Climate Point: U.S. Forest Service wants to shut out public's comments
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate change, energy and the environment. I'm Janet Wilson, writing to you from near the Cleveland National Forest.
In what conservationists are calling the most sweeping threat to national forests in 50 years, a U.S. Forest Service proposal would eliminate public comment on nearly all logging, prescribed burns, roads and pipeline projects, reports Karen Chavez with the Asheville Citizen Times. Currently, the National Environmental Policy Act requires the feds to assess environmental impacts, with public input. Under the new rule, foes say, a generous loophole would allow 93% of decisions to be made with no advance notice. The Forest Service says by expanding "categorical exclusions" and removing public review, they can speed up the “pace and scale” of their work.
That's not sitting well with North Carolina folks who love their forests – all 1.1 million acres of them. The rule would apply nationwide, from Oregon and California to New England and the southeast. Critics believe the proposal can be traced to President Trump’s December 2018 executive order calling the Forest Service to ramp up timber production to reduce "hazardous fuels" in the wake of wildfires.
For now, the public can comment. You've got until Aug. 26 to go here: https://www.regulations.gov/ or email nepa-procedures-revision@fs.fed.us
MUST-READ STORIES
Extreme climate change has arrived in America. That's the premise behind a riveting multimedia package from a team of Washington Post reporters, detailing which areas of the United States are nearing or have already crossed a critical 2-degree Celsius mark. They analyzed a century's worth of data and found that today, more than 1 in 10 Americans are living in rapidly heating regions, including New York City and Los Angeles. While Alaska is warming fastest, Rhode Island is the first in the Lower 48 whose average temperature rise has eclipsed 2 degrees Celsius. Check their map to see your area.
It's raining plastic: Microscopic fibers are falling from the sky in the Rocky Mountains, as Maanvi Singh reports for the Guardian. Plastic was the furthest thing from Gregory Wetherbee’s mind when he began analyzing rainwater samples there. He expected to see soil and mineral bits. Instead, he found multicolored microscopic plastic fibers. The discovery raises new questions about the amount of plastic in the air, water, and soil virtually everywhere on Earth.
“I think the most important result that we can share with the American public is that there’s more plastic out there than meets the eye,” said Wetherbee. “It’s in the rain, it’s in the snow. It’s a part of our environment now.”
Quick hits
No TV. Canada bans climate change ads. BBC.
No joke. Trump wants to buy Greenland. Scott Neuman, NPR and Wall Street Journal
California cliffs: Scientists try to predict which will collapse due to sea rise. Cheri Carlson, Ventura County Star
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
First-ever mandatory Colorado River cutbacks. Despite heavy winter snows, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will be required to take less water from the Colorado River for the first time ever next year, under a set of agreements that aim to keep enough water in Lake Mead to reduce the risk of a crash, as Ian James with the Arizona Republic tells us. California's turn could come soon. The agreements aim to prop up Lake Mead, strained by overuse, as climate change exacerbates prolonged droughts.
Making a stink. Coastal Florida is urging state official to ban sewage sludge, also known as biosolids, from being dumped near critical waterways that feed into popular lakes and rivers, as Tyler Treadway with Treasure Coast newspapers tells us.
AND ANOTHER THING
Bye-bye natural gas. First went the plastic straws. Then, single-use plastic grocery bags. In Berkeley, Calif., Styrofoam has been banned since 1988. Now, the eco-conscious enclave is the first in the nation to take aim at what it calls another threat to the planet: natural-gas stoves, furnaces and water heaters. Starting next year natural gas hookups won't be allowed in all new homes and low-rise apartment buildings. Officials in the city east of San Francisco hope this is a step to transition to a fully-electric future, and to avoid deadly explosions too.
Here are the latest carbon dioxide numbers. Scientists say to keep a livable planet, we need to cut the amount to 350 parts per million. We're well above that and rising.
That's all for this week and next. I'll be back after Labor Day. You may have noticed, we've switched the newsletter to Mondays. Let me know what you think. And for more climate, energy and environment news, follow me on Twitter @janetwilson66 You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox for free here.