Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Monday, May 29, 2017
What we've been talking about for awhile now: the increasing criminalization of protest, the militarization of policing, and the corruption of democracy and rule of law through privatized (paramilitary) policing: Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to “Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies”
All of which offers more support for our thesis about the inherent (and increasing) criminality of the fossil fuel industry. More troubling, we see the blurred lines between public law enforcement and these private mercenary contractors. Troubling signs of the lengths that the fossil fuel industry and those sectors of law enforcement without the principle to question them will go to defend the interests of private fossil fuel capital.
Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to “Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies”
See also, Ruth Hopkins' earlier report on private security at NoDAPL: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/40681-footing-the-15-million-bill-for-the-dakota-access-pipeline-s-private-army
Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to “Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies”
See also, Ruth Hopkins' earlier report on private security at NoDAPL: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/40681-footing-the-15-million-bill-for-the-dakota-access-pipeline-s-private-army
Friday, May 26, 2017
Big Payoff After Blackstone Courted a Saudi Prince
Big Payoff After Blackstone Courted a Saudi Prince
Or, how oil dollars can be used to make more money off of the US public when we hand over infrastructure projects to Schwarzman's hedge fund and the Saudi princes....
Or, how oil dollars can be used to make more money off of the US public when we hand over infrastructure projects to Schwarzman's hedge fund and the Saudi princes....
Monday, May 22, 2017
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Grid: Ameren seeks special rates for a steel smelter, so that people can subsidize dirty coal as well as steel investors. Greitens, our governor, is in bed with the utility. They want to gut the Public Service Commission, which already is relatively weak. Schaaf, McCaskill respond to Governor's call for special session
Schaaf, McCaskill respond to Governor's call for special session
And more on this:
http://www.missourinet.com/2017/05/18/poplar-bluff-state-senator-outlines-his-position-on-norandasteel-issue/
And more on this:
http://www.missourinet.com/2017/05/18/poplar-bluff-state-senator-outlines-his-position-on-norandasteel-issue/
Monday, May 15, 2017
Dakota Access Pipeline security arrested. - Native Daily Network
The legacy of wars for oil in the MiddleEast: Militarized men w PTSD now charged with securing oil back home #NoDAPL https://t.co/j7yzrOsfSt— Energy Politics (@energy_politics) May 15, 2017
Dakota Access Pipeline security arrested. - Native Daily Network
Friday, May 12, 2017
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Monday, May 8, 2017
Exam review: How does #hegemony work? #coercion and #consent: Oklahoma Governor Signs Anti-Protest Law Imposing Huge Fines on “Conspirator” Organizations
Oklahoma Governor Signs Anti-Protest Law Imposing Huge Fines on “Conspirator” Organizations
By Alleen Brown, The Intercept... (click image for full story)
A STATUTE AIMED at suppressing protests against oil and gas pipelines has been signed into law in Oklahoma, as a related bill advances through the state legislature. The two bills are part of a nationwide trend in anti-protest laws meant to significantly increase legal penalties for civil disobedience.
By Alleen Brown, The Intercept... (click image for full story)
A STATUTE AIMED at suppressing protests against oil and gas pipelines has been signed into law in Oklahoma, as a related bill advances through the state legislature. The two bills are part of a nationwide trend in anti-protest laws meant to significantly increase legal penalties for civil disobedience.
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| Photo: Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP (via The Intercept) |
Friday, May 5, 2017
Exam review, The #Grid: As utilities embrace DERs, pilot projects emerge as key element of compromise
As utilities embrace DERs, pilot projects emerge as key element of compromise
As in Bakke's book, see here a couple of key points:
1) Utilities are generally reticent to change ("first to be second")
2) Issues of incoporating new technologies slowly
3) Regional variation (NE and Cali most advanced, the rest laggards)
4) Political and policy challenges
5) Importance of regional and state level grassroots action and pressure
As in Bakke's book, see here a couple of key points:
1) Utilities are generally reticent to change ("first to be second")
2) Issues of incoporating new technologies slowly
3) Regional variation (NE and Cali most advanced, the rest laggards)
4) Political and policy challenges
5) Importance of regional and state level grassroots action and pressure
The Paris Agreements aren't enough, but they are something, and Trump is dead wrong: via Timmons Roberts: From Harrisburg come two profound misconceptions about the Paris Agreement | Brookings Institution
Timmons Roberts
Highlights:
“The United States pays billions of dollars while China, Russia, and India have contributed and will contribute nothing.”
This statement is misguided and misleading. India and China are industrializing countries. China’s emissions have leveled off over the past three years, 13 years ahead of the deadline they agreed as part of their Paris pledge and with per capita emissions one-third that of the U.S. India’s are still rising, but from a per capita level of emissions one-tenth of the U.S. and with per capita incomes only 3 percent of the U.S. Both countries have invested massively in expanding renewable energy with generation capacity that now surpasses the U.S. by a large margin. Meanwhile, the U.S. remains by far the country most responsible for today’s carbon pollution....
Trump’s claim appears to draw from a Heritage Foundation report, which looks narrowly at the costs of climate action, without factoring in the enormous cost of doing nothing. This oversight is crucial: If we don’t act on climate change quickly, rising seas will cost hundreds of billions to hold back from damaging coastal cities. Fires, droughts, and more intense hurricanes will continue to drive up disaster relief costs. The 2006 Stern Review back pioneered the economics of trying to understand those costs, and they are huge. Sir Nicholas Stern and his co-authors found that not acting to prevent climate change was far more expensive than acting on climate change, and the point has been confirmed repeatedly since then.
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Exam Review: #Oiligarchy: They say I'm a conspiracy theorist, but the last week of class I lectured on the Koch influence on government, and the ideas of regulatory capture and oiligarchy. Today's news, here it is.
Fossil fuel advocate tapped to lead DOE's renewables, efficiency office
At Department of Energy, person named to head up renewables division is also formerly of the "Koch-funded Institute for Energy Research,"
Read the whole article, via Utility Dive
At Department of Energy, person named to head up renewables division is also formerly of the "Koch-funded Institute for Energy Research,"
Read the whole article, via Utility Dive
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Exam Review: Value, the Public Good, Regulatory Capture, Oiligarchy, Fracking: Trump blasts Obama's ‘abusive’ use of monument law, orders review
In what ways does the Trump administration's recent move illustrate how the fossil fuel industry can capture the instrument of government and take control over public goods (in this case lands designated as national monuments) for private corporate interests (in this case the fossil fuel industry).
Hint: The two sites targeted are also where industry wants to frack for oil and gas.
Trump blasts Obama's ‘abusive’ use of monument law, orders review
Hint: The two sites targeted are also where industry wants to frack for oil and gas.
Trump blasts Obama's ‘abusive’ use of monument law, orders review
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Monday, April 24, 2017
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
#Divest #WUSTL: Open letter to all faculty & staff of all units of Washington University in St. Louis. Time to act in defense of our children's future.
Original email sent: April 18, 2017 to approximately 180 faculty members at various units of Washington University in St Louis. Any and all faculty and staff of Washington University in St Louis - Medical School, Business School, Law School, Art and Architecture, School of Social Work – are all welcome to sign and circulate this petition. The option is to stand by quietly while the fossil fuel industry further dismantles efforts to protect public health and make decisions based on science.
Don't have time to read, sign the petition here: https://fossilfreewashu.wordpress.com/sign-the-petition/faculty-petition/.
Don't have time to read, sign the petition here: https://fossilfreewashu.wordpress.com/sign-the-petition/faculty-petition/.
April 18, 2017
Re: Support on WUSTL fossil fuel divestment effort
Dear colleagues,
A group of students approached me to spread the word to faculty to sign a petition asking the university to take steps toward divestment from fossil fuels. In these days of Trump, attacks on climate science, and the assault on the EPA, the rollback of commitments to climate agreements, and the virtual takeover of key government institutions by the fossil fuel industry, I think some action on the university level is timely.
Of course, climate is one issue among many that link our campus to the world – racism, immigration, inequality, public health, and so on. To act here is not to disregard those efforts, but to recognize, as the students do, their interconnectedness.
These student-led campaigns may not be of our choosing, but I think we are called upon to take a position that reflects our claim to teach and defend science, the public good, public health, and the environment in the classroom.
Students are asking the university to make our investments in questionable industries more transparent, and in this case, to divest from investments in the fossil fuel industry. They are asking faculty to sign a petition in support of this effort. I don’t think a sit-in is in the offing so you are not endorsing anything disruptive.
I recognize that signing petitions is seen by many colleagues as inappropriate or ineffectual, or both. Some are simply scared that it might negatively impact them. Some may happen to think that we should just keep burning fossil fuels forever. In this particular case, I hope that you can at least consider the gravity of this issue, among many others, and consider signing your name.
As with all campaigns, the demand that institutions divest from fossil fuels has its possibilities and limits. I won’t fill your inbox with the justifications. Suffice it to say that several top universities, including Stanford and Syracuse, have made some kind of step toward divestment. Divestment is not impossible, nor will it hurt the university (which, by the way did very poorly in its endowment performance last year, which may have something to do with the way it’s currently being managed). To say that divestment from fossil fuels is symbolic is to recognize why it is important.
You may have seen the student op-ed on this issue in today’s StudLife. Quite frankly, the Chancellor’s reaction to the students was a bit unsettling.
At any rate, here’s the petition, thanks for your time and consideration: https://fossilfreewashu.wordpress.com/sign-the-petition/faculty-petition/.
There is an option to sign anonymously.
If you aren’t interested, no worries, please forgive the intrusion and delete. If you want more information, see the students’ website (https://fossilfreewashu.wordpress.com), or let me know. And if you’re so moved, please pass this on as widely as you can.
Warm regards,
Bret Gustafson
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Trump administration halts Obama-era rule aimed at curbing toxic wastewater from coal plants
Trump administration halts Obama-era rule aimed at curbing toxic wastewater from coal plants
Beginning in 2018, power plants would have had to begin showing that they were using the most up-to-date technology to remove heavy metals — including lead, arsenic, mercury and other pollutants — from their wastewater. Pruitt wrote that the EPA plans to postpone compliance deadlines for the regulation, which is also being challenged in a federal court. On Thursday, the EPA said the rule would cost the industry hundreds of millions of dollars a year to comply with.
“This action is another example of EPA implementing President Trump’s vision of being good stewards of our natural resources, while not developing regulations that hurt our economy and kill jobs,” Pruitt said in a statement. “Some of our nation’s largest job producers have objected to this rule, saying the requirements set by the Obama administration are not economically or technologically feasible within the prescribed time frame.”
The move drew immediate condemnation from environmental groups, which called it a gift to the energy industry. They insisted that the Trump administration focused only on potential costs of the rule while ignoring its benefits, and that delays in compliance will endanger wildlife and pose health threats to families that live near coal plants, as exposure to heavy metals can cause problems with cognitive development in children, among other problems.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
#Syria, is it about pipelines or not? Juan Cole says not really, but it's most certainly about Russia. Russia's not Leaving: Syria is about old-Fashioned Sphere of Influence, not Oil
Russia's not Leaving: Syria is about old-Fashioned Sphere of Influence, not Oil
"All this is why Russia will remain in Syria and will have most of it as its sphere of influence. Russia has clear motivations and clear goals there, a strong ally with most of the population under its control, and a practical plan for accomplishing them, which has worked well if sanguinarily so far.
In contrast, the US has no obvious motivation to be in Syria except fighting Daesh. Its policies are therefore muddled. It is damaging its relationship with a big important country, Turkey (pop. 78 mn., GDP $800 bn), by its alliance with the small PYD Syrian Kurdish population of some 2 million, for the instrumental purpose of rolling up Daesh. Maybe the military-industrial complex in the US would like a war just to make some money, and maybe the Neoconservatives would like a war to contain Iran. But neither of them is likely to be able to dictate to Trump, who likely hasn’t given up on better relations with Putin and doesn’t need either of those groups to be reelected.
My guess is that the Tomahawk strikes were impulsive and a one-off. The Russian-dominated status quo is not significantly affected, and there isn’t an early prospect of it so being."
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