Month: May 2011

Rep. “Smoky Joe” Barton, (R- Exxon) gave us a remarkably vivid demonstration of the relationship between the tea party Republican congress and Big Oil, when he abjectly apologized to British Petroleum after the oil giant was ordered to make reparations for last year’s disastrous Gulf Spill.

Will there be a public apology to the climate scientists that oil toady and hero of climate denial Barton attempted to smear with a now discredited “study” of global temperature?

In 2005, Rep. Barton, was conducting a running persecution of climate scientists Michael Mann and his associates, which the Washington Post  called, “a witchhunt” –

“THIS IS HIGHLY usual,” declared a spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee when asked this week whether the request by committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.) for information from three climate scientists was out of the ordinary. He and his boss are alone in that view. Many scientists and some of Mr. Barton’s Republican colleagues say they were stunned by the manner in which the committee, whose chairman rejects the existence of climate change, demanded personal and private information last month from researchers whose work supports a contrary conclusion. The scientists, co-authors of an influential 1999 study showing a dramatic increase in global warming over the past millennium, were told to hand over not only raw data but personal financial information, information on grants received and distributed, and computer codes.

Alan I. Leshner, chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said that although scientists “are used to answering really hard questions,” in his 22 years as a government scientist he never heard of a similar inquiry, which he suspects could “have a chilling effect on the willingness of people to work in areas that are politically relevant.”

Normally, the Post noted, when congress wants a scientific evaluation of a critical issue, it turns to the National Academy of Science, which was founded by Abraham Lincoln for exactly that purpose.  Knowing that the National Academy was unlikely to give him the result he wanted, Barton made another plan –

Continue reading “Smoky Joe Barton Apologized to BP. Will he Apologize to Climate Scientists as well?”

NOAA Update:

The Earth experienced the seventh warmest April since record keeping began in 1880, as the climate phenomenon La Niña continued to be a significant factor. April’s annual Arctic sea ice extent was the fifth smallest since record keeping began in 1979, while the Antarctic sea ice extent was the fourth smallest.

In spite of the cooling influence of La Nina conditions in the Pacific, global temperatures continued to exhibit strong warming.  The development of new El Nino conditions could supercharge warming once again.  According to The National Weather service, the la nina will draw to a close, and “neutral” conditions will begin, and last thru the summer of 2011.

Synopsis: ENSO-neutral conditions are expected to develop during May-June 2011 and continue through the Northern Hemisphere summer 2011.

During April 2011, La Niña continued to weaken as indicated by increasing surface and subsurface temperature anomalies across the equatorial Pacific Ocean

In the absence of consistent, credible, on the scene reports from the Fukushima site, observers are forced to go to a wide range of news sources and try to tease out the real truth from the subtle differences in reporting. So far, the situation has repeatedly shown itself worse than the reporting and official press releases have let on. Suggestion: watch the vids above, and below,  compare to print sources here, find a way to split the differences.

Science:

TOKYO—Over the last several days, evidence has emerged indicating that the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was far more dire than previously recognized. The main evidence is extensive—rather than partial—melting of the nuclear fuel in three reactors in the hours after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. Despite that bad news, however, today plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. pledged it would still meet the target set 17 April to stabilize the situation by January 2012 so 100,000 residents evacuated from around the plant can return to their homes and the decade-long process of demolishing the reactors can get started.

Continue reading “Science: Fukushima far more damaged than first thought”

Along the lines of “Our Friend the Atom”.  English subtitles available, if you don’t see them, go to the  video’s Youtube page, click on the little “cc” at the bottom.

Most of the attention in the midwest has been focused on Wisconsin, and its new governor Scott Walker, who seems to hate renewable energy as much as he hates unions and the workers who belong to them. He’s not alone of course, disdain for green jobs,  the workers who might hold them, and anything that runs counter to the fossil fuel agenda runs deep in this generation of tea party republicans.

New Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, not to be outdone, has his own questions about the new-fangled, lefty, granola crunching, vaguely subversive sound of all this. In a recent call in radio show, the Guv was asked his opinion about a higher Renewable goal, and offshore wind power. His limp answer was more or less, let’s “wait and see if it’s working”, and get on with his program of lowering taxes for businesses, while raising them on pensioners, (you heard that right), and going after the real causes of our economic troubles,  – teachers, cops, firemen, and nurses.

But then there are those pesky facts. Former Governor Granholm’s policies of pushing renewable energy quietly turned this state into a burgeoning green energy powerhouse, and made Michigan the number one job producing state in 2010.

Continue reading “Renewable Revival in Michigan? GOP Governor finds Booming Green jobs sector Boring.”

As this situation develops, Arnie Gunderson just keeps seeming more accurate, measured, well informed, and prescient.  If you’ve been following his updates, you are better informed than almost anyone who is following the mainstream media.

Summary:

Gundersen says Fukushima’s gaseous and liquid releases continue unabated. With a meltdown at Unit 1, Unit 4 leaning and facing possible collapse, several units contaminating ground water, and area school children outside the exclusion zone receiving adult occupational radiation doses, the situation continues to worsen. TEPCO needs a cohesive plan and international support to protect against world-wide contamination.

From Pro Publica:

Here’s more about the video, which was done by David Holmes and other talented journalism students at Jay Rosen’s NYU’s Studio 20. It was part of their collaboration with us to build better explanations for stories. For more on fracking, its lack of regulation, and the potential for drinking water contamination, check out our now nearly three-year running investigation.

Since a lot of people, including me, have had hopes that new techniques for pulling methane out of the ground could ease the energy transition, it’s maddening to hear about how the technology has been mishandled. Another new study shows contamination in drinking water from the practice.

Digital Journal:

Durham – A new scientific study has, for the first time, found a pattern linking hydraulic fracturing and natural gas drilling with methane contamination of drinking water, with some contamination levels so high that faucet taps can be set on fire.

For the first time, new research conducted by four Duke University scientists shows that water supplies close to natural gas wells had an average of 17 times the level of flammable methane gas as wells further from active drilling operations.

A total of 68 wells were tested by the research team, all located in the Marcellus and Utica shale drilling areas, located in northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York state. The group defined active gas extraction areas as within one kilometer (around six-tenths of a mile) of a gas well operation.

Robert Jackson, a biology professor at Duke and one of the report’s authors, said: “We certainly didn’t expect to see such a strong relationship between the concentration of methane in water and the nearest gas wells. That was a real surprise,” 

The Telegraph reports:

Greenpeace said significant amounts of radioactive material had been released into the sea and that samples of seaweed taken from as far as 40 miles of the Fukushima plant had been found to contain radiation well above legal limits. Of the 22 samples tested, ten were contaminated with five times the legal limit of iodine 131 and 20 times of caesium 137.

Seaweed is a huge part of the Japanese diet and the average household almost 7lbs a year. Greenpeace’s warning came as fishermen prepared to start the harvest of this season’s seaweed on May 20.

Meanwhile, the WSJ notes:

A prefecture just south of Tokyo said it had detected higher-than-permissible amounts of radioactive material in tea leaves, in a reminder that Japan’s radioactive-contamination problems are far from over. […]

According to Kanagawa officials, a sample of tea leaves collected May 9 from the city of Minamiashigara, in the western part of the prefecture, was found to contain 550 becquerels of cesium per kilogram in the first test; the second test of the same sample detected 570 becquerels. […]

Kanagawa tested tea leaves for the first time because local farmers were about to start shipping this year’s tea leaves they had just picked. […]