Unearthed today: If it goes down…
Morning! Another tricky one today, but for a different reason. Today’s news is fragmented. There are lots of things happening which are worth your attention – few worth a deep dive.
Here’s something to watch, though. After multiple little-reported oil spills across the world this year WMNF and Newsweek report on a potential slow-motion disaster involving a floating storage and offloading facility off the coast of Venezuela in the Gulf of Paria.
“The Venezuelan-flagged Nabarima vessel has been sat idle off the Venezuelan coast since January 2019. Pictures recently emerged showing the FSO vessel floating at an incline, raising fears that it could spill its load into the gulf devastating the regional fishing industry and delicate ecosystems,” Newsweek reports.
The Nabarima is operated by the Petrosucre company, a joint venture between the Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and the Italian Eni oil giant.
The company froze extraction in January 2019 after being sanctioned by President Donald Trump’s administration for its dealings with Venezuela, leaving 1.3 million barrels of crude oil, some 80 million gallons, aboard the Nabarima. That’s several times larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill – considered one of the worst in history.
Eni said Friday that the company was now trying to unload the crude oil aboard and had asked the US for a “green light” to do so “in order to prevent any sanctions risk.”
The US embassy in Trinidad and Tobego has now called on Maduru’s government to act to protect the tanker. “As a general matter, the United States’ Venezuela sanctions program is not designed to target activities addressing safety, environmental, or humanitarian concerns,” the embassy said.
The Venezuelans say the ship is listing to allow workers on for repairs and – essentially – everything’s fine. Sources in Trinidad disagree.
“If it goes down we are all f-a-c-k-e-d. There’s no nice way to say what will happen to us. Because 1.3 million barrels in an enclosed shallow, basin of water can only spell doom and gloom,” said Gary Aboud is a founder and spokesperson for the Trinidadian advocacy group Fishermen and Friends of the sea who has reportedly checked in on the vessel multiple times.
I’m reading about… China’s attack on the US over climate
China has published a “factsheet” documenting the failure of the US to act on climate change just two weeks before the US presidential election.
The fact sheet on “environmental damage by the US” was backed by a more extensive report on “US damage to global environmental governance”, Climate Home reports.
Beijing said the US had “not only backpedalled on its domestic environmental protection policies but also seriously undermined the fairness, efficiency and effectiveness of global environmental governance”.
Interestingly the document focused significantly on international finance – increasingly emerging as a key area of conflict and – possibly – progress.
China accused the US of having “repeatedly blocked projects for developing countries citing unfounded reasons such as human trafficking and human rights violations, thus seriously undermining the developing countries’ right to use the funding”.
I’m not really sure what to make of this latest stage of the increasingly open conflict between China and the US which is unlikely to die down IF Trump loses in November except to say, more to follow.
Three more interesting things about the transition
Poland is potentially paying billions for US nuclear technology to replace coal: China and Russia had been competing with the US (see above), but it appears that the US now has the upper hand. The first reactors are planned to be in operation by 2033 in a program that will potentially be worth $40 billion, a senior US energy department official said. Poland would buy at least $18 billion from US companies, the official said. Poland has already decided to replace Russian gas with gas from Norway and the US in the next few years.
Wind & Solar the cheapest in most places: In five years it will normally be cheaper to build a new renewable plant than keep running fossil fuels. However, there are limits to renewable economics. Once they reach 70-80% of the powermix, they struggle to compete with fossil fuels – without state intervention.
New Jersey becomes first East Coast state to mandate all-electric vehicles by 2035: The proposal from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) came as part of an official road map that would allow the state to reach its goal of 80% carbon dioxide reductions by 2050.
And some breaking news from the UK…
Asda launches’ greener price’ promise and sustainability store: Asda is to unveil a strategy to help cut down on single-use plastics, pledging that “greener” products without packaging will not carry a hefty price tag, as it opens a sustainability trial store.
Cap on energy bills for 15m UK homes extended until 2021: The government has vowed to keep a lid on the energy bills of 15m homes until at least the end of next year after agreeing to extend the energy price cap beyond 2020.