Environment – Winnipeg Free Press

CORRECTS DAY OF WEEK TO THURSDAY, NOT WEDNESDAY - Kids walk home from school after a tornado hit near Meadowview elementary school Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Tornado hits Selma, Alabama; 7 deaths reported across South

Kim Chandler And Jeff Martin, The Associated Press 5 minute read Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

SELMA, Ala. (AP) — A massive storm system whipping up severe winds and spawning tornadoes cut a path across the U.S. South, killing at least seven people in Georgia and Alabama, where a twister damaged buildings and tossed cars in the streets of historic downtown Selma.

Authorities said a more comprehensive picture of the damage and a search for additional victims would come Friday, when conditions were expected to clear. Early Friday, tens of thousands of customers remained without power across the two states.

In Selma, a city etched in the history of the civil rights movement, the city council used lights from cellphones as they held a meeting on the sidewalk to declare a state of emergency Thursday.

Six of the deaths were recorded in Autauga County, Alabama, 41 miles (66 kilometers) northeast of Selma, where dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed by a tornado that cut a 20-mile (32-kilometer) path across two rural communities, said Ernie Baggett, the county’s emergency management director.

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Japan eyes delay of Fukushima plant water release

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Japan eyes delay of Fukushima plant water release

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press 3 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

TOKYO (AP) — Japan has revised the timing of a planned release to the sea of treated but still radioactive wastewater at the Fukushima nuclear power plant to “around spring or summer," indicating a delay from the initial target of this spring, after factoring in the progress of a release tunnel and the need to gain public support.

The government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, announced in April 2021 a plan to begin releasing the treated wastewater into the sea starting in spring 2023. They say more than 1 million tons of water stored in about 1,000 tanks at the plant are hampering its decommissioning and risk leaking in the event of a major earthquake or tsunami.

Under the current plan, TEPCO will transport the treated water through a pipeline from the tanks to a coastal facility, where it will be diluted with seawater and sent through an undersea tunnel, currently under construction, to an offshore outlet. The company has acknowledged the possibility of rough winter weather and sea conditions delaying the tunnel progress.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters Friday the government has adopted a revised action plan, which includes enhanced efforts to ensure safety and measures to financially support the local fishing industry and a new release target of “around spring or summer this year.”

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

FILE - This aerial photo shows the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo, on March 17, 2022. Japan's government has revised the timing of a planned release to the sea of treated but still radioactive wastewater at the Fukushima nuclear power plant to “around spring or summer,

US nuclear agency falls short on scheduling, cost estimates

Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

US nuclear agency falls short on scheduling, cost estimates

Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press 5 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. agency in charge of jumpstarting the production of key components for the nation’s nuclear arsenal is falling short when it comes to having a comprehensive schedule for the multibillion-dollar project.

The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday that plans by the National Nuclear Security Administration for reestablishing plutonium pit production do not follow best practices and run the risk of delays and cost overruns.

The federal government has not manufactured plutonium cores regularly in more than 30 years and faces a congressionally mandated deadline of turning out at least 80 per year by 2030.

The GAO describes the modernization effort as the agency’s largest investment in weapons production infrastructure to date, noting that plutonium is a dangerous material and making the weapon cores is difficult and time consuming.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2021 file photo, The Los Alamos Study Group takes aim at the U.S. government's plans to ramp up production of plutonium cores for the nation's nuclear arsenal with this billboard near Bernalillo, N.M. The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023, that plans by the National Nuclear Security Administration for reestablishing plutonium pit production do not follow best practices and run the risk of delays and cost overruns. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

Toilet paper toxin found in endangered killer whales, say B.C. researchers

The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Toilet paper toxin found in endangered killer whales, say B.C. researchers

The Canadian Press 3 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

VANCOUVER - Toxic chemicals from toilet paper have been found in the bodies of British Columbia's endangered orcas, according to a study conducted by marine scientists.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia analyzed tissue samples from six southern resident killer whales and six Bigg's whales, also known as transient killer whales, stranded along the coast of B.C. between 2006 and 2018.

Dr. Juan José Alava, co-author of the study, said in an interview Thursday that the findings left him and other researchers “shocked and saddened.”

He said the toxic chemical substances could affect killer whales’ hormone systems, disrupting physiological function and making them susceptible to diseases.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

Whales in the Gulf Islands, a southern resident killer whale critical habitat, are shown in a handout photo. Toxic chemicals from toilet paper have been found in the bodies of British Columbia's endangered orcas, according to a study conducted by marine scientists.THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Fisheries and Oceans Canada-Paul Cottrell **MANDATORY CREDIT**

Series of drenching California storms put dent in drought

John Antczak, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Series of drenching California storms put dent in drought

John Antczak, The Associated Press 3 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Atmospheric rivers pounding California since late last year have coated mountains with a full winter’s worth of snow and begun raising reservoir levels — but experts say it will take much more precipitation to reverse the effects of years of drought.

The U.S. Drought Monitor’s weekly update released on Thursday showed that “extreme” drought has been virtually eliminated a week after the worst category — “exceptional” — was washed off the map. Two weeks ago extreme drought covered 35% of California.

The Drought Monitor characterized the improvement as a significant reduction in drought intensity but cautioned that large parts of the state have moisture deficits that have been entrenched for two or three years.

Most of the state is now in the “severe” or “moderate” categories of drought, with small areas in the far northwest and far southeast in a status described as “abnormally dry,” which is the lowest level.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

Wind damage is seen on Highland Avenue in Santa Cruz, Calif., Tuesday evening, Jan. 10, 2023. (Shmuel Thaler/The Santa Cruz Sentinel via AP)

Storms, tornadoes slam US South, killing at least 7 people

Kim Chandler And Jeff Martin, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Storms, tornadoes slam US South, killing at least 7 people

Kim Chandler And Jeff Martin, The Associated Press 6 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

SELMA, Ala. (AP) — A giant, swirling storm system billowing across the South on Thursday killed at least six people in central Alabama, where a tornado ripped roofs off homes and uprooted trees in historic Selma, while another person was killed in Georgia, where severe winds knocked out power to tens of thousands of people.

In Autauga County, Alabama, 41 miles (66 kilometers) northeast of Selma, at least six fatalities were confirmed and an estimated 40 homes were damaged or destroyed by a tornado that cut a 20-mile (32-kilometer) path across two rural communities, said Ernie Baggett, the county’s emergency management director.

Several mobile homes were launched into the air and at least 12 people were injured severely enough to be taken to hospitals by emergency responders, Baggett told The Associated Press. He said crews were focused Thursday night on cutting through downed trees to look for people who may need help.

“It really did a good bit of damage. This is the worst that I’ve seen here in this county,” Baggett said.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

Study: Exxon Mobil accurately predicted warming since 1970s

Seth Borenstein And Cathy Bussewitz, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Study: Exxon Mobil accurately predicted warming since 1970s

Seth Borenstein And Cathy Bussewitz, The Associated Press 6 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

DENVER (AP) — Exxon Mobil’s scientists were remarkably accurate in their predictions about global warming, even as the company made public statements that contradicted its own scientists' conclusions, a new study says.

The study in the journal Science Thursday looked at research that Exxon funded that didn’t just confirm what climate scientists were saying, but used more than a dozen different computer models that forecast the coming warming with precision equal to or better than government and academic scientists.

This was during the same time that the oil giant publicly doubted that warming was real and dismissed climate models’ accuracy. Exxon said its understanding of climate change evolved over the years and that critics are misunderstanding its earlier research.

Scientists, governments, activists and news sites, including Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times, several years ago reported that “Exxon knew” about the science of climate change since about 1977 all while publicly casting doubt. What the new study does is detail how accurate Exxon funded research was. From 63% to 83% of those projections fit strict standards for accuracy and generally predicted correctly that the globe would warm about .36 degrees (.2 degrees Celsius) a decade.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

FILE - Exxon Mobil Billings Refinery sits in Billings, Mont. Exxon Mobil’s scientists were remarkably accurate in their predictions about global warming, even as the company made public statements that contradicted its own scientists' conclusions, a new study says. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

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House votes to block China from buying oil from US reserves

Matthew Daly, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

House votes to block China from buying oil from US reserves

Matthew Daly, The Associated Press 4 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted to block oil from the country's emergency stockpile from going to China.

The bill, one of the first introduced by the new GOP majority, would prohibit the Energy Department from selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to companies owned or influenced by the Chinese Communist Party. It passed easily, 331-97, with 113 Democrats joining unanimous Republicans in support.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the new head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the bill would help end what she called President Joe Biden's "abuse of our strategic reserves.”

Biden withdrew 180 million barrels from the strategic reserve last year in a bid to halt rising gasoline prices amid production cuts by OPEC and a ban on Russian oil imports following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The monthslong sales brought the stockpile to its lowest level since the 1980s. The administration said last month it will start to replenish the reserve now that oil prices have gone down.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

FILE - Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., leaves the Speaker's office to walk to the House chamber, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, to attend the 14th vote for speaker of the House, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Burning Man latest foe of ‘green energy’ project in Nevada

Scott Sonner, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Burning Man latest foe of ‘green energy’ project in Nevada

Scott Sonner, The Associated Press 4 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Add Burning Man to the list of plaintiffs challenging one of the growing number of “green energy” projects in the works in Nevada.

Lithium mines aimed at boosting production of electric vehicle batteries and geothermal power plants that tap underground water to produce renewable energy are at various stages of planning and development in the nation’s top gold mining state.

Environmental groups, Native American tribes and ranchers are among those who’ve filed lawsuits over the past two years seeking to block individual projects.

They say that while they support reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to help combat climate change, the commercial developments on public land in Nevada were approved illegally and will have their own environmental and cultural consequences.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

Opposition parties ask auditor general to probe Ontario Greenbelt moves

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Opposition parties ask auditor general to probe Ontario Greenbelt moves

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

TORONTO - Leaders of Ontario's opposition parties have asked the auditor general to probe the province's moves to open up parts of the Greenbelt to developers.

Incoming NDP Leader Marit Stiles, Liberal Leader John Fraser and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner wrote a letter to Bonnie Lysyk asking her to conduct a value-for-money assessment of the government's decision to remove 7,400 acres from the protected Greenbelt while adding land elsewhere.

They also would like Lysyk to assess the financial and environmental impacts of the moves.

"The removal of protections from these lands has instantly shifted wealth to property owners, who have likely benefited substantially from the rezoning of this land from undevelopable agricultural land to developable land," they wrote.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

Bonnie Lysyk, Auditor General of Ontario answers questions during her Annual Report news conference at the Ontario Legislature in Toronto on Monday December 7, 2020. Leaders of Ontario's opposition parties have asked Lysyk to probe the province's moves to open up parts of the Greenbelt to developers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

2022 was fifth or sixth warmest on record as Earth heats up

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

2022 was fifth or sixth warmest on record as Earth heats up

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press 6 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

DENVER (AP) — Earth’s fever persisted last year, not quite spiking to a record high but still in the top five or six warmest on record, government agencies reported Thursday.

But expect record-shattering hot years soon, likely in the next couple years because of “relentless” climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas, U.S. government scientists said.

Despite a La Nina, a cooling of the equatorial Pacific that slightly reduces global average temperatures, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calculates 2022’s global average temperature was 58.55 degrees (14.76 degrees Celsius), ranking sixth hottest on record. NOAA doesn’t include the polar regions because of data concerns, but soon will.

If the Arctic -- which is warming three to four times faster than the rest of the world -- and Antarctic are factored in, NOAA said it would be fifth warmest. NASA, which has long factored the Arctic in its global calculations, said 2022 is essentially tied for fifth warmest with 2015. Four other scientific agencies or science groups around the world put the year as either fifth or sixth hottest.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

FILE - The cracked bed of the Poyang Lake is exposed during drought season in north-central China's Jiangxi province on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. A prolonged drought since July has dramatically shrunk China's biggest freshwater lake, Poyang. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

Endangered North Atlantic right whale baby found dead near North Carolina

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Endangered North Atlantic right whale baby found dead near North Carolina

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

FREDERICTON - The recent death of a weeks-old endangered North Atlantic right whale is a blow to the fragile species, say researchers.

The calf was found dead Jan. 7 under a pier in Beaufort, N.C., and had been swimming alone without its mother anywhere nearby, Philip Hamilton, senior scientist with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, said in an interview.

"Mothers and calves don't stray from each other when the calves are so young," he said. "Something may have happened to the mother or there was confusion, they got separated .... But it would not have survived for more than a few weeks without being fed."

There are about 340 right whales in existence and every calf is valuable, Hamilton said.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

Aerial survey teams locate and document the lone right whale calf in Beaufort Inlet, N.C., in a handout photo. Researchers say the death of a newborn endangered North Atlantic right whale is a blow to the population. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute **MANDATORY CREDIT**

Bulgaria seeks to change EU-funded recovery plan over coal

The Associated Press 2 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s Parliament on Thursday decided to demand that country’s government renegotiate the energy part of an EU-funded post-pandemic recovery plan, to save the country’s coal-fired power plants from closure.

Lawmakers voted 187-2 with nine abstentions to approve a revision of the plan, which is key to receiving 6.3 billion euros in EU funding from the bloc’s post-COVID recovery stimulus package.

During the vote in Parliament, several hundred miners and energy workers gathered outside the building to demand guarantees for their jobs. The protest, organized by the country’s two largest trade unions, remained peaceful.

Under the decision, the government will have to move away from its commitment to make 40% cuts in its 2019 level of carbon emission by the end of 2025 and will seek guarantees that coal plants can continue operating without restrictions at least until 2038.

China note! EU-member Sweden locates rare earth deposits

Samuel Petrequin, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

China note! EU-member Sweden locates rare earth deposits

Samuel Petrequin, The Associated Press 4 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

KIRUNA, Sweden (AP) — The beginning of the end of Europe’s dependency on China for precious rare earth materials may lie buried deep under the rugged reaches of northern Sweden, well above the Arctic Circle.

Sweden’s iron-ore miner LKAB said Thursday it has identified “significant deposits” in Lapland of rare earth elements that are essential for the manufacture of smartphones, electric vehicles and wind turbines.

The government-owned company that mines iron ore at Kiruna, almost 1,000 kilometers (nearly 600 miles) north of Stockholm, said there are more than 1 million tons of rare earth oxides.

According to LKAB, it's the largest known deposit of its kind in Europe. But the company warned that it could take at least a decade before mining starts.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

FILE - Reindeer herder Niila Inga from the Laevas Sami community walks across the snow as the sun sets on Longastunturi mountain near Kiruna, Sweden, on Nov. 27, 2019. A Swedish government-owned iron ore mining company says it has identified “significant deposits” of rare earth elements in Arctic Sweden that are essential for the manufacture of electric vehicles and wind turbines. LKAB's CEO said the quantity of rare earth metals exceeds 1 million tons and is the largest known deposit of its kind in Europe. Sweden's Energy and Business Minister said

Bat fungus that causes fatal White-Nose Syndrome makes first appearances in Alberta

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Bat fungus that causes fatal White-Nose Syndrome makes first appearances in Alberta

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

EDMONTON - A fungus that causes a disease nearly wiping out bat populations in Eastern Canada and the United States has made its first appearance in Alberta.

The fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, which starves bats to death by interrupting their winter hibernation, was identified in several locations in the province last year after being found in Saskatchewan in 2021.

"It looks like it's spreading about 500 kilometres a year," said Cory Olson of the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, which conducted the research.

Society researchers collected bat droppings from underneath 800 bridges where the tiny mammals like to rest during the night.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

A Little Brown Bat is shown in a handout photo. A disease that has been nearly wiping out bat populations in eastern Canada and the U.S. has made its first appearance in Alberta. White Nose Syndrome, a fungus that starves bats to death by interrupting their winter hibernation, was identified in several locations in the province last year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Cory Olson, WCS Canada **MANDATORY CREDIT**

Police press ahead with clearance of condemned German hamlet

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Police press ahead with clearance of condemned German hamlet

The Associated Press 2 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

LUETZERATH, Germany (AP) — Police pressed ahead Thursday with the clearance of a condemned village in western Germany, where activists are vowing to hold out against its demolition to make way for the expansion of a coal mine.

Officers resumed their effort after working into the night to bring down activists from the roof of an abandoned farm warehouse in Luetzerath and disentangle another from the remains of a car.

Aachen police chief Dirk Weinspach, whose force is in charge of the operation, told ZDF television that more than 200 activists had already left the site voluntarily. The clearance of the hamlet's warehouses should be concluded on Thursday, then police can tackle tree houses built by the protesters and Luetzerath's remaining houses, he added.

“This will go step by step and with great calm and prudence,” Weinspach said.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

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