Tag Archives: nuclear

The Tea Party Is Still Doing Fine in Texas, Thankyouverymuch

by AugustinaRutled Posted on March 5, 2014

Mother Jones

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Did the tea party lose big in yesterday’s primary elections in Texas? Abby Rapoport says that national media accounts suggesting the resurgence of moderate Republicans in the Lone Star state are off base:

From these write-ups, you would never guess the significance of incumbent Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst’s poor showing. Dewhurst, whose U.S. Senate dreams were toppled by Ted Cruz in 2012, managed only 28 percent, while his challenger, the pro-life, pro-Tea Party state Senator Dan Patrick, hit 44 percent.

….Results shook out similarly in the attorney general’s race, where Tea Party-backed state Senator Ken Paxton got the most votes and will run off against state Representative Dan Branch. You’d also have no idea that veteran state Senator John Carona, one of only a few moderates left in the Texas senate, had fallen to a Tea Party challenger, as did a handful of state representatives.

Tea party darling Steve Stockman, who ran a bizarro non-race against Sen. John Cornyn, got most of the national attention but was never likely to win. In the races that mattered—and keep in mind that in Texas, the lieutenant governor is one of the most powerful statewide offices—tea party candidates did fine. The Texification of Texas is still alive and well. Dave Weigel has more details here.

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The Tea Party Is Still Doing Fine in Texas, Thankyouverymuch

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Immigration Reform Is Dead Because of Bizarro Obama

by ErmaHarrvnkxahy Posted on March 4, 2014

Mother Jones

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John Boehner says he really, truly wants to pass an immigration reform bill, but he can only do it if President Obama gives him more help. Steve Benen isn’t buying it:

To a very real extent, Obama has already done what he’s supposed to do: he’s helped create an environment conducive to success. The president and his team have cultivated public demand for immigration reform and helped assemble a broad coalition – business leaders, labor, immigrant advocates, the faith community — to work towards a common goal.

But that’s apparently not what Boehner is talking about. Rather, according to the Speaker, immigration reform can’t pass because House Republicans don’t trust the president to faithfully execute the laws of the United States.

What’s Obama supposed to do about this? “I told the president I’ll leave that to him,” Boehner told the Enquirer.

I think that translates as “nothing is going to happen.” Boehner’s excuse, however, isn’t that tea party Republicans are obsessed about amnesty and fences and reconquista and all that. His excuse is that Obama has been so brazenly lawless that Republicans simply can’t trust him to enforce whatever law they pass. This is all part of the surreal “Obama the tyrant” schtick that’s swamped the Republican Party lately. Every executive order, every new agency interpretation of a rule, every Justice Department or IRS memo—they’re all evidence that Obama is turning America into a New World gulag. Never mind that these are all routine things that every president engages in. Never mind that they just as routinely get resolved in court and Obama will win some and lose some. Never mind any of that. Obama is an Alinskyite despot who is slowly but steadily sweeping away the last vestiges of democracy in this once great nation.

Barack Obama! A president whose biggest problem is probably just the opposite: he’s never managed to get comfortable throwing his weight around to get what he wants. He’s too dedicated to rational discourse and the grand bargain. He hires guys who want to nudge, not mandate. He wants to persuade, not coerce. That’s our modern-day Robespierre.

Strange times, no?

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Immigration Reform Is Dead Because of Bizarro Obama

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Chart of the Day: Why US Economic Sanctions on Russia Won’t Have Much Impact

by czwcqtpj Posted on March 4, 2014

Mother Jones

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My view of economic sanctions has been strongly influenced by Dan Drezner, who tells us (if I can oversimplify for the sake of a blog post) that they basically don’t work. That’s not an ironclad rule, and there are certain situations where they tend to have some effect. However, one of the primary conditions for success is that the sanctions be broadly applied. If it’s just one country, they almost never work. The target of the sanctions will simply bear the loss and increase its trade with other partners.

This is especially apropos to our current situation with Russia. Our ability to impose sanctions is limited to begin with thanks to our obligations under the WTO. But that hardly even matters. What really matters is that our trade with Russia is minuscule. Cutting off a piece of our trade would hardly impact them at all. Most of Russia’s trade is with Europe and Asia, so no sanctions regime has even a chance of working unless they agree to join in. So far they haven’t, and for the obvious reason: they have a lot of trade with Russia. Sanctions would hurt them as much as it would hurt Putin.

The chart below, via Danny Vinik, tells the tale. We simply don’t have much trade leverage with Russia. (The export chart looks pretty much the same.) Until Drezner weighs in on this to tell me different, I’d say this is the definitive answer to the question of whether economic sanctions are likely to have any effect on Russia’s conduct.

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Chart of the Day: Why US Economic Sanctions on Russia Won’t Have Much Impact

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Putin Lets It All Hang Out at Press Conference

by VickieMathes Posted on March 4, 2014

Mother Jones

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Julia Ioffe says Angela Merkel was right: Vladimir Putin has lost his marbles. Here is her reaction to his televised press conference earlier today:

Slouching in a fancy chair in front of a dozen reporters, Putin squirmed and rambled. And rambled and rambled. He was a rainbow of emotion: serious! angry! bemused! flustered! confused! So confused. Victor Yanukovich is still the acting president of Ukraine, but he can’t talk to Ukraine because Ukraine has no president. Ukraine needs elections, but you can’t have elections because there is already a president. And no elections will be valid given that there is terrorism in the streets of Ukraine. And how are you going to let just anyone run for president? What if some nationalist punk just pops out like a jack-in-the-box? An anti-Semite?

….The American political technologists they did their work well. And this isn’t the first time they’ve done this in Ukraine, no. Sometimes, I get the feeling that these people…these people in America. They are sitting there, in their laboratory, and doing experiments, like on rats. You’re not listening to me. I’ve already said, that yesterday, I met with three colleagues. Colleagues, you’re not listening. It’s not that Yanukovich said he’s not going to sign the agreement with Europe. What he said was that, based on the content of the agreement, having examined it, he did not like it. We have problems. We have a lot of problems in Russia. But they’re not as bad as in Ukraine. The Secretary of State. Well. The Secretary of State is not the ultimate authority, is he?

And so on, for about an hour. And much of that, by the way, is direct quotes.

Other sources aren’t quite as scornful as Ioffe, but they’re close. The Guardian described Putin’s remarks as “impromptu and occasionally rambling.” The New York Times said he was “clearly furious.” Adam Taylor of the Washington Post called it “a series of half-truths, circular reasoning, and bravado.”

In any case, the main actual news of the press conference is that Putin said he saw no need to send forces into eastern Ukraine “yet,” but reserves the right to do so in the future. So that’s the latest.

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Putin Lets It All Hang Out at Press Conference

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Observatory: A Queen Bee’s Secret, Pinpointed

by Myrna Posted on January 20, 2014

An international team of researchers has identified pheromones that are specific to queen wasps, bumblebees and desert ants that keep workers sterile while in their presence. View original –  Observatory: A Queen Bee’s Secret, Pinpointed ; ;Related ArticlesClimate Aids in Study Face Big Obstacles3 Campers Linked to Fire Are Arrested in CaliforniaTexas Company, Alone in U.S., Cashes In on Nuclear Waste ;

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Observatory: A Queen Bee’s Secret, Pinpointed

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Energy Department to Give $226 Million to Support Nuclear Reactor Design

by Myrna Posted on December 12, 2013

The award is the second of two under a $452 million, multiyear program to assist in the development of “small modular reactors,” which would be built in American factories, potentially improving quality and cutting costs. Originally from:  Energy Department to Give $226 Million to Support Nuclear Reactor Design ; ;Related ArticlesAccused of Harming Bees, Bayer Researches a Different CulpritEurope Moves to Prohibit Some Deep-Sea TrawlingDot Earth Blog: Lake Effect on Display: Cold Winds Over (Relatively) Warm Waters ;

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Energy Department to Give $226 Million to Support Nuclear Reactor Design

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Dot Earth Blog: Examining ‘Media’s Global Warming Fail’

by Myrna Posted on November 18, 2013

A chat about global warming, journalism and extreme weather. Original article:  Dot Earth Blog: Examining ‘Media’s Global Warming Fail’ ; ;Related ArticlesDot Earth Blog: Room for Agreement on Next Steps for Nuclear Power?Growing Clamor About Inequities of Climate CrisisTop U.N. Official Warns of Coal Risks ;

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Dot Earth Blog: Examining ‘Media’s Global Warming Fail’

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Elizabeth Warren Joins the Battle to Overhaul the Senate Filibuster

by Katherined5a Posted on November 14, 2013

Mother Jones

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is lending her voice to the chorus of lawmakers who want substantive changes made to how US senators use the filibuster, the main tool of opposition by the minority party.

The impetus for Warren’s comments came on Tuesday, when Senate Republicans filibustered President Obama’s nominee to the influential DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Georgetown Law Professor Cornelia Pillard. If she’s ever confirmed, Pillard would be the fourth woman on this important federal appeals court, which decides often-consequential cases between the federal government and private parties. Senate Republicans have also filibustered Patricia Millett’s nomination to the appeals court and say they plan to block another appeals court nominee, Robert Wilkins, as well.

In the face of all this obstruction, Warren has joined progressive stalwarts such as Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) in demanding real changes to how the filibuster is used. “So far they have shut down the government, they have filibustered people President Obama has nominated to fill out his administration, and they are now filibustering judges to block him from filling any of the vacancies with highly qualified people,” she said. “We need to call out these filibusters for what they are: Naked attempts to nullify the results of the last election.”

Warren went on: “If Republicans continue to filibuster these highly qualified nominees for no reason other than to nullify the president’s constitutional authority, then senators not only have the right to change the filibuster, senators have a duty to change the filibuster rules,” Warren said. “We cannot turn our backs on the Constitution. We cannot abdicate our oath of office.”

Whether Warren’s call for filibuster reform results in any actual changes is unlikely. The closest we’ve come in recent years to real filibuster reform came in July, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid grew so angry at the GOP’s use (abuse, according to the Democrats) of the filibuster that he almost used the so-called “nuclear option”—changing the Senate rules so that a nominee could be confirmed with a simple 51-vote majority instead of 60 votes. At the last moment, Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) cut a deal to avoid the nuclear option and instead confirm a slate of Obama nominees, including EPA administrator Gina McCarthy and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez.

Plan for more close calls like Reid’s July showdown—but with both parties wary of losing the filibuster as a tool for minority power, don’t expect major reform any time soon.

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Elizabeth Warren Joins the Battle to Overhaul the Senate Filibuster

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Helen Caldicott, Chernobyl and the New York Academy of Sciences

by Myrna Posted on November 6, 2013

A closer look at a claim of a million deaths from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. Link:  Helen Caldicott, Chernobyl and the New York Academy of Sciences ; ;Related ArticlesDot Earth Blog: Helen Caldicott, Chernobyl and the New York Academy of SciencesIf Only… Grazed Grasslands Could Sop Up All Industrial CO2‘To Those Influencing Environmental Policy But Opposed to Nuclear Power’ ;

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Helen Caldicott, Chernobyl and the New York Academy of Sciences

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Frackers might soon be allowed to float their wastewater down rivers

by CarriNDQ Posted on November 5, 2013

Frackers might soon be allowed to float their wastewater down rivers

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We told you the other day that frackers are drawing millions of gallons of water from rivers and streams to pump into their wells. Now the U.S. Coast Guard wants that water returned to the rivers — floating on barges and laced with radioactive contamination.

Wastewater is a huge problem for the fracking industry. It’s produced when the water that frackers pump into the ground returns to the surface — contaminated with fracking chemicals and also with toxic substances that naturally linger deep beneath the soil. Some of the wastewater is pumped back into the ground, but that can trigger earthquakes. Some of the wastewater is treated like sewage and then poured back into rivers and streams, but that pollutes waterways with the hitherto-subterranean radiation.

The industry wants to be allowed to ship its wastewater away from frack sites to be dumped, stored, or recycled in far-off locations, even in other states. And the Coast Guard is giving the public a month to comment on its proposal to allow this precarious practice to begin. From PublicSource, a news outlet in the heavily fracked state of Pennsylvania:

The Coast Guard began studying the issue nearly two years ago at the request of its Pittsburgh office, which had inquiries from companies transporting Marcellus Shale wastewater.

If the policy is approved, companies can ship the wastewater in bulk on barges on the nation’s 12,000 miles of waterways, a much cheaper mode than trucks or rail. …

Under the policy, companies would first have to test the wastewater at a state-certified laboratory and provide the data to the Coast Guard for review. The tests would determine levels of radioactivity, pH, bromides and other hazardous materials. …

However, “the identity of proprietary chemicals may be withheld from public release,” the policy states.

The proposed regulations [PDF], which were published last week, would cap each load’s level of radioactivity:

The Coast Guard is concerned that, over time, sediment and deposits with radioisotopes may accumulate on the inside of the barge tank surface and may pose a health risk to personnel entering the tank. The Coast Guard’s concern with respect to radioisotopes is to ensure that radiation exposure duration and levels are both kept as low as reasonably achievable, within the meaning of Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations.

Environmentalists and scientists worry about the potential impacts if a barge sinks, runs aground, or tips over while laden with a stew of pollution. “If and when there’s a spill, that can’t be cleaned up,” said Benjamin Stout, a biology professor at Wheeling Jesuit University. “That means it’s going to be in the drinking-water supply of millions of people.”


Source
Proposed policy letter: Carriage of conditionally permitted shale gas extraction waste water in bulk, U.S. Coast Guard
U.S. Coast Guard publishes proposed policy on moving frack wastewater by barge, PublicSource

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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Frackers might soon be allowed to float their wastewater down rivers

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