Today's Climate: November 3, 2009

Sen. Boxer Starting Markup, but Offers Olive Branch to GOP (ClimateWire)

Hoping to avert a partisan meltdown, Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Barbara Boxer extended a deadline for amendments to the climate bill and will suspend markup at 2 p.m. to hear EPA testimony.

Climate Talks Top EU-US Summit in Washington (EurActiv)

Ahead of today's EU-US summit in Washington, President Obama said he hopes an "important deal" can be struck at Copenhagen, but he admits an agreement would be no more than a step forward and would not solve the world's environmental problems.

Africa Boycotts UN Climate Meetings, Demands CO2 Cuts (Reuters)

African nations boycotted U.N. climate talks today in a protest to urge rich countries to set deeper 2020 cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

China's Wen Tells EU to Stick to Current Climate Pact (Reuters)

China will insist key global climate change negotiations next month build on current treaties that limit the obligations of poor countries in controlling greenhouse gas emissions, China’s premier said.

Overturn of CO2 Transport Ban Boosts North Sea CCS (Business Green)

The International Maritime Organization voted to repeal a ban on the cross-boundary transport of CO2, boosting the prospects of developing international CCS networks to take CO2 from Northern Europe and store it under the North Sea.

British Columbia Plans Sweeping Energy Policy Review (Vancouver Sun)

Premier Gordon Campbell announced a sweeping review of energy policy in British Columbia with the intention to make B.C. an international leader in green power development — for Canada and export to the U.S.

Coal Ash Disposal Loophole Feared in New EPA Rules (Tennessean)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering designating coal ash from power plants as hazardous material if it's kept wet, and non-hazardous if it's moved to a dry landfill.

Interior Dept. ‘Spinning its Wheels’ on Mountaintop Mining (Coal Tattoo)

The Obama administration promised to take “unprecedented steps to reduce environmental impacts” of mountaintop coal mining, but Interior Department lawyers now say they won’t be issuing proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule until 2011.

Climate Change Will Create Agricultural Winners, Losers in Africa (Science Daily)

A new study projects that climate change will have highly variable impacts on East Africa's vital maize and bean harvests over the next two to four decades, presenting growers and livestock keepers with both threats and opportunities.

Kilimanjaro's Snows Melt in Dramatic Evidence of Climate Change (London Times)

The snows of Mount Kilimanjaro will be gone within two decades, according to scientists who say that the rapid melting of its glacier cap over the past century provides dramatic physical evidence of global climate change.