Tuesday, February 11, 2014

WIMS Environmental HotSheet 2/11/14

<> Op-ed by President Obama and President Hollande: An Alliance Transformed- The full text of an op-ed by President Obama and President Hollande of France. The piece, published today in the Washington Post and in Le Monde. France and the U.S. enjoy a renewed alliance By Barack Obama and François Hollande, Monday, February 10. . .includes our leadership to combat climate change."

<> Crude Behavior: How Lifting the Export Ban Reduces Gasoline Prices in the United States – Analysis by Resources for the Future (RFF). . . economic arguments for lifting the ban are strong, based primarily on the gains from free trade and the example it sets when we live by our market principles. Such action will create winners and losers, however, and may lead to increases in greenhouse gases.

<> Presidential Proclamation -- 20th Anniversary of Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice - 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF EXECUTIVE ORDER 12898 ON ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES - Two decades ago, President William J. Clinton directed the Federal Government to tackle a long-overlooked problem. Low-income neighborhoods, communities of color, and tribal areas. . . 

<> GAO-14-103, Drinking Water: EPA Has Improved Its Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Program, but Additional Action Is Needed, January 09, 2014- What GAO Found The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has implemented all of the recommendations GAO made in its May 2011 report to improve the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) program. In that report, GAO recommended that EPA (1) monitor for the full 30 contaminants allowed by statute, (2) monitor for most or all contaminants using a more robust . . .

<> Senate Republicans Urge President to Approve Keystone XL Pipeline - The entire Senate Republican caucus: "Rejecting the Keystone pipeline will cost thousands of American jobs and prevent our country from accessing a large supply of North American energy."

<> EPW Republicans Request Full Committee Hearing on Beale Fraud at the EPA- hearing to examine the facts and circumstances surrounding convicted felon and former senior official at EPA John Beale's expansive fraud.

<> EPA Administrator McCarthy Joins Senior Obama Administration Officials in Fort Collins to Discuss Local Climate Change Efforts - Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the U.S.EPA, Nancy Sutley, Outgoing Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; and David Agnew, Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs will join Fort Collins Mayor Karen Weitkunat to tour projects to restore the Cache la Poudre River and strengthen its resilience to. . .

<> Wyden, Senators to CFTC: Share Information for Energy Market Oversight Now – "Provide leadership necessary to address technical issues and initiate information sharing by the end of February" . . .

<> NRC Documents Related to Waste Confidence - a list of documents and links that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued in connection with Waste Confidence.

<> Maps show expected redistribution of global species due to climate change - An international team of scientists tracks how fast and in which direction local climates -- and species -- have shifted Fifty-year climate trajectory classes based on global climate 

<> Chasing the Biggest Story on Earth - Source: NY Times - When Elizabeth Kolbert joined The New Yorker in 1999, after more than a decade covering New York politics as a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, she began gravitating to environmental issues.

<> The Burning Question: Who is Up to the Climate Challenge?-The United Nations IPCC has issued its Fifth Assessment Report, which concludes the warming of the climate system is unequivocal, human influence on the climate system is clear, and limiting climate change will require. . .

<> New UCS Book on Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Gets Rave Reviews - New Union of Concerned Scientists Book on Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Gets Rave Reviews