Is EPA Forecast a Wake-Up Call, or a Cry of Wolf?
Posted on: Saturday, 19 July 2008, 00:10 CDT
The Environmental Protection Agency, in a new report echoing dozens of previous scientific studies, warns that climate change will be hazardous to our health.
In the West, the EPA forecasts hotter and more polluted cities will make some people sick and kill others. More wildfires will irritate eyes and lungs. Higher ozone will make breathing harder for the most vulnerable lungs. Trout fishing will evaporate on many streams. Drought will mean water shortages and conflict.
Part of the federal government's U.S. Climate Change Science Program, the new EPA report also suggests steps to soften the impacts of climate change on human health, human welfare and communities.
Kristie Ebi, lead author of the report, pointed out the report reflects new data and a review of the latest research on climate change. It focuses on regions and populations that are most vulnerable, including the elderly, the poor, children and people with chronic medical conditions.
"It will be used by the federal agencies to set priorities to facilitate adaptation" and determine how to respond to impacts that cannot be controlled, she said.
Congress and many states have complained about the Bush administration's refusal to address climate change. But administration officials have said as recently as this week that there will be no federal action to curb greenhouse gasses.
Utah Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, agreed that no action is warranted. He doubted that the information "is there to support the conclusions in the report," which he hadn't read.
He called EPA's suggestions "overkill," because temperatures are not expected to increase more than a few degrees over the next 70 years.
"I'm definitely not going to be jumping on the bandwagon of climate change," Noel said. "I haven't joined the church of global warming, and I don't worship at the altar of carbon dioxide chastity."
In contrast, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has pushed for more attention to climate change. The Republican governor convened an expert panel to assess the challenges, joined the bipartisan Western Climate Initiative and set renewable energy goals for the state.
Rick Sprott, director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, noted that EPA's report echoes a science-panel report on climate change in Utah.
"There's no question that we need to reduce greenhouse gasses," he said. "But [we] also need to start doing more on the mitigation front."
He said that, whether they believe in climate change or not, many climate change skeptics in the Legislature agree with the governor on such overlapping issues as energy efficiency and clean-coal technology.
"Frankly, there are many shared values in the solution," Sprott said, "and that's where we are going to be able to work together."
Tim Wagner, director of the Sierra Club of Utah's energy programs, applauded EPA's report for being "pretty comprehensive." But he also alluded to the Bush administration's resistance to dealing with climate change.
He likened it to a heavy smoker "now having to admit the habit is putting his life in danger."
"It should serve as a wake-up call for all of Utah's lawmakers to recognize that it's time to make a reduction in our addiction to hydrocarbons -- now, not 5 or 10 years from now -- and that includes coal, oil and oil shale," Wagner said. "For the sake of our health and our planet, we should proceed full steam on Utah alternative energy resources."
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Urban areas can expect warmer temperatures and more ozone pollution. Heart and lung problems will be exacerbated.
Warmer water could eliminate cold-water stream fishing in 8-10 states and reduce by 50 percent cold-water habitat in 11-16 states.
Less snowmelt, lower river flows and shrinking ground- water would make meeting increased demand for fresh water difficult.
Studies suggest increasingly severe wildfires, which means asthma and chronic lung ailments could be more prevalent.
Diminished quality and availability of natural resources threaten to affect the outdoor experiences of about 270 million Americans.
Source: The Salt Lake Tribune
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