January 11, 2018

New York City sues 5 major oil companies, claiming they contributed to global warming

New York City is suing five major oil companies, claiming they have contributed to global warming.

Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city will be seeking billions in the lawsuit to recoup money spent by the city for resiliency efforts related to climate change.

The defendants in the city's federal lawsuit are BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell.

A BP spokesman declined comment. A Shell spokesman said climate change is a complex issue that should not be addressed by the courts. The other three did not immediately comment.

The lawsuit follows the city's announcement that it plans to divest its pension funds from fossil fuel companies.


Short article, no more at link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-new-york-sues-oil-companies-global-warming-20180110-story.html



The ExxonMobil refinery seen at dusk in St. Bernard Parish, La. (Gerald Herbert / AP)

January 11, 2018

Nearly half of utility-scale capacity installed in 2017 came from renewables

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-860M, Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory

Once final data are in, EIA expects about 25 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric generating capacity to have been added to the power grid during 2017, nearly half of which use renewable technologies, especially wind and solar. Another 3.5 GW of small-scale solar net capacity additions are estimated to have come online in 2017.

Of the renewable capacity additions in 2017, more than half came online during the fourth quarter. Renewable capacity additions are often highest in the final months of the year, in part because of timing qualifications for federal, state, or local tax incentives. Estimated fourth-quarter capacity additions for 2017 are based on planned additions reported to EIA and are subject to change based on actual project completions.

Monthly U.S. renewable electricity generation peaked in March at 67.5 billion kilowatthours, or 21% of total utility-scale electricity generation. In late spring, the melting snowpack from a winter characterized by higher-than-average levels of precipitation increased hydroelectric generation, while strong wind resources in March also produced a peak in monthly wind generation for the year.

Most renewable generation in 2017 came from the Western census division, which accounted for the majority of the hydroelectric (67%) and solar (69%) generation. Wind generation was more evenly spread across the country in 2017, with 37% occurring in the Midwest, 37% in the South, 21% in the West, and the remaining 4% in the Northeast.


More: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=34472

January 11, 2018

Stephen Colbert - Monologue and Opening - 1/10/18

Stephen Gets In A Few Words Before Trump's Libel Crackdown



Speak now or forever hold your freedom of speech.



Trump Does A 'Jekyll And Hyde' On DACA



When it comes to the Dreamers Act, the President is going back and forth between two states of mind. (And not 'stable' and 'genius.')



Melania Trump Corrects The Lies Of 'Fire And Fury'



The First Lady Melania Trump (Laura Benanti) annotates several sections of Michael Wolff's 'Fire and Fury' that pertain to her.



Kim Jong-Un Reveals North Korea's Olympic Athletes



North Korea's supreme leader also wants to be North Korea's supreme bobsledder.

January 11, 2018

Seth Meyers: Guest Lewis Black Reflects on the First Year of Trump's Presidency

Lewis Black explains why he takes issue with meteorologists using terms like "bombogenesis," rails against cold weather and reflects on the first year of Trump's presidency.



Lewis Black Believes Men Don't Know What They're Doing



Lewis Black explains why he thinks more women should run for office and explains why he turned down the opportunity to speak with Donald Trump.

January 11, 2018

Seth Meyers: President Trump's First Physical, U2 Albums - Monologue - 1/9/18

January 11, 2018

The Daily Show: Trump Sends Mixed Messages on Immigration

While President Trump discusses DACA and his border wall with congressional leaders, his administration ends temporary protected status for El Salvadorian refugees.

January 10, 2018

Stephen Colbert - Monologue and Opening - 1/9/18

Trump Still Thinks Mexico Will Pay For The Wall



In an uncharacteristically transparent move, the White House allowed cameras into a bipartisan meeting about immigration.



Sen. Dianne Feinstein Gives No F's (Except For Fusion GPS's Testimony)



Sen. Dianne Feinstein authorizes the publication of a bombshell document (Fusion GPS's transcript) that sheds light on a bombshell document (the Steele dossier).



Future Presidents (Oprah) And Past Presidents (Bannon)



Stephen examines two people making a big splash this week: the recently unemployed Steve Bannon and infinitely employed Oprah Winfrey.



Trump Sings The National Anthem



After months of chiding NFL players for disrespecting our National Anthem, President Trump finally got his chance to show them how it's done.

January 10, 2018

Seth Meyers - Trump Is Becoming More Erratic and Working Less: A Closer Look

Seth takes a closer look at Donald Trump continuing to prove that he's an increasingly erratic president who's unfit for his job and apparently working even fewer hours and neglecting urgent issues.

January 10, 2018

What Killed Trump's Cockamamie Coal Plan

Rick Perry's idea to prop up dirty and unsafe energy sources was reviled by just about everyone -- even the president's appointees.

President Donald Trump promised to bring back coal. In a ham-handed attempt to make his boss happy, Energy Secretary Rick Perry in September proposed forcing electrical utilities to heavily subsidize coal and nuclear plants in the name of ensuring a "reliable, resilient energy grid."

Thanks to a quirk of legislative history, though, the Department of Energy can't just issue such a regulation on its own. When Congress established the department in 1977 in the wake of the first oil crisis, it ensured that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the successor to the Federal Power Commission it had created in 1920 and laden with new responsibilities several times since, would continue to set rules for electricity generation, among other things.

This is how it came to pass that on Monday, the five members of the FERC -- four of them appointed by Trump! -- effectively told Perry to take his Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and shove it. The commission said it will "remain vigilant with respect to resilience challenges," but that Perry's approach wasn't compatible with the competitive electricity markets that have evolved under FERC guidance over the past two decades.

This leads to a couple of thoughts:

1. We have a weird system of government!
2. That weird system seems to have saved us from a really dumb idea.

Much more: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-09/what-killed-trump-s-cockamamie-coal-plan

January 10, 2018

Snow and salt can mean serious damage to your vehicle

NORFOLK, Va. - It’s icy, and slushy outside but being lazy and forgetting to take care of your vehicle could be a mistake.

“This is what salt damage does. It’s just big flaky nasty rust that just chunks off of the car and again this is all prior salt damage,” Langevin said.

That nasty looking snow that’s now black, packed behind your tires can cause serious damage if you let it sit there too long.

“All this black, nasty cruddy stuff is all salt and sand that is compacted onto the vehicle. Basically, when it sits for a prolonged period over time it will actually rust and rot the vehicle,” Langevin said.


More (Includes video): http://wtkr.com/2018/01/09/snow-and-salt-can-mean-serious-damage-to-your-car/