Being a climate denier does not absolve elected representatives of the responsibility to set aside personal prejudices and act in the national interest.
The national interest has been used to justify whatever Donald Trump wants to do. His March 2017 executive order, “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth,” says, “It is in the national interest to promote clean and safe development of our Nation’s vast energy resources, avoiding regulatory burdens that unnecessarily encumber energy production, constrain economic growth, and prevent job creation.”
Solar and wind energy were excluded from the U.S. vast energy resources, the premier quality energy job creation industries. Tariffs on solar panels and other regulations were enacted to unnecessarily encumber clean energy production and constrain economic growth.
Increasing carbon emissions is not a solution for the climate emergency or for a better economy. The EPA wants to ignore methane leaks from storage and pipelines to sell methane as Freedom Gas, but chemistry does not care what Trump says. Carbon emissions are the root cause of global warming.
Trump’s masterplan ignores our hot climate. Trump makes false claims on the economy, slurring his evil words as you can see on YouTube, Donald Trump Attacks the Climate Change “Prophets of Doom.”
Trump said, “I’m proud to report the United States is among the cleanest air and drinking water on earth and we’re going to keep it that way, it’s the cleanest it’s been in the last 40 years … We’re committed to conserving the majesty of God’s creation and the natural beauty of our world today …”
Trump’s plan has worked. Today, after three years under Trump, the U.S. is the largest producer of fossil fuels. Carbon emissions have increased and will go up with lower efficiency combustion engines and incandescent bulbs.
Underrated threats
Life is not going to get better by burning methane. Climate scientists warn “the world is currently completely unprepared to deal the consequences of catastrophic climate change.” But the destruction in Puerto Rico, Bahamas flooding, Australian fires, Indonesian flooding, and many other climate devastations can’t be ignored. Please see “Hamburg, Iowa: Six months underwater in middle America,” CNN.
The facts show a criminal cover-up increasing the existential threats to life on Earth. These evil deeds are not random acts.
Methane bomb
On January 21, at the 2020 Davos World Economic Forum, the annual conference of the top political and business leaders, Trump disclosed his energy masterplan.
“We are on the threshold of virtually unlimited reserves of energy including from traditional fuels, LNG, clean coal, next-generation nuclear power, and gas hydrate technologies,” he said.
Methane gas is shipped overseas as liquified natural gas (LNG). Trump’s plan to extract methane hydrates, as another source of methane, stored in the permafrost under the polar ice sheets, is completely insane. Sea levels rising and the release of methane hydrates due to the Ice Caps melting gives scientists nightmares.
A tipping point is the passing of a critical threshold in the climate system, creating an irreversible change in the climate. We must prevent Trump from destroying life.
Cascading events. If greenhouse gases were released from permafrost, carbon in the atmosphere would increase, releasing even more permafrost carbon in a positive feedback. This would push polar ice sheets past their tipping point.
Climate risks are ignored
Climate risk is not only about probabilities but also about undesirable consequences. An unlikely event easily ignored, with a high impact, would create a high risk.
Insurance companies and banks use risk analysis all the time. If you live in a flood zone, you will pay a higher premium for home insurance for the “unlikely” event of a 500-year flood. At Davos, oil companies discussed the use of public relations agencies to hide the climate risk from investors.
Stand up to lies
Tyrants respect power and abuse the weak, lying to confuse and conceal their acts. The media says federal agencies are afraid of Trump. What do they have to fear when he plans to destroy life? Don’t be afraid, it’s time to act. What do you have to lose?
All sources of information for this column will be posted online, at Eureka.News/opinion.
Dr. Luis Contreras
The next column, “War on life” shows how Oil & Gas are using lies to sell clean “American natural gas.”
The American Petroleum Institute (API) is funding research on “clan methane” claiming to care for the climate emergency.
API is the major U.S. trade association, making donations to Congress on behalf of the oil and natural gas industry. API is not an educational center, they call themselves Institute, but is not an academic institution.
“Lobbyists work to influence legislation to benefit a group or business. They present legislators with research, case studies, testimonials, and other information to support the case and causes benefiting the organization that hired them, with the ultimate goal of persuading these legislators to vote in their favor.” Prostitution is legal in Las Vegas, lobbying is legal in DC.
Tobacco companies made smoking cigarettes look safe and cool hiring Ronald Reagan and other celebrities for their ads. The Marlboro Man is long dead, billions of people may be next.
Beware of false claims on natural gas, it is not a bridge fuel.
Methane leaks are ignored to sell NG.
Solar and wind energy are available today, without carbon emissions. We don’t need a bridge, we need to stop burning oil and gas before our home burns
https://youtu.be/37Znn7I16Gw
February 2020: Permafrost is thawing so fast, it’s gouging holes in the Arctic
Normally, these terrains of frozen soil thaw gradually.
But in some places, it’s thawing so abruptly that landscapes are collapsing in on themselves.
https://www.wired.com/story/abrupt-permafrost-thaw/#intcid=recommendations_wired-right-rail-popular_969de8ec-ca38-445a-a469-1b4adfb5ccdf_popular4-1
The methane bomb
Methane hydrates are frozen methane molecules stored in the permafrost
The Arctic contains much of the world’s permafrost, which holds what the report calls a “sleeping giant” made of greenhouse gases. As the ground warms, the microbes in the soil wake up and start belching greenhouse gases.
Over 1.5 trillion tons of carbon dioxide lurk beneath the Earth’s permafrost.
That’s more than 40 times as much CO2 as humans released into the atmosphere last year and double the amount of the gas in the atmosphere today.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-arctic-carbon-bomb-could-screw-the-climate-even-more/
Follow the money
Oil and gas subsidies are real!
Rex Tillerson lied to Congress during the confirmation hearings for US Secretary of State.
Why did he get a pass?
Why is he not in jail?
Bill Clinton was impeached for lying to Congress – not for the blue dress
https://www.forbes.com/sites/walvanlierop/2019/12/06/yes-fossil-fuel-subsidies-are-real-destructive-and-protected-by-lobbying/#23ddaef3417e
The Unimaginable Reality of American Concentration Camps is not an isolated criminal act
Andrea Pitzer, a historian of concentration camps, was quoted making the same assertion: that the United States has created a “concentration camp system.” Pitzer argued that “mass detention of civilians without a trial” was what made the camps concentration camps.
The full text of Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet was “This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-unimaginable-reality-of-american-concentration-camps
Punishing and intimidating environmental lawyers and activists
When Chevron lost a multibillion-dollar environmental lawsuit to a group of Indigenous Ecuadorians, the company decided to “demonize” Steven Donziger, the attorney who won the historic judgment. And that’s exactly what Chevron has done. Since 2009, hundreds of lawyers from 60 firms have made Donziger’s life a living hell.
After years of litigation, he has been prohibited from working or traveling, and his bank accounts have been frozen. He’s now under house arrest in New York, forced to wear an electronic ankle monitor. Although Donziger’s situation is extraordinary, Sharon Lerner writes, his case should alarm climate activists.
Twenty companies are responsible for one-third of modern greenhouse gas emissions, and it’s increasingly clear that solving the climate crisis will require confronting mega-emitters like Chevron and Saudi Aramco. Donziger’s case shows what can happen when activists win.
With over 350 million people in the U.S. why would we not rise up to defend our families and life?
https://theintercept.com/2020/01/29/chevron-ecuador-lawsuit-steven-donziger/
Hamburg, Iowa: Six months underwater in middle America
January 2020 – Flooding began last year in the middle of March, in the middle of America, in a town of about 1,000 tucked an hour … For months, Hamburg would remain underwater.
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/politics/hamburg-iowa-flood-2020-election/
What else do you need to know?
The biggest long-term risk discussed in the Davos summit was the possibility of extreme weather events.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-attacks-climate-change-prophets-of-doom-in-davos-speech-2020-01-21
The U.S. master plan to ignore the climate emergency and increase production, use and export of fossil fuels was made clear at Davos.
Trump said, “We are on the threshold of virtually unlimited reserves of energy including from traditional fuels, LNG, clean coal, and gas hydrate technologies … Delegates should reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of apocalypse.”
Trump falsely said, “I’m proud to report the United States is among the cleanest air and drinking water on earth and we’re going to keep it that way, it’s the cleanest it’s been in the last 40 years … We’re committed to conserving the majesty of God’s creation and the natural beauty of our world today”
https://youtu.be/lNylxBoaAYs
Qatar showed strength, courage, and ingenuity
Qatar Airlines flew thousands of cows to feed their people
Trump celebrated taking credit
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/872062159789985792?s=20
In March 2017 Trump went to visit the Saudi King.
Trump sold beautiful American weapons, and pointed a finger at Qatar. Saudi’s and other Gulf states set a blockade to stop the flow of LNG, leaving Qatar without food, isolated.
Trump tweeted taking credit for the blockade – this is what Oil & Gas are really about, military power
Wars are messy and no one wins, why more wars?
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-05-29/ending-qatar-blockade-should-be-priority-for-donald-trump
LNG is about money, wars, and military power.
LNG is no longer about energy … Solar and wind are unlimited sources of clean energy without weapons
https://www.globalresearch.ca/forget-terrorism-the-real-reason-behind-the-qatar-crisis-is-natural-gas/5593725
To export methane $2 Billion facilities are needed to liquify methane shipped in special carriers.
Qatar is the world’s leader – they have conventional oil and gas fields near shipping ports.
The US has Shale gas wells, far away from LNG terminals, at a higher total cost, 10 times more than Qatar
US LNG exports are growing, but the US economy is deep in debt with O&G taxpayer subsidies paying the bills. The WSJ says “stop counting barrels, start making profits”
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Exxon-Mobil-to-proceed-on-major-Gulf-Coast-LNG-13590815.php
Methane leaks are invisible, and odorless – but they are deadly
Methane was found by accident flowing out of the ground. The details are lost, but since that day it has been used as a fuel, known as Natural Gas. Now we know methane – CH4 – is the main component
Unlike crude oil, gases are difficult to store and transport in pipelines. High pressure is used to create methane flow in pipelines, but compressors and all the mechanical equipment have leaks! EPA wants to ignore the leaks to sell NG as a clean fuel. It turns out the total greenhouse gas emissions are higher than coal.
The NYT sent a team with infrared cameras to take these pictures
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/12/climate/texas-methane-super-emitters.html?fbclid=IwAR3QZRJExkfVV3APFG9-YlgWtsCcH-gPdg-2e115GuqpiSSWJVzSkvGa5Do