In the larger scheme of things, methane is a real threat. I know it produces less carbon dioxide when burned compared to coal or oil, but, the dangers to the troposphere is nearly greater than carbon dioxide.
We cannot continue to allow methane leaks. It is just that simple. The problem for the petroleum industry is that pollution is built into their profit structure.
Why is methane cheap? Because the containment of leaks is in place? No. It is cheap because emissions are allowed. Methane hasn't been followed as closely as carbon dioxide. Not nearly as close. It is only because Cheney's energy policy allowed for pollution of any kind; air and water. Horizontal drilling was going to save the petroleum industry in the face of "Peak Oil" which also occurred in 2005.
Think about the outrageous dangers affiliated with the petroleum industry, including a significant death rate compared to any other industry in modern times. The payouts for any fines that might exist and the settlements of lawsuits when there are deaths and maiming, and even the $20 billion BP Fund (as if that was enough) is more acceptable to CEOs like Secretary Tillerson than actually conducting a clean industry.
June 22, 2017
Oil will continue to flow(click here) through the Dakota Access Pipeline through the summer while authorities conduct additional review of the environmental impact, after a judge on Wednesday ordered more hearings in coming months.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg in Washington ruled in favor of Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes, who said more environmental analysis of the Dakota Access line should have been carried out. The tribes had said the 1,170-mile (1,880 km) line violates their hunting, fishing and environmental rights.
On Wednesday, Boasberg set out a schedule of hearings that will decide what will happen to the line while additional review is completed.
A lawyer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for environmental review, would not estimate when asked by Boasberg how long additional review would take. The judge could still order the line to be shut at a later date following a series of hearings scheduled through the summer....
There needs to be a $20 billion fund established to protect the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes when there are leaks. There will be leaks and the aquifer will be damaged PERMANENTLY. At that point there will have to be elaborate methods to protect the tribes water supply, not to mention what will occur to the natural world they value.
I think the judge is irresponsible in allowing the oil to flow in the first place, but, even more irresponsible to ignore the dangers affiliated with the pipeline and neglect setting up a fund to protect the lives of the Sioux when the leaks occur.
This is the petroleum industry. They don't care about human life and they fund the elections of the Republicans that don't care about human life either. When I realized the numbers of lung disease suffers in Kentucky that had not been diagnosed until the ACA's preventive check up every year, it was all I needed to know to realize the perverse priorities of a political party in the USA. They could give a damn about people and profits are their only priority.
The petroleum industry gets away with murder and the Republican Party insures it.
Methane has to be controlled. Simple as that. There are methods to address it with the agricultural community. Those methods need research and implementation. The EPA grant funds that weren't included in the EPA Secretary's budget need to be reinstated. When the research is done it will require some degree of grants to farmers to implement those measures. The sooner the better.
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Waste lagoons associated with feedlots are not only smelly and emitting methane, but, they are simply dangerous.
...Not all waste impoundments (click here) are planned to have an embankment. Those that do must consider the risk to life and property should the embankment fail. The information that follows is limited to embankment impoundment sites where the potential risk is limited to physical damage of farm buildings, agricultural land, or township and county roads. This hazard criterion is the low hazard classification for dams that will impound clean water. Waste impoundments, however, present additional risk beyond that of clean water impoundments because of the nature of material they contain. This material can be high in organic matter, nutrients, and microorganisms. In addition, the wastewater may produce offensive odors. As such, even though a waste impoundment is sited so the risk is limited to physical damage of property, there may still be a significant potential in failure to degrade soil, water, air, plant, and animal resources as well as negatively impact the human environment....
The feedlot in the picture above is in Kansas. The government regulations don't demand reducing methane emissions.
December 19, 2012
By Jeremy Bernfeld
You think you deal with a lot of bull crap? (click here) Allan Sents needs a front-end loader and a dump truck to deal with all the cattle manure he’s up against. Literally.
Sents and his wife Deanna co-own McPherson County Feeders, a beef feedlot home to more than 11,000 head of cattle. It’s in Marquette, Kan., and it’s the penultimate stop for cattle, fattening them up before they head to the slaughterhouse.
Sents doesn’t just feed his cattle. He has to dispose of the unending stream of manure his cattle produce every day.
“Realistically, it’s as much a part of the job for us as feeding for the cattle and caring for them that way,” Sents said.
With more than 2.3 million cattle in Kansas feedlots dropping millions of pounds of waste each year, the environmental challenge is immense. And an increase in bigger, specialized feedlots over the last two decades doesn't make it any easier....
Seaweed. Hm?
BEC Crew
If we add (click here) dried seaweed to 2 percent of sheep and cattle feed, we could cut methane emissions by more than 70 percent, scientists have found.
With livestock responsible for 44 percent of all human-caused methane - a gas that has 36 times the global warming potential of CO2 - this could cut a huge chunk of the 3.1 gigatonnes these animals release into the atmosphere each year in burps and farts....
Now, look, I've tried this stuff straight up and while it is type of food one eats for nutrition, it needs preparation.
...yep, your sushi wrapper (click here)—provides a good dose of the muscle-building nutrient.
While the amount of protein differs among varieties of seaweed, it ranges from about 2 to 9 grams per cup. And besides being high in protein, seaweed is also loaded with minerals, vitamins, and hormone-like substances that are good for the body. In fact, the variety dulse contains renin-inhibitory peptides similar to those found in ACE inhibitors, a class of medicines that helps relax the blood vessels used to treat high blood pressure, migraines, and other conditions, says Mary Hartley, R.D., nutrition expert for DietsInReview.com....
This salad is very quick, simple, nutritious and filled with flavor.
Ingredients:
Leafy lettuce
Onions
Nori seaweed
Lemon Juice or Umeboshi Vinegar
Sea salt
Olive oil
Onions
Nori seaweed
Lemon Juice or Umeboshi Vinegar
Sea salt
Olive oil
Directions:
- Tear lettuce into pieces.
- Slice onion very thinly and chop finely, mixing together.
- Lightly toast Nori until it turns a green color and is crumbly.
- Mix in a few drops of olive oil with the lettuce.
- Sprinkle lemon juice and salt on lettuce and toss.
- Crumble Nori into the salad.
- Toss and serve.
This is capitalism at work. One product better for society than another.
May 30, 2017
By Marlene Cimons
...It turns out, (click here) though, that beans are good for more than your heart. Eating them could also be good for the climate.
Shunning beef for beans could mitigate the effects of climate change by slashing greenhouse gas emissions in a very big way, according to new research published in the journal Climatic Change. The study predicts such a swap could help the United States meet upwards of 50 percent of its emissions targets by 2020.
It’s tempting have a little fun with this. Maybe we’re just trading one gas for another. (The study recalls the classic campfire scene from Blazing Saddles — even the scientists admit it’s funny.)...
I know it sounds funny and strange, but, back in the 1970s, an agricultural manager at American Cyanamid in West Windsor, NJ experimented with the introduction of beans as a crop in the USA. His name was Miguel Garces and he immigrated form Cuba when the Castro regime couped the government. He was one of the wealthy landowners that lost most everything, except, his education.
His idea was his own and planted a species of beans on a few acres in Hopewell Township near his home. They did okay, but, they didn't do as well as soybeans and he concluded it would be difficult selling his idea if he couldn't get the yield OR the INCOME per acre to increase.
So, while the cattlemen in Texas are biting their nails right now, the fact of the matter is a combination of vegetables including beans will create a complex and complete protein.
By Marlene Cimons
...It turns out, (click here) though, that beans are good for more than your heart. Eating them could also be good for the climate.
Shunning beef for beans could mitigate the effects of climate change by slashing greenhouse gas emissions in a very big way, according to new research published in the journal Climatic Change. The study predicts such a swap could help the United States meet upwards of 50 percent of its emissions targets by 2020.
It’s tempting have a little fun with this. Maybe we’re just trading one gas for another. (The study recalls the classic campfire scene from Blazing Saddles — even the scientists admit it’s funny.)...
I know it sounds funny and strange, but, back in the 1970s, an agricultural manager at American Cyanamid in West Windsor, NJ experimented with the introduction of beans as a crop in the USA. His name was Miguel Garces and he immigrated form Cuba when the Castro regime couped the government. He was one of the wealthy landowners that lost most everything, except, his education.
His idea was his own and planted a species of beans on a few acres in Hopewell Township near his home. They did okay, but, they didn't do as well as soybeans and he concluded it would be difficult selling his idea if he couldn't get the yield OR the INCOME per acre to increase.
So, while the cattlemen in Texas are biting their nails right now, the fact of the matter is a combination of vegetables including beans will create a complex and complete protein.
Think detritivores. That's right, bugs that eat shit. Got a problem with that? I think engineered critters resistant to vermicides yet harmless can be a solution to methane emissions, too.
From Penn State Extension:
...Horse manure (click here) has been considered a valuable resource rather than a “waste.” Fertilizer value of the 8 1/2 tons of manure produced annually by a 1,000-pound horse is about 102 pounds of nitrogen, 43 pounds of P2O5 (phosphorus pentoxide [phosphate] = 43.7% P), and 77 pounds of K2O (potash = 83% K). The nutrient content of horse manure can also be represented as 12 lb/ton of N, 5 lb/ton of P2O5, and 9 lb/ton of K2O (nutrient values for any manure vary widely so these are only guidelines). Traditionally, nitrate-nitrogen is the component that presents the most pollution potential since it moves freely in the soil. Most of horse manure’s nitrogen is contained in the urine.
These values are an average for horse manure (urine and feces). With the large amount of bedding material mixed with manure in typical stall waste, the fertilizer nutrient value would vary (see Direct Disposal section)....
Ever try bugs? Yeah, bugs. Worms to be exact. Red worms. Why not? The folks that specialize in COMPOSTING WITH WORMS have a little problem when it comes to deworming medicine in the manure.
As I’ve written (click here) many times here on the blog, aged manure is hands-down one of the best materials to add to a vermicomposting system. Horse manure, in particular (especially when mixed with bedding materials), happens to be my personal favorite! Some of the most successful populations of Red Worms (highest densities, largest worms) I’ve ever encountered have been living in old outdoor heaps of horse manure, such as the one pictured above.
Agriculture may hold 35% of the methane emissions, but, they are far from the most egregious practices.
By Ramon Alvarez
Look up in New Mexico (click here) and on most days you’ll see the unmistakably vast blue skies that make the Southwest region so unique.
But there’s also something hovering over the Four Corners region that a naked eye can’t detect: A 2,500-square mile cloud of methane, the highest concentration of the heat-trapping pollution anywhere in the United States. The Delaware-sized hot spot was first reported in a study by NASA scientists two years ago.
At the time, researchers were confident the cloud was associated with fossil fuels, but unsure of the precise sources. Was it coming from the region’s sprawling, naturally occurring coal beds or from a leaky oil and gas industry?
Now a NASA-led team has published a paper in a top scientific journal that provides some answers. Many of the highest-emitting sources are associated with the region’s oil and gas production and distribution.
And that’s actually good news – because we know the leaks in these wells can be located and plugged with relative ease, and without adding significant costs to the industry. This, in turn, means we can make a big dent in the methane cloud....
So, get 'er done!
The Four Corners region of New Mexico and Colorado. Numerous light-colored spots are sites of gas and oil development.
In an extensive airborne survey, (click here) a NASA-led team has analyzed a previously identified "hot spot" of methane emissions in the Four Corners region of the United States, quantifying both its overall magnitude and the magnitudes of its sources. The study finds that just 10 percent of the individual methane sources are contributing half of the emissions.
Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech, both in Pasadena, California; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, Colorado; and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, used two JPL airborne spectrometers to identify and measure more than 250 individual sources of methane. The sources emitted the gas at rates ranging from a few pounds to 11,000 pounds (5,000 kilograms) per hour. Results are published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in a paper titled "Airborne methane remote measurements reveal heavy-tail flux distribution in Four Corners region." Christian Frankenberg of JPL and Caltech is the lead author....
There have been laws that made an effort to control waste, but, methane was more elusive.
The specialization (click here) and industrialization of American agriculture during the past several decades has resulted in an increased number of agricultural facilities that house and feed a large number of animals in a confined area. These facilities, known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), offer a more efficient system to feed and house animals through specialization, increased facility size and close confinement of animals. They also pose increased environmental and health problems for neighboring properties and communities. Because more waste is generated in CAFOs than other less-dense animal farm facilities, the potential for greater air, water and land pollution increases in nearby areas. In 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projected that the nation’s 257,000 animal feeding operations annually produced more than 500 million tons of manure. EPA estimated that CAFOs accounted for more than half of this amount....
The Law:
...The EPA has set the permitting requirements for CAFOs (click here) under the NPDES (40 CFR Part 122) and Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards (ELG) (40 CFR Part 412)....
The waste from these facilities are often dumped into holding ponds outside. Need I explain how the acceleration of CH4 (methane) production takes place when full sunshine meets liquified animal manure. The investigation as to how to best handle these facilities is yet to be written.
The methane emissions from the petroleum industry is ridiculous.
Researchers found that 275,000 tons of methane leak from the Bakken each year, similar to the emission rate found for another oil-producing region, Colorado’s Denver-Julesburg Basin.
“This study provides a key snapshot of Bakken methane emissions that will help answer the bigger questions: how much methane is the U.S. emitting, where is it coming from, and how is that changing over time?” said Jeff Peischl, the study’s lead author and a scientist from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder working at NOAA. Co-authors include scientists from NOAA, the University of Michigan, Stanford University, and the University of California, Davis.
The 200,000 square-mile Bakken Shale formation is one of the country’s top oil-producing regions. At the time of the study in May 2014, the Bakken accounted for 12.5 percent of all crude oil produced in the United States. Only Texas surpasses North Dakota for oil production among states....
Now much change
Methane (CH4) (click here) Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil. Methane emissions also result from livestock and other agricultural practices and by the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills.
Enteric fermentation which was discussed last week and manure management are 35% of methane emissions.Methane can be reduced and captured by altering manure management strategies at livestock operations or animal feeding practices. Learn more about EPA's AgSTAR Program.
AgSTAR: Biogas Recovery in the Agriculture Sector (click here)
So while The amount of Methane is only 16 % of all greenhouse gas emissions according to the ipcc in 2015 (the graph below). There is an CO2 equivalent that must be accounted for: every methane molecule is the equivalent of 25 carbon dioxide molecules.
Methane 16 percent by volume X 25 it's CO2 equivalent = 400
If the graph to the right (click here) were to reflect only CO2 and CH4 (methane) the appearance changes dramatically since CO2 is currently 65 percent by volume.
The bottom graph to the right is accurate to 2010.
May 17, 2017
NASA’s annual survey (click here) of changes in Arctic ice cover greatly expanded its reach this year in a series of flights that wrapped up on May 12. It was the most ambitious spring campaign in the region for NASA’s Operation IceBridge, an airborne mission to monitor ice changes at Earth’s poles, which also included a rapid-response flight over a new crack in Petermann Glacier, one of the largest and fastest-changing glaciers in Greenland....
NASA’s annual survey (click here) of changes in Arctic ice cover greatly expanded its reach this year in a series of flights that wrapped up on May 12. It was the most ambitious spring campaign in the region for NASA’s Operation IceBridge, an airborne mission to monitor ice changes at Earth’s poles, which also included a rapid-response flight over a new crack in Petermann Glacier, one of the largest and fastest-changing glaciers in Greenland....
Appendix A of the Kyoto Protocol recognizes "Manure Management" as a source of grrenhouse gases.
This particular paragraph appears on page 4-6 in Chapter 4 on the 6th page in that chapter.
Methane is mentioned in the last sentence in the first paragraph on this page, It states methane as a carbon unit.
The title to that section/chapter of the USDA book is "Agricultural Waste Characteristics." The COMPUTED examples throughout this section brings a precise understanding of the contents of manure.
It is one of those documents most citizens laugh about when realizing the work their government is conducting. HOWEVER, while this report might have been a good fund raiser for US Senator McCain in March 2008, today I think most Americans can see the value in it.
The title of the book is, "Part 651 Agricultural Waste Management Field Book." (click here)
Not to be overlooked of this handbook is "Chapter 15, Computer Software and Models" (click here) The USDA has gone through not just very serious research to find the facts to methane release as it relates to agriculture, it has supplied the public with information on computer models for their procurement. (click here).
This information is very dated to 1997, but, it is a structure the government has complied that can be used with older software. If there is a need for updating the software to modern models, I am sure one of the Techy companies would be able to do so without a great deal of trouble.
The really good thing about this dated information is that the math formulas are never wrong regardless of the age of their software. It is why the equations are written out in long hand. Inscription never is inaccurate as long as it is done well.
Slide rule anyone?
It is only logical to have a device to check the computations of computers. Below, even Spoke knew that. He is holding a Jeppsen B-1 model of E6-B flight computing slide rule. Yes there is such a thing and yes it's slide is round.
Slide rule collection (click here).Slide rule terms, etc. (click here)
Anyone leaving Earth to be a resident on Mars should know how to use a slide rule and how it is specialized to their particular needs.
But, back to Earth; any person or any USA government agency, county or individual farm can adapt the calculations use. It is also of use for governments outside the USA, including the UN, to understand the methane content of their agricultural emissions and it's trajectory in heating of Earth leading to plans in reducing those emissions.
Armed and dangerous. They probably navigate the Pacific than any USA ship.
By Mark Townsend
It may be the oddest tale (click here) to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.
Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.
Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly....
Dolphin with missile (click here) like a mini submarine.
I am sure the escaped dolphins were found or not? But, the program was one that was developed by Russia when Ukraine was a state and not a country. However, the program resumed in 2012 when Ukraine was dominated by Russian sympathizer leadership.Ukraine resumes the training of combat dolphins - in its own and Russian interests (click here)
"From the Cradle" by Widesprad Panic from their album "Earth to America" (click here for official website - thank you)\
Black hole, paradise found
Black hole, paradise found
Somthing so dark and something so bright
Blue skies over our head
Why the hell is everything turning out gray?
Blue skies over our head
Why the hell is everything turning out gray?
All things are not what they seem
The man behind the curtain is probably mean
Deep six keeps the population down
Broke and soaking wet, floating around
Keep your head down, keep your voice down
Ohh listen to the sound
Keep your head down, keep your voice down
Ohh listen to the sound
All the races, all the faces
Just might find a winner lying on the ground
Just might find a winner lying on the ground
Learn to take it, meditate it
Can?t fake it now
From the cradle you?ve been labeled
About as stable as a drunk on shaky ground
Can?t fake it now
From the cradle you?ve been labeled
About as stable as a drunk on shaky ground
Blind luck stumbling into a tree
Would?ve passed by if I could have seen
Got no cares I never felt pressed
I wonder what they?re getting for a pound of flesh?
Hunker down now throwing a shoe
Dogs new tricks Something they can?t use
Would?ve passed by if I could have seen
Got no cares I never felt pressed
I wonder what they?re getting for a pound of flesh?
Hunker down now throwing a shoe
Dogs new tricks Something they can?t use
Deep six keeps the population down
Broke and soaking wet, floating around
Keep your head down keep your voice down
Ohh listen to the sound
All the faces, you can't shake 'em now now
Just might find a winner lying on the ground
Keep your head down keep your voice down
Ohh listen to the sound
All the faces, you can't shake 'em now now
Just might find a winner lying on the ground
Learn to take it, try to shake it
All the faces, you can't shake 'em now now
From the cradle you?ve been labeled
About as stable as a drunk on shaky ground
From the cradle you?ve been labeled
About as stable as a drunk on shaky ground
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