[TheClimate.Vote] July 21 2017 - Daily Global Warming News

Fri Jul 21 16:24:21 EDT 2017

/July 21, 2017/

*This could be the next big strategy for suing over climate change* 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/20/this-could-be-the-next-big-strategy-for-suing-over-climate-change/>
Two California coastal counties and one beach-side city touched off a 
possible new legal front in the climate change battle this week, suing 
dozens of major oil, coal, and other fossil fuel companies for the 
damages they say they will incur due to rising seas.
The three cases, which target firms such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP and 
Royal Dutch Shell, assert that the fossil fuel producers are 
collectively responsible for about 20 percent of global carbon dioxide 
emissions between 1965 and 2015. They claim that industry “knew or 
should have known” decades ago about the threat of climate change, and 
want companies to pay the costs of communities forced to adapt to rising 
seas.
In 2009, the vulnerable Alaskan coastal village of Kivalina used similar 
logic to sue a string of fossil fuel companies. The case failed when an 
appellate court ruled that federal action by the Environmental 
Protection Agency “displaces” their claim.
An even bigger setback came in 2011 when the Supreme Court decided 
against a public nuisance suit brought by eight states and New York City 
against a group of electric utilities — ruling, once again, that since 
EPA had begun to take action on climate change, the claim had been 
displaced.
The California cases are also proceeding under a legal doctrine called 
“public nuisance” (among other claims), which charges that under 
California common law, the companies have injured the counties and city 
by contributing to rising seas, and more frequent and severe flooding as 
a result.
But the difference is that this time, they are making state level 
nuisance claims rather than federal ones, which have already failed as 
courts pointed out that those worried about climate change had other 
recourses, such as EPA action.
A strength of the lawsuit, note some legal observers, lies in the fact 
that sea level rise is easily measurable, constant (unlike 
climate-affected weather events), and very strongly linked to a warming 
planet. Moreover, analyses have become more and more precise when it 
comes to mapping which locations will be inundated, or subjected to 
greater flooding risks, for a given level of rising seas.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/20/this-could-be-the-next-big-strategy-for-suing-over-climate-change/

*(ClimateNexus) <http://climatenexus.org/> Trump Nominates Non-Scientist 
to Top Science Post: *President Trump on Wednesday nominated Sam Clovis, 
a former economics professor and conservative talk show radio host, to 
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's top scientific position. Clovis, an 
early advisor to the Trump campaign, has a master’s in business 
administration and a doctoral degree in public administration, and 
appears to have no published scientific or academic work to his name. 
The position he is nominated for, which is tasked to provide scientific 
direction and uphold "scientific integrity" at USDA, has previously been 
held by distinguished scientists with deep expertise in certain issue 
areas.  In a 2014 interview, Clovis called evidence of climate change 
"junk science," claiming that he has "enough of a science background to 
know when I’m being boofed." (Washington Post 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=095568d5b9&e=95b355344d> 
$, Gizmodo 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=b8ad789d6a&e=95b355344d>, 
Science 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=cdfd954a08&e=95b355344d>)

*(ClimateNexus)* <http://climatenexus.org/> *Methane Leaking Out of 
Tundra: *Thawing tundra may be allowing long-buried pockets of methane 
to be released into the atmosphere, new research suggests. A study 
surveying the Mackenzie Delta in Canada, published Wednesday in the 
journal Scientific Reports, suggests that these methane "seeps" on the 
tundra may be more problematic than previously thought. The study finds 
that 17 percent of methane emissions in the area came from these seeps, 
despite emissions hotspots only covering 1 percent of the tundra's 
surface area. The authors write that warming will "increase emissions of 
geologic methane that is currently still trapped under thick, continuous 
permafrost, as new emission pathways open due to thawing permafrost." 
(InsideClimate News 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=5d09063c9f&e=95b355344d>, 
The Independent 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=9f296c97c4&e=95b355344d>, 
Phys.org 
<http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=2b55e1c4d2&e=95b355344d>)

*
Emails Show Iraq War PR Alums Led Attempt to Discredit Dakota Access 
Protesters 
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/20/emails-bush-iraq-war-pr-delve-off-the-record-strategies-dakota-access-pipeline>*
By Steve Horn and Curtis Waltman, MuckRock
Behind the scenes, as law enforcement officials tried to stem protests 
against the Dakota Access pipeline, alumni from the George W. Bush White 
House were leading a crisis communications effort to discredit pipeline 
protesters.
Emails show that the firms Delve and Off the Record Strategies, 
apparently working on contract with the National Sheriffs’ Association, 
worked in secret on talking points, media outreach, and communications 
training for law enforcement dealing with Dakota Access opponents 
mobilized at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Cannon Ball, North 
Dakota. This revelation comes from documents obtained via an open 
records request from the Laramie County Sheriff's Department in Wyoming.
As previously reported by DeSmog, the GOP-connected firm DCI Group led 
the forward-facing public relations efforts for Dakota Access via a 
front group called Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now (MAIN). Today 
MAIN has morphed into a national effort known as Grow America’s 
Infrastructure Now (GAIN)....
https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/20/emails-bush-iraq-war-pr-delve-off-the-record-strategies-dakota-access-pipeline

*This Day in Climate History July 21, 2008 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/science/earth/22clim.html?_r=0>-  
from D.R. Tucker*
July 21, 2008: The UK Office of Communication criticizes Britain's 
Channel 4 for running the 2007 denialism doc "The Great Global Warming 
Swindle." Below, Peter Sinclair of ClimateCrocks.com debunks the doc.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/science/earth/22clim.html?_r=0
http://youtu.be/boj9ccV9htk
http://youtu.be/8nrvrkVBt24
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