Hill Heat

E&E News:

Members of a House panel will delve into ways to protect and restore the United States’ coasts and estuaries at a Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee hearing Thursday.

The hearing comes on the heels of a recent Restore America’s Estuaries report that found coastal areas vital to the U.S. economy are at risk.

Coastal tourism, fishing, property values and infrastructure are worth between $20 billion and $80 billion a year, according to Linwood Pendleton, the report’s author and director of economic research at the Washington-based Ocean Foundation.

Estuary regions make up about 13 percent of the continental United States and are home to 40 percent of its population, the report says. They also are centers for ports, employment and recreation.

Beachgoing, for example, may be worth up to $30 billion in economic well-being to Americans, while recreational fishing contributes between $10 billion and $26 billion, the study says. But those activities are threatened by pollution, invasive species and algal blooms.

Damage to coasts and estuaries could harm tourism, recreation activities and commercial fishing. U.S. EPA estimates nearly 75 percent of the commercial catch depends on estuaries.

Environmental degradation in coastal areas also could hurt housing values, while restoration efforts could boost them significantly, the report notes.

Healthy coasts and estuaries are better able to weather large storms, facilitating business at ports. They also experience less coastal erosion, saving the government time and money directed toward repair efforts. Dredging operations currently cost the United States nearly $600 million annually.

And preserving coastal areas around the Gulf of Mexico protects energy infrastructure and the nation’s oil economy. Already 45 percent of the United States’ petroleum refining capacity is at risk due to wetland loss along the Gulf Coast, the report says.

06/26/2008 at 02:00PM

06/26/2008 at 10:00AM

06/26/2008 at 10:00AM

• Dr. John L. “Jack” Hayes, Assistant Administrator for Weather Services and Director, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service
• Dr. Kelvin K. Droegemeier, Former Co-Chair, National Science Board, Task Force on Hurricane Science and Engineering
• Dr. Shuyi Chen, Professor, University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences
• Dr. David O. Prevatt, Assistant Professor, University of Florida, Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering
• Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, Director, Florida International University, International Hurricane Research Center

06/26/2008 at 10:00AM

The House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans, led by Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-GU), will hold a legislative hearing on the following bill:

• H.R. 6311 (Bordallo): To prevent the introduction and establishment of nonnative wildlife species that negatively impact the economy, environment, or human or animal species’ health, and for other purposes. (The Non-Native Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act)

06/26/2008 at 10:00AM

06/26/2008 at 12:00AM

E&E News:

A panel of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wants answers about the safety of the nation’s 2.3 million miles of natural gas and hazardous materials pipelines.

Two agencies are in charge of the pipeline network: the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials and Transportation Security Administration (PHSMA) under the Transportation Department and the Transportation Safety Agency under the Homeland Security Department.

But a DOT Inspector General’s report last month said after signing an “annex” of shared responsibility two years ago, the agencies still did not have a coordinated plan to effectively oversee the pipeline system.

“TSA and PHMSA should clearly delineate their respective roles and responsibilities in overseeing and enforcing security regulations for pipeline operators,” said Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee Chairwoman Corrine Brown (D-Fla.). “We must ensure that pipelines are as safe as possible, and that the public is informed of the measures taken to secure their safety. Anything less is not an option.”

Brown and other committee members want government officials to tell them how – and if – those responsibilities have been sorted out, a staff member said.

The inspector general said the two agencies needed to finalize the annex provisions and execute the plan, delineate who will enforce regulations for liquid natural gas operators and be more efficient in order to meet congressional mandates.

The agency has also already missed several deadlines set by a 2006 pipeline safety act. Three of the regulations were related to monitoring corrosion and oversight of low-stress pipelines – major causes of the BP North Slope pipeline leak that spilled more than 200,000 gallons of petroleum in Alaska two years ago.

PHMSA finally issued rules to prevent corrosion this month, although it brought some controversy as it was not clear which pipelines it would include. Under the new rule low-stress pipelines with a diameter of 8 5/8 inches or more placed within a half mile of environmentally sensitive areas would require more monitoring and testing, while the agency would determine rules for the other low-stress pipelines in a subsequent rulemaking.

PHMSA Administrator Carl Johnson told a panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March that another overdue rulemaking on regulations for integrity management that affects 85 percent of natural gas pipelines – a majority of which are in highly populous areas – would be out this month.

06/25/2008 at 02:00PM

06/25/2008 at 10:00AM

E&E News:

Markey’s Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and a House Intelligence Subcommittee will hold a joint hearing Wednesday on the national security threats of climate change.

International experts have sounded alarms recently about the potential for global political instability caused by rifts over resources, extreme weather events and tensions caused by waves of mass-migration.

A series of recent international reports have brought attention to the issue, including an April report from the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.

The report noted that climate change has already spurred some conflicts: Rising sea levels and melting Arctic ice caps have led to territory disputes among major powers; and global warming has exacerbated conflicts in unstable regions – especially Africa – where drought, famine, flood, migration and extreme weather events have overwhelmed fragile political systems.

Nick Mabey, author of the report, also offered a grim outlook of other potential effects: Collapsing fisheries stocks could destroy the livelihoods of millions; the potential for armed conflict could increase as tensions rise over water rights; and global resentment could rise against the industrialized nations that failed to drastically reduce their emissions or adequately help the victims of global warming.

“Despite these threats, current responses to climate change are slow and inadequate,” Mabey wrote. He added that “a failure to acknowledge and prepare for the worst-case scenario is as dangerous in the case of climate change as it is for managing the risks of terrorism or nuclear weapons proliferation.”

06/25/2008 at 09:30AM

The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on the challenges to meeting future energy needs and to developing the technologies for meeting increased global energy demand in the context of the need to address global climate change.

Witnesses

Panel 1

• Dr. Neil Hirst, Director for Energy Technology and R&D, International Energy Agency
• Dr. Raymond Orbach, Director, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy

Panel 2

• Dr. Thomas Wilson, Senior Program Manager, Electric Power Research Institute
• Dr. Raymond Kopp, Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future
• Karan Bhatia, Vice President & Senior Counsel, General Electric Company

06/25/2008 at 09:30AM