Redwood Reader

There is a lot of science in the news lately relevant to our studies. Yahoo today has articles on French emission reductions, an Australian geothermal project, a report on sequestering CO2 in old oil fields to increase recoverable material using CO2 from coal gasification, grizzlies coming off the endangered species list around Yellowstone, the role of marine mammals in the large carcass diet of condors, male fish with eggs in sewage off California, and another funding hit for North Coast restoration projects.
The French government is looking beyond the 2012 Kyoto deadline and implementing Phase II. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051115/sc_nm/energy_france_environment_dc;_ylt=Am6p_8V_U0jSu0xjSdZaJPghANEA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl Their 15% already renewable seems pretty high compared to U.S. numbers, and they expect another 6% rise by 2010. France is also a leading nuclear energy consumer. Their concept of paying solar electrical producers more would seem a great way for California to implement its million solar home idea; same with a rise in tax credits for solar hot water. This puts France in a good position to focus on vehicle emissions, 60% of CO2 emissions for that nation.
The US, Australia, China and India are not signatories of the Kyoto protocol. The US and Australia claim economic hardship related to emissions reductions, Developing nations are exempt. With this in mind the article on Hot Dry Rock geothermal energy is a window into the future. Geothermal is already a known energy source but current designs all work with naturally produced steam. The new technology starts with dry heat and adds the water, to increase fracture and capacity, then moves the water to heat low boiling point liquids to drive turbines. Such a plant could supply a 1000 Mw. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051115/sc_nm/energy_australia_dc;_ylt=Ah3YcwE9EM1XW3JTBAKGdVohANEA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
The U. S. Department of Energy is highly pleased with results from the testing of the Weybum project, in which CO2 emissions from coal gasification are pumped into the ground in oil fields helping force more oil and gas into production zones and trapping tons of CO2 below the ground. It appears the pumping in has worked like expected. The issue I know of is: there is no guarantee the CO2 will stay there. I know extending the oil fields life helps, but I am boggled a gasification plant is emitting those levels of CO2 has been permitted in the first place. There are other uses for CO2 as well, like dry ice. But it seems silly to pay to capture back what was questionable in the first place, since 200 million cars worth of emissions puts a very real face on industrial emissions rather than transportation. This looks like an oil project with a plan for its own emissions.
De-listing Yellowstone area grizzlies outside the Park has become a political hot potato. We are pleased to see good recovery of a small population of a far ranging species, and surprised to learn of four other populations in the Lower 48. I wrote several years ago an article about the goals of restoration- “surely we are not talking about returning grizzlies to California” but secretly I always hoped they would reappear. The reports of poor effect of the ESA is another issue altogether and obviously the situation will get worse before better as critical habitat designations are rolled back.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051116/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/grizzly_protection;_ylt=AuiwG5mdnWZGeRKSYqXwCLkPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA-- California DFG has completed a report assessing endangered species as background work for receiving Federal wildlife grants. It states California has over 800 species, 481 of them Californiua only, at risk from a wide variety of causes from habitat destruction to corvids and invasive species. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051115/ap_on_sc/california_wildlife;_ylt=ArZTfETB_xDT25ROYS056N94hMgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA-- A local angle on this in the Times-Standard http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_3222660. reports 74 North coast/Klamath region species, maily fish and birds, with 11 of them appearing only in this region. The DFG report can be found at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/habitats/wdp/index.html
Another article says whales off the coast are threatened.
The other day an article ran about the diet of California condors including the growing marine mammal populations. It seems they were recorded even by Lewis and Clark seen eating a dead whale at the mouth of the Colombia. Two major shifts in diet over 11000 years aere found by sampling condors from museums and prey from various localities to identify iostopically food sources. I only wonder about the loss of megafauna even though there are masses of buffalo up to modern times. Available food for the large birds is a problem and they are fed carcasses. Protections of sea mammals have caused a boom in their populations and they may create a good amount of scavengable food for the big birds. This seems to make the coast as good or better a habitat than more inland sites. This may make King Range more likely to eventually host a few of the great wanderers. The reporet was done by Stanford and the article I saw was in Science Daily, at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/11/051114112536.htm More bad news for the State, though, as sewage pumped directly into the ocean has resulted in the first known cases of male marine fish with ovary tissue in their testes, the first examples found in salt water, and probably at minute concentrations of pollutants. The fish are bottom feeders, which may be of some reassurance. We know frogs and freshwater fish are showing sexual confusion from environmental estrogens from agricultural products, and Atrazine in implicated in frog deformities.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051116/ap_on_sc/intersex_fish;_ylt=AkLiZ9GFNwCALY4EAa.RrmRxieAA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM- The Audobon Society has sued US Fish and Wildlife because no recovery plan was ever presented for the Northern Spotted Owl, one of the most contentious listings that reduced timber operations on millions of acres of federal or federally supervised lands. USF&W has promised the report in six months, and the Society is willing to accept that if it gets it in writing. Still, you would think we’/d have heard about it one way or another-
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051108/ap_on_re_us/spotted_owl;_ylt=AlAfVZV5mpeZnAoqQiOLOGd4hMgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA-- Finally, more proof that environmentalism is a peace time dividend with slashed budgets on the federal level and the state matching funds unapproved. Schwarzenegger has already shown he is no environmentalist and expecting the governor to fix this seems unlikely. Senator Chesbro has made sure North Coast fisheries recovery is not neglected and so there is hope yet. Nevertheless, with funding still subject to partisan attacks, especially from folks outside the area and its industries, the annual tribulations seem petty. http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_3217678