[TheClimate.Vote] March 27, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

Richard Pauli richard at theclimate.vote
Tue Mar 27 09:44:15 EDT 2018 

/March 27, 2018/

[Very big decision - BLM loses]
*Judge: Trump Admin. Must Consider Climate Change in Major Drilling and 
Mining Lease Plan 
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26032018/coal-mining-climate-impacts-powder-river-basin-fossil-fuels-wyoming-montana-blm-nepa-ruling>*
The plan covers 15 million acres in the Powder River Basin of Montana 
and Wyoming. The ruling on it is the latest to cite risks of fossil 
fuels and global warming.
BY NEELA BANERJEE
A federal court has ruled against a U.S. Interior Department plan to 
open more than 15 million acres of public land and mineral rights to 
fossil fuel extraction, concluding that the government failed to 
adequately consider how the oil, gas and coal development would affect 
the climate and other environmental resources.
The U.S. District Court decision 
<https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2018.03.23-Buffalo-Miles-City-Final-Order-revised.pdf> 
Friday in Montana throws a new roadblock before the Trump 
administration's goal of expanding and accelerating fossil extraction 
from federal lands...
- - - - -
The plaintiffs contended that the fossil fuel development plans for the 
vast Miles City, Montana, and Buffalo, Wyoming, federal tracts violated 
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to account fully 
for the damage the coal, oil and gas would do to the environment, 
including the climate...
- - - - -
The plaintiffs said the decision was an important step in getting the 
federal government to calculate more completely the consequences that 
increasing development of fossil fuels would have on the world's climate.
"The court rightly recognized the fundamental disconnect between the 
need to rein in carbon pollution and the way BLM has proposed to manage 
our public lands and minerals," said Western Environmental Law Center 
Attorney Kyle Tisdel, who represents the groups. "We hope BLM's second 
chance will lead to better action."
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26032018/coal-mining-climate-impacts-powder-river-basin-fossil-fuels-wyoming-montana-blm-nepa-ruling
- - - - -
*US Court Decision 
<https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2018.03.23-Buffalo-Miles-City-Final-Order-revised.pdf>****https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2018.03.23-Buffalo-Miles-City-Final-Order-revised.pdf*
- - - - - -
[Western Environmental Law Center News Release]
*Court rejects BLM plans to mine 10 billion tons of coal, install 
thousands of oil and gas wells over 15 million acres in Powder River 
Basin 
<https://westernlaw.org/court-rejects-blm-plans-mine-10-billion-tons-coal-install-thousands-oil-gas-wells-15-million-acres-powder-river-basin/>*
Mar 26, 2018
...The court found that BLM failed to consider alternatives to BLM's 
unfettered coal, oil, and gas leasing that would reduce impacts to air, 
land, water, wildlife, and the global climate. The case was brought by a 
coalition of conservation groups in Montana and Wyoming...
... He ordered BLM to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement to review climate change impacts and consider options for the 
amount of coal the government will make available for sale and 
subsequent mining. The judge also called on BLM to do a better 
accounting of carbon and methane pollution impacts from coal, oil, and 
gas, both in the planning area when the resources are developed and also 
"downstream" when the minerals are ultimately burned in power plants....
https://westernlaw.org/court-rejects-blm-plans-mine-10-billion-tons-coal-install-thousands-oil-gas-wells-15-million-acres-powder-river-basin/


[Limnology is the study of lakes]
*'Green' lakes could accelerate global warming, new research warns 
<https://news.sky.com/story/green-lakes-could-accelerate-global-warming-new-research-warns-11304674>*
Fertilisers washing into lakes could increase methane emissions, 
potentially undoing progress in addressing climate change.
The biggest human influence on climate change and global warming is the 
release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Now research published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters 
is the first to show how the size of lakes and the nutrients in their 
waters from fertilisers are contributing to that influence.
"Our research pioneers a new way of determining the global atmospheric 
effect of lakes using satellite information on lake greenness and size 
distribution," said Professor John Downing...
- - - - - -
"The greener or more eutrophic these water bodies become, the more 
methane is emitted, which exacerbates climate warming."
Water bodies turn green when agricultural fertilisers such as phosphorus 
and nitrogen are washed into them by the rain from farms and similar 
locations.
- - - - - -
"When we analysed the data, we found that emissions of greenhouse gases 
to the atmosphere were influenced by the amount of eutrophication but 
also that lake size matters a lot for carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide."
If the world's bodies of water become more eutrophic they could release 
so much methane it may negate the emissions reductions made by humanity 
moving away from fossil fuels.
https://news.sky.com/story/green-lakes-could-accelerate-global-warming-new-research-warns-11304674


[Liability without proof of cause]
*New Canadian Bill Would Help Cities Sue Oil Industry for Climate 
Damages 
<https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/03/26/canada-climate-damages-peter-tabuns-toronto/>*
By Karen Savage
A Canadian legislator will introduce a bill to protect Ontario residents 
from the costs of climate change-related damages and to make it easier 
to force fossil fuel companies to pay for infrastructure improvements 
needed to protect communities from climate impacts.
"This act will give Ontarians the legal means to seek compensation from 
the world's major polluters for their fair share of those costs," said 
Peter Tabuns, a Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) representing 
Toronto-Danforth, who will introduce the bill on Monday.
Known as the Liability for Climate-Related Harms Act of 2018, Tabuns 
said the bill is similar to tobacco liability legislation used to hold 
tobacco companies liable for the health costs of tobacco use.
"This bill defines the nature of evidence to be produced and it 
simplifies this whole action," said Tabuns, who said the bill is 
structured to assume strict liability on the part of producers.
"There is an assumption in this bill that climate change is caused by 
man-made action-the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere-and it sets a 
threshold for determining whether a particular event has caused damage," 
said Tabuns, adding that the threshold would be consistent with the one 
established internationally.
"This Bill appears to be the first in the world to directly impose 
strict liability - liability without proof of fault-on fossil fuel 
companies for climate impacts," said Andrew Gage, staff lawyer for the 
West Coast Environmental Law Association (WCEL), which endorsed the bill....
more at:
https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/03/26/canada-climate-damages-peter-tabuns-toronto/


[Facing it directly]
*George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication
The Concensus Handbook 
<https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Consensus_Handbook-1.pdf>*
Numerous efforts are currently underway to confuse the public about the 
scientific consensus on human-caused global warming. Various opponents 
of climate action havesubmitted legal briefsin a court case over climate 
change-related costs,attacking the 97% consensus 
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20032018/climate-change-denial-monckton-soon-koonin-california-cities-lawsuit-judge-science-tutorial?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email>. 
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt continues to look for ways to ignore 
orundermine the scientific consensus 
<https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2018/03/14/stories/1060076249?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email>. 
And a Heartland Institute spokesman has recently beeninvited to publicly 
debate climate change 
<http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/fiu-hosts-climate-change-denier-james-taylor-10189772?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email>at 
a Florida university.
Why has manufacturing doubt about the scientific consensus been such a 
priority for opponents of climate action? What kind of strategies have 
they employed? Most importantly, how should science-based climate 
communicators respond?
To answer these questions, 4C researchers John Cook and Ed Maibach in 
collaboration with colleagues at Cambridge University and Bristol 
University developedThe Consensus Handbook 
<https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Consensus_Handbook-1.pdf?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email>. 
This concise, practical booklet examines how opponents of climate action 
have been attempting to misinform the public and policy makers about the 
consensus for decades, and it explains why. Drawing on numerous 
scientific studies, the handbook also recommends how to respond to this 
misinformation campaign by effectively communicating the extent of the 
scientific consensus, and it provides guidance to climate scientists who 
are invited to "debate" about climate change.
We encourage you to download and readThe Consensus Handbook 
<https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Consensus_Handbook-1.pdf?utm_source=The+Consensus+Handbook&utm_campaign=Toolkit&utm_medium=email>, 
and share it with others.
https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Consensus_Handbook-1.pdf


[Photos]
*Portraits of Suffering and Resilience in Puerto Rico Six Months After 
Hurricane Maria 
<https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/03/portraits-of-suffering-and-resilience-in-puerto-rico-six-months-after-hurricane-maria/>*
See how the storm has displaced thousands and transformed life on the 
island.
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/03/portraits-of-suffering-and-resilience-in-puerto-rico-six-months-after-hurricane-maria/


[Oops, more methane]
*Methane from permafrost melt more than thought 
<https://climatenewsnetwork.net/23579-2/>*
A key source of a powerful greenhouse gas, methane emissions from 
permafrost, is producing much more than realised, scientists report.
By Alex Kirby
LONDON, 26 March, 2018 - Methane emissions are the source of the 
greenhouse gas which, after carbon dioxide, probably causes 
climatologists more sleepless nights than any of the other gases. And 
now it appears they have quite a lot more to bother them than they had 
realised.
Methane is reckoned to be at least 30 times more powerful than CO2 at 
warming the Earth, with some estimates putting its potency much higher 
still. The good news, research has suggested, is that there is far less 
methane than CO2 in the atmosphere to worry about.
The bad news, announced by an international research team, is that 
previous calculations may have been seriously wrong, and that thawing 
permafrost is likely to be producing appreciably more methane than 
anyone had thought.
The researchers were headed by Christian Knoblauch of the Centre for 
Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN) at the University of 
Hamburg, Germany. Their findings, published in the journal Nature 
Climate Change, make it possible to predict better how much of this 
significant gas may be released by the thawing of the Arctic permafrost.
"Our study shows for the first time that the methane-forming 
micro-organisms in the thawing permafrost have significant influence on 
the greenhouse gas budget"
Methane and carbon dioxide are both produced in thawing permafrost as 
dead animal and plant remains decompose. But methane is formed only in 
the absence of oxygen. Until now, scientists had also thought that more 
greenhouse gases were formed when the ground was dry and well aerated - 
in other words, when oxygen was available.
So they did not expect much methane to be produced by the thawing 
permafrost.
What Dr Knoblauch and his colleagues have now shown is that 
water-saturated permafrost soils without oxygen can be twice as harmful 
to the climate as dry soils - which means the role of methane has been 
greatly underestimated.
They have, for what they say is the first time, measured in the 
laboratory the long-term production of methane in thawing permafrost. 
The team had to wait for three years before their roughly 
forty-thousand-year-old samples from the Siberian Arctic finally 
produced methane.
They observed the permafrost for a total of seven years and found that, 
without oxygen, equal amounts of methane and CO2 were produced.
A co-author of their report, Susanne Liebner, from the Helmholtz Center 
Potsdam - GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, said: "By 
combining process-based and molecular-microbiological methods, our study 
shows for the first time that the methane-forming micro-organisms in the 
thawing permafrost have significant influence on the greenhouse gas budget."
The team used the new data to improve a computer model that estimates 
how much greenhouse gas is produced in permafrost in the long term - and 
they compiled a first forecast: the permafrost soils of northern Europe, 
northern Asia and North America, they say, could produce up to one 
gigaton (one billion tons) of methane, and 37 gigatons of carbon 
dioxide, by 2100.
Earlier studies have expressed concern about the interplay between 
permafrost and global warming, and this latest research will be 
exhaustively scrutinised as other teams try to corroborate, modify or 
contradict it. That is how science works. And there are certainly 
uncertainties that need resolving.
For example, how deep will the soil actually have thawed by the end of 
the century? Will it be wet or dry? What is certain, the team concludes, 
is that the new data will enable more accurate predictions to be made 
about the impacts of thawing permafrost on the climate. - Climate News 
Network
https://climatenewsnetwork.net/23579-2/


[Storm trauma]
*For uprooted survivors of Fiji's deadly cyclone, mental scars linger 
<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-migration-fiji-psychology/for-uprooted-survivors-of-fijis-deadly-cyclone-mental-scars-linger-idUSKBN1H202S>*
Laurie Goering
SUVA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The first wave that slammed into the 
beach-front community of Nasau, on Fiji's Koro island, swept away every 
home in view.
The second tore away most of the concrete house where Rupeni Koto's 
family - and eight others - were crammed together to ride out Cyclone 
Winston, the southern hemisphere's first Category 5 storm.
"The kids were terrified," he remembered. "I told them to hold onto 
whatever you can."
The third wave, the biggest yet, ripped his five-year-old daughter from 
his arms, sending her floating away, clinging to a door. Around her, the 
sea churned with trees and debris, and injured people swam desperately 
toward a steep, brush-covered slope at the back of the beach.
Koto, 53, was one of the lucky ones. He, his wife and all four of their 
children were washed toward the hillside, where they caught hold of a 
collapsed tree.
For six hours they clung there, the storm screaming around them, unsure 
if they were the only people still alive in the village of about 350.
"We reached a stage where we were no longer afraid of death," Koto 
remembered. "We had gone through so much."...
more at: 
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-migration-fiji-psychology/for-uprooted-survivors-of-fijis-deadly-cyclone-mental-scars-linger-idUSKBN1H202S


*This Day in Climate History - March 27, 2007 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-stark/global-warming-phooey_b_44407.html> 
   -  from D.R. Tucker*
March 27, 2007: In a post on CallingAllWingnuts.com about a recent 
confrontation with Competitive Enterprise Institute honcho Myron Ebell, 
blogger Mike Stark observes:

"Upon reflection, I really think there are a couple of lessons for 
progressives to be found in this five minute exchange.

"First of all, when arguing with somebody that either has no credibility 
or is not arguing a credible position, don't donate the credibility they 
need to be seen as your equal."

"You see, by calling his credibility into question immediately - and not 
letting him up for air - well, I've got no proof, but I really think 
that everyone in the room knew that Mr. Ebell had been bettered. When we 
ask policy or science questions of these charlatans, we give the 
impression that we care what they think. We don't. We know they are rank 
liars, we're just wondering if they'll be able to spin a sufficient 
answer. But these guys get millions of dollars a year from the largest 
corporate titans precisely because they have the skill to ink up the 
issue. Why let them show off?

"Secondly, don't go out of your way to be nice or polite. Hell, I won't 
afford these profit-gandists any respect on my blog, why the hell should 
I do it face to face? A large part of their professional career derives 
from their ability to mock me and the things I believe in. The 
Competitive Enterprise Institute once liked global warming to 'being 
invaded by space aliens' for example. By addressing these people with 
the indignant scorn they deserve, you project the moral superiority of 
your position. To many times it seems that Democratic and progressive 
pundits are more interested in being our opponents' friends than we are 
in vigorously arguing the issues. In this media environment - when equal 
time is given to global warming deniers... well, we just can't afford 
the small talk.

"In the end, these guys are not good people. This isn't a case of 
principled people disagreeing. At this point in the global warming 
debate, the only principled disagreements to be had revolve around what 
we should be doing to address the crisis. The Myron Ebells of the world 
- the die-hard denialists... well, we need to move them off the stage by 
marginalizing them at every opportunity."

http://web.archive.org/web/20070422015640/http://www.callingallwingnuts.com/2007/03/27/global-warming-phooey/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-stark/global-warming-phooey_b_44407.html

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