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Archive for July, 2015
Are massive wildfires the new normal?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 28th, 2015
CBS: Tom Harbour of the U.S. Forest Service readily admits he doesn't know all that much about climate change.
But the folksy and plain-spoken Harbour knows plenty about fighting wildfires. And since he first joined the service in 1970 , Harbour, the agency's national director for fire and aviation management, has witnessed "longer seasons" and "bigger fires."
"When I started 45 years ago, the sense that we would have half-million acre fires in timber just was completely out of the question," Harbour...
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Rain, storm surge combine to put US coasts at risk
Posted by Climate Central: Andrea Thompson on July 28th, 2015
Climate Central: After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleanians thought they knew what areas were susceptible to flooding during a storm. So when Hurricane Isaac, a much weaker storm than Katrina, bore down on the city in 2012, those who live to the west of Lake Pontchartrain weren't worried, as they had been spared the raging waters that inundated so much of the city during Katrina.
As Hurricane Isaac dumped rain on the greater New Orleans area, the storm created a surge on Lake Pontchartrain that...
Takings arguments bubble up as California cuts water rights
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 28th, 2015
Greenwire: In drought-stricken California, lawyers are asking a simple question with a complicated answer. Can the state take away water rights? At issue: the U.S. Constitution's 5th Amendment, which says no property shall be taken without just compensation. So if California gets more aggressive in requiring irrigation districts -- and particularly so-called senior rights holders, whose claim to divert and use water dates back more than a century -- to curtail water use, some property rights lawyers think...
There’s little incentive for L.A. renters to take shorter showers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 28th, 2015
LA Times: When Emi Nakagawa rented a studio apartment in San Gabriel, she didn't think twice before jumping into the shower.
"There was no incentive" not to, she said, because Nakagawa, like the millions of Southern Californians who rent apartments, didn't directly pay for her water and never knew how much she used.
In the fourth year of drought, Californians are under orders to reduce their water consumption by 25%, but a new study suggests that apartment dwellers may not be doing their share.
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Atlantis awaits: Melting ice and rising water for coastal cities
Posted by Baltimore Sun: James Hansen on July 28th, 2015
Baltimore Sun: Our civilization is built on coastlines. Oceans were the first grocery stores, providing easy protein for early humans who learned to fish and gather shellfish and seaweed. Oceans were the first highways, enabling early exploration, commerce and migration. Oceans remain vital sources of food and trade, even as societies have grown and advanced. That's why three-fourths of the world's major cities are located on coasts.
But despite their many blessings, the Earth's oceans are becoming a curse....
Rocky Mountain resorts feel heat of climate change and are doing something about it
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 28th, 2015
LA Times: Not everyone arriving in this Rocky Mountain resort steps from a private jet.
Ashley Perl bikes or takes the bus into town from her two-bedroom home in a subsidized neighborhood built for year-round workers. She grew up here, raised by parents who ran a modest cafe and socialized with a local folkie, John Denver. For her, Aspen is home and a place to make a living, not an exclusive escape.
Like many longtime residents, Perl wishes things were more like they were in the old days. But the changes...
Little need EPA eyes on pollution Scott Walker tells newspaper
Posted by State Journal: Steven Verburg on July 28th, 2015
State Journal: Gov. Scott Walker wants to all but eliminate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and place each state in charge of controlling air and water pollution within its borders if he is elected president, he told a conservative newspaper.
“I’m all for a sustainable environment, but you have to balance it with a sustainable economy, and I think in our state we’ve shown you can do that hand in hand,” Walker told the Washington Examiner in an article published Monday. “I think states can do it all...
Walker says EPA should be limited ‘umbrella organization’
Posted by Associated Press: Scott Bauer on July 27th, 2015
Associated Press: Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker said Monday he would shift most of the responsibilities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to state-based regulators, leaving the EPA to serve as an "umbrella organization" that would resolve disputes between them.
Like many Republicans, the Wisconsin governor is a vocal critic of the agency charged with enforcing the nation's laws against pollution. While Walker said he would not eliminate the EPA if elected president, he would shift its...
Scott Walker would virtually eliminate EPA as president: report
Posted by State Journal: Steven Verburg on July 27th, 2015
State Journal: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker told a newspaper that he would all but eliminate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency if he is elected president.
States could be in charge of enforcement of air and water pollution laws, Walker told the Washington Examiner in an article published Monday.
The EPA would become an "umbrella" agency for state environmental agencies such as the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources but would handle only mediation of disputes between the states over things such...
Alaska’s terrifying wildfire season and what it says about climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Chris Mooney on July 26th, 2015
Washington Post: Hundreds of wildfires are continually whipping across this state this summer, leaving in their wake millions of acres of charred trees and blackened earth. At the Fairbanks compound of the state’s Division of Forestry recently, workers were busy washing a mountain of soot-covered fire hoses, which stood in piles roughly six feet high and 100?feet long. About 3,500 smokejumpers, hotshot crews, helicopter teams and other workers have traveled to Alaska this year from across the country and Canada....