Energy

The Energy/Food Crisis Is Far Worse Than Most Americans Realize

May 17, 2022 Richard Heinberg, Resilience. Educate! Energy, Finance and the Economy, Food and Agriculture, Inflation, Oil and Gas

Everyone who owns a gasoline-burning car has noticed that fuel prices have shot up in recent weeks. And most of us have read headlines about high energy prices driving inflation. But very few Americans have any inkling just how profound the current energy crisis already is, and is about to become. This lack of awareness is partly due to economists, and those who depend on economists’ readings of the tea leaves of daily data (a group that, sadly, includes nearly all politicians and news purveyors). Recently I heard an NPR staff commentator confidently state: “The only way to get gasoline prices under control is to get inflation under control.” Anyone who understands recent events and how economies work will immediately realize that the statement is ass backwards.

New Gas Industry Astroturf Group ‘Fuelling Canada’

May 14, 2022 Geoff Dembicki, DeSmog. Educate! Canada, climate crisis, Energy, Oil and Gas

In April, the Globe & Mail published an article on its website extolling the virtues of natural gas appliances in people’s houses. The story, headlined “Why natural gas is the smart choice for your new home,” has the look and feel of actual journalism. It includes statistics about Canada’s “reliable” gas industry, a photo of a young couple cooking on their gas range and quotes from Canadian homebuilders and makers of consumer products—such as grills and fireplaces—that use gas. It looks explicitly designed to appeal to first-time homebuyers. But even though natural gas is a major growing source of emissions in the country (Canada is the world’s fourth largest producer of the fossil fuel), the article didn’t once mention climate change, nor the potentially severe health impacts from breathing in gas fumes.

The Hawai’i State Legislature Calls For A Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

May 12, 2022 Fossil Fuel Treaty. Create! Energy, Fossil Fuel Nonproliferation Treaty, Hawaii, Oil and Gas

Honolulu, Hawai’i – The Hawai’i State Legislature has adopted a resolution calling for the State of Hawai’i and all counties to endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Hawai’i was the first US state to make a Climate Emergency Declaration and pass legislation to implement portions of the Paris Climate Agreement. Hawai’i may now become the first state and the first Pacific Island to join the call for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. The proposed Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty would provide an international mechanism to advance a fast and fair phase out of fossil fuel production in line with both the Paris Agreement and United National Sustainable Development Goals. Fossil fuels are by far the largest contributor to climate change.

Washington Takes Strongest Clean Commercial Buildings Action In Nation

April 26, 2022 Last Real Indians. Create! Carbon emissions, Energy, Housing, Washington State

Olympia, WA - The Washington State Building Code Council voted 11-3 today to adopt a new statewide commercial and multifamily building energy code that will be the strongest, most climate-friendly in the country by driving the transition to clean electricity for space and water heating. This major win for clean energy coincides with President Joe Biden’s Earth Day Seattle visit where he discussed the infrastructure bill and clean energy. The Department of Energy has made heat pumps and energy efficiency measures a key part of its efforts to reduce emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. Under Washington’s updated energy code that will take effect in July 2023, new commercial buildings – including multifamily residential buildings four stories and taller – will be built with high-efficiency electric heat pumps for water and space heating.

Redlined Neighborhoods In Cities Across The US Saw More Oil Drilling

April 21, 2022 Sharon Kelly, DeSmog. Educate! Energy, Environmental racism, Oil and Gas, Redlining

Roughly 17 million people in the U.S. live within a mile of an oil or gas well — putting them at higher risk of health problems like heart disease, breathing issues, anxiety and depression, and complications during pregnancy, a growing body of research shows. But all is not equal when it comes to who exactly lives near oil wells — and intentional racial discrimination in federal mortgage policies, reflected in a practice known as “redlining,” may have played a role, according to a new study published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. There are nearly twice as many oil and gas wells in neighborhoods that were redlined in the 1930s, the study found. That pattern was visible in 33 cities across 13 states where oil and gas wells were drilled, and drilling in those neighborhoods intensified after the federal government issued redlining maps.

How Biogas Could Do More Harm Than Good For The Hog Industry

April 18, 2022 Cameron Oglesby, Scalawag Magazine. Educate! Biogas, Energy, Environment, North Carolina, Waste

Sherri White-Williamson lives about three miles from a pork processing plant in Clinton, North Carolina. On a good day, the air smells fresh, tainted by a minor whiff of rotten egg and sewage. On a bad day, the odor from the plant is so strong, she has to keep her windows closed. The smell wafts into a local elementary school, nearby restaurants, churches, and the county history museum. Those who live and work in the area say they have to keep fans, candles, and air fresheners running at all hours to make the air tolerable. The problem is even worse for people living down the road in rural Sampson County, near large hog farms, where they must endure more potent odors and pollution coming from the lagoons filled with waste, and the systems that spray waste onto fields as fertilizer.

Democratizing Mississippi’s Electric Cooperatives

April 18, 2022 Makaelah Walters, Facing South. Create! Cooperatives, Democracy, Energy, Mississippi

In 1932, only about 10% of rural America was electrified, as big energy companies had long avoided investing in rural areas for fear it wasn't profitable. New Deal legislation offering federal assistance to Americans living without electricity led to the formation of electric cooperatives. Thanks to their efforts, 90% of homes, businesses and farms in rural America were electrified by 1936. Co-ops are not-for-profit and made up of member-owners — community members who share collective ownership of the company from which they also receive electricity, and nowadays sometimes internet service as well. Co-ops are governed by a board of directors who are elected by member-owners to make policy decisions. Today there are more than 900 electric co-ops across the U.S. powering more than 20 million businesses, homes, schools, and farms.

Resource Limits And Our Strange Game Of Musical Chairs

April 18, 2022 Kurt Cobb, Resilience. Educate! Commodities, Energy, Environment, Resources

With a wide range of commodities in limited supply, various regions of the world are now behaving as if they are engaged in simultaneous games of musical chairs when it comes to commodity shortages. The games differ by commodity and by region, but they all share one characteristic: As in a game of musical chairs, someone will have to go without. And, as in a game of musical chairs, available supplies are shrinking (as represented by the removal of chairs). An interesting twist on this game is that now some chairs are being transferred from one game to another. For example, the Biden administration has declared that U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe will be stepped up in order to displace natural gas from Russia—which has become a suspect source due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the broad economic sanctions against Russia.

Mexicans Mobilize In Support Of President AMLO’s Electricity Reform

April 16, 2022 Tanya Wadhwa, People's Dispatch. Create! AMLO, Energy, Mexico, Public ownership

On Tuesday, April 12, hundreds of citizens took to the streets in different parts of Mexico in support of the electricity reform promoted by president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). In the capital Mexico City, members of various civil society organizations, social movements, and trade unions held a march from the Zócalo to the Chamber of Deputies. They demonstrated outside the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro, calling on the legislators of the opposition parties to approve the reform to the Electricity Industry Law (LIE), which allows nationalization of the energy industry.

Biomass Industry Pushes Back Against Europe’s Plans To Protect Woodlands

April 16, 2022 Phoebe Cooke, DeSmog. Educate! Biomass, Energy, Environment, United Kingdom (UK)

A powerful US biomass lobby group is pushing for a raft of changes that would weaken European renewable energy rules geared to better protect biodiversity and tackle climate change, DeSmog can reveal. Leaked documents shared with DeSmog show that Yorkshire wood-burning power plant Drax is at the heart of the effort to water down EU sustainability criteria. Campaigners say that the proposed amendments pose an “existential threat” to the company, which in 2021 produced nearly 13 percent of the UK’s renewable electricity through burning wood pellets.

Invoking The Defense Production Act Is The Wrong Solution To Shortages

April 14, 2022 Roopali Phadke, MinnPost. Create! Biden administration, Energy, Mining

The DPA is the wrong instrument for increasing domestic supplies of minerals for clean energy development. In the U.S., a new mine will take an average of 10 years to receive its permits because of the extensive investigations needed to prove safety. Even if minerals are extracted, they need to be shipped abroad for processing since there are no facilities in the U.S. to process these minerals. New mines and processing facilities simply cannot come online fast enough to address an urgent need for minerals. And, the Biden Administration has already supported the mining industry through the recent infrastructure law. The 2020 Energy Act also directed the Department of Energy to invest $740 million in research and development for the industry.

Amid Rolling Blackouts, Energy Workers Fight For Clean Public Power

April 3, 2022 Casey Williams, In These Times. Create! Coal, Energy, Just transition, South Africa, Worker Rights and Jobs

The lights went out around Johannesburg on a Monday morning in November 2021, not to flicker back on until early that Friday in some areas. It marked the last rolling blackout of a year troubled by more outages than any in recent memory. The fate of Eskom, the beleaguered power utility behind the crisis, is now at the center of South Africa’s struggle for a just energy transition — a break from fossil fuels without leaving behind frontline communities or energy workers. As a public company, Eskom has a constitutional mandate to guarantee electricity as a basic right. But the utility struggles to meet that mandate with its aging equipment, staggering debt, corruption and rules that require it to break even, which drive exorbitant rate hikes.

Cuba Prepares For Disaster

March 26, 2022 Don Fitz, Popular Resistance. Organize! climate crisis, Cuba, Democracy, Energy, Neoliberalism

The September 2021 Scientific American included a description by the editors of the deplorable state of disaster relief in the US. They traced the root cause of problems with relief programs as their “focus on restoring private property,” which results in little attention to those “with the least capacity to deal with disasters.” The book Disaster Preparedness and Climate Change in Cuba: Adaptation and Management (2021) came out the next month. It traced the highly successful source of the island nation’s efforts to the way it put human welfare above property. This collection of 14 essays by Emily J. Kirk, Isabel Story, and Anna Clayfield is an extraordinary assemblage of articles, each addressing specific issues. Writers are well aware that Cuban approaches are adapted to the unique geography and history of the island.

Venezuela Defines Conditions For Sale Of Oil To US

March 20, 2022 José Manuel Blanco Díaz, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Energy, Oil and Gas, US Sanctions, Venezuela

The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela maintained its willingness to resume its oil trade with countries such as the United States, and even those that belong to the European Union, but it has clearly outlined the diplomatic and political conditions necessary for any exchange to take place. Venezuela’s position was reiterated by its Minister for Foreign Affairs, Félix Plasencia, within the framework of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, in the Republic of Turkey. This international meeting of diplomats coincides with the energy crisis facing North America and Europe, due to the economic blockade they have imposed on Russia amid the military conflict in Ukraine. “If they accept that the only and legitimate government of Venezuela is the one led by President Nicolás Maduro, US and European oil companies are welcome,” said Plasencia.

Cost Of Living Protesters Around The Country Say Enough Is Enough

February 14, 2022 The Canary. Resist! Energy, Housing, United Kingdom (UK), Wages

Protests were held in several regions on Saturday 12 February to highlight the injustice of of the cost of living crisis. In Newcastle, a placard referred to “Tory tricksters”. Meanwhile another sign held next to a baby said “I can do a better job than Boris”. Laura Pidcock, national secretary of the People’s Assembly, said there’s “real anger” at what she described as a “growing crisis”. The former Labour MP added: Working people could not be working harder and yet life is getting so much more difficult.

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