Greenhouse Gas

ON FEB. 15, the eve of the effective date of the Kyoto Treaty on global warming, I introduced the Pennsylvania Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act (H.B. 500), which would represent an important first step for Pennsylvania in addressing global climate change. Our federal government's failure to sign on to Kyoto makes it even more important for individual states to take action. Pennsylvania has a particular responsibility to act. Our state alone produces about 1 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, more than 105 developing nations combined.

The U.S.-European rift on global warming extends to the world's three dominant oil companies. BP Amoco P.L.C. and Royal Dutch/Shell Group, which are based in Europe, have joined the campaign to reduce global warming. Exxon Mobil Corp., which has its headquarters in Irving, Texas, remains outside the campaign, arguing in newspaper advertisements and speeches for a more cautious approach. President Bush will argue for the approach that Exxon Mobil prefers when he meets with European leaders today in Sweden.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is leaning toward revising its landmark proposal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants, according to several individuals briefed on the matter, a move that would delay tougher restrictions and could anger many environmentalists. The discussions center on the first-ever greenhouse gas regulations for power plants, which were proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency nearly a year ago. Rewriting the proposal would significantly delay any action, and might allow the agency to set a separate standard for coal-fired power plants, which are roughly twice as polluting as those fueled by natural gas. While the move could bolster the administration's legal justification for regulating power plants' carbon emissions, any delay on the rules would be a blow to environmental groups and their supporters, who constituted a crucial voting bloc for President Obama and other Democrats in last year's elections.

GLACIERS ARE shrinking so rapidly we might have to change the definition of the word "glacial. " To proceed at a glacial pace nowadays means to move backward at a rapidly accelerating rate - like, say, the Eagles. The process is chronicled in the new documentary "Chasing Ice," which uses time-lapse photography to show just how drastically fast ice sheets up yonder are turning to water, raising sea levels. But wait, you say, not all glaciers are receding. Some are advancing, right?

NO DEPOSIT, BUT BOTTLE DOES NET A SURPRISING RETURN Geoff Hight and his elementary school classmates in Portland, Maine, discovered that a bottle carrying a message really could cross the Atlantic Ocean when they received a letter back from a 13-year-old French girl. Amelie Kriskovic wrote to Geoff that she had found his bottle while walking with her father on the beach near their home in Pornichet, France, the Portland Press Herald reported yesterday. Geoff was among 21 fourth-grade students who sealed messages in wine bottles in the spring of 1992 and had them released off Portland by a fisherman in an experiment to learn more about the ocean and the Gulf Stream.

The G-8 summit concluded yesterday in Japan, with headlines about a climate-change agreement - and that President Bush had signed it. A big shift for Bush, said the headlines. A first. Yes and no. It is notable that the president signed the accord, in which the eight nations agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by the year 2050. It was the first time Bush ever signed anything agreeing to a numerical goal. He refused at last year's G-8. As president, Bush has opposed U.S. agreement to the Kyoto Protocols, has expressed doubts about climate science, and has regularly called reduction targets unrealistic.

DEPARTING U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson did well by the public, especially with the tighter emissions rules she imposed on coal-fired power plants. But her successor will need to move Congress closer to meaningful legislation on climate change and rebuild the program that funds much of the nation's sewerage work. Ms. Jackson, the first African American to lead the EPA, helped secure landmark fuel-efficiency standards for autos. She infused new life in the agency after eight years of foot-dragging and rollbacks by former President George W. Bush's administration.

Kudos to the Ford Motor Co. for deciding that all its large pickup trucks will meet current federal air pollution standards four years early. That means more than 800,000 of Ford's trucks, including the popular F-series, will meet low-emission standards in the 2000 model year, which rolls out this fall. As of yet the other major vehicle makers have not followed suit. They should. But Ford only gets one-and-a-half cheers. U.S. manufacturers, including Ford, are sidestepping the equally important issues of fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Bush administration's attempt to avert quick action to stem global warming appeared to backfire yesterday when members of an international conference angrily rejected a White House statement stressing caution and more study. "There was a substantial uproar here," said Rafe Pomerance, a researcher for the World Resources Institute, a think tank. "It was close to disaster. I don't think (the administration officials) succeeded in convincing anyone of their point of view. They got rolled.

WASHINGTON - Worldwide levels of the chief greenhouse gas that causes global warming have hit a milestone, reaching an amount never before encountered by humans, federal scientists said Friday. Carbon dioxide was measured at 400 parts per million at the oldest monitoring station, which is in Hawaii and sets the global benchmark. The last time the worldwide carbon level was probably that high was about two million years ago, said Pieter Tans of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is leaning toward revising its landmark proposal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants, according to several individuals briefed on the matter, a move that would delay tougher restrictions and could anger many environmentalists. The discussions center on the first-ever greenhouse gas regulations for power plants, which were proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency nearly a year ago. Rewriting the proposal would significantly delay any action, and might allow the agency to set a separate standard for coal-fired power plants, which are roughly twice as polluting as those fueled by natural gas. While the move could bolster the administration's legal justification for regulating power plants' carbon emissions, any delay on the rules would be a blow to environmental groups and their supporters, who constituted a crucial voting bloc for President Obama and other Democrats in last year's elections.

DEPARTING U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson did well by the public, especially with the tighter emissions rules she imposed on coal-fired power plants. But her successor will need to move Congress closer to meaningful legislation on climate change and rebuild the program that funds much of the nation's sewerage work. Ms. Jackson, the first African American to lead the EPA, helped secure landmark fuel-efficiency standards for autos. She infused new life in the agency after eight years of foot-dragging and rollbacks by former President George W. Bush's administration.

GLACIERS ARE shrinking so rapidly we might have to change the definition of the word "glacial. " To proceed at a glacial pace nowadays means to move backward at a rapidly accelerating rate - like, say, the Eagles. The process is chronicled in the new documentary "Chasing Ice," which uses time-lapse photography to show just how drastically fast ice sheets up yonder are turning to water, raising sea levels. But wait, you say, not all glaciers are receding. Some are advancing, right?

PITTSBURGH - In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the United States has fallen dramatically, to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal. Many of the world's leading climate scientists didn't see the drop coming, in large part because it happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action against carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.

FUNNY THING about the lists of "helpful planet-saving tips" that show up as Earth Day (Sunday) approaches: They rarely include, much less spotlight, the daily action that could have the most impact: cutting down your meat and dairy consumption. The United Nations has repeatedly stated that we must drastically change our eating patterns, given that somewhere from 18 percent (if you credit the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization 2006 estimate) to 51 percent (Worldwatch Institute's estimate, 2009)

Seven Pennsylvania coal-fired power plants are among the 100 highest industrial emitters of greenhouse gases in the United States, according to data released Wednesday by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Ranking 12th on the national list is FirstEnergy Generation Corp.'s Bruce Mansfield plant in Beaver County, the state's biggest. The other plants are Brunner Island, Conemaugh, Hatfield's Ferry, Homer City, Keystone, and Montour. No New Jersey plants made that top 100 list.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - The hard-won deal at a U.N. global climate conference in South Africa keeps talks alive but doesn't address the core problem: The world's biggest carbon polluters aren't willing to cut emissions of greenhouse gases enough to stave off dangerous levels of global warming. With many scientists saying time is running out, a bigger part of the solution may have to come from the rise of climate-friendly technologies being developed outside the U.N. process. Scientists say that if levels of greenhouse gases continue to rise, eventually the world's climate will reach a tipping point, with melting of some ice sheets and a catastrophic rise of several feet in sea levels.

The heat on meat consumption keeps rising. For decades, environmentalists have insisted that vegetables and other plant foods are the way to go. The latest lob comes from the Environmental Working Group, which adds new number-crunching to the debate. The national nonprofit commissioned a life-cycle analysis of 20 common foods - meat, fish, dairy, and vegetables. In a report released last week, "Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change and Health," the group ranked them according to the amount of greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram - roughly four ounces - of the food.