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Climate Change News
Brought to you by the Environmental and Energy Study
Institute
Carol Werner, Executive Director
March 2, 2007
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Five Western Governors Announce Regional Greenhouse
Gas Reduction Agreement
On February 26, the Governors of Arizona, California, New
Mexico, Oregon and Washington announced the formation of the
Western Regional Climate Action Initiative to implement a joint
strategy to reduce greenhouse gases. This agreement builds
on the West Coast Global Warming Initiative between California,
Oregon, and Washington and the Southwest Climate Change
Initiative between Arizona and New Mexico. Although this
development symbolizes another large step forward for US states,
the agreement stops short of declaring specific emissions
reduction levels. However, these target levels are
expected to be set in the next six months and the group will
work out the details of establishing a cap-and-trade system over
the next year and a half.
This proposed system will allow companies in all five states
to trade emissions amongst themselves. Arizona Governor
Janet Napolitano said, “In the absence of meaningful federal
action, it is up to the states to take action to address climate
change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the country.”
This new climate initiative is a compliment to the Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) encompassing nine Northeastern
and Mid-Atlantic states, though no mention has been made as to
whether the two programs would be linked together.
Click the following links for more information: Washington
State Office of the Governor
http://www.governor.wa.gov/
UPI
http://www.upi.com/Energy/States_take_the_lead_in_reducing_emissions/20070226-033034-2811r/
Ringed Seal Pups Threatened by Climate Change
Ringed seals dig out snow caves on the sea ice, where they
surface to breathe and give birth and avoid getting eaten by
polar bears. Global warming is melting Arctic sea ice earlier,
moving up the time when snow lairs dug by ringed seals collapse.
For nursing mothers, that means their helpless pups can be left
vulnerable to polar bears and foxes, their usual enemies. A
collapsed lair leaves pups susceptible to freezing. It even
makes them vulnerable to avian predators such as ravens and
gulls.
"We're seeing snow melts happening when many of the pups
are still dependent on those caves," said Brendan Kelly, a
seal and walrus researcher for more than 30 years. "There's
this sort of counterintuitive circumstance where animals are
freezing to death as a result of climate warming," Kelly
said.
Click the following link for more information: Anchorage
Daily News
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8671415p-8565319c.html
Sea Ice Retreat Dooms Walruses
Walrus calfs have been seen swimming unaccompanied by their
mothers far from shore in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska.
Scientists speculate that melting sea ice may be forcing mothers
to abandon their hungry pups in deep water. "We were on a
station for 24 hours, and the calves would be swimming around us
crying. We couldn't rescue them," said Carin Ashjian, a
biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in
Massachusetts.
"Walruses use sea ice sort of like a conveyor
belt," said Tim Ragen, executive director of the U.S.
Marine Mammal Commission. "As it moves along, they go with
it and it takes them over feeding areas. What happens if you
don't have resting platforms, i.e., ice, to get access to these
different places?" Ashjian and other scientists concluded
that the nursing mothers were forced to abandon their calves to
feed themselves.
Click the following link for more information: Anchorage
Daily News
http://www.adn.com/front/story/8669708p-8563123c.html
GAO: US DOE Energy R&D Insufficient to Deal with
Climate Change
In his February 28 Testimony before the Subcommittee on
Energy and Water Development, House Committee on Appropriations,
Jim Wells, US Government Accountability Office (GAO) Director of
Natural Resources and Environment said, "In the wake of
increasing energy costs with the attendant threat to national
security and the growing recognition that fossil fuel
consumption is contributing to global climate change, the nation
is once again assessing how best to stimulate the deployment of
advanced energy technologies. However, it is unlikely that
DOE’s current level of R&D funding or the nation’s
current energy policies will be sufficient to deploy advanced
energy technologies in the next 25 years."
"Without sustained high energy prices or concerted,
high-profile federal government leadership, U.S. consumers are
unlikely to change their energy-use patterns, and the United
States will continue to rely upon its current energy portfolio.
Specifically, government leadership is needed to overcome
technological and market barriers to deploying advanced energy
technologies that would reduce the nation’s vulnerability to
oil supply disruptions and adverse environmental effects of
burning fossil fuels."
Click the following link for more information: GAO
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07550t.pdf
Science Panel Outlines Roadmap for Reducing Risks
from Climate Change
On February 27, the United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation)
and Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, released a
166-page report addressing key issues relating to global climate
change. The report specifically covers an overview of the
science of climate change, the importance of avoiding the risk
of major impacts resulting from climate change, options for
mitigation, and deliberate steps to prepare for anticipated
climate changes. Unlike earlier reports from other
scientific groups, this report offers clear recommendations to
the international community on how to mitigate and adapt to
climate changes. These recommendations include:
- Improving energy efficiency in the transportation sector
- Improving design and efficiency building codes for
commercial and residential buildings
- Expanding the use of biofuels by adopting standards and
creating incentives
- Only deploy coal-fired power plants that can be
retrofitted with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)
technology
- Improve preparedness/response strategies to cope with
future climate changes
- Strengthen international, national, and regional
institutions to cope with weather-related disasters with
particular emphasis on the poorer nations/people
- Help developing countries finance and deploy energy
efficient technologies
- Accelerate negotiations to develop a new international
framework for addressing climate change and sustainable
development
Timothy Wirth, President of the UN Foundation said, “The
international community should be grateful that this remarkable
panel of scientific all-stars from around the world has provided
a roadmap for mitigating and adapting to climate change. And
they have told us that there is tremendous economic opportunity
in doing so.”
Click the following links for more information: UN Foundation
http://www.unfoundation.org/media_center/press/2007/pr_22707.asp
Confronting Climate Change
www.confrontingclimatechange.org
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/science/earth/28climate.html
Dingell/Boucher Solicit Recommendations on Climate
On February 28, Representative John Dingell (D-MI), Chairman
of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Representative Rick
Boucher (D-VA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Air
Quality, sent separate letters relating to climate change policy
to various leaders of the energy industry and the environmental
community. The letters request these distinguished
organizations to provide policy recommendations on a series of
questions focusing on details relating to cap-and-trade
frameworks as well as other strategies to address greenhouse gas
emissions. Recipients will have until March 19 to submit
their recommendations.
Click the following link for more information: House Energy
and Commerce Committee
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/110nr9.shtml
Private Equity Buys TXU in Record Deal
On February 26, Dallas-based power company TXU Corp. agreed
to be acquired by a group led by private equity firms Kohlberg
Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group for $31.8
billion ($43.8 billion including debt according to research firm
Dealogic.), making it the largest leveraged buyout in history.
Under the agreement, TXU has said it would cut the number of
planned coal-fired power plants from 11 to 3, reduce or offset
its emissions significantly, and expand its renewable energy
portfolio. TXU said, the reduction in the proposed
coal-fired plants would prevent 56 million tons of annual carbon
emissions.
These commitments come at a time of uncertainty for utilities
considering building coal-fired plants because they are unsure
if the plants will be grandfathered by Congress or whether the
plants they build now will have to operate in a different
regulatory environment in the future. Regardless, the
acquisition has won the blessing of environmental groups
Environmental Defense Fund and Natural Resources Defense
Council, but other environmental advocates said the move fails
to prove that TXU had turned over a new, greener leaf.
Michael Brune, executive director of Rainforest Action Network
said of TXU’s plans, “If you are really serious about
climate change, you would not consider building new coal
plants.” The transaction will be presented to the TXU
board for a vote on Sunday, March 4.
Click the following links for more information: Washington
Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/26/AR2007022600323.html
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/business/25coal.html
Senate Energy Committee
http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=235224&Month=2&Year=2007&Party=0
New Study of Polar Secrets in Global Warming Fight
Thousands of scientists from across the globe have joined
forces to investigate the effects of global warming on the
Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets. The project, known as the
International Polar Year (IPY), will run from March 2007 to
March 2009 and will involve 50,000 people from 63 nations in 228
projects. This IPY – actually the fourth IPY, following
those in 1882-3, 1932-3, and 1957-8 – will focus on changes in
snow and ice, effects of polar changes on Northern communities,
and global linkages between ice sheets and the Earth’s oceans,
among many other more specialized projects.
These studies will be instrumental in helping scientists
understand the effects of global warming at the Earth’s poles
as well as the effects of melting ice sheets on global sea
levels. One estimate suggests global sea levels would rise
seven meters if the Greenland ice sheet were to disappear, while
sea levels could rise 200 meters if all of the Antarctic ice
sheet were to melt. These massive ice sheets hold a
significant portion of the world’s fresh water and also play
crucial, yet not fully understood, roles in the circulation of
the Earth’s ocean currents and therefore to planetary air
circulation. Martin Siegart of Edinburgh University said,
“The reality is we know so little. The difference is
that we know how important it is.”
Click the following links for more information: Reuters
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2007-02-26T140105Z_01_L26680162_RTRUKOC_0_US-CLIMATE-POLAR.xml
International Polar Year
http://www.ipy.org/
Events
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March 6, 2007
Carbon Capture Hearing
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on
Energy and Air Quality is holding a hearing on "Carbon
Capture and Sequestration: An Overview" on Tuesday March 6
at 10:00 a.m. in room 2322 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington DC.
March 7, 2007
Climate Hearing
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on
Energy and Air Quality is holding a hearing on "Climate
Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities
Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?" on Wednesday
March 7 at 10:00 a.m. in room 2322 Rayburn House Office
Building, Washington DC.
March 15-18, 2007 NAELS
Conference
The 17th Annual National Association of Environmental Law
Societies (NAELS) Conference entitled "The Future of
Environmental Protection" will encompass a variety of
contemporary topics in environmental law, with a specific focus
on legal issues relating to global climate change. Former Vice
President Al Gore will be a featured speaker. All conference
events will be held on The George Washington University campus
in downtown Washington, D.C. The conference will be held March
15-18. Click the following link for more information: George
Washington University Law School
http://www.law.gwu.edu/News/17th+Annual+NAELS+Conference/NAELS+Conference+Home.htm
