Energy & the Environment News and Discussions

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[Time_Traveller]

Boris Johnson warns energy firms soaring bills will damage sector

Thu 11 Aug 2022 15.50 BST

Boris Johnson has warned energy companies that sky-high bills will damage their business, speaking at a round table with the electricity sector where the chancellor of the exchequer cautioned that “extraordinary profits” were being evaluated.

No new measures have been agreed to ease pressures on household bills and any specifics are likely to be delayed for weeks until a new prime minister is in place.

Nadhim Zahawi met the providers along with the prime minister and the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, amid tensions in government over the future of further windfall taxation.

One industry source briefed on the talks said it was “clear the windfall tax is not a preferred option for anyone – ministers or electricity companies”.

The short-notice attendance of the prime minister at the scheduled meeting raised some eyebrows in Whitehall and one source hinted it was a PR exercise, adding that there was little the long-scheduled meeting could agree within the constitutional boundaries of a departing prime minister not making major fiscal decisions.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... fall-taxes

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

Biden administration to declare toxic 'forever chemicals' as hazardous
Source: Washington Post

For decades, Sandy Wynn-Stelt looked at the Christmas tree farm across the street from her home in western Michigan with delight. “How idyllic is that,” she said. “That’s about as quintessential Michigan as you could get.” Only in recent years did she learn of the toxic “time bomb that nobody knew was sitting” on the land underneath those trees. Her town of Belmont is one of hundreds across the country contaminated with an omnipresent batch of dangerous chemicals known as polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

On Friday, the Biden administration proposed to classify two of the most common of these chemical compounds, which can persist in the environment for years, as hazardous substances. The long-awaited move from the Environmental Protection Agency is meant to spark the cleanup of scores of sites defiled by industrial compounds and make the public more aware of their presence. Used to make everyday products like nonstick cookware, cosmetics, fabrics and food packaging, these types of chemicals pervade drinking water used by millions of Americans — and they’ve been linked to an array of illnesses, including cardiovascular problems and low birth weights.

“It’s a very significant step,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a phone interview. The proposed rule “requires the polluter to pay for violating the law.” Still, people living near toxic waste and their advocates say the federal government under multiple administrations has been painfully slow to act, even as the health risks of PFAS become ever clearer. The agency is proposing to add two chemicals known as PFOA and PFOS to its official list of hazardous substances under the federal Superfund program, which cleans up toxic waste sites.

The listing will make it easier for the federal government to compel polluters to pay to restore contaminated sites and funnel taxpayer money into projects if the culprits cannot be found. “Transparency and disclosure are critical in this process,” Regan said. “And so, this rule will do that.” Under the proposed rule, companies will need to report when the substances leach into the environment, even in relatively small quantities. The requirements will help public health officials track where the chemicals persist.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate- ... anup-rule/

[Time_Traveller]

Green Tories back Johnson’s call for successor to invest in renewables

Mon 29 Aug 2022 16.47 BST

Leading green Conservatives have backed Boris Johnson’s call for his successor to invest in renewable energy, amid concern that the Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss could rely more on fossil fuels to combat soaring prices.

In one of his final speeches as prime minister, Johnson is set to warn against focusing on short-term solutions and neglecting both renewables and a wider shift towards net zero.

While officials say details of the speech are still to be worked out, they say Johnson will stress that growth in sources such as wind power, as well as new nuclear power stations, would protect the UK from future energy crises.

Truss and her rival in the Conservative leadership race, Rishi Sunak, have both called for more nuclear energy. However, they have been notably sceptical at times in their comments and planned policies on renewable sources.

Sunak has pledged to make it even harder to get permission for onshore windfarms, while Truss spoke out vehemently against solar panels being installed on agricultural land.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... t_b-gdneco

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

U.S. gasoline prices fall to pre-Ukraine invasion levels
Source: Reuters

U.S. wholesale gasoline prices fell to their lowest levels since before Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday, suggesting motorists in the world's largest energy consumer will see lower pump prices in coming weeks.

U.S. gasoline futures fell as low as $2.5899 per gallon on Wednesday, the lowest since Feb. 18, just before Moscow invaded Ukraine, setting off a series of sanctions from the United States and its allies that boosted prices across the energy markets to multi-year highs.

Energy costs have been the primary driver of global inflation, with retail gasoline prices hitting an all-time record in the United States at more than $5 a gallon in mid-June.

Lack of spare refining capacity pushed costs for refined products higher, but headed into winter, gasoline prices have started to retreat as demand dips.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 022-08-30/

[Time_Traveller]

Traces of drugs found in marine life after sewage pumped into British waters

2 Sep 2022

Traces of drugs have been found in marine life, thanks to the untreated sewage being pumped into British waters, according to a joint study by two leading UK universities, which this programme has been given exclusive access to.

The research by Brunel and the University of Portsmouth shows that drugs such as antidepressants and cocaine are affecting the ability of marine life to reproduce and even causing it to change sex.

https://www.channel4.com/news/traces-of ... ish-waters

[weatheriscool]

Ukraine war: Russia to keep key gas pipeline to EU closed
Source: BBC

Russia's main gas pipeline to Europe will not reopen as planned on Saturday, adding to concerns about energy supplies this winter.

State energy firm Gazprom said it found a leak on Nord Stream 1, meaning it could be closed indefinitely.

The pipeline, which runs to Germany, has been shut for three days for what Gazprom described as maintenance work.

Europe accused Russia of using its gas supplies to blackmail Europe amid the Ukraine conflict, which Moscow denies.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62766867

[weatheriscool]

More than 90% of identifiable trash in North Pacific Garbage Patch comes from just six countries
https://phys.org/news/2022-09-trash-nor ... patch.html
by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

A team of researchers with the Ocean Cleanup project and Wageningen University, both in the Netherlands, has found via sampling and testing that more than 90% of the identifiable trash swirling around in the North Pacific Garbage Patch (NPGP) comes from just six countries, all of which are major industrialized fishing nations. They have published their research in Scientific Reports.

Prior research has shown that there is a giant island of trash floating atop the subtropical gyre in the North Pacific Ocean. Scientists have estimated that there are tens of thousands of tons of the trash, most of it plastic, covering millions of square kilometers. The existence of the NPGP has garnered a lot of headlines in recent years, though the source of the trash has not been identified—until now.

In this new effort, the researchers collected, sorted and studied 6,000 pieces of trash from the NPGP. Their goal was to find its source. To that end, they looked for words printed on debris as a means of identifying a language, or identifiable symbols, including logos.

[Time_Traveller]

Liz Truss poised to axe ban on fracking in energy bills plan - breaching Tory manifesto

14:56, 7 Sep 2022

Liz Truss is poised to lift the ban on fracking as she prepares to announce plans to help Brits struggling with the energy crisis, No10 suggested.

Downing Street hinted that the new Prime Minister could tear up a 2019 Tory manifesto commitment to prohibit shale gas extraction as the Government scrambles to help households with spiralling bills.

Ms Truss will give a statement to Parliament tomorrow, where she is expected to pledge a freeze on household energy bills at around £2,500 a year.

Details of the plan, estimated to cost more than £100bn, are scant but it is expected to be funded through Government borrowing rather than a controversial idea to claw it back from consumers over 20 years.

Ms Truss could end the moratorium on fracking to deal with the power crisis - despite warnings from climate experts that it wouldn't save households money.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ ... n-27930885

Time for round two communities against the Tories.

[weatheriscool]

Great news! We need more oil and gas to drive down the cost and to help people in need.

[weatheriscool]

Oil dives more than $4 on strong dollar, recession fears
Source: Reuters

Sept 7 (Reuters) - Oil prices tumbled more than $4 on Wednesday, slumping below levels seen prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine as downbeat Chinese trade data fed investor worries about recession risks. Brent crude futures were down $4.12, or 4.4%, at $88.71 a barrel by 12:43 p.m. EDT (1543 GMT), touching their lowest since Feb. 3 and falling below $90 a barrel for the first since Feb. 8.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell by $4.29, or 4.9%, to $82.46, reaching its lowest since Jan. 24. "Right now the market is basing its concerns about what will happen due to sharply higher energy prices in Europe, slowing demand in Europe, and interest rates rising," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.

Several world central banks are slated to keep hiking rates to fight inflation, but the United States appears better placed to weather the storms, economists have said. That has boosted the dollar to a 24-year peak against the yen and a 37-year high versus sterling. The stronger greenback pressures oil prices, since most worldwide oil sales are transacted in dollars.

The European Central Bank is expected to raise interest rates sharply when it meets on Thursday. A U.S. Federal Reserve meeting follows on Sept. 21. The Bank of Canada hiked interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point to a 14-year high on Wednesday, as expected, and said the policy rate would need to go even higher as it battles raging inflation.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ ... 022-09-07/

[weatheriscool]

A new way to make electricity using ocean waves
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-09-ele ... ocean.html
by Bob Yirka , Tech Xplore

A team of researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new way to generate electricity using ocean waves. In their paper published in the journal One Earth, the group describes how their new device works and how well it compared to other wave power devices.

Over the past several years, solar, geothermal and wind power have dominated the news surrounding the development of alternative energy sources. One source has been noticeably lagging—wave power. The world's oceans and large lakes produce waves, which scientist have noticed could be used to generate electricity. Unfortunately, thus far, such efforts have not proven cost-effective. Current systems generally involve using wave action to push magnets through coils, which turns out to be bulky and expensive, not to mention inefficient. In this new effort, the team in China has taken a whole new approach to the problem—using waves to generate static electricity.

Other researchers have tried to engineer devices that can create static electricity using other types of movement, such as clothes or a backpack or even socks. But thus far, no products based on this approach have made it to market. In this new effort, the researchers are looking at a much larger device, one modeled after the anaconda snake.

[weatheriscool]

Some 230 whales beached in Tasmania; rescue efforts underway
Source: AP

HOBART, Australia (AP) — About 230 whales have been stranded on Tasmania’s west coast, just days after 14 sperm whales were found beached on an island off the southeastern coast.

The pod stranded on Ocean Beach appears to be pilot whales and at least half are presumed to still be alive, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania said Wednesday.

A team from the Marine Conservation Program was assembling whale rescue gear and heading to the area, the department said.

A resident told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the whales were visible near the entrance to Macquarie Harbour and described the stranding as a “massive event.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/science-aust ... position_9

[weatheriscool]

Oil Prices Tumble to Their Lowest Level Since January
Source: Ny Times

The U.S. benchmark oil price tumbled below $80 a barrel on Friday for the first time since January as traders grew increasingly worried that much of the world was headed into a recession or was already in one.

The steady fall in prices from over $120 a barrel a few months ago could easily reverse if the European Union severely limits its purchases of Russian oil as it has threatened to do. But for now, the falling oil price has offered consumers some relief from inflation.

Oil prices had been rising for the better part of the past 12 months, and accelerated sharply when Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The U.S. benchmark oil price, West Texas Intermediate, was trading around $78.28 a barrel at midday, down 6 percent, and the global benchmark, Brent, was down 5 percent, to about $84.70.

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Friday was $3.69, 20 cents lower than a month ago. The price would be lower if it were not for a fire at the BP refinery in Oregon, Ohio, this week that sent fuel prices in the Midwest higher.

Global supplies of oil are tight, but demand for the fuel has also been weak. Energy use in China, which has been a principal driver of oil price over the last two decades, is down sharply because the country’s government has frequently locked down big cities and regions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/23/busi ... rices.html

[weatheriscool]

Gas from Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline leaks into Baltic Sea
Source: Reuters

BERLIN/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Danish authorities on Monday asked ships to steer clear of a five nautical mile radius off the island of Bornholm after a gas leak overnight from the defunct Russian-owned Nord Stream 2 pipeline drained into the Baltic Sea.

The German government said it was in contact with the Danish authorities and working with local law enforcement to find out what caused pressure in the pipeline to plummet suddenly. Denmark's energy ministry declined to comment.

On Monday evening, the operator of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which ran at reduced capacity since mid-June before stopping supplies altogether in August, also disclosed a pressure drop on both lines of the gas pipeline.

"The reasons are being investigated," Nord Stream AG said on its website, without disclosing further information.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ga ... r-AA12fC1m

[weatheriscool]

Denmark says Nord Stream 1 pipelines stop leaking
Source: AP

HELSINKI (AP) — Authorities in Denmark said Sunday that the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipelines have also stopped leaking, a day after officials said that the ruptured Nord Stream 2 pipelines also appeared to stop leaking.

The Nord Stream AG company informed the Danish Energy Agency that a stable pressure now appears to have been achieved on the Nord Stream 1 pipelines.

“The Nord Stream AG company has informed the Danish Energy Agency that a stable pressure now appears to have been achieved on the two Nord Stream 1 pipelines. This indicates that the blowout of gas from the last two leaks has now also been completed,” the Danish agency tweeted Sunday.

The Danish agency said Saturday the Nord Stream 2 ruptured natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea appears to have stopped leaking natural gas.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... 33ae156c7c

[weatheriscool]

Ruptured oil pipeline off California approved for repairs
Source: AP

By BRIAN MELLEY

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Texas oil company was granted permission to repair an underwater pipeline that ruptured off the coast of Southern California a year ago, spilled tens of thousands of gallons of crude, and forced beaches and fisheries to close.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the approval Friday to Amplify Energy Corp., clearing the way to rebuild the aging pipeline that burst months after it was apparently weakened when it was snagged by the anchors of ships adrift in a storm.

The Oct. 1, 2021, rupture spilled about 25,000 gallons (94,600 liters) of oil into the Pacific Ocean, closed miles of beaches for a week, shuttered fisheries for months and coated birds and wetlands in oil.

The approval to rebuild the pipe running from an oil rig off Huntington Beach to tanks in Long Beach comes less than a month after Amplify pleaded guilty to federal charges of negligently discharging oil. The Houston-based company and two subsidiaries also agreed to plead no contest in state court to polluting water and killing birds.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-tex ... 910a1d37cf