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Tuesday, December 11, 2007
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Pat Williams (via the Albuquerque Tribune): "As always, smart journalists found it easy to prod the candidates toward accusation, all the while ignoring the one issue over which Westerners are always ready to fight. That issue is, of course, water.
"Water presents the great national imperative in the Rockies, home to the headwaters of the Missouri and Mississippi to the east and the Colorado and Columbia to the west, but not a single question about water scarcity was asked of those who would be our president."
Thanks to Joan McCarter for the link.
"2008 pres"
6:55:34 PM 
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Daily Kos: "Yesterday the flailing Mitt Romney launched a new ad against Mike Huckabee for being soft on immigrants. Huckabee responds with an ad, consistent with his new nutty immigration 'plan,' showing how tough he is. In the special election in OH-5 that concludes today three sets of GOP ads - by the candidate, by the NRCC and now by Freedom's Watch - all focus on immigrants. Last week Tom Tancredo, still at 1 percent in the Republican race for President, launched a new and extraordinary ad that ends with these words 'Deport those who don't belong. Make sure they never come back.' For the GOP it has become all immigration all the time."
"2008 pres"
6:18:45 PM
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TPM Election Central: "New poll numbers are just out from The Washington Post and ABC News, and they offer some striking findings: Rudy is falling fast among multiple voter groups, especially conservatives, something that helps explain Mike Huckabee's extraordinary surge."
eyeon08.com: "The first negative TV ad of the cycle comes out with Mitt Romney attacking Mike Huckabee's immigration position. The commentariat and the Huckabee campaign have responded pretty sharply."
Political Wire: "The latest Rasmussen Reports survey is the latest to find growing support for Mike Huckabee in Iowa's Republican presidential race. Huckabee leads with 39% of the vote, followed by Romney with 23% support, Rudy Giuliani at 8%, Fred Thompson at 8% and Sen. John McCain at 6%."
Political Wire: "A new Insider Advantage poll in South Carolina finds Sen. Barack Obama leading the Democratic presidential race with 28% support, followed by Sen. Hillary Clinton at 22%, John Edwards at 14% and Sen. Joe Biden at 10%."
Political Wire: "A new CNN/Opinion Research national survey finds Sen. Hillary Clinton's lead in the Democratic race shrinking to just ten points. Clinton now leads with 40% support, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 30% and John Edwards at 14%. Among Republicans, Rudy Giuliani clings to a lead with 24%, followed by Mike Huckabee at 22%, Mitt Romney at 16%, Sen. John McCain at 13%, Fred Thompson at 10%, and Rep. Ron Paul at 6%."
"2008 pres"
6:12:32 PM
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Andrew Sullivan: "Lost."
TPM Muckraker: "For years, the CIA denied recording any interrogations of al-Qaeda detainees. For years, the Bush administration denied issuing any legal authorization for torture. And for years, members of Congress claimed ignorance of what the CIA and the Bush administration had in store for detained members of al-Qaeda. All of these denials have proven false."
"2008 pres"
6:10:22 PM
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The Scientific Activist: "Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum of The Intersection (along with Derek Araujo, Matthew Chapman, Austin Dacey, Lawrence Krauss, Shawn Lawrence Otto, and John Rennie) are spearheading a grassroots movement called Sciencedebate 2008 to try to convince the powers that be of the need for a presidential debate on science in 2008. For a comprehensive list of the reasons why this is a good idea, I would have to rehash almost everything I've written on this blog... and then some. The point is that science is playing a growing role in society and politics, affecting in some way almost every issue a future president would face. In addition, there are science-specific issues that don't always get the consideration they deserve. And, of course, there is the growing trend of politicization of science that needs to be addressed."
"2008 pres"
7:12:46 AM
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Political Wire: "Political Wire has learned that new Strategic Vision polls to be released later this week show Mike Huckabee increasing his lead in Iowa, jumping into the lead in Georgia and moving into second place behind Rudy Giuliani in Wisconsin. On the Democratic side, Sen. Barack Obama leads in Iowa. But while Sen. Hillary Clinton still leads in both Wisconsin and Georgia she is losing considerable support in recent weeks."
Political Wire: "A new SurveyUSA poll in South Carolina finds Mike Huckabee with a double digit lead in the Republican presidential race. Huckabee leads with 30%, followed by Mitt Romney at 19%, Fred Thompson at 18%, Rudy Giuliani at 13% and Sen. John McCain at 10%."
"2008 pres"
7:05:54 AM
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Towns across Colorado and the west are rallying behind H.R. 2262, the Hard Rock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007, according to The Summit Daily News "reg". From the article:
Towns throughout the Rocky Mountain West that oppose mines near water supplies and scenic areas are backing efforts to revamp a federal law regulating hard-rock mining that's changed little since Ulysses S. Grant was president. A bill passed by the U.S. House in November would impose the first-ever federal royalties on gold, silver, copper and other metals mines, beef up environmental controls and give federal agencies the ability to say "No" to a mine that would irreparably harm the environment. For many, that last part is the heart of the bill. Under the 1872 law, federal agencies can scrutinize a company's plan and require environmental safeguards. But they can't decide, as they can with oil and gas drilling, that no development should occur in a certain spot.
Cody Wertz, Salazar's spokesman, said Salazar is working with others on a version of the bill that can pass the Senate. "Royalties is one of the areas where they're trying to find some compromise," Wertz said. Since 1872, according to the Washington-based environmental group Earthworks, at least $245 billion worth of gold, silver, copper, uranium and other metals have been mined on public lands with nothing going to taxpayers. Popovich said the proposed royalty of 4 percent of gross revenue on existing operations and 8 percent on new mines would be among the highest worldwide in a country with some of the highest wages and costs. Industry officials and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., prefer Nevada's system, which charges royalties on net income. The 1872 law also allowed people to patent - or buy - public land for mining at the rock-bottom prices of $2.50 to $5 an acre. There's been a congressional moratorium on patents since the mid-1990s and the House bill would permanently eliminate them. For Flynn, the crux of the bill is authorizing federal agencies to balance other values - the environment, economics - with mining. Currently, hard-rock mining trumps all other uses, he said.
That's how Crested Butte Mayor Alan Bernholtz sees it. Flynn's law firm represented the town, Gunnison County and the High Country Citizens Alliance in challenging a proposed molybdenum mine on the summit of Mount Emmons. The peak, also called the Red Lady for the color of its rocks, towers over the ski community of Crested Butte in western Colorado. Bernholtz said mining is no longer a good fit with the area's tourist-based economy. He's also concerned about environmental impacts, including drinking water sources. Federal courts rejected the lawsuit, which challenged the sale of federal land on the mountain to private companies. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled that only people with a competing claim to ownership can challenge such sales, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
"2008 pres"
6:46:55 AM
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One effect of rising CO2 levels may or may not be increased precipitation, depending on the latitude of the storm, according to The University of Colorado. From the article:
While two new studies by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences predict wetter storms for the Arctic and for the Northern Hemisphere because of global warming, whether or not this means more net precipitation depends on the latitude. "Global climate model predictions for the 21st century indicate an increase in the frequency of storms in the Arctic with no clear trend in the mid-latitudes but an increase in the amount of precipitation associated with individual storms in both regions," said Assistant Professor John Cassano of the CU-Boulder atmospheric and oceanic sciences department and lead author of one of the studies. Both studies will be published on Dec. 28 in a special edition of the Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences titled "Changes in the Arctic Freshwater System: Identification, Attribution and Impacts at Local and Global Scales." Cassano also will give a poster presentation on the work Dec. 13 during the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. According to Cassano, higher precipitation at high latitudes over the next century could influence important climate factors, such as seasonal snow cover, ice sheet growth and freshwater dilution of the Arctic Ocean. Enhancing freshwater sources to the ocean could, if substantial, affect the Atlantic's thermohaline circulation -- the ocean conveyor belt that helps maintain Western Europe's warm temperatures and plays a dominant role in global climate, he said. "Already scientists have observed higher river runoff into the Arctic Ocean, but the source of this additional runoff was unclear," Cassano said. "These studies provide one piece of the puzzle to understand this observed change." In contrast, mid-latitudes, like the continental United States, will see wetter storms but also a drop in storm frequency, effectively canceling out any change in net precipitation, he said.
Joel Finnis, a CU-Boulder doctoral student and lead author of the second study, analyzed the effects of rising CO2 levels on both the frequency and moisture content of storms over the entire Northern Hemisphere. He found that in mid-latitudes, higher storm moisture content will be offset, and in some cases exceeded, by decreases in storm frequency. "We're likely to see fewer storms carrying more water," said Finnis. "This could mean an increased chance that individual events will produce severe weather, but a decrease in overall water resources." Finnis also believes that these changes in storm frequency and moisture content will be most pronounced during the fall. As for why storms will be wetter as CO2 rises, more than 75 percent of the predicted increase in storm moisture content will be the result of the warming and moistening of the atmosphere as the global climate warms, the researchers said. "The wetter storms and higher precipitation over the Arctic are best explained by the heating of the atmosphere as greenhouse gases increase," said Cassano. "As the atmosphere warms it can hold more water and this change is largely responsible for the increase in Artic precipitation that is predicted over the next 100 years."
In other climate news the Greenland Ice Cap is melting at an increasing rate, reports The Longmont Daily Times-Call. From the article:
The 2007 melt extent on the Greenland ice sheet broke the 2005 summer melt record by 10 percent, making it the largest ever recorded there since satellite measurements began in 1979, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder climate scientist. The melting increased by about 30 percent for the western part of Greenland from 1979 to 2006, with record melt years in 1987, 1991, 1998, 2002, 2005 and 2007, said CU-Boulder Professor Konrad Steffen, director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. Air temperatures on the Greenland ice sheet have increased by about 7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1991, primarily a result of the build-up of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere, according to scientists.
Greenland is about one-fourth the size of the United States, and about 80 percent of its surface area is covered by the massive ice sheet. Greenland hosts about one-twentieth of the world's ice -- the equivalent of about 21 feet of global sea rise. The current contribution of Greenland ice melt to global sea levels is about 0.5 millimeters annually. The most sensitive regions for future, rapid change in Greenland's ice volume are dynamic outlet glaciers like Jacobshavn, which has a deep channel reaching far inland, he said. "Inclusion of the dynamic processes of these glaciers in models will likely demonstrate that the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment underestimated sea-level projections for the end of the 21st century," Steffen said. Helicopter surveys indicate there has been an increase in cylindrical, vertical shafts in Greenland's ice known as moulins, which drain melt water from surface ponds down to bedrock, he said. Moulins, which resemble huge tunnels in the ice and may run vertically for several hundred feet, switch back and forth from vertical to horizontal as they descend toward the bottom of the ice sheet, he said. "These melt-water drains seem to allow the ice sheet to respond more rapidly than expected to temperature spikes at the beginning of the annual warm season," Steffen said. "In recent years the melting has begun earlier than normal."
"2008 pres"
6:16:30 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 1:50:23 PM.
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