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July 30, 2018
California is exploring a proposal to equip Hoover Dam with energy storage capabilities to help facilitate the use of renewable energy. Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is considering revisions to the National Flood Insurance Policy (NFIP) that may result in a sharp increase in costs for high-risk policy holders. The agency is interested in switching to risk-based pricing in 2020, which would better reflect the "true dollar cost" of living in areas that are regularly struck by hurricanes and flooding. The move would end subsidies for most coastal communities, akin to other types of insurance, and likely raise premiums. The NFIP currently assesses premiums for a region based on average historical losses and oft outdated flood maps. A FEMA spokesperson said the change would allow the NFIP to "better reflect the resilience and vulnerability of homes and other structures, [while] addressing the range of possible flooding different communities face, such as variations from coastal risk, to riverine risk, to heavy precipitation and others." The proposal would likely require congressional approval. Congress has extended the NFIP six times over the past 10 months, but has declined to take up any significant policy reforms to address the program's persistent financial losses.
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Miami Herald
The Trump administration continued its effort to prop up the coal industry through deregulation and loosening environmental restrictions. In his first week as acting head of the EPA, Andrew Wheeler signed off on changes to the management of coal ash, a toxic byproduct of burning coal. The new standards will allow the coal industry to use more unlined pits to store the coal ash they produce. Those unlined pits are notoriously prone to leaking into groundwater and nearby bodies of water, contaminating them with the dangerous chemicals contained in coal ash. The regulations in place before Wheeler's action had been created in 2015 in response to a number of disastrous coal ash incidents. The regulation was constructed around in-depth examinations of the effects of coal ash on public health and the environment and went through the full regulatory development process at EPA. One of the incidents was a spill from a Duke Energy pipe that led to 39,000 tons of coal ash entering nearby waters, travelling 70 miles from the source and leaving a trail of mercury. The latest regulations also no longer require companies to submit annual groundwater monitoring results.
CNN
California is gearing up for an intense legal battle with the U.S. EPA over the state’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vehicles. The EPA will most likely lower the national fuel economy standards soon, and may also challenge California’s ability to set its own standards for vehicle emissions. The EPA claims that there needs to be one national policy for vehicle emissions, and that states do not have the authority to create their own fuel economy standards. Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said, “What we don’t want to see is two different standards for the country.” He also suggested that there should be a “50-state solution” to the disagreements over standards that vary across states. Still, California is prepared to challenge the EPA in court. In May 2018, California and 16 states filed a lawsuit that would protect their ability to regulate vehicle emissions. Sen. Dianne Feinstein recently stated that “California is not going to give up without a fight our authority over tailpipe emissions to the Trump administration.”
Sacramento Bee, Chicago Sun Times
California is leading the nation in greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions. In California, the GHG emissions generated by electricity production are decreasing substantially, and there are no major increases in GHG emissions from the agricultural industry. This overall reduction in GHG emissions is due in part to massive improvements made to the electric sector. Still, transportation-related GHG emissions are on the rise, posting a two percent increase in 2016. Going forward, California hopes to continue reducing emissions to meet its 2030 goal, which aims for a 40 percent reduction in GHGs. Dave Edwards, of the Air Resources Board, states: “All the indicators we’re looking at are moving in the right direction...we think that we’re on the right trajectory right now toward 2030.” Yet challenges remain for California to achieve this goal – the most pressing of which is the Trump administration’s legal challenge to California’s fuel economy standards, which removes California’s authority to create its own more stringent fuel economy standards. California will also have to transition to electric or zero-carbon vehicles to address its rising transportation emissions.
Los Angeles Times
Conservatives across Canada are rallying against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan for a carbon tax. The increasingly unpopular proposal allows provinces to create their own plans to decrease carbon emissions, either through a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system. If a provincial plan does not adequately reduce carbon emissions, then the federal government will implement a carbon tax of $10 per ton, eventually reaching $50 per ton by 2022. This proposal is widely unpopular in some Canadian provinces. Residents in Ontario are frustrated over rising energy prices, and their conservative-led provincial government has already repealed its cap-and-trade system. Saskatchewan is suing the Canadian government over the carbon tax, asserting that the federal government cannot regulate a province’s natural resources. Alberta – a province known for its production of oil and gas – also strongly opposes the carbon tax. The emission reduction plan is becoming a major political challenge for the Trudeau administration. Dave Sawyer, an environmental economist, explained, “Conservative governments and politicians are using this as a wedge issue. It’s working.”
Bloomberg
A study conducted by the advocacy group Oil Change International found that, though wealthy countries have been investing domestically in clean energy, they continue to invest in dirtier forms of energy abroad. China, often touted as a champion of solar energy, spent 88 percent of the $5 billion it invested in public aid for energy projects on fossil fuels. Though the country has fought to reduce pollution in its cities, it continues to fund huge amounts of fossil fuel production. The study examined regional and multi-lateral development banks and 10 countries. Germany and Japan were also identified as heavy investors in fossil fuel energy abroad. Africa was especially targeted for investment, despite the continent's potential for effective investment in clean energy. Estimates suggest that Sub-Saharan Africa will have 700 million people without electricity in the year 2030, with the lack of density and sparse development making decentralized energy generation an ideal option. Representatives from the World Bank disputed the results of the study, in which it was criticized, and claimed that they were moving clean energy forward globally.
Guardian
Cities across the United States are trying to deal with blistering heat being driven in part by global warming. The urban heat island effect amplifies the already sweltering conditions to even more dangerous levels. The heat island phenomenon refers to the heat retention of asphalt and concrete, as well as other factors like solar radiation and hot vehicle exhaust becoming trapped between tall buildings. Research by Brian Stone's team at the Georgia Institute of Technology's Urban Climate Lab demonstrated how these factors make it difficult for urban areas to shed heat even after the sun sets. The lab identified Phoenix, Dallas, and Louisville, Kentucky as some of the fastest-warming cities in the country. Phoenix is warming at a rate three times faster than the rest of the planet. Stone noted that the heat island effect is driven by local land use and energy decisions, separate from global warming, but with overlapping considerations. To combat the heat, cities are planting thousands of trees, using captured rainwater for cooling, installing green and reflective roofs, and monitoring temperatures to stave off public health emergencies.
Associated Press
During a recent meeting of lead authors at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Friederike Otto was asked, among her peers, who her supervisor was. The remark implied that Otto was a graduate student – she is actually a lead author and expert at the IPCC, as well as a professor at Oxford University and the deputy director of Oxford University’s Environmental Change Program. Comments like this are relatively common for female scientists at the IPCC. During one meeting, it was revealed that all of the female, senior IPCC experts have been subjected to sexist behavior. Sexism at the IPCC can be attributed to the underrepresentation of women and to larger, societal issues. Only 27 percent of IPCC physical science experts are female, and some say that even if most of the experts were women, they may still be ignored, interrupted, or belittled. The IPCC is taking measures to address this issue, such as creating their first ever code of conduct for meetings and initiating a Gender Task Group.
Pacific Standard
Planning has begun for an effort to convert the Hoover Dam into what would be essentially a massive battery. The renovations would cost upwards of $3 billion, but could change the clean energy landscape of California, opening up the possibility for new investment into renewable energy in the area. While the lack of efficient battery storage often limits the development of green energy, employing the energy storage potential of the Hoover Dam could accelerate the energy transition for the region, allowing energy produced during peak production periods to be held in the dam. The energy would be stored by using energy produced from wind and solar to pump water from further downriver back up into the dam. The water could then be released when demand surpassed production rates. However, there are concerns about the environmental and economic impacts of the project. The pumping could reduce the water level of an already depleted river and put in peril the livelihoods of those whose jobs depend on the river.
New York Times
A recent study found that high CO2 concentrations in the ocean can significantly reduce the ability of a fish to smell. The researchers examined how a specific type of fish – sea bass – reacts to water that contains the concentration of CO2 projected to be in ocean waters by 2100. The researchers observed that, in these conditions, the fish could only smell if they were 42 percent closer to the odor than before. The significant decline in olfactory senses could in turn affect a fish's ability to find food and defend themselves from predators. The study also found that in water with highly elevated levels of CO2 the sea bass were notably inactive, sometimes remaining still for more than five seconds at a time. According to Dr. Cosima Porteus, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Exeter, these results can apply to many other species of fish, “because all fish use similar mechanisms to smell their surroundings.” The study highlights the uncertainty for marine life in a changing climate.
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