Climate Change
Kerry-Lieberman and State Government
The Georgetown Climate Center has put together a very useful summary of how the bill would impact state regulation, both positively and negatively. The most important fact is that the summary is fifteen pages long. The bill is obviously a big deal in terms of helping state regulation in some respects and curtailing it in …
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CONTINUE READINGNational Academy of Science Says the Science of Climate Change is Clear and It’s Time to Act Now
The National Academy of Science has joined a growing chorus of scientists and policymakers in underscoring the need for strong action to combat climate change. The Academy released three reports today as part of its America’s Climate Choices project, a project Congress requested in the last year of the Bush Administration to address what Congress should …
CONTINUE READINGCosts and Benefits of Offshore Oil
In thinking about the economics of off-shore oil, the main benefit is increased energy security. According to an RFF study, Netted out, the Brown and Huntington estimates suggest that the effect of increased U.S. oil production is about $1 per barrel (or 2.4 cents per gallon of gasoline); for each barrel of increased U.S. oil …
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CONTINUE READINGMore Intrigue for India’s Environment Minister
India’s current Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, is not a man to hold his tongue, and has become the most powerful minister in that post since it was founded. Recently, he’s been in a lot of hot water for a speech he gave in China, where he castigated other government ministries for being “alarmist” and “paranoid” …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA’s Clean Air Act tailoring rule finalized today
Just a quick post to point you to the fact sheet on the final tailoring rule, the final rule itself, and an early Greenwire piece on its content. Sure enough, as Adminstrator Jackson had been signaling for some time, the final rule significantly increases the GHG emission thresholds that will trigger New Source Review / PSD coverage, …
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CONTINUE READINGHell on earth
If you need an argument for aggressive greenhouse gas emissions reduction, geoengineering, or both — or if you just want to be depressed — consider this. Steven Sherwood and Matthew Huber report in PNAS (subscription required, see this description and story in New Scientist’s Short Sharp Science blog) that by 2300 the earth could be …
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CONTINUE READINGThe New Senate Climate Bill
The text plus descriptions are available here. I’m sure there will be a lot of discussion of the merits of the proposal on this blog and elsewhere. For now, I merely wanted to alert readers to a few key features. Goals: Reduce GHCs to 95.25% of 2005 levels by 2013, 83% by 2020, 58% by …
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CONTINUE READINGPost-Mortem on Copenhagen
Der Spiegel has a story based on tapes of the behind-the-scenes meetings of world leaders. The headline says it all: The Copenhagen Protocol: How China and India Sabotaged the UN Climate Summit. As usual, the French assessment was the most eloquent: The words suddenly burst out of French President Nicolas Sarkozy: “I say this with …
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CONTINUE READINGObama’s Science Advisor Speaks at Berkeley
On Earth Day, Presidential science advisor John Holdren delivered the ERG Annual Lecture at Berkeley. His topic was Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being: Priorities and Policies in the Obama Administration. He had many insights to offer on science and public policy, particularly with regard to energy and climate issues.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsMyTG4ZXcM&feature=channel]
CONTINUE READINGUS climate emissions down a whopping 7% in 2009
The arm of the US Dept of Energy that tracks GHG emissions has come out with final numbers for 2009 emissions. Turns out that last year saw the largest absolute and percentage drop in US CO2 emissions since we began tracking the numbers decades ago. The EIA’s report is here. Here’s a key graph illustrating the decrease: One …
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