Category:

Study links California drought to global warming

WASHINGTON (AP) — ‘s not done in real time. Now a study is asserting a link between climate change and both the intensifying California drought and the polar vortex blamed for a harsh winter that mercifully has just ended in many places. The Utah State University scientists involved in the study say they hope what they found can help them predict the next big weird winter. Outside scientists, such as Katharine Hayhoe at Texas Tech University, are calling this study promising but not quite proven as it pushes the boundaries in "one of the hottest topics in climate science today." The United States just came out of a two-faced winter – bitter cold and snowy in the Midwest and East, warm and severely dry in the West. The latest U.S. drought monitor says 100 percent of California is in an official drought. The new study blames an unusual "dipole," […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

El Nino Risk Increases as Pacific Gets Warmer: Carbon & Climate

The odds are increasing that an El Nino weather system will form this year, portending drought for Australia and Asia and a warmer winter in the U.S. Northeast. The U.S. Climate Prediction Center now says there’s a 65 percent chance the Pacific Ocean warming pattern will develop after August. It put the odds at 52 percent last month. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology, which expected neutral conditions at the start of the year, says the phenomenon may start as soon as July. The World Meteorological Organization of the United Nations sees an El Nino at midyear. “We should know more clearly in a month exactly whether this is going to wimp out on us or if it’s really going to take off,” Kevin Trenberth , distinguished senior scientist in the climate analysis section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado , said in an April 14 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

El Nino Risk Increases as Pacific Gets Warmer: Carbon & Climate

The odds are increasing that an El Nino weather system will form this year, portending drought for Australia and Asia and a warmer winter in the U.S. Northeast. The U.S. Climate Prediction Center now says there’s a 65 percent chance the Pacific Ocean warming pattern will develop after August. It put the odds at 52 percent last month. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology, which expected neutral conditions at the start of the year, says the phenomenon may start as soon as July. The World Meteorological Organization of the United Nations sees an El Nino at midyear. “We should know more clearly in a month exactly whether this is going to wimp out on us or if it’s really going to take off,” Kevin Trenberth , distinguished senior scientist in the climate analysis section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado , said in an April 14 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

EPA drastically underestimates methane released at drilling sites

Drilling operations at several natural gas wells in southwestern Pennsylvania released methane into the atmosphere at rates that were 100 to 1,000 times greater than federal regulators had estimated, new research shows. Using a plane that was specially equipped to measure greenhouse gas emissions in the air, scientists found that drilling activities at seven well pads in the booming Marcellus shale formation emitted 34 grams of methane per second, on average. The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that such drilling releases between 0.04 grams and 0.30 grams of methane per second. The study , published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to a growing body of research that suggests the EPA is gravely underestimating methane emissions from oil and gas operations. The agency is expected to issue its own analysis of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector as early as Tuesday, which […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nobel winners to White House: Reject Keystone XL

10 recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize called on President Obama ‘s administration to reject an application for the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada. Pipeline company TransCanada submitted an application to build the cross-border pipeline more than five years ago. President Obama said he’d weigh the project against its environmental footprint, and a State Department report this year said the pipeline would have few net issues. Nobel Peace Prize winners, from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to Archbishop Desmond Tutu , sent a letter to Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry urging them to deny the permit for Keystone XL. "The myth that tar sands development is inevitable and will find its way to market by rail if not pipeline is a red herring," they said in their letter published Tuesday. "Oil industry projections are clear that to reach their production goals […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Poland referred to EU court for violating environmental rules

The European Commission said Wednesday it referred Poland to a regional court of justice for violating rules on greenhouse gases. "The European Commission has decided to refer Poland to the EU Court of Justice for failing to notify to the Commission what penalties have been put in place in case the EU rules for companies and personnel undertaking certain activities with fluorinated gases are not observed," the commission said in a statement . European law requires companies to take steps to reduce the amount of fluorinated gases, a harmful pollutant, leaked into the atmosphere. The European Commission said it sent a request to Poland to address the issue in November. The ruling follows a series of scathing reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning that global climate change is out of control. The European Commission said action to curb the release of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

EPA: US greenhouse gases dropped 3.4% in 2012 from 2011; down 10% from 2005 levels

& The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its 19 th annual report of overall US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, showing a 3.4% decrease in 2012 from 2011. The Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks , which is submitted annually to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, presents a national-level overview of annual greenhouse gas emissions since 1990. Total emissions of the six main greenhouse gases in 2012 were equivalent to 6,526 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. According to the report, GHG emissions in 2012 showed a 10% drop below 2005 levels, and were only […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China set to elevate environment over development in new law

Smog-hit China is set to pass a new law that would give Beijing more powers to shut polluting factories and punish officials, and even place protected regions off-limits to industrial development, scholars with knowledge of the situation said. Long-awaited amendments to China’s 1989 Environmental Protection Law are expected to be finalised later this year, giving the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) greater authority to take on polluters. While some details of the fourth draft are still under discussion, it has been agreed that the principle of prioritising the environment above the economy will be enshrined in law, according to scholars who have been involved in the process. The fourth draft is due to be completed within weeks. "(Upholding) environmental protection as the fundamental principle is a huge change, and emphasizes that the environment is a priority," said Cao Mingde, a law professor at the China University […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Political Rifts Slow U.S. Effort on Climate Laws

The United States needs to enact a major climate change law, such as a tax on carbon pollution, by the end of this decade to stave off the most catastrophic impacts of global warming, according to the authors of a report released this week by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . But aggressive efforts to tackle climate change have repeatedly collided with political reality in Washington, where some Republicans question the underlying science of global warming and lawmakers’ ties to the fossil fuel industry have made them resistant to change. The rise of the Tea Party in recent years has also made a tax increase unlikely. This week’s report makes clear, however, that the window is rapidly narrowing to forge new policies that will protect the globe from a future of serious food and water shortages, a drastic sea level rise, increased poverty and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Climate risks real, U.S. energy secretary says

Without aggressive action now, it will be hard to keep greenhouse gas emissions in check long term, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns international efforts to reduce carbon emissions are short of what’s needed to keep expected temperature increases in check. Greenhouse gas emissions would have to be close to zero by the end of the century to keep changing weather patterns from growing more severe. "The IPCC report notes that it will be substantially more difficult to maintain low greenhouse gas concentrations in the long term if we do not act aggressively now," Moniz said in a statement Sunday. IPCC Co-Chairman Ottmar Edenhofer said the dangers from climate change are clear. "To avoid dangerous interference with the climate system, we need to move away from business as usual," he said in a statement. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple