Category: Governmental Agencies

FLOOD INSURANCE: Implications of Changing Coverage Limits and Expanding Coverage

Report What GAO Found The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) currently has more than 5.5 million policyholders insured for about $1.3 trillion who pay about $3.5 billion in annual premiums, but less than half purchase maximum coverage–a possible indicator of…

EPA Proposed Rules on Power plant Carbon Dioxide

Power plant CO2 Proposed Regs EPA Fact Sheet: Reducing Carbon Pollution from Power Plants – Sept. 20, 2013 (PDF)(4 pp, 106 K) EPA Technical Fact Sheet: Reducing Carbon Pollution from Power Plants – Sept. 20, 2013 (PDF)(6 pp, 119 K)…

NOAA views on potential environmental risks of Louisiana Coastal Restoration Plan

NOAA views on potential environmental risks of Louisiana Coastal Restoration Plan “NMFS supports efforts to ameliorate coastal wetland loss in Louisiana to maintain socio economic, storm protection, and ecological services these habitats provide. Most coastal restoration efforts can benefit nursery…

Analysis of Datums and Elevations in USACE Projects: FINAL REPORT

Analysis of Datums and Elevations in USACE Projects: FINAL REPORT The USACE assembled this team as a direct result of the catastrophic losses endured after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. The emphasis on vertical accuracy came about…

Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Holocene – The hockey stick debate

Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Last 2,000 Years Committee on Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Last 2,000 Years, National Research Council, ISBN: 0-309-66144-7, 160 pages, 7 x 10, (2006) Because widespread, reliable instrumental records are available only for the last…

Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force Releases Rebuilding Strategy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: HUD No. 13-125 Monday, August 19, 2013 CONTACT: Aaron Jacobs Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force Aaron.F.Jacobs@hud.gov HURRICANE SANDY REBUILDING TASK FORCE RELEASES REBUILDING STRATEGY  Strategy will ensure families, small businesses and communities are stronger, more economically competitive…

State of the Climate 2012 – NOAA

Blunden, J., and D. S. Arndt, Eds., 2013: State of the Climate in 2012. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 94 (8), S1–S238. Briefing Slides NOAA: 2012 was one of the 10 warmest years on record globally The end of weak La…

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Natural Resource Damage Assessment Under the Oil Pollution Act

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Natural Resource Damage Assessment Under the Oil Pollution Act The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill leaked an estimated 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, damaging the waters, shores, and marshes,…

Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States – 2009

Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States – 2009 What is this report? This report summarizes the science of climate change and the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. It is largely…

The National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021

The National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021, NRC 2012 From the transmittal letter: I am pleased to transmit a copy of The National Global Change Research Plan 2012- 2021: A Strategic Plan for the U. S. Global Change Research Program…

U.S. Energy Sector Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and Extreme Weather

This report—part of the Administration’s efforts to support national climate change adaptation planning through the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force and Strategic Sustainability Planning process established under Executive Order 13514 and to advance the U.S. Department of Energy’s goal…

Climate Change: Future Federal Adaptation Efforts Could Better Support Local Infrastructure Decision Makers

CLIMATE CHANGE: Future Federal Adaptation Efforts Could Better Support Local Infrastructure Decision Makers, GAO-13-242 – April 2015 According to the National Research Council (NRC) and others, infrastructure such as roads and bridges, wastewater systems, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration…

Mississippi River Freshwater Diversions in Southern Louisiana – 2012

Teal, J.M., R. Best, J. Caffrey, C.S. Hopkinson, K.L. McKee, J.T. Morris, S. Newman and B. Orem. 2012. Mississippi River Freshwater Diversions in Southern Louisiana: Effects on Wetland Vegetation, Soils, and Elevation. Edited by A.J. Lewitus, M. Croom, T. Davison,…

Comprehensive environmental study of post-Katrina levees

The Army Corps of Engineers is hosting a public meeting Tuesday evening to explain the comprehensive environmental document developed for the improvements made to the New Orleans area hurricane levee system. The document takes the place of a comprehensive environmental…

Global Sea Level Rise Scenarios for the United States – 2012

Global Sea Level Rise Scenarios for the United States National Climate Assessment, December 6, 2012. Global sea level rise has been a persistent trend for decades. It is expected to continue beyond the end of this century, which will cause…

Climate Change and Existing Law – CRS

Climate Change and Existing Law: A Survey of Legal Issues Past, Present, and Future This report surveys existing law for legal issues that have arisen, or may arise in the future, on account of climate change and government responses thereto.…

CRS – Flood Damage Related to Army Corps of Engineers Projects

CRS – Flood Damage Related to Army Corps of Engineers Projects: Selected Legal Issues, June 7, 2011 (RL34131) Summary Over the past century, the federal government has undertaken a number of civil works projects to prevent widespread damage from flooding…

Congress Reforms the National Flood Insurance Program

Full Text of the Bill – Technical Correction Congressional Committee Report – Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 Homeland Security: Privacy Impact Assessment, National Flood Insurance Program Information Technology System, Oct. 12, 2012 Georgetown Climate Center Analysis of the Flood Insurance Reform…

5th Circuit Upholds Ruling in Katrina Levee Breaches Litigation – Update – Case rejected

Update: Court dismisses Katrina Levee Breach cases under FTCA – In re Katrina Canal Breaches Litigation, 696 F.3d 436 (5th Cir.(La.) 2012) Additional cases and commentary The 5th Circuit just affirmed the lower court decision in the Katrina Levee Breaches Litigation.…

Atlas of Shoreline Changes in Louisiana From 1853 to 1989

S. Jeffress Williams, Shea Penland, Asbury H. Sallenger, Donald W. Davis, Louisiana Barrier Island Erosion Study : Atlas of Shoreline Changes in Louisiana From 1853 to 1989 (U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series I-2150-A) 1992

GAO Reports on Geoengineering

Climate Engineering:  Technical Status, Future Directions, and Potential Responses.  GAO-11-71, July 28. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-71 Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d1171high.pdf Podcast – http://www.gao.gov/podcast/watchdog_episode_69.html

EPA Green House Gas Regs

Denial of Petitions for Reconsideration of the Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act Related Links Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under Section 202(a) of the…

U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)

The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The USGCRP began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-606), which called for “a comprehensive and integrated United States research program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change.”

Corps of Engineers closing Louisiana science office

A fight between the Army Corps of Engineers and the state over who controls the science governing construction of nearly $2 billion in coastal restoration projects has led the corps to order closure of the Louisiana Coastal Area Science & Technology Office by Oct. 1.

NOAA – State of the Climate in 2010

State of the Climate in 2010 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climatic Data Center As appearing in the June 2011 issue (Vol. 92) of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS). Supplemental and Summary Materials Report at a Glance:…