The Limitless Self-Absorption Of Sen. Ron Johnson, (R/Tea Party - Himself)

It's daunting even trying to describe (find me a metaphor!) let alone absorb (he's our Senator!) Ron Johnson's libertarianish isolation from the real world, his forfeiture of US Senate leadership and his disregard for everyday Wisconsinites he represents, including cancer patients sitting alone with their thoughts and fears and a chemo drip.

So we'll let his record of small thinking on big issues do the talking:

About the needs of Wisconsin farmers and rural communities in the omnibus farm bill he voted against:

Why did he vote against programs helping beginning farmers, supporting rural development, export marketing, and the Conservation Stewardship Program, which rewards farmers for conservation?

If funding is his concern, why did he vote against the Republican-sponsored amendment to cap payments that farmers receive when market prices for crops go south? Why did he vote to prohibit USDA from making loan guarantees — a budget-neutral policy instituted in the Reagan years to provide a bigger role in agriculture for private lenders?

Why did he vote against another no-cost amendment requiring crop insurance to be available for organic crops under terms similar to other crops — in this state, with the second-largest organic farming sector in the nation?

The farm bill covers forestry also, which matters to a state where 46 percent of the land is in forests. Why did Johnson vote against reauthorizing the Forest Legacy Program, which provides 75 percent of the funding to purchase voluntary conservation easements from private landowners — a cornerstone of Wisconsin’s forest conservation?

And Johnson - - eligible, along with the staff he has chosen, and their dependents, for federally-supplied Cadillac health care coverage - - goes into robotic stump speech mode instead of showing concern for constituents with cancer:

Discussing health care outside the Supreme Court today, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told ThinkProgress that there “shouldn’t” be a law requiring businesses to cover employees who have cancer because that would “create an obligation” for others.

“When you create a right for somebody,” Johnson said, “you create an obligation for somebody else, and then you’re taking away that person’s right.”

KEYES: I know Richard Murdock had said even though businesses should give people, for instance, with cancer, health coverage, they shouldn’t be legally required by the federal government.

JOHNSON: They shouldn’t. Listen, our rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And when we start expanding beyond that realm, when you create a right for somebody, you create an obligation for somebody else, and then you’re taking away that person’s right. And that maybe doesn’t seem all that great, but it’s just true. Our nation was based on the foundation of freedom and limited government.

Oh, and if mercury-free fish from the Great Lakes is your heart's desire, don't expect help from Johnson.

Why The Shock Over John Roberts' "Political" Mindset?

These stories that the Chief Justice behaved politically in upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act - - and thus somehow behaved inappropriately - - are really naive.

From an advisory committee in the smallest Village and Town in the county to the US Supreme Court, all decisions are political, because people, not robots, are making the decisions.

"Political" is not the same thing as "partisan," or "prejudicial."

I can remember David Fellman, my Civil Liberties professor at UW-Madison a long time ago saying to the class, "Supreme Court Justices read the newspapers, too."

Props To Milwaukee City Health Officials For Heat-Related Information

Whereas some public agency leaders are offering nothing of value in the face of the heat wave, and the Wisconsin DNR doesn't include a link to the State Health Department's comprehensive information, I was glad to hear Milwaukee Health Commissioner Bevan Baker on WMCS-AM 1290 Friday afternoon getting the word out about how to deal with what forecasters are calling dangerous record heat.

And on the Milwaukee Health Department's website, I find more clear, useful information - - so thank goodness Milwaukee has a proactive leaders and strategies:

For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Brandy Gillery July 2, 2012    414- 286-3970 (business hours)

Anna Benton 414-397-1620 (after hours)

Extreme Heat Health Advisory Issued for Milwaukee County Residents advised to take precautions during 4th of July Activities

The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for Milwaukee County beginning Tuesday morning for Southeastern Wisconsin, including Milwaukee County. Heat indices are expected to reach 100-105, creating potentially deadly conditions for residents, especially those most susceptible to heat related illness. These include the elderly, very young and anyone with chronic underlying conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular, respiratory or mental health illness.

The City of Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) is advising citizens to take precautions during 4th of July activities since weather is expected to continue to be very hot and humid through the week and into the weekend. While many people will be outdoors to enjoy holiday activities including barbecues, family gatherings and fireworks displays, the MHD recommends taking the following precautions:

•    When outdoors, stay in the shade as much as possible. Try to spend some time in air-conditioned spaces or in buildings as much as possible.

•    Drink plenty of water throughout the day regardless of thirst. Avoid consuming caffeinated or alcoholic beverages, as these can exacerbate heat effects during extreme hot weather.

•    Avoid exercising or any strenuous activity outdoors during periods of extreme hot weather. Slow down and maintain a pace that is not exhausting.

•    Be aware of symptoms of heat-related illness. Seek appropriate medical care immediately should any family member, relative or friend exhibit symptoms (profuse sweating, pale skin, nausea, disorientation).

•    Use cool water on towels or sponges to lower body temperature and provide relief from intense heat during the day.

•    Reconsider being outdoors during periods of extreme heat and instead stay indoors in air-conditioned spaces or basements of homes (which can be 10-15 degrees cooler than first floor living spaces).

Many Milwaukee County swimming pools will have extended hours of operation on July 3rd. In addition, other cool spots will be open including Milwaukee County Senior Centers, Libraries and MPS playgrounds.

Shopping malls and movie theatres are also good air conditioned spaces to seek relief from the heat.

Further information can be found at www.milwaukee.gov/health

DNR Says, Right Now, No WI Air Quality Issues, But...

A national model shows a forecast for air quality in SE Wisconsin in the unhealthy zone.

But we do not know from the Wisconsin DNR if air pollution conditions are building past "good" levels to "unhealthy"  - - in Milwaukee it is now 97 degrees, with a heat index of 102, because the DNR stopped issuing early warning, so-called "watches" last year.

From:

"Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources"

 

To:

As of March 15, 2011, the Wisconsin DNR will no longer issue Air Quality Watches for ozone and particle pollution due to limited staff resources and the potential increase in the number of air quality notices under proposed revisions to federal air standards.

In the past, an air quality watch was issued when conditions were favorable for pollutants to reach unhealthy levels.

Watches are also being eliminated due to their confusion with Air Quality Advisories which are issued when pollution concentrations actually reach unhealthy levels for sensitive groups.

Air quality notices are issued as a public service by the DNR in partnership with the National Weather Service. They are not mandated by rule or law.

Here is a link to the DNR's real time posting:

  No Air Quality Notices

As of 12:49 pm CT Wednesday, July 4, 2012 there are no DNR Air Quality Notices for Wisconsin.

More On Arctic Oil Drilling

This in-depth report about the risks of drilling for oil in the Arctic was forwarded by a reader.

The linked information is worth the read, but this one graphic tells the story. It compares the availability of oil spill-response resources in the Arctic region to what was available in the Gulf of Mexico where one blown-out well needed containment, then a clean-up - - and where sea ice was not a factor:

WI Needs Non-Partisan Push For Tougher OWI Penalties In Lax Wisconsin

I have been campaigning for years through blogs and freelance pieces for toughened drunk driving laws in Wisconsin.

So as we head into a mid-week holiday where motorists will be tempted to drink and drive, I will be glad to promote stronger laws proposed by Republicans State Rep. Jim Ott and State Sen. Albert Darling, and by the Milwaukee Sheriff, David Clarke, as outlined in this Journal Sentinel story.

Darling wants to make felony charges available to prosecutors more quickly for repeat Wisconsin OWI offenders, and Clarke wants Wisconsin to join all other states in criminalizing a first offense.

The reformers also want more treatment, and I'm completely on board with that, too. It's obviously a long, hard slog and sell in Wisconsin, and good ideas need support even if the pace of change is slow.

More than four years ago I had this to say:

Let's make a first OWI a misdemeanor instead of a ticket, and move a second OWI from misdemeanor to felony - - and add mandatory vehicle seizure for a repeat offender, too.

I think having to watch your vehicle confiscated, sold or compacted before your eyes would be a stiff inducement to help put a repeat offender into serious rehab, and serve as a definite deterrent to others still disinterested in driving while sober.

And let the state auction off the seized vehicles to finance better law enforcement against drunk driving, from new equipment to overtime for sobriety checkpoints near known, problem taverns or on holidays.

In 2009, I wrote:

The legislature is going to have to a do a great deal more than OK some ignition locks for some OWI offenders to make a dent in the state's drunken-driving culture.

Until Wisconsin joins the other 49 states and criminalizes a first-offense, everything else is window-dressing.

Also needed: making a second offense a felony, and providing widespread drunk-driving education and treatment.

And in 2011, when the Legislature caved to special interests, I wrote:

Another effort is underway to put Wisconsin in line with the other 49 states and make first-offense drunk driving more than the mere ticket it is now.

I've lost track of the number of times I have argued for this on my blog for years.

I find it unlikely that the Legislature and Governor have the spine to take on the state's brewing, tavern and "hospitality" lobbies.

Note that pilots may not fly within eight hours of consuming any alcohol. Reflex impairment after imbibing is a well-known reality.

Make this a bi-partisan and non-partisan effort. Let's slam the door on the lobbyists, get drunk drivers off the roads, protect the public and help problem drinkers repair their lives.

"Burning Our Rivers" Report Documents Damaging Water Waste

Former DNR water division chief Todd Ambs sent this along:

FOR RELEASE: JUNE 27, 2012 CONTACT: Wendy Wilson, River Network, 208-345-3689
UPDATED TECHNOLOGIES AND RENEWABLES COULD REDUCE ENERGY SECTOR WATER WASTE BY 80 PERCENT

A new report by River Network provides the first accounting of how much water is used to generate electricity on an average per-kilowatt basis.

The report, Burning Our Rivers: The Water Footprint of Electricity found that for every gallon of water used in an average household, five times more water (40,000 gallons each month) is used to provide that home with electricity via hydropower turbines and fossil fuel power plants.

The Burning Our Rivers report summarizes current research on the water consumption of all power production in the U.S., including the water consumption of both non-renewable and renewable energy sources. The water footprint of electricity is highest for hydropower: each day, enough water to meet the demands of more than 50 million people evaporates from reservoirs behind hydroelectric dams.

The report also highlights that electricity production by coal, nuclear and natural gas power plants is the fastest-growing use of freshwater in the U.S., accounting for more than about 1⁄2 of all fresh, surface water withdrawals from rivers.

This is more than any other economic sector, including agriculture, and occurs in an era when all other use sectors are reducing water withdrawals. The report notes that experimental “clean coal” technologies are only expected to significantly increase water use.

More than a quarter of the water withdrawn by fossil-fuel power plants to cool their generators goes up in steam; the remainder carries pollutants and excess heat into rivers and waterways, causing fish kills and algae blooms.

“Fossil fuel power plants don’t just pollute the air,” noted River Network President Todd Ambs. “Cooling towers are also a very inefficient and environmentally detrimental use of our increasingly strained water resources.”

The report finds that wind and photovoltaic solar power have almost no water footprint at all, although other renewables such as biofuels from irrigated crops and solar thermal plants have water-use factors greater than some coal and nuclear power facilities.

“The days of taking water for granted in our decisions about energy production must come to an end,” said Cindy Lowry, executive director at the Alabama Rivers Alliance.” This report will help inform our state leaders about the key role energy plays in water management in Alabama."

The recommendations of the Burning Our Rivers report chart a new course that would include investments in water-efficient cooling technologies and “low-water” photovoltaic solar and wind power generation. Taken together and implemented across the country, these steps could reduce the amount of water used by the thermoelectric sector by 80 percent.

“We’re using a lot of water to keep the lights on and the TV running when we could be using it for drinking water, irrigation and to provide healthier rivers for fish,” notes Wendy Wilson, director of River Network’s Rivers, Energy & Climate Program and chief author of the report.

##

River Network is a River Network’s mission is to empower and unite people and communities to protect and restore rivers and other waters that sustain the health of our country. Founded in 1988, we are leading a national watershed protection movement that includes nearly 2,000 state, regional and local grassroots organizations whose primary purpose is freshwater protection.

Our 17-person staff is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with field staff in Vermont, Maryland, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Utah and Idaho. For more information visit our website.

WI Wolf Hunt Goal: 201 Dead Wolves

The Legislature has mandated, with State Rep. Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc) in the lead, a fast-tracked wolf hunting season in Wisconsin under emergency rule-making (what emergency?) without having made the case that the hunt needs methods barred elsewhere, such as the use of traps, dogs and other questionable procedures.

To be fair, the wording "201 dead wolves" for the first season to begin in October is not a DNR phrase.

It prefers terms like "harvest quotas."

Heat Wave, Ozone Advisories...So Here's The WI DNR's Tip Of The Week

This is what the DNR came up with for air quality, and it's par for the course:

Air Quality Tip of the Week

For the week of July 1, 2012: "Happy Birthday America! No doubt about it, fireworks are a part of the festivities on the 4th of July. Yes they do cause air pollution, but the smoke is localized and disperses quickly causing little harm. Learn more" The Air Quality Tip of the Week has been updated.  Please log on to http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/AirQuality/ItAllAddsUp.html, to view this and other tips.

Voters Should See Romney As Walker On Steroids

Wisconsin residents with progressive values have learned the hard way that giving political control over government to "a severely conservative" chief executive, along with majorities in both houses of the legislature and on a compliant Supreme Court spells real trouble for social justice, basic services, budgets, public education, environmental protections and home rule.

Walker and his allies used State Act 10 to restrict local governments' ability to negotiate with public sector workers and then cut school funding while private school choice continues to drain away money.

The environment has taken a big hit.

Walker's DNR is dragging its feet on dozens of EPA compliance matters. Wetlands can now be more easily filled. A biomass power plant conversion in Madison was killed, as was the Amtrak line between Milwaukee and Madison - - though highway spending is up in Wisconsin, especially for new, major roads while local transit systems and street repair needs go begging.

Walker and his lieutenants talk a good, small government game, but have used state power to arrogate and consolidate rule-making power in the Governor's office while engineering and imposing a conservative agenda in localities.

Romney and his backers talk up states rights (Romney care in MA, good; Affordable Act nationally, bad), but if they were to win the presidency and the Congress you'd see national mandates from the top down on women's health and reproductive rights to collective bargaining to environmental disregard (off-shore drilling, the XL pipeline routing fast-tracked) to special-interest tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy that would further push Grover Norquist's blueprint for drowning government deeper into state and local governments.

Wisconsin tells the story.

For progressives, it's a national cautionary tale urgently grasped.

Eugene Robinson Offers Lede-Writing Clinic

There's a reason he won a Pulitzer Prize. This column lede about the big derecho storm that hammered a still-baking DC tells the story:

Still don’t believe in climate change? Then you’re either deep in denial or delirious from the heat.

Again, The WI DNR Tells Us The Air Is Unhealthy After The Level Is Attained

Unhealthy levels of ozone feels like a permanent feature of life in SE Wisconsin near Lake Michigan so far in 2012.

More such after-the-fact alerts issued this year - - example from last week - - than during all of last year, and it's only July 2nd.

With a sobering heat advisory through Friday.

And remember that the DNR in 2011 ended the "watches," so when you get this important "advisory" - - a better word would be "warning" - - the unhealthy situation is already here.

This advisory went into effect at 4 p.m. I got the email about it at 4:32 p.m.

The DNR could have issued an early warning much earlier in the day.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Advisory for Ozone (Orange)

Start Time:	4:00PM CT Monday, July 2, 2012
End Time:	1:00AM CT Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Counties:	Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine

---

AIR QUALITY INDEX CHART

Air Quality Index (AQI) Values	Levels of Health Concern	Colors
When the AQI is in this range:	...air quality conditions are:	...as symbolized by this color:
0 to 50	Good	Green
51 to 100	Moderate	Yellow
101 to 150	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Orange
151 to 200	Unhealthy	Red
201 to 300	Very Unhealthy	Purple
301 to 500	Hazardous	Maroon

For More Information:

• Detailed Alert Status Information
• Air Quality Index
• Air Quality Notices Media Kit
• How You Can Help During an Air Quality Notice
• Do a little, save a lot!
• Local DNR air management program contacts

Daily Air Quality Hotline - 1-866-324-5924 (1-866-DAILY AIR)

Lehman, (D), Wins Recount; GOP Still Blocking The Outcome

We all knew Racine GOP State Senator Van Wanggaard lost to Democratic challenger John Lehman on June 5th.

We all knew that a recount was a superfluous delaying tactic in the face of a margin of more than 800 votes out of more than 70,000 cast.

Wanggaard picked up 15 votes.

GOP and conservatives explained the math last year. There was no way.

We all knew the goal was to deny Lehman his seat and thus Democrats their fresh, one-vote Senate majority - - so now that the recount has declare Lehman the winner and he can be sworn in...

Wanggaard will probably appeal the result to Circuit Court, further delaying the consequence of the voters' choice.

This from the party that yelled loudly about the recount in the Prosser election and that complains via talking points about voter fraud - - but openly ran fake candidates in a series of Senate recall primaries - - and is now openly engaged in election obstruction.

Totally hypocritical.

Walker No-Brainer: State Pension System Needs No Fixin'

The national model needs no changes.

As argued here, though I did think Walker would do a little free-market inspired tampering around the 401-K edges.

Nope.

Bloodbath averted. Good policy, smart politics.

Appeals Court Rules EPA Shall Regulate Harmful Emissions

Two noteworthy things about last week's ruling:

A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia declared that the agency was “unambiguously correct” that the Clean Air Act requires the federal government to impose limits once it has determined that emissions are causing harm. 

The judges unanimously dismissed arguments from industry that the science of global warming was not well supported and that the agency had based its judgment on unreliable studies. “This is how science works,” they wrote. “The E.P.A. is not required to reprove the existence of the atom every time it approaches a scientific question.”

And:

The panel’s opinion was unsigned. The chief judge, David B. Sentelle, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan; he was joined by two Clinton appointees, David S. Tatel and Judith W. Rogers. 

Planned Arctic Drilling: Shell Says It Has Everything Under Control

I'm just posting this to memorialize all the oil company's safety and environmental promises:

Shell is sending the capping stack, skimmers, boom and a containment dome on board a flotilla accompanying drill ships to Alaska's northern shores as part of a spill response plan that has the blessing of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Shell expects final approvals within weeks and drilling by late this month.

But environmental groups contend the government has it wrong. Despite reforms put in place after the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, their basic objections remain.

Shell has vastly overstated its ability to respond to a worst-case scenario spill in open water, said attorney Holly Harris of Earthjustice, and no oil company has demonstrated it can clean up a spill that lingers into the Arctic's eight months of sea ice.

Fires From The UP To The West: More Information

The Upper-Midwest had not been immune to US forest fires in what has been an early outbreak in 2012, as the Capital Times reported on May 31:

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources personnel and equipment have been dispatched to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to help fight a large forest fire in Luce County.

The Duck Lake fire has consumed more than 21,000 acres and has been about 57 percent contained, according to news accounts from Michigan.

The fire runs from Lake Superior to the south for about 11 miles, to about 14 miles north of Newberry, with 40 miles of fireline.

Michigan DNR officials said 132 structures in the fire zone have been destroyed, including 46 homes or cabins. No injuries have been reported.

Here's a bigger picture, according to The Washington Post:

Colorado and U.S. Forest Service firefighters are battling the state’s most destructive wildfires ever. Lightning and suspected arson ignited them four weeks ago, but scientists and federal officials say the table was set by a culprit that will probably contribute to bigger and more frequent wildfires for years to come: climate change...

“We’ve had record fires in 10 states in the last decade, most of them in the West,” said USDA Undersecretary Harris Sherman, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service.

Over the past 10 years, the wildfire season that normally runs from June to September expanded to include May and October. Once, it was rare to see 5 million cumulative acres burn in a year, but some recent seasons have recorded twice that.

“The climate is changing, and these fires are a very strong indicator of that,” Sherman said.

A study published in Ecosphere, a peer-reviewed journal of the Ecological Society of America, projected that most of North America and much of Europe will witness a jump in the frequency of wildfires by the end of the century, mostly because of increasing temperatures.

“In the long run, we found what most fear: increasing fire activity across large parts of the planet,” said Max A. Moritz, a lead author of the study and fire specialist at the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Air Quality, Climate Change, Will Become Higher Priorities On This Blog

Just an fyi to regular readers that I'm going to be paying more attention to air and climate issues on this blog along with environmental and political matters often covered here - - sprawl, transit and water.

My decision to refocus some of the blog's space was prompted by a deficit in information in air and climate matters by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources at the very time more information should be disseminated.

I'm in no way suggesting any one person or grassroots group or coalition could replace what the DNR could be doing, but with your help, I think we can aggregate, analyze and distribute some interesting and important items.

Where the DNR has dropped the ball:

Being satisfied hosting a dearth of climate change information.

Ending early warnings about the buildup of air pollution.

Readers and groups should feel to send material my way and I will do my best to post,  comment or send it on via Twitter or Facebook, for example.

The blog's email is jer45y@gmail.com

Clean Wisconsin Wants EPA To Get Tougher With Polluters

The statewide environmental group Clean Wisconsin wants the US EPA to get tougher with air polluters. With the frequency of ozone warnings in the midst of the heat wave, Clean Wisconsin is on the right track:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 29, 2012

Contact: Elizabeth Wheeler, Staff Attorney, 608.251.7020 ext. 21, 608.347.7613 (cell)

 

Clean Wisconsin asks EPA to Clean up Dangerous Air Pollution

Lowering sulfur dioxide pollution could reduce dirty air days, improve health

 

MADISON – Clean Wisconsin filed comments today encouraging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect the health of Wisconsin families by implementing strong air quality standards for sulfur dioxide.

Sulfur dioxide is a pollutant from power plants and industry sources that creates unhealthy air and trigger air quality advisories.

“Sulfur dioxide endangers public health by creating a variety of respiratory system problems and aggravating heart disease,” said Elizabeth Wheeler, staff attorney at Clean Wisconsin. “The high prevalence of air quality advisories this year shows that the current standards fail to adequately protect millions of Wisconsin residents. It’s time for EPA to implement stronger standards.”

Current EPA standards are based off of monitoring – a system that measures the level of sulfur dioxide in the air. Unfortunately, nine of the ten largest sulfur dioxide sources are unmonitored for their impacts on air quality. This leaves Wisconsin residents at risk – especially the 1.38 million Wisconsin residents that live within five miles of an unmonitored major source of sulfur dioxide.

“Poor air quality is especially harmful to sensitive groups including children, the elderly, people with asthma and those who exercise outdoors,” said Wheeler. “By implementing stronger standards for sulfur dioxide, the EPA can improve the lives of millions of Wisconsin residents.”

In 2010, the EPA created new, stronger rules intended to protect public health. EPA has proposed requiring polluters to model air pollution to meet the standard, thus helping protect residents who don’t live near monitors.

Strong resistance from industry groups has delayed the implementation of these important health standards. Clean Wisconsin encourages the EPA to stay strong on the sulfur dioxide standards despite resistance from big industry, in the comments filed today.

“We’ve already had more ozone alert days this year than we had in all of 2011,” said Wheeler. “When the health of millions of residents lies in the balance, we can’t afford to wait to clean up dangerous pollution.”

A map detailing the location of sulfur dioxide sources in Wisconsin is available at:

cleanwisconsin.org/proxy.php?filename=files/SO2.pdf

###

 

Clean Wisconsin, an environmental advocacy organization, protects Wisconsin’s clean water and air and advocates for clean energy by being an effective voice in the state legislature and by holding elected officials and polluters accountable. Founded in 1970 as Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade, Clean Wisconsin exposes corporate polluters, makes sure existing environmental laws are enforced, and educates citizens and businesses. On behalf of its 10,000 members and its coalition partners, Clean Wisconsin protects the special places that make Wisconsin such a wonderful place to live, work and play. 608-251-7020, www.cleanwisconsin.org.

_______________________

Clean Wisconsin

web: www.cleanwisconsin.org

email: media@cleanwisconsin.org

608-251-7020

Historic Heat Wave, Unusual National Storm Raises Climate Change Awareness

A rare "derecho event" storm system that began in the baking Midwest and raced destructively into the East Coast Friday left behind death, property destruction, long-term power losses - - and this conclusion in a Washington Post news story sure to get under the skin of climate change deniers:

This derecho event is likely to go down as not only one of the worst on record in Washington, D.C. but also along its entire path stretching back to northern Indiana.

As the intensity of the heat wave, without reservation, was a key factor in the destructiveness of this derecho event - it raises the question about the possible role of manmade climate warming (from elevated greenhouse concentrations). It’s a complicated, controversial question, but one that scientists will surely grapple with in case studies of this rare, extraordinary event.

I've been posting about these issues since 2008, beginning with information given to Midwestern cities by the Bush-era EPA about the relationship of climate change to storm events and the need for better local planning:

The EPA officials were urging the Midwestern leaders to adapt their planning and spending to more aggressively confront storm water and related services because heavier, intense rains were going to become more frequent.

Part of the message was: forget the notion of the "100-year-storm." They'll come more often than that in the Midwest as the atmosphere warms.

I posted a similar item today on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Purple Wisconsin site.