News Roundup
‘MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — President Barack Obama and the U.S. Department of Energy are committed to a role for coal in a national energy strategy, and they’ve backed it up with research spending, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Monday.’
via Energy secretary: Obama committed to role for coal – Yahoo! Finance.
‘ANNAPOLIS, Md. — When Lisa P. Jackson announced at the end of last year that she was stepping down as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, President Obama faced a choice. He could play it safe by appointing her deputy or he could confront Congress head-on and signal a strong commitment to tackling climate change by appointing the agency’s head of air quality, Gina McCarthy.’
via After Delayed Vote, E.P.A. Gains a Tough Leader to Tackle Climate Change – NYTimes.com.
‘(Reuters) – China and the European Union defused their biggest trade dispute by far on Saturday with a deal to regulate Chinese solar panel imports and avoid a wider war in goods from wine to steel.’
via EU, China resolve solar dispute – their biggest trade row by far | Reuters.
‘Of the roughly 7 billion people in the world, an estimated 870 million suffer each day from hunger.’
‘Hurricane Sandy cost the U.S. some $70 billion in direct damages and lost economic output. This is, obviously, a lot of money — Sandy was the second most expensive hurricane in U.S. history after a small tropical storm called Katrina. Much of that cost was borne by the government — local, state and federal — and some of it was absorbed by those of us who lived in the storm’s path. But about $20 billion to $25 billion of the damage from the storm was eventually covered by the insurance industry.’
via Flood Insurance Needs Fixing Thanks to Climate Change | TIME.com.
‘The world’s two biggest emitters of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are finding common cause in efforts to reduce global warming, cooperation the U.S. says could clear the way for other developing nations like India and Brazil to get on board, too.’
via Obama’s unlikely climate change partner: China – Yahoo! News.
‘WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate confirmed Gina McCarthy on Thursday to head the Environmental Protection Agency, a long-awaited move that could help President Barack Obama revive his plans to fight climate change.’
via Senate confirms McCarthy as chief environmental regulator – Yahoo! News.
‘Gina McCarthy won U.S. Senate confirmation as head of the Environmental Protection Agency and carry out President Barack Obama’s agenda to adopt measures aimed at reducing air pollution and fighting climate change.’
via McCarthy Confirmation to Lead EPA Clears Way for Rules – Bloomberg.
‘…about 55 million years ago (to geologists, the recent past), Earth experienced an explosive rise in temperature. Through the investigative science of paleontology, we can reconstruct a world where tropical flora flourish at the poles and the world is rocked by mass die-offs – that is, the world that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts as the “worst-case scenario” by 2100.’
‘U.S. energy supplies will likely face more severe disruptions because of climate change and extreme weather, which have already caused blackouts and lowered production at power plants, a government report warned Thursday.’