Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Tillerson, Exxon, and China's claim on offshore oil in the South China Sea: What's the end-game?
Tillerson's boast...
“We’re going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops,” Tillerson told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday, likening China’s activities in the South China Sea to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. “And second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed.”China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea — and thus, most of the 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that lie beneath it."
China responds...
“Unless Washington plans to wage a large-scale war in the South China Sea, any other approaches to prevent Chinese access to the islands will be foolish,” the Communist Party–controlled Global Times wrote in an editorial Friday. “If Trump’s diplomatic team shapes future Sino-U.S. ties as it is doing now, the two sides had better prepare for a military clash.”
What are the interests at stake...
"If America were to pursue a foreign policy dictated by the interests of Exxon’s shareholders, it would involve softening relations with Russia and confronting China in its disputed waters. A significant faction of Trump’s advisers appear interested in such a policy."
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Ready and waiting. Photo: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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Green movement 'greatest threat to freedom', says Trump adviser
Green movement 'greatest threat to freedom', says Trump adviser
Ebell, who has returned to his role at the anti-regulation thinktank the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said on Monday: “The environmental movement is, in my view, the greatest threat to freedom and prosperity in the modern world.”
Monday, January 30, 2017
Speaking of fascists and fossil fuels, my son just turned me on to this spoken word by John Trudell...
...
Arms race, jackboots pounding earth, military precision
Dissecting elements of life
Taking apart instead of healing
Generals and gods
Fascists and oil wells
Man images, and machines
Petrochemical societies trying to hide the sun
Jackboots pounding earth, creaking leather boots
Dead cows crying in a world turned to a planetary slaughterhouse...
John Trudell, Tribal Voice, "Voices Catching Up/Lompoc Song" (1983)
Arms race, jackboots pounding earth, military precision
Dissecting elements of life
Taking apart instead of healing
Generals and gods
Fascists and oil wells
Man images, and machines
Petrochemical societies trying to hide the sun
Jackboots pounding earth, creaking leather boots
Dead cows crying in a world turned to a planetary slaughterhouse...
John Trudell, Tribal Voice, "Voices Catching Up/Lompoc Song" (1983)
Today's lecture (1.30.17): Related to the question of Trump's tactics and fossil fuel 'democracy'
Attack on public and democratic control of industry: On my observation that while chaos and attention surround the immigration question, there will be moves to unravel other institutional checks that are relevant to the question of fossil fuels, energy, and the environment. As we spoke this morning, Trump signed an executive order that said that for every new regulatory rule, two had to be repealed.
The order stipulates that
"Unless prohibited by law, whenever an executive department or agency (agency) publicly proposes for notice and comment or otherwise promulgates a new regulation, it shall identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed."
Trump said earlier today he wants to eliminate "a little more than 75%" of the regulations now on the books. "We don't need 97 different rules to take care of one element," he said. (Source: NPR)Beyond the seeming absence of logic or rationale for that order, lies its autocratic capriciousness, which undermines processes and institutions.
On the 'Stream Protection Rule' that Peabody coal hopes to repeal.
The Stream Protection Rule was in the works for nearly a decade. It's 1,200 pages long, and even still, it barely made it in under the wire. The rule went into effect on the very last day of Obama's presidency. (Source: NPR).Background on the Stream Protection Rule: https://www.osmre.gov/programs/rcm/streamprotectionrule.shtm.
The rule defines “material damage to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area” for the first time and clarifying that the statutory prohibition on the approval of proposed operations that would result in material damage to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area applies to both surface and underground mining operations. Under SMCRA, the regulatory authority may not approve a permit application unless the application demonstrates, and the regulatory authority finds, that the proposed operation would not result in material damage to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area. The rule requires that the regulatory authority specify the point at which adverse mining-related impacts on groundwater and surface water would constitute material damage to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area reach that level of damage. It further provides that the regulatory authority must specify threshold values for surface water and groundwater parameters that will trigger an evaluation of whether the permit must be revised to prevent the occurrence of material damage to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area.
Link to the rule (as of 1.30.17): https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=OSM-2010-0018-10631
The automobility system and the question of credit and debt
From a student, as per my comments on the connection between the credit and finance industry, auto loans, and the discourse of automobility: John Oliver rocks it!
Trial Balloon for a Coup?
From a student, as per my comments on Trump's orders being a kind of test-case or 'trial balloon' to see how far institutionality might be pushed (I do not vouch for or endorse the entirety of the article, lesson, triple-check your facts): https://medium.com/@yonatanzunger/trial-balloon-for-a-coup-e024990891d5#.bx9dv87q1
On the Quebec shootings (CORRECTION):
It was reported that two white supremacists were the authors of the attack. That information is yet to be verified, I should have waited to post that. As of today, there is one alleged shooter under arrest. It is not clear what his link to organized racism is.
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Trump: Maybe we'll have 'another chance' to take Iraq's oil (via The Atlantic)
CONOR FRIEDERSDORF - The Atlantic
Trump:
The old expression, ‘To the victor belong the spoils’––you remember I always used to say, ‘Keep the oil.’ I wasn’t a fan of Iraq. I don’t want to go into Iraq. But I will tell you, when we were in we got out wrong. And I always said in addition to that, ‘Keep the oil.’ Now, I said it for economic reasons. But if you think about it, Mike, if you kept the oil you probably wouldn’t have ISIS because that’s where they made their money in the first place. So we should have kept the oil, okay? Maybe you’ll have another chance.
When we say "organized criminality", this is what we mean: Federal Court Finds Ameren Violated the Clean Air Act at Rush Island Coal Plant
Federal Court Finds Ameren Violated the Clean Air Act at Rush Island Coal Plant
Ameren is willfully polluting our children, is another way to frame this.
Ameren is willfully polluting our children, is another way to frame this.
Monday, January 23, 2017
Exxon’s Rex Tillerson and the Rise of Big Oil in American Politics
Exxon’s Rex Tillerson and the Rise of Big Oil in American Politics
A bit of history can go a long way.
A bit of history can go a long way.
Ed Hawkins: Global warming gif
Spiralling global temperatures from 1850-2016 (full animation) https://t.co/YETC5HkmTr pic.twitter.com/Ypci717AHq— Ed Hawkins (@ed_hawkins) May 9, 2016
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Wyoming lawmakers want to limit utility usage of in-state wind energy
Wyoming lawmakers want to limit utility usage of in-state wind energy
We're going to add these guys to our climate hall of shame this week:
We're going to add these guys to our climate hall of shame this week:
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| Sponsors of this legislation: http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2017/Introduced/SF0071.pdf |
See how the police state defends oil interests.
At 2:50 watch the police state engage in criminal activity against water protectors. Firing rubber bullets point blank for a Texas oilman. https://t.co/s1qB7Z10vK
— Energy Politics (@energy_politics) January 17, 2017
Now: Johnny Dangers livestream from the prayer walk to the drill pad happening now #NoDAPL https://t.co/d67CduDPkw pic.twitter.com/FwEiOM2gpc
— IndigenousEnviroNet (@IENearth) January 16, 2017
Unarmed water protectors singing and praying while police fire tear gas at them #NoDAPL pic.twitter.com/GPThkmUqjd
— Ruth Hopkins (@RuthHHopkins) January 17, 2017
Monday, January 16, 2017
Fossil Fuel Struggles: Cass County sheriff says intense North Dakota pipeline protests haunted his dreams nightly
The sheriff also referred to activists as "eco-terrorists".
Struggles will look and sound increasingly like this, as mostly whitish police and military forces at service of fossil fuel industries and capital seek to justify violent response against people defending earth, land, rights, water, sovereignty, and climate:
Cass County sheriff says intense North Dakota pipeline protests haunted his dreams nightly
Struggles will look and sound increasingly like this, as mostly whitish police and military forces at service of fossil fuel industries and capital seek to justify violent response against people defending earth, land, rights, water, sovereignty, and climate:
Cass County sheriff says intense North Dakota pipeline protests haunted his dreams nightly
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
CCS as 'Clean Coal' or 'Clean Carbon'? There is nothing clean about either of these -- Yale Environment 360: First Carbon-Capture Coal Plant in U.S. is Now Fully Operational
To suggest that CCS is any kind of solution seems questionable when the captured CO2 is used to pump more fossil fuels. And, lignite should just be left underground. It is neither energy efficient nor economically rational nor environmentally rational to produce syngas from coal.
Yale Environment 360: First Carbon-Capture Coal Plant in U.S. is Now Fully Operational
Yale Environment 360: First Carbon-Capture Coal Plant in U.S. is Now Fully Operational
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Monday, January 9, 2017
Coal: Southern Illinois politicians and industry folks think coal might come back. They should start thinking more creatively. Good background info.
Even in Illinois coal communities, Trump's anticipated impact on industry is a source of debate - Bryce Gray STL Post-Dispatch
- “That’s a fear,” said Georgia de la Garza, a local activist following coal issues. “Our communities cannot survive on the coal paycheck anymore. ... They need to look elsewhere.”
- http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/even-in-illinois-coal-communities-trump-s-anticipated-impact-on/article_1d1890d6-3042-5b3f-9680-11d620861cf2.html
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| Bryce Gray, STL Post-Dispatch. |
Friday, January 6, 2017
Fossil Fuels and Dementia: Here's some new research. The link between road pollution and dementia just got stronger
The link between road pollution and dementia just got stronger
"People who live near a major road are up to 12 percent more likely to develop dementia—a group of memory-loss disorders including Alzheimer's disease—than those who live further away, according to study published Wednesday in medical journal in The Lancet."
"People who live near a major road are up to 12 percent more likely to develop dementia—a group of memory-loss disorders including Alzheimer's disease—than those who live further away, according to study published Wednesday in medical journal in The Lancet."
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