The Week That Was: 2022-05-07 (May 7, 2022)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself–nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” – Franklin Roosevelt, inaugural address, March 4, 1933, at the peak of the Great Depression. [Repeated from last week, boldface added]
Number of the Week: 47 inches (1.2 meters)
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: After discussions over the past few weeks on how global climate modelers ignore advances in our understanding of the atmosphere, particularly over the past 50 years, and our understanding of earth’s climate history, particularly over the past 2.5 million years, this TWTW discusses some of the consequences of this deliberate ignorance. [If surgeons deliberately ignored advances in medicine over the past 50 years, they would be accused of medical malpractice. Instead, climate modelers receive Nobel Prizes.]
Ecologist Jim Steele is producing a series of videos, with transcripts, describing “The Big 5 Natural Causes of Climate Change.” Part 1 was on Varying Atlantic Water Transport. The work of Tom Gallagher, discussed last week, includes the issue of ocean currents. Part II of Steele’s presentations is on Jet Streams and Extreme Weather. This goes to the natural causes of the February 2021 Texas Norther which dove deep into the southern Great Plains, the June 2021 hot ridge over the Pacific Northwest and western Canada, and the July 2021 flooding of parts of Germany.
The group known as World Weather Attribution wasted no time calculating exact probabilities that carbon dioxide was the likely cause for the latter two events. Ross McKitrick has shown that the frequency probabilities used by World Weather Attribution have no basis in established Probability Theory, thus their estimates are meaningless.
Attorney Francis Menton made observations about public comments at a hearing by New York’s Climate Action Council
Also discussed will be a series of op-eds and articles in the Wall Street Journal on the new Disinformation Governance Board being established by the Department of Homeland Security under the Biden Administration. Had the Trump Administration set up such a board, the howls from mainstream media would have been deafening. Also, this week, Biden’s Department of Justice announced it established an office for Environmental Justice. Fifty years after the Clean Water Act, the US does not have a solid operational definition of waters of the United States. How many years will it take for an operational definition of Environmental Justice?
For a few minutes at 2:50 pm on Saturday. April 30, 99.87% of electricity delivered by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) came from sources other than fossil fuels. Of course, this was trumpeted by promoters of solar and wind. Using data from CAISO, TWTW checked what happened at 7:15 pm when the sun was going down.
Paul Homewood and Andrew Montford continue to report on the false claims that offshore wind is a cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels.
Extreme Weather Events: In a 20-minute video, with transcript, on his blog, ecologist Jim Steele discusses the pioneering work of Carl-Gustav Rossby in the 1940s on how jet streams “cause extreme weather when their waviness increases and causes weather patterns to linger over a region longer than normal.”
“Rossby insisted that the jet stream’s wavy patterns were essential for the planet to achieve greater temperature equilibrium more efficiently as each wave’s ridge transports more warm tropical air poleward and each trough drives more cold arctic air equator-ward.
“The jet stream normally steers mid-latitude weather systems relatively quickly from west to east across the globe. When that eastward movement slows, the jet streams become more wavy causing weather patterns to linger and extreme weather to evolve. Rossby noticed the minimal circulation speeds most frequently happened in late February and early March when sufficient cold arctic air reservoirs developed and pushed the jet stream equator-ward.
“Rossby developed a circulation index to track jet stream changes, but later, researchers developed the more commonly used North Atlantic Oscillation index based on changes in air pressure between Iceland and the Azores. That index more easily identifies changes in the jet stream waviness and gave weather forecasters a higher degree of predictive skills.
“During a large pressure difference, or positive phase, a more zonal jet stream flow will evolve, bringing warmer, wetter weather to northern Europe.
“When pressure differences are below average, or the negative phase, a wavier jet stream evolves causing more unpredictable weather, blocking patterns, and extreme weather.”
The importance of the jet stream changes seasonally, thus is lost when using annual averages.
“During our winter, the ITCZ [intertropical convergence zone] and jet stream move equator-ward allowing colder air to push southward as well as increasing the jet’s waviness
“The dry high-pressure system forming beneath a jet’s ridge, pulls warm tropical air northwards on its western side as well as promoting clear skies and greater solar heating.
“The low-pressure system forming in the jet stream’s trough pulls colder arctic air southward as well as promoting cloudiness and rain. This dynamic partially explains why the south- eastern United States has long been dubbed a ‘warming hole.’
“That warming hole gets obscured by temperature statistics that are averaged nationally and globally. However, a recent study shows that 34% of all USA weather stations with at least 70 years of data, (represented by blue dots), exhibit cooling trends and most are concentrated in the jet stream’s trough.
“Knowing that published temperature data, when the government falsely claims in its ‘Climate Resilience Tool Kit,’ that cities in the southeast are at risk due to heat from climate change, that false claim only generates mistrust for the government’s climate science narratives
“Aligning with Rossby’s observation that the jet stream’s greatest waviness occurs during winter when the reservoir of cold arctic air reaches a maximum, the jet stream dove deep into the southern United States between February 12th-19th, in 2021. Arctic air caused the regions colored purple to remain below freezing for over 160 hours.
It is important to note that such extreme cold periods occur in the Great Plains. Three occurred in the 1880s prompting Teddy Roosevelt to wonder if the Great Plains could support human settlement. Steele goes on further to explain how Rossby waves are similar to the meandering streams:
“My research with meadow restoration observed that evolving dynamic in meadow streams. Small differences in surface hardness causes small waves to evolve in the stream’s channel. The wave’s curvature alters the stream’s speeds which naturally amplify the waviness over years, and the stream erodes the banks to evolve into omega configurations. Eventually the waviness amplifies enough to cause that part of the channel to break off from the main flow forming stagnant oxbow lakes.”
Steele discusses other jet stream-caused extreme weather events such as the 2015 rapid summer melting in the colder northwestern Greenland while there was no such melting in the generally warmer south, and the severe flooding in western Germany in 2021 for which Steele states:
“But the real cause was the dynamics of a cut-off low that concentrated the moisture in that region for days
“Cut off lows are called weatherman’s woes because it unpredictably causes extreme weather. Cut off lows form from the same naturally evolving fluid dynamics that cause cutoff highs and omega blocks.”
Unfortunately, once distinguished science groups follow the CO2 fad and fail to look at naturally occurring events. A leader in this false blaming of CO2 is the World Weather Attribution group (WWA). According to its website,
“WWA is a partnership of:
“Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford (ECI)
“Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI)
“Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environment (LSCE)
“University of Princeton
“National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
“Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (The Climate Centre”
Again, we see the influence of the Princeton modeling group and NCAR, where climate modelers fail to test their models against over forty years of comprehensive atmospheric temperature trends and the compilation of spectroscopic parameters used to predict and simulate the transmission and emission of light in the atmosphere, the high-resolution transmission molecular absorption database (HITRAN). See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy, Measurement Issues – Atmosphere, https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/analysis/partners/ and https://hitran.org/
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Fear and Anger: Attorney Francis Menton describes his thoughts about those who gave presentations for over two hours at a public hearing of The Climate Action Council (CAC) which developed a plan for reducing CO2 emissions in the State of New York:
“The first statutory target is a 40% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, which as a practical matter means that fossil fuels must be almost completely eliminated from the electricity sector by that date. The Council issued its Draft Scoping Plan for how to achieve the targets on December 30, 2021. The Draft Scoping Plan is some 300 pages of text plus 500 pages of appendices; but the gist comes down to, we will order the private sector to eliminate emissions by various dates certain, and then it is up to the little people to work out the details.”
After reflecting on the hearing Menton wrote:
“As stated in my prior post, of the 60 or so speakers, all but myself and four others were vigorous supporters of the critical necessity of achieving the stated zero carbon goals by the given dates as an urgent matter of saving our planet and our children. This was so despite what appeared to me to be manifestly huge issues of physical feasibility and cost that are almost certain to cause these grand ‘net zero’ energy schemes to fail. The CAC’s draft ‘Scoping Plan,’ as it currently exists for public comment, does not consider these feasibility or cost issues in any remotely adequate fashion, if at all. That fact did not appear to bother the overwhelming majority of the speakers.”
“The previous post mentioned fear as a common theme — fear that use of fossil fuels by us New Yorkers will bring on storms, floods, and other disasters to threaten our lives and livelihoods. But what I failed to mention was another emotion that was even more prevalent in the comments — anger.” [Boldface was Italics in original.]
One can imagine what may happen to this fear and anger when members of the public recognize they have been fooled into believing there is a climate crisis when there is none. Once government tried to quell fear, now it exploits it. See Quote of the Week and links under Challenging the Orthodoxy and Questioning the Orthodoxy.
Ministry of Truth? The Biden Administration continues with steps towards an authoritarian government, tolerating no disagreement. In an amazing action the Department of Homeland Security established a Disinformation Governance Board (DGB). Since the administration has declared a climate crisis that only appears only in an imaginary atmosphere found in climate models rather than in physical evidence, it is extremely difficult to grasp what is disinformation to this administration?
In “Disinformation for Dummies” an editorial in the Wall Street Journal begins:
We realize public schools don’t teach the classics anymore, but has no one in the Biden Administration read George Orwell? Apparently not, because that’s the only explanation for its creation of a new Disinformation Governance Board.
We have to admit that when we first read about it, we thought the news was itself disinformation from the Administration’s political enemies. Surely, no one in this age of polarization and public mistrust of institutions would think it’s wise to set up a government shop with the job of telling Americans what is true.
We were wrong. No less an authority than Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, broke the news about the board last week in an appearance before Congress. He said the purpose of this new corner of the bureaucracy will be to warn Americans about falsehoods coming from foreign adversaries such as Russia, China and cartels that smuggle migrants into the United States.
After presenting comments by the secretary of Homeland Security, the editorial continues:
But does anyone think this board will limit itself to foreign falsehoods? The temptation will be great to address issues that are part of America’s raucous domestic political debate. All the more so given that the disinformation board’s first executive director is reported to be Nina Jankowicz, whose partisan footprints are all over social media. She can be seen on TikTok singing her own highly partisan adapted lyrics to the tune of a ‘Mary Poppins’ song. (What did Julie Andrews do to deserve that?)
In an article titled “Biden Establishes a Ministry of Truth” professors of finance and economics, respectively, Roger Koppl and Abigail Devereaux write about threat experts:
“If you predict doom and nothing much happens, it was because of your wise warning. If you don’t predict doom and reality is worse than you predicted, you will be blamed and shamed. The incentives are clear. Truth experts at the DGB will proclaim grave threats around every turn even when any ‘threats’ are minor to nonexistent.
“By creating the DGB, the U.S. government is creating a crisis monitor with the dial permanently set to ‘existential threat.’ No one inside the board will have the incentive—or the courage—to dial it down.”
In another essay, columnist Gerard Baker begins:
“It’s always exciting for progressives when they create a new government office of something or other. They live for this: another excuse to spend piles of taxpayer dollars; another polysyllabic title and flashy logo; another opportunity to extend the long, comforting arm of the bureaucracy into the business of ordinary citizens who never knew how impoverished their lives were without it.”
After discussing false claims by President Obama, he concludes:
“You don’t promote truth by banning error. You don’t have a monopoly on truth in the first place, and you may discover your “truths” are errors or lies. Even if you’re right, and epistemically 100% certain, it doesn’t give you the authority to ban someone from saying something different.
“The only proven effective way to counter bad information is with good information. The only way to overcome lies is with truth, and the government can’t be the arbiter of what that is.” See Articles # 1, 2, & 3.
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Operational Definition: An operational definition for “physical sciences” can be described as physical evidence which can be observed and measured. In discussing new litigation seeking clarity of the definition of U.S. Waters (which have included piles of wet leaves far from any stream) Jan Stroup writes:
“’Fifty years after the enactment of the Clean Water Act, its reach is clear as mud,’ writes Jonathan Wood, introducing an amicus brief for a Supreme Court case.”
The Department of Justice has announced a new office focused on environmental justice. The concept appears to be as clear as muddy waters. The enforcement strategy (as of now) appears to be: DOJ will force those whom they don’t like to either pay off the friends of DOJ, or else suffer consequences. See links under Expanding the Orthodoxy and Litigation Issues ******************
A Few Moments: According to a report from Palm Springs:
“While partygoers celebrated in the blazing sunshine at the Stagecoach music festival, energy demand statewide hit 18,672 megawatts at 2:45 p.m., “and at 2:50, we reached 99.87% of load served by all renewables, which broke the previous record … of 97.58%,” said Anna Gonzales, spokeswoman for California Independent System Operator, or CAISO, a nonprofit that oversees the state’s bulk electric power system and transmission lines.”
TWTW checked the next day and found that according to CAISO: at 2:50 pm Solar generated 12,462 MW, Wind 4,790; Geothermal 774; Biogas 201; and Small Hydro 153. By 7:15 pm Solar was near zero, but who needs electricity at night to keep the lights on? At 7:15 pm Large hydro supplied 2,459 MW [including dams from outside of California]; Imports 4,241 [power supplied outside of California regardless of source]; Batteries 779 and Nuclear 2,260. Solar power is not ready for prime time.
On the same note, the falling costs of wind power in the UK are proving illusionary. Andrew Montford and Paul Homewood discuss how wind promoters have played the subsidy game for their benefit, not for consumer benefit.
See links under California Dreaming, http://www.caiso.com/todaysoutlook/pages/supply.aspx, Subsidies and Mandates Forever and Energy Issues – Non-US
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Additions and Corrections: Last week when discussing emissions from volcanoes TWTW incorrectly stated that hydrofluoric acid, HF, is a weak acid. Its corrosive ability varies, depending on source of information. TWTW thanks the readers who corrected this error. It is amazing the AAAS Science publishes articles claiming that volcanoes give off carbon dioxide which forms a weak acid while ignoring the strong acids so emitted.
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SEPP’S APRIL FOOLS AWARD – THE JACKSON
SEPP is conducting its annual vote for the recipient of the coveted trophy, The Jackson, a lump of coal. Readers are asked to nominate and vote for who they think is most deserving. The entire Biden Administration won in 2021, so individuals in it are still eligible.
The voting will close on July 30. Please send your nominee and a brief reason the person is qualified for the honor to Ken@SEPP.org. The awardee will be announced at the annual meeting of the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness on August 14 to 16 at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Registration: https://aaps.wufoo.com/forms/qb79fo31o62uh1/; Hotel: https://be.synxis.com/?adult=1&arrive=2022-08-14&chain=6903&child=0¤cy=USD&depart=2022-08-15&group=DOC0811&hotel=11548&level=hotel&locale=en-US&rooms=1
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Number of the Week: 47 inches (1.2 meters). According to local reports, on May 1 the popular Colorado ski resort, Vail mountain, ended its longest season ever with 47 inches (1.2 meters) of base snow still on the mid-mountain. Vail ski resort opened in 1962, See links under Changing Weather.
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-IIb/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://store.heartland.org/shop/ccr-ii-fossil-fuels/
Download with no charge:
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/
Download with no charge:
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Global Sea-Level Rise: An Evaluation of the Data
By Craig D. Idso, David Legates, and S. Fred Singer, Heartland Policy Brief, May 20, 2019
The Big 5 Natural Causes of Climate Change: part 2 Jet Streams and Extreme Weather
By Jim Steele, A Walk On The Natural Side, May 2, 2022
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4_DjeCsgWk
Deaths in climate-related disasters declined 99% from a century ago
By Bjorn Lomborg, The New York Post, Apr 30, 2022
[SEPP Comment: A major part of which is due to better weather forecasting and preparedness.]
How Many of the World’s 8 Billion Will Survive Without Fossil Fuels?
Which is the great threat to civilization, climate change or a world without fossil fuels?
By Ronald Stein, The Heartland Institute, May 3, 2022
WUWT Contest Winner, General Audience, Second Place – “Is There Really a Climate Crisis?”
The Dog That Never Barks
By David Hawkins, WUWT, May 5, 2022
“The environmental campaign leading to demands for radical changes to our lifestyles relies on a progression from one assertion to another, all supposedly scientifically supported. This series starts with the assertion that climate models are a good predictor of future climate and temperature. The next assumption (probably the largest) is that carbon dioxide is the main, if not the only driver, of these climate models. The next assumption is that a rise in global temperatures in excess of 1.5 degrees Centigrade by 2050 will have a disastrous effect on the ecosystems of the planet. The final assumption in the chain is that limiting carbon dioxide generated by humanity to arbitrarily set limits will stabilise global temperatures.”
Insights On Progressive Thinking From The Climate Action Council [CAC] Public Hearing
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 6, 2022
A Sense Of Proportion
By Willis Eschenbach, WUWT, May 5, 2022
Defending the Orthodoxy
Scientists identify the most extreme heatwaves ever recorded globally
By Staff Writers, Bristol UK (SPX), May 05, 2022
Link to paper: The 2021 western North America heat wave among the most extreme events ever recorded globally
By Vikki Thompson, et al, AAAS Science Advances, May 4, 2022
From the abstract: “Throughout the globe, where we have reliable data, only five other heat waves were found to be more extreme since 1960.”
[SEPP Comment: Apparently the authors and AAAS Science never heard of the 1930s Dust Bowl in the US, which had reliable data. Such are the standards of AAAS – the American Association for the Advancement of Science!]
Use of ‘too hot’ climate models exaggerates impacts of global warming
U.N. report authors say researchers should avoid suspect models
By Paul Voosen, AAAS Science, May 4, 2022
Link to paper: Climate simulations: recognize the ‘hot model’ problem
The sixth and latest IPCC assessment weights climate models according to how well they reproduce other evidence. Now the rest of the community should do the same.
By Zeke Hausfather , Kate Marvel , Gavin A. Schmidt , John W. Nielsen-Gammon & Mark Zelinka, Nature, May 4, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Do these climate people advocate that rather than wildly extreme models, they will use ridiculously extreme models?]
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Northern Ireland faces loss of 1 million sheep and cattle to meet climate targets
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, April 30, 2022
My Testimony On New York’s “Scoping Plan” To Achieve Net Zero Carbon Emissions
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 3, 2022
We are all going to die, part 43
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 4, 2022
“’The modelling seems ‘technically impeccable’, says Ignacio Morales-Castilla, a global-change ecologist at the University of Alcalá, Spain, although he points out that forecasting exercises such as this sometimes need to include unrealistic assumptions.’”
“Which in most fields would be a bit of an issue. But climate is not most fields. Thus “the researchers urge that there is no time to waste” and since one of the coauthors “says pandemic preparedness and disease surveillance are climate-change adaptation, too” there’s certainly no time to waste sending more cash from the gravy train their way.”
Real Threats to Biodiversity and Humanity
By Paul Driessen, Climate Realism, May 4, 2022
After Paris!
OPEC fails to boost output as members face capacity woes
Even group leader Saudi Arabia didn’t increase output by as much as permitted by the agreed quota.
By Grant Smith and Julian Lee, Bloomberg, May 3, 2022
[SEPP Comment: After COP-26 less than a year ago, why should they?]
Change in US Administrations
Biden’s energy counter-revolution
By Sen John Barrasso, The Washington Times, Apr 27, 2022
Biden’s Plan for ‘Climate Friendly’ Military Vehicles: Another Bad Idea for Defense
By Maiya Clark, the Daily Signal, May 03, 2022
“Biden’s proposed fiscal year 2023 defense budget skimps on F-35s and shipbuilding. This is absurd in light of both near-term security threats—the U.S. needs to maintain a posture of strength to deter aggression by Russian President Vladimir Putin beyond Ukraine into NATO territory—and longer-term great power competition with China.”
“Moreover, corners cut in past defense budgets are making themselves known. Take, for example, America’s coming shortage of Javelin and Stinger missiles. Instead of spending the money to maintain munitions stocks, the Pentagon for years used those dollars to buy new capabilities. Now, U.S. stocks of Javelin and Stinger missiles have been rapidly depleted as they’ve been sent as aid to Ukraine.
“The U.S. military has reportedly sent between one-fourth and one-third of its total stocks of these munitions to Ukraine in just the past two months.”
[SEPP Comment: Waiting for environmental-friendly explosives?]
GO GREEN OR GO BROKE: Biden’s Climate Czar Threatens Airlines That Resist The Green Agenda
By Thomas Catenacci, Daily Caller, May 5, 2022
[SEPP Comment: More authoritarian government! It would be impressive if administration functionaries flew in electric powered planes charged by wind or solar!]
Biden to crack down on polluters in poor, minority areas
By Matthew Daly, AP, May 5, 2022
[SEPP Comment: More money for green groups to create false fears.]
Biden administration thwarts Biden administration’s goal of increasing domestic mining
By Isaac Orr, American Experiment, May 4, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Delaying and denying promises with regulation.]
Biden administration proposes new commercial water heater efficiency rules
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, May 6, 2022
[SEPP Comment: More regulatory “solutions” to a phony crisis.]
Elon buys Twitter and suddenly there is a Ministry of Truth
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 30, 2022
John Kerry vs. Natural Gas
By Allen Brooks, Master Resource, May 6, 2022
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
Leaf photosynthetic rates of mature Holm oak trees growing in close proximity to a natural CO2 spring
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 4, 2022
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Africa Wants Oil and Gas: Not UN/COP Poverty
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, May 2, 2022
A plan, you’re right, we’ll need a plan
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 4, 2022
“In fact, every agency agrees with every recommendation while insisting that it’s no longer needed. Which sadly is more evidence that the Auditor General has no idea how to tell departments they’re totally out to lunch and departments have no idea how to figure it out. Which means fixing it may take a little while.”
China Promotes Coal-burning Again
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 4, 2022
Coal Production Surges 28% In April In India
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 4, 2022
[SEPP Comment: As a commentator noted, the bags in the news article are full of lumpwood charcoal not mined coal!]
Germany to Put G-7 Coal Phaseout Push on Hold
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 1, 2022
Seeking a Common Ground
Science Advice Under Pressure
Roger Pielke Jr, Apr 27, 2022
Science, Policy, and Evidence
As Germany puts ESG on hold Britain needs to follow suit
Net Zero Watch has warned Boris Johnson to follow Germany’s lead and put Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) regulations on ice or suffer severe competitive disadvantage.
By Staff, Net Zero Watch, May 4, 2022
Model Issues
Charred models
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 4, 2022
Measurement Issues — Surface
Sayonara To Warming: April Mean Temperatures For Tokyo, Hachijō-jima Island, See No Warming In Decades
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 3, 2022
Measurement Issues — Atmosphere
UAH Global Temperature Update for April 2022: +0.26 deg. C
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, May 2, 2022
“The linear warming trend since January 1979, still stands at +0.13 C/decade (+0.12 C/decade over the global-averaged oceans, and +0.18 C/decade over global-averaged land).”
Changing Weather
NEW STUDY: “Part Of North Atlantic Is Cooling”…”Natural Fluctuations Have Been Primary Reason”
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Apr 30, 2022
Link to paper: Natural variability has dominated Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation since 1900
By Mojib Latif, Nature Climate Change, Apr 25, 2022
Link to questionable article: How close is the tipping point?
Press Release: Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, April 25, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Is the tipping point where sailors fall off the edge of the earth?]
Ski Industry Expert: Austrian Ski Resort Temperature Rise Over Past 50 Years “Not Statistically Significant”
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 4, 2022
Vail Mountain completes longest season on record with snow to spare
New flakes fell on a 47-inch mid-mountain base on rare May Closing Day
By John LaConte, Vail Daily, May 1, 2022 [H/t WUWT]
May 7, 1840, Tornado Outbreak
By Tony Heller, His Blog, May 6, 2022
1924: 22 Degrees Arctic Warming, Ice Disappearing At The Poles
By Tony Heller, His Blog, May 4, 2022
May 6, 1930, Tornado Outbreak
By Tony Heller, His Blog, May 6, 2022
Changing Climate
When Iceland had no ice
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 4, 2022
Changing Seas
Sea Level: Rise and Fall – Slowing Down to Speed Up
By Kip Hansen, WUWT, May 3, 2022
“If neither the satellite altimetry record of sea level rise or the best tide gauge records around the world show any acceleration in the rate of sea level rise…..is the reported Sea Level Rise Acceleration just a construct of biased interpretation of the data?”
CDN by the sea: Singapore
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 4, 2022
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
New Study: ‘The Reasons For The Warming In The Arctic Are Still Controversial’
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, May 5, 2022
Link to paper: Arctic autumn warming since 2002 dominated by changes in moisture modulated by multiple large-scale atmospheric circulations
By Kailun Gao, et al. Atmospheric Research, January 2022
Ancient polar bear remains explained by sea ice and polynyas: my peer-reviewed paper
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, May 6, 2022
Link to paper: Polar Bear Fossil and Archaeological Records from the Pleistocene and Holocene in Relation to Sea Ice Extent and Open Water Polynyas
By Susan Crockford, Open Quaternary, 2022
A dynamic saline groundwater system mapped beneath an Antarctic ice stream
By Chiloe Gustafson, AAAS Science, May 5, 2022 [H/t WSJ]
From abstract: “Our results provide new constraints for subglacial water systems that affect ice streaming and subglacial biogeochemical processes.”
[SEPP Comment: As usual the “alarming” comments ignore the history of Antarctica.]
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Can the World Feed Itself? Historic Fertilizer Crunch Threatens Food Security
By Elizabeth Elkin and Samuel Gebre, Bloomberg, May 1, 2022
Lowering Standards
Role of Journals and their Editors in Preserving False Research Findings
By S. Stanley Young and Warren Kindzierski, WUWT, May 6, 2022
[SEPP Comment: More examples of the lack of integrity among editors of science journals.]
BBC’s Bogus Antarctic Heatwave Scare
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 1, 2022
“All in all, the BBC’s attempt to claim that Antarctica is melting down, based on one day’s weather, is totally bogus.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
Book review: Beyond the Hype by Fiona Fox
By David Whitehouse, Net Zero Watch, May 6, 2022
[SEPP Comment: How an effort to improve science journalism became a source of weakness.]
Great moment in Academic rigor: The Conversation bans skeptics, and “surprise” finds their readers want climate action
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 2, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Some time ago it became evident that academic rigor in “The Conversation” meant lack of critical thinking.]
Heat wave sparks blackouts, questions on India’s coal usage
An unusually early and brutal heat wave is scorching parts of India, where acute power shortages are affecting millions as demand for electricity surges to record levels
By Krutika Pathi and Anirudda Ghosal, AP, ABC News, May 3, 2022 [H/t Bill Balgord]
“An unusually early and brutal heat wave is scorching parts of India, with acute power shortages affecting millions as demand for electricity surges to record levels.”
[SEPP Comment; With posed photo of worker in long sleeves drinking water under power lines.]
CNN: Normal Weather Is A Climate Crisis
By Tony Heller, His Blog, May 3, 2022
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
The hard part of making predictions
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 4, 2022
We are all going to die, part 43
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 4, 2022
“’The modelling seems ‘technically impeccable’, says Ignacio Morales-Castilla, a global-change ecologist at the University of Alcalá, Spain, although he points out that forecasting exercises such as this sometimes need to include unrealistic assumptions.’”
“Which in most fields would be a bit of an issue. But climate is not most fields. Thus “the researchers urge that there is no time to waste” and since one of the coauthors “says pandemic preparedness and disease surveillance are climate-change adaptation, too” there’s certainly no time to waste sending more cash from the gravy train their way.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Malicious Claims of Sea Level Rise
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, May 3, 2022
More Fishy Claims About the Reef
By Walter Starck, Quadrant, May2, 2022
“A precaution that is a greater risk than the threat it is aimed to prevent is an oxymoron even an ox would seek to avoid.”
Explaining abundant polar bear sightings on the East Coast as an upshot of sea ice loss is absurd
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Apr 30, 2022
Communicating Better to the Public – Do a Poll?
Voters will not pay extra to achieve Boris’s Net Zero targets – POLL
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 3, 2022
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
Climate Alarmism Posing as Science Education for Children
By David Wojick, Heartland Daily News, May 6, 2022
Climate change: Don’t let doom win, project tells worriers
By Georgina Rannard, BBC News Climate & Science, Apr 30, 2022
DOJ announces new office focused on environmental justice
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, May 5, 2022
Link to: Memorandum for Heads of Department Components, US attorneys
From: The Attorney General
Subject: Guidelines and Limitations for Settlement Agreements Involving Payments to Non-Governmental third Parties
New Enforcement Strategy Advances President Biden’s Environmental Justice Agenda
Justice Department, EPA Launch Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy and Restore Option for Supplemental Environmental Projects to Help Communities
Press Release, EPA, May 5, 2022
Link to Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs)
By Staff EPA, Accessed May 5, 2022
Senate Committee Approves Climate Treaty
The pact will phase down the use of HFC coolants.
By Ronald Bailey, Reason, May 5, 2022
[SEPP Comment: More reasons to beware of foreign entanglements, especially with the UN. It will exaggerate everything to ensnare the US public. Of course, certain US corporations may benefit greatly at the expense of the public.]
Pushing firms to adopt woke agendas will hurt them, their shareholders — and America
By Carrie Sheffield, New York Post, April 29, 2022
Questioning European Green
Renewables: The Great Uncertainty of the EU Energy Strategy
By Tania Zgajewski For Egmont – The Royal Institute for International Relations, Real Clare Public Affairs, Accessed May 5, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Dated essay based on fear of nuclear and carbon dioxide.]
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Presentations from Ian Plimer and Jo Nova — “Net Zero and The Great Regret”
By Ken Gregory, Friends of Science, Accessed May 6, 2022 [H/t Jo Nova]
Bird blender
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 4, 2022
The Political Games Continue
New York Gerrymandering Reform Comes Around To Bite Democrats
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 1, 2022
“For many decades, gerrymandering battles often got fought in the federal courts, where the side that had come out on the short end in the legislature would argue for redress under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the federal Constitution. In 2019 a 5-4 conservative majority of the Supreme Court substantially ended that game in a case called Rucho v. Common Cause. Rucho held that in most circumstances gerrymanders present political questions that are not justiciable by the federal courts. (The decision does carve out at least one exception, for racially-motivated gerrymanders.,,,)”
[SEPP Comment: In over 2 centuries since the original Gerrymander of 1819, the courts have declined to interfere in this prerogative of Congress. They see it as a “separation of powers” issue.]
Oversight Republicans target SEC climate disclosure proposal
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, May 4, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Question number one, Define climate!]
Transparency Group Sues Biden White House Over “Climate Disinformation” Records
By Staff, Government Accountability & Oversight, Accessed May 6, 2022
PERC Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief, Seeks Clarity on Definition of U.S. Waters
By Jane Shaw Stroup, Liberty and Ecology, Apr 29, 2022
Senators urge Biden to wrap up solar power probe
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, May 2, 2022
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Money for nothing
Latest Offshore Windfarm Paid to Switch Off 25% of the Time
By Andrew Montford, GWPF, Net Zero Watch, May 3, 2022
Link to report: Wind farms earn hundreds of millions more from energy crisis after delaying Government subsidy contract
According to a new analysis, the taxpayer could be half-a-billion pounds worse off due to a recently revealed delay at just one wind farm
By Liam Deacon, GB News, May 2, 2022
[SEPP Comment: So much for low-cost wind power touted for Moray East.]
Germany Looks to Rapidly Build LNG Import Terminals to Shift Away from Russian Gas
By Staff, Yahoo News, May 2, 2022
New gas pipeline boosts Europe’s bid to ease Russian supply
By Derek Gatopoulos, AP, Apr 29, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Links Bulgaria to the Trans Adriatic pipeline from Azerbaijan to Italy operational since 2020.]
Has The CfD Scheme Reduced Electricity Bills?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 6, 2022
“We keep being told that the CfD scheme is in the consumers’ interests. And, to be fair, it has helped to partially protect consumers from recent market prices rises.
“However, the reality is that this has made little difference to our electricity bills.”
Heat Pumps Likely To Cost £20k To Install
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 4, 2022
“Note that they include the £5000 government grant, so the real upfront cost is £20444 for the older semi, and £17837 for a modern detached. The difference assumes that the latter needs no further insulation.”
Refusal to install a heat pump could lower the valuation of your house
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 4, 2022
Heat Pump Running Costs
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 4, 2022
Energy Issues – Australia
Australian wholesale electricity prices have doubled in the last year (and it’s because we don’t have enough coal power)
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Apr 30, 2022
“Cheap electricity isn’t a radical idea. It’s what we did for 30 years.”
Scorching electricity price spikes in NSW and Queensland
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 4, 2022
Energy Issues — US
ERCOT, MISO Warn of Potential Power Supply Shortfalls
By Sonal Patel Power Mag, May 5, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Weather dependent electricity generation is as dependable as the weather?]
Jim Clarkson: Wit and Wisdom In a Sea of Utility Regulation/Cronyism
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, May 3, 2022
Washington’s Control of Energy
Offshore Fossil Leasing and the Biden Flouting of the Law
By Benjamin Zycher, Real Clear Energy, May 02, 2022
Year-Round E15 Is a Good First Step, But More Is Needed to Confront the New Energy Crisis
By C. Boyden Gray, Real Clear Energy, May 04, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Boosting octane is important for modern automobile engines which E15 does. There is no shortage of oil in North America, just a shortage of government approvals to develop it. There is no physical evidence that CO2 is causing dangerous warming, why punish plants by restricting emissions such as those proposed under the Next Generation Fuels Act of 2021 which claims, “To promote low-carbon, high-octane fuels, to protect public health, and to improve vehicle efficiency and performance, and for other purposes.”]
Chronology of Biden’s Gasoline Price Hike
By Institute for Energy Research, May 2, 2022
Democrats Continue Their Overreach on U.S. Energy Policy
By Daniel Turner, Real Clear Energy, April 29, 2022
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Falling Inventories Could Stifle U.S. Plans To Help Europe Replace Russian Oil
By Irina Slav, Oil Price.com, May 02, 2022
Trudeau’s Green Canada Reports Record Oil Exports
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 5, 2022
Return of King Coal?
Keeping Coal Relevant: University of Wyoming Leads the Way
By Aaron Larson, Power Mag, May 5, 2022
Oil Spills, Gas Leaks & Consequences
Cleaner U.S. Oil & Gas Sector Catalyzes a Cleaner Industry Worldwide
By Paul Steidler, Real Clear Energy, May 05, 2022
“Methane, a greenhouse gas, is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.”
[SEPP Comment: The 25 times is the new EPA pick a number. It is a ratio in which the warming effect of both the numerator (methane) and denominator (carbon dioxide) change with changing concentration of the gas.]
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Expensive and wasteful heat pumps are not the solution to Britain’s energy crisis
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 4, 2022
From an emeritus professor of materials engineering with wide experience in energy industry: “Because of our lack of energy policy we seem incapable of making proper, appropriate, investment decisions to benefit the country. Rolls Royce could produce 100 modular nuclear ‘pressurised water reactor’ systems in the time that it is going to take to finish Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C. This would produce stable, economically attractive, green electricity that the country now so desperately needs.”
INL (Idaho National Laboratory) Mulling Building New Nuclear Reactor to Energize Net-Zero Campus Microgrid
By Sonal Patel, Power Mag, Apr 29, 2022
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Delaying tactics by wind industry will cost consumers hundreds of £millions
Boris Johnson’s promise to reduce consumer electricity prices “in tatters”
Press Release, Net Zero Watch, May 3, 2022
Indiana utility delays coal phaseout over federal solar investigation
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, May 5, 2022
“The Commerce Department in March announced the probe into solar panel manufacturers based in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, following a petition alleging the manufacturers are fronts for Chinese companies to dodge tariffs.”
Largest US grid operator puts 1,200 mostly solar projects on hold for 2 years
By James Bruggers, Inside Climate News, Apr 30, 2022
[SEPP Comment: Solar power is reliable in the mid-Atlantic states? The promoters of solar power, the world’s oldest source of energy, of call themselves advanced?]
Gov. DeSantis gets it right on Florida’s rooftop solar
Proposed changes would have upended the state’s burgeoning rooftop solar industry.
Editorial, Tampa Bay Times, Apr 29, 2022
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
EU’s ‘Carbon Neutral’ Policy Of Burning Forests For Fuel Spews 28% More CO2 Emissions Than Burning Coal
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, May 2, 2022
Link to paper: A Call to Stop Burning Trees in the Name of Climate Mitigation
By Laura Bloomer, et al. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, Vol 23, 2022
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Battery Powered Flight–Still A Pipedream
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 5, 2022
Would you let your children catch this bus?
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 2, 2022
Video
Biden administration announces $3B to support EV battery manufacturing
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, May 2, 2022
Don’t Swap Your Gas-Guzzler for an Electric Vehicle to Avoid High Fuel Prices
EVs make a lot of sense, especially as fuel prices climb, but avoid knee-jerk impulses to buy an electric car just to save money at the pump.
By Craig Cole, CNET, Apr 29, 2022
Ford Reports Devastating Losses Thanks to Electric Vehicle Gamble
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 5, 2022
[SEPP Comment: But Ford got President Biden to promote its truck in an advertisement!]
Carbon Schemes
Vacuuming carbon from the air could help stop climate change. Not everyone agrees
By Lauren Sommer, NPR, May 2, 2022
California Dreaming
California just shy of 100% powered by renewables for first time
By Janet Wilson, Palm Springs Desert Sun, May 2, 2022
Stein: Sportfishing Boats may suffer from new California Air Resources Board ruling
By Stephen Frank, California Political Review, May 2, 2022
Health, Energy, and Climate
Cold Kills Far More People Than Heat Does Also In England And Wales, Recent ONS Report Finds
By P Gosselin, No Trick Zone, Apr 29, 2022
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
Extreme Weather Last Month? Sorry, I Must Have Missed It!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 2, 2022
“The reality is that no sane person would call the weather we had last month ‘extreme’, unless you are a BBC weather girl.”
Mass Starvation Could Save Us from Climate Change!
By Richard W. Fulmer, Master Resource, May 5, 2022
Stop us if we’re getting silly
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 4, 2022
“There is nothing climate change cannot do, including prolonging winter, making poison ivy worse and spreading malaria whether it gets hotter or colder. And now it’s eliminating languages. A recent piece on “babbel.com” laments the imminent demise of perhaps half of the world’s 7000 languages by 2100,”
ARTICLES
TWTW Summary: Articles # 1, #2, and #3 are discussed in the main text.
Biden’s new board to sort truth from lies will promote more mistrust than it prevents.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, May 1, 2022
2. Biden Establishes a Ministry of Truth
The Disinformation Governance Board already looks like a partisan instrument.
By Roger Koppl and Abigail Devereaux, WSJ, May 1, 2022
3. Shut Up, the Disinformation Governance Board Explained
By Gerard Baker, WSJ, May 2, 2022
What is wrong with Power Magazine? “Coal fired plants being retired around the globe” is only one-half the truth. What is going on is that very old inefficient plants are being retired, probably only temporarily to update them, but are being replaced quickly by much larger plants that are more efficient and cleaner. Hooray!
The world demand for coal is growing and Wyoming should make as much money as possible before the ideological imbeciles mistake their politics for actual economics.