U.S. Agriculture and Climate Change Legislation : Markets, Myths and Opportunities

The Pew Center on Global Climate Change / by Jessica Shipley, Sara Hessenflow-Harper and Laura Sands http://www.pewclimate.org/node/7816 Any climate and energy legislation will impact U.S. farmers and ranchers, and the agriculture sector has many legitimate concerns about specific effects such legislation.  This paper objectively assesses the impacts of climate legislation on agriculture and identifies ways [...]

Revisiting the NAFTA Agenda on Climate Change

Peterson Institute for International Economics / by Jeffrey J. Schott and Meera Fickling www.iie.com/publications/interstitial.cfm?ResearchID=1628 The three NAFTA signatories have a shared interest in harmonizing climate policy, and while they have made steps in that direction, there is still much that can be done to promote renewable energy development and capacity building on climate change. This [...]

EPA Analysis of Alternative SO2 and NOx Caps for Senator Carper July 16, 2010

US EPA EPA Analysis of Alt SO2 and NO2 Caps (click link) [From E&E Daily story by Gabriel Nelson, subscription required] The benefits of a bill that would reduce conventional air pollution from coal-fired power plants would “greatly outweigh the cost,” according to U.S. EPA, possibly boosting chances to fold the measure into a comprehensive [...]

Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change

National Research Council www.nap.edu/catalog/12784.html [From description] Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change, a volume in the America’s Climate Choices series, describes and assesses different activities, products, strategies, and tools for informing decision makers about climate change and helping them plan and execute effective, integrated responses. It discusses who is making decisions (on the local, [...]

The Economic Impacts of the Marcellus Shale: Implications for New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia

American Petroleum Institute / by Timothy J. Considine http://tinyurl.com/3aepocq Natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale region—if developed—could create 280,000 new American jobs and add $6 billion in new tax revenues to local, state and federal governments over the next decade, a new study released today finds… The study, “The Economic Impacts of the Marcellus [...]

National State of Good Repair Assessment 2010

Federal Transit Administration http://tinyurl.com/28nrfat [From overview] This 2010 National State of Good Repair Assessment evaluates the level of investment required to bring all U.S. transit assets – including the assets of all urbanized area and rural transit operators – to a state of good repair. The analysis presented here describes a current national SGR backlog [...]

Does Growth in Ethanol Production Result in Cropland Expansion?

See Acreage reports from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1000 [Commentary from the Renewable Fuels Association: "USDA Report Punches Another Hole in Land Use Theory"] The amount of land dedicated to crops in the United States has dropped for the second straight year in 2010, according to a report released today by the U.S. [...]

Executive Order — Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes

The White House http://tinyurl.com/35uzjsr This Executive Order (dated July 19, 2010) adopts the recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, except where otherwise provided in this order, and directs executive agencies to implement those recommendations under the guidance of a National Ocean Council. It revokes Executive Order 13366 of December 17, 2004. [H/T: PEN-e]

Air Chemistry in the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Area

US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/PDFs/NOAA_P3_Gulf%20Mission%20Report_final.pdf [From press release] NOAA scientists today released a data report on air quality measurements taken in June in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill area…with sophisticated air sampling instruments onboard a NOAA WP-3D research aircraft. Scientists found common air pollutants, such as ozone, nitrogen oxides and [...]

The Economic Cost of a Moratorium on Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration to the Gulf Region

Louisiana State University, E. J. Ourso College of Business / by Joseph R. Mason http://tinyurl.com/27x3j3g [From executive summary] In this report, Dr. Joseph R. Mason investigates the resultant economic effects if either moratorium is allowed to stand. By analyzing the total economic harm associated with the moratorium, Dr. Mason finds that there would be broad [...]