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Pakistan calls for urgent measures as heatwave toll tops 450

Pakistan’s prime minister called for emergency measures as the death toll from a heatwave in southern Sindh province topped 450. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said it had received orders from Nawaz Sharif to undertake immediate response measures. The army has also been deployed to set up heat stroke centres and assist the NDMA, it added. Many of the victims are elderly people from low income families. The death toll from the heatwave has risen above 450 Health officials say many deaths have been in the largest city, Karachi, which has experienced temperatures as high as 45C (113F) in recent days. Hundreds of patients suffering from the effects of the heatwave are being treated at government hospitals, provincial health secretary Saeed Mangnejo said. The demand for electricity for air conditioning has coincided with increased power needs over Ramadan, when Muslims fast during daylight hours. Hot weather is not […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Peak Oil in Latin America

Today, I want to focus on black gold production south of the Rio Grande. Latin America’s political leaders believe (or claim to believe) that the economic future of the region is promising. They avail themselves of every summit, every conference or bilateral gathering to express their full confidence in growth, progress and development (today called “sustainable,” even when the Amazons continue to suffer). The Cuban president and his minister for the economy, for instance, insisted that this year we would grow like doped-up champions, by no less than 4 %. I think this is magnificent, charming. The one, tiny problem is that, in order to grow like that, exponentially, one has to burn oil at the same pace. So, what legs do we have to stand on? See country graphs below. Does Latin America have the fuel needed to reach such an ambitious goal? Might this not be another […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Venezuela’s Maduro Faces His Biggest Test in December 6 Vote

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Photographer: Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images Venezuela’s opposition is set to gain control of congress for the first time in 16 years in a Dec. 6 vote seen as the biggest test yet for the Socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro. Official campaigning to choose all 167 members of the National Assembly will take place from Nov. 13 to Dec. 3, the head of national electoral council Tibisay Lucena said in a televised speech Monday. Opposition candidates would get 56.2 percent of the vote, compared to 29.8 percent for the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela currently in charge of the Assembly, according to the latest Datanalisis survey of 1,000 people. The May 18-30 poll had a 3 percentage-point margin of error. “We will be in a situation with an already weak president weakened further by a defeat in the election,” Barclays Plc analyst Alejandro […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Venezuela sets date for elections after mounting pressure

AP Photo/Fernando Llano CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela will hold legislative elections Dec. 6, election officials announced Monday after months of mounting pressure from local opposition groups and international observers. The South American country’s laws mandate that National Assembly balloting be held this year, but elections officials had delayed setting a date, raising concerns the contest would be canceled. In her announcement, elections council head Tibisay Lucena said the organization had always intended to set a date and was not reacting to public pressure. "These attacks and phony analyses from national experts and international figures have mostly been very ignorant," she said. The date is timed to commemorate the first election of the late President Hugo Chavez, who launched the country’s socialist revolution when voters chose him overwhelmingly on Dec. 6, 1998. The ruling socialist party currently holds a majority in the legislature, but polls indicate that if the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Green Star Over China

TLNIt wasn’t the sort of speech you’d expect from a soon-to-be minster of the Chinese government. On Jan. 27, Chen Jining waxed philosophical to graduating master’s degree students at the elite Tsinghua University in Beijing, where he was serving as university president. He talked about picking up Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers during a visit to Taiwan and about shooting the breeze with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg during a recent campus visit. Unlike the standard Chinese Communist Party apparatchik, Chen eschewed impenetrable party theory or bureaucrat-ese for personal anecdotes and motivational comments. The difference between mediocrity and excellence, Chen said , dressed in robes and a mortarboard, was not talent but “continued perseverance [and] sustained effort.” He closed his speech with a quote from China’s former premier and Tsinghua dean Zhu Rongji who in 2014 penned a letter to Tsinghua students telling them to be bold and fearless. “You’re young […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Dakota Access Pipeline Concerns

Dakota Access Pipeline Route Energy Transfer Pipeline is moving forward with plans to build a massive 1.134 mile pipeline that will transport crude from the Bakken through South Dakota and into Patoka, Illinois amid public concerns. Related: Two New Bakken Crude Oil Pipelines Online by 2016 Energy Transfer Partners moved one step closer this week as officials from the McKenzie County Commission approved zoning for the first of six terminals it will need for the project. Along with permission to move ahead the company also received vigorous opposition and criticism from landowners who see the company as arrogant. According to the Tri-City Herald , “Commissioner Kathy Skarda that said she has received numerous phone calls from landowners upset about the company’s negotiating style.” Last week, more than 80 people turned out for a public hearing in Killdeer to express their concerns to the Public Service Commission. This was the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Climate Clashes Resume in Washington

Washington’s climate wars are heating up, with the White House and congressional Republicans both making moves this week that counter the other’s agenda. The Environmental Protection Agency released a report Monday highlighting the economic benefits of cutting carbon emissions, the first in a series of actions the administration is taking this week to bring attention to President Barack Obama ’s climate-change agenda. The focus comes two years after Mr. Obama first laid out his intentions to make acting on climate a legacy of his time in the White House during a speech at Georgetown University on June 25, 2013, where he directed EPA to write regulations cutting carbon emissions from the nation’s power plants, which at 30% are the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Other actions this week include a summit at the White House Tuesday linking climate change to public health. Mr. Obama’s climate agenda faces […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. Plains flooding refills soil moisture, farmers’ wallets

CHICAGO Farmers are reaping higher yields and ranchers’ feed costs have fallen sharply since flooding swept across the southern U.S. Plains in May, with the record rains providing tangible benefits to agriculture despite causing damage that will likely cost billions of dollars to repair. The storms inundated fields across Texas and Oklahoma but they broke a years-long drought that wreaked havoc on the profitability of growers and cattlemen. Even though floods tend to grab more headlines, drought is actually much more costly in terms of its impact on agriculture. "The thing that differentiates it (drought) from all other natural hazards is the fact that it covers such a wide swath or spatial extent," said Don Willhite, climatologist in the School of Natural Resources at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "Floods are much more localized. (Drought) goes on for so long. The impacts accumulate year to year." Floods also are less costly […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Cheap Energy Poised to Shake Up Pipeline Industry

Low oil-and-gas prices are poised to shake up yet another part of the nation’s energy economy, spurring a merger battle among companies that own the key pipelines that move fuels around the country. Williams WMB 25.90 % Cos., a large natural-gas pipeline operator, said it hired bankers and lawyers to help it review strategic alternatives, including a sale, after rejecting a roughly $48 billion unsolicited takeover that would have been the largest energy deal in the U.S. this year. Shares in the Tulsa, Okla., company soared to an all-time high of $60.86, up 26%, giving the more than 100-year-old company a market valuation of $45.58 billion. Shares of its would-be buyer fell nearly 5% to $65.06. Cheap energy has stronger companies across the industry—including exploration and drilling companies—eyeing weaker rivals. But deals have been few as buyout candidates hold out for richer offers. Dallas-based pipeline company Energy Transfer Equity […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Williams and Energy Transfer Equity: Pipeline Bid Signals Gas Woes

John D. Rockefeller’s empire wasn’t founded on owning oil fields but instead the means to process and transport oil. Alongside cementing his ruthless reputation, the efficiencies generated by Standard Oil led to a collapse in kerosene prices in the late 19th century. One rationale for Energy Transfer’s interest in Williams: its pipelines in the northeastern U.S. Gas flows have shifted dramatically as shale’s development has opened up new supply sources, not least the giant Marcellus Shale in the Northeast. Last year, this accounted for a fifth of U.S. gas production, according to Sanford C. Bernstein, largely meeting regional demand. But this is set to increase to one-third of U.S. supply by 2018, Bernstein estimates, helped by new and modified pipeline capacity allowing more gas to flow from the Northeast. Right now, bottlenecks there mean Marcellus gas often sells locally at big discounts to the already-low Henry Hub national benchmark. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple