Climate Point: Energy funding, tornadoes and more
Hello and welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment news.
I'm Dinah Voyles Pulver, one of Paste BN's national climate and environment writers.
We know it seems like one topic dominated the news over the past week. But there really was a lot of other news, particularly when it comes to energy costs and renewables. Big money was announced in grants.
Clean energy grants to help retrofit homes
Arizona was the first state to land additional funding to help residents weatherize their homes. The state will receive $47.5 million, writes Joan Meiners at the Arizona Republic. That's enough to help retrofit at least 3,400 homes with new insulation and cooling systems. First in line will be the state's low-income seniors, families and people with disabilities.
The Biden administration also announced tax credits and competitive grants to boost clean energy production in coal country. “Workers who powered the last century of industry and innovation can power the next one,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
The Department of Energy has an entire website set up with information about how it's allocating the money set aside by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Another DOE website delves more deeply into the administration's clean energy efforts.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the U.S. House passed their own energy bill.
In Cape Cod, an energy organization won state approval for a pilot program to provide free solar panels, heat pumps and battery storage to low income households.
Renewable energy is getting a closer look in Lake Erie, where a pilot project eight miles offshore in Ohio will erect six wind turbines to provide electricity. The new wind farm would join two existing small wind farms in the U.S.: Five turbines at the Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island and two turbines at the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project east of Virginia Beach. Many others are in various stages of development.
Meanwhile the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is preparing to map heat inequities in 14 cities this summer. Residents in those cities can enlist to help.
In New Jersey, Amanda Oglesby of the Asbury Park Press, explained why the decommissioning of aging nuclear plants in the area has been delayed.
Terrible twisters
Not one but two deadly tornado outbreaks swept the Central U.S. over the past week. The tornadoes and severe weather claimed more than 30 lives, spawning EF-3 tornadoes and pelting down "tea cup-sized" hail. It's been one of the busiest years on record for tornadoes so far and some forecasters don't see that activity lightening up anytime soon, with a powerful jet stream dropping down from the north and a flow of moisture from the hot and humid Gulf of Mexico.
That reminds us of this special project in 2021 that looked at the increasing frequency of of tornadoes in some southern states and why meteorologists say traditional tornado alley is expanding.
In Indianapolis, Justice Amick wrote about community warning sirens, which often come up in conversation during tornado outbreaks.
From drastically dry to woefully wet
After weeks of atmospheric rivers bringing in heavy rains from the Pacific, California’s farm fields are soaking wet in a complete reversal of the historic drought that plagued farmers last year. Could that affect food availability?
"It's just too damn messy and muddy to create a quality pack. You don't want a bunch of mud on the produce," said Christopher Valdez, president of the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California.
Watch it happen in the wild
Quirky wildlife videos this week showed how unexpected wildlife adventures can be, whether it’s a random encounter with a moose in the neighborhood or sea lions while kayaking. Children on an Indonesian island have peaceful encounters with whale sharks they help fishermen feed.
Another video looks at a snailfish researchers found more than 27,000 feet beneath the ocean’s surface in a trench off Japan, while a bystander who happened by at the right time captured two male elephants sparring in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
They've had numerous sightings of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales in the waters off Cape Cod recently. The whales have been chasing zooplankton. At one point, a mother and a calf swimming in a canal prompted officials to temporarily close the waterway to vessel traffic. The Center for Coastal Studies was trying to work out how to help a right whale seen severely entangled in gear.
In Florida, Cuban tree frogs are among the invasive wildlife species outcompeting native wildlife and gaining a growing foothold in the state, wrote Jim Waymer with Florida Today.
Ever been tempted to go looking for edible mushrooms? Foragers delight in the springtime delicacies in Indiana, but you shouldn't attempt it without an expert in tow.
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