The environment thread

[Balta1701]

Also interesting, I was shocked to see how high the %'s actually are - there are a number of states well over 10%, and quite a few more in the 5-10% range.

 

Graphic.

Don't forget that Hydropower by definition is grandfathered in as clean energy, and the U.S. spent an awful lot of money building hydroelectric dams back in the 20's and 30's when we actually invested in stuff.

[Rex Kickass]

Also, this reminds me, saw an interesting graphic on npr's site today. Talks about how most of the progress made so far in alt energy has been done by the states... and shows a map of goal levels, and actual performance levels, of % electricity generated by renewables, by state.

 

I figured the top states would be out west, where population and demand is low, and there is so much opportunity for solar and wind. But as it turns out, the top 2 states are Maine and Iowa.

 

Also interesting, I was shocked to see how high the %'s actually are - there are a number of states well over 10%, and quite a few more in the 5-10% range.

 

Graphic.

 

At the end of the year, California will have 18-20% of its power produced by renewable energy sources.

[Balta1701]

At the end of the year, California will have 18-20% of its power produced by renewable energy sources.

Does that assume prop 23 fails?

[Rex Kickass]

Does that assume prop 23 fails?

I don't know what prop 23 is.

[Balta1701]

I don't know what prop 23 is.

Industry funded effort to overturn the law setting renewable energy and greenhouse gas standards for CA on the ballot this November.

[StrangeSox]

A November prop initiative shouldn't impact what happens by the end of this year.

[Rex Kickass]

Industry funded effort to overturn the law setting renewable energy and greenhouse gas standards for CA on the ballot this November.

 

I think they are looking at falling short of the 20% target in California by the end of 2010, but its going to be relatively close - between 18 and 19 percent is the best guess of where it will end up.

[FlaSoxxJim]

AB 1998: 'The Majestic Plastic Bag' Nature Mockumentary Raises Support For California Plastic Bag Ban Bill (VIDEO):

 

 

Very well done!

Edited August 18, 2010 by FlaSoxxJim

[Balta1701]

Somehow, I'm still less than confident at our ability to say that Gulf seafood is safe.

Thousands of fish have turned up dead at the mouth of Mississippi River, prompting authorities to check whether oil was the cause of mass death, local media reports said Monday.

 

The fish were found Sunday floating on the surface of the water and collected in booms that had been deployed to contain oil that leaked from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Times-Picayune reported.

 

"By our estimates there were thousands, and I'm talking about 5,000 to 15,000 dead fish," St Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro was quoted as saying in a statement.

 

He said crabs, sting rays, eel, drum, speckled trout and red fish were among the species that turned up dead.

 

Taffaro said there was some recoverable oil in the area, and officials from the state's wildlife and fisheries division were sampling the water.

 

But he added, "We don't want to jump to any conclusions because we've had some oxygen issues by the Bayou La Loutre Dam from time to time."

[Jenksismyhero]

Somehow, I'm still less than confident at our ability to say that Gulf seafood is safe.

 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace...till-there.html

 

In tests of 500 shrimp and crabs for exposure to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are one of the most dangerous elements in crude oil, all showed levels “below levels of concern” by a factor of 500 to 1,000 — “essentially similar to prior to the oil spill,” said Donald Kraemer, acting deputy director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

 

In testing of 3,000 water samples, only two showed signs of dispersant. Moreover, all dispersants used when tested directly showed up as non-toxic or slightly toxic, and in combination with crude oil, no more toxic than the oil itself, which is considered moderately toxic, said Paul Anastas, an assistant EPA administrator.

[FlaSoxxJim]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace...till-there.html

 

Lack of evidence of lethal toxicity in this case does not rule out BP oil as a direct cause of these large-scale sealife kills. Summer hypoxic kills do occur when dissolved oxygen availability is too low to meet the needs of aerobic organisms. Hundreds of millions of gallons of oil remaining in the environment is expected to exacerbate the situation because the oxygen demands of the microbial community chewing down all of that oil are huge. More oxygen uptake by microbial communities (remember, it's already a potential limiting parameter in the heat of the summer) translates to less oxygen available to meet the metabolic needs of the rest of the system.

[Jenksismyhero]

Lack of evidence of lethal toxicity in this case does not rule out BP oil as a direct cause of these large-scale sealife kills. Summer hypoxic kills do occur when dissolved oxygen availability is too low to meet the needs of aerobic organisms. Hundreds of millions of gallons of oil remaining in the environment is expected to exacerbate the situation because the oxygen demands of the microbial community chewing down all of that oil are huge. More oxygen uptake by microbial communities (remember, it's already a potential limiting parameter in the heat of the summer) translates to less oxygen available to meet the metabolic needs of the rest of the system.

 

May be true, I dunno, I'm just saying there are multiple reports out there that have come back with an extremely low (i.e., nearly non-existent) threat for toxic seafood, which is what Balta was concerned with.

[Balta1701]

May be true, I dunno, I'm just saying there are multiple reports out there that have come back with an extremely low (i.e., nearly non-existent) threat for toxic seafood, which is what Balta was concerned with.

A lot of the seafood tests have been of the olfactory variety...which I have zero confidence in. That tests for classic oil on the surface, not for degraded oil byproducts in the digestive system of these things. It's entirely possible that the oil will take some time to move up the food chain or to build up in significant amounts in larger animals...or that they're not even looking for the right chemicals. I really have zero urge to eat anything out of the Gulf right now.

[Jenksismyhero]

A lot of the seafood tests have been of the olfactory variety...which I have zero confidence in. That tests for classic oil on the surface, not for degraded oil byproducts in the digestive system of these things. It's entirely possible that the oil will take some time to move up the food chain or to build up in significant amounts in larger animals...or that they're not even looking for the right chemicals. I really have zero urge to eat anything out of the Gulf right now.

 

Which is a reasonable opinion. I dunno, I feel like until I hear of someone getting sick I'd be fine with it. There's already a ton of crap in the food we eat, what's a little oil byproduct going to do?

[BigSqwert]

Somehow, I'm still less than confident at our ability to say that Gulf seafood is safe.

f*** it. Just eliminate seafood from your diet.

Edited August 25, 2010 by BigSqwert

[Balta1701]

f*** it. Just eliminate seafood from your diet.

Frankly, I basically have unless I specifically ask if the product is from the gulf.

[BigSqwert]

I'm scratching my head with the way your post is worded.

Edited August 25, 2010 by BigSqwert

[Balta1701]

I'm scratching my head with the way your post is worded.

If I ask the restaurant if they got their seafood from the gulf and they say no, I'm ok with eating it. If they don't know, I'll have something else.

[BigSqwert]

If I ask the restaurant if they got their seafood from the gulf and they say no, I'm ok with eating it. If they don't know, I'll have something else.

Ah. And how do you really know they're telling the truth? You have no way of verifying.

[Balta1701]

Ah. And how do you really know they're telling the truth? You have no way of verifying.

No, but in the event that i get sick from any of it I've got grounds for a lawsuit.

[Balta1701]

From this week's list of things that really don't cost money because every cost of climate change is free;

The Tennessee Valley Authority has lost nearly $50 million in power generation from its biggest nuclear plant because the Tennessee River in Alabama is too hot.

 

Unless the summer cools down, TVA could lose millions of dollars more, pushing up fuel costs and consumer electric bills even after seven consecutive monthly increases.

 

The Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens, Ala., has operated at only about half power for most of the past month and could remain at reduced power through September, TVA officials said. The three-reactor plant — TVA’s biggest nuclear facility — has been the hardest hit of any of the nation’s 104 nuclear plants by thermal concerns over river water, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute and TVA.

 

“All the radiant heat gets in the river when you have a summer as hot as this has been,” TVA President Tom Kilgore said.

[Balta1701]

Standing in a generator-lit French Quarter square 17 days after Hurricane Katrina, President George W. Bush ended his first major prime-time address in the post-catastrophe city with a call for reinvestment in the battered region. Speaking in a dark, mostly empty New Orleans, he described a business-incentive program that would lure people and commerce back to devastated Gulf Opportunity Zones in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Within these GO Zones (also known as disaster areas), subsidies would “create jobs, and loan guarantees for small businesses, including minority-owned enterprises, to get them up and running again,” Bush told an audience still wide-eyed from endless newsreels of poor black people stranded on waterlogged rooftops.

 

...

For battered and broke New Orleans, the untaxed borrowing was to be the cash infusion needed to attract developers facing sky-high insurance costs and a risky, uncertain market. “This was the money that was supposed to get people rebuilding our housing, our hotels, our stores,” said Jimmie Thorns, a New Orleans real-estate appraiser who, until 2008, headed the city-appointed board responsible for approving all local bond allocations.

 

But five years after Congress passed the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005, more of the tax-free benefits have gone to the state’s powerful oil industry than to development in hard-hit areas. New Orleans has so far received a total of $55 million in bonds shared between eight projects—or less than 1 percent of the more than $5.9 billion issued statewide. None of the bonds issued for New Orleans projects went to development in hard-hit and still-struggling areas like the Lower Ninth Ward.

 

Instead, the federal largesse has been poured into oil companies operating far from New Orleans. Since Congress’s unanimous approval of the GO Zone Act, Louisiana officials have issued nearly $1.7 billion in tax-free bonds—about one third of the total issued—for projects that contribute to the production of oil. Preliminary approval has been secured to tap millions more.

 

The money issued for oil infrastructure includes $1 billion for the expansion of a Marathon Oil refinery in an area that wasn’t severely damaged by the 2005 storms; $120 million for an offshore tank storage facility; and $75 million in bonds issued for improvements to an existing ExxonMobil refinery and chemical plant in Baton Rouge, according to Louisiana Bond Commission records. And on Sept. 15—exactly five years after Bush stood in a storm-battered Jackson Square and explained how the GO Zone bonds would help New Orleans—the state commission is slated to issue ExxonMobil another $300 million in untaxed loan money. The cash will pay for further improvements on the oil giant’s Baton Rouge facility.

Link

[kapkomet]

Yep, yet another reason why GWB is at fault for absolutely everything bad that has ever happened on the planet earth. Barackus (g-d) knows better.

[Balta1701]

Yep, yet another reason why GWB is at fault for absolutely everything bad that has ever happened on the planet earth. Barackus (g-d) knows better.

At least we know you think it's a great idea for billions in your tax dollars to go to oil companies.

[Balta1701]

I dunno if I'd buy a car that supported the Nets...the Bulls always struggle against them.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov will present three electric vehicle models in December for public approval, he said on Tuesday.

 

"If they don't like them, they can say 'we don't want these cars.' We will hold a vote on the Internet," said Prokhorov, an active blogger.

 

Prokhorov said he will decide where to produce the cars after the presentation.

 

Prokhorov wants to set up local production of a low-cost hybrid car by mid-2012. The car would cost about $10,000 and would be powered by a combined electric and gasoline engine with low fuel consumption.