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Keep Commitment To Transition To Low-Carbon Economy, Urges UN Climate Change Office

August 26, 2016 Webmaster

The United Nations (UN) climate change secretariat has added its voice to concerns being raised about a proposal made by China’s Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO) for the construction of a coal-fired plant in St Elizabeth.

The proposal was announced after JISCO completed a deal to acquire the Alpart alumina factory from Russian company, UC Rusal. The new Chinese owners plan to upgrade the plant with an aluminum smelter that would be powered by a 1,000-megawatt coal-fired plant.

Based on calculations provided by the CoalSwarm Global Plant Tracker, a 1,000 megawatt coal plant would produce 5.6-5.8 million tonnes of CO2 annually, increasing Jamaica’s emissions of CO2 by 79-82 per cent. Greenpeace campaigner Lauri Myllyvirta has said that the construction of the plant would violate the Paris Agreement signed under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Commenting on the possible impact of the proposed coal plant on Jamaica’s UNFCCC standing, Nick Nuttall, UNFCCC spokesperson, pointed out that Jamaica had submitted an ambitious national climate action plan to the UN aimed at achieving a nearly eight per cent emission reduction by 2030. He also argued that the action plan promised commitments of greater investment in greener sources of homegrown energy such as wind and solar power rather than increases in oft-imported fossil fuels.

He argued that economic growth and job creation were not antithetical to environmental protection.

“Many complex choices will be made by governments over the years and decades to come, including with regard to energy sources, but today, there is an ever clearer consensus that overcoming poverty and growing GDP, which are critical for developing countries, can go hand in hand with generating new kinds of high-tech jobs; creating healthier, less polluted societies and a transition to a low carbon economy …,” he said in an email response to The Gleaner.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has said that the Government is committed to balancing its economic-growth aspirations with its environmental and international commitments.

Comments solicited from Jamaica’s mission to the UN and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not forthcoming up to press time.

Gleaner

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Coal Plant Will Increase Jamaica’s CO2 Emission By 79-82 Per Cent – US Coal Expert

August 26, 2016 Webmaster

Director of the CoalSwarm Project Ted Nace has said that Jamaica will be unable to meet its target, of 7.8 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, should it go ahead with the commissioning of the proposed 1,000-megawatt (MW) coal-fired plant at the Alpart alumina plant which has recently been acquired by Chinese firm Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company Ltd. (JISCO).

Using the CoalSwarm Global Coal Plant Tracker, Nace shared calculations with The Gleaner, which show that a 1,000 coal plant would produce 5.6-5.8 million tonnes of CO2 annually.

Jamaica produced 7.1 million tonnes of CO2 in 2012.

“A coal plant would increase Jamaica’s emissions of CO2 by 79 per cent (for a “subcritical” plant) – 82 per cent (for a “supercritical” plant), assuming it were run at an 80 per cent capacity factor,” the coal expert said.

Pointing to the Paris country brief for Jamaica, which outlines Jamaica’s commitment under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement, Nace said, “such an increase would destroy any chance of meeting Jamaica’s commitment”.

VIOLATION OF AGREEMENT

Greenpeace campaigner Lauri Myllyvirta has argued that constructing the plant would violate the Paris Agreement.

“All signatories to the Paris agreement have accepted the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5-.2.0 degrees celsius. There is no more space for any new coal-fired power plants to be built under this goal, so in that sense the project does violate the basic aim of the agreement,” he said in an email response to The Gleaner.

According to the climate action plan, submitted to the UNFCCC by the Jamaican authorities, Jamaica has committed to a 7.8 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 under its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC).

POSSIBILITY OF COAL SPILL

Jamaica signed the Paris Accords in April of this year but is yet to ratify the agreement.

“While the construction of a coal plant can produce a number of construction jobs in the short term, the number of long-term jobs is much lower, certain far lower than the number of jobs in the tourism sector,” Nace told The Gleaner.

According to the Nace, Jamaica could face the possibility of a coal spill given that coal terminals will have to be built to facilitate the importation of coal.

“Jamaica is not a major coal producer and as such coal would have to imported from a neighboring producer such as Colombia or the United States. This would mean construction of a coal terminal and the possibility of a coal spill,” he explained.

Gleaner

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Engineer Says Alpart Could Be Operated Solely On Renewable Energy

August 24, 2016 Webmaster

Consulting engineer Howard Chin is making the case for the Alpart plant, which was recently acquired by Chinese firm Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company Ltd (JISCO), to be operated entirely using renewable energy.

JISCO has announced plans to invest US$2 billion to expand the plant which will see the addition of an aluminium smelter powered by a coal-fired plant.

Chin has, however, argued that the heat that would be generated from the coal-fired plant could be detrimental to aquatic, plant and animal life in and around the Black River area, and as such, renewable-energy sources should be considered.

“Cooling the power plant and running the bauxite refinery requires a lot of water. How hot would the Black River become downstream of Alpart? Hot enough to kill animal life? Certainly, NEPA (National Environment and Planning Agency) is not answering these questions which have to be answered. Nor do they have the technical capability to do so,” Chin said in an emailed response to The Gleaner.

STORAGE POWER PLANT

In recognition of the problem of storage capacity associated with renewables, Chin explained that a large pumped hydroelectric storage power plant could be used to power the alumina plant in the first instance.

“It could be done using a large renewable energy system backed up by a pumped storage system,” he said.

Pumped hydroelectric storage facilities store energy in the form of water in an upper reservoir, pumped from another reservoir at a lower elevation. During periods of high electricity demand, power is generated by releasing the stored water through turbines in the same manner as a conventional hydropower station. During periods of low demand, the upper reservoir is recharged by using lower-cost electricity from the grid to pump the water back to the upper reservoir.

Turning his attention to the Bayer Process, which would be used to produce aluminium should the Chinese go ahead with plans to build a smelter at Alpart, Chin observed that the heat given off could be transferred to the alumina refinery, which requires it in large quantities. According to the former Jamaica Institution of Engineers president, the smelter could also be powered by renewable energy.

“The alumina refinery needs a lot of heat. The aluminium smelter needs electricity and ends up giving off a lot of heat. Frankly, it might be possible to run the combined alumina and aluminium refining plant on a mostly very large renewable-energy system and a very large pumped storage system, and moving the heat from where it is produced to where it is needed,” he said.

Gleaner

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BMR wind farm commissioned

August 23, 2016 Webmaster

Malvern, St Elizabeth — Eighteen months after ground was broken, the 36.3-megawatt wind farm run by BMR Jamaica Wind at Potsdam, Malvern, high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, was formally commissioned in mid-August.

Priced at US$89.9 million, the wind project, located across the road from another wind farm run by light and power company Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), is being described as the single largest investment in St Elizabeth since construction of the Alpart alumina plant at Nain in the late 1960s.

The BMR project includes eleven wind turbines, which will provide energy to JPS’s national grid at US12.9 cents per kilowatt-hour.

BMR Jamaica Wind is a subsidiary of US-based BMR Energy. Guests at the recent formal commissioning were told that billionaire British investor, Sir Richard Branson — who turned up for the commissioning — was in the process of acquiring BMR through his wide- ranging and far-flung Virgin Group.

Branson, who triggered laughter by ripping up and throwing away what he said were his speaking notes, told his audience that his motive for the acquisition was to promote a clean energy revolution.

“I decided recently that we needed to get one or two core (clean energy) companies under our belt so that we can actually get out there and speed up this revolution …” he said.

“ We were delighted to acquire BMR and we will be out there trying to hustle and bustle governments all over the Caribbean and other countries to hurry up towards carbon neutrality by 2050. Personally, I don’t need to make money out of it, if it makes a bit of money, fine; if it doesn’t, fine. I just want to get the wind out there get the solar out there, … be powered by sun, wind, sea… a green energy revolution and bring the cost of energy down for everybody; get rid of the dangers of coal and oil and the dirty energies that we are using today… ” said Branson, founder of the Virgin Group.

Funding for the BMR project in Malvern was sourced through a package including a US$42-million loan from the US quasi-government investment agency Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which pushes US overseas investment globally; US$10 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which promotes private sector development; US$10 million from the IFC-Canada Climate Change Programme and equity investment of US$26.9 million from BMR Energy.

Jamaica’s energy minister Andrew Wheatley said the BMR wind farm formed part of the government’s drive to significantly reduce reliance on fossil fuels and reduce the current annual oil bill of about US$2 billion. Ninety-two per cent of Jamaica’s energy needs are currently met by oil imports, he said.

The project was in line with the target of 30 per cent renewables in the national energy mix by 2030, as stated in the National Energy Policy, and in keeping with Vision 2030 Jamaica, the minister said.

“Projects like BMR continue to establish Jamaica as a clear renewables market leader within the Caribbean. By the end of this year, we would have added 80 MW of renewable energy to the national grid, through Wigton III (a wind farm at Rose Hill in southern Manchester), Content Solar (solar plant in Clarendon), and this facility,” Wheatley said.

Bruce Levy, president of BMR Energy, said the company had plans to expand the wind farm at Malvern by an additional three wind turbines. Small farmers would co-exist with the energy-generating operations, he said.

Jamaica Observer

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Climate Change strategy critical to poverty reduction — IDB

August 23, 2016 Webmaster

BY KIMONE THOMPSON Associate editor – features thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com

DISCOVERY BAY, St Ann — For the past two-and-a-half years, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has spent upwards of US$660,000 growing coral in two locations in Jamaica and one site in Belize.

If you’re like most people, you’re wondering why a development bank, with the broad objectives of helping its members reduce poverty and grow their economies, is concerned with coral.

“I don’t think it odd at all that the bank is doing this. I think the bank should be doing more things like this. In fact, if you look at the direction in which the bank is going now, you’ll see that the bank will be doing more and more things like this,” says IDB Environmental Principal Specialist, Climate Change and Sustainability Development Sector Graham Watkins.

‘This’ is in reference to the Coral Reef Restoration Program, in which scientists from the The University of the West Indies’ Centre for Marine Sciences and its Discovery Bay Marine Lab have been studying various coral species to determine their resilience to climatic variation and change, including sea level rise and increased ocean/sea temperatures. They propagate the corals in nurseries and will transplant them once they are big enough in hopes of replenishing the island’s declining coral stock over time. Work under the programme started in June 2014 and will end in November. Similar work was carried out in Placencia, Belize, through collaboration with Fragments of Hope.

Speaking yesterday at a workshop to discuss the results and outcomes of the programme at the Discovery Bay Marine Lab, Watkins explained that the programme was a natural fit for the IDB as it reflects a shift in the organisation’s policy.

“The bank recently updated its 2010-2020 strategy. It updated it mid-term, which is interesting because one of the major changes that they’ve made…they didn’t change the objectives – poverty reduction and economic growth still sit as the main objectives of the bank – but what they’ve done is they’ve made climate change and environmental sustainability institutions as completely cross-cutting. They made a clear statement that the IDB, yes, will chase those original historical goals, but it will incorporate those (climate change and environment) across the bank,” the environment specialist said.

“It is quite a fundamental change in the direction of bank,” he added.

Watkins explained that in his six years at the IDB, he has seen climate change grow from an initiative, which he defined as little more than a one-off project to throw money at, to a division, and as of this year, a full-fledged department.

Previous to that development, he said, the bank had drafted a biodiversity plan because it believes that its core objectives cannot be divorced from sustainable use of natural resources.

“If you look at biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean, you’ll see that [it’s] one of the major sources of dependence for very poor people, whether you’re talking about coral reefs or whether you’re talking about rainforests. So, if you really want to meet those goals of poverty reduction, you’re going to have to deal with those issues.

“If you look at the Caribbean and you’re going to talk about economic growth, you’re going to have to look at tourism and tourism depends on those resources, so the links are quite obvious when you think about it,” the IDB representative continued.

The directional shift towards environmental concerns, he said, had much to do with the Paris Agreement signed last December, and the Sustainable Development Goals to which UN member countries agreed upon earlier in 2015.

Watkins argued that while it may be “easier said than done” convincing politicians and other decision makers to drive the change, it is the way of the future. Strengthening the point, he pointed to an op-ed in the Guardian, written by IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno and professor of economics and government at the London School of Economics Nicolas Stern, which, in a nod to the emerging green infrastructure movement, advocated for a merger of the climate change and infrastructure development agendas.

“The idea is to bring those two things together because they are critical for economic growth and poverty reduction,” said Watkins.

The two-day workshop is called ‘Coral Lifeline’ and will include site visits to the underwater coral nurseries today

Observer

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‘Rethink Coal Plan’ – Environmentalists Decry Nain Plant Proposal, Gov’t Official Also Wary

August 5, 2016 Webmaster

Diana McCaulay

Jamaica will pay dearly in terms of the health of its people and the environment if the new owners of the Alpart bauxite facility in Nain, St Elizabeth, are allowed to build a proposed 1,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant, according to the Jamaica Environmental Trust (JET).

The organisation yesterday registered its strong opposition to the proposed energy source “due to the harm to human health and climate posed by coal-fired power plants”.

“Rethink this harmful project,” Diana McCaulay, JET’s chief executive officer, appealed to Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the portfolio minister for environmental issues.

She went on to argue some of the potential negative impacts of the various greenhouse gases discharged into the atmosphere by coal-fired plants, which are being phased out in developed countries.

“The pollutants from coal-fired plants that pose significant risks to human health are sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and particulate matter. Sulphur dioxide is a trigger for asthma attacks and combines with water vapour to form acid rain, which will also affect crops and soil health in the farming parish of St Elizabeth and beyond,” JET said in a release.

“Nitrogen oxides are a precursor to smog and increase the likelihood of respiratory ailments such as wheezing, coughing, colds, flu, and bronchitis.”

JET continued: “Mercury is a neurotoxin associated with irreversible IQ deficits and neurobehavioral pathologies. Particulate matter, also called PM or soot, consists of microscopically small, solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air. The smaller the particles, the deeper they can penetrate into the respiratory system and the more hazardous they are. There is a robust association between daily rates of human mortality and levels of particulate matter even when levels are below air-quality guidelines. Emissions of these pollutants can be reduced with modern equipment, but this type of coal plant is not cheap to build and does not produce cheap electricity.”

Mining Minister Mike Henry recently announced the sale of the old Alpart plant to the China-based Jiuquan Iron & Steel (Group) Company Limited (JISCO).

He said JISCO would be investing US$2 billion to establish an industrial zone at Nain, employing more than 3,000 people.

It was announced that the industrial zone would comprise bauxite mines, an alumina refinery, a coal-fired power plant, a local electricity network, rolling wire mills, and a range of aluminium products, among other enterprises.

The Government’s consideration of coal-fired power generation is also a matter of concern for Clifford Mahlung, project administrator at the Climate Change Division in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

“There are other options out there I would have preferred, but they come at a cost,” he told The Gleaner yesterday.

“I’m figuring that is probably the most cost-effective way of achieving what they want from the plant. But, yes, the emissions are of concern, and so we hope that the impact will be minimised as much as possible so that we can be proud of that plant.”

However, yesterday, Energy Minister Dr Andrew Wheatley said no application had been made for construction of a coal-fired plant in St Elizabeth.

“There was no approval or anything like that done. They need to get their facts straight before they comment,” Wheatley told The Gleaner/Power 106 News Centre.

Mahlung explained that while construction and operation of a coal plant would not be a breach of climate-change conventions, it could fly in the face of Jamaica’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 1.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030.

While carbon capture and underground storage of the pollutants is an option, Jamaica does not have the technology, which would involve the use of large underground caves consistent with the size of the Green Grotto Caves in Discovery Bay, St Ann.

However, that does not seem a practical option in light of the country’s geological formation, which is mainly limestone, which is very porous.

“So it can’t keep the CO2 (carbon dioxide) underground … . Maybe they can find a way to capture that CO2 and transport it to somewhere else in the island. But all of this is at a cost to store it if that technology becomes possible, but these would add to the cost.”

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com

The Gleaner

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‘Climate Change Greatest Threat To Agriculture’

August 2, 2016 Webmaster

Steadman Fuller, custos of Kingston has described climate change as the single greatest threat to local agriculture and, by extension, the Jamaican economy.

“Sadly, ladies and gentlemen, the food security to which we are traditionally accustomed is under serious threat. Only this time, it is under threat not directly from crop diseases and pests or praedial larceny, but from a more severe, potentially devastating and costly phenomenon called climate change,” Fuller told patrons on Sunday while delivering the keynote address on day two of the annual Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show.

Explaining climate change as a “noticeable and sustained variation in weather conditions”, the custos sought to drive home to his audience the impact of climate change.

“The excessive heat that we have experienced; the long, dry season and the disappearance of some of some of our beaches, such as what is taking place at Hellshire in Portmore, are the direct result of climate change. You may even want to account that the heat that you have been feeling today is part of that phenomenon. In relation to agriculture specifically, climate change is a ticking time bomb,” Fuller declared.

VULNERABLE

“Just to give you an example, the destructive forces of flood and bush fires which destroy hundreds of acres of crops and farmland across Jamaica in the process, are reminders of our vulnerability to the intensity of natural disasters due to climate change. If left unchecked, climate change could reduce crop yields and the overall contribution of agriculture to national development. The farming sector could be wiped out if measures to safeguard the industry are not swiftly implemented and vigorously pursued.”

Fuller said that the theme of this year’s show ‘Grow What We Eat … Eat What We Grow Through Climate-smart Agriculture’ is evidence that the Jamaica Agriculture Society is well aware of the imminent danger and is ready to have that important conversation with farmers and other stakeholders in order to avert the potential danger.

He also had a message for policymakers.

“While there is no simple solution to the threat and consequences of climate change, it is a reality that measures and strategies must be implemented to ensure that our farmers can continue to do what they have done for centuries, and that is feed our nation.

“As a nation, we have to introduce measures to embrace climate-smart agricultural practices, so that rural communities can remain economically viable; our tourism and hospitality sector can have a sustained supply of fruits and vegetables and high-quality products; (and) our agro-processing sector can achieve its growth potential.”

Gleaner

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New Climate Change Programme Raises Concern – Mahlung

August 2, 2016 Webmaster

A new proposal expected to reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface has raised concerns among policymakers.

They indicate it could provide an incentive for countries not to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Solar Radiation Management proposal is currently being discussed among several stakeholders with the aim of addressing some of the risks associated with climate change. It is expected to inject sulphate particles into the earth’s stratosphere, which will reduce the amount of solar radiation and add a cooling effect with respect to the earth’s temperatures.

Following the Conference of the Parties, which was held in France last year, several countries committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in a bid to curtail global temperatures. Clifford Mahlung, project administrator at the Climate Change Division in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, said while he welcomes any initiative to mitigate against the effects of climate change, it is critical that any such project takes into account the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“It wouldn’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it would have a cooling effect on the earth’s temperature. It’s a new science initiative. It hasn’t been tried anywhere else in the world, but there are some conclusions that it has very good potential …” he said.

“The big concern for me, though, being from a small island which suffers greatly from the negative impact of climate change, is that it could also provide an incentive for countries not to reduce their greenhouse emissions. Instead, they would rely on this technology, which would be defeating the whole purpose to combating climate change. It could give people a false sense of hope,” Mahlung told The Gleaner.

“Also, you are not sure how long those sulphates will remain in the atmosphere and, if, over time, it will not have a reverse effect. There’s a concern with respect to what is known as acid rain, which is a mixture of ordinary rainfall and sulphur dioxide which can be harmful to trees,” he added.

However, he said that once the project is properly thought through, it could produce positive results.

Gleaner

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Good News For Ja’s Climate Change Response, But …

July 22, 2016 Webmaster

MAHLUNG… emissions from the transport sector have increased significantly

JAMAICA SAW a reduction in its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 2008 and 2012, signalling a step in the right direction for the island’s efforts to stave off negative climate change impacts.

“We have seen a reduction from about 27,000 gigagrams (CO2 equivalent) in 2008 to just about 20,000 in 2012,” revealed Clifford Mahlung, project administrator for the Third National Communication and Biennial Update Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Mahlung was referencing findings from the Biennial Update Report that is to be submitted to Cabinet in another two or so weeks for their approval before submission to the UNFCCC.

“The main reason for this is the reduction in fuel consumption in the mining/bauxite sector. It was in 2008 that we had a downturn in the demand for bauxite,” he noted.

However, a former seasoned climate change negotiator for Jamaica, Mahlung cautioned that the island would need to continue its efforts to reduce emissions – and for a variety of reasons.

“With the upturn in bauxite since 2012, you could see the levels going up,” he noted.

And even with the move towards renewables ‘that are now somewhere about 20 per cent of the energy mix’, Mahlung said, emissions from the transport sector was trending up.

“What we have found is that emissions from the transport sector have increased significantly. It is now about 28 per cent of the total emissions and second only to the energy sector, which is 31 per cent,” he noted.

“It means that there should see some focus on how we can reduce the emissions coming out of the transport sector,” he added.

For this, Mahlung has lauded the efforts of actors such as the JPS.

“We support the report that we have heard from the JPS, for example, about the introduction of electric cars. And definitely we should also still be actively pursuing an improved mass transit system, such as rail,? he added.

JPS announced earlier this month that it was seeking a deal with American electric car maker Tesla – to fuel the appetite for electric cars, which are seen as one answer to current high levels of petrol consumption.

Global climate change is fuelled by emissions of GHGs, including carbon dioxide and methane, with significant negative implications for, in particular, small-island developing states, including Jamaica.

Among the negative impacts of the changing climate is increased global temperatures and extreme weather events, such as droughts, the burden of which Jamaicans have had to bear in recent times.

pwr.gleaner@gmail.com

The Gleaner

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A Big Future For Solar And Battery Power – Bloomberg

June 24, 2016 Webmaster

Cheaper coal and gas will do nothing to derail the renewable energy revolution according to BNEF’s New Energy Outlook 2016.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance states 60% of installed capacity will be zero-emission energy sources by 2040 and wind and solar power will take the lion’s share of new power generation capacity added – 64%.

Solar power is forecast to be the cheapest generation technology in most countries by 2030 and account for 3.7TW, or 43%, of new capacity added in 2016-40. This will represent $3 trillion of new investment.

A very important point in the report is that around 2027, new wind and solar will be cheaper than running existing coal and gas generators, particularly where carbon pricing has been implemented. In just over a decade we may see a marked uptick in current fossil fuel generation plants being shuttered. The report says there will be a net closure of 286GW of coal in OECD economies by 2040.

By 2040, BNEF states Australia will have wind and solar penetration of more than 50%.

Another prediction will get electric vehicle supporters excited – BNEF’s modeling suggests EV’s will comprise a quarter of the global car fleet by 2040. This is also good news for the residentialand commercial solar sector as it will accelerate a reduction in battery costs through technology development, economies of scale and enhanced manufacturing know-how.

BNEF sees a very healthy future for small-scale solar power, with it accounting for 10% of global generating capacity by 2040. With regard to home battery systems, Bloomberg expects solar energy storage to be commonly deployed alongside rooftop solar panel systems by 2020.

Behind-the-meter energy storage generally will see a sharp rise from around 400MWh today to nearly 760GWh in 2040.

While the news is upbeat about renewables generally, forecasted additions won’t be enough to rein in carbon emissions to the required degree.

“Some $7.8 trillion will be invested globally in renewables between 2016 and 2040, two thirds of the investment in all power generating capacity, but it would require trillions more to bring world emissions onto a track compatible with the United Nations 2°C climate target,” said Seb Henbest, lead author of the report and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa for BNEF.

BNEF suggests approximately USD $5.3 trillion would need to be invested in zero-carbon power by 2040 to prevent carbon dioxide levels rising above 450 parts per million.

Bloomberg

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