Daily Quick Read - September 6, 2019

Zombie Mines

When the regulated write the regulations they seem to get a free pass.  Yes, mining is cyclical, but these companies are making “temporary” a permanent condition.  A condition that saves them lots of money until they declare bankruptcy and walk away completely.

Their mines once fueled the coal and nuclear power plants that kept America’s lights on. Now, cheaper natural gas and renewables are helping push them into the red.

But instead of properly closing the mines, their owners are idling them indefinitely, throwing workers into limbo and side-stepping legally mandated, but costly, environmental cleanup.

Mine owners argue they’re operating within the law, saying higher prices will eventually rescue them. Though government regulators have at times attempted to crack down, their hands are often tied. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, which oversees coal mining, began rewriting weak federal regulations in 1991; faced with industry pushback, it never finished. The agency killed a more recent effort two months after President Donald Trump took office.

Regulators acknowledge that some companies have abused vague laws. “There were applications where a company had applied to get a temporary cessation status, and they were just trying to keep from having to do any further mining or reclamation,” said Davie Ransdell, a retired Kentucky coal mine inspector.  

Ransdell, the former Kentucky mine inspector, said regulators can reject applications for idled status if they catch noncompliance and ongoing pollution. But problematic mines can slip through the cracks. She recalled a permit in eastern Kentucky that was put into temporary cessation for a decade because its underground workings were on fire. And the longer that surface mines are left exposed, the more likely that acid will leak into waterways, ponds holding polluted runoff will overflow and massive waste impoundments destabilize.  

Frack You!

This fracking site is still working, but who knows when it might go zombie? Natural gas fracking is a big thing in West Virginia.  It requires far less labor than coal and, as the environment impacts are less well understood, fracking remains far less regulated.  That is certainly the case in West Virginia.

 Neighbors are outraged with the effects they say fracking is having in Bethany, W.Va.

"This is absurd. This is the United States, but no, it’s still West Virginia, so we’re the lowest of the low and our voice is never heard,” said one community member.

“When’s it going to end? When is there going to be the next pad? Are you just going to destroy all the hilltops?”

While the room packed with citizens presented many concerns and questions, one reoccurring theme was the noise that the community members call unbearable to live with.

Here is a much more personal story regarding the Bethany fracking operation that highlights the lack of concern the site operators have for the community.

… it goes on like this all night. Some days it stops. And then it just starts right back up again. None of us know what the sound is- whether it is drilling, sandblasting, compressors, some combination of the above. But it is soul-crushing and keeping people up all night long. You have to sometimes shout to people outside to be heard. I know one person who took her hearing aids out and was still kept up to 3 am.

Before I go on, let me state that ALL of this could be mitigated. They could spend a little bit of money and erect a sound barrier. But they won’t, because they claim they did sound studies and it was not a problem. Were they to erect a barrier, it would stop all that from rolling down the valley and blasting the town.

Single Use Plastic Ban in India

This ban will result in up to a 10% reduction in the consumption of plastics in India.  Modi is considered a right wing populist.  Why can’t our right wing populist president do things like this instead of selling his own brand of plastic straws?

The government of India is set to impose a nationwide ban on plastic bags, cups and straws on October 2, officials announced, in its most sweeping measure yet to eradicate single-use plastics from cities and villages that have ranked among the world's most polluted.

India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who is leading efforts to scrap such plastics by 2022, is set to launch the campaign with a ban on as many as six items on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, officials said.

These include plastic bags, cups, plates, small bottles, straws and certain types of sachets, said the officials, who asked not to be identified, in line with government policy.

"The ban will be comprehensive and will cover manufacturing, usage and import of such items," an official said.

In an Independence Day speech on August 15, Prime Minister Modi had urged people and government agencies to "take the first big step" on October 2 towards freeing the country of single-use plastic.

Huggers

Everyone needs a selfie with an endangered animal.  In the process they are adding to the danger that the poor animal faces.

At the International Penguin Conference in New Zealand, the experts were worried. Among sobering discussions about the perils of the climate crisis and habitat loss, the unlikely issue of wildlife selfies photobombed the agenda, with increasing concern that the celebrity-fuelled search for that perfect shot is affecting animal behaviour.

Platforms such as Instagram host hundreds of thousands of wildlife selfies. Researchers at World Animal Protection analysing wildlife selfies for a 2017 report discovered a 292% increase in the number of wildlife selfies posted on Instagram between 2014 and 2017, with 40% of the images posted described as “bad selfies” – meaning someone hugging, holding or inappropriately interacting with a wild animal.

Philippa Agnew, science and environmental manager at the Blue Penguin colony in Oamaru, on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, says wildlife selfies have an “indisputable” impact on the penguins and all electronic recordings by tourists are banned.

This Bugs Me

I’m all for reducing our dependence on various forms of meat.  It makes sense environmentally.  But, I find it hard to imagine that the next big thing in protein consumption is bugs.  Still, I’m looking forward to the roll out of the "bug burger" — those marketing folks will earn their money.

A new survey finds that young people expect bugs to be a normal part of our diets within a decade.

If the thought of munching insects fills you with horror, you might want to reevaluate your stance and practice eating a few.

A recent YouGov poll in Britain found that more than one third of the population (37 percent) thinks we'll all be eating more insects within the next decade. The results are even higher among younger people, with half of those aged 18 to 24 saying they expect bugs on the menu by then.

This curious finding reflects the public's attitude toward food security, and the belief that we need to find alternative food sources in the coming years. There are numerous factors at play, including a changing climate that is increasingly fickle, diseases and pests that are spreading at a rapid rate, and a human population that's showing no sign of slowing down. Add to that an increasing awareness about the negative impact of meat production, and the market for insects could be poised on the brink of massive expansion.