The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: Yet Another Major Oil Spill Highlights Need to Transition to Renewables
Dear Diary. Yesterday two aging Russian oil tankers collided near the Crimean Peninsula spilling tons of sludgy crude oil into the Black Sea, which will pollute that area for months to come. In my shoulda coulda woulda category, this would never have happened had the world transitioned to renewables by this time in the 21st century. We know that won’t happen for decades, though, much to the chagrin of my climate and environmental friends.
I keep reporting on a big oil spill about once a year. Let’s list these:
With lessons from the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico here:
Tisk tisk tisk. I keep waiting for positive significant change, but there will be an opposite effect next year with the return of Trump. Do I have much hope for humanity at this point in time, Dear Diary? No I don’t as long as there are vast numbers of internal combustion engine powered by gasoline, which is refined from raw, sludgy crude transported on tankers. Even if oil was not a climate problem, we should stop using it because it is an environmental pollution problem. After all, the sun can’t spill tad and sludge.
Here are more details from Reuters:
Stricken oil tankers show risks of Russia’s ageing ‘shadow fleet’
December 16, 2024 7:33 AM EST
A view from the Volgoneft 239 oil tanker shows the sinking part of the vessel, whose damage caused an oil spill, in the Kerch Strait, Crimea, December 15, 2024, in this screen grab obtained from social media video. Social Media/via REUTERS
- Summary
- Russia uses ‘shadow fleet’ to bypass sanctions
- Split vessel was covered by Russian insurer VSK
- Scale of fuel leak so far unknown
MOSCOW, Dec 16 (Reuters) – Russian authorities sought to limit the damage on Monday from oil spilled into the Kerch Strait by two ageing tankers that were damaged during a heavy weekend storm, highlighting the environmental and insurance risks of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’.
One crew member was killed after the Volgoneft 212 split in half, with 12 rescued, while authorities said all 14 crew aboard the Volgoneft 239, which ran aground 80 metres from the shore near the port of Taman, were also rescued.
The more than 50-year-old ships were carrying some 9,200 metric tons (62,000 barrels) of oil products in total, Russian news agency TASS said, but how much leaked is being determined.
Volgoneft 212 dates back to 1969 and Volgoneft 239 was built in 1973, certificates seen by Reuters showed.
The spill could become one of the largest environmental disasters to affect the region in recent years, although the scale of possible insurance claims was not immediately clear.
The shipping industry has raised concern in recent months over the risks and potential for collisions posed by hundreds of “shadow” tankers in open sea lanes, with little incentive for these vessels to follow cleaner shipping standards.
Russia has increasingly used a shadow fleet, which deploys various techniques to bypass international sanctions.
The Kerch Strait, which separates mainland Russia from the Moscow-annexed Crimea region, is a key route for exports of its grain and fuel products.
The Finland-registered Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) think-tank said 369 vessels exported Russian crude oil and oil products last month, of which 206 were shadow tankers, and 28% of these were at least 20 years old.
Before the weekend incidents, CREA said the cost of clean up and compensation resulting from an oil spill from tankers with unknown insurance or no insurance provision could amount to more than $1 billion for the coastal country’s taxpayers.
Russia rejects Western pressure to limit its oil exports and in the past year the number of tankers transporting cargoes that are not regulated or insured by Western providers has grown.
The documents showed the Volgoneft 212 was covered by insurance from Russia’s VSK, while the vessel’s operator, Kama-Shipping, said it was carrying 4,200 tons of fuel oil.
Russia’s OOO Absolyut Strakhovaniye covered the insurance for the Volgoneft 239, documents seen by Reuters showed.
Neither immediately replied to requests for comment.
President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered the government to set up a working group to deal with the rescue operation and mitigate the impact of the spill, Russian news agencies cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.
Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov, additional reporting by Jonathan Saul; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Alexander Smith
Yet another spill reported today in the United States:
Here are more “ETs” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is More Climate News from Monday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)
Without Oil we wouldn’t have any oil spills and we wouldn’t be killing millions of birds because those wind turbines wouldn’t spin.
Without Oil we wouldn’t need to worry about coal mining 2.0 which is lithium/cobalt/manganese/graphite/steel to make EV batteries because no electric cars would be powered because electricity is largely powered by oil.
Without Oil we could eliminate solar power because solar requires oil for production, transport and installation.
Without Oil we could all diet because food production relies on oil.
Without Oil you could save your time writing blogs because there would be no/limited power for powering your computer or the internet.
Without Oil we could return to a nomadic lifestyle