NASA's Ice Bridge Team Heads To Antarctica, Where It's Warm

By Julianne LaJeunesse - University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News Service

NASA will fly its 157 foot DC-8 laboratory aircraft south for some of the winter, where officials hope to use radar and airborne and imaging lasers to collect and record changes to sea ice, ice sheets, and glaciers. NASA says that all of these are experiencing the effects of warming in some areas, and snow and ice accumulation in others.

"Our motivation in these aircraft observations, is based on our concern about the contributions of the ice sheets to sea level rise," said Seeyle Martin, the chief scientist of Operation Ice Bridge, which is a six-year effort by NASA to fly to each of the earth's polar regions each year.

Martin added that NASA surveyed Greenland in the 1990's and found that ice mass loss is increasing by 7 percent each year. However, said Martin, "we do not have a comparable number for Antarctica."

The Operation Ice Bridge team will be based in Punta Arenas, Chile through mid-November, where they will make up to 17 flights, passing in and out of West Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Southern Ocean.

Tom Wagner, a cryosphere program scientist at NASA's Washington, D.C. headquarters, said in a NASA press release that the team will use equipment which he called "the only way to find out where change is occurring in remote continent-sized ice sheets like Antarctica."

That equipment includes NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation satellite laser, which will be used before using the Airborne Topographic Mapper. When the equipment is used collaboratively, scientists will be able to calibrate the data that satellite alone cannot map. The NASA team will also use radar depth sounding to measure ice sheet thickness, a laser vegetation imaging sensor, a snow radar, and a gravimeter, which will measure the changes in gravity the team expects to encounter at the edges of the Pines Island Bay.

Robin Bell, a geophysicist at Columbia University, said that the Ice Bridge endeavor is unique and will answer many questions about why ice sheets are changing.

"Ice Bridge is going to allow us to look at the base of the ice sheets, where the warm ocean water is reaching the bottom of the ice sheet, and where those... glaciers may actually be lubricated by water," she said.

Western Caucus GOP’ers Predict “Cap And Tax” Disaster

By Mariko Lamb, Talk Radio News Service

“Cap and Trade is a jobs killer,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said in a bicameral Western Caucus hearing on the impact of Cap and Trade on jobs Thursday. He urged the Obama administration to “get their priorities straight,” and start creating jobs.

Bill Kovacs, Senior Vice President of the Environment, Technology, and Regulatory Division at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the Waxman-Markey bill will promote regulatory chaos, foster lawsuits, do great harm to the economy, and ultimately not reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

President and CEO of the Black Chamber of Commerce, Harry Alford pointed to a recent study by Charles RIvers Associates which concluded the Waxman-Markey bill will lead to higher energy and transportation costs fir businesses and consumers, a fall in household disposable income and consumption, decline in purchasing power, a fall in wages and returns on investments, net job loss and a decrease in the U.S.’ ability to compete internationally.

"There are two jobs destroyed for every green job created,” Former GOP Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX) argued. “Global warming might be, in fact, one of the most hyped fictions in America today.”

Armey added that the “most treasured umbrella objective in public policy” right now is to “create the illusion of a crisis and then... demonstrate the need for their policies of government growth and income redistribution as a resolution of the crisis." Armey went on to describe global warming as a “high-profile [fiction] designed to serve the political purposes of the majority party.”

Post-Recess: Senate Takes Their Turn On Energy/Climate Discussion

By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

The energy and climate debate is making its way to the Senate, just two legislative days after the House passed the Waxman-Markey energy bill. The Committee on Environment and Public Works heard from White House and other government officials Tuesday. They highlighted the importance of making the U.S. a leader in the clean energy market, reducing the effects of global warming, and creating new jobs in the process.

“Clean energy is to this decade, and the next, what the Space Race was to the 1950s and ‘60s. America is behind,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “American businesses need strong incentives and investments now in order for this nation to lead the twenty-first century global economy.”

Other officials present included: Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Chu said that he applauds the House for passing the clean energy bill and said he looks forward to working with the Senate to pass “comprehensive energy legislation.” He also noted that denial of the climate change problem will not change the outcome but comprehensive legislation that caps and then reduces carbon emissions will.

Committee Chairwoman Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said, “I expect you will hear fierce words of doubt and fear and worse from the other side of the aisle regarding our legislative efforts to move forward with clean energy jobs legislation. This is consistent with a pattern of “No we can’t.” I believe this Committee, when the votes are eventually taken on our bill, will reflect our President’s attitude, which is “Yes, we can, and yes, we will.”

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) agreed that the bill will pass through their committee but he does not believe it will pass on the Senate floor. He said the Senators will have more time to review the many points of the legislation than House members did prior to their June 25 vote.

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.) also testified Tuesday and stressed the importance of informing the public about the facts of energy policy.

“The gigantic effect of energy policy on American life means Congress should work particularly hard to ensure Americans know the facts about the policies Congress is considering. To the contrary, the House of Representatives added more than 300 pages of its 1200 page energy bill a few hours before it was brought to the floor and passed. That is just the opposite,” said the Governor.

Tax Experts Spar Over “Cap And Trade” Policy

By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

The Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing to assess what impact the Obama administration’s carbon cap and trade program might have on tax legislation. 

The committee’s testimony dealt with a narrow set of questions such as whether or not carbon allocations should be distributed for free or auctioned off, and whether or not carbon allocations should be considered income or capital asset. In addition, the committee debated whether or not previous legislation governing the emission of sulfur dioxide can be used as an analogy to carbon taxes.

A panel of tax policy experts offered contradictory pieces of advice to the committee. 

“In considering the direction for the tax treatment of CO2 allowances, the most logical place to start is with the current treatment for SO2 [sulfur dioxide] and NOX [nitrous oxide] allowances. These allowances were established under Title IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990,” said Keith Butler, Senior Vice President of Tax at Duke Energy. “These allowances should be granted with zero-tax basis and they should not be taxed upon granting it, because that just creates an ultimate cost that I don’t think we need to create,” he said. 

“To use that distant stuff from the past for this new market which is so vast is, you know, I mean, why don’t we bring over the laws from Amsterdam and apply them in New York today,” said Gary Hufbauer of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He added that carbon allocations should be treated as income rather than capital gains, and that following the precedent set by SO2 caps is “mind-boggling.” “What you’re gonna do is throw out a couple hundred billion dollars,” he said. 

According to committee chairman Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the SO2 cap governed less than 120 facilities, whereas a carbon cap and trade program would affect over 7,000 entities if enacted. All of the panelists agreed that the analogous legislation would have to be revised if a carbon cap and trade proposal is enacted, and Hufbauer said that a “blank slate” would be most appropriate.

Congress Focuses On Global Warming Legislation

Former Vice President Al Gore testified before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment in support of "The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009." Describing the bill as "One of the most important pieces of legislation ever introduced to Congress," Gore called its passage a "moral imperative."

Gore cited recent research showing dangerous changes in climate due to man-made global warming including melting arctic ice, increased carbon in water, and extreme weather events.

The proposed bill, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, will create a cap-and-trade limit on carbon emissions, meaning that companies will have to buy and sell the right to produce carbon, making it more economical to reduce carbon. The E.P.A.'s findings state that this bill will "transforms the structure of energy production and consumption, moving the U.S. to a clean energy economy."

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich also testified before the subcommittee, calling the bill a huge mistake. He explained that the bill imposes an energy tax, stating, "If you use electricity it punishes you, if you use heating oil it punishes you, if you use gasoline it punishes you. This bill will increase your cost of living." Gingrich worries that the U.S. will not be able to compete in a global economy if no other countries tax carbon.

However, Gore stated that he believes if the U.S. acts, the world will follow. Describing the moral significance as equal to that of civil rights legislation of the 1960's, he explained, "Passage of this legislation will restore America's leadership of the world and begin, at long last, to solve the climate crisis."