Latest news with #Northeast
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Trump budget proposes closing Northeast heating oil reserve
WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's budget proposes to shut as soon as in a few months the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, which stores 1 million barrels of diesel and was designed to protect consumers. The reserve, created in 2000 by former President Bill Clinton, holds enough for roughly 10 days of heating homes. It has not been tapped since 2012, when it provided fuel to emergency responders in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The proceeds of a sale of the ultra-low sulfur diesel in fiscal year 2026 would go to U.S. deficit reduction, the proposal said. At current prices, revenues from a sale would be about $86 million, but closing the facility could save on maintenance costs. U.S. budget proposals lay out an administration's policies, and what lawmakers ultimately adopt often differs from White House requests. Trump's predecessor, former President Joe Biden, had proposed in November, 2022 to expand the reserve as a protection against spikes in heating oil prices and inflation after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine boosted energy prices. That plan, never put in place, would have funded purchases from the reserve from revenue from sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the world's largest emergency stockpile of crude oil. The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the proposal to close the heating oil reserve.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Massive solar storm set to hit in just HOURS causing blackouts and communication disruptions
A massive solar storm that hit Earth over the weekend is intensifying, with the potential to trigger radio blackouts and strain power grids. Officials issued a Level 3 geomagnetic storm warning on Monday, which means solar activity could disrupt GPS signals, radio communications, and electrical systems, while also making auroras visible much farther south than usual. A geomagnetic storm is a temporary disturbance in Earth's magnetic field caused by a burst of charged particles from the Sun's outer atmosphere. Power system disruptions are possible parts of the Midwest and Northeast, such as false alarms and systems shutdowns, triggering blackouts. The powerful storm is also expected to create stunning northern lights across 13 US states on Monday and Tuesday. The auroras may be visible in Washington, northern Idaho, Montana, northeast Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The best time to catch the colorful display is between 10pm and 2am local time. The stunning lights will also be visible across northern UK and Europe. In the UK, aurora activity will 'become progressively confined to Northern Ireland and Scotland,' the Met Office said. To see the spectacle, wait for clear skies to get dark and then go outside, ideally away from bright city lights. Taking a picture with a smartphone camera may also reveal hints of the aurora that aren't visible to the naked eye. The sun unleashed a massive M8.2 solar flare on Sunday, a very strong burst of energy. A solar flare is like a massive explosion on the sun's surface. It sends out a huge amount of energy in the form of light, X-rays and charged particles. They are ranked as A, B and C being the weakest, M is deemed medium and X is the strongest. Sunday's explosion hurled a powerful coronal mass ejection (CEM), a large expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the sun's surface, directly at Earth, which is causing the geomagnetic storm. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that solar activity will linger for the next few days, causing a G3 storm. This space weather scale is much like the scale for measuring hurricanes, tracking how intense a geomagnetic storm will be when it collides with Earth, ranging from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme). A G3 geomagnetic storm can cause minor disruptions to radio and satellite communications, potentially leading to a few hours of lost radio contact, according to NOAA. 'Infrastructure operators have been notified to mitigate any possible impacts,' NOAA shared in an alert. 'Some risk for mainly controllable power fluctuations in the power grid. Possible, slight risk of various satellite operations' effects.' The alert added that GPS may also stop working in some areas. Dr Tamitha Skov, an independent space weather physicist, posted on X: 'The speed of this storm is fast, but the field strength is moderate thus far. G3 to G4 levels are possible during this early phase. 'A stronger region of the storm will likely come later, but for now aurora is brightening quickly! GPS users & HF radio operators expect signal disruptions on the nightside of Earth.' The solar activity comes as scientist warned that humanity is not prepared for extreme space weather. They conducted a 'solar storm emergency drill', simulating what would happen if a major geomagnetic storm hit Earth. Results showed power grids failed, blackouts were triggered and communication broke down across the US. The exercise ran four simulations of geomagnetic storms of different severities, which is is a temporary disturbance of Earth's magnetic field caused by a massive eruption of charged plasma from the sun's outermost layer. One scenario included a 'solar superstorm', strong enough cause an 'internet apocalypse,' resulting in power grid disruptions across the entire US with the eastern seaboard experiencing blackouts, which lasted for weeks. Not only were power grids impacted, but railways and pipelines were also knocked offline, causing mass disruptions of travel and dramatic price increases of gas. Scientists are now calling for a whole-of-government planning approach, arguing it will be critical for protecting America from cosmic disaster. That would include deploying more satellites to monitor space weather, enhance real-time data collection to improve forecasting models, and provide earlier warnings.
Bloomberg
5 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Trump Wants to Sell US's 1 Million Barrel Reserve of Diesel Fuel
The Trump administration wants to put a 1 million barrel cache of diesel fuel on the market, saying the reserve meant to provide an emergency supply of home heating oil for the Northeast has never been used for its intended purpose. The sale and closure of the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve would generate $100 million to be used for deficit reduction, according to Department of Energy budget details recently made public. The sale of the reserve would require approval by Congress, which gave the Biden administration the green light to sell off and close a 1 million barrel emergency cache of gasoline last year.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
NJ Primary Election 2025: Our complete guide to voting, governor candidates, local races
New Jersey's primary election is Tuesday, June 10. On the ballot are 11 candidates for governor — six Democrats and five Republicans. There are also some contested local primary elections and some contested elections for nominations in the race for seats in the New Jersey Assembly, the lower house of the state legislature. Here's our guide to New Jersey's June 10 primary: New Jersey's primary election — on June 10 — is less than two weeks away. This what you need to know if you plan to vote. LINK TK SUNDAY JUNE 1 The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is June 3. Unaffiliated voters interested in voting in the primary by mail must complete and submit a party affiliation declaration form to their county commissioner of registration by June 3 to get a mail-in ballot as well. Here's where voters can cast early in-person or day-of, in-person ballots in the June 10 New Jersey primary. Here is our guide to knowing each of the major Democratic and Republican candidates seeking their party nominations for governor in the June 10 primary. With less than a month until New Jersey's primary election, all nine major candidates for governor — six Democrats and three Republicans — filed their 29-day preelection contribution and expenditure report with the state's Election Law Enforcement Commission. What to know. How have candidates for governor in both the Democratic and Republican parties spent on television ads during the primary campaign? How would the candidates running for New Jersey governor tackle affordability in the Garden State? How would the candidates running for New Jersey governor address climate change and a potential energy crisis in the Garden State? How would the candidates running for New Jersey governor approach access to health care in the Garden State? How would the candidates running for New Jersey governor approach social issues affecting the Garden State? How would the candidates running for New Jersey governor tackle education in the Garden State? How would the candidates running for New Jersey governor tackle ongoing challenges with NJ Transit? A poll of voters age 50 and over also found overwhelming support for Medicaid — more than 90% with registered voters in both parties, according to the survey of 813 registered voters conducted by AARP New Jersey and the Siena College Research Institute. A pair of Democrats will vie for the party nomination to run for mayor in one of two contested primary elections in Passaic County on June 10. There are four Republican candidates running in the June 10 primary election for Franklin Lakes Council. There are no Democrats on the June 10 ballot for Franklin Lakes Council. Democrats are in trouble. It's been nearly seven months since their party's debacle last November and Democrats are still searching for a message and a way to define themselves. If you want to understand how difficult that hunt for the right message has become, take a look at New Jersey. The new battle in New Jersey over sanctuary laws is part of that soul-searching challenge of transformation for Democrats — only on a much larger scale. If the two leading Republican candidates for New Jersey governor harbored concerns that the chaotic scuffle between federal immigration agents — some of them masked — and the mayor of Newark and three members of Congress might not sit well with the New Jersey public, they certainly didn't show it during the May 21 candidate debate. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka's arrest at the hands of Homeland Security agents outside Delaney Hall on Friday night was pure gold in terms of political theater. After listening to the three Republican candidates for governor squabble, I was struck by how far the rhetoric drifted away from President Ronald Reagan's farewell remarks on immigration. If Democrat Josh Gottheimer got to go toe-to-toe in a boxing ring in a campaign ad with Donald Trump, then why didn't he just deck him? Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka came to the brink of calling Rep. Mikie Sherrill a racist after she suggested that improving literacy among third graders was the key to closing the alarming disparities between Black and White residents in New Jersey. The gloves are now coming off in a race that has largely proceeded cordially from candidate forum to debate through much of the early going in a packed, six-candidate race for the June 10 primary. Restoring the annual cost-of-living increases for New Jersey's public-sector retirees has been the subject of bold promises by some of the candidates for governor. 'Affordability' is the rallying cry of both major political parties this year. How will the tariffs and rising electric bills impact the June 10 primary? This primary represents the NJEA's chance to grab the ultimate political prize: the most powerful governor's seat in the nation. It's an aggressive push for the union to hold enormous sway over the state's political and educational agendas. No longer would an army of lobbyists be needed to prowl outside the governor's office door — if Sean Spiller wins, the NJEA would have one of its own behind the desk. Rep. MIkie Sherrill committed to making a break from the tired ways of Trenton — implying that, if elected, she would not be a successor to the two-term era of Gov. Phil Murphy — without committing to many specifics. It seems as if the primary contests for New Jersey governor have been going on forever. Here's why. Rep. Josh Gottheimer is trying to break from the pack of Democratic candidates by offering a bold plan: a promise to cut property taxes by as much as 15%. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is challenging the traditional suburban strategy employed by previous Democratic candidates, arguing that voters are looking for a leader who is willing to take a stand on issues like immigration and universal healthcare. The campaign for governor highlights the challenges Democrats face as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk chainsaw political norms and parts of the federal government daily. President Donald Trump's shadow has been cast over much of the New Jersey governor's race. His surprising showing in New Jersey in November — when he lost by just five percentage points to former Vice President Kamala Harris in a blue state that he twice lost by double-digit margins — suddenly changed the calculus for 2025. Here are our impressions of the leading Republican candidates for New Jersey governor. Here are our impressions of the leading Democratic candidates for New Jersey governor. This article originally appeared on NJ Primary Election 2025: Complete guide for voters
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
At least 34 dead in India's northeast after heavy floods
BHUBANESWAR/DHAKA (Reuters) -At least 34 people have died in India's northeastern region after heavy floods caused landslides over the last four days, authorities and media said on Monday, and the weather department predicted more heavy rain. More than a thousand tourists trapped in the Himalayan state of Sikkim were being evacuated on Monday, a government statement said, and army rescue teams were pressed into service in Meghalaya state to rescue more than 500 people stranded in flooded areas. In neighbouring Bangladesh, at least four members of a family were killed in a landslide in the northeastern district of Sylhet, while hundreds of shelters have been opened across the hilly districts of Rangamati, Bandarban, and Khagrachhari on Sunday. Authorities have warned of further landslides and flash floods, urging residents in vulnerable areas to remain alert. India's northeast and Bangladesh are prone to torrential rains that set off deadly landslides and flash floods, affecting millions of people every year. Roads and houses in Assam's Silchar city were flooded, visuals from news agency ANI showed, and fallen trees littered the roads. "We are facing a lot of challenges. I have a child, their bed is submerged in water. What will we do in such a situation? We keep ourselves awake throughout the night," Sonu Devi, a resident of Silchar, told ANI.
