Dear friends,
Perhaps more surprising is that Republican-led states — Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma — are leading the nation in new wind-power operations. This bodes well for overcoming the party’s retro position on climate investments.
Some states and local municipalities are implementing microgrids to protect against regional grid outages that have occurred with increasing frequency due to weather disasters and aging infrastructure.
There will need to be investments in transmission facilities to use all of the power produced by renewables; still, microgrids can quickly utilize the energy available and can be switched on in emergencies to provide power. In Texas, which recently confronted major outages, microgrids may be the good news.
And don’t worry about the impact of offshore wind-power on whales.
Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries explained that while recent whale deaths are a concern, “to date, no whale mortality has been attributed to offshore wind activities.” There is “no evidence” that any ongoing surveys or “any of the equipment that’s being used in support of wind development” could “directly lead to the death of a whale,” they emphasized.
The folks at NOAA point out that many whale fatalities likely result from ship strikes. Sadly, we have become accustomed to the lies that are often wielded to divert attention from real problems.
Some of the loudest voices drawing attention to the uptick in whale deaths are longtime opponents of offshore wind energy, who have found in the gruesome images of rotting whale carcasses a new 40-ton mascot.
Later in the week, I hope to return with an action to promote reduced ship speeds, which NOAA recommended last summer to protect marine mammals.
The increased production of renewable sources of energy makes it easier to challenge the commitment to dirty fossil fuels. The derailment and toxic event in East Palestine has brought attention back to another Trump-era rule change, which would allow trains to carry liquified natural gas (LNG).
Environmental groups refer to such trains as ‘bomb trains’, because if even one LNG-filled car were to explode, it could wipe out a city.
Here’s the good news (hiding in the scary news): we have a week before the Department of Transportation makes its next rule-making update. And we’re going to flood the zone. This means all of us.
Sign the petition to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to adopt the rule that will stop the bomb trains!
The Administration has missed its own deadlines for repealing or amending the rule that allows trains to carry LNG. It is right now legal for trains to carry LNG; the good news in the scary news is that the uncertainty about what the Biden Administration is going to do about the rule has delayed manufacture of train cars designed to carry LNG.
Tell the President that the rule to allow rail transportation of LNG must be reversed. I made it easy!
I have been thinking about the importance of nuance in this work, which requires big picture thinking, attention to detail, and a capacity to screen out the noise.
One thing I appreciate about the Biden Administration is the way it occasionally feeds two birds with one seed — most recently by slipping in a move on childcare.
Manufacturers hoping to get some of the federal subsidies for semiconductor manufacture will have to provide — directly or indirectly — “affordable, high-quality child care for workers who build or operate a plant.”
There are scandals large and small blowing up left and right — well, mainly right: Fox News knew they were promoting the Big Lie to protect their bottom line, Speaker Kevin McCarthy is facing blowback from his insane decision to release Jan 6 video to Tucker Carlson, and George Santos continues to lose credibility and public support, as members of his own party try to neutralize his toxic stain.
None of it is surprising anymore, and none of it is good news. I include it for contrast.
“If this Legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to . . . inflict pain upon this body, and I have nothing but time, and I am going to use all of it.”
Cavanaugh is pitting herself against those legislators who would sacrifice the opportunity to govern in order to fight for a bill to withhold care from a vulnerable group.
Send Senator Cavanaugh some words of appreciation.
with love,
L