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Today's Tom Toles:

Economic Destruction for Fun and Profit

"Promoting alternative energy will destroy the economy."

Don't try telling that to investors on Wall Street, who have sharply bid up the price of a lithium-ion battery company's initial offering today. Shares of A123 Systems (symbol AONE) are up over 50% from this morning's offering price of $13.50, which had been raised from earlier estimates of around $8. After a delayed opening, the shares began trading at $17 and reached a high of $21.14 before retreating slightly to $20.29 at 4 pm. Volume was over 41 million shares.

The company, "one of the world's leading suppliers of high-power lithium ion batteries", has contracts to supply batteries for hybrid and electric cars to 7 auto manufacturers worldwide, including Chrysler, GM, and Nissan.

The A123 CEO Dave Vieau was interviewed this morning on CNBC:


From the press:

• AP, A123 Systems goes public with a splash
• MarketWatch, A123 Systems jolts IPO market
• WSJ, Traders Give A123 Systems IPO a Charge
• TheStreet.com, A123 Systems Soars on IPO, but Why?
• Bloomberg, A123 Surges in First Day on Electric-Vehicle Demand
• BoGlo, Shares in A123 IPO hit $20.09 in afternoon trading
• WaPo, MIA
  

Image (click to enlarge): September 24 stock chart for A123, from MarketWatch, via Fidelity Investments

Disclaimer: CapitalClimate unfortunately does NOT own shares in A123.

Google Earth Provides Climate Change Visualization

BNET reports that Google Earth on Tuesday launched a series of guided tours to provide a visualization of climate change projections. According to the official Google blog,

In collaboration with the Danish government and others, we are launching a series of Google Earth layers and tours to allow you to explore the potential impacts of climate change on our planet and the solutions for managing it. Working with data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we show on Google Earth the range of expected temperature and precipitation changes under different global emissions scenarios that could occur throughout the century.

Also in cooperation with the Danish government, Google has launched the YouTube COP15 channel in anticipation of the Copenhagen climate change conference (fifteenth Conference of the Parties under the United Nations’ Climate Change Convention) to be held in December.

The introductory tour (short version):

Rare Heavy Dust Storm Brings Red Dawn to Sydney

An unusually strong dust storm brought red skies and extremely low visibility to Sydney, Australia this morning. Although dust storms are fairly frequent in the Australian interior, it's very rare for storms of this intensity to reach the coast. At midday, the heavy dust cloud covered half of the state of New South Wales. The visibility restrictions caused widespread disruption in transportation systems and ferry service was suspended. Long delays occurred at Sydney Airport as Qantas flights were diverted to Brisbane and Melbourne. More than 500 fire alarms were reported between 3 and 7 am as dust particles set off detectors.

Coverage from the Sydney Morning Herald:

• Slideshow: Sydney enveloped in red dust
• Sydney turns red: dust storm blankets city
• Health warning as dust blankets Sydney
• Sydney dust blanket spreads across NSW
• Passenger chaos as dust chokes Sydney Airport

Today's forecast for Sydney:
"Strong to gale force west to northwest winds, gradually easing late afternoon or evening. Raised dust clearing, otherwise fine. Cloudy periods."

Image (click to enlarge): Sydney Opera House enveloped in dust, from Sydney Morning Herald

Video: Obama Speaks to UN on Climate

President Obama's speech to the UN climate change summit this morning as broadcast on CNBC (transcript here):



Note to CWG/WaPo: No mention of the word "science".

Federal Appeals Court Rules Global Warming A Public Nuisance

The Warming Law blog reports that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York yesterday issued a ruling that greenhouse gas emissions by 6 power companies are a public nuisance. The companies had been sued in 2004 by 8 states, the City of New York, and several environmental organizations. The suit (State of Connecticut, et al. v. American Electric Power Company Inc., et al.) had previously been dismissed by the District Court on the basis that it was about a political question. The Circuit Court reversed that position and sent the case back for further litigation. Warming Law plans to provide further analysis, but its initial reaction is:

First, this opinion is pretty stunning, coming as it does from two Bush appointees to the Second Circuit, both in terms of the power of its recognition that global warming is a crisis and in its insistence that courts can play a role, through the use of nuisance law, in addressing the crisis. Following on the heels of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mass v. EPA and coming at a time when EPA is moving steadily forward in using its Clean Air Act regulatory authority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is a powerful reminder to politicians in Washington that the train has left the station in terms of efforts to address global warming, and if Congress wants to lead this effort, and make sure we have a comprehensive and market-based solution, it better act soon.

Other reports:

• ABA Journal, 2nd Circuit Reinstates Global Warming Suits Against Power Companies
• NY Times, States Can Sue Utilities Over Emissions
• Reuters, U.S. court reinstates emissions suit vs. utilities
• AP, Pollution lawsuit against power companies revived
• AP (via Forbes.com), Fed appeals court revives pollution lawsuit
• Dow Jones (via The Australian), US appeals court reinstates global warming lawsuits
• WaPo, MIA

Pacific Northwest Extending Heat Records Portland Breaks Annual Record for 90° Days

Image (click to enlarge): 500 mb height at 8 am EDT, Sept. 22

For other record temperature posts, see:
Record Heat
Record Cold

Sept. 23 Update: Additional record reports:
Roseburg OR 101°, broke 1994 record of 100°
Montague CA 95°, tied 1974 record

6 PM PDT Update: Today's unofficial high at Portland was 92°. Other Oregon and Washington highs in the 90s:

Kelso     93°
Scappoose 92°
Vancouver 93°
Astoria   92°
Bremerton 93°
Ft. Lewis 91° 

Preliminary National Weather Service record reports released so far:

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 92 DEGREES WAS SET AT ASTORIA OR TODAY.   
THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 89 SET IN 1989.  

AS OF 3 PM PDT...PORTLAND AIRPORT REACHED 91 DEGREES. THIS SETS A NEW   
RECORD OF 24 DAYS THIS YEAR THAT EXCEEDED 90 DEGREES. THE PREVIOUS   
RECORD OF 23 DAYS WAS SET IN 1987.    

3 PM PDT Update: The Portland temperature of 91° makes this the 24th day of the year at 90°+ and sets a new record. The reading of 92° at Astoria breaks the record of 89° for the date set in 1989 and is the latest 90° temperature ever recorded there. The previous latest was 91° on Sept. 13, 1957. The previous latest 92° temperature was on Sept. 4, 1955.

PM Update: At 2 pm PDT, Portland is reporting a temperature of 88°. Astoria, on the coast, is at 91°, and Kelso, Washington is 90°.

Original post:
A very strong upper-level ridge of high pressure is helping to extend this summer's record heat into the fall in the Pacific Northwest. In anticipation of a much-above-average high in the low 90s in Portland, the National Weather Service has issued a statement reviewing heat statistics for northwest Oregon. A high of 90° or above would break the record annual number of 90° days of 23. The high yesterday was 85°. As of noon PDT, the temperature is 83°, up 14° in 2 hours.

PERIOD OF RECORD: 
PORTLAND...1940-CURRENT 
SALEM......1892-CURRENT 
EUGENE.....1890-CURRENT 

********************************************************* 
AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAYS PER YEAR: 

                        PORTLAND      SALEM       EUGENE 
90 DEGREES OR ABOVE.....    11           15          11  
100 DEGREES OR ABOVE....LESS THAN 1   ABOUT 1    LESS THAN 1 

********************************************************** 
NUMBER OF DAYS SO FAR THIS YEAR (2009): 

                        PORTLAND      SALEM       EUGENE  
90 DEGREES OR ABOVE.....    23           22          20  
100 DEGREES OR ABOVE....    3            3           4 

********************************************************** 
RECORD TOTAL NUMBER OF DAYS IN A YEAR: 

                        PORTLAND      SALEM       EUGENE 
90 DEGREES OR ABOVE.....  23/2009     34/1958      31/1958 
               NOTE....PORTLAND TIES RECORD SET IN 1987.  

100 DEGREES OR ABOVE....   5/1977     7/1988       5/1978 

********************************************************** 
RECORD NUMBER OF CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF HIGH TEMPERATURES  
FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR: 
                        
90 DEGREES OR ABOVE.....RANK  #DAYS   START DATE 
FOR PORTLAND............ 1.   10      7-25-2009   
                        2.    8      8-12-1967  
                        3.    7      8-03-1972 
                        4.    7      9-04-1944 
                        5.    6      7-22-1996 
                         

FOR SALEM............... 1.   10      8-11-1967 
                        2.   10      7-13-1938 
                        3.    9      7-25-2009   
                        4.    9      8-05-1977 
                        5.    9      7-27-1974 
                         
FOR EUGENE.............. 1.   11      7-13-1938 
                        2.   10      7-26-1974 
                        3.   10      8-11-1967 
                        4.    9      8-03-1990 
                        5.    9      7-21-1939 

100 DEGREES OR ABOVE....RANK  #DAYS   START DATE 
FOR PORTLAND............ 1.    5      7-13-1941             
                        2.    4      8-07-1981 
                        3.    3      7-25-2009                 
                        4.    3      7-19-1994               
                        5.    3      8-10-1977                 
                         
FOR SALEM............... 1.    4      7-19-1994  
                        2.    4      8-07-1981  
                        3.    4      8-09-1977  
                        4.    4      7-13-1941  
                        5.    3      7-25-2009    

FOR EUGENE.............. 1.    4      8-07-1981 
                        2.    3      7-25-2009      
                        3.    3      7-22-2006               
                        4.    3      8-10-1977              
                        5.    3      7-22-1928     

In the interior of Washington and Idaho, high temperature records are expected to be threatened on Wednesday, Sept. 23:

HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE PROJECTED TO BE 10 TO 20 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL  
WEDNESDAY. SOME RECORDS FOR THE AREA ARE LISTED BELOW ALONG WITH  
FORECASTED TEMPERATURES. 

                 ...WEDNESDAY 9/23/2009.... 

       STATION        FORECAST    RECORD (YEAR) 
       BONNERS FERRY   90          85    (1987) 
       BOUNDARY DAM    89          83    (1987) 
       CHELAN          89          87    (1987) 
       COEUR D'ALENE   89          93    (1966) 
       COLVILLE        92          94    (2001) 
       CONCONULLY      89          87    (1987) 
       DEER PARK       90          90    (2001) 
       ENTIAT          94          89    (1999) 
       EPHRATA         90          92    (1987) 
       FELTS FIELD     91          91    (2001) 
       LEWISTON        95          97    (2001) 
       MAZAMA          91          89    (1987) 
       OMAK            92          89    (1939) 
       PLAIN           88          88    (1990) 
       PORTHILL        88          86    (1999) 
       POTLATCH        95          93    (1938) 
       PRIEST RAPIDS   91          90    (1999) 
       PULLMAN         92          93    (1987) 
       REPUBLIC        90          92    (1928) 
       SANDPOINT       86          83    (1987) 
       SPOKANE         89          91    (1905) 
       WELLPINIT       92          91    (1987) 
       WENATCHEE WATER 93          90    (1939) 
       WENATCHEE       90          90    (1974) 
       WINTHROP        91          91    (1987)