Final installment of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report

Final installment of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report: Climate change threatens irreversible and dangerous impacts, but options exist to limit its effects - COPENHAGEN, Nov 2 – Human influence on the climate system is clear and growing, with impacts observed on all continents. If left unchecked, climate change will increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems. However, options are available to adapt to climate change and implementing stringent mitigations activities can ensure that the impacts of climate change remain within a manageable range, creating a brighter and more sustainable future.

• Links to: Summary for Policymakers, Synthesis Report - Longer Report, Factsheet, Documents & Quick links
• U.N. Panel Issues Its Starkest Warning Yet on Global Warming - NYT reports that "By contrast, the report found, less than $400 billion a year is being spent around the world to reduce emissions or otherwise cope with climate change. That is a small fraction of the revenue spent on fossil fuels — it is less, for example, than the revenue of a single American oil company, ExxonMobil."

EPA Releases Climate & Sustainability Plans

EPA Releases Climate Plans on Fifth Anniversary of President Obama's Sustainability Initiative/Plan Builds Capacity to Protect Human Health and the Environment in a Changing Climate - These Sustainability Plans and Climate Change Adaptation Plans coincide with the fifth anniversary of President Obama's 2009 Executive Order on Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance, which set aggressive energy, climate and environmental targets for agencies, and detail how EPA's actions have already contributed to reducing the Federal Government's greenhouse gas emissions by more than 17 percent since 2008 – the equivalent of permanently taking 1.8 million cars off the road.

• EPA Climate Adaptation Implementation Plans
• 2014 Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan

EPA revamps High Priority Violator policy, ends 'watch list'

EPA revamps High Priority Violator policy, ends 'watch list' - EPA has eliminated the complicated matrix by which it evaluates facilities that commit high priority violations (HPVs) of polluted air, water and soil.

• EPA Office of Civil Enforcement's Air Enforcement Division, Aug. 25 memo

EPA Provides Additional Clean Power Plan Information & Comment

EPA Provides Additional Information on Clean Power Plan & requests public comment on additional information and proposes carbon goals for areas in Indian Country and U.S. Territories - EPA is making additional information and ideas on its proposed Clean Power Plan rule available for public comment in a notice of data availability (NODA) and is following through on its commitment made in June to propose goals to reduce carbon pollution in areas of Indian Country and U.S. Territories where fossil-fuel power plants are located -- nearly 1.5 million public comments the agency has received so far; comments due  on Dec. 1 & Dec. 19, 2014.

• Clean Power Plan Supplemental Proposal
• Notice of Data Availability for the proposed Clean Power Plan

Environmental Assessment Certificate issued for TransCanada's Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project

Environmental Assessment Certificate issued for TransCanada's Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project - TransCanada Corporation (TSX:TRP) (NYSE:TRP) (TransCanada) announced Oct. 24, that the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) has issued an Environmental Assessment Certificate for the Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project (Coastal GasLink) -- The proposed project involves the construction and operation of an approximately 670-kilometre (415-mile), 1,219-mm (48-inch) diameter natural gas pipeline from the Groundbirch area near Dawson Creek, B.C. to the proposed LNG Canada liquefied natural gas export facility near Kitimat, B.C.

• Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project Information & Documents
• TransCanada's $4b pipeline gets B.C. environmental assessment certificate - The next steps for the proposed project include detailed engineering and construction planning, as well as ongoing consultation with Aboriginal groups and the public; pending the receipt of all required regulatory approvals and a positive final investment decision from LNG Canada, the start of pipeline construction is anticipated in 2016, with an in-service date by the end of the decade.

Encouraging Ending to Bonn Talks as World Readies for Lima UN Climate Conference

Encouraging Ending to Bonn Talks as World Readies for Lima UN Climate Conference -  The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) says: A positive stage has been set for the UN climate convention conference in Lima [COP20/CMP10] following a week of governmental negotiations in Bonn that have evolved a range of issues needed to deliver a draft climate agreement in the Peruvian capital in December -- the draft is meant to form the basis for a new universal climate agreement scheduled to be inked in Paris, France next year and due to come into effect in 2020.

European Commission Approves ambitious proposals to cut GHG at least 40%

European Commission Approves ambitious proposals to cut GHG at least 40% - No player in the world is as ambitious as the European Union when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions. Indeed, the proof that it is ambitious is that we are now going from a goal of 20% cut by 2020 compared to 1990 to 40% by 2030, so, doubling the effort.

• EU 2030 framework for climate and energy policies - Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40%; Increasing the share of renewable energy to at least 27%; Increasing energy efficiency by at least 27%; & Reform of the EU emissions trading system

Coalition of Farmers and Environmental Groups to Challenge EPA Over Herbicide Approval

Coalition of Farmers and Environmental Groups to Challenge EPA Over Herbicide Approval - A coalition of farmers and environmental groups filed a lawsuit to sue the U.S. EPA on behalf of six Midwest states where a toxic herbicide cocktail called Dow's Enlist Duo, a blend of glyphosate and 2,4-D, was approved on October 15 for use on genetically engineered (GE) crops.

Geochemical Tracers Can ID Fracking Flowback Fluids

Geochemical Tracers Can ID Fracking Flowback Fluids - The National Science Foundation reports scientists have developed tracers that can identify hydraulic fracturing flowback fluids that have been spilled or released into the environment, and they have been field-tested at a spill site in West Virginia and downstream from an oil and gas brine wastewater treatment plant in Pennsylvania.

• New tracers can identify frack fluids in the environment

US, EU want UN to stress low cost of climate change fight; draft document

US, EU want UN to stress low cost of climate change fight; draft document - (Reuters) - The United States and European Union want the U.N. to stress the low cost of fighting climate change in a draft handbook on the issue that it is compiling, a leaked document showed on Tuesday.

EPA's Rules on Ozone-Depleting Chemicals Miss the Mark on Health and Climate Protection

EPA's Rules on Ozone-Depleting Chemicals Miss the Mark on Health and Climate Protection - (October 17, 2014) – David Doniger, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate and Clean Air Program, made this comment on a final rule issued by EPA limiting the use of HCFC-22, used in air conditioners and refrigeration. It is the most powerful ozone-depleting chemical still in widespread use and traps nearly 2,000 times more heat than carbon dioxide.

• Final Rule: Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Adjustments to the Allowance System for Controlling HCFC Production, Import and Export, 2015-2019 - EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy, signed the final rule on 10/16/14, and EPA is submitting it for publication in the Federal Register.

IPCC releases full Working Group II report

IPCC releases full Working Group II report - Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the full version (1820-pages) of its contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability on October 15 – 32-page summary also available

• IPCC corrects claim suggesting climate change would be good for the economy

EPA Approves Dow's Enlist Duo, Herbicide Containing 2, 4-D and Glyphosate

EPA Announces Final Decision to Register Enlist Duo, Herbicide Containing 2, 4-D and Glyphosate/Risk assessment ensures protection of human health, including infants, children - EPA announced it is registering in six states the highly controversial herbicide, Enlist Duo with first-time ever restrictions to manage the problem of resistant weeds.

• NRDC Sues EPA to Block New Pesticide That Threatens Monarch Butterflies, Human Health - The Natural Resources Defense Council filed suit in the D.C. Circuit court immediately after EPA approved the use of "Enlist Duo" -- a combination of two herbicides: glyphosate (initially marketed as Roundup) and 2,4-D, an older, toxic herbicide.
• Earthjustice Statement On Dow's Enlist Duo Approval - "This heedless action merely perpetuates the endless cycle of more genetically engineered crops leading to more pesticide use, leading to more of the same.  We are examining all legal options."
• EPA Ignores Public Outcry, Approves Dangerous Weed Killer - The Environmental Working Group is "deeply disappointed" that [EPA] has decided to approve a toxic weed killer. . . despite overwhelming opposition from the scientific and public health community

Revealed: the companies doing the most to combat climate change

Revealed: the companies doing the most to combat climate change - 187 businesses from around the world, including BMW AG, Centrica, Samsung Electronics and Unilever, demonstrate a superior approach to climate change mitigation. [from the Carbon Disclosure Project]

• The A List: The CDP Climate Performance Leadership Index 2014 - The research is published and has been created at the request of 767 investors who represent more than a third of the world's invested capital.

The Pentagon's "2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap"

The Pentagon's "2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap" - The Department of Defense (DoD) released its 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, which focuses on various actions and planning the DoD is taking to increase its resilience to the impacts of climate change [the report is dated June 2014, but released 10/13/14.

• Pentagon unveils plan for military's response to climate change

Secretary of State John Kerry On Clean Energy & Climate Change

Secretary of State John Kerry Remarks With U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond - "Together, both of our countries recognize that never before has a threat like climate change found in its solution such a level of opportunity – the opportunity to unleash the clean-energy economy that will get us out of this mess but also take us forward towards a safer, more sustainable future."

Building community resilience by strengthening America's natural resources and supporting green infrastructure

FACT SHEET: Building community resilience by strengthening America's natural resources and supporting green infrastructure - The Administration is announcing new executive actions and a series of private and public sector commitments that will improve the management of our natural resources in the context of a changing climate and support investment in green infrastructure.

Keystone Be Darned: Canada Finds Oil Route Around Obama

Keystone Be Darned: Canada Finds Oil Route Around Obama - Energy East, an improbable pipeline that its backers say has a high probability of being built would cost C$12 billion ($10.7 billion) and could be up and running by 2018. Its 4,600-kilometer (2,858-mile) path, taking advantage of a vast length of existing and underused natural gas pipeline, would wend through six provinces and four time zones ending in Saint John, New Brunswick

Additional Opportunity to Provide Input on Critical Clean Water Proposal

Additional Opportunity to Provide Input on Critical Clean Water Proposal - U.S. EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers extended for a second time, until November 14, the public comment period on the proposed Clean Water Protection rule -- i.e. Definition of "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS)

• Documents Related to the Proposed Definition of "Waters of the United States" Under the Clean Water Act
• EPA "Waters of the U.S." website

U.S. Supreme Court denies industry challenge to ground-level ozone health standard

U.S. Supreme Court denies industry challenge to ground-level ozone health standard - The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear legal challenges to the national, health-based air quality standard for ground-level ozone (Docket No. 13-1235, Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG) v. EPA, Et Al.) [See page 9]

• Access complete background in the case
• Environmental Defense Fund release on the denial

Environmental Information Specialists -- WIMS Daily Environmental HotSheet -- eNewsUSA blog -- EcoBizPort.com

 

US nears solution for safe disposal of Ebola medical waste

US nears solution for safe disposal of Ebola medical waste - The United States is days away from settling the critical question of how hospitals should handle and dispose of medical waste from Ebola patients

• PHMSA Provides Guidance for Transporting Ebola Contaminated Items - An infectious substance must conform to all applicable HMR requirements when offered for transportation or transported by air, highway, rail, or water
• CDC Guidelines for Ebola related issues

Administration Launches Climate Action Champions Competition

Obama Administration Announces Climate Action Champions Competition to Recognize Climate Leaders Across the United States - New Competition will Showcase Local and Tribal Governments Taking Action to Cut Carbon Pollution and Build Resilience to the Impacts of Climate Change -- The application for the Competition will be open until October 27

• Recognizing American Communities as Climate Action Champions - From more frequent and extreme storms to higher average temperatures and rising seas, Americans are experiencing first-hand what climate change will mean for their communities and their children. [Blog post by John Podesta Counselor to the President].

Power Plant Standards Could Save Thousands of U.S. Lives Every Year

Power Plant Standards Could Save Thousands of U.S. Lives Every Year - New study from Harvard, Syracuse, and Boston University scientists links strong carbon standards to substantial reductions in air pollution and widespread health benefits -- the study, "Health Co-benefits of Carbon Standards for Existing Power Plants"

• Links to more information and details on the study

More Action Is Needed to Protect Water Resources From Unmonitored Hazardous Chemicals

OIG: More Action Is Needed to Protect Water Resources From Unmonitored Hazardous Chemicals – EPA's Office of Inspector General says "Management controls put in place by the EPA to regulate and control hazardous chemical discharges from sewage treatment plants to water resources have limited effectiveness."

U.S. EPA Approves Carbon Sequestration Permit in Decatur, Illinois

U.S. EPA Approves Carbon Sequestration Permit in Decatur, Illinois - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a permit allowing the Archer Daniels Midland Company to inject carbon dioxide deep underground in Decatur, Illinois -- the second facility in the nation to receive a Class VI underground injection permit for carbon sequestration after the FutureGen Alliance facility in downstate Illinois.

New York summit: what it means for climate treaty prospects

New York summit: what it means for climate treaty prospects - ANALYSIS: The world's superpowers have woken from their climate coma, but there is still much work to do towards a global deal. . .

• International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) Summary of Climate Summit 2014

Historic UN Climate 2014 Summit Closes

Ban hails 'bold' announcements on tackling climate change as historic UN summit closes - Bold new actions to immediately tackle climate change were announced today by Government, business, finance and civil society leaders attending a historic Climate Summit convened by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has long urged workable solutions based on "clear vision anchored in domestic and multinational actions."

• 2014 Climate Change Summary – Chair's Summary - The purpose of the 2014 Climate Summit was to raise political momentum for a meaningful universal climate agreement in Paris in 2015 and to galvanize transformative action in all countries to reduce emissions and build resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change.
• Mayors at UN climate summit announce pledges towards major carbon cuts in cities - A compact of Mayors from cities around the world announced today that they will expand their commitments to scale up climate resilience efforts, energy efficiency programs and resilient financing mechanisms including through an initiative that aims to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 454 megatons by 2020.
• Governments, corporations pledge at UN summit to eliminate deforestation by 2030
• More from the Climate Summit 2014 Website

Environmental Information Specialists -- WIMS Daily Environmental HotSheet -- eNewsUSA blog -- EcoBizPort.com

President Obama: "No Nation Is Immune" to Climate Change

President Obama: "No Nation Is Immune" to Climate Change - President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the United Nations General Assembly Climate Summit 2014 in the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations in New York, N.Y., Sept. 23, 2014. "For all the immediate challenges that we gather to address this week -- terrorism, instability, inequality, disease -- there's one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other, and that is the urgent and growing threat of a changing climate."

• FACT SHEET: President Obama Announces New Actions To Strengthen Global Resilience To Climate Change And Launches Partnerships To Cut Carbon Pollution
• Executive Order -- Climate-Resilient International Development - EXECUTIVE ORDER - - - - - - - CLIMATE-RESILIENT INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America
• Chart of the Week: Why We Can't Wait to Act on Climate Change - President Obama addressed 120 countries at the United Nations General Assembly today on a global challenge that concerns us all: Climate change.   Climate change is a problem that knows no borders. . .
• An Important Step in Our Fight Against Climate Change

Environmental Information Specialists -- WIMS Daily Environmental HotSheet -- eNewsUSA blog -- EcoBizPort.com

"We Mean Business" Calls for Climate Action

"We Mean Business" Calls for Climate Action - An unprecedented collaboration that brings together high-profile business sustainability groups to unify and amplify the international business voice for bold climate action.

• We Mean Business launches its first report, "The Climate Has Changed"
• Business in a Climate-Constrained World - a program helping business develop a greater understanding of climate science and take ambitious and pragmatic steps to both reduce emissions and adapt to the changing climate

Thousands Call for Climate Action in Historic Rally in New York

Thousands Call for Climate Action in Historic Rally in New York - Thousands of people took to the streets of New York City calling on world leaders to take action on the climate crisis.

• Climate march shatters records - Organizers estimated that the march drew nearly 400,000 people, far exceeding their projections of 100,000 attendees
• Largest Global Call for Climate Action in History - Nearly 400,000 march in NY, events in over 150 countries; From Manhattan to Melbourne, more than half a million people took to the streets in a unified global move to demand ambitious commitments from world leaders in tackling the climate crisis.

August 2014 was warmest August on record for globe

August 2014 was warmest August on record for globe, driven largely by record warm oceans - The combined average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces for August 2014 was record high for the month, at 0.75°C (1.35°F) above the 20th century average of 15.6°C (60.1°F), topping the previous record set in 1998.

 

Environmental Information Specialists -- WIMS Daily Environmental HotSheet -- eNewsUSA blog -- EcoBizPort.com

The People's Climate Train Leads to People's Climate March Sep. 21

The People's Climate Train Leads to People's Climate March Sep. 21 - From Sept. 15 to Sept. 18, more than 150 people — including nuns, ministers, tribal leaders and student activists — are boarding the People's Climate Train, organized by the Center for Biological Diversity, which starts in Emeryville, Calif., for a four-day, cross-country trip en route to the largest demonstration in the history of the climate movement.

• The People's Climate March September 21

Environmental Information Specialists -- WIMS Daily Environmental HotSheet -- eNewsUSA blog -- EcoBizPort.com

 

EPA Extends Comment Period On Clean Power Plan

EPA Extends Comment Period On Clean Power Plan - Comments on the June 2, 2014, Clean Power Plan Proposed Rule must be received by December 1, 2014, instead of the original October 16^th date.

• Sierra Club Statement on EPA Clean Power Plan Public Comment Period Extension

Environmental Information Specialists -- WIMS Daily Environmental HotSheet -- eNewsUSA blog -- EcoBizPort.com

EPA Announces New Actions to Curb Potent Greenhouse Gases

EPA Announces New Actions to Curb Potent Greenhouse Gases/ EPA GreenChill Partners Join Industry Leaders to Drive the Transition to Climate-friendly Refrigerants - EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy joined private and public sector leaders at the White House today to recognize progress and take new steps to curb emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), potent greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning. Administrator McCarthy announced additional EPA actions to reduce HFC emissions and encouraged private sector investment in HFC-free technology.

• FACT SHEET: Obama Administration Partners with Private Sector on New Commitments to Slash Emissions of Potent Greenhouse Gases and Catalyze Global HFC Phase Down

Environmental Information Specialists -- WIMS Daily Environmental HotSheet -- eNewsUSA blog -- EcoBizPort.com

Preparations for Climate Summit 2014

Press briefing on preparations for Climate Summit 2014 - Ahead of the Climate Summit that will take place on September 23 at UN Headquarters in New York, the UN announced more than 120 Heads of State and Government will be attending the one-day Summit hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to generate political will toward a meaningful universal climate agreement in 2015, and advance action on the ground that will reduce emissions and build resilience to the impacts of climate change.

• Climate Change Summit 2014 website

Environmental Information Specialists -- WIMS Daily Environmental HotSheet -- eNewsUSA blog -- EcoBizPort.com

Senate Republicans Block Measure To Overturn Citizens United

Senate Republicans Block Measure To Overturn Citizens United - After voting overwhelmingly to debate the Democracy for All Amendment (79-18 ) the Senate voted 54-42 (straight party-line vote) to defeat the measure (S.J.Res.19) designed to overturn the Supreme Court's disastrous Citizens United decision and help get money out of politics.

• Sponsor Udall Encouraged by Growing Support for Constitutional Amendment - Disappointed GOP sided with corporations and billionaires in filibuster of measure to limit influence of big money on American elections
• Sierra Club Statement on Senate Vote on Democracy for All Amendment
• Manufacturers: Free Political Speech a Bedrock of Democracy – Statement National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) 
• Access legislative details for H.J.RES.20, H.J.RES.119

Environmental Information Specialists -- WIMS Daily Environmental HotSheet -- eNewsUSA blog -- EcoBizPort.com

EPA Should Incorporate Sustainability Approaches More Broadly

EPA Should Incorporate Sustainability Approaches More Broadly - A broad array of tools is available to help the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency incorporate sustainability concepts into its decision making, and the agency should do so across its spectrum of activities, says a new report from theNational Academy of Sciences' National Research Council.

 

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House Approves Southerland Bill to Halt EPA-Corps Clean Water Rule

House Approves Southerland Bill to Halt EPA-Corps Clean Water Rule - Despite a White House veto warning, U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, II applauded House approval (262 - 152) of legislation he introduced "prohibiting Washington agencies from disrupting the federal-state partnership that has successfully improved water quality for more than 40 years." H.R. 5078, the Regulatory Overreach Protection Act passed the House with the votes of 35 House Democrats. . .

• H.R.5078 Legislative details - Introduced by Rep Steve Southerland, II [R-FL] with 120 cosponsors; now on the House Floor
• Waters of the U.S. Proposed Rule

House Vote against Clean Water Protections Ignores Toledo Lessons - One month after the toxic algae disaster in Toledo demonstrated the perils of water pollution, the Republican-controlled House today passed a bill (H.R. 5078)