Very good show this time !
....getting better all the tiiimmmee... ta.. ta.ta..ta..tiiime...

About time on the mercury...

I'd like to know if BP paid the first fine or if they are trying for endless appeals?

Good show! The CA water report was very interesting and timely. Water resources and who gets them are major but so far flying under the radar.

good info on water:
http://jameshowardkunstl....com/clusterfuck_nation/

What happened to my comment ?

I think someone around here needs to read all the B.B. slogans and the house rules again.

Is humor banned now ?

This sounds like it will be a very interesting series, based on your discussion on Peter B's show last week.

Especially the disinformation coming from Limbaugh's ex-producer, now in Inhofe's office.

Thanks for posting links to existing segments!

I gotta question, has anyone out there ever seen a report correlating the (many decades) drought in North Africa to the burning of fossil fuels here in the US? I usta see that one around a while back. (I believe it was the theory of global dimming)

Now, taking those similar findings, and using them as China ramps up their burning of fossils, could that be the same as what's happening in the western US?

ArchCoot #1 --- Apologies for the delay in replying...

BP agreed to pay BOTH the $50 million fine and the new $180 million settlement, both stemming from BP's Texas City, TX refinery blast. These are agreements, not judgments that can be challenged in court. So it would appear that BP can't get out of paying 'em.

Floridiot @ #5...

I haven't found any studies (yet) that focus on the impact of U.S. emissions as they relate to Africa's drought conditions.

There is a study from Scripps Institution of Oceanography Institute (2005) that covers the affect of pollution on the formation of clouds over the Atlantic, but does not appear to cover whether there is a correlation with drought conditions in Africa.

Edited to add: You bring up an excellent and intriguing question, especially considering that research is ongoing on the affect of China's pollution on weather patterns in the U.S., so it would make sense to check the other coast as well, no?

There were a few studies in the mid-'90s that examined the affects of African dust clouds on U.S. weather patterns, but so far I haven't found anything that examines the reverse. Only recently have global weather patterns come under greater scrutiny, so it may be several years before the data is in on that particular relationship.

Ya Des, if you read the Dimming link from wiki above, it shows under "probable causes" as released unburned diesel fuel and coal as a cause of decreased evaporation over the ocean that could lead to reduced cloud formation further east, it would be more pronounced over arid areas as in the central valley and So. Cal. because they get so little precip to begin with...I think that it is possible that is the cause.