Greenhouse Gas Regulation: EPA Defers Reporting of Sensitive Data for Up to 4 Years

US EPA  “Change to the Reporting Date for Certain Data Elements Required Under the Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Rule” http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2011-21727_PI.pdf [Summary]  EPA is deferring the reporting deadline for data elements that are used by direct emitter reporters as inputs to emission equations under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule. The deadline for reporting some [...]

Climate Engineering: Technical Status, Future Directions, and Potential Responses

US General Accountability Office http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-71 [Summary]  Reports of rising global temperatures have raised questions about responses to climate change, including efforts to (1) reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, (2) adapt to climate change, and (3) design and develop climate engineering technologies for deliberate, large-scale intervention in Earth’s climate. Reporting earlier that the nation lacks a [...]

Energy Development and Water Use: Impacts of Potential Oil Shale Development on Water Resources

US General Accountability Office — Testimony before the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Committee on Natural Resources, House of Representatives. Statement of Anu K. Mittal, Director, Natural Resources and Environment Team http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d11929thigh.pdf  (Highlights ) http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11929t.pdf  (Full testimony) [Summary]  GAO reported that water is likely to be available for the initial development of an oil [...]

Global Change and Extreme Hydrology: Testing Conventional Wisdom

National Research Council http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13211 [Description]  Climate theory dictates that core elements of the climate system, including precipitation,evapotranspiration, and reservoirs of atmospheric and soil moisture, should change as the climate warms, both in their means and extremes. A major challenge that faces the climate and hydrologic science communities is understanding the nature of these ongoing changes [...]

Green Scissors: Cutting Wasteful and Environmentally Harmful Spending

Friends of the Earth | Taxpayers for Common Sense | Heartland Institute | Public Citizen / by Autumn Hanna, Eli Lehrer, Benjamin Schreiber and Tyson Slocum http://greenscissors.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Green_Scissors_2011.pdf [From an E&E News PM story by Elena Schor] …Ethanol is hardly the only alternative fuel that would see its government support cut by the four groups. The [...]

Mismeasuring Methane: Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Upstream Natural Gas Development

IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates / by Mary Lashley Barcella, Samantha Gross and Surya Rjan (free download with registration) http://www.ihs.com/info/en/a/mis-measuring-methane-report.aspx [From a Greenwire article by Nathanial Gronewold, sub. req'd]  U.S. EPA has exaggerated the extent of greenhouse gas emissions from the shale gas industry, an energy research firm says in a report released today… Specifically, [...]

Volcanic Versus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide

Eos (July 14, 2011, v92, n24 p201-208) / by Terry Gerlach http://www.agu.org/pubs/pdf/2011EO240001.pdf [Real Climate post]  My article “Volcanic Versus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide” appeared in the June 14 issue of the American Geophysical Union’s publication Eos and addresses the widespread mis-perception in the media, the blogosphere, and much of the climate skeptic literature that volcanic CO2 [...]

The Ethanol Decade: An Expansion of U.S. Corn Production, 2000-09

USDA Economic Research Service / by Steven Wallander, Roger Claassen, and Cynthia Nickerson http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB79/#2011-8-18 [Summary]  The recent 9-billion-gallon increase in corn-based ethanol production, which resulted from a combination of rising gasoline prices and a suite of Federal bioenergy policies, provides evidence of how farmers altered their land-use decisions in response to increased demand for corn. [...]

Impacts of Higher Energy Prices on Agriculture and Rural Economies

USDA Economic Research Service / by Ronald Sands, Paul Westcott, et al. http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR123/#2011-8-18 [Summary] Agricultural production is sensitive to changes in energy prices, either through energy consumed directly or through energy-related inputs such as fertilizer. A number of factors can affect energy prices faced by U.S. farmers and ranchers, including developments in the oil and [...]

Canadian Regulatory Document Addressing Limitations on Fuel Consumption and GHG Emissions from New On-Road Heavy-Duty Vehicles and Engines

aka “Consultation Document for Discussion of the Main Elements of the Proposed Regulations under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 to Limit Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New On-Road Heavy-Duty Vehicles and Engines” from Environment Canada http://www.ec.gc.ca/lcpe-cepa/default.asp?lang=En&n=A7A02DDF-1 [From Green Car Congress]  Environment Canada recently released a consultation paper on the development of proposed regulations to limit [...]