The Kobuk River in Alaska on Aug. 30, 2011. 16Terezka / CC BY-SA 3.0
Around 15,000 gallons of fuel oil spilled in a Native Alaskan village Saturday, threatening a nearby river and the local drinking water supply.
<p>The spill occurred during a routine fuel delivery to the Northwest Arctic village of Shungnak. The fuel spilled around 12:30 p.m. June 20, but was not discovered by the villagers until 1:06 p.m. They reported it to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) immediately thereafter, <a href="http://www.thearcticsounder.com/article/2026thousands_of_gallons_of_heating_oil_spill_in" target="_blank">The Arctic Sounder reported</a>.</p><p>"A response crew from Shungnak responded to the spill immediately, removing the spilled heating oil using sorbent material and also by pumping it into containers," ADEC said in a situation report.</p>
<p>There have been no injuries reported and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spill</a> has not harmed any wildlife so far. However, there are concerns that it could spread to sensitive areas.</p><p>"The extent of contamination has been reported by the incident commander to be approximately 160 feet from the Kobuk River and approximately 295 feet from the Shungnak drinking water source," ADEC said.</p><p>The spill occurred when fuel intended for the Shungnak Native Store was delivered to the school instead, <a href="https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/15000-gallon-oil-spill-reported-near-Kobuk-River-571436521.html" target="_blank">KTUU reported</a>. This caused fuel tank #1 to overflow. The fuel was being transferred from a barge on the Kobuk River. All transfers have now been stopped.</p>
<p>The cleanup efforts have been impacted by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic, <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/23/15000-gallon-heating-oil-spill-reported-in-kobuk-river-village-of-shungnak/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Radio reported</a>. Because of travel restrictions, officials from ADEC and the Environmental Protection Agency cannot travel to the spill site. Instead, both agencies are in contact with local responders.</p><p>"ADEC will continue to monitor the response actions and review plans being developed to clean up contaminated soils from the area and prevent heating oil migration to nearby resources," ADEC said, according to The Arctic Sounder.</p><p>The Kobuk River flows for 380 miles from the Endicott Mountains to Kotzebue Sound, according to the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/gaar/kobukriver.htm" target="_blank">National Park Service</a>. It is one of the only two spawning grounds for the Kobuk/Selawik population of sheefish and also an important habitat for grayling, arctic char, whitefish, chum salmon and lake trout. It is also a subsistence fishing site for Native Alaskan communities and the wintering grounds for the Western Arctic caribou herd.</p>
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The Pile River flows into the northern end of Lake Iliamna. The lake and its tributaries are the headwaters of the Bristol Bay region, one of the richest salmon fisheries in the world. Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wrote a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers last week to say that it would not oppose or put a stop to a huge copper and gold mine near the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery, as The Washington Post reported.
<p>The Pebble Mine, a vast copper and gold deposit, is worth an estimated $500 billion in natural resources. However, it is in the Bristol Bay region of southwest <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/alaska">Alaska</a>, a resource that brings in $1.5 billion annually and provides a vital food source for thousands of Alaska Native residents who live there, according to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/alaska-pebble-mine-bristol-bay/" target="_blank">PBS</a>. An effort to build the mine at the heart of the Bristol Bay watershed has been an ongoing fight in Alaska.</p><p>The project was seemingly dead in 2012, but it got a new lease on life with the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration when the Pebble Partnership filed for a permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in late 2017. The EPA has raised many concerns about the project, saying that it may result in substantial and unacceptable impacts to "aquatic resources of national importance," as <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/05/28/in-showdown-over-pebble-mine-epa-blinks/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a> reported.</p>
<p>In response, the Army Corps of Engineers announced what that the least damaging way to bring the ore out of the mine would be to take it out around the north side of Lake Iliamna, according to <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/05/28/in-showdown-over-pebble-mine-epa-blinks/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a>.</p><p>Christopher Hladick, the EPA's regional administrator for Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, wrote to the Alaska district engineer, Col. David Hibner, that the agency's serious concerns about the plan continued. He noted that the concerns include the fact that dredging for the open pit mine "may well contribute to the permanent loss of 2,292 acres of wetlands and ... 105.4 miles of streams," as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/05/29/epa-opts-not-delay-controversial-alaska-mine-now/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>The EPA will still have the authority to veto the project, but the latest letter makes it unlikely to do so.</p>
<p>Mark Ryan, a lawyer in private practice who served as regional counsel in EPA Region 10 between 1990 and 2014, told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/05/29/epa-opts-not-delay-controversial-alaska-mine-now/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> that the EPA's letter appears contradictory.</p><p>"It's a very odd letter," Ryan said. "It points out the mine's very serious environmental damage but then does not invoke EPA's powers to elevate the issue for further discussion."</p><p>"Today's decision ... gives us more reason to believe that there will be no veto," Pebble CEO Tom Collier said in a written statement, as <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/05/28/in-showdown-over-pebble-mine-epa-blinks/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a> reported. "This is consistent with our observation that (the Corps) and EPA, and the other cooperating agencies, have been working well together to resolve all outstanding issues."</p>
<p>Opponents of the project argue that the mine will damage the salmon, which are critical for the economy, for sustenance and for the region's cultural heritage.</p><p>"There are still many substantive issues with the project proposal that have yet to be resolved," said Daniel Cheyette, the vice president of Bristol Bay Native Corp., whose Alaska Native corporation opposes the mine, which would be the largest in North America, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/05/29/epa-opts-not-delay-controversial-alaska-mine-now/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>While the Army Corps of Engineers has said the mine will have minimal impact on the salmon, environmental groups strongly disagree.</p><p>"It's about four times larger than the largest mine the EPA said that it was willing to consider for permitting," said Joel Reynolds of the Natural Resources Defense Council, to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/alaska-pebble-mine-bristol-bay/" target="_blank">PBS</a>. "The notion that the contaminants can be contained in any reliable fashion in that kind of environment has never been proven, never been tested, and in the judgment of virtually any independent scientist, simply can't be done."</p>
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Wolf pups with their mother at their den site. Design Pics / Getty Images
In another reversal of Obama-era regulations, the Trump administration is having the National Park Service rescind a 2015 order that protected bears and wolves within protected lands.
<p>The new rule, remarkable in its cruelty, will allow hunters to shoot bears, wolves, along with their cubs and pups while the animals are in their dens in the popular Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. It also puts ends a ban on some nefarious practices like luring bears with doughnuts, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/28/alaska-bears-wolves-trump-rules-hunters" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>Jesse Prentice-Dunn, policy director for the Center for Western Priorities, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/28/alaska-bears-wolves-trump-rules-hunters" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> that the rule change is "amazingly cruel" and said it was "just the latest in a string of efforts to reduce protections for America's wildlife at the behest of oil companies and trophy hunters."</p>
<p>The National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued separate statements that their actions are designed to align federal and state law, according to the <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2020/05/21/trump-administration-moves-to-ease-rules-for-hunting-bears-and-wolves-on-federal-lands-in-alaska/" target="_blank">Anchorage Daily News</a>. The National Park Service manages 10 preserves in the state, including Denali National Park and Preserve. The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge lies west of the park.</p><p>NPS Alaska spokesperson Pete Christian told <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/05/21/national-park-service-rule-change-puts-state-back-in-charge-of-wildlife-management-in-preserves/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a> that although practices like killing bears and wolves in dens go against the Park Service's mission, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which created or expanded many of Alaska's national preserves, grants the state management authority.</p>
<p>"It supercedes, to some extent, the NPS Organic Act and some of our regular management policies, and so the parks up here were designed to have preserve units in them which allow for hunting and trapping as per state law," Christian said.</p><p>The Park Service decision to defer to the state is the latest move in a legal conflict around who has ultimate authority over the protected lands. The conflict dates back to 2015, when the Obama administration initially banned certain state-permitted predator harvests on Alaska's preserve lands, as <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/05/21/national-park-service-rule-change-puts-state-back-in-charge-of-wildlife-management-in-preserves/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a> reported.</p>
<p>While the number of hunters that will actually plow ahead into the national preserve to hunt bears and wolves in their dens is probably quite small, the spirit of the practice is extreme and inconsistent with the values of the national preserve, according to Pat Lavin with the Defenders of Wildlife in Anchorage who spoke to <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/05/21/national-park-service-rule-change-puts-state-back-in-charge-of-wildlife-management-in-preserves/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a>.</p><p>"The Trump administration has shockingly reached a new low in its treatment of wildlife," Defenders of Wildlife President Jamie Rappaport Clark said, as the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/alaska-increase-hunting-trapping-1.5581668" target="_blank">CBC</a> reported. "Allowing the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens is barbaric and inhumane."</p><p>The new rule also allows hunters to shoot caribou from traveling motorboats and to kill swimming caribou, according to the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/alaska-increase-hunting-trapping-1.5581668" target="_blank">CBC</a>.</p><p>As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/28/alaska-bears-wolves-trump-rules-hunters" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> noted, the move is part and parcel with a pattern from Trump's Department of the Interior, which has consistently sought to expand access to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands">public lands</a> to hunters and fossil fuel companies. Last month, it proposed expanding public hunting and fishing access by more than 2.3 million acres on 97 national wildlife refuges and nine national fish hatcheries.</p>
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Drilling on Public Lands: Native American Voices Frustrated by Virtual Public Hearings Over Zoom
20 May
Politics
Nuiqsut resident Martha Itta said that she was "frustrated and saddened" after an April 23 online meeting where she says she was muted. She described technology as a hurdle that excludes many members of the public in rural Alaska. U.S. Department of the Interior
The Trump administration has attempted to plow forward with its plans to open up public lands to drilling for oil and gas exploration. To do so, it has continued to hold public meetings over Zoom. That means that Native American groups who often have spotty internet service or no service at all are not able to participate in the public meetings, according to The Washington Post.
<p>While tribal groups are often vociferous in public meetings in an attempt to protect their land from encroaching industry and the pollution that accompanies it, some have complained that the technology creates a roadblock to participating in the public discussion.</p><p>More than 30 percent of tribal lands lack access to basic broadband, <a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-19-44A1.pdf" target="_blank">according</a> to the Federal Communications Commission.</p>
<p>The issue was recently relevant in Alaska, where ConocoPhillips is looking to expand its drilling operation in Alaska's North Slope. The project would move drilling deeper into the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in the direction of currently protected habitat. It would also increase development that may affect the Alaska Native village of Nuiqsut, which sits just inside the petroleum reserve border and is home to roughly 400 people, as <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063068097" target="_blank">E&E News</a> reported.</p><p>Martha Itta, a resident of Nuiqsut, said in a letter to the Bureau of Land Management's project manager, Rachael Jones, that she was "frustrated and saddened" after an April 23 meeting. She described technology as a hurdle that excludes many members of the public in rural Alaska, as <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063068097" target="_blank">E&E News</a> reported.</p><p>She also noted in the letter that the Zoom platform gave outsized control to the moderator. "I myself was muted after my initial comment and they would not unmute me," she wrote in her letter, as <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063068097" target="_blank">E&E News</a> reported.</p>
<p>"How many North Slope members have access to WiFi?" Raymond Ipalook, vice president of the tribal council in the Alaska Native village of Nuiqsut, asked during one virtual hearing on April 21, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2020/05/18/the-energy-202-public-hearings-on-zoom-have-native-americans-worried-they-won-t-be-heard-on-oil-projects/5ec15672602ff11bb1183c87/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. "That's what I want to know. How many of them know that this webinar is going on?"</p><p>A similar problem happened with a proposed project in New Mexico, where there were complaints of speakers being dropped by bad connections and moderators muting the microphones of meeting participants.</p>
<p>The Bureau of Land Management, however, is telling another story, saying that the virtual meetings are a resounding success and allowing more people to participate in the meetings. According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2020/05/18/the-energy-202-public-hearings-on-zoom-have-native-americans-worried-they-won-t-be-heard-on-oil-projects/5ec15672602ff11bb1183c87/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>, more than 300 people participated in eight virtual public meetings in Alaska while 100 participated in the first in New Mexico last Thursday, with yet more viewing on Facebook, the BLM said. By contrast, 250 attendees showed up to six in-person meetings held in Anchorage, Fairbanks and other spots in Alaska last year.</p>
<p>In northwestern New Mexico, where an oil and gas project would infringe on Pueblo land, speakers asked the government to pause the public comment period, since they would like more time to make their voices heard before the government moves forward with a plan that will bring energy and other development near cultural sites considered sacred to New Mexico's Pueblos and other tribal groups within the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2020/05/18/the-energy-202-public-hearings-on-zoom-have-native-americans-worried-they-won-t-be-heard-on-oil-projects/5ec15672602ff11bb1183c87/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>"Although I am participating in today's virtual public meeting, I want to make clear that the All Pueblo Council of Governors and our member Pueblos have not had the resources necessary to meaningfully comment," said Marissa Naranjo, policy director with the All Pueblo Council of Governors, noting that the two counties surrounding the protected area have some the highest coronavirus infection rates in New Mexico, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2020/05/18/the-energy-202-public-hearings-on-zoom-have-native-americans-worried-they-won-t-be-heard-on-oil-projects/5ec15672602ff11bb1183c87/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>The entire congressional delegation for New Mexico has asked that the public comment hearing be extended 120 days.</p>
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An unstable slope above Barry Glacier in Barry Arm, Alaska, could trigger a landslide and major tsunami. Christian Zimmerman / USGS
As the climate crisis takes hold, the effects are noticed most conspicuously at the extremes like the poles and the desert, where the harsh environments are drastically altered by a changing climate.
<p>The latest evidence is from a melting <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/glaciers">glacier</a> in <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/alaska" target="_self">Alaska</a> that may trigger a landslide that catalyzes a major tsunami, scientists warned on Thursday, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/alaska-landslide-tsunami.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.<br></p><p>A <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6890609-5-14-20-Barry-Arm-Landslide-Working-Group-Letter.html" target="_blank">public letter</a> signed by several scientists warns it's possible that the landslide and tsunami could happen "within the next year, and likely within 20 years," and detailed potentially devastating effects.</p>
<p>The scientists warn that an unstable, mile-long slope that sits above Prince William Sound, about 60 miles east of Anchorage, is supported only by a glacier in retreat. Warming temperatures have caused the ice to melt, leaving only one-third of the slope supported by ice. That means an earthquake, a heat wave, or prolonged heavy rain could trigger a landslide, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/alaska-landslide-tsunami.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>If the slope above Barry Glacier crumbled, it could impact tourism, fishing and hunting, according to the letter. It could also lead to 30-foot waves that reach the town of Whittier, 28 miles away across Prince William Sound, according to the <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2020/05/14/scientists-warn-about-risk-of-massive-tsunami-in-prince-william-sound-potentially-within-the-next-year/" target="_blank">Anchorage Daily News</a>.</p>
<p>The glacier's retreat "could release millions of tons of rock into the Harriman Fiord, triggering a tsunami at least as large as some of the largest in the state's recorded history," according to a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6890608-5-14-20-Potential-Landslide-Threatens-Large.html" target="_blank">statement</a> from the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, as the <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2020/05/14/scientists-warn-about-risk-of-massive-tsunami-in-prince-william-sound-potentially-within-the-next-year/" target="_blank">Anchorage Daily News</a> reported.</p><p>The Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the state Department of Fish and Game responded to the warning from the scientists by issuing a warning that "strongly recommend people avoid all the identified danger zones until the hazards can be adequately understood and characterized," according to the <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2020/05/14/scientists-warn-about-risk-of-massive-tsunami-in-prince-william-sound-potentially-within-the-next-year/" target="_blank">Anchorage Daily News</a>.</p><p>"As a hazard, it's really worrisome," said researcher, Hig Higman, who studies geological hazards and runs an organization called Ground Truth based in Seldovia, Alaska, to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/alaska-landslide-tsunami.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>The tsunami models produced by Patrick Lynett at the University of Southern California show a tsunami reaching hundreds of feet in elevation, with the ability to reach Whittier within 20 minutes. Other cities on the Prince William Sound, like Valdez and Cordova, could also see less destructive waves that may damage harbors and docks and threaten people in those areas, according to <a href="https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Potential-landslide-triggered-tsunami-threatens-Prince-William-Sound-570489061.html" target="_blank">KTUU</a>, Anchorage's NBC News affiliate.</p><p>The computer model shows that a collapse of the entire slope—roughly estimated to be 500 million cubic meters of rock and dirt, or several hundred times the volume of the Hoover Dam—may trigger a tsunami that starts out at several hundred feet high, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/alaska-landslide-tsunami.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>Since the slope has been moving for decades, the researchers estimated that the landslide is possible within a year and almost certain to happen within the next two decades. "It could happen anytime, but the risk just goes way up as this glacier recedes," said Anna Liljedahl, an Alaska-based hydrologist with the <a href="https://whrc.org/" target="_blank" title="">Woods Hole Research Center</a> in Massachusetts, who was part of the team, to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/climate/alaska-landslide-tsunami.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>While the research has not yet been peer-reviewed, Liljedahl said the researchers wanted to get the information out to inform the public of a looming threat.</p><p>"We wanted to let the public know that there is a chance that this landslide might fail catastrophically," Liljedahl said, as the <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2020/05/14/scientists-warn-about-risk-of-massive-tsunami-in-prince-william-sound-potentially-within-the-next-year/" target="_blank">Anchorage Daily News</a> reported. "There's also a chance that it might not."</p>
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A harbour seal on an ice floe in Glacier Bay, Alaska. A new study shows that the climate crisis has warmed waters, changing ecosystems and crippling sea ice growth. Janette Hill / robertharding / Getty Images Plus
The climate crisis is accelerating the rate of change in Alaska's marine ecosystem far faster than scientists had previously thought, causing possibly irreversible changes, according to new research, as Newsweek reported.
<p>The new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0695-2.epdf?referrer_access_token=CO2LiJIJlZL_98zWr-VWLNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0O7LDNa0WF3Wh7MTmHaeaZVv2T9vIb8LrGUH8lMDd4MucAiKlopvTPVSZQJLbwuKLvlF6PVBG232cHDJJ63lWSEDUVS9kwNNfLAjMIN0QuTNz0R8kc1mn-lHI8ur799j_zhNc9mfrvx6GWd-hGvHFHmVMtycew6loVKQzTg2RpViRu6PoY2G232NIEvKSzyZk4K9OwQk9Z3hHcmjLiDNgIvIplP-v82bpHIt52Qp8rj5A%3D%3D&tracking_referrer=www.newsweek.com" target="_blank">study</a> from the University of Alaska Fairbanks shows that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a> has warmed waters, changing ecosystems and crippling sea ice growth. The researchers told <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/02/24/dramatic-ocean-changes-are-coming-a-couple-decades-too-early-scientists-say/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a> that now is the perfect time to study Alaskan waters before warmer temperatures become the new normal.</p><p>Seth Danielson, one of the researchers on the paper told <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/02/24/dramatic-ocean-changes-are-coming-a-couple-decades-too-early-scientists-say/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a> that their team was shocked by the record low <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-ice" target="_self">sea ice</a> and record high <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" target="_self">ocean</a> temperatures of the last couple of years.</p><p>"It was a bit surprising because we felt like it came a couple decades too early," said Danielson to <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/02/24/dramatic-ocean-changes-are-coming-a-couple-decades-too-early-scientists-say/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a>.</p><p>The study published in the journal Nature Climate Change said that 2017 showed signs of "a sudden and dramatic shift," according to the <a href="https://www.ibtimes.sg/alaskas-marine-ecosystem-undergoes-sudden-shift-due-climate-change-39972" target="_blank">International Business Times</a>.</p><p>This dramatic changes in ocean temperatures will have large impacts on the region, not only to the marine populations, but to the commercial fishing industry and to local populations that rely on subsistence fishing, as the <a href="https://www.ibtimes.sg/alaskas-marine-ecosystem-undergoes-sudden-shift-due-climate-change-39972" target="_blank">International Business Times</a> reported.</p>
<p>While the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0695-2.epdf?referrer_access_token=CO2LiJIJlZL_98zWr-VWLNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0O7LDNa0WF3Wh7MTmHaeaZVv2T9vIb8LrGUH8lMDd4MucAiKlopvTPVSZQJLbwuKLvlF6PVBG232cHDJJ63lWSEDUVS9kwNNfLAjMIN0QuTNz0R8kc1mn-lHI8ur799j_zhNc9mfrvx6GWd-hGvHFHmVMtycew6loVKQzTg2RpViRu6PoY2G232NIEvKSzyZk4K9OwQk9Z3hHcmjLiDNgIvIplP-v82bpHIt52Qp8rj5A%3D%3D&tracking_referrer=www.newsweek.com" target="_blank">study</a> focused on 2017, temperatures over the last two years suggest a lasting change is in the works.</p><p>"Many changes persisted in 2018 and even into 2019, suggesting that 2017 was not a passing oddity of brief consequence to social-ecological systems, but a sign of what is to come," according to the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0695-2.epdf?referrer_access_token=CO2LiJIJlZL_98zWr-VWLNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0O7LDNa0WF3Wh7MTmHaeaZVv2T9vIb8LrGUH8lMDd4MucAiKlopvTPVSZQJLbwuKLvlF6PVBG232cHDJJ63lWSEDUVS9kwNNfLAjMIN0QuTNz0R8kc1mn-lHI8ur799j_zhNc9mfrvx6GWd-hGvHFHmVMtycew6loVKQzTg2RpViRu6PoY2G232NIEvKSzyZk4K9OwQk9Z3hHcmjLiDNgIvIplP-v82bpHIt52Qp8rj5A%3D%3D&tracking_referrer=www.newsweek.com" target="_blank">study</a>, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/alaska-marine-ecosystem-shift-climate-change-scientists-1488753" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported.</p><p>The reduction in sea ice will open up commercial vessel lanes, which could reduce the viability of subsistence fishing, according to Danielson, as <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/02/24/dramatic-ocean-changes-are-coming-a-couple-decades-too-early-scientists-say/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a> reported. It also could change the migratory patterns of the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/whales" target="_self">whales</a>, walruses, and other species that migrate between the Chukchi and Bering Seas.</p><p>"The time of the year that some hunting activities can take place may need to change," Danielson said to <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/02/24/dramatic-ocean-changes-are-coming-a-couple-decades-too-early-scientists-say/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a>. "I think we've seen some indications of that already. And the species that people are hunting and fishing for may change as well."</p>
<p>The Chukchi and Bering Seas lifecycles are driven by seasonal changes in sea ice and in water temperatures.</p><p>Whales, walruses and other species move southwards into the Bering Sea in the winter months when the water freezes over. Whales and walruses tend to move south into the Bering Sea during the winter. Then snow melt and algae growth in the spring allows <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" target="_self">marine species</a> to flourish in summer, providing ample food for those large mammals, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/alaska-marine-ecosystem-shift-climate-change-scientists-1488753" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported.</p><p>However, the warmer temperatures mean some animals are staying in the north and foregoing their migration down to the Bering Sea. The changes in temperatures mean many of the foods that large sea mammals rely on are dwindling.</p><p>Spotted seal pups seemed to suffer terribly, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/alaska-marine-ecosystem-shift-climate-change-scientists-1488753" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>. They appeared thinner and smaller than normal. Ribbon seals, similarly, appeared to have rapidly declining birth rates and many more carcasses washing ashore in 2018 — about five times the annual average from 2014 to 2017.</p>
<p>The researchers also noted a change in the type of fish found in Alaska's waters, noting that pacific cod are appearing further north and have the potential to disturb native Arctic cod population, according to <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/02/24/dramatic-ocean-changes-are-coming-a-couple-decades-too-early-scientists-say/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a>.<br></p><p>"They're a focal point through which energy flows to a lot of different components," said Danielson to <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/02/24/dramatic-ocean-changes-are-coming-a-couple-decades-too-early-scientists-say/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Media</a>. "For instance, they're eaten by the seals. They're eaten directly by people. The seals are eaten by people and polar bears."</p><p>"You can be fairly confident in attributing these types of unusual events to human-induced causes," Danielson added.</p>
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Belugas Are Dying off in Alaska and Oil and Gas Operations Are to Blame, Says Lawsuit
03 February
Animals
A beluga whale swims under an iceberg in Alaska. Design Pics Inc / First Light / Getty Images Plus
Two environmental groups made a formal announcement that they will file a lawsuit to protect endangered beluga whales whose numbers have plummeted recently, as the AP reported.
<p>The suit aims to void permits allowed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that opened up oil and gas exploration in Cook Inlet in southern Alaska. The suit alleges that NOAA violated the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">Endangered Species</a> Act by issuing the permits without protecting Cook Island belugas. The law requires the formal 60-day notice before the agency can be sued, according to <a href="https://apnews.com/52515018c441edfe4ad1ab630dae0801" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>.</p><p>The Center for Biological Diversity and Cook Inletkeeper teamed up to send notice that they will sue NOAA.</p><p>NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released a disturbing new population estimate last week that showed whale numbers are far lower than previous estimates and their numbers are dropping rapidly, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alaska-oil-belugas/environmentalists-invoke-belugas-in-effort-to-halt-alaska-oil-exploration-idUSKBN1ZV36Z" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>The NMFS report estimated that only 279 beluga whales remain in Cook Inlet, a steep decline from the nearly 1,300 that lived there in 1979. The population decline has accelerated to an annual rate of 2.3 percent over the last decade, which is four times faster than previous estimates, according to NMFS, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alaska-oil-belugas/environmentalists-invoke-belugas-in-effort-to-halt-alaska-oil-exploration-idUSKBN1ZV36Z" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>Cook Inlet runs almost 200 miles from Anchorage to the Gulf of Alaska. It supplies energy for the south-central part of the state. The industrial activities there threaten beluga whales, which swim there and feast on salmon and other fish, according to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alaska-oil-drilling-beluga-whale-lawsuit-noaa-a9312856.html?utm_source=reddit.com" target="_blank">The Independent</a>.</p><p>The Center for Biological Diversity said these "daunting" numbers mean exploration planned by Hillcorp Alaska needs to stop immediately, as <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alaska-oil-drilling-beluga-whale-lawsuit-noaa-a9312856.html?utm_source=reddit.com" target="_blank">The Independent</a> reported.</p><p>The plaintiffs are demanding a new assessment of oil and gas exploration since the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump administration</a> used higher, inaccurate beluga whale numbers when it gave a permit to Hillcorp Alaska. The permit allows the petroleum company to "take" beluga whales as part of its operations. "Take" is a nebulous term that allows the company to harass and harm whales. The environmental groups want a guarantee that Cook Inlet belugas can recover from any of Hillcorp Alaska's operations, according to <a href="https://apnews.com/52515018c441edfe4ad1ab630dae0801" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>.</p><p>"Since we pressed for listing the Cook Inlet Beluga whale as endangered in 2008, the drive for corporate profits and complacent government bureaucrats have conspired to stifle progress for this dwindling stock," said Bob Shavelson, advocacy director for Cook Inletkeeper, in a <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-launched-to-save-alaskas-cook-inlet-beluga-whales-from-harmful-oil-exploration-2020-01-31/" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Hilcorp should do the right thing and abandon its plans for new drilling in Cook Inlet."</p>
<p>Last summer, the Trump administration loosened environmental regulations that allowed for new mining, oil and gas <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling">drilling</a> where protected species live, according to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/alaska-oil-drilling-beluga-whale-lawsuit-noaa-a9312856.html?utm_source=reddit.com" target="_blank">The Independent</a>.<br></p><p>"The tragic decline of these lovely little whales spotlights the risk of allowing oil exploration in their habitat," said Julie Teel Simmonds, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-launched-to-save-alaskas-cook-inlet-beluga-whales-from-harmful-oil-exploration-2020-01-31/" target="_blank">statement</a>. "If we're going to save these belugas, the Trump administration must cancel permission for the oil industry to use seismic blasting and pile driving in Cook Inlet. These animals are hanging on by a thread, and we can't let them be hurt even more."</p>The groups said that seismic blasting used in exploration and deep-sea mining causes blasts heard miles away. The blasts can register up to 250 decibels. For reference, standing next to a jackhammer is 100 decibels. Those underwater blasts can cause hearing loss in marine mammals, severely disrupt communication between pods, disturb feeding and breeding grounds, and reduce their ability to catch fish, according to the environmental groups, as <a href="https://apnews.com/52515018c441edfe4ad1ab630dae0801" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported.
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The common murre population in Alaska has been decimated by an ocean heatwave. Linda Burek / iStock / Getty Images Plus
An expanse of uncommonly warm seawater in the Pacific Ocean created by a marine heatwave led to a mass die-off of one million seabirds, scientists have found.
<p>According to a study <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226087#sec012" target="_blank">published in PLOS One</a> by the University of Washington, the marine heatwave began in 2013, and grew stronger between 2015-2016 due to irregular conditions from the weather phenomenon El Niño.</p><p>The heatwave created a patch of much warmer seawater in the northeastern Pacific that stretched for 1,000 miles — parts of which reached temperatures 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit higher than usual, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/16/world/blob-seabird-study-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>Researchers termed it "the blob."</p>
<p>As the blob reached its peak between mid-2015 and 2016, more than 62,000 common murres — a species of seabird that feeds on small fish and is common up and down the west coast of North America — washed up dead on the shores of California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/16/hot-blob-ocean-seabirds-killed-new-zealand-north-america" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>The researchers believe that the murres likely died of starvation after the blob increased competition for the small fish they feed on, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51140869" target="_blank">The BBC reported</a>. And because most birds that die over the ocean never wash ashore, the researchers believe the die-off reached closer to an unprecedented one million common murres.</p>
<p>Larger fish such as <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/salmon" target="_self">salmon</a>, cod and halibut rely on the same prey as the murres. But since fish are cold-blooded and can't self-regulate their body temperature, the warmer waters <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/toxic-seafood-climate-change-overfishing-2639740959.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" target="_self">boosted their metabolic rate</a> and the amount of energy they <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fish-size-climate-2479149123.html" target="_self">needed</a> for survival. These conditions required the larger fish to eat more than normal, reducing the availability of prey for the murres, which typically need to eat the equivalent of half their body weight per day.</p><p>The resulting die-off was among the largest on record, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226087#sec012" target="_blank">the researchers said</a>. Most of the birds washed ashore in Alaska, where they were found in densities reaching 4,600 carcasses per kilometer along part of the state's southern coast.</p>
<p>The murre population was so affected that by 2016, 12 breeding colonies had failed to produce any chicks and the population still hasn't replenished, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/16/hot-blob-ocean-seabirds-killed-new-zealand-north-america" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>"It remains to be seen when (or whether) murre populations in Alaska will recover from the heatwave in light of predicted global warming trends and the associated likelihood of more frequent heatwaves," the researchers said. According to <a href="https://report.ipcc.ch/srocc/pdf/SROCC_SPM_Approved.pdf" target="_blank">the United Nations</a>, climate change is projected to make marine heatwaves more frequent.</p><p>The University of Washington team has already <a href="http://king5.com/article/weather/the-blob-is-back/281-f7fdf9b2-c565-47ca-86f3-342bd2a8a365" target="_blank">found another marine heatwave</a> developing off the coast of Washington, while another closer to New Zealand has reached 4,000 square miles and can be detected from space, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/27/world/new-zealand-hot-ocean-water-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p>
<p>The blob caused die-offs in several other animal populations as well, including sea lions, baleen whales and tufted puffins. These die-offs were likely due in part to a drop in the populations of plankton that feed many organisms in the food chain, as the warmer water has less oxygen and essential nutrients to support life, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/16/blob-hot-water-killed-million-seabirds-pacific-2015-and-2016/4491618002/" target="_blank">USA Today reported</a>.</p><p>The warmer temperatures also spawned the largest harmful algal bloom in recorded history, which contributed to the die-offs and led to significant financial losses for fisheries in the affected area — though none of the losses reached the severity of the murre die-off.</p><p>"The magnitude and scale of this failure has no precedent," lead author John Piatt, a research biologist and an affiliate professor at the University of Washington, said in a <a href="https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/01/15/the-blob-food-supply-squeeze-to-blame-for-largest-seabird-die-off/" target="_blank">press release</a>. "It was astonishing and alarming, and a red-flag warning about the tremendous impact sustained ocean warming can have on the marine ecosystem."</p>
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Trending
A helicopter passes smoke from a wildfire on July 3, 2019 south of Talkeetna, Alaska. Alaska experienced its record-high temperatures in 2019. Lance King / Getty Images
Last year's brutal heat waves that swept through Europe, caused wildfires in Alaska and Siberia, and have left Australia as a tinderbox registered as the second hottest year ever — 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit or 0.04 degrees Celsius cooler than 2016, according to scientists at the Copernicus Climate Change Service, an intergovernmental agency supported by the European Union, as The New York Times reported.
<p>It was the hottest year Europe has ever endured. The report also found that the last five years and the last decade were the warmest ever recorded.</p><p>Also, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its <a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-201912" target="_blank">2019 U.S. climate report</a> yesterday, which found that Alaska had its warmest year ever, and the continental U.S. had its second-wettest year on record, which led to flooding in the Midwest and Mississippi Delta. The Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan all had their <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/temp-and-precip/us-maps/12/201912" target="_blank">wettest year on record in 2019</a>, according to NOAA, as the <a href="https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2020-01-08-2019-second-wettest-year-us-warmest-year-alaska-noaa-climate" target="_blank">The Weather Channel</a> reported.</p><p>The Copernicus report out of Europe also found that global average temperatures from 2015-2019 were between 1.1 and 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, putting the planet within striking distance of the perilous threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/world/2019-temperatures-second-hottest-year-on-record-climate-change/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. Scientists have warned that once the planet crosses 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial averages the world will face an increase in <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> events, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a>, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfires</a>, and food shortages. At that level, the world will still see a loss of 70 to 90 percent of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coral-reefs" target="_self">coral reefs</a>, according to the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/" target="_blank">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>, as the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/2019-second-hottest-year_n_5e167638c5b6b32c72bcceb3" target="_blank">HuffPost</a> reported.</p>
<p>"The past five years have been the five warmest on record; the last decade has been the warmest on record," Jean-Noël Thépaut, director of Copernicus services, said in a statement, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/climate/2019-temperatures.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. "These are unquestionably alarming signs."</p><p>In Europe, six countries — Belgium, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Luxembourg — saw record-setting temperatures in their June and July <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/heat-wave" target="_self">heat waves</a> in 2019.</p>
<p>The Bureau of Meteorology in Australia said 2019 was the hottest and driest year on record, where temperatures were 1.52 degrees Celsius above normal, fueling the ongoing brushfires, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/world/2019-temperatures-second-hottest-year-on-record-climate-change/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>While those spikes and new records were alarming, no place warmed more than the Arctic and Alaska when compared to 1981-2000 average temperatures. The Arctic and Alaska are critical in regulating global temperatures, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/08/world/2019-temperatures-second-hottest-year-on-record-climate-change/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>The NOAA report found that for the first time on record, Alaska's annual average temperature was just above freezing at 32.2 degrees Fahrenheit, 6.2 degrees Fahrenheit above the long-term average. The previous record-warm year was 2016 when average temperatures were 31.9 degrees, as <a href="https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2020-01-08-2019-second-wettest-year-us-warmest-year-alaska-noaa-climate" target="_blank">The Weather Channel</a> reported.</p><p>On July 4, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/anchorage-alaska-90-degrees-2639092982.html" target="_self">Anchorage had its first day ever above 90 degrees day</a>.</p>
<p>Temperatures in 2016 were unusually high because of a powerful El Niño, where changes in sea temperatures, atmospheric pressure and winds in the equatorial Pacific led to warmer temperatures. The 2019 El Niño was far weaker than the one in 2016, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/climate/2019-temperatures.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.<br></p><p>The highest average temperature in the U.S. was in Marathon in the Florida Keys, which set a new record in 2019, with an average temperature of 81.7 degrees. It was the highest annual average temperature for any one location in U.S. history, according to the <a href="https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2020-01-08-2019-second-wettest-year-us-warmest-year-alaska-noaa-climate" target="_blank">The Weather Channel</a>.</p><p>Nearby Key West and Miami also saw their warmest year on record, as the <a href="https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2020-01-08-2019-second-wettest-year-us-warmest-year-alaska-noaa-climate" target="_blank">The Weather Channel</a> reported.</p>
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Trump Admin Moves Closer to Slashing Protections for World’s Largest Temperate Rainforest
16 October 2019
Politics
Brown bear fishing for salmon in creek at Pavlof Harbor in Tongass National Forest, Alaska. Wolfgang Kaehler / LightRocket / Getty Images
The Trump administration has moved one step closer to opening Earth's largest intact temperate rainforest to logging.
<p>On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2019/10/15/usda-forest-service-seeks-public-comment-draft-environmental-impact" target="_blank">announced</a> it would draft an environmental impact statement exempting Alaska's Tongass National Forest from the <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/roadmain/roadless/2001roadlessrule" target="_blank">2001 Roadless Rule</a>, which prohibits road construction and timber harvesting on 58.5 million acres of National Forest land. The administration's proposal would open more than half of the Tongass National Forest's 16.7 million acres to logging, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/trump-administration-proposes-expanding-logging-in-alaskas-tongass-national-forest/2019/10/15/92e47db8-ef77-11e9-8693-f487e46784aa_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post reported</a>.</p>
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NOAA
Most of the U.S. will likely see higher than normal temperatures this autumn, according to a three-month forecast projected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
<p>The entire nation will experience warmer weather now through December, but those with the greatest temperature increases include northern <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/alaska" target="_self">Alaska</a>, the Southwest and the Four Corners Region of New England, according to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/09/23/fall-forecast-warm-autumn-predicted-all-50-states/2418073001/" target="_blank">USA Today</a>. It's a continuation of a warming trend observed for the last few decades.</p>
<p>"During the past 30-35 years, there has been an underlying warm-up in the climate," NOAA meteorologist Anthony Artusa told the publication. "Unless we can predict climate factors or drivers that can override this warm trend (such as El Niño or La Niña), it's best to go with trends."</p><p>Through the end of this week, temperatures will be between 10 and 20 degrees above average across the Deep South and into the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic, reports <a href="https://weather.com/forecast/national/news/2019-09-21-record-high-temperature-southeast-fall" target="_blank">The Weather Channel</a>. NOAA's <a href="https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=4" target="_blank">three-month outlook</a> suggests that through the end of the year, there is a 30 to 50 percent chance that states on both the east and west coasts, the Gulf of Mexico, southern border states and Alaska will see temperatures above normal. Parts of the Midwest and around the Great Lakes are expected to see temperatures near normal. Precipitation is expected to juxtapose that outlook, with the Great Lakes region and parts of the northern Midwest having a high chance of above-average rain and snowfall. Meanwhile, most of California and western Nevada will see lower-than-normal precipitation through the end of the year.</p>
<p>It comes after one of the hottest summers on modern record with <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2019/6/26/18744518/heat-wave-2019-europe-france-germany-spain" target="_blank">deadly heat waves</a> that swept across much of Europe and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/alaska-wildfires-forests-trees-2640081853.html" target="_self">disastrous wildfires</a> that burned through Alaska and parts of the Arctic.</p><p>"The overall retreat in the Beaufort Sea is about as extreme as our analyses have shown in the last 20 years," <a href="https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/raw/fz/fzak30.pafc.ico.afc.txt" target="_blank">wrote</a> the National Weather Service in Anchorage. As the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/09/20/noaas-fall-outlook-above-average-temperatures-everywhere/" target="_blank">Washington Post</a> reported, Alaska's most northern town saw temperatures above freezing since June 25.</p><p>July 2019 was the hottest month on record for the planet with polar <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-ice">sea ice</a> melting to record lows, according to an August statement released by <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/news/july-2019-was-hottest-month-on-record-for-planet" target="_blank">NOAA</a>. Globally, July was 1.71 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average of 60.4 degrees, making it the hottest July since modern records began 140 years ago. A newly <a href="https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/" target="_blank">released analysis</a> of preliminary findings by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) found that sea ice coverage in the Arctic dropped 1.6 million square miles (4.15 square kilometers) over the course of the summer, tying 2019 as the second-lowest year along with 2007 and 2016. The record for lowest sea ice extent is still held by 2012.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The climate crisis is here. Now. The only question is whether we decide to fight for safety and stability. <a href="https://t.co/aCHhFGkFH0">https://t.co/aCHhFGkFH0</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ClimateCrisis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ClimateCrisis</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ActOnClimate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ActOnClimate</a></p>— Enviro Voter Project (@Enviro_Voter) <a href="https://twitter.com/Enviro_Voter/status/1172506502730584064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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