Dan's Outside

More on Drilling

Seems to be environmental politics week at this blog. Ah, well. A few more thoughts regarding the sudden interest by Republicans in drilling our way out of this energy mess.

I heard a wonderful comment on the radio yesterday, right after hearing the President blame Democrats for not being responsive to his sudden call to open up basically every available place to drilling. The speaker pointed out that this assertion of blame seems quite ironic given the fact that for six years the Republicans had majorities in the Senate and the House and held the executive branch… and apparently didn’t think it was enough of a good idea then to do anything at all about it. And now all of a sudden it is a great idea?

And, along those lines, does anyone else smell an election year set-up here? Republicans trying to get some traction on some issue (any issue!?) against the Democrats seem to have stumbled on this as perhaps a way to fool the public into thinking that the Democrats somehow are not concerned with the plight of the “average person.”

Never mind the fact that if we opened every square inch of US territory to drilling today it would be years before we would see any oil from this. And that the oil reserves are generally rather small. And that the oil companies are already not using all of the drilling sites currently available to them.

Oh, and there is that little matter of global warming. Let’s imagine for a moment that we somehow could find enough oil in US territory to return to the “good old days” of cheap gas and SUVs… has it occurred to anyone that we’d have to reduce consumption and look for alternative energy sources anyway in order to deal with that pressing problem?

I don’t buy this sudden call for more drilling one little bit. It is short sighted, won’t solve the problem, will make other problems worse, and is probably just being raised as an election year wedge issue in any case.

June 19, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary, Environment | Comments Off on More on Drilling

More on McCain's Race for Bush's Third Term

From a New York Time article (‘Bush to Seek an End to Ban on Oil Drilling’):

President Bush, reversing a longstanding position, will call on Congress on Wednesday to end a federal ban on offshore oil drilling…

The party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, used a speech in Houston on Tuesday to say he now favors offshore drilling, an announcement that infuriated environmentalists who have long viewed him as an ally…

June 17, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary, Environment | Comments Off on More on McCain's Race for Bush's Third Term

More of the Same…

From SFGate:

McCain calls for more offshore oil drilling. Republican Sen. John McCain said Monday he supports lifting the federal moratorium on offshore drilling – a position that sets him at odds with most California officials, including his ally Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who see the ban as the best way to…
– By zcoile@sfchronicle.com (Zachary Coile). [SFGate: Top News Stories]

You’d hope that maybe, just maybe, the supposedly best candidate that the party in power can offer as an alternative to the current, uh, leader might recognize the possibility that perhaps we cannot drill our way out of this problem.

But, of course, that would be a vain hope.

June 17, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary, Environment | Comments Off on More of the Same…

If It Is Getting Warmer, How Come It Seems Colder?

The global warming skeptics will grab at almost any straw rather than see the what consensus now regards as the obvious. This includes misinterpreting some “cold” weather as “proof” that the planet couldn’t possibly be warming and that “all those silly scientists must be wrong.” Or maybe it is a global scientific conspiracy. (To what end is difficult to imagine… :-)

Here is an interesting discussion that sheds some light on what is likely going on.

If global warming is occurring, why was the winter of 2007-2008 so cold and snowy?. The planet was much snowier and warmer than usual during the winter of 2007-2008, according to statistics released today by the National Climatic Data Center. Snow cover extent over the Northern Hemisphere during the period December 2007 – February 2008 was the fourth greatest on record, and was the greatest on record for January. Satellite-derived snow cover records extend back to 1967. Some regions of the Middle East, such as Baghdad, Iraq saw their first snow in …
Read More [Dr. Jeff Masters’ WunderBlog]

A short story includes the following: Even in times of climate change there will be periods that are above “normal” (new normal or old normal) in terms of temperature, precipitation, and so forth. The weather never has been the same from year to year and global warming won’t change that. Counterintuitively warmer weather can lead to more snow in some places.

Read the link to find out more.

March 14, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary, Environment | Comments Off on If It Is Getting Warmer, How Come It Seems Colder?

Please Make It Stop!

SFGate: Bush intervention led EPA to scale back ozone limits:

The Environmental Protection Agency weakened one part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone after an unusual, last-minute intervention by President Bush, according to documents released by the EPA.

EPA officials initially tried to set a lower seasonal limit on ozone to protect wildlife, parks and farmland, as required under federal law. While their proposal was less restrictive than what the EPA’s scientific advisers had proposed, Bush overruled EPA officials Tuesday and ordered the agency to raise the limit, according to the documents.

“It is unprecedented and an unlawful act of political interference for the president personally to override a decision that the Clean Air Act leaves exclusively to EPA’s expert scientific judgment,” said John Walke, clean air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

March 14, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary, Environment | 1 Comment

Another EPA 'Decision' Affected by Timidity or Meddling?

The same process that derailed the California greenhouse gas automotive regulations seems to be at work here.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced a modest tightening of the smog standard on Wednesday evening, overruling the unanimous advice of its scientific advisory council for a more protective standard.

The standard, stated in terms of average concentrations of ozone at ground level over an eight-hour period, is now 84 parts per billion. Mr. Johnson’s decision, if it survives court review, would lower that to 75, although implementation could be decades away. Late last year a scientific advisory panel recommended 60 to 70 parts per billion.

(From a New York Times article.)

March 13, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary, Environment | Comments Off on Another EPA 'Decision' Affected by Timidity or Meddling?

State says many drivers change oil too often

An article in SF Gate (“State says many drivers change oil too often”) reports what many of us have thought for quite awhile: there is no real advantage in changing our engine oil more often than recommended by the manufacturer (note: not the dealer) and there are considerable environmental costs in doing so.

An excerpt:

Like many drivers hoping to coax a long, productive life out of a car, Durand Gist, a mailman from Castro Valley, faithfully changes the oil on his vehicle every 3,000 miles.

“That’s what they recommend – 3,000 miles, right?” asked Gist, saying he got that advice “probably from the oil-changing place. It’s good for their business, right?”

But a new state campaign is urging Gist and fellow California drivers to ignore both conventional wisdom and probably also that clear plastic sticker in the corner of their windshields. The message: Put off that oil change for a couple of thousand miles or more.

“Used oil is so much of a problem in California that if you can change your oil in less-frequent intervals, you not only save yourself money, you help save the environment,” said Jamie Cameron-Harley, a spokeswoman for the California Integrated Waste Management Board, sponsor of “The 3,000-Mile Myth” campaign.

While you certainly should follow the manufacturer’s schedule for changing the oil in your engine, you should think twice about increasing the frequency of your oil changes beyond these recommendations if you think you are going to improve the performance or life of your engine. You almost certainly won’t see any benefit at all, and you will contribute to excess oil consumption and recycling problems.

February 10, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary, Environment | Comments Off on State says many drivers change oil too often

Mt. Hamilton Land Protected

According to SFGate, a “ranch the size of San Francisco [is] to be protected from development near Mt. Hamilton.

A huge stretch of land near Mt. Hamilton that is roughly the size of San Francisco has been donated as a conservation easement by the Hewlett and Packard families to protect the property from development, the Nature Conservancy said today.

The protection of the 28,359-acre San Felipe Ranch from development will complete a 70-mile long corridor of protected natural lands that extends from Pacheco Pass to Livermore Valley, according to the Conservancy.

The land, which has oaks, year-round streams, seasonal ponds and wildflower meadows, was volunteered as a conservation easement by the families about 10 years after the Conservancy identified the ranch’s “combination of the large amount of intact flourishing habitat and the location” as one of its top priorities for protection in the Mount Hamilton and Diablo range just outside San Jose, according to a statement by the Conservancy.

Not a lot of information was yet available when the article was released, but this sounds like a great development for everyone who loves the outdoor environment of Central California.

January 20, 2008 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary, Environment | 1 Comment