UK Daily Mail
The Army was called in today to help clear away ice and snow as Britain headed towards its coldest December for 100 years. As temperatures plunged to -15c (5f) David Cameron ordered the military to step in and help the UK’s beleaguered local councils.
The Prime Minister also revealed Cobra-style emergency meetings of senior officials and Ministers had been held to discuss the Government’s response to the big freeze. Edinburgh City Council was the first local authority to ask for help. Officials have held talks with the Ministry of Defence and the Scottish government to allow soldiers to remove built up snow and ice from roads and pavements.
Beautiful cold: The sun sets over the village of Salsburgh in North Lanarkshire yesterday.
David Cameron today ordered the army to help clear away the snow as Britain headed towards its coldest December for 100 years
Frozen solid: The River Ouse in the centre of York was iced over for the first time in 50 years yesterday
The Scottish capital has seen the worst snowfall since 1963, leaving some of its most vulnerable residents unable to leave their homes. Up to 30ins of snow has fallen in parts of the city. Under the plans, soldiers will be helping residents from the hardest hit areas of Edinburgh, as well as those who need to get access to medical help.
They will also help to clear special locations such as doctors’ surgeries, care homes and hospitals. The mobilisation of the Army coincides with reports of fuel running out at petrol stations in Scotland and East Anglia. In Scotland a third of the country’s 900 forecourts were closed due to supply chain problems.
After a further 4in of snow fell yesterday the Met Office warned that - despite a brief respite this weekend - temperatures would stay ‘remarkably’ low for another fortnight. If that happens, this month could replace 1981 as the coldest December since records began in 1910. To do so, the average mean temperature for the month will have to be lower than 0.2c. The coldest place in England overnight was Topcliffe in North Yorkshire, which saw a low of -12.8C.
As forecasters warned of more snow, sub-zero temperatures and ice for the Christmas period:
* The Prime Minister urged homeowners to embrace the ‘we’re all in it together’ strategy of the Conservatives Big Society by being good neighbours
* More than 100 motorists were rescued after being trapped as heavy snow fell on the A171 near Whitby, in North Yorkshire
* The AA said it had responded to more than 230,000 incidents in just 14 days.
Some parts of the country have not seen a positive temperature reading for nearly two weeks. Met Office forecaster John Hammond said: “December has got off to a remarkable start. It’s possible it could be the coldest on record. We will have to wait and see but it’s going to stay cold for much of the rest of the month with widespread risk of ice, frost and snow showers.”
He said that the country would enjoy warmer temperatures - as high as 7c (45f) or 8c (46f) - over the weekend before the freeze returns.
“There is scope for more snow showers to come in, particularly next week,” he added. “Widespread ice and frost will return, particularly from the middle of the week onwards.”
Last winter, more than 25,000 people died in England and Wales as a result of the cold temperatures. Most of them were aged over 75. Nigel Stafford, from the British Red Cross, said: “We all need to look out for each other during the severe weather and make sure those less able than ourselves are not forgotten.”
No let-up: A man braves a path in Penicuick, Midlothian
See much more on the amazing UK winter here. Also UK Farmers warned as [50] buildings collapse under snow (Farmers Guardian, UK, December 6, 2010)
Roof at [UK] Tesco superstore collapses under the weight of snow (Daily Mail, UK, December 4, 2010)
Recall thanks to GWPF “The Met Office, using data generated by a 33 million pound supercomputer, claims Britain can stop worrying about a big freeze this year because we could be in for a milder winter than in past years. --Daily Express, 28 October 2010
See also the following warning:
HOUSEHOLD energy bills could double to 2,500 pounds a year in an “unstoppable” rise driven by the 200 billion pound fight against climate change, a market expert warned yesterday. Mark Todd, of energyhelpline.com, said rocketing prices will send costs for hard-pressed families and the elderly into the “stratosphere”. He said consumers will have to pick up the tab for new windfarms, nuclear power plants and the networks needed to support them.
And in France, Paris Shuts Eiffel Tower, Suspends Flights as Snow Halts French Transport. Paris had its heaviest snowstorm since 1987.
By Martin Vaughan
WASHINGTON - Billions in federal subsidies for manufacturers of solar panels and wind- and solar-power facilities will end Jan. 1, 2011, unless lawmakers who negotiated a deal to extend tax cuts back down from their positions.
The clean-energy incentives were created by 2009 economic stimulus legislation. Republicans are taking a firm stand that they aren’t part of a deal reached with the White House, and shouldn’t be a part of broader legislation to extend tax cuts for individuals and businesses, according to GOP aides.
Democrats have sought to extend the programs, most recently in legislation from Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.) that failed in the Senate last week.
Republican leaders Tuesday said the deal they reached with the White House is final, and only some specifics of the provisions that were part of the deal need to be ironed out.
Congressional staff of both parties began that process Tuesday, meeting behind closed doors for several hours with White House officials to began putting legislation together.
Ultimately some decisions about what to include will be subject to negotiations by GOP and Democratic lawmakers. One open question is an extension of Build America Bonds for state and local infrastructure projects. Democratic staff in Tuesday’s meeting pressed for those bonds to be extended as part of the tax package, participants said.
On the energy-tax breaks, solar- and wind-power facilities for the past two years have been able to get federal grants equal to 30% of the cost of installing new facilities. Tax credits have long been available for those costs, but the stimulus act removed the need for new solar and wind operators to tap the tax credit market for financing.
The American Wind Energy Association warned in a Tuesday press release that a refusal to extend the grant program could jeopardize 15,000 jobs in the sector. “We are risking those jobs by not sending a clear signal that America remains open for business in wind energy,” said CEO Denise Bode.
A one-year extension of the program sought by Mr. Baucus would have provided $3 billion in federal grants in 2011, according to congressional tax estimators.
A 30% tax credit for builders of plants that manufacture solar panels or other clean-energy components also appears set to be phased out, according to Republican aides. That provision, also created as part of the stimulus law, could have provided $2.5 billion in tax credits under the Baucus proposal.
See WJS post here. H/T GWPF
By Chris Horner
From the “Kyoto II” talks in Cancun, National Journal reports a surprising story, if one almost predictable, as well, given President Barack Obama’s current unraveling and fast-fading loyalty to campaign promises. Specifically, in “U.S. Tells the World It Will Pass Climate Bill,” we read that the Obama administration is seeking to forge an international “global warming” commitment on the premise that the administration will then coerce Congress into passing domestic legislation consistent with treaty promises made to China, Europe, et al.
Along the way, or so the argument goes, the Senate will ratify an agreement to ration Americans’ access to energy sources that work. In conclusion, these parties should take Team Obama at their word and agree to Kyoto II while there’s still an administration in town foolish enough to consider the prospect. Let the administration worry about the public and Congress (and, as necessary, minor constitutional impediments).
The desperation is palpable. Of course, as NJ’s Coral Davenport points out:
It’s a promise that the rest of the world has seen the United States make - and break - time and again. At the 1997 Kyoto summit, then-Vice President Al Gore made the same pledge - even as the Senate passed a resolution refusing to ratify the Kyoto treaty. At last year’s summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, President Obama declared that the United States would lead the way in forging a treaty to replace Kyoto, starting with action at home.
What I really don’t get is the conclusion that follows this recitation, “All sides agree this has put the United States in an extremely difficult position in these talks.”
No, it doesn’t. In fact, it ought to just be ignored. This would be made clear if at least one other side was represented in this chat. The side that says: Stick to the Constitution, and its prescribed order of affairs. It’s not complicated. Even if this approach reported by National Journal shows the administration inescapably and intentionally has it backward.
Things only get murky when you try and advance that for which there is no Article II “advice” to support it, or hope for gaining “consent.” Problems start when an administration seeks instead to engineer a circumstance pressuring the Senate to do what it is predisposed against doing - rather firmly, as has been the case for coming on 20 years. In fact we’ve seen this movie before. More on that momentarily.
It does seem almost pointless to concern ourselves with the absurdity that these other negotiators might give credence to the same thing they’ve been told, and had disproved, time and again. But an intervention does appear to be warranted - at least to remind them that there is one delegation with a responsibility to keep the U.S.’s constitution and interests in mind. And to remind the administration of its own promises.
Regarding the latter, for example, what happened to the rhetoric from throughout 2008 and 2009, with chief campaign adviser on energy Jason Grumet leading the charge, assuring the world that Team Obama learned from the Clinton administration’s mistake of agreeing to Kyoto first, despite there being quite obviously, then as now, no appetite among lawmakers for consummating the agreement?
Read more here.