Obama: Restore environmental regulations

[Colobo]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070601/ap_on_el_pr/obama_nevada_8

Obama said the EPA has been "demoralized."

The Democratic presidential hopeful from Illinois also said he intends to spend significant time campaigning in Nevada because the state with an early Jan. 19 caucus date is representative of a Western region he said is the key to the nation's future.

And he predicted he could compete with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York by appealing to rural voters.

Making his third appearance in Nevada, Obama said much of the Bush administration's weakening of environmental regulations has been accomplished through administrative orders without congressional action.

"That means President Obama can reverse them by executive order," Obama told reporters after a speech to about 4,000 at a downtown Reno park on an island in the middle of the Truckee River.

"I think the slow chipping away against clean air and clean water has been deeply disturbing. Much of it hasn't gone through Congress. It was done by fiat," he said. "That is something that can be changed by an administration, in part by reinvigorating the EPA, which has been demoralized"

Obama added: "When you've got folks at the top who are not serious about enforcing environmental laws, then all through the civil service people get discouraged."

[XemaSab]

1. Homie's a big fan of coal

It's true: read his website.

[hatrack]

3. Particularly clean coal.

That's my favorite variety of coal - the special magic "clean" kind - how 'bout you, Xema?

:eyes:

[XemaSab]

6. Ask NNadir about what I think about clean coal.

:)

[illinoisprogressive]

4. Well, his job is to bring jobs to us in his state. We have coal. sorry.

[hatrack]

5. His job is, therefore, to continue the acidification of the oceans and mercury deposition to boot

You're not sorry enough. Neither is Illinois.

Heinz Foundation Director - Ocean Acidfication "Shaking Biological Underpinnings Of Civilization"

EDIT

“We’re starting to see now a real connection to fisheries,” said Christopher Sabine, a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration scientist involved in the North American Carbon Project’s effort to understand the role of carbon in the oceans. Victoria Fabry, a biological oceanographer at the University of California, has found that the shells of pteropods - a set of 32 planktonic snails sometimes called sea butterflies - dissolve in acidic water, and that the layer of water acidic enough to do so is slowly expanding from the depths toward the surface as the ocean absorbs more carbon. If carbon dioxide emissions continue unabated, surface water could be corrosive to shells by between 2050 and 2100, depending on different emissions scenarios.

Pteropods are widely consumed by a variety of ocean life, including several species of salmon. More than 60 percent of a salmon’s diet can be pteropod, according to the research of Katherine Myers, the principle investigator for the University of Washington’s High Seas Salmon Research Program. How acidification affects pteropods, and in turn salmon, will be the subject of future research. “We know the chemistry of it very well, and with a great deal of certainty, but what the ecological impacts will be on fisheries, on overall productivity, regional productivity, we simply do not know,” Fabry said. “This is a case where we do need additional research.”

The importance of pteropods to a popular food fish like salmon gives the acidification research a sense of urgency: The effects of acidification could creep up the food chain.

“And we’re at the top,” said Thomas Lovejoy, the executive director of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. He made his remarks at a Wildlife Trust lunch, and in an interview with The Daily Green. Lovejoy called the acidification of the oceans “the most profound environmental change I’ve encountered in my professional career,” and said the consequences for ocean life are “shaking the biological underpinnings of civilization.”

EDIT

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=95937

In N. Pacific Ocean @ Specific Depths, Acidification Already Outpacing Shell Growth For Marine Life

Global warming has increased acidity levels of the oceans by 30 percent and in the decades ahead will create new risks for coral, zooplankton and other creatures that help support the North Pacific fisheries, according to researchers who gathered Monday at the University of Washington. In a two-day workshop that ends today, these scientists are reviewing what is known about this grim corner of climate change and brainstorming ways to measure and assess the threats to a marine ecosystem that yields North America's largest seafood harvests.

The acidification is caused by the ocean's absorption of carbon dioxide produced by fossil-fuel combustion. Currently, this is about 2 billion tons of the gas each year. As this gas dissolves, it sets off a chemical reaction that produces carbonic acid, which in high-enough concentrations can erode protective shells and other structures of some sea creatures. "We have significant changes in chemistry," said Richard Feely, a Seattle-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oceanographer who helped to organize the conference. "And if we project over time ... we are talking about massive changes that will take place."

Some of the most acidic waters are found in the North Pacific, which has absorbed more carbon dioxide than tropical oceans. The North Pacific appears to be more acidic because it is colder than tropical oceans, which enables it to absorb more carbon, and because it has older, more carbon-rich water than the North Atlantic. In some areas of the North Pacific — at depths ranging from about 300 to more than 1,000 feet — researchers already have detected a kind of saturation point where acidity causes shells to disintegrate faster than they can grow. This contrasts to the North Atlantic, where the saturation point typically is at depths that exceed 7,500 feet, according to Feely.

By the end of the century, these North Pacific saturation zones are expected to expand and extend into much shallower waters. Last year, Feely helped measure the acidity in these zones, and in the years ahead he will start to check the acidity levels of the most productive fishing zone: the Bering Sea.

EDIT

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=93566

IPCC Report Concludes Ocean Acidification "Potentially Catastrophic" For All Sea Life

Rising carbon dioxide emissions are making the world's oceans more acidic, particularly closer to the poles, heralding disaster for marine life, a major United Nations report on climate change impacts says. Harvey Marchant, Australian lead author on polar regions for the report, the second of four this year by the UN climate panel, said research showed a high take-up of carbon dioxide by polar oceans was producing marked changes in several species.

The report, released in Brussels on Friday, carries the toughest UN warning yet about the impacts of global warming. Marchant, a former head of biology at the Australian Antarctic Division, said in Canberra that Southern Ocean species were more susceptible because cold waters absorb more carbon dioxide than warmer waters.

"Carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere continue to rise, putting a greater strain on the world's oceans which are being forced to absorb more of these emissions than ever before and with potentially catastrophic effects," he said. "Many important planktonic species such as pteropods, or sea snails, and some algae and single-celled animals rely on calcium carbonate for their shells to develop," he said.

"The more carbon dioxide taken up by the ocean the more acidic it becomes, inhibiting calcium carbonate formation and leaving these species vulnerable." Changes could also affect the chemistry of dissolved nutrients, potentially causing large-scale changes in marine ecosystems with a knock-on effect to other larger species, such as fish and squid that rely on these organisms to survive.

EDIT

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=90885

[illinoisprogressive]

2. cool. love the 4,000 turn out. people love the guy.

[burrowowl]

7. I have a hard time believing Obama

given his support of "clean coal" and "corn" fuels and his health-care proposal, which still lets Corps in. I don't think he has the experience or expertise to be President, I would prefer Kucinich or Julian Bond.

[XemaSab]

8. What's your take on Richardson?

And if you bird, have you seen the birding forum? :D

[burrowowl]

9. I have friends who bird

and just saw my first hummingbird of the season (no Rufus bullies yet).
Back to Richardson a bit too Liberal for me (in the the European sense, right of center). However, given the Center Left doesn't exist, except for Kucincinh, here, Bill might be able to boost US image, hopefully through real negotiations, and he is for getting the troops out NOW!
I am 60 and hope that the world, which means the US will have to get on the band wagon of mitigating Global Warming now, will act thoughtfully instead of spiraling into another catastrophe, equivalent to the last WW.