Moderator – Katrina demonstrated that a hurricane can destroy newly created delta land, undermining the notion that this land can protect against hurricane surge. It also shows that even the best case for land building – Wax Lake and mouth…
Category: Climate Change
Freedom of Information Fight over the Polar Vortex
The Polar Vortex Explained in 2 Minutes President Obama’s Science and Technology Adviser, Dr. John Holdren, explains the polar vortex in 2 minutes—and why climate change makes extreme weather more likely going forward. Learn more at “http://wh.gov/climate-change“ The Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Faulting and Tectonic Subsidence on the Louisiana Coast – Goose Point
Also see: Faults Haggar, K. S., 2014, Coastal land loss and landscape level plant community succession: An expected result of natural tectonic subsidence, fault movement, and sea level rise: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 64, p. 139–159. Coastal…
Drought in the Western United States
McGuire, V.L., 2014, Water-level changes and change in water in storage in the High Plains aquifer, predevelopment to 2013 and 2011–13: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2014–5218, 14 p., http://dx.doi. org/10.3133/sir20145218. Abstract The High Plains aquifer underlies 111.8 million…
Restoring the Gulf of Mexico for People and Wildlife – More Climate Change Denial
National Wildlife Federation: Restoring the Gulf of Mexico for People and Wildlife: Recommended Projects and Priorities (2014) [Some of the inland projects do make sense, such as dealing with the water flow into the Everglades. But the coastal projects all…
Burn trees and save the world – EPA report on biomass fuel
Memo – Addressing Biogenic Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Stationary Sources (2014) Report – Framework for Assessing Biogenic CO2 Emissions from Stationary Sources
Recommended Residential Construction for Coastal Areas FEMA P-550 December 2009
Recommended Residential Construction for Coastal Areas Building on Strong and Safe Foundations, FEMA P-550, Second Edition/December 2009 The purpose of this design manual is to provide recommended foundation designs and guidance for rebuilding homes destroyed by hurricanes in coastal areas.…
Department of Defense FY 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap
Department of Defense FY 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap The responsibility of the Department of Defense is the security of our country. That requires thinking ahead and planning for a wide range of contingencies. Among the future trends that will impact our…
New storm surge map predicts worst-case scenarios for south Louisiana
New storm surge map predicts worst-case scenarios for south La. The Worst Case Surge Map (PDF) This map is developed by running thousands of storm models on different tracks. No single storm would flood all of these areas, but they are…
How wildfire risk management is like flood risk management – a report
Lessons for Wildfire from Federal Flood Risk Management Programs, November 2014 Slides – Solutions to Home Development in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Original URL and other resources Three Summary Findings Our paper details 14 specific lessons, grouped here into three…
Community Resettlement Prospects in Southeast Louisiana
Community Resettlement Prospects in Southeast Louisiana: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of Legal, Cultural, and Demographic Aspects of Moving Individuals and Communities. An Issue Paper of the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law & Policy September 2014. From the report: This paper…
Encroaching Tides – How Sea Level Rise and Tidal Flooding Threaten U.S. East and Gulf Coast Communities
Spanger-Siegfried, E., M.F. Fitzpatrick, and K. Dahl. 2014. Encroaching tides: How sea level rise and tidal flooding threaten U.S. East and Gulf Coast communities over the next 30 years. Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists. Today scores of coastal communities in…
Community Resettlement Prospects in Southeast Louisiana
Community Resettlement Prospects in Southeast Louisiana: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of Legal, Cultural, and Demographic Aspects of Moving Individuals and Communities This paper is a multidisciplinary approach to framing the potential for community resettlement in Southeast Louisiana. The paper has three…
Explaining Extreme Events of 2013 from a Climate Perspective
Herring, S. C., M. P. Hoerling, T. C. Peterson, and P. A. Stott, Eds., 2014: Explaining Extreme Events of 2013 from a Climate Perspective. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 95 (9), S1–S96. Attribution of extreme events is a challenging science and…
Achieving Justice and Human Rights in an Era of Climate Change Disruption
Achieving Justice and Human Rights in an Era of Climate Change Disruption – original link International Bar Association Global climate change is a defining challenge of our time. It poses an effective obstacle to the continued progress of human rights, which…
Global Carbon Budget 2014: An Annual Update of the Global Carbon Budget and Trends
Global Carbon Budget 2014 – slides Global Carbon Budget 2014: An Annual Update of the Global Carbon Budget and Trends Source: Global Carbon Project Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel burning and cement production increased by 2.3% in 2013,…
Vermont Environmentalists File FTC Challenge over “Double-Counting” RECs
Represented by Patrick A. Parenteau and Douglas A. Ruley of the Vermont Law School’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, four Vermont residents have petitioned the FTC to investigate alleged misleading marketing practices by Green Mountain Power regarding their provision…
Murray Energy Challenge of EPA GHG Rulemaking
In re: Murray Energy Corporation, Docket No. 14-01112 (D.C. Cir. Jun 18, 2014) This is an attack on the rulemaking itself, arguing that an inconsistency between the House and Senate versions of the applicable Clean Air provisions makes it impossible…
The Delta Cycle and the Future of Coastal Louisiana
Chris McLindon and Edward Richards – Board of Commissioners of SLFPA-E vs. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., et.al. – Legal and Geological Evaluation (View in slide show mode to see the animations.) This is a summary presentation of the issues: Time and River:Coastal…
Marshes on the Move – Potential Impacts of Sea Level Rise on Coastal Wetlands
Marshes on the move – a managers guide to understanding and using model results depicting impacts of sea level rise on coastal wetlands The scientific community is generally in agreement that global sea level is rising and coastal wetlands are…
Business Risks from Climate Change – Issues for Legal Counseling
Major public companies describe climate-related risks and costs: A review of findings from CDP 2011-2013 disclosures
Hurricanes and long-term climate variability – Lloyds Risk Report
Hurricanes and long-term climate variability – Lloyds Risk Report The severity and frequency of hurricanes are influenced by changes in the climate of the Atlantic over the long term, and in particular, the changes over many decades of sea surface…
Catastrophe Modelling and Climate Change – Lloyds Risk Report
Catastrophe Modelling and Climate Change – Lloyds Risk Report While the evidence for climate change is ‘conclusive’, risk models may not account for the phenomenon,says new Lloyd’s research. The Catastrophe Modelling and Climate Change report finds that while climate change…
Climate Change: Conceptual Approaches and Policy Tools – CRS
Climate Change: Conceptual Approaches and Policy Tools – CRS Summary Congress has, over the past three decades, authorized and funded federal programs to improve understanding of climate changes and their implications. Climate changes have potentially large economic and ecological consequences,…
Reducing Coastal Risks on the East and Gulf Coasts – NRC
National Research Council. Reducing Coastal Risks on the East and Gulf Coasts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2014. National Vision Needed to Achieve Comprehensive Risk Reduction Along Atlantic and Gulf Coasts WASHINGTON – A national vision for coastal risk…
River Diversion Research Articles
The Changing Course competition for alternatives to the Master Plan It is interesting that none of the reports by the teams were published by Changing Course groups. This is the one I was able to find: A DELTA FOR ALL:…
IPCC Reports
IPCC Home Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report – Fifth Assessment Report Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report – Summary for Policymakers Graphics Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report – Summary for Policymakers – Overall Slides Slides from the report topics IPCC_Graphics_SPM IPCC_Graphics_Topic_1…
Administrative Law Issues in Teaching Climate Change
This page supports the SEALS Forum – Administrative Law Issues in Teaching Climate Change. It will be updated on an ongoing basis. Climate Change Law Teaching Resources Teaching Mass. v. EPA, 127 S.Ct. 1438 (2007) The Case – Study guide Slides on the…
Liability for Disaster Predictions – The Italian Earthquake Case
Also see: Faults Alemanno, Alberto and Lauta, Kristian Cedervall, The L’Aquila Seven: Re-Establishing Justice after a Natural Disaster (July 1, 2014). European Journal of Risk Regulation, 2/2014. This article discusses the Italian case finding a group of earthquake scientists criminally liable…
Virginia Court Blocks FOIA Access to Climate Research Emails
The Climate Change Email Fight: Court recognizes proprietary value of university research communications – Am. Tradition Inst. v. Rector & Visitors of Univ. of Virginia, 756 S.E.2d 435 (Va. 2014) – Universities amicus brief.