Experts: Whitmer has upper hand in Line 5 case, but May shutdown is uncertain | Bridge Michigan

Their rationale was twofold: Michigan should never have granted the easement in the first place, Whitmer and Eichinger wrote, because allowing Enbridge to transport oil through the Straits poses a spill risk that “cannot be reconciled with the public’s right in the Great Lakes and the state’s duty to protect them.” 

It could be months or years before Michiganders know for sure when or whether Enbridge must decommission Line 5, legal experts say. (Shutterstock photo by JHVEPhoto)

Second, state officials determined Enbridge has repeatedly violated the terms of its easement by failing to properly support the pipeline, allowing the pipe to bend in ways that could compromise its structural integrity, and failing to maintain the pipeline’s protective coating, among other issues.

Continue reading at: Experts: Whitmer has upper hand in Line 5 case, but May shutdown is uncertain | Bridge Michigan

UK plans to bring forward ban on fossil fuel vehicles to 2030

Forgot to share this ambitious decision of a conservative government. Definitely not the same as the Trump administration.

The UK is poised to bring forward its ban on new fossil fuel vehicles from 2040 to 2030 to help speed up the rollout of electric vehicles across British roads.

Graeme Cooper, the director in charge of National Grid’s electric vehicle project, told the Guardian that fears over the UK electricity grid’s ability to cope with a boom in vehicle charging are unfounded. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Boris Johnson is expected to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles this autumn with the announcement, one of a string of new clean energy policies to help trigger a green economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The government had hoped to set out the plans as early as this week, according to sources in the energy and transport industries, but the announcement will be delayed until later this year as it focuses on tackling the rising number of coronavirus cases.

Continue reading at: UK plans to bring forward ban on fossil fuel vehicles to 2030

Governor Whitmer takes legal action to force shut down of Enbridge’s Line 5 | Michigan Radio

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer plans to revoke the easement the state granted in 1953 that allows Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 to cross the Straits of Mackinac.

Enbridge Energy's 67 year old dual pipeline named Line 5 lies on the bottom of the Mackinac Straits connecting Lakes Michigan and Huron. It's near the Mackinac Bridge.

Credit Lester Graham / Michigan Radio

The announcement came as the Department of Natural Resources released a review of Enbridge’s record over the 67 years the Line 5 dual pipelines have sat on the bottom of the Straits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The DNR cited the Canadian pipeline company’s “historic failures and current non-compliance” as reasons to revoke the easement.

“The Notice concludes that Enbridge’s Line 5 is a grave and unreasonable risk to the state’s residents and natural resources and requires the pipeline to be shut down 180 days from now, on May 12, 2021,” a release from Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office said.

Continue reading at: Governor Whitmer takes legal action to force shut down of Enbridge’s Line 5 | Michigan Radio

Happy 200th birthday to Eunice Foote, hidden climate science pioneer | NOAA Climate.gov

Eunice Foote described the Climate Crisis more than 200 years ago!

She was the first scientist known to have experimented on the warming effect of sunlight on different gases, and went on to theorize that changing the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would change its temperature, in her paper Circumstances affecting the heat of the sun's rays at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in 1856.

Continue reading at: Happy 200th birthday to Eunice Foote, hidden climate science pioneer | NOAA Climate.gov

Study: Fix to food climate problem doesn't require veganism

Changing our diet can solve some of the Climate Crisis.

 In this Dec. 9, 2015 file photo, cattle graze in a pasture against a backdrop of wind turbines near Vesper, Kan. A study published on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020 in the journal Science, says how we grow, eat and waste food is a big climate change problem that may keep the world from reaching its temperature-limiting goals. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

The world likely can’t keep global warming to a relatively safe minimum unless we change how we grow, eat and throw away our food, but we don’t need to all go vegan, a new study says.

Researchers looked at five types of broad fixes to the food system and calculated how much they fight warming. They found that sampling a buffet of partial fixes for all five, instead of just diving into the salad bar, can get the job done, according to a study published in Thursday’s journal Science.

Continue reading at: Study: Fix to food climate problem doesn't require veganism

Original article: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/11/food-and-farming-could-stymie-climate-efforts-researchers-say 

Biden/Harris Win

Finally!

election - Google Search

A crucial collapse in 'The Ministry for the Future' » Yale Climate Connections

Called the “greatest political novelist” of our time by the New Yorker, Kim Stanley Robinson has infused his science fiction with real-life political, sociological, and ecological concerns for decades. He’s a writer who does his research. His work is often pegged as “hard” science-fiction for the level of detail with which he writes about social and technological advances. But he’s equally known for his optimism. His 2017 novel New York 2140 depicts a New York City half-submerged by rising seas, but by the story’s end, the city’s collective action suggests that a more just and sustainable future lies ahead.

Continue reading at: A crucial collapse in 'The Ministry for the Future' » Yale Climate Connections