2013 November Environment & Climate News:

Science Panel: Global Warming Is Not a Crisis

The November issue of Environment & Climate News reports on the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change's September 17 release of Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science, a 1,000-page report concluding global warming is not a crisis. Like earlier volumes in the Climate Change Reconsidered series, the new report cites thousands of peer-reviewed articles to determine the current state-of-the-art of climate science. NIPCC authors paid special attention to research overlooked by the IPCC or studies that present data, discussion, or implications arguing against the IPCC's claim that dangerous global warming is resulting, or will result, from human-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Also in this issue:

·         The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering a West Virginia industrial wind farm's application to kill endangered bats. Peer-reviewed studies show wind farms in the United States kill at least 1.4 million birds and bats each year, but very few wind farms have applied for and received a permit to kill the animals.

·         U.S. carbon dioxide emissions fell 8 percent between 2007 and 2011, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports. The decline in U.S. emissions stands in stark contrast to a 9 percent increase in global emissions over the same time period.

·         Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed suit against solar power company Willard & Kelsey Solar Group, charging the company with fraud in connection with loans it received from two state agencies.

·         The Obama administration has increased the federal government's estimated "social costs" for carbon emissions, but analysts point out glaring flaws in the scientific and economic assumptions behind the estimate.

·         The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency confirmed the Houston metropolitan area is substantially improving its air quality under a Texas state-level air-quality plan and is on track to meet ozone-reduction goals. The improvements illustrate the effectiveness of state and local efforts to improve air quality without EPA intervention.

·         The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration closed approximately 600 temperature stations during the past two years, reflecting heat bias concerns raised by a prominent meteorologist. Most of the remaining stations, however, are also sited in a manner that produces heat-biased temperature readings.