Land

Because of its size and isolated location, developing the mine is a huge project.  When it is fully operational, the open pit mine alone will be 2.2 miles long and a mile wide, and extend a third of a mile into the Earth. The enormous tailings impoundment would cover 2,350 acres of land, and the waste rock site would take up another 2,240 acres. The company anticipates processing 59,000 tons of ore each day.  In order to power this huge operation, the mine will need a 157-megawatt natural gas power plant, with fuel for the plant shipped through a 315-mile, 14-inch steel pipeline from the Cook Inlet, across the Alaska Range mountains to the mine.

According to YubaNet.com, “Yukon and Kuskokwim region leaders are outraged” by Monday’s release of the decision on the permits.  The permits were granted even though the local tribal leaders expressed many concerns and requests for Government-to-Government consultation, which went unanswered. Worse yet, the sovereign tribal governments of the region were barred from attending a press event held by the Federal agencies announcing the decision.

Why This Matters:  Another Alaska mining project, the Pebble Mine, has had a much more difficult time being permitted because its development would put in jeopardy the largest wild salmon fishery remaining in the world.  While that project has struggled, this one has moved along through the process and seems destined to be approved by the end of the year.  The scope of the mine and its environmental destruction and disruption is huge.  It is hard to imagine the devastation it will cause to the natural environment, much less the way of life of the local people.  SAD.

 Energy

• Mines and other businesses have shut down and people have moved away—mining jobs are off 70 percent since 2010—so utilities are selling less power and spreading their fixed costs across fewer customers.
   
• Electricity customers are shouldering the costs of shuttering old coal-burning power plants and cleaning up the toxic messes they leave behind.
   
• And experts say it hasn’t helped that utilities in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia have continued to invest in burning coal.

 People

Green Activism 2.0

Across parts of the country, environmental activists are stepping up their organizing to help usher along low-carbon city projects. As the San Gabriel Valley Tribune explained, green organizations are joining government, utilities and eco-friendly startups to shape green projects, from solar power to advanced battery storage to new forms of car-free transportation such as bicycle rentals and electric scooters. In Glendale, California the Glendale Environmental Coalition (GEC), a grassroots group of climate change believers, became frustrated with a city plan to rebuild the aging Grayson Power Plant near the 5 and 134 freeways using gas-fired generators. The power plant would increase smog emissions and would release an additional 415,000 metric tons of CO2. After winning a chance to seek alternatives from the City Council in April, the GEC launched itself into the city’s formal request for low- and zero-carbon alternative energy proposal bids from companies like Sunrun, Charge Bliss, and PermaCity Inc. 

Through the California Public Records Act, the GEC intercepted the bidders and contacted each one to offer them offering crowd-sourcing services from their members which included stay-at-home moms and retirees, some walking the city by foot to record data. Monica Campagna is a stay-at-home mom but wanted to do something about climate change so she volunteered to identify city rooftops using Google Maps that would be good candidates for solar and battery storage.  She added that “If we are demanding they (city) look at alternatives, I feel we have a responsibility to help them out. How do we create energy here, store it here? This is a piece of the puzzle we can help with.”

Why This Matters: The GEC’s actions are controversial because they go against the way a Request For Proposal from a city normally works, but community members are dedicated to transitioning their city to cleaner sources of energy. These regional solutions to climate change can succeed because residents know their cities the best and are able to bring together stakeholders for a conversation more readily than at higher levels of government. 

H/T to loyal reader Mark L for this story!

 Oceans

According to the non-profit Pew Trusts, the pristine areas are a haven for humpback whales, seabirds and turtles, and contain an estimated 1,700 species of fish and 473 different types of coral.  Roughly 600,000 tourists visit New Caledonia annually, which fuels a huge portion of its economy.  The restricted area will still be open to small eco-tours who are granted a permit by the government.  

Why This Matters:  As we reported last week, the amount of unspoiled ocean wilderness is shrinking fast.  To protect so much of the remaining undisturbed coral reefs is an enormous contribution to the fight to save biodiversity in the ocean.  Now this area will not have to deal with additional stressors such as overfishing or pollution, and thus will recover more quickly in the event of a coral bleaching or other climate impact.  John Tanzer, the head of oceans for WWF International, said “[w]ith good management, these marine protected areas will help maintain fish populations and ecosystem health that will build the reef’s resilience to the impacts of climate change in future.”  Christophe Chevillon, head of the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy in New Caledonia, which helped draft the plans, said it would elevate the territory as a global leader in ocean protection.  We agree and hope they will further expand these type of protections in the Natural Park of the Coral Sea.  

H/T to Dan M for this good news!

 Animals   

While honeybee populations have been on the decline for decades, due to diseases and pesticides, this past winter saw an especially big drop in their colonies in the state of Virginia. As Keith Tignor, Virginia’s state apiarist, said to WAMU erratic weather and a rainy spring led to a loss of 60 percent of bee colonies in the commonwealth. “That’s a huge hit on our beekeeping community,” said Tignor. Normally In an average year, the rate of loss is around 30 to 40 percent. 

To compensate for this loss of honeybees, Virginia launched a new program this summer that provides free hives to residents in an effort to boost bee numbers. Any Virginia resident over 18 can apply and each applicant was able to receive three free hives per year, while supplies lasted. The program was so successful that the allocated $125,000 in funding which was intended to last 2 years ran out by the time July was finished. The Department of Agriculture received 2,700 applications for hives in less than one month — at one point requests were coming in about one per minute. While the funding was quickly maxed out, the program will be offered again in the next fiscal year, starting July 1, 2019.

Why This Matters: This program shows that people value bees and are happy to help them flourish. Perhaps this can help launch other programs to help other types of pollinators including native bee species which have also been on the decline. 

 Cosmos

Each year in August, the Perseid meteor shower put on a show, and this year’s did not disappoint — there was reportedly an average of 60 meteors per hour!  But you had to stay up late into the night to see it, and it was tougher still if you live in a city whose lights obscured it. ICYMI, check out this beautiful time-lapse video of the celestial event that was filmed by Jeff Sullivan in the White Mountains above Bishop, California. This annual phenomenon was named for the constellation Perseus, because of where the meteors are viewed — the shower can be seen when looking toward the constellation in the northeastern portion of the sky between midnight and sunup.  It was its brightest overnight on Sunday, but you can still see it through the 24th of August.