Gao: Flaws in Global Warming Program

The watchdog agency for Congress says the President’s greenhouse gas reduction programs don’t hold companies accountable.
Four years ago, the Bush Administration unveiled its plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions. At the time critics said the voluntary programs simply wouldn’t work. The GLRC’s Mark Brush has more:

Transcript

The watchdog agency for Congress says the president’s greenhouse gas reduction
programs don’t hold companies accountable. Four years ago, the Bush Administration
unveiled its plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions. At the time critics said the voluntary
programs simply wouldn’t work. The GLRC’s Mark Brush has more:


In 2002 president Bush announced a plan to cut the nation’s output of heat trapping
gases:


“My administration is committed to cutting our nation’s greenhouse gas intensity, how
much we emit per unit of economic activity, by 18% over the next ten years.”


What followed were two government programs that called on businesses to voluntarily
reduce their greenhouse gases. The Government Accountability Office recently put out a
report on those two programs run by the Department of Energy and the EPA. It found the
businesses that volunteered make up only half of all greenhouse gas emissions in the US.
It also found there’s no system in place to verify whether companies are meeting the
goals of the programs. The GAO recommends the agencies make policies that will track
a company’s progress, and hold companies accountable if they don’t meet their goals.


For the GLRC, I’m Mark Brush.

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States Work to Reduce Emissions

  • States in the Northeast are trying to set an example for other states by reducing power plant emissions. (Photo by Lester Graham)

A recently uncovered document reveals that Northeast states plan pollution reductions beyond federal requirements. Many of these states have already sued Midwestern states over power plant pollution. Their new effort might put even more pressure on the region’s utility industry. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

A recently uncovered document reveals that Northeast states plan pollution reductions beyond federal requirements. Many of these states have already sued Midwestern states over power plant pollution. Their new effort might put even more pressure on the region’s utility industry. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


A document brought to light by the New York Times revealed that nine Northeastern states are working on an agreement to reduce power plant emissions – including greenhouse gases – beyond the federal government’s restrictions.


Besides making significant reductions in pollution, it’s believed the Northeast states are trying to set an example for other states such as those in the Midwest where there are a lot of power plants. Doug Scott is the Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. He says they’re working on the problem.


“We’re trying to work with the other twelve states in the Midwest Governors Association on long-range plans to try to reduce emissions. That really isn’t much different in concept than what the Northeastern states are doing.”


Scott says reductions might not reach the same levels as the Northeast states’ plan because of greater economic impact on the industrial Midwest.


For the GLRC, this is Lester Graham.

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Kyoto in Canada Hits a Roadblock

  • Canada's action to reduce greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Agreement is being slowed as groups are threatening to vote against a budget bill that includes an amendment to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. (Photo by Kenn Kiser)

Canadian environmental groups fear political opposition may kill the Liberal government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:

Transcript

Canadian environmental groups fear political opposition may kill the Liberal government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:


Canada’s opposition parties have created an uproar over an amendment to the government’s latest budget bill. The amendment would change Canada’s environmental protection act. It would allow nontoxic gases which heat up the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, to be regulated.


It’s the first step in Canada’s plan to comply with the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. But it’s hit a major roadblock. The Conservatives say they’ll vote against the bill unless that proposal is removed. And if they vote against the budget, the Liberal government may fall.


The Sierra Club’s John Bennett says their aggressive tactics may make it difficult for Canada to make any changes to environmental laws.


“I’m very concerned that because of this, we may actually lose the ability to regulate greenhouse gases in Canada for a long time to come. And that’s the real danger here.”


Canada has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent over the next seven years. But Bennett says it won’t happen without new regulations.


For the GLRC, I’m Karen Kelly.

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Canada and U.S. Automakers Agree on Emissions Deal

  • Auto emissions are a hot topic when it comes to compliance with the Kyoto Protocol. Canada has found a way to get automakers to voluntarily cut emissions. (Photo courtesy of the EPA)

Canadian officials have reached a deal with U.S. automakers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The deal is expected to help Canada meet its obligations under the Kyoto protocol. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dustin Dwyer has more:

Transcript

Canadian officials have reached a deal with U.S. automakers to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The deal is expected to help Canada
meet its obligations under the Kyoto protocol. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Dustin Dwyer has more:


Last year, Canadian officials threatened to adopt a strict California car
emission regulation. That standard calls for a 30 percent cut in emissions
by 2016.


But Canadian officials now say they have reached a voluntary agreement with
the automakers. They say car makers have said they will reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by 5.3 million tons by 2010. They say that’s about a 25 percent
decrease.


Mike Flynn is a transportation analyst at the University of Michigan. He
says Canada’s agreement could still have an impact on U.S. cars.


“It may be cheaper for the automakers in the long run to manufacture the same higher-standard vehicles and sell them in both the U.S. and Canada than to have a small run specifically tailored for Canada.”


Automakers continue to fight California’s emissions regulation in court.
They say the law exceeds the state’s power.


For the GLRC, I’m Dustin Dwyer.

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Automakers Pushed for Greenhouse Gas Reductions

  • Cars can contribute greenhouse gases in many different ways. However, California's stricter law on cutting these emissions is starting a trend. (Image courtesy of the EPA)

U.S. automakers are under increasing pressure to reduce
harmful emissions. Now, to meet its obligations to the Kyoto Protocol, Canada says it might partner with several U.S. states to demand cleaner cars. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dustin Dwyer has more:

Transcript

U.S. automakers are under increasing pressure to reduce
harmful emissions. Now, to meet its obligations to the Kyoto Protocol,
Canada says it might partner with several U.S. states to demand cleaner
cars. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dustin Dwyer
has more:


Eight states have already signed on to a law that was first passed in
California. That law calls for automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions thirty
percent by 2016.


Now, officials in Canada say they may also adopt a similar law. That would
put almost a third of the North American car market under the California
rules. And analysts say it could force a change in how all cars are made.


Stéphane Dion is Canada’s Environment Minister. He says he’s still
working with automakers to get a voluntary reduction in emissions, but he
says time is running out.


“We’ve are talking with them since years, and now it’s time to conclude. And
we hope the conclusion will be an agreement. If it’s not an agreement,
California has shown that something else is possible.”


Automakers have filed a lawsuit in California to block the law. They say it uses
powers reserved for the federal government.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dustin Dwyer.

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Gm and Dow Launch Fuel Cell Testing Site

General Motors and Dow Chemical have opened a test facility designed to make fuel cells more viable. Fuel cells use hydrogen to create electricity, with the only waste products being water and heat. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Poorman reports:

Transcript

General Motors and Dow Chemical have opened a test facility designed to make fuel cells more
viable. Fuel cells use hydrogen to create electricity, with the only waste products being water and
heat. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Poorman reports:


The test site is located at Dow Chemical’s facility in Freeport, Texas. The fuel cell station will
use hydrogen that’s a by-product from the plant’s processes. The electricity that’s generated will,
in turn, be used by the plant. Julie Beamer heads GM’s efforts to make fuel cells commercially
viable. She says, over time, the facility will generate a megawatt of electricity.


“To put that into perspective, a megawatt is really the equivalent of powering about 700 average
size U.S. homes.”


Beamer says GM will learn valuable lessons from the site that will help it create fuel cell cars by
the next decade. The technology is seen as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But a recent
report out last week from the National Academy of Sciences says it will take decades before fuel
cells are widespread in automobiles.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Bill Poorman.

Drivers Turn to Car Sharing

  • This map is used by car sharing members in Ottawa, Ontario. It shows the location of cars available for pick-up (Image courtesy of Vrtucar – Ottawa, Ontario).

    Want to know more about car sharing?


Cars are among the largest polluters in the world. They contribute to the smog that hangs over many large cities and they’re a major culprit in the creation of greenhouse gas emissions. But most of us are reluctant to give up our cars altogether. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports, a growing number of North Americans are opting to share a car instead:

Transcript

Cars are among the largest polluters in the world. They contribute to the smog that hangs over
many large cities and they’re a major culprit in the creation of greenhouse gas emissions. But
most of us are reluctant to give up our cars altogether. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Karen Kelly reports, a growing number of North Americans are opting to share a car instead:


(sound of stroller)


Nathalie Buu is pushing a stroller past the shops in a trendy neighborhood in Canada’s capital,
Ottawa. She’s heading for a car which is parked about four blocks from her apartment. It’s a
Toyota Echo and she shares it with about 15 other people. When she gets to the parking lot, Buu
wheels the stroller over to a black box attached to the side of a building.


“So you take the, umm, open the lock box and the keys for the car are inside.”


(key noise)


Buu belongs to Vrtucar, a car-sharing company based in Ottawa. There are almost 200
members, and they share 11 cars. The cars are parked all over the downtown area.


Buu has two kids and a regular commute. Still, she and her husband decided they didn’t really
need a vehicle.


“When we had a car, we just found it more of a headache to have to think about repairing it or
bringing it for an oil change, and having had a car in a busy city like Montreal, we don’t really
agree with having cars in the city. It’s just too busy a place and you should be able to use public
transport, I think.”


Nowadays, Buu takes the bus to her job as a doctor at a local hospital. And when she needs to
use a car, she calls an 800 number to reserve one.


The decision to share a vehicle has been quickly gaining in popularity. Car sharing began in post
war Europe. The first North American company opened in Quebec in 1994.


Today, there are 29 companies in North America, most of them in bigger cities like New York,
Chicago and Toronto.


Susan Shaheen is a researcher at UC-Berkeley who studies car-sharing. She says companies tend
to spring up in places where owning a car has become a hassle.


“These organizations tend to thrive when driving disincentives exist such as high parking costs or
congestion. Alternative modes are easily accessible, such as transit and something we see quite
often in the early adoption of this type of service is some environmental consciousness.”


Concern about the environment was one of the main reasons Wilson Wood and his business
partner Chris Bradshaw started Vrtucar. They bought the first car in 2000. They hope to have
twenty by the end of next year. The weird thing is, Wood says they’re actually opposed to
driving.


“I can’t think of two worse guys to run a car business. You know, we hate cars. We believe the
hierarchy of transportation needs should be: your first choice is your foot, your second choice is
your bike, your third choice is your bus, and the last choice should be an automobile.”


But Wood says the reality is, sometimes you need a car. He finds most members use them for
longer trips within the city, where public transportation isn’t convenient. Not surprisingly, the
cars are especially in demand on evenings and weekends. But the company keeps them in
parking lots spaced just a half mile apart. So if the closest car isn’t available, another one is
nearby.


Nathalie Buu says she uses the car for big shopping trips or to attend meetings in the suburbs.
And she says she rarely has trouble getting one.


“I tend to be last minute and I’ll just call and say is the car available right now? And very often it
is. I’ve never had a problem that way, which has been great.”


Buu says car sharing is cheaper for them as well. They don’t have a car payment. They don’t pay
for parking, insurance, maintenance or gas on a car they’d only use a few times a month.


However, they do pay fees. It starts with a 500 dollar insurance deductible which is returned if
you leave the company. There’s also a monthly fee of either 10, 20 or 30 dollars, depending on
how often you drive. And you pay for time and distance, which averages about 15 dollars for a
three hour, 22-mile trip.


It’s cheaper than renting a car for the day. But still, 15 bucks may seem a bit pricey for 3 hours in
a car. Make this argument to Wilson Wood and he’ll pull out figures from the Canadian
Automobile Association. They estimate it costs about 5 thousand dollars a year to own a new car.
Plus, Wood argues, car share members use their cars more wisely.


“Our members are making more efficient and more environmentally intelligent choices because
they’re bundling their trips. They say, ‘oh geez, I know I’ve only got the car once this week and
I’m going to take it for 2 hours on Friday afternoon after work so I’m going to do this, this and
this.'”


(sound in car)


Not everyone joins just to save money.


Nathalie Buu says her choice was a more personal one.


“If everybody was doing this sort of thing, then we’d have less pollution in the cities. And if
you’re thinking about the future, not only your future but the future of our own kids and the air
they’re breathing and the life they’ll live, I think it’s important to think about that and not just our
immediate needs.”


But it’s not always easy. And Buu says that’s okay. Because she feels like she’s helping to create
the kind of environment that she’d like to live in.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.

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Carmakers Exempt From Greenhouse Gas Plan

The Canadian government is under attack by environmentalists after it exempted car manufacturers from its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:

Transcript

The Canadian government is under attack by environmentalists after it exempted car
manufacturers from its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:


Opponents say the government granted the exemption because the car assembly plants are located
in Ontario.


The province is a stronghold of support for the leading Liberal party.


But federal officials say the auto plants were exempted because their emissions are already low.


Many industries are required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions under the newly signed
Kyoto Protocol on climate change.


John Bennett of the Sierra Club agrees that the auto plants are relatively small polluters.


But he’s concerned that the feds lost some leverage as they try to convince automakers to create
more fuel efficient cars.


“It was a short term political tactic, but in the long term, it might mean we won’t get the kinds of
fuel efficiency improvements in cars that are absolutely essential if we’re going to meet the Kyoto
target and go beyond it.”


Thus far, the auto industry is resistant to building more efficient vehicles.


For The Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.

Canadians Urge Kyoto Signing

A new poll finds most Canadians surveyed believe Canada should ratify the Kyoto agreement in order to slow the effects of global warming. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:

Transcript

A new poll finds most Canadians surveyed believe Canada should ratify the Kyoto agreement in order to slow the effects of global warming. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:

While the Bush administration has rejected the Kyoto Accord, Canadian leaders are still deciding whether to ratify it. The survey of 2,000 people, conducted by a research firm on behalf of Greenpeace Canada, suggests 78 percent of Canadians would support ratification. The findings come after an intense lobbying campaign against ratification by high oil producing and energy consuming provinces. They argue the accord will devastate Canada’s economy as it competes with countries that aren’t part of the agreement. The plan calls for nations to reduce their output of greenhouse gases to three and a half percent below 1990 levels. The 15 members of the European Union have announced they will ratify the agreement this year.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly.

What Will Global Warming Bring?

  • Researchers are developing models to try to determine what the effects of global warming will be on the Great Lakes region. Photo by Jerry Bielicki.

Some scientists in the Great Lakes basin are looking at how global warming might be affecting the region, both today and long into the future. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham has the story:

Transcript

Some scientists in the great lakes basin are looking at how global warming
Might be affecting the region, both today and long into the future. The
Great lakes radio consortium’s Lester graham reports.


Many researchers in a number of different fields are coming to the same basic conclusion: the earth is warming and it’s affecting the Great Lakes. So far, the effects have been difficult to track, unlike watching the day-to-day changes in the weather. Measuring climate change requires measurements over many decades, or better yet over centuries. There are only a few places where weather measurements have been taken over that long of a period. But, where they have, researchers are finding weather is becoming more chaotic and indications are that the long-term climate is warming.
Many climatologists believe that warming is due at least in part to greenhouse gases, that is, pollution in the upper atmosphere trapping more of the sun’s heat, much in the same way a greenhouse works.


Taylor Jarnigan is a research ecologist with the U-S Environmental Protection agency who’s been looking at one aspect of climate change. He’s been studying whether increasing amounts of lake effect snow from Lake Superior over the past century, especially the past 50 years, is evidence of a change in the temperature of the lake. Preliminary study suggests that the lake’s surface temperature is warming, and that causes more snow when cold air passes over it. But he says the amount of snow has varied widely from year to year.


“Some of this variability is certainly due –in my opinion– to an increasing volatile climate system itself. El niño and la niña are becoming more intense, so you have an increasing oscillation between, say, an usually warm summer followed by an unusually cold winter which tends to produce an unusually large amount of snow.”

The surface temperature of the lake has only been monitored for a few decades, while snowfall depths have been recorded for much longer. Jarnigan says, since there seems to be a direct correlation between the surface temperature of the lake and snowfall, he can calculate the temperature of the lake going back more than a century, and finds that Lake Superior is getting warmer.


When researchers find direct measurements that have been taken for more than a century, they feel fortunate. For example, John Magnuson with the University of Wisconsin has been reviewing the conclusions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That’s the international organization established by the United Nations to study global warming. As a part of that review, Magnuson has been looking over shipping and harbor records that date back 150 years or more to see if there’s evidence of global warming. One thing he’s learned is that lakes and streams aren’t iced over for as long as they once were.


“And in the last hundred-and-fifty years we’ve seen significant changes in lakes around the entire– lakes and streams around the entire northern hemisphere. The date of freezing on the average and the date of break up is changing by about six days per century.”


And Magnuson says that six day change on both ends of the freeze-thaw cycle mean that there’s nearly two weeks less ice coverage than a century ago.


That seems to bolster research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Ecological Research Laboratory. Studies there indicate that over the last several years Great Lakes ice coverage on average is not as far ranging and doesn’t last as long as it did historically.


There’s no certain way to tell what might happen to the Great Lakes if the apparent warming trend continues.


But there are some ways to speculate. There are at least two computer models that try to estimate how much warmer the climate in the Great Lakes region might become by the year 2090. Based on those models, researchers have tried to figure out what that might mean for the area. Peter Sousounis was working at the University of Michigan at the time of that research. He says using either computer model it looks as though crops would produce more. Soybean yields could double. But other predictions are not as beneficial. It looks as though Great Lakes water levels would drop, probably about three feet more than they’ve already dropped, causing some problems for shipping. The study also found algae production would decrease by 10 to 20 percent. That’s important because algae provide the base for the Great Lakes’ food chain. Pine trees might also be all but eliminated from the region, and Sousounis says dangerously high ozone days might occur twice as often.


“Our findings indicate there are some potentially serious consequences in terms of reduced lake levels impacting shipping across the region, some serious economic impacts that if we don’t learn how to deal with these, there are going to be some serious changes in our lifestyles.”


Critics say the models can’t represent all of the variability in nature, so it’s difficult to be sure about any of the predictions. An adjustment here or there can lead to all kinds of alternative scenarios. Sousounis concedes more work needs to be done and more variables plugged into the models, but he’s convinced change will come; the degree of change is the only question.


These days, very few scientists argue against the studies that suggest the earth is warming. John Magnuson with the University of Wisconsin says a few DO argue that the change might merely be natural climate variability – that is, Mother Nature taking an interesting twist– and not necessarily a warm-up caused by manmade greenhouse gases.


“The skeptics, or the more cautious people, what they do when they look at that range of variation over the last thousand years, what they see is there is a signal in the warming that’s coming above the historic variation of climate. And, the climatologists of the world collectively feel there’s very strong evidence that warming is occurring, that greenhouse gases are a very significant part of that warming.”


Magnuson says most mainstream scientists agree climate change is happening, and even dramatic reductions in greenhouse gases won’t prevent some continued global warming over this century. But most say reducing pollution would slow the rise in temperatures and curtail the warming sooner. Only time will tell how that warming will change the Great Lakes region, and all of the researchers we talked to say in the meantime we’ll likely see more chaotic roller coaster type weather patterns as never before in recorded history.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.