Tree Hugger Thread

[rstrong]

Or to sum up:

- Obama inherits a ban on Atlantic off-shore drilling from the previous Republican administration.

- Republicans: That commie Marxist tree hugger won't let us drill!

- Sarah Palin: "Drill, baby, drill!!!"

- Republicans: You should listen to her words of wisdom!"

- Obama: "Well, OK. We'll allow the oil companied to..."

- BP & Haliburton: "Oops!"

- Republicans: "Thanks, Obama! What the hell were you thinking!"

- Obama: "OK. We'll *won't* allow the oil companied to..."

- Republicans: That commie Marxist tree hugger won't let us drill!

- Obama: "Well, OK. We'll allow the oil companied to... (listens carefully) ...drill."

Any predictions on what happens next?

[billy.pilgrim]

Or to sum up:

- Obama inherits a ban on Atlantic off-shore drilling from the previous Republican administration.

- Republicans: That commie Marxist tree hugger won't let us drill!

- Sarah Palin: "Drill, baby, drill!!!"

- Republicans: You should listen to her words of wisdom!"

- Obama: "Well, OK. We'll allow the oil companied to..."

- BP & Haliburton: "Oops!"

- Republicans: "Thanks, Obama! What the hell were you thinking!"

- Obama: "OK. We'll *won't* allow the oil companied to..."

- Republicans: That commie Marxist tree hugger won't let us drill!

- Obama: "Well, OK. We'll allow the oil companied to... (listens carefully) ...drill."

Any predictions on what happens next?

Obama finally admits he is a republican

[Vrede too]

... Any predictions on what happens next?

Having made this decision, nothing until the next POTUS. Then, if oil prices rise, GOP yes, Hillary maybe, Bernie no.

Obama finally admits he is a republican

>>> <<<

[Vrede too]

Fom Greenpeace:

... The good news is your pleas to protect the Atlantic coast from oil and gas drilling worked! Today, the Obama administration released an oil and gas drilling program that does NOT include the Atlantic Ocean. The bad news is the new plan DOES open up the Alaskan Arctic and Gulf of Mexico for drilling until 2022.

But the irony? Just last week President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a shared commitment to protect the Arctic and our climate. Including the Arctic in this plan — opening it up to oil and gas exploitation — completely contradicts President Obama’s own commitment to combat climate change. If this plan goes forward it means oil companies like Shell, Exxon, and BP would be able to drill in new areas of the Arctic, putting our wildlife, communities, and climate at an unimaginable risk. I’m reaching out to you today, Lawrence, because we need you to speak up immediately....

If these new offshore drilling plans pass, it’s going to be devastating for communities and destroy critical wildlife habitat as companies search and drill for fossil fuels. In the harsh conditions of the Arctic, a catastrophic oil spill would be inevitable — and impossible to clean up. And communities on the Gulf Coast will suffer the double effects of oil spills on their shores and the brunt of climate impacts, like sea level rise.

We can’t let this happen. If we all come together now, we can keep all fossil fuels in the ground and more forward toward a renewable energy future....

We know people power works. When people like you spoke out, Shell abandoned its plans to drill in the Arctic, President Obama rejected the Keystone pipeline, and he also canceled two Arctic lease sales. It’s time to step up our people power like never before. This is our last chance to stop oil company greed and keep fossil fuels in the ground — where they belong.

Point billy.pilgrim and rstrong.

President Obama — Secure Your Climate Legacy:
Keep Fossil Fuels Safely In The Ground (Petition)

[Vrede too]

[rstrong]

He allowed drilling where it would be most expensive, at a time when low oil prices are expected to make it uneconomical for the foreseeable future. And no, this week's jump in oil prices won't come remotely close to makin a difference.

And he disallowed drilling where it would be cheapest.

Also he allowed it in a region where you'd want that Keystone pipeline to take deliver it to refineries economically, a pipeline he just blocked.

Bit of a f_ck you to the oil industry there.

[Vrede too]

... Bit of a f_ck you to the oil industry there.

FERC Denies Jordan Cove LNG Export Terminal and Pacific Connector Pipeline

Coos Bay, OR -- Today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejected the proposal for the Jordan Cove LNG Export Terminal and Pacific Connector Pipeline. The proposal was rejected because its public interest value did not outweigh the project’s adverse effects.

In protesting this proposed terminal, the Sierra Club intervened, filing a formal request calling for the Jordan Cove terminal and Pacific Connector pipeline to be rejected.

In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:

“This historic victory is the result of over a decade of hard work by Oregonians and their allies across the environmental movement committed to protecting their communities from this dangerous proposal.

“Allowing dangerous proposals like Jordan Cove to continue will only lead to more drilling and fracking, which in turn will further pollute our air and our water and bring about more climate-fueled weather disasters like the record droughts, wildfires, and superstorms we have witnessed in recent years.

“Fossil fuels like gas are not in the public’s interest, and we are thrilled to see FERC make this ruling and take such a strong stance.”

HECA YEAH! Hydrogen Energy California (HECA) Coal Plant Developer Throws in the Towel

[Wneglia]

Bird Incinerator May Have To Shut Down

[rstrong]

Bird Incinerator May Have To Shut Down

Nonsense. They might have to negotiate a new contract. The thing is built, and needs no fuel to run.

The real "failure" of the concept that the photovoltaic cells have increased in efficiency faster than expected, making that type of energy production a better deal.

[Wneglia]

Bird Incinerator May Have To Shut Down

Nonsense. They might have to negotiate a new contract. The thing is built, and needs no fuel to run.

The real "failure" of the concept that the photovoltaic cells have increased in efficiency faster than expected, making that type of energy production a better deal.

Actually it does require natural gas for supplemental energy production. So much in fact that it qualifies for cap and trade

Link

[rstrong]

He allowed drilling where it would be most expensive, at a time when low oil prices are expected to make it uneconomical for the foreseeable future. And no, this week's jump in oil prices won't come remotely close to makin a difference.

And he disallowed drilling where it would be cheapest.

Also he allowed it in a region where you'd want that Keystone pipeline to take deliver it to refineries economically, a pipeline he just blocked.

Bit of a f_ck you to the oil industry there.

Also:

- A wedge-shaped, 21,000-square-kilometre section of the arctic drilling area is disputed territory, Canada's by treaty.

- The lease area would not open to exploration before 2020.

[Vrede too]

We're pretty screwed if the northern nations take advantage of the AGW decrease in ice to produce more fossil fuels and thus more AGW.

[rstrong]

Actually it does require natural gas for supplemental energy production.

I missed that bit. They use natural gas to fire it up in the morning.

Your article though references the early 2014 numbers from when it first started up - merely generating more than four times the power as a gas plant using the same amount of gas. By 2015 it was 170% more efficient than the same time in 2014 - far less gas, far more power.

But again, the rapid price decline of photovoltaic systems is what will stop more of these from being built.

[rstrong]

For this week's News of the Weird:

University of Oregon professor Mark Carey produced a 10,300-word journal article in January proposing a new sensitivity to Earth's melting icecaps: a "feminist glaciology framework" to "generate robust analysis of gender, power and epistemologies" with a goal of more "just and equitable" "human-ice interactions." The jargonized, densely worded tract suggests that melting icecaps can be properly understood only with more input from female scientists since, somehow, research so far disproportionately emphasizes climate change's impact on males.

Lest you think that it's a joke paper..

The New York Post reported that the paper was funded by a National Science Foundation grant of $412,930.

[Progress in Human Geography, 1-8-2016] [New York Post, 3-8-2016]

[Vrede too]

Don't care enough to look and critique but there are many areas where impacts are measured on the average man - drug development, radiation tolerance, economic impacts, etc.

I doubt that female scientists would be any more or less competent except to the extent that they actively counter this traditional bias.

[JTA]

[Vrede too]

The terrorist attacks in Brussels prompted the evacuation of "non-essential personnel" from the Tihange nuclear plant in Belgium, but not its wind farms (or kennels, JTA).

[Vrede too]

Beauty and Balance in (Canada’s) Boreal
To mark the International Day of Forests in 2016, here are 16 reasons to celebrate one of the planet’s largest intact ecosystems

Stop a logging assault on Canada's boreal forest (petition)

5 Reasons to Protect (east Tennessee’s) Cherokee National Forest

[Vrede too]

South Carolina governor urges U.S. to divert plutonium from Japan

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has written to U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz demanding a shipment of weapons-grade plutonium en route to her state from Japan be turned back or sent elsewhere, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters....

The shipment "puts South Carolina at risk for becoming a permanent dumping ground for nuclear materials," Haley said in the letter dated March 23. "Therefore, stop shipment or re-route this defense plutonium. God bless."

...The plutonium being shipped was supplied by the United States, Britain and France for the government-owned Japan Atomic Energy Agency's Fast Critical Assembly research project in Tokai Mura, according to the International Panel on Fissile Materials....

Japan wants to use the plutonium extracted from spent fuel in nuclear plants as fuel for modified reactors. But with nearly all the country's units still shut down in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster five years ago and no schedule for further restarts there is little use for the material....

Interesting, I participated in international protests against these plutonium shipments to Japan over a decade ago. Correct again, dammit.

[Vrede too]

NC environmental chief backs restriction on solar farms, incentives for nuclear plants

With environmental chiefs like this, who needs polluting enemies?