July 6, 2014

Billionaire Koch brothers are big oil players in Alberta

The ultra-right U.S. Koch brothers, little-known to Canadians, are major players in Alberta's oil patch, where they control at least 1.1 million acres.

PEACE RIVER, ALTA.—Trevor Newton braves the driving sleet and the boot-sucking bog as he moves along an unmarked path through the Middle of Nowhere.

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A trim, sandy-haired man who spends part of his time on his cattle farm near Vancouver, Newton is chairman of the board of a small oil company. And until recently, he had no idea that he was surrounded by vast tracts of land acquired by Koch — the oil giant at the centre of a political storm in Washington and beyond.

“We knew they were alongside us, but we didn’t realize the extent to which they were all around us,” Newton says through the gusting wind. “When we looked at the recent (geological) survey we found they had assembled an absolutely massive land package in the Peace River area.

“Total Koch holdings in the region would be more than 360,000 acres — an area larger than Los Angeles. Koch’s holdings in the area dominate all the other leaseholders, including Shell.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/07/06/billionaire_koch_brothers_are_big_oil_players_in_alberta.html

July 4, 2014

Coastal Winds Intensifying With Climate Change, Study Says

Summer winds are intensifying along the west coasts of North and South America and southern Africa and climate change is a likely cause, a new study says.

The winds, which blow parallel to the shore and draw cold, nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean to the surface in a process known as coastal upwelling, have increased over the last 60 years in three out of five regions of the world, according to an analysis published Thursday in the journal Science.

Stronger winds have the potential to benefit coastal areas by bringing a surge of nutrients and boosting populations of plankton, fish, and other species. But they could also harm marine life by causing turbulence in surface waters, disrupting feeding, worsening ocean acidification, and lowering oxygen levels, the study says.

The shift could already be having serious effects on some of the world’s most productive marine fisheries and ecosystems off California, Peru, and South Africa.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/coastal-winds-intensifying-climate-change-study-says/

July 4, 2014

The Energy Department Just Announced $4 Billion For Projects That Fight Global Warming

The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday announced that it is issuing a loan guarantee program of up to $4 billion to support innovative renewable energy and energy efficiency projects that avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions.

In support of the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan, the DOE identified five key technology areas for the loan program to support. One is advanced grid integration and storage, which essentially means technologies that better support renewable power on the electric grid. Another is drop-in biofuels, which are biofuels that can be used in existing infrastructure.

The DOE also said the program would consider supporting waste-to-energy projects, energy efficiency improvement projects, and projects that would enhance existing hydroelectric facilities.

“As the President emphasized in his Climate Action Plan, it is critical that we take an all-of-the above approach to energy in order to cut carbon pollution, help address the effects of climate change and protect our children’s future,” said DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz in a statement. “Investments in clean, low-carbon energy also provide an economic opportunity.”

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/03/3456541/doe-loan-guarantee-program/

July 3, 2014

Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2: NASA's New Carbon Sleuth

_ NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

July 3, 2014

NASA Launches Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 Satellite To Monitor Greenhouse Gases (VIDEO)

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — A rocket carrying a NASA satellite lit up the pre-dawn skies Wednesday on a mission to track atmospheric carbon dioxide, the chief culprit behind global warming.

The Delta 2 rocket blasted off from California at 2:56 a.m. and released the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite in low-Earth orbit 56 minutes later, bringing relief to mission officials who lost a similar spacecraft five years ago.

The flight was "a perfect ride into space," said Ralph Basilio, the OCO-2 project manager, at a post-launch press conference.

Power-supplying solar arrays deployed, initial checks showed the spacecraft was healthy and two-way communications were established, he said.

The launch was delayed a day because of a failure in ground equipment 46 seconds before liftoff Tuesday morning.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/02/carbon-observatory-2-satellite_n_5550826.html


OrbitingOrbiting Carbon Observatory 2: NASA's New Carbon Sleuth

July 2, 2014

Lizz Winstead on Hobby Lobby: