climate change
Study: American West Warming Faster than Rest of Planet
Is it hotter in here, or is it just the American West? According to a new climate study by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the U.S. West is getting warmer at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the world.
"Global warming is hitting the West hard," Theo Spencer of the NRDC said in a statement. "It is already taking an economic toll on the region's tourism, recreation, skiing, hunting and fishing activities."
In the 11-state Western region the average temperature has risen 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit over the last five years, while the global average has been 1.0 degrees, according to the study. Utah, Wyoming, Arizona and Montana are feeling it the most with rises more than two degrees higher than the rest of the planet.
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energy
Despite Demand, Oil and Gas Value Drops
With the price of a barrel of oil zooming past $106 and likely to continue rising, you would think that the value of the oil and gas coming out of the Rocky Mountain West would be setting records. That's not happening, mainly due to a lack of transport options to get the fiuel to big markets in the Midwest and East.
Colorado produced $6.63 billion worth of oil and natural gas in 2007, dropping 24 percent from '06, according to the Colorado Geological Survey.
Meanwhile, the opening of new pipelines from the producing fields of the Mountain West should relieve the pressure on prices.
In other energy news: state legislators over energy-efficiency bill; wind power producer relocates to Northern Colorado; coal demand soars, outstripping supplies.
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Sun Power Stocks Sinking
Colorado Moves to Support Solar
Passed by a 43-21 vote by the Colorado House this week, HB 1164 requires the state Public Utilities Commission to "consider" the construction of large- scale solar plants, rather than coal or natural gas stations, to supply the state's future energy requirements. Whether the PUC can actually force big utilities like Xcel to change their supply plans the bill does not say.
Also unaddressed by the legislation is whether solar plants will be a wise business decision, as opposed to prudent public policy, in coming years. After enjoying a two-year run-up, solar company stocks have taken a beating in the recent market downturn.
In other energy news: CSU's "Clean Energy Supercluster" gets its first unveiling; mineral rights owners say new state regs on oil and gas won't damage the industry; and Xcel plans a pair of big new gas turbines.
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wilderness issues lecture series
Climate Change: The Resiliency of Wildlands is Key, Ecologist SaysEcologist Tom DeLuca, during his lecture Tuesday night at the University of Montana, made the case for an adaptive approach to wildlands management in order to help the West’s ecosystems adjust to a changing climate.
DeLuca, a Senior Forest Ecologist with the Wilderness Society and former UM professor speaking as part of the Wilderness Issues Lecture Series, acknowledged that there may be no way to avoid climate change, but the region’s forests and wildlands have evolved under changing climates and possess a measure of resilience to variations.
“One thing that is constant in nature is change...resistance to change may prove to be a catastrophic failure,” he said.
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new west news brief
The Early Stages of a New Ecosystem in YellowstoneIn Yellowstone National Park's Lamar Valley there's a "cascade of ecological changes under way," writes Jim Robbins of the New York Times, particularly the spread of the invasive plant Canadian thistle supported by a warming climate, and the plant in turn supports larger numbers of grizzly bears and gophers.
“It’s the early stages of a new ecosystem,” says Robert L. Crabtree, chief scientist with the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center in Bozeman, “one that hasn’t been seen here before.”
Robbins writes that areas along the Lamar River that were once marshy have dried out and increased the thistle's range. Pocket gophers love the abundant, starchy thistle roots and burrow to harvest the tubers. As they do they churn surface soil and create a perfect habitat for more thistle -- a rapid positive-feedback loop. And bears, naturally, eat both gophers and their stashes of thistle.
Click here for the full story.
wilderness issues lecture series
Considering the Ethics of Climate Change Solutions“Almost all of the solutions to climate change have potential drawbacks,” said Donald Brown via live videoconference at the University of Montana Tuesday night.
Brown, speaking as part of the ongoing Wilderness Issues Lecture Series, urged his audience to consider the ethical implications posed by climate change solutions.
Among these drawbacks are the possibility of future CO2 leaks from poorly planned carbon sequestration projects, deforestation and rising food prices driven by biofuel production, and bird migrations being disrupted by wind power farms.
Brown, an associate professor of environmental ethics and program director for Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change at Penn State University, acknowledged that these concerns are important, but insisted that it would be unethical for them to limit action if the technology could lessen the environmental degradation and human suffering associated with climate change.
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the treasure state's new energy trove
Montana’s ‘Windustry’ Poised to Grow
Montana is beginning to ramp up its efforts to capitalize on the energy potential carried in winds rolling off the Rockies and whipping east across its plains.
But it's been slow in coming. Despite Montana's No. 5 ranking in wind potential by the American Wind Energy Association, statistics from the Department of Energy have Montana accounting for only 145 megawatts of wind power out of a total of 16,596 MW nationwide.
On Tuesday, Governor Brian Schweitzer announced that German wind turbine manufacturer Fuhrlander AG plans to construct a new manufacturing facility near Butte, with the expectation that turbine demand will greatly increase in the coming years.
And this spring Spanish wind developer Naturener will begin construction on the first phase of a wind power facility near Shelby called McCormick Wind Farm that could more than double the state's current capacity.
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wilderness issues lecture series
Climate Change Coverage Lacking, Experts SayWhen it comes to the hot topic of climate change, the news media needs to do a better job of clarifying the science and shifting the conversation toward solutions, a trio of panelists agreed Tuesday night as part of the ongoing Wilderness Issues Lecture Series at the University of Montana.
The challenge for the media in providing sufficient and accurate coverage of environmental news, particularly climate change, is partly due to its nature, the panelists said.
The media likes breaking stories, or at least stories that have a clear sequence of events, “but stories like those on climate and the environment don’t break, they ooze. They ooze over time,” said panelist Frank Allen.
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FireSafe Montana Conference
Rural Growth, Climate and the Wildland-Urban Interface
The wildfire issue is a pressing one in the New West. Fire seasons are getting longer and drier by the year, fires are more severe, and, to top it off, the modern western migration is bringing an unprecedented influx of homes into the wildland-urban interface (WUI).
As wildland fire suppression operations increasingly consume dwindling Forest Service budgets and taxpayers grow ever wearier of footing the pricey bill of defending homes in the WUI, the onus for preparation and protection is increasingly falling on homeowners and local communities.
In 2006, interested parties from the public and private sector gathered in Helena at the Montana Communities and Wildfire Conference to begin a new discussion on the WUI and the West’s changing fire seasons. According to organizers, participants expressed overwhelming support for the formation of a non-governmental non-profit to perform public education, outreach and on-the-ground assistance in wildfire mitigation in the WUI. The result is FireSafe Montana, which held its first annual conference in Bozeman this week.
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Bison Reintroduction Discussed
Revamping the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge Conservation Plan
Officials from the Lewistown-based U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) held a public meeting in Bozeman on Thursday, answering questions and taking comments on the formation of a 15-year comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Montana’s treasured Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (CMR), the second largest national refuge in the lower 48. The previous plan was written in 1986.
The 1.1 million acre refuge along the Missouri River and Fort Peck Reservoir in northeastern Montana is home to well over 200 species of birds and a host of mammals including bighorn sheep, elk, pronghorn antelope, swift fox and the endangered black-footed ferret. The CMR is also a major recreational use area for hunters and fishermen.
The FWS extended the public scoping comment deadline to February 29, 2008. There will be two more public comment periods after plan alternatives and a draft are formed. The FWS hopes to have a final plan finished by Fall 2011.
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