2010 melt season ends, likely setting the record for lowest volume

Last week, National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) director Mark Serreze said, “Every bit of evidence we have says the ice is thinning.”  Monday, NSIDC scientist Julienne Stroeve sent me this figure from a forthcoming article using data provided by J. Maslanik and C. Fowler (click to enlarge):

This is the end-of-winter sea ice extent in the Arctic Basin, broken down by age.  Stroeve explains:

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After killing climate legislation, a bevy of trade associations representing America’s global warming polluters wants Congressional appropriations committees to kill the Obama administration’s efforts to limit greenhouse pollution. In a letter acquired by the Wonk Room, 24 trade associations, led by the conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce, claim that the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rules could destroy the struggling economy:

There is the very real prospect that investments by businesses across the entire economy – the investments that will drive economic recovery and job creation – will be delayed, curtailed or, even worse, cancelled.

These same arguments were used to oppose legislative climate policy, even though the groups now claim they oppose EPA rules to “give Congress the time necessary to consider the appropriate regulatory approach for those sources.”

Therefore, the lobbying groups ask Senate appropriations chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and ranking member Thad Cochran (R-MS) and House appropriations chairman David Obey (D-WI) and ranking member Jerry Lewis (R-CA) to support language to delay EPA regulation until after the 2012 elections. They point to bills introduced by the coal-fueled Democrats Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Rick Boucher (D-VA):

We urge you to support efforts to postpone EPA regulation of GHG emissions from all stationary sources through targeted amendments to relevant appropriations measures or legislation based on the Rahall/Boucher or Rockefeller bills.

The 24 trade associations that want to kill the green economy and dither as the world burns are: Read more

Breaking:  Energy Guardian reports (subs. req’d):  “Facing a likely test vote to delay Environmental Protection Agency greenhouse gas regulations, Senate Democrats Tuesday abruptly canceled plans to draft the agency’s 2011 appropriations measure this week.”

This Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee may vote to block the Obama administration from moving forward with global warming pollution rules.  Brad Johnson has the story.

While the Senate dithered and let Republicans kill climate legislation passed last year by the House of Representatives, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has begun rolling out rules to limit greenhouse gas pollution in the coming years. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) attempt to kill the finding that greenhouse gases are pollution died by a narrow vote of 47-53, but Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) is promoting a two-year moratorium on EPA climate action. Speaking to E&E News, climate peacocks Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) have announced they would potentially support killing EPA rules in the agency’s appropriations bill, to be marked up on Thursday:

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A new report concludes that California’s climate change law, known as AB32, will reduce dependence on imported oil and natural gas and will protect consumers from oil price spikes.

The study, “ShockProofing Society: How California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) Reduces the Economic Pain of Energy Price Shocks,” concludes that implementation of the law will provide additional savings to energy consumers in addition to the roughly $7.5 billion in 2020 estimated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).  Authors of the report are the Environmental Defense Fund, Center for Resource Solutions, and Energy Independence Now.

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Dorgan, Nelson (NE), Landrieu, Pryor, Specter, and Johnson.

This Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee may vote to block the Obama administration from moving forward with global warming pollution rules. While the Senate dithered and let Republicans kill climate legislation passed last year by the House of Representatives, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has begun rolling out rules to limit greenhouse gas pollution in the coming years. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) attempt to kill the finding that greenhouse gases are pollution died by a narrow vote of 47-53, but Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) is promoting a two-year moratorium on EPA climate action. Speaking to E&E News, climate peacocks Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) have announced they would potentially support killing EPA rules in the agency’s appropriations bill, to be marked up on Thursday:

“I’d like to see what amendments are offered, and I’ll make a judgment about that,” Dorgan said. “I do think that it makes sense to have some time here to have Congress make the ultimate decision rather than EPA.”

“I supported Murkowski, I’m supporting Rockefeller, so obviously I have inclinations to curtail some of the authority and the actions of the EPA,” Nelson said.

The appropriations committee is split 18-12 in favor of the Democrats, so four Democrats would have to join the anti-science Republican bloc to defend polluters:

Likely candidates besides Nelson and Dorgan include Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Mark Pryor (D-AR), who voted for the Murkowski resolution, and Tim Johnson (D-SD), who is co-sponsoring the Rockefeller proposal. Another possibility is Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), who said it was “too complicated” to answer when asked yesterday whether he would support an appropriations bill limiting EPA’s regulations.

It is unclear who would introduce the appropriations amendment. Dorgan and Nelson told reporters “they are not planning to propose amendments themselves,” and Murkowski may still be in Alaska. However, a spokesman for the top Republican on the committee, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), said he “expects to see amendments related to greenhouse gas regulations and offshore drilling.” Sen. Rockefeller told reporters he “has asked Democrats on the Appropriations Committee to sponsor his bill as an amendment.”

Senators are considering this maneuver even though President Obama has threatened a veto of such efforts in the past, and killing climate action does not have 60 votes on the floor. But a rider attached to a key funding bill by a handful of conservatives would be much more difficult for the president to kill. In a statement to the Wonk Room, the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s Dan Weiss blasts these potential moves:

It is the height of shamelessness that many of the same senators responsible for blocking pollution reductions now want to block EPA from setting pollution limits so Congress has time to act. This hypocrisy, combined with the Republican appropriators’ slavish devotion to big oil, makes it likely this effort will be another skirmish in the war to create jobs, reduce oil use, and slash pollution.

GOP fills candidate slate with climate zombies who deny science

A comprehensive Wonk Room survey of the Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate finds that nearly all dispute the scientific consensus that the United States must act to fight global warming pollution. In May, 2010, the National Academies of Science reported to Congress that “the U.S. should act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a national strategy to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change” because global warming is “caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for “” and in many cases is already affecting “” a broad range of human and natural systems.”

This finding is shared by scientific bodies around the world. However, in the alternate reality of the fossil-fueled right wing, climate science is confused or a conspiracy, and policies to limit pollution would destroy the economy.

Remarkably, of the dozens of Republicans vying for the 37 Senate seats in the 2010 election, none supports climate action. Even former climate advocates Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) now toe the science-doubting party line.

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Fourth Hottest Summer on Record for the United States in 2010

As September begins to bring cooler temperatures, Americans can look back objectively at the past summer (June-August). The above average temperatures in the contiguous states combined to make it the fourth warmest ever. Only seven of the lower 48 states had normal temperatures, and 29 were much above normal. This news is detailed in the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) State of the Climate report issued on September 8, 2010.

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One could devote a lifetime to debunking Robert Bryce’s new book “Power Hungry.”   Fortunately, we have A. Siegel of GetEnergySmartNow! on the job in this repost.

On reading the opening paragraphs of Robert Bryce’s author’s note, I felt a kindred soul:

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Robert Stavins is Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.  This was original posted on his blog.

Cap-and-trade has been demonized by conservatives as part of an effective strategy to stop climate legislation from moving forward in the U.S. Congress.  As I wrote in my previous blog post (“Beware of Scorched-Earth Strategies in Climate Debates”), this unfortunate tarnishing of market-based instruments for environmental protection will come back to haunt conservatives and liberals alike when it becomes politically difficult to use the power of the marketplace to reduce business costs in the pursuit of a wide variety of environmental objectives.

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