The Week That Was: 2024 10-05 (October 05, 2024)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “Nobody’s honest. Scientists are not honest. And people usually believe that they are. That makes it worse. By honest I don’t mean that you only tell what’s true. But you make clear the entire situation. You make clear all the information that is required for somebody else who is intelligent to make up their mind. — Richard Feynman, “The Unscientific Age” in The Meaning of It All.
Number of the Week: Number of the Week: 22 inches in 24 hours
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This Week discusses the questionable claims surrounding Hurricane Helene. It addresses a misunderstanding regarding the greenhouse effect of atmospheric gases. Also discussed is the recent paper claiming a 485-million-year relationship between CO2 and Earth’s temperatures which is based on suggested physical evidence and mathematical simulations, with no explicit controls on the data used and no proper testing. TWTW brings out a foolish article by AP that research to improve maize varieties due to worries about climate change and another claim of a magic form of electricity to achieve Net Zero.
*********************
Hurricane Helene: The Atlantic Basin hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. Despite early warnings of a bad season, it was off to a slow start. With warm coastal waters, the slow start was unexpected, and the reasons are not clear. It may have something to do with the failure of a strong La Niña (cool surface water) to develop in the eastern and central Pacific off Ecuador. The switching from El Niño (warm surface water off centered about 4,000 miles west of Ecuador) to La Niña, called the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSO is a phenomenon that has been observed even before Europeans arrived in South America, but not well understood. Yet it determines significant weather patterns worldwide.
About September 24, Hurricane Helene formed in the western Caribbean and made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida, where the east-west Florida Panhandle transitions to the north-south Florida Peninsula. The storm was a category 3 or 4. Immediately the mythmakers in the press sprang into action, calling it the worst storm ever to hit that region. The mythmakers are apparently unaware of the Great Hurricane of 1896 and too engrossed in modern myths to check historical records. The 1896 hurricane is also called the Cedar Key storm for the town it devastated. The tidal surge destroyed more than 100 sponging boats and went north. It caused significant flooding in the Shenandoah Valley and elsewhere in Virginia. It caused high tides in coastal cities along the Chesapeake Bay and disrupted shipping in the Great Lakes. However, there are no records of wind speed or central pressure, so the 1896 storm cannot be classified by modern methods.
Hurricane Helene also went north and stalled over Appalachia, the mountainous area in North Carolina and Tennessee. This remote hilly region has long been prone to flash floods and recovery efforts are slow. Perhaps the best description of efforts to address the problem is given by Stephen McIntyre, the co-recipient of the 2023 Fredrick Seitz Memorial Award. In an email to Charles Rotter of WUWT, McIntyre writes:
“Actually, the lesson from Helene is the opposite from that being promoted.
In 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority was given the mandate for flood control in the valley of the Tennessee River and its tributaries. Over the next 40 years, they built 49 dams, which, for the most part, accomplished their goal. Whereas floods in the Tennessee were once catastrophic, younger people are mostly unaware of them.
The French Broad River (Asheville) is an upstream tributary where flood control dams weren’t constructed due to local opposition.
Rather than the devastation of Hurricane Helene on Asheville illustrating the effect of climate change, the success of the flood control dams in other sectors of the Tennessee Valley illustrates the success of the TVA flood control program where it is implemented.
Hurricane Helene did not show the effect of climate change, but what happens to settlements in Tennessee Valley tributaries under “natural” flooding (i.e., where flood control dams have been rejected.)” [Boldface added]
Another email:
“I should add that, in its first 40 years, the TVA built 49 flood control dams, of which 29 were power generating. In the subsequent 50 years, TVA built 0 flood control dams,
However, in the 1980s, they established the Carbon Dioxide Information Centre (CDIAC) under their nuclear division, which sponsored much influential climate research, including the CRU temperature data (Phil Jones) and Michael Mann’s fellowship from which Mann et al 1998 derived.
In 1990, the parents of Crowdstrike’s Dmitri Alperovich moved from Russia to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where his father was a TVA nuclear engineer. Dmitri moved to Tennessee a few years later.
One can’t help but wonder whether TVA’s original mandate for flood control got lost in the executive offices, attracted by more glamorous issues, such as climate change research.
If so, one could reasonably say that a factor in the seeming abandonment of TVA efforts to complete its original flood control mandate (e.g., to French Broad River which inundated Asheville) was partly attributable to diversion of TVA interest to climate change research, as opposed to its mandate of flood control.”
Another email:
“Another thought. As soon as the point is made, it is obvious that flood control dams have reduced flooding. Not just in Appalachia. I’ve looked at long data for water levels in Great Lakes and the amount of fluctuation (flooding) after dams installed is much reduced.
And yet my recollection of public reporting of climate is that weather extremes, including flooding, is getting worse. But in areas with flood control dams, it obviously isn’t getting worse than before. It’s better. Note to self: check IPCC reports for their specific findings on flooding.”
How many environmental groups that opposed the construction of flood control dams will take responsibility for the consequences of their actions? See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy and Changing Weather.
*********************
Greenhouse Gases: Kenneth Richard of No Tricks Zone draws attention to another erroneous criticism of the greenhouse gas in “Physicists: Non-Greenhouse Gases (O2 and N2) Are Mainly Responsible For The 33°C Greenhouse Effect.” The paper is “The role of greenhouse gases in radiative equilibrium – Thermodynamic evaluation.” The abstract states:
“The significance of greenhouse gases for climate change is assessed in the case of carbon dioxide on the basis of thermodynamic data. According to the values of the molar heat capacity, no increased heat-storing property of this greenhouse gas can be determined. The absorption and desorption of infrared radiation by the greenhouse gases is seen as a reversible dynamic process, which on the one hand reduces the IR radiation from the Sun, and on the other hand, delays the re-radiation from the Earth. As converters of heat into IR photons and vice versa, the greenhouse gases play an important role in balancing the radiation. The direction of heat transport in the atmosphere is determined by the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. The range of IR radiation is determined according to the gradation of air pressure in the atmosphere.”
Contrary to the authors, the issue is not the molar heat capacity of water vapor or carbon dioxide (CO2), the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one mole of water vapor or CO2 by one degree. In SI units (International System of Units} it is Joules per mole times degrees Kelvin at constant pressure and density. The issue is the radiation transfer of electromagnetic energy emitted by Earth to molecules of certain gases (photons), mainly water vapor and secondarily CO2, which causes them to vibrate and the random emission of the energy by the molecule upon hitting another molecule. The process is ongoing and does not involve the storage of heat by the molecules involved.
For a description of the process by William van Wijngaarden and William Happer see links under Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer. For the paper in question see links under Questioning the Orthodoxy.
*********************
485 Million Years: Several weeks ago, AAAS Science published a paper claiming to establish the temperature record of Earth for the past 485 million years and show the strong relationship between Earth’s temperature and CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. The editor’s summary reads [boldface added]:
“Understanding how global mean surface temperature (GMST) has varied over the past half-billion years, a time in which evolutionary patterns of flora and fauna have had such an important influence on the evolution of climate, is essential for understanding the processes driving climate over that interval. Judd et al. present a record of GMST over the past 485 million years that they constructed by combining proxy data with climate modeling (see the Perspective by Mills). They found that GMST varied over a range from 11° to 36°C, with an “apparent” climate sensitivity of ∼8°C, about two to three times what it is today. —Jesse Smith”
The Structured Abstract and other material states [boldface added with graph omitted here]:
“INTRODUCTION
A long-term geological record of global mean surface temperature (GMST) is important for understanding the history of our planet and putting present-day climate change into context. Such a record is necessary for constraining the relationship between climate and other aspects of the Earth system, including the evolution and extinction of life, and the chemistry of the atmosphere and oceans. Further, quantifying the relationship between GMST and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations can refine our understanding of Earth’s climate sensitivity and improve future predictions under anthropogenic warming.
RATIONALE
Although several Phanerozoic (the last 539 million years) temperature reconstructions exist, during the intensively studied Cenozoic Era (the last 66 million years), they are colder and less variable than individual estimates from key time periods, particularly during ice-free (greenhouse) intervals. This discrepancy suggests that existing Phanerozoic temperature records may underestimate past temperature change, and merits further investigation using a new approach.
RESULTS
Here, we present PhanDA, a reconstruction of GMST spanning most of the Phanerozoic Eon. PhanDA was created using data assimilation, a method that statistically integrates geological data with climate model simulations. PhanDA indicates that Earth’s temperature has varied between 11° and 36°C over the past 485 million years. This range is larger than previous reconstructions; however, PhanDA agrees well with independent GMST estimates from the Cenozoic, providing confidence in its larger dynamical range.
PhanDA reveals key features in the relationship between GMST and the pole-to-equator temperature gradient, including polar amplification (i.e., larger temperature changes at high latitudes) and a shallowing of the gradient with increasing GMST. Tropical temperatures range between 22° and 42°C, refuting the idea of a fixed upper limit on tropical warmth and suggesting that ancient life must have evolved to endure extreme heat. We parse PhanDA into five climate states and find that overall, Earth has spent more time in warmer climate states than cold ones during the Phanerozoic.
There is a strong relationship between PhanDA GMST and CO2, indicating that CO2 is the dominant control on Phanerozoic climate. The consistency of this relationship is surprising because on this timescale, we expect solar luminosity to influence climate. We hypothesize that changes in planetary albedo and other greenhouse gases (e.g., methane) helped compensate for the increasing solar luminosity through time. The GMST-CO2 relationship indicates a notably constant “apparent” Earth system sensitivity (i.e., the temperature response to a doubling of CO2, including fast and slow feedbacks) of ∼8°C, with no detectable dependence on whether the climate is warm or cold.
CONCLUSION
PhanDA provides a statistically robust estimate of GMST through the Phanerozoic. We find that Earth’s temperature has varied more dynamically than previously thought and that greenhouse climates were very warm. CO2 is the dominant driver of Phanerozoic climate, emphasizing the importance of this greenhouse gas in shaping Earth history. The consistency of apparent Earth system sensitivity (∼8°C) is surprising and deserves further investigation. More broadly, PhanDA provides critical context for the evolution of life on Earth, as well as present and future climate changes.
PhanDA global mean surface temperature across the last 485 million years.
The gray shading corresponds to different confidence levels, and the black line shows the average solution. The colored bands along the top reflect the climate state, with cooler colors indicating icehouse (coolhouse and coldhouse) climates, warmer colors indicating greenhouse (warmhouse and hothouse) climates, and the gray representing a transitional state.
Abstract
A long-term record of global mean surface temperature (GMST) provides critical insight into the dynamical limits of Earth’s climate and the complex feedbacks between temperature and the broader Earth system. Here, we present PhanDA, a reconstruction of GMST over the past 485 million years, generated by statistically integrating proxy data with climate model simulations. PhanDA exhibits a large range of GMST, spanning 11° to 36°C. Partitioning the reconstruction into climate states indicates that more time was spent in warmer rather than colder climates and reveals consistent latitudinal temperature gradients within each state. There is a strong correlation between atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and GMST, identifying CO2 as the dominant control on variations in Phanerozoic global climate and suggesting an apparent Earth system sensitivity of ~8°C.”
The statement “There is a strong correlation between atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and GMST, identifying CO2 as the dominant control on variations in Phanerozoic global climate and suggesting an apparent Earth system sensitivity of ~8°C” is disturbing. Given the record of the IPCC and its collaborators (including AAAS Science) in promoting sloppy work such as omitting extensive contradicting evidence in the Mann et al. hockey-stick disgrace the first question TWTW asks is:
How consistent over time are the proxy data, the physical records, used to estimate temperatures and CO2 concentrations? The answer is the data are not consistent.
As stated under results:
Here, we present PhanDA, a reconstruction of GMST spanning most of the Phanerozoic Eon. PhanDA was created using data assimilation, a method that statistically integrates geological data with climate model simulations. PhanDA indicates that Earth’s temperature has varied between 11° and 36°C over the past 485 million years. This range is larger than previous reconstructions; however, PhanDA agrees well with independent GMST estimates from the Cenozoic, providing confidence in its larger dynamical range.
Further, there is no discussion of rigorous methods used to test the data assimilation and the statistical methods used. Thus, the results do not have a strong foundation in physical evidence and cannot be accepted as physical science.
The poor quality of the inconsistent proxy data used stands in marked contrast to the high quality of the consistent proxy data used in another study by Thomas Westerhold and over 20 co-authors published by AAAS Science in 2020. Both studies claimed that Earth has undergone significant temperature plateaus: Hothouse Earth; Warmhouse Earth; Coolhouse Earth and the current plateau of Icehouse Earth, with icecaps on both poles. The high quality of the Westerhold et al. data came from consistent marine deposits of creatures living at or near the ocean surface, then falling as marine snow, to be eaten by animals living in the Abyss. These left slowly developing sedimentary deposits that turned into chalk, limestone, etc. The creatures are alive today, so their life cycles can be examined. They record changing CO2 concentrations and temperatures.
Both papers state we are in Icehouse Earth, a brief warm period in a long, cold period. However, when Willis Eschenbach unraveled Westerhold et al. data, he showed that during each of these plateaus, CO2 concentrations changed widely, but temperatures were roughly constant. Geoscientist Tom Gallagher better explained the changes by stating that oceans are a storehouse of energy, not the atmosphere, and the plateaus are better explained by ocean currents changing with changing Earth – from an East-West Equatorial flow to a North-South Polar flow.
Perhaps amusingly, both papers expose some of the favorite myths created by the UN IPCC and its collaborators. For example, global warming will be harmful to life on Earth and humanity; increasing CO2 will lead to ocean acidification, promoted by Jane Lubchenco the former NOAA administrator; and that warming will lead to the death of marine corals and the Great Barrier Reef. If true, how could Life have survived through periods of Hothouse Earth and high CO2 concentrations?
Others have pointed out that the current AAAS Science paper shows a poor correlation between temperatures and CO2. Correlation is not causation, but the lack of correlation indicates no linear causation. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy, and Defending the Orthodoxy,
********************
Bursting Out All-Over: Maize (corn) is one the most important grains to humanity. It is used to feed livestock and, in modern times, eat with little preparation. Humanity has modified corn for over 9,000 years and it bears little resemblance to the plant that was cultivated about 9,000 years ago in Mesoamerica.
Modern agriculture is constantly improving maize. Today Bayer Crop Science is developing maize with a shorter stalk, making it easier to cultivate and harvest and it requires less fertilization. According to the Bayer website:
“Standing Tall Against Challenges
Corn farmers face many hurdles, including pressure from weeds, insects, diseases, and unpredictable weather conditions that have increased in frequency and severity. How do you deal with these oversized challenges? With short stature corn features that add up to big benefits.
- The target plant height of short stature corn hybrids will be ≤ 7 feet versus 9-12 feet for a traditional corn hybrid.
- Shorter height allows for more flexible timing and the ability to use ground application of other crop inputs, like fungicides, insecticides, and nitrogen.
- Target ear height will be ≥ 2 feet to maintain compatibility with standard harvest equipment.
- Ear size is similar to that of current corn hybrids.
- Due to improved plant standability, they will allow farmers to explore higher planting densities, providing the potential to produce more on every acre.”
H. Sterling Burnett of the Heartland Institute points out that the AP absurdly asserts that the ongoing research is in response to climate change. See links under Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine.
********************
Magic Juice for Net Zero: Now that the state has closed the remaining nuclear power plant near New York City, the New York State Climate Action Council has invented a new form of electricity – DEFRs. These are “Dispatchable Emissions-Free Resources” that can be turned on and off like natural gas and coal fired power plants, with no carbon dioxide emissions. Of course, DEFRs have not been demonstrated anywhere in the world, but don’t worry, they will come.
Not to be outdone, the leader of the UK Labour Party has a similar plan. Matt Ridley writes:
“Despair not. Ed ‘Baldrick’ Miliband has a cunning plan. As a tweet from his department revealed last week, the government plans to repeal a couple of laws, making electricity cheaper at a stroke. Which laws? Why, the first and second laws of thermodynamics of course. The tweet read: ‘Did you know a heat pump is 3x more efficient than a gas boiler? Meaning it generates 3 times more energy than it consumes.’”
The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred or transformed within a closed system, essentially meaning the total energy remains constant; while the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy (disorder) of an isolated system always increases over time, meaning natural processes tend towards increased disorder and cannot spontaneously reverse to a more ordered state without external work being done.]
But what are the laws of physics when compared with all powerful political beliefs? Should Miliband be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing a perpetual motion machine? A heat pump takes in some energy, produces three times that amount, sends one-third of the output to the input to produce yet more energy ad infinitum! See link under Energy Issues – Non-US
********************
Number of the Week: 22 inches in 24 hours: Paul Homewood who checks weather records wrote about the 1916 North Carolina flood. He stated:
“Ironically, Asheville itself did not get much heavy rain – the unbelievably high rainfall fell upstream. The 24-hour total of 22 inches which fell at Altapass was truly astonishing, even considering its higher altitude. It still not only holds the State record for 24-hour rain, but that nation’s as well.” See link under Changing Weather.
Commentary: Is the Sun Rising?
Aurora watch: Sun unleashes biggest flare of this cycle — X9
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Oct 4, 2024
Climate Complexities: Recent Solar Storms May Have Promoted Cloud Formation
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Sep 28, 2024
Sun, clouds and climate – a post from an EIKE reader
Censorship
The Misinformation Bill will harm Australians and protect bad governments
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Sep 30, 2024
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer
The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, Mar 3, 2023
Dependence of Earth’s Thermal Radiation on Five Most Abundant Greenhouse Gases
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, December 22, 2020
https://wvanwijngaarden.info.yorku.ca/files/2020/12/WThermal-Radiationf.pdf?x45936
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Steve McIntyre on the Real Lesson to be Learned from Hurricane Helene
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Oct 4, 2024
U.S. Swings and Misses in Energy Competition
By Wallace Manheimer, Real Clear Energy, Sep 30, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/09/30/us_swings_and_misses_in_energy_competition_1061922.html
However, U.S. policymakers must abandon their obsession with solar and wind as answers for a climatic “existential threat.” Otherwise, sensible people play a fool’s game in a fantasy league that demonizes a gas sustaining all life — carbon dioxide – as others compete in the majors.
Such absurdity is no match for the technical leadership displayed in China and India.
Rubbish-based decision-making
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Oct 2, 2024
Climate policy and climate science are necessarily joined closely together. But there are good and bad ways of making the connection, and the worst is to tweak the science to say what policymakers want to hear. We chuckle at the way some condemn earlier societies for the supposed subordination of inquiry to religious dogma and political whim. But the insistence on a drastic policy response to human GHG emissions ought rightly to be driven by a sense of certainty that something bad is happening or is about to. [Boldface added]
Paleoclimatology, Part 1
By Tom Gallagher, Video, Accessed May 17, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6tWEjkEiZU
Link to paper: An astronomically dated record of Earth’s climate and its predictability over the last 66 million years
By Thomas Westerhold, et al. (over 20 co-authors), AAAS Science, Sep 11, 2020 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba6853
Defending the Orthodoxy
(Nearly) coldest in 485 million years
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Oct 2, 2024
Link to study: A 485-million-year history of Earth’s surface temperature
By Emily Judd, et al., AAAS Science, Sep 20, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk3705
A Half-Billion Years of Climate Change
By Dr Y, ACSH, Sep 25, 2024
https://www.acsh.org/news/2024/09/25/half-billion-years-climate-change-49013
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Physicists: Non-Greenhouse Gases (O2 and N2) Are Mainly Responsible For The 33°C Greenhouse Effect
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Oct 1, 2024
Link to latest paper: The role of greenhouse gases in radiative equilibrium – Thermodynamic evaluation
By Helmut Ullmann and Martin Bulow, Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie/International journal of research in physical chemistry and chemical physics, June 2024
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379122007_The_role_of_greenhouse_gases_in_radiative_equilibrium_-_Thermodynamic_evaluation
Eco Complaints at Climate Week NYC
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Oct 1, 2024
But note how the climate movement is dealing with a host of problems of its own making. The anti-CO2 crusade will have fewer and fewer defenders as reality continues to strike back.
‘You Flew Here’: Dem AG Suing Exxon Struggles To Defend His Own Lawsuit On Live TV
By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Sep 24, 2024
https://dailycaller.com/2024/09/24/dem-ag-exxon-struggles-defend-lawsuit
You can’t get there from here
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Oct 2, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Save fuel, fly slower!]
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Oct 2, 2024
But he [Al Gore] also called for big changes in the rules at UN climate talks, reflecting wider concerns that COP summits have too many choke points.” Yeah. Like nobody actually being willing to commit energy suicide? Oh, that.
Energy & Environmental Review: September 30, 2024
By John Droz, Jr., Master Resource, Sep 30, 2024
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
#Cheerfulcharts #9: Child labor
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Oct 2, 2024
[SEPP Comment: As society prospers from the use of hydrocarbons, child labor has declined. In the Congo, child labor is used for mining cobalt, needed for EVs.]
Response of Oryza Sativa L. [rice] to elevated CO2 levels
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Oct 2, 2024
From the CO2Science Archive…The news is good. From 1992 to 2009 there were 86 experiments showing an average gain of 44.9% for a 300 ppm increase in CO2, 10 experiments showing a 66% gain for 600 ppm and 1 study reporting a 56% gain for a 900 ppm increase.
Problems in the Orthodoxy
First hint of energy squeeze and Big Tech drops the wind and solar purity, and launches into nuclear power
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Oct 3, 2024
Science, Policy, and Evidence
“Affordable, Reliable and Clean Energy Security Act” (ALEC blueprint for state legislatures)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Oct 4, 2024
The new definition of “green” energy eligible for government subsidies is an incremental step in favor of consumers and taxpayers. Wind and solar generation for the grid fail the reliability test. If batteries are added to allow wind/solar to meet the reliability thresholds, the cost test is violated.
Miliband’s net zero sprint risks destabilising the grid, warns EDF
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Oct 1, 2024
Measurement Issues — Surface
Daytime land surface temperature and its limits as a proxy for surface air temperature in a subtropical, seasonally wet region
By Nkosi Muse, et al., PLOS Climate, Oct 2, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000278
NOAA’s U.S. Temperature Data Demonstrate that Population Growth UHIs & Measurement Inadequacies Drive Tavg Increasing Outcomes – Not Climate Change
By Larry Hamlin, WUWT, Oct 3, 2024
Was Helene Really Cat 4–Evidence Suggests Otherwise
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 28, 2024
Measurement Issues — Atmosphere
UAH Global Temperature Update for September 2024: +0.96 deg. C
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Oct 2, 2024
The linear warming trend since January 1979 remains at +0.16 C/decade (+0.14 C/decade over the global-averaged oceans, and +0.21 C/decade over global-averaged land).
Changing Weather
North Carolina’s Flood of 1916
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Oct 3, 2024
The Great Hurricane Of 1896
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 28, 2024
Why Such Catastrophic Flooding with Hurricane Helene?
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Oct 1, 2024
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2024/10/why-such-catastrophic-flooding-with.html
A hurricane for all seasons
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Oct 2, 2024
Rather, from Cody Cassidy’s gripping How to Survive History, (and we mention the T. Rex because the subtitle is How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History’s Deadliest Catastrophes), we bring you the off-the-scale, 300 mph town-leveling, locomotive-hurling “Tri-State Tornado” of… wait… what’s this? March 18, 1925?
Hurricane Helene’s Pressure Problem
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 30, 2024
The graph shows very clearly how windspeeds have been inflated in the last few years.
Why, for example, are the 1898 and 1958 hurricanes rated at 132 mph and 126 mph, when Helene with the same pressure is estimated at 140 mph? Harvey had even lower pressure, but winds were only 132 mph.
Nowadays, with modern aircraft, hurricane hunters can stay aloft and inside hurricanes for long periods of time. I saw a video last week taken in the plane inside Helene at the time – the pilot said that they typically stay inside the storm for six hours every trip.
This simply would not have been possible, even in 1989, as the NHC report on Hugo made clear.
Hurricane Helene Update
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Oct 3, 2024
Changing Seas
All the Dead Coral from the Bleaching. Part 4.
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, Sep 28, 2024
It will be interesting to see what happens next, whether there is recruitment – tiny new corals finding a foothold on the now dead plates – after the coral spawning that will be soon, usually just a few days after the full moon in November.
It is the case that nature tends to follow cycles and to know them we need to acknowledge death when it happens and look to see if new life follows.
Rapid intensification of tropical cyclones in the Gulf of Mexico is more likely during marine heatwaves
By Soheil Radfar, et al.,, Nature, Communications, Earth & Environment, Aug 9, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01578-2
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Not About CO2…Greenland Still Much Colder Today Than Much Of The Past 10,000 Years
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Oct 4, 2024
So, about that Arctic ice rebound…
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Oct 2, 2024
But as we said at the time, what really matters is what the ice does. And as it turns the annual corner from its seasonal-melt low point, Susan Crockford observes that the latest NSIDC number “now makes 18 yrs of near-zero trend in Sept sea ice, which demolishes claim that more CO2 means less sea ice”. And it’s an important lesson about what does and does not constitute a trend.
“Record winter low”
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Oct 1, 2024
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Wrong, Associated Press, New Short Corn Variety Is a Marketing Ploy, Not a Response to Climate Change
By H. Sterling Burnett, Climate Realism, Sep 27, 2024
Link to: Preceon Smart Corn System
By Staff, Bayer Crop Science, Accessed Oct 3, 2024
https://www.cropscience.bayer.us/traits/corn/preceon-smart-corn-system?utm_campaign=evg+marcomm+corntrait+google+search-paid+nonbrand+&utm_medium=search-paid&utm_source=google&utm_content=brandad+nonbrand+text+national+corn+smartcornsystem+gt3ct3a28&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwgfm3BhBeEiwAFfxrG59fpETO6m1JTIUfHKCJzNCIVU_vQdN9nerW-X3oZGXJW675z_V0lhoCbgIQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Lowering Standards
The DOE Is Stonewalling On Residential Energy Costs And Its Electrify Everything Push
The agency is required by law to publish residential energy costs every year. It hasn’t done so in 2024. Why not?
By Robert Bryce, His Blog, Oct 3, 2024
https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/the-doe-is-stonewalling-on-residential?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=630873&post_id=149726344&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=f7h7&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
Are Hurricanes Getting Stronger?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 29, 2024
But simple facts don’t seem to matter anymore!
No, Media. Hurricane Helene was not Worsened by Climate Change
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Oct 2, 2024
And history shows us this sort of heavy rain resulting in flooding around Asheville North Carolina has happened before. Here are some photos of a newspaper story and a photo of Asheville, NC from July 17th, 1916, when a major flooding event occurred:
Academic: Old People in Africa are Particularly Vulnerable to Climate Change
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Oct 3, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Heat is a health problem for the elderly in the tropics, another absurd disclosure from The Conversation. Is cold a health problem in the Arctic?]
CBS Gets the Facts Wrong About Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Trends
By Linnea Lueken, Climate Realism, Oct 1, 2024
A recent broadcast weather segment on CBS News, Los Angeles, titled “Helene gaining strength from climate change effects,” features a staff meteorologist claiming that hurricane Helene was strengthened by climate change, and that indeed hurricanes in general are increasing in intensity and power. This is false.
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
India Monsoon Drying Up, Says BBC
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Oct 2, 2024
Link to previous post: India’s monsoon rains hit four-year high in boost to crop output
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Oct 1, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda
Media Uses Hurricane Helene to Promote “Global Warming” Agenda
By Eric Lendrum, American Greatness, Oct 2, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
California faces ‘unprecedented’ local spread of dengue fever, possibly driven by climate change
By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Sep 30, 2024
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4907598-california-dengue-fever-climate-change
According to WHO: Dengue (break-bone fever) is a viral infection that spreads from mosquitoes to people. It is more common in tropical and subtropical climates.
Subtropical is generally defined as between 23° and 35° north and south of the equator, includes the Southeast from the Delmarva Peninsula (includes Washington, DC) and Southwest US.
CNN hypes climate activists declaring WE TOLD YOU SO after Hurricane Helene hits Florida – Meteorologist Bastardi rips as ‘total crap. Storms are smaller. Not larger’
By Marc Morano, Climate Depot, Sep 27, 2024
Communicating Better to the Public – Protest
Rule of Law vs. Eco-obstruction
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Oct 2, 2024
Questioning European Green
Where Europe leads on climate, the United States should not follow
By Paul Tice, The Hill, Sep 28, 2024
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4901511-europe-climate-policy-risks
Green Jobs
Green Jobs Bonanza?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 30, 2024
When you strip out all of those peripheral jobs and focus on the Low Carbon sector itself, we find that total jobs have increased from just 57,900 in 2014 to a pitiful 97,700 in 2022.
Miliband has another 960,000 jobs to go to hit his target.
Litigation Issues
Ed Miliband faces growing legal threat over pylons roll-out
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 30, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Pylons are electricity transmission towers.]
State Courts Should Not Be Writing US Climate Laws
By Paul Driessen, WUWT, Sep 29, 2024
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
A cautious approach to subsidies for environmental sustainability
Transformational change is possible, but design and implementation must seek to avoid lock-in
By Kathleen Segerson, et al., AAAS Science, Oct 3, 2024
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado2615
Renewables Subsidies Hit New August Record [UK]
By David Turver, The Daily Sceptic, Sep 29, 2024
[SEPP Comment: As consumer costs skyrocket!]
EPA and other Regulators on the March
Texas AG Sues Biden Admin for Listing Dunes Sagebrush Lizard as Endangered
“The Wildlife Service failed to rely on the best scientific and commercial data available when making its designation as required by law and therefore made inaccurate and arbitrary assumptions about the current and future status of the species.”
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, Sep 25, 2024
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/09/texas-ag-sues-biden-admin-for-listing-dunes-sagebrush-lizard-as-endangered
Energy Issues – Non-US
Electricity Is Proportional To CO2
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Sep 28, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Amusing interpretation of growth of CO2 emissions from Asia.]
Massive Electricity Price Rises Expected as National Grid Confirms Gas is the Only Back-Up for Intermittent Renewables
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Oct 3, 2024
The cat is finally out of the bag. It is planned that Britain by 2030 will produce 95% of its electricity from so-called green sources with 5% coming from gas. The pretense that electricity can be stored at scale to support unreliable renewables is nowhere to be seen in a recent Guardian interview with Fintan Slye, the head of National Energy System Operator (NESO). “There will continue to be a significant amount of power plants in reserve for the cold, dull, windless weeks of winter, but they will run for only limited periods,” observes Slye, whose operation was recently nationalized and is responsible for balancing supply and demand across the National Grid.
How Ed Miliband plans to conjure electricity out of nothing
By Matt Ridley, His Blog, Oct 4, 2024
Energy Issues – Australia
Australian grid risks an overload at lunchtime as solar power floods the system
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Sep 28, 2024
Gergis Accuses Aussie Government of Emissions “Trickery”
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Sep 29, 2024
Everyone makes mistakes, sometimes big mistakes. The right thing to do in my opinion would have been to show a little grace and immediately accept she had stuffed up – this would have settled the matter quickly and cleanly. But to arrogantly dismiss people who pointed out the mistake as “amateurs”, to try to claim the “mistakes” were just an issue with wording, then to apparently make similar mistakes in a later paper, lets just say I’m not going to be losing any sleep over her climate warnings.
Energy Issues — US
AI Power Demands Mandate Overdue Nuclear Investments
By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Oct 2, 2024
https://www.newsmax.com/larrybell/fission-microsoft-nuclear/2024/10/02/id/1182570
James Danly: America’s Electric Transmission Problem
By Staff, Real Clear Energy, Sep 27, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/09/27/james_danly_americas_electric_transmission_problem_1061512.html
This article is adapted from an interview that energy expert Rupert Darwall conducted with James Danly at RealClear’s 2024 Energy Future Forum. Danly is a former FERC chairman.
Danly: FERC needs to return to its core mission: rate regulation. We shouldn’t extend our jurisdiction beyond what Congress gave us. FERC’s job is important, even if it’s not glamorous. Expanding our authority to achieve broader objectives violates congressional intent, and worse, it creates unpredictability. High-capital industries need stability.
Energy Musings – ISO-NE’s Future Plans
We analyze an ISO-NE report on planning the future grid for a clean energy transition for the six state New England region. This will be a multi-article review.
By Allen Brooks, Energy Musings, Sep 16, 2024
https://energymusings.substack.com/p/energy-musings-iso-nes-future-plans
Demand for electricity in Northwest projected to grow 30% in decade, triple previous estimates
By Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle, May 14, 2024 [H/’t Jim Buell
Unchecked expansion of data centers is a big driver of massive increase in energy consumption
The grid is insufficient for renewables. BPA has a $2 billion plan
By John Harrison, Columbia Insight, Sep 26, 2024 [H/t Jim Buell]
[SEPP Comment: BPA is the Bonneville Power Administration which oversees the largest hydropower system in the US.]
Fracking and the Election: It’s Not About Pennsylvania
By Brenda Shaffer, WUWT, Sep 28, 2024
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Chris Wright: Have We Reached Peak Shale?
By Staff, Real Clear Energy, Sep 27, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/09/27/chris_wright_have_we_reached_peak_shale_1061511.html
This article is adapted from an interview that energy expert Mark Mills conducted with Chris Wright at RealClear’s 2024 Energy Future Forum. Wright is the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy.
Nuclear Energy and Fears
The Small Modular Reactor Revolution Is Arriving Soon
By Robert G. Eccles, Real Clear Energy, Oct 1, 2024
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/10/01/the_small_modular_reactor_revolution_is_arriving_soon_1062193.html
[SEPP Comment: Soon does not mean when.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Floating Wind Farm Lost £30m Last Year
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Oct 1, 2024
[SEPP Comment: But promoters claim wind turbines in Maine will provide affordable, reliable electricity? The seas or the wind in Maine must be different than the seas or wind in the UK.]
Oregon’s offshore lease sale canceled as bidders back out
By Monica Samayoa, Columbia Insight, Sep 30, 2024 [H/t Jim Buell]
Opposition to offshore-wind energy is growing. Critics are concerned it could negatively affect fisheries and the marine environment
U.S. Offshore Wind: GE Vernova’s Big Problems
By Kennedy Maize, Master Resource, Oct 3, 2024
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
The nucleus of sanity
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Oct 2, 2024
In fact, Robert Bryce recently calculated, in the United States “‘Green’ Hydrogen Subsidies Are 1,900x Larger Than What’s Given To Nuclear”. Not a good deal no matter the hype.
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Storage
Gridscale batteries could cause havoc in urban areas
Press Release, Net Zero Watch, Oct 2, 2024
https://www.netzerowatch.com/all-news/battery-fire-risk
Link to: Gridscale Batteries and Fire Risk
By John Fannon, Net Zero Watch, 2024
Grid scale battery fires loom large
By David Wojick, CFACT, Oct 1, 2024
https://www.cfact.org/2024/10/01/grid-scale-battery-fires-loom-large
The growing threat of grid scale battery fires is a very serious issue calling for equally serious action.
[SEPP Comment: Is Washington capable of addressing such an issue?]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Top Carmakers Demand Big Changes To ZEV Mandate
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Oct 4, 2024
Carbon Schemes
Govt To Waste £22bn On Unproven Carbon Capture
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Oct 4, 2024
It is hard to think of a more stupid waste of public money.
California Dreaming
Time to Gut and Amend California’s Rogue Water Agencies
By Edward Ring, What’s Current, Accessed Oct 4, 2024
https://mailchi.mp/calpolicycenter/whats-current-issue-7859179?e=cd9fa89d1e
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife needs to be reborn as an organization that embraces scientific debate over green dogma, prioritizes results over process, and respects the balance between the needs of fish, and the needs of people.
California officials, tribal leaders celebrate the removal of long-disputed Klamath dams
By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Oct 3, 2024
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4914345-california-officials-tribal-leaders-celebrate-the-removal-of-long-disputed-klamath-dams
[SEPP Comment: Celebrating the destruction of reliable, affordable electricity generating 196 MW.]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klamath_River_Hydroelectric_Project#:~:text=The%20Fall%20Creek%20Dam%2C%20located,)%2C%20both%20for%20hydropower%20generation.
Health, Energy, and Climate
The real cause of weather-related deaths
By Vijay Jayaraj, American Thinker, Sep 29, 2024
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/09/the_real_cause_of_weather_related_deaths.html
Shockingly Bad Science
By Kip Hansen, WUWT, Oct 4, 2024
“Global Stroke Burden Continues to Rise, With Climate Change Gaining Influence”
Other News that May Be of Interest
The American Growth Imperative
A powerful new report lays out the challenge
By Roger Pielke, Jr., His Blog, Sep 30, 2024
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/the-american-growth-imperative?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=119454&post_id=149608883&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=f7h7&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Link to report: The Great “Transfer”-mation
How American communities became reliant on income from government
By Fikri, Eckhardt, and Glasner, Economic Innovation Group, September 20224
https://eig.org/great-transfermation
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
Anthropocene: Cockroach of the Geologic Time Scale!
By David Middleton, WUWT, Sep 29, 2024
[SEPP Comment: It will not be as persistent as cockroaches.]
Ed Miliband: the most dangerous man in Britain [Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero of the United Kingdom]
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Oct 3, 2024
From Spiked! Wind and solar are the solution to eliminating natural gas?
Labour’s XR Supporting Climate Envoy
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 28, 2024
John Kerry Calls 1ST Amendment “Major Block” To Control Free Speech!
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Oct 1, 2024
The Miliband files
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 30, 2024
Link paywalled.
“the science is absolutely certain”
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Sep 29, 2024
John Kerry as Secretary of State claimed climate change is a weapon of mass destruction.
Weaponizing Peer Review
Tactical science in service of political ends
By Roger Pielke Jr., His Blog, Oct 3, 2024
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/weaponizing-peer-review?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=119454&post_id=149762557&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=f7h7&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
In their book, Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway argue that scientists “know bad science when they see it”:
“It’s science that is obviously fraudulent — when data have been invented, fudged, or manipulated. Bad science is where data is have been cherry-picked— when some data have been deliberately left out—or it’s impossible for the reader to understand the steps that were taken to produce or analyze the data. It is a set of claims that can’t be tested, claims that are based on samples that are too small, and claims that don’t follow from the evidence provided. And science is bad—or at least weak—when proponents of a position jump to conclusions on insufficient or inconsistent data.”
[SEPP Comment: AAAS Science published a fawning review of the book that did not present hard evidence, implying it existed in the footnotes. Fred Singer rebutted the review and AAAS Science claimed it did not have space to publish the rebuttal. So much for AAAS Science.]
ARTICLES
1. How Florida Keeps Electricity Plentiful and Rates Low
The Sunshine State has steered clear of green policies that are creating a grid crisis in other states.
By Mario Loyola, WSJ, Oct. 4, 2024
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/how-florida-keeps-electricity-plentiful-and-rates-low-energy-power-policy-94771c74?mod=opinion_lead_pos6
The senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation begins:
“Electricity rates in U.S. states have diverged sharply in recent decades. In 2004 residential electricity in the five most expensive states was only twice as expensive on average as in the five most affordable states. Today it is 160% more expensive.
What explains the difference? State policies. Eight of the 10 most costly states have enacted renewable portfolio standards, “net zero” carbon-emission mandates, and regional cap-and-trade schemes. All eight are controlled by Democrats.
New York gets special honors. The Empire State has refused to develop the prodigious shale gas resources that have enriched Pennsylvania. And it has blocked construction of new natural-gas pipelines, depriving New Yorkers—and New Englanders—of affordable electricity.
Among the most populous states, Florida stands out as an island of sanity in a sea of government madness. Under continuous Republican governance since 1999, the Sunshine State took advantage of the shale boom, prioritizing natural gas over renewable energy. That has kept electricity prices low.
Florida relies on natural gas for 75% of its electricity, more than any other large state. That’s remarkable because of the five largest states, the other four—California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas—all have significant natural-gas reserves, while Florida has none. Yet compared with Florida, residential electricity is 27% more expensive in Pennsylvania, 60% more expensive in New York and 137% more expensive in California. Even pro-energy, GOP-controlled Texas has more expensive electricity than Florida, partly because of its large renewable energy sector, which makes its grid costly and difficult to operate.
Because it has avoided the misguided climate policies of other states, Florida is better positioned to weather the historic energy-scarcity crisis now bearing down on America’s electricity grid. Just as electricity demand is soaring across the country, driven by electric vehicles and artificial-intelligence data centers, a train wreck of federal policy failures is constraining the grid’s ability to meet the new demand. Grid operators are already sounding the alarm.”
The author goes into political issues then concludes with:
“Florida’s experience shows the value of investing in resilience rather than pie-in-the-sky green technology: In less than a week Florida restored electricity to 99% of those who lost power in Hurricane Helene, and it is now helping neighboring states with disaster recovery. While Florida may avoid blackouts and rationing that could plague other states, it isn’t immune to rising prices or foolish policies. Inflation Reduction Act subsidies are becoming increasingly popular in Florida, and NextEra, which owns Florida Power & Light, has announced plans to cut 52% of the utility’s carbon emissions by 2030 and 83% by 2040.
That makes for dark clouds on the horizon. Florida lawmakers should realize that renewable mandates and subsidies erode grid reliability. They should stick to protecting Florida from terrible climate policies. Otherwise, the Sunshine State will share in the looming energy-scarcity crisis.”
************
2. California’s Plastic-Bag Ban Was Only the Beginning
The state’s perverse policies led to an increase in waste. A new lawsuit blames Exxon Mobil.
By Allysia Finley, WSJ, Sept. 29, 2024
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-plastics-industry-is-californias-latest-target-exxonmobil-scapegoat-for-bad-policies-1f8febb5?mod=opinion_feat3_columnists_pos3
The reporter begins with:
“Is Gavin Newsom in witness protection? You have to wonder as the once spotlight-hungry California governor has gone quiet in recent weeks, perhaps to avoid drawing attention to the progressive hothouse from which Kamala Harris ascended. If that’s the strategy, California Attorney General Rob Bonta didn’t get the memo.
Mr. Bonta garnered headlines last week by suing Exxon Mobil in what amounts to a declaration of war on the U.S. plastics and petrochemical industries, along with the tens of thousands of workers they employ in battleground states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
‘For decades, Exxon Mobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible,’ Mr. Bonta declared. His lawsuit accuses the company of creating a ‘public nuisance’ by producing plastics from oil and gas feedstock.
Ms. Harris has walked back her pledge in 2019 to ban plastic straws. But the California lawsuit underscores that progressive elites really do want to banish fossil fuels as well as the plastics and jobs that flow from their production.
The gist of Mr. Bonta’s 147-page lawsuit is that Exxon duped the public by promoting recycling even though the process isn’t economical, because it costs more than producing so-called virgin plastic. The company’s alleged deception supposedly caused California lawmakers in 1989 to pass legislation forcing cities to set up recycling programs ‘that required mandatory participation by all residents.’
In other words, it is Exxon’s fault that Californians must place plastic waste into separate trash containers even though most of it doesn’t actually get recycled. Mr. Bonta claims that Exxon has ‘wrongly convinced consumers that plastics separated for recycling would actually be recycled,’ though, notably, the state hasn’t repealed that law.
This ‘consumer confusion,’ he contends, ‘placed the blame of plastic waste on consumers themselves and thus paralyzed regulatory solutions,’ including ‘plastics restrictions in California and elsewhere.’ The theory is that if not for Exxon’s alleged deception, lawmakers in California and other states might have banned disposable plastics sooner.
Never mind that the Golden State has been busy on that front for years, with limited success. Democrats in Sacramento forbade supermarkets from handing out single-use plastic bags in 2014 and restaurants from giving out plastic straws in 2018. Neither reduced plastic waste.
According to the lawsuit, California’s plastic waste decreased by 15% between 2008 and 2014 but then shot up by 69% in the seven subsequent years. That might be because supermarkets responded to the state’s ban on flimsy single-use plastic bags by charging a token fee for heavier-duty ‘reusable’ ones that customers tossed.
California’s Covid mask mandate—which featured surgical masks made of the plastic material polypropylene—could also be a culprit. According to the lawsuit, U.S. polypropylene production capacity nearly doubled between 2020 and 2023. During the pandemic, I often saw masks in California strewn on trails, trees and tumbleweeds.
If Exxon created a public nuisance, California is jointly liable. Last month Mr. Newsom boasted that ‘California is taking bold action to transform our recycling systems and reduce the waste filling our landfills and polluting the environment.’ Those efforts were meant to ‘create a more sustainable and resilient future for our communities and the planet.’”
************************
Related