The Week That Was: 2025 01-18 (January 18, 2025)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “It is not unscientific to take a guess, although many people who are not in science believe that it is.” — Richard Feynman
Number of the Week: 56 percent since 1990
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This Week begins with a video and text of physicist Steve Koonin questioning the claim that we are experiencing a climate emergency. It then discusses the failure of science societies to defend the scientific method. Discussed is the hubris of government officials who fail to provide one of the tasks of government: public safety specifically in the Los Angeles Basin and potentially in New York City. Academic incompetence is compared with professional competence. This Week concludes with an issue on needing to know what type of salmon is being discussed.
**************
A Climate Emergency? Ron Clutz provides a transcript of a short video by Steve Koonin, “Is There Really a Climate Emergency?” Koonin, a former Undersecretary for Science of the Department of Energy begins by discussing Hubris. Koonin states:
“Hubris is a Greek word that means dangerously overconfident. Based on my research, hubris fairly describes our current response to the issue of climate change.
Here’s what many people believe:
One: The planet is warming catastrophically because of certain human behaviors.
Two: Thanks to powerful computers we can project what the climate will be like 20, 40, or even 100 years from now.
Three: That if we eliminate just one behavior, the burning of fossil fuels, we can prevent the climate from changing for as long as we like.
Each of these presumptions—together, the basis of our hubris regarding the changing climate—is either untrue or so far off the mark as to be useless.
Yes, it’s true that the globe is warming, and that humans are exerting a warming influence upon it. But beyond that, to paraphrase a line from the classic movie The Princess Bride, ‘I do not think ‘The Science’ says what you think it says.’”
Koonin then presents physical evidence (data) showing that nothing unusual is taking place. As Richard Feynman stated:
“It is not unscientific to take a guess, although many people who are not in science believe that it is.”
For a scientist, the issue is to test the guess using physical evidence, preferably from controlled experiments, but if that is not possible, then by careful observations. The globe has warmed and cooled many times in the past as it is doing now. Koonin continues:
“Why aren’t these reassuring facts better known?
Because the public gets its climate information almost exclusively from the media.
And from a media perspective, fear sells.
‘Things aren’t that bad’ doesn’t sell.
Very few people, and that includes journalists who report on climate news, read the actual science. I have. And what the data—the hard science—from the US government and UN Climate reports say is that… ‘things aren’t that bad.’
Nor does the public understand the questionable basis of all catastrophic climate change projections: computer modeling.
Projecting future climate is excruciatingly difficult. Yes, there are human influences, but the climate is complex. Anyone who says that climate models are ‘just physics’ either doesn’t understand them or is being deliberately misleading. I should know I wrote one of the first textbooks on computer modeling.
While modelers base their assumptions upon both fundamental physical laws and observations of the climate, there is still considerable judgment involved. And since different modelers will make different assumptions, results vary widely among different models.”
Koonin then shows that 73 models overestimate the warming of the globe. These models are the ones cited by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its collaborators as proof of human caused global warming. One problem that Koonin discusses is the failure of the models to correctly forecast clouds. As Koonin states:
“Natural fluctuations in the height and coverage of clouds have at least as much of an impact on the flows of sunlight and heat as do human influences. But how can we possibly know global cloud coverage say 10, let alone 50 years from now? Obviously, we can’t. But to create a climate model, we have to make assumptions. That’s a pretty shaky foundation on which to transform the world’s economy.
By the way, creating more accurate models isn’t getting any easier. In fact, the more we learn about the climate system, the more we realize how complex it is. [Boldface added]
Rather than admit this complexity, the media, the politicians, and a good portion of the climate science community attribute every terrible storm, every flood, every major fire to ‘climate change.’ Yes, we’ve always had these weather events in the past, the narrative goes, but somehow ‘climate change’ is making everything ‘worse.’
Even if that were true, isn’t the relevant question, how much worse? Not to mention that ‘worse’ is not exactly a scientific term. And how could we make it better? For the alarmists, that’s easy: we get rid of fossil fuels.
Not only is this impractical—we get over 80% of the world’s energy from fossil fuels—it’s not scientifically possible. That’s because CO2 doesn’t disappear from the atmosphere in a few days like, say, smog. It hangs around for a really long time.
About 60 percent of any CO2 that we emit today will remain in the atmosphere 20 years from now, between 30 and 55 percent will still be there after a century, and between 15 and 30 percent will remain after one thousand years.”
To this, TWTW adds that the enormous growth in human CO2 emissions is coming from China and south Asia. The hubris of western politicians is amazing. Without even a hint of expertise in climate science, they pretend to “know” that CO2 is ruining the climate, fail to put “blame” on the biggest CO2 emitters, fail to acknowledge the benefits of increasing CO2, and enact laws to control their own citizenry under the guise of saving the planet. See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
****************
Failure of Scientific Societies: In his paper presented in last week’s TWTW, Wallace Manheimer states (citations omitted here):
“Scientific societies are supposed to be the guardians of the scientific method, rely principally on data to form their conclusions, and test scientific theories by comparing them to experiments and measurements. They do not seem to be acting in this role, as the paper will show. Instead, these scientific societies seem to have become the bedrock, the foundation, upon which the gigantic edifice of the oncoming climate crisis rests. This article, and many others make the case that this ‘edifice’ is a real threat to civilization. Take down the foundation, and the edifice will ultimately collapse. These scientific societies could do civilization an enormous favor. They could change their statements to ones that are more moderate and more scientifically correct. This could be an important first step to bringing the world back to sanity. They could give David his sling shot.” [Boldface added]
Manheimer then cites sad examples of the hubris of the leadership of several such societies in rejecting requests to tone down their expressions on climate change for which they have negligible physical evidence. Yet, these societies do not permit dissent. Such societies include the American Physical Society, the American Meteorological Society, and the National Academy of Science. TWTW adds the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), publisher of the respected journal Science.
Both Koonin and Manheimer bring up the loss of scientific standards, which infects politics and government policies at all levels. They result in the hubris that humans can predict and control climate and weather: things which humans cannot do. We do not have a database sufficient for forecasting a cold period, which is sure to come. Whether it is a D-O event, every roughly 1500 years, or a major glaciation, we do not know. But one is sure to come with great suffering. The great benefit of China and other countries adding CO2 to the atmosphere is that its beneficial effects in agriculture will lessen the harmful effects of a diminished growing season. Yet, organizations with diminished or no standards in using the scientific method continue to attack the benefits of carbon dioxide. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
****************
State and Local Government Hubris: The United States has multiple governments with defined geographical boundaries. A primary responsibility of state and local governments is maintaining public safety. As with the federal government, state and local governments have competing purposes or goals. Unfortunately, in many state and local governments the convergence of competing goals has overwhelmed the primary responsibility of maintaining public safety.
We are seeing the lack of maintaining public safety in the fires occurring in the Los Angeles Basin. There is a great deal of political finger pointing, in personal efforts to avoid responsibility on many levels, from governor, to mayor, to department heads. Perhaps long-time political commentator and California native Victor Davis Hanson expresses it best in a video on January 13. He begins:
“We’re into about the fourth or fifth day of the Los Angeles fires, and people are commenting on the complete systems breakdown.
It’s a word that sociologists, historians, and archaeologists use— ‘systems breakdown’—but also ‘systems collapse,’ the collapse of complex societies; for example, the Mycenaeans and others. But it’s the idea that the system becomes so complex that very few people operate it.
And when those people are incompetent, and they tend to be bureaucratic and ossified, calcified, then the entire system is so dependent upon them, it collapses.
That’s what we’re seeing in Los Angeles. It is a multifaceted breakdown. The insurance industry is overregulated. It [the public] doesn’t trust the state to police, give the people security in their homes. It doesn’t trust their ability to stop fires.
They understand there’s no water policy that’s logical in the state. And they want out. … It’s a fire problem. We have lost the ability to fight fires that our grandfathers, over decades, practiced and honed to a fine art.
We have lost control, as I said, of the water. The water issue is a disaster.
We have plenty of water. We had a brilliant California water project, Central Valley project, and we abused it and have not built a reservoir in nearly 40 years outside of Los Angeles.
It is also a regulatory problem that we overregulate so we do not allow people to expand their homes, fix their homes, improve their homes, build their homes.
And finally, it’s a ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ [problem]. This is what I want to get to, because … that’s the most controversial. … I think we should look at this in a historical perspective. Anytime an ideology trumps empiricism, meritocracy, investigatory efforts, just disinterested inquiry, and knowledge, then you’re going to have a disaster.”
Hanson gives examples of breakdowns caused by ideology in the WW II Russian and German military, then continues with:
“But in our case, when you take a person’s superficial appearance—in the case of race—or their beliefs that are ideological, whether it’s religious, or it’s an emphasis on one’s sexual orientation, or whether it’s an interest, on one’s gender, male, female, etc., and you put that over empirical investigation, then you’re not going to be able to, in a scientific matter, solve a problem.
And so, when we looked at these people, we have a $700,000 a year utilities czar in Los Angeles, and she cannot explain why there was not enough water, at least in a convincing way, because she’s never had to, because she was ideologically correct. You have an assistant fire chief who said, if women can’t—if I can’t carry out a man [out of a burning building], then that’s not on me. It’s the man shouldn’t be there.
It’s like saying if a child fell down a well, and I’m not physically strong enough to retrieve him and save him, that’s his fault. He shouldn’t have been in the well. Why does a person say that? Because she knows that she was appointed to that position on other criteria.
The same thing holds true, no need to get into the mayor, who people voted [for] as a DEI candidate. She said at one point, a few years ago, ‘Don’t blame the homeless for these fires.’ So, we get—in conclusion in the Los Angeles catastrophe, there are whole areas of empirical inquiry that are put off- limits. You cannot talk about the homeless and whether there was a homeless person who was out in the hills, to get warm light a fire.
It’s a legitimate topic of inquiry. It’s happened. You can’t talk about— [Los Angeles Mayor] Karen Bass, as I said, ‘Don’t talk about that,’ in the past.
You cannot talk about the fire department because it is run by people who were appointed primarily because of the DEI criteria and to do so makes you a homophobe.
You cannot talk about fires and the lack of forest safety, forest ecology, because to do so challenges the green ideology.
I could go on. But until the society says that we are going to have free speech, no topic is taboo, and we can find the answer to questions by symptomology—we look at all of the evidence, and then we make a diagnosis. …
And then we make a prognosis. Until we can do that without the influence or the tyranny of these ideologies—in our case, our generation, it’s ‘diversity, equity, inclusion,’ and radical environmentalism that preclude free discussion and the pathway to the truth, we’re going to have more Los Angeloses, I’m afraid to say. …” [Boldface added]
See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy, links under Suppressing Scientific Inquiry, links under Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science for arguments that AAAS should become more political and links under California Fire for many examples of government officials shirking the primary responsibility maintaining public safety. For an essay on the insurance problems see Article #1
****************
Academics v. Professionals: Thus far, possibly the most irresponsible response from academics came from UCLA which linked two wet raining seasons and about 10 months of drying on manmade “climate change.” The claim has a tiny element of truth, carbon dioxide is enhancing vegetation growth, but it is surrounded by bodyguard of lies.
Separately ecologist Jim Steele and meteorologist Cliff Mass penetrate through the false claims. In “Assigning Responsibility for the Tragic Los Angeles Fires” Steele writes:
“Knowing that natural, lethal fire dangers are always looming for the growing population, the question is whether city and state governments could have been better prepared to minimize ignitions and more efficiently contain a fire’s spread through southern California. When fires reach neighborhoods with densely packed houses, one burning structure can radiate enough heat to ignite adjacent buildings causing entire neighborhoods to burn to the ground.
An increase in the destruction of property by wildfires better correlates with population growth and the expansion of an electrical grid that is vulnerable to high winds. Increased 1-hour fuels and 10-hour fuels due to land disturbances and poor land management correlate with bigger fires. Increased homeless populations correlates with more ignitions.” [Boldface added]
In “Why the LA Wildfires Have Little to do With Long-Term Drought or Climate Change” Mass writes:
“Most of these fuels are 1-10 hr. fuels, which means they typically dry out after 1-10 hours of drying conditions.
The meteorological conditions immediately preceding the fires were so drying (very strong winds with very low humidities) that even if it had rained the week before, the fire still would have occurred.”
It takes one to ten hours for Santa Ana winds to dry out the southern California landscape, not a season or a major drought. Perhaps densely packed neighborhoods should require hard landscaping such as crushed rock; fire resistant roofs, such as steel or tile; and non-combustible decks, fire-resistant decks are required in fire prone areas. See links under California Fires.
****************
The Other California Fire: Initially, the mainstream media ignored another significant California fire. This one at what was the world’s largest battery storage system (BESS) which is located at Moss Landing, Monterey Bay, California. The fire was significant not because it caused deaths (none), or extensive property damage (none outside the facility) but because it triggered major evacuation orders. Lithium fires release real toxins such as hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen cyanide in addition to the EPA pseudo-pollutant carbon dioxide. The best fire control strategy is to evacuate the area and let it burn.
Reports are spotty, but it appears that about 7500 acres were evacuated and about 1200 to 1500 people. This is the third or fourth such fire at the facility. The acreage and number of people involved are trivial compared to the Los Angeles basin fires.
But as Francis Menton discusses, lithium battery storage is being planned to replace natural gas peaking plants in all five boroughs in New York City. The first one is to begin construction this spring in Queens Borough, across the East River from mid-town Manhattan. A major evacuation order would cause chaos. If the project continues, it will be another example of public official hubris. See links under Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy – Storage.
****************
What Type of Salmon? Hydraulic Dam opponents are claiming that the dams on the west coast are destroying the salmon fisheries. Already, California politicians are bragging about the removal of dams along the Klamath River, with little concern for the agricultural communities hurt by such actions. Efforts are being made to remove dams along the Columbia River, particularly on its tributary the Snake River which flows from Wyoming through Idaho. Oregon, and Washington before joining the Columbia River. The purpose of the dam removal is to restore the spectacular runs of Chinook Salmon to these areas. But will it?
TWTW reader Ken Snider draws attention to a skeptical post by Craig Medred, who cites a report by Idaho fish specialists for the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, which questions the assumption that dams are a major cause of the declining runs of Chinook salmon.
One issue for the decline is the return of marine mammals which gorge themselves on salmon, particularly at the mouth of the Columbia River. These mammals include seals and killer whales.
TWTW reader Ken Snider draws attention to a skeptical post by Craig Medred, who cites a report by Idaho fish specialists for the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, which questions the assumption that dams are a major cause of the declining runs of Chinook salmon.
Another issue is manmade. Fish hatcheries have shifted in the types of salmon they produce. They now emphasize pink salmon, which do not travel long distances up rivers, typically less than 40 miles, with exceptions. The huge expansion in hatcheries and the shift in fish they produce may significantly increase competition for food sources to the detriment of Chinook salmon. According the Alaska Department of Fish and Game:
“Alaska hatchery salmon releases grew from less than 100 million young fish in 1980 to about 2 billion per year today.
Alaska’s release of close to 1.5 billion salmon fry in 2000 accounted for 69 percent of the coastwide, North American release of salmon, ISER [Institute of Social and Economic Research] reported, with about 94 percent of those salmon pinks and chum of significantly lower value than Chinook, coho and sockeye salmon but far and away the cheapest fish to produce.
Alaska would continue to boost pink and chum hatchery releases in the years that followed, as would Russia after witnessing Alaska’s hatchery success, and by the late 2010s, scientists were reporting that there were more salmon in the North Pacific than at any time in human history with the pinks, the smallest and least valuable of the species, dominant.” [Boldface added]
The hydroelectric dams in the Pacific Northwest greatly added to the prosperity of the Pacific Northwest. Destroying these dams “to save salmon” may be destruction for no purpose but political hubris. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
****************
Number of the Week: 56 percent since 1990. Using the “Cumulative CO₂ emissions” data from Our World in Data, Jo Nova estimates that 56% of cumulative CO2 occurred since 1990. Though she does not say this, 1990 was the year the UN IPCC released its First Assessment Report, which was drastically changed in its 1992 Assessments and subsequent reports blaming human emissions of CO2 for climate change. One could argue that the more the UN IPCC and its collaborators rail against carbon dioxide with false claims of climate change, the more humans release carbon dioxide. See link under Changing Weather.
Censorship
Australian Labour Party Disinformation Portal “Swamped” With Party’s Own Misleading Ads
By Rebekah Barnet, Aug 30, 2025
Climate misinformation is rife on social media – and poised to get worse
By Jill Hopke, The Conversation, Jan 17, 2025 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://theconversation.com/climate-misinformation-is-rife-on-social-media-and-poised-to-get-worse-247156?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter%20%20January%2017%202025%20-%203230532978&utm_content=Daily%20Newsletter%20%20January%2017%202025%20-%203230532978+CID_300f80c5d3c1c56e5feb51427d74c1fb&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=Climate%20misinformation%20is%20rife%20on%20social%20media%20%20and%20poised%20to%20get%20worse
In 2020, Meta rolled out its Climate Science Information Center on Facebook to respond to climate misinformation. Currently, third-party fact-checkers working with Meta flag false and misleading posts. Meta then decides whether to attach a warning label to them and reduce how much the company’s algorithms promote them.
[SEPP Comment: Meta was an example of biased censorship supporting concepts that lacked physical evidence. According to the author, stopping biased censorship is censorship?]
Suppressing Scientific Inquiry
Paper Showing Earth’s Atmosphere Has Become ‘Saturated’ With Carbon Dioxide and More Carbon Emissions Won’t Make Any Difference Is Retracted Following Positive Coverage in the Daily Sceptic
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Jan 13, 2025
Link to paper: RETRACTED: Climatic consequences of the process of saturation of radiation absorption in gases
By Jan Kubicki [Institute of Optoelectronics], Krzysztof Kopczyński, and Jarosław Młyńczak, Applications in Engineering Science, March 2024
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666496823000456
This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief.
Subsequent to acceptance of this paper, the rigor and quality of the peer-review process for this paper was investigated and confirmed to fall beneath the high standards expected by Applications in Engineering Science. After review by additional expert referees, the Editor-in-Chief has lost confidence in the validity of the paper and has decided to retract.
Morrison: The paper discussed the atmospheric ‘saturation’ of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and argued that higher levels will not cause temperatures to rise.
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-fossil-fuels/
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming/
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer
The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, Mar 3, 2023
Dependence of Earth’s Thermal Radiation on Five Most Abundant Greenhouse Gases
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, December 22, 2020
https://wvanwijngaarden.info.yorku.ca/files/2020/12/WThermal-Radiationf.pdf?x45936
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Koonin: Reckless Claim of Climate Emergency
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Jan 17, 2025
Scientific Societies Err on ‘Climate Change’
By Wallace Manheimer, American Thinker, Jan 10, 2025
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/01/scientific_societies_err_on_climate_change.html
Link to paper: Science Societies’ Climate Statements: Some Concerns
By Wallace Manheimer, Journal of Applied Science, June 2024
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=133987
AAAS Needs a Reboot, and the Editor of Science Should Get the Boot. The Creeping Corruption of DEI
By Henry Miller, MD, ACSH, Jan 10, 2025
https://www.acsh.org/news/2025/01/10/aaas-needs-reboot-and-editor-science-should-get-boot-creeping-corruption-dei-48999
American science and medicine are becoming increasingly infiltrated by Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), to their detriment.
In their zeal to be inclusive, the feds seem to have forgotten the old adage that there are two kinds of medicine — the kind that works and the kind that doesn’t. The latter, sometimes dubbed “alternative medicine,” claims the ability to prevent or treat disease despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence of safety and effectiveness.
THE TYRANNY OF TABOOS: Causes of LA Wildfires Can’t Be Spoken
By Victor Davis Hanson, The Daily Signal, Jan 13, 2025
Video and Text
Temperature Spike Due To Reduced Sulfate Emissions
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 12, 2025
Link to press release: Shipping emissions mandate led to spike in global temperatures
By Laura Reiley, Cornell Chronicle, Jan 7, 2025
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/01/shipping-emissions-mandate-led-spike-global-temperatures
Link to paper: Modeling 2020 regulatory changes in international shipping emissions helps explain anomalous 2023 warming
By Ilaria Quaglia and Daniele Visioni, EGU Earth System Dynamics, Nov 28, 2024
https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/15/1527/2024
“The unprecedented heat became a normal warm year once you accounted for that [reduced sulfate emissions],” [modeler] Visioni said.
3 More New Drought And Temperature Reconstructions Do Not Support The Climate Alarm Narrative
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Jan 13, 2025
Link to Central China paper: Anomalous Warm Temperatures Recorded Using Tree Rings in the Headwater of the Jinsha River during the Little Ice Age
By Chaoling Jiang, et al., Forests, May 31, 2024
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/15/6/972
Link to central Europe paper: A long-term drought reconstruction based on oxygen isotope tree ring data for central and eastern parts of Europe (Romania)
By Viorica Nagavciuc, et al., Biogeosciences, Jan 7, 2025
Link to Russian paper: Tree-Ring Chronologies from the Upper Treeline in the Russian Altai Mountains Reveal Strong and Stable Summer Temperature Signals
By Alexander V. Kirdyanov, et al., Forests, Aug 10, 2024
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/15/8/1402
[SEPP Comment: The papers focused on central China and central Europe suggest ocean circulations play an important role in climate change.]
Hype Uncovered: ‘Nature’ Study Shows That Permafrost Is Not A Climate Tipping Point
By P Gosselin No Tricks Zone, Jan 15, 2025
Video in German, Text in English
Germany’s Klimanachrichten here presents peer-reviewed climate science that shows permafrost is not really a tipping point we need to worry about.
[SEPP Comment: Given the complexity of Earth’s climate, it is doubtful we can recognize a tipping point if there is one.]
Victim of pinks
By Craig Medred, His Blog, Jan 17, 2025 [H/t Ken Snider]
Link to technical report: Trends in Adult Return Abundance of Idaho Salmon and Steelhead Relative to Pink Salmon Abundance the Year of Ocean Entry
By John Cassinelli and Josh McCormick, North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, 2025
Link to: Pink Salmon
By Staff, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Accessed Jan 17, 2025
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=pinksalmon.printerfriendly#:~:text=Migration,the%20Yukon%2C%20Kuskokwim%20and%20Nushagak.
Defending the Orthodoxy
Humanity Has Opened ‘Pandora’s Box Of Ills:’ UN Chief
By Staff, CBS, Jan 15, 2025
https://www.cbs19news.com/humanity-has-opened-pandoras-box-of-ills-un-chief/article_685f1d29-f892-59d0-a560-3f300f5e6792.html
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday that humanity had unleashed a “Pandora’s box of ills,” including “out of control technology” that risks upending “our very existence.”
The UN chief was laying out his priorities in a speech to the General Assembly for the year ahead, at a time when the organization faces unprecedented crises and polarization.
[SEPP Comment: The UN has become a political, polarizing organization, not a neutral one.]
COE Commissioner Attacks Fossil Fuels
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 14, 2025
Alan Smith – Church Estates Commissioner
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Top Journal: Scientists Should Be More, Not Less, Political
By Noah Carl, The Daily Sceptic, Jan 11, 2025
Link to: Scientists as political advocates
By Agustin Fuentes, AAAS Science, Nov 21, 2025
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt7194
From Fuentes: The Editor-in-Chief of Science recently wrote that although science has always been political, it “thrives when its advocates are shrewd politicians but suffers when its opponents are better at politics.”
From Carl: Indeed, the prolific Fuentes has penned no less than eight editorials for Science over the last four years – suggesting that the editors like what he’s selling.
[SEPP Comment: It appears that to AAAS Science, science is a social movement rather than a rigorous effort to understand nature.]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Good Reasons to Distrust Climatists
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Jan 14, 2025
[SEPP Comment: Deals with the issue of saturation. The influence of increasing CO2 on temperature is not linear, but diminishing, well in the range of diminishing returns.]
Weather Disaster Losses Continue to Fall In Real Terms
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 12, 2025
[SEPP Comment: Generally true, though 2024 was above the declining trend line of global weather losses as a percent of global GDP.]
Setting the Record Straight on Louisiana’s Shrimping Challenges
By Rob Maness, Real Clear Energy, Jan 15, 2025
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2025/01/15/setting_the_record_straight_on_louisianas_shrimping_challenges_1084861.html
Against this diverse backdrop, the shrimping and energy industries stand out as particularly significant pillars of this economy, but ones that some environmentalists have increasingly tried to play at odds against each other.
NESO Must Come Clean
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 17, 2025
Clearly NESO cannot be trusted to provide reliable information, as we have already seen in their craven report on decarbonizing the electricity system by 2030, sent to Miliband in November.
Under their watch, we are heading ever closer to catastrophic blackouts. They must now publish the data which supports their claim of 3.7 GW reserves if they are to retain any credibility.
UK National Energy System Operator (NESO)
Millions of households at risk of smart meter snooping
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 14, 2025
#LookItUp: Northern hemisphere historical snow cover
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 15, 2025
Somewhere the climate alarmist crowd is working on an explanation why global warming means more snow, whereas less snow proves the climate crisis is upon us.
After Paris!
UN Scrambling to Save the Credibility of the Paris Agreement
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Jan 11, 2025
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
Brassica plants and CO2
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 15, 2025
From the CO2 Science archive
Problems in the Orthodoxy
The Great Retreat: A Eulogy for the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Jan 14, 2025
The Global Net Zero Financial Cartel, Falling Apart
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Jan 11, 2025
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2025-1-11-the-global-net-zero-financial-cartel-falling-apart
Which brings me to the latest developments: The exits from the NZAB of Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo in early December quickly opened the barn doors for the other big players to rush out. On December 31, Reuters reported that Citibank and Bank of America had just quit the NZAB. Morgan Stanley announced its exit on January 2. JP Morgan quit on January 7. These six big banks among them have a market share of more than 25% of the entire U.S. banking industry.
And then, just yesterday, the largest asset manager in the country, BlackRock, quit the NZAMI. Of the three largest asset managers, another one, Vanguard, had already quit back in 2022. That leaves only State Street remaining, of the big three.
[SEPP Comment: Is net zero the path to financial bankruptcy?]
‘A Huge Win’: Woke ‘Cartel’ Of Financial Giants Dealt Death Blow 11 Days Before Trump Takes Office
By Owen Klinsky, Daily Caller, Jan 10, 2025
https://dailycaller.com/2025/01/10/blackrock-exits-united-nations-backed-net-zero-coalition
Big Banks’ Retreat From Climate Alliance Is Encouraging Step in Dismantling the ESG Agenda/Woke Corporate Capitalism
By Paul Teller, Real Clear Energy, Jan 16, 2025
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2025/01/16/big_banks_retreat_from_climate_alliance_is_encouraging_step_in_dismantling_the_esg_agendawoke_corporate_capitalism_1085167.html
Financial Institutions Must Lead on Decarbonization
By Christian L. Perkins, Real Clear Energy, Jan 15, 2025
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2025/01/15/financial_institutions_must_lead_on_decarbonization_1084917.html
Christian Perkins is the Clean Energy Programs Manager at City First Enterprises (CFE), a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) based in DC.
Models v. Observations
Green isoprenes and what they mean
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 15, 2025
The effects were first measured by aircraft survey then reproduced in the lab at the CERN particle accelerator. And as Nova points out, this phenomenon constitutes a natural warming driver climate scientists haven’t known about before:
Model Issues
The settled uncertainty
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 15, 2025
See, “Today’s climate models very accurately describe the broad strokes of Earth’s future.” Um how would you know such a thing if that future hadn’t arrived yet? What are you testing their predictions against? A cli-fi novel?
Changing Weather
Climate change reduces our Global Weather catastrophe losses
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Jan 13, 0225
The Northwest Sacrifices its Precipitation So New Orleans Can Experience Snow
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Jan 15, 2025
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-northwest-sacrifices-its.html
Look at the forecast temperature anomaly from normal for 1 PM PST Tuesday. Unbelievable.
Some areas of the southeast will be 30F or more below normal.
Polar vortex to bring life-threatening temperatures to US this weekend
By Lauren Irwin, The Hill, Jan 16, 2025
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/5089542-polar-vortex-winter-weather-arctic-air-trump-inauguration
Subfreezing temperatures and sunshine are predicted for Trump’s inauguration in D.C. Monday. The bitter cold in Washington follows the region’s largest snowstorm in years earlier this month.
Everything cold is new again
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 15, 2025
Oh, and the Canadian Press blames the dreaded “polar vortex” for an “Arctic blast” that:
“The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes plunges south into the U.S., Europe and Asia. Some experts say such cold air outbreaks are happening more frequently, paradoxically, because of a warming world.”
How Cold Will NH Be In 2025?
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Jan 16, 2025
[SEPP Comment: Based on most weather models, very cold for the next two weeks, beyond that weather models fail.]
California Fires
Assigning Responsibility for the Tragic Los Angeles Fires
By Jim Steele, CO2 Coalition, Jan 13, 2025
Why the LA Wildfires Have Little to do With Long-Term Drought or Climate Change
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Jan 14, 2025
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2025/01/why-la-wildfires-have-little-to-with.html
The California Fires Were Not Caused By Climate Change
By Chris Martz., Cornwall Alliance, Jan 16, 2025
Asleep At The Switch
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power aggressively touts sustainability, solar, EVs, hydrogen, and its pursuit of “100% clean power.” Did it ignore wildfire risk?
By Robert Bryce, His Blog, Jan 11, 2025
https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/asleep-at-the-switch
Link to: 2023-24 Briefing Book
By Staff, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, 2023
Mission Statement
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power exists to support the growth and vitality of the City of Los Angeles, its residents, businesses and the communities we serve, providing safe, reliable and cost-effective water and power in a customer-focused and environmentally responsible manner.
Thank Golden State’s Bureaucracy for Wildfires
By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Jan 13, 2025
https://www.newsmax.com/larrybell/california-los-angeles-wildfires/2025/01/13/id/1194827
The Los Angeles fire debacle is the peak of the virtue signaling era
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Jan 11, 2025
California burning
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 15, 2025
California’s Catastrophic Wildfires Are ‘A DEI, Green New Deal Disaster’
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 13, 2025
If you have not come across him before, Victor Davis Hanson is a highly regarded classical scholar and military historian, who always talks common sense.
LA fires’ heat, intensity driven by planet-warming pollution: Study
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Jan 15, 2025
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5086870-california-wildfires-climate-change-study
Link to updated UCLA press release linked to last week: Climate Change A Factor In Unprecedented LA Fires
By Gavin Madakumbura, et al., UCLA, Jan 13, 2025
https://sustainablela.ucla.edu/2025lawildfires
Key Takeaways:
- Climate change may be linked to roughly a quarter of the extreme fuel moisture deficit when the fires began. [boldface added]
- The fires would still have been extreme without climate change, but probably somewhat smaller and less intense.
- Given the inevitability of continued climate change, wildfire mitigation should be oriented around (1) aggressive suppression of human ignitions when extreme fire weather is predicted, (2) home hardening strategies, and (3) urban development in low wildfire risk zones.
[SEPP Comment: At least The Hill article states: “The research was conducted in rapid response to the ongoing fires and thus has not been peer-reviewed.”]
Changing Climate
“Melting ice reveals millennia-old forest buried in the Rocky mountains”
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 13, 2025
Link to article: Melting ice reveals millennia-old forest buried in the Rocky mountains
Trees dating back almost 6000 years have come to scientists’ attention due to ice melting in the Rocky mountains, offering a “time capsule” into the past.
By Taylor Mitchell Brown, New Scientist, Jan 13, 2025
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2463397-melting-ice-reveals-millennia-old-forest-buried-in-the-rocky-mountains
Link to paper: Dynamic treeline and cryosphere response to pronounced mid-Holocene climatic variability in the US Rocky Mountains
By Gregory T. Pederson, et al., PNAS, Dec 30, 2024
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2412162121
Beartooth plateau in Wyoming.
[SEPP Comment: Of course, the abstract concludes: “It is likely that perennial ice cover will again disappear from the region, and the tree line may expand upslope so long as plant-available moisture and disturbance are not limiting.” But it does not address why these trees existed if the globe is warmer than ever before.]
Changing Seas
Sea Level Rise Panic Cancelled?
By Kip Hansen, WUWT, Jan 6, 2025
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Collapse Of The Antarctic Sea Ice Scam
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 15, 2025
Video
Changing Earth
Devastating volcanic eruption did not cause the sudden-onset cold period 13,000 years ago, climate archives reveal
By Marietta Fuhrmann-Koch, Heidelberg University, Phys.org, Jan 16, 2025 [H/t Paul Redfern]
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-devastating-volcanic-eruption-sudden-onset.html
Link to paper: Discovery of Laacher See eruption in speleothem record synchronizes Greenland and central European Late Glacial climate change
By Sophie F. Warken, et al., AAAS Science Advances, Jan 15, 2025
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adt4057
[SEPP Comment: The volcanic eruption does not explain the sudden cooling and abrupt warming of the Younger Dryas which occurred later, about 12,900 to 11,700 years ago. Since volcanoes generally release CO2, the volcanic eruption contradicts the claim that CO2 is the “control knob of Earth’s temperatures.’]
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
The Scourge — Or Not — Of “Ultraprocessed Foods”
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Jan 14, 2025
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2025-1-14-the-scourge-of-ultraprocessed-foods
The Very Well Health piece, in contrast to the pieces from far more “prestigious” sources like Nature and Harvard Medical School, is actually relatively informative on this subject. The piece provides some history, which I will spare you, of how the “ultraprocessed foods” characterization got started and developed. A fair summary is that it is a part of the overall UN effort to smear the West and the productive countries and companies of the world.
[SEPP Comment: Is pure applesauce ultraprocessed?]
Lowering Standards
New Data Tampering By NOAA
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 17, 2024
[SEPP Comment: The difference in recent temperatures between the January 12, 2025, USHCN RAW TMAX and the Feb 13, 2024, USHCN RAW TMAX is disgusting!]
America Burning
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 13, 2025
[SEPP Comment: EPA uses National Interagency Fire Center data starting in 1983, showing an increase in acreage burned; Heller shows the data starts in 1925 and shows a dramatic decrease in acreage burned.]
NOAA’s “no evidence” that wind kills whales violates the Information Quality Act
By David Wojick, CFACT Jan 13, 2025
https://www.cfact.org/2025/01/13/noaas-no-evidence-that-wind-kills-whales-violates-the-information-quality-act
Third, last year Professor Apostolos Gerasoulis found a high statistical correlation between the specific local activity of sonar survey boats and clusters of whale deaths. This is very strong, some would say compelling, evidence that wind development is causing whale deaths. Correlation is not causation but correlation in the context of a causal hypothesis is strong evidence. (This is the basis for clinical trials.)
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
Politico and The Guardian Falsely Blame California Wildfires on Climate Change
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Jan 13, 2025
New York Times: California Fires Caused By Global Cooling
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 12, 2025
July 12, 1976, Headline
[SEPP Comment: It doesn’t matter if it is global warming or global cooling, to the NYT the solution is the same: abandon fossil fuels, critical for modern civilization.]
No, CNN and BBC, 2024 Wasn’t the ‘Hottest Year on Record’ When ALL of the Available Evidence Is Considered
By Anthoy Watts, Climate Realism, Jan 16, 2025
BBC Try To Wriggle Out Of Extreme Weather Claims
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 13, 2025
Forbes and Frist Are Wrong About Climate Change Harming Human Well-Being
By Linnea Lueken, Climate Realism, Jan 15, 2025
Frist and Forbes are perpetuating the baseless claims that weather has become more unpredictable and extreme when long-term data demonstrates that it has not, and that climate change presents an existential threat to human life and health, when it does not.
NPR: Cold And Snow Caused By Global Warming
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 14, 2025
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Magical Thermometers
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 15, 2025
Despite having no data from 1850 for the vast majority of the planet, the WMO and “six international datasets” know the temperature within 0.01 degrees.
Communicating Better to the Public – Go Personal.
Being called “Far Right” is like being called a witch in the middle ages
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Jan 16, 2025
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda
Factors Affecting the Power Industry in 2025 and Beyond: Trump and Data Centers Among Key Influences
The new year always provides a great opportunity to take a look back to see what POWER got right (or wrong) in our previous industry forecast. More importantly, it gives us a chance to look ahead.
By Aaron Larson, Power Mag, Jan 2, 2025
https://www.powermag.com/factors-affecting-the-power-industry-in-2025-and-beyond-trump-and-data-centers-among-key-influences/?utm_source=omeda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pwrnews+eletter&oly_enc_id=7809H6412578J0B
[SEPP Comment: The author claims that solar energy will continue to grow. The actions of the AI-driven high tech companies in going nuclear, exposed the holes in arguments of solar promoters, who justified their projections by claiming high-tech companies would purchase the electricity generated, without revealing that high-tech requires reliable power. Part time power is of limited value for a full-time civilization.]
Trash Talk at Fossil Fuels re SoCal Wildfires (alarmists unhinged)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Jan 14, 2025
Questioning European Green
Miliband Admits Heat Pumps May Never Be Cheaper Than Gas Boilers
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 17, 2025
“Speaking at the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee on Wednesday, [Energy Secretary] Miliband said he was ‘wary’ of stopping people from having gas boilers by a specific date if the government cannot guarantee greener alternatives will be cheaper.”
Moreover, the current heat pump subsidy of £7500 is unsustainable in the long run. If every home was paid it, the bill would be £150 billion. All we would be doing was subsidizing our own heat pumps.
The likely outcome is that Miliband will simply kick the can down the road and leave it to the next government to bite the bullet.
Questioning Green Elsewhere
The race to Not Zero: the beginning of the end of the climate delusion picks up speed…
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Jan 15, 2025
Non-Green Jobs
INEOS closes last remaining synthetic ethanol plant in the UK
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 15, 2025
High energy prices and high carbon taxes have forced the closure of this strategic UK asset.
Litigation Issues
The Tennessee-BlackRock Settlement: A Win for Transparency and Investor Interests
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Jan 17, 2025
Three Strikes and You’re Out! New York Swings And Misses Again with Climate Litigation
By Mandi Risko, Energy in Depth, Jan 15, 2025
https://eidclimate.org/three-strikes-and-youre-out-new-york-swings-and-misses-again-with-climate-litigation
Republican states sue EPA over ‘methane fee’ implementation
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Jan 17, 2025
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5091844-republican-states-sue-epa-methane-fee
GOP states, oil lobbying group sue White House over offshore drilling restrictions
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Jan 17, 2025
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5092629-republican-states-biden-oil-drilling
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Biden Admin Cuts Failing EV Company A Fat Check On Its Way Out The Door
By Owen Klinsky, Daily Caller, Jan 17, 2025
https://dailycaller.com/2025/01/17/biden-admin-cuts-failing-ev-company-a-fat-check-on-its-way-out-the-door
The carmaker [Rivian] hemorrhaged cash in 2024 amid a widespread slackening in demand for EVs, losing roughly $4 billion in the first three quarters of 2024 alone.
[SEPP Comment: Rivian makes electric trucks, SUVs, and delivery vans, but no profits.]
Energy Issues – Non-US
Rethinking the global electricity debate: Why reliable power matters for economic growth
By Ronald Stein, Robert Jeffrey, and Olivia Vaughan, America Outloud News, Jan 13, 2025
2025’s Energy Crossroads: 6 Trends Redefining the Global Power Sector
By Sonal Patel, Power Mag, Jan 2, 2025
https://www.powermag.com/2025s-energy-crossroads-6-trends-redefining-the-global-power-sector/?utm_source=omeda&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pwrnews+eletter&oly_enc_id=7809H6412578J0B
While the relief is welcome, these attributes are setting the stage for a “buyer’s market in the second half of this decade,” said Dr. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), at the launch of the 2024 World Energy Outlook (WEO 2024) in October. That will have nuanced implications for the power sector, including competitive pressures on renewables, reduced electricity prices in fossil-fuel-dependent markets, and potential challenges to clean energy investment amid rising flexibility and grid modernization needs, he suggested.
[SEPP Comment: If solar and wind are competitive, why do they need subsidies?]
Gas Storage Plunges to “Concerningly Low Levels”
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 12, 2025
If we have not got enough gas in storage, we have to pay through the nose for imports in winter, when prices peak.
But of much greater concern is what will happen when North Sea gas production drops away. Demand for natural gas will still remain high in winter for many years to come – we still need it to heat our homes and generate electricity in weeks like this one. Banning further North Sea development, as Miliband wants, will simply make us ever more reliant on imported LNG, something that will not only cost money but also endanger our energy security.
Energy Issues – Australia
Aussie Government ABC Struggles to Explain High Energy Prices
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Jan 13, 2025
Energy Issues — US
Major Policy Changes Required to Ensure Power Grid Resiliency and Reliability
By Bernard L. Weinstein, Real Clear Energy, Jan 14, 2025
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2025/01/14/major_policy_changes_required_to_ensure_power_grid_resiliency_and_reliability_1084322.html
Coal, in particular, has a critical role to play in assuring adequate power for the ongoing electrification of America. Though operating thermal coal plants provide only 16% of America’s power today, these “always on” generators are critical for maintaining grid reliability, especially during extreme weather events which are becoming more common across the nation. As NERC warned several years ago, the accelerated closure of coal and nuclear plants may lead to power outages and transmission problems in many parts of the U.S.
Washington’s Control of Energy
Biden Uses Last-Minute AI Executive Order To Force More Green Energy Onto The Grid
By Thomas English, Daily Caller, Jan 14, 2025
https://dailycaller.com/2025/01/14/joe-biden-signs-artificial-intelligence-green-energy-executive-order
[SEPP Comment: Run full time datacenters on part-time electricity!]
The Bitter End
Biden’s latest drilling ban is a powerful demonstration of a broken federal government.
By Doomberg, Jan 14, 2025
https://newsletter.doomberg.com/p/the-bitter-end?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=343139&post_id=154770570&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=f7h7&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
So Much for an ‘Orderly Transition’ — Biden Bans Oil, Gas Drilling
By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Jan 10, 2025
https://www.newsmax.com/larrybell/joe-biden-presidential-transition-oil-drilling/2025/01/10/id/1194588
Offshore Oil & Gas Drilling Ban Is Totally Misguided
By Kristen Walker, Real Clear Energy, Jan 14, 2025
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2025/01/14/offshore_oil_and_gas_drilling_ban_is_totally_misguided_1084565.html
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
2024 LNG Export Study: Energy, Economic, and Environmental Assessment of U.S. LNG Exports
Press Release, Office of Fossil Energy & Carbon Management (FECM) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Dec 20, 2024
https://fossil.energy.gov/app/docketindex/docket/index/30
The comment period begins on December 20, 2024, and extends through February 18, 2025 at 4:30 pm Eastern time.
Nuclear Energy and Fears
French Nuclear: End of the Line?
By Kennedy Maize, Master Resource, Jan 15, 2025
[SEPP Comment: The essay points out that the design has had massive cost overruns in France, China, Finland, and the UK. It does not address why.]
What future for fusion in the UK?
By John Carr, Net Zero Watch, Jan 16, 2025
https://www.netzerowatch.com/all-news/cost-of-step-fusion
The difference in fuel means the radioactive waste from fusion has a shorter lifetime than that from fission and so simplifies long-term waste handling. Unfortunately, fusion reactions are more difficult to initiate and contain than fission, meaning the power stations must be much more complex and expensive. While fission has produced electricity on world-wide grids for 70 years, fusion has been in a research and development phase during the same period.
There are currently about 90 operational fusion devices in 50 different countries around the world, of which 3 are in the UK. Forty more are under development. Among the operational projects, there are more than a dozen different technologies used, including 51 tokamaks, 9 stellarators and 8 laser fusion devices.
[SEPP Comment: Fusion energy has been just around the corner for 50 years and may be there for another 50 years.]
£410 Million For Fusion Energy
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 17, 2025
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Last Gasp for Offshore Wind: “Reinvesting in Shoreline Economies and Ecosystems Act”
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Jan 16, 2025
So, what has become of the Biden-Harris Administration goal of constructing 30,000 MW (30 GW) of offshore wind by 2030? The current operating projects are:
North America’s first solar community comes to an end in Okotoks
Okotoks’ internationally recognized Drake Landing Solar Community is set to be fully decommissioned by the end of 2025.
By Amir Said, Western Wheel, Jan 10, 2025 [H/t Douglas Flaig]
https://www.westernwheel.ca/local-news/north-americas-first-solar-community-comes-to-an-end-in-okotoks-10054257
Following a period of deliberation by the Drake Landing Company, the board of directors decided last June to end the solar project, citing factors such as a lack of funding, extensive financial losses and maintenance issues, including the failure of critical components.
[SEPP Comment: Okotoks is about 24 miles (38km) south of Calgary, Alberta. Its latitude is about 50.44 degrees North. London is 51.5 degrees North.]
Not that again
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 15, 2025
Do we really want to cover the Serengeti with solar panels, and tell the rhinos and cheetahs so sorry, we needed your habitat, kindly step into this zoo?
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Storage
Battery Fire Disaster In California
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 17, 2025
The Energy Storage Fiasco — How Soon Will It Be Abandoned?
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Jan 17, 2025
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2025-1-17-the-energy-storage-fiasco-how-soon-will-it-be-abandoned-h5w94
Link to: NYCEDC Advances Green Economy Action Plan with Support of Major Battery Energy Storage Project in New York City
Press Release by NYCEDC, May 16, 2024
https://edc.nyc/press-release/nycedc-supports-major-battery-energy-storage
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
2024 Registrations Of New Electric Cars Plummet 27.5% In Germany…”Petrol Dominates”
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Jan 12, 2025
Engines Galore Seek to Dethrone the BEV
By Duggan Flanakin, WUWT, Jan 14, 2025
[SEPP Comment: It is questionable whether any of the new engines discussed will replace the internal combustion engines (ICE)]
Electric School Bus Destroyed In Fire In Ontario
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 16, 2025
California Dreaming
Climate Crisis Policies Destructive to Los Angeles Area Environment and Harmful to Wildlife
A look at the carbon emissions and destruction of habitat because of the focus on policies based on virtue-signalling and pseudoscience.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, Jan 12, 2025
https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/01/climate-crisis-policies-destructive-to-los-angles-area-environment-and-harmful-to-wildlife
The Fire Next Time
By Edward Ring, What’s Current, Accessed Jan 17, 2025
https://mailchi.mp/calpolicycenter/whats-current-issue-7859732?e=75f5174b03
[SEPP Comment: After practical suggestions of modifying legislation, the essay goes into expensive measures with no estimates of cost. For example, “bury all power lines.” In uneven terrain, replacing wood poles with steel may make far more financial sense.]
Health, Energy, and Climate
Gases from Asthma Inhalers Cause Negligible Warming
By Frits Byron Soepyan, Jan 15, 2025
[SEPP Comment: Exposing another frivolous claim contrary to public health.]
Environmental Industry
Save the whales… and the media
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 15, 2025
This story ought to be irresistible. It has everything, doesn’t it? Sinister corporations in league with obtuse or greedy politicians work to line their own pockets while driving charismatic megafauna to the brink of extinction and official guardians snooze or worse.
Other Scientific News
Here’s How the Red Stuff Being Dumped on LA Fires Works
By Josh Bloom, ACSH, Jan 12, 2025
https://www.acsh.org/news/2025/01/12/heres-how-red-stuff-being-dumped-la-fires-works-49240
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
It’s Renewables, Stupid!!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 12, 2025
The Independent even refers to our friend Bob Ward as Bob Hope!! Mind you, I have always said the policy director at the Grantham Research Institute was a bit of a clown!
The whole article, of course, was written as a puff piece for Miliband’s crazy renewable plans, which will see electricity bills skyrocket, not fall.
Mediterranean Britain
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Jan 13, 2025
It has been fifteen years since the [UK] National Trust predicted a Mediterranean climate for Britain.
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 15, 2025
It’s cool to learn that sea sponges sneeze in slow motion. Possibly cooler than watching it, which might well prove both dull and disgusting. But what’s not cool is that in order to get a grant to pursue this eccentric but compelling interest, it’s best to say “climate” no matter what’s really going on. As in “cameras installed on the sea floor by Ocean Networks Canada in an effort to study the sponge’s response to the changing climate and weather patterns.”
ARTICLES
1. A Tale of Two State Insurance Markets
Florida fixed its market with reforms. California didn’t. See the results.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, Jan. 16, 2025
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/home-insurance-federalization-john-kennedy-california-florida-ron-desantis-eedc07f7?mod=hp_opin_pos_0
TWTW summary. After the California fires, many homeowners and politicians will blame insurance companies for lack of payment. But many problems occur from state insurance regulations. The editorial begins with:
“Hard to believe, but the Los Angeles wildfires have Republicans in Congress talking about federalizing home insurance. Why should all Americans be on the hook for insurance liabilities of states like California that have mismanaged their markets?”
The editorial discusses a specific example than continues with:
“The 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act enshrines state regulatory authority over insurance. This system has worked relatively well over 80 years. But some states have done a better job of managing their markets than others. California and Florida provide an illustrative contrast.
Democratic insurance commissioners in the Golden State have for years suppressed rates. Until recently, California was the only state that prohibited carriers from using catastrophe models to project disaster risk and pricing reinsurance costs into their premiums.
Wildfires—exacerbated by the state’s poor land mismanagement—have swelled insurer claims and liabilities. Insurers are paying out $1.09 in expenses and claims for every $1 they collect in premiums. They’ve curbed their exposure in part by dropping policy holders in high-risk areas and leaving the market.
The liabilities of the state’s insurer of last resort, FAIR, have exploded to $458 billion from $153 billion in 2020, with $5.9 billion in exposure in the Pacific Palisades. Yet Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara rejected FAIR’s proposed rate increases while requiring it to cover homes worth up to $3 million.
FAIR President Victoria Roach told the state Assembly last year that the insurer in 2021 requested a 48.8% rate increase—less than the 70% it needed—but was approved for 15.7%. FAIR is under-capitalized and had only $700 million in cash on hand as of last year to pay claims.
To prevent more insurers from leaving the state, Mr. Lara last month finally let carriers to price in their reinsurance costs and use catastrophe models. But he also capped the reinsurance costs that carriers can pass along. Rates are set to rise 20% to 40% this year, though this still may not be enough to cover insurer liabilities.
Unable to raise rates, many insurers have increased deductibles and capped maximum payments. That means insurers might not cover all of the fire damage, and some homeowners will face hefty rebuilding costs. Lucky for them the Federal Emergency Management Agency covers losses if homeowners are ‘under-insured.’
This means taxpayers in Houston and Little Rock may pay for rebuilding multi-million-dollar homes in California. If FAIR becomes insolvent, all insurers in California—meaning their customers—are on the hook for its claims. Homeowners could see rates rise by thousands of dollars a year.
In Florida, in striking contrast, Republicans headed off an insurance market death spiral caused by litigation abuse. State law had allowed policy holders to assign their claim benefits to contractors working with trial lawyers. Contractors would inflate charges and then sue insurers if they rejected them, setting up a costly claim-by-claim battle.
Insurers lost hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and more than a dozen failed between 2020 and 2022. Others left the market because litigation costs made it difficult to obtain reinsurance. Florida’s insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance Corp., became the state’s biggest carrier and was in danger of collapsing.
Enter Gov. Ron DeSantis, who championed tort reforms in 2022 and 2023 that have stanched the flood of frivolous lawsuits, stabilized the market and reduced Citizens’ exposure. According to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, nine insurers have since entered the market.
Sixty percent of Florida’s top 10 carriers have expanded their business in the state, and 40% have filed for rate decreases. The average monthly request for rate increases is now 1.2%, compared to 14% a few years ago. If not for Mr. DeSantis’s reforms, last year’s hurricanes might have toppled Citizens.
Federalizing the U.S. insurance market would create a moral hazard and discourage state reforms. Rather than protecting California’s Democrats from the costs of their blunders, Republicans should point to Florida.”
Related
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
ADVERTISEMENT:
para, pencinta slot! pernahkah mendengar semboyan “slot gacor” jika? belum bersiaplah, cinta jatuh dengan program slot demo ini. merupakan slots mesin sering yang memberi kemenangan Yup. mesin-mesin, disebut ini bisa sebagai jagoannya buat bawa pulang hasil. tapi gimana,
tekniknya sih nemuin raja lot tepat yang Santai? Bro and Sis beri, kita santai aja di tempat ini Games
terpopuler saat sekarang hanya satu berada yaitu Indonesia pasti memberikan ROI terbaik Daftar
dengan hanya di :
Informasi mengenai KING SLOT, Segera Daftar Bersama king selot terbaik dan terpercaya no satu di Indonesia. Boleh mendaftar melalui sini king slot serta memberikan hasil kembali yang paling tinggi saat sekarang ini hanyalah KING SLOT atau Raja slot paling gacor, gilak dan gaco saat sekarang di Indonesia melalui program return tinggi di kingselot serta pg king slot
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
situs slot terbaru
situs slot terbaru permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
slot terbaru
slot terbaru permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
soda96 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama soda96.com
sparta88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sparta88.biz
sugesbola88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sugesbola88.org
tektok7777 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tektok7777.com
tektok88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tektok88.biz
toinktoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama toinktoto88.com
tokek888slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tokek888slot.com
topslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama topslot888.biz
tuanslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tuanslot888.club
uang88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama uang88.biz
uang8888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama uang8888.com
userslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama userslot88.info
uus88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama uus88.biz
waslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama waslot88.asia
wayantogel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama wayantogel88.com
zona666 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama zona666.biz
zona88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama zona88.biz
slot96 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama slot96.biz
arjuna69 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama arjuna69.com
hqtoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hqtoto88.com
bangshun88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama bangshun88.com
btc999 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama btc999.org
supraslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama supraslot888.net
sortoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sortoto88.net
logamtoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama logamtoto88.net
goslot777 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama goslot777.info
gebyar88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama gebyar88.biz
botak88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama botak88.biz
ibis88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama ibis88.asia
autobot777slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama autobot777slot.com
jwmarriott88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jwmarriott88.com
reddoorz88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama reddoorz88.com
hotelharris88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hotelharris88.com
novotel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama novotel88.com
orientalplay88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama orientalplay88.com
oyo88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama oyo88.live
agoda88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama agoda88.asia
tiket88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tiket88.asia
santika88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama santika88.org
grandaston88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama grandaston88.com
booking88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama booking88.org
grandmercure88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama grandmercure88.com
tripadvisor88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tripadvisor88.com
hotelmulia88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hotelmulia88.com
aryaduta88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama aryaduta88.com
shangrila88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama shangrila88.com
holidayinn88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama holidayinn88.com
antam88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama antam88.info
