Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

December 28, 2009

Hope you had a great holiday and best wishes for 2010!. May you be healthy and prosperous.

By: Steven L. Hoch

Ed note: Over the past 6 months I have tried to point out the problems (and some times the hypocrisy) in dealing with climate change. In 2010, my goal is to offer solutions with short commentary meant solely to be productive in stimulating discussion and fixes to the problems we now see popping up as the world attempts to develop solutions. Such solutions hopefully will have a positive effect on the environment, the economy and to each of us as individuals.

The Given and Take for Adaptation to Climate Change

Environmentalists across Calif. torn over proposed mega-farm

This may be the key issue. How do we (and can we) change our carbon use without some other concessions? Maybe talking about the big picture, necessary energy changes, should come first?

Some environmentalists have come out against efforts by a Silicon Valley company to build the world's largest solar farm in the Panoche Valley, a sunny and isolated stretch of land 90 miles southeast of San Jose. The $1.8 billion project by Cupertino-based Solargen Energy would include 1.2 million solar panels across 18,000 acres, producing 420 megawatts of electricity. Set to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in federal tax credits, the solar farm could power 315,000 homes while virtually eliminating pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Several chapters of the Audubon Society have opposed the proposal, questioning the potential impact of the solar project on endangered species that live in the valley. Though the environmentalists would normally support solar energy, they would prefer that panels not be placed on largely unspoiled frontier land. See:

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14050919?source=most_emailed

Copenhagen

Something missed at Copenhagen

Here’s something that needs attention. Will these industries feel the pressure?

In the Kyoto Protocols international maritime shipping and aviation was left out mainly because no country wanted to count those emissions, which usually occur beyond national borders, as part of its emissions-reduction target. In Copenhagen, this issue was not dealt with. Left unchecked, pollution from the two sectors is expected to double or triple by 2050. Negotiators are still attempting to remedy the omission. Since 1990, planet-heating pollution from maritime shipping has grown by more than 85%, and aviation emissions have grown by more than 50%. Together, they account for up to 8% of global greenhouse gas pollution. China, India and Saudi Arabia oppose controls on their shipping and aviation and the United States, while agreeable to setting emissions targets, has reportedly refused to consider funds from maritime shipping and aviation as part of a global financing scheme. The EU recently decided to include aviation under its own cap-and-trade system as of January 2012, covering all flights to and from EU airports. U.S. carriers have threatened lawsuits. See:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/12/global-warming-shipping-aviation.html

Bad News

Study shows temperatures to rise even more than predicted
It would be better if this was a prediction about the stock market, but it isn’t.

Increases in carbon dioxide may trigger higher global temperatures than previously thought, says a team of U.S. and Chinese researchers. The research team's long-term model of carbon dioxide concentration based on ancient sediment drilled from the ocean floor suggests that during the last sustained global warming period with geography similar to today's -- 4.5 million years ago -- a relatively small rise in CO2 levels was associated with substantial global warming. At that time, global temperature was between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius higher than today's -- even though carbon dioxide levels were similar to the current ones. The findings published online Sunday by Nature Geoscience reiterate those of a similar British study released earlier this month that said calculations for global warming may have been underestimated by between 30 and 50 percent. See:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jye_vRRbnHiD_kLyWGPBOfoa_cvg

Under the icy north lurks a ‘carbon bomb’
If its not one thing, its another. This one though, is really a shocker.

North of Canada’s capital, underneath an endless expanse of spruce, pine, and birch, ticks what some scientists are calling a carbon bomb: Peat. A thick layer of the black spongy soil, the remnants of ancient forests, wraps the globe’s northern tier. Deeper than 15 feet in places, the peat layer extends over more than 6 million square miles across Russia, Scandinavia, China, Canada, and the United States. Carbon that those forests absorbed from the air over thousands of years is stored in the peat and suspended in waterlogged bogs or permafrost. When it is disturbed or drained - as is happening in some areas - the peat can start to decompose and dry out, unleashing greenhouse gases. In North America alone, the peat and the trees growing in it hold as much carbon as would be emitted worldwide by 26 years of burning fossil fuels at current rates. It’s like a great big stew of carbon percolating away for centuries,’’ said Janet Sumner, executive director of the Wildlands League in Ontario, a conservation group pushing to preserve the northern, or boreal, forests from development. “If we don’t protect the boreal, it will mean more emissions and climate change.’’ See:

http://www.boston.com/news/world/canada/articles/2009/12/13/under_the_icy_north_lurks_a_carbon_bomb/?page=2

Australia’s carbon emissions soar

If we can’t agree on the rules, then we can’t all play the game correctly.

Australia's annual greenhouse gas emissions have soared by more than four-fifths since 1990. The 82 per cent rise in emissions is due to a blow-out of 657 per cent in emissions from land use between 1990 and 2007. There is wild natural variation in land-use emissions - for example, there was a massive spike in 2002-03 from Victorian bushfires - and so Australia joined others in not counting most land categories towards its Kyoto target for 2012. Australia wants to be able to count ''carbon sinks'' in agricultural land but exclude the impact of extraordinary events or circumstances such as bushfires and drought. Environmentalists say it is hard to measure land-use emissions, opening up the possibility of "accounting frauds". See

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/carbon-emissions-soar-20091213-kqi2.html

Study finds plants, animals must scurry as climate changes

May not seem like much to us, but to some species it is.

Changing climate means changing habitats, and the species that survive will need to move about a quarter-mile each year, according to a new study. The report, published yesterday in the journal Nature, estimates the "velocity of climate change": how quickly rising temperatures will force an ecosystem to relocate -- if it survives at all. Creatures in flat areas, especially lowland tropics, mangroves and deserts, will have to move the fastest. In mountains and valleys, a small change in altitude can bring a wide swing in temperature, so an adjusting species doesn't have to move as far. But on flat ground, a species' comfort zone recedes more rapidly, testing its ability to stride to safety. Unfortunately, not all species are equipped to make such changes.

See: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091223133337.htm

Credits

Closed UK steel plant to get 2010 CO2 permits
This is why its important to get it right the first time. This kind of thing is just wrong.

A steel plant in northeast England due to close in January will likely get its 2010 quota of free European carbon permits, a windfall worth around 100 million euros ($147.3 million), the UK government explained recently. The plant in Teesside is likely to get the permits next February, despite the fact that owner Corus, Europe's second largest steelmaker, announced last Friday that the plant will be mothballed and 1,700 jobs cut. See: 

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BA2JJ20091211

Solving Global Warming

A cheap and reliable way to solve global warming?
Nathan may either be a genius or a nutcase. Will someone please check out the science on this?

Nathan Myhrvold is a former technology officer for Microsoft has posed as a solution to global warming running a hose up to the stratosphere with balloons and using that hose to pump out enough sulfur particles to dim the sun's heat just enough to counteract the effects of global warming. The estimated cost would be about two hundred and fifty million dollars. He suggests that volcanoes and other natural processes already pump out sulfur into the stratosphere and that his scheme, if adopted, would increase that amount by only one percent and therefore thinks that there would not be any unintended consequences (like starting a new ice age.)

See: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2511875/nathan_myhrvolds_anti_global_warming.html?cat=15

Using Carbon Credits to Pay for Legal Fees

Pay your legal fees with carbon credits
Gives a new meaning to alternative fee arrangements.
Clients of the Cueto Law Group in Miami, Florida can now pay up to 20% of their legal fees with carbon credits. Although the Cueto Law Group will be receiving up to 20 percent fewer revenue dollars, they will be able to offset a portion of the firm’s carbon footprint thanks to the clients that choose to participate. See: http://www.mnn.com/business/finance/blogs/pay-your-legal-fees-with-carbon-credits

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

December 21, 2009

Steven L. Hoch
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

Copenhagen

It’s Over, So What Was Accomplished?
Its like… we all promise to like promise to do something, but like you can’t see what I’m doing… like, so, yeah.

The summit officially ended Saturday with a gentlemen’s agreement among the world’s largest economies to take steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but no formal consensus on the part of the 193 nations present — and no prescription for what comes next in the global negotiating process that is nearly 20 years old. The most celebrated aspects are a batch of provisions that will boost the likelihood of major emitters acting on their own to reduce carbon pollution and will send clear signals to clean-energy investors and inventors. Nations joining the accord will, by Jan. 31, list their pledges for long-term emissions control. Developed nations will declare cuts; fast-developing nations will sign up for reductions as a share of their overall economy. Other key provisions included forest protection, transparency on levels of emissions and a massive financial aid package for developing nations, along with the most formalized commitments yet that economic powerhouses China, India and the United States will take steps to move away from fossil fuels. The climate accord’s limitations, meanwhile, were clear to advocates and critics alike. It is not legally binding. It does not cut emissions aggressively enough to avoid a level of warming that scientists warn could prove catastrophic. It includes no measure to enforce nations’ emissions pledges, other than international peer pressure, and no deadline to turn the accord into a treaty to be ratified. Negotiators across the globe will meet in Germany next spring and again in Mexico City for a major conference near the end of 2010. See: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-copenhagen-climate20-2009dec20,0,6958334.story

Putting Our Economy in the Hands of Chavez Fans
This guy needs Thorazine, at the very least.

President Chavez brought the house down when he said the process in Copenhagen was “not democratic, it is not inclusive, but isn’t that the reality of our world, the world is really an imperial dictatorship.” He stated the world should bring down imperial dictatorships and got a rousing round of applause. When he said there was a “silent and terrible ghost in the room” and that ghost was called capitalism, the applause was deafening. But then he wound up to his grand conclusion 20 minutes after his 5 minute speaking time was supposed to have ended and after quoting everyone from Karl Marx to Jesus Christ, he said “our revolution seeks to help all people and socialism, the other ghost that is probably wandering around this room, that’s the way to save the planet, capitalism is the road to hell... let’s fight against capitalism and make it obey us.” He won a standing ovation. See:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409344/posts


Other Quotes from World Leaders
Political wisdom (an oxymoronic statement itself) is the same no matter where you are.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy: “The discussions lasted all night without interruption… The good news is that they’re continuing — the bad news is they haven’t reached a conclusion… There is a lot of tension... but even so, things are moving a bit… “What’s blocking things? A country like China which has trouble accepting the idea of a monitoring body. India has trouble accepting a target for limiting its carbon emissions… and then there are grotesque positions from a country like Sudan.”

India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: “Each one of us acknowledges that those worst affected by climate change are the least responsible for it. Whatever emerges from our negotiations must address this glaring injustice; injustice to the countries of Africa, injustice to the least developed countries and injustice to the small island states whose very survival as viable nations is in jeopardy.”

Environment Minister of EU President Sweden Andreas Carlgren: “My impression is that through the whole process the real problem has been on the one hand the United States, who are not able to deliver sufficiently. Now they have started but they came very late. On the other hand you have China, and they delivered less. And they have been really blocking again and again in this process, followed by a group of oil states. That’s the real differences, the real confrontations behind this.”

UN IPCC chairman Rajenrda Pachauri: “The recent incident of stealing the e-mails of scientists at the University of East Anglia shows that some would go to the extent of carrying out illegal acts, perhaps in an attempt to discredit the IPCC.”

See: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20091218/tpl-uk-climate-copenhagen-quotes-factbox-c3c492c.html; http://www.globalwarminghysteria.com/blog/2009/12/7/copenhagen-never-underestimate-the-power-of-stupid-people-in.html

Ecuador says it will Halt Extraction of Oil in Exchange for Value of Saved Carbon Emissions
So, we’re going to pay to not drill oil in a culturally significant area, occupied by indigenous tribes? We should all get money for not driving. Send money, ignore reality.

Ecuador announced that it is willing to refrain from extracting more than 840 million barrels of oil reserves contained in its Yasuni National Park in exchange for international contributions totaling at least half of what the country could receive if it sold its oil on the open market. Keeping the Yasuni oil reserves underground would prevent the release of 407 million tons of carbon dioxide that otherwise would be emitted if the oil fields were tapped. It also would protect biodiversity in the Amazon region and would preserve lands occupied by the indigenous. The Cultural and Natural Heritage Minister said the government is close to finalizing a financial mechanism that would channel money from wealthy, developed nations into a trust fund that would be administered by the United Nations Development Program. The government estimates that the present value of the 407 million tons of preserved carbon dioxide is equal to roughly $5 billion, assuming a market value of around $17 per ton of carbon dioxide-equivalent. See: http://climate.bna.com/Home.html

Inconvenient Truth for Al Gore as His North Pole Sums Don’t Add Up
The planet has a fever…. well, maybe not… but let’s say so anyway.

Mr. Gore, speaking at the Copenhagen summit, stated the latest research showed that the Arctic could be completely ice-free in five years. In his speech, Mr. Gore told the conference: “These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr. Maslowski that there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years.” However, the climatologist whose work Mr. Gore was relying upon dropped the former Vice-President in the water with an icy blast. “It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at,” Dr Maslowski said. “I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this.” See:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/copenhagen/article6956783.ece


“Gore Effect” Strikes as Congressional Delegation to Leave Copenhagen Early to Beat Snowstorm
The solution to global warming is to clone Al Gore and send the clones wherever it may get too hot!

Much of the East Coast of the United States is set for a major blast of winter this weekend with snow totals of more than one foot forecast for the Washington DC area. The Congressional delegation of 21 lawmakers now in Copenhagen announced they would leave early in order to beat the snowstorm before it strikes the nation’s capital. The climate summit began on December 7th and it seems like the ‘Gore Effect’ has been striking routinely since then. Leading up to the event, much of the United States was plunged into a deep freeze. Snow fell in Houston, Denver experienced temperatures 30 degrees below normal and 370 new record low temperatures were set or tied in a three day span across the United States. Not even the summit itself has been immune to the effect as a major snowstorm struck Copenhagen yesterday and temperatures plummeted. President Obama landed at the summit amid snow falling. Denmark’s Meteorological Institute said that the nation may have its first white Christmas in 14 years. The term, ‘Gore Effect’ was coined in recent years for the unseasonable weather that oftentimes accompanies appearances by former vice president and Nobel Laureate Al Gore or when a global warming event is held. Cold and snow have followed Al Gore and these events across the globe with amazing frequency since 2004. See:

http://www.examiner.com/x-25061-Climate-Change-Examiner~y2009m12d18-Gore-Effect-strikes-as-Congressional-delegation-to-leave-Copenhagen-early-to-beat-snowstorm


Denmark v. Greenland
The Vegas Line is Greenland + 7.

Greenland’s home rule chairman, Kupik Kleist, said that low standards of living on the Arctic island mean it should not be included in any greenhouse gas emissions-reduction commitments signed by Denmark. While confirming his commitment to responsible and sustainable development, Kleist said Greenland should “have the right to develop independently.” Though a Danish protectorate, Greenland enjoys broad autonomy, and a future referendum on full independence remains an active topic. Speaking to BNA at a COP-15 news briefing in Copenhagen, Kleist pointed out that over 40 percent of Greenland's budget is provided by the Danish state. That subsidy could be withdrawn if Greenland wins greater autonomy, in which case Greenland would have to “double [its] emissions just to replace that money.” “We claim that we have the right to develop our society as well as the rest of the world,” Kleist said when asked if Greenland should be exempt from Danish emissions quotas. See:

http://climate.bna.com/subscriber/World.Climate.Change.Report.html?d=A0C1R0D7C9&dt=News&print=true

Emission

Highest CO2 Emissions Increases
This may be a case of “Do as I do, not as I say.”

Between 1990 and 2005 Vietnam had the highest rate of emissions growth among countries that emitted more than 100 million tons of CO2 in any year during the past three decades. Vietnam's emissions from fossil fuel use, cement manufacturing, and gas flaring increased 376 percent from 5.8 million metric tons of carbon to 27.8 million tons between 1990 and 2005. Malaysia ranked second with a 224 percent increase. China topped the rankings in terms of total carbon emissions growth over the period. China's carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion, cement manufacturing, and gas flaring increased by 875.7 million tons of carbon to 1.53 billion tons of carbon (5.62 billion tons CO2) in 2005. Others who increased: Thailand 183%, Nigeria 151%, UAE 148%, Egypt 133%, Indonesia 120%, Indonesia 111% and India 106%. Check out this site for multiple charts of interest. See:

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1204-carbon_emissions.html


U.S. Emissions Won't Return to 2008 Levels Until 2019
One more good recession and we’re done.
Greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. energy sector have fallen and won't reach 2008 levels again until 2019 according to the Energy Information Administration. "The recession will have a lasting impact" on gross domestic product, total energy use and carbon dioxide emission levels, EIA Administrator Richard Newell. The recession's pinch on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, transportation and industry from 2008 to 2009 won't be made up for a decade, under a projected 0.3 percent average annual growth, EIA says. With no change in policies, U.S. emission levels from energy-related sources will grow a total of 8.7 percent from 2008 to 2035. Energy-related sources currently account for about 85 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. See: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/




To Curb Emission, U.K. Will Make Air Travel Expensive and Difficult as much as Possible
Fly me to the tax collector, and keep me on the tarmac burning fuel….huh?

A new U.K. report says that if the aviation industry continues to grow unchecked, passenger journeys would increase by 200% in the next 40 years, but that cannot be tolerated. Even with an anticipated carbon price of £200 per tonne passed on to fares, the creation of a high-speed rail network, and more use of video-conferencing to cut business travel, the report warns that more action such as constraining airport use might be needed in order to stop the population from flying. A carbon tax, limits on further airport expansion, and restrictions on the allocation of takeoff and landing slots even where airports are the other part of the plan. See:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/08/passenger-tax-flights-reduce-co2


Environmentalists Say ‘Leaked’ Document Shows Emission Targets Fall Short
A leak here, a leak there…it’s hard to know whose leaking what.

Environmental groups who have been pushing industrialized nations to toughen their emission-reduction targets are pointing to a leaked draft U.N. document that argues commitments currently on the table from developed and developing nations would not be sufficient to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations to 450 parts per millions. Instead, the document says numbers on the table would lead to a 3 degree temperature increase from pre-industrial levels; a threshold that climate scientists believe will lead to far worse consequences from climate change, especially in the developing world. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/17/un-leaked-report-copenhagen-3c

Missing Pollutants

The ‘Forgotten 50%’ of GHG Pollutants
If we just keep forgetting about them, pretty soon we won’t remember them.

CO2 accounts for only half the world's GHGs. The other sources include black carbon, soot from incompletely burned fossil fuels and biomass, including that produced by ships and cooking stoves that collects in the atmosphere and on ice and prevents sunlight from being reflected back into space; HFCs, used in refrigerators and air conditioners worldwide; and methane, which emanates from coal mines and landfills. Many scientists and environmentalists say reducing the "forgotten 50%" of pollutants will be faster, easier and substantially cheaper than cutting CO2, and could buy the world time in its climate clock race. HFC regulation is handled through a decades-old treaty that aims to phase out pollutants that deplete the ozone layer. Action on black carbon is a particularly appealing goal for island nations concerned that the world may be nearing "tipping points" of global warming, in which increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere start a chain reaction of temperature rise that would lead to their nations being swallowed by rising seawater. See:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-climate-emissions14-2009dec14,0,4164470.story?track=rss

Revolt

Smart Meters Cause Revolt
This may just be the start of consumer revolt against climate change regulations.

As millions of households across the U.S. are outfitted with "smart meters" that track how much electricity is used hour by hour, some customers and state officials have questioned whether the meters truly benefit the public and will save customers money. Tensions have mounted in California as homeowners have expressed outrage over increases in bills, claiming they are being charged for more kilowatt hours than they believe they are using. But PG&E, which has installed four million meters in California, says that the scores of complaints stem from spikes in electrical usage and quirky pricing systems in the state, not faulty machines. Still, the state plans to bring in outside auditors to look into the issue. On the other side of the country, the Connecticut AG worries about similar issues cropping up and that the benefits of the transition will come long after consumers must shoulder the cost of the move during the recession. He convinced Connecticut Light and Power to scale back its plan for widespread installation of the meters and run a test program first. See:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/us/14meters.html?_r=1

Something to Read

Climate Change is Natural: 100 reasons Why
You be the judge.

100 reasons, released in a dossier issued by the European Foundation, why climate change is natural and not man-made are found at: http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/146138

California

Ethanol Seeks Rule Rejection
If we can’t use it in cars, let’s just drink it.

Ethanol lobbyists made a last-ditch attempt to send California's low-carbon fuel regulation back to the drafting stage with a plea to a key state official to reject the rule on the grounds that its architects did not follow proper procedures. The Renewable Fuels Association charged CARB with circumventing the required administrative process after it tentatively approved the low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS), earlier this year. CARB filed the rule with the administrative office Nov. 25, in what amounts to a final bureaucratic hurdle before the agency can formally approve the rule. The LCFS directs fuels producers to cut the carbon intensity of their products by 10 percent by 2020, but ethanol manufacturers are opposed because the carbon intensity formula would apply a life-cycle emissions test that takes into account effects on agriculture and land use. The letter comes a day after researchers at Stanford University published research that found ethanol is more likely than gasoline to generate ozone and ozone-related health problems. RFA took issue with those findings, as well. See:

http://www.dtnethanolcenter.com/index.cfm?show=10&mid=84&pid=10


California Mulls over New Cost Containment Rules in Cap-and-Trade-Plan
Did you ever mull over anything… or did you just think about it?

California regulators are floating several cost-containment measures in the design of their GHG cap-and-trade program, including an allowance price floor and expansion of the use of offsets. The draft proposals are already prompting controversy among some stakeholders, with most environmentalists opposing more liberal use of offsets and industry and businesses groups strongly supporting broad offset use, with some firms opposing a price floor. CARB said it could set a minimum auction price—or “reserve price”—below which allowances could not be sold at auction. Unsold allowances could be held in a reserve holding account, which could be augmented through “direct allocation,” and could release allowances from the reserve during times of high prices, which CARB believes would help contain costs but also “provide only a limited increase in credit supply” to strike an attractive balance. Offsets were limited to 4 percent and stakeholder complain that is far too stringent, and minimizes the productive use of valuable emission-reduction actions being taken outside California and the U.S. See:

http://ee.iwpnews.com/index.php/ccn/showcat/C72


California Panel Speaks on Cap-and-Trade
Speak panel, speak!! Good panel!

A panel of nationwide economists and climate change policy experts advising California on the design of its greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade program is recommending the state rely on “border adjustments”—or charges on the carbon-intensity of imported fuels and other materials—to prevent the “leakage” of GHG emissions and jobs to other states and countries that do not have similar GHG controls. However, the expert panel is acknowledging that state border adjustments do face some legal uncertainties, such as potential violation of the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. One major oil company is already inquiring about the legal uncertainties involved with the policy. The panel’s recommendation in effect rejects for the most part freely allocating emission allowances to energy-intensive, trade-exposed industries as an alternative way to reduce leakage. See:

http://carboncontrolnews.com/%20and%20http://www.climatechange.ca.gov/eaac/

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

December 14, 2009

Steven L. Hoch
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

Dieting to a Greener Planet

Eat less meat and dairy to save the planet
The only way they’ll get my double cheese burger from me is to pry it from my cold dead hands.
A report issued in the UK by the government's independent advisory body on sustainability, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), calls for radical changes in patterns of consumption fight climate change and tackle the growing crisis of diet-related diseases. The report also recommends that people reduce energy consumption by shopping more on foot or over the internet and that they replace bottled water with tap water. SDC commissioner Professor Tim Lang said the recommendations represented the first coherent advice on a sustainable diet. "Cutting down on meat and dairy, eating only sustainably sourced fish, fruit and vegetables, would all help reduce the impact of our food system as well as improving health," he said. The study acknowledges that cutting processed food and reducing consumption of intensively-produced meat and dairy foods could lead to a shrinking of the UK food and drink industry. See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/11/eat-less-meat-dairy-diet

EPA Issues Endangerment Finding

GHG’s endanger public health and the environment
Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense.”
In a not so surprising finding, the EPA announced this week that GHGs threaten the public health and welfare of the American people. EPA also finds that GHG emissions from on-road vehicles contribute to that threat. EPA’s final findings respond to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision that GHGs fit within the Clean Air Act definition of air pollutants. The findings do not in and of themselves impose any emission reduction requirements but rather allow EPA to finalize the GHG standards proposed earlier this year for new light-duty vehicles as part of the joint rulemaking with the Department of Transportation. EPA’s endangerment finding covers emissions of six key greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. See:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment.html


Free-market group to sue over endangerment finding
One step forward, two steps back.
Hours after U.S. EPA declared that greenhouse gases threaten public health, the Competitive Enterprise Institute warned that it will challenge the agency's endangerment finding in federal court. "EPA is clinging for dear life to the notion that the global climate models are holding up," said CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman. "In reality, those models are about to sink under the growing weight of evidence that they are fabrications," he added, citing the series of e-mails hacked from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, which some skeptics say shows that researchers intentionally withheld climate data and sought to stifle competing theories. See: http://cei.org/news-release/2009/12/07/cei-will-file-suit-block-epa-endangerment-finding

Copenhagen

Leak of 'Danish text' causes outrage
Outrage is when they run out of cheese Danish and you have to get a bear claw.
A leaked negotiating text between wealthy nations at the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen has drawn outrage from developing nations, who say that the draft would set unequal limits for 2050 carbon dioxide emissions and undermine the U.N.'s future role in climate negotiations. The text -- believed to be drafted by American, British and Danish leaders -- would hand effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank; discard any continuation of the Kyoto Protocol; and make climate adaptation aid contingent on nations taking a range of actions, among other areas. "It is being done in secret," said one diplomat, who asked for anonymity. "Clearly the intention is to get [Barack] Obama and the leaders of other rich countries to muscle it through when they arrive next week. It effectively is the end of the U.N. process." See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/08/copenhagen-climate-summit-disarray-danish-text


1,200 limos, 140 private planes and other surprises
Gives the term “limousine liberal” a whole new meaning.
On a normal day, Majken Friss Jorgensen, managing director of Copenhagen's biggest limousine company, says her firm has twelve vehicles on the road. During the "summit to save the world", which opens here tomorrow, she will have 200. Ms Jorgensen reckons that between her and her rivals the total number of limos in Copenhagen next week has already broken the 1,200 barrier. The French alone rang up on Thursday and ordered another 42, and because there are not enough limos in Denmark, some have had to be driven in from Sweden and Germany. The airport says it is expecting up to 140 extra private jets during the peak period alone, so far over its capacity that the planes will have to fly off to regional airports – or to Sweden – to park, returning to Copenhagen to pick up their VIP passengers. . According to the organizers, the eleven-day conference, including the participants' travel, will create a total of 41,000 tonnes of "carbon dioxide equivalent" equal to the amount produced over the same period by a small city. And this being Scandinavia, even the prostitutes are doing their bit for the planet. Outraged by a City Council postcard urging delegates to "be sustainable, don't buy sex," the local sex workers' union – they have unions here – has announced that all its 1,400 members will give free intercourse to anyone with a climate conference delegate's pass. At least the sex will be C02-neutral See:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6736517/Copenhagen-climate-summit-1200-limos-140-private-planes-and-caviar-wedges.html

Teeter-Totter

This decade warmest on record
Jane Auston: “What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance
The decade coming to a close this month will be the warmest on record, according to scientists. Over the past nine years, global temperatures averaged 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 1951-1980 average, NASA said. By the end of 2008, the 2000s had included eight of the 10 warmest years on record. By 2060, temperatures could rise 7 degrees Fahrenheit or more higher than pre-industrial levels, according to British-based scientists. Meanwhile, the last three summers melted Arctic sea ice more than at any point in modern history. See:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091207/ap_on_re_us/decade_s_end_climate


EPA report shows 2008 emissions decline
Seems like we’re doing our share to cool things down.
According to the EPA, industrial emissions of toxic chemicals to the nation's air, soil and water declined 6 percent to 3.86 billion pounds from 2007 to 2008. Overall, toxic air releases decreased 14 percent in 2008. The numbers are drawn from the Toxics Release Inventory, or TRI, which summarizes reported emissions of 650 chemicals by 21,000 facilities. Two major sectors led the way in decreasing emissions, EPA said, which contributed to the overall decline. Electric utilities released 10 percent fewer emissions, while emissions from primary metal facilities decreased by 12 percent. See:
http://www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/tri08/national_analysis/index.htm


Greenhouse gas carbon dioxide ramps up aspen growth
Why aren’t we planting more?
A new study by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota at Morris of natural stands of quaking aspen, one of North America's most important and widespread deciduous trees shows that elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide during the past 50 years have boosted aspen growth rates by an astonishing 50 percent. Previously, scientists have shown that plants and trees in growth chambers respond to levels of carbon dioxide well above levels in the atmosphere. The new study is the first to show that aspen in their native forest environments are already growing at accelerated rates due to rising ambient levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Previously, scientists have shown that plants and trees in growth chambers respond to levels of carbon dioxide well above levels in the atmosphere. The new study is the first to show that aspen in their native forest environments are already growing at accelerated rates due to rising ambient levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. See: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/uow-ggc120109.php


Boosting plants' pores could help fight warming
Now if we can get bigger pores on quaking aspens, we will have a real solution.
Japanese researchers from Kyoto University have found a way to make plant leaves absorb more carbon dioxide, which could help ease global warming. The team found that soaking germinated seeds from thale cress plants in a protein solution could as much as quadruple the number of pores on the leaves that inhale CO2 and release oxygen. The number of pores multiplied relative to the concentration of the solution. An ideal increase would be two to three times, so as not to impede the functions of other cells in the surface of the plant. See: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j3D6pjBVhgJ-EU7RuquldJix5ohQ

Sea Level Rise

Rise in sea levels threatens California ports
As long as its just ports and not wine or brandy, its ok……oh, those ports.
Sea levels in California are expected to increase 16 inches over the next 40 years, causing flooding and endangering facilities throughout the state, according to a report by the California State Lands Commission. By 2100, the ocean could rise as much as 55 inches, the report said. At the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, rising water could damage ground-level facilities and toxic-waste storage sites. In Oakland, the site of the state's third-biggest port, higher water could cause flooding and impede the movement of goods on highways and by rail. The San Diego Unified Port District said a 55-inch rise was likely to result in substantial effects and flooding of some facilities in both urban and wildlife areas, according to the report. Santa Barbara officials reported that amount of rise "would basically flood or inundate the entire area, destroying most all facilities as currently constructed." See: http://www.slc.ca.gov/home_page_docs/SEA_LEVEL_Report.pdf

Cap and Trade

Australia Rejects Cap-And-Trade
Time to put another plan on the barbie.
Cap-and-trade proposal has been defeated for the second time this year in Australia. Though defeated in August, it looked as if the scheme might pass this time around after the opposition Liberal Party threw its much-needed support behind it. Then something unexpected happen: the Liberal Party’s rank-and-file revolted, throwing out its leader for a man who blasted the proposal in terms familiar to those following the U.S. debate, calling it a “great big tax on everything” and a “slush fund to provide politicized handouts run by a giant bureaucracy,” and arguing the scientific basis for the proposal was “absolute crap.” Also, the recent discovery of emails that cast some doubt on the science supporting global warming empowered conservative legislators to vote against the plan. See:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c73f6398-dfab-11de-98ca-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1


Internet short film takes on cap and trade
And not a Michael Moore in sight.
The group that put out a popular film on the perils of American consumerism recently launched a new animated short on the Internet called "The Story of Cap & Trade." The film suggests that a cap-and-trade plan allows for too many loopholes that would permit companies to cut down trees while simultaneously claiming credits, and that it gives free permits to pollute -- distracting from the real problem that society needs to make more sacrifices. See: http://www.storyofstuff.com/capandtrade/

Carbon Footprints

Most companies miss 80% of their carbon footprint
So its like you are just counting your toes and forgetting the rest of your foot.
When it comes to estimating their impact on the environment, most companies and organizations miss 80 percent of their carbon footprint, according to Climate Earth, a turnkey provider of enterprise carbon accounting solutions. “It’s more like a carbon toe print,” said Chris Erickson, Climate Earth founder and chief executive officer. “Companies primarily miss emissions that come from supply chains that feed into their products and services.” Climate Earth claims its approach to carbon accounting is unique because it is delivered as a full-service reporting solution and is developed with customers. Other companies provide software, which only gives customers tools to do their own analysis. Customers must then hire expert staff, learn to use the tool and be willing to stand behind their numbers. Furthermore, most software solutions do not identify the critical 80 percent of GHG emissions in the supply chain. See: http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/b51197/climate-earth-most-companies-miss-80-of-carbon-footprint

California

California adopts model rule to reduce refrigeration-system GHGs
We need to make sure we can keep Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey cold because its getting warmer.
California officials have adopted a novel regulation to reduce high “global warming potential” (GWP) GHGs from large refrigeration systems, primarily by establishing an extensive leak detection and repair program that will be enforced by local air districts. The regulation is considered a model for other states and federal regulators as they look to address climate change through new rules on a variety of industry sectors. CARB adopted the “Regulation for Reducing Leaks of Potent GHGs from Commercial Refrigeration Systems.” The rule affects companies that operate systems that contain more than 50 pounds of “high GWP” refrigerant, and requires facility registration, leak detection and monitoring, leak repair, system retrofit and retirement, best service practices, and recordkeeping and reporting, according to the proposal. The rule is expected to apply to about 26,000 facilities in California, including supermarkets and grocery stores, food and beverage processors, cold storage warehouses and industrial process cooling. Other provisions of the rule apply to sellers and distributors of high GWP refrigerants. See:
http://carboncontrolnews.com/ccndocs/dec09/ccn12092009_fridge.pdf

Excuse of the Day

Bloomberg the Carbon Bigfoot
N.Y. Times excuses Mayor Bloomberg’s carbon consumption because he’s rich. If we aren’t rich we have no right to discuss these excesses. ……huh?
The New York Times takes some issue with Mayor Bloomberg for maybe being a bit hypocritical regarding climate change. He is seen my many New Yorkers as being out in front of the climate change battles. And while the Times points out that Mr. Bloomberg owns a helicopter and two jets, both Falcon 900s, “[h]e flies everywhere on private jets, by far the least efficient form of transportation on or above the earth. He takes his jet to Bermuda many weekends. He has flown around the globe on it. He uses it to go to Washington. He is planning to get to Copenhagen for the climate conference by private jet, too. The carbon math works out like this: by taking his Falcon 900 to Denmark, Mr. Bloomberg will be responsible for the release of 37 times the carbon dioxide than if he and his entourage flew on a scheduled commercial flight. His Falcon 900 carrying eight people from Newark to Copenhagen would produce 21.6 tons of carbon dioxide…Mr. Bloomberg’s routine trips to Bermuda are even more carbon costly: the private jet produces 130 times more emissions than going commercial.” But the Times concludes that this is “not Bloombergian hypocrisy; it is a paradox, shared by most of humankind...There is a long list of public figures — from movie stars to politicians to journalists — who preach conservation for everyone else, while living in mega-homes and flying in Gulfstreams. It is probably not a good idea for the rest of us to look down our noses at people who cannot resist such temptations until we can afford them ourselves”. See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/nyregion/13about.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

December 7, 2009

Steven L. Hoch
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

Hypocrisy 101

BBC Dispatches 35 Staff to Climate Talks
BBC stands for Bulging British Carbon.

The BBC’s entourage to Copenhagen purportedly will create as much carbon dioxide as an African village does in a whole year. (Around six or seven tons of carbon dioxide.) Conservative MP Philip Davies said: “It’s absolutely staggering. It’s yet another example of how wasteful the BBC is. On the subject of climate change, the BBC seems to lose all its critical faculties and it will probably be just a fawning exercise over these environmentalists anyway. It would be nice if one of these 35 people asked some pertinent and critical questions about climate change. But I suspect they will all be subscribers to the extreme environmental agenda. ” The BBC responded that: “The Copenhagen conference is a major global news story and we will deploy 12 on-air presenters and reporters, supported by 23 producers, camera operators, engineers in total.” Greenpeace is sending two reporters.

See:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/BBC+dispatches+35+staff+to+climate+talks+-+creating+as+much+carbon+as...-a0212593251


The Timesonline.UK Lists Climate Change Hypocrites
You gotta love the Hollywood crowd!!!! Just like your parents said: “Do as I say, not as I do.”

The Timesonline state: “Nothing piques our interest more than eco-hypocrisy as practiced by the “green” celebrities who have been spouting green virtue but spewing out hundreds of tons of carbon from their private jets or multiple holiday homes around the globe.” Here’s who made the list:

Sheryl Crow - who had called upon the public to refrain from using more than one square of toilet paper per visit (“except on those pesky occasions when two or three are required”) travels in a biodiesel tour bus, but her 30-person entourage followed in a fleet of 13 gas-guzzling vehicles;

John Travolta - notoriously encouraged the British public to do its bit to fight global warming — after flying into London on one of his five private jets. In 2006 his piloting hobby produced an estimated 800 tons of carbon emissions, more than a hundred times the output of the average Briton;

Tom Cruise - who has campaigned for the LA-based environmental group Earth Communications Office — also has an air fleet and a license to pilot his five planes, including a top-of-the-line customized Gulfstream jet he bought for his wife, Katie Holmes;

Oprah Winfrey - who preaches eco-virtue from her TV pulpit, travelled in a 13-seat Gulfstream IV private jet for years;

Dame Trudie Styler - film financier and wife of Sting. Not only do she and her husband run seven homes and travel between them in private jets and a fleet of cars, but in 2007 an employment tribunal revealed Styler was furious when her pregnant chef refused to travel 100 miles to prepare some soup and salad;

U2 - their latest world tour features three stages and a giant claw that ensures as many spectators as possible get a decent view. Alas, transporting the whole shebang around the world is estimated by carbonfootprint.com to produce the carbon equivalent of the annual emissions of 6,500 British homes — or a rocket trip to Mars and back;

Al Gore - who at the end of the film An Inconvenient Truth asked his audience: “Are you ready to change the way you live?” His own huge Nashville mansion consumed over 20 times the electricity of an average American home. Indeed, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, it burnt twice as much power in the month of August 2006 than most American homes do in an entire year. Another inconvenient truth revealed that the former senator spent $500 a month just to heat the indoor swimming pool in his lavish domestic establishment. The 100’ houseboat he bought in 2008, on the other hand, was said to be powered by biodiesel. See:

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article6931572.ece

Carbon Financial Issues

Deloitte Publishes Carbon Accounting Report
You take one carbon and you add it to two carbons you get six dollars and fourteen cents?

Deloitte has issued a report the accounting undertaken to measure the amount of carbon dioxide equivalents that will not be released into the atmosphere as a result of Flexible Mechanisms projects under the Kyoto Treaty. In the report, Deloitte addresses several commonly asked questions and also address addresses different carbon accounting results that can exist as companies develop accounting policies individually in the absence specific carbon accounting guidelines to follow. See:

http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Services/additional-services/Corporate-Responsibility-Sustainability/article/3750ec3b965a4210VgnVCM200000bb42f00aRCRD.htm


Fears of Cap-and-Trade Gaming
We have nothing to fear but human nature!

Two key House Republicans are asking a federal district court to release sealed documents in a years-old criminal fraud case over the sale of counterfeit pollution credits arguing the case illustrates the potential to game the system under a federal cap-and-trade program for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Reps. Joe Barton and Greg Walden ranking members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee and the panel’s oversight and investigations subcommittee, respectively, are seeking documents related to the past charges against Anne Sholtz, who ran a company called Automated Credit Exchange (ACE). ACE helped companies buy and sell credits under the Regional Clean Air Incentives Market (RECLAIM), an EPA-approved regional cap-and-trade program meant to reduce smog and air pollution. Sholtz had a hand in creating the program, which began in 1994. Sholtz pleaded guilty in 2005 to one of six counts of wire fraud involving fraudulent emission credits and received five years probation with one year of home detention. See

http://republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/default.aspx


Financial Reform Debate May Influence Future of Cap and Trade
Actually, dealing with jobs first, seems like the smart thing. If this come out of the Senate it would be a miracle.

The decision to take up financial regulatory reform before a climate bill in the Senate could have significant implications for the choice of a "trade" mechanism as the vehicle of choice to meet emission targets. As lawmakers delve into the uncertain details of how far new regulations should go and the balance between systemic risk and market innovation, questions surrounding the effectiveness of the market to regulate carbon emissions may swing momentum in the opposite direction. The financial regulatory reform legislation not only affects the content of the climate bill, but its complicated issues are certain to take up a significant amount of the Senate's time. This leaves fewer and fewer legislative days for a climate and energy bill as health care looks likely to go through January and Reid wants to take a "jobs bill" before the financial regulatory reform bill. Some senators who support climate and energy legislation say the extra time will benefit a climate bill. See:

http://www.eenews.net/public/EEDaily/2009/12/02/1


RGGI Allowance Prices Continue Slide in Sixth Auction
Blue light special on Aisle 3! Get your red hot credits!

Prices slid again in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative's (RGGI) sixth auction for 2009 emissions allowances to $2.05 per short ton of carbon dioxide equivalent, the Northeast pact announced here today. The previous auction netted $2.19 per ton in September. But 2012 allowances fell slightly in the Wednesday auction, to $1.86 per ton, from $1.87 in September. In the June auction, 2009 allowances sold for $3.23 per ton CO2 equivalent. To date, the auctions have generated $500 million for the 10 RGGI states. Almost 100 percent of emission allowances are distributed through auctions in the nascent carbon-trading scheme, but the steep, recession-spurred drop in industrial activity has caused RGGI administrators to issue far more allowances than necessary, resulting in very weak demand and some of the lowest prices of any carbon-linked tradable instrument. The seventh RGGI auction is scheduled for March 10, 2010. See: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/12/04/04greenwire-rggi-allowance-prices-continue-slide-in-sixth-48850.html

New Report Bolsters Analysis of Climate Law's Economic Impact
It’s hard to fathom that changing a whole economy and culture will not have a big economic impact.

California's modeling of the economic effects of its global warming policies is on track, according to a new study comparing the different models used to estimate the economic effects of A.B. 32. Estimates by the CARB, the Electric Power Research Institute and a University of California at Berkeley, all found slight increases or decreases in gross state product by 2020. The CARB study found a $4 million increase to $2.59 trillion, compared to $2.586 trillion if no emissions reductions were undertaken. The report also found similarities between projections for California and the United States, citing modeling presented at Stanford University's Energy Modeling Forum in June. Four different modeling techniques, including two that U.S. EPA is using to predict the effects of national climate legislation, found that capping U.S. emissions at 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 would reduce gross domestic product in 2020 by an average of 2 percent. See:

http://www.resource-solutions.org/pub_pdfs/Climate%20Policy%20and%20Economic%20Growth%20in%20California.pdf

Transmission Lines for Green Energy

Enviros Throw Support Behind California Power Line Project
It’s about time… now wake up and get with the program.

The Sierra Club and NRDC have endorsed a proposed transmission line that would bring renewable energy to Southern California cities, marking a departure from the groups' typically wary stance on such projects. The endorsed project is the Southern California Edison Co.'s application to build two transmission lines that would run from an area near Palm Springs to Blythe and Romoland in Riverside County — mostly along existing power lines and Interstate 10. The organizations state that this line is different because it will carry power from multiple generation sites and will largely be built along existing rights-of-way and they state that this doesn’t signal a change of direction on other transmission lines. See:

http://www.reuters.com/article/mnEnergy/idUS328103819420091130

Carbon Sequestration

Experts Propose Spending Up To $450B To Deploy CCS Technology by 2035
Stick it in the ground and don’t worry about it. After all, out of sight out of mind.

In a report designed to guide policymakers on carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies as they develop energy and climate legislation, the group of experts, consisting of stakeholders in the CCS debate, addressed several issues related to deploying the technology, including funding levels and timelines. The group proposed a range of spending over the next 25 years. The panel suggested spending $5 billion to $7 billion on research and development through 2025, $5 billion to $25 billion on demonstration projects through 2030, $20 billion to $65 billion on pioneer plants through 2024, and $80 billion to $350 billion on early adopting plants from 2012 through 2035. The report suggests spending at minimum $2.88 billion in 2010 on the R&D, demonstration and pioneer plant phases. Congress appropriated $404 million for fiscal 2010 spending on CCS research after spending $692 million in fiscal 2009 and $3.4 billion in stimulus funding. See:

http://dorgan.senate.gov/issues/energy/cleancoal/cleancoal.pdf

Green Technology

DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle Named a Best Invention of 2009 by TIME Magazine
A chicken in every pot, solar shingles on every roof!

The product integrates low-cost, thin-film CIGS photovoltaic cells into a proprietary roofing shingle design. The design reduces installation costs because conventional roofing shingles and solar generating shingles are installed simultaneously by roofing contractors. The solar shingle systems are expected to be available in limited quantities by mid-2010, and more widely available in 2011. See: http://www.dowsolar.com/

Water Demands of Next-Generation Feedstocks Still Uncertain – GAO
Shower less, make more fuel. Or, smell better, drive less. Or, make more fuel, shower with a friend.

The effects of increased biofuels production on water resources remain uncertain, says the GAO who called for additional research into feedstock cultivation, biofuel conversion and water resource data. The report outlines the effects of corn growth and corn ethanol production on water resources, and it speculates that corn cultivation could have a greater effect on water quality and supplies than other feedstocks because corn requires more chemicals, and chemical runoff will affect water bodies. But next-generation feedstocks are not in the clear, according to the report. Conversion of feedstocks to biofuels will also affect water supplies, but the full extent of those impacts remains largely unknown, the report says. See:

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10116.pdf


U.S. Could Face Glut of Biofuels
Make less fuel, save more water. This is making me dizzy. Maybe we should shower in the biofuel?

Thanks to a recession-based fall in fuel demand, U.S. government mandates requiring the use of 15 billion gallons of biofuels by 2012 could face the reality that there is nowhere to use all that fuel. Two years ago, while crafting its biofuels legislation, Congress did not account for fuel demands remaining or falling — a progression begun by the recession that could continue thanks to improved fuel efficiency. This trend, and the fact that ethanol can constitute only 10 percent of normal gasoline blends, suggests the country is unlikely to use all the biofuels Congress ordered. See:

http://www.blogger.com/goog_1260056715844
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/business/energy-environment/27ethanol.html?_r=1

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

November 30, 2009

Steven L. Hoch
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

The Conspiracy Thickens

Scientists’ E-Mails Fuel for Anti-Climate Change Proponents
Didn’t their Daddy tell them to never say it in ink?
E-mails stolen from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in Britain may evidence that scientific data have been rigged to make it appear as if humans are causing global warming. The researchers, however, say the e-mails have been taken out of context and merely reflect an honest exchange of ideas. In one e-mail from 1999, the center’s director, Phil Jones, alludes to an article in the journal Nature and writes, “I've just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (i.e., from 1981 onwards), and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.” “It is clear that some of the ‘world’s leading climate scientists,’ as they are always described, are more dedicated to promoting the alarmist political agenda than in scientific research,” said Martin Ebell, whose group is funded in part by energy companies. “Some of the e-mails that I have read are blatant displays of personal pettiness, unethical conniving, and twisting the science to support their political position.” See:
http://www.blogger.com/goog_1259604692514
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-climate-hacker22-2009nov22,0,913036.story


Climate Change Data Dumped
Maybe they’ll find the data on the grassy knoll.
The same scientists in the above story have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based. It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years. The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals — stored on paper and magnetic tape — were dumped to save space. The lost material was used to build the databases that have been his life’s work, showing how the world has warmed by 0.8C over the past 157 years. See:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6936328.ece

Waning Belief in Global Warming

Most Support GHG Action, Despite Weakening Belief in Warming – Poll
Huh? Less belief translates into a call for more action? What? Who’s on first? I don’t know, who’s on second…No he’s on first.”
A smaller percentage of Americans believe in global warming, even though a majority continues to support legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions, according a Washington Post-ABC News poll. The poll found 72 percent of the public agrees with the idea that “the world’s temperature may have been going up slowly,” while 26 percent believe such a change in temperature is not happening. That level of belief in global warming is down 8 percent from last year, when the same question was asked, and represents the lowest level of support since at least 1997. But of those individuals who believe global warming is happening, 82 percent believe that it is a serious problem and 53 percent support a cap-and-trade system to deal with the problem. The level of support for cap and trade is essentially unchanged from when poll asked the same question earlier this fall, but it does represent a 6-percentage-point drop from August 2007. Additionally, 55 percent of those polled expressed support for U.S. action on global warming even if other nations don’t “do equally effective things” to address the problem. Twenty-one percent said the United States should act if other countries do, as well, and 22 percent said it should take no action at all. See:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/24/AR2009112402989.html

Cows

San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District v. Anti-Cow Activists
The choice is really simple, we need to invent gas free cows, or all become lactose intolerant.
Environmentalists are likely to challenge San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District dairy emissions rules that exempt some facilities from having to purchase emissions offsets if U.S. EPA approves the rules, even after reaching a consent decree with the agency last month to act on the high-profile issue. The District issued the first-time dairy rules in response to a 2004 state law that removed a longstanding exemption from air quality rules for agriculture. But environmentalists now charge that the latest version of the District’s rules still contain an illegal exemption for some dairies by not subjecting them to requirements to offset emissions of VOCs, and in some cases does not require them to install emission-control technology. The agency’s forthcoming decision on the District’s rules comes as EPA continues testing of agricultural air emissions, including dairies, hog farms and poultry and cattle operations, in an effort to determine what operating levels are and whether they need to be reduced and regulated. The national air emissions monitoring study is expected to be completed in May 2010, while VOC estimation methods for concentrated animal feed operations should be completed by November 2011, according to EPA.
See: http://www.valleyair.org/

Cap and Trade California Style

CARB Releases Detailed Outline of Its Cap and Trade Regulations – Possible Roadmap for the Feds
First it was surfboards, now cap and trade. California is just groovy.
California unveiled preliminary rules for what could become in 2012 the nation’s first multi-sector greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade program. The program goes well beyond the scope of the Northeastern states’ Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative cap-and-trade program, which targets only power plants. California’s program would apply to the state’s largest sources of greenhouse gases, beginning with electricity generators and importers, oil refineries, hydrogen plants, cement plants, and other industrial facilities and initially covers 600 facilities that each emits more than 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Eventually, the program will be expanded to include emissions from producing and delivering transportation fuels and from commercial and residential use of natural gas. The preliminary rules would:


• Establish declining emissions caps set to achieve the 2020 target;
• Create three-year compliance periods, the first beginning Jan. 1, 2012;
• Require a minimum number of emissions allowances to be auctioned at the start of the program;
• Allow limited use of verifiable, high-quality offsets outside of capped sectors; and
• Establish clear rules for emissions trading, monitoring, and enforcement.


The trading program would apply to emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur hexafluoride, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and nitrogen trifluoride. Under the proposal, permits to emit, or allowances, would be issued annually and at least some would be auctioned to fund clean energy and other projects. CARB has yet to decide what portion of the permits would be auctioned. At the end of a compliance period, the facilities must surrender allowances to meet their caps, bank them for future use, sell excess allowances, or ask CARB to retire the allowances. Emitters could use offset credits for a certain percentage of their emissions reduction requirements—as long as they meet CARB’s criteria—in lieu of buying allowances or reducing their emissions.


Industry officials expressed concern over the program. “California’s global warming program must not stifle the growth of California's economy,” California Manufacturer’s & Technology Association’s Dorothy Rothrock said in a written statement. “Manufacturers are gravely concerned that the cap and trade program will impose significant new costs on their operation in the state.” Auctioning allowances could “act like a massive new tax on production,” Rothrock said.
See: http://arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/capandtrade.htm

Dollars and Nonsense

College Cuts Carbon Dioxide Emissions by 80%
Buying your way to claiming carbon reduction!
St. Mary’s College of Maryland has reduced its carbon emissions by 80% this year largely driven by student initiatives. The student body purchased Renewable Energy Credits at a cost of about $50,000 to offset 100 percent of the carbon emissions produced by the college’s electricity consumption (12,000 tons of CO2 saved). The Northeast Energy Services Company, Inc. program of upgrading college facilities saved 2430 tons. The LEED-certified Goodpaster Hall reduced CO2 emissions by 610 tons. The James P. Muldoon River Center has a student-sponsored geothermal HVAC system that cuts CO2 emissions by 270 tons. The new Glendening Building has “green” features that reduce CO2 emissions by 125 tons. These and other innovations have allowed the college, which would have produced 19,500 tons of CO2 over the last year, to offset over 15,000 tons of CO2 emissions. As a result the college produced just of 4000 tons of CO2.
See: http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/15523


Selling Offsets by Mobile Phone in Ethiopia
Wouldn’t it be better to text them instructions on growing food in their environment?
The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working with Ethiopia to allow small Ethiopian farmers to measure the diameters of trees on their land twice a year and put the information into a text message, which, along with each farmer’s unique identification code, is then sent to the regional office. Software computes the amount of carbon stored on each farm as well as the change from the previous measurement; any increase in stored carbon dioxide is converted into cash using the going rate of CO2 on international markets, and farmers are paid. Concern has been expressed about keeping farmers honest and using verifiable data when they report as well as the need to adjust the computer modeling to calculate the amount of CO2 absorbed by stands of trees based on the idiosyncrasies of Ethiopian ecology. See: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/veli-pohjonen/


Climate Change Pushes Poor Women to Prostitution, Dangerous Work
A terrible thought brought to you by a large leap of logic.
The effects of climate change have driven women in communities in coastal areas in poor countries like the Philippines into dangerous work, and sometimes even the flesh trade, a United Nations official said. Suneeta Mukherjee of the United Nations Food Population Fund (UNFPA), said women in the Philippines is the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in the country. “Climate change could reduce income from farming and fishing, possibly driving some women into sex work and thereby increase HIV infection, “Mukherjee said during the Wednesday launch of the UNFPA annual State of World Population Report in Pasay City. Of the 92 million Filipinos, about 60 percent are living in coastal areas and depend on the seas for livelihood, said former Environment Secretary, Dr. Angel Alcala. But as the sea’s resources are depleted due to overpopulation and overfishing, fishermen start losing their livelihood and women are forced to share the traditional role of the man in providing for the family. Alcala said some women often pick out shellfish by the coastlines, which exposed to storm surges. Women who can no longer endure this work often go out to find other jobs, while some are tempted to go into prostitution, Alcala added.
See: http://www.gmanews.tv/print/177346

Pushing SEC for Disclosure Requirements

Investors Push for Disclosure of Risk; Climate Change may see SEC Action Soon
How do you report on things you don’t even know how to quantify? Doesn’t seem to matter, report it anyway.
A group of investors filed a supplement Nov. 23 to a petition asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to require companies to disclose GHG emissions and associated risks, citing pending legislation and proposed regulations. Filed by environmental groups and large investors—including the Environmental Defense Fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, and several states’ chief financial officers—the supplement adds to a petition filed in 2007. The petition asked that the SEC require that all companies include reports of climate-related risks when reporting other financial risks. They argue that such risks can include physical assets that could be endangered by rising sea level or other effects of climate change. It also can include the costs of complying with pending legislation that would require covered entities to purchase an allowance for each ton of greenhouse gas emitted. It could even include risk to reputation if a company is likely to lose income as consumers shift to products that are perceived as being environmentally friendly. Recent changes in the makeup of the Commission itself are likely to bring this issue to the forefront. See: http://www.ceres.org/Page.aspx?pid=1151

Transportation

FAA Study Warns Alternative Fuels may Worsen Aviation’s GHG Profile
Let’s just blame Orville and Wilbur and be done with it.
Industry officials say alternative jet fuels could play a central role in reducing aviation’s carbon footprint, but a new study commissioned by the FAA finds many of those fuels are actually worse for the climate than conventional petroleum, and that those which do produce fewer lifecycle GHG emissions “are costly and could potentially be counterproductive.” Further contradicting the industry’s stance, the report also says imposing a price on carbon—not federal subsidies and mandates—is the best way to further the development of alternatives to oil. But beyond improving the efficiency of their engines and aircraft, there are few ways the aviation industry can reduce its GHG emissions short of cutting back on flights, which, combined with the costly fluctuations in the price of oil—and the industry’s desire to be exempted from GHG regulation—helps explain its interest in developing alternatives to conventional jet fuel. See: http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR554/

No-Not Again

Royal Dutch Shell Calls for Derivatives on Carbon Trading
AIG, are you listening???? They’re calling your name!!!!
Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil producer, is calling for the removal of any restrictions on carbon credit trading and asking for derivative contracts to be allowed under cap-and-trade programs, but Legislators in the US plan to impose restrictions on trading of carbon credits under a proposed cap-and-trade program, on concern that speculators will drive up carbon prices and costs for consumers. “You have to allow a secondary market to develop,” David Hone, Shell’s climate change adviser, told reporters at an energy conference in Singapore today. “You don’t want to have a carbon market that’s restricted from doing what other commodity markets are doing.” See: http://www.smh.com.au/business/cfd/shell-calls-for-derivatives-on-carbon-trading-20091117-ij67.html


U.S. Industry Calls for Carbon Trading Derivatives
AIG, are you listening???? They’re calling your name!!!! Again.
A coalition of electric power and natural gas industry groups that is arguing for preserving access to over-the-counter (OTC) energy derivatives markets has set its sights on the Senate, sent a letter to the agriculture and banking committees outlining recommendations for reforming the OTC derivatives market. The groups sending the letter include the American Gas Association, the Edison Electric Institute and the Electric Power Supply Association represents a much larger coalition. The coalition argues for striking a balance between improving transparency in the OTC derivatives markets and ensuring “the ability of companies to access critical OTC energy derivatives products and markets” because the groups’ members “rely on these products and markets to manage price risk and help keep rates stable and affordable for retail consumers.” See: http://www.truebluenaturalgas.org/over-the-counter-derivatives-legislation

Species Protection

Climate Change Threats
Let’s hear it for the salt marsh harvest mouse!


EPA is seeking public comment on a draft report on determining the climate change impacts on vulnerable species. The report, “A Framework for Categorizing the Relative Vulnerability of Threatened and Endangered Species to Climate Change,” comes as some activists have argued that the Endangered Species Act should be used as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. According to a notice published in the Federal Register Nov. 25, the report compares the relative vulnerability to climate change of five threatened and endangered species as well as the bald eagle, which is not longer classified as endangered or threatened. The species’ vulnerability is determined based on four “modules,” which focus on a number of issues including “the likely vulnerability of a species to future climate change, including the species’ potential physiological, behavioral, demographic, and ecological response to climate change.” The species are then categorized into a number of groupings, including “critically vulnerable,” “highly vulnerable,” “less vulnerable,” and “least vulnerable.” The report will be released for a 30-day public comment period beginning Nov. 25. The species examined in the report are the golden-cheeked warbler, the salt marsh harvest mouse, the Mount Graham red squirrel, the Lahontan cutthroat trout, the desert tortoise and the bald eagle. See:
http://www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-11-25-E9-28294