Alfred Woody's Kewl Blog [ 椼森 ]

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

UN Carbon Trading Scheme: $2.7 Billion Market Could Be 'Biggest Environmental Scandal In History'

UNITED NATIONS — An obscure U.N. board that oversees a $2.7 billion market intended to cut heat-trapping gases has agreed to take steps that could lead to it eventually reining in what European and U.S. environmentalists are calling a huge scam.

At a meeting this week that ended Friday, the executive board of the U.N.'s Clean Development Mechanism said that five chemical plants in China would no longer qualify for funding as so-called carbon offset credits until the environmentalists' claims can be further investigated.

The "CDM" credits have been widely used in the carbon trading markets of the European Union, Japan and other nations that signed onto the 1997 Kyoto Protocol requiring mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases.

Rather than cut their own carbon emissions, industrialized nations can buy the credits which then pay developing countries to cut their greenhouse gases instead.

But environmentalists say rich nations could be wasting billions of dollars on what some are calling "perverse financial incentives," because some of the largest projects funded by the U.N.-managed CDM are a golden goose for chemical makers without making meaningful cuts in emissions.

The CDM executive board, based in Bonn, Germany, has asked for a decades' worth of data on the gases from those five plants in China to study whether the system was manipulated.

The controversy revolves around the apparent conflict between the Kyoto climate treaty and another U.N. treaty, the 1987 Montreal Protocol for repairing the Earth's fragile ozone layer.

The money from the CDM-authorized fund goes to pay the carbon offset credits claimed by more than 20 chemical makers mostly in China and India, but also in nations such as South Korea, Argentina and Mexico.

The chemical makers are paid as much as $100,000 or more for every ton they destroy of a potent greenhouse gas, HFC-23. The price for destroying it is based on its being 11,700 times more powerful as a climate-warming gas than carbon dioxide.

But that gas is a byproduct of an ozone-friendly refrigerant, HCFC-22, which those chemical makers also are paid to produce under the U.N.'s ozone treaty. Environmentalists say there is so much money in getting rid of HFC-23 that the chemical makers are overproducing HCFC-22 to have more of the byproduct to destroy.

"The evidence is overwhelming that manufacturers are creating excess HFC-23 simply to destroy it and earn carbon credits," said Mark Roberts of the Environmental Investigation Agency, a research and advocacy group. "This is the biggest environmental scandal in history and makes an absolute mockery of international efforts to combat climate change.

HCFC-22 is widely used in hair sprays, air conditioners and some refrigerators because it less damaging to the seasonal ozone hole over Antarctica than previous coolants. It has been promoted under the ozone treaty, often considered one of the world's most successful environmental treaties, as a replacement for chloroflourocarbons, or CFCs.

Obama warns Americans of covert sponsored manipulation of peoples opinion

Sembcorp Q2 Earnings Jump 14%

How Has It Come to This?

The scene is post-apocalyptic. Under a grey sky, two families play in the surf just off the beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana. To get to the beach, we walk past a red, plastic barrier fence that until very recently was there to keep people away from the oil-soaked area. Now, there are a few openings that beach goers can use. The fence is left largely intact, I presume, for when they will need to close the beach again when the next invasion of BP’s oil occurs.

Families on beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana.

A father jokingly throws sand at his little boy who laughs while dodging it. This, against a background of oil rigs and platforms looming in the Gulf. In the foreground, littering the beach, are tar balls. We stroll through the area, eyeing even more tar balls that bob lazily underwater, amidst sand ripples in the shallows … they are in the same location where the father sits, grabbing handfuls of sand to toss near his son.

Two military Humvees, one olive green, the other tan, are parked near the road just yards from our car.

We stroll back to our hotel. Beside us is a large beach house that has been rented to the National Guard. Two military Humvees, one olive green, the other tan, are parked near the road just yards from our car. It is a grim feeling here, like living in the bowels of some greed-driven, security-obsessed, lumbering giant so disconnected from its heart that reality has long since ceased to figure into its outer perception.

The next morning, we head out in a boat from Fourchon with Jonathan Henderson from the Gulf Restoration Network, his friend Randy, who is a cameraman, and Craig, our charter fishing captain and guide. It is August 16, the day that several of Louisiana’s fisheries have been reopened for shrimping.

Just after leaving the boat launch, we pass a shrimper coming back in.

"How did you do out there?" Craig asks him. "Nothing. Nothing at all," the despondent fisherman replies. "How much do you usually catch?" Craig asks. "Hundreds of pounds, sometimes a thousand pounds," comes the reply.

Craig looks at me and says, "That’s not good."

Minutes later another shrimper passes us, returning to port. "How’d you do?" Craig asks. "We caught 12 shrimp," he replies, "That’s one-two shrimp."

A brief reminder of the toxicity of the dispersants BP is using in the Gulf: "According to the EPA’s latest analysis of dispersant toxicity released in the document Comparative Toxicity of Eight Oil Dispersant Products on Two Gulf of Mexico Aquatic Test Species, Corexit 9500, at a concentration of 42 parts per million, killed 50% of mysid shrimp tested." Most of the remaining shrimp died shortly thereafter.

Craig worked as a deckhand on a shrimp boat when he was 12 years old, and has been on the water ever since. He knows these areas like the back of his hand, and he is torn up by what he sees. "We find fish feeding that cause fish-oil slicks atop the water," he explains as we make our way out of the bayou towards the Gulf. "But now, thanks to BP, most of the slicks we see are oil."

A little further, we pass dozens of large shrimp boats laden with boom and skimming gear. They’ve been converted into response vessels for BP's fading Vessels of Opportunity (VOO) program that has created a false economy for the now out of work fishermen. "BP is buying out a way of life," Craig says when he sees me eyeing the boats, all of which are tied to the dock. "Generations of shrimping … done."

After a short time we arrive in Devil's Bay, to find forests of white PVC pipe sticking out of the water. The pipe is used to hold absorbent boom in place. Much of the boom is washed ashore, or gone completely. "That PVC doesn't rot," Craig comments, "It'll be there a long time."

Birds on boom. Boom contaminated with oil is abundant.

Boom contaminated with oil is abundant. Craig turns the boat out towards the bay, which is empty. "Right now, there should be 50 or 60 shrimp boats in here, but now it's like this … closed, and most folks are afraid to fish. We need good testing of the seafood, and it needs to be done right. We only have one shot at this."

The boat is accompanied by an unmarked Carolina Skiff, driven by a man wearing desert camouflage pants and a tan shirt.

Out in Devil's Bay we encounter a boat pulling a closed-off harbor skimmer: equipment used to skim up oil slicks. The boat is accompanied by an unmarked Carolina Skiff, driven by a man wearing desert camouflage pants and a tan shirt. Our captain will not let us get close enough to the boat pulling the skimmer to talk to its captain, nor will the boat's captain even look at us.

"These boats don't even have their Louisiana numbers," Craig says, annoyed. "Somebody brought these boats down here and threw them in the water, and they are not even from this state. It's another part of the scam."

I've written recently about how private contractors are being brought in from out of state to use these boats to spray dispersant on oil located by fisherman working in the VOO program in the four most heavily affected states.

We carry on to arrive at Casse-tete Ise. We find large amounts of absorbent boom washed ashore. Some of this had been there so long it is largely covered in sand.

"I guarantee you they'll come pick that up," Craig says angrily, mocking BP. Given that there is boom washed ashore and oiled PVC pipes around much of the island, it's clear that BP is aware of the island being hit by oil. It is also clear that nobody has been back to check on it for a very long time.

We offload from the boat and step ashore. Oil-soaked marsh abounds, and the island smells like a gas station. Noxious fumes infiltrate my nose, causing me to cough. Piles of oiled oysters rest on the tide line.

Tide pools filled with brown oil and sheen.

Everywhere I step near the water, sheen bubbles up out of the soil. Hermit crabs scuttle over dead, oiled marsh grass. Inland, we find tide pools filled with brown oil and sheen. The horrible smell makes me dizzy and nauseous. Each of us walks around on our own, trying to take in the devastating scene. Anger and a deep sadness comingle inside me. Rage at BP melds into a broader anger at all of us for having let it come to this.

I watch a bird looking for food among the blackened stubs of marsh grass. I think of how the oil brings death to everything it touches, sooner or later.

We get back in Craig's boat and move on toward another island, but skirt the coast of this one whilst en route. Around the south side we find the entire coast oiled. Contaminated sorbent boom litters the coast above tide line.

"So when are they gonna come pick this up?" Craig asks angrily to no one. "In 10 years? So did they just not care about this island?"

There is another forest of PVC pipe sticking out of the water.

I look down at Craig's GPS map on the boat. We float in the bay, but the map shows us on land. "This is a post-Katrina map," Craig points out. "That's how fast we're losing the marsh."

Early upon our arrival in Louisiana, I was made aware of how every 30 minutes, the state loses a football-field-sized chunk of land to the Gulf of Mexico. The first of two primary causes is the hemming in of the Mississippi River, which prevents it from dumping sediment to replenish the land. The second is the oil and gas industry, which has carved out channels and canals, causing between 30-60 percent of this erosion. One third of the island on Craig's map is now gone. There are other islands on his map that no longer exist.

As we continue on, Craig says that the water seems odd, and "not as crisp" as it usually is. He says, "It seems like it has cellophane over it." Several times throughout the day Craig makes this comment. To me, given that the water has a slight chop, it is hard to see his point - but that will soon change.

We arrive at Timbalier Isle, a barrier island of Timbalier Bay. After we offload, Jonathan calls me over. He'd filled his rubber boots with water while wading ashore. He pulls off one of his boots and dumps the contents on the sand. The water is full of silvery sheen as it splashes onto the sand. We both shake our heads.

We begin walking and find tar balls everywhere. In some places, there are literally huge mats of fresh tar.

The farther inland we travel, the worse things become. It's as though the entire island is a sponge filled with sheen and oil. There is a pile of yellow boom, and another of red boom, in the middle of the southern beach. BP knows of this island, too. It has had workers here. And again, no one has been here in a very long time.

We walk along the bank of an inland lagoon. Fiddler crabs skitter away from us as we walk across sheen-covered sand. The pool is covered in brown, stringy oil and sheen - the rainbow colors tracing lazily across the surface. My stomach feels sick when I think of these crabs, and all the others along the Gulf Coast, that are filtering in sheen, oil and dispersants. We watch them move toward the waters oily edge, and stop. Are they trying to enter the water, as is their nature, and can't because it is too toxic? What will become of these crabs? What will become of the marine life and wildlife that feed on these crabs?

What will become of these crabs? What will become of the marine life and wildlife that feed on these crabs?

There are several inland pools that are literally oil pits. We are appalled at what we find. In one of the pools, brown liquid oil floats atop areas where the sand underneath is literally black with crude oil.

Sorbent booms blackened and browned with oil lay chaotically in the lagoon.

The scene is apocalyptic. Sorbent booms blackened and browned with oil lay chaotically in the lagoon. It is one of the more disgusting, vile scenes I've ever seen. All of us fall silent. All we can do is take photos. The stench is overpowering. I gag. My eyes water from the burning chemicals in the air, but also from sadness. My throat is sore, my voice instantaneously hoarse, and I feel dizzy. I look over to see Erika taking photos, tears running down her cheeks.

All of us are devastated. "This is some of the worst I've seen," says Jonathan, who has been out investigating the results of the BP oil disaster every week since it started in April. He continues to take samples. I hear him gagging and look over as he coughs the stench from his lungs before bending down again to take another sample.

Shortly thereafter he finishes taking samples, and we are off, all of us hobbled and shaken by what we've just seen, along with the exposure to such a vast amount of chemicals.

During the ten-minute walk back to the boat, we hardly speak. I look out at the Gulf, the oil rigs and platforms in the distance, then down at the sheen oozing out of the sand at the water's edge as I walk alongside another tide pool.

Craig picks us up in the boat, and we begin the trip back to Fourchon. I climb up atop the "crow's nest," a small seat overlooking Craig's boat. I write in my notepad about what we've just seen, but mostly, I just look out at the Gulf. I've long since surrendered trying to get my head around the enormity and longevity of this disaster. The government cover-ups and its complicity with BP. The profiteering happening from this disaster, not dissimilar to the rampant war profiteering I've seen in Iraq.

The cost of this? The Gulf of Mexico, the ninth largest body of water on the planet, befouled with oil and toxic dispersants.

About halfway back to port we come upon a thick sheen layer that is covered in emulsified, white foam … the same kind I've seen in videos taken by VOO workers, in which dispersants have been used atop oil.

We stop so Jonathan can take more water samples. As we do so, the stench burns my eyes.

We carry on, only to pass more slicks like this. The entire day we've been in sheen, and we've traveled more than 40 nautical miles, much of it in open Gulf waters. All the water we've boated across and all the islands we've explored are entirely covered in sheen or oil.

From back atop my platform, I'm amazed at the myriad rigs and platforms we pass, sometimes thick enough in number to resemble floating cities.

Throughout the day, the question "what have we done" drifts into my consciousness. What have we done? How has it come to this?

Thousands of lives along the Gulf Coast are being devastated by this disaster. This is merely the beginning of yet another toxic epoch for the Gulf of Mexico, all the humans that live along the coast, and all the marine life and wildlife that make their homes here.

What have we done? How has it come to this? Where do we go from here?

More Obama Lies Exposed - The Chicago Technique

Rod Blagojevich, is the former Illinois Governor who tried to sell Obama's seat in Congress. Obama was asked by the press if he had ever met Gov. Blagojevich.

Barack Obama: "I only saw Rod Blagojevich one time ... and that was in the stands and from a distance at a Chicago Bears Football Game."





Rod Blagojevich, Barack Obama, and Richard Daley during a rally in Chicago , April 16, 2007. (Photo Reuters)

To understand the next 4 years, you have to understand "the world according to Chicago . While Chicago is a city in Illinois , it is almost a completely different country when it comes to politics, with a whole different set of morals and language.

There are only three rules and a Prime Directive which anybody can understand.

You don't even need an attorney to understand them -- and if you need an attorney ... Well, you know too much .... so look out for Rule #3!

RULE #1. No matter what you see, hear, or do -- you don't know anybody and you don't know nothing!

RULE #2. If you capture something on tape or camera -- it doesn't reveal nothing!

RULE #3. If you know what everybody knows in Chicago -- well, you still don't know nothing.


THE PRIME DIRECTIVE IN CHICAGO ...
No matter what the vote, Democrats win the election.

Now pay close attention!

It's very simple -- we'll illustrate... Remember, you know nothing.
These two? They don't know each other! They said they didn't...





The fellas in this picture, they never actually met face to face.
What fellas? We don't see nothing!






The guy on the left? For all you know he's Santa Claus. And the guy on the right ... well, he's the Easter Bunny! That's all you need to know.

Make an appointment with your eye doctor ... your eyes are lying to you! Ca'pish?





Remember Jimmy Hoffa?

He knew too much and now .... well, now no one knows where he is.
Is the big picture clear? Not these pictures! Remember, you've already forgotten them .....




Now, ain't that simple? They don't know each other and they never met!
How is that possible? BECAUSE THEY SAID SO. And don't forget it!

P.S. If you pass this on to your friends, don't forget, you know nothing and they will know nothing.

So how's that whole "Hope & Change" thing working out for ya?

Peace Hugs and Purrs,
carolyn rose goyda
Missouri, USA
rosegojda@aol.com

"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, Here I am, stuck in the middle ...." again
Stealers Wheel Album l

"The world is a dangerous place to live not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Home values down, but tax bills rise

Struggling homeowners feel the pinch as Mass. communities try to make ends meet

Despite dropping home values, Massachusetts property tax bills continued to rise last year.

Revenue-hungry cities and towns, looking for money to pay for new buildings and to maintain services, have continued to push up local taxes, often asking voters to approve property tax overrides even as real estate values drop further.

The double whammy of lower home values and higher taxes — a phenomenon that has hit Massachusetts homeowners for several years — frustrates taxpayers as they endure the rocky economy.

“There’s absolutely no way you can sell a house in Dedham for what it’s assessed at,’’ said Janet Gorman, who has lived in the town with her husband for about 30 years.

The couple, who own two single-family homes and rental property in town, sought a tax abatement on one of the rentals and got about $900 knocked off their tax bill.

“And is Dedham any different than any other town? Probably not,’’ Gorman said.

The average tax bill on a single-family home in fiscal 2010 increased about $140, a 3.3 percent increase, according to figures released this month by the state Department of Revenue. The average tax bill for a single-family home was $4,390.

The statewide home values, which have more than doubled since 2000, peaked in 2007 but dropped about 4.6 percent last year to an average of $373,702.

Taking a longer view, both taxes and home values have risen over the last decade. Since 2000, average property taxes on single-family homes in Massachusetts have increased about 64 percent.

State and local officials defend the tax increases, and lower values.

“Not only is the 3.3 increase the lowest in 20 years, but it also marks the first time in at least 20 years that the annual percentage increase has gone down for four consecutive years,’’ said Bob Bliss, spokesman for the Department of Revenue.

Local officials also point out that property assessments are a snapshot of values from a year or two ago.

Rick Henderson, the assistant director of assessing in Dedham, pointed out that assessed values for fiscal 2010 are based on a home’s worth on Jan. 1, 2009, which was determined by home sales in 2008 in that community. A home’s actual value — different from its assessed value — might have changed significantly over the last two years, he said.

“The taxes are high and I think everybody’s taxes are high,’’ said Jeanette Geller of Needham, who has filed for abatements at least three times in the 50 years she has lived in her split-level home. She recently won an abatement of nearly $400. Overall, property values dropped in 281 communities for the fiscal year that ended June 30. Hardest hit were Brockton, Revere,, Lynn, and Rockland, where values were clipped at least 14 percent.Continued...

Matt Carroll can be reached at mcarroll@globe.com and followed on Twitter @GlobeMattC.

James Cameron—King of Hypocrites

Last March James Cameron sounded defiant.

The Avatar director was determined to expose journalists, such as myself, who thought it was important to ask questions about climate change orthodoxy and the radical "solutions" being proposed.

Cameron said was itching to debate the issue and show skeptical journalists and scientists that they were wrong.

“I want to call those deniers out into the street at high noon and shoot it out with those boneheads," he said in an interview.

Well, a few weeks ago Mr. Cameron seemed to honor his word.

His representatives contacted myself and two other well known skeptics, Marc Morano of the Climate Depot website and Andrew Breitbart, the new media entrepreneur.

Mr. Cameron was attending the AREDAY environmental conference in Aspen Colorado 19-22 August. He wanted the conference to end with a debate on climate change. Cameron would be flanked with two scientists. It would be 90 minutes long. It would be streamed live on the internet.

They hoped the debate would attract a lot of media coverage.

"We are delighted to have Fox News, Newsmax, The Washington Times and anyone else you'd like. The more the better," one of James Cameron's organizers said in an email.

It looked like James Cameron really was a man of his word who would get to take on the skeptics he felt were so endangering humanity.

Everyone on our side agreed with their conditions. The debate was even listed on the AREDAY agenda.

But then as the debate approached James Cameron's side started changing the rules.

They wanted to change their team. We agreed.

They wanted to change the format to less of a debate—to "a roundtable". We agreed.

Then they wanted to ban our cameras from the debate. We could have access to their footage. We agreed.

Bizarrely, for a brief while, the worlds most successful film maker suggested that no cameras should be allowed-that sound only should be recorded. We agreed

Then finally James Cameron, who so publicly announced that he "wanted to call those deniers out into the street at high noon and shoot it out," decided to ban the media from the shoot out.

He even wanted to ban the public. The debate/roundtable would only be open to those who attended the conference.

No media would be allowed and there would be no streaming on the internet. No one would be allowed to record it in any way.

We all agreed to that.

And then, yesterday, just one day before the debate, his representatives sent an email that Mr. "shoot it out " Cameron no longer wanted to take part. The debate was cancelled.

James Cameron's behavior raises some very important questions.

Does he genuinely believe in man made climate change? If he believes it is a danger to humanity surely he should be debating the issue every chance he gets ?

Or is it just a pose?

The man who called for an open and public debate at "high noon" suddenly doesn't want his policies open to serious scrutiny.

I was looking forward to debating with the film maker. I was looking forward to finding out where we agreed and disagreed and finding a way forward that would help the poorest people in the developing and developed world.

But that is not going to happen because somewhere along the way James Cameron, a great film maker, has moved from King of the World to being King of the Hypocrites.