Tag Archives: also-in-grist

BP’s federal penalty for the Gulf spill is final: $4 billion

by HartkePoundstone568 Posted on January 30, 2013

BP’s federal penalty for the Gulf spill is final: $4 billion

By Philip Bump

And that’s that. From CNN:

A federal judge in New Orleans Tuesday approved a $4 billion plea agreement for criminal fines and penalties against oil giant BP for the 2010 Gulf oil spill, the largest criminal penalty in U.S. history.

U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Vance imposed the terms that the Justice Department and BP had agreed to last November, which include the oil company pleading guilty to 14 criminal counts — among them, felony manslaughter charges — and the payment of a record $4 billion in criminal penalties over five years.

Once you add in the $1.4 billion levied against Transocean, the total bill for polluting the Gulf of Mexico and killing 11 workers is $5.4 billion. Or, if you’re so inclined, $5.3 million a day since the explosion on April 20, 2010.

Over the same time period, including BP’s $17 billion loss at the time of the explosion, BP has earned $25.966 billion in profit. Meaning that it’s made $25.5 million in profit a day since the explosion. Take out the BP settlement, and that’s $21.57 million every day, from the day the Deepwater Horizon exploded until today, that BP has earned selling oil. That’s $898,000 an hour. About $250 a second, every second.

In other words — I think they’ll survive this “largest criminal penalty in U.S. history.”

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Almost half of all coal burned in the world is burned in China

by gerdi Posted on January 29, 2013

Almost half of all coal burned in the world is burned in China

By Philip Bump

Speaking of air pollution in China, here’s a disconcerting graph from the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

EIA

The EIA explains:

Coal consumption in China grew more than 9% in 2011, continuing its upward trend for the 12th consecutive year, according to newly released international data. China’s coal use grew by 325 million tons in 2011, accounting for 87% of the 374 million ton global increase in coal use.

China now uses 47 percent of the world’s coal. It’s an almost unfathomable figure.

The EIA also created this animation of Asian coal growth between 1980 and 2010.

In 2011, China’s per-person carbon footprint neared Europe’s, but was still far behind that of the U.S. As the country consumes more coal, that figure will rise — meaning an exponential increase in carbon dioxide, soot, and other toxic pollutants in the air and atmosphere.

One last bit of bad news, from Financial Times energy reporter Ed Crooks:

We’ll update with some good news if possible. Someday.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Sandy aid passes the House, no thanks to a few states

by greenenergy4 Posted on January 16, 2013

Sandy aid passes the House, no thanks to a few states

By Philip Bump

Brian Birke

I was a bit pessimistic yesterday when considering what action the House was likely to take on Sandy aid. While it was obvious that members of the House Republican caucus would throw up roadblocks to the full funding proposal, I didn’t expect that those roadblocks would actually be overcome. But, thanks to the new House majority of every-Democrat-and-a-few-rational-Republicans, they were.

From the Times:

The $50.7 billion — along with a nearly $10 billion aid package that Congress approved earlier this month — seeks to provide for the huge needs that have arisen in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other states since the hurricane struck in late October.

The emergency aid measure would help homeowners whose homes have been damaged or destroyed, provide assistance to business owners who experienced losses as well as reinforce shorelines, repair subway and commuter rail systems, fix bridges and tunnels, and reimburse local governments for emergency expenditures.

Though the package does not cover the entire $82 billion in damage identified by the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, leaders from the storm-ravaged region expressed relief over the action in the Republican-controlled House, where storm aid had become ensnared in the larger debate over spending and deficits.

The most heartening thing about the vote, however, was that it showed how the nation was willing to come together to demonstrate support for states torn apart by disaster. To wit:

Or, in map format, as presented by the New York Times:

If it’s red and striped, it was a Republican representative voting “no.” Notice that stretch of states running up the middle of the country. A lot of them are home to farmers who will enjoy the USDA’s $16 billion farm insurance payout.

The good folks at Wonkette put it best. “Gracious House Of Representatives To NJ, CT And NY: Fine, Here’s Your Stupid Hurricane Money”. As a resident of New York, I echo that sentiment. Thanks, everyone. So very sorry to be such a nuisance.

And don’t blame us when it happens again and we need tens of billions more to recover from another climate-change-fueled storm. You’re the ones that didn’t want to invest in preventative measures.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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California’s nutty farmland values are spiking

by f45 Posted on January 15, 2013

California’s nutty farmland values are spiking

By Susie Cagle

Over the past few years, farmland values have ballooned nationwide. In California, that rise has not only changed the economics of Central Valley farming, but the crops themselves.

A weak dollar has pushed up demand for exports of California’s goods to Asia, especially almonds, pistachios, and walnuts. In 2011, almonds beat out California’s iconic grapes as the state’s second top commodity, at $3.9 billion a year. Nut-growing farmland value has grown 15 to 20 percent over the last two years, and it’s still consistently selling for 10-20 percent above asking price.

In the economically troubled Central Valley, this is the kind of market that makes short-sighted investors drool and long-view economists wince. From the Associated Press:

Investors both foreign and domestic have taken notice, buying up farmland and driving up agricultural land values in a region with some of the highest residential foreclosure rates.

California’s almond industry, which grows about 80 percent of the global almond supply and 100 percent of the domestic supply, saw the most dramatic growth powered by strong demand from new money-spending middle classes in India and China. The growth has prompted a rush for almond-growing land and pushed almond land values through the roof …

Revenues for almonds and walnuts increased by 30 percent between 2010 and 2011, and revenues for grapes rose by 20 percent, according to the USDA. California’s agricultural exports during that time grew by more than $3 billion …

In Fresno County, almond land was valued at up to $18,000 per acre in 2012, and pistachio land at up to $25,000 per acre. That’s higher than citrus, grape, or tree fruit land — and much higher than the $7,200 average per acre farm real estate value in California last year, according to the USDA.

This farm boom is happening at the same time that California state is trying to figure out how to snag all the farmland it needs to turn into high-speed train tracks. The more lucrative the farming and the more expensive the land, the dirtier the fight over high-speed rail is likely to get. If California ends up using its power of eminent domain on these fancy farms, things could get truly nutty.

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California cold snaps farmers’ crops

by iscciaglewstrone123 Posted on January 14, 2013

California cold snaps farmers’ crops

By Susie Cagle

Time for more predictably weird weather news! Sunny California, while still sunny, has been freezing this week. Temperatures statewide plunged to as much as 20 degrees F below normal, the lowest lows the state has seen in years.

The freezing overnight temps are seriously bad news for California farmers’ crops, especially the state’s $2 billion citrus industry, which accounts for most of the commercially available oranges and lemons in the U.S.

mr. ephotopoet

Strawberry and avocado farmers, too, “are having a lot of sleepless nights,” protecting crops with in-field heaters, coverings, fans, and water.

From the Los Angeles Times:

The cold snap has been a particular concern for citrus farmers across the state, who have been up all night since Thursday. There are $1 billion in oranges, lemons, tangerines and grapefruit still on trees in California, the nation’s largest producer of fresh citrus.

The year had been off to a good start, with a particularly flavorful crop of mandarins and good sugar content across the state …

“We were looking at a very profitable year,” said John Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual, an association of the state’s 3,900 citrus growers, the majority of which are family farmers.

But a cold snap can change that in hours. In January 2007, citrus growers lost 60% of the state’s crop to freezes. In 1998 it was 85%. The worst season in memory was the Christmas freeze of December 1990, when a week of temperatures in the teens defoliated the orchards, leading to a total loss for that season and the one after, Nelsen said.

Nothing like some weird weather to remind us how tenuous our centralized food system truly is! The delicious irony here is that a modest touch of cold weather actually regulates citrus sugars well, making better and more stable fruit. So enjoy the California clementines while you can — they may be freezing today, but soon they’ll be rotting on the vine.

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Fixing a broken gas tax could fix broken roads

by u60uurf Posted on January 11, 2013

Fixing a broken gas tax could fix broken roads

By Susie Cagle

Too many people are driving too many dang efficient cars in the Pacific Northwest lately, and Washington and Oregon have had enough. Between those efficient cars and a population that’s just generally driving less, gas tax intake has fallen nationwide, meaning less money for road maintenance and repairs that all cars (and bikes!) need. Now some states are looking at new ways to make up the difference.

deborahfitchett

Starting next month, Washington will begin taxing electric vehicle owners $100 per year, though with about 1,600 electric cars in the state, that’s not likely to fill those empty coffers. In Oregon, lawmakers are considering a proposal to tax through a flat fee like Washington or by taxing drivers of fuel-efficient cars based on the number of miles they drive. (A new report to the Washington state legislature says a mileage tax there would be “feasible.”)

Some say that taxing based on vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, will be the gas tax of the future not just for West Coast hippies, but for everyone. From CNBC:

Either way, what’s happening in the Pacific Northwest is raising a number of questions. The primary one being: Is it only a matter of time until anybody owning a car or truck is paying a special tax based on how much they drive their car?

Supporters of VMT or per mile taxes point out that electric car and even hybrid car owners are paying nothing or very little to help maintain state roads.

Take a look at the Washington electric vehicle tax and compare it to the state’s current gas tax of 37 cents per gallon. If somebody drives an internal combustion car that gets 30 MPG and they average 12,500 miles driven each year, they’ll pay about $154 a year in state gas tax. By comparison, electric car owners will be paying less at just $100 per year.

On the flip side, critics of VMT or per mile taxes say it’s hypocritical of state governments to promote electrical vehicle ownership and then turn around and tax those who are the “early adopters”.

It might be nice if states provided other incentives for more efficient vehicles, but that’s not really the spirit of the gas tax. If its goal were penalizing and shaming us over fossil fuels, I could understand this annoyance, but it’s not! It’s how we fund our roads. Not that we couldn’t use some shaming, but we could really use some investment in crumbling infrastructure. This is how taxes work! (USA! USA!) We all use the roads, so let’s please all pitch in to fill the potholes. You can still do that while feeling righteously smug, Volt drivers.

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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A new year, a new Keystone XL blockade

by hanhuogekennog Posted on January 3, 2013

A new year, a new Keystone XL blockade

By Susie Cagle

Late Wednesday night, the Keystone XL blockaders launched a new tree-sit in Diboli, Texas, coinciding with kickoff of a direct-action training camp.

Last month, TransCanada, which is constructing the southern leg of Keystone XL, got around an 85-day treetop blockade by rerouting the pipeline. With this new tree-sit, located 150 miles south of the old one, “blockaders have found a location around which the pipe cannot easily be rerouted,” activists said in a statement.

A number of protesters on the ground have been arrested so far today, but the two activists in the trees are still untouched, and there have not (yet) been reports of police using force against anyone. In the past, police have put blockade activists in choke holds, dragged them on the ground, and pepper-sprayed them into compliance.

Blockaders say this latest action is being done in solidarity with Idle No More, an ongoing movement of Canada’s First Nations peoples who have, among other battles, been fighting against tar-sands pipelines on their native land. “Rising up to defend our homes against corporate exploitation is our best and only hope to preserve life on this planet,” Tar Sands Blockade spokesperson Ron Seifert said in a statement. “We must normalize and embrace direct, organized resistance to the death machine of industrial extraction and stand with those like Idle No More who take extraordinary risk to defend their families and livelihoods.”

A diversity of tactics and an ability to roll with the punches pepper spray are necessary to any movement’s success. The sustained energy around this series of blockades in Texas is notable, especially after the group’s December defeat. As opposition against the Keystone XL pipeline heats up on the ground in 2013, it seems safe to say that it’ll stay strong in the trees, too.

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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The feds fine Transocean $1.4 billion for Deepwater spill

by johnsmithwindows Posted on January 3, 2013

The feds fine Transocean $1.4 billion for Deepwater spill

By Philip Bump

Ever wonder how much it costs to have a subsidiary role in leaking millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and countless sea animals and gutting the regional economy for months on end?

It costs $1.4 billion.

Transocean has agreed to pay a total of $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties for its role in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in 2010, the Department of Justice just announced.

Under a federal court settlement, it will also plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act. And Transocean will have to take steps to improve safety and emergency response procedures on its drilling rigs.

So there you go. $1.4 billion. Write a check, mail it to Washington, and get to polluting. That’s how capitalism works.

Source

Transocean to Pay $1.4 Billion in Gulf Spill Accord, The New York Times

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Lead-bullet ad targets NRA, misses the point

by RubinkJoseph Posted on December 21, 2012

Lead-bullet ad targets NRA, misses the point

By Susie Cagle

Gun violence is America’s lurking health crisis. But not exactly the way the Center for Biological Diversity means in its full-page New York Times ad today.

Click to embiggen.

None of this is untrue! A drop in environmental lead has even been correlated with a (moderate) drop in violent crime — but that is cold comfort for the people who live in poor urban areas that are afflicted by both gun violence and environmental pollution that isn’t born from hunted meat or shooting ranges.

On a day when the National Rifle Association called for armed guards at every school in America, maybe getting rid of the lead in those would-be guards’ bullets shouldn’t necessarily be our first priority?

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Caught on video: Mudslide from rain-soaked hill derails freight train

by biglermyrta910 Posted on December 19, 2012

Caught on video: Mudslide from rain-soaked hill derails freight train

By Philip Bump

It’s a normal, unremarkable scene: A freight train runs along the edge of a parking lot next to a hillside. The sort of thing you see all the time.

Until the hillside gives way.

This happened yesterday in Everett, Wash., just north of Seattle. The Seattle Times describes how it happened:

The surface slide came off an oversaturated 100-foot cliff that geotechnical engineers had been scheduled to check right after the 66-car train passed, according to [Burlington Northern Santa Fe] spokesman Gus Melonas.

A BNSF-led crew of at least 50 people are cleaning up some of the general grocery store merchandise that spilled — products including soap, lemon juice, solvents and disinfectants. The Seattle-bound train came from Chicago carrying a wide variety of general merchandise including meat, ovens and other things.

Here’s what the rainfall totals in Everett have looked like over the past 10 days, in inches per hour. Sunday and Monday were deluged. And Tuesday, the hillside slipped.

WolframAlpha

It wasn’t the only mudslide in the area. In addition to providing bus service around this slide, Amtrak is re-routing passengers around another stretch of track between Olympia and Tacoma.

Luckily, the contents of the train were fairly inert; initial reports that it was a chemical train seem a bit overblown. But it’s nonetheless disconcerting, as more and more oil and other toxics are shipped by train and as we learn that one of the ways in which the climate has been destabilized by warming is a huge increase in storm size and precipitation.

Could have been much worse, like a tar-sands-oil train knocked off the rails by a climate superstorm. It wasn’t that. Yet.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Caught on video: Mudslide from rain-soaked hill derails freight train

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