According to its proponents, natural gas is supposed to be the bridge between old, dirty energy and new, clean, sustainable energy. But if the benefits it provides are temporary, illusory, and carry great risk to public health and the environment, fracked natural gas is not so much a bridge as it is a short pier [...]
By Rebeka Ryvola When President Obama announced the Climate Action Plan (CAP) in June of 2013, it was a landmark moment. The first-of-its-kind plan aims at achieving comprehensive action on climate change by way of a three-fold goal: cutting domestic carbon pollution, adapting the US to irreversible climate change impacts, and leading the international community [...]
During his career in climate, Dr. David Goodrich was Director of both the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) Office in Washington and the Global Climate Observing System Secretariat in Geneva. He retired in February 2011 as Director of NOAA’s Climate Observation Division. Three months later he rode his bicycle from Cape Henlopen, Delaware to [...]
Appropriate – is it not? – that the word “underground” carries connotations of secrecy, subversion, and conspiracy. In the context of fossil fuel production and transportation, underground is home to a number of activities about which the public has a dire need to be well informed. Instead, we remain largely misinformed, or not informed at [...]
Arch Coal leasing area, Colorado (Photo: WildEarth Guardians) Confirming and finalizing a preliminary decision made in July, a Colorado judge has killed a federal permit to allow expanded coal mining in the Gunnison National Forest, after Arch Coals application had been approved by the Obama Administration. The Bureau of Land Management failed to [...]
U.S. permits for multiple proposed Canadian tar sands pipelines should be considered in light of an overall climate change strategy, rather than the current practice of considering each energy infrastructure proposal on a project-by-project basis. “The administration’s commitment to aggressive greenhouse gas reduction policies simply cannot be squared with a piecemeal approach to tar sands [...]
New Jersey beach house on stilts that survived Hurricane Sandy (Photo: FEMA) It’s been a long time coming, but climate change preparedness has finally moved into the mainstream of national policymaking. Responding to the State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience he established in 2013, the President announced a [...]
Arch Coal leasing area, Colorado (Photo: WildEarth Guardians) Federal regulators failed to consider the social cost of carbon emissions in approving a proposed coal mine expansion in Colorado, said a U.S. district court judge last week in blocking the permit. The reasoning in this case should be applied to other federal decisions on [...]
The 2014 National Climate Assessment: Climate Change Impacts in the United States, was given final approval and released by the Obama administration today. “Climate change presents a major challenge for society,” the report warned. “There is mounting evidence that harm to the nation will increase substantially in the future unless global emissions of heat-trapping gases [...]
On March 19 the White House, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are hosting an event aimed at highlighting government and private sector efforts to enhance climate change preparedness. Also today, in conjunction with this event, the Administration is launching a Climate Data Initiative — “a [...]