EnviroPolitics Blog

Wildfires rage in Greece, Spain and Italy as heatwave moves across Europe

*Blazes across Europe have been reported amid high temperatures and strong winds (Picture: Metro.co.uk)*

Wildfires are raging across Europe, where a heatwave has intensified drought conditions.

By Alys Davies & Malu Cursino, BBC News

Though temperatures have cooled in France and the UK, firefighters are still tackling blazes in Greece, Spain, and Italy.

The fires in France’s badly hit southwest have started to be brought under control.

And as the heatwave moves north-east, low water levels are hampering transport on rivers in Germany.

Heatwaves have become more frequent, more intense, and last longer because of human-induced climate change. The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.

More than 1,000 deaths have been linked to the extremely high temperatures in Portugal while in Spain it is at least 500.

In Greece, firefighters were tackling a blaze on Mount Penteli, to the north-east of the capital Athens.

In the nearby town of Pallini, state electricity workers were scrambling to remove burnt pylons, the BBC’s Kostas Koukoumakas reports.

Takis Panagopoulos, 87, woke up at 03:00 (00:00 GMT) to a red sky. “The fire surrounded the house and I managed to leave the area by car,” he said.

Mr Panagopoulos, who was for many years an amateur actor, said his house could be rebuilt but his collection of more than 1,200 theatre books had been turned to ashes.

Firefighting helicopters were dropping water, one after the other. Winds in excess of 80km/h (49mph) have made it harder to contain the fire.

In pictures: Western Europe swelters in heatwave

Firefighters across Europe have faced scorching temperatures amid a surge in wildfires
GETTY IMAGE

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Refusal by some Walgreen employees to fill birth-control prescriptions prompts calls for a boycott

By Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

What is going on at Walgreens?

It’s a question people are asking, calling for a Walgreens boycott after a series of customer stories emerged on social media making claims about troubling barriers to health care and the way personal information is used by the pharmacy chain.

Over the last few weeks, people have said they were denied birth control pills and condoms at Walgreens. Another customer said she was sent a box of baby formula after buying a pregnancy test at the store.

The stories arrive during a tense time following the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, with people in many states facing a rollback of reproductive rights and the institution of abortion bans.

As Walgreens outlined in a tweet that has been resurfaced during the current conversation, the pharmacy chain allows pharmacists to refuse to fill a prescription if they have “a moral objection.” But they are supposed to ask another pharmacist to help the customer fill the prescription instead.

The provision for pharmacy sales covers birth control, emergency contraceptives, and anything an employee may find objectionable.

Earlier this month, a 20-year-old customer named Abigail Martin shared her experience at Walgreens on TikTok.

When she tried to fill the birth control prescription she had been taking for six years, she ran into an unexpected obstacle. Despite having multiple refills left, she got a text from Walgreens saying she had none remaining. After getting nowhere on the phone, she went to the store. ‘

Martin said that a Walgreens employee who was wearing two crosses looked her up and down, then told her the prescription could not be filled and that she’d have to contact her provider.

“I said ‘You won’t refill it or you can’t refill it?’” Martin said.

The employee again said to call her provider. After Martin called the doctor’s office, she was told she had four refills and they didn’t know why the pharmacy wasn’t filling the prescription. The office got in touch with Walgreens. Meanwhile, Martin got a text saying her prescription was delayed, followed by another saying it was … out of stock.

Read the full story here

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New turbine design could withstand hurricane-force winds

From AccuWeather

Researchers say a two-blade, downward rotor could be more resistant to hurricane-force winds, while using materials that are lighter and more affordable

Click here for the video report

New turbine design could withstand hurricane-force winds Read More »

NJ Wind Port gets approval for major land purchase in Salem County

From the New Jersey Economic Development Authority

*An artist’s rendering of the New Jersey Wind Port*

TRENTON – The New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Board (NJEDA) has approved the purchase of a 109.4-acre property which will enable the planned expansion of the NJ Wind Port in Lower Alloways Creek, Salem County. The approval took place during last week’s Board meeting.

The New Jersey Wind Port is a first-in-the-nation infrastructure investment that will provide a location for essential staging, assembly, and manufacturing activities related to offshore wind projects on the East Coast. At full build-out, the Wind Port has the potential to create up to 1,500 manufacturing, assembly, and operations jobs and drive billions of dollars in economic growth back into the New Jersey economy.

Phase 1 of the Wind Port broke ground in September 2021 with marshaling activities due to commence in early 2024. The purchase of the 109.4-acre property from NDEV LLC, a subsidiary of PSEG Power, will enable Phase 2 of the project as proposed, expanding the Port’s total footprint to over 220 acres and enabling it to support the marshaling of two wind projects concurrently as well as up to three co-located manufacturing facilities.

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“Today’s approval is another major step forward for the New Jersey Wind Port and for delivering on Governor Murphy’s goal of making New Jersey the engine room of the U.S offshore wind supply chain,” said NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan. “The ability to marshal two projects at once, with additional space for component manufacturing, will turbocharge job creation, opportunities for small businesses, and all forms of ancillary economic activity both locally and across the state.”

Sullivan added that expanded marshalling capacity will also help to alleviate the current shortfall in fit-for-purpose port capacity across the region, helping states up and down the U.S east coast to deliver on their wind targets on time and cost-effectively.

The 109.4-acre property is set directly north of the property the NJEDA is leasing from PSEG Nuclear to develop Phase 1 of the NJ Wind Port. It is currently permitted as a confined disposal facility (CDF), with the permitting process to enable the Port’s expansion due to commence shortly. The purchase from NDEV LLC was for a negotiated price of $24.25 million.

The State of New Jersey is committed to constructing the New Jersey Wind Port using union labor and requires developers and contractors to pay the prevailing wage. The State is also committed to setting a new standard for the inclusion of women- and minority-owned businesses during the construction of the New Jersey Wind Port. The NJEDA has established a requirement that at least 25 percent of subcontractors for the port construction are small businesses and at least 15 percent are women-, minority-, or veteran-owned. The project also includes worker diversity goals of 18 percent people of color and 6.9 percent women.

NJEDA expects to commence tenant selection for parcels of the property in the coming months.

NJ Wind Port gets approval for major land purchase in Salem County Read More »

NJ Republican lawmakers introduce resolutions opposing redesignation of Delaware Water Gap

From the NJ Senate Republican Office

Senator Steve Oroho and Assemblymen Parker Space and Hal Wirths (all R-Sussex, Warren, Morris) announced on July 14 that they have introduced resolutions in their respective houses to oppose changing the designation of the Delaware Water Gap from a National Recreation Area to a National Park and Preserve and oppose certain parts of National Park Service’s “Vision 2030” for Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

“We have heard from many area residents and local officials opposing this change in designation and we support them,” said Oroho, who serves as the Senate Republican Leader. “This idea surfaced roughly seven years ago, and we opposed it then; now it is back, and we will continue to fight it.”

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In 2016, the National Park Service proposed a plan titled “Vision 2030: A Vision for a Sustainable Future” (“Vision 2030”), which proposed to change the designation of the Delaware Water Gap from a National Recreation Area to a National Park and Preserve, and to expand the area of the present Delaware Water Gap. This plan was appropriately shelved.

This year, a similar project titled “Delaware Water Gap: Redesignation Project” (“Redesignation Project”), proposes to change the designation of the Delaware Water Gap from a National Recreation Area to a National Park and Preserve, and to expand the area of the present Delaware Water Gap.

“This designation change to a National Park and Preserve is not necessary and would upset the recreation area’s original mission and put uses such as hunting and farming at risk,” said Space. “A new designation that translates into prohibitions and restrictions on currently allowable activities in the recreation area would have a negative impact on our region.”

The resolutions numbered SR-98 and AR-157, are similar to resolutions opposing the designation introduced by Senator Oroho and Assemblyman Space several sessions ago as well as resolutions passed this year by local and county governments in the vicinity.

“There are fears this Redesignation Project would disregard the rights of local property owners, and eminent domain will be used by the federal government to acquire private and State property adjacent to the Delaware Water Gap, including nearby High Point State Park, Stokes State Forest, and Worthington State Forest,” said Wirths. “This new plan is bad for our area, bad for our residents, and should go away.”

NJ Republican lawmakers introduce resolutions opposing redesignation of Delaware Water Gap Read More »

Six in 10 Democrats feel Biden is not doing enough on climate change

Despite a sharp partisan divide on climate, support for renewable energy and a carbon tax on corporations cuts across both Democrats and Republicans.

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers brief remarks during the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on July 12, 2022 in Washington, D.C. Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images — *U.S. President Joe Biden delivers brief remarks during the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on July 12, 2022, in Washington, D.C. Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images*

By Marianne Lavelle, Inside Climate Change

Democrats who favor strong action on climate change are deeply dissatisfied with what they see as the slow pace of progress under President Joe Biden, according to a Pew Research Center report released Thursday.

The survey of more than 10,000 adults conducted in early May showed a deep partisan divide over Biden’s climate policies—much in line with the split between Democrats and Republicans that has shown up in public opinion polling for more than a decade. But a trend that is potentially ominous for the White House emerged in the views of the Democratic base.

Among Democrats who back the overall direction of Biden’s climate policies, 61 percent said the administration could be doing a lot more. Democrats don’t seem sympathetic to arguments that Biden’s hands are tied, for example, by an uncooperative Congress or the conservative courts; only 37 percent of Democrats who favor strong action to counter climate change said they think the administration is doing about as much as can be expected.

“You get the sense from the data that there is frustration or disappointment that more has not been done,” said Cary Funk, director of science and society research for Pew.