Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Wednesday. Looking For A Twofer

Maybe with an executive order, we can get a twofer:
  • approve the Keystone XL across the Canadian - US border
  • allow the US to export crude oil  (if the link breaks -- Washington Post provides an argument for exporting US crude oil
RBN Energy: announces a new monthly subscription program. Very, very inexpensive for serious students of the American energy revolution.

The Wall Street Journal

Growth picture brightens as exports hit record. I have not yet read the article. One could argue cheap US energy is fostering exports.

Dust on Rockies snow quickens melting, disrupts water supplies.
Dusty air blowing in from the drought-parched Southwest is subtly changing the color of the snow on the Rocky Mountains, affecting water supplies for millions of people in more than half a dozen states.
The dust-darkened snow, tinged the color of cinnamon, absorbs more sun and melts earlier in the year—a problem for farmers and Western water managers, who can no longer count on thawing mountain snow packs to slowly deliver water downstream during the year at regular volumes.
The analysis, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, estimated that the extra dust has caused the snow cover to disappear six weeks earlier than in the early 1800s, before settlers and their livestock started disturbing the soil in the Southwest, and reduced the Colorado River's annual runoff by 6%.
A single storm last April dumped more dust on Colorado in 16 hours than any prior season combined, said Chris Landry, executive director of the Silverton, Colo.-based Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies, which monitors dust and snowmelt in the Rockies. Another storm the same month dropped dust for 60 straight hours.
Samsung is getting squeezed: reports first operating profit drop in more than two years.

New pollution rules choke old power plants:
dozens of coal-fired plants are likely to close over the next decade as utilities conclude it isn't cost-effective to bring old coal generators into compliance with environmental rules.

Apple: "app" sales top $10 billion in 2013

The Los Angeles Times

Trans fat backlash pushes butter sales to 40-year high


*********************************
Palos Verdes, Southern California
January 8, 2014





5 comments:

  1. Who supplied the Snow melt dates in the 1800's.. the Cheyenne, the Arapaho, or which native tribe..
    What effects did the Dirty thirty's and the dust bowl have on the snow, or is this fugitive dust from the dust bowl days still settling down on the snow.. don

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Weren't there stories about dust coming from China some years ago?

      Delete
  2. Modern Standardized weather collection and monitoring devices we adopted in the late 1880's. What level of standardization was employed in the first 80 odd yrs of the 19 th century. don

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.