EPA Finalizes Methane Emissions Rules, New Regs Fail to 'Stop Dangerous Methane Leaks From Existing Fracking Wells'
Following President Obama's promise to cut toxic methane leaks at oil and gas facilities, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday announced the U.S. government's "first-ever" set of standards to reduce such emissions—but the new regulations were decried by environmentalist critics as not far-reaching enough.
Aerial footage of the massive methane leak near the Porter Ranch neighborhood in Los Angeles in December 2015. Photo credit: Environmental Defense Fund
"EPA's methane regulations are a welcome first step, but contain too many loopholes to be a comprehensive check on industry recklessness," warned Greenpeace researcher Charlie Cray.
Moreover, noted Cray, methane "is the fastest growing source of climate pollution in the U.S. In the first 20 years after it's released, methane is more than 85 times more powerful than CO2 in fueling climate chaos."
Oil and gas facilities are "the largest industrial source of methane," noted environmental legal defense group Earthjustice.
The EPA said that these latest rules were part of the Obama Administration's efforts to live up to the president's vow to reduce methane emissions by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025.
"The methane rule is the final version of a draft regulation put forth last year by the Environmental Protection Agency," reports the New York Times, "and would require oil and gas companies to plug and capture leaks of methane from new and modified drilling wells and storage tanks, not older, existing wells."
The EPA is only just starting the information-gathering process to determine how to regulate existing wells, the agency says. Yet it is old, established fossil fuel infrastructure that is responsible for the vast majority of methane emissions in the U.S. and many environmentalists are irked that the new rules stop short of regulating those facilities.
"The only way to protect our communities from the risks of fracking and stave off the worst impacts of climate change, is to keep fossil fuels in the ground. This rule, which does nothing to stop dangerous methane leaks from existing fracking wells, was always wholly inadequate," said 350.org's executive director May Boeve.
"The vast majority of the problem lies in the oil and gas infrastructure that already exists across the country," wrote the Natural Resources Defense Council. "EPA must follow through on the President’s commitment to address these sources next and soon."
Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders joined fellow environmentalists in calling for an overall ban on fracking, rather than simply seeking to reduce methane leaks at fracking facilities:
Curbing methane leaks is a good step, but if we're serious about combatting climate change we must ban all fracking. https://t.co/I9osVpmvH6— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders)1463067357.0
EPA head Gina McCarthy defended the agency's rules from such criticism: "The commonsense steps we're rolling out today will help combat climate change and reduce air pollution that immediately harms public health," McCarthy told reporters on a conference call, according to Bloomberg. McCarthy characterized the new regulations as a "critical first step in tackling methane emissions from existing oil and gas sources."
The new regulations are a tougher version of those first proposed last year. The standards were updated in response to nearly 900,000 comments critiquing the original version released in August 2015, the EPA said.
The problem of methane leaks from fracking facilities was brought to harsh light in October, when a disastrous leak near Los Angeles' Porter Ranch neighborhood started spewing tens of thousands of kilograms of the toxic gas into the air every hour—an catastrophic event that lasted for months on end.
Despite such disasters, the fossil fuel industry defended its record on combating methane leaks and complained that the EPA's regulations were too strict.
"Overly prescriptive regulations that limit energy access will only make manufacturers less competitive and send investments and jobs to countries with less stringent environmental protections related to energy and greenhouse gases," said the National Association of Manufacturers in a press statement.
Earthjustice promised to defend the EPA's regulations from the fossil fuel industry's expected legal assault on the new rules.
"Earthjustice will defend this rule in court when the oil and gas industry tries to weaken it," the organization declared. "It's past time for oil and gas companies to embrace best practices that could make the difference between catastrophic climate change and a secure future on a livable planet."
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These seven cookbooks by Black chefs have inspired the author's family. LightFieldStudios / Getty Images
By Zahida Sherman
Cooking has always intimidated me. As a child, I would anxiously peer into the kitchen as my mother prepared Christmas dinner for our family.
<p>My grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles would all pour into our home throughout the day, eagerly awaiting their favorite dish.</p><p>During those times, my mom transformed into executive chef and drill sergeant, sending my sister and me on grocery store runs for obscure ingredients or directing us to remove cobwebs from forgotten corners of the house.</p><p>The scents wafting from my mom's magic entrées and appetizers were intoxicating. They made all the toil worth it.</p><p>Our home burst with the scent of warm syrupy-sweet yams, smoked turkey necks drowning in collard greens, a countertop completely covered by her pound cake, and sweet potato pie whipped to perfection.</p><p>I always looked forward to those family dinners, my relatives' laughing faces, and their overflowing plates.</p><p>As much as I loved our quality family time, those dinners fueled my fear of cooking. I could never accept and conquer the mental preparation it required: the brainstorming, the grocery lists, the grocery store lines, the time management.</p><p>I couldn't bear the hefty expectations of cooking as a way to maintain our Black American cultural and family traditions, a mix of Southern roots with Pacific Northwest nuance.</p><p>I added cooking to the list of things that I knew were important, but that I probably would never really care about (kind of like backing up my devices regularly). I didn't want to spend the necessary energy to learn how to achieve those glorious family dinners — or even everyday meals.</p><p>Cooking required too much pressure and preparation. Cooking required too much of myself.</p>
Falling in Love With Food All Over Again
<p>Slowly, through my most intimate relationships with friends and partners, I began to see the beauty — and rewards — of cooking.</p><p>I got tired of giving in to defeat and always bringing chips or paper products to social gatherings. I started asking my mom to send me her Christmas and Thanksgiving recipes. I even volunteered to host Thanksgiving dinner at my place.</p><p>Each time I heard my loved ones sing the praises of the foods I prepared for them, I felt a tinge more confident that I could carry out our traditions my way.</p><p>In reaching out to other relatives for their favorite recipes, I learned that they had a little help of their own. They didn't rely solely on their ancestral cooking instincts. They turned to Black chefs for guidance.</p><p>These 7 cookbooks by Black chefs have inspired my family and fed us in nutrients, joy, and spiritual sustenance. They're also helping me overcome my personal fears of cooking.</p><h3><a href="https://amzn.to/2O6B7SG" target="_blank">Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking</a></h3><p><em>by Toni Tipton-Martin</em></p><p>Who says a cookbook can't also be a history lesson?</p><p>Tipton-Martin draws on her nutritionist and food activist background to amass over 125 recipes that demonstrate the complexity and nuance of soul food.</p><p>"Jubilee" pushes beyond the trope of <a href="http://blackfoodie.co/the-humble-history-of-soul-food" target="_blank">soul food as survival</a> wherein enslaved and impoverished Africans created a new cuisine out of plantation scraps. The author showcases the culinary skills of Black chefs who were enslaved, entrepreneurs, upper class, and everything in between.</p><p>Whether it's the black-eyed pea fritters, okra gumbo, or braised lamb shanks with peanut sauce, you will be joyfully full.</p><h3><a href="https://amzn.to/2C9yxZv" target="_blank">The Red Rooster Cookbook: The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem</a></h3><p><em>by Marcus Samuelsson</em></p><p>Many years ago, I had the pleasure of dining at Chef Samuelsson's Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem. It was undoubtedly my bougiest Black fantasy.</p><p>The food was simple but decadent, and the ambiance was Black, beautiful, and triumphant, much like the neighborhood. Samuelsson's cookbook leans into his Swedish-Ethiopian and Afropolitan experiences with recipes for chicken and waffles, cornbread and bird funk, wild wild wings, and donuts with sweet potato cream.</p><p><span></span>Interspersed with poignant photos of Harlem, this cookbook is Samuelson's tribute to this culturally iconic neighborhood.</p>
<h3><a href="https://amzn.to/2BOAsTl" target="_blank">Eat Yourself Sexy: Eat Your Way to Shiny Hair, Glowing Skin and Weight Loss</a></h3><p><em>by Lauren Von Der Pool</em></p><p>If she's a good enough chef for Stevie Wonder, Common, First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Sebi, and Venus and Serena Williams, she's good enough for me!</p><p>Celebrity chef Von Der Pool wrote "Eat Yourself Sexy" to empower female-identified readers on their inner journey toward sexiness through raw food and homemade beauty products.</p><p>If you're intimidated by a plant-based diet or DIY beauty, this is a must-read. Chef Von Der Pool's simple recipes, stunning photos, and comprehensive information about eating whole foods will inspire you to get started.</p><h3><a href="https://amzn.to/2Z67Aik" target="_blank">The Seasoned Life: Food, Family, Faith, and the Joy of Eating Well</a></h3><p><em>by Ayesha Curry</em></p><p>Outspoken and unapologetic <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/ayeshas-home-kitchen" target="_blank">Food Network</a> host, restaurateur, mom, and wife Ayesha Curry, gifts readers with 100 recipes that are perfect for your hectic work-life balance.</p><p>My older sister (also coincidentally named Aisha) has fed our family with Curry's recipes that range from mouthwatering brown sugar bacon, game day chili, and harvest sangria, to white chocolate bread pudding and butternut squash mash.</p><p>"The Seasoned Life" shows audiences why Ayesha is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjU7BYcJwIw" target="_blank">Chef Curry with the pot</a>.</p>
<h3><a href="https://amzn.to/3ebOUSy" target="_blank">Black Girl Baking: Wholesome Recipes Inspired by a Soulful Upbringing</a></h3><p><em>by Jerrelle Guy</em></p><p>Inspired by #blackgirlmagic, this cookbook is Guy's empowering journey of accepting her fullest self through cooking.</p><p>Perhaps what makes her cookbook so defining is her insistence that readers abandon the idea of baking perfection and fall in love with the process of baking instead.</p><p>The recipes don't disappoint, either. Strawberry balsamic cupcakes, sweet potato rice crispies, and peanut butter jelly bread? Yes, please!</p><h3><a href="https://amzn.to/2Cj16DG" target="_blank">Brown Sugar Kitchen: New-Style, Down-Home Recipes from Sweet West Oakland</a></h3><p><em>by Tanya Holland</em></p><p>Inspired by Chef Holland's <a href="http://www.brownsugarkitchen.com/" target="_blank">Brown Sugar Kitchen</a> restaurant in Oakland, California, her cookbook offers over 80 recipes that are simply delicious.</p><p>Her soul food entrées include everything from shrimp gumbo, black-eyed peas' salad, chili glazed salmon, to cornmeal waffles with apple cider syrup.</p><p>While Bryant doesn't shy away from popular favorites like fried chicken, she includes alternative options for eaters with dietary restrictions.</p><h3><a href="https://amzn.to/3faKPiL" target="_blank">Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean, and Southern Flavors Remixed</a></h3><p><em>by Bryant Terry</em></p><p>Food activist and chef Bryant Terry offers perfectly seasoned vegan recipes from the African Diaspora that will impress even your most carnivorous dinner guests.</p><p>Terry combines ingredients from seemingly disparate regions like North Africa, the American South, and the Caribbean into delicious dishes like sweet potato and lima bean tagine, pomegranate peach BBQ sauce, and skillet cornbread with pecan dukkah.</p><p>"Afro-Vegan" even includes <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120816477" target="_blank">genre-diverse playlists</a> to accompany Terry's recipes. My aunt's personal favorite is the savory grits with slow-cooked collard greens. You can listen to the accompanying song, "The Funk," <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWeLT0TtCxg&list=PLtY2PDlMkxiujDaVlVBvl5spkvdzra8ZE" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
Get Cooking
Whether you're in recovery from cooking fears like me, or are just looking to expand your culinary confidence with dishes honoring Black heritage, these Black chefs are here to support you on your journey.Turn on some music, give yourself permission to make mistakes, and throw down for yourself or your loved ones. Glorious flavors await you.From Your Site Articles
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Hand sanitizer is offered to students during summer school sessions at Happy Day School in Monterey Park, California on July 9, 2020. FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded its list of potentially toxic hand sanitizers to avoid because they could be contaminated with methanol.
<p>Methanol, or wood alcohol, can be toxic when absorbed through the skin and deadly when swallowed. The FDA now lists 67 hand sanitizers that have been recalled, tested positively for methanol contamination or were reportedly made in the same facility as labels that tested positive.</p><p>"That should never be in a hand sanitizer," ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton told the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Wellness/fda-expands-list-potentially-dangerous-hand-sanitizers/story?id=71748712" target="_blank">network Monday</a>. "Its absorption can produce toxic, and in some cases, deadly results."</p>
<div id="f3fee" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="289b1e89e75b500e98fb5c3ce763b3ea"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1281006632416284676" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We're alerting consumers & health care professionals that additional hand sanitizer products have been added to our… https://t.co/tBgOSGsI5e</div> — U.S. FDA (@U.S. FDA)<a href="https://twitter.com/US_FDA/statuses/1281006632416284676">1594250755.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The FDA issued an initial warning <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-advises-consumers-not-use-hand-sanitizer-products-manufactured-eskbiochem" target="_blank">June 19</a> for nine hand sanitizers made by the company Eskbiochem SA de CV in Mexico. Since then, the agency has added dozens of other products and continues to investigate the use of methanol in hand sanitizer. The product has become incredibly popular since February, when the threat of the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> began to spread, and this has led to shortages of familiar brands like Purell, as well as the emergence of new brands to meet the demand, <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/07/11/hand-sanitizers-recalled-methanol-risk-avoid-these-kinds/5420188002/" target="_blank">USA TODAY pointed out</a>.</p><p>"All Americans should practice good hand hygiene, which includes using alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not readily available. Unfortunately, there are some companies taking advantage of the increased usage of hand sanitizer during the coronavirus pandemic and putting lives at risk by selling products with dangerous and unacceptable ingredients. Consumers and health care providers should not use methanol-containing hand sanitizers," FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn said in a <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-takes-action-warn-protect-consumers-dangerous-alcohol-based-hand" target="_blank">July 2 press release</a>.</p>
<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people use hand sanitizers that are 60 percent or more ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, according to ABC News. The products flagged by the FDA are labeled as containing ethanol, but tested positive for methanol despite this.</p><p>Methanol is used industrially as a solvent, pesticide and fuel source, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ershdb/emergencyresponsecard_29750029.html" target="_blank">according to the CDC</a>. Exposure can cause nausea, confusion, dizziness, headaches, blindness, heart and respiratory failure, coma and even death.</p><p>"Consumers who have been exposed to hand sanitizer containing methanol and are experiencing symptoms should seek immediate treatment for potential reversal of toxic effects of methanol poisoning," the FDA warned.</p><p>The agency said young children who drink hand sanitizer by mistake or teenagers or adults who drink it as an alcohol substitute are most at risk. The FDA has already received reports of children and adults who have gone blind, been hospitalized and died because they drank hand sanitizer contaminated with methanol.<br></p>
<p>Many of the contaminated hand sanitizers were sold under the brand name Blumen, according to ABC News. Some of this brand's products were available at the major retailer BJ's.</p><p>ABC7-WJLA health reporter Victoria Sanchez found a spot for impacted brand Modesa at a Family Dollar, but the store had sold out. However, the company website said the brand was available in store, <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/some-companies-turning-to-toxic-ingredients-for-hand-sanitizer-fda" target="_blank">ABC7-WJLA reported</a>.</p>
<div id="be4b0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8d940a3d494d7c302a12e238d708892e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1283083788852092929" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">I’m on the hunt to see if recalled hand sanitizer is still on store shelves. At my fourth stop, I found Family Doll… https://t.co/VbzHW0bQmi</div> — Victoria Sanchez (@Victoria Sanchez)<a href="https://twitter.com/VictoriaSanchez/statuses/1283083788852092929">1594745988.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Dollar Tree, Inc., which owns Family Dollar, said the product it sold had not been recalled.</p><p>"We are aware of the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report regarding certain hand sanitizer product. The third party manufacturer and supplier of this product has confirmed that none of our product contains methanol or was otherwise contaminated. The third party manufacturer and supplier has now issued a formal recall of certain potentially contaminated product and our hand sanitizer was not included on this list. We and the third party manufacturer and supplier are working to clarify this matter with the FDA," a spokesperson told ABC7 in an email.</p><p>However, the FDA has encouraged customers not to use any hand sanitizers made by the companies whose products tested positive.</p>
<p>According to USA TODAY, the companies behind the contaminated hand sanitizers include:</p><ol><li>4E Global, which makes the Blumen and Modesa brands</li><li>AAA Cosmetica</li><li>DDI Multinacional</li><li>Eskbiochem</li><li>Grupo Insoma</li><li>Limpo Quimicos</li><li>Liqesa Exportacion</li><li>Maquiladora Miniara</li><li>Mystic International</li><li>Soluciones Cosmeticas</li><li>Tropicosmeticos</li><li>Yara Elena De La Garza Perez Nieto</li></ol><br>To find out if the hand sanitizer in your medicine cabinet is impacted, you can search a more detailed FDA database <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-hand-sanitizers-methanol#products" target="_blank">here</a>. Shoppers should also watch out for any hand sanitizers that say FDA-approved, because the agency does not issue formal approvals for hand sanitizers, ABC News advised.
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Over the next couple of weeks, crews will fully remove the 125-foot-wide, 25-foot-tall dam, allowing the Middle Fork Nooksack to run free for the first time in 60 years. Ctyonahl / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0
By Tara Lohan
The conclusion to decades of work to remove a dam on the Middle Fork Nooksack River east of Bellingham, Washington began with a bang yesterday as crews breached the dam with a carefully planned detonation. This explosive denouement is also a beginning.
<p><br/></p>
<p class=""><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/taralohan/" target="_blank"><em>Tara Lohan </em></a><em>is deputy editor of The Revelator and has worked for more than a decade as a digital editor and environmental journalist focused on the intersections of energy, water and climate. Her work has been published by The Nation, American Prospect, High Country News, Grist, Pacific Standard and others. She is the editor of two books on the global water crisis.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/nooksack-dam-removal/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nooksack-dam-removal" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>.</em></p>
<p>Over the next couple of weeks, crews will fully remove the 125-foot-wide, 25-foot-tall dam, allowing the Middle Fork Nooksack to run free for the first time in 60 years. With the dam's removal, 16 miles of river and tributary habitat will open up to help boost populations of three threatened Puget Sound fish species: Chinook salmon, steelhead and bull trout.</p><p>"This project has always ranked at the top of the list for fish recovery projects in this area because of the sheer number of miles of river habitat that are available upstream in a fairly remote and pristine area," says Renee LaCroix, assistant public works director for the city of Bellingham, which owns the dam. "There's no other single project in this area that can match this."</p><p>Two local tribes, the Nooksack and Lummi Nation, have been behind the effort to help restore fish passage and the river's ecological integrity.</p><p>"Our natural resources are our cultural resources," says Trevor Delgado, the Nooksack tribal historic preservation officer. "With this removal we get a little piece of our home back — a place where our people have visited for hundreds of generations."</p><p>LaCroix says the project has no downsides for the city, and it's expected to increase the resilience of the municipal water supply, remove a safety hazard for kayakers, help fish recovery and restore culturally significant resources for the tribes.</p><p>Proponents also hope to see indirect benefits for <a href="https://therevelator.org/save-southern-resident-killer-whales-extinction/" target="_blank">endangered Southern Resident killer whales</a>. This population of orcas ranges across Pacific Northwest coastal waters and <a href="https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/species-of-concern/southern-resident-killer-whale/" target="_blank">relies on dwindling numbers of Chinook</a> as a main food source. Fewer than 80 of the whales remain, and Chinook populations have fallen so low that the orcas have started <a href="https://www.q13fox.com/news/chinook-salmon-decimated-southern-resident-orcas-are-residents-no-more" target="_blank">altering their traditional migration patterns</a> as they search for fish to eat.</p><p>But even with the dam removal's many benefits and municipal and tribal support, the path to this moment hasn't been easy.</p>
The History
<p>The Middle Fork Nooksack drains glacier-fed headwater streams that run off the icy summit of 10,778-foot Mt. Baker. The Middle Fork joins the North Fork and then the mainstem of the Nooksack River, which travels to Bellingham Bay and Puget Sound. The entire Nooksack watershed stretches 830 square miles across Washington and into British Columbia.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ1ODg5Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0OTM4MjU3OX0.xukdfxAnfHt_A24vvWHf30SCX0R9jk3qcWK6PcBHyhI/img.png?width=980" id="c3923" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0033be9942c3db23fca400a4533dfc6e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
American Rivers
<p>For generations the river and its surrounding habitat have physically and spiritually nourished Indigenous peoples — including the Nooksack Indian Tribe and the Lummi Nation.</p><p>But all that changed when the dam was built in in 1961 to divert water to the city of Bellingham to supplement its main water supply in Lake Whatcom — the drinking water for the now-85,000 residents in the city and county. As soon as it went up, the dam obstructed fish passage, altered the river's flow, and disrupted the ability of tribal members to use a culturally significant area.</p><p>For the past four decades, Delgado says, the Nooksack have pushed for dam removal. They got close in the early 2000s, when the Nooksack and Lummi Nation entered into an official agreement with the city and state to work on a solution that would allow fish passage, including the possible installation of fish ladders. But despite years of work, a suitable fix wasn't found, and the effort had completely stalled by 2016.</p><p>The following year the nonprofit <a href="https://www.americanrivers.org/" target="_blank">American Rivers</a>, which works on watershed restoration and has extensive experience in dam-removal efforts, stepped in with financial backing from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. American Rivers' April McEwan assumed a project management role and brought parties back to the table and soon into agreement on a plan to remove the dam and reengineer the city's water intake from the river.</p><p>"What we know about dam removal is that if you can remove the infrastructure and restore the channel to natural conditions, that's always the best way to get fish passage," says McEwan.</p><p>The final cost of the project came in at around $20 million — way more than the city could afford on its own. About half of the cost eventually came from the state and the city is collaborating with federal agencies on the distribution of another $2 million in Pacific Salmon Treaty funds. But before applying for that money, the city had to complete costly initial design and permitting work. Private foundations — largely the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, along with Resources Legacy Fund — picked up 70% of those initial costs.</p><p>LaCroix says help from American Rivers and the foundations was hugely important in getting the project "shovel ready" so it could apply for the construction funds it needed.</p><p>Removing the dam infrastructure was just part of the cost, though. Reworking the city's water intake also required some tricky engineering.</p>
A Plan Comes Together
<p>The Middle Fork dam is not a pool dam built for water storage. Much of the time, water flows over the top until dam operators drop a floodgate to divert water to new locations. That water travels about 14 miles through tunnel and pipeline to Mirror Lake, then Anderson Creek, and to Lake Whatcom before finally being delivered to residents' taps.</p><p>Before removing the dam, engineers had to move the water intake 700 feet upstream and situate it at an elevation that still enabled city water withdrawals throughout the year, regardless of flow conditions.</p><p>They also needed to make sure that the rushing water didn't sweep up fish and accidentally send them through the water-supply system.</p><p>"The solution required a fairly complex design in the intake structure, including a fish exit pipe out of that structure to put fish back into the river in a way that meets current environmental permit standards," explains LaCroix.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ1ODk1Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTcxODcyN30.stOgraXNQZGmfADeQUdXCB2RR3Aka6FwLOxl377s-3w/img.jpg?width=980" id="7669a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7ee070ad97b1353f5baa7c8886acb341" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Project layout for the removal of the Middle Fork Nooksack diversion dam and rebuilding of water intake. City of Bellingham
<p>Despite the cost and the work, she says, being able to continue to meet their municipal water obligations while opening up habitat for threatened species has been a win-win.</p><p>"I think there's a lot of benefits to having a dam removal versus fish passage — the main one being that you get a free-flowing river that can be a dynamic ecosystem and change over time," she says. "A static fish ladder just can't provide that same level of ecosystem benefit."</p>Restoration Success
<p>Despite local authorities' championing dam removal on the Middle Fork, the project has largely flown under the radar, overshadowed in the Pacific Northwest by heated discussions about a much larger potential project — removing <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/feds-reject-removal-of-4-snake-river-dams-in-key-report/" target="_blank">four federal hydroelectric dams on the lower Snake River</a>, a major tributary of the Columbia River.</p><p>Proponents of dam removal there see it as the best chance for recovering threatened salmon populations, including Chinook, which could help starving Southern Resident killer whales. Those dams also provide irrigation water, barge navigation and hydropower, so there's been more pushback against removal efforts.</p><p>Previous dam removals around the country, however, have proved successful at aiding fish recovery and river restoration.</p><p>Most notably the 1999 demolition of <a href="https://therevelator.org/edwards-dam-removal/" target="_blank">Edwards Dam on Maine's Kennebec River</a> restored the annual run of alewives, a type of herring essential to the food web. The fish run has gone from zero to 5 million in the two decades since dam removal. Blueback herring, striped bass, sturgeon and shad have also extended their reach. And the resurgence has brought back osprey, bald eagles and other wildlife, too.</p><p>The overwhelming success of river restoration on the Kennebec helped to spur a nationwide dam removal movement that's now seen 1,200 dams come down since 1999. Last year a record <a href="https://www.americanrivers.org/conservation-resource/a-record-26-states-removed-dams-in-2019/" target="_blank">90 dams</a> were removed in 26 states, including <a href="https://therevelator.org/cleveland-forest-dam-removal/" target="_blank">20 dams in California's Cleveland National Forest</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ1ODk4MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjM5NTQ0Nn0.X2icIzmemq9oxKqfGRz4nox9rsOYZMTgUCLbCTGc5ZE/img.jpg?width=980" id="e9db0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7f227785f21cb59b1ff2fd70db6ccc6c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Spider excavators remove on dam on San Juan Creek in California's Cleveland National Forest. Julie Donnell, USFS
<p>The results have been seen in the Pacific Northwest, as well, which boasts the largest dam removal thus far in the country. In 2011 and 2014, the demolition of <a href="https://therevelator.org/elwha-dam-removal/" target="_blank">two dams</a> on Elwha River, which runs through Washington's Olympic National Park, opened up 70 miles of habitat that had been blocked for a century. Scientists have started seeing all five species of salmon native to the river coming back, particularly Chinook and coho. Bull trout, they've observed, have increased in size since the dams were removal.</p>Benefits on the Middle Fork Nooksack
<p>McEwan hopes to see a similar outcome on the Middle Fork.</p><p>Like the Elwha the Middle Fork Nooksack is a relatively pristine river with little development, and dam removal is expected to provide a big boost to fish. The additional miles of spawning habitat are important, but so is the temperature of that water.</p><p>The dam removal will open access to cold upstream waters, which are ideal for salmon and getting harder to come by as climate change warms waters and reduces mountain runoff.</p><p>"This is really great for the climate change resiliency for these species," says McEwan.</p><p>Steelhead will get back 45% of their historic habitat in the river, and scientists expect Chinook populations to increase in abundance by 31%.</p><p>That <em>could</em> help Southern Resident killer whales.</p><p>"When you get to the ocean, it's a little bit of a black box in terms of what you can model and say definitively is going to help, but more fish is better for orcas," McEwan says.</p><p>Upstream habitat will see benefits, too.</p><p>Oceangoing fish like salmon enrich their bodies with carbon and nitrogen while at sea. When they return to their natal rivers to spawn and die, the marine-derived nutrients they carry back upriver become important food and fertilizer for both riverine and terrestrial ecosystems — aiding everything from trees to birds to bears.</p><p>"Once the fish start making their way back, it will start changing the whole ecological system," says Delgado.</p><p><span></span>But any ecological benefit from salmon restoration, either in the ocean or the upper watershed, won't be immediate.<br></p><p>"The population of salmon on the Middle Fork is so low that we expect it's going to take quite a while to rebound," she says. "But the big picture is that what's good for salmon is good for the region — our history and our destiny are intricately intertwined."</p><p>After decades of work, that process of restoration has finally begun.</p>From Your Site Articles
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A man observes a flooded stretch of Dock Street in Annapolis, Maryland on Jan. 25, 2010. Matt Rath / Chesapeake Bay Program
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Tuesday that a trend of increased coastal flooding will continue to worsen as the climate crisis escalates.
<p>Increased flooding is happening even without storms. "Nuisance" or "sunny day" high-tide flooding is becoming more commonplace across the U.S., according to the NOAA report that warns such flooding will worsen in the decades to come as <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-level-rise" target="_self">seas continue to rise</a>, according to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/14/coastal-flooding-continue-increase-noaa-report-says/5437524002/" target="_blank">USA Today</a>.</p><p>The agency noted record levels of high-tide flooding in 2019. Some of the hardest hit areas were on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, where the increase in high-tide flooding has been "extraordinary," according to the report, <a href="https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/publications/Techrpt_092_2019_State_of_US_High_Tide_Flooding_with_a_2020_Outlook_30June2020.pdf" target="_blank"><em>2019 State of High-Tide Flooding and 2020 Outlook</em></a>.</p>
<p>The number of days with high-tide flooding set or tied records in 19 places around the country last year, including Corpus Christi, Texas, which recorded 18 days of flooding; Galveston, Texas (18 days); Annapolis, Maryland (18 days); and Charleston, South Carolina (13 days), as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/climate/coastal-flooding-noaa.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. The place with the greatest number of recorded flood days was Eagle Point, Texas, in Galveston Bay; it dealt with high-tide flooding on 64 days, or about one out of every five days.</p><p>Those numbers represent huge jumps in a short period of time, the report found. In 2000, Corpus Christi had just three days of tidal flooding; Charleston had two. The report notes that Charleston recorded just 13 days of high-tide flooding in the more than 50 years that measurements were first kept — the exact amount that occurred in 2019 alone, according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>The Southeast, on average, has seen a three-fold increase in flooding since 2000, according to NOAA.</p><p>The Northeast will not be spared. NOAA predicts that from May 2020 to April 2021, the national high tide flood frequency is expected to accelerate, with U.S. coastal communities seeing an average of 2 to 6 days of flooding in the coming year. Communities along the northeast and western Gulf coasts are projected to see even more days of flooding, according to the report.</p><p>"America's coastal communities and their economies are suffering from the effects of high tide flooding, and it's only going to increase in the future," said Nicole LeBoeuf, acting director of NOAA's National Ocean Service, in a <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/us-high-tide-flooding-continues-to-increase" target="_blank">statement</a>. "NOAA is committed to working with coastal communities to provide the information and data they need to tackle the problem of high tide flooding, both now and in the coming years as sea levels continue to rise."</p>
<p><a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/nuisance-flooding.html" target="_blank">High-tide flooding</a> occurs when tides reach anywhere from 1.75 to 2 feet above the daily average high tide and start spilling onto streets or coming up from storm drains, according to NOAA. As sea level rise accelerates, damaging floods that used to happen only during severe storms now happen much more regularly, such as during a full-moon tide or with a change in prevailing winds or currents.</p><p>By 2030, NOAA projected, the frequency of high-tide flooding could double or triple, according to The New York Times. By 2050, that number could be five to 15 times as great, with the typical coastal community flooding between 25 and 75 days a year, NOAA said, as The New York Times reported.</p><p>"You see where this is going," LeBoeuf said. "We all need to pay attention."</p>
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A new tool called The Food Systems Dashboard aims to save decision makers time and energy by painting a complete picture of a country's food system. Photo courtesy of Dr. Jessica Fanzo and Dr. Rebecca McLaren
By Katie Howell
A new tool called The Food Systems Dashboard aims to save decision makers time and energy by painting a complete picture of a country's food system. Created by the Johns Hopkins' Alliance for a Healthier World, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Dashboard compiles food systems data from over 35 sources and offers it as a public good.
<p>"Trying to fix a food system without data is like trying to fix a car engine without any light in the garage," says Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director of GAIN and one of the contributing partners behind the Dashboard.</p><p>The new Food Systems Dashboard enables government officials, policy makers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and others to see what is working in their food systems and what isn't.</p><p>The Dashboard has three main objectives — describe, diagnose, and decide. It presents data to describe a country's food system, help decision makers diagnose the problem areas in their systems, and suggest policies, programs, and interventions to address identified issues.</p>
<p>Pulling data on over 180 indicators, the Dashboard presents more than 230 countries' food systems. These indicators, which range from agriculture production factors to diet-related disease rates, are broken down into five broad categories: food supply chains, food environments, individual factors, consumer behavior, and outcomes. Of these indicators, the team also selected 41 measures they deem critical to describe a food system.</p><p>"We hope that the Dashboard not only draws attention to the importance of food systems in shaping development priorities, but that it also can be used as a data-driven problem solving tool for more difficult food system challenges that countries may face," Dr. Jessica Fanzo of Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Rebecca McLaren, global coordinator for the Dashboard, tell Food Tank.</p><p>The layout for each country's page presents information in simple, visual ways so that users are able to quickly understand and take away key messages. Users can then compare their food systems with those of other countries, either by region, income classification, or a food system typology.</p>
<p>The tool also highlights issues like consumer behavior, that require more research to generate usable data. Fanzo and partners hope the Dashboard will simultaneously serve as a tool for data advocacy and lead to more comprehensive global data collection.</p><p>In the future, the Dashboard will continue to develop as the team works to further identify specific challenges countries face, Fanzo and McLaren tell Food Tank. It will also increase focus on recommended policies, programs, investments, and other interventions targeted to those specific challenges, Fanzo and McLaren tell Food Tank.</p><p>"The Dashboard is open to all and will foster much needed cooperation in transforming our food systems," says FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, "With the threats and opportunities presented by COVID-19, we need more collaboration between stakeholders who care about hunger, nutrition, livelihoods, climate, biodiversity, and sustainable natural resource use."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from<a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2020/07/new-tool-enables-decision-makers-to-see-what-works-in-their-food-systems/" target="_blank"> Food Tank</a>.</em></p>
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White's seahorse, also called the Sydney seahorse, is native to the Pacific waters off Australia's east coast. Sylke Rohrlach / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 2.0
By Manuela Callari
It can grow to a maximum of six inches (16 centimeters), change color depending on mood and habitat, and, like all seahorses, the White's seahorse male gestates its young. But this tiny snouted fish is under threat.
<p>White's seahorse, also called the Sydney seahorse, is native to the Pacific waters off Australia's east coast. In recent years, populations have decreased drastically. It and the South African Knysna seahorse are the only two out of around 50 seahorse species to be listed as endangered.</p><p>A wild storm season from 2010 to 2013 left the Sydney seahorses' habitat in tatters, wiping out <a href="http://www.projectseahorse.org/seahorses" target="_blank">90%</a> of the population in the area. Several large storms shifted huge volumes of sand, smothering the soft corals, sponges and seagrass they call home.</p><p>That's why researchers in Sydney Harbor have built special seahorse hotels to help restore their habitat and encourage would-be White's seahorse dads to fall pregnant. </p><p>"There are two things that we're trying to gain from this project," said Robbie McCracken, an aquarist at Sydney Sea Life Aquarium, who's working with researchers from University of Technology Sydney and the New South Wales DPI Fisheries on the program.</p><p>"Number one is that we can breed these animals in an aquarium to release them into the wild. And number two is that the seahorse hotels provide a suitable environment for them to live on." </p>
Building an Ocean Seahorse Destination
<p>Seahorses are found in tropical and temperate coastal water worldwide, but are most abundant around Australia, China and the Philippines. </p><p>Trade in the tiny creatures is strictly regulated because of their use in traditional medicine, aquariums and their sale as dried curios. But because they are poor swimmers and cannot easily move elsewhere, habitat loss is a particular threat for these curious animals. </p><p>Seahorses wrap their tails around seagrass and corals to avoid being carried away on currents. They use the habitat to spawn and hide from predators such as crabs, while also feeding on riches of plankton and small crustaceans living in the reef.</p><p><span></span>Where corals aren't available, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aqc.1217" target="_blank">scientists</a> found seahorses taking up residence in fishing nets and old crab traps abandoned at the bottom of the ocean. </p><p>This inspired the Sydney team to increase available habitat in the famous Australian harbor by building cages of net and steel. Over time, algae, sponges and corals colonize the structures, creating a safe, welcoming environment for the seahorses, say the researchers. The hotel frame will eventually corrode, leaving behind the coral mounds that have grown around them.</p><p>The researchers trialed the first hotels in 2018. Within two months, seahorses had begun to move in and soon a few males fell pregnant. Knowing that the hotels were a hit, the next step was to boost seahorse numbers. </p><p>In 2019, the team caught eight pairs of White's seahorses — the creatures are monogamous and, so, mate with one partner for life. The babies were born in September and October of last year. </p><p>"We were able to watch them court with each other, and mate with each other, and then we were able to watch the dads deliver," said McCracken, "so, it was always quite exciting." </p>
Mixing With the Locals
<p>Baby seahorse mortality is high in the wild because they are easily caught, so those bred in the protected environment of the aquarium weren't ready to be released into the wild until early May.</p><p>The team released 90 new arrivals into Sydney Harbor, placing some directly into the purpose-built hotels, and others onto a net that wild seahorses had already settled on.</p><p>Before setting them free, the researchers marked each young seahorse with a fluorescent tag with unique IDs inserted just beneath the skin to track how they get on in the different environments. </p><p>"The most exciting part was being able to put these animals into the wild and then go back a month later and still see them surviving and growing," said McCracken. </p><p>The seahorses will be old enough to mate and reproduce around October or November 2020. And researchers hope that by then, they will be able to breed with the wild population. </p>Building a Global Seahorse Hotel Chain
<p>With seahorses everywhere facing the loss of their coral reef homes, similar projects have sprung up in places like Greece and South Africa, home to the world's most endangered seahorse, the Knysna seahorse. </p><p>"The endangered South African seahorse is benefiting from something quite similar, even though it wasn't intentional," said Peter Teske, professor at the Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg.</p><p>In the South African <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322649251_An_endangered_seahorse_selectively_chooses_an_artificial_structure" target="_blank">case</a>, seahorses have bedded down in "Reno mattresses" — wire cages filled with rocks — that were used to build a new marina. Researchers from NGO Knysna Basin Project found the structures acted as a refuge for the animals.<span></span></p><p><span></span>While Teske describes the seahorse hotels as "a positive news story" and a great way to create public awareness of conservation, he added that establishing artificial habitats in some areas will only prevent the extinction of local populations.</p><p>"For a complete recovery, it is necessary to give the natural habitat a chance to regenerate," said the seahorse expert. </p>Underwater Mascot
<p>In Australia, the researchers hope the project could provide an opportunity to raise awareness not only of the plight of the Sydney seahorses but the other animals with which it shares its ocean habitat.</p><p>The waters around Sydney and the east coast are rich in biodiversity and include several threatened species like the weedy seadragon — a relative of the seahorse — and the grey nurse shark. Like the seahorse, they're also under pressure from pollution, ocean traffic and habitat loss through storms and coastal construction. </p><p>"It's a good thing to get people's support and interest. The seahorses are a useful vehicle to get people concerned if the harbor is in trouble," said David Booth, professor of marine ecology at the University of Technology Sydney who is also working on the project. </p><p>The hotels have become an attraction for divers hoping to catch a glimpse of these small but near mythical creatures. </p><p>"Everyone loves seahorses," added Booth, "they are so popular." </p>From Your Site Articles
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Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at a "Build Back Better" Clean Energy event on July 14, 2020 at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware. Joe Biden / Facebook
Presidential hopeful Joe Biden announced a $2 trillion plan Tuesday to boost American investment in clean energy and infrastructure.
<p>His plan would spend the money over the next four years to boost the transportation, electricity and building sectors' clean energy profiles. It is also part of a plan to create new economic opportunities, improve the nation's aging infrastructure, and to combat the climate crisis, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/us/politics/biden-climate-plan.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>Biden's sweeping proposals would put an end to all greenhouse gas emissions spewed by U.S. power plants by 2035, arguing that large-scale dramatic moves are necessary to tackle the impending threat of the climate crisis and to revive the economy after the coronavirus pandemic, as <a href="https://apnews.com/7cdf40d9bd40c75861fc0053212d034a" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported. It would also ban fracking on public lands.</p>
<p>Speaking near his home in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden also sought to reframe the discussion around the climate crisis, moving it away from a moral imperative and toward an economic one, dismissing <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump</a>'s and the Republicans' arguments that investments in green energy would cost jobs. Biden looked to play up how many jobs clean energy creates.</p><p>"When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is 'hoax,'" Biden told reporters, <a href="https://apnews.com/7cdf40d9bd40c75861fc0053212d034a" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported. "When I think about climate change, what I think of is jobs."</p><p>Biden's <a href="https://joebiden.com/clean-energy/" target="_blank">climate initiative</a> calls to chart the U.S. on "an irreversible path" to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. In addition to achieving a carbon-free power grid by 2035, Biden's plan calls for upgrades to 4 million buildings and to weatherize 2 million homes over four years to increase energy efficiency, as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/14/890814007/biden-outlines-2-trillion-climate-plan" target="_blank">NPR</a> reported. Homeowners would be given cash rebates to upgrade home appliances and install more efficient windows. Car owners would receive rebates to swap their old, less efficient cars for newer ones that release fewer pollutants, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-set-to-offer-newly-ambitious-climate-goals/2020/07/14/39ced8b8-c578-11ea-b037-f9711f89ee46_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>The proposal, Biden's campaign said, would aim to shift major cities towards increased use of public transportation and "create millions of good, union jobs rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure," according to NPR.</p><p>"We're not just going to tinker around the edges," Biden said his speech. "We're going to make historic investments and seize the opportunity and meet this moment in history."</p><p>Environmentalists and liberals quickly praised the climate initiative as a step forward in the climate effort. Predictably, Republicans quickly denounced it as an unwieldy plan that would raise energy costs, as The Washington Post reported.</p>
<p>The new goals align Biden more closely with three primary opponents: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Washington Governor Jay Inslee. They follow the recommendations of a unity task force of Sanders and Biden supporters that was co-chaired by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who co-sponsored the Green New Deal, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/14/joe-biden-climate-jobs-plan" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>"This is not a status quo plan," said Inslee, as The New York Times reported. "It is comprehensive. This is not some sort of, 'Let me just throw a bone to those who care about climate change.'"</p><p>Inslee called the proposal "visionary."</p><p>Gina McCarthy, the former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator who is now president of the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, told The Guardian that the plan was "by a long shot – the most ambitious we have ever seen from any president in our nation's history."</p>
<p>In the proposal, Biden also linked environmental advocacy with racial justice, noting that pollution and other toxins disproportionately affect communities of color. His plan calls for establishing an office of environmental and climate justice within the Justice Department and developing a broad set of tools to address how "environmental policy decisions of the past have failed communities of color," according to The New York Times.</p><p>Varshini Prakash, co-founder of the youth-led Sunrise Movement, said, as The Guardian reported, that Biden's plan responds to many of the group's previous criticisms by "dramatically increasing the scale and urgency of investments, filling in details on how he'd achieve environmental justice and create good union jobs, and promising immediate action — on day 1, in his first 100 days, in his first term, in the next decade — not just some far off goals."</p>
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