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The dangers of deep sea mining

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The White House is considering an executive order that would fast-track permitting for deep-sea mining in international waters and allow mining companies to bypass a United Nations-backed review process.

Deep sea mining is the extraction of minerals from the seabed in the deep ocean.  Most of the interest is in what are known as polymetallic nodules, which are potato-sized mineral deposits that have built up in layers over thousands of years. They are located several miles below the surface, primarily in what is called the Clarion-Clipperton zone, which is an environmental management area of the Pacific Ocean about halfway between Mexico and Hawaii.

A new multiyear study led by UK’s National Oceanography Center and published in the journal Nature found that the site of a deep-sea mining test in 1979 still showed lower levels of biodiversity than in neighboring undisturbed sites 44 years later.

Much is not known about the undersea nodules.  We know that they produce oxygen.  If the nodules are removed, will that reduce the amount of oxygen in the deep sea and affect the organisms that live there?  If mining occurs, what effect will the metal-containing sediment plumes churned up by the mining process have? 

The nodule fields sustain highly specialized animal and microbial communities.  More than 20 billion tons of nodules are estimated to lie on the seabed of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.  If large-scale mining takes place, and there is much interest in that happening, it is important to find out what the impact will be on the ocean and its ecosystems because it is likely to be largely irreversible.

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Deep sea mining for rare metals impacts marine life for decades, scientists say

Photo, posted September 4, 2014, courtesy of James St. John via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Progress Towards Carbon-Free Power | Earth Wise

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Climate change has driven countries, states, utilities, and corporations to set goals to eliminate power-sector carbon emissions.  So far, 17 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico have adopted laws or executive orders to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity over the next couple of decades.  Forty-six U.S. utilities have pledged to go carbon-free no later than 2050.   Adding these together, these government and industry goals cover about half of the U.S. population and economy.

New research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has analyzed historical trends to determine how much progress the power sector has already made in reducing emissions.  The study focused on the 2005 Annual Energy Outlook from the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration.

If the previous growth in emissions had continued from 2005 to 2020, annual CO2 emissions would have risen from 2,400 to 3,000 million metric tons.  But actual 2020 emissions fell to only 1,450 metric tons.  So, by this metric, the U.S. power sector cut emission by 52% below projected levels.

According to the study, total consumer electricity costs were 18% lower than projected values, but meanwhile, the number of jobs in electricity generation was 29% higher. 

Among the driving forces for these trends were wind and solar power dramatically outperforming earlier expectations, delivering 13 times more generation in 2020 than projected. 

The study shows that dramatic changes in emissions are possible over a 15-year span, but much has to happen over the next 15 years to ensure the progress required to meet the ambitious goals set for emissions reductions.

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U.S. Power Sector is Halfway to Zero Carbon Emissions

Photo, posted April 18, 2020, courtesy of Roman Ranniew via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Restoring Environmental Rules Will Take Time | Earth Wise

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Over the previous four years, the Trump administration weakened or rolled back more than 100 rules and regulations on air, water, public lands, endangered species, and climate change.  The Biden administration has vowed to review these changes and restore the environmental protections that were removed or weakened.

The process of restoring environmental protections generally fall into a few broad categories.  Some changes can happen by executive order.  The President can cancel individual fossil fuel infrastructure projects or reinstate federal protection of specific places.  On his first day in office, President Biden rescinded the construction permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.

The President is also expected to restore federal protection to the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah, which the Trump administration opened up to mining, logging, and drilling.

However, it could take two years or more to restore Obama-era climate change regulations including limits on emissions, rules on industrial emissions of toxic pollutants such as mercury, and protections on wetlands and waterways.

Reinstating comprehensive regulations on air, water, and climate pollution will take years because the Trump administration, rather than eliminating rules entirely, often replaced them with weaker regulations.  Replacing the weak regulations cannot just happen by executive order.  The process involves scientific and economic analysis, and that takes time.

After four years of shrinking budget and shrinking staff, the Environmental Protection Agency has a lot of catching up to do and will need to prioritize its actions in order to deal with the most damaging consequences of the previous administration.

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Restoring Environmental Rules Rolled Back by Trump Could Take Years

Photo, posted September 25, 2012, courtesy of Tar Sands Blockade via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A First In The Climate Change Fight | Earth Wise

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Under a new initiative, builders in New Jersey will have to take climate change into account in order to win government approval for projects.  New Jersey is the first state in the United States to enact such a requirement, which will leverage land-use rules to control what and where developers can build, and limit the volume of pollution. 

Through executive order, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will require the state Department of Environmental Protection to draft new building regulations.  The changes, to be adopted by January 2022, do not require legislative approval, but could face political and legal challenges. 

Climate change is expected to have a significant impact on New Jersey and its 130 miles of coastline.  According to a recent study from Rutgers University, the sea level along the New Jersey coast rose 1.5 feet since 1911, which was more than twice as much as the global average. The sea level is expected to rise by as much as another foot by 2030.  At the same time, some coastal areas of New Jersey are gradually sinking.

The initiative by New Jersey comes on the heels of a Trump administration proposal which would allow federal agencies to not take climate change into account when evaluating infrastructure projects. The federal changes are geared towards speeding up approvals for highway construction, pipelines, oil and gas leases, and other major infrastructure projects.   

In the absence of anything resembling leadership on climate change from the federal government, it remains for states like New Jersey to continue to press ahead.  In addition to the new building initiative, New Jersey also plans to produce 100% clean energy by 2050. 

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Excluding Climate Change From Infrastructure Planning | Earth Wise

With 130-Mile Coast, New Jersey Marks a First in Climate Change Fight

Photo, posted August 27, 2016, courtesy of Rashaad Jorden via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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