Open Thread August 19, 2023 “Appeals court strikes down Utah oil railroad approval”
“The statement received pushback from environmentalists concerned that constructing new infrastructure to transport more fossil fuels will allow more oil to be extracted and burned, contributing to climate change. “Appeals court strikes down Utah oil railroad approval, siding with environmentalists,” msn.com.
Additionally, communities in neighboring Colorado including Eagle County and the city of Glenwood Springs — which filed a brief in support of the lawsuit — are worried about safety and potential train derailments. Oil trains would link from the proposed new Uinta Basin line to the common carrier network throughout the country, including through Colorado.
Proponents — oil businesses, rural Utah officials and the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation — have argued that the railroad would be a boon to struggling local economies and boost domestic energy production.
The court ultimately ruled that the Surface Transportation Board’s decision to grant the project an exemption from the typical review process and claims that it could not examine its full environmental impact violated the agency’s mandate.”
The Ministry for the Future
(A couple of years ago, Kim Stanley Robinson wrote this book, about a UN agency that was set up by the UN under the Paris Accords, to actually do something about ending Climate Change. It’s a work of fiction, but who knows…)
Americans would not really be able to imagine the UN, headquartered right here in the good ol’ USA, to accomplish anything so consequential, would they? (In the book, they did.)
It’s worth a read.
We settle for reliance on the US Environmental Protection Agency, which is the sworn enemy (maybe) of the Kochs, Joe Manchin, Big Oil, and constrained, shall we say.
So, we are toast.
The Ministry for the Future
(A couple of years ago, Kim Stanley Robinson wrote this book, about a UN agency that was set up by the UN under the Paris Accords, to actually do something about ending Climate Change. It’s a work of fiction, but who knows…)
(I posted the above. It’s related to environmentalism. Maybe it will get through ‘moderation’, maybe it won’t.
the book’s dedication (is) to Fredric Jameson, Robinson’s doctoral supervisor, who wrote that “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism.”Whereas many science-fiction and climate fiction stories illustrate future societies as end products of a future history, Robinson was seeking to write about that bridge-time to a future when the effects of climate change are mitigated and theHolocene extinction halted. …
Americans would not really be able to imagine the UN, headquartered right here in the good ol’ USA, to accomplish anything so consequential, would they? (In the book, they did.)
It’s worth a read.
We settle for reliance on the US Environmental Protection Agency, which is the sworn enemy (maybe) of the Kochs, Joe Manchin, Big Oil, and constrained, shall we say.
So, we are toast.
Trump Uses Supporters’ Donations to Pay His Legal Bills
NY Times – August 19
(So, it’s not really a problem.)
Well if you want him to be elected President and successful resolution of these cases is thought to be important to that end, then you might be okay with this.
I send funds to Biden to support his campaign. Otherwise, I believe that Trump is a menace, and people should not vote for or support him with donations, but it’s (still) a ‘free country’, so to speak.
actually, i’d look pretty carefully at the receipts from the lawyers “paid for legal services.” given trumps record, i expect it is more likely they went into Trump’s travelling fund.
Ukraine sends its US-supplied armored vehicles into battle for the first time
Business Insider – today
Ukraine’s ‘Ridiculously Powerful’ 82nd Air Assault Brigade Is Finally in Action
Kyiv Post – August 16
In the waters off Massachusetts, a hunt for foreign ships building wind farms
Boston Globe – August 19
Domestic manufacturing group eyes Vineyard Wind for violations of the century-old Jones Act, and why that matters for clean energy jobs in New England
The Jones Act Enforcer
Off Shore Marine Services Association
OMSA is the voice of the offshore service industry, an active and dynamic trade association working tirelessly to promote the common good of our members. In short, we are: America’s Lifeline to Offshore Energy.
Boston Globe:
Well,
I have heard “when the facts are against you, argue the law; when the law is against you, argue the facts.” But I have never heard of “argue the spirit of the law.”
Letter and spirit of the law
Wikipedia –
Republican Senator says Trump should drop out of 2024 GOP race
USA Today – August 20
BRICS Meeting Attracts Global Interest Not Seen in Years
NY Times – August 22
The leaders from the five-member group of nations known as BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — began a three-day summit in Johannesburg on Tuesday, where they are discussing expanding the club that harbors ambitions of becoming a geopolitical alternative to Western-led forums like the Group of 7. …
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine along with a trade war between Beijing and Washington have reinvigorated the debate over whether the bloc will remain a loose trade alliance or become a new international coalition. Dozens of countries have expressed interest in joining, including Argentina, Nigeria, Iran, Belarus, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. The candidates are as diverse as the BRICS bloc, which represents 40 percent of the world’s population and a quarter of its economy.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, held a state visit with President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa in Pretoria and was then expected to travel to Johannesburg for the summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India arrived in Johannesburg in the afternoon, The Times of India reported. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia appeared virtually, to avoid an international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity committed during the war in Ukraine. …
… Mr. Putin … planned on attending in person, but spared South Africa the dilemma of whether to arrest him by deciding to appear virtually. Even so, South Africa has continued to face pressure from its Western allies over its close ties with the Kremlin.
In a show of neutrality, Mr. Ramaphosa called for abducted Ukrainian children to be returned and for the re-establishment of the Black Sea Grain deal, which allowed Ukraine to export grain to the world, especially countries in Africa with food shortages.
“We have resisted pressure to align ourselves with any one of the global powers or with influential blocs of nations,” he said in a televised address on Sunday.
Abraham Wald and the Missing Bullet Holes
… The armor, said Wald, doesn’t go where the bullet holes are. It goes where the bullet holes aren’t: on the engines due to the numbers of planes not returning.
Wald’s insight was simply to ask: where are the missing holes? The ones that would have been all over the engine casing, if the damage had been spread equally all over the plane? Wald was pretty sure he knew. The missing bullet holes were on the missing planes. …
The most successful combat airplanes, like the WW2 German Fw 190 & the modern US A-10 Warthog have heavy armor around the pilot. Pilots are more valuable than their planes. However, engines are pretty important also. But there are a lot of trade-offs required.
And there’s always a ‘weight-budget’.