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.
One in Five Mammal Species on ‘Red List’ (Guardian)
A fifth of the world’s known mammals, a third of its amphibians, more than a quarter of its reptiles and up to 70% of its plants are under threat of extinction according to the red list of threatened species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
North Atlantic Fish Populations Shifting as Ocean Temperatures Warm (NOAA)
About half of 36 fish stocks in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, many of them commercially valuable, have been shifting northward over the last four decades, with some nearly disappearing from U.S. waters as they move farther offshore, according to a new NOAA study.
US Airline Industry Lobbies Against Emissions Tax (Environmental Leader)
The Air Transport Association asked Todd Stern, the U.S. Climate Change Envoy, to have the U.S. stand against a proposed global tax on aviation emissions.
Disney to Give $7M to Reforestation Projects (Reuters)
The Walt Disney Co. said today it will invest $7 million in forest conservation projects in the Amazon, Congo and U.S. as part of its effort to reduce emissions, waste and energy use as a corporation.
Flurry of Lobbying Cash Obscures US Climate Debate (AFP)
Lobbying groups involved in the climate debate have boosted their spending by double digits over last year. Science and specifics are hard to find in the barrage of ads and messages about green jobs, alternative energy and the dangers of pollution.
