Notes From All Over -- Part 2, July 16, 2019

Coming to a theater near you: if the opposition party takes the White House and Congress  in 2020, I suspect we will see the same story here in the US. From Germany Bloomberg reports:

Oil and gas companies that supply Europe’s biggest energy market fuels for cars, trucks and heating may be soon be required to pay for carbon pollution allowances if a panel advising the government gets its way.

Chancellor Angela Merkel this month started talks on how to force the transport and building industries to pay for their pollution, widening the number of sectors required to participate in the European Emissions Trading System, or ETS. Merkel hasn’t decided yet whether to push for extending the ETS to those industries or to impose a new tax on carbon. A panel advising Merkel and her ministers favors using the cap-and-trade market.

Germany should copy Europe’s ETS and apply it nationally to heating and road emissions, Klaus Schmidt, the group’s co-chairman told reporters on Monday. Setting up separate platforms for trading permits in those sectors would enable the market to squeeze out polluting technologies like road and heating fuels. That’s provided floor and ceiling prices are set, he said.

By compelling oil and gas companies like Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc, Total SA, Wintershall AG and Gazprom PJSC or their German units to buy pollution certificates, Merkel’s coalition would potentially retain the ability to steer CO2 reduction with precision by controlling auction volumes.

The new engines arrived yesterday (July 15, 2019): engines for the new AF One arrived at a local, small airport in the Fort Worth, TX, area. Under tight security and little fanfare, the new engines were flown in and trucked to an undisclosed location. 

And, now, look at this -- this story from almost exactly one year ago:

The Air Force on Tuesday awarded a $3.9 billion contract to Boeing for two next-generation Air Force One planes. The fixed-price firm award follows a February handshake deal between President Donald Trump and Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg to cap the program at that figure. A Defense Department contract announcement labels the award a “definitized contracting action” — the label given to contracts where the exact terms have not been specified — and obligates $64 million at this time. A new paint job is expected. (Much more at the link, including the cost savings Trump demanded.)

One artist's rendering (I am not making this up);  just in time for 2020 election. LOL:

Majors Airport, wiki: Originally named Majors Field, it is home to L3 Technologies Mission Integration Division (MID), which performs aircraft modification. What a great country.