USA
This thread is for discussion of American aspects of global warming.
Climate Conversation Group
Taking the heat out of global warming
For the first time in history, people shouting “the end is nigh” are somehow
For the first time in history, people shouting “the end is nigh” are somehow
the sane ones, while those of us who say it is not are now the lunatics.
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Cool summer has vintners fretting about late harvest
NCDC data shows that the contiguous USA has not warmed in the past decade, summers are cooler, winters are getting colder
Posted on November 5, 2011 by Anthony Watts
Warming, for the USA seems pretty “stalled” to me in the last 10-15 years. Bear in mind that BEST uses the same data source for the USA, the USCHN2 data. Granted, this isn’t a standard 30 year climatology period we are examining, but the question about the last 10 years is still valid. “Aerosol masking” has been the reason given by the Team. Blame China.
See update [at end of post]: New comparison graph of US temperatures in 1999 to present added – quite an eye opener – Anthony
>>>>>>>>>>>>.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/05/ncdc-data-shows-that-the-contiguous-usa-has-not-warmed-in-the-past-decade-summers-are-cooler-winters-are-getting-colder/#comment-789716
Is La Nina cooling San Diego’s weather?
Temperatures continue well below average in Southern California
Record breaking cold across southern Arizona
Posted: Nov 30, 2010 10:40 AM
Updated: Nov 30, 2010 11:00 AM
SOUTHERN ARIZONA – A number of locations feel record low temperatures this morning, says News 4 Meteorologist Chris Nallan.
Tucson, Douglas, Benson, and Safford are just a few that feel the extreme cold this morning. Tucson dropped to 23 breaking the previous record 24 set back in 1934. Douglas shatterd the record of 19 set back in 2004 dropping to 11. Benson also broke a record plunging down to 10 degrees early this morning.
Northern Mexico cold snap paralyzes Ciudad Juarez
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico | Fri Feb 4, 2011
(Reuters) – Freezing weather and snow paralyzed the border city of Ciudad Juarez on Friday, knocking out electricity and water in thousands of homes and closing roads and factories.
Record low temperatures hit the city, across from El Paso, Texas, from Tuesday, which is already suffering from some of the worst violence in Mexico’s drug war, fluctuating between -0.4 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-18 and -10 degrees Celsius).
“There have been cold temperatures in the past, but nothing that has lasted for so many days. It’s been 40 years since the city has seen an emergency like this,” said Efren Matamoros, head of the city’s civil protection service.
Units at 17 power stations — with 6,792 megawatts of generating capacity — in northern Mexico shut down due to the unusually cold weather, forcing the national electricity monopoly to ask factories to curb usage…….continues
35 zoo animals freeze to death in northern Mexico
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Thirty-five animals at a zoo in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua have frozen to death during the region’s coldest weather in six decades.
Largest US food distributor declares force majeure on fresh fruit and vegetables due to “devastating” freeze of “unprecedented magnitude”
Sysco, the largest wholesale food distributor in the US and primary supplier to most supermarket chains, has declared force majeure (the “act of God” clause) that allows suspension of contracted prices and supply of fresh fruit and vegetables due to the “unprecedented magnitude” of “devastating” and “extreme freezing temperatures” in a “very broad section of major growing regions in Mexico.” Sysco also reports “Florida is normally a major supplier for these items as well, but they have already been struck with severe freeze damage in December and January and up until now have had to purchase product out of Mexico to fill their commitments, that is no longer an option.”
See
Release from Sysco to supermarket buyers
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2011/02/largest-us-food-distributor-declares.html
Freezing temperatures have growers working overtime | Fresno, California
[...]
That protection hasn’t come cheap. Nilmeier uses wind machines to prevent his oranges from frost damage. The machines run on 15 gallons of propane fuel an hour. “I’ve got 6 of them out there and we’ve been averaging about 8 hours of wind machine running per night. So I’m looking between 16 and 17,000 dollars a night,” said Nilmeier.
…The citrus industry is estimated to be worth more than $342 million in Fresno County according to the Agriculture Department. The County’s citrus industry loss more than $117 million in the last major freeze in 2007, a financial tragedy growers don’t want to see again.
>>>>>>>>>
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/ag_watch&id=8457551
Mandarins hit hardest by cold temperatures
January 27, 2012 8:44 AM
Mandarins suffered the worst damage from the more than four weeks of below freezing temperatures that struck the citrus belt this winter.
California Citrus Mutual (CCM) estimated Wednesday that approximately 20% of this season’s mandarin crop will be lost to frost damage.
Mandarins is about a $100 million a year crop in Tulare County.
The general consensus across the industry is positive in respect to fruit quality considering the obstacles growers were faced with this season.
However, the more than 25 days of temperatures dipping at or below freezing cost growers millions of dollars. The number of freeze nights was a record.
Temperatures many times dipped below 26 degrees, but conditions were good enough that many growers were able to raise those temperatures 3 to 4 degrees, above safe levels.
Temperatures below 28 degrees for more than four hours can cause serious damage.
Growers have spent on average $300-$400 per acre on frost protection, totaling approximately $100 million to preserve the 2011-2012 crop and ensure only quality fruit reaches the consumer, stated Citrus Mutual in a press release.
Frost protection was utilized in December and January in order to raise grove temperatures to 32 degrees, the threshold for mandarin varieties.
[...]
Damage to the navel crop was significantly less with an estimated 10% of the crop damaged. Navel oranges have a much higher tolerance of cold temperatures, with a threshold of 27 degrees versus 32 degrees for mandarin varieties.
http://www.recorderonline.com/news/temperatures-51518-mandarins-citrus.html
SUPER SWIMMERS: “We knew it was going to be cold,” he said. “But we weren’t quite ready for it to be that cold.”
Old Farmer’s Almanac: Global cooling to continue
September snow surprise in Montana
Skiers rejoice as early snow hits the West
By Laura Bly, USA TODAY Posted Oct 27 2010 9:28AM
Forget the jack o’ lanterns: With this week’s early snowstorms from Wyoming to Colorado – and forecasts for a stellar season, thanks to La Niña – skiers and snowboarders are dreaming of carving turns down powder-draped slopes.
Snow Is A Thing Of The Past
Posted on November 9, 2010 by stevengoddard
Wolf Creek Ski Area is open
US Winter Temperatures Dropping At A Rate Of 40 Degrees Per Century
November 14, 2010 by stevengoddard
Since the start of the millennium, US winter temperatures have been plummeting.
It was also the snowiest decade on record in the Northern Hemisphere.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
410 PM PST WED NOV 24 2010
.DISCUSSION…AS OF 3:10 PM PST WEDNESDAY…FORECAST FOCUS IS ON RECORD COLD TEMPERATURES TONIGHT ALONG WITH FREEZE/FROST ADVISORIES.
CONTINUED COLD ON THURSDAY NIGHT/FRIDAY MORNING…THEN RAIN BY
SATURDAY.
FOLKS WILL REMEMBER THANKSGIVING 2010 FOR ITS RECORD COLD
TEMPERATURES (AND DEEP SNOW IN THE SIERRA IF YOUR A SKIER). ALREADY
BROKE RECORD LOWS TODAY FOR THE CITY GOING BACK 104 YEARS. CONDITIONS ARE RIPE FOR AN EVEN COLDER NIGHT TONIGHT. CURRENTLY LATE AFTERNOON DEWPOINTS ARE RUNNING IN THE UPPER TEENS TO LOWER/MID 20S. RULE OF THUMB SUGGESTS THATS HOW COLD OVERNIGHT LOWS COULD GET IN AN IDEAL SET UP. ONLY LIMITING FACTOR AT THIS POINT IS WINDS ARE STILL
RELATIVELY STRONG…EVEN AT THE SURFACE AND ABOVE THE BOUNDARY
LAYER. DOWN HERE IN MONTEREY UNDER FULL SUNSHINE WE CANT CRACK 50
DEGREES THIS AFTERNOON. EXPECT TEMPERATURES TO PLUMMET AS SOON AS
THE SUN GOES DOWN THIS EVENING. CURRENT TEMP IN DOWNTOWN SF IS 50
DEGREES. THE RECORD LOW FOR TOMORROW IS 42 DEGREES AND GOES BACK 118 YEARS! WE MAY BREAK THAT RECORD SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT. QUICK GLANCE OF DATA SUGGESTS ONLY TWO TIMES IN NOVEMBER THAT THE TEMPERATURE HAS FALLEN BELOW 40 DEGREES IN THE CITY. FREEZE AND FROST ADVISORIES ARE UP ACROSS THE DISTRICT TO HANDLE THIS COLD
SPELL. GOOD NEWS IS CONDITIONS ARE DRY ACROSS THE STATE FOR LAST
MINUTE TRAVEL PLANS TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING.
Continues………
The heavy snow showers that hit Chicago Saturday have left the area, but portions of northwest Indiana could see an additional eight inches of lake effect snow before the system completely passes Sunday afternoon.
Dec 5 2010
The snowstorm dropped more than five inches on the Chicago area Saturday and canceled more than 325 flights.
Bitter cold temperatures are expected to replace the snow this week.
A winter storm advisory remains in effect until 6 a.m. Sunday for Lake County, Ind., according to the National Weather Service’s website. The advisory means periods of snow will cause travel difficulties and motorists should prepare for snow-covered roads and limited visibilities.
Lake effect snow along the Lake Michigan shore is expected to shift from the Illinois shore into Indiana, the weather service said. As much as five additional inches of snow is possible, but amounts may vary greatly over short distances.
Further east, a more serious lake effect snow warning will remain in effect until 9 a.m. for Porter County, Ind., the weather service said. As much as eight additional inches of snow are possible in this area, which includes Valparaiso, Ind.
Lake-effect snow showers typically align in bands that can produce several inches of snow per hour for several hours, the weather service said. Visibility can drop to zero in minutes and travel is strongly discouraged.
In Chicago, the heaviest snow has moved out of the area, but flurries remain possible until 9 a.m. Sunny skies are expected in the afternoon, but temperatures will only reach about 23 degrees.
The weather service reported more than five inches of snow fell at O’Hare Airport Saturday — breaking the old record for Dec. 4 snow set in 1964.
More than 325 flights were canceled at O’Hare Airport and “a few delays” were reported at Midway Airport, according to the city’s Department of Aviation.
Bitter cold temperatures are expected to move into the area the rest of the week, the weather service said. Highs are only expected to be in the low-20s early this week, and single digit lows are possible.
© Copyright 2009 Sun-Times Media, LLC
Storm socks Midwest, cancels flights, closes roads
Dec 13 2010 – Associated Press
CHICAGO – A powerful winter storm roared across the upper Midwest on Sunday with high winds and mounds of snow closing roads in several states and canceling more than 1,400 flights in Chicago.
At least one weather-related death was reported Sunday as the storm system that dumped nearly 2 feet of snow in parts of Minnesota and caused the Metrodome’s inflatable, Teflon roof to collapse moved east. The Minnesota Vikings-New York Giants game was pushed to Monday night at Detroit’s Ford Field.
A blizzard warning was in effect Sunday for parts of eastern Iowa, southeastern Wisconsin, northwestern Illinois, and northern Michigan, according to the National Weather Service. Surrounding areas, including Chicago, were under winter storm warnings. “It’s going to be blustery,” said Ben Deubelbeiss, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Romeoville, Ill.
The winter weather, with blowing snow that severely limited visibility, wreaked havoc on air and road travel. In the Chicago area, wind gusts of up to 50 mph, temperatures in the teens, wind chills well below zero were expected along with up to 8 inches of snow.
More than 1,200 flights were canceled at O’Hare International Airport and more than 250 were canceled at Midway International Airport, Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Karen Pride said. Both airports expected more cancellations and reported significant delays.
Major highways in several states were closed due to poor driving conditions and accidents.
US east coast in chaos following rare October snowstorm
A rare October snowstorm that also cut power to more than 2 million homes and killed at least three people.
The heaviest snow was recorded in Western Massachusetts, where 27.8 inches was measured in Plainfield, according to the National Weather Service. Just 45 minutes northwest of New York City, in West Milford, New Jersey, 19 inches of snow fell.
“A historic October storm is still crushing New England with heavy snow and howling winds,” meteorologist Meghan Evans said on Accuweather.com on Sunday.
[...]
Snow fell on Saturday, some at record amounts, across most of Pennsylvania well into Massachusetts after blanketing parts of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.
The unseasonably early storm broke a snow record that had stood since 1969 for New York’s Central Park, which received 2.9 inches of snow, the National Weather Service said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/8858344/US-east-coast-in-chaos-following-rare-October-snowstorm.html
Record snowfall for “Climate Justice Day” in New York
Posted on October 30, 2011 by Anthony Watts
It just doesn’t get any better than this. The Occupy Wall Street Mob had a “Climate Justice Day” scheduled for today. I don’t think they figured on a “Nightmare on Wall Street” irony like this.
>>>>>>>>>>
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/30/record-snowfall-for-climate-action-day-in-new-york/
Southern California’s summer to end with a chill: It was the coldest in decades
Climate Scene: Canada
Sorry Canada – you’ve been annexed by USA!
Edmonton: Only Siberia was colder
Edmonton was the chilliest place in North America Sunday, says Environment Canada meteorologist. December 15, 2009
Edmonton Cold – Google Search
-46 degrees Celcius!
Vancouver braced to break a cold record Tuesday
Postmedia News November 22, 2010
VANCOUVER — Vancouver has a chance to break a 25-year-old cold weather record on Tuesday by a chilly four degrees.
Environment Canada forecaster Gary Dickinson predicts a daytime high of -6° C on Tuesday, which would smash the record -1.9° C high of Nov. 23, 1985, by more than four degrees.
“There is an Arctic ridge of high pressure over the entire province. Temperatures are chilly and below normal,” he said Monday.
Dickinson said conditions are expected to remain cool until warmer temperatures arrive on Thursday night, bringing rain.
Vancouver is expected to reach a high of -2° C on Monday, which is unseasonably cold, but a lot more agreeable than other places in the country.
It was a frigid -26° C in Fort Nelson on Monday; in Edmonton, site of Sunday’s Grey Cup game, it was -25° C.
© Copyright (c) The Province
Canada cuts environment spending
Stephen Harper’s administration is cutting budgets for climate, conservation and ozone monitoring projects
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/09/canada-cuts-environment-spending
Environment Canada is roughly analogous to a combination of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Environment Canada had a 1.07- billion-dollar budget in 2010, which has now been cut 20 percent to 854 million dollars for 2011-12. The EPA and NOAA budgets for 2010 were 10.3 billion and 5.5 billion dollars, respectively.
Some 776 Environment Canada employees have been told their jobs may be terminated. That’s 11 percent of the current staff in a government department that has been a favourite target for budget and staff cuts for the past decade, to the point where it was barely functional, said Duck.
Computer-modeled tropical fish to boom in Canada, while actual tropical fish freeze to death in Florida
Climate change could cause drastic drop in fish catches: UBC – News1130 [linked]
2012: Florida Fish Farms Struggle With Recent Cold Snap [linked]
http://tomnelson.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/aaas-update-computer-modeled-tropical.html
3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in North Dakota and Montana’s Bakken Formation—25 Times More Than 1995 Estimate
For discussion see “Energy and fuel”
Google news here re tax dodges and Democrat – Obama link.
This obviously should read: Google IN the news (climate related) and the GOOGLE – Democrat – Obama link . Sorry for disseminating confusion.
California could feel Spain’s pain
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
This article from the Orange County Register is by Dr. Gabriel Calzada, professor of applied environmental economics in Spain and lead author of a 2009 study detailing the economic costs of Spain’s experiment with the green economy.
The Unseen Carbon Agenda: EPA wants to remove 7% of U.S. power generation
October 26, 2010 WSJ.COM REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Anyone who cares about the U.S. economy is breathing easier now that cap and tax appears to be on the political garbage barge, but don’t be so sure. The White House is still pursuing its carbon agenda through regulation, albeit with almost no public attention, and a new study shows the damage that is already being done.
Yesterday the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a highly regarded federal energy advisory body, released an exhaustive “special assessment” of this covert program. NERC estimates that the Environmental Protection Agency’s pending electric utility regulations will subtract between 46 and 76 gigawatts of generating capacity from the U.S. grid by 2015. To put those numbers in perspective, the worst-case scenario would amount to a reduction of about 7.2% of national power generation, and almost all of it will hit coal-fired plants, the workhorse that supplies a little over half of U.S. electricity.
Quantifying the US Agricultural Productivity Response to Solar Cycle 24
David Archibald 30th December, 2008
Assuming that two thirds of the productivity increase in mid-western states from 1990 to 2004 was climatically driven, then the productivity decline in this region due to Solar Cycle 24 is expected to be of the order of 30%. The total US agricultural productivity decrease would be less than that at possibly 20%, equating to the export share of US agricultural production.
See – “Economics” Global Cooling – Economic Impacts
Geoengineering sparks international ban, first-ever congressional report
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 30, 2010
A senior House Democrat from Tennessee issued the first congressional report on geoengineering Friday, just as delegates from 193 nations approved a ban on such research under a global biodiversity treaty.
The debate over whether humans should explore ways to manipulate the climate has taken on increased urgency over the past year, as efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming have encountered political roadblocks in the United States and elsewhere.
The measure adopted under the Convention on Biological Diversity, which recently concluded in Nagoya, Japan, states “that no climate-related geo-engineering activities that may affect biodiversity take place, until there is an adequate scientific basis on which to justify such activities and appropriate consideration of the associated risks for the environment and biodiversity and associated social, economic and cultural impacts, with the exception of small-scale scientific research studies” under controlled circumstances.
EPA CO2 regulation lawsuits – Google Search
US Senate defeats move to stop EPA CO2 regulation – Google Search
Senate defeats move to stop EPA CO2 regulation
By Timothy Gardner and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON | Thu Jun 10, 2010 7:42pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Thursday killed legislation that would have stripped the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from large factories, electric power companies and automobiles.
The defeat of the Republican-inspired measure knocked down the most serious legislative challenge the EPA faced on regulating planet-warming gases, although it may have to contend with lawsuits from companies and industry groups.
In a procedural move, the Senate voted 53-47 to block the bill offered by Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski.
States Ask Court To Allow EPA To Enforce Greenhouse Gas Rules
Dow Jones Newswires | 02 November 2010
Good News! If GOP retakes control of Congress, plans attacks on EPA, climate scientists
USA Today | 02 November 2010
Obama warns not to ‘ignore’ climate science, but admits cap-and-trade won’t move
By Ben Geman – 11/03/10 02:22 PM ET
President Obama said Wednesday that policymakers must not “ignore” global warming science, but he declined to provide a full-throated endorsement of upcoming Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse-gas rules.
Obama, speaking at a White House press conference the day after huge GOP electoral gains, called for bipartisan cooperation on energy policy. He said he’s open to several ideas on climate instead of cap-and-trade legislation that he acknowledged won’t move in coming years.
The climate issue remains front-and-center because EPA is moving ahead to limit emissions under its existing powers.
“With respect to the EPA, the smartest thing for us to do is to see if we can get Democrats and Republicans in a room who are serious about energy independence, and are serious about keeping our air clean and our water clean and dealing with the issue of greenhouse gases, and seeing are there ways that we can make progress in the short-term and invest in technologies in the long-term that start giving us the tools to reduce greenhouse gases and solve this problem,” Obama said when asked about EPA regulation of heat-trapping gases.
But Obama also clearly affirmed EPA’s right to act, citing the landmark 2007 Supreme Court ruling that paved the way for the agency to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Cap-and-trade legislation that would have largely supplanted the upcoming EPA rules collapsed in Congress this year.
“The EPA is under a court order that says greenhouse gases are a pollutant that falls under their jurisdiction. One of the things that is very important for me is not to have us ignore the science, but rather to find ways that we can solve these problems that don’t hurt the economy, that encourage the development of clean energy in this country, that in fact may give us opportunities to create entire new industries and create jobs and that put us in a competitive posture around the world,” Obama said.
continues…
EPA moving unilaterally to limit greenhouse gases
(AP) – 25 Dec 2010
WASHINGTON (AP) — Stymied in Congress, the Obama administration is moving unilaterally to clamp down on greenhouse emissions, announcing plans for new power plants and oil refinery emission standards over the next year.
In an announcement posted on the agency’s website late Thursday, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson said the aim was to better cope with pollution contributing to climate change.
“We are following through on our commitment to proceed in a measured and careful way to reduce GHG pollution that threatens the health and welfare of Americans,” Jackson said in a statement. She said emissions from power plants and oil refineries constitute about 40 percent of the greenhouse gas pollution in this country.
Continues……..
EPA’s Move On CO2 Reaps 24 Lawsuits
August 9, 2010, CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING NEWS (C&EN)
Climate Change: Plaintiffs challenge agency’s plan, based on ‘endangerment’ decision
Some 24 states, environmental groups, trade associations, and conservative organizations sued the Environmental Protection Agency this week, challenging its plan to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
The lawsuits would block or modify EPA’s attempt to reduce emissions from large industrial greenhouse gas sources. The agency’s regulation is based on its “endangerment” finding that greenhouse gases, including CO2, endanger public health and should therefore be regulated. Suits came from those on both sides of the issue: groups that back EPA’s approach but want to make it broader, and industry groups and states that oppose EPA’s use of the Clean Air Act to cut CO2 emissions.
In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that EPA could regulate CO2 as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. As a result, EPA said last December that it would do so and began the regulatory process for controlling CO2 and five other greenhouse gases emitted by vehicles, electric utilities, chemical companies, and other sources (C&EN, Dec. 14, 2009, page 7).
Since then, EPA has moved ahead with final regulations for motor vehicles and is just now developing regulations for industrial sources. The deadline for filing litigation to block the agency was Aug. 2.
The agency, however, remains adamant in its push to move ahead. When recently challenged by petitions from 10 states, trade associations, and conservative organizations that opposed EPA on scientific grounds, agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson denied the petitions, saying, “The endangerment finding is based on years of science from the U.S. and around the world.” She chided the petitioners, urging them to join “the vast majority of the American people who want to see more green jobs, more clean energy innovation.”
The importance of EPA’s proposed regulation grows as Congress appears unable to muster support for legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Just last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) withdrew a weak energy bill from Senate consideration. The bill included a few energy provisions, but it primarily proposed to remove a cap on offshore oil spill liability, which Republicans and a smattering of Democrats opposed. Earlier, Reid also dropped efforts to introduce a cap-and-trade bill, saying it lacked sufficient support (C&EN, Aug. 2, page 12).
Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2010 American Chemical Society
“When recently challenged by petitions from 10 states, trade associations, and conservative organizations that opposed EPA on scientific grounds, agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson denied the petitions, saying, “The endangerment finding is based on years of science from the U.S. and around the world.” She chided the petitioners, urging them to join “the vast majority of the American people who want to see more green jobs, more clean energy innovation.””
This would include Dr Roy Clark with his submission to the EPA endangerment finding and Steve McIntyre with his Climate Audit Submission to EPA
Dr Clark’s submission has since morphed into a formal paper – see “Look Away Warmists: 2 New Papers to Ignore”
Steven Milloy: Hook ‘em Horns: Texas sues EPA anew on climate
December 22nd 2010
The state of Texas has filed a new lawsuit against the EPA and the climate rules slate to take effect on Jan. 2.
Following the rejection of a request for a stay of the EPA rules by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Texas has filed its new effort to stay the rules in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
In petitioning the court to review the EPA’s action, Texas claims:
The GHG SIP Call is contrary to both the Clean Air Act and the Constitution. Recognizing the proper role of the States, the Clean Air Act declares pollution prevention to be “the primary responsibility of States and local governments,” and not the federal government. 42 U.S.C. § 7401(a)(3). EPA rejects that approach and seeks to deprive Texas of its right to manage its air resources. It does so by unlawfully replacing a properly-approved Texas SIP, despite Texas’ strong track record of reducing pollution and improving air quality in the State. The United States Constitution also denies the federal government the authority to commandeer the States to carry out its ends, but here EPA attempts just that by threatening Texas with severe economic harm unless the State adopts, on an unrealistic timeline, EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations, which are themselves unlawful.
Continues…………
——————————————————————————————————————–
This is really about States sovereignty vs rampant federal dictatorship.
See State Sovereignty Movement – 32 & Counting!
US EPA to curb emissions pending court challenges
December 11, 2010 – 11:49AM – smh
The US Environmental Protection Agency can enforce rules over emissions related to climate change while a lawsuit opposing them is pending, a federal appeals court said.
Industry groups and coal mining companies, including Massey Energy Co., last year asked for a review of the agency’s rules on greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions. The EPA rules challenged were published on the Federal Register in December 2009, according to the lawsuit.
The US Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington today denied a request by the challengers to put enforcement of the climate change rules on hold while the lawsuit is pending.
“Petitioners have not satisfied the stringent standards required for a stay pending court review,” the appeals panel said. “Petitioners have not shown that the harms they allege are ‘certain’ rather than speculative.”
The ruling may put a stop to some construction projects scheduled to begin in 2011, said Scott Segal of Bracewell Giuliani, a law and lobbying firm that represent utilities, refiners, cement companies and manufacturers.
“In light of the substantial disagreement over whether federal, state and local regulators can be ready in time to impose preconstruction permit requirements by early January, the court may have ensured an effective construction moratorium for industrial and power projects,” Segal said in an e-mailed statement.
“This is a victory for every American who wants better gas mileage and cleaner cars and factories,” David Doniger, policy director for the Climate Center at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in an e-mailed statement. “It means cleaner air, a stronger economy and a healthier future for us all.”
The case is Coalition for Responsible Regulation Inc. v. US Environmental Protection Agency, 09-1322, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).
Bloomberg News
“the court may have ensured an effective construction moratorium for industrial and power projects”
Court blocks move by oil industry to delay EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions
Saturday, December 11, 2010; 8:10 PM – Washington Post
A U.S. appellate court Friday turned down a request from utilities, oil refiners and the state of Texas to delay the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Senators vow to strip Obama climate power
Jan 31 06:49 PM US/Eastern – Breitbart
Conservative senators vowed Monday to strip President Barack Obama of his power to regulate greenhouse gases, in a move that would cripple US efforts on climate change if successful.
Eleven Republican senators introduced a bill that would stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases, which scientists blame for global warming, without explicit approval by Congress.
Under Obama, the federal agency has steadily increased standards on gas emissions. The Republicans accused Obama of circumventing Congress, where a so-called “cap-and-trade” bill to mandate emission curbs died last year.
Obama admin. threatens climate veto
February 2, 2011 12:40 PM EST – Politico
The Obama administration Wednesday repeated its threat to veto legislation that would curb its ability to regulate greenhouse gases.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said that the White House continues to oppose any efforts from Capitol Hill to hamstring her agency on climate change.
“What has been said from the White House is that the president’s advisors would advise him to veto any legislation that passed that would take away EPA’s greenhouse gas authority,” Jackson told reporters on Capitol Hill. “Nothing has changed.”
Continues……..
The EPA’s Endangerment Finding Is Very Endangered
Patrick Michaels 9/30/2011
This week’s big global warming kerfluffle comes from the EPA’s Inspector General, who says the agency broke the law in preparation of its landmark 2009 “Endangerment Finding” from carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Subsequent to making this finding, according to an infamous 2007 Supreme Court decision, the Agency must regulate emissions, presumably to the point which they no longer cause endangerment.
The IG believes that the EPA ran afoul of a rider to the 2001 appropriations bill that has been variously called the “Data Quality Act” or the “Information Quality Act”. Put simply, the accepted legal interpretation of this two-line piece of legislation is that a federal document that is a “highly influential science assessment” must undergo rigorous peer-review.
EPA based its endangerment finding on its own “Technical Support Document” (TSD), a weighty tome that drew heavily from the United Nations’ latest (2007) climate compendium, and also from a summary document from federal climatologists called “Global Climate Change Impacts on the United States”.
Like most groupthink projects, these two documents have numerous problems indicative of shoddy peer review……..
>>>>>>>>>>
http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmichaels/2011/09/30/the-epas-endangerment-finding-is-very-endangered/
Waxman-Markey Climate Change Bill – Google Search
Waxman-Markey Climate Change Bill Lawsuits – Google Search
The U.S. Political Tsunami That Destroyed The AGW Faux-Science & IPCC Agenda
The monumental changes that occurred on November 2, 2010 are simply stunning in the widespread repudiation of radical leftist/progressive/liberal/Democrat politics that has brought the U.S. to the brink of Greece-dom. For sure, the American populace is totally disgusted with the big government, big labor and big business crony capitalism agendas that have been pushed by the country’s elites over the past few years, to the severe disadvantage of the average American.
The vast majority of Americans don’t want to follow the paths of such banana republics as Greece, California, New York and Illinois. These are failed states, which remain committed to higher taxes, higher spending, higher welfare and higher levels of regulatory control that only benefits special interests, such as big labor, big bureaucracy and big business.
The American revulsion of the left’s extremism is best captured in this massive, unprecedented modern-day loss by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. That rejection of extremism was embellished with the Democrat loss of 6 U.S. Senate seats, which means Obama no longer has a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
[US Congress Repub - Dem breakdown pre/post election]
THE HILL
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Sensenbrenner: Keep House climate panel as a check against EPA
11/08/10 03:21 PM ET
The top Republican on the House climate change panel that Democrats created in 2007 is urging GOP leaders not to kill the committee when they take control next year.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) says Republican leaders should recast the Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming as a check against Environmental Protection Agency rules he calls economically harmful.
Republicans Eliminate Climate Change Panel
December 2, 2010 - CBS News
Republicans will eliminate a House panel designed to explore issues related to climate change, incoming House Speaker John Boehner announced on Wednesday, arguing that the committee is unnecessary and that its eradication would cut government waste.
“The global warming committee doesn’t need to be a separate committee,” Boehner told reporters. “We believe the Science Committee is more than capable of handling this issue, and in the process we’ll save several million dollars.”
The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, which was created by Nancy Pelosi in 2007, was designed to provide members of Congress with a prominent forum for discussion on developing climate-change science and supply information about the global race for clean-energy technology. Over the course of its three-year existence, the panel held 75 hearings, according to Bloomberg News.
The scientific community largely sees global warming as a legitimate and growing problem brought about in part by human activity. Many Republican lawmakers question that scientific consensus.
Continues……..
Hundreds line up in the cold for help heating homes
December 2, 2010 – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As metro Atlanta’s temperatures grow colder, the demand for heat is, well, heating up.
A day after hundreds of people queued up outside a Marietta community center to apply for assistance with heat and power bills, hopeful applicants began lining up again around midnight, waiting in the sub-freezing temperatures for the doors to open Thursday morning.
This time, however, officials let those in line come into the Mansour Center on Roswell Street an hour early at 7:30 and get relief from temperatures that dropped to 27 degrees.
“We’re freezing,” said Lecher Eady, a Marietta mother who arrived at midnight seeking help with her bills. “Our hands are cold, our feet are cold.”
Eady, the mother of triplets in diapers, said she has been out of work since August.
“I’ve had three jobs this year, and I’ve been laid off from all three,” she said. “I’m grateful just to get any type of help they’ll give me.”
Eady said she is trying to start a nonprofit organization, “Babies Need Diapers,” that would provide diapers to low-income single mothers.
“We have assistance for food, we have assistance for clothing, but we don’t have assistance for diapers,” she said. “That’s my biggest struggle right now.”
Joining Eady near the front of the line that had grown to about 30 people by 7:30 was Isata Kamara, a single mom of a 3-year-old.
“My electric bill and my gas bill are going to get cut off because I don’t have the money right now,” said Kamara, who recently lost her job.
“I saw it on the news and decided to come up here because I really need the help,” she said.
Those news reports Wednesday night showed hundreds of people who lined up around the building throughout the day on Wednesday. Channel 2 Action News reported that ambulances were called for at least two people who had difficulty dealing with Wednesday’s cold temperatures.
In DeKalb County, Atlanta police were called to the Atlanta DeKalb Human Services Building on Warren Street Wednesday morning after “loud arguing” broke out among a large crowd gathered to apply for energy assistance, according to police dispatchers.
Lakesha Charles, who has been out of work for two years, was number 16 in the Marietta line Thursday, which, she said, is “better than number 100.”
The mother of six said she “heard it was ridiculous” on Wednesday, when only 30 people at a time were let into the assistance center.“Hopefully, we can get in and get help,” she said.
“I saw it on the news and decided to come up here because I really need the help,” Kamara said. “You’ve got to stand in line, because it’s not going to come to you.”
That heating assistance will come in handy next week, when a surge of cold Canadian air will send overnight lows in metro Atlanta plummeting to the low 20s, with afternoon highs warming only into the mid-40s.
Continues………
Cold Blast Strains Farmers
* DECEMBER 8, 2010 – WSJ
Early Frost Kills Crops in South, Drives Up Prices as Growers Try to Shield Produce
An unusually early blast of cold air is cloaking the southeast, forcing farmers to toil through the night to save their livestock and crops of strawberries, tender green beans and sweet corn.
In parts of Florida, hit Tuesday morning with a freeze not seen this early since 1937, some growers were already reporting severe frost burn and ruined plantings, reducing supply and driving up prices for winter vegetables amid the holiday season.
Florida growers endured a freeze and difficult spell of weather in January, “but now, the timing is more unfortunate because we are gearing up to put vegetables out for peoples’ holiday meals,” said Lisa Lochridge, spokeswoman for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association. The association was still determining total loss on Tuesday.
In Palm Beach County, the nation’s top producer of winter vegetables, the price of a bushel of green beans soared 62% Tuesday to between $24 and $26, compared to $14 to $16 over the weekend, said J.D. Poole, vice president of Pioneer Growers Cooperative in Belle Glade, Fla.
Frigid air from Canada pushed into the southeast Monday, bringing snow to mountains in Tennessee and West Virginia, cancelling schools in parts of North Carolina, and ushering in temperatures 15 to 20 degrees below normal in some places. The National Weather Service issued a freeze warning through Wednesday morning for most of Florida, the southeast corner of Alabama and southern Georgia.
While farming’s peak season is over in many regions of the country, it’s still in full swing throughout parts of the south—meaning farmers can get caught off guard by an early freeze. In Iron City, Ga., cattle farmer Yancy Trawick has erected a wall of hay in his field as a fort to protect his 75 newborn calves from the wind. “This is rough on them,” he said.
In Loxahatchee, Fla., workers at Hundley Farms were up all night into Tuesday, running warm water between crops of sweet corn and green beans to fend off frost. Starting at 3:40 a.m., six helicopters flew at varying levels back and forth over Hundley’s fields an in attempt to push the layer of warm air down on the crops, said Tom Perryman, crop supervisor.
Still, Tuesday morning revealed that about 30% of the crops were hurt by freeze, with delicate green beans the worse off, he said, adding, “And still have to get through tonight. I can’t remember a time when we had a freeze by Dec. 7,” he said.
Ms. Lochridge, of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, said Florida’s growers of heartier citrus fruits have so far escaped any notable freeze damage, while some growers of strawberries, tomatoes, green beans, and sweet corn were reporting the tell-tale signs of frost burn.
In Belle Glade, fifth-generation farmer Stewart Stein said his sweet corn began “turning blackish green and slimy” right before his eyes Tuesday. As for his green beans, “the leaves will start drooping on the beans and wilting down,” he said.
He estimates he lost 150 acres of corn and 45 acres of green beans to frost. “It’ll take the wind out of your sails, that’s for sure,” he said
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Florida: Farmers count losses after third December freeze
“This much cold in December it’s unheard of.”
…
Workers spent the night monitoring the fields and watching to see how long the freezing temperatures would hold. Temperatures dipped to 34 degrees in West Palm Beach and 25 degrees in Fort Pierce overnight, shattering records of 38 degrees set in 1928 and 34 degrees set in 1977, respectively.
…
Ryan’s father, Rick Roth, said the cold weather the area has seen this December is “totally a one-in-one-hundred year event. People are saying this hasn’t happened since the 1930s.”
http://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2010/12/florida-farmers-count-losses-after.html
‘Hottest Year Ever’ Update: Record number of Manatees Died in 2010 from Cold Water
Monday, December 6, 2010
As reported on NBC Nightly News 12/6/10, a record number of manatees died in 2010 due to unusually cold water.
According to Katie Tripp, Ph.D., Director of Science and Conservation, SaveTheManatee.org:
“Through November 19th [2010], 685 manatees have been confirmed dead in the state of Florida, representing more than 13% of the species’ estimated minimum population. This far surpasses the record of 429 deaths set in 2009, and there is still one month left in the year. Although 2010 started with ideal conditions that allowed a record number of manatees to be counted during the annual aerial survey (5,076), the same cold weather that facilitated the count began causing unprecedented levels of mortality in the subsequent weeks. In total, nearly 400 manatees are believed to have died from this lingering event, shattering the previous record of 56 cold-related deaths. In addition, several dozen manatees suffering from cold stress were rescued around the state. Although cold-related deaths are considered a natural cause, the events of this winter highlight the vulnerability of our state’s manatee population, and reinforce the importance of safeguarding winter habitat and minimizing human-related threats to this species.”
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 4:48 PM
COCOA —
The cold weather isn’t just killing crops, it’s also taking its toll on marine life.
Florida Freeze: Dead fish turn up in Cocoa
Dead fish at the Marina at Cocoa Villiage are washing ashore in numbers too large to count.
“One of the local fisherman said that it’s the catfish. And the water’s just too cold for them. And they’re dying,” said Cocoa resident Lisa Michalski.
Michalski has only lived in Florida for three months, and said she wasn’t expecting such cold weather. She said she first spotted the dying fish on Tuesday, after a night of freezing temperatures.
See photos.
Florida Freeze Viewer Photo Gallery
Posted: December 8
Cold-stunned turtles wash ashore on N.C. beaches
Paralyzed by abnormally low temperatures.
30 turtles were reported in trouble.
On top of the more than 20 turtles already discovered along the coast.
Protected as a threatened species
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Michigan buried by global warming
Henry Payne / The Michigan View.com
Last Updated: December 14. 2010 1:00AM
From The Detroit News:
Has there ever been a better illustration of the gulf between America’s political elites and Middle America?
This weekend, a delegation to the United Nation’s Climate Summit in the resort city of Cancun, Mexico that included Washington negotiators, Michigan faculty, and Ann Arbor students returned to declare that they had come to an agreement to transfer $100 billion — that’s BILLION — to Third World countries to combat catastrophic global warming. The announcement came as a brutal winter snowstorm buried the Midwest in record snowdrifts that collapsed the Minneapolis Metrodome, drove temperatures to record lows in the south, and killed five people in the Metro Detroit area
How many people has global warming killed?
Despite last year’s Climategate scandal that have gutted climate science credibility, the United States increased funding three-fold in 2010 to a staggering $1.7 billion-a-year to fight the phantom global warming scare at a time when the country’s federal and state budgets are hobbled by a loss of revenue from the Great Recession.
Is global warming a greater threat than state bankruptcy?
While the Cancun delegation studied the diversion of another $100 billion in tax dollars to the help Third World governments build windmills, local Michigan governments like Oakland County cut its snow and salt crews by a third to meet budget — crews that were sorely missing Monday morning as semi-trucks jackknifed on slick roads, clotting roadways and forcing backup for miles.
Is global warming a greater threat than road safety?
In Atlanta last week, hundreds of poor residents shivered in line for home-heating assistance as the mercury in southern Georgia plunged into the ’20s. Indeed, Cancun itself greeted its warming saviors with record low temperatures while climate delegates met amidst hotels full of resort vacationers honked off by 50-degree temperatures.
This is madness.
The University of Michigan sent 30 professors, students, and alumni to the Cancun Summit. “Rather than only learning in the classroom about the most complex and contentious environmental negotiations that we have ever faced, the students will get a first-hand look at how such an international treaty is worked out,” said Andrew Hoffman, a professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment. Freezing, overtaxed Michigan voters may wonder whether if this is the best use of their U-M subsidy dollars.
“Last year, the masses in Copenhagen were alive with the idealistic belief that a solution to climate change was at hand. This year, the masses in Cancun are alert to the nearest bar with a deal on margaritas,” sniffed one U-M student in Cancun about the vacationers around him. “Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against tanned bikini clad bodies or margaritas. At the same time, it does give one pause when the vast majority of people just outside the conference walls are oblivious to the debate which could have a drastic impact not only on their own lives but the lives of future generations.”
Maybe these students would have learned more helping “the masses” in a Detroit warming center where large numbers of homeless are expected this year in the midst of a down Detroit economy.
While The Detroit News reports that “extreme temperatures” this winter will see an overflow of families to Detroit warming centers, Gov. Jennifer Granholm is celebrating the forced purchase of wind power — to fight global warming — by DTE in order to meet state alternative energy mandates. The expensive mandates will suck more money from Michigan ratepayers. The governor applauded the deal as Lansing has experienced record snowfall and record low temperatures this decade.
It is hard to square the rhetoric of Cancun with the reality of Detroit’s streets. U-M might expose its students to climatologist Pat Michaels who explains that even Cancun’s goal of an 80 percent carbon reduction by 2050 would have minimal effect on global temperatures. Or that diverting $100 million from the economic engines like the U.S. to create green utopias will increase poverty.
Instead, students get green mythology.
“We hope to participate actively while in Cancun, as well as share our experiences with our community upon return,” said one Mexico-bound U-M student. More likely, she’ll be sharing experiences of slip-sliding across an iced-over campus in 10-degree temperatures.
Henry Payne is editor of The Michigan View.com
Rare eagle’s safety puts energy plans in limbo
5:30 AM Wednesday Dec 15, 2010 – NZH
Fears that wind turbines could kill protected golden eagles have halted progress on an important part of the US Government’s push to increase renewable energy on public lands, stalling plans for billions of dollars in wind farm developments.
The US Bureau of Land Management suspended issuing wind permits on public land indefinitely after wildlife officials invoked a decades-old law for protecting eagles.
The restriction has stymied efforts to “fast-track” approval for four of the seven most promising wind energy proposals, including all three in California.
Now, these and other projects appear unlikely to make the year-end deadline to potentially qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars in stimulus funds.
If extensions aren’t granted in the lame-duck session of Congress, the future of many of these plans could be in doubt.
“Companies are waiting to know the criteria to get a permit,” said Larry LaPre, a wildlife biologist for BLM’s California desert district.
He said he expected it to be “at least a year or longer” before permitting resumes.
Golden eagles are the latest roadblock to establishing wind farms on federally owned land, already an expensive process plagued by years of bureaucratic delay.
The projects also have been untracked by other wildlife issues, a sluggish economy and objections by defence and aviation authorities that wind turbines interfere with the country’s aged radar system.
The delays are occurring despite a target set by Congress in 2005 that directed the Interior Department to approve about 5 million homes’ worth of renewable energy on public land by 2015. Since then, only two of the more than 250 proposed wind projects have been approved and neither has been built.
The four fast-track projects in jeopardy of losing stimulus funds because of eagle issues would alone generate about 416MW of clean energy, enough to power roughly a half million US homes during peak usage.
There are now 28 US wind farms operating on public lands.
The vast majority of public land regulated by the BLM is in western states, where all onshore wind farms approved or in planning stages will be located.
Continues…………
RIVERSIDE: UCR wins NASA grant to teach climate change
10:00 PM PST on Sunday, December 19, 2010 – The Press-Enterprise
Three professors at UC Riverside have landed a $350,000 NASA grant to teach nonscience-focused students in high school and college about climate change.
They will use data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to help students navigate through the debate over climate change and understand the science for themselves, said Mary Droser, chairwoman of UCR’s Department of Earth Sciences and the project’s principal investigator.
“They get pummeled by the media — people saying ‘There is no climate change,’ or ‘The end is coming.’ We need an informed public because climate change is coming, it’s a very scary thing, and these are future voters. They need to see through the media hyperbole,” Droser said.
[Snip]
The grant was among $7.7 million in Global Climate Change Education Awards to 17 colleges and nonprofit groups nationwide. Winning proposals used innovative approaches to using the NASA content in teaching, according to a NASA news release. The competitive awards ranged from $300,000 to $700,000.
The FCC’s Threat to Internet Freedom
* DECEMBER 19, 2010 – WSJ
Tomorrow morning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will mark the winter solstice by taking an unprecedented step to expand government’s reach into the Internet by attempting to regulate its inner workings. In doing so, the agency will circumvent Congress and disregard a recent court ruling.
How did the FCC get here?……….
Napolitano Says DHS to Begin Battling Climate Change as Homeland Security Issue
Friday, December 17, 2010
(CNSNews.com) – At an all-day White House conference on “environmental justice,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that her department is creating a new task force to battle the effects of climate change on domestic security operations.
Speaking at the first White House Forum on Environmental Justice on Thursday, Napolitano discussed the initial findings of the department’s recently created “Climate Change and Adaptation Task Force.”
Continues……
California to implement carbon trading scheme
7:00AM GMT 17 Dec 2010 – UK Telegraph
California has approved the first system in the nation to give polluting companies such as utilities and refineries financial incentives to emit fewer greenhouse gases.
The Air Resources Board voted 9-1 to pass the key piece of California’s 2006 climate law – called AB32 – with the hope that other states will follow the lead of the world’s eighth largest economy. State officials also are discussing plans to link the new system with similar ones under way or being planned in Canada, Europe and Asia.
The rules limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and allow power plants, factories and eventually refiners and others to trade permits to pollute in a program generally known as cap-and-trade.
California is trying to “fill the vacuum created by the failure of Congress to pass any kind of climate or energy legislation for many years now,” said Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the state’s air quality board.
Continues……..
The Western Climate Initiative itself offers an opportunity for fraud on a massive scale. Its purpose was to decrease the cost of reducing emissions by letting each region play to its strengths: the Northwest has abundant hydropower while California has strong solar energy potential, so it makes sense to exchange the two.
Or so the theory goes.
In practice, British Columbia, through its government-owned utility BC Power, has been scamming California consumers. BC Power, hit with a fine for its role in California’s Enron-era electricity scandal, has been selling “green” hydropower to California for years.
Then, in an act of electron-laundering, has backfilled its electricity deficit with coal-fired power from Washington state and Alberta. This lets Californians feel good about their electricity while netting Canadians a healthy profit.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/557195/201012171838/Cap-And-Trade-Tosses-An-Anchor-To-Drowning-California-Economy.htm
Scientists Rail Against Senator Who Belittled Research
Dec. 23, 2010 – abcNEWS
A team of scientists who study pollution’s role in global warming are outraged at a GOP Senator who, they say, has maligned their work as wasteful and petty by describing it as a study of “cow burps.”
“This was not funded with earmarks and it was not a study about cow burps,” said John Aber, an environmental scientist and provost of the University of New Hampshire.
“It’s not wasteful,” he said. “It’s important.”
Sen. Tom Coburn, R- Okla., released on Monday his annual “Wastebook” report, a look at 100 projects that received federal funding which, he says, contributed to record deficits in the past year.
Among those projects was a $700,000 grant from the Department of Agriculture to a team of environmental scientists at the University of New Hampshire to study greenhouse gas emissions – the chemicals associated with global warming – in the dairy industry.
Coburn’s “Wastebook” quotes one of the project’s researchers telling a local New Hampshire paper that “cows emit most of their methane through belching, only a small fraction from flatulence.”
Continues………
———————————————————————————————————————
This research is a result of the GLOBAL RESEARCH ALLIANCE formed at COP15 that NZ is a partner to (and administrator).
http://www.climateconversation.wordshine.co.nz/open-threads/climate/climate-science/atmosphere/#comment-31573
So it’s a burp tax – not a fart tax.
How can climate scientists spend so much money?
Climate change in the FY 2011 budget
$2.48 billion
NOAA, NSF, NASA, DOE, DOI, EPA, USDA
So that’s where all our free stuff comes from (but they could close down GISS – no loss).
Alan Caruba is more forthright:-
The Great ‘Climate Change’ Taxpayer Rip-Off of 2011
“Beyond that, if Congress was really intent on cutting back on spending, they could begin by defunding or shutting down the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and all the other federal grifters with their snouts rooting around in the climate change trough.”
http://climatechangedispatch.com/home/8490-the-great-climate-change-taxpayer-rip-off-of-2011
Green Jobs…at What Cost?
MacIver News Service | January 28, 2011
Despite millions in government grants and subsidies, the Manitowoc company President Barack Obama called a glimpse of the future lost $4.2 million last year and cannot promise shareholders it will be profitable in the foreseeable future.
http://maciverinstitute.com/2011/01/green-jobs-at-what-cost/
The State of Wisconsin has also given its share trying to help Orion to succeed. Since 2005, the state has given the company $350,000 in community development zone tax credits, $506,000 in economic development funds, and $420,000 from the Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund. Plus the company got another $260,000 in stimulus funds for a State Energy project.
In addition to direct aid, public policy has also helped the struggling company. Wisconsin law requires that 10 percent of all electricity sold in the state come from renewable sources by 2015. Orion knows that without government intervention like that, there would be little prospect for the green economy.
Plants trip due to cold weather, leads to shortage of power
Wed, Feb 2, 2011 – NBCDFW
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has ordered utility companies to begin rotating outages to compensate for a power generation shortage.
According to ERCOT, the outages are necessary because there is a shortage of power after some plants were knocked offline due to extreme weather.
“ERCOT is urging all consumers who can reduce their energy consumption to do so at this time. Severe weather has led to the loss of more than 50 generation units more than 7,000 MW, and additional units are continuing to trip offline due to the extreme cold temperatures,” ERCOT said in a news release isued just after noon Wednesday. “Conservation is very critical at this time to reduce the load on the system.”
Continues…………
We Spent Billions on Wind Power… and All I Got Was a Rolling Blackout
Posted on February 2, 2011 – By Mike Smith, Meteorological Musings
“When the wind is light, the turbine blades do not turn. And, the coldest nights usually occur with snow cover and light winds. The 9pm weather map for the region is below. The red number at upper right is the current temperature and they are well below zero deep into New Mexico and parts of Kansas and Colorado, so regional power use is high. Springfield, CO was already -15°F. Temperatures are in the single digits and teens over most Texas with very light winds in the areas where the turbines are located.”
“If Texas had made the same dollar investment in new coal and/or nuclear power plants they would probably be snug and warm tonight. Do we we really want to sacrifice our families’ safety and security along with business productivity during extreme cold for the sake of political correctness?”
In reply to “The Importance of Science in Addressing Climate Change”
Rebuttal to the Climate Science Rapid Response Team – February 8, 2011
—————————————————————————————————————————–
February 8, 2011
To the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate:
In reply to “The Importance of Science in Addressing Climate Change”
On 28 January 2011, eighteen scientists sent a letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate urging them to “take a fresh look at climate change.” Their intent, apparently, was to disparage the views of scientists who disagree with their contention that continued business-as-usual increases in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced from the burning of coal, gas, and oil will lead to a host of cataclysmic climate-related problems.
We, the undersigned, totally disagree with them and would like to take this opportunity to briefly state our side of the story.
The eighteen climate alarmists (as we refer to them, not derogatorily, but simply because they view themselves as “sounding the alarm” about so many things climatic) state that the people of the world “need to prepare for massive flooding from the extreme storms of the sort being experienced with increasing frequency,” as well as the “direct health impacts from heat waves” and “climate-sensitive infectious diseases,” among a number of other devastating phenomena. And they say that “no research results have produced any evidence that challenges the overall scientific understanding of what is happening to our planet’s climate,” which is understood to mean their view of what is happening to Earth’s climate.
To these statements, however, we take great exception. It is the eighteen climate alarmists who appear to be unaware of “what is happening to our planet’s climate,” as well as the vast amount of research that has produced that knowledge.
Continues…………
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36 signatories (working or retired climate scientists, physicists etc)
32 endorsements (working or retired climate scientists, physicists, geologists, meteorologists etc)
Two impressive lists.
Congress to NASA: Study Space! (Not Climate. That’s Not Space.)
February 18, 2011 - by Art Horn
Members of Congress are asking something novel of NASA: to actually study space, not global warming.
[Snip]
The amount of money being spent to study global warming, as a percentage of NASA’s budget, is startling — especially when one considers this is not part of NASA’s original mission. In budget year 2010, NASA spent 7.5% of its funding — over $1B — to study global warming. On top of that — the vast majority of federal stimulus money given to NASA in 2010 was spent on studying global warming.
As a whole, the U.S. federal government has spent $8.7 billion dollars on global warming studies — just in the past year! Many of the sixteen separate agencies doing this work were performing redundant research. In a time of federal spending cuts that are sure to come, much of this redundancy certainly can and must be eliminated, saving taxpayers billions. Certainly NASA should be one of the first to see funding drastically cut, or eliminated entirely, in this area.
The principal arm of global warming research for NASA is the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). That’s “Space” Studies, not climate.
Continues……
NYT reporting US House cuts REDD+, adaptation, clean tech & IPCC funding
NYT is reporting the US House of Representatives has cut the administration’s FY 2011 request for climate change programs run by the world bank to $0. These cuts include:
$95m for REDD
$400 m for clean tech
$90 for adaptation.
The White House request for supporting the IPCC was also cut from $2.3 million to $0.
http://tropicalforestgroup.blogspot.com/2011/03/nyt-reporting-us-house-cuts-redd.html
Schwarzenegger: It’s Time to Terminate Skepticism on Climate Change
The former governor and action-firm superstar compared the current debate over climate change to the state of bodybuilding when he entered that sport in the late 1960s. A pervasive fear of weightlifting’s effects led celebrities to disavow their own exercise routines, and produced euphemisms when discussing the activity. However, scientific evidence eventually came to support the health benefits of weightlifting, and today talk about abs and pecs is common. Confident in having brought weightlifting to the mainstream, Schwarzenegger told the audience he hopes to do the same for climate science.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110301/sc_livescience/schwarzeneggeritstimetoterminateskepticismonclimatechange
I am lost for words, truly I am
House Panel Votes to Strip E.P.A. of Power to Regulate Greenhouse Gases
Published: March 10, 2011
WASHINGTON — A House subcommittee voted on Thursday to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to regulate greenhouse gases, chipping away at a central pillar of the Obama administration’s evolving climate and energy strategy.
The sharply partisan vote was preordained by the Republican takeover of the House. Republicans and their industry allies accuse the administration of levying taxes on traditional energy sources through costly environmental regulations, threatening the economic recovery and driving jobs overseas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/science/earth/11climate.html?_r=3&ref=todayspaper
Polluter Arguments Rebuffed In ‘Scopes Trial’ On Climate Science
In 2009, the US Chamber of Commerce called for the “Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century” to question the scientific fact of man-made climate change.
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia began consideration of a landmark case that consolidates a series of challenges to Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 finding that greenhouse gases are a threat to public health and welfare and its related rule-makings. The cases, brought by energy companies, industry front groups, Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), and others, seek to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse pollution. Their legal argument is that climate science is a hoax.
But the three-judge panel’s questions and comments during the first day of oral arguments showed enormous skepticism of the industry arguments. Acknowledging that by law, the panel must show deference to the EPA’s finding, the chief judge told one of the challenger’s lawyers: “You seem to be asking us to determine that the EPA is incorrect, but that is not the standard, ” and even that “would not be enough to win the case for you.” Other arguments were similarly pooh-poohed by the panel.
[...]
The challengers involved with the cases include:
Industry Front Groups and Trade Associations
–Coalition for Responsible Regulation, Inc.
–Industrial Minerals Association – North America
–National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
–National Mining Association
–SIP/FIP Advocacy Group
–Utility Air Regulatory Group
Coal and Energy Companies
–Alpha Natural Resources, Inc.
–Peabody Energy Company
–Great Northern Project Development, L.P.
–Rosebud Mining Company
Republican-led State Governments
–State of Texas
–State of Wyoming
Perhaps realizing that the law is not on their side, some of these industry groups have simultaneously taken a legislative approach to fighting EPA regulations, pushing for enactment of HR 910, the “Energy Tax Prevention Act.” The bill, sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), would take away the EPA’s regulatory power over greenhouse gases. The Republican House endorsed the proposal last April, mostly along party lines, but the measure has stalled in the Democratic Senate. The Industrial Minerals Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Mining Association, Peabody Energy Company all reported lobbying on the bill in 2011 — part of their combined $9.8 million lobbying efforts on this and other subjects.
http://thinkprogress.org/green/2012/02/29/434698/appeals-court-panel-rebuffs-polluters-epa-greenhouse-rules/
Caution: Think Progress article.
ANOTHER court case.
strong>EPA has lost it’s way on warming
Legal challenges by states and industry groups over the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could and should be decided in the challengers’ favor. Whether that will happen in this highly politicized, semi-scientific matter of “dangerous manmade global warming and climate change” remains to be seen. Regardless of what the DC Court of Appeals decides, the case will almost assuredly return to the Supreme Court, where the outcome is equally uncertain.
http://www.cfact.org/a/2095/EPA-has-lost-its-way-on-warming?utm_source=CFACT+Updates&utm_campaign=bfa8466862-National_Journal_EPA_wrong_on_warming2_28_2012&utm_medium=email
Nice site here, Ric Werme’s RGGI Watch documents events and CO2 allowance sales prices.
Overview and History
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was created several years ago as the first United States Cap and Trade program covering ten states in the northeast. Its goal was to force fossil fuel burning electric power plants to use more efficient and less carbon intensive power production by forcing producers to buy “allowances” for each ton of CO₂ they emit. Each allowance covers a three year time period.
http://wermenh.com/rggiwatch/
Last price from their March 2011 auction for 2012-2014, US$1.89
CO2 emissions seem very reasonable in the US northeast. I wonder if the NZ ETS review takes this price into consideration.
The Environmental Protection Agency Comes-a-Copper
Patrick Michaels
Climate of Fear
May. 12 2011 – 12:20 pm
Have you checked out the price of copper lately? For consumers, the good news is that it fell about 10% in the last month. The bad news is that it is still pretty close to its all-time record high of $4.50 per pound set in February. For comparative purposes, copper hovered slightly below a dollar a pound for years after the turn of the century.
Punditry has it that the rise is because of the enormous increase in consumption by China, and it is a fact that the expansion of its economy and its copper consumption are highly correlated. Without dramatic increases in supply, prices will stay high, subject to China’s booms and busts.
The decline of the dollar also hurts. Put simply, on the world market, it takes more cheap dollars to buy a pound of copper than when it was more valued. That’s probably not going to change very much, either, as long as we continue to mortgage the future.
So why should you care about copper? Because the Environmental Protection Agency is going to make you care.
That hybrid car that you smugly drive contains about 100 pounds of the stuff, largely in the electrical cables and the electric motor. That’s over $400 of raw material price that is a fixed cost at current scarcity. A conventional car has only half as much.
The more electric a vehicle is, the more copper it contains (with the exception of completely impractical fuel cell cars). Part of the reason for the $41,000 sticker price of the Chevy Volt is that it contains about three times as much copper as its gas-only counterpart, the Cruze. This cost is pretty insensitive to the margins of scale or the number of Volts built, as even Government Motors doesn’t catch a break on raw commodity prices.
Enter the EPA. Because of the Supreme Court’s (questionable) interpretation of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments rendered in Massachusetts v. EPA, the agency is now in the business of specifying corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards. That used to be the purview of the Congress via the Department of Transportation, and the rules were pretty straightforward.
No more. The EPA has declared a CAFE standard of 34.1 mpg in 2016, but has “incentivized” the production of copper-gulping hybrids and plug-ins. The new dictate is about as convoluted as something the State Science Institute could set up in Atlas Shrugged. To wit: Even though the power that charges the Volt comes from a grid that is about 70% fossil fuel (i.e. carbon dioxide-emitting) based, the EPA will count the vehicle as having zero emissions when it is on battery power, contributing an inordinately large amount to a manufacturer’s CAFE.
Continues………(The next biggest thing in world copper production may be something known as the Pebble Partnership* near Iliamna, Alaska…………EPA is mulling a preemptive kill shot using an obscure portion of the Clean Water Act)
http://blogs.forbes.com/patrickmichaels/2011/05/12/the-environmental-protection-agency-comes-a-copper/?partner=yahootix
http://www.freedomworks.org/publications/end-of-the-line?src=nl
Solargate update: ‘Obama’s Pet Billionaire at Solyndra Make Take White House Down’
A high profile, politically well-connected California solar energy company that had won a $535 million loan guarantee from the Obama Administration declared bankruptcy earlier this month and closed its doors sending 1100 workers to the unemployment line. The demise of Solyndra has already sparked an FBI investigation, congressional hearings, and raised numerous questions of political cronyism and corruption connected to the highest levels of the Obama Administration.
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2011/09/solargate-update-obamas-pet-billionaire.html
As president, Obama had a fiduciary responsibility to be forthright about Solyndra’s grim prospects — in speaking to the American taxpayers whose money he had redistributed, and to the American investors who were about to be solicited for even more funding.
… The president looked us in the eye and averred that, when it came to channeling public funds into private hands, “We can see the positive impacts right here at Solyndra.”
… The word for such schemes is fraud.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/from-scandal-free-to-near-scandal-fatigue-in-three-weeks/2/
Damage control at Joe Romm’s Climate Progress:-
Exclusive Timeline: Bush Administration Advanced Solyndra Loan Guarantee for Two Years, Media Blow the Story
January 2009: In an effort to show it has done something to support renewable energy, the Bush Administration tries to take Solyndra before a DOE credit review committee before President Obama is inaugurated. The committee, consisting of career civil servants with financial expertise, remands the loan back to DOE “without prejudice” because it wasn’t ready for conditional commitment.
March 2009: The same credit committee approves the strengthened loan application. The deal passes on to DOE’s credit review board. Career staff (not political appointees) within the DOE issue a conditional commitment setting out terms for a guarantee.
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/09/13/317594/timeline-bush-administration-solyndra-loan-guarantee/
Obama was inaugurated Jan 20 2009
SunPower: Twice As Bad As Solyndra, Twice As Bad For Obama
How did a failing California solar company, buffeted by short sellers and shareholder lawsuits, receive a $1.2 billion federal loan guarantee for a photovoltaic electricity ranch project—three weeks after it announced it was building new manufacturing plant in Mexicali, Mexico, to build the panels for the project.
>>>>>>>>>>
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=46761
GOBSMACKING ARTICLE………….UNBELIEVABLE
Breaking – “Greengate”: Solyndra loaned 527,000,000 by Obama after he was advised they would collapse.
http://www.globalclimatescam.com/2011/09/greengate/
The video clips are worth watching. “It’s not easy being green…”
Watts Up takes a swipe at Hot-Topic:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/05/answering-a-reader-question-on-climate-web-traffic/
Do we say Gareth not “Renowned Down” – Under?
Green Jobs Brown Out
How to spend $157,000 per job WSJ.com 10/11/11
The green jobs subsidy story gets more embarrassing by the day. Three years ago President Obama promised that by the end of the decade America would have five million green jobs, but so far some $90 billion in government spending has delivered very few.
A new report by the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General examined a $500 million grant under the stimulus program to the Employment and Training Administration to “train and prepare individuals for careers in ‘green jobs.’” So far about $162.8 million has been spent. The program was supposed to train 125,000 workers, but only 53,000 have been “trained” so far, only 8,035 have found jobs, and only 1,033 were still in the job after six months.
[...]
The jobs record is even more dismal when you consider that many of the jobs classified as green aren’t even new jobs, much less green
[...]
The silver lining is that the IG found that as of “June 30, 2011, $327.3 million remained unexpended” from the Labor program’s appropriation. The IG urges that all funds “determined not to be needed should be recouped as soon as practicable and to the extent permitted by law.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-jobs-brown-out.html
Architects Propose “Bibs” To Shield NYC From Global Warming’s Floods
Global warming will make New York spectacularly vulnerable to flooding. Some researchers even suggest that in 200 years, Manhattan could look like Venice. Does that mean 8 million people oughta start packing their bags? Of course not. But experts agree the city should do something. Enter Tingwei Xu and Xie Zhang. The U Penn students think New York can protect itself the way a guy cracking lobster protects his tie: by strapping on a bib.
No joke. In their vision, an intelligent, lace-like membrane would be draped over building bases in low-lying parts of the city, guarding precious infrastructure from incoming floods. The membrane would feature a “transforming surface” that’d adapt to different weather conditions, offering more protection when it’s wet out and less when it’s dry. It’d also be planted with trees and other flora, which can form a natural barrier against floodwater.
>>>>>>> H/t Steven Goddard
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1668998/architects-propose-bibs-to-shield-nyc-from-global-warmings-floods
81 Tweets and spectacular model visualization aids.
Although I’m not sure of the significance of the guy in the HazChem suit. Perhaps he’s there because Hansen said:-
Or maybe its a CO2-proof suit to guard against the poisonous atmosphere of the future..
But hang on…..
The words “Dumb” and “Dumber” come to mind.
From the comments:
Mike Jones
02/09/2012 02:12 AM
Umm…are those Star Wars stormtroopers in the background of that last rendering? Who is supposed to take these bibs and fictional characters with laser guns seriously?
It’s probably the space cadets from Hot Topic protecting themselves from methane bombs and itinerant rent boys.
Virginia court rejects sceptic’s bid for climate science emails
Campaign by attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, to gain access to Michael Mann’s material, is dismissed by state supreme court
[...]
It is not entirely clear how Cuccinelli will respond. The attorney general is planning to run for governor in 2013, and he showed no sign of regret in his response to the decision on Friday.
“From the beginning, we have said that we were simply trying to review documents that are unquestionably state property to determine whether or not fraud had been committed,” his office said in a statement. “Today, the court effectively held that state agencies do not have to provide state-owned property to state investigators looking into potential fraud involving government funds.”
>>>>>>>>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/mar/02/virginia-court-sceptic-access-climate-emails
Described as a “win” for climate science by Bob Berwyn (a Steve Goddard, Real Science target – Google it)
http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/03/02/a-win-for-climate-science-in-virginia/