Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Marathon Petroleum said a massive fire at its Louisiana refinery caused ‘no offsite impacts’. Reporting by the Guardian and Forensic Architecture raised doubts about this claim The huge US toxic fire shrouded in secrecy: ‘I taste oil in my mouth’ Oil giant Marathon Petroleum is fighting an expanded class action lawsuit fueled by an investigation by the Guardian and Forensic Architecture, which examined a massive toxic blaze at the company’s sprawling refinery in south-west Louisiana in 2023. Parts of the oil refinery, the third largest in America, caught fire for over three days in August 2023 after a large storage tank containing the toxic and flammable hydrocarbon naphtha leaked for more than 13 hours unbeknownst to the predominantly Black low-income communities that surround the facility. Continue reading...

Project providing subsidies to install solar batteries and electric appliances part of Labor deal with crossbenchers Suburb-wide electrification trials are set to be rolled out across the country under an intervention designed to help spark the household transition from gas. The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, has formally directed the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) to consider funding more pilots like Electrify 2515, a community-led initiative to electrify 500 homes in one postcode in Wollongong, NSW. Continue reading...

This week the EU will argue the UK’s ban on catching the tiny fish, celebrated by conservationists, amounts to discrimination against Danish fishers “We did it!” These were the words uttered by the RSPB last year when, after 25 years of campaigning, the UK government banned fishing for sandeels in the North Sea and Scotland. The small eel-like fish might not seem a likely species to inspire a decades-long fight – but they are the treasured food of one of Britain’s rarest and most threatened seabirds, the puffin, as well as many other UK seabirds and marine species. The celebrations, however, were short-lived. The EU threw its weight behind Denmark – the country with by far the biggest sandeel fishing fleet – and challenged the ban, meaning that this week, the humble sandeel will become the focus of the first courtroom trade battle between the UK and the EU since Brexit. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: The Los Angeles wildfires highlighted the immense challenges faced by the insurance industry amid the escalating risks of the climate crisis. Are there any potential solutions for homeowners? Good morning. If the Los Angeles wildfires are bracing evidence of the general threat posed by the climate crisis, they have also brought home a specific problem: how can you make the insurance system work when the risks are so high? That is not a question limited to California, or to the United States: the insurance industry has rated the climate crisis as the biggest threat to its future four years in a row, a very concrete riposte to those politicians who continue to question the reality of global heating. It is impossible to know whether a specific weather event like storm Éowyn in the UK has been caused by climate change – but we know that they, and the damage they leave in their wake, are only going to get more frequent. Israel-Gaza war | Donald Trump’s proposal that large numbers of Palestinians should leave Gaza to “just clean out” the whole strip has been rejected by US allies in the region. Trump’s intervention came as a deal was reached to allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza and release a civilian hostage who Israel said should have been freed already. Heathrow | Rachel Reeves has given her heaviest hint yet that she will back a third runway at Heathrow airport, arguing that she is willing to make difficult decisions while pursuing economic growth. Campaigners have warned that the move would be a severe setback for the UK’s climate commitments. Southport attack | Prevent’s assessment of the danger posed by Axel Rudakubana followed policy at the time, an official review will find – but it will criticise the scheme for rejecting extra help to tackle his interest in violence. The review of the way three referrals were handled before Rudakubana committed an atrocity in Southport is due to be published this week. AI | Ministers have shut down or dropped at least half a dozen artificial intelligence prototypes intended for the welfare system, the Guardian has learned, in a sign of the headwinds facing Keir Starmer’s effort to increase government efficiency. Belarus | Alexander Lukashenko is set to win a seventh five-year term as Belarusian president with 87.6% of the vote in Sunday’s election, according to an exit poll. The US and the EU said in the run-up to the election that it could not be free or fair because independent media are banned and all leading opposition figures have been jailed or forced to flee abroad. Continue reading...