September 16, 2009: E.P.A. Annouces Proposed Fuel Effciency Standards
The E.P.A. and the Department of Transportation released proposed fuel efficiency standards that would require new autos to average over 35 miles per gallon by 2016.
Addressing GM workers in Ohio yesterday, President Obama said that a fuel efficiency standard would give the auto industry “some long-overdue clarity, stability, and predictability.”
A climate change response council, headed by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, will coordinate information and strategy sharing between eight regional centers across the country.
The World Bank’s biennial world development report this year focuses solely on the threat of climate change. The report says developing nations will bear 70 to 80 percent of climate change’s worst effects, and calls for the overcoming of worldwide “inertia” on the issue.
An Oxfam America report identifies some business opportunities that the otherwise grim scenarios of climate change present.
While critics of a Congressional climate bill complain about its costs, some recent reports point out that the cost of doing nothing will be far greater in the long run.
A piece at the Huffington Post dissects the optimism in climate science and the fear in climate change denial.
Green youth and campus groups held a green jobs rally on Capitol Hill last week.
Local Green: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order requiring state utilities to generate a third of their energy through renewables. Schwarzenegger vowed to veto bills passed by the state legislature that essentially do the same thing, but additionally require utilities to generate a larger share of those renewables within California.
–Christopher Greenspan
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Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Automobiles, California, climate change, Climate Change Response Council, fuel efficiency standards, Ken Salazar, Oxfam America, World Bank