QUICK NEWS, November 5: WHAT THE MIDTERM RESULTS MEAN; NEW ENERGY WASN’T IN ELECTION CHATTER; THE GOOD NEWS IN IRELAND’S HURRICANE

WHAT THE MIDTERM RESULTS MEAN The new GOP Senate is already gearing up to cause climate mayhem

Ben Adler, November 5, 2014 (Grist)

“…[Republicans] biggest win by far was taking control of the U.S. Senate…This is not good news for the climate. The party that controls the majority and the committee chairmanships controls the agenda. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will now be the majority leader. McConnell deflects questions about whether he accepts climate science by saying he isn’t a scientist and citing climate-denying conservative pundit George Will. But he is clear about where he stands on fossil fuels, especially coal…Attacking President Obama for not sharing his passion for burning carbon was central to McConnell’s reelection campaign…Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska takes the gavel [of the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee]. Leading climate denier James Inhofe of Oklahoma will be taking over the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and fellow denier Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will be chairing the Committee on Science and Technology…The Republicans have two top energy-related demands: stop EPA from regulating CO2 and approve the Keystone XL pipeline…

“In the House, Republicans have voted to strip the EPA of its authority to regulate GHGs. That measure died in the Senate because of Democratic opposition…[But] Obama will make a stand on EPA authority if he must. And before it even comes to that, Senate Democrats will likely throttle any EPA authority repeal with a filibuster…Keystone is more vulnerable...Republicans won’t just pass Keystone approval on its own for Obama to veto. They will continue their strategy of attaching it to unrelated bills, from anodyne energy-efficiency measures to the budget. No one really knows what Obama thinks about Keystone, but it is widely assumed that he was happy to let it go through until activists rose up in protest. Obama would probably like to mollify his base after the midterms by rejecting Keystone, but there’s no guarantee he won’t be willing to trade it away with newly empowered Republicans…[E]xpect to see a lot of little bits of bad news for the climate and the broader environment in the budget negotiation process. EPA funding will be cut…Programs that especially irk Republicans, like those that promote renewable energy and anything pertaining to smart growth, will fare especially poorly…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet

NEW ENERGY WASN’T IN ELECTION CHATTER Facebook, Politics and the Midterms

Dante Chinni, Natalie Andrews and Matt Stiles, November 3, 2014 (Wall Street Journal)

"The political talk about energy and the environment on Facebook may be most notable for where it [wasn’t]. There [were] no House districts in Texas or Louisiana (big energy producing states) where those topics even made up 6% of the Facebook political conversations…In Facebook’s analysis, energy and environment conversations concerned topics such as ‘climate change, fracking, renewable energy’…[The map shows] the topic largely missed areas where energy extraction is a big or contentious issue…[T]he top district for energy and environment discussions [was] New York’s sixth district in Queens, which sits far from big oil and gas territory…There [were] a few places where the chatter [seemed] more tied to larger energy/environment debate [such as Colorado where oil and gas production is a big business]…[On] the top 100 districts for energy and environment chatter on Facebook – some more obvious places appear, including North Dakota (where an energy boom has fundamentally changed the eastern part of the state) and Pennsylvania’s third, fifth and twelfth districts (where much fracking has been a big topic) and West Virginia’s first and second districts (coal country)…[But of the] bottom 100 House districts for energy/environment political talk on Facebook, more than a quarter, 26, [were] in Texas and [other] major energy producing areas…” click here for more

Tweet

THE GOOD NEWS IN IRELAND’S HURRICANE Windy weekend generated 50pc of Ireland’s electricity demand, says IWEA

Colm Gorey, 23 October 2014 (Silicon Republic)

"Some good news came of the tail of [Ireland’s] Hurricane Gonzalo…[T]he high winds generated 50pc of the country’s energy demands through its wind turbine network…The findings by EirGrid come from a measurement of the turbines’ energy output between 6pm Friday, 17 October, and midnight on Sunday, 19 October, which resulted in a new record peak of 1,784MW at 6.45pm that Friday…Ireland’s wind turbine network [often generates] 40pc of the country’s electricity…This new record had the potential to power more than 1.15m homes across the country…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet