Environment

While the series of major storms hitting California have begun to subside, residents of San Jose are being warned to keep away from affected homes until water levels decrease to a safe level. Flash floods along the west coast of the US have seen thousands of people forced to leave their homes and a state of emergency declared by California governor Jerry Brown. The majority of mandatory evacuation orders have now been downgraded for areas including Sutter County around the Oroville Dam Spillway, which sparked panic one week ago when it threatened to collapse during the floods.

Via The Daily Bell

 

Top Republicans Propose Carbon Tax Plan To Stop Climate Change ... There’s a new climate change prevention plan in town, and unbelievably, it’s coming from some rather senior Republicans, the de facto party of science denial. Two former Secretaries of State – James Baker III and George Shultz – along with former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., met with Vice President Mike Pence, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council this week in Washington D.C. -IFL Science

When Copper was soaring (2 weeks ago) it 'proved' that China's debt binge had worked and that Trumpian reflation was going to secure global economic growth going forward. Now that Dr.Copper is collapsing - we are not hearing so much about the industrial metal's economic forecasting prowess...

Supply concerns, strikes, and demand hope...?

NASA astronomers have discovered seven Earth-size planets around a nearby star, some or all of which could harbour water and possibly life. The exoplanets were spotted around a small, faint star in the constellation of Aquarius called called Trappist-1, less than 40 light-years from Earth, or 235 trillion miles away. Three of the planets found appear to host surface temperatures capable of sustaining liquid water and, therefore, oceans. The discovery has raised hopes that the hunt for alien life beyond the solar system could start much sooner than previously thought.

Submitted by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com,

Natural gas prices plunged to their lowest level since November on mild weather in the U.S., which has caused storage levels to decline at a much slower pace than expected.

Contracts for March delivery on the Nymex exchange dipped to $2.63 on February 21, down a third since December. The bearish swing has come after successive EIA reports showing a modest drawdown in gas inventory levels.