Death of a Great American
Stewart Udall died today. His legacy, as the N.Y. Times recounts, surrounds us: As interior secretary in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, he presided over the acquisition of 3.85 million acres of new holdings, including 4 national parks — Canyonlands in Utah, Redwood in California, North Cascades in Washington State and Guadalupe Mountains in Texas — 6 national monuments, 9 national recreation areas, 20 historic sites, 50 wildlife refuges and 8 nationa...
CONTINUE READINGDelta NRC committee issues initial report
The National Research Council's Committee on Sustainable Water and Environmental Management in the California Bay-Delta released its first report this morning (also available through the National Academies Press web site, with registration). On a quick review of the summary, the conclusions are unsurprising -- the Committee finds that the provisions of the Biological Opinions for protecting Delta smelt and winter-run chinook salmon are scientifically justified and concep...
CONTINUE READINGWhy Doesn’t Anyone Care When IPCC UNDER-Estimates Climate Impacts
Imagine the following scenario: 1. The IPCC announces a surprising figure for sea level rise by 2100. 2. But it used a model that was off by a factor of two as applied to recent changes in sea level. 3. It also made a 5-year change in the time period that reinforced the first problem. 4. The most recent studies oppose IPCC. As a recent post on RealClimate points out, if these mistakes had caused an overestimate of sea level rise, "SeaLevelgate" would be all ...
CONTINUE READINGBig Three backs CAA regulation, cars deal
An interesting development: Yesterday, the industry group for major car manufacturers sent a letter to Congressional leaders opposing Sen. Murkowski's legislative efforts (discussed by Holly here) to un-do EPA's greenhouse gas endangerment finding. The Murkowski resolution, as many have pointed out, would have the result of undoing the federally brokered cars deal set to impose Clean Air Act limits on car greenhouse gas emissions--a deal that industry likes, but that...
CONTINUE READINGA blue day for bluefin
Negotiators at the meeting in Qatar of the parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species have rejected proposals to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna (and in polar bears). (See coverage in the New York Times and Washington Post.) The vote on the bluefin ban was surprisingly lopsided -- only 20 nations in favor, 68 opposed, and 30 abstentions. The United States was the main advocate for the ban, although the proposal was formally...
CONTINUE READINGCO2 may be more than a global problem
So far, all the discussion about how to deal with CO2 pollution has assumed that it is a global problem. It undoubtedly is -- CO2 emissions anywhere in the world contribute to global climate change. But that assumption typically carries another along with it -- that CO2 is not a local problem. It turns out that may not be true. A study just published online in Environmental Science and Technology (subscription required for that link; open access pre-publication draft he...
CONTINUE READINGU.S. Chamber of Commerce adopts “grassroots” organizing tactic, redoubles attacks on climate science and law
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - a significant and strident voice in opposition to anything that our government might possibly do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions - is using its considerable financial resources to dramatically increase its constituent base through "grass-roots organizing," and that its influence is rising. This development should concern anyone who believes that climate change is a problem worth addressing ...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Supreme Court decides in favor of accurate environmental impact analysis (and cleaner air)
The California Supreme Court just issued an important decision interpreting public agencies' obligations under the California Environmental Quality Act. This case will result in cleaner air in southern California. It also establishes that public agencies must measure environmental impacts from a new project against actual existing conditions, rather than against theoretical conditions (based on permits granted for other projects) that would tend to understate the im...
CONTINUE READINGCan California handle high-speed rail?
Count me in as a high speed rail enthusiast. Who wouldn't want to sit in a train car, sipping an ice-cold ginger ale, while traveling at speeds of up to 220 mph through the Central Valley? As Rick described last month, the potential benefits to our quality- and way-of-life, by encouraging more pedestrian-focused neighborhoods and discouraging automobile travel, could be immense. But the current high speed rail plans may create some serious problems for the state. The fi...
CONTINUE READINGTo the left is the famous cardigan worn by Jimmy Carter in the oval office, when he urged Americans to turn down their thermostats to save energy. In reality, the most important ways of saving energy (such as cogeneration by industry, better insulation, etc.) don't involve any discomfort. It turned out that the American people weren't inclined to endure uncomfortable rooms in order to save energy, and the net result was probably to give energy conservation a somewh...
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