Soot and Fireballs.

From a California perspective, energy and global warming go hand in hand. You can't talk about one and not the other because, more than anything-- even more that consumer demand and marketplace issues-- global warming is driving energy policy in California.

In that context, I found a report by UC San Diego on "black carbon" particulate worth mentioning. According to the report:

"More than three-quarters of the particulate pollution known as black carbon transported at high altitudes over the West Coast during spring is from Asian sources, according to a research team led by Professor V. Ramanathan at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego."

Black Carbon-- essentially "soot"-- might not make up a huge part of our air pollution on the West Coast, per se, but it does do two very damaging things.

First, it heats the atmosphere significantly at high levels and, second, it "dims the surface of the ocean by absorbing solar radiation." The report notes that these two factors greatly influence the Pacific Ocean region which drives a large part of the world's climate.

So, in essence, as California scrambles to enact newer, greener regulations for energy production and use, our efforts are being subverted by Asia. I supose this tees up a huge discussion about Kyoto and GATT and I welcome that... "discuss."

All of this reminds me of comments made by a spokesman from the coal industry (that I actually mocked on this blog) which now seem almost credible.

And speaking of credible ("incredible," actually): Malibu.

(A day without a Malibu update is like a day without sunshine...)

The debate is intensifying in advance of the upcoming regulatory hearings and, oddly, it has now come full circle. You'll recall that, initially, anti-LNG advocates sought to position LNG imports as a threat to national security. One local trial lawyer even cobbled together a crude documentary that showed massive fireballs consuming the coast. When that didn't take, the arguments turned to envirnonmental factors which have been much more substantial and realistic.

Now, it's back to fireballs. The Ventura County Star is talking up a government report about the potentiall for an LNG terminal to be a terrorist target. The report acknowledges that a terminal way out in the ocean doesn't pose much of a "fireball" threat, but it does raise the issue of heat exposure to humans, in the event of a blaze. According to the Star, the report concludes that heat could burn human flesh up to 1.25 miles away. Given that both Cabrillo Port and now Port Esperanza are 14 miles from land, that doesn't seem like a national security threat. But then again, fireballs are good visuals.

Transported Black Carbon a Significant Player in Pacific Ocean Climate [Yuba Net]

Report tells risks of LNG attacks [Ventura County Star]