Soon Willie Soon

Willie Soon, a U.S. climate change skeptic, who also denies mercury health risks, is a Big Oil pawn: Greenpeace

Soon, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has received funding from:

• NASA
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Big Oil and Big Coal
• American Petroleum Institute
• Koch Industries

“Last year, the foundation of Charles Koch, chairman and CEO of privately held Koch Industries, gave Soon $65,000 to study how variations in the Sun are related to climate change,” a report said.

“Soon also got $131,000 from oil major Exxon Mobil Corp in 2007 and 2008 received grants to study the Sun’s role in climate change and global warming in the Arctic, Greenpeace said.”

FIRE-EARTH is receiving dozens of comments from at least four different sources that are forcefully demanding a debate on the Sun’s role in climate change and global warming.

Needless to say, those comments are invariably deleted.

Who’s Willie Soon [Sourced from wikipedia]

Willie Wei-Hock Soon (born 1966 in Malaysia) is an astrophysicist at the Solar and Stellar Physics Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Soon has testified before Congress on the issue of climate change He is known for his views that most global warming is caused by solar variation.

He is chief science adviser to the Science and Public Policy Institute, a think tank which disputes the belief that global warming is anthropogenic.Soon is also associated with the George C. Marshall Institute, where he co-authored Lessons and Limits of Climate History: Was 20th Century Climate Unusual? with Sallie Baliunas. The pair have also written for the Fraser Institute of Canada regarding Sun-climate connections.

One of their publications was the center of political controversy, and editors resigned from the journal which published the paper.Soon and Baliunas have also been criticised because their research budget was funded in part by the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association. Another paper coauthored by Soon started a heated debate with polar bear experts.

In 2004 Soon was awarded the “Petr Beckmann Award for courage and achievement in the defense of scientific truth” by Doctors for Disaster Preparedness. (!!)

DDP is unconvinced of the role of CFCs in ozone depletion, the role of greenhouse gases in global warming, and in the utility of renewable energy sources. [Sourced from wikipedia]

Related Links

• Soon and Baliunas controversy

Japan’s Fukushima Nuke Plant Still Leaking

Radioactive water leaking from Fukushima NPP

Some 15 tons of radioactive water have leaked from a storage tank at the stricken Fukushima NPP, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency reported.

The plant operators, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), continue to accumulate large volumes of radioactive contaminated water after being used to cool the melting reactors.

Meantime, TEPCO’s majority institutional shareholders have nixed a motion by a large number of individual shareholders to abandon nuclear energy in the wake of the Fukushima plant’s triple core meltdown.

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country

The following probability figures are calculated by FIRE-EARTH on April 8, 2011

• Japan (880)³
• United States (865)
• France (855)
• Taiwan (850)
• Belgium, China, Finland, India,  South Korea, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Armenia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania,  Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain,  Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico,  South Africa, Canada (810)
• Germany, Sweden, Netherlands (800)
• Switzerland  (750)

Notes:

1. The list represents a snapshot of events at the time of calculating the probabilities. Any forecast posted  here is subject to numerous variable factors.
2. Figures in the bracket represent the probability of an incident occurring out of 1,000; the forecast duration is valid for the next 50  months.
3. Probability includes a significant worsening of Fukushima nuclear disaster, and future quakes forecast for Japan.
4. A nuclear incident is defined as a level 5 (Accident With Wider Consequences), or worse, on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). See below.
5. Safety issues considered in compiling these lists include the age, number of units and capacity of nuclear reactors in each country/state, previous incidents, probability of damage from human-enhanced natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity, hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, wildfires, flooding… ]
6. The  Blog’s knowledge concerning the extent to which the factors described in (3) might worsen during the forecast period greatly influences the forecast. (Last UPDATED: June 26, 2011)

Related Links

• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

U.S. corn production may fall on flooding, heat, drought

Severe flooding in the Mississippi and Missouri river basins have damaged 2.5 million acres of U.S. farmland: Report

Flooding in the Midwest and Northern Plains may lead to a fall in corn production in 2011, according to the CEO of Cargill, the world’s largest commodities trader.

“Clearly, we have lost acres with the flooding,” Greg Page, chief executive of Cargill Inc., told journalist during a visit to Kiev, the Ukraine capital. “Certainly our company is fighting the floods on the Missouri River.

“You could certainly be talking about 300m-400m bushels [lost,]”  Page said.

“The price of corn shot to a record high this month amid surging demand from emerging markets and rising consumption of the grain by the ethanol industry. US corn inventories are set to fall to their lowest since the mid-1990s, according to the US Department of Agriculture.” Said a report.

Added to the problem of flooding in key corn-growing states like Ohio and Indiana, is the worsening drought and soaring temperatures in the southern United States.

Related Links

• U.S. Drought Getting Deadlier
• WARNING: Global Disasters – June 21, 2011

 

Los Alamos Fire Explodes to 50,000 acres

Las Conchas wildfire burning near Los Alamos grows by a whopping 850 percent

The fire briefly entered the grounds of Los Alamos National Laboratory, but was reportedly beaten back by firefighters.

Fire near Los Alamos National Laboratory

The flames have not yet reached buildings on 28,000-acre lab complex, and authorities said there was little threat to plutonium facility on the northeast side of the complex, according to reports.

“The facility is very well protected from any kind of wildland fire threat,” said a lab spokesman.

In May 2000 a wildfire destroyed several buildings within the complex causing at least $1 billion in damage, he said.

Cerro Grande fire consumed nearly 50,000 acres destroying several hundred homes and about 100 buildings within LANL complex 11 years ago.

Las Conchas wildfire. Freeze frame from a video clip.

The fire started about 1:00 pm on Sunday, June 26, 2011 and is currently zero percent contained.

“The fire burned actively all day to the north/northeast. Running, crowning, and spotting up to a half a mile of the head of the fire was observed.” Said a fire report.

Fire Location

Jemez Ranger District, Santa Fe National Forest; approximately 12 miles southwest of Los Alamos off NM 4 at mile marker 35.

Las Conchas Fire map. Click image to enlarge.

Evacuations

The city of Los Alamos is under MANDATORY evacuation as of 1:45 pm (June 26). White Rock remains under VOLUNTARY evacuation. Cochiti Mesa, Las Conchas, Bandelier National Monument, and campgrounds near the fire were evacuated yesterday. There were approximately 100 residents evacuated from Cochiti Mesa and Las Conchas, and no evacuees reported to the evacuation center at La Cueva Fire Station.

Los Alamos National Labs

The Los Alamos National Laboratory will be closed due to the fire. All laboratory facilities will be closed for all activities, and nonessential employees are directed to remain off site. Employees that are considered nonessential should not report to work unless specifically directed by their line managers. Employees should check local news sources, the LANL Update Hotline (505.667.6622) and the LANL web page http://www.lanl.gov fo updates. All radioactive and hazardous material is appropriately accounted for and protected. LANL staff is coordinating the on-site response and supporting the county and federal fire response.

Threats to Structures and powerlines

• Power and phone lines are down in the area.
• All aircraft in the are have been grounded due to the smoke and other hazards.

Pacheco Fire: 2 miles north of Santa Fe Ski Basin

Source: InciWeb

Related Links

• Fire Near Los Alamos Grows to 6,000 Acres
• U.S. Drought Getting Deadlier
• WARNING: Global Disasters to Intensify