‘Game-changer’: judge rules in favor of young activists in US climate trial

Against all odds, a Montana state judge sided today with 16 young activists in the country’s first ever constitutional climate case. This trial comes after state lawmakers passed legislation that allowed fossil fuel projects to be permitted without considering greenhouse gas emissions — a violation of their state constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment.”

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‘Game-changer’: judge rules in favor of young activists in US climate trial

Tuesday was world’s hottest day on record – breaking Monday’s record

Average global temperature hits 17.18C and experts expect record to be broken again very soon

Damien Gayle

@damiengayle

Wed 5 Jul 2023 13.47 EDT

World temperature records have been broken for a second day in a row, data suggests, as experts issued a warning that this year’s warmest days are still to come – and with them the warmest days ever recorded.

The average global air temperature was 17.18C (62.9F) on Tuesday, according to data collated by the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), surpassing the record 17.01C reached on Monday.

Read full story at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/05/tuesday-was-worlds-hottest-day-on-record-breaking-mondays-record

Edward Snowden Quote on the Right To Privacy

 “Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.”

HISTORY OF SPILLS: TC Energy’s Keystone pipeline (22 SPILLS: 2010-2022)

(Note: TC Energy’s (formerly TransCanada) “Keystone pipeline” is not to be confused with the company’s proposed “Keystone XL” pipeline — a separate pipeline project that was defeated and cancelled two separate times under Pres. Obama and Pres. Biden. The Keystone 1 pipeline carries up to 720,000 barrels per day of tarsands from Alberta, Canada to refineries in Texas and Illinois.)

TC Energy oil spill PR oil discharge 12-9-22 (Photo: U.S. EPA)

• December 8, 2022: PHMSA issues Corrective Action Order to TC Energy re: Dec. 7 spill.
• #22: Dec. 7, 2022: TC Energy shut down its Keystone pipeline after detecting a leak of 588,000 gallons into a creek near Washington, KS — about 20 miles south of Steele City, NE. “An emergency shutdown and response was initiated at about 9 p.m. CT on Dec. 7 after alarms and a pressure drop in the system, the company said in a release, adding booms were deployed to control downstream migration of the release.” November 5, 2019: PHMSA issues Corrective Action Order to TransCanada re: Oct. 30 spill.
• #21: October 31, 2019: TransCanada’s (“TC Energy”) Keystone pipeline leaked at least 380,000 gallons of tarsands oil and toxic diluents that affected wetlands in northeastern North Dakota. No cause has yet been established.
• #20: February 6, 2019: Keystone pipeline spills 1,800 gallons in St. Charles County, Missouri. After metallurgical analysis of the spill’s cause: “The composite wrap was inadequately designed for the metal loss feature it was to protect, as the applicator’s interpretation of the feature as mechanical damage led to fewer wraps than corrosion given the naming convention used in the composite vendor’s software. Feature direct examination concluded blunt metal loss with no evidence of sharp edges or stress concentrators, and the feature root cause analysis determined the accelerated rate of corrosion was primarily caused by stray direct current interference and was subsequently repaired. The RCFA indicated the primary cause of the leak was a through-wall crack that exhibited signs of fatigue, initiated from localized stress concentrations in the irregular pitted surface of the repaired metal loss feature.” Of note: A 2015 investigation in the same county found Keystone pipe there had “suffered from corrosion so severe that it was worn through 95 percent in some places after being in service for less than two years. In one spot, inspectors found the pipeline was down to a metal layer just one third the thickness of a dime.”
• #19: February 20, 2018: Keystone pipeline spills 15 gallons from a Pump Station in Steele City, Nebraska, blamed on “a leaking float control valve.”

Read the full story here: Keystone Pipeline Spill History | Bold Nebraska

Cop15: key points of the nature deal at a glance

Main points of the historic agreement signed in Montreal to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems

Half Earth Feature Map https://map.half-earthproject.org/featuredGlobe

Agreement to conserve 30% of Earth by the end of the decade

Inspired by the Harvard biologist EO Wilson’s vision of protecting half the planet for the long-term survival of humanity, the most high-profile target at Cop15 has inspired and divided in equal measure. The final wording commits governments to conserving nearly a third of Earth for nature by 2030 while respecting indigenous and traditional territories in the expansion of new protected areas. The language emphasizes the importance of effective conservation management to ensure wetlands, rainforests, grasslands and coral reefs are properly protected, not just on paper.

Read more @ Cop15: key points of the nature deal at a glance

Keystone pipeline shuts down after oil spill in Kansas creek | PBS NewsHour

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An oil spill in a creek in northeastern Kansas shut down a major pipeline that carries oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, briefly causing oil prices to rise Thursday.

Emergency crews work to clean up the largest U.S. crude oil spill in nearly a decade, following the leak at the Keystone pipeline operated by TC Energy in rural Washington County, Kansas, Dec. 9, 2022. Photo by Drone Base/REUTERS

Canada-based TC Energy said it shut down its Keystone system Wednesday night following a drop in pipeline pressure. It said oil spilled into a creek in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City.

Continue reading at: Keystone pipeline shuts down after oil spill in Kansas creek | PBS NewsHour

Find Corridor-Focused Organizations // LandScope America

A wildlife corridor, habitat corridor, or green corridor^[1] is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of individuals between populations, which may help prevent the negative effects of inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity (via genetic drift) that often occur within isolated populations. (Wikipedia)

A green forest corridor in Brazil. Picture credit: Wikipedia.

Find Corridor-Focused Organizations // LandScope America