Tag Archives: dolphin

Need a New Stadium? Threaten to Move Here

by Dermian Fizalian Posted on September 28, 2013

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

Nothing rips out a fan’s heart quite like seeing a hometown team pack up and move to another city. (Or, as the case may be, not seeing a hometown team pack up and move to another city.) While there may be legitimate reasons for franchises to relocate—bankruptcy, low ticket sales, Jay-Z buying a stake—many recent threats to move have one common factor: stadium funding. If your local government decided against spending $400 million of public money to add a few more luxury boxes to Xtreme Cola Guzzle The Flavor® Memorial Arena, get ready to hear your team’s owner talking a lot about the following cities. But which threats will have you back in your seat next season, and which will leave you crying into your Houston Oilers jersey? We’ve got you covered:

Los Angeles
LA has been the NFL’s biggest bogeyman ever since the Raiders returned to Oakland in 1995. Most recently, in his push for a new stadium, Raiders owner Mark Davis said that Los Angeles is “always” on his mind. Miami Dolphins CEO Mike Dee raised the specter of relocating Perfectville to LA after Florida opted against giving the team $3 million a year for 30 years for stadium renovations. The City of Angels also looms over teams like the Rams, Jaguars, and Bills, and it served as a believable enough landing place to get Minnesota to agree to a $975 million deal to make sure the Vikings didn’t leave. The threats aren’t empty, though—LA has two proposed stadium sites that are “shovel ready” along with a massive media market without professional football. With no NFL expansion plans, it seems less a question of if a team will move there and more a question of when.
Relocation likelihood: 5/5 moving vans

Toronto
The Buffalo Bills have played at least one home game in Toronto for the past few seasons, but they were able to convince the state and county to agree to a $271 million stadium renovation deal at the end of last year that comes with a 10-year lease (although the team can opt out relatively cheaply after seven). While the Bills enjoy a relatively large fan base in the area, Toronto officials could look elsewhere in the meantime, with Jacksonville and New Orleans getting special mentions. Whether it’s the Bills, Jags, Saints, or another team who likes Scott Pilgrim enough to move, relocating a franchise to Toronto would be a lot easier than moving one to London. Let’s just hope everyone on Twitter gets their “Are they gonna punt on third down?” CFL jokes out of the way quickly.
Relocation likelihood: 3/5 moving vans

London
While Londoners prepare for a barn-burning matchup of winless teams, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has made no secret of his interest in putting a franchise across the pond. It’s a nice bargaining chip for the league and its owners—as the St. Louis Rams tried to get the city to agree to a $700 million stadium deal, the NFL scheduled them for three years of London home games. This year, the Jacksonville Jaguars were scheduled for four straight London games, with the team’s owner calling the Jaguars “the home team for London.” The league is even pushing a fun club called the Union Jax. Despite these moves, there are plenty of obstacles to putting a franchise in the United Kingdom anytime soon, including huge travel times, players reluctant to move overseas, and the potential for incessant football/football jokes during broadcasts. (Not everyone is so pessimistic.) If a team moves to LA soon, expect London to make a nice new bogeyman.
Relocation likelihood: 2/5 moving vans

BONUS NBA/NHL SITE: Seattle
Your favorite football team might be safe, but that doesn’t mean your local basketball or hockey team is sticking around. Fans of the SuperSonics came tantalizingly close to regaining a franchise this year, only to see the Sacramento Kings stay put. The NBA, on the other hand, saw an extremely effective strategy for getting local officials to help pay for a $448 million new arena in downtown Sacramento. As teams like Milwaukee negotiate new stadium deals, expect threats to turn the team into the new Sonics to come early and often. Seattle also sits pretty as a large market without an NHL team, making the strategy just as useful for hockey owners. The Edmonton Oilers management team took a scouting trip out to Seattle after negotiations with Edmonton over a new arena got off to a rocky start. Both leagues have also discussed expansion, however, so it’s possible the Emerald City could see new franchises without having to poach them.
Relocation likelihood: 4/5 moving vans

Link to article: 

Need a New Stadium? Threaten to Move Here

Posted in alo, Dolphin, FF, GE, LG, ONA, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Need a New Stadium? Threaten to Move Here

Thousands of Dolphins And Whales Will Get in the Way of the Navy’s Bombs, Says the Navy

by Micheal Bay Posted on August 30, 2013

Photo: St. Petersburg / Clearwater

A pair of reports put out by the Navy today outline how the Navy is going to “inadvertently kill hundreds of whales and dolphins and injure thousands over the next five years,” says the Associated Press, “mostly as a result of detonating explosives underwater.”

On top of the underwater bombings, the Navy says that its “testing and training” exercises are also probably going to temporarily deafen millions of marine critters. The detrimental effects of sonar on whales and dolphins has been a controversial topic for the past decade or so, since at least 2001 when another Navy report found that sonar had contributed to the deaths of “at least six whales.”

The Navy does the bulk of its training in four places: off the East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and off Southern California and Hawaii, and it would like to continue doing so. But, in order to get the permit it needs to do field training for the next five years, the Navy has to study how its activities could affect marine life. That’s where these new environmental impact assessments came from.

For their part, an official blog post from the Navy says that they are very sorry not sorry for the forthcoming deaths and deafenings:

Active sonar operation and underwater explosive ordnance handling are perishable skills that require training at sea under realistic conditions that cannot be replicated by simulation alone. Newly developed systems and ordnance also must be tested in the same conditions under which they will be operated. Without this realistic training and testing, our Sailors cannot develop and maintain the critical skills they need or ensure that new technology can be operated effectively.

We have proactively coordinated with regulatory agencies and adopted their suggestions for standard operating procedures to protect marine species and the environment wherever possible, such as using trained lookouts to avoid marine mammals while underway and ramping down or halting sonar if marine mammals approach our ships within certain safety zones. With the care and diligence of Sailors like you, we have been able to protect marine life without jeopardizing our ability to conduct essential training and testing.

“Rear Adm. Kevin Slates, the Navy’s energy and environmental readiness division director, told reporters this week the Navy uses simulators where possible but sailors must test and train in real-life conditions.” – AP

More from Smithsonian.com:

Navy’s Plan To Go Green Is Falling Apart
Navy Dolphins Turn Up a Rare 19th-Century Torpedo
The Navy’s Future Is Filled With Laser Guns

See original article here:  

Thousands of Dolphins And Whales Will Get in the Way of the Navy’s Bombs, Says the Navy

Posted in alo, Dolphin, FF, GE, ONA, Smith's, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Thousands of Dolphins And Whales Will Get in the Way of the Navy’s Bombs, Says the Navy

Coal shoulder: BLM sells controversial coal mining lease, but no one’s buying

by fji5enf2 Posted on August 22, 2013

Coal shoulder: BLM sells controversial coal mining lease, but no one’s buying

By Claire Thompson

Kimon Berlin

Wyoming has enough coal trains for now.

Today the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming held a sale for the lease of 148 million tons of coal on public land in the Powder River Basin — and received not  a single bid, a first in the state BLM’s history.

The sale was the first of two that the BLM had planned in the area over the next month, which combined would pave the way for the extraction of 316 million tons of Powder River Basin coal. Cloud Peak Energy had asked the BLM back in 2006 to open the site of today’s lease to mining, presumably to expand on its adjacent Cloud Peak mine. But today, the energy company decided it wouldn’t bid, and no one else stepped up (federal coal leases frequently see only one bidder). Here’s Cloud Peak CEO Colin Marshall in the company’s press release:

We carefully evaluated the estimated economics of this LBA [lease by application] in light of current market conditions and the uncertainty caused by the current political and regulatory environment towards coal and coal-powered generation and ultimately decided it was prudent not to bid at this time. … [W]e believe a significant portion of the BLM’s estimated mineable tons would not be recoverable by us if we were to be the winning bidder in the BLM’s competitive process. In combination with prevailing 8400 Btu market prices and projected costs of mining the remaining coal, we were unable to construct an economic bid for this tract at this time.

In other words, coal in this country is getting more difficult and costly to mine, domestic demand is falling, and Obama has directed EPA to crack down on emissions from coal-fired power plants. Even the coal industry’s hail-mary plan to stay profitable by pushing exports to Asia faces setbacks. We agree with Cloud Peak that starting up a whole new coal-mining operation is probably not prudent at this point.

The BLM’s coal-leasing process is already rife with problems: In June, an Interior Department inspector general’s report found that the BLM routinely underestimates the value of federal coal leases, failing to take into account the more lucrative Asian market. Taxpayers lose out on tens of millions as a result. But this time, even that hefty discount wasn’t enough to get Cloud Peak to bid.

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

,

Climate & Energy

Continue reading: 

Coal shoulder: BLM sells controversial coal mining lease, but no one’s buying

Posted in ALPHA, Anchor, Dolphin, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Coal shoulder: BLM sells controversial coal mining lease, but no one’s buying

By 2050, flooding could cost the world’s coastal cities over $60 billion a year

by Fredrick Wise Posted on August 21, 2013

By 2050, flooding could cost the world’s coastal cities over $60 billion a year

By Claire Thompson

Oliver Rich

Hurricane Sandy was a wake-up call for New York City, one of the 20 cities expected to see the most damages from flooding.

In 2005, flooding caused $6 billion worth of damage globally. By 2050, we could be hit with 10 times that much in losses — and that’s only if the world’s biggest coastal cities make significant investments to mitigate risk. If we do nothing, costs could soar to $1 trillion.

These sobering statistics come from a new study in Nature Climate Change which identifies the 20 coastal metropolises that stand to lose the most when (not if) major flooding occurs in the future. Sea-level rise, subsidence (the land sinking), and increasingly strong storms — all related to climate change — increase the risk of flooding. But much of the growing price tag of future flood losses is thanks to the growing numbers of people crowding along the world’s coasts.

Time reports:

[T]he most immediate threat is the sheer increase in people—and their property—put in harm’s way in coastal cities. In the U.S. 87 million people now live along the coast, up from 47 million people in 1960, and globally six of the world’s 10 largest cities are on the coast. Of the $60 to $63 billion in flood risk the Nature Climate Change study estimates the world’s cities will face by 2050, $52 billion is due to economic and population growth—the rest is due to sea level rise and land use change.

The study looks not only at which cities will face the highest absolute costs as a result of increased flooding, but also at which will see the largest relative increase in average annual damages, and which had the highest losses as a percentage of GDP in 2005. In terms of absolute losses, Miami and New York — places with large populations and high concentrations of wealth — face the most risk among cities in developed nations. In fact, in 2005, New York, Miami, and New Orleans accounted for 31 percent of total damage costs across all 136 cities studied (perhaps Katrina had something to do with that).

This chart of relative increases in average annual losses (AAL) includes some places that may not be accustomed to thinking of themselves as particularly flood-prone, but are going to have to adapt fast: Houston and Tel Aviv, for instance, are facing at least a 50 percent increase in AAL, while Alexandria, Egypt, and Barranquilla, Colombia, could see 100 percent increases or more.

Nature Climate ChangeClick to embiggen.

When it comes to cities whose 2005 losses made up the highest percentage of their GDP, New York and Miami don’t appear in the top 10, but New Orleans is No. 2, joined by places like Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. While making aggressive adaptation moves — improving infrastructure, developing evacuation plans, establishing (literal) rainy day funds to prepare for economic rebuilding — will substantially lower future flooding losses, such measures won’t come cheap: The report estimates they’ll cost cities around $50 billion a year from now until 2050.

The extreme solution would be to start relocating everyone inland, reducing potential loss of life and property in flood zones. But what are the chances of getting all those coastal elites to move into flyover country? We’ll just keep pouring money into our pleasure boats as they sink.

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Cities

,

Climate & Energy

Originally from:  

By 2050, flooding could cost the world’s coastal cities over $60 billion a year

Posted in alo, ALPHA, Anchor, Dolphin, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on By 2050, flooding could cost the world’s coastal cities over $60 billion a year

The White House goes solar — again

by 2lgax8lh Posted on August 15, 2013

The White House goes solar — again

By Claire Thompson

350.org

350.org makes the case for solar panels on the White House in 2010.

Nearly three years after the Obama administration promised to install solar panels on the White House roof, the plan is finally moving ahead. A White House official confirmed today that installment of American-made solar panels has begun. Bill McKibben, whose climate-action group 350.org led the original push to get the panels up, called the news “better late than never.”

In October 2010, then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that by the end of spring 2011, “there will be solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House.” The failure of those features to materialize provoked criticism from environmentalists, who saw it as symbolic of Obama’s larger lack of follow-through on sustainability goals.

350.org

Jimmy Carter with the original White House solar panels.

The recent campaign for a solar-powered White House wasn’t an original idea. Way back in 1979 — before global warming became a household phrase — President Jimmy Carter installed solar panels that graced the White House roof until 1986, when President Ronald Reagan had them removed (ugh). The Washington Post reports:

In 1979, Carter had predicted the solar water heater and panels on the White House grounds will ”either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.”

For awhile, it was the lack of those panels that symbolized the road not taken. Climate activists hoped their reappearance would point the way back. Here’s McKibben in June 2011:

A year ago, some of us decided it would be a great symbol of commitment — kind of a renewal of vows — if Obama would put solar panels on top of the White House, just the way Jimmy Carter had done … After all, this was something he could do all on his own, without even having to ask the Congress. And who doesn’t like solar panels?

No word on what caused the big delay in fulfillment of Chu’s 2010 promise. Neither has it yet been revealed which company the panels are coming from, although in 2010 Chu had said the White House would hold a competitive bidding process to buy 20 to 50 panels.

The solar panels are only part of larger efficiency upgrades to the White House, The Hill reports:

“The retrofit will include the installation of energy-saving equipment, such as updated building controls and variable speed fans, as well as solar generation. The project will help demonstrate that historic buildings can incorporate solar energy and energy efficiency upgrades,” the White House official said.

Let’s hope that this time, the panels stay put.

Editor’s note: McKibben serves on Grist’s board of directors.

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

,

Climate & Energy

,

Politics

Original article: 

The White House goes solar — again

Posted in ALPHA, Anchor, Dolphin, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, solar, solar panels, solar power, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The White House goes solar — again

Kochs must move their massive piles of tar-sands waste, Detroit mayor says

by Bernie MacRos Posted on August 14, 2013

Kochs must move their massive piles of tar-sands waste, Detroit mayor says

By John Upton

What do you do when monstrous piles of dusty black carbon move into your city?

If you’re Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, you issue an order demanding that they be removed. And after that’s ignored, you issue another.

Petroleum Coke Awareness Detroit

What could be lovelier than a sunset over petcoke piles?

The city’s riverfront has been blighted by huge, uncovered piles of petroleum coke since a local refinery began processing Canadian tar-sands oil in November. Just take a look at this video of a black wall of dust being kicked up from the piles:

The petcoke can be burned for fuel, but it’s so dirty that doing so in America would violate clean air laws, so the proud owners of the revolting waste — the Koch brothers, of course — have been trying to sell it elsewhere. In June, a Canadian power plant started taking some of it, but the pile still remains. From a press release issued Tuesday by Bing’s office:

“Today, my administration informed Detroit Bulk Storage that all of the stored petroleum coke material must be moved off site by August 27,” said Mayor Bing. “DBS personnel have assured us that no new materials are being brought onto the site, and all of their activity is concentrated on offsite removal of the pet coke.” …

This move comes after Detroit Bulk Storage (DBS) failed to remove all of the material by August 9 as directed by a Correction Order issued by the City’s Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) last week. At that time, BSEED cited the company for being in violation of the Detroit Property Maintenance Code and/or Official Zoning Ordinance.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the Kochs had already intended to remove the mess this month:

The piles are owned by Koch Carbon and come from the Marathon Detroit Refinery. Detroit Bulk Storage is storing the pet coke on property owned by billionaire and Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun and leased to Norfolk Southern railroad.

Koch Carbon announced last month that it is moving the piles to Ohio “to meet our shipment needs.”

Our sympathies go out to Ohioans.

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.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Cities

,

Climate & Energy

Also in Grist

Please enable JavaScript to see recommended stories

Link: 

Kochs must move their massive piles of tar-sands waste, Detroit mayor says

Posted in alo, ALPHA, Anchor, Dolphin, FF, Free Press, G & F, GE, LAI, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Kochs must move their massive piles of tar-sands waste, Detroit mayor says

BP whines some more about how rough life is

by Vladyslava7u1 Posted on August 13, 2013

BP whines some more about how rough life is

By John Upton

Not that big a deal, really.

BP killed 11 workers when the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up, and then it obstructed government investigators. That’s not editorializing — the company pled guilty to manslaughter and obstruction charges. Since you can’t imprison a corporation, it was punished in other ways. One of those punishments was a temporary ban on getting new federal contracts.

Never one to miss an opportunity to publicly whine about how unfair the world is for an explosion-prone petrochemical giant, BP sued the U.S. government on Monday over the suspension, arguing in court that it is arbitrary, capricious, and “an abuse of discretion.” From Fuel Fix:

BP … wants a judge to order the EPA to lift the suspension and allow BP to bid for and secure new government contracts.

The suspension, called a debarment, affects only new federal contracts, not existing ones. Because of it, however, BP has lost out on potentially billions of dollars of business with the U.S. government.

Among other things, the company was ineligible for new contracts worth up to $1.9 billion to provide fuel to the government this year.

Our hearts are just bleeding.

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.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

,

Climate & Energy

Also in Grist

Please enable JavaScript to see recommended stories

See original article here:  

BP whines some more about how rough life is

Posted in ALPHA, Anchor, Dolphin, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on BP whines some more about how rough life is

Even nuclear weapons are going green

by Unique Article Posted on August 13, 2013

Even nuclear weapons are going green

By John Upton

Pantex PlantThe project’s logo.

If the nuclear apocalypse comes, at least it will be a little more climate-friendly.

Construction of five 400-foot wind turbines is beginning today at America’s main site for assembling, disassembling, and maintaining its nuclear arsenal.

The 2.3-megawatt turbines are expected to produce more than half of the power used at the Pantex Plant in the Texas Panhandle. When the blades start spinning next summer, the facility will be the largest federally owned wind farm.

“The windfarm will play a key role in helping Pantex achieve President Obama’s directive that the federal government lead the way in clean energy and energy efficiency,” says a Pantex press release. And the turbines will save the government millions in energy costs too.

The project is part of a broader campaign to make the nation’s nuclear weapons system more eco-friendly. It has a slogan — “Greening the nuclear security enterprise” — and its very own logo featuring a nuke, some wind turbines, wheat, a steer, and, of course, an American flag.

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.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Climate & Energy

,

Politics

Also in Grist

Please enable JavaScript to see recommended stories

Read More:

Even nuclear weapons are going green

Posted in ALPHA, Anchor, Dolphin, eco-friendly, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Even nuclear weapons are going green

Carbon offsets plan stirs up controversy in California

by dx1d3x0 Posted on August 12, 2013

Carbon offsets plan stirs up controversy in California

By John Upton

Flickred!

California polluters will soon be able to buy CO2 offsets.

The owners of California’s most polluting industries will be breathing a little easier under a greenhouse gas rule being developed by the state — but their neighbors will not be so lucky.

Californian businesses will soon be allowed to purchase carbon offsets to help them achieve up to 8 percent of required greenhouse gas reductions under the state’s climate change rules. So an oil refinery or factory could sink some funds into a reforestation or energy-efficiency project somewhere else in the U.S. and not reduce its own pollution as much.

The carbon offset rule, being developed by the California Air Resources Board (ARB), will help ensure that the state’s climate change regulations do what they are intended to do — reduce the amount of greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere.

But it will do little for Californians who were eager to breathe cleaner air as a byproduct of the climate change rules. And some worry that carbon offset projects funded by Californian businesses could be scams, in some cases projects that would have moved forward anyway. Those concerns triggered a lawsuit against the state’s planned use of carbon offsets, but the lawsuit was dismissed in January.

From an article in The Sacramento Bee:

[S]tate officials and some environmentalists say offsets are a perfectly legitimate way to combat global warming.

They say offsets give California companies greater leeway in how they follow the state’s climate-change law, AB 32, which was signed into law in 2006. With companies spending an estimated $1 billion a year to comply, this flexibility will help them save money.

“Offsets are a low-cost mechanism,” said Rajinder Sahota, manager of the ARB’s climate change program evaluation branch. The ARB oversees the state’s year-old carbon emissions standards and will police the use of offsets.

Still, some critics say companies in California shouldn’t be allowed to satisfy part of their regulatory burden by paying someone in another state to curb their carbon emissions.

“The local communities living on the fence lines of the refineries and power plants and incinerators don’t receive the benefits,” said Jeff Conant of Friends of the Earth, another critic of offsets.

The use of carbon offsets can be controversial, but it is widespread. It’s allowed, for example, in the European Union’s carbon-trading scheme.

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.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

,

Climate & Energy

Also in Grist

Please enable JavaScript to see recommended stories

Read this article:

Carbon offsets plan stirs up controversy in California

Posted in ALPHA, Anchor, Dolphin, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, ONA, PUR, solar, solar power, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Carbon offsets plan stirs up controversy in California

Albany, Long Buried in Paper, Resolves to Save a Small Forest

by Myrna Posted on August 10, 2013

The delivery of bills to New York State lawmakers on tablets or laptop computers requires a constitutional amendment, which the Legislature will put before voters on the statewide ballot next year. See original article here:   Albany, Long Buried in Paper, Resolves to Save a Small Forest ; ;Related ArticlesThe Texas Tribune: Using the Law to Battle Zebra Mussels and Other Unwanted PestsDolphin Deaths Off East Coast Worry Federal Wildlife OfficialsAmid Pipeline Debate, Two Costly Cleanups Forever Change Towns ;

Read more – 

Albany, Long Buried in Paper, Resolves to Save a Small Forest

Posted in alo, Citadel, Dolphin, eco-friendly, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, Monterey, ONA, Oster, PUR, solar, solar power, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Albany, Long Buried in Paper, Resolves to Save a Small Forest