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Wednesday February 18, 2009 07:49
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Wednesday February 18, 2009 08:36

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Wednesday February 18, 2009 08:36 Below article assumes that gobal warming as a result of man-caused CO2 emssions is real. http://www.prosefights.org/coal/coal.htm#eisenfeld Former astronaut scoffs at global warming Tom Sharpe | The New Mexican 2/14/2009 Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, one of the last men to walk on the moon and a former U.S. senator from New Mexico, doesn't buy the idea that humans are causing global warming. "I don't think the human effect is significant compared to the natural effect," he said. ... "As a geologist, I love Earth observations," he wrote in his Nov. 14 resignation letter. "But, it is ridiculous to tie this objective to a 'consensus' that humans are causing global warming when human experience, geologic data and history, and current cooling can argue otherwise. " 'Consensus,' as many have said, merely represents the absence of definitive science. You know as well as I, the 'global warming scare' is being used as a political tool to increase government control over American lives, incomes and decision making. It has no place in the Society's activities." ... In a Saturday interview, Schmitt expounded on what he called "indisputable facts" that global warming is the result of natural, rather than man-made, causes. He said historical documents indicate average temperatures have risen by 1 degree per century since around 1400 A.D., and the rise in carbon dioxide is because of the temperature rise. As for rises in sea levels, Schmitt said, geological evidence indicates major changes have been going on for thousands of years. Smaller changes in sea level are related to changes in the elevation of land masses, he said. For example, he said, the Great Lakes are rising because their bottoms are rising because the crust of the earth is rebounding from being depressed by glaciers. ... "In Antarctica, it looks like the total volume (of ice) is increasing and if that's true, that's probably why you're getting increased ice moving away from the center of the continent and therefore these big icebergs and stuff are breaking off," he said. Although Greenland's glaciers receded for decades, Schmitt said, they began advancing again around 2005. Schmitt grew up in Silver City, graduated with a science degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1957, studied geology at the University of Oslo in Norway and took a doctorate in geology from Harvard University in 1964. ... comment.

Bill Would Set Up Emissions Controls Possible Federal Rules May Hamper Effort Copyright © 2009 Albuquerque Journal John Fleck Journal Staff Writer New Mexico legislators are considering a bill that would, for the first time, set up state controls on greenhouse gas emissions. But the change of administration in Washington, and the resulting prospect of federal regulation, has raised questions about whether the state effort should proceed. The measure's backers say there are still good reasons to impose a state "cap-and-trade" system as part of the Western Climate Initiative, a regional effort by 11 U.S. states and Canadian provinces to place a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and set up a market to allow industry to trade emissions credits. The system would cap the overall emissions from the state's 100-or-so largest industrial greenhouse gas emitters. A trading system would allow companies to buy and sell emissions allowances, tapping market mechanisms to find the lowest-cost way of making the needed reductions. The measure is driven by climate change, which most climate scientists agree is being caused by increases in atmospheric gases released when we burn coal, oil and natural gas. The buildup traps heat much like a greenhouse does, hence the name. Forecast changes include a drier climate and more severe droughts in the Southwest. "Climate change will hit arid southwestern states like New Mexico the hardest, and we cannot delay implementation of a robust greenhouse gas reduction program," Gov. Bill Richardson said in a written statement. "New Mexico will move forward with states and provinces across North America to implement the Western Climate Initiative cap-and-trade program. Simultaneously, we will work arm-in-arm with the Obama administration to craft a federal program that is based on our work in the West, so that ultimately we will have one North American program." Representatives of key industries, including utilities and the oil and gas business, say a national system of greenhouse gas regulations is preferable, because it would create a level playing field across the country. "Climate change is a global problem best addressed through U.S. mandatory action and U.S. global leadership," Jeff Sterba, CEO of electric utility Public Service Company of New Mexico, wrote in a letter last month to Richardson. The Western Climate Initiative grew in large measure out of state and provincial governments' frustration regarding the lack of federal action on climate change under the Bush administration. "States are once again taking the lead on combating climate change, while Washington, D.C., sits on its. hands," Richardson said two years ago when the plan was announced. That changed with the election of Barack Obama, who has said he will make federal action on greenhouse emissions a priority. The New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, which has long argued that a national regulatory systems was preferable to a state one, believes the change in administration in Washington has eliminated any need for state action in response to federal failure to act. "That argument doesn't exist any more," said organization Cap and trade The most common approach to regulating greenhouse gases, a cap-and-trade" system sets a target for the total level of emissions to be allowed. Overtime, that "cap" is reduced to achieve a longterm emissions goal. Emissions "credits" are issued in an amount equal to the total cap. Methods for distributing the credits vary. In New Mexico, free credits would be given to electric utilities, and possibly other industries, based on their current emissions. At least 10 percent of the remaining emissions credits would then be auctioned to the highest bidder. If a company can cost-effectively reduce its emissions below the level of the credits it holds, it can then sell its credits on the open market. Conversely, companies having a hard time reducing emissions have the option of buying credits from other companies. The result leverages the power of the market to let companing collectively pursue the most cost-effective methods for reducing emissions. vice president Deborah Seligman in a recent interview. Backers of the New Mexico bill agree that nationwide regulation would be preferable. "We want a national program, too," said Richardson adviser Sarah Cottrell. But Cottrell and others worry about the potential for delay in Washington on the issue and are pushing for state regulation in the meantime. Under the New Mexico version, greenhouse gas reductions would start in 2012, noted Sandra Ely, one of the Richardson administration's point people on the issue, while any federal regulatory regime would likely take longer to get in place. Even if the federal regulations eventually supersede New Mexico standards, having legislation in place early would give New Mexico businesses a head start on those in neighboring states, both in terms of accounting for their greenhouse gas emissions and thinking about how to reduce them to meet legal targets, according to Ely. "Our businesses will know what their footprint is," Ely said. Tom Singer, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, agreed, arguing that failure to implement regulations at the state level could leave New Mexico businesses at a disadvantage by not helping them to prepare for life under greenhouse gas regulations. Industry's major concern with state or regional efforts is "leakage," according to Brent Rice, PNM's senior manager for corporate strategy - business that moves out of state to escape the costs of complying with greenhouse gas regulations in the regulated area. That could put regulated areas at an economic disadvantage compared with neighbors who are not, Rice said. An economic analysis by the Pew Center on global climate change last year also concluded that the broader the area covered by the emissions trading regulations, the lower the overall cost of cutting carbon emissions. New Mexico's debate over whether to proceed with legislation to implement the Western Climate· Initiative is being mirrored in other states, according to Jim Holtkamp, a Salt Lake City-based lawyer with the firm Holland and Hart who follows climate change regulation. Bills have already been introduced in the Utah legislature in an attempt to prevent that state from participating in the regional climate change initiative, according to Holtkamp. Similar legislation has been introduced in Arizona, according to a report in the Arizona Republic. Albuquerque Journal Monday February 16, 2009