Day: December 14, 2019💾

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Why lawful CA gun owners are being denied ammunition purchases | The Sacramento Bee

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Why lawful CA gun owners are being denied ammunition purchases | The Sacramento Bee

Zachary Berg usually buys guns and ammunition with relative ease. After all, he’s a Sutter County sheriff’s deputy and needs them for his job. California’s stringent gun laws usually don’t apply to him.

But Berg couldn’t buy shotgun shells at his local hardware store in Yuba City prior to a duck hunting trip last month. He was rejected under California’s stringent ammunition background check program that took effect July 1, because his personal information didn’t match what state officials had in their database.

Berg was one of tens of thousands of Californians who have been turned away from buying ammunition at firearms and sporting goods stores, even though they appear to be lawfully able to do so, a Sacramento Bee review of state data shows. Between July 1 and November, nearly one in every five ammunition purchases was rejected by the California Department of Justice, the figures show.
Map: Big Pond

Europe threatens U.S. with carbon tariffs to combat climate change – POLITICO

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Europe threatens U.S. with carbon tariffs to combat climate change – POLITICO

MADRID — European countries frustrated by inaction on climate change are taking a lesson from President Donald Trump’s trade wars — and threatening carbon tariffs on laggards like the United States.

By imposing tariffs on goods from the U.S. and other countries that lack tough climate policies, the Europeans would help their own industries avoid being handicapped by the EU’s greenhouse gas efforts. But if they hit the U.S., they would risk a worsening trade war with the Trump administration, which has already threatened hefty tariffs on goods such as French champagne and German autos over a range of competition disputes.

Tearing down the smoke stack from the old ANSWERS plant

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I am glad they are tearing down the smoke stack from the old ANSWERS plant in Albany 🏭 …

It’s a sign of a commitment at one level that the state is moving away somewhat from fossil fuels over the next few decades and not doubling down on a new natural gas co-generation plant.

While the new plant may have reduced net carbon emissions in the short run and it would have increased local toxic emissions in Sheridan Hollow. But just as importantly, it would have locked the Empire Plaza into a major fossil fuel investment that would mean carbon emissions would be stuck at the same level for decades to come.

For now, the tearing down of the ANSWERS plant smoke stack is mostly symbolic. The smoke stack has been smoke free for over a decade as the price of heavy oil has made it unecononic to operate compared to the natural gas burners. It’s been 25 years since ANSWERS last burned shredded garbage as the black snow and pollution it produced with its primative pollution controls. But at least it sends a message about the future.

Does anything really change by tearing down the smoke stack? No. But maybe it’s a step towards a cleaner future, one that invests in renewables and not fossil fuels.