Climate News Live
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071501654.html
Today the EPA released its first plans regulating how carbon dioxide should be sequestered in geologic formations to avoid contaminating drinking water pursuant to the 1974 Safe Water Drinking Act. Many interested in carbon capture and sequestration (also known as carbon capture and storage) are concerned with the long-term environmental hazards to injected rocks, old mines and old wells with copious amounts of CO2. In addition, the legal liability framework for CCS has yet to be established. However, with the announcement of this rule and last week's Congressional hearing on creating a $10 billion fund to advance CCS technologies, it appears the coal industry will have some protection against potential cap-and-trade legislation.
The proposal upgrades the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act to include a new category of injection wells solely for carbon dioxide storage, and creates extensive siting, testing and monitoring requirements to prevent leaks. The EPA already regulates injection wells used to boost oil production and dispose of hazardous and non-hazardous waste.
While carbon dioxide in water itself isn't a problem - think Perrier or Diet Coke - too much of the benign bubbles can turn water slightly acidic, and leach toxic heavy metals and other contaminants out of the surrounding rock and into water supplies, according to scientists. Injecting carbon dioxide underground can also push other pollutants, such as saltwater, into underground aquifers.
The United States has the capacity to store 3,900 gigatons of carbon dioxide at 230 different underground storage sites, according to Energy Department estimates. The U.S. emits a total of about seven gigatons of carbon dioxide every year.
To date, the bulk of carbon dioxide being injected underground has been done to enhance oil production. But if coal-fired power plants, as expected, start to embrace carbon sequestration technology, more of the carbon dioxide belched out of smokestacks is expected to be entombed in microscopic spaces in underground rock.
Washington Post; July 16, 2008
Submitted by B.Shapiro
In light of the controversy surrounding Vice President Cheney's editing of CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding's testimony on the health risks associated with climate change, new studies detail the extent of dangers humans will face thanks to climate change: kidney stones. Immensely painful kidney stones, also called renal calculi, are solid concretions (crystal aggregations) of dissolved minerals in urine; calculi typically form inside the kidneys or bladder.
Linking climate change to kidney stones seems odd, but it's based on the solid medical finding that people in warm regions develop the condition at increased rates. Sweating in warm weather removes fluid from the body and increases the salt concentration in urine, which can spur the growth of kidney stones.
By the year 2050, the new report estimates that a large chunk of Illinois will fall within America's "kidney-stone belt," which currently includes only Southern states. The Chicago area alone would see up to 100,000 extra cases each year, according to the report published Monday in a widely respected journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
That sort of medical chain reaction may barely hint at the looming public health threat of global warming, researchers say. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that higher temperatures could bring more lethal heat waves, more blooms of algae that infect fish with toxins, and the easier spread of some insect-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
"Climate change's impact on public health will be broad, severe and affect all sectors of the public health system," said George Luber, associate director for climate change at the CDC's national center for environmental health.
Treatment for the increased rates of kidney stones alone is estimated to cost an additional $1 billion. Should comprehensive climate change legislation include an updating to public health infrastructure in order to prevent and treat the predicted negative health effects of climate change?
Chicago Tribune; July 15, 2008
Submitted by B. Shapiro
Arnold Schwarzenegger is no longer fighting villains in Hollywood as the Terminator. As Governor of California, he has taken a new role: fighting for climate change. Schwarzenegger has become a big advocate of climate change and Bush's administration decision to leave regulating greenhouse gases to the next administration has Schwarzenegger criticizing them publicly.
In an interview with ABC news, he criticized the Bush administration lack of actions towards a climate change and suggested that it is too late for the administration to do anything at this point.
"Well, to be honest with you, if they would have done something this year, I would have thought it was bogus anyway... because you don't change global warming and you don't really have an effect by doing something six months before you leave office" he said in the interview with ABC.
Schwarzenegger also praised Obama's move toward the political center and said that he would be open to a cabinet position in Obama's administration, even while endorsing Republican presumptive nominee, John McCain.
The Telegraph; July 14, 2008
Submitted by M. Lamarre
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afFetHs1nhBY&refer=home
The updated renewable fuel standard is mandating the usage of higher levels of renewable fuels. As a result, expanding the infrastructure to distribute such fuels, including access to fuels with a higher renewable fuel content, will be necessary to carry out this mandate...
General Motors Corp., the biggest U.S. automaker, and the National Governors Association said they are working on expanding the distribution network for E85 ethanol in preparation for selling ethanol from non-grain sources.
The plan calls for GM to assist states in finding appropriate place to put ethanol pumps, according to a statement issued today. The Detroit-based company has helped bring 300 E85 pumps online in 15 states during the last three years. There are fewer than 1,700 pumps for E85, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, in the country out of about 170,000 gasoline stations, GM said.
Having more E85 pumps will provide owners of flex-fuels vehicles better access to the fuel. GM said it will make 50 percent of production flex-fuel capable by 2012, if the infrastructure is moving ahead. The company also has investments in two ethanol companies, Coskata Inc. and Mascoma Corp."
Bloomberg.com; July 13, 2008
Submitted by J. Andrews
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/07/09/eag8109.xml
The G8 summit concluded with major developing countries, such as China and India, refusing to sign on to G8 climate change goals. During the G8 meeting, members agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by fifty percent by the year 2050. Even though, developing countries have said that climate change is an important issue and steps should be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they've concluded that climate change actions should not impeded on their economic growth.
One president of a developing country told the G8 during a closed session: "My country has a great many people living in poverty. They all need support in health, sanitation and basic needs. So we cannot accept the introduction of measures which may hinder our economic growth. If we are going to accept these measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this must be linked to sustainable growth."
Developing nations are not the only ones criticizing G8 nations on their climate change goals. Environmental groups are also dissatisfied, saying that goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 are not strong enough.
Telegraph; July 9, 2008
Submitted by M. Lamarre
For the first time in nearly 8 years, President George W. Bush has indicated that it is a priority to join other industrialized nations in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Previously, President Bush had rejected the Kyoto protocol and his representative in Bali came back with nothing to show. However, at the G8 meeting in Hokkaido, Japan, he indicated that the U.S. would be likely to participate in the upcoming talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the Kyoto successor will be negotiated.
The 16 countries, along with the heads of the European Commission, the United Nations and the World Bank, met in an unusual meeting brokered by President Bush during the last day of the Group of Eight summit on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. It was aimed at trying to come together behind a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the 1999 pact aimed at curbing carbon emissions.
On Tuesday, Bush agreed for the first time to join other major industrialized countries in setting a goal to reduce emissions. He and other leaders of the Group of Eight countries forged a joint communique that declares the countries will "consider and adopt" reductions of at least 50 percent as part of a new U.N. treaty to be negotiated in Copenhagen at the end of 2009. The step was the most recent sign of a gradual shift in Bush's approach to combating global warming.
The G8 leaders also said they expect developing countries such as China and India, which are also major greenhouse-gas polluters, to promise "meaningful" actions to reduce emissions. That has been a key objective for Bush but presents an obstacle: Those countries have said repeatedly that the industrialized world, having caused most of the problem historically, must bear the greatest burden, while they needed more relaxed rules to pursue economic development.
Washington Post; July 9, 2008
Submitted by B. Shapiro
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-07-08-t-boone-pickens-plan-wind-energy_N.htm
T. Boone Pickens wants to replace oil consumption with wind power, and he is prepared to bankroll part of our national effort to do so. Today, Americans import just under 70% of our oil, an increase from 20% in 1970 and 42% in 1991. Pickens has made his fortune through investing in oil and through his energy hedge fund, BP Capital.
"We're paying $700 billion a year for foreign oil. It's breaking us as a nation, and I want to elevate that question to the presidential debate, to make it the No. 1 issue of the campaign this year," Pickens says.
Today, Pickens will take the wraps off what he's calling the Pickens Plan for cutting the USA's demand for foreign oil by more than a third in less than a decade. To promote it, he is bankrolling what his aides say will be the biggest public policy ad campaign ever. The website, pickensplan.com, goes live today.
Jay Rosser, Pickens' ever-present public relations man, promises that Pickens' face will be seen on Americans' televisions this fall almost as frequently as John McCain's and Barack Obama's.
"Neither presidential candidate is talking about solving the oil problem. So we're going to make 'em talk about it," Pickens says.
Indeed, though Sweetwater is a windy place, plenty of locations farther north in the Great Plains are even better suited to wind farming. One is about 250 miles north of Sweetwater, near Pampa, northeast of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle. That's where Pickens is building what would be the world's largest wind farm, four times larger than the current titleholder near here. So far, he has spent $2 billion on the project, including a record purchase of nearly 700 wind turbines this year from General Electric. He expects to spend up to $10 billion on the project and to begin generating electricity in 2011.
USA Today; July 8, 2008
Submitted by B. Shapiro
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN0131191820080701
As the G8 nations prepare for their July, 8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, The World Bank has agreed to establish two investment funds for them to consider during the meeting. The investment funds are to help developing economies switch to cleaner energy technologies to curb carbon emissions and to better enable poor countries to adapt to climate change.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the funds are part the Bank's response to climate change challenges.
"We think the (funds) will have a significant impact in generating even more financing for climate action," Zoellick said, "but also in demonstrating new approaches to address the current and future effects of climate change.
"These approaches will range from agriculture to water management, from transport to urban development, and from biodiversity to energy access," he said.
The World bank is optimistic about the future of the investment funds, as several nations have already came out in support of them. Indeed, climate change will be a heated topic during the G8 summit.
Reuters: Lesley Wroughton; July 2, 2008
Submitted by: M. Lamarre
Texas has become a leader in wind energy with Houston adding itself to the list.
The heart of the U.S. oil patch on Tuesday began using wind-powered electricity for about a fourth of its municipal power needs at a lower price than it is paying for power produced from coal and natural gas, city officials said. The move shows how renewable energy's prospects are improving at a time of soaring fossil-fuel prices. Long derided as an expensive niche, wind power now is moving closer to the mainstream. Houston's push also underscores how far renewable energy has to go. Wind power has taken hold more in Texas than in many other states, both because the western part of the state is breezy and because Texas has enacted a mandate designed to boost wind-power generation. The federal government has rejected calls to implement that kind of mandate nationally.
The Wall Street Journal; July 2, 2008
Submitted by J. Andrews
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2008/2008-07-01-01.asp
Last month, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program's Subcommittee on Global Change Research released a report on the changing weather patterns of North America. Their conclusion? We will see more "extreme" weather patterns in our nation which could cause significantly more damage than natural disasters already occuring.
Droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes are likely to become more common as humans continue to increase concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, according to first comprehensive analysis of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes in North America.
"This report addresses one of the most frequently asked questions about global warming - what will happen to weather and climate extremes? This synthesis and assessment product examines this question across North America and concludes that we are now witnessing and will increasingly experience more extreme weather and climate events," said report co-chair Tom Karl, PhD, who directs the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
The report is based on scientific evidence that a warming world will be accompanied by changes in the intensity, duration, frequency, and geographic extent of weather and climate extremes.
The Midwest floods already ruined a large batch of agricultural products. Should our modeling and futures trading incorporate these new predictions? Will it raise food prices even further?
Environmental News Service; July 1, 2008
Submitted by B.Shapiro
