Here is some good news about non-carbon energy from a Blue state, Maine. It is very interesting to see how the Red and Blue states differ so dramatically as to how they are dealing with the transition out of the Carbon energy era.
The University of Maine designed a floating turbine that can be used in the Gulf of Maine’s deep waters. Credit: JPlourde / UMaine / CC BY-SA 4.0
Offshore wind energy is getting a major boost in Maine, which has just approved adding 3,000 megawatts of energy provided by offshore wind turbines by 2040. The 3,000 megawatts would be enough to meet about half of Maine’s electricity demand.
Maine Governor Janet Mills signed the law, LD 1895, on Thursday, noting the legislation would contribute to port development with inclusions to still protect lobster fishing areas.
“Offshore wind, done responsibly, offers Maine the opportunity to secure abundant clean energy, stable energy prices, good-paying jobs, and a healthier environment for future generations,” Mills said in a statement.
In previous discussions to expand offshore wind in the state, the lobster industry raised concerns and protested offshore wind development.
“We don’t know how much the electromagnetic field around the cables going to shore is going to affect things on bottom,” lobster fisher Clayton Philbrook told WABI5, a local news station based in Bangor. “Will lobsters […]
In contrast to the good news in the previous articles, this is what a MAGAt Republican, appointed by Trump is doing to the Post Office. I do not understand why DeJoy is still in office; why the Biden administration and the Senate have not replaced him.
U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is sworn in during a House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations and Federal Workforce hearing on Capitol Hill May 17, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Credit: Drew Angerer / Getty
USPS leadership shifted from committing to only 5% electric vehicles at the outset of the project to 62% as of their last announcement; this is certainly movement, but it’s far from the 95% that experts recommended.
For as much as we’ve heard Postmaster General Louis DeJoy talk about the need for “dramatic change” at U.S. Postal Service when it comes to the more disruptive elements of his 10-year plan, he has consistently resisted modernizing the postal fleet to reflect the market shift to electric vehicles. His own words just don’t seem to apply to the long overdue shift from gas guzzlers with the fuel efficiency of a Hummer to a climate-friendly 95% electric fleet built by 100% union labor.
USPS recently released its latest draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) Acquisitions ahead of […]
While the Republican cretins in Congress obsess over Hunter Biden’s nude pictures, and his laptop, and impeaching his father the earth’s ecosystems are breaking down threatening all life on earth. My wife and I keep our hot tub at 102°F, and I find it hard to imagine what it must be like to go into an ocean at that temperature. What science is telling us is that it is killing the coral reefs, and fatally affecting all the creatures who depend on and normally swim around reefs. The only way this is going to change is if the Republicans lose their elections at every level from community to federal so that the Democrats can create a functioning Congress. Are Americans smart enough to understand this? I doubt it, since Trump continues to have such a large lead amongst Republicans. So they better get prepared for a level of misery and death never before experienced, and I anticipate massive MAGAt whining as it happens.
Fish swim around a dying coral reef in Key West, Florida. Credit: Joseph Prezioso / AFP / Getty
“I have no doubt a dip in Manatee Bay today would have been a hot tub-like experience,” said one meteorologist earlier this week.
A buoy positioned roughly 40 miles south of Miami recorded a sea surface temperature of 101.1°F earlier this week, stunning scientists who say the reading could mark the latest in a string of global records as fossil fuel-driven extreme weather around the world brings unprecedented heat.
Meteorologist Jeff Masters wrote that the temperature in Florida’s Manatee Bay reached hot tub levels on Monday and “could be a world record.”
“I have no doubt a dip in Manatee Bay today would have been a hot tub-like experience, with [sea surface temperatures] near 100°F, and that these waters were some of the hottest ever recorded on Earth,” Masters added. “A detailed investigation would be needed to determine if this was a world record SST, though.”
A 2020 study suggested that the highest sea surface […]
The Republican Party, in my opinion is a threat to the survival of humanity and earth’s matrix of life. This has gone way past political partisanship. The Gulf Stream is collapsing, the ocean is as hot as a hot tub, record breaking heat has killed thousands, forest fires are changing cultures, and yet the Republicans are… well read this article.
Criminal Trump Credit: Saul Loeb / AFP
The Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership would serve as a policy blueprint for the first 180 days if Trump—or another Republican—were to gain control of the White House in January 2025.
Close down the Department of Energy’s renewable energy office. Cut cash flow to the Environmental Protection Agency’s office of environmental justice. Stop the nation’s electrical grid from expanding to include wind and solar. These are all items on a right-wing think tank’s to-do list for the next Republican presidency.
The Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Presidential Transition Project released the ninth edition of Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise in April, and that mandate includes significant rollbacks to federal efforts to tackle the climate emergency, as E&E News reported Wednesday.
“Make no mistake: this is a battle plan,” End Climate Silence founding director Genevieve Guenther tweeted in response to the news. “The war being waged is against our children’s future.”
The Heritage Foundation, formed in 1973, has long been an influential player in conservative politics. […]
Ike Swetlitz, Riley Griffin and Matthew Griffin, - Bloomberg
Stephan:
Here is a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about a very nasty trend that is getting very little national coverage.
Primary stage syphilis sore (chancre) on the surface of a tongue. Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
A shortage of penicillin to treat a skyrocketing number of syphilis cases is so dire that US health officials are debating the need to declare a public health emergency, according to people familiar with the matter.
Major US medical centers are rationing the recommended treatment for the deadly sexually transmitted disease because of a supply crunch. From Michigan to Missouri to Texas, some health-care providers are prioritizing giving a key treatment — penicillin G benzathine — to pregnant patients and babies, because the drug can pass through the placenta and also treat the fetus.
Syphilis has been sickening more people over the last few years, but the latest surge in cases has been especially worrying to the federal government. The Department of Health and Human Services is mobilizing a new federal task force to tackle the problem, and staff are discussing the possibility of declaring a public health emergency which could give officials access to more funding to […]
