Pretty soon, we're going to find out that the Dakota Access pipeline is made out of the cardboard inner liners from rolls of Bounty paper towels. Or purely out of bullshit and wishful thinking. It could be either one, or both. From CBS News:
The Dakota Access pipeline system leaked more than 100 gallons of oil in North Dakota in two separate incidents in March - the second and third known leaks discovered as crews prepared the disputed $3.8 billion pipeline for operation...North Dakota Environmental Health Chief Dave Glatt said the Health Department lists such incidents in its online database, but typically doesn't otherwise notify the public of oil spills smaller than 150 barrels unless the oil contaminates water. The pipeline leaked 84 gallons of oil in South Dakota on April 4. That spill at a rural pump station also was quickly cleaned up and didn't threaten any waterways. The state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources posted a report in its online database but didn't otherwise notify the public. Its policy is to not issue news releases on spills unless there is a threat to public health or water.
Now that North Dakota is essentially a petro-state, this policy probably makes sense to the state's political and business establishments which, here in the Second Gilded Age, probably are pretty much the same thing. But it seems to me that this policy leaves a wide-open opportunity for the company and the state to collude in burying bad news so as to cover their respective hindquarters.
Meanwhile, across the pond, the president* dropped by Papa Francesco's joint and Papa Francesco engaged in some expert trolling, as Bloomberg tells us.
Francis gave the U.S. president a copy of his 2015 encyclical calling for urgent, drastic cuts in fossil-fuel emissions after a half-hour meeting in his private study. Francis's choice of gift suggests he is adding his voice to those pressing Trump not to renege on the Paris accord, which is the cornerstone of global efforts to limit climate change. The Vatican said in a statement that the talks focused on international affairs and the promotion of peace, with particular emphasis on health care, education and immigration. "Thank you, thank you," Trump told Francis as they shook hands after the meeting. "I won't forget what you said." Trump has said climate change might be a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.
Come to think of it, that's some pretty high-quality trolling by Bloomberg right there, too. By the way, here's the photo of Papa Francesco with the president*, the First Lady, and the First Daughter. Joy seems to be fairly well confined.
Finally, The New York Times has put together a fine survey of how the glaciers that give Glacier National Park its name have been in full retreat over the past half-century.
The flowing sheets of ice scattered throughout the Montana park shrank by more than a third between 1966 and 2015, according to new data from the United States Geological Survey and Portland State University. Using aerial and satellite imagery, researchers traced the footprints of 39 named glaciers in the park and surrounding national forest. They found that 10 had lost more than half their area over 50 years.
No worries, though. Between the administration's budget, and its lubricious impulse to monetize everything, if the glaciers disappear, the naming rights to Exxon-Mobil National Park and Energy Terminal will bring in millions.
