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News articles on United States

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Mongabay.com news articles on united states in blog format. Updated regularly.

Global warming cap to cost U.S. 0.26% of GDP says Energy Department
(1/23/2007) A proposed cap-and-trade system to curb U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions will cost the U.S. economy 0.26 percent of annual GDP according to a new study by the Department of Energy's Energy Information Agency (EIA). The EIA says that the plan would lead to higher energy prices inlcuding a 5 percent rise in the price of gasoline, an 8 percent climb in the price of heating-oil an 11 percent increase in the price of natural gas and electricity.


Bush calls climate change a 'serious challenge'
(1/23/2007) In his State of the Union Address Tuesday night, President Bush called climate change a 'serious challenge' that needs to be met by reducing fossil fuel emissions. The president asked Americans to reduce their gasoline use by 20 percent over the next decade and called for increases in automobile fuel efficiency standards and use of alternative energy.


Ohio Valley, California have highest levels of carbon dioxide
(1/22/2007) The Ohio Valley and California have the high levels of carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels combustion, while Colorado has the least, found a new study published in the January 23rd issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.


Bush administration says polar bears under threat
(12/27/2006) Today the Bush Administration said polar bears are in need of protection. The reason? Global warming. The administration says that climate change is causing sea ice to melt, putting the polar bear in peril.


Wildfires are linked to Atlantic Ocean temperatures
(12/25/2006) Scientists have linked the incidence of wildfires in the Western United States to Atlantic Ocean temperatures.


Bush administration sued for failure to protect sea otter
(12/19/2006) A conservation group filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal district court in Washington, DC, seeking more protection for sea otters in Alaska. The Center for Biological Diversity, a national nonprofit conservation organization that aims to conserve endangered species and wild places, says that the Bush administration has failed to designate critical habitat for sea otters in southwest Alaska, despite the species' listing as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act in August 2005. Sea otter populations have decline by 90 percent in some areas according to the group.


Private land conservation booms in the United States
(11/30/2006) Private land conservation by local and state land trusts in the United States more than tripled between successive five-year periods from 2000 to 2005 according to a new report from the Land Trust Alliance, a group which represents 1,263 of the country's 1,667 local, state and national land trusts.


Inhofe doesn't attend climate change meeting but issues statement on children's book
(11/16/2006) James Inhofe, the outgoing chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, dismissed the United Nations climate meeting in Nairobi as "a brainwashing session" and released a statement attacking the body's new children's book on the climate change. The Oklahoma Republican, who was the second largest recipient of campaign contributions from oil and gas companies during the 2004 election cycle, has been a vocal opponent of the idea that humans are contributing to global warming, a stance that puts him in opposition with the majority of climate scientists. Inhofe didn't bother to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which ends tomorrow, but he did find time to issue the following statement on "Tore and the Town on Thin Ice", the new children's book from the U.N.


Global warming reduces polar bear survival rate
(11/16/2006) Polar bear survival rates have dropped significantly in the past 20 years, probably due to melting sea ice caused by higher temperatures, according to a study released this week.


U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rise 0.6% in 2005 to new record
(11/15/2006) Emissions of heat-trapping gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, rose by 0.6 percent between 2004 and 2005 according to a new report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy. Since 1990, such greenhouse gas emissions have climbed by 16.9 percent. The Kyoto Protocol calls for a 7 percent reduction in emissions levels below 1990 levels by 2012.


Election results means U.S. climate action likely by 2010
(11/15/2006) "Enactment of mandatory U.S. climate action is plausible by 2008, and likely by 2010," says a new report from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. The Pew Center, which brings together business leaders, policy makers, scientists, and other experts to discuss climate change, says that "the new Democratic congressional majority puts control of the agenda in the hands of policymakers who, to a large extent, favor climate action."


U.S. stymies attempt to crack down on illegal logging
(11/13/2006) Monday the United States stymied an attempt by timber exporting and importing nations to establish new trade rules to tackle illegal logging, according to a report from Reuters. The news agency said that the U.S. may have neutered the initiative by insisting that all agreements had to be voluntary and failing to show up a Houses of Parliament meeting where proposals for the 2008 G8 summit in Tokyo were being developed.


Low-use and abandoned logging roads negatively impact wildlife in the United States
(11/1/2006) A new study says that forest roads adversely affect wildlife populations. Writing in an article to be published in the journal conservation Biology, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have found that low-use and abandoned logging, mining, and oil access roads create a significant ecological footprint in heavily forested areas.


Blair: U.S. must act on global warming
(10/30/2006) Delaying action on global warming will take the planet into "dangerous territory" warns a new report released Monday by the British government. In The Sun Tony Blair, Britain's Prime Minister called the report "the important document on the future" he's read since becoming Prime Minister.


Global warming could put New York City at hurricane, flood risk
(10/25/2006) NASA researchers are investigating the potential impact of climate change on New York City using computer models to simulate future climates and sea level rise. Their studies, to date, forecast a 15 to 19 inch-increase in sea levels by the 2050s that could put the city at higher risk of flooding during storm surges.


Rising sea levels could flood Gulf bays in Texas, Louisiana
(10/23/2006) Rising sea levels and increased sedimentation threaten to flood bays and delta areas in U.S Gulf Coast regions in Texas and Louisiana warned a Rice University researcher.


US population set to break 300m Tuesday
(10/16/2006) The U.S. population is expected to reach 300 million people on Tuesday, October 17 according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The world's largest economy has the fastest population growth (0.91 percent) of G-8 countries, meaning the country adds another 2.8 million people a year, equivalent to the addition of another Arkansas or Kansas. The United States is the third largest country in the world, behind China and India.


Fires in Central America worsen air quality in Texas
(10/10/2006) Agricultural fires in Central America can impact air quality and climate in Texas, Oklahoma, and other parts of the southern United States according to new research from NASA.


Global warming threatens western U.S.
(10/6/2006) Global warming will cause drastic changes -- including reduction in snowpack, worsening droughts, increases in wildfire and invasive species, and loss of regional biodiversity -- in the American West if greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed according to a new report from the National Wildlife Federation.


$24 million debt-for-nature swap in Guatemala
(10/5/2006) Tropical forest conservation efforts in Guatemala will receive $24 million under a debt-for-nature swap arranged by conservation International (CI), The Nature Conservancy, and the governments of the United States and Guatemala.


Northeastern U.S. at risk from global warming
(10/4/2006) A new report warns that global warming will "substantially change" the climate in the northeastern if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.


California sues Bush administration forest law repeal
(9/21/2006) Yesterday California sued the Bush Administration over its repeal of the Clinton Administration's "Roadless Rule". According to a release from state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, "The Northern Federal District of California ruled the U.S. Forest Service violated federal environmental laws by stripping national forest roadless areas of protection from road-building and logging without performing any environmental analysis of the consequences. The court ordered the immediate reinstatement of protections for nearly 50 million acres of remaining undeveloped forests."


1 in 3 U.S. National Parks Polluted
(8/22/2006) Air pollution exceeds federal standards in nearly 40 percent of America's national parks according to a new report from the nonpartisan National Parks conservation Association.


Forest fires causing mercury pollution in North America
(8/21/2006) Increasing numbers of wildfires due to climate change could worsen mercury pollution in North America according to a new study from researchers at Michigan State University, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the Canadian Forest Service. Wildfires are releasing mercury long ago sequesterd in Northern wetlands.


Coal to oil conversion gaining interest in China, U.S.
(8/17/2006) High oil prices are spawning greater interest in technologies that convert coal into liquid fuel, according to an article published yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, but the shift could have a significant impact on the environment. Heightened tensions in the Middle East combined with booming demand and political instability in other regions have put a premium on crude oil and forced China and the United States -- the world's largest energy gluttons -- to look towards secure sources of fuel. Both countries are coal-rich but petroleum-poor. The Wall Street Journal says that China and the United States are actively developing coal-to-oil technology.


Bush Administration doing little to treat "addiction to oil"
(8/9/2006) The Bush Administration is doing little to treat America's "addiction to oil" according to an article in today's Wall Street Journal. In his January 31 State of the Union address, President Bush said it was time to do something about America's dependence on foreign oil. Rising oil prices and unrest in the Middle East are of growing concern in the United States which leads the world in oil consumption -- the vast majority of which comes from overseas, especially the Middle East.


July was second-hottest month in U.S. history
(8/7/2006) July was second-hottest month in U.S. history according to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). The average temperature for the 48 contiguous states was 77.2 degrees F and more than 2,300 daily temperature records were broken across the country.


U.S. supports "Heart of Borneo" conservation initiative
(8/2/2006) Tuesday, the U.S. State Department issued a statement supporting the "Heart of Borneo" conservation initiative that will protected 220,000 square kilometers of tropical rainforest across Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.


Pine plantations may be contributing to global warming
(7/24/2006) The increasing number of pine plantations in the southern United States could contribute to a rise in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, a new study reports. This is important because carbon dioxide is a key greenhouse gas, one that is linked to global warming. Landowners in the South are turning stands of hardwood and natural pine trees into pine plantations because pine is a more lucrative source of lumber. But pine plantations don't retain carbon as well as hardwood or natural pine forests, said Brent Sohngen, a study co-author and an associate professor of agricultural, environmental and development economics at Ohio State University.


Brazil, U.S. renew Amazon research agreements
(7/22/2006) Thursday Brazil and the U.S. renewed two Amazon forest research agreements. Brazilian Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Luis Manuel Rebelo Fernandes signed two continuation agreements for research on the Amazon: the Large-Scale Biosphere - Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) and Biological Determinants of Forest Fragments Program (BDFFP). Implementation of the programs will be lead by Brazil's INPA, or the Brazilian Institute for Research in the Amazon.


2006 on pace to be warmest year on record in the US
(7/17/2006) The average temperature for the continental United States from January through June 2006 was the warmest first half of any year since records began in 1895, according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). NOAA data showed that the average January-June temperature for the contiguous United States was 51.8 degrees F (11.0 degrees C) -- 3.4 degrees F (1.8 degrees C) above the 20th century (1901-2000) average. The government agency noted that five states (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri) experienced record warmth for the period while no state was cooler than average. NOAA also reported that last month was the second warmest June on record and national precipitation was below average. It said that continued below-normal-levels of precipitation combined with warmer-than-average temperatures expanded drought conditions across the country.


Climate change fuels more forest fires in the United States
(7/6/2006) New research says the frequency of large forest fires has increased in the western United States since the mid-1980s as spring temperatures climbed, mountain snows melted earlier and summers got hotter. The new findings, published in the July 6 issue of Science Express, suggest that climate change, not fire suppression policies and forest accumulation, is the primary driver of recent increases in large forest fires.


Environmental education lacking in the U.S. finds new study
(6/29/2006) A new study found that there is a general lack of consensus when it comes to teaching students about human interaction with the environment.


United States economy becomes more carbon efficient
(6/21/2006) The state of Nevada had the largest increase in carbon emissions between 1990 and 2001 according to mongabay.com's analysis of figures released by the Energy Information Administration. Carbon dioxide emissions climbed 47 percent during the period, while the state's economy grew by 85 percent and its population increased by 73 percent. The figures show that Nevada, like the rest of the United States, is becoming getting more out of its carbon dioxide emissions than it did in 1990. Overall the United States was about 20 percent more carbon dioxide efficient in 2001 than in 1990, with each metric ton of carbon dioxide generating from $1,614 to 1,724 worth of gross domestic product.


New York at high risk of flooding from climate change
(5/17/2006) For many, sea-level rise is a remote and distant threat faced by people like the residents of the Tuvalu Islands in the South Pacific, where the highest point of land is only 5 meters (15 feet) above sea level and tidal floods occasionally cover their crops in seawater.


Congress deals blow to bioenergy market
(5/16/2006) In a set back to the growing biofuels market and American energy consumers, House Majority Leader John Boehner said Monday he will not push legislation to reduce the U.S. tariff on ethanol imports. Thus, the United States will keep its 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol despite a warning from the Department of Energy that domestic ethanol supplies will fall short this summer and will need to reply on foreign fuel.


US has low-cost alternatives to oil; peak oil frenzy and human-induced climate change avoidable says Columbia University
(5/14/2006) Surging oil prices have fueled calls for the United States to develop new sources of affordable and secure domestic energy. While renewable energy -- especially biofuels, wind power, and solar technologies -- is an area of particular interest, researchers from the Earth Institute at Columbia University say that the U.S. already has relatively low-cost alternatives to imported oil, including coal, tar sands, and oil shale. These resources can be extracted and used at a lower cost to the environment than some might expect. In a report published in the most recent issue of Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Klaus S. Lackner and Jeffrey D. Sachs argue that "coal alone could satisfy the country's energy needs of the twenty-first century." They say that "coal liquefaction, or the process of deriving liquid fuels from coal, is already being used in places and with expanded infrastructure could provide gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel at levels well below current prices." Further, Sachs and Lackner suggest that "environmental constraints such as increased carbon dioxide emissions arising from greater use of coal and other fossil fuels could be avoided for less than 1 percent of gross world product by 2050," a sum far less than others have estimated.


High oil prices fuel bioenergy push
(5/9/2006) High oil prices and growing concerns over climate change are driving investment and innovation in the biofuels sector as countries and industry increasingly look towards renewable bioenergy to replace fossil fuels. Bill Gates, the world's richest man, has recently invested $84 million in an American ethanol company while global energy gluttons ranging from the United States to China are setting long-term targets for the switch to such fuels which potentially offer a secure domestic source of renewable energy and fewer environmental headaches. Biofuels are fuels that are derived from biomass, including recently living organisms like plants or their metabolic byproducts like cow manure. Unlike fossil fuels -- like coal, petroleum, and natural gas, which are finite resources -- biofuels are a renewable source of energy that can be replenished on an ongoing basis. In general, biofuels are biodegradable and, when burned, have fewer emissions than traditional hydrocarbon-based fuels. Typically, biofuels are blended with traditional petroleum-based fuels, though it is possible to run existing diesel, engines purely on biodiesel, something which holds a great deal of promise as an alternative energy source to replace fossil fuels. Further, because biofuels are generally derived from plants which absorb carbon from the atmosphere as they grow, biofuel production offers the potential to help offset carbon dioxide emissions and mitigate climate change.


Pittsburgh has more urban sprawl than Los Angeles, new maps show
(4/26/2006) Recent urban development in Los Angeles is less scattered than recent development in Boston. Miami is America's most compact big city and Pittsburgh its most sprawling. Changing the number or size of municipal governments in a metro area has no impact on whether or not urban development is scattered, but controlling access to groundwater does. These are among the startling findings from a University of Toronto-based team of researchers who used satellite data and aerial photography to create a grid of 8.7 billion data cells tracking the evolution of land use in the continental United States.


US Greenhouse gas emissions hit record in 2004
(4/19/2006) EPA findings quietly released on Monday following Easter. Figures released Monday show that US greenhouse gas emissions hit a record in 2004, surging 1.7 percent over 2003. The increase, equivalent to a rise of 115 million tons of carbon dioxide, was the largest annual increase since 2000. In total, the United States released the equivalent of nearly 6,300 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. America is the world's largest polluter in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.


Automakers, oil companies bicker over responsibility for high gas prices
(4/12/2006) According to The Wall Street Journal automakers and oil companies over who is to blame for high oil prices. In an unusually public exchange, Jason Vines, vice president of communications for DaimlerChrysler's U.S. arm criticized Exxon Mobil Corp, the world's most profitable company, in a blunt blog posting.


Palo Alto leads United States in renewable energy use
(4/10/2006) Palo Alto has the highest percentage of renewable energy users in the country according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 2005 Top Ten list.


Report makes case for regulating carbon dioxide emissions
(4/5/2006) A new report evaluating air pollution trends at the nation's 100 largest electric power producers shows that emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) have fallen markedly in recent years, but carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased and will likely spike in coming years. The report comes amid increasing public concern and intensifying pressure for limits on heat-trapping emissions from U.S. power plants and rising investor concern about companies' long-term financial risk from climate change. In the absence of federal regulations, business uncertainty is growing as more U.S. states and regions move to enact their own limits on CO2 emissions from power plants. The U.S. government has opted for voluntary controls on carbon dioxide, but last year the U.S. Senate adopted a resolution calling for mandatory emission limits.


United States and Indonesia to fight illegal logging
(4/5/2006) The United States and Indonesia today agreed to fight illegal logging in some of the world's most diverse rainforests. Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu and Chief of the US Trade Office (USTR) Robert Portman said the two countries will coordinate efforts of protect Indonesia's forests which have been significantly degraded and destroyed by the illicit timber trade. While Indonesia houses the most extensive rainforest cover in all of Asia, its natural forest area is rapidly being reduced by logging--most of which is illegal. Between 1990 and 2005 the country lost more than 28 million hectares of forest, including 21.7 million hectares of virgin forest, according to data from the United Nations.


California plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions
(4/4/2006) California plans to introduce legislation that will impose binding limiting on future greenhouse gas emissions. The state aims to cut current levels of emissions 10 percent by 2020, to bring pollution in line with 1990 levels. It would become the first state to implement mandatory controls on greenhouse gasses.


Insects worth $57 billion to US economy
(4/1/2006) A new study says insects are worth at least $57 billion to the American economy. In the April 2006 issue of BioScience, John E. Losey of Cornell University and Mace Vaughan of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate conservation estimate the value of ecological services provided by insects. Looking at just four services--dung burial, control of crop pests, pollination, and wildlife nutrition--Losey and Vaughan calculate that the annual value of insects in these roles is at least $57 billion in the United States.


Predator control fails to help sheep industry
(3/15/2006) Decades of U.S. government-subsidized predator control has failed to prevent a long-term decline in the sheep industry, according to a study by the Wildlife conservation Society, which says that market forces are responsible for the drop-off in sheep numbers.


76% of Americans say government not doing enough to address global warming
(3/15/2006) A new survey released today by the nonpartisan Civil Society Institute found that 76 percent think the federal government is not doing enough to address global warming and develop alternative energy sources in order to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.


Polar bear may be listed as endangered species
(2/9/2006) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced that it is considering a petition to list the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Scientists believe polar bear populations are increasingly in danger due to the effects of climate change, specifically receding ice and warming temperatures.


Americans care less about the environment finds study
(1/18/2006) Public support for environmental protection in the United States as a federal government priority has dropped substantially since 2001 according to new analysis.



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