.

In Germany’s section of the North Sea, utility RWE AG (RWE) is working on foundations for its $1.2 billion Nordsee Ost development but can’t install turbines until a grid connection is made. Competitor EON AG (EOAN) said in February its Amrumbank West project will be delayed 15 months because of grid issues.

The financial crisis has helped draw out negotiations on funding. Centrica Plc (CNA), Dong Energy A/S and Siemens in June completed a $660 million financing for the Lincs wind farm off the U.K.’s shores two years after talks first started.

The cost of financing and connecting projects to the grid has raised the installed cost of offshore projects by 30 percent in the first half of this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Analysts at the firm say they expect those costs to fall as installation techniques become more standardized and financing bottlenecks open up. In June, the UK’s Crown Estate issued a report concluding that the cost of offshore wind projects could fall by one third by 2020.

Despite the mixed picture, the industry is taking a decidedly optimistic view about growth. The industry’s trade group projects that the European offshore wind market will grow from roughly 4 gigawatts of cumulative capacity to 150 gigawatts of cumulative capacity by 2030 — meeting about 14 percent of European electricity demand.

A new poll conducted by Small Business Majority shows that small businesses in Michigan “overwhelmingly support increasing the state’s renewable energy standard to 25 percent by 2025.” According to the poll, 79 percent of poll respondents supported the measure.

Michigan’s renewable energy standard, which requires a 10% penetration by 2015, has driven more than $100 million in economic activity. The new proposed standard, which will be on a ballot initiative in November, is expected to spur billions in economic activity.

Supporters of the initiative have turned in over 530,000 signatures, almost 200,000 more than needed to make it on to the ballot: “We are taking the first step toward becoming an energy leader that can compete with anyone in the world,” said Michigan Energy Michigan Jobs spokesman Mark Fisk, in response to the signatures.

According to the Small Business Majority poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, small business owners also believe the targets can be a driver of economic growth:

“Small business owners in Michigan are eager for pragmatic energy policies that can help them develop new technologies and increase business opportunities. They understand that to survive in this tough economy they need creative solutions to curb costs and increase their competitive edge. These include continued government investments in clean energy and the enforcement of standards that reduce harmful emissions in their communities. Right now, giving small businesses the incentives and tools needed to drive job creation and increase market competitiveness should be a top priority.”

This is in direct contrast to the climate change-denying Chamber of Commerce and the state’s two large utilities, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, which are waging an aggressive campaign against new renewable energy targets.

The small business owners polled by the pollsters were ideologically diverse, with 39 percent identifying as Republican, 38 percent as Democrat, 10 percent as independent and 13 percent as “other.”

More than three quarters of respondents expressed the belief that government should have a role in helping promote renewable energy and energy efficiency, and nearly 80 percent thought that financial incentives and policy directives are an appropriate way for the government to accomplish this goal.

– Max Frankel

By Jorge Madrid and Max Frankel

Breathing the air in California can be a dangerous thing. The Golden State’s residents breathe the most polluted air in the country, according to the American Lung Association.  When it comes to microscopic particle pollution, or “soot,” nowhere is more dangerous than California’s Central Valley, where four of the five most polluted cities in America are located.

See the 10 Most Soot Polluted Cities in America here.

California’s Central Valley is an enormous agricultural center in the middle of the state, home to more than four million people. Interstate highways “the 5,” “the 99,” and “the 80,” the state’s major north-south trucking corridors, run directly through the valley. As a result, tractor trailers and diesel engines are the area’s number one source of soot emissions in the summer time. In the winter, wood smoke is also a major contributor. Personal vehicles are also to blame: “One of the big things we’re dealing with is that we have a 1 to 2 ratio of people to vehicle miles traveled,” says Jaime Holt at the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

The problem in the valley is exacerbated by the area’s geography. Soot collects in the Central Valley basin, almost like water sitting at the bottom of a bowl, and is trapped there by an inversion layer of warm air that sits between the Sierra Nevada Mountains on one side, and the Coastal Ridge on the other.

When inhaled, soot particulates have known impacts on human health. Long-term exposure to soot has been definitively linked to heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, lung development problems, and asthma in children. There is even some evidence that fine particulate matter is a carcinogen and can cause birth defects.  Even short-term exposure to particulates has been associated with premature death due to heart attack and stroke, and increased hospital visits for cardiovascular problems.

Soot Disproportionately Affects Latino Communities

Latinos in California are the most harmed by soot pollution. The American Lung Association reports numerous reasons why income and racial disparities exist when it comes to exposure to harmful pollution. Those include a lack of access to health care and more hazardous working conditions among these groups – in fact, Latinos are the least likely to be insured compared to all other ethnic groups in this country. Also, existing health conditions, such as diabetes, are exacerbated by soot pollution. Incidences of diabetes are higher among those living near major cities and within certain demographic groups, such as Mexican Americans, than in the population as a whole.

Let’s take a closer look at the demographics in five most soot-polluted cities in the country:

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Liberal leader Tony Abbott

by Graham Readfearn, via DeSmogBlog

Anyone who places stock in safeguarding the current and future climate (and for that matter anyone who doesn’t) should prepare themselves for the risk that very soon, climate science deniers, contrarians and skeptics will be running the show in Australia.

All the polls suggest that a Liberal-led coalition will sweep to power at next year’s Federal election in Australia – the world’s biggest exporter of coal and on track to be the biggest exporter of liquified natural gas.

Current Liberal leader Tony Abbott, if we care to remember, once described climate change as “crap“. Views shared among Abbott’s parliamentary coalition ranks are that climate science is a “leftist fad” and a “work of fiction”.

The Liberal-National Party’s new Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and his environment minister Andrew Powell are currently presiding over a massive boom in coal and gas projects. Both have said they’re unable to accept the evidence of human-caused climate change, going against the scientific findings of the country’s main science agency the CSIRO and the country’s Bureau of Meteorology, plus every major science academy on the planet.

Instead the Newmans and Abbotts of this world would rather stake the future of their constituents, our economies, our food supplies and our coastlines on the ideologically-blinkered pseudo-science of narrow vested interests and free market fundamentalists.

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As the summer of 2012 brings a range of damaging extreme weather events, television news networks are giving more attention to the connection to a changing climate. In recent weeks, ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS have all featured segments connecting the dots between a warming planet and extreme weather.

This morning, MSNBC featured an interview with Heidi Cullen, the chief climatologist with Climate Central, who talked about this summer’s heat and drought in a climate context.

“Here in the U.S., it definitely means more extremes. And we’re talking about heat extremes, drought extremes, and wildfire extremes. So in a sense, the summer of 2012 is a really nice picture, if you will, of what we can expect more of,” said Cullen.

Watch it:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Black lung cases are surging in the U.S. But House Republicans are trying to stop any new regulations on coal dust to protect miners.

The Republican Party has taken its anti-regulation frenzy to stunning new levels.

In a draft 2013 budget released by the House Appropriations Committee, House Republicans have added language that would prevent the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) from implementing new limits on coal dust — a pollutant contributing to a steep rise in cases of black lung among U.S. coal miners.

According to an investigation released earlier this month by National Public Radio and the Center for Public Integrity, cases of black lung have doubled in the last decade. Since 1995, more than 10,000 coal miners have died from black lung across the country, according to an analysis of government data from NPR and CPI.

The reason, say public health experts: poor coal dust regulations.

“From the patterns and from the severity, from the prevalence of the disease, this must be a situation in which the dust in many, many mines is simply not adequately controlled. There’s nothing else that could possibly cause this,” said Edward Petsonk, a pulmonologist at West Virginia University, speaking to NPR in a report on the black lung investigation.

In spite of this growing public health epidemic, House Republicans have included language in a draft budget for the Labor Department that would explicitly prevent funding for any new coal dust rules that would limit miners’ exposure:

None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to continue the development of or otherwise implement the Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Coal Mine Dust, Including 20 Continuous Personal Dust Monitors regulation being developed by the Mine Safety and Health Administration of the Department of Labor.

The coal union, the United Mine Workers of America, reacted with swift condemnation. Ken Ward, Jr. of the Charleston Gazette reported on the bill:

If approved, the language would forbid MSHA from using any funds from its budget to finalize its October 2010 proposal to tighten legal coal-dust limits and improve other protections for miners.

“House Republicans’ proposal to stop modern protections against black lung disease for our nation’s miners is outrageous and should be defeated,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and ranking minority member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts said the budget measure “amounts to nothing more than a potential death sentence for thousands of American miners.”

“Preventing black lung isn’t a matter of overregulation,” Roberts said. “It’s a matter of life and death.”

The GOP’s response? A return to their robotic anti-regulation refrain.

“It is the chairman’s position and the position of the subcommittee that that particular regulation is harmful and costly to the industry and to the economy in general,” said Jennifer Hing, a spokeswoman for House Appropriations Committee Republican, according to a report in The Hill.

Again, over 10,000 miners have died from black lung since 1995, in large part due to poor regulations. As those rates increase, public health officials at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are calling the problem “clearly a public health epidemic…that should not be occurring.”

And the GOP’s only response is that these life-saving rules are bad for the economy. Seriously.

Oh, and it gets worse. Some are reportedly blaming the miners. From the Charleston Gazette story:

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By Brad Johnson, campaign manager of Forecast the Facts

On Fox Business Network this Tuesday evening, Neil Cavuto argued that we should respond to the deadly heat wave that is gripping the nation by drilling for more oil:

It is hot and I’m bothered. Nothing like a heat wave to burn my energy butt. This country is roasting, screaming for energy and we’re still blocking so much energy. We’ve got no drilling, just spending more green on green that invariably comes up red.

In fact, U.S. oil production is at its highest level in a decade!

Watch it:

“Climate science is in shambles,” claimed fellow FBN anchor David Asman, who has compared climate scientists to Hitler. “In fact, it’s been cool for the past couple of years.”

“The longer this [heat wave] drags on, the more the issue of climate change will be raised,” moaned Cavuto.

“A very very shaky science is being used to formulate public policy.” concluded Asnan. “Thank you, David ‘Brainiac’ Asman,” replied Cavuto, before turning to a “Fox Body Alert” on swimsuit model Kate Upton.

A round-up of the top climate and energy news.

The first new U.S. standard for nitrogen dioxide in at least 35 years was upheld by a federal appeals court, which said the Environmental Protection Agency had the authority to attempt to improve air quality around the nation’s busiest roadways. [Businessweek]

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington today threw out a challenge by the American Petroleum Institute to regulations restricting the peak amount of nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, from tailpipes and smokestacks that can be present in the air during a one-hour period. Levels of the toxic gas are limited to a one-hour standard of 100 parts per billion.

“Because the record adequately supports the EPA’s conclusion that material negative effects result from ambient air concentrations as low as the 100 ppb level, we cannot conclude that the agency was arbitrary and capricious” in adopting that standard, U.S. Circuit Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote for the court.

In the second phase of its ambitious SolarStrong project – the country’s single largest effort to cover roofs with solar panels – installation company SolarCity will put more than 18,000 panels on military homes in California and Colorado. [Los Angeles Times]

Crops are wilting, soils are cracked, and some dried-out forests are catching fire. U.S. corn production in particular is dwindling. So is this a glimpse at our hotter, drier future? It appears so. [Washington Post]

Last year, crop insurers paid record claims of about $11 billion for weather-related losses, including major losses in corn and soybeans, said David Graves of the Washington-based American Assn. of Crop Insurers. This year’s losses could surpass that “easily, given that the drought is developing in corn-growing regions” including Illinois and Indiana, he said. [Los Angeles Times]

More than 1,100 farmers in Nebraska have been ordered by the state’s Department of Natural Resources to halt irrigation of their crops because the rivers from which they draw water have dropped due to a worsening drought. [Reuters]

Some younger conservatives have grown increasingly uneasy with the presumption that they hew to the skeptical line of the Republican Party, and some evangelicals in particular are looking for ways to embrace the science and steward the planet. [Greenville Online]

Visiting New York City for an urban parks conference, Ken Salazar, the secretary of the interior, stopped by The New York Times on Tuesday to discuss the partnership his department has forged with the city on revitalizing parkland around Jamaica Bay. [New York Times]

Nepal’s elusive snow leopards, thought to number just 500 in the wild, are under threat from warmer and wetter weather in the Himalayas that is reducing their habitat, a new study says. [NY Daily News]