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Is Trump’s EPA pick or State nominee the riper target for Democrats?

Oregon’s largest city became the first in the nation to ban the building of major fossil fuel terminals and the expansion of existing ones after a unanimous city council vote on Wednesday.

The city council used zoning codes to enact the ban, which will go into effect in January, and will prevent the construction of any new terminals for transporting or storing coal, methanol, natural gas, and oil. Other West Coast cities made similar moves earlier this year: Vancouver, Washington, banned new oil terminals and Oakland, California, banned coal terminals.

In the wake of the Trump election, it’s clear that the federal government won’t be taking climate action, so environmentalists are increasingly looking to cities to adopt climate change–fighting policies — and those cities might want to follow Portland’s lead.

“What we’ve done in Portland is replicable now in other cities,” Portland Mayor Charlie Hales told InsideClimate News. “Everybody has a zoning code.”

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is also encouraging cities to take action. “Mayors and local leaders around the country are determined to keep pushing ahead on climate change,” he wrote recently, “because it is in their interest to do so.” It’s also in all of ours.

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Is Trump’s EPA pick or State nominee the riper target for Democrats?

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Possible Clinton VP pick has a weird appeal with enviros, fossil fuel groups

Sen. Tim Kaine REUTERS/Jason Reed

citizen kaine

Possible Clinton VP pick has a weird appeal with enviros, fossil fuel groups

By on Jul 13, 2016Share

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, one of Hillary Clinton’s potential picks for vice president, appears to have an uncanny ability to appease special interests across party divides.

Kaine is no Elizabeth Warren on the environment, but he’s no Jim Webb either, getting good reviews from surprising quarters. As Politico reports, he opposed the Keystone XL pipeline, protected 400,000 acres of land from development as governor of Virginia, supports the Clean Power Plan, and has worked to make coastal communities prepare for climate change and sea-level rise. The League of Conservation Voters has given him a lifetime score of 91 percent.

Kaine, however, has also supported offshore drilling in the Atlantic — contradicting Clinton’s position — and supported a bill to fast-track the construction of natural gas terminals. Even fossil fuel interests have taken a liking to him. “We’re encouraged by the reasonable approach he’s taken on oil and natural gas, that he hasn’t been swayed by politics and ideology,” Miles Morin, executive director of the Virginia Petroleum Council, told Politico.

Of course, being on good terms with the fossil fuel industry is a cause for concern among some greens. “If Kaine is the pick, Hillary will need to stake out much clearer positions on drilling, fracking, and new fossil fuel infrastructure,” said 350.org policy director Jason Kowalski. R.L. Miller, Climate Hawks Vote cofounder and a chair of California Democrats’ environmental caucus, responded to Kaine’s record with a resounding, “meh,” citing his mixed record on fossil fuels as why he’s a bad pick to lure progressive Democrats to the polls.

Clinton is expected to announce her choice after the GOP convention next week.

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This GOP Presidential Candidate Is Trying to Destroy Planned Parenthood. Now Planned Parenthood Is Fighting Back.

Mother Jones

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Planned Parenthood in Louisiana is asking a federal judge to halt presidential candidate and state Gov. Bobby Jindal’s efforts to cut Medicaid funding for the health care organization, arguing that the cut would hurt nearly 6,000 low-income women, men, and teens who access the group’s services each year.

Referencing the series of attack videos that depict Planned Parenthood officials in California and other states discussing fetal tissue donation, Jindal earlier this month directed the state’s department of health to terminate Planned Parenthood’s contract with Medicaid, saying the organization was not “worthy of receiving public assistance from the state.”

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, which operates clinics in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, does not offer abortion services in Louisiana. It does, however, provide physical exams, breast cancer screenings, and testing for sexually transmitted infections to 10,000 people each year, 60 percent of whom are enrolled in Medicaid.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, lawyers for the health care organization wrote that those patients will be cut off from health care access as early as next week, causing them “significant and irreparable harm,” unless the court blocks Jindal’s decision. Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood, which totaled nearly $730,000 last year, are set to end September 2 unless the court steps in.

A key issue is whether cutting off Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding is legal. This month, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) warned Louisiana that terminating Medicaid provider agreements likely violates a federal rule requiring Medicaid beneficiaries to be able to obtain services from any qualified provider.

The point of that provision, according to CMS, is to “allow Medicaid recipients the same opportunities to choose among available providers of covered health care and services as are normally offered to the general population.”

Louisiana isn’t the only state to cut funding for Planned Parenthood: Alabama, Arkansas, New Hampshire, and Utah have taken similar steps. And Republicans in Congress tried, but failed, to push through a bill to slash $500 million in federal funding.

Jindal is also one of a handful of Republican governors who have launched investigations into state Planned Parenthood affiliates in the hopes of finding criminal activity related to the sale of aborted fetal tissue. Those investigations, many of which are taking place in states that don’t have fetal tissue donation programs, have so far turned up nothing. The investigation in Louisiana, however, has put on hold the construction of a third Planned Parenthood clinic, which was approved by the department of health earlier this year after months of pushback.

But coming out swinging against the country’s largest women’s health care organization hasn’t translated to a more successful presidential campaign for Jindal. He was one of two sitting governors who did not get to participate in the first prime-time Republican debate this year because the forum was limited to the top-polling candidates. National polls have consistently put him in the low single digits.

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This GOP Presidential Candidate Is Trying to Destroy Planned Parenthood. Now Planned Parenthood Is Fighting Back.

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21st-Century Span: Imperiled Sturgeon Watched in Tappan Zee Bridge Construction Zone

Officials are trying to determine whether construction noises at the site of the Tappan Zee Bridge’s replacement are harming the Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, two imperiled species. Original article: 21st-Century Span: Imperiled Sturgeon Watched in Tappan Zee Bridge Construction Zone Related ArticlesNational Briefing | Northwest: Alaska: Rain May Help Quell Huge FireDot Earth Blog: Americans’ Varied Views of ‘Global Warming’ and ‘Climate Change’Op-Ed Contributor: Climate Change Doomed the Ancients

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21st-Century Span: Imperiled Sturgeon Watched in Tappan Zee Bridge Construction Zone

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No Easy Way to Restrict Construction in Risky Areas

The government has broad authority to regulate safety in decisions about where and how to build, but it can count on trouble when it tries to restrict the right to build. Originally from:  No Easy Way to Restrict Construction in Risky Areas ; ;Related ArticlesDot Earth Blog: Rising Seas + Dams + Aquifer Pumping = Delta BluesWhite House Unveils Plans to to Cut Methane EmissionsNew Mexico Is Reaping a Bounty in Pecans as Other States Struggle ;

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No Easy Way to Restrict Construction in Risky Areas

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Was Crimea Mainly a Diversion From Putin’s Burgeoning Olympic Scandal?

Mother Jones

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Kimberly Marten suggests that the main reason for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Crimea was entirely domestic. He needed something to divert public attention from a huge unfolding scandal:

Putin’s scandal was the corruption surrounding the Sochi Olympics. As we all know by now, the construction costs associated with Sochi facilities and infrastructure exceeded $50 billion.

….Putin has stayed in power for so long because he has been able to control the snake-pit of competing informal political networks that surround the halls of power in Russia….Members of that network told some Americans privately in 2013 that they believed some kind of reckoning over corruption in Sochi would happen this spring, perhaps when it became clear that tens of billions of dollars in state loans could not be repaid….The public might never have known or understood what was happening, but Putin would have lost face where it matters most—inside Kremlin walls, where he is supposed to be the great informal network balancer. Putin’s Crimean adventure neatly shifted the conversation to other topics, and no one is likely to bring it up again anytime soon.

….Diversion could not have been Putin’s only motive. There are certainly deep nationalist, historical, and triumphalist reasons for Putin’s actions, as Joshua Tucker wrote about here in The Monkey Cage last week. But it is striking how little Putin gained in Crimea. The region was subsidized by the rest of Ukraine, and he will now have to fund those subsidies out of the Russian state budget. Russian generators are now keeping the Crimean capital of Simferopol lit, as Ukraine turns off the electricity flowing in from the mainland. Crimea does have a crucial Russian naval base, but Putin already controlled that base without needing to occupy Crimea, because of a treaty that lasted through 2042.

The only thing that surprises me about this is that it’s presented as a novel thesis. I thought this was widely taken for granted. Obviously there were international triggers for Putin’s actions—the EU association agreement, the downfall of Yanukovich, the expansion of NATO, etc.—but it’s still striking that Putin was willing to give up so much on the international stage for something that, as Marten says, gets him almost nothing in return. By nearly any measure, Crimea simply isn’t much of a plum. If this was his idea of reasserting the Russian empire, Putin has a mighty cramped view of empire.

But it was massively popular domestically. Whatever else you can say about it, it’s certainly gotten the Russian public firmly on Putin’s side for the time being. I don’t know if anyone can say for sure that this was his primary motive—frankly, I’m not sure Putin himself even knows what his primary motive was—but it seems almost certain that it was a significant one. After all, Putin would hardly be the first world leader to shore up his public standing with a lovely little war abroad.

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Congress backtracking on law that aimed to reduce flood risks

Congress backtracking on law that aimed to reduce flood risks

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Northeast Region

Demolishing coastal habitats and replacing them with buildings is just asking for trouble. Mangroves, sand dunes, and other coastal ecosystems can buffer rising tides and storm surges. Homes, driveways, and roads, on the other hand — well, they just flood.

Yet since the late 1960s, the federal government has been promoting the construction of homes in flood-vulnerable coastal areas through the National Flood Insurance Program. Under the NFIP, taxpayers subsidize the costs of insuring homes in flood-prone neighborhoods. The program has led to the demolition of coastal habitats and the construction of flood-vulnerable homes is coastal areas around the country.

Fortunately, lawmakers came to understand the folly of the nation’s ways. Last year, by a 412 to 18 margin, Congress did something unusual: It passed a bill that went on to become law. The bill started raising flood insurance rates to something resembling market prices.

Unfortunately, now Congress wants to backtrack. Seems members didn’t comprehend the scale of the problem they were trying to fix. The issue of unsuitable homes built on flood plains is so entrenched that the new law led to severe economic impacts for homeowners who were forced to foot greater shares of the insurance bills needed to protect their properties.

“All the houses, all the stores, all the businesses — everything has to be raised six, eight, ten feet high,” Mike O’Reilly, a resident of New York’s Broad Channel Island, told CBS News during a protest last month that took place on land that was inundated after Superstorm Sandy struck the region. “If you don’t comply with this impossible task, the insurance premiums are going to up $20,000-$30,000 a year.”

Reacting to widespread anger, Congress is now scrambling to undo the program changes that it once so heartily supported.

Here is Salon’s summary of the 2012 legislation:

The Biggert-Waters reform legislation … forced the creation of new FEMA maps to determine who needed flood insurance. It also allowed higher annual premium increases — to 20 percent from 10 percent — so premiums could gradually come more in line with actuarial realities. And for high-risk homes built before flood maps were adopted, which enjoyed generous subsidies, flood insurance rates would increase 25 percent a year, until they reached a level commensurate with the actual risk. If the homes changed hands, they would immediately move to the risk-adjusted rates. Over time, subsidies for 1.1 million policyholders, 20 percent of the program, would be phased out.

And here is its summary of Congress’s new effort to undo its own legislation:

[A] deal … would delay the changes to the program by four years. It would force FEMA to conduct an “affordability study” to ensure that homeowners wouldn’t pay undue costs, and would allow reimbursement to policyholders who successfully appeal a change to flood maps that increase their rates.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the federal government is spending billions of dollars buying up coastal homes in New Jersey. Those homes will be replaced with flood- and storm-buffering sand dunes like those that used to line the shore. As Congress looks for a fair way to fix 45 years of irresponsible home building promoted by the NFIP, more neighborhood-eliminating projects like these might need to be considered.


Source
Homeowners protest new flood insurance rate hikes, CBS
The 1 percent’s flood insurance scam, Salon

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Wind turbines don’t hurt property values

Wind turbines don’t hurt property values

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The owners of this Flintstones-style house are no poorer because of the neighboring wind turbines.

Some people who learn that wind turbines are going to be built in their neighborhood freak out about a couple of things, but science can help put their minds at ease.

First, they worry that their health will be harmed if they develop so-called “wind turbine syndrome.” But there is no evidence that wind turbines actually cause any of the ailments commonly blamed on them.

Next, they worry that the value of their property will fall. “Here come those eggshell-colored spinning things that produce energy but no pollution,” they might mutter to one another in hushed tones. “There goes the neighborhood.”

Fortunately, this concern is equally unwarranted, according to a comprehensive new study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers [PDF]. From the study:

We collected data from more than 50,000 home sales among 27 counties in nine states. These homes were within 10 miles of 67 different wind facilities, and 1,198 sales were within 1 mile of a turbine — many more than previous studies have collected. The data span the periods well before announcement of the wind facilities to well after their construction. …

Regardless of model specification, we find no statistical evidence that home values near turbines were affected in the post-construction or post-announcement/pre-construction periods. …

[T]he core results of our analysis consistently show no sizable statistically significant impact of wind turbines on nearby property values.

This was the largest study of its kind, but it was not the first. Studies published by the same laboratory in 2009 and 2011 reached the same conclusions.

“Although there have been claims of significant property value impacts near operating wind turbines that regularly surface in the press or in local communities, strong evidence to support those claims has failed to materialize in all of the major U.S. studies conducted thus far,” said lead researcher Ben Hoen.

Hoen and his colleagues dug up similar but highly localized academic studies focused on parts of Illinois, New York, Ontario, the U.K., and the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Only the latter study found any evidence of a potential effect of wind turbines on property values.

So unless you’re investing in real estate in western Germany, you can breathe easy about any nearby wind energy developments. They won’t harm your health, and they won’t diminish the value of your property portfolio.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Obama’s group Organizing for Action finally takes up climate change … sort of

Obama’s group Organizing for Action finally takes up climate change … sort of

It’s about time. So far this year, President Obama and his advocacy nonprofit Organizing for Action have been making big pushes for gun control and immigration reform, while largely ignoring climate change. Today that’s starting to change.

From The Huffington Post:

Organizing for Action, the advocacy arm pushing the Obama administration’s agenda, will begin its next big policy push on Thursday with a focus on climate change.

The group, which was formed using the 2012 Obama campaign’s machinery, will begin what organizers view as a potential multi-year effort to lay the groundwork for legislative action on climate change. The first steps will come in the form of an email blast to the group’s reported 20 million subscribers Thursday morning featuring a “greatest hits” video compilation of what it calls the climate deniers in Congress.

From the email: “If we ever want to see real progress on climate change, we need to change the conversation in Washington — right now. We need every member of Congress to be part of the solution. OFA is going to hold these climate deniers accountable — even if we have to go one by one.”

Here’s the video:

More from HuffPo:

Climate change activists likely will be heartened by OFA’s decision to tackle the subject, which has remained in the backdrop since Congress failed to pass cap-and-trade legislation in 2009. But a closer look at the specific objectives of the campaign is less likely to satisfy the growing community of scientists and advocates who see an immediate need for bold action.

OFA is not advocating any specific policy prescription, nor does its campaign address the lingering question of whether the president will sign off on the construction of the [upper] part of the Keystone XL, the controversial pipeline that would carry heavy crude oil from Canada to refineries in Oklahoma. Instead, OFA’s goal is simply getting lawmakers to acknowledge the reality of anthropogenic climate change.

So: Immigration-reform legislation is actually making progress through our bitterly divided Congress. Gun-control legislation at least got a vote, and is expected to return to the Senate floor. On climate change, the Obama team isn’t backing any legislation at all — it’s just trying to shame GOP deniers, who are notoriously shameless, by getting you to sign a petition.

I guess that’s progress?

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Fracking drives potentially explosive demand for potentially explosive ammonia factories

Fracking drives potentially explosive demand for potentially explosive ammonia factories

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The U.S. could soon be home to a lot more ammonia factories — not a comforting thought after a deadly explosion at an ammonia fertilizer plant in Texas on Wednesday evening. You can blame the fracking boom.

Ammonia is used to produce fertilizer, industrial explosives (like those used in mining), plastics, and other products. It’s becoming cheaper to produce in the U.S. because one of its main feedstocks is natural gas, and natural gas, in case you haven’t heard, is being fracked here at a breakneck pace and sold for bargain-basement prices.

Australian company Incitec Pivot this week announced [PDF] that it will be building a hulking new $850 million ammonia facility in Waggaman, La., just outside New Orleans. Construction could begin within six weeks, with the plant expected to come online in 2016. The announcement is being characterized by Australia’s media as a blow for the manufacturing sector Down Under, but Incitec Pivot can’t resist the siren song of cheap American natural gas.

From Australia’s The Age:

[Incitec Pivot] Chief executive James Fazzino said the boom in shale had enabled a “step change” in US gas prices.

“[The plant] takes our North American business and any future expansions back to US gas economics,” he said. “This is vital to this project because 80 per cent of the cost of making ammonia is gas.”

He’s not the only one who’s smelling opportunity. U.S.-based Mosaic announced in December that it may build a $700 million ammonia plant in St. James Parish, La. U.S.-based CHS Inc. said in September that it would construct a $1.2 billion ammonia plant in North Dakota. Also in September, Egypt’s largest company, Orascom Construction, said it would spend $1.4 billion to build a fertilizer plant in Iowa.

ICIS, a news source for the petrochemical industry, explains the trend:

Nitrogen fertilizer production in the US was in a state of decline, but is now in a period of transition. After 20 years of rising raw material costs and players closing and relocating plants, there is renewed impetus among domestic producers to invest in their own country.

Rather than looking to other regions, producers of ammonia and urea are eyeing new opportunities on US shores for the first time since the 1990s. According to engineering contractor ThyssenKrupp Uhde, this is the dawn of a new era with plenty of opportunity.

“The high demand for fertilizer plants in the US is clearly a consequence of the shale gas boom,” says Klaus Noelker, head of process department for ThyssenKrupp Uhde’s Ammonia and Urea Division.

The history of ammonia production and storage is littered with spectacular accidents. The owners of the Texas facility had previously assured regulators that their operation posed no serious safety risks. From The Dallas Morning News:

West Fertilizer Co. reported having as much as 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia on hand in an emergency planning report required of facilities that use toxic or hazardous chemicals.

But the report … stated “no” under fire or explosive risks. The worst possible scenario, the report said, would be a 10-minute release of ammonia gas that would kill or injure no one. The second worst possibility projected was a leak from a broken hose used to transfer the product, again causing no injuries.

The new planned ammonia facilities will be a lot bigger than the one in West, Texas. Here’s hoping they’ll also be a lot safer.

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Fracking drives potentially explosive demand for potentially explosive ammonia factories

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