Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

November 9, 2009

Steven L. Hoch
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

The Prairie Rebellion

Wind Industry Runs Afoul of a Kansas County
“Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more… Opps, I am!”
The Kansas Supreme Court upheld a Wabaunsee County zoning ordinance banning industrial-scale wind development across 791-square miles of tallgrass prairie that county officials say should remain unsullied by wind turbines and transmission lines. While a number of installations across the country have been attacked by environmentalists concerned that new energy plants will destroy valuable plant and wildlife habitat, most of those challenges involve the siting of turbines, solar arrays or powerlines on protected lands such as parks, wildlife refuges, or wilderness areas. The Wabaunsee County zoning law, by contrast, targets the development of wind projects on private lands, something industry representatives, and others say could set a dangerous precedent. But the decision also raises some complicated constitutional questions that could have implications for domestic energy development and the ability of local governments to regulate it. The Kansas Supreme Court has agreed to hear those arguments in briefs and oral arguments due in the coming months. See: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/11/05/05greenwire-wind-industry-faces-prairie-rebellion-in-kansa-34024.html

Money

Economists Agree Climate Uncertainty Boosts Value of GHG Controls
“Economics has never been a science - and it is even less now than a few years ago.” Paul A. Samuelson
A recent study of economists dealing with the climate change issue shows deep divides over how to quantify the benefits of reducing GHG emissions, but broad consensus that the United States should act now to reduce its carbon footprint — unilaterally if necessary — to avoid the worst effects of global warming. The economists also agree policymakers should pursue a “market-based” approach to addressing the threat of climate change, with the vast majority backing a policy of auctioning all emission allowances and using the revenue to cut taxes or directly compensate consumers, rather than freely allocating permits to emitters. Several key areas of disagreement remain among economists, however, chiefly on the issue of the correct market value for carbon, with the survey showing a “tremendous range of responses.” “The social cost of carbon is a controversial issue that economists continue to struggle with,” the survey concludes. “Perhaps the response that best captures the uncertainty regarding the damages generated by greenhouse gas emission was: ‘No one knows, including me.’”
See: http://www.law.nyu.edu/news/IPI_ECONOMISTS_SURVEY


Health Care Costs Linked to Need for Climate Legislation
But if it gets warm, we will have less cold.
Congress has received several reports linking the increase in medical costs which the nation will incur if climate legislation isn’t passed. The reports include an Oct. 29 study by Trust for America’s Health “Health Problems Heat Up: Climate Change and the Public’s Health”; an Oct. 19 congressionally mandated report by the National Research Council (NRC), “The Hidden Costs of Energy: Unpriced Consequences of Energy Production & Use,” which includes public health costs; and the forthcoming National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) study, “The Public Health Impacts of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” to be published next month in the medical journal The Lancet. The two leading health bills circulating in Congress both include health-related global warming language. Advocates say it is imperative those provisions remain and that both bills provide a clear mechanism to link public health and climate change, as well as address problems outlined by the recent reports. Read published reports at:
http://healthyamericans.org/

War on Drugs

Military Experts Warn Climate Change Could Complicate Drug War
How much more complicated can it get?
The drug trade could thrive as climate change stretches Latin American security forces thin, according to ongoing studies by two top security think tanks. Colombia is a good example of the threats America’s southern neighbors face from rising temperatures, according to a detailed examination by CNA, a nonprofit military research group. The chain of cause and effect, however, is complex. For one, farmers may grow more coca, the crop used to make cocaine, as decreased water supplies, degraded soils and pests threaten coffee growers in the Andes. “There will be more and more pressure to shift to coca cultivation. Coca grows like a weed just about anywhere,” said David Catarious, a CNA research analyst. Today, coffee farms contribute one-third of Colombia’s agricultural revenue and employ a quarter of its rural workforce. Rural populations moving to resource-stressed cities also are destabilizing threats. As the internal dynamics of the country grow more chaotic, organized crime has an easier time moving in, Catarious said. Agriculture and fishery sectors, along with coastal areas, will be particularly vulnerable, said Shiloh Fetzek, head of the climate change program at the Royal United Services Institute, a U.K.-based think tank that has released a preliminary study of Central America and Mexico’s climate threats. Rural migrants all over may move to cities, where they will face unemployment and may fall easy prey to organized crime. Also, governments could lose control of rural territories, and existing social tensions could flare as natural disasters strike more often. See: http://cna.org/

And If All Else Fails

Plan B for the Planet
After they’re done with Plan B we’ll probably need a C and D….
Some geoengineering schemes to fight climate change would probably succeed in cooling the planet, scientists stated an MIT recently - but whether we should ever deploy them is still an open question. Researchers who gathered at MIT outlined a stark list of potential side effects of different climate engineering approaches, including further depleting the ozone layer, inducing drought and turning the blue sky white. At the same time, many experts said geoengineering could be a planetary "Plan B," an option to exercise if cutting greenhouse gas emissions can’t stave off dangerous climate change. While many proposed geoengineering approaches evoke low-budget science fiction — using a giant garden hose to spew sulfur particles into the sky, launching an array of mirrors into space or planting acres upon acres of carbon dioxide-munching plastic trees — the idea of using technology to artificially cool the planet is gaining ground. Climate engineering options that seek to pull carbon dioxide from the air seem less risky, but also less effective. They include fertilizing the oceans with iron to spur the growth of algae that consume CO2, enriching soil with charcoal, or planting forests of artificial carbon-eating trees. Abstracts at: http://mit.edu/

Insurance

Climate Insurance is Considered as Negotiators Prep for Copenhagen
You’re in good hands with All America Insurance.
Advocates for nations vulnerable to climate change are accusing the United States of trying to “kill” a prominent global warming provision that would create a massive insurance program for countries that face rising destruction from natural disasters. The controversial measure — which currently is part of the voluminous draft treaty text leading up to international climate talks in Copenhagen — seeks financial payments for countries that might slip underwater sometime this century, as well as for those that increasingly suffer from drought, floods and cyclones. The program could cost the United States and other developed nations billions every year. Dozens of small island nations have managed to get the international insurance program included in the draft on climate adaptation, which is being parsed and consolidated this week in Barcelona, Spain, before final U.N. negotiations open in Copenhagen next month. See: http://unfccc.int/

The Pink Panther

PPG Recognized as a Leader for Its Carbon Disclosure Transparency
If he’s so transparent, how do we know he’s still pink?
PPG Industries has been recognized as a leader for its carbon disclosure transparency and emissions management by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) within the S&P 500 Index companies in the CDP’s 2009 Leadership Index (CLDI). PPG scored 81 of a possible 100 points in the CLDI, ranking second in the materials sector, which had an average score of 59. In addition, PPG ranked third among materials companies for the CDP’s pilot “performance-based” metrics, which measure a company’s plans and actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Carbon Disclosure Project holds the largest database of corporate climate change information in the world and represents more than 475 signatory investors with combined assets under management of more than $55 trillion. The CDP solicits information annually from the world’s largest companies. The CDP’s mission is to facilitate a dialogue between investors and corporations, supported by high quality information from which a rational response to climate change will emerge.
See: http://azom.com/