Irma Continues: Today's News for September 11th

CNN:

Hurricane Irma still a monster of wind, rain as it pushes north

Hurricane Irma dropped to a Category 1 storm early Monday after it roared through southwest Florida and left nearly 4 million customers without power.

Irma was downgraded as it moved over the western Florida peninsula, the National Hurricane Center said. By 5 a.m. ET, it had sustained winds of 75 mph with its center 60 miles north of Tampa.

Despite its weakening as it passes over land, Irma's strong winds and flooding continue to be a major risk in the southeast, forecasters warned.

At least the worst is over. As you can see from the cone map above, Irma is quickly becoming just a bad storm, and should drop from hurricane status sometime today, possibly within hours.

In news from the last hurricane...

Christianity Today:

Texas Churches Flooded by Harvey Sue FEMA for Discrimination

...three Texas churches impacted by Hurricane Harvey sued FEMA this week for deeming them ineligible for disaster relief grants. The agency’s policy excludes sanctuaries that serve as shelters after natural disasters.

“Churches have been told by FEMA: We will use you, but we will not help you,” said Daniel Blomberg, an attorney for Becket, the religious liberty advocate representing the churches.

The three churches filed suit Monday in federal district court in Texas, hoping for relief before the end of FEMA’s month-long application window for Harvey victims. 

If you need to understand why government is the worst charity around, look no further than this story.

In other news...

Bloomberg:

China Fossil Fuel Deadline Shifts Focus to Electric Car Race

China will set a deadline for automakers to end sales of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles, becoming the biggest market to do so in a move that will accelerate the push into the electric car market led by companies including BYD Co. and BAIC Motor Corp.

Xin Guobin, the vice minister of industry and information technology, said the government is working with other regulators on a timetable to end production and sales. The move will have a profound impact on the environment and growth of China’s auto industry, Xin said at an auto forum in Tianjin on Saturday.

There is no doubt it will have an impact on the environment. As the world's largest producer of rare earth metals, which are some of the most environmentally-challenging elements to mine, expect China to face some real obstacles.

Continuing:

The world’s second-biggest economy, which has vowed to cap its carbon emissions by 2030 and curb worsening air pollution, is the latest to join countries such as the U.K. and France seeking to phase out vehicles using gasoline and diesel. The looming ban on combustion-engine automobiles will goad both local and global automakers to focus on introducing more zero-emission electric cars to help clean up smog-choked major cities.

“The implementation of the ban for such a big market like China can be later than 2040,” said Liu Zhijia, an assistant general manager at Chery Automobile Co., the country’s biggest passenger car exporter that unveiled a new line for upscale battery-powered and plug-in hybrid models at the Frankfurt motor show last week. “That will leave plenty of time for everyone to prepare.”

While this will ease air pollution from vehicles, it will also increase the need for electricity generation. Will their electricity-generating infrastructure be able to keep up with the demand from so many electric cars? We will see.

That said, this is the sanest path for the future. Countries need to move away from oil use, which only feeds money to Middle Eastern terrorist organizations. Once we cut them off from the money spigots, they can return to killing each other, instead of us. On the 16th anniversary of 9/11, this is something to consider.