GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES

[notsonice + 1,243]

5 hours ago, footeab@yahoo.com said:

Just wondering if reading is too difficult for you? Clearly it is as clearly you do not even know the issue you are discussing(Bird kills).  You make up whatever you wish someone typed after reading 2 words... Suggest you actually read what is typed next time.

And I have driven hundreds of thousands of miles across the USA and have NEVER SEEN a dead predatory bird on the road.  None in Canada either.  Plenty of dead robins/chickadees and other small birds in my grill though.  Birds aren't that stupid unless you are a Brit in the UK apparently...

do you even bother to do a little research before you post BS?

 

surgical examinations of eagle carcasses to determine causes of death — from 1986 to 2017. Almost 1,500 eagles’ causes of death were reviewed........

 

The results: The leading killer of bald eagles was vehicular trauma — being hit by cars.

 

Study: Many eagles die from being hit by cars

 

COMMUNITY

AUG 17, 2020

 

DETROIT (AP) — America’s iconic national bird, the bald eagle, has made an impressive comeback from its days as an endangered species. But its leading threats remain rooted in human activity, the most comprehensive study ever of bald eagle mortality in Michigan finds.

Researchers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in conjunction with Michigan State University, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and others, reviewed a huge trove of bald eagle mortality data collected from DNR necropsies — surgical examinations of eagle carcasses to determine causes of death — from 1986 to 2017. Almost 1,500 eagles’ causes of death were reviewed, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The results: The leading killer of bald eagles was vehicular trauma — being hit by cars. Second on the list was lead poisoning, related to eagles ingesting lead ammunition fragments from hunter-shot animals, or lead sinkers from fishermen.

“The bald eagle population in Michigan has made a tremendous comeback since the ban or phaseout of DDT and PCBs,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Kendall Simon, a lead author on the study.

DDT was a widely used synthetic pesticide from the 1940s until 1972, when the federal government banned its use over its impact on the environment and threats to human health. Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were primarily used as insulating fluids in heavy-duty electrical equipment in power plants, industries, and large buildings from the late 1920s until the late 1970s, when their use was phased out, also over environmental and public health concerns.

In 1961, bald eagle populations in Michigan were at their lowest point, only 52 breeding pairs. But the chemical bans and protection on the federal endangered species list prompted a major turnaround. The federal government removed the birds from the threatened and endangered species list in 2007. The last full aerial survey of bald eagles in Michigan, conducted in 2017, found 835 breeding pairs.

But with that progress over the latter 20th century came a great deal of human development, Simon said.

“The good habitat along the waterways is being filled,” she said. “New breeding pairs have to settle, breed and nest in lower-quality habitat. It’s usually inland, not along the water where they can fish.”

That leaves the bald eagles looking for alternative sources of food. And one of those main sources is roadkill, Simon said. The data showed vehicular trauma deaths increased in the fall, coinciding with deer hunting season and the rut, a breeding period for deer when they are more active and less careful. That’s also when most car-deer accidents happen.

“Eagles, especially bigger females, are a little clumsy taking off” from a roadkill carcass, Simon said. “It’s such a big bird, it takes them longer than people would think.”

The mortality data also showed lead poisoning was greatest in bald eagles in late winter and early spring months — when waterways are often iced over, hampering fishing, and the carcasses of deer shot by hunters but not recovered, preserved in the snow over winter, become a supplemental food source.

James Sikarskie, a professor emeritus retired last year from Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine — and Simon’s stepfather — is a co-author on the Michigan bald eagle cause of death study. Sikarskie worked with bald eagles for 44 years at the university, and as a wildlife clinician.

“If they eat enough lead, it will kill them, just like kids with lead paint,” he said. “Lead poisoning causes damage to the liver and kidneys, and the treatment to draw the toxin out, chelation, is also traumatic on them.”

The federal government banned the use of lead shot in waterfowl hunting nationwide in 1991. Lead ammunition is banned for some other types of hunting, in particular states and areas. But only California bans its use for all hunting statewide.

“All of the (Michigan) DNR’s hunting digests recommend the use of non-lead shot and bullets, so we encourage voluntary hunter support for that practice across the state,” agency spokesman Ed Golder said. “This is largely a hunter preference issue. One of the factors for hunters is cost. Non-lead ammunition typically costs more than lead ammunition, although copper bullets in many people’s opinions perform better than lead.”

The study, published in April in The Journal of Wildlife Management, recommends moving road-killed animal carcasses to the far edge of rights of way, and a further transition from lead ammunition and fishing tackle to nontoxic alternatives.

[Rob Plant + 2,747]

11 hours ago, footeab@yahoo.com said:

And I have driven hundreds of thousands of miles across the USA and have NEVER SEEN a dead predatory bird on the road. 

Do you really think you should be driving? as clearly youre blind!

Oh and yes I DO think birds are THAT stupid hence the term "bird brain" which I'm sure youre familiar with!

If predatory birds are so clever as to avoid vehicles then why are sooo many killed on your roads as Notsonice posts above, and why dont they avoid wind turbine blades?

Why do you continue to type BS and do ZERO research??

Are you rerally a bird in disguise?

Edited September 1, 2022 by Rob Plant

[Rob Plant + 2,747]

On 8/30/2022 at 3:27 PM, Ecocharger said:

Per capita doesn't count, especially if you have billions of people in your country.

What matters is total responsibility per nation.

Eco you say per capita doesnt count and I get where youre coming from, however it still means that every US citizen pollutes twice as much as every Chinese citizen. Then you say "What matters is total responsibility per nation", the only way to do that is for every citizen to stop being so wasteful and for government to adopt a different strategy and policy. If the Chinese people follow the US example then they will become twice as bad as they currently are and yet people in the US still point the finger at China, this makes no sense to me.

All I was saying to Ron is stop finger pointing and get your own house in order first.

[Rob Plant + 2,747]

7 hours ago, notsonice said:

do you even bother to do a little research before you post BS?

 

surgical examinations of eagle carcasses to determine causes of death — from 1986 to 2017. Almost 1,500 eagles’ causes of death were reviewed........

 

The results: The leading killer of bald eagles was vehicular trauma — being hit by cars.

 

Study: Many eagles die from being hit by cars

 

COMMUNITY

AUG 17, 2020

 

DETROIT (AP) — America’s iconic national bird, the bald eagle, has made an impressive comeback from its days as an endangered species. But its leading threats remain rooted in human activity, the most comprehensive study ever of bald eagle mortality in Michigan finds.

Researchers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in conjunction with Michigan State University, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and others, reviewed a huge trove of bald eagle mortality data collected from DNR necropsies — surgical examinations of eagle carcasses to determine causes of death — from 1986 to 2017. Almost 1,500 eagles’ causes of death were reviewed, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The results: The leading killer of bald eagles was vehicular trauma — being hit by cars. Second on the list was lead poisoning, related to eagles ingesting lead ammunition fragments from hunter-shot animals, or lead sinkers from fishermen.

“The bald eagle population in Michigan has made a tremendous comeback since the ban or phaseout of DDT and PCBs,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Kendall Simon, a lead author on the study.

DDT was a widely used synthetic pesticide from the 1940s until 1972, when the federal government banned its use over its impact on the environment and threats to human health. Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were primarily used as insulating fluids in heavy-duty electrical equipment in power plants, industries, and large buildings from the late 1920s until the late 1970s, when their use was phased out, also over environmental and public health concerns.

In 1961, bald eagle populations in Michigan were at their lowest point, only 52 breeding pairs. But the chemical bans and protection on the federal endangered species list prompted a major turnaround. The federal government removed the birds from the threatened and endangered species list in 2007. The last full aerial survey of bald eagles in Michigan, conducted in 2017, found 835 breeding pairs.

But with that progress over the latter 20th century came a great deal of human development, Simon said.

“The good habitat along the waterways is being filled,” she said. “New breeding pairs have to settle, breed and nest in lower-quality habitat. It’s usually inland, not along the water where they can fish.”

That leaves the bald eagles looking for alternative sources of food. And one of those main sources is roadkill, Simon said. The data showed vehicular trauma deaths increased in the fall, coinciding with deer hunting season and the rut, a breeding period for deer when they are more active and less careful. That’s also when most car-deer accidents happen.

“Eagles, especially bigger females, are a little clumsy taking off” from a roadkill carcass, Simon said. “It’s such a big bird, it takes them longer than people would think.”

The mortality data also showed lead poisoning was greatest in bald eagles in late winter and early spring months — when waterways are often iced over, hampering fishing, and the carcasses of deer shot by hunters but not recovered, preserved in the snow over winter, become a supplemental food source.

James Sikarskie, a professor emeritus retired last year from Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine — and Simon’s stepfather — is a co-author on the Michigan bald eagle cause of death study. Sikarskie worked with bald eagles for 44 years at the university, and as a wildlife clinician.

“If they eat enough lead, it will kill them, just like kids with lead paint,” he said. “Lead poisoning causes damage to the liver and kidneys, and the treatment to draw the toxin out, chelation, is also traumatic on them.”

The federal government banned the use of lead shot in waterfowl hunting nationwide in 1991. Lead ammunition is banned for some other types of hunting, in particular states and areas. But only California bans its use for all hunting statewide.

“All of the (Michigan) DNR’s hunting digests recommend the use of non-lead shot and bullets, so we encourage voluntary hunter support for that practice across the state,” agency spokesman Ed Golder said. “This is largely a hunter preference issue. One of the factors for hunters is cost. Non-lead ammunition typically costs more than lead ammunition, although copper bullets in many people’s opinions perform better than lead.”

The study, published in April in The Journal of Wildlife Management, recommends moving road-killed animal carcasses to the far edge of rights of way, and a further transition from lead ammunition and fishing tackle to nontoxic alternatives.

Yes but according to Footinmouth (sorry Footeab) these predatory birds never land and continually fly around wind turbines until they get chopped to pieces!

Sigh, some people really spout BS!

[notsonice + 1,243]

36 minutes ago, Rob Plant said:

Yes but according to Footinmouth (sorry Footeab) these predatory birds never land and continually fly around wind turbines until they get chopped to pieces!

Sigh, some people really spout BS!

I am amazed at those who fight solar and wind power generation by spouting BS. Like the tard who claimed wind turbines cause cancer. Guess you will always have a few that just can not adopt cleaner means of energy production which are better overall to the environment. Same people fought cleaning up our waters and the earth. I worked on a few migratory bird projects on the behalf of Industrial Companies in the 90's. At first, they were in denial that they had problems as they were in fear of the costs of changing their behavior and modifications to their facilities. Then when they got slammed with fines after they had excessive bird deaths and looked at permanent closure they woke up. Then they found out that the solutions were not burdensome nor expensive and if designed right from the beginning basically minimal costs.

[notsonice + 1,243]

18 hours ago, Ecocharger said:

Fossil fuels stable at 84-85% for decades past and decades going forward.

With Britain ramping up fossil fuels in response to the current energy crisis (caused by Green fanatics) fossil fuels have a bright future.

People are not so stupid as to swallow the fallacious climate science being spewed out by paid hacks.

fossil fuels were at 86 .4 percent in 2014 now they have dropped to 81 percent today........the trend is set.... and the decline is on an exponential path ...every year the decline of fossil fuels dominance gets bigger and bigger

84-85% for decades past and decades going forward.??? you still on the pipe???

Next time you babble BS do a little research. The BP reports have all the data you need or are you afraid to look at the real data?????

Rome was not built in a day..... the Fossil Fuel dominance is now on a path of severe decline and renewables will take over in the next 25 years.

Enjoy.

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by notsonice

[notsonice + 1,243]

On 8/16/2022 at 10:49 AM, Ecocharger said:

Despite concerns about a possible Biden-induced recession and weak Chinese demand, the expectations for strong oil prices remain largely intact.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Barclays-Slashes-Oil-Price-Forecast-To-103-Per-Barrel.html

"The recent sell-off in oil was the result of still resilient Russian oil supply and elevated market concerns that an economic slowdown, or a recession, is coming, Barclays said now in a note carried by Reuters.

Once the EU embargo enters in full force in early 2023, Russian oil supply is expected to drop by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) compared to the levels before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UK bank said.  

Still, the downside to oil prices could be limited because the OPEC+ group could decide next year to withhold some supply from the market if global oil demand slows down in a mild recession, according to Barclays. Several banks have recently downgraded their oil price forecasts in view of still resilient Russian supply and an expected downturn in economies and potentially weaker oil demand. 

Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs also revised its Brent price forecast for this quarter to $110 a barrel, down from a previous projection of $140 per barrel, but the investment bank still believes the case for higher oil prices remains strong. Goldman Sachs also revised its fourth-quarter Brent price forecast to $125 a barrel, down from $130 per barrel previously expected. The 2023 projection, however, was left unchanged at $125 per barrel. "

the expectations for strong oil prices remain largely intact.??????

Goldman Sachs also revised its Brent price forecast for this quarter to $110 a barrel,????

the quarter is 2/3 over Brent crude has only been over $110 for one day....the first day of the quarter the 1st of July.

If you believe what GS is selling you I have a bridge to sell you. GS loves suckers, they must have been long on oil and need suckers to buy their positions out.  

 

Brent heading to $90 this month? it is in the cards now, the trend is set and the Fed is running the show......

Wholesale gasoline at $2.37 today.

The Fed is in charge and they are making a fool out of GS

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by notsonice

[Boat + 1,323]

The bald eagle was once an endangered species. There were approx 72,000 prs, now up to 300,000 prs. The addition of wind turbines may have killed some eagles but in comparison with 50-60 years ago they are doing great. Do yourself a google. Let’s multiple wind by 50x then do a recount. See if we need a breeding program or take guns outta eagle shooting rednecks. 
Poisoning is a major eagle killer. Sleepy is giving FF 10’s of millions to cleanup and cap old abandoned,leaking wells. Finally something. Now, what about flaring……….

[Old-Ruffneck + 1,217]

Is Dodgy Demand Data Driving Oil Prices Lower?

By Alex Kimani - Aug 31, 2022, 6:00 PM CDT

Open interest in crude futures and options contracts has fallen to a seven-year low.

OPEC ministers and some analysts believe that the veracity of oil market price signals have been compromised. 

Some pundits are even accusing the Biden administration of fabricating low gas demand data in a bid to hammer oil prices.

Join Our Community

In the current month, open interest, or the total number of crude futures and options contracts that have not been settled, fell to a seven-year low, giving rise to OPEC ministerial and analyst concerns that the veracity of oil market price signals has been compromised.  Last week, the combined open interest of the four main Brent and WTI contracts fell below 4 billion barrels for the first time since June 2015.

However, analysts at Standard Chartered are not losing sleep over this data. According to the commodity experts, the decline reflects a wider fall in hedging activity due to takeover activity and the bullish outlook of US producers. 

StanChart notes that the hedge book has shrunk by 62% since its 2020 peak, and is 35% smaller in the year-to-date thanks mainly to the reluctance of companies to hedge in a rising market. Further, the higher risk held per barrel of open interest due to higher prices has also contributed to the decline in open interest. 

Source: Standard Chartered

Dodgy Demand Data?

Whereas StanChart offers a fairly convincing argument for the sharp fall in activity in the oil futures markets, that has not stopped some observers from hatching several conspiracy theories with some pundits now accusing the Biden administration of fabricating low gas demand data in a bid to hammer oil prices.

To wit, in late June, the EIA shut down reporting for several weeks, ostensibly due to a server malfunction. But as ForexLive has pointed out,  gasoline demand data has been consistently bad ever since the EIA returned: "Maybe there's an issue with reporting or maybe it's a conspiracy", ForexLive has declared.

Even Wall Street has begun questioning the EIA data.

Bank of America energy strategist Doug Legate has published a note titled the "fall of gasoline demand appears grossly exaggerated.’’

"For the week ending July 22nd, implied gasoline demand rebounded to 9.2 million b/d - a 1 million b/d increase vs the last two week average, and the second highest level of 2022," BofA wrote in the note to clients. Curiously, the EIA reported a steep drop in gasoline demand shortly thereafter, prompting Piper Sandler global energy strategist to label the data "crooked", saying the methodology left “significant room for error”. 

“We are supposed to believe that in July, in the middle of driving season we are only using 8.6 million barrels per day. That would be down half a million barrels a day from May of this year; that would be below the Covid low of 2020,” Sandler noted. “So we ask all the refiners, we ask all the retailers, we ask everybody that reported earnings this season. Every single one of them tells you that their sales are not down materially from even pre-covid days. Some report record high sales,” he added.

Piper Sandler’s allegations are buttressed by U.S. refining giant Valero. Asked about falling gasoline demand at the company’s earnings call last week, CEO Gary Simmons had this to say:

"I can tell you, through our wholesale channel there is really no indication of any demand destruction... In June, we actually set sales records. We read a lot about demand destruction and mobility data showing in that range of 3% to 5% demand destruction. Again, we're not seeing it in our system."

Further, alternate demand data from GasBuddy deviates considerably from EIA’s. GasBuddy tracks retail gasoline demand at the pumps in the U.S. According to GasBuddy, there was a 2% rise in gasoline demand last week, making it the strongest demand of the year. In sharp contrast, the EIA reported a 7.6% drop in demand for the same time period.

The Biden administration certainly is gunning for even lower fuel prices. In an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Amos Hochstein, the White House’s senior adviser for global energy security, said that gas and oil prices need to go even lower while U.S. producers and OPEC+ need to raise output.

But as Adam Button, chief currency analyst at Forexlive, notes, it’s the Biden administration calling the shots now, and “at the end of the day, traders have to trade what’s in front of them”.

 "Right now it's a crude chart that's breaking support after a major period of consolidation -- that's not good. The calls for a recession are growing louder crude demand has a long history of following global growth. There are supply factors that will eventually be bullish -- like the SPR releases ending in October -- but that's months away and OPEC is still adding some barrels,” he said.

Where Hedging Is Paying Off

Whereas oil producers are understandably not keen on oil price hedging, the strategy is paying off big time for airlines.

Nearly all of an airline’s costs are somewhat predictable, except one: the short term costs of fuel. Fuel is typically the biggest line item in an airline's expense book, and can account for nearly a third of total operating costs. Two years ago, many large carriers ditched their oil hedges after suffering massive losses due to persistently low oil prices. But with oil prices constantly  taking out multi-year highs, they have now been forced to reverse course and are hedging aggressively, with brokers reporting the busiest spell of consumer hedging in years.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) and Alaska Airlines (NYSE:ALK) are the only major U.S. carriers that have consistently hedged the cost of jet fuel. Southwest is the only large U.S. airline that is also a low-cost carrier, and fuel accounts for a third of its operating costs. The airline began hedging its fuel costs in the early 1990s after crude prices spiked during the first Gulf War and has religiously hedged through thick and thin. 

Related: Europe’s $280 Billion Support Package Could Make Energy Crisis Worse

Southwest aims to hedge at least 50% of its fuel costs each year, and exclusively use call options and call spreads. Company's treasurer, Chris Monroe, and his team trade crude-oil derivatives as a proxy for jet fuel. They deal with some of Wall Street's shrewdest commodity-trading desk including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and seven more traders.

Southwest lost money on its hedges between 2015 and 2017, but this year oil hedges are paying off big-time for the Texas-based carrier.

According to the Financial Times, a crack team of four fuel traders at Southwest Airlines has managed to save the company a whopping $1.2 billion this year through smart hedging. Orchestrated by the company's treasurer, Chris Monroe, and his team, Southwest hedged have slashed its fuel costs by 70 cents to between $3.30 and $3.40 a gallon this quarter, the carrier disclosed in a recent trading update. Southwest has pegged the fair market value of its fuel-derivative contracts for this year at $1.2 billion.

While oil prices have climbed 40% in the year-to-date, middle distillates have seen an even bigger surge:  jet fuel recently traded as high as ~$320/b in New York  ($7.61/gallon), a massive ~$200+ premium to crude feedstock prices. The jet fuel premium is ~10x larger than any premium seen in the past 30yrs. Southwest’s hedges must have shielded the company from some major price shocks.

"Our fuel hedge is providing excellent protection against rising energy prices and significantly offsets the market price increase in jet fuel in first quarter 2022,"Southwest CFO Tammy Romo said on the carrier's first-quarter earnings call.

Southwest is just one of many companies looking to protect themselves from high oil prices. Over the past few months, there has been a renewed appetite from many airlines as well as an influx of first-timers, including Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), as well as trucking and manufacturing firms. 

“We’re also very fortunate that for the next 12 months, we’re very well hedged on fuel. I would ascribe that more to dumb luck than supremely intelligent management. But nevertheless, we have 80% of our fuel purchased forward out to March 2023 at less than $70 per barrel,” Ryanair Holdings Plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY) CEO Michael O’Leary revealed during the company’s latest earnings call.

To be sure, hedging in the current market can be expensive thanks to red-hot demand for hedging products. Those higher hedging costs have been accentuated by a lack of liquidity in recent months, making it harder to find counterparties and agree on prices. But with oil prices unlikely to come down any time soon, heavy oil users are left with little choice than to hedge or risk paying billions more in extra fuel costs.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

[Ecocharger + 1,446]

20 hours ago, notsonice said:

do you even bother to do a little research before you post BS?

 

surgical examinations of eagle carcasses to determine causes of death — from 1986 to 2017. Almost 1,500 eagles’ causes of death were reviewed........

 

The results: The leading killer of bald eagles was vehicular trauma — being hit by cars.

 

Study: Many eagles die from being hit by cars

 

COMMUNITY

AUG 17, 2020

 

DETROIT (AP) — America’s iconic national bird, the bald eagle, has made an impressive comeback from its days as an endangered species. But its leading threats remain rooted in human activity, the most comprehensive study ever of bald eagle mortality in Michigan finds.

Researchers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in conjunction with Michigan State University, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and others, reviewed a huge trove of bald eagle mortality data collected from DNR necropsies — surgical examinations of eagle carcasses to determine causes of death — from 1986 to 2017. Almost 1,500 eagles’ causes of death were reviewed, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The results: The leading killer of bald eagles was vehicular trauma — being hit by cars. Second on the list was lead poisoning, related to eagles ingesting lead ammunition fragments from hunter-shot animals, or lead sinkers from fishermen.

“The bald eagle population in Michigan has made a tremendous comeback since the ban or phaseout of DDT and PCBs,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Kendall Simon, a lead author on the study.

DDT was a widely used synthetic pesticide from the 1940s until 1972, when the federal government banned its use over its impact on the environment and threats to human health. Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were primarily used as insulating fluids in heavy-duty electrical equipment in power plants, industries, and large buildings from the late 1920s until the late 1970s, when their use was phased out, also over environmental and public health concerns.

In 1961, bald eagle populations in Michigan were at their lowest point, only 52 breeding pairs. But the chemical bans and protection on the federal endangered species list prompted a major turnaround. The federal government removed the birds from the threatened and endangered species list in 2007. The last full aerial survey of bald eagles in Michigan, conducted in 2017, found 835 breeding pairs.

But with that progress over the latter 20th century came a great deal of human development, Simon said.

“The good habitat along the waterways is being filled,” she said. “New breeding pairs have to settle, breed and nest in lower-quality habitat. It’s usually inland, not along the water where they can fish.”

That leaves the bald eagles looking for alternative sources of food. And one of those main sources is roadkill, Simon said. The data showed vehicular trauma deaths increased in the fall, coinciding with deer hunting season and the rut, a breeding period for deer when they are more active and less careful. That’s also when most car-deer accidents happen.

“Eagles, especially bigger females, are a little clumsy taking off” from a roadkill carcass, Simon said. “It’s such a big bird, it takes them longer than people would think.”

The mortality data also showed lead poisoning was greatest in bald eagles in late winter and early spring months — when waterways are often iced over, hampering fishing, and the carcasses of deer shot by hunters but not recovered, preserved in the snow over winter, become a supplemental food source.

James Sikarskie, a professor emeritus retired last year from Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine — and Simon’s stepfather — is a co-author on the Michigan bald eagle cause of death study. Sikarskie worked with bald eagles for 44 years at the university, and as a wildlife clinician.

“If they eat enough lead, it will kill them, just like kids with lead paint,” he said. “Lead poisoning causes damage to the liver and kidneys, and the treatment to draw the toxin out, chelation, is also traumatic on them.”

The federal government banned the use of lead shot in waterfowl hunting nationwide in 1991. Lead ammunition is banned for some other types of hunting, in particular states and areas. But only California bans its use for all hunting statewide.

“All of the (Michigan) DNR’s hunting digests recommend the use of non-lead shot and bullets, so we encourage voluntary hunter support for that practice across the state,” agency spokesman Ed Golder said. “This is largely a hunter preference issue. One of the factors for hunters is cost. Non-lead ammunition typically costs more than lead ammunition, although copper bullets in many people’s opinions perform better than lead.”

The study, published in April in The Journal of Wildlife Management, recommends moving road-killed animal carcasses to the far edge of rights of way, and a further transition from lead ammunition and fishing tackle to nontoxic alternatives.

I suppose that if we transition to electric vehicles, those dead birds will have the satisfaction of knowing that they were killed by a noble cause.

[Ecocharger + 1,446]

13 hours ago, Rob Plant said:

Eco you say per capita doesnt count and I get where youre coming from, however it still means that every US citizen pollutes twice as much as every Chinese citizen. Then you say "What matters is total responsibility per nation", the only way to do that is for every citizen to stop being so wasteful and for government to adopt a different strategy and policy. If the Chinese people follow the US example then they will become twice as bad as they currently are and yet people in the US still point the finger at China, this makes no sense to me.

All I was saying to Ron is stop finger pointing and get your own house in order first.

First of all, how are you defining "pollution"?  

I think that the first pollutions we should be dealing with are intellectual pollution and word pollution.

[Ecocharger + 1,446]

11 hours ago, notsonice said:

fossil fuels were at 86 .4 percent in 2014 now they have dropped to 81 percent today........the trend is set.... and the decline is on an exponential path ...every year the decline of fossil fuels dominance gets bigger and bigger

84-85% for decades past and decades going forward.??? you still on the pipe???

Next time you babble BS do a little research. The BP reports have all the data you need or are you afraid to look at the real data?????

Rome was not built in a day..... the Fossil Fuel dominance is now on a path of severe decline and renewables will take over in the next 25 years.

Enjoy.

 

Not. The problem with the Green Brain Dead Revolution is that the science is too weak to justify transitioning into a lower standard of living.

I trust in the ability of science to get back on track, it usually does happen.

[Ecocharger + 1,446]

11 hours ago, notsonice said:

the expectations for strong oil prices remain largely intact.??????

Goldman Sachs also revised its Brent price forecast for this quarter to $110 a barrel,????

the quarter is 2/3 over Brent crude has only been over $110 for one day....the first day of the quarter the 1st of July.

If you believe what GS is selling you I have a bridge to sell you. GS loves suckers, they must have been long on oil and need suckers to buy their positions out.  

 

Brent heading to $90 this month? it is in the cards now, the trend is set and the Fed is running the show......

Wholesale gasoline at $2.37 today.

The Fed is in charge and they are making a fool out of GS

 

You have to look at the big picture, not just short-term fluctuations.

I refuse to believe that the men in charge will engineer a complete recession, they are not that stupid.

[Ecocharger + 1,446]

9 hours ago, Old-Ruffneck said:

Is Dodgy Demand Data Driving Oil Prices Lower?

By Alex Kimani - Aug 31, 2022, 6:00 PM CDT

Open interest in crude futures and options contracts has fallen to a seven-year low.

OPEC ministers and some analysts believe that the veracity of oil market price signals have been compromised. 

Some pundits are even accusing the Biden administration of fabricating low gas demand data in a bid to hammer oil prices.

Join Our Community

In the current month, open interest, or the total number of crude futures and options contracts that have not been settled, fell to a seven-year low, giving rise to OPEC ministerial and analyst concerns that the veracity of oil market price signals has been compromised.  Last week, the combined open interest of the four main Brent and WTI contracts fell below 4 billion barrels for the first time since June 2015.

However, analysts at Standard Chartered are not losing sleep over this data. According to the commodity experts, the decline reflects a wider fall in hedging activity due to takeover activity and the bullish outlook of US producers. 

StanChart notes that the hedge book has shrunk by 62% since its 2020 peak, and is 35% smaller in the year-to-date thanks mainly to the reluctance of companies to hedge in a rising market. Further, the higher risk held per barrel of open interest due to higher prices has also contributed to the decline in open interest. 

Source: Standard Chartered

Dodgy Demand Data?

Whereas StanChart offers a fairly convincing argument for the sharp fall in activity in the oil futures markets, that has not stopped some observers from hatching several conspiracy theories with some pundits now accusing the Biden administration of fabricating low gas demand data in a bid to hammer oil prices.

To wit, in late June, the EIA shut down reporting for several weeks, ostensibly due to a server malfunction. But as ForexLive has pointed out,  gasoline demand data has been consistently bad ever since the EIA returned: "Maybe there's an issue with reporting or maybe it's a conspiracy", ForexLive has declared.

Even Wall Street has begun questioning the EIA data.

Bank of America energy strategist Doug Legate has published a note titled the "fall of gasoline demand appears grossly exaggerated.’’

"For the week ending July 22nd, implied gasoline demand rebounded to 9.2 million b/d - a 1 million b/d increase vs the last two week average, and the second highest level of 2022," BofA wrote in the note to clients. Curiously, the EIA reported a steep drop in gasoline demand shortly thereafter, prompting Piper Sandler global energy strategist to label the data "crooked", saying the methodology left “significant room for error”. 

“We are supposed to believe that in July, in the middle of driving season we are only using 8.6 million barrels per day. That would be down half a million barrels a day from May of this year; that would be below the Covid low of 2020,” Sandler noted. “So we ask all the refiners, we ask all the retailers, we ask everybody that reported earnings this season. Every single one of them tells you that their sales are not down materially from even pre-covid days. Some report record high sales,” he added.

Piper Sandler’s allegations are buttressed by U.S. refining giant Valero. Asked about falling gasoline demand at the company’s earnings call last week, CEO Gary Simmons had this to say:

"I can tell you, through our wholesale channel there is really no indication of any demand destruction... In June, we actually set sales records. We read a lot about demand destruction and mobility data showing in that range of 3% to 5% demand destruction. Again, we're not seeing it in our system."

Further, alternate demand data from GasBuddy deviates considerably from EIA’s. GasBuddy tracks retail gasoline demand at the pumps in the U.S. According to GasBuddy, there was a 2% rise in gasoline demand last week, making it the strongest demand of the year. In sharp contrast, the EIA reported a 7.6% drop in demand for the same time period.

The Biden administration certainly is gunning for even lower fuel prices. In an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Amos Hochstein, the White House’s senior adviser for global energy security, said that gas and oil prices need to go even lower while U.S. producers and OPEC+ need to raise output.

But as Adam Button, chief currency analyst at Forexlive, notes, it’s the Biden administration calling the shots now, and “at the end of the day, traders have to trade what’s in front of them”.

 "Right now it's a crude chart that's breaking support after a major period of consolidation -- that's not good. The calls for a recession are growing louder crude demand has a long history of following global growth. There are supply factors that will eventually be bullish -- like the SPR releases ending in October -- but that's months away and OPEC is still adding some barrels,” he said.

Where Hedging Is Paying Off

Whereas oil producers are understandably not keen on oil price hedging, the strategy is paying off big time for airlines.

Nearly all of an airline’s costs are somewhat predictable, except one: the short term costs of fuel. Fuel is typically the biggest line item in an airline's expense book, and can account for nearly a third of total operating costs. Two years ago, many large carriers ditched their oil hedges after suffering massive losses due to persistently low oil prices. But with oil prices constantly  taking out multi-year highs, they have now been forced to reverse course and are hedging aggressively, with brokers reporting the busiest spell of consumer hedging in years.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) and Alaska Airlines (NYSE:ALK) are the only major U.S. carriers that have consistently hedged the cost of jet fuel. Southwest is the only large U.S. airline that is also a low-cost carrier, and fuel accounts for a third of its operating costs. The airline began hedging its fuel costs in the early 1990s after crude prices spiked during the first Gulf War and has religiously hedged through thick and thin. 

Related: Europe’s $280 Billion Support Package Could Make Energy Crisis Worse

Southwest aims to hedge at least 50% of its fuel costs each year, and exclusively use call options and call spreads. Company's treasurer, Chris Monroe, and his team trade crude-oil derivatives as a proxy for jet fuel. They deal with some of Wall Street's shrewdest commodity-trading desk including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and seven more traders.

Southwest lost money on its hedges between 2015 and 2017, but this year oil hedges are paying off big-time for the Texas-based carrier.

According to the Financial Times, a crack team of four fuel traders at Southwest Airlines has managed to save the company a whopping $1.2 billion this year through smart hedging. Orchestrated by the company's treasurer, Chris Monroe, and his team, Southwest hedged have slashed its fuel costs by 70 cents to between $3.30 and $3.40 a gallon this quarter, the carrier disclosed in a recent trading update. Southwest has pegged the fair market value of its fuel-derivative contracts for this year at $1.2 billion.

While oil prices have climbed 40% in the year-to-date, middle distillates have seen an even bigger surge:  jet fuel recently traded as high as ~$320/b in New York  ($7.61/gallon), a massive ~$200+ premium to crude feedstock prices. The jet fuel premium is ~10x larger than any premium seen in the past 30yrs. Southwest’s hedges must have shielded the company from some major price shocks.

"Our fuel hedge is providing excellent protection against rising energy prices and significantly offsets the market price increase in jet fuel in first quarter 2022,"Southwest CFO Tammy Romo said on the carrier's first-quarter earnings call.

Southwest is just one of many companies looking to protect themselves from high oil prices. Over the past few months, there has been a renewed appetite from many airlines as well as an influx of first-timers, including Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), as well as trucking and manufacturing firms. 

“We’re also very fortunate that for the next 12 months, we’re very well hedged on fuel. I would ascribe that more to dumb luck than supremely intelligent management. But nevertheless, we have 80% of our fuel purchased forward out to March 2023 at less than $70 per barrel,” Ryanair Holdings Plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY) CEO Michael O’Leary revealed during the company’s latest earnings call.

To be sure, hedging in the current market can be expensive thanks to red-hot demand for hedging products. Those higher hedging costs have been accentuated by a lack of liquidity in recent months, making it harder to find counterparties and agree on prices. But with oil prices unlikely to come down any time soon, heavy oil users are left with little choice than to hedge or risk paying billions more in extra fuel costs.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

You mean, Biden & Co. may be issuing weird data in an election year? Good heavens, what is politics coming to!

Who can we trust? I guess it isn't a good season for politicians.

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,187]

15 hours ago, Rob Plant said:

Do you really think you should be driving? as clearly youre blind!

Oh and yes I DO think birds are THAT stupid hence the term "bird brain" which I'm sure youre familiar with!

If predatory birds are so clever as to avoid vehicles then why are sooo many killed on your roads as Notsonice posts above, and why dont they avoid wind turbine blades?

Why do you continue to type BS and do ZERO research??

Are you rerally a bird in disguise?

Ah, you actually took what NObrain quoted as reality...A so called "study" over 30 years where only a few carcasses were seen and then the "science"  mysteriously has a  MASSIVE Extrapolated from to obtain said "numbers"...in a single state...and then they could only say a leading cause... Why it must be reality... Oh right numbers of said eagles in same time period have done what increased or decreased?  Increased by over 2X... Brilliant!!!  Sure must be traumatic  Next you are going to believe the bull shit put out by the Audobon society about number of birds which supposedly fly into lakes of oil/coal sludge and die.  Of the Bullshit number given to cats.  Had 3 cats, and many liters of cats, all outdoor cats and never caught a single bird between the 3. ... Just like the Bull Shit numbers about bird deaths and wind turbines... any substance?  No.  All extrapolated baloney from a few actual deaths. 

We live in a period of time where "extrapolated" by some asshole trying to make a headline is "science"

And you still can't read.  I told you WHY things happened not that I agreed with them. Brilliant!

On 8/31/2022 at 1:19 PM, TailingsPond said:

Smart enough to avoid a fast car but dumb enough to fly into windmill?

 

60mph on ground verses upwards of 300mph in the air with the BIGGEST hitting ~400mph now....

Edited September 1, 2022 by footeab@yahoo.com

[Ron Wagner + 702]

On 8/31/2022 at 5:44 AM, notsonice said:

Wind and solar combined equal about 5% of total energy.????

where to you get your numbers from??? parrot the King of BS is not a very smart move.....

2014 2 percent ......2016   3%..........2019 it was 5% .....2021 it is 7%   2022??? 8 percent of total energy production plus and growing exponentially....... 2030???? 20  plus no problem.....2040??? wind and solar plus storage??? 40 percent???? Offshore wind is now in high gear along with solar.....How many new solar factories being opened or just starting to crank out??? add in nuclear and hydro........ We can wait and see..... and 2050??? I will be around,  please check in here in a few years and tell me how meaning less renewables are. Love that the US just passed legislation to put renewables in high gear.......US wind and solar in 2022.......20 percent of Electric production from less than 10 percent just 5 years ago

 

Fossil Fuels have peaked and are now heading for declines due to demand destruction.....

Solar and Wind with storage is cheaper now than Oil , Coal and Nat Gas...........

 

and you can thank the greedy  Putins of the world along with the assholes in Saudi Arabia for the high energy prices and inflation. 

 

 

We will indeed wait and see. The taxpayers are already paying for your Green New Deal. They will pay for all of it and it will grow due to throwing money at it but it will not do the job even by 2050 when it is unlikely I will still be here. Natural gas, oil, coal, nuclear, hydro, biofuels, etc. will all be doing their part supplying MOST of the energy worldwide.

[Ron Wagner + 702]

23 hours ago, notsonice said:

do you even bother to do a little research before you post BS?

 

surgical examinations of eagle carcasses to determine causes of death — from 1986 to 2017. Almost 1,500 eagles’ causes of death were reviewed........

 

The results: The leading killer of bald eagles was vehicular trauma — being hit by cars.

 

Study: Many eagles die from being hit by cars

 

COMMUNITY

AUG 17, 2020

 

DETROIT (AP) — America’s iconic national bird, the bald eagle, has made an impressive comeback from its days as an endangered species. But its leading threats remain rooted in human activity, the most comprehensive study ever of bald eagle mortality in Michigan finds.

Researchers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in conjunction with Michigan State University, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and others, reviewed a huge trove of bald eagle mortality data collected from DNR necropsies — surgical examinations of eagle carcasses to determine causes of death — from 1986 to 2017. Almost 1,500 eagles’ causes of death were reviewed, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The results: The leading killer of bald eagles was vehicular trauma — being hit by cars. Second on the list was lead poisoning, related to eagles ingesting lead ammunition fragments from hunter-shot animals, or lead sinkers from fishermen.

“The bald eagle population in Michigan has made a tremendous comeback since the ban or phaseout of DDT and PCBs,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Kendall Simon, a lead author on the study.

DDT was a widely used synthetic pesticide from the 1940s until 1972, when the federal government banned its use over its impact on the environment and threats to human health. Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were primarily used as insulating fluids in heavy-duty electrical equipment in power plants, industries, and large buildings from the late 1920s until the late 1970s, when their use was phased out, also over environmental and public health concerns.

In 1961, bald eagle populations in Michigan were at their lowest point, only 52 breeding pairs. But the chemical bans and protection on the federal endangered species list prompted a major turnaround. The federal government removed the birds from the threatened and endangered species list in 2007. The last full aerial survey of bald eagles in Michigan, conducted in 2017, found 835 breeding pairs.

But with that progress over the latter 20th century came a great deal of human development, Simon said.

“The good habitat along the waterways is being filled,” she said. “New breeding pairs have to settle, breed and nest in lower-quality habitat. It’s usually inland, not along the water where they can fish.”

That leaves the bald eagles looking for alternative sources of food. And one of those main sources is roadkill, Simon said. The data showed vehicular trauma deaths increased in the fall, coinciding with deer hunting season and the rut, a breeding period for deer when they are more active and less careful. That’s also when most car-deer accidents happen.

“Eagles, especially bigger females, are a little clumsy taking off” from a roadkill carcass, Simon said. “It’s such a big bird, it takes them longer than people would think.”

The mortality data also showed lead poisoning was greatest in bald eagles in late winter and early spring months — when waterways are often iced over, hampering fishing, and the carcasses of deer shot by hunters but not recovered, preserved in the snow over winter, become a supplemental food source.

James Sikarskie, a professor emeritus retired last year from Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine — and Simon’s stepfather — is a co-author on the Michigan bald eagle cause of death study. Sikarskie worked with bald eagles for 44 years at the university, and as a wildlife clinician.

“If they eat enough lead, it will kill them, just like kids with lead paint,” he said. “Lead poisoning causes damage to the liver and kidneys, and the treatment to draw the toxin out, chelation, is also traumatic on them.”

The federal government banned the use of lead shot in waterfowl hunting nationwide in 1991. Lead ammunition is banned for some other types of hunting, in particular states and areas. But only California bans its use for all hunting statewide.

“All of the (Michigan) DNR’s hunting digests recommend the use of non-lead shot and bullets, so we encourage voluntary hunter support for that practice across the state,” agency spokesman Ed Golder said. “This is largely a hunter preference issue. One of the factors for hunters is cost. Non-lead ammunition typically costs more than lead ammunition, although copper bullets in many people’s opinions perform better than lead.”

The study, published in April in The Journal of Wildlife Management, recommends moving road-killed animal carcasses to the far edge of rights of way, and a further transition from lead ammunition and fishing tackle to nontoxic alternatives.

There are a lot more cars and trucks in Michigan than wind turbines. Compare the amount of surface on the roads to that on the wind turbine blades also. The more turbines the more bird deaths. Eagles are only one species of birds. 

I am not against wind turbines, just people being forced to pay for them through taxes and high utility bills. Especially when they are made, or their parts, are made in China. Costs like all the new infrastructure like new electrical towers and lines need to be considered for cost and also for some of the great scenery in Michigan. I am from Michigan and visit it. I would definitely not want to see wind turbines built on the Great Lakes unless beyond the horizon. I don't think Michiganders would either. The aesthetic price is too high in those areas. There is plenty of farmland in Southern Michigan that could be used that is much like the flat area where I live in Central Illinois. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Michiganhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Michigan

[Ron Wagner + 702]

On 8/31/2022 at 5:44 AM, notsonice said:

Wind and solar combined equal about 5% of total energy.????

where to you get your numbers from??? parrot the King of BS is not a very smart move.....

2014 2 percent ......2016   3%..........2019 it was 5% .....2021 it is 7%   2022??? 8 percent of total energy production plus and growing exponentially....... 2030???? 20  plus no problem.....2040??? wind and solar plus storage??? 40 percent???? Offshore wind is now in high gear along with solar.....How many new solar factories being opened or just starting to crank out??? add in nuclear and hydro........ We can wait and see..... and 2050??? I will be around,  please check in here in a few years and tell me how meaning less renewables are. Love that the US just passed legislation to put renewables in high gear.......US wind and solar in 2022.......20 percent of Electric production from less than 10 percent just 5 years ago

 

Fossil Fuels have peaked and are now heading for declines due to demand destruction.....

Solar and Wind with storage is cheaper now than Oil , Coal and Nat Gas...........

 

and you can thank the greedy  Putins of the world along with the assholes in Saudi Arabia for the high energy prices and inflation. 

 

 

https://ourworldindata.org/energy-mix Hover over wind and solar to get an idea of how small their contribution was in 2021. Compare that to even hydro. All have been used for hundreds of years.  Wind energy and hydro are all old technologies. Solar and batteries are new technology but people have used sunlight in many ways to benefit from its rays as long as they have been here. Even lizards and snakes lie in the sun to get up to a desired temperature. 

[TailingsPond + 671]

Oil supporters complaining about bird deaths are funny. Have you never seen an oiled bird after a spill? 

Poison the water (and fish) the birds consume as well.

DDT was made from oil.

[Rob Plant + 2,747]

10 hours ago, Ecocharger said:

First of all, how are you defining "pollution"?  

I think that the first pollutions we should be dealing with are intellectual pollution and word pollution.

I'm not going to go into detail about all of the pollutants various energy sources use wheteher its REE with renewables, S02 & Nox from coal generation, benzene, n-hexane, ethylbenzene, CO from oil and gas, nuclear waste etc etc I think we all know about these.

If you are inferring that I'm talking about Co2 then I dont consider that a pollutant as all life on earth would cease without it. Incidentally Co2 levels currently are at one of the lowest in earths history and yet the climate change brigade are claiming were all doomed because its risen slightly.

Intellectual and word pollution depends on your beliefs I think, and unless I'm mistaken most countries are allowed to think, speak and write what they consider to be correct. OK there is the MM BS and the crap most governments try to spoon feed the masses, sadly that seems to work for most governments.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Rob Plant

[Rob Plant + 2,747]

6 hours ago, Ron Wagner said:

There are a lot more cars and trucks in Michigan than wind turbines. Compare the amount of surface on the roads to that on the wind turbine blades also. The more turbines the more bird deaths. Eagles are only one species of birds. 

Totally agree Ron and my original post to Footeab was compared to cars and cats bird deaths by wind turbine strikes was a drop in the ocean.

Unfortunately he cannot accept the numbers.

[Michael Sanches + 187]

I drive an ICE car and live in an apartment. So, I won't be getting an eV. I would like to get a hybrid next time. But, my niece has a Prius and has 2 catalytic converters stolen in the last couple of years. As long as the greens demand those who steal catalytic converters pay no bail and serve very little time, I will stick with an ICE car.

[Michael Sanches + 187]

5 hours ago, TailingsPond said:

DDT was made from oil.

So are analgesics, antihistamines, antibiotics, antibacterials, rectal suppositories, cough syrups, lubricants, creams, ointments, salves, and many gels.

What is your point, DDT, analgesics, antihistamines, antibiotics, antibacterials, rectal suppositories, cough syrups, lubricants, creams, ointments, salves, and many gels are bad? I disagree.

[notsonice + 1,243]

[Rob Plant + 2,747]

53 minutes ago, notsonice said:

Footeab wont be happy 🤣