Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts. Founded by Mark Kleiman (1951-2019)
I frequently hear the claim that “doctors have just stopped prescribing opioids”. The truth is that U.S. doctors prescribe fewer opioids than they did 5 years ago, but the U.S. still dwarfs the world in its per capita prescribing even among the heaviest prescribing nations. For details, see my latest piece at The Washington Monthly.
Washington teens used less marijuana following legalization. Counterfeit cannabis products stoke black market for California weed.
Posh pot boutiques? Budtenders? Illinois police worry what’s down the road. Your weed dealer will be ok even after Illinois marijuana becomes legal. Lake in the Hills, Illinois village board weighs options for marijuana legalization. Niles, Illinois proposes plan to allow marijuana sales but restrict locations. Illinois suburban school administrators bracing for legal marijuana’s impacts. Naperville, Illinois residents rally against sale of recreational marijuana Tennessee, whose governor opposes legalizing marijuana, pulls out of Illinois weed business.
Marijuana faces second phase of legalization in small-town Michigan. FBI warns of public corruption threat in Michigan legal marijuana industry. Weedmaps may stop advertising illicit marijuana businesses in Michigan.
Governor Walz wants Minnesota to be ready to roll on legal marijuana. Florida overwhelmingly supports legalizing recreational marijuana. Don’t count on tax revenues from Pennsylvania legal marijuana sales, study says. Locals say balderdash.
Pro-legalization primary challenger slams Rep. Steny Hoyer’s marijuana opposition. Pot industry underestimates old-school dealers. Trump reiterates his administration will let states legalize marijuana. White House drug officials say legal marijuana is up to states. Nine questions about marijuana legalization you were too embarrassed to ask. Do we really want a Microsoft of marijuana?
Mexico cannabis users eagerly await legal marijuana. Canadians continues to buy cannabis illegally.
A big US utility subsidises school buses as grid batteries.
As a rule I don’t post much on renewable technology. The news is of a steady flow of small, unremarkable, incremental improvements that keep making wind and solar energy ever cheaper. It’s the prices that do it. But every so often, something bigger happens. I think it has here:
Dominion Energy Virginia has published a bullish plan to convert 50 school buses in its territory to electric buses by 2020. That’s just the start, as the company plans to add 200 more per year to hit its target of 1,050 fully electric school buses by 2025.
The company has a request for proposals in the works for electric vehicle manufacturers with plans to open the application to school districts in its Virginia territory this Friday, September 5th, 2019. […]
Dominion is excited to use the buses as vehicle to grid (V2G) batteries, and what’s even better is that the company has stepped up to pay the difference in price between traditional diesel buses and the fully electric buses in order to gain access to this new V2G resource.
V2G – vehicle-to-grid – is the idea of using electric vehicle batteries as storage for the grid. If it works, the potential is vast.
In 2018, there were 5.1 million electric cars on the roads worldwide, and 460,000 buses. (IEA Global EV Outlook 2019 ) Taking 30 kwh as a representative battery capacity for cars (Nissan Leaf) and 320 kwh for a representative electric bus (BYD K9), we have a total EV battery capacity of ~300 Gwh. The global light vehicle stock is about 1 billion, so EVs only represent 0.5% of it. But the growth rate is staggering – over 50% per year. The IEA suggests a global EV stock of 130 million in 2030 in its New Policies scenario (reflecting current policy ambitions), not much more than 10% of the stock allowing for market growth. We would then have a global vehicle battery capacity of ~7,800 Gwh, with plenty of upside.
Suppose we can tap a mere 10% of this for V2G. That’s ~780 Gwh. The Bath County pumped storage dam in Virginia, still the world’s largest (though not for long) has a storage capacity of 24 Gwh. V2G at scale would make a serious dent in the firming problem for very large-scale wind and solar. And it’s a very cheap solution compared to pumped storage or grid batteries: the owners of the vehicles will have bought the batteries anyway, and would not need to be paid much to lend them to the grid with appropriate guarantees and at minimal inconvenience.
A schematic illustration how this would work using Dominion’s school buses (my timetable guesses, not their estimates). On a working day:
That’s for the 200 school days a year. For the other 165 days, the buses just sit in the garage, working exactly as grid batteries.
The scheme depends on the fact that any bus operator will buy a number of identical buses, but these will follow a mixture of longer and shorter routes. On the shorter ones, the buses don’t exhaust the charge. Given that Dominion is subsidising the purchases, they will be able to insist on as much over-capacity as they want.
There are several takeaways from this news. Continue reading “Dominion backs V2G”
Hound of the Baskervilles has a special place in The Sherlock Holmes canon. Arthur Conan Doyle’s story is substantially longer than the typical Holmes outing, allowing him to weave two distinct mystery tales together. It’s also remarkable for putting Watson at center stage for a significant part of the book, allowing the sidekick a turn as the protagonist. And last but not least, it has been adapted as a movie more than any other Holmes tale, beginning with a silent version made in Germany in 1914. This week I recommend one of the better adaptations, and the first to be shot in color, namely the 1959 Hammer Films version.
The plot of the book concerns Holmes’ investigation of the ancient, wealthy, Baskerville family, and the curse of a demonic hound which has allegedly brought ruin upon them for generations. Holmes and Watson must solve the mystery about how the latest Baskerville has died, protect the new heir (Sir Henry Baskerville), and also cope with a mentally ill mass murderer named Selden who has broken out of prison and roams the moors near Baskerville Hall. I won’t ruin it for you in case you haven’t read it, but it’s a compelling mystery with more suspense and horror elements than most of Doyle’s shorter Holmes stories.
The 1959 version, playing to the studio’s strengths, puts the accent on the horror elements of the novel. Who better than Hammer to give us fog-shrouded moors and ruined abbeys in the English countryside? Hammer also wisely cast their most reliable stars, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, in the major roles of Sherlock Holmes and Sir Henry Baskerville, respectively. Cushing’s interpretation of Holmes is true to the book, rendering the detective as eccentric, brilliant, and not particularly warm. Lee’s performance as well as Peter Bryan’s strong script make Sir Henry a more substantial and engaging character than he is in the book. As mentioned, this particular story also needs a strong Doctor Watson, and André Morell is well up to the task. Terence Fisher, an old hand at Hammer, directs as deftly as ever.
Being a Hammer film, the 1959 version also throws in some décolletage and sex in the person of Maria Landi. Bryan’s script also changes her character’s role from what it was in the book, which may be objectionable to Holmes purists. But I found it a refreshing take, and one that gives the film a more jaundiced take on the aristocracy than did the book and other film adaptations of it.
You can watch this worthy adaptation of a beloved novel for free and legally on Dailymotion.
Some other adaptations I would recommend:
The handsomely produced 1939 version with Basil Rathbone as the great detective; the Livanov/Solomin adaptation from the utterly brilliant Soviet cycle of Holmes’ films; the little known Sy Weintraub production starring Ian Richardson; and the justly respected Granada Television version starring Jeremy Brett.
And a few to avoid: The disappointing 2002 version with Richard Roxburgh as Holmes; the yet worse Stewart Granger/William Shatner 1972 television version; and the execrable 2000 version starring the guy who played Max Headroom.
Warren half-way supports my pumped storage plan.
Some random blogger, last month, arguing for a large US investment in pumped hydro storage:
Picking with a pin, a 100 GW initial programme looks reasonable. […] it will cost a ballpark $60 bn. […] Where should the dams go? As a climate justice measure, it has to be Appalachia, since that is where most of the unemployed miners are and will be.
Candidate Elizabeth Warren, adopting Inslee’s climate plan with bells and whistles, earlier today:
We’ll provide dedicated support for the four Power Marketing Administrations, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Appalachian Regional Commission to help them build publicly-owned clean energy assets and deploy clean power to help communities transition off fossil fuels. And we’ll expand investments in smart energy storage solutions and cybersecurity for the grid.
Pretty close. The only thing the Appalachian Regional Commission can usefully spend money on is pumped storage, so Warren’s plan would buy some. However, her plan lacks specificity, numbers, and immediacy. “If you build a Bath County dam here, it will create 1,000 jobs for five years”. She achieves this elsewhere:
I’ll also invest in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, including ensuring that every federal interstate highway rest stop hosts a fast-charging station by the end of my first term in office.
See the difference?
China is currently building 30 GW of pumped hydro, on top of the existing stock of 19 GW, a shade under the USA’s 24 GW. The programme includes one 3.6 GW megaproject at Fengning which will knock Bath County from its three-decade reign as the world’s largest. Another 6 GW has just been added to the pipeline, taking the future total to 55 GW. The USA is being left in the dust and should aim at a bare minimum to match this.
The ambitious rollout is steered by China State Grid, the huge national high-voltage transmission monopoly. Warren’s plan leaves out a national grid too, merely rebranding FERC, weak tea by her high standards. But it may be good politics. Steering new funding to existing public bodies can be got through Congress by reconciliation. A national grid and electricity market would need primary legislation, a very scarce resource in the Warren (or Sanders or Biden) Presidency.
FWIW, if I were an American Democrat and primary elector, I would focus less on the details of the rival climate plans, and more on the ability of the candidates to get anything done. The plans will converge, as there are few serious ideological divides among Democrats equivalent to those on universal health care. The nearest is on nuclear power. Sanders rules it out; Biden will spend on research; Warren ducks. Fair enough, as the practical question is merely how much money to throw away on new reactor designs that will never be built commercially at any scale. Nuclear is a side-issue, not worth wasting political capital on. It’s more important who the new President would appoint as Secretary for Energy.
Footnote
For aficionados, there’s an interesting machinery-of-government angle. One part of the DoE’s job is minding the nuclear weapons stockpile and nuclear waste. These are thousand-year headaches, with no tolerance for mistakes, and highly technical, though they only create major policy issues irregularly. That is why Obama appointed top-flight nuclear physicists as Secretaries. This inevitably creates a pro-nuclear bias in the other side of the job, energy policy. Warren (&c) might consider hiving off the nuclear stewardship job to a distinct non-Cabinet agency with considerable professional autonomy, like the Fed, and a real scientist in the Chu or Moniz mould as head. The Cabinet-level energy and climate czar would have plenty of other things to do, leading a multi-trillion-dollar GND.
California legal marijuana will outsell the black market in 5 years, forecast says. Seven years after legalization, Colorado battles an illegal marijuana market. Police raid illegal weed dispensary in Los Angeles. The Museum of Weed in Los Angeles is a marketing hit.
How an overlooked facet of the Illinois weed law could trip up two of the industry’s biggest players. Illinois hazy new law legalizing recreational use of marijuana. Marijuana tax revenues may not be the long-term answer to Michigan budget woes. Legalization measure advances one step in South Dakota.
DC mayor reiterates calls for recreational marijuana legalization. DC is ready to make legal marijuana a boon for big business: what about for racial justice? Did Ohio Governor Mike DeWine just legalize marijuana? Not quite.
Pennsylvania anti-recreational marijuana crowd of “more than 80” gathers against Senate proposal. Maryland lawmakers have a lot to learn on legalizing marijuana.
Here are the details on the Arizona recreational cannabis ballot measure for 2020. Opinion: data back up opposition to New Mexico legal marijuana. New Mexico legalizing marijuana job numbers may be “decent”. ABA support for legalizing marijuana may impact Texas. Petition to make recreational marijuana use legal in Florida filed. Florida lawyer who claimed pot was legal must pay arrested clients $370,000.
New Jersey marijuana legalization: Senate President on legal weed vote, ballot question. How much will New Jersey really make from taxing legal weed? New York and Connecticut governors talk marijuana legalization on fishing trip. Fate of legalized pot in Connecticut remains hazy.
High on pot taxes: Is there a revenue jackpot for states that legalize marijuana?
Elizabeth Warren’s plan for indigenous nations includes marijuana legalization. Bernie Sanders calls for legalizing marijuana and curtailing asset forfeiture in wide-ranging criminal justice plan. Congressman says marijuana could be legal sooner if Trump stops tweeting. Conservative group ALEC floats marijuana banking and CBD bills for states to consider.
What is the MORE Act, and how could it change marijuana policy forever?
How will cannabis legalization affect health, safety, and social equity outcomes? It largely depends on the 14 Ps. Recent progression in the legalization of marijuana has left employers dazed and confused. Here’s how many investors use pot as marijuana legalization gets broad support.
SAM leader questions most recent research on weed and opioid mortality. Federal data show youth marijuana use isn’t increasing under legalization. The FBI is probing the pot industry, but not for the reason you might expect. Weedmaps says it will ban advertisements from unlicensed cannabis sellers. Legal sellers applaud.
France’s cannabis legalization debate misses one crucial point.
Every August 27, I celebrate a birthday. Yes, August 27 is my birthday. But the birthday I always celebrate is that of Lyndon Johnson.
For progressives, particularly of my generation, LBJ evokes sharp and conflicting emotions. After all, most of us cut our political teeth opposing the war in Vietnam. Johnson ginned up support for the war effort by lying to the American public, both about the immediate causes (e.g., the Gulf of Tonkin “attack”) and the overarching political stakes (e.g., the alleged falling dominoes). As a consequence, Americans were pitted one against the other to a degree not seen, perhaps, since the Civil War.
But unlike other flawed presidents (Trump comes all too readily to mind), LBJ attempted to bring out the best in America. In that sense, he was clearly a legitimate political heir of Franklin Roosevelt. He changed America for the better by pushing through Medicare, serious gun control, the Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act. While he didn’t spearhead its passage, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, that removed national quotas, was enacted. He signed the Public Broadcasting Act and set up the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities. Today, all Americans are the beneficiaries of his legacy.
I doubt whether anyone who is under the age of, say, 55 can fully appreciate the extent or the intensity of the differences among Americans that the Vietnam War precipitated. The divisions among Americans today are really not as charged. After all, in LBJ’s day, support for his foreign policy world view was widely shared across the political spectrum, albeit perhaps, not evenly. That is clearly not the case currently. Now, support for the wide ranging demagoguery of Donald Trump is limited to a fairly narrow ethnic and economic segment of American society.
Trump intentionally attempts to divide Americans along racial, ethnic, and religious lines. While racial politics and frictions were clearly in play when LBJ was president, he did not attempt to exploit those fault lines. For instance, the urban riots from 1965-1968 tested the mettle of LBJ’s character. It would have been easy for him to fall prey to, say, the racism which at that point began to infect the Republican Party. We should not forget that it was then that the GOP began the program of racist division called the Southern Strategy. Today, fifty years later, we now see the full poisonous flower of that program. But that was not LBJ’s path.
No, LBJ kept his balance. Today, in the diversity that is America, we reap the benefits of what we can only call his wisdom. So on this day, let us invert Mark Anthony and remember that sometimes it is the good that men do that lives after them and that, with the passage of time, we should inter the evil with their bones.
Happy Birthday Lyndon.
I had not planned to post this evening. And, this post deals with a topic that is clearly outside of my area of practice. However, Trump’s claim that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, 50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq., gives him the authority to order U.S. companies to cease doing business in China is so plainly specious that even a first-year law student could debunk it. But, since this is Saturday night and no first-year law students are readily available, I figured that I had to step in.
Section 1701 provides as follows:
Section 1701. Unusual and extraordinary threat; declaration of national emergency; exercise of Presidential authorities
(a) Any authority granted to the President by section 1702 of this title may be exercised to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States, if the President declares a national emergency with respect to such threat.
(b) The authorities granted to the President by section 1702 of this title may only be exercised to deal with an unusual and extraordinary threat with respect to which a national emergency has been declared for purposes of this chapter and may not be exercised for any other purpose. Any exercise of such authorities to deal with any new threat shall be based on a new declaration of national emergency which must be with respect to such threat.
Subsection (b) makes it clear that the alleged threat must be based upon a “new declaration of national emergency which must be with respect to such threat.” Presumably, Trump’s Tweet of yesterday does not constitute a “declaration of national emergency.” This conclusion is fortified by 50 U.S.C. § 1703 which requires:
50 U.S.C. § 1703(c) requires periodic follow-up reports every six months.
Needless to say, Trump did not consult with Congress prior to the Tweet. Further, he has not even made a pretense that he could outline the matters required to be set forth in the report that subsection (b) requires to be submitted to Congress.
There’s more, however. Subsection (d) of Section 1703 provides that the requirements of Section 1703 “are supplemental to those contained in title IV of the National Emergencies Act.” 50 U.S.C. § 1622 provides methods for terminating a declared national emergency, including “a joint resolution terminating the emergency.” 50 U.S.C. § 1622(a)(1). And, subsection (b) of Section 1622 provides that:
Not later than six months after a national emergency is declared, and not later than the end of each six-month period thereafter that such emergency continues, each House of Congress shall meet to consider a vote on a joint resolution to determine whether that emergency shall be terminated.
Subsection (c) sets forth the procedures to be followed with respect to a joint Congressional resolution. Subsection (c)(3) provides that:
Such a joint resolution passed by one House shall be referred to the appropriate committee of the other House and shall be reported out by such committee together with its recommendations within fifteen calendar days after the day on which such resolution is referred to such committee and shall thereupon become the pending business of such House and shall be voted upon within three calendar days after the day on which such resolution is reported, unless such House shall otherwise determine by yeas and nays.
Let me translate all of this into plain English: Trump has to formally declare a national emergency. If he does, he has to report it to both houses of Congress. Either house can pass a resolution to terminate the national emergency. Let’s assume that the House of Representatives passes such a resolution. That resolution has to be taken up by the Senate within eighteen calendar days after it is transmitted by the House of Representatives unless the entire Senate, by a majority vote, elects to delay consideration of the resolution. In other words, Mitch McConnell cannot unilaterally block Senate consideration of the resolution.
In the first six months of 2019, the U.S. exported $52 Billion in goods to China and imported a little over $219 Billion. See here. China is the largest trading partner of the U.S. Even Trump is not stupid and/or crazy enough to destroy that relationship. And, even if I’m wrong and he is that stupid and/or crazy, there are at least 51 Senators who would stop him.
Cute children for the climate
A PR photo taken at the opening on Thursday of an offshore wind farm in Denmark:
Caption supplied:
At the Horns Rev 3 opening, left to right: CEO of Vattenfall Magnus Hall, Chairman of Vattenfall Lars G. Nordström, HRH Crown Prince of Denmark, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jørgensen, and pupils from Hvide Sande School
Credit: Vattenfall, via Recharge
What are the smiling kids doing there? Their contribution to building the wind farm is nil. They were roped in to show that the powerful adults in the back row are Concerned about future generations. Should I blame Greta Grunberg, or John Kerry, who took his scene-stealing granddaughter along to sign the Paris Agreement in New York?
Picky, picky, you say. If it helps and does no harm to the kids, fine. But let’s not mistake charming photo ops for action. To be fair, in this case they had some action to celebrate. The wind farm is for now the largest in Scandinavia, with a nameplate capacity of 407 MW.
There is much more cuteness to come along these lines.
PS: On reflection, there is a clear distinction between the Kerry photo and the Danish one. Kerry’s granddaughter is interacting with him, not the assembled grandees. She is fascinated by Grandpa’s behaviour; he is doing something unusual she does not understand, but it’s clearly very important to him, so she wants to be part of it. In the Danish photo, there is no interaction, the adults are not looking at the kids or talking to them. They are just exploited extras on the stage. Maybe the suits talked to the kids at another time, but it’s not what the photo says.
Recreational marijuana legalization reduces opioid deaths by 20%…at least. Mexico government is taking public input on how best to legalize marijuana. Bernie Sanders says he would legalize marijuana by executive order. Outside Lands becomes first major music festival to allow marijuana sales.
Marijuana legalization is coming to Arizona. Initiative filed with Arizona Secretary of State for marijuana legalization on 2020 ballot. Arizona marijuana measure faces opposition from business community, politicians. New Mexico governor’s marijuana legalization working group schedules first hearing. Legalizing Florida marijuana is long overdue.
First legal marijuana shop opens off Massachusetts mainland. Massachusetts municipalities seek clarifications on recreational marijuana legalization. Cash is king for New Hampshire marijuana industry as banks remain cautious. The best responses from the Pennsylvania lieutenant governor’s weed survey.
A beginner’s guide to legal marijuana in Michigan. Three Michigan communities say no to marijuana businesses. Task force eyes flaws in Michigan‘s new recreational marijuana law. Michigan Atty General eyes tweaks to recreational marijuana law. Illinois community colleges eye programs to train students for marijuana industry. Will Illinois pot sales fuel prevention funding? Advocates fear not. Pot prohibition in Illinois will persist, even after it’s legal. Illinois marijuana growers spent about $600,000 on political giving leading to the pot legalization vote: here’s where the money went.
Colorado governor says deliveries would deter stoned driving. Legal marijuana sold in Colorado is increasingly for recreational use. Oregon law limits sales of marijuana byproducts. Legal marijuana has created a thriving black market in Riverside County, California. Marijuana legalization and the California workplace. It’s Minnesota‘s turn to legalize marijuana use. Wisconsin falling behind on legal marijuana laws. Did Ohio lawmakers accidentally legalize marijuana? Top law enforcers say yes.
Legal weed bill for New Jersey may be revived later this year.
Advocates want legalized cannabis boom to help communities hurt when marijuana was illegal. Protect vulnerable groups from exposure to Big Marijuana. Credit unions won’t be punished for working with weed businesses, federal regulator says.
Push to legalize pot cements partisan divisions in 2020 race. This is the most marijuana-friendly Congress in history. Key Congressional chairman sends marijuana email to NORML activists. Why the issue of marijuana legalization isn’t about getting high. Marijuana and agribusiness.
Teen pot use tricky to predict as legalization approaches. Big Alcohol is pouring billions into the drinkable marijuana market. After marijuana legalization, the wait for retail sales is the national norm. Capitalization requirements for marijuana businesses are unjust and counterproductive. A US-based cannabis company could be active in as little as 6 months, says pot investor. Infusing marijuana with data: Cannabis industry vets aim to clear the haze in a booming industry. Four takeaways from National Drug Use and Health Survey on marijuana.
Legalising cannabis in the UK would fuel violent crime and turn a new generation into hard drug addicts, warn skeptics. UK gives verdict on Canada cannabis industry.