Climate Point: Oil, beer and squirrels
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. From Palm Springs, I'm Janet Wilson, where I'm thinking about beer, squirrels and oil spills.
Many folks don't think of California as a major oil producing state, but it has been for 150 years. And it's a messy history, with huge oil slicks, thousands of abandoned wells and other public health and taxpayer costs. But after The Desert Sun and ProPublica reported on lax enforcement by state regulators, legislators passed a bill, signed into law on Saturday, to beef up fines and allow criminal prosecutions of companies who fail to fix problems.
Now it's up to the regulators, who have a spotty track record. They declined on Tuesday to say whether Chevron ever paid a $2.7 million fine for California's biggest spill in decades, for instance. They admitted a nearby spill in the same oilfield is still spewing raw crude and wastewater — 20 years after it was first reported.
Rather than requiring the oil giant to plug the leak and clean up the mess, our investigation found they've allowed Chevron to scoop up the crude, process it and sell it for millions of dollars. On Tuesday, the regulator said the oil oozing from the ground has been reduced by 99% from its peak flow, but didn't say how much is still spilling or if it will ever be stopped.
Jack 'O Lantern harvest outlook dim. For the third year, once robust pumpkin production in the High Plains will likely be down by as much as 40% due to heat, drought and even summer hail, writes Brandi D. Addison with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. In Floyd County, Texas — the Pumpkin Capital of the USA — fields that once "burst at the seams with vibrant gourds now bear the weight of disappointment."
Not hoppy news. And rising heat driven by a changing climate could come for our beer too, reports Mike Snider with Paste BN. That's because harvests of hops, a crucial ingredient in beer, could decline by as much as 18% in Europe by 2050 – and those that are harvested may have less of the substances needed to give beers their distinct character, according to research published Tuesday.
The predicted decline in hop yield and alpha acids content "calls for immediate adaptation measures to stabilize an ever-growing global sector," wrote the researchers from Europe and the U.K. American ale makers have been perfecting hardier hops, so there's less concern about brews produced here for now.
Running rings. Will you be able to spot Saturday's annular "Ring of Fire" eclipse, where the moon slides in front of the sun, creating a halo effect? It depends on where you live and whether the clouds are thin, thick or non-existent. For many folks along the eclipse's path, particularly in the Southwest, the weather forecast Saturday looks "pretty good," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Brett Anderson told Paste BN's Doyle Rice.
Overall, weather permitting, the eclipse will be visible to millions in Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas, as well as some parts of California, Idaho, Colorado, and Arizona, NASA said.
If you miss it, you could get another chance in April, when a total eclipse will occur, with the moon entirely covering the Sun's face, briefly turning day into night for those in its shadow.
Read on for more, including how to really winterize your home (lug that air conditioner to the garage now), what's going on with urban wildlife, how Siberian snow in October can help predict how cold North America will be this winter, and a possible new scenic national river trail — in Ohio?
Some of these stories may require a subscription. Sign up and get access to all eNewspapers in the Paste BN Network. If someone forwarded you this email and you'd like to receive Climate Point in your inbox for free once a week, sign up here.