EnviroPolitics Blog

Heatwave to cover a huge swath of the U.S.

Most of the nation can expect above-average temperatures in coming days as a giant heatwave is expected to spread across much of the continental U.S. beginning this week.

The heatwave will bring temperatures at least 5 to 10 degrees higher than average to much of the country, according to estimates by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which predicts a high probability of above-average temperatures for most of the U.S. over the next several days.

Add in climbing humidity, and many people will experience temperatures that will feel well over 100, according to Capitol Weather Gang meteorologist Mike Cappucci. The heat is a sign of a coming “heat dome,” he said.

Temperatures in the mid-100s are forecast for eastern Montana, the Upper Missouri Valley, and South Dakota in the first half of the week. Heat indexes could be over 110 in urban areas such as St. Louis, with a slight cool-down possible by the end of the week in some areas.

Later in the week, areas of Oregon, Idaho, and Washington probably will see temperatures into the 100s

A heat dome is the result of a strong change in ocean temperatures from west to east in the tropical Pacific Ocean during the preceding winter, according to the National Ocean Service. The warm air coming from the west part of the Pacific Ocean gets trapped in the jet stream as it approaches land. When that hot air arrives over land, the atmosphere traps it. Winds can move the heat dome around.

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Amid summer of fire and floods, a moment of truth for climate action

‘We are all in the same boat,’ says one diplomat from the developing world. ‘That is what this summer is telling us.’

Video shows passengers trapped in a train that was submerged by chest-high floodwater in Zhengzhou, China, on July 19. All passengers have since been rescued. (Newsflare via AP)

By Sarah Kaplan and Brady Dennis Washington Post

The panicked commuters of Zhengzhou, China, could only stand on seats and cling to poles in a desperate attempt to keep their heads above the muddy torrent this past week, as floodwaters from record-breaking rains inundated the subway system.

On the other side of the planet, in Gresham, Ore., a 61-year-old maker of handcrafted ukuleles slowly died in June as searing temperatures made an oven out of his lifelong home — one of at least 800 victims of what one scientist called “the most anomalous heat event ever observed on Earth.”

Massive floods deluged Central Europe, Nigeria, Uganda and India in recent days, killing hundreds. June’s scorching temperatures, followed by a fast-moving wildfire, erased a Canadian town. More than a million people are close to starvation amid Madagascar’s worst drought in decades. In Siberia, tens of thousands of square miles of forest are ablaze, potentially unleashing carbon stored in the frozen ground below.

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In Italy on Friday, a top U.N. climate official once again pleaded for the world to heed the alarm bells, reminding leaders that these catastrophes are simply the latest in a ghastly string of warnings that the planet is hurtling down a treacherous path.

“What more can numbers show us that we cannot already see? What more can statistics say about the flooding, the wildfires, the droughts and hurricanes and other deadly events?” United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa told a gathering of energy and environment ministers from G-20 nations. “Numbers and statistics are invaluable, but what the world requires now, more than anything else, is climate action.”

Extreme climate change has arrived in America

This disastrous summer is yet another portent of what humanity faces in coming decades if the world does not take dramatic steps to protect ecosystems and curb the use of fossil fuels, scientists say.

So far, many countries have failed to meet even the modest targets they have set for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists have repeatedly warned that the planet remains on track to exceed a critical threshold for warming within a decade, a change that will accelerate the loss of sea ice, extinction of species and a dramatic escalation of weather extremes.

Yet experts and activists believe this moment also offers a rare opportunity to change course — possibly the last such opportunity before many effects of climate change become irreversible.

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58 enviro groups want Gov. Murphy to speed up NJ’s greenhouse gas reduction schedule

By Tom Johnson, Energy/Environment Writer, NJ Spotlight News

New Jersey must adopt a more aggressive timetable for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, a coalition of environmental groups said Wednesday. Their reason: the Murphy administration is failing to achieve the needed reductions in pollution to throttle back global warming.

The state must cut greenhouse-gas emissions in New Jersey by 50% below 2005 levels by 2030, said the groups, many of whom backed Gov. Phil Murphy in his first election bid four years ago. Murphy, now campaigning for reelection, has set an aggressive policy for green energy, but he is falling short on cutting back greenhouse gases, they said.

In a formal petition filed by 58 organizations, the groups are asking the state Department of Environmental Protection to adopt that benchmark — a standard already adopted by 14 other states and the Biden administration — as well as how the reductions will be achieved by denying permits for new fossil-fuel projects.

The dispute is significant because most of the organizations have backed the administration’s ambitious clean-energy goals, which seek to transition the state to 100% clean energy by 2050. At a news conference Wednesday to announce the petition, however, critics argued New Jersey is lagging behind other states as well as the federal government in addressing the worsening climate crisis.

That charge comes as evidence of climate change is mounting across the globe, according to the petition. “Not a day goes by without headlines reporting record-breaking heat waves, droughts, unprecedented flooding, raging wildfires, and stronger and more frequent hurricanes,’’ the 21-page petition from Empower NJ said.

Advocates repeatedly argued the need to stop new fossil-fuel projects, including new pipelines and natural-gas power plants. “Natural gas is not a bridge to the future but a highway over a cliff,’’ said David Pringle, a steering committee member of Empower NJ.

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NJ’s offshore-energy powerline law blows NIMBY objectors out of the water

Is Gov. Phil Murphy pointing to where he thinks Jersey Shore objectors can take their NIMBY complaints? Seth Wenig (AP photo)

By Heather Richards Energy Wire

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law yesterday stripping local communities of authority over the placement of transmission lines, removing a chief obstacle for offshore wind in the state.

The move, while focused on just one state, highlights national tensions cropping up over a planned acceleration of renewable energy projects that some local residents say are being forced upon them. The battles are likely to increase as a swath of offshore wind projects are considered up and down the East Coast and President Biden pushes to decarbonize the power sector by 2035.

The transmission lines at issue in New Jersey are a crucial component of offshore wind build-outs, providing the necessary conduits connecting offshore wind arrays to onshore electricity grids.

Under the new law, developers can appeal blocked approvals at the local level to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The board would be able to override local government opposition if it deemed that a project’s request to land a transmission cable was just and had followed state requirements.

The legislation was drafted to counter so-called NIMBY — or “not in my backyard” — complaints from coastal residents and leaders, said state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, the bill’s sponsor.

“To derail state policy for the purpose of shutting down offshore wind — that was their plan, to shut it down — we weren’t going to let that happen,” said Sweeney, who like Murphy is a Democrat.

Offshore wind opposition is not unique to New Jersey.

Just this week, Vineyard Wind, the first offshore wind farm of scale to secure approval from the federal government, was sued by a part-time resident of Martha’s Vineyard with a history of instigating litigation in Massachusetts over its renewable energy plans.

Opposition to raising turbines has also cropped up in beach communities like the Hamptons in New York as proposed offshore wind projects multiply along the Atlantic shorelines. In Ocean City, Md., for instance, local residents say offshore wind projects would be an eyesore that threatens their community’s economy (Energywire, Jan. 24, 2020).

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Warehouse opponents in NJ won’t get help from neighbors in PA

Mayor of Easton, Pa. says it’s not his place to oppose massive building planned just across the Delaware River

By JON HURDLE, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NJ Spotlight News

Opponents of a plan to build a massive warehouse in Phillipsburg won’t be getting any help from the city leadership in Easton, Pennsylvania, just across the Delaware River.

Easton’s leaders should speak out against the plan, warehouse opponents argue, because the city would be impacted by added truck traffic and air and light pollution from the proposed 510,000 square-foot building, just as much as Phillipsburg itself, which is only 1,000 yards away in some places.

But Easton Mayor Sal Panto said his town doesn’t have legal standing to influence policies in another town in another state. He said he couldn’t speak for council members but was not going to speak against the warehouse himself.

“I’m not going to get involved,” Panto said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “It’s in a different city, and it’s not going to affect the City of Easton. I don’t like to get involved in other municipalities.”

Panto dismissed claims that truck traffic from the development in Phillipsburg, Warren County would choke streets and pollute the air in Easton, arguing that trucks serving the new warehouse would go directly to and from the nearby Interstate 78 rather than going through Easton.

Leaving it up to Phillipsburg residents

“I don’t think there will be more truck traffic in Easton; there will be more truck traffic in Phillipsburg, and residents there should make up their mind whether they want to approve it or fight it,” he said.

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Advocate wants health screenings for Camden neighbors near two-story illegal dump site

WBGO | By P. Kenneth Burn

Cleaning up the two-story-high pile of illegally dumped waste at 7th and Chestnut streets in Camden is only the first step to righting a wrong that has plagued the neighborhood for two decades, according to Roy Jones.

“That is just one aspect of what has to happen,” he said.

Now, the environmental justice advocate and executive director of the National Institute of Healthy Human Spaces wants testing of the air and groundwater quality done immediately in the vicinity of the site. He also wants health screenings for residents who live within five blocks.

“They have been breathing in this toxic dust for several years now,” he said. “They need to be tested, and children need to be tested, for lead and mercury and other chemicals.”

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Jones’ call comes as New Jersey’s Acting Attorney General Andrew Bruck and the state Department of Environmental Protection has asked a judge to force the current owners of the property to clean up the solid waste, dust, and debris that has migrated from the site to a neighboring residential property, as well as fix and restore the fence between the site and the property.

The state also wants Weyhill Realty Holdings, which bought the property in 2019, to clean the dust, debris, sediment, and solid waste that has accumulated on the sidewalks, roads, and other public rights of way. It also wants Weyhill to stabilize the growing pile of waste.

New Jersey on Monday amended its lawsuit filed in May against S. Yaffa and Sons, Inc. and the company’s owner William Yocco, which sold the property to Weyhill two years ago.

The state could not say how soon a judge would move on the suit because it is still in the early stages.

State scrutiny of the site dates back to 2002. DEP inspectors also determined that there is a 500-gallon gasoline underground storage tank on the property that was not properly closed off. That poses the risk of the tank’s contents being leaked into the soil and groundwater.

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