Texas Environmental News - compiled by West Texas Wind (FB) radio Dec 7,2018

Fracking in the Permian Basin is down according to Bloomberg News. The number of fracking crews peaked in May with 190 roaming the 80,000 square miles of the most prolific oil field in the country. The December 1st count was 167 crews. Schlumberger, the biggest oil field service provider in the world, is reporting a 15% drop in sales for the last quarter in 2018. A triplet of factors is associated with the downturn including a drop in crude prices, over-extended exploration budgets and a shortage of pipeline takeaway. Perhaps the realization of Climate Change and the competitiveness of clean energy is part of it too. The average Permian well is fracked 6 to 7 times and uses about 250,000 barrels of fresh water each time along with a number of fracking fluids including acids, radioactive tracking isotopes, emulsifiers, diesel, biocides, propylene glycol, lubricants, anti-corrosives and other toxic chemicals.

Texas utility provider Excel plans to be fossil fuel free by 2050. But is that timely enough? According to Dallas News, Excel, based in Minneapolis, with over a quarter million customers in TX, would have to shut down or sell its entire Texas generating portfolio which includes two coal plants, two methane plants and a combination fuel oil -methane plant. Other utilities have already shuddered three coal plants this year in Texas.

Former Oilman and President George H W Bush was buried in Houston this week. During the 1988 presidential campaign he famously said, “Read my lips no new taxes.” Which he went on to do. He also said, not so famously, “I will use the White House effect to control the Green House effect.” Which He did not do. Nor did any of those who followed him, frankly. Bill McKibben of 350.org wrote last week in The New Yorker,” What has defied expectations is the slowness of the response. The climatologist James Hansen testified before Congress about the dangers of human-caused climate change thirty years ago. Since then, carbon emissions have increased with each year except 2009 and the newest data show that 2018 will set another record. Simple inertia and the human tendency to prioritize short-term gains have played a role, but the fossil-fuel industry’s contribution has been by far the most damaging. Alex Steffen, an environmental writer, coined the term “predatory delay” to describe “the blocking or slowing of needed change, in order to make money off unsustainable, unjust systems in the meantime.” The behavior of the oil companies, which have pulled off perhaps the most consequential deception in mankind’s history, is a prime example.”

Plastic factories presently are seen as a petro-chemical growth area for the fossil fuel industry but could these projections be wrong? The European Union voted this week 571 to 53 to ban single-use plastics such as straws, plates, and cutlery by 2021. In India many hotels refuse to provide bottled water and parks throughout Australia post signs reading “No polyethylene allowed.” England and China also have restrictions on single use plastic. The World Economic Forum states that there is 50 million tons of plastic in the world’s oceans that could take hundreds of years to degrade. The forum warned that there would be more plastic than fish in weight in oceans by 2050. Meantime Exxon-Mobil continues to push through the permitting process to build the largest plastics factory in the world at the Port of Corpus Christi.

Dallas-based Exxon-Mobil agreed to buy 500 megawatts of wind and solar power to power its Permian Basin fossil fuel production operations. Carolyn Fortuna writes in CleanTechnic,  “Hallelujah! But, wait. Should we cheer?” Meantime Exxon has pledged to triple their methane production in the Permian by 2025. Fortuna continues, “Does bringing in renewable energy in the Permian Basin — … — even start to make amends for Exxon Mobil’s incredible, lasting, and shattering impacts on the planet of fossil fuel drilling and burning? ... Don’t we need to get fossil fuels out of our buildings in order to slash US fossil fuel use by 80% by 2050? …How does Exxon-Mobil’s expansive drilling in the Permian Basin achieve those goals, even with a nod to wind and solar?” The Carbon Majors Report, prepared by Climate Accountability Institute last year, found 25 corporations led by Exxon-Mobile were responsible for 1/2 of all carbon emissions since 1988. In 1977, James Black, an Exxon senior scientist, addressed the company’s top leaders, writing, “There is general scientific agreement that the most likely manner in which mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon-dioxide release from the burning of fossil fuels.” That’s a pretty clear statement from over 40 years ago. Dear Exxon, the epoch is over, did you not get the memo?

"Predatory delay" a term conceived by Alex Steffen, is used to describe “the blocking or slowing of needed change, in order to make money off unsustainable, unjust systems in the meantime.” The pathos of the oil companies, and their enablers, including legislators and politically- fired judges, have accomplished the most damning deception in the history of mankind - "there's nothing wrong with our product" - a prime example of predatory delay.

Predatory Delay?

The L’eau Est La Vie resistance camp battling the Dallas-based Energy Transfer Bayou Bridge crude oil pipeline, running through the heart of America’s biggest swamp, the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana, won a victory in court this week.  Louisiana State Judge Keith Comeaux found the corporation guilty of trespassing. He fined them a perfunctory four-hundred-and fifty dollars. One-hundred-foot cypress and tupelo trees were bulldozed and mulched, while barge mounted excavators tore through private property without permission in order to meet shareholders completion date expectations. Many at the feminist indigenous led camp were arrested themselves for felony trespassing despite having permission from the landowners to protect the private property from ET CEO Kelsey Warren’s pipeliners. During the trial, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate, a philosophical question arose: Does the damage of trenching the wetlands and fail-safing more greenhouse gas releases by permitting additional fossil fuel infrastructure outweigh strengthening Louisiana’s petrochemical economy? At stake in the courtroom was whether Energy Transfer could be found guilty of trespassing and still be allowed to seize the property ad hoc through eminent domain thereby green-lighting the final segment of the 163-mile pipeline. Judge Comeaux, deferred and allowed Energy Transfer to seize the property by stating, “The Court should not supplant the well-thought and well-researched opinions of the various agencies that permitted this project,” Comeaux wrote in his judgment. “Therefore, the Court finds that the proper permitting has been done, and that the public purpose and necessity has been proven by Bayou Bridge Pipeline.” Dockets for the criminal trials of the L’Eau Est La Vie water protectors that defended the property have not been set.

PREDATORY DELAY? - L'eau Est La Vie camp update - December 7, 2018

"Predatory delay" a term conceived by Alex Steffen, is used to describe “the blocking or slowing of needed change, in order to make money off unsustainable, unjust systems in the meantime.” The pathos of the oil companies, and their enablers,including legislators and politically- fired judges, have accomplished  the most damning deception in the history of mankind - "there's nothing wrong with our product" - a prime example of predatory delay.

The L’eau Est La Vie resistance camp battling the Dallas-based Energy Transfer Bayou Bridge crude oil pipeline, running through the heart of America’s biggest swamp, the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana, won a victory in court this week.  Louisiana State Judge Keith Comeaux found the corporation guilty of trespassing. He fined them four-hundred-and fifty dollars. One-hundred-foot cypress and tupelo trees were bulldozed and mulched, while barge mounted excavators tore through private property without permission in order to meet shareholders completion date expectations. Many at the feminist indigenous led camp were arrested themselves for felony trespassing despite having permission from the landowners to protect the private property from ET CEO Kelsey Warren’s pipeliners. During the trial, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate, a philosophical question arose: Does the damage of trenching the wetlands and fail-safing more greenhouse gas releases by permitting additional fossil fuel infrastructure outweigh strengthening Louisiana’s petrochemical economy? At stake in the courtroom was whether Energy Transfer could be found guilty of trespassing and still be allowed to seize the property ad hoc through eminent domain thereby green-lighting the final segment of the 163-mile pipeline. Judge Comeaux, deferred and allowed Energy Transfer to seize the property by stating, “The Court should not supplant the well-thought and well-researched opinions of the various agencies that permitted this project,” Comeaux wrote in his judgment. “Therefore, the Court finds that the proper permitting has been done, and that the public purpose and necessity has been proven by Bayou Bridge Pipeline.” Dockets for the criminal trials of the L’Eau est la Vie water protectors that defended the property have not been set.

Oklahoma's Creek Tribe Problem, Dec 2, 2018

Creek Tribe Native American - photo by Pinterest

Patrick Murphy, a Creek Indian, is on death Row at an Oklahoma State Prison for a murder that occurred on historic Creek land. His lawyer is now appealing the conviction to the Supreme Court, arguing that the trial should have never been tried in state court. Leading Creek authorities said the case should have been tried in either a Creek Court on a Federal court. This jurisdiction question now brings into play just who governs eastern Oklahoma. The land, granted by the federal government to the Creeks after they were purged from their native tribal lands of Georgia and Alabama in the early 1800’s now has nearly 2 million people living on it, most of whom who are neither Creek nor did their land deeds pass through Creeks. The Supreme Court according to NPR has long recognized reservation boundaries unless they’ve been revoked by Congress. Congress considered revocation of the Creek land in 1906 but did not follow through. In reality the land has been governed by the state for years and by all aspects of common law this essentially seems to give authority to the state. However James Floyd, principal chief of the Muscogee Creek Nation told NPR, “Well, during the period before statehood, when we had an allotment of land within the Muskogee Creek Nation boundaries and state law was being formulated essentially and the state became recognized as a state, we still existed. We still had our courts. We still had our schools. And we still had the governance of our people. The state basically came in on top of that and imposed its will on us. We continued to have governance at a much smaller scale until the mid-'70s.” The Chief went on to say that they will claim their rights even though they have not been enforced in a long time. A docket date has not yet been set by the Supreme Court.

TX Environmental News - December 1, compiled by West Texas Wind (FB) radio

                                         

Climate Specialist, Bruce Melton, of Austin wrote last week in Truthout, that climate change is not a linear phenomenon. In an article titled “California Wildfires: Where is the Climate Change Outrage,” he writes, “…the physics of warming determines that a little more warming doesn’t create a little more extremeness but a lot more.” He used the recent Camp Fire in Paradise, CA where at least 71 people have lost their lives and 12,000 structures were destroyed and the Mendocino Complex Fire in July that burned 459,000 acres as examples of “record-setting increases of these unheard-of extreme weather events.” “What will it take,” he asks “to allow us to treat climate change like it is the most important issue our society has ever faced…?”

The San Antonio Express News released a heat chart of the city last week that shows a 20-degree temperature difference between central city and the northern suburbs. The urban heat island effect map based on a satellite image taken on a recent summer night is part of the final phase of the city’s attempt to draft a climate action and adaption plan. The article reads, “Older residents and working-class families who live in the ‘heat island’ typically can least afford to spend more on summer air-conditioning bills.” Greg Harmon of the Sierra Club told the Express News, “Those people least responsible for our climate crisis are most vulnerable to its impacts.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are hoping to rollback car emissions despite twenty states who say they will sue the feds if they do (Texas is not one of them). MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky, points out that the administration’s detailed study calling for the end of vehicle emission regulation is one of the more evil documents produced by the Trump Administration to date. According to Truthout, Chomsky says the report extrapolates current consumption patterns, and concludes by saying that at the end of the century, societal patterns as we know it will be over and since automotive emissions don’t contribute that much to the catastrophe, there isn’t any point trying to limit them.

The pet industry is being blamed for an unwelcomed invasion of an exotic species. According to the Houston Chronicle, the venomous Lion Fish with no-known natural enemies on our side of the world, has now arrived in great numbers at the Gulf of Mexico’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, 100 miles off the coast of Galveston. The zebra-striped fish once found the waters of the Indo-Pacific home, but demand by aquarium lovers in the United States established a substantial import trade for the fish and through the cracks and toilets many of these warm-water-loving creatures escaped into the wild. Michelle Johnston, a sanctuary research biologist told the Chronicle, “They are the cockroaches of the sea. They reproduce every four days, and every four days they can release up to 50,000 eggs. Plus, nothing really eats them, they have venomous spines and the native fish are terrified of them.”

A gas pipeline owned by Dallas-based Energy Transfer exploded last week at the Waha Transfer Hub near Coyanosa sending two contract men to the hospital. It is not known if the men had medical coverage.  The 24-inch pipeline ruptured inside a gas processing facility where according to a local resident a series of four explosions occurred the day after Thanksgiving. Energy Transfer spokesperson Vicki Granado said at the time of the incident, the fire would be left alone until it burned itself out, which according to another local resident – it did, two days later.  Post explosion security was tight at the scene where charred grounds and metal detritus could be seen. The Texas Railroad Commission will investigate the incident. Natural Gas Intelligence reports a marked uptick in flaring has occurred in the region since the explosion. Environmentalists claim Energy Transfer, who owns over 70,000 miles of pipelines, most of it in Texas, has an accident every 12 days.

Port of Corpus Christi CEO Sean Strawbridge is showing frustration after convincing the people of the Coastal Bend to spend a billion dollars and allow the Port Authority to dredge the ship channel from 42 feet to 54 feet and heighten the Portland Bridge. But, Trafigura, a behemoth Swiss commodity trading house, hopes to build a tanker terminal twenty miles offshore and by-pass the port.  Strawbridge told KRIS-TV, “When you look at these offshore buoys, they are usually in venues that don’t have the same type of quality infrastructure that we have here in the United States. Places like Africa and India.” The Port of Corpus Christi is the No.1 US oil exporting port. But 54 feet of water draft is not enough for today’s very large crude carriers. The Trafigura proposed off shore terminal will have a water draft of 75 feet and no bridges to pass under. Transportation economies of scale is key as some of the largest tankers can carry 500,000 tons of cargo when fully loaded. The billion-dollar project to allow bigger ships to call the port may have some people asking why did we spend the money? Meantime, the dredge spoils, allegedly clean and uncontaminated from the deepening of the refinery-lined ship channel, will create an offshore island 22 miles long, 5 miles wide and 25 feet thick.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton spoke glowingly about record oil production in Texas at last month’s Permian Basin Petroleum Association Annual Meeting in Midland. Sitton said, “Oil and gas production in the Permian has grown exponentially over the last few years, bringing with it unprecedented job growth and revenue for the State of Texas.” The commissioner did not address the growing Permian drug addiction, traffic mortality, teacher shortage, the worst asthma counties of the state nor did he speak to the correlation of fossil fuels and climate change or the $540 hotel rates at Super Eight.

Attorneys for Exxon-Mobil met attorneys from the Sierra Club and Environment Texas this month in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals as the oil giant tries to reduce the $20 million fine imposed on their Baytown Refinery earlier this year. Over 16,000 violations were recorded against the refinery over an 8-year span.  Luke Metzger, Director of Environment Texas told 740-Radio, “They don't dispute that there was 16,000 violations, they dispute whether we have the right to sue them over all 16,000. Basically these are equipment fails or an operator makes a mistake, things that are largely preventable by better investment in equipment, better training or more personnel.” Exxon argues the violations, in the form of air and water pollution, are too severe and only worth $1.6 million in fines. In the 3rd quarter of 2018 Exxon-Mobile generated 6.8 billion dollars of profit.

What kind of mind thinks of ways to stump wind and solar energy at this point in time in history? Well, according to the Houston Chronicle it might be the mind of old energy. Despite the incredible evidence of an Earth going turtle and the correlation between fossil fuels, climate change and toxicity, Houston oil utilities Calpine Corp and NRG Energy have petitioned the TX Public Utilities Commission to make west Texas wind and solar energy more expensive by adding a surcharge in the transmission of electricity to urban areas.  According to the Chronicle, Texas is the largest producer of wind energy and the 3^rd largest producer of solar, attracting billions of dollars of investment without the use of state tax credits.

Elon Musk, owner of Space X and top rival of Jeff Bezos, the Blue Origin rocket launcher owner north of Van Horn, admitted his one-way-tickets to Mars are not for everybody. But the 47-year-old Musk defended the Mars migration and suggested it was a better bang-for-the-buck than Bezos’s sub-orbital space round trip plans that Blue Origin plans to offer next year. Moreover, Musk, who was interviewed by HBO last week, told critics, who say his Mars plans are only for the rich, "Really the ad for going to Mars would be like Shackleton's ad for going to the Antarctic. It's gonna be hard. There's a good chance of death. Going in a little can through deep space, you might land successfully, once you land successfully, you'll be working nonstop to build the base. Not much time for leisure, and once you get there, even after doing all this, it's a very harsh environment, so there's a good chance you die there. We think you can come back, but we're not sure. Now does that sound like an escape hatch for rich people?" Musk said there was a 70 per cent chance that he would move to the Red Planet.