Labor and Working – Page 185 – The Tarbabys Blog

More than 65 million Americans are experiencing ‘severe to exceptional drought’

Yahoo! Finance

More than 65 million Americans are experiencing ‘severe to exceptional drought’

Grace O’Donnell, Assistant Editor – June 13, 2022

As of May 31, around 90 million Americans were being affected by drought while more than 65 million were experiencing “severe to extreme drought,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The Western and Southwestern states are particularly parched — nearly three-quarters of the Western region is in a state of severe to exceptional drought.

“There are a lot of downstream effects when it comes to a drought like this,” Andrew Hoell, a co-lead on the NOAA Drought Task Force, told Yahoo Finance.

Hoell explained that drought isn’t just a matter of precipitation but can be exacerbated by the evaporative effects of higher temperatures and inadequate snowpack runoff in the winter.

“By the time it’s summertime,” he said, “that vegetation is really dry. And if you get a spark, and you get a series of unfortunate events in that regard, you then have wildfires. So when it comes to drought in the West, there are just a variety and a spectrum of effects that you can feel later on whether it’s water resources and fires and reduced agricultural yields. The effects are numerous.”

Depleted water reservoirs and wildfire damage are already taking a toll on residents and businesses. The Hermits Peak Fire, which continues to blaze in New Mexico, has already scorched around 315,830 acres.

Meanwhile, states like California have instituted severe water restrictions, though water consumption has continued to rise. On an even grimmer note, low water levels at Lake Mead have threatened hydropower plants and exposed bodies once submerged in the reservoirs.

While conditions may ease slightly as the region enters its summer monsoon season, the outlook remains dry as the region navigates a historic, multi-decade megadrought.

A number of states including California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and tribal nations like the Navajo Nation have all declared drought states of emergency and allocated resources for managing the water crisis.

Nick Messing pull a kayaks down to the waters edge at Wahweap Marina at Lake Powell on April 6, 2022 in Page, Arizona when water levels at Lake Powell were at a historic low. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Population growth

Since 2000, droughts have cost the U.S. around $160.8 billion, according to the NOAA. That figure jumps to $272 billion when accounting for destructive wildfires that are more prone in arid conditions.

With water already becoming more scarce, the increasing population in the West — and therefore demand for water — has inflamed the situation.

An Economic Innovation Group report using county-level population data found that the trend of people moving to water-starved states has only accelerated during the pandemic.

Inland California, the Mountain West, and eastern Texas saw the greatest growth, and overall, 10 of the top 15 counties for population growth were in the Western U.S: Maricopa County, Arizona (Phoenix), was ranked first, followed by Collin County, Texas, and Riverside County, California.

A graph showing the projected rise in population in drought-prone areas. (EIG)

“The map of these demographic shifts shows some familiar pre-pandemic trends and some new patterns,” the author stated. “Overall, the Sunbelt and the Mountain West continued to outshine the rest of the country. Remote rural counties in eastern Oregon and northern Idaho experienced robust population growth while every single county in Nevada gained population.”

Another EIG study found that an additional 20 million residents could move to drought-stricken counties by 2040. Water managers are already balancing razor-thin water budgets at current population levels.

“With reservoirs at record low levels throughout the West and the effects of sustained drought conditions increasingly being felt from agriculture to development, one of the most far-reaching questions in the United States over the coming decades is whether growth trends will ultimately collide with nature’s ability to sustain such a large influx of people,” Daniel Newman, the report’s author, wrote.

Fire and water

Doling out water supplies isn’t the only issue residents have to contend with.

Suburban neighborhoods sprawling out into more rural areas are creating a more substantial wild-urban interface at the same time as the wildfire season creeps earlier and longer.

In the last month, two Colorado Springs neighborhoods were evacuated due to fires, as were the owners of coastal California mansions caught in a blaze. For those unfortunate enough to sustain damage from fires, it can leave lasting financial scars in addition to physical and emotional ones.

The damage to a neighborhood and its multi-million dollar homes is show three-weeks after a wind-driven wildfire burned through a canyon May 11 and into their neighborhood in Laguna Niguel, California , U.S., June 1, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Mike Blake — The damage to a neighborhood is shown after a wind-driven wildfire burned through a canyon and into their neighborhood in Laguna Niguel, California, June 1, 2022. REUTERS/Mike Blake

“Most people in the Western United States are very underinsured because they base the amount of insurance coverage on the average cost to rebuild” despite higher property costs in some regions like Lake Tahoe, California, Christina Restaino of the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension said in a webinar.

According to Restaino, the current water crisis “underscores the need to prepare communities for wildfire, because when these large emergency incidents occur what we end up having to do is use a ton of water in an already water-scarce environment to suppress wildfires.”

There are some steps residents in high-risk areas can take to protect themselves, however.

“The No. 1 thing that people can do is to create a 5-foot ember-resistant zone around their house, so you don’t want to have anything combustible within five feet around your house,” she said. “Second-easiest thing, I would say, is to screen all of your vents.”

Of equal importance, “be prepared to evacuate,” Restaino stressed. “If you have medications that you take or important things you cannot leave home without, make sure you have backups of all those in an evacuation go-bag.”

A sign indicating extreme fire danger is pictured at Storrie Lake State Park as the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon wildfires burn near Las Vegas, New Mexico, May 2, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt

While the current period of intense drought may ease in months or years as it has in previous years, rising temperatures due to climate change mean that many will have to get used to living with these risks.

“If I had to guess — and if there is a silver lining here — if we’re to look at the next 10 years, will they necessarily be as bad as the last 10 years in terms of precipitation?” Hoell said. “I would say probably not.”

He added that the primary problem “is the climate has not shown any indication of warming temperatures slowing down. That right there is a problem in and of itself because it changes the amount of snow that you get during the wintertime, changes the amount of snow that then makes its way into reservoirs, thereby replenishing them. So we have these different factors that kind of commingled to bring together this hydrologic situation that is not ideal for us right now.”

Grace is an assistant editor for Yahoo Finance.

Yellowstone floods wipe out roads, bridges, strand visitors

Associated Press

Yellowstone floods wipe out roads, bridges, strand visitors

Amy Beth Hanson – June 13, 2022

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Massive floodwaters ravaged Yellowstone National Park and nearby communities Monday, washing out roads and bridges, cutting off electricity and forcing visitors to evacuate parts of the iconic park at the height of summer tourist season.

All entrances to Yellowstone were closed due to the deluge, caused by heavy rains and melting snowpack, while park officials ushered tourists out of the most affected areas. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Some of the worst damage happened in the northern part of the park and Yellowstone’s gateway communities in southern Montana. National Park Service photos of northern Yellowstone showed a landslide, a bridge washed out over a creek, and roads badly undercut by churning floodwaters of the Gardner and Lamar rivers.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, though dozens of stranded campers had to be rescued by raft in south-central Montana.

The flooding cut off road access to Gardiner, Montana, a town of about 900 people near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Gardner rivers, just outside Yellowstone’s busy North Entrance.

At a cabin in Gardiner, Parker Manning of Terra Haute, Indiana, got an up-close view of the water rising and the river bank sloughing off in the raging Yellowstone River floodwaters just outside his door.

“We started seeing entire trees floating down the river, debris,” Manning told The Associated Press. “Saw one crazy single kayaker coming down through, which was kind of insane.”

The Yellowstone River at Corwin Springs crested at 13.88 feet (4.2 meters) Monday, higher than the previous record of 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) set in 1918, according the the National Weather Service.

Floodwaters inundated a street in Red Lodge, a Montana town of 2,100 that’s a popular jumping-off point for a scenic, winding route into the Yellowstone high country. Twenty-five miles (40 kilometers) to the northeast, in Joliet, Kristan Apodaca wiped away tears as she stood across the street from a washed-out bridge, The Billings Gazette reported.

The log cabin that belonged to her grandmother, who died in March, flooded, as did the park where Apodaca’s husband proposed.

“I am sixth-generation. This is our home,” she said. “That bridge I literally drove yesterday. My mom drove it at 3 a.m. before it was washed out.”

Yellowstone officials were evacuating the northern part of the park, where roads may remain impassable for a substantial length of time, park Superintendent Cam Sholly said in a statement.

But the flooding affected the rest of the park, too, with park officials warning of yet higher flooding and potential problems with water supplies and wastewater systems at developed areas.

“We will not know timing of the park’s reopening until flood waters subside and we’re able to assess the damage throughout the park,” Sholly said in the statement.

The park’s gates will be closed at least through Wednesday, officials said. It is unclear how many visitors have been forced to leave the park.

The rains hit right as summer tourist season was ramping up. June, at the onset of an annual wave of over 3 million visitors that doesn’t abate until fall, is one of Yellowstone’s busiest months.

Remnants of winter — in the form of snow still melting off and rushing off the mountains — made for an especially bad time to get heavy rain.

Yellowstone got 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) of rain Saturday, Sunday and into Monday. The Beartooth Mountains northeast of Yellowstone got as much as 4 inches (10 centimeters), according to the National Weather Service.

“It’s a lot of rain, but the flooding wouldn’t have been anything like this if we didn’t have so much snow,” said Cory Mottice, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Billings, Montana. “This is flooding that we’ve just never seen in our lifetimes before.”

The rain will likely abate while cooler temperatures lessen snowmelt in coming days, Mottice said.

In south-central Montana, flooding on the Stillwater River stranded 68 people at a campground. Stillwater County Emergency Services agencies and crews with the Stillwater Mine rescued people Monday from the Woodbine Campground by raft. Some roads in the area are closed due to flooding and residents have been evacuated.

“We will be assessing the loss of homes and structures when the waters recede,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

The flooding happened while other parts of the U.S. burned in hot and dry weather. More than 100 million Americans were being warned to stay indoors as a heat wave settles over states stretching through parts of the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes and east to the Carolinas.

Elsewhere in the West, crews from California to New Mexico battled wildfires in hot, dry and windy weather.

Scientists say climate change is responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme events such as storms, droughts, floods and wildfires, though single weather events usually cannot be directly linked to climate change without extensive study.

Associated Press writers Thomas Peipert in Denver and Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colorado, contributed to this report.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine accounts for more than a third of U.S. inflation

Market Watch – Economy & Politics

The Russian invasion of Ukraine accounts for more than a third of U.S. inflation, forecaster says

Steve Goldstein – June 13, 2022

A soldier maneuvers his tank on June 08, 2022 near Sloviansk, Ukraine. In recent weeks, Russia has concentrated its firepower on Ukraine’s Donbas region, where it has long backed two separatist regions at war with the Ukrainian government since 2014. **SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES**

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions that it triggered is behind more than a third of the 40-year high inflation of 8.6%, according to analysis from a leading forecaster.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, says after decomposing the numbers, the Russian invasion represented 3.5% year-over-year growth, mostly through the direct of higher commodity prices. But, he added on a podcast by the firm that higher diesel prices causes food prices to be higher, and it’s also bleeding into things like airfares.

The COVID-19 pandemic, he said, represented 2% year-over-year growth, mostly through supply chains.

“The bulk of the supply chain constraint component on CPI is new and used vehicles, but it also includes bedding, furniture, children’s apparel, things that are really affected by the supply chains,” added Ryan Sweet, senior director at Moody’s Analytics.

The lack of affordable housing is further responsible for 0.6% year-over-year price growth, according to Moody’s calculations.

He said the American Rescue Plan, the stimulus plan that President Biden signed into law, had a negligible impact.

In all, Zandi says the typical American household is paying $460 per month more to buy the same goods and services that they would have at the same time last year.

Cris DeRitis, deputy chief economist, said the inflation readings may not have peaked. “But as we get past the summer, past the summer driving season, I think then you might to see some of that moderation,” he said. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Blame monopolies for today’s sky-high inflation, Boston Fed researchers say

Insider – Home Economy

Blame monopolies for today’s sky-high inflation, Boston Fed researchers say

Ben Winck – May 26, 2022

Grocery store shopper inflation — Grocery shopping in Rosemead, California on April 21, 2022.

Dwindling industrial competition has made the US’s inflation problem even worse, Fed researchers said.
A new paper found that increased concentration led firms to pass a greater share of cost shocks onto consumers.
Weaker competition also amplified the inflation impacts of the labor shortage and rising energy prices.

The decades-long decline of industry competition made today’s inflation crisis much worse than it needed to be, researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston said in a new paper.

The US’s industrial concentration problem isn’t anything new. The economy is at least 50% more concentrated now than it was in 2005, according to the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, a commonly used measure of industry concentration. That means a smaller group of companies control the lion’s share of their respective sectors.

Companies typically pass higher input costs on to consumer prices. Yet that pass-through “becomes about 25 percentage points greater when there is an increase in concentration similar to the one observed since the beginning of this century,” Fed economists Falk Bräuning, José L. Fillat, and Gustavo Joaquim said. Put simply, dwindling industry competition leads to companies raising prices at a much faster pace.

The pass-through happens through a variety of channels, according to the paper. The rise in concentration over the past two decades has been an “amplifying factor” to cost shocks from supply shortages, energy price spikes, and the labor shortage, the team said.

All three trends have been rife in the US economy over the past several months. Lockdowns in China roiled the global supply chain in 2021, and rising coronavirus case counts in Beijing threaten to repeat that cycle. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine boosted energy prices around the world. And the labor market is the tightest it’s been in decades, with job openings at record highs and companies still struggling to find available workers.

Encouragingly, the above-trend price increases don’t last forever, the economists said. When companies face cost shocks, they tend to pass those on to consumers over the next four quarters before returning to a more typical inflation trend. The fastest inflation typically arrives one quarter after the cost shock, according to the study. The pace of price growth then slows over the next three quarters.

Still, the research details yet another dynamic that’s allowed US inflation to recently hit its highest level since the 1980s. While factors like the labor shortage and rising energy prices are practically guaranteed to lift inflation, companies represent a critical junction between higher input costs and higher prices paid by Americans. The Boston Fed’s research signals that, unless competition rebounds, the economy will be even more susceptible to inflationary shocks in the future.

Off-grid living beckons more than just hardy pioneer types. Here’s why it’s taking off.

USA Today

Off-grid living beckons more than just hardy pioneer types. Here’s why it’s taking off.

Katherine Roth – June 12, 2022

The Solterre Concept House in Nova Scotia, an off-grid home featured in the book "Downsize, Living Large In a Small House" by Sheri Koones. — The Solterre Concept House in Nova Scotia, an off-grid home featured in the book “Downsize, Living Large In a Small House” by Sheri Koones.

Living off-grid conjures images of survivalists in remote places and a rustic, “Little House on the Prairie” lifestyle with chores from morning to night.

Yet only a tiny fraction of people living off-grid do it like that, and fewer still live more than an hour from any town.

“Living off-grid doesn’t mean you don’t buy your groceries at a store or take your waste to the local dump,” says Gary Collins, who has lived off-grid, or mostly off-grid, for a decade. “It just means you are not connected to utility grids.”

He has published books on the subject, and leads online classes.

Although precise numbers of off-grid households are hard to come by, Collins estimates that only 1% of those living off-grid are in truly remote areas. Overall, the off-grid movement remains small. But it got a boost after the COVID-19 pandemic hit: City dwellers began to explore different ways of living.

Off-grid living unique to each person

More-frequent power outages, utility grids’ struggles and price hikes to handle the severe weather events brought on by climate change have added to interest.

The view from an off-grid guest house in Hollister Ranch, Calif., one of the last remaining undeveloped coastal areas in California, located on a wildlife preserve. The Anacapa Architecture firm, in Santa Barbara, California, and Portland, Oregon, has designed several upscale off-grid homes in recent years, and has several more off-grid projects in the works.

There are also those who remain connected to the grid but try to power their homes independent of it. Author Sheri Koones, whose books about sustainable houses include “Prefabulous and Almost Off the Grid,” cites the rise in “net metering,” when your property’s renewable energy source – usually solar – is producing more energy than you use, and your local utility pays you for the excess.

Today, off-grid living encompasses everything from “dry camping” in RVs (with no electrical or water hookups) to swank Santa Barbara estates, from modest dwellings tucked just outside of towns to – yes – remote rustic cabins.

Mount Jefferson looms over off-grid homes at the Three Rivers Recreational Area in Lake Billy Chinook, Ore., on April 26, 2007. Everyone in this community lives "off the grid", part of a growing number of homeowners now drawing all their power from solar, wind, propane and other sources. — Mount Jefferson looms over off-grid homes at the Three Rivers Recreational Area in Lake Billy Chinook, Ore., on April 26, 2007. Everyone in this community lives “off the grid”, part of a growing number of homeowners now drawing all their power from solar, wind, propane and other sources.

“Everyone does it differently and everyone does it their own way, because it’s their own adventure,” Collins says.

Elegant designs for a modern feel

The Anacapa Architecture firm, in Santa Barbara, California, and Portland, Oregon, has built several upscale off-grid homes in recent years, and has several more off-grid projects in the works.

“There’s definitely an increase in traction for this kind of lifestyle, especially in the last two years,” says Jon Bang, marketing and PR coordinator for Anacapa Architecture. “There’s a desire to get more in tune with nature.”

The lifestyle that Anacapa homes aim for is one of modernist elegance, not roughing it. Bang says new technologies can ensure comfortable self-sufficiency.

Another image of an off-grid guest house in Hollister Ranch, Calif., designed by The Anacapa Architecture firm. A high level of sensitivity to environmental impacts was exercised throughout all phases of design and construction, the firm says.

Such homes also are carefully designed to take advantage of the site’s landscape features with an eye to sustainability. For example, one of the firm’s homes is built into a hillside and has a green roof.

For those without the means to hire architects, there are numerous recent books, blogs, YouTube videos and more dedicated to the subject.

“A lot of people are interested in it now,” Collins says. “They contact me after watching something on TV or on YouTube and I tell them, `If you learned everything you know on YouTube, you are never going to survive.'”

He makes regular grocery runs, but also grows some of his own food and hunts wild game. He has his own septic system and well. While his previous home was entirely off-grid, with solar panels and a wind turbine for power, his current home is hooked up to an electrical grid, mainly, he says, because the bills are too low to warrant the cost of solar panels.

The off-grid guest house in Hollister Ranch, Calif., designed by the Anacapa Architecture firm, has nearly 360-degree views of the Pacific Ocean.

What health and safety considerations factor into the off-grid lifestyle?

If you want to be totally self-sufficient, he says, it takes a lot of time and physical effort. You won’t have time to hold down a job. If you’re living in a remote location, you need to consider access to medical care, and whether you are mentally prepared for that much isolation.

“Your wood won’t cut itself. You’ll have to haul water,” he says, warning, “People die off-grid all the time, because of things like chain saw accidents. You have to be very careful and think everything through. No EMS will get to you in time.”

And depending on how it’s done, he says, off-grid living is not necessarily environmentally sustainable – not if you’re driving a fuel-guzzling truck and relying on a gas-powered generator, for example.

Still, improved alternative energy sources and construction techniques are making off-grid living more thinkable for more people, including those who don’t want to haul buckets of water from a well or live by candlelight.

Where did the off-grid movement begin?

Experimental architect Michael Reynolds pioneered the off-grid movement, which gained popularity in the early 1970s in Taos, New Mexico, according to the Taos Pueblo Tourism Department.

Reynolds designed off-the-grid homes called Earthships, according to Earthship Visitor Center, using sustainable building practices, including the usage of discarded steel and tin cans for the foundation of homes.

Architect and experimental house builder Michael Reynolds who used a variety of recycled materials to complete his first experimental home near Taos in 1974. Owned by lawyer Steve Natelson, shown in the picture, the home had a lawn on the roof, a common feature of sustainable design today, but an unusual concept for homes at the time. This experimental lawn required daily attention because of the dry environment.

Inspired by the problem of trash and the lack of affordable housing, Reynolds created the “can brick” out of discarded steel and tin cans.

Architect and experimental house builder Michael Reynolds who lives near Taos, New Mexico, used tires, empty steel beer and soft drink cans as some of the materials used to build the structure, with a goal of building homes 20% cheaper than conventional methods at the time.

Interior view of the all aluminum beer and soft drink can experimental house near Taos, New Mexico.

This photo from June 1974 shows a well housing that architect and experimental house builder Michael Reynolds built from old tires that have been covered with plaster.

Iterations of these homes evolved over the next decade to incorporate passive solar and natural ventilation.

Reynolds’ legacy continues to be a presence in the region today through a fully off-the-grid community, using exclusively solar and wind power, northwest of Taos. The community sits on over 600 acres and includes more than 300 acres of shared land.

USA TODAY producer Camille Fine contributed.

Mark Meadows Burned Papers After Talk About Tossing Election Results, Ex-Aide Says

HuffPost

Mark Meadows Burned Papers After Talk About Tossing Election Results, Ex-Aide Says

Mary Papenfuss – June 12, 2022

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows destroyed documents after a meeting about overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election, a former aide said Sunday on CNN.

Alyssa Farah Griffin said a source with “first-hand knowledge” provided testimony to the House panel probing the insurrection that Meadows burned papers in his office after meeting with Rep. Scott Perry (R-Penn.) about challenging the election.

“I expect to see that come out in testimony” before the House committee investigating the insurrection, she added.

Another former Meadows aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, said she watched Meadows burn the documents in her account before House select committee investigators, Politico reported last month.

The meeting with Perry occurred an unspecified number of weeks after the election while Trump and supporters were desperately casting around for ways to change the vote, according to Politico.

Hutchinson also told the panel that Meadows was warned of possible violence on Jan. 6, 2021, but it was unclear what action, if any, he took in response.

Griffin may have been referring to Cassidy as her source with first-hand knowledge of the destruction of documents by Meadows. Hutchinson is expected to testify in the ongoing televised hearings held by the House panel.

Perry was pressuring Meadows to take action regarding the election, according to his emails to Meadows released by the House committee.

“Mark, just checking in as time continues to count down. 11 days to 1/6 and 25 days to inauguration. We gotta get going!” he wrote to Meadows late last year in one of the messages.

Perry was one of “multiple” Republican lawmakers who asked the Trump administration for pardons following the insurrection, House committee Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said at the hearing last week. But Perry’s office denied that.

The full extent of Meadows’ role in the insurrection, or what possible charges he could face, is not yet clear.

Flagstaff wildfire forces evacuations, steadily grows

Associated Press

Flagstaff wildfire forces evacuations, steadily grows

Felicia Fonseca – June 12, 2022

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Evacuations are in effect in parts of northern Arizona as a wildfire about 6 miles (9 kilometers) north of Flagstaff steadily grew Sunday, authorities said.

Coconino National Forest officials said the Pipeline Fire was reported at 10:15 a.m. by a fire lookout and had burned approximately 4,000-5,000 acres by late Sunday, pushing about 15 miles (24 kilometers).

In connection with the fire, Forest Service law enforcement said they have arrested and charged a 57-year-old man with natural resource violations. The cause of the wildfire wasn’t immediately known.

Coconino County Sheriff’s officials said the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort and people living in the area of the west Schultz Pass Road must evacuate. People living in Doney Park and the area near Mt. Elden should be prepared.

Euelda King and her family evacuated their home for the second time this year because of wildfires. She hadn’t settled back in from a springtime blaze before leaving again Sunday, this time able to grab photographs and clothing she didn’t get earlier.

“Here we go again,” she said.

The family of 11 is planning to stay at the Navajo Nation casino, which is offering assistance to tribal members who evacuated.

The family was waiting in a parking lot ahead of road closure signs, watching smoke billow through the air and aircraft flying overhead.

“The winds are high, and I think they’re going to have a little bit of a battle with it,” King said.

Wind gusts were sweeping the smoke through Schultz Pass toward Doney Park and authorities said recreationists were being told to leave immediately, especially those in the Schultz Pass area.

The American Red Cross Arizona opened a shelter at Sinagua Middle School for residents who evacuated.

“With this thing going as fast as it is, it could get much closer, of course hoping it doesn’t,” King said.

Authorities said 13 engines, nine crews, six prevention patrol units, three bulldozers and one water tender were involved in the fighting the fire. An Incident Management Team is scheduled to arrive Monday.

The Arizona Department of Transportation has closed U.S. Route 89. The department said in a Twitter post that there is no estimated time to reopen the road.

Shell Is Looking To Shake Up The Energy Game In Texas

Oilprice.com

Shell Is Looking To Shake Up The Energy Game In Texas

Editor OilPrice.com – June 12, 2022

For years now, we have seen a growing divide between oil supermajors in Europe and the United States, as Big Oil has split into two factions on opposite sides of the Atlantic over what to do in response to climate change and increasing global calls for decarbonization. As climate activists grow louder and policymakers ramp up the pressure on the fossil fuels sector to clean up its act, European companies have rushed to diversify their portfolios and rebrand themselves as Big Energy. Meanwhile, in the U.S. Big Oil has stood its ground and doubled down on oil and gas, instead investing in schemes such as carbon capture, carbon offsetting, and biofuels.

The approach in the United States has been criticized as insufficient to meet global climate goals at best and greenwashing at worst. Environmentalists point out that strategies such as carbon capture and offsetting do not discourage the extraction of fossil fuels at a time when we should be doing everything we can to keep them in the ground. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading global body reporting on the science of global warming, has said that avoiding the worst impacts of climate change will require “immediate and deep” cuts in emissions in all countries.

On the other side of the argument, Big Oil in the United States points to the massive potential economic fallout and decline in energy security and independence that may come with a swift transition to green energy. And what of the massive infrastructure costs and all of the jobs that will be displaced? As it stands, the U.S. is extremely reliant on the fossil fuels industry, and breaking that dependence will inevitably cause serious growing pains. A recent study found that “between 2015 and 2020, fossil fuels generated roughly $138 billion each year for US localities, states, tribes, and the federal government.” That’s a lot to lose.

But while Big Oil has been dragging its feet on the renewable revolution on this side of the pond, European supermajors have seen the writing on the wall, and have made enormous advances in the field of clean energy that threatens to bury any competition from the U.S. once renewables become the norm and oil and gas slowly but surely become overshadowed and then obsolete.

Already, Europe is moving into the United States and setting up shop, in none other than Texas, the oil and gas heartland. Shell announced this week that it will begin selling electricity generated from renewable sources directly to residents and businesses in the Lone Star State. In doing so, the company will increase consumer access to the state’s already abundant supply of wind and solar power, and offer them incentives to move over to their team. “It’s a significant, serious move but also not a surprise,” Michael Webber, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, told the New York Times. “They can see the future as well as anyone, and they are not in denial about climate change.”

Shell’s play is one of the first in what is going to be a seriously competitive market to sell clean electricity to U.S. consumers, in what is going to be an exploding market with huge growth opportunities. The supermajor will likely be directly competing with Big Tech companies like Tesla, Google, and Apple, which have been at the forefront of the charge toward clean energy development in the U.S. “The irony is it should be coming from existing utilities, but generally speaking they have been very resistant,” said Amy Myers Jaffe, managing director at the Climate Policy Lab at the Tufts Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

In fact, Shell noted that one of the reasons that it is prioritizing Texas as its first market is that “more than 26 million of the state’s nearly 29 million residents were served by a single grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas [ERCOT].” In fact, more opportunities to buy more energy outside of ERCOT can’t come fast enough, as Texas is staring down the barrel of potentially massive energy shortages during summer heat waves.

Climate advocates and skeptics alike can agree on one thing: becoming competitive with Europe will be essential to the future security of the United States economy. The U.S. energy sector has already lost valuable time investing in infrastructure and technology to stay relevant in a changing global energy sector. Oil prices may be high now, but fossil fuels are a fickle friend. On a long enough timeline, clean energy investing is a no-brainer. Just ask Shell.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

I took a CO2 detector on a flight: It showed me when I was most likely exposed to COVID

USA Today

I took a CO2 detector on a flight: It showed me when I was most likely exposed to COVID

Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY – June 12, 2022

DENVER — On seat 10D, my eyes flicker between my fellow passengers crammed in the aisle and the carbon dioxide detector balanced on my knee.

I can’t help but shudder a little every time someone coughs or sneezes as they board, and the numbers on the detector climb steadily, from about 800 parts per million to more than 1,600 ppm.

Experts say that the level of carbon dioxide in indoor air is an easy proxy for potential COIVD-19 exposure, and now that masks are voluntary on planes and international arrivals no longer have to test, I wanted to see what my potential risk was.

Outdoor air typically has less than 400 ppm of carbon dioxide, and although the levels of CO2 on my plane never reach anything near what’s considered even mildly unhealthy, the numbers suggest I’m being exposed to coronavirus. I can’t help but touch my mask for reassurance.

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USA TODAY reporter Trevor Hughes on a United Express flight to Dulles International Airport on April 18, 2022.

I’m wearing a mask on this flight to visit my elderly parents in Vermont. The last time I visited, I was on one of the last mandatory masked flights, and I’ve taken several flights since then, sometimes masked, sometimes not.

Nationally, about 300 people a day are dying from COVID still. While rapid tests are now widely available, they only measure whether you’re infected. There’s no way to know about the people around you – especially when many people don’t seem to care whether they’re infected or not, or what the consequences could be for my parents or other at-risk communities.

That’s where the CO2 detector comes in. I bought a $140 KOPUO tester from Amazon, which an expert later tells me is one of the cheapest but still accurate detectors. Cheaper ones use a different measuring system that can be inaccurate if there’s a lot of hand sanitizer being used around it.

Why measure CO2?

An area with high CO2 levels may put you at higher risk for infection, while a space with low CO2 levels can be considered safer, says University of Colorado-Boulder Prof. Jose-Luis Jimenez.

Jimenez is an expert on how particles and gases move around a room, and he’s tested lots of inexpensive CO2 detectors and found that many are remarkably accurate compared to laboratory-grade equipment.

“It’s the only thing that we have found that approximates having this information,” Jimenez said. “It’s not perfect, because everyone exhales carbon dioxide, but not every who exhales has COVID.”

Jimenez and his colleagues found that in a library, if an influx of people makes CO2 levels double from 800 ppm to 1,600, COVID transmission risk triples. And if CO2 levels in a gym drop from 2,800 ppm to 1,000, the risk of COVID-19 transmission drops 75%.

There are of course caveats to his models, particularly when it comes to masks, airplanes and HEPA filters. HEPA stands for “high-efficiency particulate air” and most large airplanes made by Boeing and Airbus have them installed. HEPA filters are effective at removing dust, pollen, bacteria and virus particles from the air, but they don’t remove carbon dioxide because it’s a dissolved gas with far smaller molecules.

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Multiple studies conducted by the federal government, airlines, aircraft manufacturers and other researchers have concluded air travel poses a relatively low risk of COIVD infection, in large part because the HEPA filters remove virus particles. But that’s only relevant when the aircraft is pumping air through the filters. Airbus says its systems completely replace cabin air every 2-3 minutes while flying.

Measuring CO2 levels on my flight, at the airport

My measurements show CO2 levels skyrocketed during boarding of my Airbus A319 headed to Vermont, but remained virtually unchanged on my flight back to Denver. That indicates the pilot or ground crew were doing something different at boarding that kept the air fresher, even though both flights were similarly full and I was seated in almost the same place on both directions.

United Airlines did not respond to a request for comment on its specific policies but sent a statement saying, in part, “There is always fresh air on the aircraft. The primary HEPA benefits are when airborne, because significant outdoor air is circulated through the cabin and jet bridge on the ground anyway.”

In the Denver International Airport terminal, the CO2 levels remained relatively consistent at about 800 ppm, and I felt comfortable removing my mask to wolf down some McDonald’s hash browns. The levels hit about 1,000 ppm on the airport train to the concourse, but sitting at the gate I was actually more concerned with how few men had washed their hands after using the restroom. That thought also made me shudder.

Aboard the plane, CO2 levels hit 1,520 ppm when flight attendants closed the boarding door, rose to about 1,800 when the pilot appeared to turn on a different ventilation system, dropped to about 1,600 as we taxied to the runway, and then jumped back to 1,900 as we approached the end of the runway for takeoff.

The levels began dropping immediately as the engines spooled up, and then leveled off around 1,200 as the seatbelt sign came off at 28,000 feet.

Watching the monitor, the levels rose back up to 1,550 as the flight attendants (one masked, one not) distributed cookies and then stayed at about that level until we landed. After getting off the plane in Burlington, the CO2 level was about 1,000 in the terminal, and I finally removed by mask.

Risk assessment

Returning home on Monday, the CO2 in the airport was about 400 ppm, which is the same level it was outside. The Burlington airport is far smaller than Denver’s, and fewer people were wearing masks, including me. The CO2 levels for the return flight topped out at about 1,000 ppm as the boarding door closed, and it dropped to about 850 at takeoff and remained there until we touched down in Denver.

Riding the train back from the concourse to the terminal, the CO2 level touched 650, significantly lower than my outbound ride. Given those lower levels, I felt reassured that leaving my mask off was a safe bet.

Jimenez said my behavior follows what’s known as a “budget of risk” – by using data, I adjusted my responses. Jimenez said he still wears N-95 masks on planes and tries to eat beforehand if it’s a short flight, but otherwise has to take it off when eating onboard. He said carrying around a CO2 detector has helped him make informed decisions about possible COVID exposure.

“We are all being forced to do that,” he said of the constant decisions about risk. “We don’t want to live like monks.”

For me, the detector is an easy form of reassurance about my relative risks: Indoor areas with high levels of CO2 will prompt me to wear a mask, while areas with lower levels mean I can skip it.

Going forward, the proof will be in the pudding, as my parents like to say. And in this case, it means yet another negative COVID-19 test result upon my return to Denver.

Members of white nationalist group charged with planning riot at Idaho pride event

Reuters

Members of white nationalist group charged with planning riot at Idaho pride event

Joseph Ax – June 11, 2022

Group of men arrested after they were found in the rear of a U Haul van in Coeur d'Alene — Group of men arrested after they were found in the rear of a U Haul van in Coeur d’Alene

(Reuters) – Police in northwest Idaho arrested more than two dozen members of a white nationalist group on Saturday and charged them with planning to stage a riot near a LGBTQ pride event, authorities said.

Lee White, police chief in the city of Coeur D’Alene, told reporters 31 members of Patriot Front face misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot and additional charges could come later.

A local resident spotted the men, wearing white masks and carrying shields, getting into a U-Haul truck and called police, telling the emergency dispatcher it “looked like a little army,” according to White. Police pulled the truck over about 10 minutes after the call.

Video taken at the scene of the arrest and posted online showed about 20 men kneeling next to the truck with their hands bound, wearing similar khaki pants, blue shirts, white masks and baseball caps.

Police recovered at least one smoke grenade and documents that included an “operations plan” from the truck, as well as shields and shin guards, all of which made their intentions clear, White said.

“They came to riot downtown,” he said.

The men come from at least 11 states, White said, including Texas, Colorado and Virginia.

Patriot Front formed in the aftermath of the 2017 white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, when it broke off from another extremist organization, Vanguard America, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Daniel Wallis)