Hill Heat

From the Wonk Room.

“Strong currents on Monday battered a stranded coal carrier that slammed into a stretch of the Great Barrier Reef over the weekend,” as “Maritime Safety Queensland officials warned that if the ship broke in two, some 65,000 tons of coal and 300,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil used to run the ship’s engines would spill into the marine reserve.”

Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) made a “local officials express support, in writing, for a proposed coal mine in order to receive stimulus money for local projects,” in a letter telling them to voice support for “coal money.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that “about 150,000 deaths occur annually in low-income countries due to the adverse effects of climate change”, as scientists report that emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide have surged by 2000 percent from melting permafrost.