"Oil experts were thinking "it was just a matter of time" before Trump tweeted about it, "and of course this morning he delivers," said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at fuel-savings app GasBuddy. "Everyone's seen gas prices surge across the country," he said.
"But analysts don't expect OPEC to take action to bolster production, which could theoretically ease oil prices. Oil is refined into gasoline, so oil prices have a direct impact on what Americans pay at the pump."
"The Three Mile Island nuclear reactor partially melted down 40 years ago. The disaster near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, occurred early on March 28, 1979, and mesmerized the nation and raised concerns about the release of radioactive material. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it was the most serious in U.S. history at a commercial nuclear power plant. Millions of people in the D.C.-Baltimore area closely watched what was happening after the reactor failed. Today, the reactor remains permanently shut down."
"If it's been a few years since you shopped for a light bulb you might find yourself confused. Those controversial curly-cue ones that were cutting edge not that long ago? Gone. (Or harder to find.) Thanks to a 2007 law signed by President George W. Bush, shelves these days are largely stocked with LED bulbs that look more like the traditional pear-shaped incandescent version, but use just one-fifth the energy."
"A second wave of light bulb changes was set to happen. But now the Trump administration wants to undo an Obama-era regulation designed to make a wide array of specialty light bulbs more energy efficient."
"At issue here are bulbs like decorative globes used in bathrooms, reflectors in recessed lighting, candle-shaped lights and three-way light bulbs. The Natural Resources Defense Council says that, collectively, these account for about 2.7 billion light sockets, nearly half the conventional sockets in use in the U.S."
"No matter how you respond to the stories of climate past and climate future that these books tell, their very appearance may portent the beginning of a cultural transition. As the wild fires and flooding of the last few years demonstrate, climate change isn't just an idea anymore. Now it's something we all see playing out on the news everyday. We are, indeed, in uncharted territory — and we've just started down this road. Given that certainty, whatever hope we can find for the future will be the hope we create."
"Representatives of America’s clean energy companies are withholding their support for the climate-fighting plan, calling it unrealistic and too politically divisive for an industry keen to grow in both red and blue states."
"The cool reaction reflects the difficulty that progressive politicians vying for the White House may have in selling aggressive global-warming policy to the business community and more moderate voters. "
The Save the Pine Bush Dinner was pretty good and the presentation on the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster was fascinating. Fossil fuel transportation is enormously dangerous, and while cutting corners may save oil transporters money in a very competitive industry, the truth is ignoring safety can have disastrous consequences.
I often wonder what I can do to help. I guess I could raise my voice and ask for greater safety, but would I be heard? I could sign petitions maybe lay down on the tracks blocking the trains hoping to win over a news cycle or two. I could vote in elections, vote for supposedly more responsible politicians. But how much would it really change things? We all are prisoners of the times we live in and the institutions that are bigger and more powerful than politicians that supposedly govern them.
I wish there was a simple switch that we could flip to fix all of society’s problems. I wish it was as easy as flipping a switch or blame politicians of another political party. But it’s not that simple and the hour is late. No serious person really believes we will ramp down fossil fuel usage until decades after we are getting harmed in many ways from prolific fossil fuel use.