An Overview of Potential Economic Costs to Oregon of a Business-As-Usual Approach to Climate Change

ECONorthwest for The Program on Climate Economics, Climate Leadership Initiative, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon / by Ernie Niemi http://climlead.uoregon.edu/pdfs/Inaction_OR_FnlRpt.pdf If nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Oregon will face some $3.3 billion in annual costs, which could translate to an individual tab of about 4 percent of annual household [...]

An Overview of Potential Economic Costs to Washington of a Business-As-Usual Approach to Climate Change

ECONorthwest for The Program on Climate Economics, Climate Leadership Initiative, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon / by Ernie Niemi http://uonews.uoregon.edu/files/pmr/uploads/WA-Fnl_Rpt.pdf If nothing is done to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Washington is likely to experience some $3.8 billion in associated annual costs — including $1.3 billion in health related costs alone. That [...]

Wind Energy : Offshore Permitting

Congressional Research Service http://opencrs.com/document/R40175/ [From summary]  Technological advancement, tax incentives, and policy concerns have driven a global expansion in the development of renewable energy resources. Wind energy, in particular, is now often cited as the fastest growing commercial energy source in the world. Currently, all U.S. wind energy facilities are based on land; however, multiple [...]

Mountain Pine Beetles and Forest Destruction : Effects, Responses, and Relationships to Climate Change

Congressional Research Service http://opencrs.com/document/R40203 [From summary]  The mountain pine beetle is a native insect of western U.S. pine forests. It survives by killing infested trees, usually individually, but occasionally in epidemics. Mountain pine beetle epidemics are particularly associated with lodgepole pine, a common western tree that typically grows in dense, even-aged stands. The beetle is [...]

U.S. Global Climate Change Policy : Evolving Views on Costs, Competitiveness, and Comprehensiveness

Congressional Research Service http://opencrs.com/document/RL30024 [From summary]  U.S. policy toward global climate change evolved from a “study only” to a more “study and action” orientation in 1992 with  ratification of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Convention committed developed countries to aim at returning their greenhouse gas emissions to their 1990 levels by [...]

U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea : Living Resources Provisions

Congressional Research Service http://opencrs.com/document/RL32185 [Summary]  The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention) was agreed to in 1982, but the United States never became a signatory nation. The current Administration has reiterated support for U.S. accession to the LOS Convention, and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations reported the LOS Convention [...]

U.S. Energy : Overview and Selected Facts and Numbers

Congressional Research Service http://opencrs.com/document/R40187 [From summary]  Energy supplies and prices are major economic factors in the United States, and energy markets are volatile and unpredictable. Thus, energy policy has been a recurring issue for Congress since the first major crisis in the 1970s. As an aid in policy making, this report presents a current and [...]

Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) : Status and Issues

Congressional Research Service http://opencrs.com/document/R40197 [Summary]  The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a voluntary program that provides farmers with financial and technical assistance to plan and implement soil and water conservation practices. EQIP is the largest agriculture conservation financial assistance program for working lands. EQIP was first authorized in 1996 and was most recently revised [...]

Nuclear Waste Disposal : Alternatives to Yucca Mountain

Congressional Research Service http://opencrs.com/document/R40202 [From summary]  Congress designated Yucca Mountain, NV, as the nation’s sole candidate site for a permanent high-level nuclear waste repository in 1987, following years of controversy over the site-selection process. Over the strenuous objections of the State of Nevada, the Department of Energy (DOE) submitted a license application for the proposed [...]

Smart Choices for Biofuels

Worldwatch Institute / Sierra Club / by Jane Earley and Alice McKeown http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/biofuels.pdf [From introduction] Over the next decade and beyond, U.S. national, state, and local policy must focus on developing sustainable biofuels—rather than just more biofuels  — that can play a role in the emerging new energy economy. These fuels should be seen as [...]