Climate

Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach Anthony put up a post titled “Why the new Otto et al climate sensitivity paper is important – it’s a sea change for some IPCC authors” The paper in question is “Energy budget constraints on … Continue reading →

By Steve Goreham Originally published in The Washington Times. Last Thursday, the US Department of the Interior released a draft proposal that would “establish common-sense safety standards for hydraulic fracturing on public and Indian lands.” Last Friday, the US Department … Continue reading →

We joined scientists Michael Mann and Dana Nucitelli on the Al Jazeera English "Inside Story Americas" program on May 17 to talk about the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change, U.S. public opinion, the Keystone XL pipeline, geoengineering, and other … Continue reading →

By Paul Homewood I have deliberately held off running this post for a day or two, partly because I felt it inappropriate to do so earlier, and also because I wanted to wait until the facts became clearer. NWS have … Continue reading →

A new study published in Environmental Research Letters, drawing on a very large database of peer-reviewed studies, concludes that "the number of papers rejecting the consensus on [anthropogenic global warming] is a vanishingly small proportion of the published research." Getting the … Continue reading →

Tom Nelson captures this delicious irony, apparently it isn’t a travesty any more, it’s the sun. Has Global Warming Stalled? | Royal Meteorological Society [Trenberth] “Warming” really means heating, and so it can be manifested in many ways. Rising surface … Continue reading →

"We like driving in our bus, It is far too big for us" (sung to the obvious tune) Odd to see a car so big that makes James (6.5 feet tall) look like an ipsy wipsy imp. However, there is methodism in our madness. Next week the in laws arrive to be taken on a road trip across the Zenlands of Wyoming and Utah. In our bus we hope they will be able to swing their legs about in the back without getting DVT. It is a little alarming how well it climbs. Must have a massive engine, and is probably getting about 1 mpg. Hopefully it also has a massive tank. Oh well. At least it isn't using as much power as the NCAR climate model ensemble runs on the Yellowstone computer (also in Wyoming). -- Posted By Blogger to jules' pics at 5/23/2013 02:20:00 AM

One of the most shocking stories to come out of the Oklahoma tornado this week is this one. The mind reels that in the middle of tornado alley, in a place where a previous F5 tornado devastated the town in … Continue reading →

This is a guest blog by Jesse Coleman, cross-posted from Greenpeace blog The Witness On March 29 ExxonMobil, the most profitable company in the world, spilled at least 210,000 gallons of tar sands crude oil from an underground pipeline in Mayflower, Arkansas. The pipeline was carrying tar sands oil from Canada, which flooded family residences in Mayflower in thick tarry crude. Exxon’s tar sands crude also ran into Lake Conway, which sits about an eighth of a mile from where Exxon’s pipeline ruptured. The cove of Lake Conway which Exxon claimed was "oil-free" A new batch of documents received by Greenpeace in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has revealed that Exxon downplayed the extent of the contamination caused by the ruptured pipeline. Records of emails between Arkansas’ DEQ and Exxon depict attempts by Exxon to pass off press releases with factually false information. In a draft press release dated April 8, Exxon claims "Tests on water samples show Lake Conway and the cove are oil-free." However, internal emails from April 6 show Exxon knew of significant contamination across Lake Conway and the cove resulting from the oil spill. When the chief of Arkansas Hazardous Waste division called Exxon out on this falsehood, Exxon amended the press release. However, they did not amend it to say that oil was in Lake Conway and contaminant levels in the lake were rising to dangerous levels, as they knew to be the case. Instead, they continue to claim that Lake Conway is "oil-free." For the record, Exxon maintains that the "cove," a section of Lake Conway that experienced heavy oiling from the spill, is not part of the actual lake. Exxon maintains this distinction in spite of Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel saying unequivocally "The cove is part of Lake Conway…The water is all part of one body of water." Furthermore, Exxon water tests confirmed that levels of Benzene and other contaminants rose throughout the lake, not just in the cove area. Though Exxon was eventually forced to redact their claim that the cove specifically was  "oil-free," the oil and gas giant has yet to publicly address the dangerous levels of Benzene and other contaminants their own tests have found in the body of Lake Conway. The Environmental Protection Agency and the American Petroleum Institute don’t agree on everything, but they do agree that the only safe level of Benzene, a cancer causing chemical found in oil, is zero. Benzene is added to tar sands oil to make it less viscous and flow more easily through pipelines.  Local people have reported fish kills, chemical smells, nausea and headaches. Independent water tests have found a host of contaminants present in the lake. Dead fish in Palarm creek, which Lake Conway drains into. Palarm creek is a tributary of the Arkansas River. According to Exxon’s data, 126,000 gallons of tar sands crude oil from the pipeline spill is still unaccounted for. Exxon's spill emanated from the Pegasus Pipeline, which like the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, connects the Canadian Tar Sands with refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.   Tags: exxonmayflowerPegasus Pipelinetar sandsdilbitgreenpeace

SkepticalScience recently produced a YouTube video which claimed to show that the rate of global warming has not slowed in recent years. See their post here, which states: This replicates the result of a study by Foster and Rahmstorf (2011) … Continue reading →