Drought forcing Cal farmers to leave up to 800K acres (~7%) of cropland fallow this year. Drier seasons on horizon. 20% decline of rice crop this yr. 35% less cotton. Over 3M of 9M acres of irrigated farmland to get no surface water this yr other than rain. State has pledged $687M for prob. Feds $200M. Most to improve water infra (some desalination). Investors with no real ties to land driving up price of water. Insurance, pension funds bought land, changed to more water-intensive crops for higher revenues. Wells drying up from neighbors drilling deeper, more wells. Recent rain allowed more deliveries (short-lived) to some farms ... New US science education standards drawn up by 26 states, scientists, teacher groups. Calling for introducing climate change study to middle school students, more in high school. Going on all over world ... PLUG, Hyundai unit to form 5-yr fuel cell JV in Asia ... US State Dept delaying Keystone XL decision over Nebraska legal challenge. Ruling unlikely before yearend. (Convenient election dodge. A? Gulf coast refineries do heavy oil. Just saying.) ... Air pollution growing in Africa. More folks moving to cities. Few countries taking serious action ... China spreading use of insurance to cope with climate change damage ... DOE-backed study: loss of soil carbon from removing corn field waste for biofuels could negate value as low-carbon gasoline ingredient. DuPont says their cellulosic corn fuel to be 100% better than gas. (Farmers won't take inordinate amount of stover off fields. They know about soil preservation. Basic ag, folks. Though I bet some might for dollars.) ... Bigger US west wildfires new normal: study. (And running low on aerial fleet. An idea: contract "crop dusters".) ... Scientists began developing more accurate predictions of Arctic sea ice losses ... Poll showed majority support for Great Lakes wind power ... NASCAR moving on fuel cell engines ... Nissan offering free charging for Leaf buyers in several markets ... Colo fracking ballot challenge headed to state supreme court ... US poised to be net exporter of gasoline next yr: report. (Gulf Coast refineries mostly process heavy oil - Venezuela, oil sands, etc.) ... China reiterated plans to boost solar, wind projects with powerlines to get it distributed. Also to start on new nuke plants, "reasonable" hydro, shut coal plants, promote EVs ... Ukraine plans 10x growth in clean/renewable energy by '20. Eur15B. Solar, biomass. (Biomass to get them off Russia NG.) Eur 2B solar portfolio in pipe by China developer for 1Gw. Ukraine has "green tariff", but budget concerns may lower it ... USAID launched program to help 17 Ukraine cities conduct energy reform, improve energy efficiency, emphasize clean energy. $13.5M ... Gazprom sent 1st oil shipment from Russian Arctic offshore platform.70K tons loaded on ship Greenpeace boarded last year. Near 84% of 90B bls of Arctic oil is offshore. This Russian field has 530M bls. 120Kb/d by '20. Rosneft's Arctic projects at least decade away ... Low water levels in Kyrgyzstan reservoir to affect ag irrigation in Kyrg, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan 2nd year in row. Glacier melt mostly. Largest glacier in world outside poles. Water discharge for power taking preference over ag ... China still going forward with hydropower project that would dry up parts of India, Bangladesh ag. ~300M China folks have no access to safe drinking water. (How safe is US city tap water?). 400 of China's 600 major "towns" have water shortage. North has 44% of population, 60% of arable land, just 4.5% country's water resources. (Everybody is going to have to go to desalination of ocean water. And side effect, if oceans are rising, it will help stem it.) ... Alberta put over $130M in budget for carbon capture/storage for oil sands. To invest over $1B on the tech. 2 planned projects could store over 2.75M tons CO2/y (equiv .5M cars) ... Groundbreak on $120M, 64Mw combined-cycle NG power plant in S. Louisiana ... SUNE closed sale of 20Mw Cal solar farm to Southern, Turner ... US Supreme Court stayed $105M ruling v. Exxon for NYC contamination ... Judge struck down MN emissions reduction law ... Feds, Washington state rejected each other's Hanford nuke waste cleanup plans ... Used tires could power NM cement plant ... Dan River water OK for crops after coal ash spill: study ... Thousands of bee colonies sickened or dead after pollinating (Cal?) almond trees. Pesticides. (A reason I quit crop dusting. Another? I lost my driver's license for a year in DWI case. But, really, the bees. Jeeze leweeze.) ... Some Cal truckers may get reprieve from diesel emission rules ... Washington state logging regulator took $100K in donations from timber interests: enviros ... Elite land grabbers in Zimbabwe increasing elephant poaching risk ... Just 24BCF put into US storage last week. 34 expected. 50% of avg storage for time of year. 3TCF drawn from storage this winter. (Stop flaring in ND! Store it.) ... Over 9K candidates going for 328 seats in Iraq. (Is that healthy democracy?) No voting in districts held by "insurgents". Fallujah looks gone. Bombs now on pipeline in North going to refinery ... New acting Libya PM declined to form new govt after attack on he and family by militia. Considering "smart cards" to control heavily subsidized gasoline going to Tunisia for resale ... China coal use 300M tons/y in '70. 4.3B tons in '13. Govt wants to cut use 50% next 4 yrs. New enviro protection law later this yr to put enviro over econ.