Today the beauty and peace and pristine nature of Teahupo’o is in danger. It's #France 's turn to host the '24 #Olympics so the logical place to hold the #surfing is at the world's most beautiful wave, here in Teahupo'o.
Because of powerful economic incentives for the local government and numerous local contractors, the project has been rammed through with no ecological impact study.
But plans for the over sized aluminum judging tower that will sit over the #reef require building a new base. Every year a wooden tower is erected and taken down. It uses the same foundation that is in place. The new tower requires #drilling into the reef and redoing the previous work that has been functioning well for two decades. The 72 drill holes will be 4m long.
ABOLISH SEISMIC BLASTING SPECIAL PROSPECTING AUTHORITY PERMITS (SPA)
A Special Prospecting Authority (SPA) is a specific type of permit that allows #companies to buy access to large areas of our #oceans to use #SeismicBlasting to search for #oil and #gas, and Carbon Capture and Storage locations below the ocean floor.
Seismic blasts are how the oil and gas industry surveys the ocean floor. Seismic vessels tow an array of airguns and audio receivers (hydrophones) behind them in the water.
These powerful #airguns fire loud blasts of compressed air every 10 to 15 seconds, 24 hours a day. The sound waves produced penetrate deep into the #seabed and bounce back to the audio receivers. From the sound patterns detected, #companies can work out the most likely place to find oil and gas reserves under the ocean floor. The next step is exploratory #drilling.
Earlier today, #ChrisSkidmore#Skidmore, a Conservative MP and former Secretary of #Energy in the Tory government, announced his resignation from Parliament. Why?
Because next week that government, led by Rishi Sunak, is going to try and open up the #NorthSea Sea to a huge new wave of #oil and #gas#drilling
It’s as if a #Republican#Senator said, I’m not running again because my party has become a subsidiary of the #fossil fuel industry.
Always mention that this is the poison pill Joe #Manchin put into the #IRA:
"The #InflationReductionAct required the Interior Department to propose a certain number of #oil and #gas leases in federal waters in exchange for the ability to propose clean #OffshoreWind energy projects. Three was the lowest number that would allow it to move forward with offshore wind lease sales around the country, the department said, given the requirements of the law."
"The White House has been battered by #OilAndGas debates since Biden took office, fresh off a campaign promise to end federal #drilling. Biden’s early policies aimed at curbing the scope of the oil program #offshore were reversed by litigation from the oil industry and Republican-led states."
The drop in new #DrillingPermits underscores what many experts have already predicted will happen with or without Biden: the #GulfOfMexico eventually going into decline."
The U.S. is betting it can drill climate-friendly hydrogen just like oil. The idea is to extract hydrogen from underground reservoirs and capture the carbon dioxide byproduct. This could create a low-carbon fuel source, but also raise environmental and economic concerns.
Oil and Gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, granted during the Trump administration are to be cancelled. Thankfully the drilling never even began.
A dark horse concept in the race to develop clean and sustainable energy sources is getting its first major investment from the U.S. government. Today, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), the high-risk, high-reward arm of the Department of Energy (DOE), announced it would fund $20 million in grants to advance...
"For the first time in history, citizens from Ecuador will be asked this weekend to decide on the future of oil extraction in the Amazon.
The referendum on Sunday will ask voters whether they want oil drilling to continue in Yasuni National Park, hailed as one of the world’s greatest havens of biodiversity. The largest protected area in Ecuador, the park contains massive oil reserves that cross Indigenous land."
"An alliance of #rightwing groups has crafted an extensive presidential proposal to bolster the planet-heating #oil and #gas industry and hamstring the #EnergyTransition.
#Project2025, was convened by the notorious rightwing, #climate-denying thinktank the Heritage Foundation, which has ties to fossil fuel billionaire Charles Koch."
US citizens: please vote, and organize your friends. It's you against the #FossilFuel industry. The stakes are high.
Department of Energy
– eliminate three agency offices that are crucial for the #EnergyTransition
– slash funding for #grid deployment an effort to stymie #RenewableEnergy deployment
– hugely expand fossil #gas infrastructure
EPA:
– move it away from its focus on the #climate crisis
– cut #EnvironmentaJustice and public engagement functions
– terminating new hires in “low-value programs”
Interior and BLM:
– eliminate #drilling regulations.
What good is a national monument if we allow toxic #mining to spoil it?
That's what we want to know, as federal officials decide whether to allow new #drilling and ultimately #mining for #uranium on the edge of #BearsEars National Monument in #Utah.
For starters, heavy equipment will disrupt the peace and quiet of the high desert. Drilling rigs will emit #pollution into the clear skies. If the rigs find uranium, mining will follow.
A recent article questions the sincerity of #Colorado 's commitment to #wolf recovery and #conservation. The article delves into the debate sparked by the proposed #reintroduction of wolves in Colorado. Even before the wolves have arrived, there are already plans being made for #hunting seasons, raising questions about whether Colorado is bringing back #wolves solely for the purpose of hunting.
A significant portion of #Colorado 's wild lands are being leased for #mining and #drilling exploration, contradicting the #preservation of habitat necessary for the #wolves ' survival. While there is still wilderness in Colorado where wolves can thrive in their ancestral habitat without hindering agriculture or recreation, the author argues that the draft plan falls short if the goal is genuine recovery.
U.S. bets it can drill for climate-friendly hydrogen—just like oil (www.science.org)
A dark horse concept in the race to develop clean and sustainable energy sources is getting its first major investment from the U.S. government. Today, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), the high-risk, high-reward arm of the Department of Energy (DOE), announced it would fund $20 million in grants to advance...
How Exxon Captured a Country Without Firing a Shot (theintercept.com)
Exxon’s drilling project in Guyana is the riskiest kind: deep-water offshore drilling.