Obama Unveiling Budget, with Revenue from Carbon Cap (Washington Post)
The White House will unveil a budget today that assumes there will be a U.S. carbon trading system in place by 2012 generating between $50 billion and $300 billion a year.
Indigenous Group Suing Over Tar Sands (Guardian)
Co-operative Bank will announce today that it is funding a legal challenge by the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, which claims the boom in Canada’s tar sands extraction is destroying the indigenous people’s traditional hunting and fishing regions.
Ice Age Study: N. Atlantic Climate Shift See-Saws on South (Reuters)
A study of ocean sediments from the last Ice Age backs theories that a sudden cooling or warming of the Northern Hemisphere causes an opposite effect in the south.
Scientists Tell Congress: Droughts ‘May Lay Waste’ to Parts of US (Guardian)
The warnings to Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Environment and Public Works Committee marked the first time Congress has been directly confronted with the growing evidence that climate change will be far more severe than the UN’s 2007 report says.
Utah House to Huntsman: Pull Out of Climate Alliance (Salt Lake Tribune)
Utah House members adopted a resolution urging Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to pull Utah from the multi-state Western Climate Initiative. They argue that participation could affect the economic health of the state’s businesses.
Can the US House Get its Act Together on Climate Legislation? (Climate Progress)
The House Ways and Means Committee plans to mark up global warming emissions legislation by Memorial Day, setting up a possible turf fight among powerful Democratic committee leaders over one of the president’s signature items.
Salazar Scraps Bush-era Oil Shale Leases (Reuters)
In his second reversal of a Bush administration decision, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced he is scrapping leases for oil-shale development on federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
Cargo Hauling at Ports Will Be Greener (NPR)
The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have some of the dirtiest air in a region that made smog famous. But this week, a new all-electric, non-polluting cargo hauler goes into service that may help make the nation’s busiest freight center a little greener.
Australia Seeks to Cut Livestock Gas Emissions (AFP)
The Australian government announced a multi-million dollar investment in research on reducing gas emissions from farm animals as part of the fight against global warming.
Experts: Urgent Need to Start Breeding Climate-Proof Crops Now (Reuters)
The world is running out of time to develop new seed varieties to confront climate change and head off food shortages that could affect billions of people, experts say.
London Looks at Electric Cars for Hire (Guardian)
Mayor Boris Johnson says he is considering a verison of Paris’s autolib scheme planned for 2010 which will see cars available for hire from bays around the city. "I think we should be making London the electric capital of Europe,” he said.
It’s Wrong to Wish on Space Hardware (Real Climate)
While the OCO failure was devastating for scientists involved in the mission, a relatively high chance of complete failure is part of the price of working with satellites. Fortunately, OCO was a relatively cheap proof-of-concept mission and so it might someday get another day in the sun.
