Climate Change

New million-dollar donation from out-of-state oil company helps the attack on California’s climate change law

According to a story in today’s Los Angeles Times, a new $1 million cash infusion from Kansas-based oil company Koch Industries –the second-largest private company in the U.S. — is buoying the campaign in favor of Proposition 23, which would block implementation of California’s landmark law to limit greenhouse gas emissions.  The company is owned by …

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EPA proposes fuel economy letter grade labels for cars

New labels proposed by the federal government would give new cars letter grades reflecting their fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions.  Electric cars and plug-in hybrids are expected to get the highest grades.  The rule isn’t final yet; the public can comment and make suggestions on the label design. Most of us are familiar with …

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The Not-So-Skeptical Environmentalist

  Bjorn Lomborg (a/k/a the “Skeptical Environmentalist”) has apparently had a change of heart regarding climate change.  According to the Guardian: The world’s most high-profile climate change sceptic is to declare that global warming is “undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today” and “a challenge humanity must confront”, in an apparent U-turn …

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Climate Change and El Nino

From dot.earth: Federal researchers have published work concluding that a particular variant of the periodic El Niño warmups of the tropical Pacific Ocean is becoming more frequent and stronger. The pattern appears to fit what is expected from human-driven warming of the global climate, said the researchers . . . The 2009-2010 El Nino event …

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California legislature considers environmental bills

The California Legislature has several environmental and land use bills in front of it right now.  Under state law, the legislature must act by August 31 in order to send any of these bills to the Governor for signature.  Here’s a quick summary of the pending legislation, with some links for further info.  (Current information …

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The SG Brief in Connecticut v. AEP: WORSE than you think

Okay, so it’s bad enough that the Obama Administration has decided to unilaterally disarm itself in the struggle against climate change.  For you law geeks out there (and you know who you are), the SG has gone even further to make these suits impossible in the future. It does this by arguing that the state attorneys …

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Obama Sides With the Polluters

This is pretty self-explanatory: The Obama administration has urged the Supreme Court to toss out an appeals court decision that would allow lawsuits against major emitters for their contributions to global warming, stunning environmentalists who see the case as a powerful prod on climate change. Read the whole thing.  It’s hard for me to tell …

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Long Shot Challenges to the Endangerment Finding

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has filed another legal challenge, this time to EPA’s refusal to reconsider its finding that climate change endangers human health or welfare.  Although there is a large flurry of these challenges, they seem to be filed more for political reasons and to achieve delay than because of any prospect of …

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What will Obama do about Connecticut v. AEP?

I just got a call from the managing editor of Carbon Control News, which seems to be a pretty informative and useful web-based publication.  His question: why hasn’t the Tennessee Valley Authority joined the rest of the utilities in asking the Supreme Court to grant certiorari in Connecticut v. AEP, the federal common law public …

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The Reverend Bayes Visits Russia

In a post last week,  I discussed how Bayesian analysis could help with determining whether certain events are due to climate change — and by the same token, how events can help reinforce the evidence for climate change. The Russian heat wave is a case in point.  As the Economist explains: According to Geert Jan …

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