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Port Arthur Faces Harvey Flooding Disaster: ‘Our Whole City Is Underwater’

Thu, 2017-08-31 09:05 — Maeryn Obley

Video: Homes and shelters were flooded and the largest oil refinery in the U.S. was shut down after heavy rains flooded Port Arthur, east of Houston, overnight Tuesday. By MALACHY BROWNE, BARBARA MARCOLINI and CHRIS CIRILLO on Publish Date August 30, 2017. Photo by Beulah Johnson, via Associated Press. 

12newsnow.com - August 31st 2017

nytimes.com - Jonah Engel Bromwich - August 30th 2017

Even as the sun began to show in Houston on Wednesday, signaling a small measure of hope after days of devastating rainfall from Tropical Storm Harvey, a region east of the city faced disaster anew after it was pummeled by rain overnight.

Residents of cities in Jefferson County, Tex., about 100 miles east of Houston, were desperate for help Wednesday morning after rain there caused floodwaters to rise precipitously and lightning made things particularly difficult for those responding to the storm.

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Beaumont water system knocked out by rising floodwaters

Thu, 2017-08-31 08:49 — Maeryn Obley

Keith Delahoussaye puts single bottles of water into a box after grabbing them from the cooler at a Beaumont convenience store early Thursday morning. Photo/Scott Eslinger-KBMT

Image: Keith Delahoussaye puts single bottles of water into a box after grabbing them from the cooler at a Beaumont convenience store early Thursday morning.    Photo/Scott Eslinger-KBMT

12newsnow.com - August 31st 2017

The City of Beaumont has lost it's water supply after rising waters due to Tropical Storm Harvey knocked out the systems main input pump.

The city of Beaumont is anticipated to lose water pressure in the system in the next three to four hours according to a release from the City of Beaumont.

As news of the water system spread people began buying up water wherever they could find it.

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US - South
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Storm Harvey: Up to 2,000 rescued as Houston hit by 'catastrophic floods'

Sun, 2017-08-27 22:22 — Maeryn Obley

bbc.com - August 27th 2017

Up to 2,000 people have been rescued from floods in and around Houston, as Tropical Storm Harvey continues to batter Texas with heavy rains.
There are reports of possible deaths in submerged vehicles, but investigations continue, Chief Darryl Coleman of the Harris County Sheriff's Office said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott told the media he could not confirm storm-related deaths.

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Report: Trump Dissolves Climate Change Advisory Panel

Tue, 2017-08-22 09:39 — Kathy Gilbeaux

cbsnews.com - by Rebecca Shabad - August 21, 2017

The Trump administration has decided to dissolve a federal advisory panel that contributes to a report that measures the current and future impacts of climate change on the U.S., The Washington Post reports.

The acting administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Ben Friedman, informed the chair of the advisory committee that the agency would not renew its charter, which expired Sunday, the report said. This comes two years after NOAA formed the panel, called the Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment, whose 15 members were tasked with advising government and private sector stakeholders on navigating climate change.

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Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment
http://sncaadvisorycommittee.noaa.gov

Membership - Appointments
http://sncaadvisorycommittee.noaa.gov/Membership

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Wildfires Hit Greenland After Record Temperatures

Mon, 2017-08-14 18:30 — Kathy Gilbeaux

           

This satellite photograph depicts the wildfire raging in Greenland, as seen from space last week. - NASA Earth Observatory

phys.org - August 14, 2017

Police in Greenland warned people to stay away from western areas of the island as wildfires scorched swathes of scrubland . . . 

 . . . Denmark's meteorological service BMI said the island registered its hottest-ever temperature of 24.8 degrees (77 Fahrenheit) on August 10.

Last year was Greenland's hottest on record.

The Danish territory has lost about 4,000 gigatons of ice since 1995, British researchers said in June, making ice melt on the huge island the biggest single contributor to rising sea levels.

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PHOTOS: A 'Massive' Wildfire Is Now Blazing In Greenland
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/08/542305822/photos-a-massive-wildfire-is-now-blazing-in-greenland

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Is Our Government Looking the Other Way on Contaminated Ground Water and Aquifers?

Sat, 2017-08-12 06:03 — mdmcdonald
https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/08/03/how-much-drinking-water-has-california-lost-to-oil-industry-waste-no-one-knows/

How Much Drinking Water Has California Lost to Oil Industry Waste? No One Knows

"California survived its historic drought, in large part by using groundwater. It was a lifeline in the Central Valley, where it was the only source of water for many farmers.

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'Dodgy' Greenhouse Gas Data Threatens Paris Accord

Tue, 2017-08-08 09:26 — Kathy Gilbeaux

           

The air monitoring station at Jungfraujoch, in Switzerland, has detected the Italian emissions for nine years

bbc.co.uk - by Matt McGrath - August 7, 2017

Potent, climate warming gases are being emitted into the atmosphere but are not being recorded in official inventories, a BBC investigation has found.

Air monitors in Switzerland have detected large quantities of one gas coming from a location in Italy.

However, the Italian submission to the UN records just a tiny amount of the substance being emitted.

Levels of some emissions from India and China are so uncertain that experts say their records are plus or minus 100%.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

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Failed Levee Near Taylor Bayou Could Compromise Portion of Jefferson County - Texas

Mon, 2017-08-07 18:55 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A hole in the basin near Taylor Bayou created a shift in the dirt and the wall where the levee exists, County Judge Jeff Branick tells KFDM/KBTV. It is not clear what caused the hole. There is no timetable for repairs but workers are attempting a temporary fix. They were building a pad at the levee late Monday morning. There is also no official cost estimate of the fix. The levee is close to the Valero docks. (KFDM/KBTV photo)

kfdm.com - by Angel San Juan and Brandon Scott - August 7, 2017

A failed levee near Taylor Bayou could compromise a portion of Jefferson County south of Beaumont - mainly Port Arthur and its surrounding refineries - if a tropical storm or hurricane hit the area, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In a news release dated Aug. 4, the Corps states it was notified by Jefferson County Drainage District-7 of a failure of a section of floodwall near Taylor Bayou last Tuesday morning.

A hole in the basin created a shift in the dirt and the wall where the levee exists, County Judge Jeff Branick tells KFDM/KBTV.

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Utilities companies won't let you sell your own solar power. Why not?

Fri, 2017-08-04 09:23 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The electric utility sector is broken – but the transformation we need will be virtually impossible so long as a handful of wealthy elites are calling the shots

           

Utilities companies have their sights on ending net-metering: your ability to sell excess power at market rates. Photograph: Rex

CLICK HERE - REPORT - Energy and Policy Institute - Utilities Knew: Documenting Electric Utilities’ Early Knowledge and Ongoing Deception on Climate Change From 1968-2017

theguardian.com - by Kate Aronoff - August 1, 2017

A new report from the US-based Energy and Policy Institute last week found that investor-owned utilities have known about climate change for nearly 50 years – and done everything in their power to stop governments from doing anything about it.

From their commitment to toxic fuels to their corrosive influence on our democracy to their attempts to price-gouge ratepayers, it’s long past time to bring the reign of privately-owned electric utilities to an end.

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Planet Has Just 5% Chance of Reaching Paris Climate Goal, Study Says

Mon, 2017-07-31 21:25 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Researchers find that economic, emissions and population trends point to very small chance Earth will avoid warming more than 2C by century’s end

       

Environmental activists protest Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Paris climate accords, which set a goal of avoiding warming beyond 2C. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Nature Climate Change - Less than 2 °C warming by 2100 unlikely

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Nature Climate Change - Future global mortality from changes in air pollution attributable to climate change

theguardian.com - by Oliver Milman - July 31, 2017

There is only a 5% chance that the Earth will avoid warming by at least 2C come the end of the century, according to new research that paints a sobering picture of the international effort to stem dangerous climate change.

Global trends in the economy, emissions and population growth make it extremely unlikely that the planet will remain below the 2C threshold set out in the Paris climate agreement in 2015, the study states.

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