Greenhouse Gas

Dinosaurs' gassy guts may have contributed to global warming tens of millions of years ago, according to a new study that finds a group of plant-eating dinosaurs could have produced about as much methane as all of today's natural and man-made sources of the greenhouse gas. British researchers reported in Tuesday's edition of the journal Current Biology that the methane emissions from sauropods far outstripped those of today's cattle, goats and...

Dinosaurs' gassy guts may have contributed to global warming tens of millions of years ago, according to a new study that finds a group of plant-eating dinosaurs could have produced about as much methane as all of today's natural and man-made sources of the greenhouse gas. British researchers reported in Tuesday's edition of the journal Current Biology that the methane emissions from sauropods far outstripped those of today's cattle, goats and...

The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a new interactive website Wednesday that allows users to track the total annual greenhouse gas emissions of power plants, oil refineries and other big industrial facilities that account for 80% of the country's output of the gases that are the primary contributors to global climate change. The EPA's Greenhouse Gas Emission Data tool is modeled on its 20-year-old toxins release inventory map that invites people to plug in their ZIP Codes to see what kinds of federally designated toxic substances are in their communities and who the polluters are. The greenhouse gas tool is based on 2010 data collected from more than 6,700 facilities across nine major industries, although power plants account for the overwhelming amount of the pollution.

Re "Electric or gas? Choice comes into Focus," Business, April 26 Having trouble deciding between an electric or gasoline car? I have experience with both. A Nissan Leaf, after federal and state rebates, costs about $25,000, the same as a gas-powered Ford Focus. An electric Focus will cost a couple thousand more. With the gas car, over 10 years you'll spend $25,000 on fuel and emit asthma-causing pollutants and more than 100,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is irreversibly changing our climate.

In ruling last month that greenhouse gases posed health and safety risks, the Environmental Protection Agency brushed aside warnings from Bush administration holdovers who said the move was "likely to have serious economic consequences" for small businesses and the economy overall, according to documents obtained Tuesday. Obama administration officials said the warnings, contained in memos from the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, didn't reflect current White House policy.

Pacific Gas & Electric, California's largest utility, said it wanted to purchase credits from projects that would reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to fight global warming. The San Francisco-based utility is searching for projects in the livestock manure management sector that will offset the equivalent of 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide, it said. It will also include other types of investments for forestry management.

The agreement that the Obama administration will announce today forcing dramatic reductions in vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and improvements in auto mileage marks a potentially pivotal shift in the battle over global warming -- and a vindication of California's long battle to toughen standards. After decades of political sparring, legal challenges and scientific arguments over climate change, three of the central players -- the federal government, major U.S.

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday criticized a bill drafted by Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, saying it would strip the agency of its ability to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The committee's proposed Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011 would "eliminate portions of the Clean Air Act, the landmark law that all American children and adults rely on to protect them from harmful air pollution," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson told a packed committee hearing.

International negotiators are quietly making progress here on steps to reduce "stealth" pollutants that contribute to climate change, including soot, refrigerants and methane gas, which together account for nearly as much greenhouse gas pollution as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide, of course, is the poster gas for global warming. Disagreements over how to reduce its emission from cars, factories and power plants have dominated the Copenhagen climate talks so far. But carbon dioxide accounts for only half the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

Senate leaders withdrew legislation that would have mandated major cuts in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions after falling a dozen votes shy of ending a GOP filibuster. Although the bill enjoyed bipartisan support, the weeklong floor debate devolved into partisan bickering over which party was most responsive to the plight of Americans trying to cope with rising gas prices. The bill would have cut greenhouse gas emissions 18% below 2005 levels by 2020 and nearly 70% by midcentury.

WASHINGTON - TheU.S. Environmental Protection Agencyissued regulations that for the first time will curtail air pollution from natural gas wells that use a controversial production technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The regulations will limit emissions of volatile organic compounds, which react with sunlight to create smog. The rules also will curb carcinogens and methane, the main component of natural gas and a potent contributor to climate change. The rules are expected to affect about 11,000 new wells annually that undergo fracking and an additional 1,200 that are re-fracked to boost production.

Gov. Jerry Brown has found a new pot of money to help him fill a $9-billion hole in his proposed budget: $1 billion from auctioning credits to allow California companies to emit greenhouse gases. But business groups are already denouncing Brown's plan as a back-door tax increase that they intend to challenge in court if the proposal is approved as part of the state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. "At a time when the public is concerned about jobs and the economy, the budget proposes a new tax on California businesses for climate change activities," said Dorothy Rothrock, vice president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Assn.

The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a new interactive website Wednesday that allows users to track the total annual greenhouse gas emissions of power plants, oil refineries and other big industrial facilities that account for 80% of the country's output of the gases that are the primary contributors to global climate change. The EPA's Greenhouse Gas Emission Data tool is modeled on its 20-year-old toxins release inventory map that invites people to plug in their ZIP Codes to see what kinds of federally designated toxic substances are in their communities and who the polluters are. The greenhouse gas tool is based on 2010 data collected from more than 6,700 facilities across nine major industries, although power plants account for the overwhelming amount of the pollution.

On Wednesday, the European Union 's highest court fended off a challenge from the U.S. and established greenhouse gas emissions controls for all airlines flying anywhere in Europe . Airlines now will be required to pay or trade for gas emission allowances, beginning Jan. 1, although the first year is largely free of charge.  Could the U.S. be far behind in creating a similar cap-and-trade system? The EU fight doesn't make it look good. “A number of U.S. airlines and then the U.S. airline industry association [now known as Airlines for America]

Greenhouse gases are building at a steep rate in the atmosphere, the nation's top climate agency reported, renewing concern that global warming may be accelerating. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, which indexes the key gases known to trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere, rose 1.5% from 2009 to 2010, the agency reported. The reported rise comes on top of an analysis by the Energy Department last week saying that global emissions of carbon dioxide, a key, long-lived greenhouse gas, had jumped by the biggest increment on record in 2010.

The California Air Resources Board on Thursday unanimously adopted the nation's first state-administered cap-and-trade regulations, a landmark set of air pollution controls to address climate change and help the state achieve its ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The complex market system for the first time puts a price on heat-trapping pollution by allowing California's dirtiest industries to trade carbon credits. The rules have been years in the making, overcoming legal challenges and an aggressive oil industry-sponsored ballot initiative.

Ten prominent figures, including former President Carter and ex-Russian President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, have written an open letter to President Bush urging him to develop a plan to cut greenhouse gas production, Time magazine said. The letter, in issues to appear today, was published less than a week after the Bush administration signaled it had effectively abandoned the 1997 Kyoto, Japan, treaty aimed at cutting greenhouse gases that many scientists believe are behind global warming.

Despite the Bush administration's resistance, nearly every industrialized nation agreed Saturday to talks aimed at producing a new set of binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions that would take effect in 2012. The Bush administration, which rejects the emissions cutbacks required by the current Kyoto Protocol, accepted a second, weaker conference decision, agreeing to join an exploratory global dialogue on steps to combat climate change.

President Obama announced the first fuel-efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for long-haul rigs, work trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles Tuesday, the second mileage pact with manufacturers in less than a month. The regulations call for reductions on fuel consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions by 2018 of 9% to 23%, depending on the type of vehicle. Trucks and other heavy vehicles make up only 4% of the domestic vehicle fleet, but given the distance they travel, the time they spend idling and their low fuel efficiency, they end up consuming about 20% of all vehicle fuel, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. defended his reputation as an environmentalist during a speech tonight to a GOP environmental group. "Conservation is conservative," the former Utah governor told about 200 people at a Republicans for Environmental Protection dinner in Washington. "I'm not ashamed to be a conservationist. " Added Huntsman: "I also believe that science should be driving our discussions on climate change. " His words were unremarkable, except perhaps in some Republican circles, where Huntsman's environmental views are considered outside the mainstream.