This is the 553rd edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue). Here is the April 7 Green Spotlight. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
Will Driscoll writes—China’s Electric Buses Will Cut Global Oil Consumption By 0.5 Percent: “Shenzhen has replaced its diesel buses with 16,000 electric buses, and authorities there have determined that the electric buses will eliminate the use of 345,000 tons of diesel fuel per year. [...[...] Bloomberg has projected that China will have 1.2 million electric city buses by 2025. To support the manufacture of electric buses, China has an enormous battery manufacturing capacity—both operating and planned. In 2016 the world consumed 97 million barrels of oil per day, or 35,000 million barrels of oil per year. Scaling up the savings of diesel fuel from Shenzhen’s 16,000 electric buses to China’s projected 1.2 million electric buses—and converting the units from tons to barrels—shows that China’s electric buses will eliminate the use of 194 million barrels of oil per year. Simple division shows that China’s electric buses will reduce global oil consumption by 0.5 percent.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Besame writes—Daily Bucket: Scientists go ALL CAPS EXCITEMENT sharing their #ShoutySciComm: “Scientists on Twitter aren’t stuffy pedantic jargon-bound relicts. They are real people who get excited about their work and know how to use social media to make their science accessible. This time, they’ve decided to shout out facts about their study topics. Some are basic info like penguins (Antarctic) and polar bears (Arctic) don’t coexist in the same habitat. Other shouty truths are more unusual. Here’s a sample with more at #ShoutySciCom.”
Besame writes—Daily Bucket: Sierra Spring: “The beginning of spring in a new home. The Bilbergia (above) came here with me. A friend had them set into the rocks under a coast live oak in Santa Cruz and when that tree died, he dug up dozens of Bilbergia plants. I grabbed a handful (literally, one handful) and shoved it in an ash bucket in 1994. Being the fastidious gardener I am, that Bilbergia is still in the ash bucket and has moved to nine different homes with me. The ash bucket is almost too heavy for me to lift now and the handle is buried in foliage. No soil in the bucket, just water and enough of this bromeliad roots to anchor itself. Probably doesn’t need much of an anchor as they are wedged in this bucket tightly.”
matching mole writes—Dawn Chorus: Turkey Vulture Open Thread: “Happy Sunday everyone. Due to a series of events, fortunate and unfortunate alike, none of your usual Dawn Chorus posters was able to do a proper diary today. So here are a few pictures of turkey vultures digiscoped from our bedroom a week or so ago. Consider this an open thread to discuss all things birdy.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
Pakalolo writes—Pine Island Glacier calves again: “FYI. Breaking news from NASA on Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier (PIG) where a 72 square mile chunk of ice calved from the ice shelf in early April. The iceberg appears to shatter upon calving. Pine Island Glacier is an enormous ice stream, and is the fastest melting glacier in all of Antarctica, responsible for about 25% of Antarctica's ice loss. It is located in the highly vulnerable region of West Antarctica. Notice the rift is in the center of the glacier. It does not appear to be attached or grounded. A new iceberg calved from Pine Island Glacier—one of the main outlets where ice from the interior of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet flows into the ocean. [...] I shared a story a couple of months ago on the late September 2017 calving at Pine Island Glacier. After moving away from the shelf that berg shattered. They aren’t supposed to crumble like that. They should be intact and break up only when they reach the open ocean. We now have confirming evidence that something new and frightening is going on at Pine Island Glacier. The link below has the September image of the break and provides information on the shattering of that 225 sq mile iceberg. Yikes. A Giant Iceberg in West Antarctica Is Disintegrating, And Scientists Are Worried.”
Pakalolo writes—Influence of global warming on U.S. heat waves may be felt first in the West and Great Lakes regions: “ ‘No one wanted to pay attention to the implications of a world four degrees warmer … It's too horrendous to think about. And no one talked about it. Then a few scientists said let's have a conference and actually talk about it. They held this conference in Oxford and I went along. As the conference started, there was a kind of suppressed emotional intensity, except in the coffee breaks. It was then that I would buttonhole a couple of scientists and say: 'Well, you know we're speculating about this. But what do you really think is the situation?' And one of them just looked at me and said: 'We're f—ked’.'’– Clive Hamilton. As human caused greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere, the toll from heat waves is expected to rise as a result, to the detriment of all. ‘Temperatures will smash records as carbon dioxide, methane and other gases continue warming the planet. Heat waves will be longer, hotter and more frequent in the future.’ ‘Beyond deaths, researchers are documenting that heat robs us of sleep, of smarts and of healthy births.’ Every living thing on earth will experience its effect at some point in the future (and that includes the world’s wildlife, agricultural crops, fish, livestock and fresh water).”
Meteor Blades writes—EPA chief Scott Pruitt's sleaze is pitiful and disgusting, but his lies on climate change are lethal: “A good portion of Pruitt’s offenses are just plain-old sleaze: cheap rent, luxury travel, giant pay raises that circumvent the rules, a 19-member Praetorian guard with 19 vehicles, using phones other than his own to avoid generating call logs and written records that could trigger Freedom of Information Act filings, a $43,000 cone of silence to keep his phone calls secret even from his staff and demotions or reassignments of career staff who raised questions about his spending. But as the Pruitt-as-grifter story keeps unfolding, it’s good to remember his worse actions, the ones whose consequences will not only outlast his tenure at EPA, but could also outlive every person now breathing. Justin Gillis at The New York Times reminded us of just that in an op-ed Monday. He writes that Pruitt has been trying to “foist a colossal” lie on the nation. That lie is a version of the latest iteration of the climate-science deniers, essentially arguing that the climate is always changing, but we can’t accurately measure this, and we don’t know enough to take ameliorative action.”
Mark Sumner writes—Ryan Zinke lied to Senate: Human-cause climate change censored in Park Service report: “Climate changes, and as far as the National Park Service under Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is concerned, that is all anyone needs to know. As the Center for Investigative Reporting has detailed, a new Park Service report scrubs climate change free of all human influence. National Park Service officials have deleted every mention of humans’ role in causing climate change in drafts of a long-awaited report on sea level rise and storm surge, contradicting Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s vow to Congress that his department is not censoring science. The report doesn’t dismiss climate change. It just takes the position that even Republicans like Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke are now embracing: There’s nothing we can do about it, and certainly no reason to put any limits on burning fossil fuels. Even though climate change is very definitely wiping out some of America’s most treasured sites.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Milloy Tries to Defend Pruitt by Attacking Dems: “Deniers rushed to Scott Pruitt’s defense over the last week as scandals continued to emerge and members of Congress called for his resignation. But, unsurprisingly, none of their arguments made much sense. One of these deniers was Steve Milloy, former director of the self-professed largest privately-owned coal producer in the United States. In his latest Junk Science piece, Milloy complains that it isn’t fair to criticize Pruitt more harshly than the three most recent Democratic EPA administrators, who broke public records laws. Let’s unpack that. Milloy points out that Carol Browner, EPA administrator under Clinton, had her hard drive erased on her last day in office. Upon closer googling, it turns out the drive was erased by a contractor, and government lawyers said it was part of the process of transitioning between administrations. Milloy completely fails to mention the reason the act was notable at all: the same day the drive was erased, a judge had ordered the EPA to preserve all records relating to a specific lawsuit filed the previous fall (some of which were presumably on the hard drive). The Washington Post reported that government lawyers believed ‘the erasure of her hard drive occurred before Lamberth's order was signed,’ so it’s unclear whether Browner broke the law at all.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—US Emissions Decline. Deniers Celebrate For Some Unknown Reason: “The International Energy Agency (IEA) released a report last month showing that global carbon pollution rose in 2017, after three years of being flat. Asian countries, like India and China, were responsible for two-thirds of the global emissions increase, while even the European Union as a unit logged a 1.5 percent rise in greenhouse gas emissions.There were a few outlier countries, however, that saw their emissions decline. One of them was particularly noteworthy because it was the United States. Indeed, carbon emissions in the US fell by 0.5 percent in 2017, when the Trump administration threatened to pull out of the Paris Agreement, moved to repeal the Clean Power Plan, and ‘ended’ the ‘war’ on coal companies. The reason? ‘While coal-to-gas switching played a major role in reducing emissions in previous years, last year the drop was the result of higher renewables-based electricity generation and a decline in electricity demand,’ the IEA said. The share of renewables in the electricity mix last year reached a record 17 percent while nuclear power remained at 20 percent. Some members of the denier community are pointing to other factors. According to Breitbart, the credit belongs to Trump. ‘Germany’s Die Welt Proclaims Donald Trump “Most Successful Climate Protector in the World”’ screams its headlines, accompanied by a photo of Trump giving a tiny thumbs up.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Walter Einenkel writes—Here is a ranking of the 10 most endangered rivers in the United States: “Non-profit organization American Rivers has released its ranking of the most endangered rivers in our country. This is the 33rd year the group has released a river ranking. From the Lower Rio Grande in Texas, threatened by mining operations, to the Smith River in Montana, American Rivers ranks the biggest dangers by the most pressing issues. Most of these issues surround mining operations, accelerated and made less and less safe by a toothless EPA and the 180 degree turn-around our government has made in environmental regulations. On the #1 river on this year’s list, the Big Sunflower in Mississippi, members of Congress are pushing to undermine the Clean Water Actto resurrect the Yazoo Pumps, one of the most environmentally damaging projects ever proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. If allowed to advance, it would be the first time ever that an EPA veto of a Corps project (the George W. Bush EPA stopped the project in 2008) was overturned by Congress, undermining the authority of the EPA to enforce the Clean Water Act.”
Dan Bacher writes—Broad Coalition urges Metropolitan Water District to vote down Delta Tunnels funding: “At a final vote on Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed Delta Tunnels in Los Angeles tomorrow, Tuesday, April 10, ratepayers, taxpayer advocates, faith leaders, unions and environmentalists will call on Metropolitan Water District (MWD) officials to oppose increased funding for the multi-billion-dollar project. They say the funding will raise water bills and property taxes without delivering any water or economic benefits to Southern California residents. They will also demand that Mayor Garcetti, who opposed the $4.5 billion commitment in October 2017, take a stand against any phased or one-tunnel plan, which would still increase costs by at least $1 billion, and refuse to allow MWD to force the costs on L.A. residents.”
Dan Bacher writes—Metropolitan Water District Votes to Support Twin Tunnels Project: “In spite of appeals by many of its ratepayers to oppose the Delta Tunnels project, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s Board of Directors today voted 61% to 39% to support the full project to build two massive water tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The vote in favor of the twin tunnels took place after a topsy-turvy week where representatives of the giant water agency flip-flopped between support of a one tunnel proposal and a two tunnels option. The Board pledged to commit $10.8 billion (or possibly more without a spending cap) to cover 64.6 percent (or more) of the upfront construction costs of the $17 billion project, making Metropolitan the project’s primary investor.”
fr33d0m writes—“You can perhaps understand how we all have dropped the thread on the Michigan water crises, With no press coverage and the last word many of us heard being about a fix for the pipes, you might well believe the crises is over. But according to this tweet from a resident, it’s not quite over and the trickle upon attitude of Repubnicon governance is still in effect. i haven't washed my hair in my home in 4 years. when I brush my teeth, i use filtered water. i shower and my skin has strange reactions. my accumulated water bill is almost at $1500. Apparently, the State of Michigan announced Friday that it was ending bottled water distribution in Flint.”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels
Dan Bacher writes—Over 750 groups call on California Governor Jerry Brown to halt new dirty oil and gas projects: “As Greenpeace launched its thermal airship over the Bay Area and the Golden Gate Bridge with a message reading ‘Climate Leaders Don’t Drill’ and ‘Say No to Fossil Fuels,’ more than 750 public interest groups today urged Governor Jerry Brown to halt environmentally destructive oil and gas drilling in California. You can see photos of the airship here: http://www.media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJXOEKN8C. The groups from California and around the world kicked off a campaign today urging Governor Jerry Brown to stop the build-out of dirty fossil fuel infrastructure, keep oil and gas in the ground, and take immediate action to protect those most vulnerable to climate change or lose their support for the global climate action summit that he will host five months from now in San Francisco. As an investigative journalist who has spent hundreds of hours covering the dark side of Brown’s environmental policies in California, I’m very glad that such a large group of organizations is standing up to Brown’s support of new oil and gas drilling in California.”
Renewables, Efficiency & Conservation
Walter Einenkel writes—Apple says that all of its facilities around the globe are now powered with 100 percent clean energy: “Today Apple announced that all of its facilities in 43 countries around the world are powered by renewable, clean energy. ‘We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it. After years of hard work we’re proud to have reached this significant milestone,’ said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. ‘We’re going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it.’ Apple has flaws but compared to the fossil fuel industry they have shown a considerably more forward thinking approach in taking climate change seriously. One of their big pushes has been to get their supply chain on board.”
REGULATIONS & PROTECTIONS
Mark Sumner writes—Scott Pruitt's lie about pay raises unravels, emails reveal he was behind scheme all along: “Adding to the already towering mound of evidence that Scott Pruitt is an ethics-free zone, The Atlantic has found evidence that Pruitt was not just aware of, but responsible for, raises that went to his top aides. In the last few days, top staffers became aware of an email exchange between one of two aides who received such a raise and the agency’s human resources division. In mid-March, Sarah Greenwalt, senior counsel to the administrator, wrote to HR in an attempt to confirm that her pay raise of $56,765 was being processed. Greenwalt ‘definitively stated that Pruitt approves and was supportive of her getting a raise,’ according to an administration official who has seen the email chain. Pruitt sought massive raises for two of his favorite aides who came with him from Oklahoma. Those raises were large enough that they required approval from the White House. He was turned down. Undaunted, Pruitt determined that he could tap into money that was intended for consultants on the Clean Water Act and instead funnel it to his friends. He ordered it done. When he was caught, he took the standard Donald Trump method to handle it: bald-faced lies.”
Mark Sumner writes—Scott Pruitt's level of corruption is so high, it even shocks the lobbyists paying him off: “In one of the clearest examples of butt-kissing über alles, Trump protege Scott Pruitt remains on the job despite a constant stream of ethics scandals, overspending and open corruption. Over the weekend, Trump dismissed millions spent on a personal army, more on first class flights and conscripted military planes. The inability of either the Congress or the media to dislodge Pruitt, who is trailing a string of scandals that should be enough to sink entire administrations, is crushing. The whole idea that Trump is defending Pruitt rather than scrambling madly to back away from the openly corrupt EPA administrator may be the clearest signal of just how badly the national has stumbled in the last year. And it’s not as if the news about Pruitt has stopped. As Salon is reporting, Pruitt’s corruption is both ongoing, deep and extraordinary. In 2011, Pruitt and his wife, Margaret, bought a property in Tulsa, Oklahoma, just days before a court ruled that it had been fraudulently transferred by a Las Vegas developer who was on the hook for a $3.6 million loan default. Pruitt, who was then Oklahoma attorney general, apparently flipped the property for a $70,000 profit four months later, selling it to a dummy corporation set up by a major campaign contributor, Kevin Hern.”
Mark Sumner writes—EPA sacks staffer who issued report showing there are 'no credible threats' against Scott Pruitt: “Politico reports that an EPA staffer who produced a report showing that Scott Pruitt’s security concerns were worse than ridiculous, has been dismissed for the crime of embarrassing the boss. EPA removed a career staffer Tuesday who approved an internal report that undermined Administrator Scott Pruitt's claims that he needed around-the-clock bodyguards and other expensive security protection, according to two former agency employees familiar with the situation. Scott Pruitt’s multi-million security expenses include, but are not limited to: a 20-man full time security staff, a second security system installed inside the existing EPA security system, an entire floor of the building cleared for his use, and requests for both a bulletproof car and a bulletproof desk. [...] Pruitt has justified all this expense on the idea that he faces threats. Dire threats. Threats utterly unlike the threats faced by any previous cabinet secretary. Threats that are somehow abated by the flappy curtain and free drinks that separates first class from flying coach. The trouble is, a FOIA request to the EPA asking to see these threats, turned up no threats.”
poopdogcomedy writes—MN-Sen: Tina Smith (D) Mounts Pressure On Trump's EPA Head Scott Pruitt To Resign: “Received this e-mail today from U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s (D. MN) campaign: Hi Friend, EPA head Scott Pruitt has wasted your taxpayer dollars too many times. Tina has had enough. She is calling on him to resign. Join her by adding your name now: Scott Pruitt's spending habits are unbelievable. In just over a year he has: • Flown first-class on the taxpayers' dime to avoid sitting with passengers in coach • Exploited a loophole to give huge raises to his closest aides • Cost taxpayers nearly $3 million dollars to increase his security detail to an unprecedented size -- 19 agents and at least 19 vehicles • Requested a $100K/month private jet membership. That's just the start. He got a sweetheart housing deal from his lobbyist pal who represents fossil fuel clients. He's been demoting staff who question him.”
Hunter writes—Pruitt claims 'death threats' justify security spending—but the EPA has no records of such threats: “As regular news readers are aware, Donald Trump's chosen head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, appears to be out of his gourd. He has surrounded himself with a 24-hour security detail; he has claimed that his first-class jet travels are a security necessity; he has installed a ‘secure’ phone room in an office closet, rather than using the EPA-provided secure communications room in the same building; he requested, among other things, a ‘bulletproof’ desk for the security station outside his office. The excuse given for many of these acts is, according to Scott Pruitt, ‘death threats.’ Reporters have been diligently inquiring into what ‘death threats’ could necessitate such elaborate security spending. And none of them have so far been able to uncover just what the hell Scott Pruitt has been talking about; the EPA has been able to turn up not a single record of Pruitt being threatened. But details about any threats to Pruitt are sparse. One supposed threat that was investigated was a postcard to Pruitt with the message: ‘You ignorant fuck,’ according to EPA records. Authorities also investigated two protesters who interrupted a speech by Pruitt.”
arodb writes—Scott Pruitt needs his 20 person security team, that's only 1 for every 50 persons he will let die: “Unlike many condemnations of Trump and his policies, the most powerful voice here comes from a woman who gave up her position as the Republican Governor of New Jersey, to take on the same responsibilities of running this agency in 2001. At the time I was surprised that Christine Todd Whitman a moderate Republican, who was in a position to be a future candidate for the Presidency would trade this for a cabinet position. The only explanation is that she understood the importance of this agency, and wanted to use her talents to ensure it achieved it’s goals. Here’s her comment about Pruitt’s tenure: ‘People will get sick and die,’ Christine Todd Whitman, who served as EPA administrator under President George W. Bush, told Vox. ‘It’s that simple.’ Some 230,000 Americans already die each year due to hazardous chemical exposures. ‘You stop enforcing those regulations and that number will go way up,’ she said. This was in this article from Vox Media, that summarizes Pruitt’s slowly strangling the EPA.”
Pakalolo writes—Judge to Pruitt's racist EPA: Do Your Job and Enforce Civil Rights Law: “Finally some good news on Trump’s EPA, as a Federal Judge ruled that the agency must investigate, and respond to communities of color claims of environmental racism. The ruling follows the dismissal by the EPA in early March of a discrimination suit against the Alabama Department of Environmental Management by residents of Uniontown, AL. Alabama had granted a large landfill near the predominately minority community in the state’s black belt. The landfill would be filled with waste from more affluent areas of the state as well as toxic coal ash. Earth Justice filed five complaints for alleged discrimination in the permitting of: Genesee Power Station in Michigan, the Los Medanos Energy Center and Delta Energy Center in California, an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery operation in Texas, the Triassic Park hazardous waste facility in New Mexico, and Stone's Throw Landfill in Alabama.”
MISCELLANY
PeninsulaProgCHS writes—Supporting Mt. Pleasant. SC's Proposed Ban on Single Use Plastics: “To the Members of Mount Pleasant Town Council. I have been picking up plastic bags and Styrofoam waste in Mt. Pleasant with the adopt a highway program and at bus stops for the past 18 years. I've been doing it elsewhere in Charleston since 1976, 41 years. I believe it is time to end this wasteful and ultimately useless practice. Our family uses reusable bags extensively. We no longer accept plastic one use bags at all. We've nearly eliminated our use of plastic straws. We recycle over 80% of our household waste, including composting all of our food and yard waste. I am aware that a Koch Brothers funded campaign to defeat or delay the Town's proposed plastic bag ban is operating. It's their current iteration of their ten year old campaign, recycling and perverting concepts of freedom, volunteerism and community so that we can all continue to eat local shrimp and crabs which are contaminated with microparticles of plastic waste which end up in our bloodstreams after they're done destroying our landscape's appearance and killing animals and sea life.”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—Omission Impossible: Watts Condemns a Lack of Condemnation for Troll Comment: “As we patiently wait for Scott Pruitt to resign, stockpiling puns to use when the scandals are finally too many to count (Scott Blew it!) it’s a struggle to talk about anything else. But we spotted an easy one yesterday, in a post by Anthony Watts, attacking NASA GISS head Gavin Schmidt. Watts apparently thinks it is ‘a troubling omission’ that Schmidt failed to condemn a tweet which suggested that because ‘the ends justify the means’ we fake graphs to make them more emphatic and ‘kill the arguments of climate deniers.’ For starters, not responding to a dumb tweet is hardly an endorsement. No one considers anyone responsible for social media comments made by other people. But apparently Watts does. And if that’s the case, he should follow his own advice. Because his own commenters, in a rare show of true skepticism, were quick to point out that the account calling for fake graphs is a pro-Trump troll who retweets deniers and conspiracy theorists.”