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WSJ blog: “BP PLC agreed Thursday to pay $18.7 billion to settle federal and state claims over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The penalty includes the biggest pollution fine in U.S. history. Here’s what you should know…” See also via New York Times – BP to Pay $18.7 Billion for Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill …
“In a new study published [July 1, 2015], scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey found that the remote northern Alaska coast has some of the highest shoreline erosion rates in the world. Analyzing over half a century of shoreline change data, scientists found the pattern is extremely variable with most of the coast retreating at …
“Beginning this week, EIA is expanding its reporting of monthly natural gas production by 10 additional states. The addition of these states—Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, and West Virginia—significantly enhances EIA’s monthly coverage, which was previously limited to Alaska, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, and the federal Gulf of …
Environment New York – “Households and businesses with solar panels deliver greater benefits than they receive through programs like net metering, a report said today, countering increasing complaints from utilities that solar homeowners don’t pay their fair share. “While some utilities claim they’re subsidizing solar panel owners, our report shows the opposite is probably true,” said Heather Leibowitz, …
“The growing problem of changing environmental conditions caused by climate destabilization is well recognized as one of the defining issues of our time. The root problem is greenhouse gas emissions, and the fundamental solution is curbing those emissions. Climate geoengineering has often been considered to be a “last-ditch” response to climate change, to be used …
Working Paper Series – Congressional Budget Office Washington, DC. China’s Growing Energy Demand: Implications for the United States. Andrew Stocking Formerly an employee of the Congressional Budget Office; Terry Dinan, Congressional Budget Office. June 2015. Working Paper 2015-05. “Growing rapidly in recent decades, China’s demand for energy has nearly doubled since 2005—making China the world’s …
“A New Climate for Peace: Taking Action on Climate and Fragility Risks”, an independent report commissioned by members of the G7, identifies seven compound climate-fragility risks that pose serious threats to the stability of states and societies in the decades ahead. Based on a thorough assessment of existing policies on climate change adaptation, development cooperation …
Schwarz K, Fragkias M, Boone CG, Zhou W, McHale M, Grove JM, et al. (2015) Trees Grow on Money: Urban Tree Canopy Cover and Environmental Justice. PLoS ONE 10(4): e0122051. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122051 “This study examines the distributional equity of urban tree canopy (UTC) cover for Baltimore, MD, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Raleigh, …
Trautman, Lawrence J., The Board’s Responsibility for Crisis Governance (June 26, 2015). Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2623219 “A clear strategy and implementation plan for reasonably foreseeable industry disasters — before they take place, helps to prevent mistakes made under conditions of severe stress. Low probability but survival-threatening disasters such as the BP Gulf of …
World Bank – “Welcome to The Little Green Data Book 2015. For 15 years, we have been taking the pulse of development and the environment using more than 50 indicators for more than 200 countries. We strive to update and improve the indicators provided in The Little Green Data Book, so that it continues to …
Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction Science Advances 19 Jun 2015: Vol. 1, no. 5, e1400253 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1400253 “The oft-repeated claim that Earth’s biota is entering a sixth “mass extinction” depends on clearly demonstrating that current extinction rates are far above the “background” rates prevailing between the five previous mass extinctions. …
Follow up to previous posting – California Curtails Senior Water Rights via ProPublica – California’s Drought Is Part of a Much Bigger Water Crisis. Here’s What You Need to Know, by Abrahm Lustgarten, Lauren Kirchner and Amanda Zamora. June 25, 2015. “Why do I keep hearing about the California drought, if it’s the Colorado River …
