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September 8, 2014
EPA Gives Permits for Coal Plant to Store Carbon Dioxide Emissions Deep Underground
On September 2, after executing a technical review and responding to more than 280 public comments, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved permits for a group of coal companies called the FutureGen Industrial Alliance Inc. to begin a carbon capture project. The FutureGen Alliance “plans to capture and inject 1.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year for 20 years, [which is] equivalent [to] eliminating carbon emissions from 232,000 cars,” the EPA said in a news release. The annual 1.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) – a total of about 22 million metric tons over 20 years – will be sourced from a refurbished coal-powered power plant in Meredosia Illinois, and then pumped through four ground wells in Jacksonville, Illinois for long term storage, which are set to be created as early as next month. The carbon capture project can begin only after the ‘integrity’ of the wells is established. FutureGen’s CEO, Ken Humphreys, called EPA’s approval of this project, “a major milestone that will allow FutureGen 2.0 to stay on track to develop the first ever commercial-scale, near-zero emissions coal-fueled power plant with integrated carbon capture and storage.”
For more information see:
St. Louis Today, eNews Park Forest, EPA
EPA Recommends Tightening Ozone Standards
On August 29, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) staff released a report recommending restricting ozone standards to a 60 to 70 parts per billion range. In the report staff wrote, “The available scientific evidence and exposure/risk information provide strong support for considering a primary O3 standard with a revised level in order to increase public health protection, including for at-risk populations and lifestages.” The existing ozone standard, established in 2008, is 75 parts per billion. According to the report, this standard can no longer be considered to provide an “adequate margin of safety” for people’s health, as required by the Clean Air Act. Since the last standard was written, the evidence base for ozone effects on human health has grown, showing links between ozone and negative cardiovascular and respiratory health outcomes. The rule has proved controversial, as the EPA estimated a few years ago it could be one of the most expensive regulations ever, at a cost of $90 billion annually. A recent estimate from the National Association of Manufacturers put the number much higher, at $270 billion annually. Additionally, if the new standard is adopted, states that have not yet met the current standard, such as California, will face a much larger challenge. Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said, "We're going to need to have zero or near-zero emissions across the entire economy, from transportation to businesses, to residences and personal products.” Last June, EPA’s advisory board also recommended lowering the standard. According to the Los Angeles Times, the recommendation from EPA staff is the last step before the rule is reviewed by EPA’s leaders and the White House.
LA Times, The Hill, Huffington Post, Report
Republican Lawmakers Probe NRDC’s Connection to EPA Climate Rule
On September 2, a group of six Republicans spearheaded by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent letters to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) president Frances Beinecke requesting documents related to a recent EPA draft regulation on carbon emissions from existing power plants. The group of lawmakers organized after a New York Times article, “Taking Oil Industry Cue, Environmentalists Drew Emissions Blueprint,” posited that the EPA’s draft regulation was based on an NRDC proposal. “It appears that NRDC’s unprecedented access to high-level EPA officials allowed it to influence EPA policy decisions and achieve its own private agenda. Such collusive activities provide the NRDC, and their financial backers, with an inappropriate opportunity to wield the broad powers of the executive branch,” the letter says. EPA has said it will review the letter and respond. Ed Chen at the NRDC commented, “Sen. Vitter, Rep. Issa and their colleagues are acting as if fighting for public health were an un-American activity. Democratic and Republican presidents dating back to Dwight Eisenhower have worked to curb pollution and protect our natural resources.”
The National Journal
The Hill
The New York Times
Virginia Panel Advises the State to Hire Leader on Sea Level Rise
On September 2, a subpanel of the Secure Commonwealth Panel circulated a draft report with about 24 recommendations on actions Virginia can take to prepare for increased flooding and rising sea levels caused by climate change. The draft report, written by Jim Redick, the director of Norfolk’s emergency preparedness and co-chair of the subpanel that produced the report, advised Virginia to appoint a “resilience coordinator” to focus entirely on flooding. Redick based much of the report on a 2013 study by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, which said Virginia should be ready for a minimum sea level rise of 1.5 feet over the next two to five decades, with a three foot storm surge. Among other recommendations, the panel’s draft report advised the state to locate funding to help communities deal with flooding; consider requiring property owners to reveal flood risks before sales; and create a four-year plan for projects to help citizens, such as educational programs or floodwalls. “There would be a phased approach to knocking these out,” commented Redick. “None of these solutions would happen overnight.” The Secure Commonwealth Panel is an advisory board in the executive branch of the government of Virginia, and advises and issues recommendations to Governor Terry McAuliffe on the state’s emergency management and preparedness. The Secure Commonwealth panel will operate adjacently to a recently created General Assembly panel, as well as a climate-change commission created by Governor McAuliffe.
In related news on September 2, the first meeting of the General Assembly panel dedicated to studying flooding impacts in Virginia caused by rising sea levels from climate change took place. At the meeting, the panel appointed Delegate Chris Stolle (R-Virginia Beach) as Chairman of the panel, and discussed the risks and expenses from increased flooding. Del. Stolle and Senator Mamie Locke (D-Hampton) partnered earlier this year on the resolution that created the panel. “There is no doubt that Virginia is at significant risk for property damage and loss of life from flooding,” said Del. Stolle. “We know we have a problem; we have studied it thoroughly, and it is time to take action.”
The Roanoke Times, Richmond Times Dispatch, Study
China Confirms Plans for National Carbon Market
On August 31, China, the world’s largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter, announced plans to develop a national carbon market as early as 2016. China was originally reluctant to do so, according to the Carbon Brief, as “doing so could impede their economic growth.” This is a big step for China, which has pledged to reduce its current GHG emissions, per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) to “40-45 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.” In a cap and trade carbon market, regulators set an initial cap on the permissible amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that participating companies can emit, gradually tightening it over time. The participating companies are then assigned one permit per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) allowed. Those that emit more CO2 than is permitted can buy ‘allowances’ from those who have successfully curbed their GHG emissions. In 2011, Chinese government officials originally launched several “experimental markets” in the provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Guangdong, and Hubei. Together these individual markets, although founded on different criteria, “covered just over a billion tonnes of CO2.”
Bloomberg, Reuters, Business Spectator, Business Green
New Poll Shows Democrats View Climate Change as Equally Threatening as ISIS
On August 28, Pew Research published a poll asking Americans what they see as the greatest threats to the United States. The findings reveal that Americans registered as Democrats view climate change as a much greater threat than registered Republicans. “Global climate change registers for Democrats as among the greatest threats to the US,” with 68 percent saying it is a major threat, according to the poll. “By comparison, just 25 percent of Republicans see global climate change as a major threat to the US.” When asked about Islamic militant group ISIS, 78 percent of Republicans saw it as a “major threat” to the United States, as did 65 percent of Democrats – interestingly, fewer than the amount of Democrats who see climate change as a major threat. These responses were gathered between August 20 and 24 from a sample of more than 1,500 people nationwide. The partisan difference in views on climate change was the largest among the nine “threats” surveyed.
National Journal, Washington Examiner, Poll
Climate Change Will Hurt Tourism in Hawaii, Report Says
On August 28, a report examining the impacts of climate change on Hawaii was published by the University of Hawai’i Sea Grant College Program (UH Sea Grant) with funding from the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA). HTA funded this study to understand the impacts of climate change on tourism, Hawaii’s largest industry with an annual revenue of $14.5 billion in 2013. The report concluded that climate change is damaging Hawaii’s ecosystem by increasing the average temperature of air over land and the sea-surface of the ocean, as well as disrupting rainfall and flooding patterns, leading to less precipitation overall and more flash-flooding. Hawaii has experienced 0.5-1.3 inches of sea level rise each decade for the last 100 years, and the report predicted an additional one to three feet of sea level rise by 2100. To minimize or overcome these negative impacts on tourism, the island population and ecology, the report recommends a combination of mitigation and adaptation efforts. Efforts include educating and informing the Hawaiian people about the consequences of a changing climate; using traditional Hawaiian knowledge to plan for climate change impacts; promoting resilience across sectors such as public health and transportation; and integrating climate change policy into planning and managing of communities and natural resources. Dolan Eversole, an agent with the UH Sea Grant program, said, “There’s a lot we can do to start preparing. It’s like a freight train. We can see it coming. Are we going to be ready?”
Huffington Post, Report
World Meteorological Society Begins “Weather Reports of the Future” Series
On September 1, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) began a “Weather Reports of the Future” series by posting a hypothetical weather forecast from the year 2050 on its YouTube channel. To support the United Nations (UN) Climate Summit, which will be held in New York on September 23, the WMO is releasing a weather forecast for the future every day. WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said, “The weather reports are potential scenarios compatible with the most up-to-date climate science. . . They paint a compelling picture of what life could be like on a warmer planet.” The series features TV weather reporters from all over the world reporting on scientifically projected climate change impacts such as rising temperatures and rising sea levels. The first episode highlighted possible global events in different languages, with American reporters announcing Miami South Beach “is under water” and another casualty in Arizona from the “mega-drought.” Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said, “I would like to thank these weathermen and women for volunteering their time and their skill to communicate to millions of people the reality we are all facing by 2050 if climate change is left unaddressed. I am sure their films will inspire everyone of the absolute necessity of a meaningful, universal new agreement in Paris in 2015." UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged countries to compromise and act together against climate change, saying, “Climate change is affecting the weather everywhere. It makes it more extreme and disturbs established patterns. That means more disasters, more uncertainty. We can reduce the risks by cutting global greenhouse gas emissions and building low-carbon economies. Let’s work together to make our societies safer and more resilient.” To see the daily weather forecasts, visit WMO’s website.
Mashable, Ria Novosti, News Australia
Reuters Begins Investigative Series on Sea-Level Rise
On September 2, Reuters began a multi-part investigative series on sea level rise, “Water’s Edge: The crisis of rising sea levels.” Led by reporters Ryan McNeill, Deborah Nelson and Duff Wilson, the series will look at “the phenomenon of rising seas, its effects on the United States, and the country’s response to an increasingly watery world. Other stories will show how other nations are coping.” The first article in the series describes US communities threatened by sea level rise, and the controversial and expensive decisions they face. The authors analyzed “millions of data entries and spent months reporting from affected communities to show that, while government at all levels remains largely unable or unwilling to address the issue, coastal flooding on much of the densely populated Eastern Seaboard has surged in recent years as sea levels have risen.” Reuters, which examined over 25 million readings from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tidal gauges, independently corroborated a NOAA study done in July 2014, which found that flooding incidents have increased in frequency, due to sea level rise from climate change. Sea level rise affects the 86,000 miles of coast in the United States, and over 300 counties located along that coastline. Reuters cites three common prescriptions for these communities to take: coastal defense projects such as seawalls; adaptation measures such as raising buildings; or relocation. As there is no national policy toward sea level rise, communities are making these hard choices on their own. The next article will be on “How U.S. policy promotes development along endangered shores.”
Reuters
Years of Living Dangerously Wins Emmy for Best Documentary
On August 16, the climate change series Years of Living Dangerously won the Emmy for “Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.” The show was also nominated for “Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming.” The series, which premiered in April 2014 exclusively on Showtime, has now been sold to broadcasters in more than 75 countries and regions. “Years of Living Dangerously’s Emmy win further proves that the far reaching effects of global warming and the producers and stars willingness to bring this major worldwide issue to the forefront of the public’s consciousness provide for ground breaking television,” commented John Pollack, the president of Electus International, the company which owns international rights to Years of Living Dangerously. “The drastic effects that climate change is having on our world is a global problem, and nobody can tell that story better than James Cameron, Joel Bach, David Gelber and Dan Abbasi.” The show features many famous actors, actresses, scientists, writers and political figures, including Matt Damon, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Don Cheadle, New York Times reporter Thomas Friedman, Harrison Ford and Jessica Alba. Its executive producer staff is also star-studded, including James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and former producers from 60 Minutes Joel Bach and David Gelber (who had already won 12 Emmys between them).
Newsweek, Marketwatch, The Emmys
Hiatuses in Global Warming Will Becomes Less Likely in Future, Study Says
On August 20, The Geophysical Research Letters journal published a study saying current trends in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will soon bring an end to “hiatuses” in global warming. Natural events like volcanic eruptions, changing temperature patterns over the Pacific Ocean (called the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation, or IPO), and ocean heat absorption can create cooling effects that temporarily balance out the warming effects of GHG emissions, creating a perceived “hiatus” in warming. Recently from 1998 to 2012, natural causes such as the IPO and ocean heat absorption caused a 15-year hiatus in warming, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The study says these effects will no longer be sufficient to slow warming trends in the future. “From about 2030, it's highly unlikely that we will get one of these cooling decades,” said Nicola Maher, lead author of the paper from University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia. “When it does cool, it will not be enough to overcome the warming.” Using around 30 simulations of various events, researchers predicted that by 2100, even very large volcanic eruptions would fail to bring about another hiatus. These trends have key implications for the food sector. Professor Rachel Kyte, a vicepresident and special envoy for climate change at the World Bank, stated, “Unless we chart a new course, we will find ourselves staring volatility and disruption in the food system in the face, not in 2050, not in 2040, but potentially within the next decade.”
Sydney Morning Herald, New Scientist, Study
Long-Duration Study Reveals Antarctic Sea Level Is Rising
On August 31, a study published by Natural Geoscience found that the Antarctic sea levels are rising at a faster pace than the average sea level rise rate of the Southern Ocean, due to global warming-caused melting glaciers. The study showed that ice shelf melting is dumping 350 billion metric tons of fresh water into the ocean per year, contributing an additional two millimeters to sea level rise in the region every year in the period from 1992 to 2011. “Freshwater is less dense than salt water and so in regions where an excess of freshwater has accumulated we expect a localized rise in sea level,” explained Dr. Craig Rye, professor at University of Southampton, UK. The influx of freshwater raises sea levels not only by increasing the volume of seawater, but also by reducing the salinity of ocean water and warming its temperature, causing it to expand. The study looked into and excluded other possible forces of Antarctic sealevel rising, such as wind force pushing water up against the landmass. Dr. Rye explained, “We can estimate the amount of water that wind is pushing on to the continental shelf, and show with some certainty that it is very unlikely that this wind forcing is causing the sea level rise . . . And because we can model the freshwater forcing, and the fact that this is so much more like what we see in the real world, we can come to the confident conclusion that the signal is driven by freshwater forcing.”
KTVU, BBC, Study
Climate Change Escalating Risks to Threatened Pupfish in Nevada
On August 27, Water Resources Research journal published a study finding that the endangered Devils Hole pupfish population has hit record lows due to the impacts of climate change on its habitat. These tiny blue fish have been living in a Nevada desert cavern for 10,000 years, but the rising temperatures of the geothermal water in the cave is close to intolerable in the shallow area where their breeding cycle takes place, threatening their existence. Since these fish are isolated in this single cavern, they have no opportunity to migrate to a new environment that can support their needs. "Climate change is threatening the already small population size,” explained aquatic ecologist Kevin Wilson of Death Valley National Park. The population, which numbered 553 fish in 1972, was down to 65 fish in September 2013, putting them at “significant risk of extinction,” according to the Nevada Fish and Wildlife Service. The research team conducted the study using fiber-optic cables, temperature sensing equipment, and numerical models combining historic and current data. Professor Scott Tyler of University of Nevada, Reno explained, “the techniques used to model the impacts of climate change for the Devils Hole pupfish can be applied to other species in other desert locations to see how they might respond to the changing climate."
Washington Post, University Herald, Nature World News, Nevada Fish and Wildlife Office, University of Nevada, Reno, Study
Headlines
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1. Climate Change Affects Even the Definition of Wilderness in Idaho
2. Increased Precipitation in New York from Climate Change Causing Release of Raw Sewage
3. Wyoming Plans to Implement Test Carbon Capture at a Coal Plant
4. Pacific Islands at Severe Risk from Climate Change
5. Gulf of Maine Ocean Warming Faster than 99 Percent of World’s Oceans
6. New York Times Names New Editor of Climate Change and Environmental News
Upcoming Events
1. Climate Week in New York City
From September 22 to 28, the Climate Group and CDP will convene the sixth Climate Week NYC. There will be about 100 events, meetings and activities all over New York City, leading up to United Nations General Assembly and Ban Ki-Moon’s Climate Summit, at which many heads of State are expected.
Check out climateweeknyc.org for an updated list of events.
2. United Nations Climate Summit
On September 23, United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will host a summit on climate change at UN Central Plaza. The one-day event is meant to help leaders prepare for 2015 climate talks in Paris.
www.un.org/climatechange/summit
3. United Nations General Assembly
On September 16, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly will convene at UN Headquarters in New York City. The General Debate will begin on September 24, the day after Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s Climate Summit. It will close on October 1st.
http://uncsd.iisd.org/events/69th-session-of-the-un-general-assembly-unga-69/
4. Carbon Accounting and Vehicle Fuels: A Research Update
September 18, 2014 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm Captiol Hill (location TBD, please check the EESI website as the briefing approaches) Free and open to the public
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a briefing examining recent research regarding the carbon dioxide (CO2) intensity of transportation fuels, such as crude oil and ethanol. The panel will also consider the economic costs and benefits of renewable fuels as a CO2 reduction strategy.
Advancing science-based climate solutions
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