More on the recent Pew poll and on debating the science
My colleague Steve Weissman writes well here about the recently released Pew poll on Americans' beliefs about climate change. Like Steve, I find the most troubling statistics from the poll to be the plunging numbers of people who seem to believe the underlying science. This is from Pew's write-up: 57% [of all respondents] think there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been getting warmer over the past few decades. In April 2008, 71% said...
CONTINUE READINGBrown pelican to fly off protected list
The Fish and Wildlife Service today announced some very good news -- the brown pelican will soon be removed from the list of endangered and threatened species. This enormous fish-eating bird has been protected since 1970, when it was included on the very first list of US endangered species under a predecessor to the current Endangered Species Act. Its population rebounded after DDT was banned in 1972. By 1985, the pelican had recovered enough to justify delisting along...
CONTINUE READINGPublic Focus on Climate Change Slow to Develop, Hard to Sustain
The date was August 4, 1977, and Congressman Peter Rodino inserted, in the Congressional Record, an article from the New York Times that had run a week earlier. The Times article reflected on the Carter Administration’s effort to encourage the greater of coal as a power plant fuel. The Times said: “The National Academy of Sciences flashed a warning light this week at plans to rely on coal as a major energy source in coming centuries. Not that oil or natural ga...
CONTINUE READINGSaving the Japanese Black Bear
Grist had a really interesting story at the end of last month about Japanese black bears -- or ツキノワグマ if you prefer -- which have a tenuous hold on survival. What makes this story particularly interesting is that it is a preview of a world in which the idea of the "natural" has become problematic. Japan has some remote, relatively wild forests, but far more area in tree plantations or in rural areas that have been abandoned by an inreasingly urban popul...
CONTINUE READINGEPA to reconsider water transfers rule
I can't find this on EPA's web site, but BNA's U.S. Law Week and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies are reporting that the agency plans to reconsider the Bush-era rule exempting water transfers from the Clean Water Act's NPDES permit requirements. As I previously explained, the 11th Circuit upheld the water transfers rule this summer in a questionable decision that concluded that the rule was a reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statutory provision. Re...
CONTINUE READINGSuperFreakonomics and Climate Change
If you haven't been following the controversy that has erupted with the publication of SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, you should be. In SuperFreakonomics -- the sequel to Steven Levitt and Stephen Duber's wildly popular Freakonomics -- the authors take on climate change. Their arguments are somewhat complex but essentially boil down to the following: the threats from global warming have ...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change versus the Benzene Case
The Benzene Case -- more properly, Industrial Union Dept. v. American Petroleum Inst. -- is almost thirty years old, but is still the Supreme Court's most important statement on risk regulation. After considering mountains of evidence, OSHA issued a rule restricting benzene in the workplace. Benzene was known to be a carcinogen; the evidence was less clear about its dangers at the levels in industry at the time. The Supreme Court reversed and said that OSHA must qu...
CONTINUE READINGOne-Stop Shopping for Climate Information
CITRIS, which is a University of California engineering consortium, has a really useful site called Climate Navigator. The site is a great source of information about the many dimensions of climate change, from policy to energy technology. One neat feature is an interactive model that allows you to design your own global climate policy, setting limits on individual countries and seeing the effect on the global picture. Give it a try!...
CONTINUE READINGA New Beginning for the California Delta?
Early this past Wednesday morning, following an all-night session that would have made any college freshman proud, the California Legislature enacted major legislation designed to address the myriad problems affecting California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The package of five bills, SB 7X 1, SB 7X 2, SB 7X 6, SB 7X 7, and SB 7X 8, which now go to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for his expected signature, also addresses broader issues of California water supply a...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia water deal struck (just in time for UCLA event)
After months (years) of negotations, the California legislature has passed what many are calling the most comprehensive California water legislation in half a century. The task was difficult: Figure out a way to fix our ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin delta; address shortfalls in water supply affecting urban, agricultural, and environmental interests; anticipate additional shortfalls and water supply difficulties related to climate change; and do all this in the midst ...
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
