tagged w/ soot
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On April 13th, Chicago Alderman Joe Moore, ELPC and a coalition of business and community groups unveiled a City ordinance that would significantly reduce soot and greenhouse gas pollution from Chicago's coal plants. The Clean Power Ordinance would make Chicago the first city in the nation to regulate pollution from coal plants.
Keep reading: http://bit.ly/92ov6uOn April 13th, Chicago Alderman Joe Moore, ELPC and a coalition of business and... more
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The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to take action to reduce black-carbon pollution under the federal Clean Water Act. The petition is the first to explicitly seek protection of water in its solid form; it asks EPA to set water-quality criteria for concentrations of black carbon on sea ice and glaciers under the Clean Water Act – the first step toward reducing black-carbon emissions from diesel engines and other sources due to their role in accelerating the loss of sea ice and glaciers.
“Black carbon, or soot, is not only dangerous to breathe but also a potent global warming pollutant that is greatly accelerating the melt of Arctic sea ice and glaciers around the world,” said Matt Vespa, a senior attorney with the Center. “The Clean Water Act provides important tools to reduce this dangerous pollutant, which will slow global warming and protect public health.”
Generated from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass, black carbon is a solid particle that warms the atmosphere in two ways. In the atmosphere, its dark color absorbs heat and raises the temperature of the air. When it lands on ice and snow, it darkens these surfaces, thereby absorbing heat and increasing melting. Over the course of the Arctic spring, black-carbon-contaminated snow and ice can melt weeks earlier than clean snow and ice. Due to its warming effects in the air and on ice and snow, black carbon is considered one of the largest contributors to global warming after carbon dioxide pollution. In addition to its strong warming effect, black carbon also has profound impacts on public health, contributing to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year.
If current trends continue, many of the glaciers in the continental United States, including all of the glaciers in Glacier National Park, will disappear within the next 25 to 30 years. Scientists believe the Arctic could be ice free in the summer by 2030. Summer sea ice has already decreased by nearly 40 percent, or one million square miles, from what was present in the 1970s.
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A copy of the petition and other information on black carbon can be found at
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/global_warming_what_how_why/black_carbon/pdfs/EPA_CWA_Black_Carbon_Petition_2-22-10.pdf.The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to... more
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Ice core samples from Mount Everest that represent 800 years of atmospheric history contain much higher levels of certain metals in the last three decades than in the previous seven centuries. The metals are linked to the rising use of fossil fuels in Asia during that same time period.
Economic growth and more burning of fossil fuels by industries and cars in central Asia since the 1970s has resulted in higher levels of metals deposited in recent layers of ice collected from Mount Everest.
Data from a recent study that examined the cores from the Himalayan Mountains are the first to show that levels of arsenic, molybdenum, tin and antimony in the ice samples have sharply increased during the last 30 years when compared to the previous 700 years. During those centuries, the metal levels varied but were fairly stable.
Researchers use core samples of lake sediments, glaciers and ice caps to show that even remote locations – like the Arctic – contain evidence of human activities, such as the use of pesticides, metals and industrial chemicals. Slices of the cores are like pages in a history book; they record when and how much pollution a region has received during past decades, centuries or even milleniums.
It is known that chemicals originating in warmer regions of the world can be carried by air currents and deposited in soil and ice at the colder, higher latitudes and altitudes. Fossil fuels burned in cars or coal-fired generating stations release metals into the atmosphere that also can be moved long distances and deposited in remote ecosystems. Several prior studies from North America, Europe and Greenland confirm the higher levels of metals found in recent layers of sediment, glacier and ice cap cores are related to heavier reliance on fossil fuels during the last century.
More recently, the number of coal-burning generating stations and industries and vehicles that rely on fossil fuels has increased along with economic growth in central Asia. As a result, Asia now releases more metals into the atmosphere than any other region of the world. Despite these rapid increases, it was not known if the metals were being deposited at higher levels now than before Asia's recent industrial growth.
This recent study was done to find out. Researchers collected ice cores high up on the northern slope of Mount Everest. The cores represented what has been deposited in this region for more than 800 years, spanning from 1205 to 2002 AD. In the cores the researchers measured the levels of several metals – arsenic, molybdenum, tin and antimony – that are primarily released during fossil fuel combustion.
The results clearly show the effects of the booming economy in central Asia. In layers of the core representing the 1970s and more recent times, levels of these metals are up to 3 times higher than what was measured in older layers.
The findings show that the increased industrialization of central Asia has led to higher metals levels in remote areas of the Himalayas and that environmental contamination in this region is mirroring what has been seen in North America.
Synopsis by Karen Kidd
Hong, S, K Lee, S Hou, SD Hur, J Ren, L Burn, KJR Rosman, C Barbante and CF Boutron. 2009. An 800-year record of atmospheric As, Mo, Sn, and Sb in Central Asia in high-altitude ice cores from Mt. Qomolangma (Everest), Himalayas. Environmental Science and Technology.Ice core samples from Mount Everest that represent 800 years of atmospheric history... more
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Swift action on other greenhouse agents could solve the “fast half” of the climate problem, researchers say.
AbstractFull Text HTMLHi-Res PDF[2037 KB]PDF w/ Links[86 KB]Noreen Parks
Environ. Sci. Technol., Article ASAP
Publication Date (Web): November 18, 2009
Copyright © 2009 American Chemical Society
Aggressively reducing emissions of non-CO2 climate drivers could forestall abrupt climate change for up to 40 years, according to a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2009, DOI 10.1073/pnas.0902568106). Without such efforts, even drastic cuts to CO2 emissions will fail to put the brakes on planetary warming soon enough to avoid climate tipping points, the authors warn.
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), black carbon (soot), ground-level ozone, and methane together represent an estimated 40−50% of the warming caused by human activities. “We’re on track for a 2 °C warming that will put us in the danger zone, and current research shows it’s coming faster than anticipated,” says study coauthor Durwood Zaelke of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. “Restricting CO2 emissions is absolutely critical, but it won’t be enough. So the question is how quickly we can deliver cooling on the non-CO2 side.”
Implementing “fast-action” mitigation strategies based on available technologies would jump-start this effort, the researchers say. One key step would be to phase down the production and use of HFCs, which are now known to act as long-lasting greenhouse gases. Use of HFCs has been growing because of the rising demand for air-conditioning and refrigeration in developing countries. Current projections indicate that by mid-century the impact of HFCs on the climate could be approximately 20% of that from CO2 emissions, if the current trends continue unabated. “The Montreal Protocol (MP) has already delayed climate change by 7−12 years,” lead author Mario Molina of the University of California San Diego noted in a prepared statement. “We have to take advantage of the proven ability of this legally binding treaty to quickly phase down HFCs.” North American leaders recently submitted a proposal to start this process for consideration at the MP annual meeting in November.
Soot now ranks as the second or third biggest contributor to climate change. However, soot’s short life span offers opportunities for comparatively quick fixes—such as particulate filters for vehicles and clean-burning or solar-powered stoves—that could yield significant climate savings, the authors say. Likewise, the means for slashing levels of ozone precursors such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides are within reach. Research shows that rigorous enforcement of air-pollution technologies and regulations could cut these emissions by more than half, dramatically decreasing tropospheric ozone. “We know how to curb air pollution; we just need to do it better and faster, and get the solutions applied in developing countries. We can borrow from and utilize working international agreements to do this,” Zaelke emphasizes.
Comparing the overall greenhouse contributions of climate drivers reveals only part of their potential for limiting global warming, Michael MacCracken of the Climate Institute noted in a recent paper. Also critical are their atmospheric lifetimes, which range from centuries to millennia for CO2 and HFCs and from days to weeks for black carbon. “Steep, immediate reductions in soot would eliminate its warming influence over the entire 21st century,” he explains. Similarly, swift cutbacks in emissions of methane and ozone-producing pollutants would yield sharp and enduring declines in their warming influence.
Because much of the non-CO2 pollution originates in developing countries, those nations can play a substantial role in combating climate change, MacCracken stresses. “We don’t want climate negotiations to fail because we can’t get agreement on everyone cutting CO2 emissions immediately. Developing nations can do a lot to offset their ongoing CO2 output by going after these other pollutants—at the same time improving public health and energy efficiency. This would allow for their continued development, while cost-effective, climate-friendly energy technologies evolve, and demonstrate the necessary commitment from all nations while recognizing the equity imbalance created by very different per capita emissions.”
The study is intended as a call to action, Zaelke says. “Speed matters. We have to move forward on all fronts now, using existing governance structures, without waiting for a climate treaty to get started. We need optimism and energy to solve this problem, and these fast-action strategies can help provide more confidence that we can do it.”Swift action on other greenhouse agents could solve the “fast half” of the... more
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Critics fear the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will adopt a rule in the waning days of the Bush administration that will make it easier to build coal-fired power plants near national parks.
The proposed change, pending since last June, comes as the utility industry moves into its biggest building boom in coal-fueled power plants in decades. To meet growing electricity needs, more than 20 plants are under construction in 14 states and more than 100 are in various stages of planning.
Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, vowed in an interview with The Associated Press to push Congress to overrule the EPA if it enacts the rule, perhaps as early as this summer.
The new rule would change the way states, the EPA and others calculate the impact of a new pollution source, like a coal plant, on a park's maximum pollution load, said John Bunyak of the National Park Service's Air Resources Division in Denver. Instead of weighing peak periods of pollution, the new rule would use annual averages.
Don Barger, southern regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, compared it to a person sticking one hand in a block of ice and the other in a fire.
"Your average temperature is just fine, but your hands are not," he said. "You are getting some real impact there."
As an example, he said air quality in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the country's most-visited national park with more than 9 million visitors a year, recently reached an "orange alert" pollution warning. The park straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina border.
When that happens, "the park is getting hammered. People in the park are getting hammered. Plants in the park are getting hammered," Barger said. "It doesn't matter where it averages out some other time. You have a family from Ohio on vacation. It is the only time they are going to be there. What views can they see? What air are they breathing?"
EPA spokeswoman Cathy Milbourn said the rule is part of an EPA program to prevent air quality degradation in national parks and would not change the level of emissions allowed in clean-air areas.
But in a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, Alexander writes that the National Park Service and the EPA's own regional air quality experts have determined the proposal would result in undercounting of actual pollution sources.
Alexander wrote that the National Park Service says the rule "provides the lowest possible degree of protection" for 156 so-called Class 1 areas that include the country's most revered national parks and preserves, from Acadia in Maine to Yellowstone in Wyoming.
Critics fear the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will adopt a rule in the waning... more
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In one TV commercial, Kool and the Gang warble their celebration of good times because coal, yes, coal, makes the party possible in America. In another, white and black, young and old, male and female, and even someone in a doctor's green scrubs, stare into the camera and soulfully declare: "I believe" American know-how will make coal clean and stop it from contributing to climate change. Not sold? Maybe you missed the newspaper ads and billboards warning that turning away from coal could mean blackouts, unemployment and higher electric bills.
These messages and other variations on the coal-is-great theme are flooding the nation courtesy of the coal industry, coal-fueled utilities, railroads and related industries. The pro-coal marketing campaign -- known by its tag line "Clean Coal" -- has kicked into high gear as prospects for new plants have turned bleak. Wall Street is tightening financing, leading to what one analyst told the Christian Science Monitor is a "de facto moratorium on coal power." The expected election of a more environmentally friendly president may lead to the first federal limits on carbon dioxide emissions. Even red states like Kansas are now battling the construction of coal-fired plants. Last year, 59 new plants were either canceled or halted across the nation.
When it comes to the threat of global warming, "the coal industry are the last people to get it," says Daniel J. Weiss, senior fellow and director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, a nonprofit, progressive think tank. "That's why they're fighting so hard. They're on a death spiral right now."
The coal industry's woes have risen as worries over climate change have increased. Today's coal-fired plants emit copious amounts of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. One new plant planned for Iowa, for example, would dump 5.9 million tons of the stuff into the air in just one year. Two proposed Kansas plants would add 11 million tons annually.
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As the coal debate continues, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced April 23 that global levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide increased by 19 billion tons in the last year. The worldwide concentration is now 385 parts per million. The level that is expected to tip the world into disaster is 450 parts per million.
But climate change isn't raining on the coal industry's campaign. In April, Barack Obama acknowledged a voter sporting one of the industry's hats at a campaign stop in Dunmore, Penn., and then used the industry's own terminology to talk about his support for investing in carbon storage research. In an appearance in Charleston, W.Va., Hillary Clinton also used the industry's own words to pledge her support for doing the same.
Obama, Clinton and John McCain all favor legislation to fight climate change. The nearly identical programs proposed by the two Democrats are more far-reaching than that put forth by McCain. However, none of them support a moratorium on building new coal-fired plants.
Meanwhile, the Clean Coal marketing machine keeps rolling. As one commercial declares, coal powers "our way of life." On the soundtrack, Kool and the Gang sing, "Celebrate good times, come on!"
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What an insidious campaign. And all the presidential candidates go along with it! It is time to tell them to stop this pandering to those industries who care about nothing but their own balance sheets. CO2 levels are now the highest they have been in 650,000 years and it is because of the very garbage being spewed by coal plants.
"Clean coal" is an assault on reason! Shame on Obama, Clinton, and McCain for giving it credence to get votes while people die from its effects.
In one TV commercial, Kool and the Gang warble their celebration of good times because... more
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