XPost: alt.global-warming   
      
   Oil and gas industry in TX buckles under strain of Arctic blast   
   Justin Jacobs, Financial Times via Carbon Brief   
      
   There is continuing extensive coverage of the freezing conditions   
   crippling TX's energy systems. The Financial Times says the "oil   
   and gas industry in TX has buckled under the strain of a blast of   
   Arctic weather that has disrupted a big pillar of the global energy   
   market and sent crude prices to their highest levels in more than a   
   year". It adds: "The Electric Reliability Council of TX, the grid   
   operator, said 46GW of power generation - more than half of the   
   state's total - remained offline as of Wed afternoon, little   
   improved compared to Tue. Ercot officials said blackouts were   
   likely to continue for a couple more days." Another FT story says   
   Texans are "demanding answers", adding: "The state's energy   
   infrastructure proved no match for a cold blast that veered south from   
   the Arctic Circle, a pattern that some research suggests is becoming   
   more common as climate change warms the polar region." The Guardian   
   notes that at least 20 people have died so far, with "anger   
   mounting". Reuters reports that the "largest energy-producing state in   
   the US grappled with massive refining outages and oil and gas shutins   
   that rippled beyond its borders into neighbouring Mexico". Another   
   Reuters story says that TX officials have warned of "disasters   
   within the disaster", telling residents to prepare for energy to not   
   return until the weekend. And a further Reuters story says that the   
   state's power consumers will be expected to "pay the price" of the   
   winter storm with state utilities "likely hik[ing] bills after this   
   year, both to pay for the record price spikes and to fund updates to   
   TX's grid to make it more resilient".   
      
   In other coverage, the Hill has a feature titled, "Five things to know   
   about TX's strained electric grid", which include: "It's almost   
   entirely isolated from other grids; It's subject to less federal   
   regulation; The grid is largely ill-equipped to handle low   
   temperatures; Reliance on natural gas helped fuel the energy shortage;   
   The state had winter blackouts in 1989 and 2011." Bloomberg explains   
   how "you restart an oil well that's frozen solid". Another Bloomberg   
   piece says that TX "was warned a decade ago its grid was unready   
   for cold". A detailed FT Q&A examines "what went wrong", which   
   includes a section titled: "Was it renewables' fault?". No, it says,   
   continuing: "Republican politicians were quick to point fingers at   
   frozen wind turbines, but this is not the sole cause of the   
   blackouts. While a full postmortem of went has gone wrong will take   
   weeks, all early indications show that this was a wide-ranging failure   
   of the TX energy system#a larger problem appeared to be a massive   
   loss of natural gas supply as wells, pipelines and other equipment   
   froze over."   
      
   Other publications also focus on the political fallout. The Hill notes   
   that the Republican former TX governor Rick Perry has "suggested   
   that the people of the Lone Star State would rather spend more time   
   without electricity than see increased federal involvement in their   
   state". Axios says the state's power outage "highlights inequalities   
   for minority neighbourhoods". Bloomberg says that the outages could   
   give a "rhetorical boost" to Joe Biden's plans for a "historic   
   investment" in the nation's electric grid, including "better   
   transmission systems and battery storage that would make the system   
   more resilient amid extreme weather spurred by climate change". The   
   outlet adds: "The investments broadly touted by Biden could help   
   satisfy his 2035 goal of an emissions-free power system and help meet   
   increased demand nationwide as more electric vehicles hit the roads   
   and more buildings rely on power instead of natural gas for heat."   
   However, E&E News says the TX power outage "underscores looming   
   climate tests", adding: "The whiplash crises highlight the challenge   
   facing energy planners in a warming world. Extreme weather is   
   increasingly likely to stress electric grids, gas pipelines and other   
   pieces of energy infrastructure." Another E&E News article notes that   
   Biden has barely said anything about the incident: "President Biden   
   isn't talking about TX, but Republicans are. As Texans faced their   
   second winter night without electricity yesterday, the political   
   narratives were freezing into place. Conservatives are using the   
   ongoing disaster to argue against climate policy even as   
   fossil-generated power outages dwarf the amount of renewable energy   
   knocked offline during the historic deep freeze#But Biden offered no   
   message of his own last night during an hour-plus CNN town hall. Nor   
   did the administration connect the situation in TX to the   
   president's energy and infrastructure plans. Officials instead   
   emphasised disaster response."   
      
      
   --   
   Pfizer says South African variant could significantly reduce vaccine protection   
   CNBC, 17 Feb 2021 23:14Z   
   A laboratory study suggests that the South African variant of the   
   coronavirus may reduce antibody protection from the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine   
   by two-thirds, and ...   
      
     `Bristol Covid variant' that may diminish vaccine efficacy discovered for   
     first time in US   
     The Independent, 17 Feb 2021 18:13Z   
     The Bristol variant of the coronavirus has been detected for the first time   
     in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)   
     said on ...   
      
   'Beginning of the end for Facebook': Q+A tackles the platform's Australian   
   news ban   
   ABC News, 18 Feb 2021 13:06Z   
   Australia's shadow communications minister, Michelle Rowland, questions   
   whether Facebook's news ban is the "beginning of the end" for the platform   
   in Australia as eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant calls Facebook out   
   for not doing enough in areas such as child safety.   
      
     Facebook unrepentant as Prime Minister dubs emergency services block   
     'arrogant'   
     ABC News, 18 Feb 2021 07:42Z   
     Facebook's head of policy in the Asia-Pacific argues it was the govt's   
     proposed law -- and not a failure to test their algorithm -- that pushed   
     them to "inadvertently" block emergency services pages during bushfire   
   season.   
      
     'The only news left': Anti-vaccine pages unscathed by Facebook news ban   
     ABC Science, 18 Feb 2021 07:43Z   
     Fake news is spreading while Facebook blocks trusted news sites, leading to   
     concerns of a spike in vaccine scare stories on the eve of the COVID-19   
     vaccine rollout.   
      
   'Wildly unfair': UN says 130 countries have not received a single Covid   
   vaccine dose   
   The Guardian, 18 Feb 2021 01:17Z   
   UN secretary general calls for 'global vaccine taskforce' led by G20 in what   
   he says is a 'moral test' of world community.   
      
   Study: Genetic mutation inherited from Neanderthals could help protect   
   against severe COVID cases   
   The Hill, 17 Feb 2021 23:41Z   
   Researchers have discovered a possible genetic link between Neanderthal DNA   
   and a lower risk of developing a severe case of the coronavirus.   
      
   [Miniflu!]   
   Covid Causes Sharp Drop in US Life Expectancy   
   The New York Times, 18 Feb 2021 05:40Z   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)