By Suzanne Jacobson 17 Apr 2015commentsShare
Disasters (natural or human-caused) are like TV shows. As soon as get into one, your friend tells you about another one that you just have to check out, and then by the time you’re caught up with that one, you start seeing headlines all over the place for a new one, and so on forever until one day you see an article about that one you haven’t thought about in a year, and you’re like, “Huh. Is that still happening?”
Monday is the five-year anniversary of the start of the BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. It was the worst oil spill in U.S. history, lasting for 87 days and spewing more than 200 million gallons of oil into the surrounding environment.
Here to remind us that, yes, the disaster is still a thing and probably will be for a while is renowned doodler and science communicator Perrin Ireland. In this video, she (literally) paints a pretty bleak picture. Basically, scientists are still trying to account for all the leaked oil and expect it to be years before they fully understand the spill’s impact on the local ecosystem.
Check out the video, and be sure to stay tuned for next season, when scientists continue the hunt for those pesky dispersants!
Oh, and by the way, have you heard about all those exploding oil trains?
, onEarth.
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This gorgeous video will remind you what an ugly mess the BP oil spill made
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The Issue That Must Not Be Named
By John Lighton 9 Mar 2015 11:10 amcommentsShare
Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) administration has apparently instituted a ban on using the term “climate change” when making policy. Tristram Korten reports for the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting that state Department of Environmental Protection employees “have been ordered not to use the term ‘climate change’ or ‘global warming’ in any official communications, emails, or reports.”
This unwritten policy went into effect after Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011 and appointed Herschel Vinyard Jr. as the DEP’s director, according to former DEP employees. Gov. Scott, who won a second term in November, has repeatedly said he is not convinced that climate change is caused by human activity, despite scientific evidence to the contrary. …
But four former DEP employees from offices around the state say the order was well known and distributed verbally statewide.
One former DEP employee who worked in Tallahassee during Scott’s first term in office, and asked not to be identified because of an ongoing business relationship with the department, said staffers were warned that using the terms in reports would bring unwanted attention to their projects.
“We were dealing with the effects and economic impact of climate change, and yet we can’t reference it,” the former employee said.
Even the term “sea-level rise” — referring to an issue that will hit Florida particularly hard in coming years — was banned for a time, according to former state employees who spoke with Korten. “Sea-level rise was to be referred to as ‘nuisance flooding,’” one former DEP employee told Korten, describing a meeting she had with a supervisor in 2014.
This kind of thing is not just happening in Florida. North Carolina, another state that will be hard-hit by rising seas, has banned some state employees from considering sea-level science. Specifically, as of 2012, the state is not allowed to account for new scientific predictions about sea-level rise when making policies that affect coastal communities. Instead, policymakers must stick to more moderate “historical data,” and ignore a 2011 report by the state’s Coastal Resources Commission that predicts 39 inches of sea-level rise by the end of the century. (This policy from the GOP legislature was in part a concession to real-estate industry lobbyists who feared, reasonably, that if prospective buyers knew beachfront homes would end up being swallowed by the ocean, they would probably avoid buying them.)
In fact, across America, lower-level officials have found that the most expedient way of making policy to address climate change is to not admit that the policy is designed to address climate change. Instead, when planning for higher temperatures, higher seas, and stronger storms, they use euphemisms — “sustainability” or “resilience” — to prepare for the Issue That Must Not Be Named. Unfortunately, in Florida, even the word “sustainability” is off-limits, according to one former DEP employee.
This ridiculous situation, and Scott’s policy, would be funny were the stakes for Americans not so high. People are continuing to move to low-lying areas of Florida, even as the scientific community continues to toss out dire predictions about the surging seas they will face as climate change moves forward. With state officials muzzled by order of the governor, Floridians are not likely to see any policy that realistically deals with the threat anytime soon.
Source:
In Florida, Officials Ban Term ‘Climate Change’
, Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.
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Frackers have been triggering earthquakes across the country by injecting their wastewater at high pressure into disposal wells.
That much is certain. The U.S. Geological Survey has linked the practice to a sixfold increase in earthquakes in the central U.S. from 2001 to 2011. It’s also possible that the very act of fracking has been causing some temblors.
What isn’t certain, though, is what governments can do about it. Bloomberg reports on a new initiative that aims to manage some of those earth-shaking dangers:
Regulators from Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio met for the first time this month in Oklahoma City to exchange information on the man-made earthquakes and help states toughen their standards.
“It was a very productive meeting, number one, because it gave the states the opportunity to get together and talk collectively about the public interest and the science,” Gerry Baker, who attended as associate executive director of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a group that represents energy-producing states, said in an interview. “It was a good start in coordinating efforts.” …
The goal of the regulators is to develop a set of common procedures to monitor for earthquakes, investigate their cause and draft rules and regulations to prevent them, said Scott Anderson, senior policy adviser for the Environmental Defense Fund in Austin, Texas, who has been in communication with state regulators on the issue.
Would we be stating the obvious if we suggested that these states protect themselves from earthquakes by simply stopping fracking — just as New York and countless local municipalities have done — while the drilling risks are better investigated by scientists?
Source
Fracking’s Earthquake Risks Push States to Collaborate, Bloomberg
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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Dream of Californication
California was full of regrettable trends in the early aughts: Paris Hilton, Juicy Couture tracksuits, chockers, screamo, and, apparently, everyone driving 89 percent of the time. But a recent California Household Travel Survey shows some Golden State residents have thankfully traded in their Ugg boots for transit passes.
Californians now walk to their destination twice as much as they used to; the proportion of their trips made by foot is up from 8.4 percent in 2000 to 16.6 percent.
The study, which is based on the behavior of 109,000 people from more than 42,000 households over the course of 2012, also shows that more Californians are biking and using public transit to get around. In total, the amount of carless trips went from 11 percent in 2000 to 23 percent.
“Californians are increasingly choosing alternatives to driving a car for work and play,” Mart D. Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, said in a recent press release. “That’s a shift with real benefits for public health that also cuts greenhouse gas emissions and smog-forming pollution.”
The Federal Highway Administration has the nation’s trips by foot growing from 8.9 percent in 2001 to 11.5 percent in 2009. We hope this means America is speed-walking to catch up with California, which is often thought of as the national trendsetter for all things green. And maybe the plans in action to get even more Californians to make the habit of low-emissions transit, through initiatives like the Active Transportation Program, will get the wheels turning elsewhere, too. The program plans to distribute $129 million to transportation projects that will get more people out walking and biking – they’re currently calling for proposals to apply to get a piece of the pie.
Next time you Los Angelenos out there find yourselves yet again stuck in standstill traffic on the 405, just think of the possibility that you could be out actually enjoying all that sunshine. Sometimes, it turns out that all you need is a good pair of shoes.
Samantha Larson is a science nerd, adventure enthusiast, and fellow at Grist. Follow her on Twitter.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Cities
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Meet the new California, where Paris Hilton isn’t cool but walking, biking, and transit are
Load of carp
Humans did in the dodo; annihilated the Great Auk; likely mowed down the moa; and definitely pwned the passenger pigeon. What can we say? We were hungry.
But what if we used the power of our collective munchies to SOLVE problems, rather than cause them? As NPR reported yesterday, entrepreneurs along Midwestern waterways are trying to turn back the tide of invasive Asian carp by frying them in breadcrumbs — or at least by convincing someone else to.
Asian carp breed like rabbits and are about as popular on contemporary American dinner plates (though broiling Bugs gets plenty of media coverage, the nation isn’t exactly lapin it up). They slipped into our rivers in the ’70s and can now be found all along the Mississippi River watershed, throughout a dozen states. In some places, the fish’s density is as high as 13 tons per mile. Picture that load of carp.
The two species of invasive carp — silver and bighead — have been found within 50 miles of the Great Lakes (if they haven’t already made it there). If these big breeders-and-feeders get into the lakes, they could cause big problems by crowding out many of the other species there. And did we mention that Asian carp are known for leaping out of the water when frightened, like by a boat motor? The region’s spendy tourism and fishing industries could take a carp to the face, literally. (“Oh crap, they hurt!” says one expert.)
In the U.S., these fishy invaders are more likely to be processed for fertilizer and pet food than fancy hors d’oevres, though one Kentucky fisherman has suggested we split the difference and sell carp in school lunch programs. (Apparently, they’re rather bony, and don’t make for good sliders.)
But until the grade-schoolers start doing their part, our best hope may lie back in the direction from whence they came. One company in Kentucky is gutting and freezing whole carp to sell to China, where they are considered a delicacy. More than 500,000 pounds have already been successfully — and, we hope, tastily — repatriated.
This is not the first time someone has suggested battling voracious invaders with our own infamous voraciousness. And carbon-footprint-wise, it would be better if we could solve the carp problem within our own borders, which means Americans might need some palate-expanding. Well-known alien-eater Jackson Landers promises that carp taste just like cod or haddock (read: fry them) and sustainable sushi whiz Bun Lai pairs them with scallions and fish sauce (the name of the roll? Carpe Diem, of course).
Besides providing fertile territory for puns, invasive species do take a real toll on the economy. From Outside:
A decade ago, researchers estimated the annual cost of invasive species in America at $120 billion, which is more than the U.S. spends to maintain its roads. And that includes only measurable items — such as crop losses, the $1 billion municipalities spend each year to scrub zebra mussels out of their water pipes, and so on. Ecological costs are harder to quantify but staggering: Nearly half the species on the U.S. threatened and endangered species lists were put there by invaders.
Elsewhere, foreign palates are learning to crave the taste of invaders from America (the non-human kind). An invasion of New England slipper shells in France has at least one intrepid chef putting aside the escargot in favor of these sea snails, tastily re-branded as the “berlingot” or candy of the sea. If French culinary snobs can swallow enough sea candy to save their bays, I think I can manage an order of carp and chips. (Python and kudzu may be a thornier problem, but never underestimate the power of a nice beer batter.)
Amelia Urry is Grist’s intern. Follow her on Twitter.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Food
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Don’t expect to hear what these folks think in the pages of the
Richmond Standard
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Big Oil’s influence on corporate media has American news outlets shamefully shirking climate coverage. But oil companies won’t be satisfied by merely controlling the national news. In the poor Californian city of Richmond, where Chevron wants to upgrade a polluting refinery that is wont to explode, the oil giant has started an online newspaper.
The Richmond Standard is a hyperlocal journalism site launched in January with the hallmarks of a typical Patch site (before said service was dumped by AOL): minimally reported stories about local crime, public meetings, and sports, told with the inverted-pyramid style of traditional news writing.
But the Standard is not your typical, well-intentioned but underfunded local reporting initiative; it’s a Chevron propaganda rag that’s run and written by the company’s flacks. The San Francisco Chronicle delves into the ethics of such an initiative:
The idea of the nation’s second-largest oil company funding a local news site harkens back to an era of journalism when business magnates often owned newspapers to promote their personal financial or political agendas. Now that mainstream newspapers are struggling to survive, online news sites are testing ways to fund their operations, said Edward Wasserman, dean of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
But the idea of a company sponsoring news in a community where it operates still poses problems, he said.
“The tradition of press independence — even though in many times it’s more aspirational than real — is nevertheless a cornerstone principle,” Wasserman said. The Standard “is a different model. It’s clearly meant as a community outreach effort, so it’s born in an ethically challenged area.”
The Standard claims to be Richmond’s first “community-driven daily news source” since prior to 1990, yet Wasserman’s school runs Richmond Confidential — a rival site that frequently covers Chevron. The Standard has a “Chevron speaks” section, which has so far been used to introduce the website (which it says could “blaze the trail for a new model of corporate-sponsored, community-generated news”), and to criticize negative press coverage of its plans to upgrade the refinery. But the positive coverage of Chevron and its refinery also spills into the “News” section.
Chevron’s San Francisco-based PR consultants poached colorful crime reporter Mike Aldax away from the San Francisco Examiner late last year, hiring him to work as an account manager and to write Richmond Standard’s articles. A Chevron spokesperson described the writer as “independent,” but a recent tweet reminds us that Aldax’s loyalties lie with his client:
“Richmond residents are not going to be fooled — they know where we’re coming from,” Aldax said. “The onus is on me to provide information that’s factual and accurate.”
Note that Aldax doesn’t say anything about “balance.” As the Chronicle points out, Aldax didn’t quote activists who oppose the refinery upgrade in a recent story about the project’s “robust” environmental impact report.
Perhaps we can look forward to more such ventures in other communities where Chevron operates. The Ecuador Standard, anyone?
Source
New Chevron website covers Richmond news, San Francisco Chronicle
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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Chevron creates its own news outlet for a poor city that it pollutes
Oil, oil everywhere
The accident-prone oil-transportation sector is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez grounding in Alaska with a large oil spill on the other side of the country.
An oil barge-versus-ship accident in Texas’s Galveston Bay on Saturday triggered the largest Gulf of Mexico oil spill since the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Galveston Bay isn’t really a bay; it’s one of America’s largest and most ecologically productive estuaries, and it’s surrounded by wildlife refuges. Oil quickly started coating wildlife at the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary. A Texas wildlife official told the L.A. Times that “hundreds or thousands of birds” are threatened:
The cause of the crash was still under investigation Sunday, according to Coast Guard Lt. Sam Danus. Two crew members aboard the tug and barge were hospitalized as a precaution because of exposure to hydrogen sulfide, Danus said.
The barge was carrying nearly a million gallons of marine fuel oil and was being towed by the Miss Susan tugboat, Danus told The Times. He said only one of the barge’s tanks was breached, and although it contained about 168,000 gallons of oil, it was not clear how much oil had spilled. Crews were working Sunday to remove the remaining oil from the barge, he said.
Officials optimistically asserted that the cleanup effort, which already involves hundreds of people and 24 vessels, may take days.
We’re willing to wager it takes longer than that — and much longer still for the environment to recover. Just look at how long the effects of the March 24, 1989 Exxon Valdez accident continue to linger in Alaska, where wildlife populations and fisheries remain in tatters a quarter of a century later.
Source
Oil spill blocks Houston Ship Channel, threatens wildlife, L.A. Times
Houston Ship Channel oil spill ‘significant’; wildlife damage seen, AP
After 25 years, Exxon Valdez oil spill hasn’t ended, CNN
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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On Exxon Valdez anniversary, a fresh spill threatens Texas wildlife
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UPDATE: It looks like Steve Mufson and Juliet Eilperin, the authors of the Washington Post article upon which this post was based, are backing down on their claims — sort of. The Koch brothers have leases on a confirmed 1.1 million acres of Alberta tar sands, and the article’s authors cite unnamed “industry sources we consider highly authoritative” who estimate that amount of land to be closer to two million acres. Mufson and Eilperin claim that if the latter figure is accurate, the Koch brothers are indeed the largest lease-holders in the region. However, Jonathan Adler, a columnist for the Washington Post, indicates that it’s possible that Canadian Natural Resources holds leases on 2.5 million acres of tar-sands land, which would exceed even the Kochs’ theoretical holdings.
You can read Mufson and Eilperin’s fairly half-hearted mea culpa here, and Adler’s response to the original article here.
Charles and David Koch sure are a busy coupla pranksters! In the 2012 election, the Mark and Donnie Wahlberg of modern-day American capitalism spent more than $412 million trying (and largely failing) to get their favorite candidates elected. And they’re gearing up to drop some cash on this year’s elections too.
But fossil-fuel-loving politicians aren’t the only item in the Koch shopping cart. Turns out the wacky sibling duo has spent the past dozen years throwing substantial bills at tar-sands property in Alberta – enough to buy leases on 1.1 million acres worth, to be exact.
That makes Koch Industries the single largest tar-sands lease holder in the province, ranking ahead of energy giants Conoco Phillips and Shell. As a point of reference, Alberta has the third largest crude oil reserves in the world, second only to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.
So what might this mean for the Keystone XL debate? As it happens, not that much. From The Washington Post:
The finding about the Koch acreage is likely to inflame the already contentious debate about the Keystone XL Pipeline and spur activists and environmentalists seeking to slow or stop planned expansions of production from the northern Alberta oil sands, or tar sands. Environmental groups have already made opposing the pipeline their leading cause this spring and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called the Koch brothers Charles and David “un-American” and “shadowy billionaires.”
The link between Koch and Keystone XL is, however, indirect at best. Koch’s oil production in northern Alberta is “negligible,” according to industry sources and quarterly publications of the provincial government. Moreover, Koch has not reserved any space in the Keystone XL pipeline, a process that usually takes place before a pipeline is built. The pipeline also does not run anywhere near Koch’s refining facilities. And TransCanada, owner of the Keystone routes, says Koch is not expected to be one of the pipeline’s customers.
However, as such a large stakeholder in the region, Koch Industries could stand to profit from Keystone XL because it’s expected to lower transportation costs, pushing other pipelines and rail companies to reduce their prices to stay in the oil-shipping game.
Koch Industries, the second-largest privately held company in the United States with annual revenues of $115 billion, is renowned for both its secrecy and the diversity of its holdings. Next on the company’s agenda? Sky’s the limit! They’re all over the place! By the time you get home tonight, there’s a chance that they may have acquired all of your shoes, but you probably won’t find out about it for another 12 years.
Source
The biggest lease holder in Canada’s oil sands isn’t Exxon Mobil or Chevron. It’s the Koch brothers., The Washington Post
Eve Andrews is a Grist fellow and new Seattle transplant via the mean streets of Chicago, Poughkeepsie, and Pittsburgh, respectively and in order of meanness. Follow her on Twitter.
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The Brothers Koch quietly become largest tar-sands lease holders in Alberta (UPDATED)
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