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EPA Finds Greenhouse Gases Pose Threat to Public Health, Welfare / Proposed Finding Comes in Response to 2007 Supreme Court Ruling
Press Release, EPA

After a thorough scientific review ordered in 2007 by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed finding Friday that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare.

The proposed finding, which now moves to a public comment period, identified six greenhouse gases that pose a potential threat.

“This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations. Fortunately, it follows President Obama’s call for a low carbon economy and strong leadership in Congress on clean energy and climate legislation,” said Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “This pollution problem has a solution – one that will create millions of green jobs and end our country’s dependence on foreign oil.”

As the proposed endangerment finding states, “In both magnitude and probability, climate change is an enormous problem. The greenhouse gases that are responsible for it endanger public health and welfare within the meaning of the Clean Air Act.”

EPA’s proposed endangerment finding is based on rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific analysis of six gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride – that have been the subject of intensive analysis by scientists around the world. The science clearly shows that concentrations of these gases are at unprecedented levels as a result of human emissions, and these high levels are very likely the cause of the increase in average temperatures and other changes in our climate.
(17 April 2009)



Obama signals US rail revolution
David Usborne, The Independent
Chicago wants them before 2016 when it hopes to host the Olympics Games. California is ready to start work straight away, even if most of its citizens can't imagine travelling to Chicago, or anywhere else, if it is not by car or plane. New York, Boston and Washington are convinced they already have them, but they don't.

This is the frenzy that has been set off by President Barack Obama telling the country it is time to catch up with Europe and Asia, and get serious about high-speed trains.

He is offering an initial pot of $13bn over five years towards what he called "the most sweeping investment in our infrastructure since President Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s"...
(20 April 2009)

Portland, Multnomah County unveil 40-year climate plan
Dylan Rivera, The Oregonian
Planting 83,000 trees, funding eight miles of streetcar lines and building 1,300 community gardens in the next three years are elements of a 40-year plan by Portland and Multnomah County to fight global warming.

Intended to keep Portland on the cutting edge of green, the Climate Action Plan unveiled today would guide policymaking across many sectors of local government.

"Fundamentally, what it's talking about is shifting away from a wasteful fossil-fuel-based economy to a more efficient and less fossil-fuel-based economy," said Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen.

The plan includes decades-long goals of reducing carbon emissions that contribute to global warming. But it also calls for short-term initiatives -- many not yet fully developed -- intended to prompt residents to drive less, use less energy and eat more local food.

(17 April 2009)