Green Activist Hulot Named French Ecology Minister, Nuclear Power Plants Face Shut Down

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PARIS, May 17 Green activist Nicolas Hulot was appointed as the minister responsible for environment and energy in the new French government on Wednesday, sending the share price of nuclear utility EDF down as much as seven percent.

EDF shares had rallied strongly since the election of centrist Emmanuel Macron as president on May 7 as investors expected a pro-nuclear energy policy from the new government.

But the appointment of Hulot – France’s best-known environmental campaigner and a former television documentary maker – as ecology minister raised doubts in investors’ minds about the strength of that commitment.

“The market is reacting negatively to Hulot’s appointment. There is a fear of a stricter ecological line given Hulot’s history as an environmental campaigner,” said Andrea Tueni, markets analyst with Saxo Bank. […]

In an interview with Liberation newspaper last month, Hulot said one of France’s main challenges will be to reposition EDF on a path that is compatible with a transition from dependence on nuclear power towards the use of more renewables.

“While elsewhere the energy transition accelerates, EDF gets closer to Areva, overinvests in costly nuclear projects like Hinkley Point, and does not invest enough in renewables,” he told the paper.

Asked by Le Parisien newspaper in March whether France should stop using nuclear energy, he said: “That is a medium-term target”.

“As renewable energy becomes more and more competitive, the nuclear industry business model belongs to the past,” he said.

Asked about a possible closure of the ageing Fessenheim nuclear plant, which former President Francois Hollande promised but did not implement, Hulot said the closure was important but would have a social cost.

“We cannot impose a transition by force. The transition has to be done in an acceptable manner,” he said.

Unlike his predecessor Segolene Royal, who was minister of energy and environment, Hulot’s job title, “minister of ecology and solidarity”, does not mention energy, but government sources told Reuters he will be responsible for energy matters.

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May 17, 2017 at 09:37PM

Ash from Crater Lake volcanic eruption – Video

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Oregon’s Mount Mazama erupted violently some 7,700 years ago, leaving an impressive crater (Crater Lake) where the mountain once rose high into the sky.

A blanket of volcanic ash from the eruption has become a well-known time marker for geologists throughout the Pacific Northwest.

This 3-minute video features a site right next to heavily-traveled Interstate 90 in central Washington in Johnson Canyon where the famous ash is exposed.

That’s 300 miles away from Crater Lake!

The Mount Mazama ash traveled much farther than that; far north into Canada, south into California, and east into Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, and Nevada.

The Mazama ash also traveled west, and is found on the floor of the Pacific Ocean.

Tom Foster (http://HUGEfloods.com) and Nick Zentner have been hiking together in eastern Washington for years. ‘Mazama Ash’ is part of an “I-90 Rocks” geology video series.

Nick Zentner is the science outreach and education coordinator for the Department of Geological Sciences at Central Washington University. He has produced more than 40 short videos about Central Washington geology.

This video was originally published on Dec 15, 2014.

The post Ash from Crater Lake volcanic eruption – Video appeared first on Ice Age Now.

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May 17, 2017 at 09:05PM

Climate Activists Hail China’s Coal Power Plants

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A left-wing activist group that has spent years battling fossil fuels now claims China’s clean coal power plants are contributing to reducing carbon emissions.

China can no longer use the same “high-pollution” coal plants it used to decades ago, so the Communist party has decided to transition to clean coal production, a move the U.S. should emulate, according to environmentalists with the Center for American Progress (CAP).

“Beijing has been steadily shutting down the nation’s older, low-efficiency, and high-emissions plants to replace them with new, lower-emitting coal plants that are more efficient that anything operating in the United States,” environmentalists with CAP wrote in article Tuesday.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s senior adviser John Podesta founded CAP in 2003, and has been deeply involved in the group’s actions ever since. The group urged the Obama administration in 2015 to prevent companies from producing fossil fuels – including coal – on federal lands.

CAP’s praise comes as China’s coal power generation hits a record 396.1 billion kilowatt hours (kWh), which is almost 8 percent above coal generation the previous year. The country produced a record-breaking 385.6 billion kWh in December 2016, Platts reported.

China is the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, followed by the U.S. — many climate scientists argue greenhouse gasses contribute to climate change. There is no indication China has any intention of reducing these levels, even as environmentalists and academics continue to claim the country is on the right track.

The Communist country promised to “peak” carbon emissions by 2030, yet its government plans to increase its coal capacity up to 20 percent. Climate scientists consider coal production to be the primary contributor to global warming.

China’s new five-year plan would “raise coal-fired power capacity from around 900 gigawatts last year to as high as 1,100 gigawatts by 2020,” which is “more than the total power capacity of Canada,” The Wall Street Journal reported last year.

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May 17, 2017 at 08:54PM

Australia’s Renewable Policy Destroying Jobs: Miners Facing Power Price & Supply Crisis

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Australia’s enviable prosperity isn’t due to sunshine and breezes, it’s down to iron ore, coal and a bevy of other minerals including copper and uranium of the kind being gouged out of the ground by BHP Billiton at Roxby Downs in South Australia’s North (see above). How long Australia maintains its wealth is down to … Continue reading Australia’s Renewable Policy Destroying Jobs: Miners Facing Power Price & Supply Crisis

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May 17, 2017 at 07:34PM