Greenhouse gas emissions

Obama’s Bold New Auto Standards

In what is a huge victory for California and a strong national commitment to more fuel efficient cars, the New York Times is reporting that the Obama administration will grant California its waiver to issue tough greenhouse gas emissions standards while at the same time combining those standards with a new national Corporate Automotive Fuel …

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A Carbon Map of America

A post on DailyKos makes the very important point that carbon emissions vary vastly within the United States, linking to a terrific Purdue University mapping project on carbon emissions.   As the post indicates, reliance on coal is a key factor. But there are other forces at work as well. In considering the role of the …

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Good News for Air, Climate, Traffic?

Two recent interesting and potentially related articles in the LA Times  suggest an encouraging trend.  California drivers are consuming less gasoline, a trend that began in 2006.  And U.S. car buyers may begin to look more like European consumers, buying smaller, more fuel efficient cars and keeping those cars longer. As the Times reports in …

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Climate change threatens human health

A new report in The Lancet (registration required to access the full document), a leading international medical journal, provides more backing for EPA’s proposed finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health as well as public welfare. From the multi-authored report’s executive summary: Climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. …

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Climate bill has votes to get through key House panel, says Waxman

Breaking news: Greenwire (via the New York Times) and Grist.com are reporting that Rep. Henry Waxman said tonight he “believe[s] we’ll have the votes for passage” to move his climate bill through the House Energy and Commerce Committee.  (The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Rep. Waxman “expects” to have sufficient votes but takes a tone of skepticism.) Waxman …

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California Air Pollution–We’re Number One!

California officials and residents take justifiable pride in the state’s continued leadership when it comes to controlling greenhouse gas emissions. But a recent report by the American Lung Association demonstrates that California still has a long, long way to go in addressing conventional air pollutants–especially in Southern California. According to the American Lung Association’s just-issued …

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Are we too obsessed with climate change?

Slate has an interesting piece by Brendan Borrell arguing that the current laser-like focus on climate change may be getting in the way of effective conservation measures. As he tells it, being green today “is all about greenhouse gases,” to the point that people have forgotten about plain vanilla habitat destruction. That, he thinks, is …

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Free Allowances! Get Your Free Allowances!

From WashPo, The Obama administration might agree to postpone auctioning off 100 percent of emissions allowances under a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas pollution, White House science adviser John P. Holdren said today, a move that would please electricity providers and manufacturers but could anger environmentalists. Why would this “anger environmentalists’?  I certainly see …

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Endangerment finding reportedly in the works

The New York Times and Washington Post are reporting that EPA has sent a finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare to the Office of Management and Budget for review. If OMB approves, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson can sign and officially issue the finding. That would be the first step toward regulating …

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No wavering in waiver battle

No one is backing down yet in the multiple battles over California’s request for a Clean Air Act waiver to allow it to implement its rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.  EPA’s announcement that it would reconsider the Bush administration’s denial of that request was published in the Federal Register on March …

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