Climate Change
The Significance of NOAA’s Recent Proposal to Protect 66 Coral Species
Citing threats associated with climate change, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) proposed on December 7, 2012 to list 66 coral species under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), and to reclassify two already-listed Caribbean coral species from “threatened” to “endangered.” According to NOAA Fisheries, this was “the most complex listing process NOAA has ever …
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CONTINUE READINGD.C. Circuit Denies Rehearing in Endangerment Case
Six months ago, the D.C. Circuit upheld EPA’s finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare, triggering coverage under the Clean Air Act. Today, the full court denied rehearing to the three-judge panel’s decision. There were only two dissents, which obviously were hoping to set the stage for a cert. petition to the Supreme …
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CONTINUE READINGGreat Expectations: A Dozen Views of Obama’s Second Term
As we approach inauguration day next month, I thought it would be interesting to pull together the advice that people are giving him about his second term. Here are some links if you’re interested in what people are hoping for (or in some cases, dreading). From the N.Y. Times, the views of Carol Browner (advocating …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Future of the Colorado
The Bureau of Reclamation has issued an important new report on the future of the Colorado River. The Colorado supplies drinking water to 40 million people and irrigation water to nearly 5.5 million acres of land. The report projects decreases in supply over the next fifty years, including a 9% decrease in average flow and a …
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CONTINUE READINGAttitudes Toward Climate Change, Environmental Science, and Clean Energy
A new AP poll reports a sharp increase in the number of people who believe that climate change is happening and will be a problem for the United States. The biggest change was among the significant group of people who say they don’t trust scientists. Here’s the summary from AP: 4 out of every 5 …
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CONTINUE READINGNatural Gas Fracking: Don’t Worry, Be Happy!
When George Washington Law School’s Richard Pierce talks about energy, I listen. And a few days ago he posted a short piece with the provocative title, “Natural Gas Fracking Addresses All Of Our Major Problems.” (emphasis in original!). If you want to read the nutshell case for why fracking is good, then this is your …
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CONTINUE READINGLastest IPCC assessment of future climate changes leaked in draft form
We knew the coming Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC, which I discussed briefly here, would make waves–just not this soon. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change produces these assessments every five to seven years. They are the most rigorous and prominent summaries of the science of climate change, crafted by leading scientists from many nations and used …
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CONTINUE READINGMayans! Apocalypse! Climate Change!
Mayan apocalypse: panic spreads as December 21 nears Fears that the end of the world is nigh have spread across the world with only days until the end of the Mayan calendar, with doomsday-mongers predicting a cataclysmic end to the history of Earth. That’s from a British newspaper, the Telegraph, but you only have to Google …
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CONTINUE READINGShould Environmentalists Oppose Susan Rice for Secretary of State?
My RBC colleague James Wimberley thinks so — and not because of the fake, nothingburger scandal over Benghazi that the Right has cooked up. Instead, James’ argument centers on climate change. As we all know, NRDC’s OnEarth broke the story a couple of weeks ago that Rice and her husband hold fairly massive investments in fossil fuels in …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Economist Magazine’s Feature on Climate Adaptation
After a two year delay, I’m excited that reasonable people in the mainstream media (including this week’s The Economist Magazine and the Huffington Post ) are willing to talk in a calm intellectual spirit about the ideas presented in my 2010 Climatopolis book. When the book was published, many environmentalists dismissed it as nutty free market …
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