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Last year was the fourth hottest on record, or maybe the seventh

by TrinidadLording Posted on January 22, 2014

Last year was the fourth hottest on record, or maybe the seventh

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Our extreme-weather-wearied planet fell short in 2013 of breaking the record for hottest year in modern civilization, but it came close. Last year was either the fourth hottest since record-keeping began, or the seventh, depending on which U.S. agency’s data you most trust.

At the surface of the seas and everywhere else around the world, last year was an average of 1.12 degrees F warmer than the 20th century average, NOAA concluded. That made 2013 the 37th year in a row with above-average global temperatures, according to NOAA’s calculations.

NASA performed its own analysis, concluding that 2013 tied 2006 and 2009 as the seventh warmest year since 1880.

Weather.com explains that the discrepancy between the two agencies’ findings is no big deal:

Despite the gap between the two rankings — due to NASA’s “processing [temperature data] slightly differently than NOAA” in areas like the Arctic and Antarctica, NASA climatologist Gavin Schmidt said in a conference call — there’s actually little difference between them.

NASA and NOAA certainly agree that nearly all of the hottest years on record have occurred since the dawn of the new millennium. Notice that only one of the 10 warmest years does not start with the digits “2″ and “0,” according to NOAA:

NOAA

Click to embiggen.

With such a clear warming trend, it’s little wonder that climate skeptics are shifting from straight-out denialism to claiming that climate change is no big deal.

“If serious warming happens, we can adjust,” writes John Stossel in a typically unscientific column in the conservative Washington Examiner. “It will be easier to adjust if America is not broke after wasting our resources on trendy gimmicks like windmills.”


Source
Global Analysis – Annual 2013, NOAA
2013 Temperature Anomoly, NASA

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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Last year was the fourth hottest on record, or maybe the seventh

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Here’s the Traffic "Study" Chris Christie Wasn’t Sure Existed

by BrittanyBrice Posted on January 13, 2014

Mother Jones

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New Bridge Scandal Emails: Port Authority Official Said Christie Team’s Lane Closure “Violates Federal Law”

At last week’s press conference over the George Washington Bridge lane closings that left the New Jersey borough of Fort Lee gridlocked in September, GOP Gov. Chris Christie told reporters, “Whether there was a traffic study or not, I don’t know.” But whether or not the closures were part of a legitimate study—a Christie aide ordered the lanes closed without mentioning one—the resulting gridlock was analyzed by the Port Authority. The results were a bit obvious: If you close lanes to the George Washington Bridge, you cause traffic.

The post-jam analysis was released last week by a state assembly committee investigating the scandal. It focused on what would happen if two of the three access lanes reserved for Fort Lee residents were shut down and instead made available to other drivers. Fort Lee, according to the Port Authority, provides about 4.5 percent of George Washington Bridge traffic. The remaining 95 percent or so got to work a little quicker: The 11,592 non-Fort Lee vehicles saved about 5 minutes each during the closure, resulting in about 966 vehicle hours saved. That wasn’t nearly enough to outweigh the cost—Fort Lee traffic resulted in 2,800 vehicle hours of delay. And the analysis noted that even if the traffic queues were half as long, the outcome would still be a net loss. Also, many vehicles sat so long in traffic that they missed peak toll hours, resulting in a revenue loss of $550 a day (or $137,000 over the course of a year).

A review by the Bergen Record found that the actual results may have been even worse than this analysis suggests. Other towns’ residents also use the Fort Lee access ramps, so the closed lanes delayed as much as 25 percent of the bridge’s motorists. But Port Authority political operatives used the 4.5 percent figure to try to convince nearby Republican lawmakers that the study was legitimate and that Fort Lee didn’t need three lanes, according to the Record. An email from former Port Authority official and Christie high school classmate David Wildstein to recently fired Christie aide Bridget Kelly includes talking points for Republican assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Jeff Bader, president of a trucking trade group, about how the closures benefited many New Jersey drivers:

Although Wildstein and other Christie allies tried to paint the closures as part of a necessary study, some Port Authority employees were suspicious. One general manager wrote in an email before the closure that the study could be done without leaving Fort Lee with only a single lane. He asked, “What is driving this?” Another supervisor replied, “A single toll lane operation invites potential disaster…It seems like we are punishing all for the sake of a few.”

As the Washington Post‘s Wonkblog points out, traffic studies rarely affect traffic at all. Engineers can measure normal traffic, simulate a closure or other change, and plug the numbers into formulas provided by the Institute of Transportation Engineers to yield the likely outcomes. When traffic does need to be altered, agencies typically do limited trial runs with a public review process to minimize the impact.

Moreover, it does not take a traffic engineer to realize that taking two of three lanes away from Fort Lee would lead to long lines and lots of waiting. But the ultimate conclusion of the post-gridlock review was not so definitive: It reads only “TBD.”

See the full report here:

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Port Authority traffic study assessment (PDF)

Port Authority traffic study assessment (Text)

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Here’s the Traffic "Study" Chris Christie Wasn’t Sure Existed

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America’s new cars are more fuel-efficient than ever before

by RickPaceuorrp Posted on December 13, 2013

America’s new cars are more fuel-efficient than ever before

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The 1990s-style thirst for power that gave rise to America’s fleet of gas-guzzling SUVs is being replaced by a hunger for fuel-efficient cars, helping auto manufacturers in 2012 beat their previous record for overall gas mileage.

The average model-year 2012 vehicle got 23.6 miles per gallon, according to a new report from the EPA. OK, that’s still pretty lame — but it’s 1.2 mpg better than the previous year, the second-largest annual increase in history.

EPAClick to embiggen.

“More consumers value fuel economy than in the past,” Christopher Grundler, director of the EPA’s office of Transportation and Air Quality, told the AP.

The average new car last year had 222 horsepower. That’s a helluva lot of horses, but nonetheless a reduction of eight relative to 2011, according to the report. That helped improve overall mileage, as did a 150-pound reduction in the weight of the average car.

Here are more report highlights from EPA:

Fuel economy has now increased in seven of the last eight years. …

The large fuel economy improvement in model year 2012 is consistent with longer-term trends. … While EPA does not yet have final data for model year 2013, preliminary projections are that fuel economy will rise by 0.4 mpg, and carbon dioxide emissions will decrease by 6 grams per mile in 2013.

EPA … attributes much of the recent improvement to the rapid adoption of more efficient technologies such as gasoline direct injection engines, turbochargers, and advanced transmissions.

Consumers have many more high fuel economy choices due to these and other technologies, such as hybrid, diesel, electric, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Consumers can choose from five times more car models with a combined city/highway fuel economy of 30 mpg or more, and from twice as many SUVs that achieve 25 mpg or more, compared to just five years ago.

Nearly every major automaker produced vehicles in 2012 that were more efficient than its models from the year before. Mazda now has the most efficient fleet, while Chrysler is the biggest laggard.

EPA


Source
Fuel Economy of New Vehicles Sets Record High / Fuel Economy Gains to Continue Under President Obama’s Clean Car Programs, EPA
Cars, trucks hit record gas mileage last year, The Associated Press

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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Former Gun Columnist: “Two Major Firearms Manufacturers” Got Me Canned

by HiramWhittell Posted on November 14, 2013

Mother Jones

Last month, Dick Metcalf published a column in Guns & Ammo cautiously explaining that gun enthusiasts should not necessarily oppose all limits on firearms ownership. “I don’t think that requiring 16 hours of training to qualify for a concealed carry license is infringement of the Second Amendment in and of itself,” Metcalf wrote. “But that’s just me…”

The veteran firearms writer and his editor, Jim Bequette, thought that the article would “generate a healthy exchange of ideas on gun rights,” as Bequette later put it. Instead, it “aroused unprecedented controversy” among the gun rights crowd, Bequette acknowledged last week in a groveling apology to his readers. He went on to announce his resignation and Metcalf’s firing.

Over the next few days, Metcalf received a torrent of calls from reporters but refused to talk to any of them. Major media outlets were seizing upon his termination as the latest example of how intolerance and extremism runs rampant among today’s firearms enthusiasts, and that was not a story that Metcalf wanted to tell.

On Friday, Metcalf finally spoke out, choosing to publish a letter in Outdoor Wire, a pro-gun newsletter that covers “the outdoor industry.” Its editor handled the letter as if it was radioactive: “For the record I disagree totally with what he suggested,” he wrote in an introduction, “but believe Metcalf deserves the opportunity to respond.”

While coverage of Metcalf’s firing focused on the outrage of Guns & Ammo readers, Metcalf’s account in Outdoor Wire suggested that another force ultimately was responsible for his ouster. Initially, Guns & Ammo and its parent company, IMO, asked Metcalf to lay low and “wait and see how the situation developed,” he wrote. But a few days later the magazine’s advertising revenues were in jeopardy: “IMO was contacted by two major firearms industry manufacturers, stating that they would do no further business with IMO if it continued with its present personnel structure. Within hours, Jim Bequette resigned as editor of Guns & Ammo, and my relationship with all IMO publications and TV shows was terminated.” (It remains unclear which gun companies drew a bead on IMO.)

In an interview on Sunday with Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk radio show, Metcalf pointed out that similar columns he’d penned in the 1970s and 1980s for Shooting Times hadn’t sparked anything close to such a controversy. “We expected we would generate a conversation,” he said. “We didn’t think we were going to incite a riot.”

To be sure, a lot has changed in the pro-gun movement since the ’70s and ’80s, as those who’ve covered firearms well know. In 2007, Jim Zumbo, a writer, gun rights activist, and Outdoor Channel TV personality, saw his career destroyed after he referred to assault rifles as “terrorist rifles,” saying: “Maybe I am a traditionalist, but I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity.” And last year, Jerry Tsai, the editor of Recoil Magazine, was forced to concede that he was “truly sorry” for writing that the MP7A1—a submachine gun that’s designed to penetrate body armor—should not be made available to civilians.

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Former Gun Columnist: “Two Major Firearms Manufacturers” Got Me Canned

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Towers of Steel? Look Again

by Myrna Posted on September 23, 2013

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has developed a structural system that uses timber to construct tall buildings as an environmentally friendlier alternative to steel and concrete. From:  Towers of Steel? Look Again ; ;Related ArticlesAppeal of Timber High Rises WidensE.P.A. Rules on Emissions at Existing Coal Plants Might Give States LeewayArctic Ice Makes Comeback From Record Low, but Long-Term Decline May Continue ;

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Towers of Steel? Look Again

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Russia Seizes Greenpeace Ship and Crew for Investigation

by Myrna Posted on September 20, 2013

The Federal Security Service said it would tow the ship, the Arctic Sunrise, to port in Murmansk and conduct an inquiry after Greenpeace activists scaled an offshore oil rig in the Arctic Ocean. Read this article –  Russia Seizes Greenpeace Ship and Crew for Investigation ; ;Related ArticlesWorld Briefing | Europe: Russia: Coast Guard Boards Greenpeace Ship in ArcticArctic Ice Makes Comeback From Record Low, but Long-Term Decline May ContinueTexas Monthly: With Lakes Drying Up, Businesses Are Parched ;

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Video: Fly Along With NASA’s Cloud Hunters

by Myrna Posted on September 5, 2013

Climb aboard NASA’s biggest flying laboratory to discover the climate change secrets of clouds. One of the biggest question marks hanging over climate studies right now is about the role of clouds and the aerosols, or tiny airborne particles, that shape them. The problem is clouds move fast, making them hard to model, and depending on their concentration at different altitudes, clouds can cool or heat the planet. Scientists agree that before they can build the best models to predict climate change, they first have to understand clouds. This summer, NASA has been working to crack this problem, at 30,000 feet, aboard a custom-equipped flying laboratory. Climate Desk was invited onboard for an eight-hour mission to suck the secrets out of clouds. Continue reading here –  Video: Fly Along With NASA’s Cloud Hunters ; ;Related ArticlesCan Drastic New Anti-Pollution Rules Help Clean Up Beijing’s Air?US Department of Interior Criticises State Over Keystone XL Impact ReportIs Climate Change Pushing Pests into Northern Farms? ;

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Video: Fly Along With NASA’s Cloud Hunters

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Court tells Transocean to stop obstructing Deepwater Horizon investigation

by daniel13stoko Posted on July 25, 2013

Court tells Transocean to stop obstructing Deepwater Horizon investigation

By John Upton

Sky Truth

Transocean doesn’t want federal investigators getting to the bottom of this.

Yes, owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, you do have to cooperate with the federal government’s investigation into the 2010 explosion and oil spill. The rest of us would like to see how such disasters could be avoided in the future.

That was the message sent by a U.S. Court of Appeals to Transocean, the world’s largest offshore drilling company, ordering it to finally turn over long-sought documents to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB).

Transocean has been appealing some of CSB’s subpoenas, arguing that the board lacks the authority to probe the disaster. CSB investigates industrial accidents, but Transocean says the rig explosion is outside the board’s purview partly because the rig was not a “stationary source.”

But the company was sharply rebuked by a three-judge panel for that reckless intransigence. From The Louisiana Record:

Transocean is currently appealing the CSB’s authority to investigate the matter.

The appeals court denied Transocean’s request for a stay under its claim that the CSB had abused its discretion and it ordered Transocean to turn over the subpoenaed information.

“Transocean has identified no particular interest in the subpoenaed documents,” the appeals court ruling states. “If this is true, then we find it remarkable that Transocean has resisted the CSB’s subpoenas for approximately thirty-one months, and continues to resist them on appeal.”

The court’s decision also made the point that the appeal concerning the CSB’s authority may take years to decide, whereas the information required by the CSB is needed immediately to prevent another hazardous situation from occurring.

To spend three years obstructing a federal probe into the Deepwater Horizon accident may seem unconscionable, but, then, this is the oil-drilling industry that we’re talking about.

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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Court tells Transocean to stop obstructing Deepwater Horizon investigation

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Op-Ed: Setting the record straight on U.S. gas prices

by Posted on April 17, 2013

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Op-Ed: Setting the record straight on U.S. gas prices

Posted 17 April 2013 in

National

Setting the record straight on U.S. gas prices
Politico 4/16/13
By: Tom Buis and Bob Dinneen

Last month, the Energy Information Administration announced that U.S. crude production will soon top oil imports for the first time in almost 20 years, and at the same time production of ethanol — which costs less than gasoline — has been increasing because of lower corn prices. That news was predictably followed by a drop in gasoline prices across the U.S. This is in marked contrast to predictions just a few weeks ago that an arcane trading market controlled by oil refiners and hedge funds would push gas prices to the stratosphere and wreck the economy. What’s going on?

The story here is simple. Opponents of renewable fuel, led by the oil industry, want to convince Capitol Hill that renewable identification numbers, or RINs, are the harbingers of doom for U.S. gas prices. Three facts every member of Congress should know about RINs: They are free, they are primarily traded by oil refiners to oil refiners, and they were created at the oil companies’ insistence. Early this year, the price of RINs rose dramatically, but since oil companies dominate the RINs market — and since ethanol supplies are increasing — we are hard-pressed to see a reason for that spike in prices.

Many in Congress agree that the market fundamentals do not account for that increase in prices and have called for investigations — a move that we support. But before the witnesses swear in, let’s set the record straight on RINs and gas prices.

First, RINs are not raising America’s gas prices. A new analysis conducted by Informa Economics showed that RINs are most likely contributing no more than $0.004 (four-tenths of one cent) to the retail price of a gallon of gasoline. Meanwhile, Informa found that ethanol costs significantly less than gasoline at the wholesale level, providing an average discount at the pump of $0.044 per gallon discount so far this year. So ethanol is still making gasoline cheaper than it would be if we had 100 percent petroleum fuel.

Second, we cannot drill our way to cheap gasoline in the long run. But don’t take our word for it. The International Energy Agency, in the same report often cited as proof that the U.S. can become “Saudi America,” also noted in a less-quoted section that even if the U.S. becomes “all but self-sufficient” thanks to domestic drilling, the price per barrel will still exceed $215 in 2035 — more than double today’s price. That’s because oil prices are set on a global market and global demand is skyrocketing.
So if drilling isn’t going to lower gas prices, what will? If you ask API, they’ll tell you that killing renewable fuel is the key, since it will free us from the perils of RINs. In fact, the opposite is true — we need to expand renewable fuel to save at the pump.

One way to do that is to make E15 widely available. Since E15 is a higher ethanol blend, it would save consumers — and cost oil companies — even more money, so it is no coincidence that API is also fighting to block E15. Ironically, widely available E15 would create an additional 6.5 billion RINs, driving RIN prices back down. In other words, oil companies are paying a premium to reject renewable fuel.

The real story here is oil’s determination to crush all forms of renewable fuel this year. API and its allies are spending millions of dollars on studies, PR and advertising and lobbying to block their competitors — all while hoping that Congress overlooks the fact that the oil industry created the very renewable fuel policies, including RINs, that they are now attacking.

To lower gas prices, we must ensure that the infrastructure needed to integrate more cheaper-than-gasoline ethanol is built. In 2007, the oil companies effectively pledged to invest in the facilities needed to meet the RFS obligations they agreed to. They have not kept up their end of the bargain. As soon as the oil industry stops obstructing the change mandated by the law, we will see choice at the pump increase, and prices at the pump decrease.

Tom Buis is CEO of Growth Energy. Bob Dinneen is the president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association.

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Op-Ed: Setting the record straight on U.S. gas prices

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Newspapers parrot oil industry’s favorite attack lines

by Posted on March 21, 2013

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Newspapers parrot oil industry’s favorite attack lines

Posted 21 March 2013 in

National

In the last few weeks, we’ve seen the oil industry’s propaganda machine go into full gear, misleading consumers and the media as to why gas prices continue to surge. Editorials in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and the Washington Times have all piled on, adopting Big Oil’s favorite untruths about the nature of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Essentially, the oil industry (and these editorial boards) are claiming that refiners have hit the so-called “blend wall” – that they’re unable to blend any more renewable fuel into the gasoline they produce and must therefore buy Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) to meet the requirements of the RFS, a cost they say must be passed on to the consumer.

But as usual, this line of attack is a smokescreen, intended to distract from the record profits the oil industry continues to collect all while blocking consumer choice at the pump. So before you read another editorial bashing the only policy we have to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel, make sure you’ve got all the facts:

  1. Oil companies are reaping record profits right now, and they want to protect those profits by shifting attention to biofuels. Last year the five oil majors netted $118 billion in profits, thanks to high gas prices.
  2. The oil industry controls the RINs market because basically everyone trading in the RINs market is an oil refiner, and oil companies only need to use RINs if they refuse to blend ethanol. That’s exactly what they’re doing now – refusing to blend ethanol, because they’ve created the “blend wall.”
  3. Oil created the blend wall by blocking consumer access to E15, which is approved and ready to go. Claims about a “maximum safe limit” are unjustified.
  4. E15 renewable fuel would address any RIN “shortage” and there’s certainly enough ethanol available for purchase right now (at 65 cents cheaper than gasoline).
  5. Since ethanol is cheaper than a RIN, oil companies are actually paying a premium to avoid blending ethanol — and then threatening to make consumers pay for their unwillingness to allow choice at the pump.
  6. Oil was for the RINs market before they were against it. Back in 2007, two major petroleum industry groups threw their weight behind the RINs program – indeed, they insisted EPA create it. Now they’re complaining about a system they wanted:

The rule’s trading program allows refiners and others that do not want to use renewable fuels to buy renewable identification numbers (RIN), or credits from those who exceed the required level of renewable fuels. “The flexibility in the RFS plan is vital in order to integrate ethanol into the gasoline pool quickly and in the most effective way possible,” said American Petroleum Institute spokeswoman Karen Matusic. The EPA has issued a reasonable framework to implement the RFS provisions, said National Petrochemical and Refiners Association Executive Vice President Charles Drevna.

(“Bush officials tout green credentials as EPA rolls out renewable rule,” The Oil Daily, 4/11/2007)

It should be clear now what’s really going on here. Oil companies are threatened by the first viable competition they’ve seen in decades, so they’ll distort and dissemble until they’ve drowned out any opposition to their monopoly on your gas tank. Don’t be fooled.

 

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Newspapers parrot oil industry’s favorite attack lines

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