Author Archives: Robert Michaels

Bureau of Land Management scrubs stewardship language from news releases

by Robert Michaels Posted on May 16, 2019

This story was originally published by HuffPost and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

The Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that oversees more than 245 million acres of public land, has stripped its conservation-focused mission statement from agency news releases.

Boilerplate language — the bureau’s longstanding mission statement — was printed at the end of BLM press releases throughout President Donald Trump’s tenure: “The BLM’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.”

That language was recently cut from all agency releases, including those that predate the Trump administration. The text now exclusively highlights the economic value of America’s public lands:

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Diverse activities authorized on these lands generated $96 billion in sales of goods and services throughout the American economy in fiscal year 2017. These activities supported more than 468,000 jobs.

The text highlighted in blue was removed from the boilerplate.

The change appears to have occurred this week, according to records from the Wayback Machine, an online archive that caches screenshots of websites. This BLM release related to a coal lease application in Oklahoma, for example, featured the mission statement when it was issued on Monday. As of Wednesday morning, the language was missing.

The BLM, a bureau of the Department of the Interior, did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

Aaron Weiss, media director at Colorado-based conservation group Center for Western Priorities, called the change “a perfect representation” of how Trump and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt view America’s public lands.

“In their world, our lands are only here for exploitation and financial gain, not protection and preservation,” Weiss told HuffPost. “Bernhardt’s clients profit; our kids and grandkids pay the price.”

Bernhardt, a former oil and gas lobbyist with a slew of potential conflicts of interest, served as Interior’s deputy secretary before being confirmed to the top post last month. He replaced former secretary Ryan Zinke, who stepped down in January amid mounting ethics scandals.

Together, Zinke and Bernhardt gutted numerous Obama-era policies aimed at tackling climate change and have worked to boost fossil fuel and mineral production on federal lands. They also led the largest reduction of national monuments in American history,  carving a collective 2 million acres from a pair of protected sites in Utah, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments — a move that opened the door for oil, mining, and other development.

The Trump administration has on numerous occasions come under fire for scrubbing climate change language from agency websites. And, in its quest for so-called energy dominance, the Interior Department has prioritized development over conservation, at times celebrating its role in governing the exploitation of natural resources from public lands.

In April 2017, a few months after Trump took office, BLM caused a stir when it changed the banner on its homepage from two boys hiking on public land to a giant coal seam in Wyoming. That image is one of several rotating photos that “reflect the many uses our public lands have to offer,” an agency spokeswoman said at the time.

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Bureau of Land Management scrubs stewardship language from news releases

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In 2002, the IEA Predicted Solar Was Going Nowhere. And in 2003. And 2004. And 2005…

by Robert Michaels Posted on May 22, 2017

Mother Jones

Every year the International Energy Agency publishes the World Energy Outlook, which, among other things, forecasts the growth rate of solar PV installations. The 2016 edition even included a whole “special focus” on renewable energy. Presumably this means they took an extra careful look at their solar PV forecast. Here it is:

That looks…odd, doesn’t it? Solar PV has grown at a pretty fast clip over the past decade, but the IEA assumes the growth rate will suddenly level out starting this year and then start to decline. And this is their optimistic scenario that takes into account pledges made in Paris.

What can we make of this? Auke Hoekstra provides some context:

Every single year, the IEA projects that solar is a passing fad and its growth rate will level out that year. And every single year, solar continues to grow anyway. But the next year the IEA makes the exact same forecast. It’s almost as if they have some kind of hidden agenda here.

See the original article here:  

In 2002, the IEA Predicted Solar Was Going Nowhere. And in 2003. And 2004. And 2005…

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Obamacare Isn’t the First Program to Have Opening Day Headaches

by Robert Michaels Posted on October 9, 2013

Mother Jones

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It’s easy to get alarmed about the widely-reported problems with the Obamacare website. People can’t log in; can’t create accounts; and have to endure crashes and software failures once they do finally get on. It’s a mess. And it’s an embarrassing mess.

At the same time, it’s easy to overreact. Today, Stephanie Mencimer reminds us of what it was like during the early days of the Massachusetts program that served as a template for Obamacare:

After the law went into effect in Massachusetts, state offices were totally overwhelmed by the number of people clamoring to sign up for insurance, or what the state’s Medicaid director dubbed the “stress of success.” Lost paperwork, computer glitches, confusion over who was eligible for what, and not enough staff to handle the workload meant that in those early days, consumers could wait several months after submitting an application to finally get coverage….In the first two months, only 18,000 of more than 200,000 potentially eligible people had successfully signed up through the connector, according to Jonathan Gruber, an MIT professor who helped design the Massachusetts system and served on the Connector board.

….But guess what? Eventually the kinks got worked out and people got covered. Enrollment opened in October 2006, and by the deadline for getting mandatory coverage, July 1, 2007, the Boston Globe reported, 20,000 more people had signed up for insurance on the exchange than the state had expected—12,000 of them in just the two weeks before the deadline. Total enrollment went from 18,000 in December 2006 to 158,000 a year later, says Gruber.

Read the whole thing for more. None of this means that we should be dismissive about the technical problems with the exchanges. At the same time, most of the state programs are already working pretty well, and the federal program is slowly but surely getting better. There’s still plenty of time to sign up; phone banks are accessible in addition to the website; and the navigator program is just starting to get underway. Within a few weeks, things will be working tolerably well and people will begin signing up in large numbers. By January 1, we’ll likely have millions of satisfied customers signed up via the exchanges, and the early hiccups will be forgotten.

And look at the bright side: for all of Obamacare’s problems, it’s already working better than Congress. And unlike Congress, it’s almost certain to get better.

Read the article:  

Obamacare Isn’t the First Program to Have Opening Day Headaches

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Advantages Of Investing In Green Energy

by Robert Michaels Posted on August 12, 2013

Industries across the world require a lot of energy to meet the demand for their products and services. Steady source of power is the best enabler to keep these running and satisfy the market demand. This raises the concerns about global warming through the emitted pollutants. Supporters of green energy and environmentalist have put these on notice in a bit to reduce the destruction of the ozone layer and he entire environment.

The solution to problems of using natural gas and related products is opting to green energy which offers continuous power supply and unlike others, it is never interrupted. Some of the best known sources are solar, geothermal and wind as well. These forma are not only beneficial in the manufacturing sector but also to the home user. This is a renewable form of energy and is affordable compared to fossil generated energy.

The existing demand for coal and oil has led to destruction of the environment and these natural resources are getting depleted very fast and might not be sustainable in the future. Environmentalists are campaigning and winning the on cheap and affordable solar panels and wind turbines so as to increase usage of the alternative energy.

The price of fuel continues to rise making the operational cost of manufacturing to follow suit and this affects the price of virtually all products to rise as well. These price changes affect the global economy and the developing countries are the most vulnerable. Investing on renewable energy is seen as the only reprieve the small economies can benefit from. It might be expensive to set up the required facilities but the results are better and more sustainable.

The future of sustainable energy is the solar, water and biomass sources and these can be harnessed. These alternative sources of energy are non-stop and uninterruptable and do not originate from a source that can be depleted through usage. This type of energy is user friendly and does not harm the environment.

This though might not work well with OPEC affiliated nations, is the only make their products cheaper and reduce the emission of gases into the environment which affects the ozone layer leading to global warming. With these adverse effects, ignoring the benefits of green energy will continue putting pressure on convectional energy sources and rising the cost of production and living.

The increased research more effective ways of harnessing the abundant natural resources has led to the demand for alternative energy accessories like the wind turbines and solar panels among others. Governments are also supporting the go green initiative by offering tax relieve to those ready to embrace the new technology. With these reduced prices, it is envisaged the more businesses and individuals will shun the traditional natural gas.

There is enough awareness created through the go green initiative and is aimed at highlighting the benefits derived from green energy towards sustainable environmental and economic performance. On the other hand, the alternative adds value to the existing energy quotient and will eventually improve the quality of life to many people across the world.

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