A fine post on DKos about climate change. Summary: The shit is hitting the fan.

Charles Hawley, editor of Spiegel Online International, joins us from Berlin to explain. Charles Hawley, how much of a problem are these wild boars?

Mr. CHARLES HAWLEY (Editor, Spiegel Online International): Well, the wild boar problem has certainly been growing in recent years. The population has been skyrocketing. The number of wild boars is estimated to be around 2.5 million in Germany, and the numbers of those shot by hunters has more than doubled in the last two years.

So there are certainly a lot of wild boars, and as they multiply, they come into contact with humans more often.

BLOCK: What kind of contact?

Mr. HAWLEY: Well, there are stories of them bursting into supermarkets. Occasionally, they’ll break up a church meeting. Quite often they’ll be causing car accidents, that kind of thing.

BLOCK: And they’re radioactive to boot.

Mr. HAWLEY: Quite a few of them are indeed radioactive, mostly in southern Germany. That was sort of the major fallout zone of the Chernobyl disaster, and so as a result, there’s quite a bit of radioactivity still in the ground.

I can’t wait for the movie.

This new study seems to validate the role of cell phone radiation as a contributing factor in declining bee populations.

Andrew Goldsworthy, a biologist from the UK’s Imperial College, London, has studied the biological effects of electromagnetic fields. He thinks it’s possible bees could be affected by cell phone radiation.

The reason, Goldsworthy says, could hinge on a pigment in bees called cryptochrome.

“Animals, including insects, use cryptochrome for navigation,” Goldsworthy told CNN.

“They use it to sense the direction of the earth’s magnetic field and their ability to do this is compromised by radiation from [cell] phones and their base stations. So basically bees do not find their way back to the hive.”

More from the Gulf

Comments anyone?

Washington, Jun 21 -
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a long-time advocate of family farmers and organic foods, today made the following statement after the Supreme Court voted 7-1 to allow the experimental planting of genetically modified alfalfa seed before an environmental review is completed:

“Today the Supreme Court ruled that when it comes to genetically modified organisms, we as consumers, have to wait until the damage is done and obvious, before we can act to protect health and the environment, even if that damage could be irreversible.

“Haven’t we learned from the catastrophe in the Gulf of the dangers of technological arrogance, of proceeding ahead with technologies without worrying about the consequences? Why do we continue to throw precaution to the wind?

“Tomorrow I will introduce three bills this week that will provide a comprehensive regulatory framework for all Genetically Engineered (GE) plants, animals, bacteria, and other organisms.

Call your reps.

The mess we have today in the Gulf of Mexico is not the first time BP has committed crimes against the environment and against people. This is a proverbial drop in the bucket for BP. This outfit has been cheating humanity since its inception.

How not to contain an oil spill starring BP. Then let your stomach churn reading this Kos post about the potential for future catastrophes.

Link to a conversation about the worst case scenario regarding BP’s goddamn blowhole.

NEW ORLEANS — Scientists provided a new estimate for the amount of oil gushing from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday that indicates it could be leaking up to 2.52 million gallons of crude a day.

A government panel of scientists said that the ruptured well is leaking between 1.47 million and 2.52 million gallons of oil daily. The figures move the government’s worst-case estimates more in line with what an independent team had previously thought was the maximum size of the spill.

Uh…

450 pages of sheer blasphemy, the only thing left to do is find a brave publisher.

Japan bribed other nations with prostitutes to get lax whaling rules.

Which is to say,-Has Total Wellhead Failure Happened?

Then take the edge off with these amusing videos.

Oh man this is a good one.

Obama has also called in some of the many scientists on the federal payroll, led by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. Chu at one point pushed the unusual idea of using gamma rays to peer into the blowout preventer to determine if its valves were closed, a technique he experimented with in graduate school while studying radioactive decay.  

The suggestion at first elicited snickering and “Incredible Hulk” jokes. Then they tried it, and it worked. “They weren’t hot on his ideas,” a senior White House official said of BP’s initial reaction to Chu’s suggestions. “Now they are.”

That’s going to be a great scene in the movie.

(h/t Atrios)

From a commercial site of, by, and for indoor air quality tweakers:

Indoor Air Quality and Terrorism, featuring a 3-part “Indoor Air Quality Fallout From WTC Collapse” (a few years old but illustrates the enormity of the problem).

Some calmer perspective here:

It’s tough being an Obama supporter in the oilfield, especially in Houston.

First, BP is not tackling this mess alone. The entire drilling industry is involved, including Exxon (who has a great record when it comes to offshore drilling, not oil shipping). It’s not like only BP engineers are calling the shots, all sorts of experts are involved.

…. All these efforts are reported heavily in the Houston Chronicle and nola.com, but doesn’t seem to get much for national coverage. If you only monitor the national coverage, you’d think BP is going it alone while we all sit by, but the reality is this is an industry-wide effort because we all know what’s at stake.

On having Obama “do more,” WTF is he supposed to do? Everybody seems to be calling for more fire in his belly and scary, threatening speeches. What does that accomplish? It’s like people want him to do a dramatic speech like post-9/11 about bringing the criminals to justice. It does nothing to actually plug the damn well. The government does not have the expertise to do more to stop this gusher. It’s in BPs interest to stop the gusher. All the conspiracy theories about wanting to preserve the well for future production are technically wrong and ignore that NOBODY in the industry benefits from this gusher continuing. BP wants what everybody else wants, though I’ll concede that I suspect dispersants are about killing life where it’s less easily photographed. Dispersants aside, the only conflict of interest is regarding the causes of the blowout, not the capping of the well. Fed investigations are already taking care of that part.

On the pace, I’m pissed because I thought top kill should have been the first thing they tried after the ROVs failed to close the BOP. The reason for delay was partly because it looked like a war zone down there initially due to all the debris from a mile long riser coming down with the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon. So there was cleanup to make everything accessible. Also, one issue with the top kill is that it does have some risk of making the leak worse by eroding whatever blockages exist to limit the blowout rate. It could also overpressure the wellhead to open up new leaks upstream of the current ones. My guess is they wanted a better understanding on the chance of success before taking those risks.

All this talk of “push BP out of the way” is uninformed.

This guy:

Whether (strong growth in the organic sector is) a good or a bad thing depends on whether you think the environmental benefits of organic farming outweigh the long-term downsides of defining good farming not with science, but with what feels natural.

Hey asshole - there is a science of organic farming, and a science of anti-gmo sentiment. You might want to get your head out of your ass before making love to your own strawman. Here’s where to start:

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/index.php

http://organic-center.org/science.environment.php

http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/GeneticRoulette/HealthRisksofGMFoodsSummaryDebate/index.cfm

http://natureinstitute.org/nontarget/report_class.php

http://organic-center.org/science.nutri.php

http://www.gmcontaminationregister.org/

http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/Home/index.cfm

http://www.zenithcitynews.com/092909/gonzo.htm

http://gonzoscience.com/?s=soil+biologist

http://www.gonzoscience.com/?p=848

You want to side with the soil chemists over the soil biologists that’s fine with me, but don’t go saying this is all about feeling natural. This is a science vs. science story, and as usual, idiots like you are labeling the opposing side unscientific while supporting your own POV with logical fallacies. Real scientific of you. I guess being an asshat just feels natural to you.

From Kos:

Interesting, this points out what many believe, that having just been in office for less than a year and a half, the Obama administration should have corrected decades of ill-preparedness and, within a month, instituted technologies and whip the Navy and Coast Guard into shape so they would be better equipped to deal with this matter.

Matthews speculated that perhaps we could send divers 5,000 feet below the surface of the water, with torches, to shut off the leak. He has been criticizing the administration for days, yet he knows so little regarding the mechanics, the existing technology, and the hardship involved in undertaking such an enterprise.  

MATTHEWS: Well, that‘s what I‘m asking about. Is the problem getting a submarine to get—can we use our fleet of submarines to go down there and get men, frogmen, down there with torches and begin to close up that—that hole in that pipe? What is the problem, getting there?  Is it the transportation to the bottom of the sea, a mile down, or is it the technology of closing that hole?

EARLE: We don‘t have submersibles that can go to 5,000 feet, except for the Alvin, a few systems that exist in the whole world.  There are only four submersibles that can go to half the ocean‘s depth.  And this country doesn‘t have any of those.  It‘s Japan, China, France.  We‘re not—and Russia—we‘re not in the game to go really deep with manned systems.

MATTHEWS: How did we drill—how did we drill this pipeline?  How did we create this oil well down there, if we couldn‘t get down there?

EARLE: We have got the technology to actually accomplish that kind of work in the deep sea, even essentially nearly twice as deep, and the robots that are developed to be able to go down for maintenance, inspection and repair. But that‘s under normal circumstances.

To deal with something of this sort is a major challenge that I think nobody anticipated that we would ever have to do this.  There are some unique problems with dealing in deep water and dealing with the oil that comes out of such an area, as compared to what is released at the surface. For one thing, of course, it‘s cold.  And then there‘s the pressure.  These are factors that we‘re just not prepared to have to—to deal with.  And we have to get up to speed fast.  The technologies arguably do exist.  I mean, the capability is there.

MATTHEWS:  Yes.

EARLE:  But we haven‘t made the investment to have a garage filled with submarines, a garage filled with remotely-operated systems, and the talent to be able to go down independently of industry and respond.

MATTHEWS:  Well that was an exquisite description of a horror. Thank you so much, Sylvia Earle of the National Geographic, terrible horror, nonetheless.

This is not Hurricane Katrina. I know there are many salivating at the prospect of comparing Barack Obama to George W. Bush in terms of his response to this man-made crisis, but this case does not provide a realistic comparison.

The issue of stopping the flow of oil into the gulf, following the destruction of the Deep Water Horizon oil rig, is an issue of operational and technological inadequacy, of decades of neglect, and industry shortsightedness, this new administration is working diligently with the tools in its possession, unfortunately the tools are not good enough. I know some might expect Barack Obama to go down to the bottom of the ocean and wrestle this beast into submission, but realistically speaking, it is not feasible.

via Atrios:

BP has told the Environmental Protection Agency that it cannot find a safe, effective and available dispersant to use instead of Corexit, and will continue to use that chemical application to help break up the growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A close shave on the Deepwater Horizon.

UVA: We’re intending to comply with your ass-hatty subpeona but let’s just look at some other options too.

I like this comment from TPM’s coverage of the story (1st link):

I think tenure is important, but I think this case illustrates the power of a robust peer review process. Mann has a very strong publication record in excellent journals including Science, Nature, and Proceeding of the National Academy of Science. It is his track record of publication and funding (again, peer reviewed) that led him to his post at UPenn. The reason climate change deniers are pissed is because they can’t seem to publish their nonsense (non-science?).

Good scientists should welcome, not fear, scrutiny of their taxpayer-funded work. It’s in everybody’s interest that the nation understands climate change. One potential up side is that maybe a little more light will shine on good science.

Word.

No:

…here’s a bullet-point summary of my findings:

• If anything, President Barack Obama appears to be warmly in favor of genetic engineering, although there is some wiggle room with his campaign statements.
• President Obama’s picks for Ag Secretary, campaign advisers, and other cabinet positions further suggest that he is positively disposed to GE crops. Given his emphasis on plant-based biofuels, he may also see it as a means to achieve his domestic renewable fuel goals.
• Obama did not make a written campaign statement promising to require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.
• Obama did not respond to mailings from The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods, nor did his presidential campaign contact them.
• Obama’s declared agenda, now housed at the White House website, indicates that these labels are not on his agenda.
• The claim that he will “fast track” GE food labeling appears to be an invention or the result of miscommunication.
• President Obama only once expressed a desire for GE food labeling, but has not made a campaign promise or pledge that he will “require mandatory labeling” for GE food.

There is no evidence that Barack Obama ever made a statement strong enough to be considered as a campaign promise to label GE foods.

Don’t get me wrong - I love me some Obama. He knows what science is and everything. So that’s great and I can work with that. But this unwelcome news about the US trying to squash GMO labeling worldwide is the kind of stuff that’s worth fighting about.

Contact the White House here. (Phoning is always more effective than email; scroll down for phone number.)

Your Senators are found here and your Congressional Representative is here.

And in case you aren’t sure why GMOs are bad, our epic smackdown of hapless pro-GMO science writer Michael Le Page is here.

BREAKING: Large Air Spill At Wind Farm. No Threats Reported. Some Claim To Enjoy The Breeze.

TPM has the goods on the case of the VA AG hassling a climate change scientist.

Best part is the open letter to the VA AG from a fellow climate change skeptic:

Climate-change skeptic Thomas Fuller co-wrote a book on Climate-Gate, published earlier this year, which was harshly critical of Mann and other climate scientists. But in an open letter to Cuccinelli, Fuller urged him to call off the dogs, writing: “No matter what has prompted your investigation, there is no doubt that it will be interpreted as a witch hunt.” He continued: “[B]eing wrong is not a crime, and intimidating scientists not a path that this country, including I presume Virginians, should ever pursue. You may consult with colleagues in Salem to determine how long it takes to live this type of thing down.”

Ouch!

There is no movie that will ever be made about this incident in which the VA AG will be portrayed as the good guy.

Somebody call the A-Team.

He said, “There are some plans in place that are being evaluated where the pipe could be crimped or potentially just cut off and a new blow-out preventer placed above it. The real problem is the engineering associated with that and how to mechanically accomplish it 5,000 feet down.

“But both those scenarios … are being looked at right now. They are a higher degree of difficulty and there is more risk associated with that than with any of the current mitigating efforts.”

“Transocean Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig Explosion Shows New Risks”

Got it. From the article:

The investigation will focus on human error and mechanical malfunction, says Mr. Pinon, adding that such advanced rigs “need a lot of tender loving care to operate.”

“We’ve had hurricanes and fires on the rigs, but I can’t remember that we ever had this type of explosion and definitely not on this type of rig,” Plaquemines Parish president, Billy Nungesser, told the New York Times.

While hurricanes often batter oil rigs, explosions and fires are rare. In 1988, the Piper Alpha offshore rig exploded, killing 167 people. And in 2001, the Petrobas 36 platform off Brazil’s coast also exploded, killing 11 workers.

“Rigs are some of the safest places to be … which is what makes the explosion on the oil rig in the Gulf all the more unexpected and means it was likely one that happened very fast,” reports CNN’s Ali Velshi, who was once evacuated from an oil rig.

[The findings] highlight a specific ecological role for whales in the oceans “other than their charisma”, he says.

Of course to GMO-friendly New Scientist magazine, the thoughtful, lucid, data-rich folks running the pro-organic Rodale Institute are an unhinged, irrational people.

Crittercam: Sea Lion 1, Octopus 0.

Six hundred feet below the ice where no light shines, scientists had figured nothing much more than a few microbes could exist.

 

That’s why a NASA team was surprised when they lowered a video camera to get the first long look at the underbelly of an ice sheet in Antarctica. A curious shrimp-like creature came swimming by and then parked itself on the camera’s cable. Scientists also pulled up a tentacle they believe came from a foot-long jellyfish.

… it has scientists musing that if shrimp-like creatures can frolic
below 600 feet of Antarctic ice in subfreezing dark water, what about other hostile places? What about Europa, a frozen moon of Jupiter?

I love any story involving surprised scientists.