[GWSG] Angry mayors; surly Republicans; high sensitivity; new center; new EPA rules; no new laureate; new UN meeting

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Mayors along Virginia’s coast are losing patience as they attempt to cope with rising sea levels in the face of denial by the state political leadership.  http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2013/09/virginia-rising-seas

2.  At a hearing in the House of Representatives administration officials confronted Republican deniers on plans to reduce carbon emissions.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/18/epa-obama-climate-change-plan-congress

3.  “Climate Sensitivity, sea level and atmospheric carbon dioxide” by James Hansen and others calculates climate sensitivity on an historical basis and considers global conditions under different emissions conditions.  Among other conclusions, burning available fossil fuels will render most of the earth uninhabitable by humans.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/09/17/1892241/hansen-climate-sensitivity-uninhabitable/
A second study by Columbia’s Michael Previdi and others finds that when known feedbacks are included sensitivity calculations double.  It also finds that climate disruption happens more quickly than has been proposed.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/sep/18/climate-change-double-impact-study

4.  The Energy Department has opened a center to research the integration and deployment of a clean energy grid.  http://energy.gov/articles/energy-secretary-moniz-dedicates-clean-energy-research-center-new-supercomputer   The center is associated with a new supercomputer and projects which supply remote military bases with hybrid power systems and integrate plugin hybrid autos into power grids, presumably as storage sources.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/09/doe-sec-moniz-launches-clean-energy-research-facility-at-nrel?cmpid=WNL-Friday-September20-2013

5.  The EPA has proposed carbon emissions rules for new gas and coal power plants which would essentially require coal plants to capture and sequester about 40% of the carbon they produce.  The rules are on track to go into effect next fall if they pass the likely legal challenges.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/09/20/2655101/carbon-rules-existing-power-plants/
EPA administrator Gina McCarthy indicates that the rules for existing power plants, due next year, will be adapted to state circumstances.  (Bah.  The effects of that carbon will not be so adapted.  And where are any plans to scale down and then eliminate natural gas?)  http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-epa-coal-20130921,0,2976466.story

6.  The establishment of a US science laureate program has been blocked by congressional Republicans who fear that the unnamed scientists might support climate science.  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/20/republicans-congress-science-laureate-bill-blocked

7.  UN secretary general Ban-Ki Moon has called a climate summit of national leaders in an attempt to block the stalemate on climate negotiations.  It is the first such meeting since 2009.  The leaders usually meet only following negotiations; this meeting will precede the usual negotiations by a year.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/20/climate-change-un-talks
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