The Hutchinson news reported March 11 that Reno County is nearing conclusion of plans to build a gas pipeline from the local landfill to Morton Salt's Huchinson evap plant.

County Counselor Joe O'Sullivan said discussions with Morton Salt, South Hutchinson, for a future methane gas pipeline project are progressing, and a proposed agreement will be ready this spring. The county plans to sell methane gas generated at the county landfill to the company.

Current plans to greatly expand research into new energy sources include a variety of alternative hydrocarbon replacements. Some of these are very unique and a recent issue of The Scientist describes the potential for using lipid-forming algae as a future source of fuel. Featuring the Cargill solar evaporation salt ponds in the southern horn of San Francisco Bay, the article stresses that ponds such as these hold great promise for the future, because the microalgae they can grow may be used to produce a significant supply of energy.

The concept is not new, having been around for at least 30 years or more. In fact, while I was at FAO in Rome, I was fortunate enough to carry out a microalgae project in Lake Chad on the south-western edge of the Sahara Desert in the late 80s. Lake Chad, which is shared by Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger has shrunk in size from 30,000 km2 to 3,000 km2 in the last 40 years as a combined result of a prolonged drought and the uncontrolled irrigation it initiated. Lake Chad also happens to be home to a great many species of algae and cyanobacteria , both of which have been long used as a source of food protein bt local tribes. In looking at the potential use of algae as an alternative source of hydrocarbons, the indigenous algae we examined were a particular genus, Botryococcus , which contains over 90% of their weight as intracellular oil globules. Processing was not particularly difficult as all that had to be done was to break the cells and centrifuge off the oil.

In those days, however, the price of oil was highly volatile and beginning to drop. As a result, the incentive for further commercialization of this resource was largely reduced. Indeed, that has been the history of alternative energy research. From the time of the first major oil crisis in the early 70s until now, the amount of research into all forms of alternative energy was controlled by OPEC.

You would think that with our expanding knowledge of global warming; our statistics on the explosion of fossil-fuel based CO2 production and our understanding of the ocean's limited capacity to sequester CO2, that worldwide research into alternative sources of energy would have steadily increased over the years, but it hasn't. Regardless of all those issues that really should have driven the research into alternative energy sources, the only thing that controlled the amount of research carried out was - you guessed it - the price of oil. And OPEC will continue to use the price of oil as a disincentive for future alternative energy research.

However, it appears that the last round of pricing spikes in the cost of oil may have been the proverbial straw to break the camel's back. There is no doubt that OPEC will proceed to produce considerably more oil to drive down the price. Let's hope, this time around, we have the discipline and policy incentives to finally bring alternative energy sources, including nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal, wave and biofuels such as biohydrogen and algal hydrocarbons to a point where commercialization will take place.

Why is it that salt and water - the two elements so critical to all animal life on our planet - should regularly be the subjects of such divergent views and opinions - all supposedly based on legitimate science? The problem is that the goal of scientific observation is to develop a prediction or scientific theory. The leap from observation to hypotheses does not preclude the influence of a scientist's personal bias. We have seen this result in a distorted series of public policies in the case of salt. A similar string of contradictions exist regarding a perception of freshwater sources.

The Freshwater Biological Association, based in Dorset, UK, is sponsoring a meeting entitled, "Multiple Stressors in Freshwater Ecosystems ". The agenda of this meeting is designed is to launch an international call for action and influence to safeguard the future of global fresh waters. The meeting was opened by Professor John Beddington, Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government, who stated. "It is not all doom and gloom however, I believe science and technology can play a key role in responding to these challenges ."

One week earlier, in the August 23rd edition of New Scientist, Dr. Jonathan Chenoweth, of the Center for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, wrote an article entitled, "Water, water everywhere," in which he stated that his research indicated that the issue of shrinking world supplies of fresh water may not be as dire as many scientists are suggesting. He went on to state that he believed the supposed looming water crisis is primarily a problem of distribution and management rather than supply. Through the use of increased investment, existing technologies and political will, this problem can be readily solved.

In one case, a meeting is essentially focused on what is characterized as a dire problem - the stressors impacting our freshwater ecosystems - while in the other case, a well-known and respected scientist slowly and methodically analyzes the current situation and makes suggestions for practical, realizable solutions that would greatly expand everyone's access to sufficient supplies of fresh water.

It will be interesting to see which attitude will prevail in the public's perception of freshwater.

Lest we forget the largest wetlands restoration project in the U.S. is underway at Cargill Salt's former saltworks on the south end of San Francisco Bay. This blog post reminds us that the project is "Enormous by any standards, ... the largest of its kind in the country and it could be decades before the ebb and flow of the tide can work its magic and restore this massive chunk of San Francisco Bay without hurting the birds and beasts that have grown used to their current habitat."

You've probably read press accounts of the attack on environmentalists levied by Czech president Vaclav Klaus at his National Press Club news conference yesterday. Klaus, a renowned economist who has erected a thriving market economy on the ashes of his country's bankrupt communist system, was in town promoting his new book: Blue Planet in Green Shackles -- What is endangered: Climate or Freedom? He also renewed his challenge to former US VP Al Gore to a debate on the issues. He told the crowd:

"The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity at the beginning of the 21st century is no longer socialism. It is, instead, the ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism. Like their [communist] predecessors, they will be certain that they have the right to sacrifice man and his freedom to make their idea reality. In the past, it was in the name of the Marxists or of the proletariat -- this time, in the name of the planet."

Whatever your views on the arrogance or scientific credibilty of the environmental movement, it was Klaus' comments in response to media questions afterwards that caught my eye. Asked why global warming is presented to the public as the overwhelming, consensus position of scientists, Klaus responded, according to John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, explalining that

the careers and funding sources of many scientists now are dependent on 'climate alarmism' and climate alarmists have become an interest group with the power to intimidate into silence skeptical colleagues and public figures. The climate issue, he added, 'is in the hands of climatologists and other related scientists who are highly motivated to look in one direction only.'

Klaus could have been talking about the salt and health issue where anti-salt proponents have tried to convince the public that critics of their views, despite their professional prominence and unassailable credentials, should be ignored and that they, the anti-salt crowd, Not only are major voices in this group funded heavily by the government agency, but careers are enhanced by toeing the government's anti-salt line.

Perhaps Klaus should review The (Political) Science of Salt by Gary Taubes. It would be wonderful to have this courageous national leader tell truth to those in authority on salt and health.

For all those who fear the impact of salt on growing crops here is interesting news. Researchers report that growing cherry tomatoes in salty water can make them tastier and richer in antioxidants. Seawater irrigation puts an environmental stress on the the tomato plants that causes them to produce more vitamin C, vitamin E, and dihydrolipoic and chlorogenic acids.in an attempt to cope with the stressful conditions.

It also improves the flavor of the tomatoes.

Riccardo Izzo, a professor of agriculture at the University of Pisaone describes the findings .

Significant impacts on U.S. transportation planning are forecast in a new report about to be released by the Transportation Research Board, an arm of the National Academies of Science. TRB Special Report 290: Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation concedes that "Little consensus exists among transportation professionals that climate change is occurring or warrants action now." But the report identifies "plausible future scenarios" which represent "significant challenges for transportation professionals." The committee "finds compelling scientific evidence that climate change is occurring, and that it will trigger new, extreme weather events."Special Report 290 identifies "five climate changes of particular importance to transportation and estimatedsthe probability of their occurrence during the twenty-first century." Included, as #4, is "Increases in intense precipitation events. It is highly likely (greater than 90 percent probability of occurrence) that intense precipitation events will continue to become more frequent in widespread areas of the United States." Louisiana being America's largest salt-producing state, the salt industry will be particularly interested in the report's prediction of increased coastal flooding, particularly of the Gulf coast and drier conditions in the upper Midwest "resulting in lower water levels and reduced capactiy to ship agricultural and other bulk commodities." Among the adaptive operational responses, the first example identified is "Snow and ice control accounts for about 40 percent of annual highway operating budgets in the northern U.S. states" and "operational responses are likely to become more routine and proactive than today's approach of treating severe weather on an ad hoc emergency basis." Roadway designers are encouraged to recognize the likelihood of more freeze-thaw cycles. In this, of course, snowfighting professionals are already well advanced in their "adaptation." The committee speculates that there will be "benefits for safety and reduced interruptions if frozen precipitation shifts to rainfall."

Canadian discussions and studies are more advanced than in the U.S. and also predict impacts on use of road salt for winter maintenance. In "Climate Change and Ontarios's Winter Roads: Trends and Impacts on Ontario Winter Road Maintainence Ops" and "Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation: A Canadian Perspective," experts agreed that salt usage in southern and western Ontario would be unchanged by global warming, but that salt usage would increase in northern and eastern parts of the province.